“We really do need to try some more.” He gripped both of my hands this time. “Let’s see if we can reach past Jewel.”
Taking a deep breath, I concentrated again, drawing strength from Rigel’s touch to help me extend my emotion-detector farther than I’d ever attempted. First in one direction, then another, I pushed my senses ever outward, searching for Gordon’s distinctive bad-guy vibe. Then, incredibly, I found it!
Rigel and I locked gazes, eyes wide. Even after that scary bolt of lightning we’d produced last night, neither of us had really believed we were capable of this. I concentrated harder, trying to pinpoint both direction and distance.
“He’s in…Elwood, I think, two towns away—that’s nearly thirty miles! How can that be possible?”
“No clue, but it’s awesome! Now you just need to let Cormac know.”
I nodded. “He should have him in custody by tonight.”
Rigel hugged me to him, his relief palpable. He’d been more worried than I had, for his parents’ sake as well as mine. After a brief, blissful silence, again drawing strength from each other, he checked the time on his cell phone. “Still more than twenty minutes before I have to head to practice. Wonder what our actual limit is?”
“Want to try to find out?” Now that we’d found Gordon, I felt giddy and playful, looking forward to wonderful, worry-free times ahead.
We indulged in another long kiss, partly in case it had made a difference before, but mostly because it was our favorite thing to do. Then Rigel grasped both my hands and we started reaching out again, eager to see how far we could go.
I was easily able to locate Gordon again—definitely Elwood, or very close to it. On the theory he might have henchmen, I psychically probed the area a mile or so around his location but didn’t detect any other Martian vibes, negative or otherwise. Maybe it was easier to identify someone I actually knew. But who else’s vibes would I recognize at a distance?
How about Allister? Rigel suggested.
All the way in Montana? I laughed at his absurdity, then gave a little shrug. What was the risk in trying?
Chicago, for one thing, I discovered. The amount of concentrated negativity in a city that size made me recoil, even though none of it was identifiably Echtran. Hurriedly pushing my senses farther west, I scanned for Dun Cloch, way up in northern Montana. Soon I began to feel the strain again, but Rigel pulled me closer, releasing one of my hands so he could spread his palm along my cheek and jaw, a more intimate touch.
It helped. In fact, sensing where we were “going” got so much easier I could almost see where my mind was traveling. Not visual details, but a distinct sense of areas where people were concentrated—or not. Cities and towns versus nearly-empty swaths of countryside. Thinking I might possibly be getting close to Dun Cloch, I tried harder to filter for Echtran emotion-vibes, since there had to be lots of them there.
Weirdly, I somehow knew when we passed south of it, sensing it was now northeast of my scan instead of west. With Rigel’s help, I adjusted my mental trajectory slightly, and there it was—an unmistakeable concentration of Martians. A few seconds later…yes! I felt Allister’s vibe—distinctly unpleasant, though not quite “bad guy.” Blown away by what we’d done, I was about to exclaim aloud when I sensed another vibe near Allister that was downright nasty—even worse than Gordon’s.
With a shudder, I shut down my probing, feeling ten times more soiled by that contact than by Trina at lunch. “Ew! Who was that?”
“Lennox, would be my guess. The guy who nearly killed me, remember? Pure evil.” Rigel sounded as disgusted as I was. “At least we know he and Allister are both still safely under house arrest up there in Montana.”
I nodded. “But how amazing was that? We didn’t imagine it, did we? We really picked up emotions, vibes, from as far away as Montana?”
“Yeah, we really did. And…I still don’t think that was your limit, M.” Rigel was regarding me with something like awe.
“Our limit,” I corrected him. “No way I can do this without you. It’s like the electricity we can only generate when we’re touching. Like…synergy. Should we let the Scientists study this ability, too? I mean, who knows what good we might be able to accomplish? We could, I don’t know, fight crime or something!”
I could feel excitement bubbling up in Rigel, too. “Okay, let’s try again—even farther away.”
“Farther than Montana? Where?”
