by Sharon Sant
‘I’d better go and see your mum,’ she stammered.
‘I don’t know what to say,’ Jacob told her as she turned to leave.
‘Say you won’t be gone long.’
She left him standing alone clutching the grubby mass of paper.
He listened to murmurs of conversation and soft, high-pitched sobs coming from downstairs. He didn’t know whether to go down or whether it would be better for him to stay away, where he couldn’t make things worse. Finally breaking, he fell onto his bed and wept himself, tears of frustration and anger, and was only stopped by the sound of the front door slamming shut.
Luca arrived back as the sun slid down the sky. Since Ellen had left him earlier, Jacob had remained in his room brooding over all that his life demanded of him and no closer to a solution to any of it. Hearing the knock, he went to greet his friend at the door.
‘Been out in the sun?’ Jacob observed, noting that Luca’s olive skin had turned two shades darker since he had seen him earlier that day.
‘Mum made us eat outside. Bloody nuisance but she will insist every time it’s sunny.’
Jacob cocked an eyebrow.
‘Well,’ Luca replied, ‘all the bloody flies everywhere.’ He waved a hand as if swatting at an imaginary pest, just to demonstrate how annoying it was. ‘Did Ellen come over?’ he added.
Jacob glanced down the hallway. ‘Yes, but I can’t tell you here,’ he replied in a low voice. ‘I could do with a bit of sun myself,’ he added more loudly for the benefit of anyone who might be listening. ‘I’m just going out for an hour.’
His dad appeared at the sitting room door. He looked composed, but like someone who wasn’t quite with them. ‘Right,’ he nodded. ‘I’ll tell your mum to leave tea for a bit.’
Jacob wanted to say something to him that would help, had wanted to say the right thing all afternoon, but he didn’t know what.
‘See you later, Dad,’ was all he could manage.
‘Where d’you want to go?’ Luca asked as Jacob closed the front door behind them.
Jacob shrugged. ‘How about the boating lake?’
The evening was still as warm as the day and people swarmed over the park in huge numbers: families out with picnics, gaggles of skateboarders criss-crossing the newly built skate park, couples sitting by the waterfront with heads close together. Jacob was hit by a rush of conflicting emotions as he entered the dolphin-embossed gates and the glittering waters of the lake stretched out before him, beyond which the hazy blue rim of the sea cut across the horizon. This place had been the scene of so many important events, both in this timeline and one that now did not exist for anyone but him. The last time he had been here was the night he left for Astrae.
‘Holy Mary, it’s heaving!’ Luca remarked.
‘People go crazy for a bit of sun,’ Jacob replied absently.
‘The old boatshed, then?’ Luca turned to Jacob with a flash of excitement in his eyes. It seemed that he too was recalling past events. For Luca, Jacob imagined, his situation must seem like one huge adventure, the idea of Astrae mysterious and exotic. Jacob guessed that it must be difficult for Luca to see how things really were.
They weaved their way through the crowds to where the scruffier, quieter section of the park lay, the place that the holiday-makers didn’t know about. They sat themselves on the tinder-dry grass, overlooking the lake towards the side where the trendy café and bold new boathouse stood with the tiny figures of people beetling around their bases.
‘Ellen gave me some money,’ Jacob began.
‘She said she was going to. Did you take it?’
Jacob nodded, his attention on the towering firs beyond the café.
‘There’s a turn up,’ Luca raised his eyebrows. ‘I told her you wouldn’t.’
‘I’ll pay her back, though… somehow.’
‘She doesn’t want paying back. She just wants it to bring you back.’
‘I don’t think so. I think she’s done with me.’
Luca gave his friend a sideways glance. ‘Are you mental? She wants to be with you. It’s always been you.’ There was a significant pause. ‘Even when I was seeing her.’
Jacob thought back to the circumstances around the start of his relationship with Ellen. ‘I reckon she just felt sorry for me after the accident.’
‘What?’ Luca cried. ‘She felt sorry for you? She was so into you. She still is.’
‘Don’t be stupid,’ Jacob snapped.
Luca sighed. ‘Have it your own way. But you’re being a dick.’
‘I don’t –’ Jacob began.
