The Visitors (9 page)

He looked as if I'd just slapped him in the face. “Bed? You just woke up!”

“Yeah, well, I'm still tired. Thanks for the food. Good night, Luke.” I stood in the doorway, motioning for him to go. The last thing I ever wanted was to hurt him, but he was annoying me. His questioning was not just about his concern for me and my safety.

Luke put his head down as he got up, looking like a whipped puppy. He stood in my room for a moment as if he was about to say something, but then finally walked through the doorway without looking at me. When he was gone, I put my pajamas on and got back into bed.

I'm not sure how long I laid there, wide awake but pretending to sleep, before my father came in. He bent over my bed and put his hand on my forehead, apparently checking for fever. I pretended to stir with his touch and opened my eyes. “Dad?” I asked, faking my surprise.

“I didn't mean to wake you, kiddo. Just making sure you're feeling okay. You've been asleep for a really long time. Everyone else is about to go to bed now.” He smiled down at me as he spoke.

“I'm fine, Dad. I guess I just haven't really slept since we got here, and it caught up to me. Did I miss anything too exciting?” I rubbed my eyes as I talked to him, trying to make it look as though I had just woken up.

“Nah. But tomorrow will be a normal day again. We get to go with Sir Andrew to the medical facility, or the mending chamber, as they call it. Should be a great experience.”

I grinned at him. “That sounds awesome, Dad. I promise I'll be good to go by tomorrow.”

“That's what I wanted to hear. Good night.” He bent down and gave me a peck on the forehead before he turned to leave.

“Good night, Dad,” I replied as I turned over and pretended to go back to sleep.

I glanced at my watch as he left. It was eleven o'clock. Two hours to kill before I got to see Noah. To entertain myself, I imagined our meeting – something I had been doing all day. In my head I invented crazy explanations for the secrets that were being kept from us. Maybe these people didn't age in the same way we did. They say a year to us is like seven years to a dog – maybe that was the way it worked here, too. Maybe here he was only seventeen, but according to their aging system, he would be one hundred and nineteen. That would explain why he was so smart.

As I imagined what he was going to tell me, my mind wandered to our next kiss. His penetrating green eyes and the deep dimples that appeared every time he talked or smiled invaded my mind. I could practically feel his hands take my face and pull it towards his. My stomach began to jump around in anticipation.

To my surprise, the next time I looked at my watch, it was twelve forty-five. I listened closely for any sounds or movements that signaled that anyone from our crew was awake, but I heard nothing. As quietly as I could, I slipped out of bed, changed into a pair of jeans and a dark black t-shirt, smoothed down my messy ponytail, and snuck out of the visitors' chamber. I expected to see Noah outside, already waiting for me, but he wasn't there. Panic didn't set in right away; I knew he would be there.

Soon, it was one-thirty, and still no sign of Noah. What could be keeping him? My first thought was to go try to find him, but I realized I didn't have a clue where he lived or slept or where he might possibly be. I tried to reassure myself. He would show up – something had happened to make him late. Waiting patiently, I sat down outside the visitors' chamber.

Two o'clock came and went, followed by two-thirty, and then three o'clock, but still no Noah. The different thoughts and emotions that were whirling around in my head made me feel sick to my stomach. I went from worried, to distressed, to confused, to livid, all in a matter of minutes. What if he was hurt? What if something happened to him? What if he decided he didn't want to see me anymore? What if he had lost interest in me?

When three-thirty rolled around, I gave up and went back inside. Part of me still wanted to go look for him, but I had no idea where to start. Besides, there was also a little part inside that told me he did not want to be found by me. I crawled back into my bed, but I couldn't sleep. Staring at the ceiling, I held my aching stomach while the tears came rolling down my cheeks.

I woke up on the lab table. It took a few minutes to gather my bearings and remember what I was doing there. Groggily, I looked around the room until I saw Lucy sitting at a computer next to me. She was concentrating keenly on the screen, and even in my woozy state, I could see waves of urgency pouring off of her. “Lucy,” I started, but was surprised to hear my voice come out as a faint whisper.

The sound of my voice made her jump. “Noah! You shouldn't be awake yet!” She hurried to the lab table to look me over.

“Wait!” I cried, my voice a little stronger. “What's going on? My neck is sore.”

