by Rae Knightly
Maggie stared at Ben with intelligent eyes, then turned her attention to the crow. She pulled the bird out of the cage, then carefully unwrapped it from its makeshift nest in Ben’s scarf. Speaking to Kimi in a language he couldn’t understand, she examined it.
“It has a broken wing,” she stated finally in English, confirming Ben’s diagnosis. She gently stretched out the bird’s wings one at a time, revealing beautiful, shiny feathers that reflected a bluish tint under the artificial light.
Ben bent in for a closer look. He had never seen a crow up close before. “She’s beautiful!” he exclaimed.
Maggie glanced at him. “She?”
He distanced himself from the table. Had he really said that?
Maggie concentrated on the bird but addressed him. “You know your birds,” she said.
Ben bit his inner cheek nervously.
Maggie placed the crow back in its cage and busied herself in the medicine cabinets. “You say you brought this bird without getting a scratch?” she asked in English, eyeing Ben.
Kimi stepped in, “Yes, Ina[1]. It’s as if the crow knew we wanted to help it. It didn’t struggle at all.”
“Hm…” Maggie said thoughtfully, before adding, “Not many would save a crow. They are not popular animals. Yet they are particularly clever and have a great memory. They live in large groups called a ‘murder of crows’.” She paused, throwing Ben a glance. “But then, you probably knew that already.”
“Ugh! Mom!” Kimi interjected, clearly irritated.
Ben sensed the strain in Kimi and Maggie’s relationship. He tried to steer the conversation away. “Can you help her?” he asked, rubbing at his arm.
Maggie pulled out some medical supplies and said, “Yes. I will reset her wing and feed her so she will survive the winter. We should be able to release her in a month.” As she turned back to the table, she spotted Tike sitting by the door. “And who’s this?” she asked.
“Oh, that’s my dog, Tike,” Ben answered. “He’s a Jack Russell Terrier.”
“Yes, I can see that. Six years old, I’d say. Though there’s something unusual about him. He hasn’t barked once at the bird…”
Kimi’s eyes widened. “That’s true! I’ve never heard him bark.”
Ben shifted uncomfortably. This was not the way he wanted the conversation to go. He was extremely aware of the crow nearby, nagging at his mind. “Tike never barks,” he said vaguely.
Maggie frowned and headed over to Tike. “I wonder why that is,” she said, bending to scratch Tike’s ears. “I could check him out…”
“No!” Ben interjected too quickly. Maggie glanced at him, frowning, so he added, “Thank you, but maybe some other time? Er… I actually have to go now. My mom will be wondering where I am.”
I need air.
He nodded towards Kimi. “Sorry, I didn’t realize how late it was. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
“Oh, okay,” Kimi said, sounding disappointed.
Ben picked up his backpack a little too quickly, feeling their eyes burning into his back as he left. He hurried down the back alley and paused next to the side of a house. In his mind’s eye, he was lying on the examination table. The woman with the black eyes stared at him. She applied a pressure on his arm that hurt so badly his eyes watered and he retched. He swore he could physically feel the alien venom spreading through his body. He shivered, though not because of the cold air. He was cold inside. Cold from fear.
“Ben?”
He jumped at Mesmo’s voice. He held his jacket tightly around him, staring at the alien. “Jeez! You have to stop doing that!”
“Doing what?”
“Appearing out of nowhere like that. You startled me,” Ben replied, catching his breath.
The man surveyed him, then frowned, “What’s the matter? Are you sick?”
Turning away, Ben said, “It’s nothing,”
Mesmo insisted. “Benjamin?”
“I told you! It’s nothing!” Ben snapped. He strode off, his shoulders hunched, his hands deep in his pockets.
CHAPTER 6 Enceladus
Laura heard the front door open and close. She stepped out of the kitchen, her hands laden with dinner plates, just in time to see Ben rush up the stairs to his room. Laura dropped the dishes on the table and joined Mesmo by the door.
