"Nonsense. I'll make sure no one knows why I'm looking for them."
Giles sighed and gave him the names and last known address.
Rober got up. "Well, I'll start looking first thing tomorrow. Now we should all get some sleep."
Giles followed her to the bedroom and beamed at her as soon as the doors closed behind them. "Can you believe it? I can get my hands back!"
"I so hope you do. If not, I'm sure I can help you once I learn my gift."
The walk to the bedroom tired her more than it should have. Her heart beat furiously in her chest from the effort, every so often slowing to barely a thump.
"No need for that," Giles said, still smiling. "I'm sure my brothers will loan me the money."
Maya climbed under the covers. "I hope they do."
Giles hovered over her by the bed. "Why aren't you more happy for me? All you think of is yourself and your gift all the time. And probably Ty."
"Not so! I'm sorry, Giles, I'm just still so tired," Maya said and sat up in bed. "It's wonderful news and I'm very happy for you."
Giles climbed into bed too. "I'm sorry. I don't know why I said that."
Maya turned off the lights. She closed her eyes, willing her heartbeat to return to normal. Sleep eluded her. Giles was always so patient with her, so forgiving, yet he'd never made her feel as Ty did. Butterflies, blushing, sweaty hands and stealing kisses…that's something other girls did. Maya had always only pretended to know the feeling so she wouldn't stand out.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Ty woke two hours before the alarm was set to go off. He tried to get back to sleep, but all he achieved was that fitful state that was neither sleeping nor awake. This morning it brought the familiar scenes of his nightmares.
Salvio yelling at him, making him angry. Ty lost control of his icy cold power and pushed him away. Salvio disappeared. The scene changed. Ty argued with Rober about the revolution, and couldn't hold the anger in. Rober was gone. When Maya came into the dream, her dark brown hair swaying in the breeze, her whole body radiating a velvety warmth, Ty willed himself to wake up. Not for the first time, he wished Salvio was still there to give him advice, however harshly and impatiently. But Salvio was long gone and would never return. Ty had made sure of that, couldn't stop it.
At a quarter to seven Ty headed to the dining hall for breakfast. His mother was there, already dressed for work. Ty waved the servant away when she tried to pour him some coffee and ruffled Eve's hair before sitting down beside her.
"School's out for the holidays today, isn't it?" he asked her.
She nodded and then yawned. The aquamarine bracelet peeked from the sleeve of her pajamas.
"Mom, do you think you could get Dad to let me go to work with you today?" Ty asked.
Violetta smiled. "Of course you can come. No need to ask your father. As you probably noticed, I already got him to remove the SFs trailing you. You're also no longer confined to the house."
She beamed at him, waiting for him to thank her. He leaned over and kissed her on the cheek, hoping it seemed genuine. He regretted asking to go to work with her, regretted deciding to go, regretted every favor she ever did for him. After she finished her meal she rose and beckoned for him to follow.
Once they reached the facility, Ty hoped his relief didn't show on his face when his mother said he couldn't help her with today's experiment. He headed for the control room, which was run by mute Ronia and her husband Martin. Both had their own gifts, but his mother kept them awake along with a handful of others to help her with the experiments. Ronia could once force anyone to do her will by her voice alone. She had no tongue now. Violetta Remarque didn't take unnecessary chances. Ronia and Martin both knew a lot about working with the gifted, learned it all at some other school which most likely didn't exist anymore if his mother knew about it.
Why hadn't he thought of that before? Maya could go to that school instead! That way she'd be safe, and happy because she'd get to learn her gift.
Of all the gifted people who worked at the facility, Ronia and Martin were the only two who truly liked Ty. Most of the others either pretended to, or avoided him altogether after Salvio left. They'd help him, Ty was sure.
Martin patted him on the back as soon as his mother left the room. "Ty, we were wondering when you'd come back."
Ronia winked at him her dark brown eyes and typed something onto her communicator panel. The words, "Welcome back, Ty," flashed in the air in front of her.