She sat down in the chair beside me. “I know. It will be for a couple of days. Um, Noah, I found some unexpected…complications.”

“Complications?” That didn't sound right. As far as I knew, there were never complications when it came to these operations. “What happened?”

She shook her head. “I'm dumbfounded. There is no explanation for it. I went into your chip and was going to alter the wiring, but there were no problems. Nothing. There is not one flaw in the makeup of your chip; I searched for hours and found nothing. I've tried everything, and I don't know what to do from here.”

“Well, isn't that a positive thing?” I didn't understand. Why did she
want
to find a mistake in the wiring?

She looked at me carefully. “No, Noah, it's not a positive thing. That was the only possible explanation for why you're having these feelings for Jady. If I can't fix the wiring, the feelings will not go away.”

Jady. I had forgotten why I was having the surgery in the first place. At the sound of her name, her face flooded my memory. My heart soared as I remembered her eyes, her laugh, her kiss. “So my feelings for her are not the result of an issue with my chip.” Despite Lucy's terrified expression, relief ran over my body.

Lucy glared at me. “Noah, this is not right. You shouldn't be capable of having these feelings. When Sir Andrew finds out, he'll definitely dismiss you from our society.”

I sat up and looked her firmly in the eyes. “Then he won't find out. There's no reason for him to, Lucy.”

“Noah, are you asking me to lie?” Her eyes went wide with fear. “You know I won't do that.”

I sighed. “No, Lucy. I'm not asking you to lie. But you can keep this to yourself. No one has to know.”

“Noah, there's something you need to understand. The last thing I would want for you is to be banished from our society, and this is the fastest way to accomplish that. I would never purposely get you in trouble. But you're endangering our society. These humans…they can't be trusted. We've always been close, but I can't cover just for you when it means putting everyone else in harm's way.”

I looked at the ground. My first instinct was to lie, to tell her that I would have nothing to do with Jady. But I knew she could read my mind and would easily see through it. “Lucy, she's different. There is no way she will endanger any of us.”

The waves of frustration came pouring out of Lucy. “This isn't just about her. If your relationship leaks out, there will be a huge backlash on both sides. And for what? She will leave soon, and you'll never see her again. Don't be selfish, Noah.”

I stared at my bare feet and considered what Lucy said as fury filled my body. She was absolutely right. No one would approve, and it couldn't last, anyway.

“Now you're listening to reason, Noah,” Lucy said softly as she came over and sat beside me on the table. “I know this is hard, and I'm sorry I couldn't fix the problem for you. You're going to have to fix it on your own. My advice is that you stay away from her. Distance and time are the only things that will make these feelings go away. But they will go away, Noah. You have to believe that.”

I nodded. “I need to get out of here. Even if it failed, I appreciate your effort. Thank you.”

She smiled sadly. “I'm just sorry I couldn't help you.”

“You did,” I assured her. “Can we please just get out of this room? Does anyone know we're here?”

“No,” she said. “We missed lunch and dinner, but I told Sir Andrew we were taking the day off to spend time alone on the holiday. He understood, especially because of how busy we've both been since the humans arrived. There were no further questions.”

“Wait, we missed lunch and dinner? I thought you said this wouldn't take long! How long have we been in here?” We came in the lab in the morning, I remembered. How could we have missed two meals?

Lucy laughed. “It's the middle of the night right now. We've been in here for hours. It
shouldn't
have taken long, if I would have found a problem. I spent most of the day just trying to figure out how to fix this.”

I groaned. “So it's probably past one a.m.”

She glared at me. “Yes, Noah. But you're going to avoid her, remember?”

“You don't even think I should explain things to her?” I couldn't imagine just cutting off all contact with her without an explanation. It didn't seem right.

“No, Noah, I don't. I think the wisest move you could make is to just stay away from her.” Exasperation gushed from her body as she tried to convince me of what was right. She was going to make sure I did what she said, I could tell.

“You're right,” I told her, even though I didn't believe it. I could just picture Jady waiting outside, wondering where I was. She probably looked for me all day. Well, if she was angry with me, at least it would make it easier to avoid her.

We left the genetics lab and moved quietly back to our sleeping chambers. My body and mind were nowhere near tired as I lay down in my bed and stared up at the ceiling. The next few days were going to be difficult. It was going to hurt to see Jady, to try to ignore her when all I really wanted to do was be next to her, holding hands and listening to that magical laugh. I wondered if it was going to break her heart the way I knew it would break mine.

