by Suze Reese
“No!” I insisted. “What are you going to do? The whole football team is out there.”
Jesse stopped but didn’t turn to face me.
I sat next to Lacey and helped her sit up. “Are you okay? What happened?”
Jesse paced anxiously—towards the door, then back to me.
Lacey pulled at her shirt. Tears streamed down her face. “I don’t know. He was being so nice. I thought…I didn’t know…” A bubble formed on her lips and popped. She wiped at her dripping nose with the back of her hand.
“Did Nick do this?” Jesse demanded.
She shook her head. “I don’t know. There were lots of them. Like…five I think. They…they…were all laughing. One of them grabbed my shirt.” She pulled the blouse tight, curling herself forward. “I don’t know which one. Then all of a sudden they ran out. Except Nick. He just stood over me. Like he didn’t know what to do. Till you came.”
I stroked Lacey’s curly locks. “What do you want to do now? Do you want to go home?”
“We need to report this,” Jesse said.
“No. Please.” Lacey’s body swayed forward and back. “Don’t tell.”
“It’s okay,” I said.
“Do you know where Christian is? He was going to give me a ride home. Before I took off with Nick.” She looked around the room, pulling her shirt close. “I need…I can’t see him…like this.”
I looked to Jesse. He nodded in understanding and left to find Christian. I opened a locker left ajar and pulled out a t-shirt. It was football-player size. But it would keep her covered. When Jesse and Christian returned, they silently walked in front of the crowd—doing their best to block Lacey from the student body’s view—to the parking lot.
After Christian’s car pulled out of the parking lot, with Lacey safely inside, I checked my phone. I was almost an hour late. “I’ve got to get home.” I started in the direction of the sidewalk. “I can’t let you take me. My dad might see us.”
“Mira, stop.” Jesse called. His voice was subdued, but his anger clear. “Just stop.”
“I need to get home. My dad…”
He stayed in place, in the middle of the parking lot. “I can’t keep doing this.”
“Jesse, please. Not right now.”
“I understand you have things you can’t tell me. I’m trying to respect that. Really. But I just stopped a girl from being attacked for the second time in two weeks. I don’t know what’s going on. Or how you knew it was going to happen before it did. But I can’t just keep looking away.”
I checked behind me. To the sidewalk. I checked my phone for the time, and wondered how long Dad would wait before coming. Or streaming Mom. “You’re right,” I said. “Absolutely right. It’s just…not that simple. I don’t think it was Nick’s fault. I think Everett manipulated it somehow.”
He watched me. Waiting for more.
“Yesterday, when you saw him talking to me. He pretty much told me this would happen. I mean…it was a story about someone else, but it was exactly like this. He said to do the right thing. Made it sound like I should just be there for Lacey. But I think he meant I should stop seeing you.”
“I knew it.” He stepped close and wrapped his arms around me. Right in the parking lot. “I knew he wasn’t going to just leave you alone.”
I pushed on his chest, glancing to the sidewalk, and took a step back.
He dropped his arms to his sides. “Why didn’t you tell me about it yesterday?” he asked.
“You were upset…I was confused.”
He turned away.
I watched his back with a heaviness growing in my stomach. I was so anxious to get home, yet didn’t want to rush him. He’d been so patient with me.
“So what do we do now?” he finally said, still turned away. “Pretend it didn’t happen? Wait until he does it again?”
“I don’t know. I’m still figuring it out. For now though, I don’t want you to do anything.”
He turned to face me, and I longed to step back into his embrace. He looked over the parking lot, in the direction Christian and Lacey had just gone. “How much of this…” He motioned to me with his chin. “This distance we have to keep in public…is because of Everett?”
“None. Our relationship would have to be a secret even if there were no such thing as an Everett. Whatever’s going on with him is totally separate from my secrets.”
He looked down and kicked a rock. “And will you let me help you figure it out? The Everett part of your mystery?”
“Yes. I promise.” I restrained myself from reaching out to touch his cheek. “Now I really need to get home. My dad won’t understand.”
“Have you called him? To tell him you’re running late?”
“Oh, yeah. Good idea.” I doubted if streaming would do any good. But maybe I could stall him.
Jesse’s gaze went to my pocket.
I sent out a stream while digging for the phone.
Jesse watched me, still waiting for me to use the phone.
I put my phone away and took a wide step to the side, increasing the distance between me and Jesse. “I have to go,” I said. “I’m going to walk. Please don’t follow.”
Jesse looked towards the sidewalk where my gaze had just been. “He doesn’t look like a monster.”
“He’s not.” I took another step away. “Please,” I pleaded.
“I could just meet him. Right now.”
“No.” I shook my head adamantly and moved further away. “Call me tonight. After ten.”
