Night Sky

by Suzanne Brockmann

  But the weirdest thing was that I was naked, and I wasn’t at all self-conscious about my body, even though—holy moly—I turned to see Milo standing right there beside me. He was wearing jeans, but the top button and part of the zipper were unfastened. He didn’t have a shirt on, and as he smiled and pulled me into his arms, his skin felt so smooth and cool against mine.

  He leaned down to kiss me, but before our lips touched, I returned to sanity, probably because I’d hit the concrete landing with my butt.

  Milo had definitely softened the blow, hanging on to me so that I landed in slow motion, but now he’d let go as he attempted to gather up the miscellaneous mixture of junk that had exploded from my bag.

  “I’m so sorry,” I stammered as I scrambled to help. “I didn’t see you…”

  “My fault,” Milo said, even as we both moved to grab my hairbrush, and my elbow made contact with his nose.

  “Ow?” Milo said, wincing a little bit. Even his exclamations were polite.

  “Oh, no! I’m so sorry!” I said again, both of us crouched down and facing each other. Gum wrappers, lip balm, and old receipts lay scattered around us.

  Milo gathered up three tampons and quickly handed them to me. Fan-freaking-tastic. The only thing that would be more embarrassing was if I were to blurt out the fact that, apparently, just seeing him again evoked pornographic fantasies. Although maybe that was Calvin’s fault with his bow-chicka-bow-bows.

  “Thanks,” I said, stuffing the tampons back into my bag. We were silent then, both working on retrieving what proved to be mostly a whole lot of crap that I didn’t need.

  When I finally stood, he did the same. We were still facing each other. I had never noticed how much taller he was until now…and being taller than me was no easy feat, considering that I measured a statuesque five foot eleven. My perfectly petite mother had, of course, come up with the description. It was supposed to be a positive word, but everyone knew it was a synonym for gargantuan. Gigantic. Ginormous. Godzilla-esque.

  But next to Milo, I felt normal.

  “Thank you,” I said again, and I knew that my face was the hue of a beet.

  Milo’s smile was concerned.

  “I hope I didn’t hurt you,” I said, remembering the elbow to the face that I’d given him.

  “No! No, you didn’t.” Milo frowned. “I thought maybe when you slammed into me, I’d hurt you. I was thinking about…something else when I came to the door and…I shouldn’t let myself get distracted.” He tapped on his nose and then grinned. “I’m fine, though. See? Still intact.”

  I forced a smile and then gave up, instead confessing, “It’s been a weird couple of days, and…I’m kinda exhausted.”

  He nodded. “Calvin told me about Garrett. What you did. That was pretty amazing, for you to be able to tap into that kind of power.”

  But I shook my head, no, even as I said, “Yeah, it was pretty great, but…I’m not sure I want…this. Any of this.”

  “I know.” Milo’s eyes locked onto mine. As I gazed back at him, there was a moment of silence.

  Which was cut short by the honk of Calvin’s car horn. “Guys!” he yelled out of his open window. “What the heck are y’all doing?”

  Milo was Dana’s boyfriend. What the heck was I doing?

  “Sorry!” I said. I flew past Milo and jogged toward the car, opting for the backseat instead of shotgun. I didn’t give Milo a chance to open or close the car door for me.

  He paused for a moment as if he was considering offering to switch places with me, but then he climbed into the front passenger seat and rolled down his window. I noticed that his T-shirt—green—was snug today, revealing those muscles I’d admired in the police station parking lot as we’d sunbathed beside Lake Puke.

  I’d also admired those muscles with both hands in my little fantasy—which was still freaking me out. It was then that I realized—more oddness—that Milo was wearing his hair pulled back in a ponytail, which was exactly how he’d worn it in my imagination or vision or whatever it was. No, it couldn’t be a vision because it most definitely wasn’t happening at the moment I was seeing it, nor had it ever happened in the past.

  I would have remembered that.

  Yeah.

  I focused on getting my seat belt buckled, unable to keep myself from glancing into the front of the car.