“What’s the matter?” she asked. Not waiting for a reply, she climbed the steps and saw Ben shut his bedroom door, almost hitting Tike on the nose. Tike jumped back, his ears laid back, one paw off the ground.
Laura knocked on the door. “Ben? Are you all right?” When there was no reply, she knocked again. “Ben?”
His muffled voice came through. “Long day, Mom. I just want to lie down for a while.”
Laura bit her lip, hesitating, then picked up Tike in her arms. Scratching his neck, she reassured him. “Don’t worry, Tike. He’ll get over it.” She headed back down the stairs, adding, “Come on, let’s go for a walk.”
Tike hopped out of her arms, his tail wagging.
“Can I join you?” Mesmo asked.
Laura felt her cheeks flush, so she bent to put on her boots. “Yes, of course. Let’s go out back. There’s less chance we’ll run into anyone.”
Once she had on her winter gear, they headed out through the kitchen door, which led to a small, fenced yard, then open landscape for as far as the eye could see. She gazed at the snow-covered fields to the right, the low hill before them, and an impressive string of mountain ranges to the left. They were at the edge of the Canadian Rocky Mountains, which dramatically cut the skyline with their jagged peaks.
Tike scampered off in front, sticking his snout in snow mounds, no doubt searching for hidden rodents.
Laura glanced sideways at the alien, noticing his grayish skin. She felt a pang of worry. “Are you holding up?” she asked, drawing her eyebrows together.
He nodded but did not look at her.
“Tell me about today,” she said. Laura knew he expected the question because she asked him the same one every day. He gazed into the distance, then answered mechanically, “Nothing new. Same, bare room: a hospital bed, a large mirror, cameras in the ceiling…”
“Any contact?” she pressed.
He shook his head. “They pushed the food tray through the slit at the bottom of the door—same as always. Hamburger, fries, apple slices, orange juice… No contact.”
“Hm,” Laura said half to herself. “Until their boss returns…” She stared at the ground as she walked, deep in thought, going over the details in her mind. They had already determined that Mesmo was being held closer to the East coast, though in Canada or the US was not yet clear. They had figured this out because of the regular times Mesmo was being fed, which was twice a day. Only, they had calculated that the evening for Mesmo was early afternoon for Laura, meaning he was two or three hours ahead of her.
She glanced at the tall alien again, noticing that his cheekbones were more pronounced. He’s losing weight, she thought, picturing a diet of soggy hamburgers. Something clicked in her mind—something that Ben had said before their departure to Canmore. “I’m turning vegetarian,” her son had said. His comment had seemed to have nothing to do with Mesmo, but for some reason, it made Laura stiffen. “Are you eating?”
He turned his head away.
“Mesmo!” she gasped, her hand covering her mouth as she guessed the answer. “You don’t eat meat, do you?” The realization sent a shiver down her back.
He still did not face her. “I have no appetite,” he said finally. “The food on this planet is strange to me.”
Laura stared at him with wide eyes, realizing where his unhealthy appearance came from.
“Mesmo!” she said worriedly, “You have to tell them! You have to eat something! I’m serious! You have to keep up your strength to give us time to find you!”
“I am running out of time…” she heard him say.
“Don’t give up!” Laura pleaded. “We’ll get you out, I promise.”
Taken aback, Laura frowned. “What do you mean?”
“Every two hundred Earth years, the planets of your solar system align in such a way that their gravitational pull causes abnormal friction at a location near Enceladus. This opens a window between our galaxies, allowing us to travel from my home planet to Earth and back for a limited time. That window to my galaxy will close in four full moons or approximately one hundred and twenty Earth sunrises.”
Laura sucked in a breath. She hadn’t expected such a mind-boggling answer. Once again, she realized how little she knew about this man and where he came from. “You mean…” She swallowed. “…that if you don’t make it to this Enceladus within four months, you’ll be stuck here for two hundred years?”
His honey-coloured eyes fell on hers. “Yes,” he replied.