I didn't have to wait long to find out. After a sleepless night, I got up to return to my usual routine. I stayed in the private eating quarters for breakfast, even though I knew Sir Andrew would probably expect me back in the dining hall since I had missed two meals the day before. As I put on my daily coverings and made my way to the training facility, I mentally prepared myself for the difficult task that was at hand.

The first part of the day went well. My morning was spent preparing novice pilots for flight, one of my favorite professions to train. For the time being, I lost myself guiding them through the air as we flew through simulated journeys. It was a very welcome distraction. Before I knew it, it was time to head to the dining hall for lunch. I knew I couldn't avoid the humans forever before Sir Andrew would become suspicious. Taking a deep breath, I put on my most serious face and ignored my racing heart as I marched down the path to the hall.

Jady was, of course, the first person I saw when I walked in. She watched me as I walked through the door, and I could feel the waves of hurt and confusion that were radiating off of her body. Her wounded eyes followed me as I walked to the table and took my place beside Sir Andrew.

“Hello, Noah. I trust that today finds you rested and refreshed,” Sir Andrew greeted me with a smile.

“Yes, Sir. Very much so,” I nodded in response.

“I'm glad to hear that,” Sir Andrew replied before returning to a conversation with the captain of the humans' crew.

I glanced across the table to find Jady looking down at her plate, pushing around her food but not actually eating it. Anyone could see that she was in pain. My heart ached as I watched rolls of anguish dispense from her body. Keeping my gaze away from her, I looked back down at my plate.

Once the meal was finished, I heard Sir Andrew tell the humans that he would take them back to the mending facility. The humans were apparently interested in the healing creams we had for burns and lacerations. He was going to share the formulas of some of those creams with the humans, as I heard him tell one of the female crew members. Initially, I was surprised to hear this, but then realized this was probably something he considered safe to put in their hands. I couldn't imagine any destruction they could do with the healing creams.

As I pushed in my chair, I turned to find myself face-to-face with Jady. Her eyebrows were creased as she spoke. “So I see that you're alive,” she said softly.

Before I replied, I looked around carefully. Sir Andrew was engrossed in conversation, already leading the humans out of the dining hall. “Yes, of course I am.” I looked away as I tried to walk past her, but she took a step in front of me to prevent me from moving.

“What happened to you last night? You never showed. We were supposed to meet. I waited for you,” she told me in a small voice.

“Shh!” I said automatically, even though her voice was so soft it was almost inaudible. I glanced around again, but still didn't see anyone watching us. “There was a change of plans,” I told her honestly. Again, I tried to step around her, but she blocked me.

“Obviously. You could have let me know that somehow,” she pointed out.

I shrugged, trying to appear aloof. “Sorry, I was busy.”

Her eyes squinted as she stared at me. “What's wrong with you? You don't seem like yourself. Are you mad at me or something? Did I do something wrong?”

I felt eyes on me now, and I looked over to see Lucy staring at me from across the room. Even from afar, I could read her, and she was not happy to see me talking to Jady. “Look, Jady,” I began with a sigh, “this isn't going to work. We have to stop this now.”

She took a step back. “Noah, I know it seems impossible, but you know as well as I do that we have something we can't ignore. We have a connection on so many levels. We can't just stop; we owe it to ourselves to see where this goes.”

My stomach jumped into my throat. I wanted so much to hug her right there on the spot and tell her that she was right, that I was sorry for being so cold. But instead, I did what I knew was the right thing. “Jady, I think you've gotten the wrong idea about us. For a while, I thought I had feelings for you, but it turns out I don't. I'm not even capable of feeling those kinds of things. Those are human emotions. I was temporarily confused, but I'm not now. What happened was a mistake, and you need to forget about it – I already have.” This time when I tried to step around her, she didn't stop me. She moved aside and let me walk away. The waves of devastation poured off of her and cut into my soul as I headed out the door.

As I walked out, I made eye contact with Lucy one last time. I could tell she was reading the pain in my thoughts, but she gave me an encouraging nod, as if approving of what I had just done. Without a response, I turned my head and continued out the door. Though I knew that Lucy could read my mind, there was no way she could comprehend the emotional injury I felt.