by K. J. McPike
“How do you guys get down here?” I asked.
“There’s a passage through one of the houses above us.” Paris winked at me, and I felt my eyebrows raise. They had quite the setup.
The singing grew closer, and a girl who looked like she’d just stepped off the cover of a fashion magazine walked in. She had thick, shiny black hair cascading past her shoulders and tan skin that complemented her lime green sweater dress perfectly. She carried a backpack on one shoulder, the favored strap decorated with pins of various sizes.
Her singing cut off when she spotted us.
“Come say hi to our newest members,” Paris called out, waving her over.
“Hi.” The girl approached slowly, her cat-like eyes scanning each of us. I couldn’t help but notice that she took a little longer with Kai. Her gaze moved up and down his body twice, and a pang of annoyance flared inside me. She noticed that I’d caught her checking him out and looked away immediately.
“Bianca, meet Kai, Kala, Lali, Oxanna, Dixon, and Ulyxses.” Paris pointed us out one by one, and I couldn’t help but fidget. Hearing our names listed without Salaxia’s sounded wrong; we were supposed to come as a package deal. But from now on, everyone we met wouldn’t know we were missing someone. Something inside me withered at the thought.
“Nice to meet you.” Bianca gave us a closed-mouth smile. She didn’t ask what we were doing at The Hill or where we’d come from. Given that there were orphaned kids living here, she probably assumed the worst. “Are you guys semmies, too?”
I nodded.
“Do you have your ability yet?” Oxanna asked, though her tone sounded more challenging than curious.
“Yeah.” Bianca looked around the room quickly, seeming to find something before looking back at my brothers. Closing her eyes, she held out an empty palm. The next second, a book appeared there.
The rest of us gasped.
“You…” Kala looked between Bianca and the book three times before finishing, “are telekinetic?”
“She can project objects.” Paris gave Bianca a look I couldn’t read, and Bianca quickly set the book on the table. Though the girl had on a thick layer of makeup, I could have sworn I saw her blush. I wondered if it had to do with showing off her ability. But the rule only said not to use them against anyone.
“So you’re staying in the shared rooms?” Bianca asked in a not-so-subtle attempt to change the subject.
“Oh, I’m sorry, kids.” Paris thumped the base of her hand against her forehead. “I meant to show you the bunk rooms. They’re between my bedroom and the bathroom. They’ve got a few extra beds, but I’m not sure we’ll have enough for everyone. We do have a small air mattress, though.”
“I don’t mind sleeping on the couch,” I said.
“Me neither,” Kai agreed, speaking for the first time since we’d all gotten cleaned up. “That thing is big enough for three of us.” He was right; the two longer sides of the couch were pretty much the length of twin beds, and the piece connecting them could fit another person if he or she curled up.
Paris smiled. “Well, we’ll get you situated one way or another. Come on, I’ll show you which beds are up for grabs.”
Kala, Oxanna, and my brothers followed Paris into the hall. Kai started after them, too, but I caught his arm.
“Hey, can I talk to you for a sec?” I asked.
Kai’s face lifted in surprise, but he nodded. “Yeah, sure. What’s up?”
I looked at Bianca in a silent plea for space, and she shifted her weight. “I’ll, um, go put my stuff away.” She looped her fingers around the strap of her bag and scurried after the rest of the group.
“Is something wrong?” Kai winced at his own question and shoved his hands into the pockets of his too-loose jeans. “I mean, other than the obvious.”
“I actually wanted to ask you the same question,” I said. “I wanted to make sure you were okay. You know, with staying here and seeing your dad and everything.”
He inhaled loudly. “Yeah, I’m okay.”
“Are you sure? I know it’s a lot, and if you don’t want to stay here, I get it.”
“It’s fine. I’ll deal.” The words came out clipped, and he seemed to realize it a beat too late. “Thanks, though,” he added, gentler that time. “I appreciate that you care, especially with everything you’re going through.” He paused to study my face. “How are you holding up?”
I bit down on my tongue, staring absently at the chipped wood of the floor. “I don’t know. I think I’m still trying to catch up with everything. I think we all are.”