Martin patted the seat next to him. "Come, help me with this."
Between them they usually kept Ty busy with tasks that kept him away from his mother's more gruesome experiments. That was Salvio's idea too and most of the others abandoned it after he left.
"Let him see it all!" he had overheard one of the others shouting at Martin not long after Salvio was gone. "She'll have him follow in her footsteps anyway."
Martin and Ronia still tried to protect him. Not that they succeeded— his mother took every opportunity to have him watch her work. Today's business must have been gruesome indeed if she didn't want him to accompany her.
Ty sat down at the control panel, pulled up his own screen, and typed 'gemstones' into the search. He browsed through the list until he found Aquamarine.
Martin peered at his screen. "You are interested in gemstones? Why?"
"I was playing Castle Life last night. They have so many gemstones all over the place, I thought maybe there was some link between them and gifts," Ty lied. "I mean, aren't you two always saying that special powers come from nature itself?"
"I've always been fascinated by the use of objects to channel one's powers," Martin said. "Since that's not what we do here I haven't looked at it in ages."
Martin pointed at the screen with his right hand, which was encased in a silver glove that prevented him from using his gift. His left hand ended in a stump, the result of him trying to rip the glove off soon after he was imprisoned at the facility. His gift was healing people through touch.
"Aquamarine was once thought to bring a calm, soothing feeling and offer protection," Martin mused.
Ty's heart started beating faster. So it could be true that the bracelet worked to stop gifts!
"Were gemstones ever tested on the gifted?" he asked.
Martin was still scrolling through the description of the stone, but looked up at Ty's question, peering at him intently. "Yes, but I was never able to prove they had any effect. You mother ordered me to stop fiddling with them years ago. Why do you want to know?"
"I thought it might be something that hasn't been tried yet."
Ty hoped nothing on his face or on his voice betrayed the lie. As long as everyone believed he was only there to help his mother he was safe. Eve was safe.
"Salvio once told me you used to work at another school before you came here. Does it still exist?" Ty asked.
He glanced up from the screen and saw them exchange a worried look. Ronia moved her hand to type something, but Martin stopped her.
"The truth is, we don't know," Martin said. "We were captured sixteen years ago and haven't had any contact with the people there since."
"So my mother doesn't know of it?"
"We never told her," Martin said.
"Can you tell me?" Ty asked. If his mother didn't know of it, it would be the perfect place for Maya.
"No, we can't tell you that," Ronia's words appeared in the air.
The door hissed open behind them. Ty waved his panel away so his mother wouldn't see he was looking up aquamarines.
She didn't even glance at him as she strode in, her hair a mess, her eyes bulging. "Tell me we recorded some of that, Martin."
Martin got up and went to check something in the adjacent room, which always held a large VR representation of the latest experiment. A person lay curled up beside a large smoking crater in the wall of the exam room. His mother peered curiously at Ronia's last words. "What is she talking about, Ty?"
"Nothing. I wanted some mor
e info on today's experiment," Ty said matter-of-factly. Relief flooded Ronia's face.
"We definitely got something!" Martin yelled from the next room. "It's not complete. It cut off after the explosion."
His mother ran to join Martin. Ty left the room.
The man his mother had experimented on today had been locked in a small room, its walls studded with spikes and slowly closing in. Clearly it worked, because the poor man made to live through that terror had used his gift to blast a hole right through a wall of his exam room.
~
Rober called every fifteen minutes for the rest of the afternoon. At six-thirty he was banging on his door.
"Why aren't you picking up the phone?" Rober asked as Ty let him in.
Ty shrugged and turned off the VR console. "I was playing a game."
"Playing too many games will make you stupid," Rober said. "I arranged some alone time for you and Maya. Giles' brothers are coming."
Ty sat down on the sofa and fiddled with the VR glasses. "Why do you think I want alone time with her?"
"Come on, you admitted you liked her," Rober said. "I saw you get all nervous around her last night."
