7

LEVI FELT A THROB of pain over his left eye as he stood there at the kitchen counter. He couldn’t think why he should have a headache now when he felt so good fixing—He couldn’t recall what he had been doing. He looked down to see pork chops and onions in the porcelain pan; he didn’t remember slicing any onions. He did recall having turned the oven up high to cook potatoes. He must have been daydreaming, because he sure didn’t recall those onions. And he would have to wait awhile on the potatoes before he could turn down the oven and put the meat in.

Levi poured sauce evenly over the chops. There was something in the back of his mind he needed to remember. He had to tell his mom something important, but each time he tried to remember what it was, his head would throb all the harder.

He thought vaguely, Something to do with Ticey, and his headache immediately got worse.

Or did it have to do with Tom-Tom?

Through a cloud of headache pain, he remembered Thomas disappearing from the house. But that was all.

Mom … Warn …

Pain exploded behind his eye, halting all thought. Levi sucked air through clenched teeth and stifled a wrenching moan. Now it was revealed to him what was happening. Thomas was inside his brain. He could feel his brother’s strength surrounding him. Knew that he was a prisoner and that there was no escape for him until Thomas was finished with him and let him go.

Warn Mom about what, Lee? Thomas stood to one side, tracing these words on Levi’s mind. This way of communicating mind within mind pleased him. For while tracing, he never stuttered.

Not so much to warn, finally Levi traced back. He sighed inwardly. Standing at the counter, he was shaking. Thomas had spun an illusion. Levi saw himself trapped in a wooden cup with a crack in it from rim to base. The cup soaked in a dishpan; and through the crack it was filling with soapy water. Thomas could weave terrible illusions. Levi had been forced in the past to visit incredible places where he was in constant danger. Thomas’ strength over him weakened his nerve and damaged his will.

Yeah, buddy, you’re weak, all right, Thomas traced. But it’s not my fault. I couldn’t do any of this if you were ever strong enough to stop me.

Then why do you have to do it? Levi traced.

Well, do I ever get you hurt? Huh?

You scare me half to death, traced Levi. Get me out of this cup, will you? The dishwater’s up to my knees!

Don’t you think I know it? Thomas traced back. Don’t be such a scaredy-cat, Lee. I get afraid of it the same as you and I’m the one that has to figure a way for you to get out.

One of these times, I’ll never get out. I’ll die!

Now, don’t be dumb. But Thomas could feel Levi’s terror grow as the dishwater rose to his waist. Thomas conjured up some underwater cement and tossed a tube of it over the rim of the cup to Levi.

Levi caught it and quickly began to seal the crack. He saw handholds and footholds materialize up the side of the cup where there had been none a moment before.

Thanks, Levi traced as he began to climb out.

Sorry I didn’t think of it sooner, Thomas traced back.

Levi was over the rim. He jumped down into darkness, full of the sense that his brother was with him and would land him on something dry and soft. He landed on a worn mattress on the floor of a small, cold cell. There were bars all around him. He tested them, but they were strong metal and he could not get out.

What was it you were gonna warn Mom about? Thomas traced.

Let me out of here! And get me rid of this headache, Tom-Tom.

Oh, you’ll get out, Thomas traced. And you’ll get over the headache when you tell Mom what I want you to tell her.

I was just going to tell her about Ticey, Levi traced. Somehow, but without letting her know what it is Ticey knows. Tom-Tom, why did you have to let Ticey find out about us? It’s got her worried and she’ll make herself sick with it. And what was the big idea of giving Mom clues like that in the bedroom? You must be clean out of your mind!

I got my reasons, Thomas traced. And I’ll fix Ticey’s wagon, that’s the whole point.

Tom-Tom, you better not hurt her!

That’s a laugh, Thomas traced. Why do you suppose I told Mom stuff like I told her?

Maybe to cover your tracks, traced Levi, in case Ticey decides to tell her what she knows.

Wrong, buddy. And especially I told about Ticey blindfolded …

That was a lie, too, Levi broke in. Ticey never cheated and you know it. She was too young even to know how to cheat.