But he never got to finish the sentence. Something had crashed in on his consciousness, a feeling of malevolence so strong that he was forced to hold his head in his hands and grip his hair. Then the vision came…
Makash stood before him against a backdrop of bright sunshine and slender palm trees that stretched into an azure sky. To one side lay the diamond-strewn sea and a golden sweep of sand. He held Jacob’s gaze, the cunning smile that curved his lips never reaching his hypnotic eyes. He bowed low in mockery… and then he faded, and the vision faded with him…
‘Jake?’ Luca shook Jacob’s arm. ‘What’s wrong?’
Jacob looked up, a grey pallor and sweat glistening on his top lip. ‘Makash,’ he mouthed, and then had to rest his head on his knees until the palpitations that hammered through his chest had passed.
‘Makash is in California,’ Jacob said finally, lifting his head.
‘How do you… did you have a… thingy?’
‘A vision. But not of my making.’
‘What does that mean?’
‘Makash just showed himself.’ Jacob stared thoughtfully beyond Luca, out to the sparkling silver line of the sea. ‘He’s playing some game; I just don’t know what it is.’
Luca shivered, despite the balmy air. ‘I don’t like the sound of that.’
‘Me neither. But it’s made my decision for me. I have to go there now, I don’t have a choice.’
‘What about your parents?’
‘They’re not going to like it, that’s for sure,’ Jacob admitted.
Luca paused. ‘Is there nothing you can do to make it easier on them?’
Jacob brooded on his words for a moment. ‘I don’t want to do the tampering thing again, it doesn’t seem fair. They have enough to worry about and, like I said, because Dad is so ill I want to be in contact with them this time.’ He exhaled forcefully and ran a hand through his hair. ‘I’m just going to have to bite the bullet this time, tell them it’s a short holiday and try to be back as soon as I can.’
‘I’m coming with you,’ Luca decided. He held up his hand to silence the protest that he knew was coming. ‘Don’t try to talk me out of it. There’s no way I’m leaving you to do this on your own. Anyway,’ he added, his eyes dancing, ‘I think I might have a way that you can talk your mum and dad round.’
‘There’s this scheme, run by the university medical school,’ Luca said sitting across the table from Maggie and Phil; Jacob next to him with a quietly incredulous expression that his mum and dad were swallowing this, ‘where you can go over and volunteer. It gets you experience in a hospital environment. And,’ he leaned over the table slightly with a glib smile, ‘when it comes to getting places at uni, they love that sort of thing.’ He sat back and waited for their reaction.
‘So, this is what you want to do?’ Maggie asked Jacob. He nodded. She turned to her husband. ‘What do you think?’
‘It’s all very sudden,’ Phil mused. Jacob could tell what he was thinking, and could sense the secret hope he harboured that this might be the start of the safe future for Jacob that would put his mind at ease. He seemed to push his own misery to one side and forced a small smile. ‘It’s good news, though. I’m glad you’re finally taking an interest in a career.’
‘But what about –’ Maggie began. Phil held up a hand.
‘Let him live his life, Mags. It’ll do him no good moping around her
e and…’ the sentence trailed to nothing. To speak out loud of the extent of his mortality would make it all too real. Maggie reached across and squeezed his hand and Jacob felt that worm of guilt gnaw at his heart again. ‘What about money?’ Phil asked as it suddenly occurred to him.
‘Ah…’ Luca stalled. ‘We will have to pay our way…’
‘I’m not sure that we have enough, what with your dad missing so much time from work…’ Maggie began.
‘I have some,’ Jacob said.
‘You do? But where did you get it?’
Did he lie? Or did he tell them that Ellen had already given it to him? To do that might get her into trouble and signal to his parents that he had already assumed permission before he had even asked them. Given their current precarious cooperation he didn’t want to do anything that would upset them. In the past, he might have just defied them and gone anyway, but not now…
‘I… I saved some. In New Zealand I worked a bit.’
‘What did you do?’ Maggie asked, suspicion creeping into her expression. ‘You never mentioned it before.’
‘Fruit picking,’ Jacob replied, the first occupation he could think of that might not require too much paperwork.
