by Edward Aubry
Just as he was pulling a blanket over Alec, Jake and Claudia entered. "I am so hungry," said Jake. It shattered the silence. Harrison made a shushing sound, nodding at Alec, and Jake put his hand over his mouth.
Jake and Claudia loaded up with a variety of omnis and took them outside. With his eyes, Jake asked Harrison if he was coming out with them, and Harrison shook his head. Like Alec, but for completely different reasons, he needed some time alone.
When he opened the cargo hatch, looking for his pack, he was surprised to find Bess still there, exactly where he had put her. He had assumed that Alec's first order of business would be to strap the sword back on. Evidently, hunger and sleep had prevailed.
He pulled his pack out and took it with him to a seat. The Key, she had called him. She said he had the Power and the Tools, and all he needed was the Courage. He had a pretty good idea what she meant by the Power, although when he sprang a lock it didn't exactly make him feel powerful. As far as what she meant by the Tools … well, he had a guess. He opened his pack. Sitting on top of all his other gadgets was the device he had recovered from Apryl's hut, from their basement collection. It was a little bigger than Claudia's Game Boy and reminded him of it in other ways as well. It bore several buttons, and about ten lights distributed over its surface, all of them dark. There was no obvious power switch. Harrison tried pressing the buttons in different combinations, but nothing he did made the little doodad come to life. Across the apparent top of the device, he found a circular pad of rubber or soft plastic. He picked at it with a thumbnail, and it popped free. It was a plug covering some sort of round port. He imagined it might be for a cable to link it to other or bigger versions of itself, for whatever reason. Perhaps it was for a power cord, which explained why he couldn't resuscitate it. "Hello?" he tried. That worked in movies. Sometimes. "Little Machine?" He sounded like an idiot, and stopped.
Slid down in the side of the pack was the wand he had taken from the same collection. Glimmer had said it was magical, but inert, deactivated. He waved it experimentally. Nothing happened. He put it down.
"Come on, you guys," he said quietly. "I know you have something to do with all this. How do I wake you up?" No answer. He put them back away.
Leaving Alec to his slumber, he went back outside. Most of the others had gathered on the ground. It was a dry day, and the forest duff made for a comfortable seat. Only Hadley was still standing, slightly apart from the group, looking somber. Harrison debated trying to talk to him, but guessed that he was still having some residual reaction to Faerie. They all were. He decided to leave Hadley alone and see how he was doing the next day. Just as he thought that, Hadley turned and walked toward the transport, nodding at Harrison as he passed. Harrison walked over to join the others. They were all listening to Jeannette.
"I was outside with my class," she was saying, "and suddenly we were all told to come back inside. Right now. I remember feeling disappointed, ripped off. Our teacher tried to explain what was going on, but none of us were really very receptive.
"We lived in Lancaster, which was about fifteen miles from the plant. I was twelve, which meant I was old enough to know that it was a really big deal, but not old enough to understand any of the specifics. I had no idea how nuclear power worked. I had no idea how radiation could get out. I had no idea what it would do to me if I were exposed to it. Everybody kept using the word 'meltdown,' which sounded terrible, but I had no idea what it really meant.
"My mother picked me up at school and we didn't even go home to pack. We left town and didn't stop driving until we were in North Carolina. My father was a doctor. He stayed behind at the hospital. My mother cried and cried. I'm sure she thought we would never see him again.
"Absolutely no one in the whole country knew just how bad it was, at least not on the day it happened. We listened to the news on the radio in the car." She gave a little smile. "We didn't know what else to do. In general, we were given a lot of reassurances that this was not a worst-case scenario. Most people believed that. Very few locals actually evacuated. My parents were educated and a little paranoid, though. They took no chances, especially with their baby."
Jeannette pointed to herself, and Harrison tried to picture her as a child. He had trouble doing so. She had always seemed so much more mature than he was. In a lot of ways, she reminded Harrison of his own big sister, and as he thought that, a tiny bubble of grief rose to the surface and broke. He looked around at other faces to see what reactions anyone else was having, and caught a glimpse of Glimmer. She was entranced by Jeannette's story, even though she probably understood very little of it.
