Evergreen Academy and the Golden Club

Daniel's hand went up to his chest. Underneath his underwear was a locket that he had been wearing forever. He was told by his father never to take it off.
"So? That could be a lucky guess."
"It has a engraving of fire. I gave it to you on your first birthday. You see, among five elements of water, wood, fire, earth and metal, you lack fire. The locket came from deep inside the earth where the undying fire roams. It complements you-and it has other powers that you will come to know in the future."

Daniel could not remember seeing Alverdine before, but Alverdine seemed to know a lot about him. Few people knew about the locket. He always hid it underneath layers of clothes even in summer. He knew that if Alverdine wanted to hurt him, he certainly didn't need to go through this much trouble. Something about Alverdine also made Daniel want to trust him. Slowly, he moved to the couch and sat down at the other end.
"Unlike you father, you have a calm soul," said Alverdine kindly.
"Now tell me what happened," he said with a change of tone.

Alverdine listened carefully to Daniel's recounting of what had happened last night. He didn't interrupt but seemed to be absorbing every word Daniel spoke.
"Let's take a look upstairs." He stood up and walked to the stairs.

Daniel followed him. It struck him as strange that Alverdine seemed to know where he was going, but it also eased his feeling of helplessness that Alverdine was in full control.
Alverdine stopped in the hallway. He closed his eyes for a minute. Then he entered the bedroom. All the coldness had dissipated by now. Alverdine stood in the middle of the room, quiet and unimposing. Unlike anything Daniel saw in detective movies, he didn't look at each item in the room carefully for clues. He didn't even leave the center of the room, but Daniel had this feeling that Alverdine had become an integrated part of the room and nothing escaped him.

They went downstairs in silence. Alverdine seemed to be in deep thought, but his face was still serene and peaceful.
"So-where do you think my father is?" asked Daniel. Somehow he knew something bad must have happened.
"I do not know," answered Alverdine carefully.
"He-he's dead, isn't he?" asked Daniel. He felt himself sink into a sea of fear the moment those words slipped out of his mouth. In his mind, that was the worst thing that could have happened. All he wanted was a negative answer. Everything else could be solved step by step afterward.
"No, he is not dead," said Alverdine with certainty.
Daniel found that he could breath again.
"Do you know where he is?" he asked.
"No, I don't know," said Alverdine calmly.
"How can you be sure that he's still alive?" asked Daniel, even though he wanted to believe it badly. He was afraid that Alverdine was going to tell him that it was just a guess.
"You see, the presence of a person at one place leaves an imprint," said Alverdine. He didn't sound slightly offended by Daniel's bluntness. "From what I picked up in the room, your father was unharmed when he was taken away; but I could not tell where he is or who took him away. As for now, he's not in any kind of life-threatening danger-his lifeline is still very strong."

To Daniel, what Alverdine said was strange but seemed to make sense. If what Alverdine said was right, he, however, didn't seem worried that Daniel's father was kidnapped.
"Should we call the police?" asked Daniel.
"No, I don't think there is anything they can do about it."
It was said in a way that Daniel found no need to argue.
"What am I supposed to do now?" he asked, feeling exasperated.
Alverdine didn't answer right away. He looked like he was making some decision.
"There is no easy way to do this," he finally spoke. "I want you to trust me. Please close your eyes."

Even though Daniel still had doubts, he closed his eyes. At first, he was looking into muddled darkness with apprehension and expectation. Then, he felt a tiny shock at the center in between his eyebrows. When the shock disappeared, he found himself looking at a scene he had never seen before. It was a village at the top of a mountain. It was like an ancient palace. Fog in the air gave the whole village an ethereal feeling. Daniel had an impression that the buildings were built on the clouds. People were flying in and out of the village as if they were riding on rays of sunlight passing thought the clouds.
When he opened his eyes, suddenly the room became small and dull. He felt like he had just woken from a beautiful dream and wanted to go back again.

"Where was that?" he was still in shock. "And-how did you do that?"
"That's where I grew up," said Alverdine amiably. "Beautiful, isn't it? What I have done was just a little bit of magic."
"Who-who-are you?" Daniel felt like he was losing his mind, but he knew that what he had experienced was not a hallucination.
"I'm one of the people you just saw," Alverdine said slowly. "We are what people call immortals, and so are you."
Even though Daniel had prepared himself, he still thought that it was some kind of joke.
"What? No, I mean, I'm just a boy-I can't do magic like you do."
"Ah, but you do have powers you don't know of. They have been shielded by your father. It takes some time to open them and develop them-we are getting ahead of ourselves. First let's have some tea, shall we?" Alverdine opened his palms, and a tray with a teapot and cups appeared. He put them on the table, poured one cup for himself and one for Daniel.