Boy, Lee, you are what they call some dumb. Ticey never cheated because she didn’t have to.

Levi was ever so still in his cell. He clutched the bars until his hands ached, when he began to trace: You’re out of your mind, Tom-Tom.

Yeah? Then picture this: I couldn’t find her out there in the hedgerow this morning—right? Even though I knew she had to be there. But I couldn’t find her. Why? Because, buddy, she wouldn’t let me find her.

If you think … Levi couldn’t finish.

You don’t have to think anything, dummy, Thomas traced, because I know. There’s not just two of us—you and me. It’s you, me and Justice—it’s us three!

Levi bowed his head against the bars and closed his eyes on the darkness. It’s not possible, he traced weakly, I would’ve known. I would have.

No, not if she didn’t know, herself. Don’t you see? traced Thomas. Listen, I didn’t get back at her for copying my stutter—you know, when she came back home. Oh, I wasn’t going to hurt her. I was planning on scaring her some, make her mad. But I couldn’t. And you know why I couldn’t? Because they wouldn’t let me. But I didn’t let them know I knew.

What? Levi traced. Didn’t let who know you knew what?

Lee! Don’t you get it yet? There ain’t only the three of us. There’s somebody else. Maybe more than one somebody, and they won’t let me break through to Ticey. They have her cut off from us, from me, and keep her from knowing besides.

A moment of stunned silence, after which Levi seemed to scream through his tracing: Let me out! I want to get out now—let me out of here, Tom-Tom!

There was suddenly a huge rumbling in his head, like enormous, echoing steps of a giant.

Listen! Thomas traced. Mom is coming. And you’d better hear me, too. I’ll take away the bars and everything and we’ll continue this talk later. But you’ll say what I want to Mom. Because I know who has to be keeping me from Justice.

Maybe you should be kept from her, Levi traced quickly. You just want to hurt her. I know you do!

Just you remember, Lee. I can give you a headache like nothing you’ve ever had.

The bars and the cell vanished suddenly as Mrs. Douglass came hurrying into the kitchen. Levi could feel pain from the very top of his head to the bottom of his feet. It was a headache gone on a rampage for a split second as Thomas proved what he could do. Then the pain settled back over Levi’s left eye as a throbbing reminder.

“Well!” Mrs. Douglass exclaimed. “I see you have everything ready.”

“Just have to open the cans of corn,” Levi said easily. All notion of Thomas being present had left him. The memory of their mutual conversation had been folded away in a handkerchief and placed neatly in Thomas’ back pocket.

“Don’t worry about the corn—I don’t need to fix it quite yet,” Mrs. Douglass told Levi. “You can put the chops in now, don’t you think? Turn down the oven to three-fifty and the potatoes can finish cooking along with the meat.”

Levi did as he was told.

“Where did Thomas go?” she asked as he straightened up, closing the oven.

“Oh … he ran off somewhere.”

“Outside?” she asked.

“I think so. Thomas can’t stand much kitchen work,” Levi said, and then: “Is Justice still asleep?” He leaned against the counter where he had been working.

“Yes, poor baby, she’s exhausted,” his mother said. She sat down at the table a moment. Eyes vacant, she sighed, looking tired and somewhat drawn.

Levi wanted to talk to her about how she felt. He wanted to ask if she wasn’t doing too much—taking courses and trying to keep up with home, too. He only wanted to sympathize, to show that he cared about her and missed her during the day. But he said nothing. Words would not come to him, as if, when he was about to speak, he would forget even the shape of the words he wanted.

He recalled he had something very important to say. But this, too, escaped him. All that came to mind was something concerning Justice that he didn’t really want to speak of. He began saying it, anyway, and he could not stop himself.

“Mom …” reluctantly he began. “Justice slips off and kind of roams the whole town—that’s why she gets so tired. And I think she’s spending a lot of time—maybe too much time—down at Mrs. Jefferson’s. I don’t know what she does down there. She keeps it secret.”

Mrs. Douglass stared at her son. “What do you mean, you don’t know what she does? You’re supposed to keep an eye on her. You and Thomas both!” She felt anger flare.