"By the time we got to the motel," Jeannette continued, "my mother had explained what a meltdown was. And that if that happened, a lot of people were going to get very, very sick. Obviously, that meant they were going to get dead. She said nothing about whether my father would be getting sick. I assumed he wouldn't, so he could help care for the ones who did get sick. Obviously, that was denial, but it satisfied me at the time. Ironically, the danger of an actual complete meltdown had long since passed by the time we left the state. We had already been exposed to whatever radiation we were going to get. We didn't know that, of course. So when we got to the motel, I was entrenched in the crisis. I had a terribly inflated picture of just how much trouble we were all in. The first thing I did after we checked in was go to the bathroom. I found blood in my panties."
She paused here, to take in their faces. "Right now, the girls are thinking, 'Oh! What horrible timing!' and the boys are thinking, 'Eeuuw.' Right?" She grinned.
Apryl and Claudia were nodding, and Harrison was indeed thinking Eeuuw, though he tastefully refrained from saying so. Jake was clearly struggling to keep his cool, and Glimmer had no reaction at all. Harrison wondered if she even got what Jeannette was talking about. He guessed not.
"Yes, well," said Jeannette. "I wasn't thinking any of those things. I had never found blood in my panties before. I had known it was coming for years, but at that exact moment, I forgot all about what it meant. I had just spent the whole day fleeing from a nuclear accident. All I could think of was-and this seemed totally reasonable to me-was that hemorrhaging out of my vagina could be a symptom that I was dying of radiation poisoning."
"Oh, my God!" said Harrison. He hadn't meant for it to come out quite so loud. He slapped one hand over his mouth.
"Oh, my God, indeed," said Jeannette. "I spent four hours contemplating my own death before I finally broke down in tears to my mother. Of course, she laughed and laughed. I think I actually managed to shake her out of her own terror by imagining a gloomier scenario than she had. We called my father, who was fine. My mother wanted to tell him my story, but I wouldn't let her. She told him later, of course. It ended up being a great bonding experience for the two of us."
She paused again, and Harrison wondered if her story had ended. "Still," she said in a dreamy voice, "those four hours still haunt me. I think they always will."
"When did all this happen?" Jake asked.
"Spring of, uh, 1979," said Jeannette, doing the age math. "Early spring, I think. I seem to remember it raining that week."
"It was March 28," said Apryl. Everyone turned to look at her. "March 28, 1979. The accident happened at four o'clock in the morning."
Jeannette looked puzzled. "You know the exact date?"
"She's a history teacher," Harrison explained.
"Well, yeah," said Apryl. "There's that, too."
"Is there something else?" Jeannette asked. "Do you have a special interest in this event?"
"The event?" said Apryl. She shrugged. "Not really. The date, though." She turned to look at Harrison, who gave her his best I-have-no-idea-what-the-hell-you're-getting-at look.
She smiled. "It's the day I was born."
Chapter Thirty-Four:
The Power
Jaws dropped. "Holy shit," said Claudia.
Harrison blanched. "You said you were born in April."
"I sa
id I was due in April," she corrected him. She held her thumb and forefinger very close together. "Missed it by this much."
Claudia modified her expletive. "Holy fucking shit."
Apryl's smile faded. "What?" she said nervously.
Harrison turned to Jake. "What's your birthday?"
"August twelfth," he said. "Why?"
Harrison did some arithmetic. "Nineteen eighty-six?" Jake nodded. Harrison looked at Jeannette.
"Challenger explosion?" she guessed.
He shook his head. "That was January." He bit his lower lip in thought. "Chernobyl, maybe?"
"That doesn't sound right, either," said Jeannette.
"That definitely doesn't sound right," said Glimmer, scratching her head. "What does Chernobyl mean?"
"Not now!" said Harrison to the pixie.
"Chernobyl blew up in April," said Apryl. Irritation was starting to win over nervousness in her voice. "What're you getting at?"
