Two days passed. Both Jacob and Delaney continued to recover their strength, going for short walks in the fields near Xander’s house or resting in the shade of the zephyr trees that filled their small valley. This evening was no exception as they climbed the hill behind the house after dinner to catch the evening breeze and listen to the birds. Reaching the top, Jacob turned to watch Xander and Delaney follow behind. Delaney was laughing—probably at some joke of Xander’s—and he walked beside her, guiding her by the arm. Jacob suddenly realized how good it was to hear her laugh—it was a sound he hadn’t heard in a long time, even before she’d left Harmony.
Jacob dropped the rolled-up blanket he carried in the grass and plopped down on it to rest. More than anything, he wished things could stay just the way they were. Delaney had made no more mention of her desire to return to Harmony. For his part, Jacob didn’t mention it either. Maybe she’s changed her mind, he kept telling himself. Deep down, though, he knew it was only a matter of time before she would ask him again.
He was conflicted about the whole matter. He knew that it was a mistake for her to go back, but after what Xander had said about the importance of choice, he was no longer sure it would be right for him to try to stop her. A part of him wondered if any attempt to keep her here would simply be selfish on his part. After everything that had happened, he didn’t want to lose her again. But if you really loved someone, didn’t you have a responsibility to keep that person from making a bad decision?
The decision was made more complicated by another matter: Delaney’s father. Ever since she’d expressed a yearning to go home, Jacob had been struggling over whether to tell her what he suspected about the man. The image of the high councilor winking at him in the murky light of the ghostbox chamber in those last few seconds before he’d fled kept rising before him. Shouldn’t she know the truth about her father? But what was the truth? He still wasn’t entirely sure. The whole thing might have been the mistake of his frightened mind. Telling her he suspected that her father could see, whether it was true or not, would change everything for her if she went back. It could even put her in danger.
Something else had begun to gnaw at the edges of his mind. He had been so intent on getting Delaney back, and had settled so quickly afterward into life with the three of them together, he’d forgotten for the moment about his own future. Even if it was, in Jacob’s mind, backward, Delaney at least had an idea of where her life should go. And what about him? With Delaney gone, would he stay here with Xander forever? Even if she didn’t go back, would the three of them always be together? He kept going back to the dream, to the words of that strange boy that had seemed to promise so much. He just didn’t know what to make of it all.
Jacob had had no more visions since the grove and was wondering when the next would come or if any would come at all. He’d related the vision in greater detail—along with the dream of the boy in the purple robe—to Xander and Delaney, hoping they could provide some degree of insight. Both listened with care and amazement but had little to offer in the way understanding. The whole experience brought him back to the time when his sight had first begun to emerge: the confusion, the uncertainty, the excitement—it was all too familiar.
But all of these concerns paled against his fear of Mixel’s arrival. A knot formed in his stomach every time he imagined the face of LaPerle with that plastered-on grin. It had been nearly a week since he and Xander had infiltrated the tower and taken her away. At first, Jacob thought he would be relieved as more time went by and no one showed, but it only made him more anxious as the inevitable moment drew closer.
Xander and Delaney had now reached the top of the hill. Xander helped Jacob spread out the blanket and the three of them sat down. To the west, Jacob could make out the Melville skyline on the horizon. It looked small and contained, and all of a sudden, Mixel seemed far away. To the east, Duna—the colossal moon that wasn’t really a moon—was rising visibly, its rings glittering as they caught the light of the setting sun. The breeze was cool and carried the mild scent of the prairie flowers that had recently had their second bloom. Jacob had a sudden flashback to his last birthday, when he’d shared a picnic with his parents on the grassy roof of their home. It was the first day he’d seen clearly, and he had been amazed watching the faces of his mother and father, seeing how their expressions had corresponded with the tone of their voices to enhance, or in some cases belie, the meaning of their words. It was then he had realized how seeing made the world a more complicated place.
“It’s nice here,” Xander said. “I’ve never really bothered to come up before.”
“I missed this smell—and the song of those birds—back in the city,” Delaney said.
“Let’s just stay up here forever,” Jacob murmured. “Keep things just the way they are.” He said it as a joke, but all of them felt the truth in it.
“Everything changes, Jacob,” Xander replied. “Nothing stays the same.”
