“How did you … get better?” He stared at me intently, searching for an answer I couldn’t give him, no matter how much I wished I could.
“All those drugs in my system stopped me from seeing the rips. Eventually, the doctors lightened my dosage, and I learned to keep my mouth shut about what I saw. I stopped taking my meds last Christmas. Meeting Michael … has made it all easier.”
“Did he tell you how my parents met?”
“No,” I said. “But Cat told me a little bit about their relationship.”
Kaleb leaned back in his chair, propping the sole of one sneaker against the edge of the table. “My dad is … was such a typical scientist. Crazy hair, clothes that never matched. My mom always had it together. She used to be an actress. They met when he was a technical adviser on a sci-fi movie she was in.”
“What’s your mom’s name?”
“Grace. Her stage name was Grace—”
“Walker.” I interrupted as the resemblance struck me. “You look exactly like her.”
“Lucky for me.” He grinned. “They married six weeks after they met.”
“That’s amazing.”
“Their connection was unreal, deep. My dad saw rips his whole life, but it didn’t start for my mom until they met.”
“Did it terrify her?”
“She had my dad.”
I wondered if it had really been that simple for her. “How did the empathy thing happen for you?”
“As far as we know, I was born with it. I cried a lot as a baby, but not because of colic. Once my parents figured it out, my mom quit taking acting jobs so she could be home with me all the time, act as a buffer. My mom made my life bearable.” He paused, staring down at the floor. I thought I caught a glimpse of moisture on his dark lashes. “I miss her. I miss them both.”
“Kaleb, you don’t have to—”
“No, it’s fine.” He looked up at me, his eyes clear. Maybe I’d been wrong. “Anyway, as I got older, I discovered other things that helped, like how quiet it got for me, mentally, when I was underwater. That I could close out a lot if I put up enough walls.”
I felt the need to lighten the moment. “Is that why you act like such a jerk?”
Kaleb granted me a grin. “Good call.”
“I blocked a lot out, too, after the accident, even after the hospital,” I confessed. “Kept my head down. I learned things—self-defense, sarcasm—all designed to keep people out, keep them away.”
“Did it work?”
“For a while.” I smiled. “It’s getting easier to let people in. You should try it.”
“I’ll let you know how that works out,” he said, laughing. Then his face turned serious again. “No one knows this except for Michael, but my dad found a way to isolate the properties of certain drugs to help me filter the feelings, keep me from absorbing everything from everybody. He manufactured a supply for me right before he died.”
He took a flat silver coin out of his pocket and began flipping it over and under his knuckles, concentrating on the movement for a moment before fisting it in his hand. “I know what you’ve agreed to do for my dad.”
Directly meeting the blue eyes that matched those of his famous mother, I said, “For your dad. And for you and your mom. No one should have to go through the things we have. If I can change the outcome, make life better, it’s like making it right for the whole world.”
“My dad gave me this when I turned sixteen. I’d finally accepted who I was. Decided to learn how to use it instead of running from it.” Kaleb held the coin out between two fingers so I could see it. It wasn’t a coin at all, but a silver circle with a word engraved on it. I leaned closer to read it.“Hope.”
He put the circle back in his pocket and reached out to take my hand. I gave it to him. His was strong, a little rough, and warm. I didn’t feel the electricity I felt when I touched Michael, but something else.
Comfort.
“Thank you,” he said.
I nodded.
Michael walked into the kitchen alone. I took my hand from Kaleb, but not before Michael saw it. I watched it register.
He didn’t like it.
“Did you get your ticket booked?” Kaleb asked with saccharine sweetness, all the cockiness back full force. “Are you traveling first class?”
I spoke up before he and Kaleb could start fighting again.
“Speaking of travel, when are we going to travel?” I asked. Meeting Kaleb had only made me more certain I was doing the right thing. There was a face attached to the problem now, making it more real somehow.
“Soon, I hope,” Michael answered. “We’ll have to fill Cat in, of course, and make sure she’s on board.”
“What are we waiting for?” I stood up. “Let’s go.”
“Hold it. Isn’t it a little soon?” Kaleb asked. “You just learned about your ability. Are you sure you’re ready for this?”
I looked at him. “The sooner we travel, the sooner you can get your dad back.”
Kaleb stared back at me. I knew he was trying to read me, probably looking for fear.
He wasn’t going to find any.
Chapter 34
I followed Michael and Kaleb in Dru’s car as we drove through the college campus and parked in front of the science department. Thomas had studied the classical architecture of the well-preserved stone and brick buildings when he’d decided which direction to take the downtown area of Ivy Springs. Like downtown, the buildings felt stoic, solid, comfortable. And old.
Old and I never meshed well.
A wide staircase led us up to the second floor. The smell of book bindings and chalk permeated the hallways. A deep monotone voice carried from a classroom into the hallway, lecturing about the properties of metals. Papers fluttered as we blew past bulletin boards advertising who knows what. I kept my eyes trained on Kaleb’s broad back.
Cat’s exclamation of surprise at our appearance broke my concentration. We’d entered some sort of laboratory with tubes and beakers and burners and a whiteboard full of equations. She ushered us in and shut the door.
“Kaleb, after last night I’m shocked to see you among the living. I was quite sure you’d be under the weather until tomorrow at least.” Her eyes held a mixture of worry and relief behind a pair of rhinestone reading glasses. I wondered if they were hers, or if she borrowed them from a much older professor, one with blue hair and wrinkles to rival a shar-pei.
“Yeah, sorry about that.” Kaleb rubbed the back of his neck as two bright spots of color appeared on his cheeks. “I’m not sure what happened.”
She gave him a tight smile that promised more discussion later and turned her attention to Michael and me. “What brings you to the hallowed halls of academia? Did you have some more questions, Emerson?”
“She didn’t.” Michael stepped in to rescue me. “I have something I need to confess. It couldn’t wait.”
Cat slid the reading glasses from her nose and leaned back against the lab table. “Confess?”
My heart sped up in anticipation. So much hinged on Cat’s acceptance of Michael’s plan. He began to explain and I mentally crossed my fingers.