Stranger

by Sherwood Smith

  She’d take them to the picnic. Ross would enjoy them.

  • • •

  Z, Dee, and Nhi ran ahead up the trail, their clear voices blending with the calls of the seagulls. Jennie and Mia followed them, with Ross a few paces behind.

  Jennie stepped aside at the top of the bluff. “Ross, meet ocean.”

  He didn’t seem to hear her. The wind tossed his hair and rippled his shirt, but otherwise he was completely still. The water below sparkled like a million bits of mica, creating new patterns of glittering movement every time Jennie blinked. Toward the shore, wavelets painted white lines across blue-green water; at the horizon, blue-gray water merged with deep-blue sky. A flight of pelicans soared on the sea breeze.

  Jennie breathed in the salty air, trying to imagine what it must be like to see the ocean for the first time. From the joy and wonder that illuminated Ross’s face, she knew she hadn’t even come close. “Worth the trip?” she asked.

  Ross started, and she was rewarded with a rare smile. “Yeah, I think it is.”

  “Oh, I should have brought you sooner,” said Mia.

  The Terrible Three reached the waterline. Z waded in, poking a driftwood stick into the surging tide. Nhi and Dee flung themselves down on the dry sand, and Dee began burying Nhi’s feet.

  Ross pointed at a hazy gray-brown hump on the horizon. “What’s that?”

  “Catalina Island,” Mia said.

  “Where the Changed people went?”

  Mia nodded. Jennie turned away, remembering those ships full of refugees sailing into the empty sea, the Rangers watching to make sure they left. Rangers were sworn to obey, regardless of their personal feelings, but how had they really felt? What would Jennie feel if she was ever ordered to do something like that, to people like herself?

  My Change is a gift, she told herself fiercely. It doesn’t matter what anyone else thinks. My Change is a blessing from God.

  She reached out with her mind and pulled a bleached stick of driftwood into her hand. Ross flinched.

  Jennie’s heart sank. How many times had someone whom she’d known her entire life, whom she’d always thought was fine with the Changed, let some comment slip that showed that they weren’t fine with it at all?

  She whacked the stick against her thigh, and Ross flinched again. Jennie twisted the stick in her hands, hiding her relief. He’d seen her use her power before; he’d only been startled by the sudden movement.

  She wanted to apologize, both for doubting him and for making him jump, but that would only make the awkward moment worse. Indra was so easygoing and relaxed, but except when they were sparring, Jennie felt like she had to step very carefully around Ross.

  Indra had been easygoing.

  Z let out a shrill squawk. “Help! Help! It’s got me!”

  Ross took off like an arrow. Mia and Jennie ran after him.

  Z thrashed around in knee-deep water, struggling to escape from a strand of kelp that had seized her arm and was coiling up toward her shoulder.

  “What’s that?” Ross gasped. Water splashed around his boots.

  Z giggled, drawing her knife. With a dramatic slash, she sliced through the kelp and brandished the still-wriggling strand. “Want a belt? It’ll keep your pants up nice and tight!”

  The Terrible Three fell in a heap on the sand, laughing.

  “Let’s eat,” Mia said, kicking at the tendrils of kelp groping for her toes.

  “What is that stuff?” Ross asked.

  Mia took the kelp from Z. “You girls harvest while we set up the picnic. I want a couple thicker strands, too, to take home to my dad for tourniquets. Don’t worry,” she said dryly, “we’ll rescue you if the big ones get you.” And then, to Ross, “It stays alive in seawater for a week or so. Dad cuts it up fine to use for sutures.”

  She opened the picnic basket. Jennie filled the empty jugs with seawater, and the girls dropped in handfuls of writhing strands. Ross hovered, watching.

  Jennie pushed the basket toward him. “Would you mind setting out the food?”

  She watched covertly as he unwrapped each item. It was like he was opening Christmas presents, and each gift was better than the last.

  Finished, he eyed the cliffs like they were yet another present. “What’s in those caves?”

  “We’ll show you!” Dee offered instantly. “After we eat,” she amended, digging in.

