Normally, Mary was at a lost for words in situations like this. But she remembered the time when she was little and Ba told her the story about not seeing her family again. This time, the words were simple and came easily. "No. I don't hate you. I can never hate you."
Mom looked down and cried.
Mary stood and walked around the table to her, wrapping her arms around her tightly. "I'll always be yours. You don't have to compete against anyone for me. No one else can ever be my mom."
Mom balled. Mary stroked her hair.
"But I want you to do something for me," Mary said.
Mom wiped her eyes. "What is it?"
"I want you to forgive him," Mary said, "for hurting you."
Mom wrinkled her brow.
Mary recalled a conversation she and Phos had on their first official date, back when she thought he was still Carter. "Someone once told me that if you don't forgive someone, you let them keep hurting you." Mary looked in her mother's eyes. "I don't want you to hurt anymore, Mom."
Mom stared at her for a long time. At last, she smiled and nodded. "All right. I forgive him."
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- 34 -
Found
When Mary came back to school, it was a nonevent. Her teachers and the principal welcomed her back, along with a few other kids who had heard about her ordeal. But other than that, it was business as usual.
Mary was fine with that. Things may have looked the same on the outside, but she knew everything was different. She was different. She was allowed to use the elevator because she was still recovering, but she chose to take the stairs anyway. She never again wanted to take her ability to walk for granted.
She also saw people differently. Mary, who normally didn't talk to anyone, started saying hi to people she knew in the hall and sitting in the lunchroom with Sienna and a few others. She even found the freshman whom she had paid to throw the holy water that one time. "You wanna eat with us?" Mary asked.
The freshman looked at her suspiciously. "Why?"
"Because you're always by yourself," Mary said. "And we have an extra seat."
The girl still looked a little skeptical and didn't accept the invitation for a couple days. On the third day, however, she asked if she could sit with them.
"Sure thing," Sienna said as she removed her bag from the empty chair. "I'm Sienna. What's your name?"
The girl sat down. "Kristina," she answered. "My name is Kristina."
"Pleased to make your acquaintance," Phos said.
One day, when Mary was in the computer lab typing up an essay, she checked her email and noticed she had about fifteen messages from Drew. The last one he sent was from a couple weeks ago.
Omg, where are you? If you don't answer me in 24 hrs, I'm calling the FBI.
- Drew
Mary wrinkled her brow. Agents never came knocking on her door, so he might not have gone through with it. She opened a blank email.
Sorry, I've been dealing with a lot of stuff lately. I'm still alive. Please don't worry about me.
- Mary
Less than thirty seconds after she hit "send," another message from him popped up.
Nice to know. But how do I know this is really you? Maybe you're just someone using Mary's account.
- Drew
Mary rolled her eyes and opened another blank message.
For real? Geez, you're paranoid.
- Mary
His next message appeared faster than the last one.
Well, if you're really you, then you'll meet me where we first met. I'm working late tonight. The code to get in is 8709. See you then.
- Drew
Mary sighed. "I'm starting to regret I ever met this guy." But she emailed him back and said she'd be there after she visited her grandmother.
Phos went with her to physical therapy after school and later to Agape to have dinner with Ba. When they were leaving, she asked, "Can you take me to the university? I just need to talk to someone there for a few minutes, and I don't want to wait around for late buses."
"Sure," he said. They sneaked around to the alley behind the retirement home and translated.
Phos deposited them behind the law school. They didn't see any other students, so they walked across the dimly lit campus to the ugly Sci-Tech building.
"Wait here," Mary said. "This won't take long."
He nodded.
Mary found a keypad with numbers next to the door. She typed in the code Drew had given her, and the door unlocked. Half of the lights were off in the building, but Mary managed to remember how to find the Astronomy department. Inside, she saw Drew typing furiously at a computer terminal.
"Happy now?" she snapped.
"Eeeyyyyiiiiii!" Drew yelped, jumping from his seat. His shirt said, "I Heart Pi." "Geez, don't sneak up on me like that!"
"Sorry," she said. "But the FBI? Did you really call them?"
"Yeah," he said.
"And?"
"They didn't believe me," he said. "At least, that's what they said."
She sighed. "Anyway, you see it's really me. So can you please stop emailing me?"
"Hey, you came to me first with your alien parasite problem," he said. "Oh! I've been wanting to show you something." He turned back to his computer.
"Look, Drew—" she began.
"You remember how I told you about that extra pair of ghost chromosomes in your friend's DNA results?" he asked. "Well, I've been going over some things and I think I've figured out their frequency. If we can take that frequency, reverse it, and calibrate it into some kind of device that can focus it intensely, it may disrupt the alien energy and make it leave. I was thinking for doing this large scale, an MRI machine should work. I have a lab tech buddy who might be able to sneak us into the clinic where he works and let us use theirs—"
"No," Mary said. "It's not worth it. He's leaving on his own anyway."
Drew turned around. "He? You mean you know for sure?"
Mary nodded. "He told me what he is. It won't be long before he has to give Carter back his body. But he will."
