by L. J. Smith
Out went the kitten, without a backward glance. Anna must have implanted the suggestions very well.
Now, Kaitlyn thought, leaning back. Nothing to do but wait for tomorrow at noon. And hope Rob keeps his date.
"I can't let you do it alone," Rob said.
"But don't you see? It's the only possible way."
"No," Rob said flatly.
It was noon on Monday. They were hiding in the gym itself, which seemed safer than the entrance.
Kaitlyn looked at Lewis and Anna for help, but they were both looking pretty helpless. As if they couldn't figure things out. Rob was the one who'd made up his mind.
"I can't let you take it back to the Institute by yourself. I'm going with you-I'll sneak in whenever you do."
He just wasn't thinking it through. "But what if we get caught sneaking into the house?"
"What if you get caught with the crystal? That would be just as bad as being seen with me."
"No, it wouldn't," Kaitlyn said, straining to keep her voice patient. "I can hide the crystal-or at least there's a chance that I could hide it quick if I heard somebody coming. But I can't hide you. What am I going to do, stick you under a sofa pillow?"
Rob was trying to be patient, too-she could see and feel it. And he was losing the battle. "It's ... just . . .too . . . dangerous," he said with slow emphasis. "Do you really think I'm going to sit around, safe in somebody's apartment, while you take all the risk? What does that make me?"
"Smart. Rob, I'm hoping I can get to the crystal today, but that may not be possible. Joyce could have the lab door open; somebody could be sitting in the living room where they can see the secret panel. I may have to wait around for days and watch for my chance. You can't sit that long in the house with me-or even outside," she added, cutting him off. "Gabriel would feel you there, just like he did before.
And then it would be all over; he's really our enemy now."
She had thought this through, and she didn't intend to budge. And she could see Rob knew it. His expression suddenly changed; his jaw set, his mouth straightened into a grim line. A golden blaze sparked in his eyes. He looked, Kaitlyn thought, like a good guy pushed too far.
Without a word, he reached for her, grabbed her around the waist. Kaitlyn felt herself lifted, her feet leaving the wooden gym floor.
"I'm sorry, but I've had enough," he said. "You're coming back to the car."
A few days ago, Kaitlyn might have thought this funny. But now . . .
Put me down!
The volume of it shocked Rob into loosening his grip. The sheer fury in her eyes kept his mouth shut as Kaitlyn pulled away from him.
Anna and Lewis were shocked, too-and frightened. Kaitlyn knew they could feel the anger pouring off her like invisible waves. She stood like a queen, feeling tall and terrible and when she spoke each word came out like a white-hot chip of steel.
"I am not an object, something to be picked up or carried away or passed around. Gabriel thought that's what I was. He was wrong. You're both wrong," she said to Rob.
His hair was tousled, making her. suddenly think of a little boy. His eyes were dark amber and wide.
There was utter silence in the gym.
"I am the only one who can decide what will happen to me," Kaitlyn went on very quietly. "No one else.
Me. And I've already made my decision. I'm going back to that place and I'm going to try to stop them any way I can. Whether you give me the shard or not is your decision, but I'm going back anyway."
She had never spoken to him like this before, and she could see that he was confounded. Stricken.
Kaitlyn tried to make her voice gentler, but she could hear the steel underneath it.
"Rob, don't you see, this thing is bigger than just us. You're the one who taught me that things can be bigger than people. You made me want to make a difference. And now I have a chance to do it. Timon died and LeShan died and Mereniang died, and if somebody doesn't stop the Institute more people are going to die. I have to try and stop that."
Rob was nodding slowly. He swallowed and said, "I understand. But if something happened to you-"
"If something terrible happens to me, then at least I know that / chose it. I went because I decided to go.
But you don't have anything to do with it. ... Do you understand?"
Anna was crying. Lewis was almost crying.
And Rob-seemed shocked into submission. He looked at Anna as if that were somehow his final appeal.
Anna blinked away tears. Her face was compassionate, sad-and still. Too deep a stillness to be simply resignation.
