Out of Touch (52 page)

As he hung up the phone, Howard was saying, “Do you think it’s safe to travel with you?”

Sarah seemed to blush at the joke, but it was hard to tell beneath her rash.

“I think you’d best take your chances,” Samuel said. “As a teek, you might be happier away from here.”

“Do you see that sort of reaction forming?” Reggie asked, “Against those with both heritages?”

“Too early to tell. War might have united the outcasts, but if peace prevails, well, I don’t know if humanity’s ready for this, and Howard’s certainly in an awkward position here.”

“It couldn’t have stayed secret much longer,” James said.

“Youth. Whether reckless or brave, there’s no standing in its way.” The older man smiled at James, as if he and the others were all kids.

“Then let me go with them,” Emma pleaded.

Samuel glared icily, but Ida put an arm around her daughter and said, “Be nice to your father, and he might not ground you for keeping secrets last night.”

Emma handed Sarah an overnight bag, moved as if to hug her, then pulled back. “I brought some clothes and things for you. Are you going to be all right?”

Sarah hugged the girl, gently, and said, “It’s not so bad, just like scrapes from falling off a bike.”

Emma kept looking at Sarah, head cocked like a bird. Sarah used her hands to lift a string of beads from around the girl’s neck, and held them at arm’s length in her palm. Then without moving she made them jump up about a foot and fall back down. Emma had tears in her eyes as Sarah replaced the beads around her neck in the normal way.

“I thought you might recover quickly,” James said. “The samples I ran this morning contained a surprising number of old zoots. Perhaps that will discourage such attempts in the future.”

“And new zoots?” Sarah asked.

“Absolutely none. But given their susceptibility to pressure and their limited biological niche, they may be less resilient.”

Mrs. Johnson wrinkled her nose and shook her head, “I’m still not used to the idea of zoots. But however it works, I’m glad to know you’re recovering, Sarah. And I’m sorry if we seemed a bit harsh in asking you to leave our home.”

“You’ve all done more for me than I could ask. I’m hoping to stay well away from trouble now, and maybe once things have calmed down, you could let Emma come visit.”

Ida smiled but kept a protective arm around her daughter. They said their goodbyes, and all but the Johnsons boarded the plane.

Thailand was well out of sight by the time they reached altitude and the noise of engines faded enough to allow conversation. Reggie and Sarah were in the front row, on the right hand side of the aisle and were the only ones to break the silence. They had been huddled together talking in low voices throughout take off. Now Reggie sat up straighter, smiling, his forehead and eyebrows becoming visible over the seat. Howard was seated directly behind the couple, clearly visible from James’ place, across the aisle and back a row. As Reggie filled Sarah in on recent events at PAD, James stared and listened. He missed about every fourth word, but tried to fit what he heard with what he’d learned at Yu’s and guessed from conversations with Alak.

“There’s some…organization behind Knockham, players…finance and politics.”

“I sort of guessed,” Sarah said, her higher voice carrying. “The Druids handled the travel papers for me and Dr. Knockham, but then I had to take his place, like he was sneaking away from someone.”

“Cass still…they owe you. She promised to get us all E.U. passports, and the E.U.’s…privacy and free travel, probably a good place to be right now.”

“Well, I’d like some time off. And you’ll probably be busy, working with PAD, building a brave new world. But if you asked very nicely, I might be willing to recuperate at PAD Island, instead.”

There was a stretch of silence, or rather the steady roar from the plane. James tried to read something from the top of Reggie’s face, but all he saw was stillness.

“Is that what you want?” Reggie asked, at once louder, so that James could hear easily, and more tender, so James wished he wasn’t listening. He tried to focus on clouds outside his window.

“I was on my way back to you when, well, you know,” Sarah squeaked, also oblivious to their audience.

“Funny, I was thinking I might ditch PAD, take a long vacation, wander by Eurorail, maybe make it a honeymoon.”

James couldn’t help glancing at the couple. He could see Sarah’s profile, frozen, staring intently at the seat in front of her. He noticed Howard watching, became mindful of his own gaze, and looked away.

“Are you saying…? What about your work? Did the world change that much?” Sarah asked

There was a scuffling sound and a tearing, then a click as Reggie unfastened his seat belt, and went down on one knee in a narrow wedge visible between their seats. He pulled out a ring from what looked like a tiny paper pouch and said, “Sarah, I am fully determined to stay with you through whatever life you choose to live. Now, will you marry me?”

Sarah stepped out of the plane first. The metal staircase the airport provided echoed slightly with her steps. The rail felt cool under her palm, though the sun was bright. Even here on the tarmac, the air wafted wet and green. She filled herself with that air, wanting to be part of this place again.

Standing fifteen feet from the plane, positioned almost exactly as the Johnsons had been in Thailand, was a small welcoming committee. There were two men Sarah didn’t know and barely noticed. But Aliana was there in a snug golden blouse and a long silk skirt that whipped about her calves in the airport wind. Sarah wanted to scamper down and hug her, but immediately reconsidered, both for Aliana’s frame of mind and for her own sore skin.

Nonetheless, Sarah’s eyes were on her friend as her foot jarred against solid ground and hope bubbled through her center. Aliana stepped forward and gently took Sarah’s hands, guiding her a few steps away from the others.

“Are you all right?”

“I will be soon. Why are you here? Who are they?” Sarah asked, even as Reggie was shaking hands with the two men and making introductions.

“They’re useful people, sent to help the heroes through customs. I was sent on behalf of the household to invite you all to stay with us.”

“But, they know? They want us all?”