Drew said nothing for a moment. He opened his mouth, but then his eyes wondered to something behind her.
Mary turned and saw a man standing by the closed window. At least, she thought he was a man at first, until she realized he wasn't wearing any clothes. He looked like he was covered in mud. More accurately, he looked like he was made of mud.
"Can I help you?" Drew asked.
The man didn't answer right away. Then, he looked at Mary and said, "You have been found."
Mary stared. The more she looked at him, the more he sort of reminded her of Mayim, except mud instead of water. Suddenly, her heart began pounding faster. "Drew. We have to get out of here."
"Wait a minute," he said. "I can't leave all this expensive equipment with this guy."
"He's not human," Mary said quickly. "We have to—"
The earthy radiant began walking towards her. "Do not resist." He reached his fingerless hand towards her.
Mary bolted for the door. "Drew! Run!" she shouted.
She was nearly at the exit when the earthy radiant translated in front of her. She skidded to a stop as he reached for her again.
WEEEIIINNNNGGGG!
Mary clapped her hands over her ears at the piercing noise. Behind her, Drew was wearing earmuffs and held some kind of weird machine that looked like a giant video game controller. When he switched it off, the noise was gone.
The radiant stopped moving, as if he was in a movie and someone had hit the pause button.
Drew grabbed her hand. "Come on! We'll go out the other door."
As they ran down the hall, Mary asked, "What is that thing?"
"It's a small scale version of what I was talking about," he huffed. "It's not strong enough, though. It looks like it will only stun him for a little bit."
"How long will it keep him from—?" Mary started. But as they rounded the next corner, the earth radiant appeared.
Drew switched on the machine again.
WEEEIIINNNNGGGG!
The radiant paused once more.
Mary and Drew ran. When they got to the stairs, the radiant was there again, and Drew had to stun him once more.
"That was the last of the battery," he said as they ran the other way. "I can't use this on him again."
"We need to get out of here," Mary said.
Drew looked around. "This classroom's next to the dumpster. We'll go out a window."
They dived into the room and headed straight for the windows. "Won't this sound an alarm?" Mary asked as Drew fought with rust and paint to open one of the windows.
"Are you kidding?" he asked. "The school's more concerned about making sure the football trophies are protected. The only thing we have is the keypad on the front door, and the code hasn't been changed in two years."
He finally got the window open and helped her out. They hopped onto the top of the large dumpster before jumping down to the ground.
Mary landed hard, and pain shot up her ankle. "Ow!"
Drew helped her up and they hobbled away from the building.
Vwooossshhh!
"Ack!" Mary screamed as a great gust of wind knocked them down. She looked up and saw what looked like a woman with long white hair and a body that was almost not there, as if she were made of air.
"You have been found," she said in an airy voice. "Do not resist."
The earthy one appeared next to Drew. He reached down and put his muddy hand on his forehead.
"What are you doing?" Drew asked. "Wait—!" Suddenly, he went limp and collapsed unconscious.
The radiant removed his hand. In his palm, if that was what it could be called, he held several round little lights.
"Drew!" Mary cried. "What did you do to him?"
"We removed some of his memories," the airy radiant said. "Now, we must do the same for you."
Mary struggled to get to her feet, but her ankle screamed in pain and kept her on the ground. "Get away from me! Phos! PHOS!"
"It is for your protection," the airy one said. She reached her ghostly hand towards Mary.
Suddenly, Phos appeared and translated Mary several yards away.
"Phos!" she cried. She was glad to see him, but then she saw the look of struggle on his face.
"They…are not…letting me translate again," he said.
Mary looked at them. Then back at him. "They're judges. Aren't they?"
"Yes," he said.
"You," the earthy judge said, "are the one we have been looking for."
"You broke many rules," the airy one added. "Face us."
Phos cringed as he stood. "Yes, your honors."
"It is time to leave the human body," the earthy one said.
"I understand." Phos looked down at Mary. "But please don't do anything to her."
"She knows too much," the earthy one said.
"It is for her protection," the airy one added. "These are the rules."
"Screw your rules!" Mary snapped, tears starting to form in her eyes. She struggled onto her good foot and clung to Phos. "If you're going to take him from me, don't take my memory of him, too."
The judges said nothing. Instead, they both raised their hands and moved towards her.
Phos tightened his arms around her. "It's all right, Mary," he said, his own voice choked with tears. "Everything will be all right."
But that wasn't true. Mary had already seen what a lost memory was like. And the terrible part of all is not knowing you had lost it. She quickly went through them in her head, one by one. Her first day back at school. Their first date. Their first kiss. When she was in the hospital. When they met Martin. Each memory—beautiful, wonderful, rich, precious, and worth more than all the stars combined.
Just then, they heard singing.
The judges stopped and turned. Mary looked and saw someone pushing a cleaning cart over to the dumpster. From the fluorescent lights along the side of the Sci-Tech building, she saw that he wore a ponytail and a janitor uniform.
