| |
THE WOMAN’S muscles relaxed in response to my touch and my words. Her muttering ceased; so did her sobs. “Good, Ashlyn,” I said. “You’re doing great. We’ll take you someplace safe, and then to your home and family once we find them.”
Ashlyn drew in a shallow breath. With her eyes still wet, she straightened her shoulders and nodded to me, as if she understood. It was the most confidence she’d shown so far, although her healing had lasted all day. She was the most difficult case I’d helped with since freeing the Lost in Susana.
I yawned as I peered across the road. Streetlights illuminated the streets just enough to make them blurry. Ashlyn was the first Lost person I’d met who lived among the homeless. I’d found her when I went to visit Lily and Ray. Since we’d parted, the Raymond twins had been living with their father in Cocoa, Florida. Ashlyn caught my attention during a tour of Banana River lagoon. Ray helped me find a homeless shelter where she could check in, but she left the next day. We tried two more shelters with no better results. Ashlyn kept wandering back to the lagoon, which reminded me of Lily’s silver body of water in Susana. It didn’t take long for me to realize that Ashlyn could be searching for something or someone—that she was a traveler who’d gotten Lost.
“We should take her to Edgar to recover,” I said, guiding Ashlyn to an alleyway where we could travel without being seen. “It’s warm there, and it would be the perfect place for her to receive silhouettes. Valcas finally finished the house.”
Blue-green eyes tried to look serious and challenging, but the pout underneath them made me laugh. “You want to use your new home as a hospital for the Lost?”
“Come on, Dad,” I said, returning his challenge. “Edgar’s not just a house or a home; it’s an entire world. I’m not going to run out of room any time soon.” I’d named Valcas’ gift to me Edgar, since he’d meant the world to me. So, obviously I found his name to be more fitting than something like Teardrop or World of Suns. Dad and Valcas were both in favor of Triostar, but it was my gift, and I got the final say.
“Somehow I get all the credit for you being headstrong,” he said, loosening the baglamas from his belt. “But you know what?”
“Oh really? What?” I said, smothering a smile.
He pointed at me. “You are much like your mother. Just look at the way you’re playing along right now, as if you’re taking me seriously. I can see through that, you know.”
Ashlyn looked back and forth between us, with her lips parted as if we were the most interesting people she’d met in a while. She was probably right.
“Get ready,” I whispered, a little louder than necessary. “He’s going to start telling us about all the insight he has, and how that makes him know so much more about us than we know about ourselves.”
Her lips worked themselves into a quirked smile.
“Don’t listen to her, Ashlyn. My daughter’s only been a healer for a couple of years according to her timeline, which I’ll have you know is quite short compared to my experience.” He shrugged as he dragged his knuckles across the baglamas, striking a mock menacing chord. “But now that she’s engaged to be married, she thinks she knows everything.”
I stared him down, daring him not to laugh. He lasted a second longer than I thought he would, before I joined in. Ashlyn’s smile deepened. I put my arm around her shoulders as we prepared for travel.
***
ASHLYN ADJUSTED WELL to Edgar. The moment we grounded, she looked up at the sky and basked in the warmth of the suns.
“As I was saying,” Dad bellowed as he rose from his grounding stance. “You and your mother are much greater actresses than I could ever hope to be.”
“I find that hard to believe, Plaka, given your flair for the dramatic.” Valcas grinned as he walked toward us.
Dad sighed. “I’m going to need your help here, Ashlyn. Surely you can see how outnumbered I am. But before I go in search of your friends and family, there is something I must let my young daughter know—a secret I have kept for these past couple of Earth years, ever since that night at the TSTA Gala.”
I flinched, suddenly worried that our playful banter did indeed turn into something more serious. “Is it something about the conflict between the TSTA and Aboreal?” I asked, feeling my blood go cold.
“No, although I suspect that matter will continue to be long and drawn out. Bree’s posturing seems to be contagious; it has infected Aboreal more than it has the TSTA.”
Sometimes I wondered whether he was unhappy that neither side had started a war. Ivory had stayed with Nick the entire time, just in case. Or so she said.
I narrowed my eyes. “What is it?”
“I will preface my secret with a word of advice: No matter what differences you may have, they can always be put aside.”
“Okay, and?”
“Trust each other with your whole hearts, because you may have a child one day who will need your help to make an escape.”
I shook my head. “What are you talking about?”
“I recall your concern at the Gala, Calidora, when your mother left me alone on the dance floor. I remember you running outside after her.”
“Yes,” I said slowly. “I felt bad for you, but I also wondered what you could have said to upset her.”
His smugness gripped me by the gut.
“You never said anything to upset her, did you?”
“Of course not. It was one of the best nights of my life. I merely told her to act upset, to run off because I knew you would follow. I hadn’t known she was so formidable an actress.”
Valcas snickered as my face turned red. I shoved him lightly. “You were in on this too?”
“Let’s not forget Plaka’s message here. Trust, dearest.”
I ran a hand through my hair and sighed. I had no choice but to trust. I was convinced that the timeline discrepancy between me and Valcas would never be fixed, and my healing of the Lost made going back in time to recover the recipe for Edgar’s youth elixir far from tempting. Perhaps a solution to our problem would present itself in the future; until then I could only trust and hope. At least Valcas and I wouldn’t be going through it alone. Mom and Dad had the same problem now; and I knew that, together, we’d learn how to make the most of our time in the present.