Her heart dropped like a stone. “Mesmo,” she said gently, not wanting to add more to his misery. “Aren’t you forgetting something? Even if we free you from whoever is holding you, you don’t have a spaceship.”
He glanced sideways at her. “Bordock has a ship.”
She fell silent, reeling from the task ahead. How were they ever going to free Mesmo, complete his mission—whatever it was—and find Bordock’s ship in four months? She couldn’t even begin to understand how long it would take him to reach this Enceladus, but anything located in outer space sounded impossibly far.
They headed back, walking in silence. She wished she could tell him something encouraging. About to push open the kitchen door, she had an idea. “What about the spirit portal? Couldn’t you send your spirit to your planet? Send a message? Ask for help?”
She released the door and faced him. He stood close and she could see the details of his jacket and the fabric of his shirt. She caught herself longing to touch him. He smiled, and she noticed his teeth stood out pearl white in his olive-tanned skin. The walk in the open had done him good.
“Spirit portals have limited power. Their reach is only within your solar system. The signal would distort and dissipate within the contact point between our galaxies,” he explained. “It may seem that my spirit is free to travel great distances, but the truth is it remains bound to the spirit portal. That is why I am always near Ben. I am caught in an invisible bubble of which the spirit portal—hence, Ben—is the center.” He shook his head. “The spirit portal is not the answer.”
“Fine,” she said. “We’ll find another way. But until then, you have to promise me something.”
His brow lifted. “What?”
“Eat!” she ordered.
* * *
Laura knocked on Ben's door again but did not wait for an answer. This time she stepped into his room, followed by Tike who jumped onto the boy's bed.
Ben’s head was propped against his pillow with a document in his hand and surrounded by school books.
“Thomas brought Chinese food. Want to come down?” she asked.
Without looking up from his reading, he answered, “Sure, I’ll be right there.”
Laura hesitated, then went to sit at the edge of his bed. She sifted through the books. “Lots of homework?”
Ben sighed and sat up, dropping the document beside him. “No, it’s okay. I can handle it.”
She hoped he would open up more, but since he didn’t add anything, she said, “I know it’s hard, starting over. Especially in a new school with new friends. Just hang in there while I get us back on our feet again, okay?”
He shrugged. “Actually, it’s not too bad. They’ve been pretty friendly so far.”
Laura nodded. “Same here. I’m beginning to like this town.”
“Me, too.” Ben’s brief smile disappeared.
“Is something the matter?” she asked, reading his face like it was her own. She touched his left arm, but he pulled it away and she thought she saw him wince.
“I’m fine.”
She noticed he wouldn’t meet her eyes.
“It’s just,” he hesitated, searching for words. “I’m not sure where I belong.”
“I know,” Laura said, staring at the floor. “I feel the same.” Their eyes finally met. “It’s normal to feel like that, at your age,” she added. “But our situation obviously doesn’t help.” She patted his leg. “I promise I’ll find us a place where we can belong.”
His eyes lowered.
“Look at me,” she said. He did. “I promise you,” she insisted. “Do you believe me?”
He nodded, but his eyes had drifted away again.
As she descended the stairs, Laura found Mesmo and Thomas bending towards each other, concentrated on a deep conversation. When they heard her approach, they distanced themselves, and the frown on Thomas’ brow disappeared. He broke into a grin and he clapped his hands. “Come on, dinner is getting cold!”
CHAPTER 7 Gift
A week later, Ben found Ms. Evans with a smug smile on her face. He glanced around at the rest of the students as he organized his pens and books on his table. Several of them were grinning.
Did I miss something?
He figured they had been telling a joke before he arrived, so he ignored them and sat at his desk.
“’Morning, class,” Ms. Evans greeted them.
“’Morning, Ms. Evans,” the students chanted back.
Still smiling, Ms. Evans glanced in Ben’s direction. “I don’t think Ben knows our tradition yet. So how about we put some extra effort into it?”
Ben stared around the classroom in bewilderment.
What’s going on?