  “Okay, thanks.” Ross took a huge bite of tamale.

  “Have you prospected in caves, Ross?” Z asked, winding a strand of curly hair around a finger.

  With what Nhi clearly thought was enormous subtlety, she edged closer to him. “Was it dangerous?”

  Mia stuffed her knuckles into her mouth, and Jennie smothered a snicker. Ross kept on eating, oblivious to the girls’ flirting, so they took the opportunity to scoot even closer.

  A pork bun vanished from between Jennie’s fingers. She glanced around. A few squirrels had ventured onto the beach, lured by the picnic, and one of them was nibbling away at her bun. Before she could react, a plum dumpling disappeared from a plate and reappeared in another squirrel’s paws.

  Jennie threw a handful of sand at them. “Shoo, you thieves!”

  The squirrels scampered off, but not before they’d teleported away the last of Felicité’s scones. They were welcome to them.

  Nhi put her hand on Ross’s arm. “Would you like another cinnamon roll?”

  He jumped up. “What about those caves?”

  Z tugged Dee up. “Let’s show him.”

  Nhi licked icing from her fingers, then poked Dee. “Hey! Maybe we’ll find Princess Cloud!”

  Dee shook her head. “I don’t think she’d have run this far.”

  The girls led Ross toward the caves, sand kicking up behind their heels.

  “Who’s Princess Cloud?” Mia asked.

  “One of our kittens, I think,” said Jennie. “I bet a hawk got it. Well, let Dee think it found another family.”

  She watched the trio point out the caves while Ross stayed out of touching distance. Though the bounty hunter had been gone for a few days, the shadows under Ross’s eyes had darkened, and while he’d always startled easily, it seemed to take less and less to make him jump. Something was wrong with him, something she wasn’t seeing.

  “I wanted to ask you.” Mia’s next words came out in a rush. “Do you think Ross lied, and he’s Changed, like the bounty hunter said?”

  “What makes you think that?”

  “He might be making me feel things. I mean, mentally controlling me so I feel things.” Mia nervously clicked the beads on her belt abacus.

  “What things?”

  She snapped her slide rule in and out and in again, then mumbled, “Making me like him.”

  Jennie tried not to laugh. “Mia, he doesn’t need a Change to do that.”

  “I keep catching myself standing at my work table, not doing anything, just thinking about him. That’s weird, right?” Before Jennie could reply, she added, “How can you tell if a feeling is real?”

  Jennie bent down to avoid her friend’s eyes, and picked up a pebble. She tossed it into the ocean, way beyond the waves. Unfortunately, her own feelings didn’t get thrown away with it. Now that Mia had brought it up, Jennie had to admit to herself that there had been some truth in Indra’s accusation. There was a spark between her and Ross.

  But it was so soon after her breakup, she wasn’t sure if she wanted to do anything about it. And more important, Mia liked Ross—Mia, who had always wanted to fall in love. Jennie would never respect herself again if she poached Mia’s guy.

  “Jennie?” Mia asked. “What’s love supposed to feel like?”

  “I’m still learning myself.”

  “No, you’re not. You have tons of experience. Compared to me, anyway.” Mia added glumly, “Everyone has ton
s of experience compared to me.”

  “Oh, that’s not true. Meredith doesn’t either, as she’s the first to point out. Anyway, Ma and Pa say that everyone’s got their own way of loving. There’s no such thing as ‘supposed to.’”

  Mia’s shoulders relaxed.

  “But I do think he likes you,” Jennie added.

  “If he does, why did he panic when I mentioned the dance? He actually jumped up and ran away. Like he knew I was about to ask him to go with me.” Her face crumpled unhappily.

  Jennie gave her a hug. “I don’t think he had any idea. He doesn’t know anything about how to be with people. Seriously, from everything he’s said, he’s only ever been around three people in his entire life, and two of them were trying to kill him.”

  Mia didn’t even smile. “Yeah, Dad gave me a talk about that. He said I should only approach Ross from the front, and if I want to touch him, I should do it slowly so he can see it. And I shouldn’t stand between him and the door.” She glumly dug her fingers into the sand. “Everything I’ve done with him has been wrong.”