Jacob looked over at Delaney, who bowed her head slightly. Her smile faded.
He reached out to take her hand, when the sky seemed to darken for a moment and the grass was drained of all its color. This time he was more prepared as once again a flash of painful light ripped through his head and into his eyes. His surroundings disappeared and now he saw a silver craft settling down into the yard before the house. There was another flash, and suddenly he saw LaPerle taking Delaney by the arm. She was calling to Jacob, trying to pull away as Karl, his face bloody, stood over Xander, who lay in the dust nearby beside another man.
An instant later, it was over and Jacob was back with Delaney and Xander on the hilltop. They were talking and hadn’t seemed to notice him. Gasping, Jacob wondered how long he had been gone. There was one thing, though, he didn’t wonder about.
“They’re coming,” he said.
Xander and Delaney paused and looked over at him.
“What do you mean?” Delaney asked.
Before he could reply, a hum crept over the whisper of grass and evening birdsongs. They all turned in the direction of the noise and saw the speck on the horizon grow larger as it approached from the direction of the city.
“Good ears, Blinder,” Xander said, both of them shading their eyes to see the silhouette that had grown from a black speck to the gleaming oval of a floater. “Just when I thought they might have let it go.”
“I didn’t just hear it,” Jacob said.
“Another vision?”
Jacob nodded. “We can’t go down there.”
“What do you suggest we do?”
Jacob looked around. “Can’t we run away?” he asked.
“And go where? You can’t always run, Jacob.”
“I don’t want you to get hurt,” Jacob said.
Xander smiled. “I refuse to worry about what might happen. I’ll leave that to you. Besides, they can’t hurt me anymore.”
He went to Delaney and helped her to her feet, keeping hold of her hand. Jacob joined them and took her other hand. She was trembling slightly as the hum grew louder. Jacob squeezed her hand reassuringly, and a brief smile flickered across her face. Comforting her was the only thing that alleviated his own fear.
The floater glided down and landed in the driveway near Xander’s cruiser. From the hilltop Jacob could see that Karl steered the craft, his massive bulk filling the driver’s seat. LaPerle and another man even larger than Karl were seated in the back. The three got out and lingered in the yard, waiting.
“Guess we better go see what they want,” Xander joked. Delaney gave a nervous laugh. Jacob wished he could laugh also, but his stomach was too tied up in knots.
The three of them took their time going down the hill, catching the last rays of the sun before it slipped down over the horizon as they came from behind the house and into the yard.
“Nice little place you have here,” LaPerle called out as the three approached, coming up to stand beside the cruiser. Xander said nothing. He simply leaned against the cruiser with his arms folded.
“I get it—the strong-silent-type routine. Is that what she’s looking for?” LaPerle sneered.
Xander ignored the question. “What took you so long?” he asked instead.
“Business, the usual. Besides, I figured she’d return on her own. After all, look around—not quite the luxury we’ve provided. Look, I don’t want to spend any more time out here in the bush than I have to, so let her go and we’ll be on our way.”
“Unlike you, I’m not keeping her here. She just doesn’t want to go back.”
“Doesn’t she? That’s for her to say.”
“He’s right, Jack,” Delaney said, stepping forward. “I’m not going back.”
“It’s not that simple, Delaney,” LaPerle stated. “We’ve invested a considerable sum in you. You owe us.”
“I’m not an investment. Besides, the eyes don’t even work. They’ve caused me more pain than they’re worth.”
“Blind again? I told you before—implants can be tricky. If you’d allowed the surgeon to make the right adjustments, you’d be fine right now. Delaney, we can make this work. Stop being ungrateful.”
“Don’t worry, I’m plenty grateful for everything these eyes have shown me,” she said.
LaPerle either didn’t understand the sarcasm or chose to ignore it. “Then start acting like it. Besides, think of all your fans. Think of what you’re doing to them. They miss you, Delaney. Your last couple screwups haven’t hurt you. Believe it or not, it’s made you more popular than ever. We’re getting inquiries from all over the Rim. People want to know the truth behind the mystery.”
“Well, I’m going to have to disappoint them,” she replied. “I don’t care about any of that. I thought I would at first, but I don’t. All I can think about is what I’ve done to myself. And I don’t like it. I don’t want that life. I’m sorry.”