"You're imagining it." Ty leaned back on the sofa. "There's no point getting to know her better. She'll be gone as soon as I can arrange a hovercraft for her back to her town. And I'm dating your sister."
Rober sat down beside him. "I think Maya could be a valuable ally in our plans to save the planet once she learns to control her gift."
Ty turned to him. "She won't learn that at my mother's facility."
"Why? I'm sure she'll learn something."
She'll never be able to leave, that's why. Ty didn't say it. What went on in his mother's facility was a well-kept secret. Even the panel families didn't know much beyond the fact that it was a place to study those born with special gifts. As far as Ty knew, none of them had any idea of the type of tests his mother performed there. She sure forbade him to ever speak of it. Telling Maya or Rober about it would incur the worst wrath and punishment his mother could offer.
"I might be able to get her to another school. If not, she goes home," Ty said with finality. "Besides, I don't think I should get between her boyfriend and her."
Rober looked confused. "Boyfriend? You mean Giles? I don't think they're together."
Ty shook his head. "You're just saying that."
"No, I'm not. If anything she seems to keep her distance from him. I think she kind of likes you back." Rober stood up and tried to pull Ty up too. "Let's go and see her. The least you can do is get to know her a little better. Don't you want to?"
Why was Rober being so accommodating? Ty didn't ask, because the last thing he wanted was another of those reproachful conversations with Rober. What harm could it do, really, to spend some more time with Maya before she was gone? Maybe once she was safely back home he could even visit her from time to time.
Four SFs stood by the entrance to Rober's apartment. Inside, two strange men sat with Maya and Giles on the sofa. They all turned when Ty and Rober entered, fear the predominant emotion on the newcomers' faces. One glance at their hands revealed they both had missing fingers, exactly like Giles.
Ty stood rooted to the spot by the door while Rober went to whisper something to Maya. She followed him back to Ty, Giles staring after her angrily.
"Why don't you show Maya the garden, Ty?" Rober suggested.
Ty tried to meet Maya's eyes, but she kept hers fixed on Rober. "If she wants to go."
It was such a stupid thing to say.
"I do," she replied.
Rober escorted them to the elevator. Ty's throat went dry, his palms sweaty.
Maya peered around the elevator, her eyes widening as the numbers flashed into the hundreds. "How far up are we going?"
"The Orsinis' garden is on the roof, so 200th floor, I think," Ty muttered.
The elevator opened into a clearing surrounded by tall pines. Maya exclaimed and ran out into the soft grass, stopping by a pine tree to feel its branches. "Are these real?"
Ty walked over and touched a branch too. "Yes. I mean, I don't know if they're all fabricated, or if some are planted. Probably all fabricated. My sister Eve plants her own flowers. More often than not they grow into small, stunted things."
She whirled to face him so fast her hand slammed into his. The jolt felt like being punched, only in the heart. "If you can fabricate such forests, why do the Badlands exist at all? Why don't you come help us plant such forests there?"
Finally a question Ty could answer. "It's been tried. Not many of the trees and plants ever took. The Earth can't support them anymore."
She seemed on the verge of tears. He pointed at the sky and she followed with her gaze. Wispy white clouds covered a perfect light blue sky. "That's a hologram. This forest is sealed inside the building and the conditions are carefully controlled. The trees could never exist naturally otherwise."
"For a moment, I thought…never mind. We can explore the forest though, right?"
Ty nodded and she took off running into the trees. Ty followed more slowly. She doesn't want me here with her. She can't run away fast enough.
A few minutes later she called him. He found her sitting on a moss covered stone by a bubbling spring. "Water is the source of all life. Out there in the Badlands, it has gone all out of control. I think if we cure the water, the Earth will heal itself."
Ty's breath caught in his throat. She sounded exactly like someone talking about their special gifts when they were first brought to the facility, before they learned what lay in store for them there. He'd listened to them so many times, all those poor people who came to the facility, thinking they were serving humanity by exposing their gifts. Before his mother started her experiments on them.
