Shimmer

by Matthew Keith

  Chapter 8

  Alex had barely slept. He’d done it! He’d found the way to get to his dad! If it hadn’t been dark by the time he finally emerged from the basement he might have gone straight to the airstrip.

  Thankfully, he had managed to get back to Silas’s house and slide up to his room without seeing anyone along the way. Alex assumed Silas had still been at work and Rosa, well, who knew with that strange woman? He really didn’t care. He was just glad he didn’t have to explain what he’d been doing all day.

  And so it was the next morning that Alex stood frozen in the dining room doorway, cereal bowl in hand, all-to-aware of the backpack over his shoulder that contained the suit.

  Silas sat at the head of the dining room table, idly leafing through the pages of the morning paper. It was the first time Alex had seen him anywhere in the house except when he was coming or going. Certainly, the two of them had never shared a meal together.

  Silas wasn’t there to eat breakfast. The table in front of him was empty. Alex was sure it wasn’t coincidence that his guardian had chosen that morning to make an appearance.

  Alex looked back toward the kitchen, briefly hoping he might be able to tip-toe away.

  “You got in late last night,” Silas remarked, not looking up.

  Alex closed his eyes and let out a soft breath through his nose. He stepped into the room and carefully placed his bowl on the table. He put his backpack on the floor next to his chair, keeping his eyes lowered as he sank down into the seat.

  He quickly spooned a load of cereal into his mouth to avoid having to answer right away.

  Silas shifted ever-so-slightly, his chair creaking. Alex couldn’t see him behind the newspaper, but he was sure Silas was looking in his direction, waiting for an answer.

  “I stopped off to see a friend,” he lied. “Leeann Choi. Her father works at EMIT. She’s been worried about me.”

  Silas folded the paper backward so he could look into Alex’s eyes. “And why would she be worried about you?”

  Alex’s stomach clenched. He grimaced, realizing he’d just made a serious mistake and now needed to backpedal. Silas had asked him not to tell anyone anything about his dad’s disappearance. He looked back with wide eyes, wishing he could look away, but he didn’t dare.

  “Because I haven’t been to school in so long,” he answered finally, his voice cracking. Why was Silas making him so nervous? No one, no one, had an effect on him like Silas.

  “Ah,” Silas replied. It was hard to tell if he believed Alex’s story. “I sent someone to your father’s house last night when you didn’t come home or answer your phone.”

  Alex stiffened in his chair. There was no trace of distrust in the way Silas had said it, but Alex knew there was a question implied in the statement. Had they searched the house?

  “I’m sorry I didn’t call,” he said. “I know I said I would.”

  “You left all the lights on and the door unlocked,” Silas noted. “You need to be more careful, people will rob the house blind.” He stared at Alex unblinkingly.

  Alex shivered internally. The idea that Silas had sent people to look for him while he’d probably still been in the basement gave him goose-bumps. Why he felt that way, he couldn’t say for sure, but he felt an instinctual mistrust of Silas. It was irrational, because his father had trusted him completely. Granted, the guy was five shades of weird but that didn’t mean he was a bad guy.

  “Are you sick?” Silas asked.

  “What?” Alex asked, confused by the question.

  “It’s the middle of the summer and you’re wearing long sleeves,” Silas looked pointedly at the shirt Alex was wearing.

  “Oh,” Alex frowned. He’d worn the shirt to hide the ports in his arms. He hadn’t thought Silas or anyone else would notice. “I… no. I guess I just grabbed the first thing out of the dresser drawer.”

  “I see,” Silas replied noncommittally. “It’s time for us to go,” he said, abruptly changing the subject. “We’re going to be late.”

  “On a Saturday?” Stupid question. Silas never took a day off. “I can’t go to the lab today,” Alex said quickly, probably too quickly, and tried to recover by adding, “I promised Leeann I would meet her this morning for coffee. She’s…” Alex scrambled for an excuse, “she’s been helping me a lot, helping me get all the homework done that I’ve missed.”

  He almost winced at how disingenuous his words sounded.

  Silas sat motionless, sizing him up. His inscrutable black eyes made it impossible for Alex to tell if it was compassion, mistrust, or simple calculation going on in his head.

  Finally, Silas asked, “Will you be needing a ride?”

  Alex nearly fainted with relief. “No,” he said, trying hard not to breathe heavily, despite his pounding heart. “She doesn’t live far.”

  “Very well.” Silas regarded him for a few moments longer before standing and leaving the room without saying goodbye.

  Alex waited until he heard the front door close, and then wolfed down the remainder of his breakfast. In the kitchen, he cleaned his breakfast bowl and peered through the window at the driveway and road beyond. The car that brought Silas to work was nowhere in sight.

  Still, he felt as if he were being watched. Rosa? Where was the silent housekeeper?

  Maybe he was just being paranoid.

  He moved through the house quietly, climbing the steps to his room carefully, listening for any sounds.

  When Alex reached his room, he closed the door, locked it, and sat on the bed. He waited, listening for the sound of creaking floorboards or footfalls, but the house remained quiet.

  Finally, he pulled the suit out his backpack. He could carry it in his backpack, but he knew he’d feel safer if it he was wearing it. Underneath his clothes, no one would ever know it was there. He hurriedly put it on. Once again, when he plugged in the second port he felt a delicious flow of energy through his body, vibrating through him.

  He grinned, the uncomfortable conversation he’d had with Silas already forgotten.

  Putting a second layer of clothes on over the suit, he pulled his jean jacket on and slung his backpack over his shoulder.

  He was ready.

  He left the house and began jogging straight for the company’s airstrip test facility.