Fault Lines

by D. J. McCune

  So that was how it was going to be now. Maybe it was inevitable. Maybe it was even for the best. There was no easy answer he could give his ‘friend’ and he knew that Spike wouldn’t give up until he got one. Maybe they were over there right now, trying to unearth more secrets about the Mortsons. Adam didn’t think so. Spike didn’t like sharing the glory with anyone else.

  Adam sighed and joined the queue for dinner.

  And then, twenty-four hours later, they were stepping off the plane and into the airport building. Passport control was a nightmare – so many of their group had lost their passports and were travelling on emergency documents – but Fenton escorted Adam and a few others through the barriers and into the arrivals area. There was no luggage to collect; what little they had they were wearing.

  Most of his group rushed straight through the glass doors and into the waiting arms of sobbing parents and siblings. Adam felt a pang of loneliness. He knew it was better if his parents avoided the airport – there were too many cameras and too much security. It was the same reason he was going to get the train home instead of just swooping.

  Fenton was looking around. ‘Have you someone collecting you?’

  ‘Yes, sir,’ Adam lied. ‘They’ll be out the front.’

  ‘Maybe I should go with you …’ Fenton began, then tailed off as a small, brown-haired woman ran towards him. He made a choking sound and ran to embrace her. ‘I’m sorry, I was such a fool,’ he sobbed into her hair.

  Adam grinned. There was nothing like a near-death experience to make people realise what was important to them. He had a feeling he had just solved the mystery of Fenton’s recent vile temper and heavy weekends. He’d also solved the problem of how to get away without a guardian there to collect him. He waved at his form tutor’s back and followed the signs to the train station.

  Within an hour he was walking off the train into grey cloud and fine drizzle. Nathanial was waiting by the car, the rain misting his camel-hair coat. He smiled. ‘You seem to be travelling a bit lighter this time.’

  Adam nodded. He flung the emergency kitbag in the back and climbed into the passenger seat. As they eased through the traffic he stared out of the window, marvelling at how it looked so familiar and so different at the same time.

  Nathanial left him to his thoughts but cleared his throat as they approached the house. ‘We’ve kept the details of what happened to a minimum. Obviously they all know about the tsunami and that you … ran afoul of the law. And your Marking of course.’

  Adam turned to him. ‘What did they say?’

  ‘They were just glad to hear you were safe, Adam.’ Nathanial hesitated. ‘Be tactful with Luc, won’t you? It’s rather unusual for a younger brother to be Marked before the elder. Aron was teasing him about it.’

  Adam bit his lip, suppressing a grin. He knew he shouldn’t be taking any pleasure in it but it was so rarely that he ever got one over on Luc that he had to make the most of it when the chance came. He was only human!

  He jumped out of the car to press his palm to the electronic control. Nathanial drove on and Adam followed on foot. There were some throaty, joyous barks and Sam and Morty tore across the grass and leapt on him, almost knocking him back into the street. He grinned and blinked back tears. ‘Hello, you two.’ He spent a few minutes basking in their affection, bracing himself for returning to the house. He felt nervous. Why?

  But he couldn’t put it off forever. Nathanial was standing by the back door, waiting patiently. Adam jogged across the grass and joined him. The rain had stopped and the sun was trying to come out. His father gave him a questioning look: Ready? Adam nodded and Nathanial opened the back door.

  They were all in the kitchen, sitting round the table. The kitchen smelled like fresh-baked bread and soup. There were flowers on the table in a vase and hanging from the ceiling was a banner in Chloe’s loopy writing, saying: Welcome home Adam Mortson, Marked Luman. His mother turned from the stove, smiling. She was holding a cake, decorated with the Mortson seal.

  There were kisses and hugs and a spine-shattering back-thump from Aron. The last one to greet him was Luc. There was an awkward silence.

  Luc sighed. ‘Trust you to get everything arse over tits. You couldn’t even wait and get Marked when you were supposed to.’ He smirked. ‘Good to see you’re alive. And nice tracksuit by the way.’

  ‘Yeah, thanks.’ Adam finally smiled, feeling some of the tight, sick feeling go out of his stomach.