Levi stood there, tongue-tied.

“You’re supposed to tell her to come home at a certain time,” she said. “You don’t let her run around at will, she’s too young.”

“We keep an eye on her, me and Thomas both,” Levi said. “I thought you knew she went over to Mrs. Jefferson’s. That’s why I never mentioned it.”

“Well.” She stood, absently rubbing her shoulders. “No, I didn’t know that,” she said. “Leona’s a bit different, keeping to herself the way she does.”

“Not just different,” Levi said. “The kids all think she’s kinda crazy, like a fortune-teller, or something. Thomas thinks so, too.”

“Does he, now?” she said. She eyed Levi as he turned, shifted his weight until he had turned his profile to her. “And what do you think?” she asked him.

“Me … Me?” he said.

“Please look at me when I’m talking to you,” she said.

Again he shifted against the counter, facing her. Then he stood straight, as was Levi’s formal way.

“I asked you what you thought about Justice visiting Mrs. Jefferson.”

“Oh, yeah,” Levi said. “Nothing. I mean,” he said, “I didn’t think anything about it because I thought you knew she went down there.”

“Well,” she said again, “for your information and for Thomas’, I didn’t know, but I don’t believe there’s anything wrong with her visiting Mrs. Jefferson. We had a conversation, Ticey and I did, about difference not too long ago.” She gave Levi a searching look. “We talked about you boys, how you are so much alike but also so different.”

Levi ran his hand across his forehead, closing his eyes and frowning as he did so.

“Your head hurts you?” Mrs. Douglass asked.

“A little bit. Around my left eye. When I get a headache, it’s usually a pain in my left eye.”

“That sounds like sinus,” she said. “Or maybe we should have your eyes tested.”

“Aw, it’s probably nothing. It comes and goes.” The pain seared him, exploding behind his eye. Levi had one thought. He must try to make his mother stop Ticey from visiting Mrs. Jefferson.

He began, “If Dorian’s mom is some kind of fortune-teller, maybe she will influence Ticey with all that what’s-your-sign stuff and palm-reading. Ticey is awful young. She might take it all to heart and give herself nightmares.”

“Oh, now, she’s a very down-to-earth child,” Mrs. Douglass said firmly. “I’m sure she visits Leona because I’m not around. So she takes the next best mom she can find.” She paused, feeling a twinge of guilt. “I’ll talk to Ticey, but I’m sure it’s all right. Leona may be different, but she’s not crazy, Tom-Tom.”

Calling Levi, Tom-Tom. It was a slip of the tongue, the harmless way a parent will forget and call one of her children by the other’s name.

But Levi’s face went pale with shock when his mother called him Tom-Tom. For an instant, his eyes ran with fear.

“Lee, I mean,” Mrs. Douglass corrected her-self. Her voice trailed off as the smugness of Thomas appeared in Lee’s expression.

Mrs. Douglass’ mouth gaped open. “Thomas!” she whispered.

“What? … Mom?” Levi said. A calm and relaxed set to his face, which now showed concern.”Mom?” With a questioning smile, he said, “Just then you called me Thomas.”

“Well, for a moment I thought … I was sure I saw—

“Oooh. Ouch!” Levi clutched his brow in an exaggerated show of pain. “Do we have any aspirin? Maybe I do have some sinus.”

At once, his mom was full of sympathy. “I don’t wonder, with all of the dryness and heat day after day—all of the pollen, the ragweed growing like trees. Maybe it’s hay fever. Did you wake up with it?” She went to a cupboard for aspirin.

“Yes. It could be that I slept too hard,” he said.

“You boys stay up too late. I’ve been lax about that. Why is it that, soon as summer comes, the rules fly out the window?”

“We have to have some fun,” Levi told her. “We don’t go hanging around the streets—aren’t you glad of that?”

“But you do smoke cigarettes right in this house, don’t you?” She had caught him by surprise. He hung his head.

“I want it stopped,” she told him. “Now that you’ve tried it, you can quit it, okay?”

“Okay,” he said quietly.

