by Sandra Elsa
"Hurry back."
He grinned. "Getting used to me?"
"I probably could. But for now, it's just safer if we're both in the same spot."
When he left, I flipped the phone open and turned it on. There were four missed calls and two messages. Two of the missed calls were from Wally's cell phone. The third was from a number that started with 07 and the fourth was from 00, somebody had tried to call me from a public booth. I dialed in the number to retrieve my messages.
I didn't recognize the voice of the first caller. His message chilled the marrow in my bones. "I'm calling for Francesca Leone. I was contacted by President Drover. He hopes I can make you see sense. I know you don't know me, but he informs me we have a few rare genetic abilities in common. From how he described you, I believe I remember your mother. My name is Mage Jallahan. I'd like the chance to get to know you. My phone number is 07-45-32-81."
I hit delete without hesitation. The second message brought Wally's voice. "Frankie, I don't know if I should be angry, hurt, or worried for you. I'd like to believe you said you used me, to get them off my back. I guess I’ll never see you again. But I want it in the riukhjecord that Rollick was right. I did like you. Cared for you more than I probably should have. I guess you're angry that I left you on the mountain, but I didn't have a choice in that. I'm really glad you made it down safe if not sound. Wish we'd have had a chance to get to dinner, maybe then I’d have a better idea of what's going through your mind now. I do know enough to know everything you say has at least two meanings. If I meant anything to you, call my home phone and leave me a message. Say the opposite of what you mean I just need to know if you really thought so little of me. Not that I’ll tell them anything about you. But I think the president is on the right track anyway." There was a long pause, then he said, "Guess that's all I've got to say."
I ate my food. After the first bite my stomach reminded me exactly how long it'd been since my last meal and I wolfed the rest of it down. Harrison still wasn't back so I dialed Wally's home phone number. I wasn't ready for him to pick it up. His anxious, "Frankie," startled me.
With effort, mind working overtime to rephrase the message prerecorded in my mind, I stopped myself from flipping the phone closed.
"Please talk to me, Frankie."
I explained my hesitation, "I was expecting a machine, Wally."
"They sent me home."
"They fired you?"
"No. Didn't even lose my promotion,” He sighed long and hard. I could picture him pinching the bridge of his nose, trying to drive off his tension headache, “though I've been chastised about the need to read people better. Since even the president didn't read you well enough to realize you knew where his son was, they've decided I'm not to be held at fault. But I've been in meetings since we got back to District One."
"Wally, I'm sorry I had to use you like that. I can't tell you where we are or where we'll go, or even who we are, because the president knows when he's being lied to. That's why I had to make you believe I wanted to go out with you. It redirected him away from the fact that his son was in my apartment. I'm not proud of using you and I hope you don't hate me for it. I did enjoy your company but you've got to realize now there were so many things I could never have opened up to you about. You being a member of the watch and all. You take your duty so seriously, I could never have told you I'm an unregistered mage and that fact would always have sat between us."
"I think I understand, Frankie. And you're right I would have had to turn you in and I couldn't have lived with that."
He knew perfectly well I was an unregistered mage so I hoped that meant he understood why I said the things I had about him. "Take care of yourself, Wally. No matter what you think of me, I'll always consider you a friend. Rollick too. Tell him I wish health and happiness for him, his wife, and his pups. This is the last you'll hear from me. Apparently Drover thinks he's located my father and the man's already called me once. Does he really think I’d want to talk to somebody I spent thirty-two years avoiding? Guess I'll turn this phone off and toss it in a fill. I won't be getting back to you. Time for another identity change."
"Frankie!" Wally yelled as though he thought I was already hanging up.
"What Wally?"
"Explain that to me?"
"What's that?"
"Another--identity change. How could I know you for ten years and not know you weren't born Francesca Leone?"
"Because Mom went through legal channels to change our names when I was fifteen. She got wind that somebody was trying to find us and Mom was only a little less paranoid than I am. Once it was all done and legal, I obliterated the magical footprints that held the records. It's still there, in black and white, you just have to find which district and where the paper records are stored. I don't really care if they know who I was born. Especially since they already think they know who the sperm-donor was, but you know me well enough to realize I won't make it easy on them."
"You don't do anything the easy way, Frankie. I guess I can forgive you for using me. Sounds like I wasn't the only one between a rock and a hard place. Take care of yourself."
"You too, Wally. I'm glad they didn't find you at fault. Have a good life." I flipped the phone closed and pushed the off button, setting it back on the table by the bed just as Harrison returned.
He nodded at the phone. "My father?"
"No. I called Wally at home."
"You know they're listening to his home phone."
I nodded. "So does he. But I think maybe now he gets it. At least he doesn't hate me."
"I guess that's good. Right?" Ahhhh…he was trying so hard to get in my good graces.
"Doesn't make too much difference in the long run, I'll never see him again, but I didn't like hurting him."
"Any other calls?"
"Four missed. Two from Wally's cell. Probably your father. One from a 07 number and one from a public booth that I'm pretty sure was Wally since he called back and left a message."
"Let me see the 07."