"Kait's right," she said. "She'll go if she says she'll go. You can't say for her. Nobody can ever say for somebody else."
Then Rob looked back at Kait, slowly, and she knew that he was seeing her as an equal for the first time.
An equal not just in brains or psychic power or resourcefulness, but in every way, with exactly as much right to risk her life as he had to risk his.
Equal and separate. It was as if at that moment they split apart, became two independent creatures. If Rob had ever had a fault in their relationship, it was thinking he had to protect her. And Kaitlyn had encouraged it in a way, by thinking that she needed to be protected. Now, all at once, they were both realizing it wasn't true.
And once Kait knew that, she realized that in the last few minutes she had grown in his eyes. Rob respected her more, even loved her more than ever before ... in a different way.
But he was still having a hard time grasping that he was really going to have to stand here and watch her walk away and take the risk herself. So he gave it one last try, not with force, but with entreaty.
"You know, I've been wondering if we should maybe wait just a little to use the shard, anyway. It did cure Marisol, you know. You didn't see that, Kait, but it was wonderful. And there are a lot of other people in that hospital. I was kind of hoping . . ." He shrugged, his face wistful.
Kaitlyn was moved. But before she could speak, Anna did. Anna's face was even more compassionate than before, more sad-and more certain.
"No, Rob," she said quietly. "That's the one thing we can't do. It doesn't belong to us; it's just on loan.
Timon gave it to us for destroying the crystal. We can't just go around using that much power that isn't really ours. Something bad would come of it."
Then she put a gentle hand on Rob's shoulder. "You've got power of your own that you can use to help people-and that should be enough. You'll have your chance, Rob."
Rob stared at her for a long moment, then nodded. He looked from her to Kaitlyn, and through the web, Kaitlyn got just a glimpse of his thought. He was awed and a little confused at being caught between these two farsighted women. She could feel him wondering how they'd gotten so wise while he'd stayed dumb.
And thinking there was nothing for him to do but agree.
"So it's settled," Kaitlyn said quietly. "I'll take the shard and go back to the Institute, and you'll go back to Tony's friend's apartment."
"We left Tamsin there," Anna said. "We'll tell her what you're doing. She'll be rooting for you, Kait, and so will Marisol."
Kaitlyn was glad to talk about something ordinary, because she had the feeling that any minute she might start crying. "Marisol's really that much better?"
"She's still in the hospital because her muscles are weak and she has to learn to use them again. But Tony says it'll only be a few days before she's walking. Oh, Kait, I wish you could have seen his face when he came to see us! And his mom and dad-they called and just thanked us over and over. We couldn't get them off the phone."
"And Tony said he was going to light a candle for you," Lewis put in. "You know, in church. Because Rob told him you were in danger."
Kaitlyn's throat was swollen and her eyes kept filling with warmth. She gulped. "I'd better take it and get going."
Rob knelt and opened the duffel bag he'd brought. He took out the crystal shard, opened Kaitlyn's backpack, and put it in. Kai
tlyn knew that he was doing it himself as a sort of symbolic offering, an admission that she was right. She also knew that he had to fight to make every move.
He stood up, very pale, and held the backpack out to her.
"Call us when it's over," he said. "Or if you think you can't do it before tomorrow. And, Kait?"
"Yes?"
"If you don't call us by tomorrow, I'm coming in. That's not negotiable, Kaitlyn; that's my choice. If I don't hear from you, I'm assuming that something's gone wrong, and all bets are off."
What could Kaitlyn say?
Good luck, Lewis said silently as she hugged him. I'll be thinking about you.
Be careful, Anna said. Be as clever as Raven and get yourself out safe. She added a few words in Suquamish, and Kaitlyn didn't need a translation. It was a blessing.
Last of all, she hugged Rob. His eyes were still sore from the hard lesson he'd just learned. He held on to her very tightly. Please come back to me. I'll be waiting.
How many times had women said that to their men who were going off to war?