‘Flights to America aren’t cheap, though,’ Maggie pressed.
Jacob leaned across the table and held her gaze. ‘Don’t worry, Mum,’ he said, his voice now steady and reassuring, ‘everything will work out.’
Six: Her True Name
Jacob had hoped that Ellen would come to see them off, but he and Luca sat in the departure lounge without her. She had sent him a brief text of good luck, the same one she had sent Luca. Maggie and Phil had said their goodbyes at the house, at Jacob’s insistence. In light of his continued lies to them, he thought it best. Luca’s parents had dropped them both off in the car park and, after a quick and highly emotional goodbye, had rushed off to a family christening. The long, hot spell of weather was beginning to break and the sky through the vast glass plates of the departure lounge showed heavy clouds scudding across the vista of the runway.
‘I don’t like the look of that,’ Jacob said, nodding his head in the direction of the windows.
‘It’ll be fine,’ Luca replied sagely. ‘Hey, we’ve got ages yet. Fancy a wander?’ His eyes showed that spark of excitement again and his movements were full of nervous energy. This was the first time Luca had ever been abroad without his parents and, ironically, it was Jacob’s first time too - if he didn’t count his pretend sojourn in New Zealand and a round-trip across the universe. Jacob smiled like an indulgent parent; despite the reasons they were taking the trip, he was enjoying Luca’s infectious enthusiasm. With their suitcases all safely checked in and time on their hands he almost felt like a normal passenger.
‘Why not?’
They hadn’t really got much money to spare so they wandered around the duty free shops with the vaguest of interest. Luca picked up one or two bits, mostly aftershave, which provoked a smirk from Jacob.
‘I don’t see what’s so funny. At least I shave,’ Luca pouted.
‘You’ll also get us chucked off the plane if you put that on,’ Jacob replied wrinkling his nose.
Luca sniffed at the bottle. ‘It’s not that bad,’ he said doubtfully.
When the shops had all been exhausted and their flight still hadn’t been called, they wandered some more until, eventually, their aimless meanderings took them to a bar area.
‘Do you think we’ll be able to get a drink?’ Luca asked, his childish glee surfacing again.
Jacob shrugged. ‘I’m not bothered,’ he said, ‘I can’t have anything clouding my judgement. ‘But if you want one we could try.’
Luca glanced across at the barman uncertainly. ‘He might ask us for ID.’
‘Don’t worry,’ Jacob said, with a wry smile, ‘he won’t ask me.’
Luca settled into an armchair at a low table and waited as Jacob went to the bar. A few moments later Jacob returned with a coke and a bottle of beer with a wedge of lime in the top.
‘Excellent!’ Luca took the bottle from him and gazed with affection at the small stopper of foam at the neck. ‘Didn’t he ask you?’ Luca whispered across the table. He wasn’t convinced that either of them looked older than seventeen and was almost certain that in an airport, of all places, age would be checked.
‘Jedi mind tricks,’ Jacob grinned.
Luca returned it. ‘I thought you couldn’t use them for anything against the natural order.’
‘You wanted a drink. How’s that against the natural order? Underage kids want to drink alcohol. That’s as natural as it gets.’
‘Who am I to argue?’ Luca laughed before he tipped the bottle against his lips.
When he had finished that one, Luca shot a longing glance across to the bar.
‘No more,’ Jacob warned, feeling like his dad for a moment. ‘I’m not carrying you on that plane.’
Luca’s face had already flushed. ‘I’m not a lightweight like you.’
‘Get it yourself, then.’ Jacob waved a vague hand towards the bar.
Luca hesitated for a moment, wondering whether he could pull off what Jacob did without Jedi powers. ‘Actually, I’m not that bothered, after all,’ he decided.
Jacob couldn’t help a smile.
As they made their way back to the departure area they could see that the sky had darkened to a leaden grey while they had been missing. Then came the first flash of lightning, tearing down towards a spot on the horizon. Jacob groaned, suddenly tense again.
‘That better not delay the flight.’
‘They won’t be able to fly in this, though, will they?’ Luca asked.
Jacob grimaced at the building storm outside. ‘I’m sure it will be fine,’ he said, not entirely convinced by his own words.