  ‘Come and have lunch,’ Auntie Jo said, putting her arm around his back and leading him to the table. ‘I’m going to have a slice of bread in honour of the prodigal’s return. I may even have cake!’

  Adam sat down in his usual place. He was lightheaded with exhaustion. Elise smoothed his hair back from his forehead and kissed his cheek, placing a bowl of soup in front of him. ‘Eat, a little. Then bed!’

  Adam nodded and obediently took a spoonful of soup. He ate quietly, letting the noise wash over him, wondering how much they really knew. Did they know that Adam wasn’t going to be a Luman, even though he was Marked? Did they realise he had a whole different life planned, one that would take him away from this table and this house and the whole Luman world?

  Someday soon, he wouldn’t be here. It was a strange thought. He looked around the table, at his family; Auntie Jo teasing Chloe; Luc and Aron fighting good-naturedly over the last slice of bread; Nathanial talking quietly to Elise. She was smiling and she looked happier than she had for a long time, like she had thrown a heavy weight off her shoulders. Everything was changing. It was always changing. You couldn’t stay in the present any more than you could live in the past.

  And some day he really wouldn’t be here any more. He wouldn’t be in the physical realm at all. His life here would be over and he would be … somewhere else. That was a really strange thought. The time you had here was so precious. There were so many things Adam wanted to do and be. And now, because of everything that had happened, he might get the chance to make them happen.

  It was all too much to think about just now. The spoon slipped out of his hand and clattered into the bowl. His head was spinning. A moment later he felt Nathanial’s hand on his arm, helping him to his feet. ‘I’ve got you, Adam. I think you need some rest.’

  He allowed his father to help him from the kitchen. In the background, dimly, he heard Luc call, ‘I’ll eat your cake for you!’ There was laughter.

  At the top of the stairs Nathanial opened his bedroom door and nodded towards the bed. ‘Sleep for as long as you need to.’

  Adam nodded. He reached into his pocket and felt for the small, hard booklet he had kept safe for so long. He pulled out his passport and handed it to his father.

  Nathanial hesitated. ‘I’ll look after it for now, Adam. Keep it safe for you. Apparently they last for years.’ He stared at it for a moment. ‘I have a feeling you’ll be using it a lot.’ He smiled, half sadly. ‘Rest now.’

  Adam kicked off his boots, collapsed on his bed and fell into a deep and dreamless sleep.

  Chapter 28

  t was two days before Adam returned to school (The Bulb’s one concession after their ordeal) but when he did it felt like he had never been away. He woke up that morning and felt a smile so big that it almost broke his face. He couldn’t get his uniform on fast enough and hopped impatiently from foot to foot until the bus arrived. Today was the first day of the rest of his life.

  Judging by the buzz in the corridors a lot of people were feeling that way. It was strange, how being so close to something awful made you grateful for what you had. Lots of people who normally ignored him smiled and greeted him and he grinned back. It was nice. It probably wasn’t going to last but he would enjoy it while it did.

  Mr Fenton was whistling as he unlocked their form room door. He’d had a haircut and shaved. He looked … shinier. He frowned when he saw Adam. ‘Where did you bugger off to at the airport? I thought you’d got lost.’

  ‘Sorry, sir. My father came and picked
me up.’

  ‘Hmph. Well, you’re here in one piece anyway.’ Fenton gave him what might have been a smile and strolled inside, whistling again. Adam grinned. Whatever had happened after the airport reunion had put his form tutor in an excellent mood.

  He was just about to step inside when someone called his name. ‘Adam.’

  He turned, feeling his heart jump. Melissa was standing a few doors down, staring at him transfixed, as though she was seeing a ghost.

  He wanted to run over to her and slide his fingers into her hair and kiss her, hard. Unfortunately she wasn’t alone; three of her friends were beside her. He lifted his hand and gave what was supposed to be a jaunty wave. Judging by her mates’ expressions, he hadn’t pulled it off. ‘Hi.’