“And tell Thomas. I’m not going to make a big thing out of it and tell your father, but I want it stopped. Next thing you know, Ticey will be trying it.”

“Okay,” he said again.

There wasn’t much talking between them after that. Levi swallowed milk with his aspirin. He prepared the table for the evening meal in the dining room, where they always had supper. When he finished, he was free to slip back to his room. Gently, he closed the door behind him.

Thomas took the handkerchief from his back pocket. He let memory free.

You did pretty good, he told Levi.

Thanks, traced Levi glumly. Once again, he was aware of bars surrounding him and the dank odor of his tiny cell. Let me out now, please.

Just hold on, Thomas traced. You didn’t do all that well. You didn’t get Mom to come down hard on Ticey for going over to the Jeffersons’.

It’s not my fault Mom didn’t see anything wrong with her going over there. She said—.

I know what she said, Thomas traced. I happened to be listening. And you’ll stay right where you are for not being more convincing.

Levi gripped the bars with all of his might. It’s only an illusion, he told himself. There aren’t any bars. Thomas is just making it up.

But there were bars, that was the horror of it. He could actually see and feel them. There was a cell. Levi was of so little strength he could not break out of Thomas’ imagination. He bowed his head, feeling desperately alone.

Somewhere there was a sound. Out there, beyond the bars where Thomas’ murky presence waited and tormented Levi, the slightest of flutterings. It was a gentle, delicate movement coming to rest, and it was watching.

What—? said Thomas. Levi could sense him searching the dark. Who’s there!

Levi blinked out into the deep shadows beyond the cell. He saw nothing, but he felt a watching; there was no other way to describe it. Whatever it was was not possible, coming as it did from out of nowhere rather than from Thomas. And he had the impression that Thomas was terrified by it.

Thomas crouched, shielding his head. Oooh, get away! Whatever watched made him feel uncomfortably warm. Soon, he was burning hot and he could feel his skin tanning, burning, right there in the darkness of Levi’s mind.

Levi could hear Thomas yelling at whatever was watching. Then the bars he held on to dissolved. His tiny cell melted away. Levi stood quaking as the image of himself quaking dwindled.

I’m free!

He found himself on that utterly strange voyage through the narrow, empty passage between Thomas’ self and his own. In the passage, his mind was timeless, flowing through a stream of bright nothing. At the last moment, he pulled back in shock. It was Thomas’ mind flowing away, not his own. But he had almost mixed his own with his brother’s!

Levi came to himself in his room. He had his own mind and he laughed hysterically, his breath exploding in great surges of relief. He grabbed his arms, felt his face, to make certain he was really he and in control of himself. He hugged himself, rocking slowly from side to side.

He fell to trembling, suddenly, remembering how terrible his brother had been to him. Yet he was free for the moment. What had freed him? he wondered. What had been there, so powerful in its watching?

But he knew beyond a doubt that he was trapped forever at Thomas’ mercy.

Justice lay deep asleep. No longer was she curled in a ball like a soft, sweet kitten. She lay stiff and unnaturally still. Not a breath appeared to escape her lips. Her hands were knotted into fists and her arms were like petrified sticks crossed over her chest.

Minutes ago, her eyes had come wide open. There was no telling whether she was alert behind them, for they held nothing of her feeling or expression. But there was something ever so clear shining watchful from them.

Behind her open eyes, she lay dreaming. She observed through space and unimaginable places. She saw from the kitchen to Thomas’ and Levi’s room; then outside, where Thomas now crouched on that side of the house near the room.

Thomas tried to hide himself from what his senses recognized as something alert and watching in the sunlight. He felt it probe at him and deftly warn him that he could not hide.

The Watcher took its time retreating. It faded, finally, and Justice’s dreaming submitted to the dark. Her eyes fluttered closed; her body relaxed all at once. So powerful was the loosening of muscles at the same time that she awakened with a start. She stretched, yawned, staring around her. Again she curled comfortably about herself, unwilling to give up her ease for at least another half-hour.

Justice wouldn’t wake up again until her mother called her to supper. She was at rest, with nothing on her mind.