  Where Milo reached into his pocket and pulled out a piece of smoking-cessation gum. And then he looked back at me as he reached into another pocket and handed me a stick of MintyMintyChew. “Here. I got you the kind that doesn’t taste like crap.”

  I took the piece, and emotion clogged my throat. Oh my God, was I really going to start to cry because Dana’s boyfriend had just given me a piece of gum? I managed to squeeze out a tearless “Thanks” as I quickly stared out the side window.

  “So, what’s the deal?” Cal said as he backed out of my driveway. “Where’s Dana tonight? Are we playing freaky hide-and-seek with her again?” A fly had somehow gotten into the car, and Calvin swatted at it impatiently.

  “No,” Milo replied. “Dana’s not going to be with us tonight.”

  “Is it her day off?” Calvin asked smartly. He backed out of my driveway.

  Milo laughed a little, quietly. He spotted the fly and waved it away from his face. “I guess you could say that.”

  “What exactly are we doing tonight? Isn’t Dana in charge of our little army?”

  Milo nodded. “She is.” He scratched at the nape of his neck, where his hair was gathered loosely. I’d never liked the whole dude-in-a-ponytail look, but somehow he made it look good. “But we have an errand to run that doesn’t require her presence.”

  Calvin drove purposely slowly down the street. “So what are we doing? And where are we going?” He glanced at me in his rearview mirror. “Or are we going to rely on Skylar’s instincts again to determine that? And I’d like to take this opportunity to point out that the girl is tired after her Captain America impersonation today.”

  “We will not be tapping into Sky’s unconscious this evening,” Milo told us both. But then he dropped a bomb. “We’re going back to Harrisburg.”

  “Oh, hay-ell no!” Cal immediately exclaimed.

  “Why do we have to go there?” I said at the same time, leaning forward between the two front seats. The last thing I wanted to do right now was spend another hour or two with creepy drug addicts—especially if Dana wasn’t around to protect us. I spotted the fly on the back of Milo’s T-shirt, and I brushed my hand quickly against his shoulder.

  The fly lifted off Milo and flew out of the open window as I heard Milo say from the front seat, I won’t let anything happen to you.

  I looked at him. “How can you know that?”

  Milo turned around, surprised. “Sorry?”

  “You said you wouldn’t let anything happen to us. But without prescient powers, how can you be so absolute? I mean, I know you’ll certainly try to keep us safe, but…”

  It was Calvin’s turn to look surprised. “Sky, he didn’t say that. He didn’t say anything.”

  I shook my head. “Yeah, he did. You did,” I said to Milo, “just now. I heard you, clear as day.”

  Milo stared at me, his eyes solemn. I didn’t pull away when he placed a fingertip on my knee and told me, “I didn’t open my mouth.” Is she really able to do that?

  “Do what?” I said, and then my mouth dropped. “Whoa. Whoa.”

  You can hear me? And Milo pursed his lips a little bit, as if to prove that the words weren’t escaping from his mouth.

  “Yes…?” I breathed.

  Milo let out a triumphant sound, similar to a laugh but louder, and I looked at him with my eyebrows furrowed.

  You’re reading my mind, he told me, again without speaking the words aloud.

  “Oh my God!” I looked down at his finger, still linge
ring on my knee, and then I looked back up into Milo’s eyes, and then back at my knee, his finger, his eyes—over and over again. And I made the connection. Literally. I can hear your thoughts when we touch, I realized. Can you hear me? I added silently, and Milo whooped and pulled his hand away to dance a bit in his seat.

  “I can hear you, Skylar!” he yelled. “I most certainly can!”

  “All right, seriously? I’m beyond lost,” Calvin warned. “Like, maybe I should be skipping the trip to Harrisburg and just bring y’all to the hospital with the padded room instead.”

  I laughed. That was incredible. And it was obvious that Milo thought so too. If he’d tried to smile any wider, his jawbone probably would have broken.

  “Wait,” I said. “Let’s try it again.” I held my hand up, and Milo did the same. Our palms touched, and I laughed at how the ends of my fingertips barely made it to his bottom knuckles. I was that much smaller. Like baseball mitts.