Maya was peering at him like she was waiting for an answer, her knee resting against his thigh. She didn't move it, and neither did he. He asked her to repeat her question. "I meant to ask you last night…how is your tiger?"
"She's fine now. I already let her out into her enclosure. I hope I'll be able to coax her out when it's time to remove the stitches."
"You keep her in a place like this?"
Ty looked around. "Not quite like this. It's a desert, with a few oases, about half as large as this garden."
Maya laid her hand on his thigh, then removed it hastily and ran her fingers through her hair. "Wouldn't it be nice if she could roam free in her own natural habitat?"
Ty's leg still tingled from her touch. A strand of Maya's hair hung down over her eyes. Ty almost brushed it back behind her ear. "It would. But all the reports and studies done over the last forty years say the same thing, that there's no way back for Earth. Serious preparations are being made to leave the planet and settle elsewhere."
She grabbed his arm, dug her fingers in painfully. "I know. It's a terrible idea. I know Earth can be saved."
Ty stared at the water trickling over the stones. "How can you know?"
He wished he hadn't said it, because her whole face contorted in annoyance.
Ty looked into her eyes, willing some of the ice in his to calm her. "I'm sorry. I wish I could tell you something different."
She let go of his arm, holding his gaze. "Well, it's not your fault."
Couldn't he help? Couldn't he do as Rober and his group suggested, try to save the Earth? Hopeful excitement fired up in his chest… until he remembered Eve, and Julian, and all those delegates fearing execution right now. Ty couldn't do anything to help the Badlands. He had to stick close to his mother, and keep his own emotions locked away tight in the chest, just like Salvio ordered. Or all would fall apart.
What kind of future did any one of them have stuck on some hostile planet? By helping Maya live her dream, there could be a future in that. For all of them.
Maya looked at him impatiently, then sighed. "Rober said you work with your mother at the school. I heard you look exactly like her too. Me, I don't look like either of my parents."
The mention of his mother jolted him back to reality.
"More precisely my mother looks like me," he said.
"That's an arrogant thing to say. She gave birth to you." Red spots rose on her cheeks.
Ty laughed. "She also changed her appearance to match mine when I was about seven."
"Why?"
Ty shrugged his shoulder. "She loves me, I guess. Or to show she favored me as heir, over my older brother." The second part was true. Ty never believed his mother was capable of love.
"I think that's a very nice thing to do," Maya insisted.
Ty didn't. He still wished his mother hadn't made herself into his copy. Still hoped she'd change back some day. People disliked Ty on sight before even giving him a chance because he looked like her. His father didn't much like it either. But his mother never cared what other people thought. He couldn't tell Maya all that, so he just shrugged.
"And you are the heir, right?" she asked.
Ty tossed a pebble into the water, watched the ripples fan out and disappear. "Only because my older brother had an accident."
Maya laid her hand on his thigh. "That's awful. What happened to him?"
Ty looked at her eyes, at the vast, warm life there. "I wasn't here when it happened. They said he fell and hit his head. He was only twelve, and he basically stayed a child forever. It took him years to relearn how to speak and feed himself."
"Couldn't they cure him?" Maya asked, real compassion in her eyes, Ty knew.
"No. Some injuries are still too grave, especially brain injuries." He laid his hand over hers. "I was in Africa with my father when it happened. I found Isis there. She was only a baby, trying to get milk from her dead mother. My father let me keep her, and I was so excited to show it to Julian when I got back…"
Ty's voice cracked on the last sentence. He kept his eyes focused on the water, hoping the cramp in his throat would give soon.
Maya shifted beside him.
Likely because I'm such a soft crybaby.
She put her arms around him and hugged him gently. Her hair smelled of open air and freedom. "Suffering makes us stronger. I know your pain of watching someone you love get hurt and being powerless to help."
The Grower's Gift (Progeny of Time #1) Page 11