“So I guess we’re not done with the secrets then?”
There was no time to answer. I turned and ran to the sidewalk where Dad was approaching. “Dad! Hi!” I could feel Jesse’s gaze on my back. Could see that Dad was watching Jesse. I continued past him without slowing, in the direction of home.
Dad turned to follow. “Who is that human male?”
I started to say he was my supervisor. But if by chance he’d seen the hug I’d be banned from work. “He was helping somebody,” I said, desperately hoping I was far enough away that he couldn’t sense my deception. Or that I didn’t sound as lame as I suspected. “A girl at the school. Some stupid kid tried to attack her. He was just there. Helped her find a ride home. We both did.”
“Is she all right? The female?”
“Yes. She’s fine. It was scary though.” It was true enough. But I hoped it would explain the hug, just in case he’d seen it.
“He must be better behaved than most.”
I glanced at him and wondered if I should worry. “I guess,” I said.
***
During dinner, I told my parents more about the attack. A carefully edited version of it anyway. I left out most mention of Jesse. And emphasized how I suspected Everett of setting it up. I didn’t mention that I was no longer convinced he had any special abilities. This version made it sound like I was making progress.
“I vehemently disapprove of this situation.” Dad put a spinach leaf in his mouth, his eyes fiery with anger.
“It’s a good thing you’re going home. I’m going to include the dangerous environment at the school in the official report,” Mom said.
“It’s really not that bad,” I said. “It’s just Everett.”
“Mmm. I see.” Mom exchanged glances with Dad. “So tell me about this Lacey,” she said, conveniently changing subjects. “Is she a good friend?”
“She’s been nice to me. That’s all.”
“And the boy? The one that helped?”
I pushed my chair back, not trusting my ability to deflect my emotions on this particular topic. I stood to fill my water glass. Tried
to stay calm. “Same thing.” I kept my voice casual. “He’s just a kid at school. He’s nice.”
“Her heart has always been large,” Dad said.
“Yes. But Keddil worried that trait would get her into trouble,” Mom shot back. “That she’d be too quick to make friends.”
“He was also apprehensive about her curiosity. But that was appealing to the selection committee,” Dad said.
“She’s right here,” I said.
“Oh, I’m sorry,” Mom said. “We just aren’t sure what to do. We don’t want you getting into any more trouble.”
“It’s a matter of your security,” Dad added.
I took a sip of water and looked from Dad’s face to Mom’s. Then realized they were considering keeping me home for the rest of the week. Not even sending me to work. “Please.” I took a step towards them. “I’ll be careful. I’m so close to finding something. But I need more freedom…not less. I’ll never learn anything if I’m stuck in the house.”
Mom shook her head. “Those human males…”
“Those human males are jerks. But they’re basically harmless. I’ve had my training. I’ll be fine.”
Mom continued to look unhappy. But she didn’t respond. Dad looked sympathetic. I told myself to stay optimistic. Parents frequently leave a reluctant ‘yes’ unspoken. They remained quiet long enough that I knew they were streaming. When Dad nodded, I touched my forehead to each of theirs, then slipped out of the kitchen before they had time to change their minds. I went to my bedroom and turned on my memory of Jesse’s song. If I’d been in my old room I would have programmed lights to dance on the walls. But I had to settle for the plain eggshell white.
I checked the clock—two hours until Jesse should call. I didn’t like the idea of texting him. If I couldn’t be close, I wanted to at least hear his voice. Unfortunately, I couldn’t talk out loud until my parents went to bed, which they always did by nine forty-five.
I sent a text message to Lacey, asking how she was. Then opened the agency file on Dr. Alison that I’d downloaded before leaving Nreim. The odds of finding anything in the doctors’ files were worse than I cared to think about. Agents had been reviewing them for years. But I was out of ideas. If Everett was just a jerk…then there wasn’t anything to be learned from him or his file. Ground-breaking evidence on the Stones was the only thing that could buy me time.
After several minutes, Lacey sent a reply. >>I’m doing better. Christian’s still here.
I returned a text that told her to call if she wanted to talk, then went back to searching through the doctor’s files. But even cryptic text messages provided more information than what I got out of the reams of Stone files. It would take months for one person to review everything in detail.
At precisely ten o’clock my cell phone rang. I snatched it, pressing it to my ear. “Jesse.”
“So can we pick up where we left off?” Not even a greeting.
I blinked, trying not to feel offended. “Where was that?”
“Everett.”
I rolled onto my back and imagined twinkling lights floating across the ceiling. “Do we have to?”
“He’s dangerous. And he’s obviously obsessed with you.”
“Then I’ll just need to keep my distance—”
“He’s in every one of your classes.”
