The Star Group

by Christopher Pike

  “Tell me what's happening,” I said.

  It was his turn to look embarrassed. “I know this will sound crazy, but when I sit here and close my eyes I’m able to see things far away.”

  “What are you talking about?”

  “I see things in my head. Things that I can't see when my eyes are open.”

  “How do you know these things are real?”

  “Because I can see them! They have to be real!”

  Mentor had mentioned that powers would manifest themselves.

  “Can I test your ability?” I asked.

  “I knew you were going to ask that. But don't give me a formal test, just go with me to see if the treasure is where I think it is.”

  “What treasure?” I asked.

  “Somebody buried a bag of gold dust a mile from here. I can see it. I can see it even underground!”

  I was doubtful. “Do you know how ridiculous you sound?”

  Jimmy was offended. “Ridiculous? You told us last night about an alien from another planet communicating with you via some sort of telepathy, and you say that l sound ridiculous?”

  He did have a point. “How are you going to dig up this treasure? We don't have a shovel.”

  Jimmy was already on his feet. “We won't need a shovel if I'm right. It's only three feet below the surface.”

  I stood and brushed off my pants. “If we find it do I get half?”

  Jimmy hurried down the side of the ledge. “No. Ten Percent.”

  I followed, not expecting to find anything. “You should be the business major in college, not Teri.”

  Jimmy led me a mile through the woods, maybe more. By the time we reached the spot, I was tired and thirsty. We had dead-ended against a rocky cliff, and there wasn't anything to mark the area as unique. Then Jimmy seemed to develop a confidence crisis. He passed up and down in front of the cliff while I caught my breath. The air was thinner here in the mountains. For a moment, as I held up my hand to shield my eyes from the sun, I thought I saw it turn slightly blue. But the effect lasted only a moment.

  Jimmy suddenly let out a howl.

  “I know where it is!” he said.

  “Where?”

  He pointed behind a brittle little bush. “There.”

  “If we dig there the roots will get in our way,” I warned.

  He was impatient with me and my attitude. “If we don't dig there we won't find the gold. Do you want your ten percent or not?”

  “I just wish we had a shovel,” I said, judging how hard the ground was.

  Jimmy scoured the area. “We'll find some stout branches. This will be money in our pockets. I don’t know why you're so negative.”

  “Probably because you can see the gold and I can’t.”

  We set to digging ten minutes later with a couple of thick sticks that were of questionable aid. The ground was gritty with tiny pebbles. We could use the points of the sticks to loosen the soil, but we still had to scrape it out of the way with our hands. Within minutes my fingernails felt like they were coming off. Jimmy was digging harder than myself, he actually had blood forming under his nails. I tried to stop him, to take a break, but he was like a man possessed.

  “You are such a wuss,” he said.

  I plopped back on my rear. “Call me anything you want. I just don't like pain.”

  He was feverish. “No pain, no gain, Danny Boy.”

  He had never called me that before.

  The last person to call me that had been Gale.

  “Jimmy?” I said.

  “Yeah? I think another foot and a half ought to do it.”

  “Can I ask you a personal question?”

  “Sure,” he said.

  “How well do you know Gale?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “I mean, do you know her better than I do?”

  “I don't know. I don't think so. You're right, I'm starting to hurt, too.”

  “Then stop, we can finish later,” I said.

  “No way, I want this now. Why are you asking about Gale?”

  “Well, I know you talk to her a lot.”

  “I never once told her you were interested in her. I told you I wouldn't.”

  “That s not what I'm asking. I was just wondering, you know, after Shena had her accident if you ever felt attracted to Gale?”

  That stopped Jimmy. He stared at me.

  “What kind of question is that?” he demanded.

  I shrugged diplomatically. “She's a pretty girl. I just wondered if you ever thought of doing something with her.”

  “Doing what with her?”

  “Nothing.”

  “Are you implying that I slept with Gale?”

  “No.”