Harrison focused on her. "Apryl, this is very important. Have you noticed any … unusual talents you may have developed in the last year or so?"
She shook her head. "I don't understand what you mean."
"Jake," said Harrison, "have you noticed anything happening around Apryl you can't explain?"
Jake hesitated. He had the look of an innocent being dragged into someone else's conflict. "Uhhh, like what?"
"I don't know!" snapped Harrison. "Anything! Things moving for no reason. Weird noises. Water spiraling in the wrong direction. Anything at all."
"I don't know what you're talking about."
"Should I get Hadley?" Jeannette asked.
Harrison thought for a moment. He had last seen Hadley shuffling back to the transport in a funk. They needed him, but what they really needed was for him to be at his best. As he was trying to decide how to answer Jeannette, he felt his face being squeezed. Apryl had grabbed him by the cheeks with one hand and was turning his head to face her. Her eyes drilled into his with what he was sure was her pissed-off-teacher look. "What. Is. Going. On."
"Mrf," said Harrison.
Apryl released his face. She waited.
"I was born on the fourth of July, 1976," he said. He stopped there, to give Apryl time to absorb it.
"Okay," she said. "That's better than mine. You win." She still looked pissed.
"Remember Claudia's birthday party?" asked Harrison.
"Of course," said Apryl. She paused to do the math. "That was June fourth." She paused again. "Claudia's fifteen. That's …" She turned to Claudia. "Tiananmen Square," she said quietly. "My God." She looked back at Harrison. When she repeated the question, it was with a very different tone than before. "What's going on?"
"Let me show you something," he said. He stood up and walked to the transport. She followed him. "Jeannette? Will you do me a favor?"
"Lock the door?" she said.
Harrison nodded. "Lock the door."
Jeannette got up, climbed into the driver's seat, and sealed the door. Harrison and Apryl heard the sharp snap of the lock seizing.
"Pull on it," Harrison told her.
Apryl stared at him. "It's locked."
"Humor me."
She tugged on the handle. "It appears to be locked."
Through the armored glass pane on the door, they could both see Jeannette sitting with her hands folded behind her head, gazing out at them. Harrison touched the pane with the tip of his index finger. They heard another snap. "Try it now," he said.
Apryl tentatively, suspiciously, pulled on the door. It swung open with no resistance. She stuck her head inside the transport. Jeannette waved.
"I don't get it," said Apryl. "What does this …? I don't get it."
"Claudia?" said Harrison.
"I got it," said Claudia. She got up and began to walk away from them, toward the sparser trees.
"Glimmer, stay with her, please," said Harrison. The pixie followed along.
"Where is she going?" asked Apryl.
Harrison pointed. "Yonder," he said. "Just keep your eye on her."
Once Claudia was about two hundred yards away, she stopped. She was still clearly visible, but barely recognizable. Apryl was watching her.
"Hello, Apryl," Claudia said quietly.
Apryl began to wave, then caught herself. "Madre de Dios!" she cried. She turned to Harrison. "Did you hear her?" He nodded. So did Jeannette.
Jake was staring at Claudia, still standing in the distance. "Claudia?" he said. There was an edge of fear in his voice.
"She can't hear you," Harrison said. "That trick only works one way."
Apryl was backing away, slowly, toward Jake. She seemed to think she was being subtle. Harrison tried not to move. "What can you do?" Apryl asked Jeannette.
"I have a medical degree," she said.
Apryl looked confused. "That's your superpower?"
"Hey," said Jeannette, "at least I had to work for mine."
"You wound me, Madam," said Harrison. Jeannette bowed.
Apryl stopped moving. "So it's just you and Claudia?" She mulled that over for a moment. "It's the birthdays. Something about the birthdays." Her eyes lit up. "Is that what Titania was talking about? The birthday coincidence?"
"Yes," said Harrison.
Apryl blew out a sigh and looked away. "So much of that went over my head in there, especially at first. Wow." She looked up at Harrison. "You think I have one of these weird tricks, too? Because of Three Mile Island?"
"I do," he said.