“What’s this guy filled your head with, anyway? Whatever he’s offering you, I can offer you far more. You know that.”
“You just don’t get it. It isn’t what’s offered, Jack, it’s what’s demanded, and he hasn’t demanded anything. He’s the only one who hasn’t.”
“All right, enough of this banter,” LaPerle said in a bored tone. He turned back and nodded to the giant beside Karl, who stepped up. LaPerle snapped his fingers and gestured toward Delaney.
Jacob darted forward to stand in front of her. Xander continued to lean against the cruiser but stared intently at the man. As he approached, the man fixed his gaze on Xander in return, puzzled at the other’s passivity. Xander never wavered as the man drew near, but it didn’t matter—one second Xander was leaning, the next he was a blur, springing before anyone could react.
He caught the giant with a chop to the throat, and the man fell to his knees, gasping, with one hand on the ground, the other at his neck. In spite of his terror, Jacob felt an instant of relief to see the man go down. But as Xander closed in to finish him off, the man lashed out, swinging his massive arm in an arc that caught Xander in the face, knocking him backward onto the ground. Jacob watched in horror as Xander struggled to pick himself up. The man loomed over him, as if daring him to rise, too distracted to notice Jacob, who, bending down, scooped a handful of sand from the driveway and threw it in the giant’s face. Blinded, the man cried out and retreated, bringing both hands to his face. His stumbling gave Xander enough time to recover and lunge forward. He drove his fist into the man’s stomach, following it with a series of blows. With a grunt, the man dropped into the dirt if he had been struck with a stunner.
Breathing hard, Xander pulled himself erect and straightened his shirt. Blood ran out of the corner of his mouth. LaPerle, not moving from his original position, just sighed and, looking down at the man, shook his head in disgust.
“Very nice, Mr. Payne,” he said to Xander, “but like I told you once before—don’t think you can bite the hand that feeds you any more than our young lady friend here can. I don’t care what you’ve done for us or what you’ve gone through in the process; if you don’t step aside, we’ll cut you off completely. No more pension, your land rights will be revoked, and you’ll be shipped out to space. How’s that for a deal?”
Xander had now caught his breath and was smiling, as if he had been waiting for this threat all along. “You want a deal? Fine, I’ve got one for you. For over ten years I fought for MixelCorp. That’s a long time to do someone’s dirty work, and believe me, I did enough of it and saw even more. And a long time ago, I realized that it might be smart to keep records of everything I’d done and seen—call them memoirs, if you like. I finished them just last year and sent them somewhere special, somewhere secret, where even Mixel can’t find them. So here’s my deal: you back off and maybe I won’t publish those memoirs after all.”
“You’re lying,” LaPerle said, his eyes narrowing.
“I might be. Investigations, inquiries, fines and bad publicity—those are all ugly words to have to hear just to find out if I’m telling the truth. Look, Jack, I may be a mere soldier, but I’ve spent enough time in the company of suits to know that it all comes down to the bottom line. I don’t care how much you’ve put into this young lady—you and I both know it isn’t worth it. Especially to you.”
LaPerle didn’t respond for a minute. He only stared at Xander, trying to glean any hint of the truth from the man’s blank face.
“A ridiculous bluff,” he said at last. He turned back to Karl. “Karl, I guess it’s up to you to do the honors,” he said.
Jacob watched as Karl stepped forward, a dark look on his face. The memory of his vision flashed though his mind. He knew he had to do something fast. He ran forward and stepped in front of Xander.
“Don’t, Karl! Please,” he shouted. Karl pulled up in surprise and stared down at Jacob, frowning. Everyone was quiet. Jacob realized all eyes were on him.
“You don’t want to do this,” he continued. “I know you don’t. Xander’s told me what the two of you went through. Back in Melville you said that it was just business, but you know that’s not true. This isn’t just business.”
Karl’s frown deepened as he looked over at Xander, who simply looked back and shrugged. Finally, he shook his head and turned back. While Jacob breathed a sigh of relief, LaPerle gave the passing man a dark look.
“What’re you doing?” he snarled.
Karl shrugged his shoulders. “Can’t do it,” he said. “Kid’s right.”
“You want to keep your job?”
“Yeah, I do. But not this way. Besides, you should believe Xander about those memoirs—I used to see him writing all the time. We all did.”