Aliana squeezed Sarah’s hands a little too tightly and the skin on the back of each pricked like a splinter. Sarah had the urge to reach out telekinetically, to touch in a form that wouldn’t hurt, but she knew her control hadn’t returned enough for that. Funny, to finally live in a world that knew about teeks and start out barely being one.

“I hurt you.”

“Don’t let go.”

“We know what PAD did, with the Druids, but Doug barely told me what happened to you. I assume you have something to tell?

“You wouldn’t believe all I have to tell.”

“I’m used to that. Tell me the biggest thing first.”

“I’m not sure it’s biggest, and I’m not sure you’ll like it.”

“You doubt me? After everything?” Aliana smiled and shrugged her eyebrows such that Sarah just had to hug her. Aliana hugged back so gently that Sarah only felt the warmth of her arms through the cloth above her skin.

“So?” Aliana prompted.

“Reggie and I are getting married.”

“I knew it. You two are such throw-backs. Have the wedding by the sea, the whole household will go nuts. They all wanted to come collect you from the airport, but Doug wouldn’t let the rest.”

“Why? I wasn’t that well liked.”

“People were always intrigued by you. Besides, our whole world just changed, and somehow you’re tied up in it. They know you came back with two new zoot teeps, and Reggie who helped the Druids and planners change the world. You’re like the circus coming to town.”

“I’ll be the bald clown.”

“You just don’t want to share the center ring. But come, and we’ll nurse you back to health. Besides, somehow I think when the story is told, you’ll be stealing the spotlight as usual.”

“I so don’t want it. But I’d like to be with you. I’ll ask the others”

Sarah sat in bed the next morning on satin sheets someone had provided to sooth her delicate skin. She ran her fingers along Reggie’s empty pillow, enjoying the cool smoothness and noting the infinitesimal snags on her ragged hands. She wanted some time alone with Reggie. He’d stayed up late last night telling stories from the previous days while Sarah begged off to sleep. This morning he’d sprung out of bed and told her to wait while he brought breakfast.

Somehow, she and Reggie had been given a large room with excellent light, all to themselves. There was a huge mirror above the dresser, and Sarah could see that her face was no longer red and puffy. Her bald head looked pathetic though. She reached up to pat where new hairs grew more like divots than bumps, barely discernable beneath the skin. In a few days they’d probably have that miserable prickly feeling that on her legs made her run off and shave them before she could stand to wear socks. She couldn’t resist poking at the rest of her skin, finding the few remaining sore spots, searching for little hair follicles on her calves where they were most visible.

She tried to teek open a dresser drawer, and couldn’t. But she was able to float a borrowed robe from a chair across the room into her hands. It was more than she could manage yesterday. Sarah pulled the robe on smoothly, enjoying how little pain it caused her.

Soon Reggie came through the door, gracefully balancing a breakfast tray on one hand. The scent of baked tomato and sausage filled the room. She could see that Reggie had taken time to shave, rather ironic, and dress in yesterday’s clothes, which had somehow been washed and ironed. In the light from the window he looked like a radiant young god. Sarah tried not to catch her own reflection in the mirror again.

“I bring you greasy Irish food, but at least it smells good.” Reggie set the tray next to her on the bed, then perched himself carefully on the other side. “Jam on your toast, my dear?”

“I love you,” Sarah said, feeling tears rise up.

“I should hope so,” Reggie answered, “Yesterday you agreed to marry me, remember?” He began to spread jam on toast.

There was a knock at the door.

“Who’s there?” Sarah called out.

“It’s me, Oliver. Can I come in?”

Sarah glanced at her robe and at Reggie, then said, “Sure.”

Oliver trotted in with a nod to Reggie and pulled the one chair in the room over next to Sarah.

“I didn’t much get to talk to you last night. But Reggie told most of the story, and everyone’s on about this wedding. They’re all guest lists and china patterns, but I’m not into any of that.”

“What then?”

“Well, I mean, this is going to be one of the first weddings, at least of our kind, since the world knew about us. So, the way I see it, the big question is, are we going to MOVE things?”

Sarah laughed. “What, you want to fly the ring down the aisle, perhaps with a small ring bearer holding it?”

“You could have dancing flower petals, or ice sculptures that are really liquid and can move. We could even form the tide into a bower for you to stand beneath.”

“The Druid could simply float away as he performed the ceremony,” Reggie said.

“Doug’s doing the ceremony?” Sarah asked.

“He offered, after James told everyone my genetic—”

“What? I’ll never go to bed early again. What did he say?”

“Well, he says I’m a spotter, and if I get rid of the new zoots, I’ll probably be a better one. I also have variants ‘A’ and ‘3,’ which evidently means, should we have children, that they’ll have a fifty percent chance of being either animal people or teeks. You want to hear the odds of them being spotters?”

“They’re talking about our future children?” Sarah asked.

“Welcome to Eire,” said Oliver.

There was another knock at the door.

“Come in.”

Aliana swooped in, “Still in bed? I brought you tea.”

“They’ve been filling me in on my future children, based on my father’s genetic analysis.”

Aliana set the tea cup on the tray beside the untouched juice. “Go ahead and eat. Are you saying James is your father? That would explain the teek thing.”

“What?”

There was another knock at the door.

“Come in,” Sarah said, a little louder than the last times. “You might as well leave the door open for the rest of the household.”

Howard leaned against the half open door, still holding the handle. The angles looked precarious enough that Sarah wondered if he was using telekinesis on the door. “I could wait ‘til later if you’re busy.” He held a bouquet of flowers in one hand.

“Actually, I wanted you to try something.”

Howard visibly bit back a coy remark, and said, “At your service.”

“From what James said a ways back and what we know about zoots now, I thought maybe I’d be able to hear you if you said something telepathically.”