"Well, I don't." she said. "I mean I don't have one. I haven't done anything like that. Ever."
"Can I come back now?" Claudia asked. Apryl jumped, Harrison waved, and Claudia started walking.
"You might not have noticed it," said Harrison. "I went around opening locks for months before someone finally pointed it out to me."
"This is all part of what happened, right?" Apryl said. "I mean, it would only have been in the last year that I could do … whatever."
"That's right."
Apryl sat down on the ground, her legs crossed, silent for several minutes. Harrison did not intrude on her silence. He remembered how he had felt to learn of his own freak ability.
"That's what she meant," Apryl finally said in a quiet voice. "When she told me I had the Power."
Harrison frowned. "Who told you that?"
Apryl looked up. "Titania. She said you were the Key, then she said I had the Power, and we had the Tools. Don't you remember?"
Harrison scratched his head. "I thought she was talking to just me," he said.
Apryl made a tsk-tsk sound. "Typical male. She was looking right at me when she said Power."
Harrison thought back to the moment, and realized she was right. He had missed that completely.
"So," said Claudia, who had returned. "Do we know what she can do?"
"Not a clue," said Harrison. "She's pretty sure that Titania said something about her having Power, though."
"Very sure," said Apryl.
"Do you guys mind if I head back inside?" said Jake. He looked pale, and for the first time Harrison thought about the strain this day must have put on him. His trip to Faerie had been a vomitous experience, and now he was learning that his friends-including one he had known for nearly a year-had some sort of superhuman abilities that he did not.
"Sure," Harrison said gently. "Why don't you go rest up? We'll be back on the road again first thing tomorrow."
Jake nodded, and climbed into the transport.
"I'd like to go keep an eye on Alec," said Jeannette. "Why don't you superfolk take a moment to talk shop." She went back inside.
Harrison, Apryl, and Claudia sat staring at each other for several minutes, each waiting for someone else to break the ice.
"So," said Glimmer, "what's your deal?"
"I wish I knew," said Apryl. "Something about power. That's all I know. And tools."
"Power tools?" said Claudia. "That doesn't make sense."
"Actually, it might," said Harr
ison. "I have a hunch. Wait here a second." He got up and went into the transport. Alec was still asleep, with Jeannette sitting next to him. Jake was slumped in a seat further back, resting his head against a window. He looked despondent.
Harrison made his way back to the cargo hatch and pulled out his pack. He removed the wand and gadget he couldn't get to work and took them outside.
Apryl, Claudia, and Glimmer were laughing about something. Which struck him as a glorious sight. He could not remember ever seeing all three of them happy, especially these last few days, and it warmed him. "What's so funny?" he asked with an anticipatory smile.
"Nothing," Claudia snapped back, and all three fell silent. Glimmer smirked at him, and Apryl looked somewhere else. He entertained the thought that they were all laughing at him, but dismissed this as paranoia.
He held up the wand and the other device. "I think these may be what she meant by tools," he said.
"Hey!" said Apryl. "I recognize those! You took them out of our basement!"
"Yeah," he admitted. "Hadley wanted to run tests on them, or something, but I think he forgot about them when he started his work on the counterbomb. I thought you knew we had them."
Apryl shrugged. "It's no big deal. It's not like they worked or anything."
"Yeah. About that. Hadley seemed to think these things were important because they were the only magical and technological artifacts found at the same site. They don't seem to do anything, but I can't imagine what else the queen could have meant by tools."
"So you think I have something to do with these?" Apryl asked.
"Maybe," he said. "Here. Take them." He held them out to her.
She took them. "What do I do now?"
He frowned. "I don't know. I kind of hoped you would just know somehow."
She frowned back. "Well, I don't. Jake and I tried a bunch of different ways to turn this thing on." She held up the little electronic thingie. Then she waved the wand. "And I don't even want to guess what this thing is for."
"Harrison?" said Claudia. "Do you need me here?"
"Why? You have something else you'd rather be doing?"
"Kinda," she said. "I want to see if Jake's all right. I'm worried about him."