Gatekeepers (17 page)

Xander bumped into David. He said, “You ain't seen nothing yet.”

Keal studied the boys' faces, perhaps looking for signs of humor. He tightened his lips and nodded. “I'll be right back.” He waved his arms and drifted down.

“How's your back?” David asked his brother.

“Hurts. This too.” Xander showed him the back of his hand. The purple had taken on hues of blue, black, and red.

David scowled at it. He said, “I think we've been banged up worse in this world than in any of the others.”

They watched Keal reach the grass and trudge into the bushes at the clearing.

“It's
because
of those other worlds that we've been attacked in this one,” Xander said. “Taksidian wants the house because of them, and he's doing everything he can to get it.”

Toria's tiny voice reached them: “Hey, guys?”

They smiled at each other. Xander said, “Be kind of funny to leave her there a while.”

David backhanded Xander's shoulder. “Not.”

They sailed up to her. David could tell she'd been crying. It must have been scary, watching the fight. David and Xander each rested a hand on the branch, like swimmers at the edge of the pool. Their legs stirred gently, as they would have in water.

“Xander,” David said. “Why do you think Taksidian wants it, the house?”

“A house like that,” Xander said. “It's pretty special.”

“We just want to get Mom and get out,” David said. “We don't want it. He must plan on using it for something. What?”

Xander's brow crunched in thought, squeezing out a drop of blood from the cut on his forehead. “He told us he'd been in the house many times. He's probably been doing something here for a long time. He doesn't like that we're here now, keep-ing him from continuing whatever it is.”

“I want down,” Toria said.

“Come on,” Xander said.

The brothers turned their backs to the branch so she could wrap her arms around their shoulders and swing down between them. They reached across with their free arms, held each other's hand, and pulled themselves together.

Toria giggled. “Group hug,” she said.

As they descended, Keal reappeared through the bushes, carrying Jesse. He was limping.

“Where were
you
?” David called. His voice was Mickey Mouse-ish.

Jesse laughed. It was squeaky, but only slightly so, there on the edge of the clearing. “In the woods. We saw the open front door and the collapsed walls on the second floor, knew you were in trouble. I was worried you'd gone the other way, into one of the worlds. Then we heard you yelling.”

The children touched down in front of the men. As soon as the boys released Toria, she said, “Owww!” and crumpled to her knees.

“Toria, I forgot about your ankle,” David said. He knelt beside her and helped her to sit.

“What is it, child?” Jesse said.

Keal set the old man on the grass beside her. The big man groaned and touched his ribs, his face, his stomach. “Feel like I had it out with the Terminator.”

Xander smiled. If you wanted to get on his good side fast, reference a movie.

Toria pulled up her pant leg and slipped off her sneaker and sock. Her ankle looked like Xander's hand. It was black and blue and swollen to the size of a softball.

Keal dropped to his knees in front of her. “Can you move it?”

She turned her foot in a tight circle, making an
Eeeeee
sound the whole time.

The man prodded it, watching for her reactions. “It's not broken,” he said. “Maybe sprained. Sure is a nasty bruise.”

“Keal's a nurse,” Jesse said. “A mighty good one too. Better than most doctors I've known.”

“A
nurse
?” Xander said. “You?”

Keal looked up. He leaned back to rest on his ankles. “Now why would that surprise you?”

“It's just . . .” Xander said. “You know.”

Keal stared at him, said nothing.

Xander said, “I mean, you're big enough to be a linebacker, you got the muscles of a bodybuilder, and you fight like . . . like some kind of special forces commando.”

Keal laughed. He settled into a sitting position on the grass and crossed his leg in front of him. He poked his fingers into the tear Phemus's knife had made and ripped the material through the cuff. He flipped the two sides away, revealing a long gash in his shin from knee to ankle.

His dark brown skin made it difficult for David to tell how much it had bled.