  “I don’t think so,” Jennie said. “You’re the only person who can touch him and not have him pull away or freeze, even if he does flinch at first.”

  “You touch him too, when you spar with him. He seems to like that.”

  Jennie nodded cautiously. “Maybe the only kind of touching he’s used to is fighting practice. But that makes the way he is with you more special, right?”

  “Hey, I have an idea—since he likes sparring with you, why don’t you teach him to dance? You’re so good at it.”

  Jennie swept up another stone and tossed it, watching until it splashed into the sea. But when she bent to pick up another, fingers closed around her wrist.

  Mia’s gaze was intense behind her glasses. “Do you like Ross too?” Jennie hesitated. Mia might not have much experience with boys, but she could read Jennie like a newspaper. Her brows lifted. “You do like him. Why didn’t you tell me?”

  Jennie had hoped that she would never have to have this conversation, but now that it was actually happening, it was a relief to be honest. “I didn’t want to get between you.”

  “There isn’t any ‘us’ to get between.” Mia squared her shoulders. “You can ask him. I bet he won’t run away from you.”

  “I don’t know about that,” Jennie said.

  “Of course he’d want to go out with you. Anyone would. You’re so pretty and strong and you’re good at everything. And you know how to kiss.”

  Jennie put up a hand to stop her. “I’m sure he likes you. I’m not so sure what he thinks about me. I mean, besides as a teacher and sparring partner.”

  Mia peered down the beach. In the distance, Ross was keeping the Terrible Three out of a half-submerged cave.

  She turned back to Jennie. “If Ross likes us both, I wouldn’t mind. I mean, because it’s you, I wouldn’t mind. At least, I think I wouldn’t. What do you think? Would that be okay with you?”

  Jennie struggled with her own tangle of feelings.

  He’s the only guy in town who appreciates Mia, and she lights up like a bright-moth whenever he’s around. How can I risk taking that away from her?

  Sparring with him is like dancing, and every time he trusts me enough to tell me something, it feels like a gift.

  Why did it have to be either/or? Wouldn’t it be better if none of them had to choose?

  Mia’s round face was turned hopefully up to Jennie, framed by the same bowl haircut and slipping-down glasses she’d worn since she was eight. And yet Mia had been the one to cut through the dilemma that Jennie had seen no way out of without hurting someone. Which one of them was really more mature?

  “How about if we ask him to go to the dance with both of us?” Jennie suggested. “If he says yes, we can see if we’re having a good time or if it feels weird.”

  Mia flashed the same warm smile that Jennie had loved when they were two little girls on a dusty playground. “Okay!” She added quickly, “But you ask him.”

  • • •

  Two days later, Jennie walked into Luc’s, breathing in the toasty aroma of baking biscochitos. The light was dim, and a fan blew cool air over the jam-packed interior. Laura Hernandez played with the band, competing with the clinking of forks and the clamor of voices. Jennie waved.

  Her heart thumped when she heard a familiar voice.

  “Jennie! Come join us!” It was Sera.

  The nine other Rangers had squeezed shoulder to shoulder at the biggest table. Indra gave a polite nod. Sera elbowed to make space, and the people on her bench scooted over until Julio nearly fell off the other end.

  “Hey,” he protested. “Is that any way to treat your future captain?”

  “Might not happen if you can’t hold your seat,” cracked Sera, straight-faced.

  Julio promptly scooted back, launching a turf war that only concluded when the table started to tip. Jennie squeezed in, half her butt hanging over the edge. Indra was three people over, but she felt as if she could measure every inch of the space between their bodies. She could hear every breath he took, and smell the faint, sweet ghost of the coconut oil he used on his hair.

  “What if Jennie had tried to skirt around the pit mouth?” Julio asked, going back to the discussion they had obviously been having.

  She was startled to hear her own name. They had cleared a space on the table, and were re-creating her disastrous patrol. Julio was moving the riders (blue corn chips) away from the rattlesnakes (knives) and around a napkin that apparently represented the pit mouth.