“How about Ireland? Bailerealta?” His eyes were alight with the thrill of our latest discovery. “They still haven’t caught those guys who attacked you near the cliffs, right?”
“They weren’t Echtran, remember? Plus the very idea of reaching Ireland is crazy. But…so was Montana, I guess. Oh, what the heck. Let’s try. Bailerealta ought to feel a lot like Dun Cloch.”
Grinning, Rigel gathered me into an embrace, his bare arms against mine, his cheek nestled against my cheek, maximizing our physical contact. “Maybe this will help,” he murmured, his lips just an inch from mine. Almost but not quite close enough to kiss…
“M, you’re not focusing.”
“Sorry.” With an effort, I yanked my attention away from how Rigel felt, how he smelled…and cast outward again with my mind.
This time I pushed eastward, trying not to be distracted by towns and cities along the way. When I sensed we were getting close to New York City, though, I balked, remembering how icky Chicago had felt. New York would be even worse.
Maybe try going up and over?
Nodding, I did what he suggested, shifting my focus straight up from where it was now, just north of Philadelphia. I wasn’t sure how high I needed to go, since up was a direction I hadn’t tried. To be safe, I pushed good and hard. I had no references to guide me, since there were no emotions or vibes way up in the air…
Except, suddenly, there were. Strong ones. Familiar ones!
With a gasp, I stumbled to my feet, abruptly breaking contact with Rigel and with the presence my mind had touched. Rigel stood too, his eyes wide and confused as he reached out to take my hands again.
“What was that? It felt so weird! So…big. Terrorists? On a plane or something?”
I shook my head, my heart pounding so hard I could barely think. “No. Not a plane. I…I think we went higher than that, way higher than I meant to.”
“Then what? The Space Station? Some Echtran astronaut?” he asked doubtfully. “Except I’ve never felt anything like that before.”
“I have. And no, what we just sensed wasn’t Echtran. Or Duchas. It…it wasn’t human at all.” I swallowed, forcing myself to continue. “Rigel, I think…I’m almost sure…it was the Grentl. They’re here!”
29
Stress multiplier
Rigel stared at me, not yet comprehending but clearly sensing my horror. Then his face paled and that same horror reflected back from him.
“The Grentl? Here? Right…right above Earth? Are you sure?”
Swallowing, I nodded. “I’ve communicated with them enough times now to know what their…their consciousness feels like and I can’t think of any other reason I’d have felt it just now. They must have a ship in orbit or something.”
“No way. No way! Ireland would have been a long shot. But sensing something in orbit? Besides, if there’s a ship out there, NASA or somebody would have spotted it.”
Despite his insistent denial, the more I thought about what I’d felt, the more certain I became. “Even if they have, they probably wouldn’t put it on the news,” I pointed out. “And the Grentl are so advanced they might even have cloaking technology or something. Rigel, suppose it is true and nobody knows except us? What do we do?”
He frowned, then pulled his cell phone out of his pocket. “My dad’s on the Echtran Council now. He knows about the Grentl. I’ll— Oh, crap! I’m late for practice. And you’re going to miss your bus!”
Mundane dangers momentarily crowded out galactic ones, sending us racing back toward the school, our faces and arms whapp
ed by yellowing corn leaves as we ran. Powered by adrenaline, we reached the parking lot in record time—but not before the last bus was pulling away.
“Guess you’re coming to practice with me again.” Rigel attempted a laugh but it came out shaky and breathless. He was covered with corn detritus. I probably looked like a scarecrow, too.
“No, I…I’ll find Cormac. I need to tell him where Gordon is anyway. Maybe he can give me a ride. But go ahead and call your dad. Tell him what we sensed and ask him to tell Kyna. She might have some way to confirm it.”
Rigel nodded, looking a little sheepish. “Why don’t I come with you? Football’s nowhere near as important as—”
“No, get to practice. Otherwise you’ll have to explain why you didn’t show up, and that could lead to questions we probably shouldn’t answer.” Unless the Grentl had come here to destroy us all, in which case everyone finding out the truth hardly mattered.