Keal poked at the wound and said, “Well, I was an athlete back in the day. I also served my country, and I enjoy keeping physically fit. As for my profession, by the time I ruled out those other occupations, I was a little too old to pursue a medi-cal degree. But I do like helping people.”

He glanced at Xander, who nodded.

David said, “You saved our lives.”

Keal smiled. “Looked like you were doing a pretty good job of that yourselves.”

“Still,” Xander said, “we owe you.”

“It was a team effort, gentlemen,” Keal said. ”I appreciate your help too. Let's call it even.”

Xander stepped past Keal to hold his good hand out to Jesse. He curled his fingers around the old man's hand and said, “I'm sorry I doubted you. I guess you are on our side.”

Jesse nodded. “Quite understandable, Xander. In fact, I consider your caution both admirable and necessary.”

Xander smiled and released Jesse's hand, but the old man refused to let go.

Jesse said, “Does this mean, Xander, that you're ready to confide in me? I can help, but I need to know . . . where are your parents? What has been going on around here?”

Xander's smile faded, but he nodded. Jesse gave him back his hand, and Xander straightened. He rubbed his back, grimacing at the pain still there. He said, “We need to get back to the house. I don't want to be away from it too long, and there may be things we need to show you, if you want to know everything.”

“The more I know, the more I can help,” Jesse said.

“Okay.” Xander looked toward the house. “But . . . do you think they're waiting for us, those guys we fought?”

“More than one?” Keal said.

“Three,” Xander said. “Two stayed in the house.”

“They're gone,” Jesse said. “Keal and I went all through it, looking for you. And I'm sure that one you chased out of here is back where he belongs by now. Visitors don't stay long. They can't. Unless . . .”

“Unless?” Xander said.

Jesse waved a hand at him. “That's for another time. First things first.”

“But what if they come back?” Toria said.

“They will,” David said. “They
attacked
us. They knocked down the walls. They'll be back.”

Jesse shook his head. “They can't. Not for a while. They'll have to sort of
recharge
. It's draining, going over. For them and for us. Haven't you noticed that?”

Xander said, “Remember, Dae, how tired I was after the gladiator thing, and you after the jungle world?”

David nodded. “The showers helped.” To Jesse, he said, “Does using the portals make you . . . I don't know . . . more emotional?”

“Crying a lot?” Jesse said with a knowing smile.

“Sort of,” David said, shrugging shyly.

“I know how you feel,” Jesse said, “but it's not the portals. Not really. It's your
humanity
, David. Going over, you see things most people never do. Terrible atrocities, the worst human behavior. Murder, war, innocence lost. You have a big heart for people. Of course, you're part of the King bloodline—you have to.”

“What does that mean?”

“You'll find out . . . in time.” Jesse winked. “I'm not trying to be mysterious. It's just that there are other things I need to explain first. It's like constructing the first floor of a house before adding the second.”

“Are you saying I'm
sensitive
?” David said, not liking it much. “That's why I've been crying?”

“No,” Jesse said. “I'm saying it breaks your heart when people die before their time, because they'll never get to be everything they could have been.”

“That sounds like David,” Toria said. “He's sad when people get hurt on TV.”

“Am not,” David said.

“Uh-huh.”

“It's okay that you do,” Jesse said. “You have a keen sense of the preciousness of life and the finality of death—here on earth, anyway. To you, death does not simply end life. It steals away the sunsets you'll never see, the children you'll never hold, the wife you'll never love. It's frightening to almost lose your future, and it's heartbreaking to witness death snuff out other people's tomorrows.” He gripped David's shoulder. “You get it? What's making you cry comes from the same place inside that prompted you to save Marguerite's life. You weep for life lost, and you
act
to prevent it.”

David rocked up on his knees and wrapped his arms around Jesse's neck. No one had ever so accurately described his desire for himself and others to experience the fullest possible life; or the ache in his chest at the news of death—by accident, murder, war. Even
he
hadn't put it into words. Now that Jesse had, he recognized it as a grand quality. He hoped he could live up to it.