  Milo laughed. “I’m not really a big sports guy,” he said aloud, “but it’s a good metaphor.”

  I pulled my hand away and squealed. “Holy mackerel!”

  Calvin looked positively fed up. “Whatever it is y’all are smoking, please don’t offer me any, ’cause it’s making you both ape-shit crazy.”

  “I can get in Milo’s head,” I blurted to Cal. “I am literally able to hear his thoughts. And he can hear mine.”

  Calvin frowned into the rearview mirror. “Really?”

  “Really,” I said. “Wow, I wonder if I can do it with you.”

  Milo turned around, and he was frowning slightly. I wondered if I was imagining things, or if he actually looked a bit jealous. But just as quickly, he shot me that grin again and said, “It’s worth a shot. We’ll want to know how far your powers extend.”

  That was enough of a green light for Cal. He took a right-hand turn and parked quickly in a gas station lot. Then, after swiftly pushing the car into park mode, he swiveled around in his seat. “Okay, what do you need me to do?” he asked.

  I shrugged. His guess was as good as mine. “I think it had to do with physical contact,” I offered.

  “Fine,” Cal said, reaching quickly for my hand. I took it.

  And we stared at each other.

  And stared.

  Finally, Calvin busted out laughing. “Girl, seriously?”

  “Wait,” I insisted. “I’m trying my best to concentrate…”

  “I don’t know how your mental wavelengths are doing, but mine are pretty much white noise.”

  I waited for a few more moments, but the car’s idling engine was the only sound. Plus, I couldn’t feel Cal the way I had felt Milo. It sounded absolutely insane. But it was the only way I knew how to describe it. I’d felt Milo inside of my head, warm and calm and lovely.

  Milo had propped himself forward, his elbows leaning against the tops of his legs. Without warning, I let go of Cal’s hands and grabbed Milo’s shoulder…

  …eyes are prettier than music, but she doesn’t know that, I can tell…

  …and then I let go, because my hand had gotten unbearably hot, or maybe it was my brain that had heated up. Either way, the sudden connection was so intense, so intimate, that I inhaled sharply.

  Milo jumped a little too.

  “I’m sorry,” I said. “I didn’t mean to…” It felt as if I’d walked in on a stranger using the bathroom; it seemed that rude, and just as embarrassing. Had he been thinking about Dana? “Oh, God. I really need to ask before I do that, don’t I?”

  But Milo shook his head. “You don’t have to ask. I was just surprised. I can feel you—when you’re there.”

  I nodded. “Same here. I can feel you.” And I blushed at my own words.

  Calvin tapped his hands on the steering wheel as he put the car back in gear and pulled out of the gas station. “Tell me this isn’t the Ouija board trick.”

  “What is the Ouija board trick?” Milo turned away from me to ask.

  “You know,” Cal said, waving his hands in the air. “The Ouija board trick. When two people conspire to move the dial, and they both act equally surprised, but they’re pushing it in the same direction at the same time. And nobody else knows it because the two tricksters act so excited, but they’ve actually planned it out hours in advance.”

  I shook my head. “No conspiracy here,” I replied.

  Milo nodded his agreement.

  I resisted the temptation to touch Milo again. I caught him looking, and I didn’t need any special power to figure out that he was thinking the same thing.

  I sat back in my seat.

  Milo turned around so that he was facing forward, but he spoke loudly so I could hear him. “We’re going to need to tell Dana about this, after she gets back.”

  I nodded. I couldn’t wipe the dopey smile off my face. I was telepathic. But only, at least so far, with Milo—who was Dana’s freaking boyfriend. Thinking about that got me to stop smiling.

  And then I really stopped smiling as I remembered my little naked fantasy from before. Oh my God, I’d been thinking about kissing Milo when he’d bumped into me. Had he picked up on that? Had I sent those crazy thoughts sailing into his mind? Had he seen me naked?

  Except, as far as being naked went, it was a pretty awesome naked me that I’d imagined.

  Still…

  “Am I really driving to Harrisburg, people?” Calvin asked, slowing down as he approached the interstate.