  “With a bunch of panicking kids?” Frances used a knife to flick several chips onto the napkin, accompanied by gobbling noises. “She would have lost a couple.”

  Sera nodded, her gaze on Jennie. “Paco said he didn’t know which were scarier, the snakes or the thirteen-year-olds. Personally, I’d rather face the snakes.”

  Frances absently munched a chip. “There’s nothing much you can do in the heat if your patrol doesn’t obey orders.”

  Sera added dourly, “They’re too young to be shot for insubordination. Unfortunately.”

  The Rangers laughed as Luc appeared with a tray of tacos: crispy carnitas, chicken, rabbit, fish, and potato for Indra, who didn’t eat meat. Jennie relaxed. At least this part of her life had gone back to normal, even if she couldn’t help being very aware of him. From the studious way he ate his tacos, she suspected the feeling was mutual.

  Afterward, as she headed home for Ross’s dance lesson, memories arose with each puff of dust under her feet. Indra had walked her home every day for the past year, when they had both been students and Ranger candidates. They weren’t yet talking again, but at least they could work together.

  Everything she’d believed had been resolved now seemed open-ended and complicated. Did she want Indra to still care? Did she want to get back together? What did it mean that she was excited about going to the dance with Ross and Mia?

  In her room, she pulled out one dress after another, but nothing seemed right.

  Just pick something. She put one on, barely even noting which it was. Mia had been so sure Jennie had all the answers, but all Jennie had were questions.

  25

  Ross

  ROSS’S STEPS SLOWED AS HE APPROACHED THE RILEY house, which seemed to be two adobe longhouses built in different styles and joined together, with extra rooms jutting out at random points. Ross couldn’t figure out which was the front and which was the back, let alone where to go in.

  A clamor of voices emerged from an open door, along with the smell of braising onions and sweet peppers. “No, I did not forget to latch the henhouse.” A blue-green light flashed in rhythm with the boy’s voice. “I know better than that!”

  “Well, someone let another chicken loose.” Ross recognized the deep, measured tones of Mr. Riley. “Or let something i
nto the coop. Chickens don’t teleport.”

  “So you kids know what your job is.” The cheerful woman had to be Mrs. Riley. “Scat! Go find the missing chickens, or else find what got them.”

  “Whoever finds them gets to pick tonight’s bedtime story,” her husband added.

  Ross was nearly knocked down by a mass of little kids shouting, “Here chicken, chicken, chicken!”

  “Hey, Ross.” José waved at him. “Come on in.”

  He looked for a place to put his shoes, then saw that everyone inside was wearing theirs. He stepped into an enormous kitchen. Mr. and Mrs. Riley, José, and a couple of teenagers sat at a long table. Their plates were scraped nearly clean.

  “Hungry?” Mr. Riley asked. “Unfortunately, tonight’s chicken stew is missing an ingredient—chicken! But there’s plenty of vegetables and gravy.”

  “Thank you.” Ross tried to remember the proper manners for declining a meal—not that he did it often. “I already ate. With Dr. Lee. And Mia.”

  Mrs. Riley smiled. “You must be here to see Jennie. I’ll let her know before I go to work.”

  José offered him a platter of thumbprint cookies. “Did you feel the earthquake? There was another aftershock this morning.”

  Ross bit through buttery shortbread and tart prickly pear jelly. “Yeah. The chimes woke me up again.”

  “Chimes?”

  “From the crystal . . .” Ross trailed off awkwardly at José’s blank look. He’d thought the earthquake had made the singing trees ring out so loudly that they could be heard in town, but that must have been part of his dream.

  “Dishes, guys.” Mr. Riley snapped his fingers. “It’s your week to wash. Ross, would you like a glass of barley water while you’re waiting?”

  “I’m here.” Jennie appeared at an inner doorway.

  Ross had been about to say he’d like the barley water, not because he was thirsty, but because he liked this warm room scented with hanging strings of herbs and garlic, and he liked the easy give and take of Jennie’s family. Though the ceiling was low and the kitchen was crowded, he didn’t feel trapped.