Unfortunately, the more I tried to catch up emotionally, the more tempting it was to consider pulling Salaxia from another timeline. It was wrong and horrible to consider, but the reality of not having her hit me more with every passing minute. I didn’t know if I could handle it as a permanent feeling. At least when Mom had disappeared, I had a stubborn seed of faith that she might come back. With Salaxia, I didn’t even have that. She was just gone.
“I get that,” Kai said. “If you ever need to talk—”
“Are you guys coming or what?” Oxanna appeared in the doorway looking impatient. The annoyance in her eyes tugged at me. She started getting short with everyone after Mom left too, but we were finally starting to see the old Oxanna return now that we had gotten our mother home again. But after everything we’d just been through, I wouldn’t have been surprised if the angry version of my sister came back tenfold.
I needed to talk to her and my brothers. We hadn’t exactly had a lot of time to check in with each other, and I was sure they had a lot they needed to let out. I knew they hoped we might find a timeline where Salaxia needed us to save her, but on some level, they had to know that wasn’t likely. Maybe Paris knew a counselor we could all talk to. Even if we couldn’t tell someone all the details of what happened, we could still use some tips for coping with loss.
“Hello?” Oxanna waved her hand from the entryway. “Paris said we can rotate who gets a bed, but if you don’t hurry up, I’m telling her you’re sleeping on the couch permanently.”
I cringed. While I appreciated that we had somewhere safe to stay for now, there was no way I was going to let any of us stay here permanently. I refused to let my other siblings down the way I’d let Salaxia down. I would get them back to the right timeline if it killed me.
“We’re coming,” I said, glancing at Kai. I was sure he was just as eager to get out of here as I was. And we were definitely getting out of here. If nothing else kept me going, that thought would.
Gritting my teeth, I straightened up and trotted after Oxanna.
Chapter 16
Friends
I leaned my back against the bottom bunk’s wooden frame and looked Oxanna, Dixon, and Ulyxses in the eye one by one. They sat facing me, leaning against the similar pair of beds on the opposite wall. Other than the threadbare area rug we’d claimed, the girls’ shared bedroom didn’t offer anything in the way of seating. But I needed to talk to my family in private, and this was all we had to work with.
Though I wanted to discuss our options for getting back to our proper timeline in case things with Sariah didn’t work out, I had to check in with them emotionally first. Maybe it was part of my big-sister complex, but I couldn’t help seeing it as my responsibility to try and keep them sane. The first step was talking.
“What’s this about?” Oxanna tilted her head to the side like she’d rather be anywhere else in the world.
“I just wanted to see how you guys are holding up.” Thankfully, I managed to keep my voice even. I needed them to know they could lean on me if they needed to. “We haven’t really had a minute to talk since the attack.”
Oxanna rolled her eyes. “Talking isn’t going to fix anything. Action would have fixed it. We could have gotten Sal back, but you went all Mother Teresa on us and ruined everything.”
I felt her words like a slap in the face. “Oxie—”
“Forget it. Talking about it is a
waste of time. It happened. End of story.” She got to her feet and left the room without another word.
I drooped against the wood frame at my back. I didn’t know why I expected any other reaction from my sister. She’d never been big on talking about feelings.
“Do you guys think that, too?” I looked at my brothers’ identical faces. Ulyxses had gone almost as white as the cinderblock. “Do you think I ruined everything?” Saying the words stirred something inside me, reiterating that I thought it about myself. How could I blame Oxanna for feeling that way?
“I understand why you didn’t want to take Sal from another family,” Ulyxses said softly. “I’m sure Oxie does, too, even if she doesn’t want to admit it.”
“It just sucks.” Dixon picked at the hem of his borrowed jeans without looking up. “Having powers is supposed to make life better, not worse.”
I sighed, wishing more than anything that I could take his pain away—take everyone’s pain away—even if it was just for a day.
You could get rid of their pain if you went and got Salaxia back. The thought showed up uninvited, and I winced.