He still hesitated, clearly not wanting to leave my side at a time like this. “Are you sure?”
“I’m sure. We’ll stay in touch…” like this. I’ll let you know right away if I need your help. I promise.
“You’d better. Okay. I’ll call Dad and figure out something to tell Coach for why I’m late.” He grabbed me for a quick, hard kiss, then loped off around the side of the school, his phone already at his ear.
I watched him go, then headed into the school, to Cormac’s Vice Principal office…only to discover he wasn’t there. Biting my lip, I realized he’d have followed my bus home, like he always did after school, since I hadn’t told him I wouldn’t be on it.
I went back outside, wondering if I could bum a ride with someone else, someone with a car. Glancing around the parking lot, I spotted Sean, just getting into a pickup truck with Pete Griffin, a basketball buddy of his.
“Sean! Wait!” I yelled on panic-driven impulse.
Sean and Pete stopped and turned. “M? What’s up?” Sean asked, clearly startled.
“Would…would you guys mind giving me a ride home? I, uh, missed my bus.”
Pete looked me up and down. “Get lost in a corn maze or something?” he asked with a snicker.
Oops. I’d forgotten I was still covered with corn litter. “Yeah, something like that.” I started brushing myself off. “Anyway, can I have a ride? I live right around the corner from Sean, so it shouldn’t be out of your way or anything.”
Sean must have picked up on the anxiety I was trying to hide, because he gave me a long, penetrating look, then nodded. “You don’t mind giving her a lift, do you, Pete?”
His friend shrugged, though he still looked curious. “No problem. Climb in.”
Three in the front seat of the pickup was a little tight, forcing me to sit closer to Sean than I’d have preferred, but I wasn’t about to complain. Sean continued to regard me curiously as Pete pulled out of the lot, but I gave him a quick head shake in answer to his unspoken question. Taking the hint, he started talking basketball with Pete, like I wasn’t even in the truck. Which was fine with me. It gave me time to think.
And to realize that even if Kyna and her NASA colleagues couldn’t verify that the Grentl were really here, maybe I could, with their device. I might even be able to find out their intentions. It was definitely worth a try.
When Pete dropped me in front of my house, Sean got out, too. “What’s up?” he asked as soon as Pete pulled away. “I can tell you’re upset. You and Rigel have a fight or something?”
“No, nothing like that. It’s…” I hesitated, not wanting to panic him until I was absolutely sure. “I think I’ve discovered something important and I need to get word to the Council, so they can figure out what to do if I’m right. Your mom’s still out of town, right?”
He nodded, positively radiating curiosity. “She gets home this evening. Can’t you just tell me—?”
“I need to run up and use my omni, but then I’ll come over to your house and fill you in, okay?”
“Um, okay. See you soon, then.”
Aunt Theresa wasn’t home yet, so I ran straight up to my bedroom and opened a channel to Kyna. As head of the Council as well as a NASA astrophysicist, she was the obvious person to talk to first. I was mentally composing a rational-sounding voicemail when Kyna surprised me by answering.
“Excellency?” She sounded wary. “I apologize for the delay in picking up but I thought it best to move to a private room before speaking with you.”
“Sorry to call you at work like this. I figured you probably wouldn’t even have your omni there.”
“Most Council members have omnis designed to look like normal cell phones.”
Huh. I definitely needed one of those!
“I assume you are calling with the same unlikely news I just received from Van Stuart?” Kyna continued. “He received some garbled message from his son about the Grentl, but—”
“Yes. I think they’re here, in orbit, or at least very close. I…sensed them.”
There was a pause before she responded. “You sensed them. How?”
I decided this was no time for secrets. “We, um, didn’t mention it to those Scientists last night, but Rigel and I have discovered that together we can…sense things at a distance. Emotions, mostly. We were experimenting, trying to locate Gordon—which we did, by the way! But then, well, it’s kind of a long story. Has anybody at NASA noticed a strange ship in orbit or anything?”
“No, nothing. I made certain of that after receiving Van’s message.”