  “Because if you are, you're pissing me off. I'm your friend. I wouldn't do that to you.”

  “I know that.” I hesitated. “But were you ever interested in her?”

  Jimmy averted his head.

  “No,” he muttered.

  “Jimmy?”

  He looked up. “What did she tell you?”

  “Nothing. I swear, I just got this weird feeling.”

  Jimmy needed to take a deep breath. “I asked her out once. Just once.”

  “When?”

  “I don't know. I think it was last summer.”

  “But you were going with Shena then.”

  “Maybe it was after that. I don't remember.”

  “But you were going with Shena after that.”

  He snapped. “I told you I don't remember! And I just asked her out, I didn't actually go out with her.”

  I spoke carefully. “Was it after Shena's accident?”

  He was far from comfortable. “Yeah, It wasn't long after.” Jimmy shook his head. “Shena was in the hospital and hating me. She wouldn't even take my calls. And Gale…she had been there that night. She had been through the horror with me. She could understand what I was going through. Could understand that I needed someone to talk to.”

  “You could talk to me.” I was thinking that during that time I had talked to him an awful lot about Gale, and consoled him while he wept about Shena. But he was absorbed in himself and kept shaking his head.

  “Gale was there. She helped me through a bad time.”

  “But you never went out?”

  He threw me a hard glance. “We did not go out.”

  My anger showed. “You mean like you didn't get a pass from the principal to screw her? Is that what you're trying to tell me?”

  Jimmy jumped up. “I don't have to take this crap from you.”

  I got up slowly. “You knew I was obsessed with her. You're a popular guy, you could have had any girl in school. Why did you have to hit on her?”

  He fought to control his temper. “Nothing happened between us. We just talked. You can ask her if you don't believe me. In fact, I don't care if you believe me or not. You have no right to accuse me.”

  “Nice speech. Friend.” I turned away. “Goodbye.”

  He grabbed my arm, panic showing on his face. His words spilled out.

  “Don’t go, Daniel.” He put his other hand on my shoulder. “I’m sorry, it was a lousy thing to do and I know it. But I didn't do it to hurt you, I did it because I was weak.”

  I held his eye. “What exactly did you do because you were weak?”

  He looked away, and I died a little right then.

  “Nothing,” he muttered.

  “You didn't sleep with her?”

  “No.”

  “You can tell me the truth. I would rather have the truth.”

  He stared down at his invisible buried treasure. “We just talked. Nothing more. I swear to you, Daniel. You have to believe me.”

  I stood there. Felt the hot sun. Felt my hot blood.

  “I believe you,” I said flatly.

  Jimmy was relieved. He patted me vigorously on the back.

  “Good. I'll give you twenty percent. Let's get back to digging.”

  I don't know why I conti
nued to help him. Maybe I thought if we dug deep enough, I could bury him in the hole.

  But we found the sack of gold dust at three feet.

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  MY WALK BACK TO THE CABIN TOOK MUCH less time than Jimmy’s. The bag of gold dust weighed at least forty pounds, and he insisted on carrying it. Fine with me. With the goods actually in his hands, I didn't know if he was reconsidering my percentage and I didn't care. I had a bad feeling about his new power and how he was using it.

  Gale, Teri, and Shena were sitting on the porch. Teri was wrapping sterile gauze around Gale’s hand, the sight of which immediately brought out the protective boyfriend in me. But the gifts laughed at my concern.

  “I slipped on loose gravel while we were out walking,” Gale explained. “It’s only a scratch. It's Teri who insisted on making a big deal of it.”

  “It's a pretty bloody scratch,” Teri said as she reached for white medical tape. “It was gross to clean the pebbles out of the flesh.”

  “Don't talk about flesh,” Shena said. She spoke to me. “Have you seen Jimmy?”

  I sat down, I was weary. “He's right behind me. But he couldn't keep up. He's carrying something heavy that he refuses to put down.”

  “What is it?” Shena asked.

  “A bag of gold dust,” I said.