"I also have a message from a mage so I'm assuming it's the same number." I turned the phone on and flipped through menus to the missed calls. Glancing at the number there I saw it was the same that Mage Jallahan had asked me to call. I passed the phone to Harrison.
He shook his head. "Didn't leave a message?"
"Yeah, The name Jallahan mean anything to you?"
"Jallahan?" Excitement animated Harrison's voice. "Mage Jallahan is one of the top theorists in magic application. He's the head of research and development at MNU. He called you? What could my father hope to gain by having him call…Oh…” His breathless excitement heightened to where I wondered if I’d have to hand him a bag to breathe into while he hyperventilated. “Mage Jallahan has the talent to nix somebody else's magic."
I nodded, "Claims that when your father showed my picture to him, he kinda, sorta, vaguely, remembered having fathered a child on somebody with similar features. Which is hogwash, because mom and I didn't look very much alike at all. She had brown hair. My black is natural. Her face was round, mine's all angles. Her eyes were green, my sapphire gets a lot of notice."
Harrison took out his handheld and started to scroll through the net. When he turned it around he displayed a picture of a man. Startling blue eyes, placed wide in an angular face, looked out from under a shock of unkempt black hair.
The label under the photo said, Mage Harold Jallahan, Head of R&D, MNU.
"Well shit…I could have lived my whole life quite happily without ever seeing that. I take it he's a bit airheaded if he thinks I might look like my mother?"
"I wouldn't take any calls. He can negate spells just like you can and he's spent years actively honing his skill."
"You saying you think he might be better than me?" Again I lightened my tone, I knew the mage in charge of R&D at the Mage University would have more talent than someone who spent most of her life avoiding magic like the plague.
"Not only that, but two ne
gatives make a positive so you call him and affect the positioning spell and he has the choice of either negating your magic or adding to it. Either way, the GPS functions as it was intended."
"Then it's a damn good thing you turned the phone off."
"I'm surprised he left a message."
"Maybe he's the academic type. Can't pull his head out of a textbook long enough to figure out why I might not return his phone call. After all, wouldn't anybody be anxious to meet their father?"
"Aren't you curious at all?"
Of course I was curious, but not foolish. "I was an experiment. And it makes even more sense to know that he's from R&D. Wonder if they kept records on the Mage Experimental Breeding Program."
Harrison frowned. "If they did, there's probably some first year students combing through folders right now, looking for irregularities, and unaccounted for inseminations."
I gave a bitter laugh. "Do you really think they'd let students do that? Are mages really so politically incorrect that they'd let students know they impregnated prostitutes against the will of the women involved; then locked them up and threw away the key as though she weren't a real person at all. Just a broodmare."
He winked, a wicked grin curved across his face as he tried to bring down my irritation level. "Probably not. Especially when you consider the fact that a good number of the students might be the end result of those experiments. You blew my world apart with that little tidbit." He reached out and touched my hair, pushing it behind my ear. God he was a touchy-feely sort of person.
"Did you ever get down to District Eleven before you were almost killed there?"
He withdrew his hand and looked as though he were trying to figure out what the right answer might be. Finally he said, "Sightseeing. A trip endorsed and chaperoned by my father. Now I wonder if I was supposed to display more enthusiasm about paying for sex."
"So… no little Harrisons running around out there?"
"None that I know about, but I'm not a virgin, anything's possible."
"No close female ties you're going to miss?" I squelched a tiny twinge of jealousy. He wasn't mine to be jealous of.
"Wouldn't have decided to stay gone if there had been."
"Good, because if you decide you miss Betty FluffBunny and run back to her, I'll kill you." I didn't care for the happiness that knowing he was unattached caused me.
"Look at that." He grinned. "Pain meds must be wearing off. I swear it's been over twenty-four hours since you threatened to kill me. But honestly, no Betty FluffBunnies. I'm in the company of the most intriguing woman I've ever met. Why would I want to go back?"
I laughed. "I'm still assessing. Maybe you won't need killing after all."
"That's nice to know."
The phone chirped again and I looked down at it, then pushed the off button. "I should probably throw this away somewhere."
"Jallahan?"
"Yeah, and now I can't even know for sure who's calling me from other phones."
"Want me to go pick up a new phone?"
"Who are we going to call?"
He grinned. "Pizza delivery?"
His glib words set off another chain of thought. "Damn it."
"What now?"
"Romanelli's. Did you eat the leftovers and take out the trash?"
"Actually, yes, I did."
I settled back and relaxed. "Thank God."
"What difference? We had to eat somewhere."
"Romanelli's is too close to Herm's. He was busted five or six years back for forging an ident."
He nodded, thoughts shifted behind his eyes as he grasped at the shadows of the world he lived in now. "We're going to have to get you a new name too."
"Maybe not. We can just use yours. We plan to take off to parts unknown. It's too hot for a new ident. They'll be watching anybody they remotely suspect. We'll wait for the end result of that trip. Even if we end up back here, the world should have dialed back to simmer by then."
The doctor strode through the door. "Let's have a look at that leg." After opening the soft cast, he made ambiguous humming sounds while he carefully slid the wraps out from under my leg. "Let's get you in a walking boot and out of here."