The swelling in Kaitlyn's throat was getting bigger by the minute. I love you all, she told them. Then she turned around and walked toward the back door of the gym, feeling their eyes on her. She knew they stood in perfect silence as she went out onto the blacktop, and then onto the baseball field, watching and watching until she was out of sight.
Kaitlyn was heading straight back for the Institute. It was only about a mile. She'd told Rob that she might have to wait for days to get to the crystal, but she knew that her best chance was right now. Bri, Renny, and Lydia were at school-and Gabriel was supposed to be. That left Frost and Jackal Mac in the house with Joyce.
I should be able to get in without them noticing, she thought. And then maybe they'll all go into the back lab or something, and I can get to the panel.
The walk was actually pleasant. Kaitlyn found herself noticing the sky, which was a beautiful blue with just the right amount of wispy clouds. The sun was warm on her shoulders, and the hedges by the sidewalk were dotted with starlike yellow flowers. It's spring, she thought.
Strange how you enjoyed the world more when you thought there was a chance you might be leaving it soon.
Even the Institute looked exotic and beautiful, like a giant grape monument.
Now came the hard part. She had to sneak in so as not to get caught, but do it without looking sneaky.
So that if she were caught, she could say she'd come home from school sick.
After some thought, she let herself in the kitchen door. The kitchen was right by the front lab, but no one in the lab could see her until she passed the lab doorway.
Music was coming from the lab. Good, that should cover any sounds. Squaring her shoulders, Kait walked boldly by the lab doorway, forcing herself to glance inside casually, forcing herself not to tiptoe.
That one glance showed her Frost sorting through a tray full of watches and keys, while Joyce sat beside her with a notebook. Frost was facing the back lab-great. Joyce was facing Frost, but bent over her notebook. Pretty good.
Jackal Mac was nowhere in sight. Kait prayed he was in the back lab, in the tank.
Still forcing herself not to be stealthy, not to creep, she walked through the dining room and out and around the staircase. She looked around the corner and saw the little hallway that led to the other door of the lab.
Okay, how to make this look casual? I've got to wait here . .. maybe I'm tying my shoe.
Without taking her eyes off the figures in the lab, she knelt and undid her shoelace. Then she stayed that way, with the laces in her hands, watching Joyce.
I can't go into the hall until she turns around or goes into the back lab. It takes a few seconds to get the panel to slide back, she could just glance up and see me from where she is now.
Time dragged by. The backpack began to feel heavy, dragging at Kaitlyn's shoulders.
Come on, Joyce. Move. Go get a book from the case or something. Go change the CD. Do anything, just move.
Joyce stayed put. After what seemed like an hour, Kaitlyn decided that she was going to have to risk stepping out anyway-and then she saw Joyce was getting up.
Kait's vision seemed to go double. Joyce's face was a tan blur. Then Joyce's back was a pink blur. Joyce was going into the back lab.
Oh, thank you! Thank you!
The instant the last bit of pink disappeared, Kaitlyn stepped into the hall. No time to be stealthy, no point in looking casual. All that mattered was to be quick.
Her fingers stabbed out at the wood paneling, once and then again. The click seemed agonizingly loud.
She threw a glance at Frost-Frost still had her back turned.
The panel had recessed. Kaitlyn stepped into the gaping hole.
Down the stairs. Quick. Quick.
She'd never learned the secret of closing the panel from inside. Well, it didn't matter much. As long as she got to the crystal. She didn't care if they discovered her after that.
As she reached the bottom stair she shrugged off her backpack and pulled out a flashlight. She'd taken it from the kitchen drawer that morning.
Quick. Move quick. The little circle of light showed her the way.
Aha. There it is.
The combination lock shone softly on the wall by the door, looking like something from a science fiction set. A door to the starship Enterprise.
Although her heart was beating in all sorts of funny places-her throat, her ears, her fingertips-Kaitlyn felt calm. She'd rehearsed this all in her mind last night.
Put the backpack down. Flashlight in your teeth. Take out the paper with the possible combinations on it.
Make every move count.
Paper in one hand, she began to punch in numbers with the other.
