by Alex Hayes
Dean drops his hands to his knees as he leans forward. “What’s up?”
“You guys need to see this.”
I glance at Dean and we head outside.
Ty sits cross-legged on a deck chair studying his phone.
Idris crouches beside him. “You okay playing that video you showed me to Dean and Cadi?”
Ty shrugs and taps his phone a couple of times, then holds out the device.
44
Dean
I take Ty’s phone and hold it up so Cadi can watch with me.
A video of Ty in his bedroom playing his guitar begins. He starts singing and the lyrics are great. I’m jazzed, ready to lay on the compliments when a shout interrupts the music.
There’s a bang as the bedroom door flies open and Dad struts in. “What’s wrong with you, kid? Are you deaf? I said, stop making that fucking noise!”
Ty jumps off the bed and yanks out his earbuds, but there’s nothing he can do to quell the storm. Dad yanks the guitar out of Ty’s hands, then shoves him in the chest. My brother bangs into the bedroom wall and stumbles sideways, falling over the laundry basket.
Almost out of camera view, the guitar hits the floor, and we watch as Dad pounds the fallen instrument with his foot.
At the edge of the screen, Mom is just visible, leaning on the doorframe, arms folded. The frown on her face says she’s pissed.
As Dad storms past her, she rolls her eyes. “How many times have I told you to keep the noise down, Ty? Now go to bed.” She pulls away from her resting place and swings the bedroom door shut.
Anger floods through every nerve. My fingers curl with the urge to pound something. Then I feel a nudge. My eyes meet Cadi’s. Hers are bright.
I throw her a deep frown. “What?”
“Proof,” she says.
Shit. She’s right. Brandon Williams said the burden of proof was on my shoulders, and Ty’s video just proved both Dad’s and Mom’s behavior were way out of line.
After sending myself the video file, I hand the phone back and give Ty a quick hug. “You get the hero badge today, Tiger.”
Ty’s head shifts to one side and he smiles.
It’s late afternoon by the time we’ve eaten a meal. Cadi and Idris head out front to clean up the total devastation left in the wake of our battle with the Evatenon.
Ty seems happy to practice piano, while I sit at the kitchen table with Shri and the Jacobsens, and tell them what’s really been going on at home.
When I’ve run out of words, Tom leans back in his seat and rubs his chin. “Seems to me your plan to gain custody of Ty is the right thing to do. If you need financial assistance…” He glances at Mrs. Jacobsen, who meets his gaze and smiles. “We’ll be glad to support you, but you talked about college in the fall. How do you plan to manage that while being responsible for your brother?”
The crux of the matter and he didn’t waste time getting there.
I meet his eyes. “I think it’s best I delay college.” I glance at Shri. “For at least a semester. Maybe a full year. Ty needs a home where he feels safe. Once the legal issues are straightened out, and assuming I win custody, then I can figure out how to move ahead with school.”
Tom looks thoughtful. “Well, you know how we took Cadi under our wing. She was in a difficult situation, moving from place to place, but she seems happy here.”
“Yeah,” I agree. “I’m glad she landed on her feet with you guys.”
Tom smiles, making the skin around his eyes crinkle up. “We welcomed Cadi into our lives and we’re glad we did.”
“We love her very much,” Mrs. Jacobsen adds.
“So,” Tom continues, “we’d like to propose that you consider joining us here too. And when you’re ready to go to college, Ty’s welcome to stay on with us. Your call, of course, but there’s a home here for both of you, as long as you need one.”
I can’t abandon my brother, even if I have to raise him by myself, but the idea of being part of a family and not facing that task alone is a godsend.
I purse my lips. “What about Cadi? She might not take kindly to Ty and me staying on permanently.”
Mrs. Jacobsen sighs. “I don’t think she’ll have a problem with your staying, Dean. I know she’s been a little unsettled since you got here.”
A little? As much as I want to, I don’t roll my eyes. “About what exactly?” I thought I knew, but now I’m not so sure.
A gentle smile settles on Mrs. Jacobsen’s face. “About how she felt in light of everything that happened between you two. She’s not used to having friends, Dean, and the prospect of a romance was more than she was ready for. Giving up her trust in you offered her an escape.”
I sigh, then chuckle. “Yeah, well, after today… Jeez, who would’ve guessed the whole alien thing.” I glance at Shri. “But I think, maybe, we’re both ready to move on.”
Shri’s beautiful smile shines back as her fingers curl over mine under the table. “So what do you think about the Jacobsens’ offer?”
I glance around at the others. “That Ty loves it here and I’d be crazy to say no.”
She leans in to give me a hug, and murmurs, “Good call.”
Yeah. Definitely a good call. Now all I have to do is get up the guts to call Mom and tell her we’re not coming home.
Cadi and Idris return from their tasks outside. Idris used the alien super weapon to cremate their carer, Mr. Scrim, and vaporize the damaged vehicles, while Cadi organized the broken pieces of the barn and storage shed into piles using her telekinesis.
While they disappear for a nap, Mrs. Jacobsen shows Rowan to a guest room. Shri takes off for a shower, and once I’ve checked on Ty, I jog upstairs to do the same.
Clean and dressed, I sit on the edge of my bed and contemplate the screen on my phone. The sooner I get this over with, the sooner I can move forward. Whether that means ignoring Mom’s calls until I get a lawyer involved, only time and her reaction will tell.
I dial Mom’s number. The phone rings six times and goes to voicemail. I huff, hang up and dial again.
Same deal. No answer.