“Ready? One, two, three! Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you…”
They all chanted extra loudly, while Ben’s face flushed in surprise.
When they finished singing, Ms. Evans handed a card to him, saying warmly, “Happy thirteenth birthday, Ben. Everyone signed a card for you. We always sing when it’s someone’s birthday so you’ll be hearing this a lot this year.”
Ben grinned as he accepted the card. He turned around to survey the back of the classroom, but Kimi wasn’t there. She had been absent ever since the crow incident. He whispered to Max, “Is Kimi sick?”
The round-cheeked boy shrugged. “’Dunno.” He glanced at Ben’s backpack hopefully. “Did you bring cupcakes?”
Later, after school, Ben came home to a delicious smelling house.
His mom stepped out of the kitchen with a broad smile. “Happy birthday, Ben!” she said, hugging him. “Did you have a good day?”
He showed her the birthday card. He had never gotten this much attention from his classmates before, so this day had turned out to be quite special. He started telling her about it, but loud grumbling burst from the kitchen.
“Are you all right in there, Thomas?” Laura yelled from the living room.
Thomas appeared in the doorway. “Darn onions!” he said, wiping his eyes with a kitchen towel. Then he spotted Ben and his face brightened. “Hey, kiddo! Happy birthday!” He squeezed Ben, then lifted him up.
Ben squirmed. “Put me down!” he protested, laughing.
Thomas put him back on his feet and pretended to have a fist-fight with him. Ben copied him, dancing from one foot to the other, launching fake punches at the man, then ended up on the couch with Thomas tickling him in the ribs.
“Stop it!” Ben laughed until his eyes watered.
Laura grinned. “That’s enough kids! Our meal’s going to burn!” She pointed her index finger at Ben “You’re not allowed in the kitchen, is that clear? Thomas is making a pot pie and I’m baking a cake.” Her face twisted as she admitted, “At least, I’m trying to.”
Thomas released Ben with a contagious laugh, then headed back to the kitchen.
Still grinning, Ben picked himself up and was heading upstairs when the doorbell rang. He opened the door, only to find there was no-one there. A whiff of ice-cold air
smacked him in the face. Tike scurried outside.
“Tike!” Ben called, grabbing his scarf and wrapping it around his ears and mouth as he followed the dog. Tike tailed a person who walked away hurriedly with hunched shoulders.
“Kimi!” Ben yelled, recognizing the long, black coat.
He ran after her, trying to ignore the biting cold. He reached her and touched her shoulder. “Kimi?” he said again.
Only then did she stop and look at him.
“Hi!” Ben said.
She hid her face behind her long bangs, seeming embarrassed at having been discovered. “Hi,” she said shyly. “I didn’t mean to disturb. I’ll come by some other time.”
“No, no, that’s okay. Can we go inside, please? I’m freezing!” He stuffed his hands in his pockets.
She was obviously reluctant to accept, but she nodded and followed him back to the house. He took off his scarf, noticing that she didn’t move from the front door even though he had closed it. She seemed to want to be able to head out again at the slightest chance.
“You weren’t at school all week,” Ben noted. “Have you been sick?”
She shook her head, her eyes hiding behind the strand of hair sticking out from under her black beanie. “I had to help my mom,” she said vaguely. “She hasn’t been feeling well.”
“Oh, I’m sorry.” An awkward silence fell over them, until he ventured, “Er… is there something we can do to help?”
She shook her head. “No, it’s fine. It’s just that, I was wondering if I could borrow your notes.”
Ben’s face brightened, finally understanding the reason for her visit. “Of course!” he smiled encouragingly. “Do you want to hang your coat here?”
She started taking it off when she noticed the nicely laid table. Her eyes widened. “Oh! I didn’t realize you were going to have dinner! Maybe I should go…”
At that moment, Laura stepped out of the kitchen. When she saw Kimi, she glanced at Ben in surprise.
He gestured towards the girl. “Mom, this is Kimi from my school…”