"Hello there!" he greeted. He started emptying his cart into the dumpster.
Mary stared at him for a moment. Then, she remembered the judges. "Josh!" she cried. "You have to get out of here!"
He chuckled. "Why? I've got work to do."
"Mary," Phos said. "That's—"
"I can't explain," she said quickly. "But you have to leave now!"
Josh casually finished emptying the trash. Then he dusted off his hands and walked over to them.
"Didn't you just hear me?" Mary cried. "You have to—!"
But she lost her words when she saw the two judges sink to their knees. Phos did the same, letting Mary keep her hand on his shoulder to help her stand.
"Master," they said in unison.
Mary looked at them. Then at him. Her jaw dropped earthward. "You're the Master?"
Josh held out his red wrist-banded hands. "Probably was expecting a bit more, weren't you?"
She didn't answer right away. "But…how…if you're…?"
"I'm like you," he explained. "But I'm also like them. Radiants? I think that's what you called them. I like it. I think I'll start using it." He walked over to the earth radiant, who held up his hand of little round lights. "Let's see," Josh said as he sifted through them like marbles. "Let's give him back this one and this one. They might come in handy later."
He took the lights and went over to Drew, who was still sprawled on the ground. Josh placed the two lights on Drew's forehead, and they sank into his head and disappeared. "Translate him back to his computer. When he wakes up, he'll think he just fell asleep from too much work."
The earth one put his hand on Drew's shoulder, and they both disappeared.
Josh got to his feet and walked towards Mary.
Phos jumped to his feet. "Please, Master—"
"Cool your jets, Sparky," Josh said as he knelt down and took Mary's throbbing foot in his hands. "You just have a way of getting banged up, don't you?" As he held her foot, the pain in her ankle suddenly melted away. Josh let go of her foot. "There you go. Good as new!"
Mary wiggled her foot and stood on it. It didn't hurt anymore. "You fixed it. Just like you fixed my back!"
"And a bunch of other stuff," he said.
"What do you mean?" She thought for a moment. Then she cried, "You were there! The day of the accident. You were the man in the uniform who helped me."
Phos looked at Josh. "You were?"
"You remember!" Josh laughed. "You don't know how many times I do things for people and they don't remember. And that's just on their own, not because their memories were changed." He thought for a moment. "Although, the kids at the hospital where your mother works were really cool and super grateful."
Mary stared at him. "That was you? Those kids Mom talked about? You healed them?"
Josh nodded. "It's what you wanted, isn't it? I overheard you and Phos talking about it once."
"You have been watching us all this time?" Phos asked. "How did I not know?"
Josh looked at him matter-of-factly. "Don't you think I can hide while standing in front of you if I wanted to?"
Phos looked down. "Yes, Master."
Josh looked at Mary again. "Anyway, yes, I was at the crash. I left some scrapes on you so that you would remember not to run without looking again. I was actually going to take care of the boy, too, but Phos got to him first. I thought it was really interesting what he did and wanted to see how things would turn out." He stretched his arms. "Well, I think my work here is done. You might want to get going. It's late." He turned towards his cleaning cart.
"Master," the airy judge said. "What of the human girl?"
"What about her?" he asked.
"She knows too much."
He sighed. "Maybe I need to remind all of you why you're here. You're here to help humans, remember?"
"Yes, Master," she said.
"How would taking Mary's memories help her?" he asked. "She's a better pe
rson now because of what she's learned in this time. Aren't you?"
Mary stared at him and nodded.
"Why would I want to take that from you?" he asked. "Drew, however, might not do well with some of the things he's learned. That's why he needs to let go of some of his memories. It will be better for him." Josh looked at the airy radiant. "I'm not worried about Mary and her memories. In fact, I want her to keep them. She wouldn't remember me either, otherwise."
"And what of the boy and his body?" the airy radiant asked.
Josh put his hand to his chin. "Now that's a little more complicated. Hmm, let's see. What to do?" Suddenly, he started chuckling. "You know, of all the rules, the one that really irks me when people break it is not sticking to their word. Have you any idea how awesome this world would be if everyone just did what they said they would? Barring the nut jobs, of course."
"Master?" Phos asked. What are you saying?"
"I'm saying," Josh said slowly, "that Mary gave you her word that she would accompany you to the school prom. Correct?"
Phos looked at Mary. She looked back at him.
"Correct?" Josh asked again. "I need some participation here, or I'll think I'm talking to myself."
"That's correct," Mary said quickly. "I did say I would go with him."
"That's what I thought." Josh looked at Phos. "Now what kind of a gentleman would make it so that a lady couldn't keep her word? If you ask me, that's worse than terrible manners. Why, that's breaking the rules." He grinned.
Phos' face lit up. He looked at Mary, then at Josh, then at Mary again, then back at Josh. "Master, you mean—?"
"Now, don't get too excited and burn your shorts," Josh said. "You can stay until the close of the prom. Then poor Carter Maxwell really needs to have his body back."
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Radiant Page 21
