Perception (10 page)

“This is awkward,” I
finally said.

“You look different,”
he said back.

Of course I looked
different; I wasn’t wearing a wig or eye altering contacts.

“It must be really
weird for you to see me like this again.”

He nodded. “Yeah.”

“I hope you can get
used to it.” I entered the kitchen, and opened a dishwasher. “I’ll help.”

“No, that’s all
right. It’s my job.”

“It’s our mess.” I
smiled at him, in part to try to set him at ease, and in part because I found
his discomfiture amusing.

“I don’t think Liam
was dealing drugs,” I said as I removed clean plates and placed them into the
cupboard.

“It was just a
theory,” Noah said, loosening up enough to get back to work.

“And I appreciate it.
Believe me, getting information hasn’t been easy. I’m thankful for anything.”

Noah filled a second
industrial sized dishwasher with dirty pots. “Why are you so sure my theory is
wrong?”

“Because Jackson told
me, and I believe him.”

“Who’s Jackson?”

“My boyfriend.”

That stopped him.
Once again he paused, holding a dirty dish mid air.

“You thought I made
that part up?”

 I remembered how I’d
said my boyfriend knew where I was when I’d felt trapped in the food court.
That was before I knew what kind of person Noah was.

“No, of course you’d
have a boyfriend.” He turned on a tap to dampen a cloth.

“He’s a scientist.”

“So?”

“Well, science is....”

“Is what?” He turned
off the tap and stared at me.

“Science is the key
to, well, everything.”

Noah rolled his eyes.
“Science isn’t the key to everything.”

Did he really just
say that? “I think it is.”

“Well, then,” he said,
holding my gaze. “You’re wrong.”

“I’m wrong?”

“Do you think you’re
never wrong?”

I placed cutlery into
the appropriate drawer. “Do you think
you’re
never wrong?”

“I didn’t say what I
believed was the answer to everything, you did.”

“Scientific knowledge
is trustworthy,” I began, “unlike other near obsolete belief systems that
depend on superstition and emotion.”

“You don’t even know
what I believe. How can you claim it’s nearly obsolete? And I adamantly deny
that I’m superstitious or emotional.”

We both reached for
the dishcloth he had left on the counter, and Noah’s fingers brushed over mine.
A jolt of electricity ran up my arm, a completely unexpected response on my
part. I slowly moved my hand away, letting him have it.

“I’m not talking
about you specifically,” I said regaining my composure. “It’s just obvious the
world’s a better place with scientists in control. Look at what we’ve done with
managing energy and water resources.”

“Oh my, God. You
really believe the world is a better place? Wow. What a nice little bubble you
live in here. GAPs have solved
their
energy and water problems, but
they’re yet to be solved globally.”

“Maybe, but there’s
been good progress. You must admit that without science, the world would be
worse off. In fact, it may not even exist.”

I closed the
dishwasher door. Noah slowly wiped down the counter top.

“I’m not opposed to
science,” he said. “It’s not like I don’t believe it’s there, or that it’s
important. I just don’t make a religion out of it. There are other forces at
work, too.”

“Like what?”

He took a long
breath. “Like faith.”

I had a broom in my
hand, and paused mid-sweep. “There’s a reason ninety-five percent of the
churches in North America are closed down, you know.”

“Just because people
aren’t meeting in churches doesn’t mean they’ve given up on faith.”

I swept a small pile
of dirt into a slit in the floor under the counter that sucked the dirt away. “So
much harm has been brought into the world in the name of religion,” I said. “I
just think we’re better off without it.”

Noah placed a hand on
the broom, his fingers inches above mine. We exchanged a look before I let go.
He smiled and moved to the other side of the island.

“Actually,” he said
after a couple of sweeps, “more violence has been afflicted on mankind in the
name of science. Think of all the wars since the first World War, of all the scientific
research that went into finding new and improved methods of killing other human
beings.”

He turned to look at me.
“The atomic bomb, for instance. Agent orange. Ethnic cleansing.”

I stared back,
unflinching. “Science is still the greatest benefit to mankind and its only
hope for survival. Science is measurable and verifiable.”

“Not everything can
be measured and verified.”

“Science has yet to
fill in all the holes but we’re closer to doing that now than we’ve ever been.”
I ran fingers through my hair. “I believe we’ll have all the answers we’re
looking for in my lifetime.”

“You just said you
believed
in something. That’s the language of faith. I have faith in God and you have
faith in science, but we both need faith. The ability to have faith in something
is just another way that humans differ from animals. Or machines.”

I remembered the
picture I found online of Noah’s father standing in front of his church. I
figured Noah heard a lot of sermons growing up. I couldn’t fault him for his
misplace beliefs.

“I just don’t think
‘faith’ is the right word,” I said.

“I think it’s the
perfect word.”

I wiped my hands on
the back of my shorts. “Then I guess we’ll just have to agree to disagree.” I
grinned as I left. “See you later, Noah.”

Chapter 11

We hadn’t eaten dinner
together as a family since Liam went missing, and tonight was no different.
Jackson hadn’t come over since Liam disappeared, not even once, which was odd.
But I chalked it up to him being worried about Liam and about not wanting to
have to deal with Alison. I understood how he could feel awkward around our
family right now. I took leftovers to her room, and when I’d finished I plopped
myself on my bed.

And thought of Noah
Brody.

I probably shouldn’t
have hung out with him in the kitchen earlier. It wasn’t that I didn’t like
talking to him; he was intelligent and I enjoyed his company. And for whatever
reason, he seemed to be extra good-looking today. Attractive even.