LaPerle stared at both men for a moment in disbelief. “Isn’t anybody loyal these days?” he shouted at last. He turned and kicked the ground, sending up a small dust cloud along with a string of obscenities. By the time he turned back, he had regained his composure.
“Get up, you idiot,” he said to the giant, who only now was beginning to pick himself up off the ground. “We’re leaving. I have a meeting in an hour.”
With another groan, the man rose and, brushing the sand off his suit, limped back to the floater with Karl and LaPerle. The three of them got in. LaPerle never looked at Xander or Jacob as he settled into the floater, which had already begun rising off the ground. A minute later it disappeared from view.
Jacob ran over to Xander, who now leaned back against the cruiser, rubbing his jaw and spitting out saliva mixed with blood.
“Are you okay?” he asked.
“I’m fine. Good move back there. You really covered me,” Xander said, reaching out and squeezing Jacob’s shoulder. Delaney joined them, her hands groping until she found Xander. She felt along his shoulders to his face, drawing her hand away when he winced as she brushed his cheek.
“You’re hurt,” she observed.
“Just like old times,” he joked. “Nothing like a good blow to the head to make you feel alive.”
“Xander—” she began before he interrupted.
“Don’t thank me. It was worth it just to ruffle his feathers a bit.”
“Did you really mean it?” Jacob asked. “Do you really have all that stuff written down?”
Xander shrugged his shoulders and smiled. “Why spoil the surprise?” he quipped.
This time all three of them laughed.
“You’d better get some ice for your face,” Delaney said.
“Right,” Xander grunted.
He turned and went inside. Jacob turned to follow, when Delaney stopped him.
“Jacob,” she whispered.
His heart sank hearing the quiet sound of his name, but he turned back to her. She reached for him and pulled him in close.
“Is he gone?” she asked.
“Yes.”
She leaned in, her voice soft but intent. “You have to ask him. Tonight. You promised me you would.”
“But it’s only been a few days. Can’t you wait a couple more before you decide?” he pleaded.
“I’m not going to change my mind, Jacob. You know I won’t. And what just happened has given me an even bigger reason to leave. I need to get away from Mixel for good, for your sakes as well as mine. If there’s one place they can never touch me, it’s Harmony.”
“But you don’t need to worry about them anymore. You heard what everyone said. You heard what happened. It’s over.”
“I didn’t hear that, Jacob. LaPerle never said it was over, did he?”
Jacob couldn’t remember hearing the words. Still, he didn’t want to give in.
Delaney sighed. “Maybe it is, maybe it isn’t. I don’t want to take that chance, Jacob. Trust me, I know what I’m doing.”
“No, you don’t,” he replied, his voice rising. Before he could stop himself, the words rushed out. “You’re just doing this because you’re desperate, because you don’t think you have any other choice. This is just like you, Delaney. Everything has to be taken to the extreme. Back in Harmony it was the same way. I don’t think you’ll be satisfied no matter what you do. At least if you stay here, you’ll make me happy. You’ll make Xander happy. Doesn’t that matter?”
For a moment, they were both silent. Jacob searched Delaney’s face, afraid of what her reaction might be. But to his surprise, she seemed to give no reaction at all.
“I’m sorry, Delaney,” he whispered. “I just don’t want to lose you again. After everything that’s happened.”
“You don’t want me, Jacob,” she said. “I’m broken. An outcast.”
“We all are, Delaney. Xander, me, you. None of us fit. That’s why we belong together. Why can’t you see that?” He winced as soon as he finished saying the words. She reached up to touch her jeweled eyes and gave a flicker of a smile.
“Listen to you,” she said. “You sound so grown up. Thinking back to all those afternoons we spent together in Harmony makes me realize how much you’ve changed. I wish I were as strong as you.”
“You are, Delaney.”
She shook her head and sighed.
“You might be right, Jacob. All those things you said about me before—they’re probably true. But I still feel like I have to try this. It’s my decision, after all. Isn’t it?”
“Yes,” Jacob said. He thought about going home, what it would be like. In some ways, it felt like he already had. An image of his mother seated at the table with his music box, mourning, rose before his eyes, a memory from one of his earlier dreams.
“I’ll talk to Xander,” he said at last.