Fever (10 page)

            “Just… don’t pin your hopes on him,” Grayson says. He shakes his head.

            “Why?” I ask. “What happened? Sebastian told me about the helicopter ride, but it can’t have been that bad can it? Johnny can heal almost anything if he has the tools. Take me to see him.”

            Grayson swallows. “I’ll take you,” he says, reaching out to put a hand in mine almost like we’re still boyfriend and girlfriend. I’m not sure how I feel about that. “But you have to promise that you won’t freak out at what you see. Things didn’t go… entirely according to plan.”

THIRTEEN

Jack

G
rayson leads Celes away, leaving me with Dr. Florence and my father. I’d rather go with them,
especially
after what has just happened with Grayson. My father, though, has other ideas. He puts a hand on my shoulder, holding me back.

nt s="

            “Jack, Grayson can show Celes Johnny, but for now, we need to debrief. Not all of our Faders made it here.”

            I look around. It’s obvious that there aren’t as many Faders in this Location as there should be. The Australian contingent have already told me how many of their people have died. “How bad is it?” I ask.

            My father shakes his head. “As far as I can tell, we lost more than half our Faders, including your uncle.”

            My uncle. His brother in law. My last tie to my mother. I don’t know what to say, because this must be hurting Dad as much as me.

            I try for professionalism. “What about Lionel and his team?”

            “Lionel is missing.” A pause. My father knows how close I was to the Faders’ trainer. “Half his team made it here, though.”

            “Only half?” I say.

            Dad nods. “That’s the part that worries me. Our best team, and even with them, only half made it here. Things… they got pretty brutal in the last couple of days, with the fire storm and everything that happened afterwards

            I look over to where Dr. Florence is standing, watching the big screen intently.

            “That’s just what Dr. Florence here said,” I say.

            Dad looks over at him too. “Who is he?”

            “One of Wilson Hammond’s researchers,” I explain. “At least until we got him out of that lab. It looked like Hammond wasn’t very happy with him anymore. Florence was working in Hammond’s lab, doing experiments on people with brain injuries. Apparently, the fire storm caused a reaction to the drugs they were using. They started to absorb solar energy.”

            “Interesting,” Dad says. I can see him running through the problem. “For years, I’ve been wondering about your mother, Jack, and when Celes came along, that explained a lot. It still didn’t quite explain everything though.”

            “Except that Celes and Mom got to be the way they were because they were from the future,” I point out. “People had simply evolved to that point.”

            Dad nods. I know this is hard for him. Not just talking about Mom, but being wrong. “It never occurred to me that you could be from another time. I thought your m shous hard fother and Celes were extraterrestrial. It made sense.”

            Images of kissing Celes flash through me. The feel of her lips against mine. The way she responds to me. “Trust me, Dad, she’s all human.”

            “I’ve noticed the connection between you,” Dad says. “How close were the two of you before you came back here?”

            “Very close,” I say. “I was her right hand man, along with Grayson and John.”

            “It’s more than that though, isn’t it?”

            I pause, and then nod, thinking about all the times Celes and I shared together before we came back here. “Yes, it’s more than that.”

            “What exactly did you do in the future before you came back?” Dad asks. He smiles. “I’d like to know more about what my son gets up to besides Fading.”

            His son. We don’t talk about the complexity of the situation. That I’m his son and not his son, all at once. “It’s hard to explain,” I say instead. “We’re older in the future. We’d been working together a while before we came back. Celes… she was the President. I was her head of security.”

            “And more than that at the same time,” Dad says. “It sounds like a complex arrangement.”

            “It was,” I say with a sigh. “For years, we were in a relationship but she wouldn’t take it seriously. She wouldn’t even think about marrying me. And Grayson… he was an advisor, and he’s had pretty serious feelings about her too.”

            “You’re right,” Dad says. “It’s complicated. But complicated doesn’t mean the same thing as impossible. We should know that if anyone does.” He reaches out to put a hand on my shoulder. “Now, I think we need to get our mind back on business. We need to talk to Dr. Florence over there and find out what he knows. Because I’m pretty sure that he has a lot more to tell us than he’s volunteered so far.”

*****

Celes

Grayson takes me out of the room, heading to see Johnny down a hallway, before taking my arm and pulling me into a smaller side room.

            “What…” I begin, but I don’t have the time to finish the question because in that moment Grayson silences me with a kiss that makes the one he gave me back in the lounge look tame by comparison. With the passion of his mouth on mine, I can’t help responding, my hands running over his chest as Grayson kisses me.

            “Celes, I thought you wouldn’t make it,” Grayson says at last, his arms still around me. “I was so worried. I wanted to go back. I wanted to search for you, but I didn’t even know where to begin until they got the satellite back up. When they started to pick up your signal, it was like seeing a ghost. No, not a ghost; an angel. I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything more beautiful than that moment.”

            I hold onto him just as tightly. “I’m glad you’re safe too. I missed you so much. I just couldn’t… Jack and I have been hidden away from everyone. I didn’t know half of what was happening. There wasn’t any news. I started to worry that something had happened to you.”

            “At least you weren’t alone,” Grayson says. He kisses me again, softly this time. “I hate admitting it, but I’m glad Jack was with you to keep you safe.”

            “I can burn people to a crisp,” I point out. “I’m pretty sure I was safe.”

            “Did the fact that I can heal almost anything stop you worrying?” Grayson asks. I shake my head. “Well, there you are then.”

            I reach up to touch his face. I can remember every inch of his skin from when we used to date. I can remember every kiss we had, and the scent of Grayson so close to me. It’s a strong, masculine scent that goes well with the feeling of his arms wrapped around me.