Daniel knew that it was Alverdine's way of showing him his powers. Although he was still in shock, he knew that it was more than magicians could achieve. Suddenly all the worries that he had since last night seemed to melt away.
"You'll save my father, won't you?" he asked.
"I will do my best," said Alverdine slowly.
"But you're an immortal," Daniel exclaimed. "You'll save him before anything happens to him, right?"
"Sorry, Daniel. I don't think I can promise that-yes, I'm more powerful than mortals, but in this case, we're not dealing with mortals."
"I tried to get here before anything happened," said Alverdine. He didn't go on to tell what prevented him from getting here on time.

All of a sudden, Daniel realized that he couldn't just wait for others to find his father. He had to do something-it was his responsibility now. He searched frantically inside his head whether there was anything he could do. Then he remembered what Alverdine had said trying to convince him that his father was still alive.
"Could the lifeline of my father lead us to him?" asked Daniel. "You said that his lifeline is strong and you could sense it."
"That's a very good question," said Alverdine with an encouraging smile. "But the line is not directional. As far as I'm concerned, I cannot do it, and I don't know anyone that is capable of doing it."
"How about the imprints of the people who took him. Shouldn't they tell you something?"
"Normally yes, but they were very good at erasing all the traces. The only thing that I could pick up was the cold-I think it was left as a challenge. What they have done requires a powerful mind and soul."

Daniel felt very disappointed but didn't say anything. The only consolation was that his father was safe in a sense. He had a feeling that Alverdine knew exactly what he felt.
"I will help you find your father, but I don't think it can be done in a short period of time."
"Now let's decide what we are going to do with you," said Alverdine, as if he had just finished one topic and was moving to the next one in a lecture.
"You can come with me or you can stay here. I think your father wanted you to live as a mortal. It's your choice now. If you want to stay here, I can make sure you live in a nice home and are well taken care of."

It was the first time Daniel had to make such a big decision, but it didn't take long for him to make up his mind. Now that his father was gone, there was no point staying where he didn't really belong.
"I'll go with you," he mumbled.
"Are you sure?" asked Alverdine.
"Er-yeah, I-I'm sure," said Daniel.
"If it doesn't work out, I can always come back and be a mortal, can't I?" he asked on second thought.
"Yes you can, but it won't be easy." Alverdine seemed amused. "I think it's time for us to leave, we have a long way to go." With a wave of his hand, the tea tray disappeared.

They walked to the river outside of the town. The river was where Daniel spent a lot of time. It ran down from the mountains. The water was crystal clear. Trees covered both sides of the riverbanks. There were different kinds of fish living in the river and birds living in the woods. Daniel knew he was going to miss this place-it had been his home for as long as he could remember-but he knew somehow he was making the right choice.
"This suit is starting to bother me," said Alverdine. The next moment, he was in a long robe. He drew out a sword the size of a pen from the robe and released it. It floated in the air and grew bigger and bigger until it reached the size of a small boat.
"Hop on," Alverdine encouraged.

Daniel jumped on, afraid that his weight was going to bottom out the sword. Amazingly, the sword stayed in the air. Alverdine got on a second later.
"Hold my hand tight," said Alverdine. "Here we go."
The sword started at such a speed that Daniel almost fell off it; but at the same time, a wave of excitement rushed through his body. He had always wondered what it was like to be able to fly and to glide through the air like birds. He stretched out his free arm and felt the wind.

The river and the woods became smaller and smaller. The clouds were so close that he felt he could just reach out and touch them. Sunlight coming thought the clouds made things seem unreal. It was like he was underwater, and he was a dolphin cutting through the water. The air became colder and colder until his teeth began to chatter.
"I'm sorry," Alverdine turned around. He murmured some charm, and the next moment Daniel felt like he was in a bubble and all the cold air was blocked out.

The sword picked up speed. Looking down, Daniel could tell that they were basically following the river. The view was so much different from high above. It was like he became bigger. Soon they were at the point where the river met the sea. And for the first time, Daniel saw the ocean. Above them was the vast sky that stretched on and on, and below them was the ocean as big as the sky. There was no limit. Daniel suddenly felt a wave of seasickness-it had nothing to do with flying over the sea; it was what was lying ahead-he knew that he was scared, even though he didn't like to admit it.

*** The complete story can be found. Search by the book title.