“—and keep a list of everything suspicious he does. When it’s big enough I’ll take it to the authorities.”
“I think what he did to you at the party is suspicious enough.”
“Yeah…well…I wasn’t exactly supposed to be at the party.”
Jesse was quiet. “Your parents,” he said with a sigh.
“My parents.”
“I don’t like it.”
I rolled onto my stomach. Pictured his face. “I like you.”
“I…Mira…you’re—”
“So tell me about your little brothers.” I closed my eyes, smiling. “What are they like?”
“You’re changing the subject.”
“Yep. Quite skillfully. Are you going to tell me or not?”
Jesse sighed again. “Well…half the time they’re so obnoxious I can’t stand being in the same room with them. And the other half they can talk me into doing just about anything for them.”
“Yeah? Like what?”
“Let’s see…I make a pretty incredible garbage truck.”
“A garbage truck?” I pushed myself onto my elbows, resting my chin in my hands. “How does that work?”
“Picture me on all fours, with one pest on my back using my hair like gear shifts and the other dumping toys on my head.”
I laughed out loud at the image.
“Of course, they haven’t done that in a few years. Lately it’s just tame things like video games and basketball.”
“I bet you miss those times.”
“Yeah. Funny enough I kind of do.”
Hours passed before I noticed fatigue in Jesse’s voice. The questions came so easily when I wasn’t distracted by being close. I curled up in my bed after saying goodbye and resumed my review of memories from Dr. Tom’s classes. Each one so much like the other. Basic biology lectures taught by a basic teacher. At some point in the long night I fell asleep. I only knew because I was awakened by a live stream with an urgent message.
The green numbers of my digital clock said it was 4:57. I closed my eyes and let my head sink back into my pillow.
I pulled the blanket over my head. As if that would help.
She used the same stiff voice she’d started with.
I spoke just to shut her up.
I rolled over, wrapping myself in the blanket, and punched at the pillow to make it fit my neck.
I rolled onto my back, kicking away my cocoon of blankets.
I blinked the sleep out of my eyes and accepted the files. There were two. The first was an official-looking agency document, similar to the ones I’d been reviewing. The second was a collection of Earth newspaper articles.
In the following early morning hours I read every word of the files Geery sent. The written words of the newspaper clippings were especially tedious to wade through. The only connection they seemed to have to one another was that they were all recorded in a three-month time period, a couple of years before I was even born. And I couldn’t find any connection to either me or Geery. There was nothing covert or suspicious in the official document—just a record of Dr. Tom’s daily routine that appeared to be a duplicate of the official file. I was beginning to wonder if they’d been sent by mistake when my cell phone vibrated. I checked my clock and was surprised to see it was already ten o’clock. Dad hadn’t even called me for breakfast. I pushed the green button.
“Hey beautiful.” It was Jesse.
<
br /> I rubbed my eyes and trembled at the word beautiful. I glanced at the bedroom door, curled myself into a ball on the bed, and put my hand over the mouth piece. “Hey,” I whispered.
“Have you been to see Becca lately?”
“Umm…Becca? Not yet.”
“I think you should visit her today.”
“Yeah?”
“Soon,” Jesse said. “Like now.”
I partially sat up, alarmed. “Is she okay?”
“I think so. Probably. But I bet she misses you.”
I curled back up and resumed whispering. “You’re calling to tell me Becca misses me?”
“Yeah.”
“That’s…different.”
“Thanks. So are you gonna go or not?”
“Yeah…sure.”
“Good. Ten minutes.”
Ten minutes. There was only one reason he would give me a time limit. I jumped out of bed, scrambled to find my shorts and a t-shirt, brushed my teeth, and ran a comb through my hair. I didn’t slow down until I approached the kitchen—and Dad. “I’m going over to see Becca,” I called out—then dashed for the door before he could respond. He didn’t open a stream so I figured I was good.
When Becca’s brother came to the door, I first noticed an incredible aroma drift out of the house—some form of food I hadn’t yet experienced. My eyes focused into the dark house. I was only mildly surprised to see Jesse sitting at the kitchen table, looking incredible in baggy shorts and an oversized sweatshirt. He must have parked his car around the corner. His thoughtfulness continued to astound me.
“Mira!” Becca jumped up and ran to me. “Jesse came to see me!” With her hair cropped close to her head, Becca looked even more vulnerable than she had on the day she’d shown up on my porch with the bee sting.
“I see that.” I bent down and hugged Becca. My gaze locked on Jesse’s grinning face. His piercing blue eyes framed by silken strands of ebony. My smile was ridiculous, I knew. I was ridiculous. But I didn’t care. “How nice of him.”
“Join us?” He motioned to a board game on the table.
“If you’ll show me how.”