            “I know we aren’t together,” Grayson says. “I know how much you love Jack, but after everything that has happened, I can’t just ignore what I feel. When I thought you might be gone… I need you, Celes. I loved you in the future, and I love you now. I’ve always loved you.”

            “Grayson…” I don’t know what to say next. My body doesn’t help me, because it responds to Grayson only too readily, but the same is true of Jack. I’m caught between the two of them, and it seems like even when I want to make a decision, circumstances won’t let me.

            Grayson touches his fingers lightly to my lips. “You don’t have to make any decisions now, Celes.”

            That’s the problem. I thought I’d made a decision. Yet here Grayson is, unpicking it just by being there.

            “Just give me a chance to show you that I’m the man for you.”

            Does he even know the man he is? Does he know that Jack and I were together even before we came back here? “How much do you remember about the future?”

            “When I look at you, when I touch you, I can remember being in high school with you. I can remember all the time we spent together there.”

            “But that isn’t real,” I point out.

            Grayson shakes his head. “Don’t say that. It was real. The other stuff might have been real too, but so was the time we were together as kids. We lived those years too, Celes. And yes, I get other memories creeping in. I can close my eyes and see another, older, version of you. I see an office, and I’m by your side constantly.”

            Gray hesitates, and I can see the moment when the truth of it comes to him. “You’re the president, and I’m you’re advisor, and…”

            He pushes me back against the wall of the room, and this kiss has his tongue dancing with mine, his body pressed tightly to me. “We’re lovers.”

            I stare at him, trying to tell if he’s serious.

            “You don’t remember?” Grayson asks, looking surprised.

            “I thought
you
were the one who didn’t remember.” We were lovers? I can remember Jack, and I can remember how Grayson felt about me…

            “All my memories revolve around you, Celes,” Grayson says. “We were together, living together. It was the best time of my life, despite everything that was happening.”

            “I don’t remember it,” I say.

            “Think back,” Grayson insists. “The memories are there. You just have to find them. You and I were together for more than a year before you Faded, going after Jack.”

            I start to say that I don’t remember, but in that moment I do, in a flood of memories that make me gasp. Moments with Grayson come back to me in a great tide of images. Of friendship at first, then more. So much more. I can remember moments between us that make me blush when I think of them now and some of the things we did together.

            I can remember how it started. Nights spent talking with Grayson simply because he was my closest friend. Telling him about the loneliness when Jack didn’t come back. Then the nights when it just seemed so natural to kiss him. To do so much more than that. Grayson convincing me to move on. Grayson persuading me to stay with him. stayso natura

            Here and now, he’s still kissing me, his hands moving over my skin. And even while he does it, I find myself thinking of Jack. What does all this mean? Where do these new memories fit in? If I lived with Grayson, and as his lips brush my neck, I can remember living with Grayson, does that mean that I stopped loving Jack? If I did, why did I come back after him? Was it really just about the mission, or could I not manage to stay with Grayson when I knew that Jack was out there somewhere?

            I don’t know what to think. Jack or Grayson? Grayson or Jack? Those thoughts keep running through my head even as Grayson keeps kissing me. I know that I should stop things soon, before they go further, but I’m so busy trying to work out what’s going on. It seems like whatever the time period, whatever the situation, the question is the same.

            It’s a question I have to answer, but the thing is, I know that there
is
no good answer. There is no answer that won’t hurt one of them, and the thought of that is almost physically painful. Yet I know I have to choose, no matter how much it is going to hurt.

FOURTEEN

W
hen Grayson finally pulls away from me, I can barely breathe, the kiss has been that intense. It’s like Grayson has put all of himself, body and soul, into this one moment. Even Jack would never let himself go so completely with me. Especially Jack. Maybe that’s why Grayson and I are apparently so close in the future? I don’t know. It’s hard to know anything for sure about the future. Harder still to decide what to do now based on it.

            Grayson takes my hand. “We should go see Johnny before I take this any further.”

            “How is he?” I ask, almost grateful for the distraction.

            “He’s not in any pain, and he’s healing. It looks worse than it is, Celes.”

            “What does?” I demand. “What happened to him? What aren’t you telling me?”

            “Did they tell you that the helicopter we were on crashed in the fire storms?” Grayson asks.

            I swallow. I heard that, but if Grayson is standing here unharmed… no, wait, that isn’t a guide to anything. I’ve seen the way Grayson heals.

            “What happened?” I ask.

            “Everybody but Johnny on that chopper died, Celes. I was able to save him, but even then, it was a close thing. He has severe burns over half his body and face. I was able to get him here in time for him to be out of danger, and we’ve been working on skin grafts, but he’s still in bad shape.”

            He leads the way to a room that looks like a typical boy’s bedroom, except that the bed is obviously a hospital bed; one that can be raised and lowered with the push of a button. Johnny is on that bed, swathed in bandages from the surgery he’s had. I can’t even see how bad it might be as I move over to take his hand. His big blue eyes stare up at me though, looking cloudy with whatever they’ve given him to dull the pain and let his body heal.

            “Johnny,” I say, as gently as I can. “I’m glad you made it. We’ll have you back on your feet in no time.”

            “Celestra.” Johnny’s voice sounds too old for the body holding it. “Thank God you survived. We wouldn’t be able to complete our mission without you.”

            “Forget the mission for now, Johnny,” I say. “Just concentrate on getting better.”

            Johnny squeezes my hand. “The mission is everything. You need to get back to our time. You need to use the Fading machine and bring a cure for everyone, or their fate will be a lot worse than mine.”

            “You have to get back too, then,” I point out. “You’re our greatest doctor, not me.”