CHAPTER

thirty -seven

W
EDNESDAY, 1:36 P.M.

Grunting with effort, Xander struggled to stand. When he finally did, he said, “We gotta head back.”

David released his embrace on Jesse's neck and rolled back onto the grass.

Jesse peered around the clearing, rising to take in the trees and canopy. He turned to Xander and said, “I'll give you the rest of my time on earth. Just give me a few minutes now. Can you do that?”

Xander sighed. He stepped past Jesse and Keal and sat beside his sister.

Jesse touched David's arm. “Son, would you mind giving me a hand?”

“I don't think I can pick you up,” David said.

“The clearing will help,” Jesse said.

David rose and stepped behind him. He slipped his hands under Jesse's arms and lifted. The old man was light, im-possibly light.

Jesse's legs dangled under him. His feet were canted at odd angles on the ground.

Walking behind him, David guided Jesse toward the cen-ter of the meadow.

“Oh,” Jesse said, “it's been so long.”

As they progressed, the weight bearing down on David's arms—accompanied by a slight throbbing in the broken one—became less noticeable. Before long, he was pretty sure he wasn't assisting Jesse at all. He realized that his hands, positioned in Jesse's armpits, had risen to the level of his eyes, as though the man had grown taller. He saw that Jesse's feet no longer touched the ground, but hovered a few inches above it.

“Thank you, son,” Jesse said, his voice comically high. “I can manage from here.”

David lowered his hands slowly, and when Jesse didn't come down with them, he backed away.

Jesse waved his hands and turned. The grin on his face light-ened David's heart.

David looked back at the others, his own smile bigger than it should have been, considering . . .
everything
. He was glad to see Keal, Toria, even Xander, looking equally pleased.

Jesse drifted up and laughed, a squeaky cartoon hiccup sound. As Dad had done, he zipped forty feet over and twenty feet in the air. Returning, he performed a somersault—perfect but for his legs, which trailed his body loosely like a those of a ventriloquist's puppet. He buzzed around, soaring high, spinning, brushing his fingers along the canopy leaves. After five minutes he came down on the far side of the clearing. Watching his feet skimming the grass, he drifted toward them, laughing continually.

Drawing near, he said, “I haven't walked in a decade. This is as close as I'll ever come again.”

CHAPTER

thirty -eight

W
EDNESDAY, 1:46 P.M.

Xander carried Toria through the woods, toward the house. Behind them, Keal carried Jesse. David walked beside them.

“What you told me before,” David said, “about my being part of the King bloodline? You know, so I
have
to be the way I am, that I care for people, love life? Does that have to do with being a gatekeeper?”

Jesse bounced along in Keal's arms, thinking. He said, “I shouldn't have told you that so soon. I was just excited, see-ing you and all.”

“But . . . does it mean we're supposed to stay here? Like you did?”

“That's a discussion we should have with your mom and dad,” Keal said.

David stopped.

Keal took another two steps and turned to him.

“My mom's gone,” David said.

“Gone?” Jesse squinted at him. “What do you mean, son?”

David watched his brother and sister trudging away. He went to a tree, pressed his back to it, and slid down. “The other night, that guy we fought—Xander and I call him Phemus—he came out of a portal and took her.” He looked into Jesse's eyes. The story came rushing out.

“He kidnapped my mother. Took her back into one of the worlds with him. We didn't know which. We've been looking, but all this other stuff has been getting in the way. This guy's trying to get us out of the house . . . he sent those—those
things
after us . . . got Dad arrested . . . people—a kid—found out about the house, the portals . . . and . . . and . . .”

His lungs were pumping fast and hard. Tears streamed from his eyes.

Keal stepped back and settled Jesse onto the ground in front of David. Jesse's kind face had morphed into one of supreme sadness. Not shock, just an expression like that David had seen on TV news reporters when they covered the funerals of children. A phrase he'd heard came to mind:
profound grief.