  They stared at me. “What are you talking about?” Shena asked.

  “Jimmy and I dug up a forty-pound bag of gold dust.” I paused. “Jimmy woke up this morning with amazing powers. He says he can see things far off in the distance. I believe him. He sure could see the gold a long way off, and it was buried.”

  Teri frowned. “You're joking, right?”

  I sipped somebody's glass of lemonade.

  “I'm not,” I said. “That session we had last night has affected Jimmy and Sal in amazing ways. I ran into Sal while I was hiking. He said his injured knee is healed. At the same time he seems a lot stronger than he should be.”

  Gale looked worried. “Why do you say that?”

  “He was working out – as he called it – with stones I don't think he could have picked up yesterday.”

  Teri giggled. “Yeah, right. My boyfriend has turned into a superhero.”

  I leaned forward in my chair. “He has changed, Teri. You can talk to him about it when he returns. You can see Jimmy's bag of gold when he gets here. I’m not making these things up. They are facts. Now what I want to know is if any of you girls have noticed any differences. I quizzed you at breakfast, but that was awhile ago and maybe something has changed since then. Shena? Anything?”

  She considered. “I have felt sort of powerful since I woke up. Not that I can lift heavy stuff, but I do feel a kind of inner strength deep in my gut.”

  “Can you do anything you could not do before?” I asked.

  She shook her head. “No.”

  I turned to Teri. “How about you?”

  Teri laughed. “Oh. I can fly through the air now. I have X-ray eyes. How am I supposed to answer a question like that?”

  “Honestly,” I said. “Have you noticed any change since last night?”

  Teri hesitated. “No.”

  “Teri?” I insisted.

  “I feel a little different. I wouldn't say powerful, but I feel a charge in my body. I don't know what else to call it. But I assumed it was from sleeping in the mountain air. I sure can't work miracles or anything like that.”

  I looked at Gale. There was red showing through her bandage, she must have hurt her hand worse than she wanted to say. But what else didn't she want me to know? We had slept together the previous night but we had not made love because we were both zonked out. Sitting close to her now, it was hard not to reach and hug her and kiss her. She seemed to read my mind because she gave me a sweet smile.

  “I have sprouted wings,” she said.

  “You have always had wings.” I paused. “Anything different?”

  She considered seriously. “Like the others, I can't point to anything definite- But I woke up this morning feeling clear. Like a mental fog I had been carrying around for years was gone. Then, a few times today, I have known what someone was going to say before it was said.”

  “Intuition,” I muttered.

  “That's your department,” Gale said.

  I sat back and shook my head. “Mentor said powers would develop in each of us. Who's to say they cannot overlap?”

  Teri was doubtful. “You're saying what we did last night made a big difference?”

  “Yes,” I said.

  Gale sighed as she put her uninjured hand to her head.

  “I take back what I said a moment ago,” she said. “I don't feel so clear right now. When I slipped and fell I landed on my butt and I think the force jammed my spine into my skull. I feel a nasty headache coming on. It hurts much more than my hand.”

  Teri was sympathetic. She set down the medical tape and put her hand on Gale's forehead. Sal said Teri had the greatest hands in the world. According to him, she could give a massage like nobody else. Teri softly stroked Gale’s forehead while Gale sat back and closed her eyes.

  “You might want to lie down and rest,” Teri said soothingly.

  “Hmm,” Gale murmured. “That feels good.”

  “I'm sorry,” Shena said to me. “I don't know if that much happened for me last night. I liked listening to that guy you were talking for and all. I got real relaxed and felt peaceful. But then I think I passed out, I don't want to hurt your feelings, Daniel, but I didn't have any major revelations.”

  “You're not hurting my feelings. I didn't have any revelations, either.” I paused. “At least none that I can remember.”