Then the rain began; heavy drops that quickly became bullets of water bouncing from the tarmac of the runway and the gleaming planes now shrouded in gloom. Other passengers started anxious mutterings and Jacob realised that the flight would have to be delayed. It was a delay he could ill afford; every wasted second scraped at his heightened awareness. He glanced around to make sure no one could see and reached beneath his shirt for the amulet. He didn’t really need it for what he had decided to do - his power was strong enough by itself - but comfort was the thing he sought. He closed his eyes.
Gasps could be heard echoing around the space as the rain suddenly stopped and the clouds dissipated in a rush of air to reveal a sun-baked sky once more.
‘Can you believe that?’ a woman within Jacob’s hearing said.
Luca’s eyes widened and he turned to his friend with a questioning look.
‘Elements are easy,’ Jacob said, flopping down on a seat to wait for the flight to be called.
When they finally boarded the plane, Jacob took the seat by the window and Luca the one next him.
‘Can’t I sit by the window?’ Luca grumbled.
Jacob bit back a grin. ‘I got here first. You’ll have to race me for the connecting flight.’
The seats were grouped in threes and the remainder was taken by a well-dressed woman who smiled at them as she sat down.
‘Hi, boys.’
Her voice was warm and seductive and Jacob smirked as Luca sat up straighter, not quite so concerned about the window seat now. She was attractive, there was no doubting that, in her thirties with luscious brunette hair that tumbled over her shoulders in soft waves, hazel eyes and the most perfectly formed Cupid’s bow. ‘Where are you handsome fellas off to, then?’
‘We’re going to Los Angeles,’ Luca told her. ‘Changing at Chicago.’
‘Ooooh, me too. What are you going to LA for, honey? I bet you’re going over to make it big in the movies?’ she crooned, immediately fixing on Luca as the talkative one.
Luca blushed and Jacob cringed. How corny? Surely Luca wasn’t going to fall for that line?
Luca sniggered like a toddler. ‘Course not. We’re just going on holiday.’
/>
She gave a throaty chuckle. ‘You mean to say a good looking guy like you hasn’t been snapped up by some producer yet?’ She leaned closer to him, her perfume wafting across the seats and making Jacob want to sneeze. He wondered vaguely if she had visited the same dodgy duty free shop that they had.
‘I’m going to be a doctor,’ Luca said, in Jacob’s opinion sounding more like a love-struck kid by the second.
‘Not to be rude, or anything,’ Jacob cut in, ‘but I’m tired. Do you mind if I don’t chat?’
‘You weren’t chatting anyway,’ Luca remarked.
‘That’s alright, then,’ Jacob replied, swallowing his laughter as he turned away and leaned his head on the wall to sleep.
The road was straight and deserted, shimmering in the heat-haze and lined with towering palm trees. Jacob shielded his eyes from the glare of the sun and gazed into the distance. He had searched everywhere and he couldn’t find her.
Alex! He called to her, trying to reach her consciousness. Alex! he called again. No answer.
Kya… the name came to him, like a whisper on the breeze, and he knew this was her real name. He called it again, and she was standing before him.
You’re in danger here; you have to come with me. She pouted a refusal, her eyes a grey tempest, but did not speak. Kya, please…
She was suddenly lost behind the dark form of Makash, now coalescing from the air to become solid. He stepped aside to reveal her again, pulled at her wrist and then faded, and she faded with him, leaving only the dusty emptiness of the road and the stark glare of the sun.
KYA, NO!
Jacob twitched violently awake with a hand gripping his arm. He wrenched himself free and turned in confusion to see Luca giving his head a warning shake and the woman staring at him, open-mouthed.
‘Sorry,’ he mumbled, turning his face to the window and trying to hide the tremors that had taken hold.
Jacob couldn’t trust himself to doze again but was desperate for some solitude to gather his thoughts and work out what his dream meant. He feigned sleep so that he wouldn’t have to talk to the woman who was still flirting outrageously with Luca, her previously seductive voice now transformed into an annoying cackle that Jacob wished he could shut up. When he could stand it no more, he turned over and interrupted one of her low chuckles. ‘You do know he’s only seventeen, don’t you?’