It was just that he
was so intense. He had crazy ideas and believed them strongly.

Plus, he was still an
anti-GAP guy. Which meant he was anti
me
. Despite that accidental touch
and the way his eyes had bored into mine.

The fact remained
that his help had gotten me nowhere when it came to finding Liam, and who knew,
maybe the whole drug thing was just a red herring to get me off the real trail.

Really, what did I
actually know about Noah Brody? What made me think he could be trusted?

And why was I still
thinking about him? I had to get back to my search for Liam. I instructed the internet
TV in my room to turn on and scoured the news stories looking for anything that
might hint to Liam’s whereabouts.

The Midwest and
southern states were once again experiencing drought, the aquifers that used to
provide water were long since drained. Fires burned in Arizona, floods
devastated large portions of China, and civil unrest brewed in sub-Saharan
Africa. My 3D TV brought all the destruction right into my bedroom.

Noah was right about
one thing: the world was in a bigger mess than I’d like to believe. I commanded
the TV to turn off, and in the sudden quiet, I heard a low noise. Moaning?

The anguished cry
came from down the hall. It sounded like Alison.

A burst of fear
exploded in my chest. I sprinted down the tile hallway, skidding into my parent’s
vast bedroom. Alison was curled into a ball on the bed, and Paul had his arm
around her back, his face blanched whiter than the walls.

I didn’t need to ask
what happened. I knew. Liam was dead.

“They found his body
in LA,” Paul said, staring blankly. “It looks like foul play.”

I back stepped
wordlessly, feeling my way along the wall to my room. I was breathless, my
world spinning. My ears roared with the pulse of my heart like they’d been
stuffed with cotton. Suddenly, I felt sick. I grabbed my trash can, lifting it
to my face in time for me to dry heave.

Liam was dead. He
wouldn’t be coming home. Ever.

I crawled onto my
bed, curling up like an infant. A moan from deep within me escaped my lips. No
more Liam. No more big brother. No more me and Liam versus our parents.
Tears exploded like a volcanic rush, urgent and
violent, soaking my pillow as I tried to muffle my sobs.

Twilight disappeared
into a blackening sky, and my sadness morphed into something else, something
sharper. Anger. Fury. Who had stolen my brother from me? I wouldn’t rest until I
found out and got pay back.

I blew my nose again
and added the tissue to the growing pile. I envied my parents who had each
other to mourn with. I wasn’t part of that circle, but I needed someone, too.

I tapped my ring and
spoke out Jackson’s name, but turned it off before it could connect. I tapped
it again, and before I could think it through or change my mind, I heard myself
say, “Noah Brody.”

Chapter 12

A warm evening breeze
rustled through the towering palms, and dried fronds floated to the ground by
my feet. I wasn’t sure if he’d come, but he hadn’t hesitated when I asked. I
hoped he wouldn’t be sorry he came when I’d told him what I wanted from him.

I felt strangely
comforted when I spotted Noah on the other side of the gate. My arms were
wrapped tightly around my chest, but I managed a slight wave in his direction.
He nodded acknowledging that he saw me.

Noah handed the guard
his ID, the ID that permitted him access to Sol City in order to come clean up
after my family.

The guard casually
glanced at the card, then flicked it back across the counter. “Not authorized.”

“I’m domestic staff
for the Vanderveen household,” Noah explained.

“Sorry. I haven’t
received notice of authorization from Mr. or Mrs. Vanderveen.”

“I’m authorizing him.”
I thrust my palm toward the scanner.

The guard shook his
head. “I’m sorry, Miss Vanderveen. It’s after 9 p.m.”

“So what!” I narrowed
my eyes at him, challenging. “He works for my family. He has ID.
I’m
authorizing him.”

The guard stood his
ground. “Again, I’m sorry. But you’re still under eighteen. He can’t pass. It’s
the rules.”

“Fine,” I said. “I’ll
leave then.”

I cursed under my
breath, hating how humiliating this was for Noah. And for me. I passed through
the gates under the disapproving glare of the guard and headed toward the
downtown core like I was in a speed-walking race. Noah fell into pace beside me,
edging forward to make space for me as we pressed through the crowds.

“Sorry about that,” I
muttered.

“Sure.”

We continued on in
silence. He was probably waiting for me to talk since I’d called him. But, now
that I was on the outside with
him
, I didn’t know what to say.

When I spotted the
Sky Transit Station, I knew my next move. “Let’s get on.”

“Where do you want to
go?” Noah asked.

“Anywhere.”

Noah picked the line
that did a large circle above the downtown core. The sky train wasn’t as packed
as the transit pod had been the day before, so we both had our own forward
facing seat with enough space between us that we weren’t touching.

The sky train hummed
as it moved effortlessly above the streets of LA, the evening lights dimmed or
turned off in most office buildings to preserve energy.

One exception was the
Sleiman Tower in Sol City. The eighty story structure could be seen clearly
from LA and exceptionally from our higher position in the sky train. The shape
of the tower was constantly changing as each floor rotated separately from the
others, an engineering accomplishment powered by solar panels and wind turbines
located between each floor. Sometimes it resembled an hourglass, sometimes an
elegant vase. Now it looked like a twisted ribbon.

“Liam was only
twenty-one,” I murmured. “He could’ve lived to be more than two hundred.”

Noah’s eyes softened.
“I’m sorry for your loss.”