“Is there some way you can, I don’t know, look closer? I mean, maybe our regular Earth technology can’t see them.”
“There are Echtran instruments that would likely detect even a cloaked ship, but I don’t have direct access to them. I can contact those who do.”
“That would be great.” I hesitated. “Kyna, I…I know this whole thing must be really hard to believe, but I’m asking you to give me the benefit of the doubt, at least until someone can verify for sure if there’s a Grentl ship out there.”
“You are my Sovereign. Donnan showed me the preliminary results of last night’s testing, and they are…remarkable. Indeed, Excellency, I feel I owe you and apology for my earlier skepticism about the graell. According to the data I saw, your bond with Rigel Stuart is far more powerful and far-reaching than I ever guessed. As a Scientist, I am embarrassed to think I may have allowed prejudice or preconceptions to cloud my judgment on the matter.”
“Thank you, Kyna.” I was as gratified as I was surprised by her words. “I’m going over to the O’Garas’ now. It’s possible I can find out more using the Grentl communication device.”
“Has it activated?”
“It must not have before school this morning, or Molly would have told me. She checks it every day for me. But even if it hasn’t, I’m going to try using it.”
“Do be careful, Excellency. And bring your omni. I’ll contact you should we discover anything at this end and you can notify me about whatever you learn from the device. Then we can plan from there.”
I agreed and we broke the connection. I was relieved she hadn’t simply assumed I was crazy—which is what I probably would have done in her place. Tucking my omni in my pocket, I headed over to the O’Garas’ house.
* * *
On my way there, I reached out to Rigel with my mind, since he was probably getting worried by now. Can you talk for a minute?
Just a sec. Then, after about five seconds, Okay. What did you find out?
Nothing yet, but Kyna’s going to look into it and now I’m on my way to the O’Garas’ to see if I can make the Grentl device work. Wish me luck!
Oh, wow, good luck, M! I’ll be there as soon as I can, okay?
The very thought of having Rigel at my side made me a lot less nervous. That would be great. Maybe let your dad know what’s going on?
Will do.
Sean was pacing his front porch and as soon as he saw me, he came striding out to greet me. “So, can you tell me now what’s going
on?” Curiosity—and worry—came off him in waves.
“Okay. This will sound crazy, but try not to freak out. Sean, I think the Grentl are here—in orbit around Earth, or close. I told Kyna and she and some other Echtrans at NASA are going to check it out.”
Sean rocked back on his heels, staring down at me in mingled shock and doubt. “Here? How can they be? And how would you know, even if they were?” He glanced up at the clear, sunny sky above us.
“I just… It’s a long story and I don’t know any details yet. I need to get up to Molly’s room, though, to their device.”
He paled slightly. “You don’t plan to…to use it, do you? Dad’s gone to pick Mum up at the airport, so it’s just me here. What if—”
“At the very least, I need to see if they’re trying to contact me.”
“Yeah, okay. I guess that makes sense. C’mon.”
I followed him into the house and upstairs to Molly’s closet, where we’d hidden the Grentl device, along with my Scepter. Unfortunately—or fortunately?—the device looked the same as always, sitting inertly on a box of books that had never been unpacked. Whatever the Grentl were doing, they hadn’t tried to warn me about it.
Sean peered at it over the top of my head. “Good. It’s not glowing or anything. That means you can wait, right? At least till Mum and Dad get back? Or maybe for the NASA folks to find out if there really is anything out there?”
I bit my lip, hesitating, trying to remember exactly what I’d sensed in the cornfield with Rigel. It had only been for a second or two, then I’d panicked and closed down. What if I was wrong? What if I’d imagined it?
Deep down, though, I was sure I hadn’t. The Grentl hadn’t even been on my radar (so to speak) when I’d been blindsided by touching their consciousness.
The last time I’d used the device, to send that report, I’d been able to pick up images and impressions from them. One of those images, I suddenly remembered, had been of a blue marble that looked like Earth. Had they been planning to come here even then? And if so…was it my fault?
Starfall: A Starstruck Novel Page 27