“I’m gonna find a video game or something,” Dixon muttered, standing up. “I don’t wanna talk anymore. Oxie’s right; it doesn’t fix anything.”
Ulyxses and I watched him walk out, and I ran my hands over my face. Clearly, I had no future in counseling. I couldn’t even get everyone to sit down for five minutes.
“And then there were two.” Ulyxses turned back to me, his thick brows raised. “Do you need to talk? You always act like you’re not going through the same stuff we are, but you’re allowed to admit that you’re hurting, too.”
I held my breath for fear of what would come out if I answered that question. I just pulled my lips over my teeth and shook my head. This wasn’t how this conversation was supposed to go. I was supposed to be offering support to my younger siblings, not the other way around.
Ulyxses moved across the room to sit next to me, resting his side against the base of the bunk bed so he faced my direction. “You know, it’s pretty hard convincing people to do something you won’t do yourself.”
Fair point. Maybe I needed to start leading by example. Maybe if I told them how I was feeling, it would make them more comfortable sharing how they felt. I just didn’t want them to think I was too fragile to be there for them if they needed someone to lean on. But I also had to let them know it was okay if they did need someone to lean on.
“You’re probably right,” I said, reaching out to run a hand over his buzzed hair. “You always were the smart one.”
“Someone has to be the brains of the family.”
I snorted. “Now you’re getting carried away.”
“Well, they say laughter’s the best medicine.” He lifted a shoulder and let it drop back down. “Our family needs a lot of medicine.”
“Tell me about it.”
He sniffed the air at the same time I noticed the pepperoni smell drifting toward us. “I guess Bianca’s pizza bites are done,” he said.
“Guess so.”
Bianca had taken charge of making a snack for the other kids while Paris went to the store to pick up some extra groceries now that she had six more mouths to feed.
“Well, it would be rude not to have some.” Ulyxses got to his feet and dusted off the pants that he’d had to roll up four times just to make them fit. “Come on.” He tugged my arms to pull me up. “If laughter doesn’t work, pigging out usually does.”
I sniffled, wrapping my arms around him. “I love you, Lyx.”
“Love you, too.”
We walked out of the bedroom and turned down the hall that connected with the kitchen. Dixon and Oxanna were already there, pulling small plates and glasses out of the cabinet as Bianca removed a sheet pan from the oven. Kai and Kala wiped down the table in the next room.
“Oh, good.” Bianca smiled when she saw us, somehow managing to make an old striped apron and oven mitts look fashionable. “Everyone’s going to be home soon, and they’ll be excited to meet you.”
I made myself smile, but after reading the don’t-use-your-powers-against-each-other rule, I couldn’t help but be a little nervous.
Hanging the oven mitts on one of the drawer handles, Bianca swiped a stray hair back into her messy bun and winked at Ulyxses. “Want to help pour out the milk?”
“Sure.”
All of us joined forces to dish out the pizza bites and set up the table. We’d just finished setting out the last place when the sound of excited chatter carried down the side hall. Nerves balled in my stomach as I exchanged glances with Oxanna and my brothers, and I fought the urge to roll my eyes at myself. These people weren’t going to hurt me. I had no reason to be on edge about meeting them.
Still, I tensed as a tall, skinny boy and a little girl walked in holding hands. Their hair was the same shade of auburn, but where hers was shoulder-length and twisted into two braids, his was shaved on the sides and so long at the top that it dipped over the front of his glasses. The boy looked like he was close to my age—maybe a little older—but the girl must have been six or seven at most. Her panda-shaped backpack looked like it weighed more than she did.
Both stopped short when they saw us, and a blonde girl walked right into them. “Hey!” she protested. “Why’d you stop?” She peeked out from behind the boy, and her hazel eyes doubled in size. “Oh.” She let her messenger bag fall to the ground and hooked her thumbs under the straps of the cello case she carried on her back.
“Hi,” I offered weakly.
Bianca waved them over. “Guys, we have some new friends.”
“Friends?” Another boy with dark skin, prominent cheekbones, and closely cropped black hair stepped up beside them. He was about the same height as the blonde girl, and I would have guessed they were both in middle school. “From where?”