Each little rubber pad gave under her fingertips, and the number she'd punched appeared on an LED display at the top.
1...4...1...2...2...5...9...2. Enter. Nothing. The LED display blanked out. Okay. Next!
1...4...2...5...1...2...9...2. Again, nothing. Tiny threads of panic began to unwind in Kaitlyn's gut. Okay, so she still had six combinations to go, but she'd used the best two. What if Mr. Z had changed the numbers? She should have drawn again last night to make sure. Oh, God, she hadn't even thought of that.
. .. Wait a minute. I didn't press Enter. She pressed it. Immediately she heard a sort of pleasant hum, an accepting sound that reminded her of an ATM machine getting to work. With a soft click, the door opened away from her. I did it! It worked! Oh, thank you, Columbus-I'll love you forever!
Her heart was beating all over now, her entire skin tingling with the pulses. Excitement and fear swam inside her, and she had to take a deep breath to keep her head.
Okay, quick, now, quick. A light might be seen upstairs, so get the shard out first.
She fumbled getting it out of the backpack. The flashlight kept sliding out from under her chin. The paper with the combinations had fallen on the floor. She ignored it.
Okay. Got it.
With both hands, she held the crystal shard.
It had never felt so good to her. Cold and heavy and sharp, it was like a weapon in her hand, strengthening her. It seemed to be telling her, Don't worry about anything from here on in. All you have to do is get me to the crystal. I'll take care of things from there.
Yes, Kaitlyn thought. Now.
In the end, it had almost been too easy. Why had Rob been so worried about her?
Standing tall, holding the crystal like a spear, she pushed the door open and stepped into the office. It was dark and she'd lost the flashlight. She reached for the wall, fingers groping across it. She found a light switch and got ready to throw it, planning to charge toward the great crystal as soon as she could see. A battle yell, some legacy of distant Irish ancestors, gathered in her throat.
Now . . .
She threw the switch-and froze.
The charge never happened. The crystal was there, all right, huge and deformed an
d grotesque as she remembered. But it wasn't alone. There were two- other things-in front of it.
Kaitlyn's eyes opened wide as she saw them. She felt her lips stretching open, not for a battle yell, but for a scream. A scream of perfect terror.
CHAPTER 13
At first all Kaitlyn was able to take in was her feeling of disgust and horror. It was something like the disgust she'd felt at home when her dad would turn over a shovelful of earth in the garden-and reveal something soft and squirmy or hard and chitinous hiding underneath.
A little like that, but magnified hundreds and thousands of times.
She guessed these two things were human. Or had started out that way. But they looked so deformed and felt so wrong, they gave her the sick feeling she'd gotten when she first saw a potato bug, that huge, unnatural, semicrustacean-looking insect. Or when she'd seen her first picture by Hieronymus Bosch, the artist who did scenes from hell, with people who had lobsters' claws or windows in their bodies.
The other thing she knew immediately was that they were guard dogs. Mr. Z's new guard dogs, put here to protect the crystal.
Sasha and Parte King.
She knew them from Bri's descriptions-although it took a lot of imagination. Sasha had skin that was chalky white, unnaturally white, like something that had never seen the sun. Almost translucent, with lines of blue veins showing through. His eyes were like the red eyes of albino mice, or the blind eyes of cave fish.
He did have blond hair, as Bri had said. Hair that was not just unkempt but full of things. Bits of garbage and paper like the rubbish that covered the floor.
He looked like a slug: white, flaccid, immobile.
Then there was Parte King-whatever that weird name might mean. Bri had said he was skinny. Now he was skeletally thin, wasted away like someone about to die. Skin stretched across his bones-almost as if he had an exoskeleton, like a bug. His brown hair was falling out in clumps, exposing naked skull.
He looked like some kind of cricket, as if he would rattle if you shook him.
And they were both alive, even though they looked like nothing that could survive long. Kaitlyn realized with a qualm of pure horror that they lived down here, alone and insane, chained to the floor. Biting at people's ankles, grinning face-splitting grins.