  The bell rang and hordes of people appeared from nowhere, laughing and jostling their way past, barging into their form rooms. He waited for a moment, hoping she was going to talk to him but her friends seemed to be hugging her and laughing at something (possibly him) and suddenly he felt stupid. He slipped into the form room and studiously avoided her eyes as Fenton gave them a rambling welcome back and reminded them that natural disasters aside, they had exams just after Christmas that they needed to begin revising for.

  Adam made sure he was the first one out of the door – but Melissa was faster than he had given her credit for. ‘Adam.’

  He turned and this time she was much closer. He studied her face; her pale skin; the slight shadows under her eyes; her mouth. The pain of losing her swept back all over again, startling him with its ferocity. He swallowed hard. ‘Hi.’

  ‘You’re OK.’ When he nodded she bit her lip and looked at the ground. ‘I was really scared something had happened to you. Ellen said you were missing for a whole night.’

  Adam nodded, glad he had his cover story well practised by now. ‘I just got lost. It was stupid. Some people found me and brought me back.’

  ‘That’s great.’ She was watching him. Her eyes had that laser look they sometimes got, when she was trying to tell him something. For a while he’d been really good at reading her. They had been so close he just knew what she wanted. Now, it was like the last six months had never happened. There was a wall between them and he didn’t know how to cross it.

  Maybe she felt it too, the wall that was there. She looked sad. ‘Well, I’m glad you’re OK.’

  ‘I miss you,’ he blurted out, just as she was walking away. Everything he felt, all the words that he felt were in his mouth, ready to fall out in a torrent and wash her away but they all seemed to get stuck.

  She bit her lip again. ‘Yeah. Me too.’

  It gave him hope but he needed time to think. ‘Can I see you at lunchtime?’

  ‘I have stuff to do in art.’

  ‘I know. I can come up there.’

  ‘What’s the point, Adam?’ She looked angry now, as well as sad. ‘It just … It wasn’t working any more.’

  The corridor was emptying. Fenton’s class were charging towards them, fresh from assembly, and he came out to bellow them into a line. When he saw Adam and Melissa there he looked puzzled, then irritated. ‘What are you two still doing here? Get to class!’

  They were going in opposite directions. Adam felt desperate. He had a feeling that if he didn’t get through to her now she would disappear. She would get sucked back into her art and her friends and, down the line, someone else who loved her the way he did. ‘Please?’ he said. ‘Just quickly.’

  ‘Get to class, you two!’ Fenton’s good temper was disappearing fast.

  Melissa sighed. ‘OK,’ she said, already turning and walking away. ‘But just for a minute.’

  Adam grinned at Fenton and ran to maths. He had planned to work hard and make the most of every second in school now that he was allowed to be here but that was before he’d had the chance to put things right. He kicked himself for not meeting her at break time but it would give him more time to choose the right words.

  When the bell rang he went to the library as usual but for a few minutes he was the only one there. First Dan and then Archie appeared and sat down. Dan pulled out a packet of almonds and tipped them onto the table with a contented sigh. ‘I never thought I would get to do this again.’

  Archie snorted. ‘Yeah, it would be kind of ironic if you survived an earthquake and a tsunami but then died of some germ you picked up off a table.’

  Dan shrugged and offered Adam an almond. ‘Was everyone really happy to see you?’

  Adam nodded. ‘Yeah. But I mostly just slept when I got home.’

  ‘Yeah, me too. But we went out for dinner last night and my dad let us get ice cream afterwards. He’s normally really anti-sugar.’

  ‘Putting himself out of business a bit, isn’t he?’ Archie said, sketching a picture of Dan’s dad armed with a drill and a sign above him reading Dark Lord Dentistry.

  ‘Oh, and my mum says that if you start to get flashbacks and stuff that’s normal and you have to talk to someone about it.’ Dan rattled this off with the air of a man who had repeated it many times already that morning.

  Adam waited but no one was mentioning the obvious. ‘Where’s Spike?’

  Archie shrugged. ‘Probably hanging out with his new mates. The computer ones.’

  Dan nodded. ‘He got into the hacking thing. Remember the group he was trying to get in with? He pulled off something really big and they let him in. He wouldn’t tell me what it was but he said he has to do loads of other stuff now just to stay in.’ Dan looked gloomy. ‘We need a new Spike. How are we going to keep The Bulb off our backs now?’