A flash of movement caught my eye as a tiny boy who barely looked old enough to be in school raced past the group and straight into Bianca’s arms. She hoisted him into the air so he could look at all of us, his big blue eyes sparkling as he grinned and waved at Kala.
Kala let out a soft laugh, and I realized that was the first time I’d heard the sound since I met her. “Hello.”
“Caleb doesn’t talk,” Bianca explained. “But he’s still very expressive.” She tickled him under the arms, and he let out a high pitched squeal.
“Where did you come from?” the oldest boy asked, his mouth puckering like he’d just bitten into a lemon as he scanned our group.
The girl with the two braids frowned and tugged her hand out of his so she could swat him. “He means hi and welcome. I’m Amber-Ann, and this is my brother, Elliot.” She jabbed a thumb toward the glowering boy.
“I’m Macy,” the blonde girl volunteered. “That’s Truman and Caleb,” she added, pointing to the boy next to her, and then to the child in Bianca’s arms.
“Nice to meet you all.” Not knowing what to do with my hands, I clasped them in front of me. “I’m Lali.”
The others went down the line introducing themselves, and Macy cocked her head to the side. “Why do you guys all have an x in your name?” She was looking at Oxanna and my brothers, but I was sure she would have included me in her curious stare if I had mentioned that my full name was Xitlali. “That’s cool, but kinda weird.”
“Tell me about it,” Ulyxses grumbled.
“Okay, everyone come have some pizza bites before they get cold.” Bianca grabbed a seat and settled Caleb in her lap, sliding a second plate in front of them.
“Yum!” Macy pulled the cello case off her back and leaned it against the pink coral reef painted on the wall. She claimed the closest free chair, and Amber-Ann and Truman took the ones beside her. The others settled in until there was only one seat left.
I gestured for Elliot to take it. “I had some of the stew not too long ago,” I said. “I’m not hungry.”
Elliot crossed his arms, making no move toward the chair. “I asked
where you all came from.”
“Oh. Um…” What was I supposed to say when Paris didn’t want us to tell them we’d traveled through time? “It’s kind of a long story.” My eyes shot to Kai, pleading with him to jump in. He was much better at thinking on his feet than I was.
“We were attacked at home,” Kai informed him. “We happened to meet Kole, and he brought us here.”
“Where are your parents?” Elliot pressed.
“Murdered.” Kai’s voice came out gruff, seeming to catch Elliot off guard. He didn’t clarify that he was only talking about his and Kala’s parents, and I had no intention of volunteering that information, either. It would be easier to let everyone think we had all been orphaned.
Elliot cocked his head to the side. “Where did you live before this?”
Ugh. Why was he being so nosy right off the bat? “We lived here,” I lied. “San Francisco, I mean.” Telling him we’d grown up in Virginia would only give him more questions.
“Sheesh, Elliot. You’re going to scare them away.” Bianca smiled at the rest of us and waved her hand dismissively. “He’s still working on his social skills.”
“So, you guys are staying here?” Macy asked around a pizza bite stuffed in one cheek. She sounded so eager, I couldn’t help but smile.
“At least for a little while,” I said.
We’ll see about that.
My head twitched toward Elliot. I could have sworn that was his voice, but his face stayed stoic, and no one else reacted. Had I imagined that?
“Are you semmies, too?” Truman looked between my siblings, Kai, Kala, and me, seeming oblivious to what I’d just heard.
“Yes,” Kala answered. “We are like you.”
Amber-Ann’s face lit up. “Do you have powers?”
“Yeah.” Dixon studied the girl as if he still wasn’t sure what to make of her. “Do you?”
Elliot dropped his bag on the ground with a loud thud. “Where’s Paris?” He still hadn’t made a move to come toward any of us, leaving the awkward empty chair untouched.
“She went to pick up some stuff for our new guests.” Bianca emphasized the last word as if to remind Elliot that he was supposed to be nice to us. “I’m sure she’ll be back any minute.” She gave Caleb a squeeze, making him giggle and squirm in her lap.