When the phone goes to voicemail a third time, I start talking. “Hey, Mom… We’re not coming back. I know I promised we would, but the way things are… It’s just not going to work. I’ll call you again tomorrow morning. Please don’t try to reach me because I won’t be available until then. Bye.” I disconnect and switch off the phone.
After blowing out a deep sigh, I head to Shri’s room and tap lightly.
Her door swings open, and she stands before me, wearing the silver-gray sweat pants and tight blue T-shirt she wore the first time I saw her dressed in something other than black.
And god, she looks hot.
“Hey.” She steps aside to let me in.
I catch a gleam in her eyes as she closes the door.
“Nice outfit,” I murmur, sliding my hands around her bare waist.
“Glad you like it.”
My mouth captures hers as I press her gently against the door.
“So, did you make the call to your mom?” she asks, a good while later.
I nod. “No answer, of course. She’s probably passed out on the couch by now. I mean, it’s almost five o’clock. I left a message, said I’d call in the morning.” Meaning when she’s most likely to be sober. “My phone’s off, so we’ll be talking on my terms, not hers.”
Shri gives me a tight hug. “Maybe you should call that lawyer in the morning before you talk to your mom.”
“Good thinking. Probably better Mom doesn’t know what I’m planning to do until I actually do it.”
Shri tilts her head. “You never know, you might find your mom’s more willing to work with you than against you.”
“Yeah, let’s hope.” I pull her close and tuck my face into her neck.
She smells of something floral and a little bit spicy. I smile to myself. If flowers and spice don’t describe Shri perfectly, then I don’t know what does.
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sp; 45
Cadi
“So what about those memories Mr. Scrim gave you?” Shri says, glancing over her shoulder at Idris as we head down the trail leading to the crystal cave.
Rowan walks ahead, carrying a red box containing Mr. Scrim’s ashes and setting the pace with the Jacobsens beside her.
After our battle with the Evatenon, I expected Mama and Papa to be more concerned about bringing the other Livran kids here, but oddly, they seem more eager than ever.
Behind them, Ty zigzags along the trail with Pepper on a leash, and I wonder at the wisdom of trying to keep our processional somber and this dog sedate. He’d be so much happier chasing sticks.
“I didn’t get that many coherent memories,” Idris says as we follow Shri and Dean. “Mr. Scrim was in control of the transfer and which memories I received, but his mind wasn’t too clear. I got how to care for the crystal tree and a bunch of procedures for selecting crystals. Then some stuff on childrearing—”
I chuckle.
He glances at me. “What?”
“You and childrearing.”
He squeezes my hand. “Don’t worry, sweets, I’ll be sharing that wealth of knowledge with you.”
“But anything about the other kids like you?” Shri presses.
Idris shrugs, but I sense his frustration at not knowing more concerning their whereabouts. “A few faces and places. Nothing specific or obviously trackable.”
Dean twists to look at us, his fingers gripping Shri’s. “That sucks.”
Idris narrows his eyes and stares through the trees, like his thoughts are elsewhere. “I have more sifting to do. The closer Mr. Scrim came to dying, the more fragmented his memories became, as if his pain interrupted transmission.”
He pulls in a breath and lets it go slowly. “Guess I’m lucky I got what I did. But we need to find the others soon. If every Evatenon has a crystal detector like the one we found, then those kids could be in serious danger.”
I wonder how easy that’s going to be without the information from Mr. Scrim’s phone. But Idris is right about the urgency. Not only are they in danger from the Evatenon, they no longer have Mr. Scrim around to come to their rescue like he did so often for me.
Arriving at the crystal cave, we assemble outside. I use my telekinesis and push the rock cover away from its entrance.
One thing Idris did discover was that the earthquakes we felt were caused by the crystal tree taking root. And since that happened, people other than Livran can enter the cave.
This will be the ar’n bala’s first showing, and in preparation, I blocked off the passage between the crystal cave and the black bears’ den to be sure our families don’t disturb each other.
Over the past few days, the tree has started to bud. Its bubblegum pink has mellowed to a more pleasant maroon and delicate stalks have sprouted to support its crystal blooms.
We enter to the sparkle of a thousand blossoms that light the cave ceiling like a planetarium dome.
Mama gasps. “How lovely!”
Yeah, the baby crystals sure are, and the one embedded in my chest loves to come here and bask in the restorative power of the ar’n bala collective.
Mr. Scrim would have been pleased at how well the tree is growing.
In his honor, Idris reels off the Livran well-wishing for the dead in our own language. Then Rowan scatters the carer’s ashes across the cave floor, so his body can live on, through the crystals, just as his memories will live on, through Idris.
As we stare up at the glimmering gems, Idris, standing behind me, wraps his arms around my hips and cups my belly, one palm over the other. I wonder if he’s thinking ahead to the future, to a day when my belly is round and filled with one of the first generation of Livran to be born on Earth.
The crystals of the ar’n bala tree pulse a few times, and a warmth rises from my crystal.
“What was that?” I murmur to Idris.
He clears his throat. “Um…”
“What?” I needle him gently with an elbow.
“The ar’n bala was welcoming a new Livran to its fold.”
I lean into his shoulder, and murmur, “What does that mean exactly?”
He presses his lips to my ear, and whispers, “Well, given Rowan hasn’t met her bond mate yet, I’d have to guess it’s referring to a new Livran growing in your—”
I gasp. The future may be coming much sooner than I expected.
The Golden Thread
A Chameleon Effect Novella
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