  Milo nodded, glancing back at me as he said, “We’re not going too deep into the city this time. We’ll be safe. I know a guy who lives right on the border. A forger. We’re hiring him to make us some fake IDs.”

  Calvin looked uncomfortable, but he didn’t say anything as he turned onto the highway.

  I managed to push my wayward fantasy out of my head, but I was unable to stop thinking about what had just happened between Milo and me. I concentrated, trying to figure out what we’d both experienced, trying to come up with a reason why I could read Milo’s thoughts and not Cal’s.

  “Milo?” I asked. “Are you sure you don’t have…gifts? Like Dana and me?”

  Milo looked back at me and shook his head, adamant. “Dana and I have done a lot of tests, and I’m definitely not a Greater-Than.” The edge of his mouth turned up into a smile, and he shrugged. “I’m really nothing special.”

  Oh, I had a very hard time believing that. “Then how could you feel—hear—what I was thinking?”

  “You let me,” Milo replied. “It was all you.”

  Calvin drove in silence, glancing up into the mirror every once in a while to look at me as I sat there in the backseat. I had a difficult time reading his expression. He seemed annoyed—or maybe he was just nervous about going back into the crappy part of town.

  It seemed ridiculous. Here I was, trying to decipher what my best friend was feeling, even as I could recite back a virtual stranger’s thoughts—just by placing a fingertip on his skin.

  “So are you able to do…what we just did…with Dana?” I asked.

  Milo shook his head as he looked back at me again. “Dana’s not telepathic, although she’d really love to be. She’s tried everything she can think of to develop those skills, but that’s not how it works. You are what you are. And while you can hone your talents—like, she’s taken her telekinetic skills and trained herself to the point where she can use them in some pretty amazing ways—most G-T’s have only one or two things they can do.” His eyes studied me somberly. “You’re proving yourself to be extremely exceptional.”

  “Yeah, but I can’t control any of it yet,” I pointed out. “I mean, I’d like to be able to touch you without forcing my thoughts down your throat.” I felt my face heat as I realized what I’d just said. I’d like to be able to touch you. “I mean,” I stammered. “What I meant was, what if I accidentally bump into you, and then, boom, everyt
hing I’m thinking, and everything you’re thinking is—”

  “It’s okay,” he interrupted me. “I don’t mind.”

  “Well, you should,” I said. “What if you’re having a…a…private-thought moment?”

  Milo smiled at that, and there was something in his eyes that I couldn’t quite define. It was more than amusement, though. And God, it was similar to the way he’d looked at me in my little daydream, right before he’d kissed me. “You’re right,” he finally said. “That could be awkward.”

  Calvin cleared his throat. “So tell me where I’m going here,” he said a little sharply.

  Milo turned back around. “Sorry. I’m…distracted again. Take the next exit. It’s the same one we took into Harrisburg last time. But at the end of the ramp, you’re going to turn left. So we won’t pass the Sav’A’Buck. We’re actually heading back toward Coconut Key.”

  “That’s cool with me,” Cal said.

  It was definitely cool with me too.

  “So why, exactly, do we need fake IDs?” Calvin asked.

  “We need to find out more about the drug problem in this area,” Milo answered. “Dana thinks it might lead us to the people who killed Sasha.”

  Calvin sighed. “Man, what do you mean find out about the drug problem? I thought we were going to pass, this time, on hangin’ with the creepy peeps.”

  Milo’s profile looked sad to me as he looked at Calvin. “The addicts in Harrisburg are not what we’re looking for. We need to find the richie-riches, as Dana calls ’em. The people who can afford to buy Destiny.”

  “So if these Destiny addicts aren’t in Harrisburg,” Calvin asked, “then where are they?”

  Milo chewed on his nicotine gum. “Everywhere,” he said. “But mostly where there’s a lot of money.”

  “Coconut Key,” I muttered as Milo nodded.

  “And we need fake IDs because…?” Calvin asked.

  “A lot of Destiny users spend their time in nightclubs and high-end hotel bars—the beautiful people locations,” Milo explained. “We’ll need fake IDs to get in.”