32
If somebody had asked Sean how he’d feel about meeting a beautiful girl who would see it as her job to chase and land him, Sean would probably have replied that he’d be high as a skyrocket with his tail on fire. That is, if he didn’t laugh the questioner into next week. But when Sean returned to the loft that evening, what he felt most of all was confused. Okay, yeah, he could still feel her lips on his, and that was beyond great. But it didn’t make all the other stuff just turn to smoke and fade away. Nor did it fill the empty void at the dinner table, where he ate alone. Or how he turned in on his own, then lay there waiting until Dillon showed up sometime after midnight.
Sean slept badly and woke cranky. Dillon didn’t look like he had slept at all. They managed the entire morning routine without a word spoken. It was their day off, and Sean wished he had school to fill the empty space. Another first. He shifted to the balcony so he didn’t have to sit there pretending to ignore Dillon staring down at his empty cereal bowl, his hair falling to veil his face. If he was waiting for Sean to make things better, he had a long day ahead of him.
Sean had time for a couple of breaths of the good pine-scented air when the loft behind him was rocked by a massive, resonating bong.
That was how it seemed. He had no other way to describe the sensation. There was an insistent force to the sound, like the air had been compressed and then sent out in all directions. Not just a sound but a vibratory power intended to cause alarm.
Sean reentered the kitchen and almost timed his words to Dillon’s. “What was that?”
Then it happened again. Not really a chime, not really a bell, not electronic. But something that carried a sense of all three. Deep and resonating. Bong.
Sean was paying careful attention when the bong happened the third time. He felt the pressure on his face and hands, saw it ruffle his T-shirt. Like he had been pressed by a sudden breeze.
Then a stranger transited into their loft. He wore the Messenger uniform, fresh and crisp and proud. He was young enough to be one of their classmates, but Sean did not recognize him. The Assembly pin gleamed from his collar. He addressed them in Serenese. “Greetings, citizens. Professor Josef sends his respects. You are summoned.”
There was a formality to his tone and manner that left Dillon mute. So Sean asked, “When?”
“Now.”
The Messenger cast a long glance around him, like he was memorizing this glimpse of an outpost world. Then he was gone.
Sean turned to his brother. “I guess we better—”
“Hang on a sec.” Dillon had not moved from his position at the kitchen table. “It’s coming to the point when I need to tell Carey about . . . everything.”
Until that point, Sean would have said there was nothing that could have slowed their departure. “That’s right. You do.”
“It’s time.”
“Right again. Beyond time.”
Dillon lowered his face to the table, showing Sean the scared little kid. “I’m afraid I’ll blow it.”
Sean didn’t reply.
“I don’t want to go on without Carey. I can’t . . .”
“I’ll do it.”
The silence held. Like Dillon could scarcely bring himself to accept the offer. Even though Sean knew this was why they were talking at all.
Then his brother surprised him. “She’s a lot like you. She hears and sees things I don’t. I need to ask her advice. I need her to tell me what . . . how . . .”
“You ever thought maybe she already knows?”
Dillon nodded to the tabletop. “She suspects. She’s asked some questions I’ve danced around. Badly.”
“We need to tell her father too.”
Dillon looked up at that.
“Carey is everything to him. He deserves to know.”
“What will Josef and Carver and the Counselor say?”
“This isn’t about them,” Sean replied. “This is about doing right by two really good people.”
Dillon’s gaze opened. It was remarkable how he could do that. The warrior-in-training showing genuine fear. “What if she says no? Her father . . . Man, I don’t know.”
“She loves you. She needs to hear this and make up her mind. Her father is part of this. I don’t know how I’m so sure, but I am.”
Dillon nodded slowly. “No, no, you’re right.”
“We’re having dinner with them tonight. We’ll just lay it all out—” Sean slapped his forehead. “Oh, man.”
“What is it?”
“I promised Elenya we’d get together.”
Dillon shocked him then. Way beyond surprise. Out there in the realm of blowing Sean into the middle of September. “So invite her.”
“You serious?”
“How are we going to make this real, go do our jig through walls? Let them meet someone from out there. It could help.”
Sean shrugged. “I’ll ask her.” Which meant asking Josef how to get word to her. Which meant admitting to their professor what was happening. He added, “If I can.”
Dillon rose slowly from the table. “I guess we better go find out what’s waiting on the other side of the wall.”
They transited and changed and walked to Josef’s office. But the door was locked, so they stood cooling their heels in the hall. Which was where Elenya found them. She wore another outfit of pink translucence, same sandals, same hair band, same beauty. She did not quite dance down the hall. But close. Her smile was brilliant, like a jewel that didn’t see the light of day very often. She nodded a hello to Dillon, then took Sean’s hand and swung it. “I was hoping I wouldn’t need to wait until tonight.”
She said it in English.
Dillon was pushed from his funk enough to say, “Major wow.”
“I’ve only had three night lessons. Am I speaking correctly?” Her accent was musical, like she had been taught how to sing in English, not speak.
Sean said, “This is absolutely amazing.”
“You like?”
He told her the truth. “English has never, ever sounded this good.”
Her reward was a quick kiss, which brought a flame to both their faces. But it was worth it, because Dillon smiled. Like all the worry and the unknown were just lifted away. “So go ahead, dude. Ask the lady.”
Elenya asked, “What is this ‘dude’?”
“It is slang for ‘friend.’” He watched her taste the word. “We have a problem. Sort of. Dillon needs to tell his girlfriend about what’s happening.”
She looked from one twin to the other. “She is from your home world?”
“Yes.”
Elenya turned to Dillon. “She is the one, this lady?”
Dillon swallowed, then answered with a certainty that touched Sean more deeply than anything that crazy morning. “Yes. She is. If she’ll have me.”
“Telling her can be difficult.”
“We need to tell her father also. Carey lost her mother about two years ago.”
Elenya nodded slowly. “Father and daughter have bonded at a special level.”
“They are good people and better friends,” Sean said.
She looked at him with those amazing eyes. “You want me to be there?”
“If you think—”
“No, this is a good idea. I can represent what from you will be just words. When do we do this?”
“Tonight, our time. We’re having dinner at their home.”
“I will make a special request . . .” Elenya stopped as the professor’s door opened. But it was not Josef who appeared. Rather, Carver stood in the doorway. A different Carver. One dressed in formal military attire. With an expression to match.
Carver’s fathomless gaze flickered over the way they still held hands. Sean tried to draw away, but Elenya gripped him tighter still. She lifted her gaze a fraction. The quarter-inch shift was enough to transform her from student to the daughter of a planetary Ambassador.
Sean could not have been prouder if she had grown wings.
Carver showed his laser-fast dimples and said, “It is customary to introduce your friend.”
“Elenya, this is Colonel Carver.” Then the grey-haired lady appeared in the doorway behind Carver. “And this is Counselor Tatyana.”
“Colonel. Counselor.”
Tatyana said, “I know your father. A very fine gentleman.”
“Indeed.” Elenya turned to Sean. “When should I meet you?”
“In . . . I left my watch in the locker room.”
“Six hours by Lothian time,” Dillon said. “Less.”
“I will be in the transit room in five.” She nodded a farewell to the officials and departed. Regal as a queen.
Carver watched her depart, showed another flicker of that almost-humor, then said, “Inside, the both of you.”