"That's the best idea I've heard all day, Doc. How long should I need to be on pain meds? My fiancé seems to think they mellow me, and I wouldn't want him to get used to that."
He smiled, "At least a week, different people have different tolerance for pain, but right now, I highly recommend staying off the leg, give the bone some time to heal around the screws. "
"I don't really see myself having a problem with that. My life just came to a screeching halt. A week or two to regroup and reassess is probably just what I need at this point in time."
A couple hours later they wheeled me out of the hospital and into a hunter green Subaru Forester so similar to Wally's Outback I almost cried. I despised weepy women; this had better be the meds.
Harrison drove to a nice little house on the East side of the dome. As he had said, it was right on the dome. In fact the roof had a solarium complete with lounge chairs and a bar. Looked like as good a place to enjoy recovery as any; except for the fact that Harrison had to carry me up the steps to get there. The tint on the dome kept the heat from being intense but it was warmer than I was used to. Out in the more open atmosphere the air was usually kept around seventy degrees during daylight hours, unless you visited a recreation district that called for colder or warmer.
He laid me on a lounge chair. "Want anything to drink?"
"Water. Ice if we have it."
"Let me guess, you never drink alcohol."
"My wits are already dulled by the pain medication. Besides it says not to, right there on the packet."
He picked up the Plastipak and read the label. "So it does. But someday I’ll be able to take you out and get you drunk?"
"Don't know why you'd want to do that. Just makes me more ornery. Not a happy--or an easy--drunk."
"Well, all right then." He laughed. "Maybe we'll avoid that whole scene then."
"Disappointed?"
"Not really. I'll just have to work harder." His head swung slowly side to side not quite matching the confidence of his words.
"You like yourself a lot, don't you?"
"Don't you?" No pause to even think about his response.
"Are you asking if I like you? Or myself?"
Slight frown, eyes narrowed, the minefield of my personality yawned wide at his feet. "Yourself." Smart man. Wasn’t ready for a diatribe about his shortcomings…even if those shortcomings were becoming harder to see.
"Of course I like myself. I'm intelligent, witty, and a survivor. I've always considered my looks to be a handicap though. I end up having to fend off jerks who think they’re so good looking nobody can tell them no."
"Ouch." He laughed. "But we're engaged." He glanced back over his shoulder as he strolled to a small white box under a counter which ran along the privacy fence blocking the solarium from the rest of the district. Glasses sat atop the counter and he pulled ice cubes from a tray in the miniature fridge.
"Says you." I responded wittily to his comment.
He filled the glass from a pitcher and brought it to me. "At your service." I heard the hesitation as he considered his words and wondered if it had been about to be a m'lady or my dear or some such stupid folderol. He chose wisely in saying nothing.
"Thank you. I do believe I’ll be living up here.” I waved to the four foot wide gate in the fence, it stood firmly closed on exquisite brass hinges. “So what's on the other side of the fence?"
"Garden. Needs water. Almost screwed up first thing. I'm so used to adding a drop here or there when I see something in need, but that's one magic that will set off father's alarms."
"Alarms? As in he actually has some method of noting spectacular magic use?" I’d heard plenty of rumors but nobody ever confirmed this before
"All the domes have monitors for power surges. He can't always identify what caused
them, and if he watched for all the minor trips he'd go crazy but something like an unscheduled rain storm, he'd pay attention to. Breaking out that window in District Eleven was enough of a surge with my signature all over it; that's probably why the District One watch was there."
"Then maybe you should just run some water and take care of the poor things. Be a shame to let food go to waste--unless you're talking about a flower garden. Worthless things."
"I guess you're saying I shouldn't have brought you flowers in the hospital?"
I hadn't actually thought anything of the sort. "Don't take it so personally. I hadn't thought that at all. That worked nicely as a cover. What fiancé wouldn't bring flowers to his injured significant other?"
His bark of laughter surprised me. In response to my stare he said, "That wasn't my intent. I was trying to be nice."
I relented. "It was nice. I still don't have much use for decorative items. Be they flowers or people."
"Is that how you see me?"
"Decorative?" Oh hell yes. "You're decorative all right. But if you can do what you claim, you'll be worth the air you breathe."
His smile spread ear to ear. "Flowers are useful too."
"For what, besides turning a girl's head?"
"One of the benefits of being the centerpiece in father's schemes, I got to listen to his plotting. A lot of flowers have medicinal uses when nothing better is around. He thought it'd be a good idea to have something available in case he couldn't persuade doctors to join his colonization attempt. I've done considerable study. The chrysanthemums I brought you in the hospital have been used to reduce fever, prevent infection, ease your eyes when they're red and stressed among other things."
I held my hands up in surrender. A drop of condensation dripped from the glass to land on my chest, causing a shiver despite the heat. "So--an appropriate gift for somebody lying flat out in a hospital."
"I tried."
"I can't believe you're not married."
"Not for lack of offers. Mom always told me there's one person in the world meant to be your soulmate. Guess I figured I'd wait and see if she was right."
I really didn't want to know his personal life so I veered back to safe ground. "So do you have the information on plants in your handheld? I suppose educating myself might be a worthwhile thing to do while I'm laid up."