  ‘We won’t need to. We’ve been to Japan,’ Archie said.

  Adam half listened to their banter, feeling relieved. He wasn’t stupid enough to think that he was off the hook completely but maybe having a break from Spike would buy him some time. Plus, Spike wasn’t good at sharing the limelight. If his ‘big hack’ had been the tsunami stuff, he wouldn’t be keen to admit to his hacker friends that he’d been tricked into doing it.

  ‘He’ll be sorry when he finds out I could have got him sorted out with the girls.’ Archie was talking in an overly casual way. ‘You know, because I’m going out with Hannah Murphy now.’

  ‘They hooked up on the plane in the toilet,’ Dan piped up. ‘We’re all going out on Friday night. She’s bringing some of her mates. I’m going!’

  Archie gave Adam a benevolent look. ‘Do you want me to fix you up?’

  Adam hid a smile. ‘Thanks but I’m OK.’

  ‘You’re back with Melissa, aren’t you?’ Dan grinned. ‘Reeled her in again, have you?’

  ‘Dunno. Maybe. I’m going to see her at lunchtime.’

  The bell rang. Archie winked. ‘Well, if it doesn’t work out, you know where to find me!’

  As Adam climbed the stairs to the art room, his heart was thudding. All the times he had been up there and taken it for granted. Now that he was here it felt like he was being admitted into some kind of amazing palace of delights. He was a bit nervous that Ms Havens would be there. She hadn’t exactly looked happy with him the last day he’d been there. Still, maybe nearly dying would buy him some sympathy.

  He paused in the corridor, loosening his tie and opening his top button. He felt like he was suffocating. Just tell her how you feel. Just tell her it’s going to be OK. The calm voice in his head saying this stuff wasn’t the same as the guy jumping up and down in his chest, telling him to run away before he made a tit of himself. That guy sounded like Luc.

  He took a deep breath and slipped into the art room. The radio was playing but Melissa was there, alone. She glanced up from her work and froze. ‘Hi.’

  ‘Hi,’ Adam said. He felt dizzy with nerves. It was crazy. He felt like he was asking her out all over again, which in a way he was. But back then he hadn’t let her down or given her any reason to say no. Could she really forgive him? His heart sank.

  Melissa gave him a wry smile. ‘It’s OK. I’m not going to bite you.’

  He tried to
relax. He went and stood beside her. ‘Is this what you’re doing for the show?’

  ‘Yeah.’ She stepped aside so he could see it. ‘Do you recognise it?’ Her voice was very quiet.

  ‘Of course I do.’ Adam stared at the picture, wishing he could step into the canvas. She had used paints and fabric and sparkling threads to create a park. The plants and trees had created a cocoon around a faded beach towel where two figures were shaped in blocks of charcoal, sitting facing each other, looking into one another’s eyes. The only thing touching was the girl’s hand on the boy’s face while the sun shone down on them. It was the most joyful, most secretive thing Adam had ever seen.

  He looked at it for a long time, feeling an ache in his chest. ‘It’s … brilliant. Really great.’

  Melissa shrugged. ‘It was a really good day.’ She sighed. ‘At least it was until the bit where you ran off and I thought you’d gone home. And then when you came back, I had to go anyway. One of us always has to be somewhere else.’

  He took her hand and turned her gently, until she was facing him. ‘I’m sorry I was so crap. I didn’t want to be. But things are going to be different now.’

  She pulled her hand away. ‘You always say that.’

  ‘But I’m allowed to go out more now. I talked to my parents. I can meet up with you outside school.’

  ‘It’s not just that, Adam.’ Melissa walked away, towards the window. She stared out, avoiding his eyes. ‘It’s everything. The secrets and the lying to me. I know there’s stuff you’re not telling me.’

  For a wild moment, Adam wondered if she was talking about Caitlyn … but that was crazy. There was no way she could know that. ‘I don’t have secrets.’

  ‘You’re lying again,’ she said. She sounded resigned rather than angry. ‘You said it took a long time to get to know you. You told me to trust you. And I did, for ages. And I kept waiting for you to trust me but …’ She shrugged. ‘It never happened.’