  “So you don't feel any different?” Shena asked, and there was an edge to her question that I found odd. She was staring at me intently with her right brown eye. Her left eye, which had been permanently stained a yellow color, drooped off to the side. She was losing motor control in it, possibly from lack of use. It was difficult to sit beneath her scrutiny and not think about her face. Indeed, Shena was studying me closely; it made me uneasy.

  “I have a ton of images and feelings inside me that I can't put together,” I said carefully. “A part of me feels I glimpsed Mentor's home world last night. I know that rounds crazy, but that's how I feel.”

  Shena seemed disappointed. “What was it like?”

  I shrugged. “I can't remember.”

  Gale opened her eyes and sat up. Teri took back her hand.

  “I feel better,” Gale said suddenly.

  Teri smiled. “I'm glad.”

  Gale paused. “No. I mean, my head feels perfect.”

  Teri flexed her fingers. “Sal says I have the magic touch.”

  Gale put her uninjured hand to her head. “You sure do. It's amazing.”

  My girlfriend – dare I call her that? – seemed stunned.

  “What is it Gale?” I asked.

  Gale frowned. “Something changed in the last minute. It's weird, I can't…” She paused, and then began to unwrap her bandage. Teri tried to stop her.

  “Don't do that, dear,” Teri said. “You have to let it heal. It's a scratch but it can become infected just the same.”

  Gale shook her head. “I want to see it.”

  The blood on the bandage made me not want to look. I had never been good with blood, it always made me sick to my stomach to be around it. Yet I continued to watch because Gale was clearly confused about something.

  As she pulled the gauze away, we gasped.

  There was blood on her hand but only on the surface.

  Her scratches were gone.

  “Wow,” Gale said. “It healed.” She turned to Teri. “You healed it.”

  Teri pulled back and shook her head. “I didn't do anything.”

  “But I felt something when you had your hands on my head,” Gale said. “Like a mild current going into my brain. Then my headache vanished and my hand got better. You can see my hand with your own eyes. You know how bad it was cut.”<
br />
  Shena's eyes were huge. “Can this be true?”

  I tried to stay calm. “Did you notice any power flowing from your hands, Teri?”

  Teri obviously did not want to be anointed the next healing messiah.

  “No,” she stuttered. “I mean, yes, I felt something. But I have felt it before when I worked on Sal.”

  “What did you feel?” I asked.

  Teri shrugged. “Good old-fashioned vibes. I don't know what New Age people would call it. My hands always get warm if I rub someone. Only this time, when I had my hand on Gale's head, it got real hot. It felt like it was burning. I would have said something, but I didn't think it was significant.”

  “Your healing gift was probably latent,” I muttered. “Maybe all these gifts are latent. The session merely woke them up.”

  “I’m not a healer,” Teri protested. “I'm a teenage girl.”

  Shena stood, “Can you put your hands on me?”

  Teri stared at her uneasily. “Oh, honey, I can't help your face. I'm sorry, but I don't think that's possible.”

  Shena was animated. “Don't say that. You can help me. Gale had a bleeding wound and you healed it. My face has already healed. You just have to get rid of my scars, and fix my eye. I know you can do it.”

  Teri shook her head. “Don't ask me that.”

  Shena slammed her foot down. “You have to help me! Somebody has to help me!”

  I stood. “Shena. We have to examine this calmly.”

  She turned on me and her working eye glared.

  “You want me to be calm? If she can heal me, then she has to heal me! It's because of you guys that I'm this way in the first place!”

  “Shena,” Gale said. “Sit down and relax. Daniel is right, getting upset won't help anything.”

  Shena ignored her and stepped to within inches of Teri.

  “Put your hands on me, please?” she implored. “I can't go through life looking like this. I'll die if I have to.”

  Teri was scared. “This plastic surgery will help a lot. You have to give yourself time to get better.”

  Shena was hysterical. “I'm not going to be better! I need a miracle!”

  I don't know why Gale and Teri appealed to me right then. I was no leader, I didn't know what to say. Perhaps they thought I had Mentor on tap in my brain. I wished I had; I felt anything but clear.