Melanie searched, too. We found nothing in the brief second we had to consider the matter; there was
nothing to be found, I was sure. But we both knew we would be searching again when we were done
with this asinine tour and had a chance to think. If we lived that long.
“Whatcha need, kid?” Jeb asked without looking at him.
“Just wondering what you’re doing,” Jamie answered, his voice striving for nonchalance and only just
failing.
Jeb stopped when he got to me and turned to look at Jamie. “Takin’ her for a tour of the place. Just like
I do for any newcomer.”
Generated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html
.
“Can I come?” Jamie asked.
I saw Sharon shake her head feverishly, her expression outraged. Jeb ignored her.
“Doesn’t bother me… if you can mind your manners.”
Jamie shrugged. “No problem.”
I had to move then—to knot my fingers together in front of me. I wanted so badly to push Jamie’s untidy
hair out of his eyes and then leave my arm around his neck. Something that would not go over well, I was
sure.
“Let’s go,” Jeb said to us both. He took us back out the way we had come. Jeb walked on one side of
me, Jamie on the other. Jamie seemed to be trying to stare at the floor, but he kept glancing up at my
face—just like I couldn’t help glancing down at his. Whenever our eyes met, we looked away again
quickly.
We were about halfway down the big hall when I heard the quiet footsteps behind us. My reaction was
instantaneous and unthinking. I skittered to one side of the tunnel, sweeping Jamie along with one arm so
that I was between him and whatever was coming for me.
“Hey!” he protested, but he did not knock my arm away.
Jeb was just as quick. The gun twirled out of its strap with blinding speed.
Ian and the doctor both raised their hands above their heads.
“We can mind our manners, too,” the doctor said. It was hard to believe that this soft-spoken man with
the friendly expression was the resident torturer; he was all the more terrifying to me because his exterior
was so benign. A person would be on her guard on a dark and ominous night, a person would be ready.
But on a clear, sunny day? How would she know to flee when she couldn’t see any place for danger to
hide?
Jeb squinted at Ian, the barrel of the gun shifting to follow his gaze.
“I don’t mean any trouble, Jeb. I’ll be just as mannerly as Doc.”
“Fine,” Jeb said curtly, stowing his gun. “Just don’t test me. I haven’t shot anybody in a real long time,
and I sort of miss the thrill of it.”
I gasped. Everyone heard that and turned to see my horrified expression. The doctor was the first one to
laugh, but even Jamie joined in briefly.
“It’s a joke,” Jamie whispered to me. His hand strayed from his side, almost as if he was reaching for
mine, but he quickly shoved it into the pocket of his shorts. I let my arm—still stretched protectively in
front of his body—drop, too.
“Well, the day’s wasting,” Jeb said, still a little surly. “You’ll all have to keep up, ’cause I’m not waiting
on you.” He stalked forward before he was done speaking.
Named
Ikept tight to Jeb’s side, a little in front of him. I wanted to be as far as possible from the two men
following us. Jamie walked somewhere in the middle, not sure of where he wanted to be.
I wasn’t able to concentrate much on the rest of Jeb’s tour. My attention was not focused on the second
set of gardens he led me through—one with corn growing waist-high in the blistering heat of the brilliant
mirrors—or the wide but low-ceilinged cavern he called the “rec room.” That one was pitch-black and
deep underground, but he told me they brought in lights when they wanted to play. The wordplay didn’t
make sense to me, not here in this group of tense, angry survivors, but I didn’t ask him to explain. There
was more water here, a tiny, noxiously sulfurous spring that Jeb said they sometimes used as a second
latrine because it was no good for drinking.
My attention was divided between the men walking behind us and the boy at my side.
Ian and the doctor did mind their manners surprisingly well. No one attacked me from behind—though I
thought my eyes might get lodged in the back of my head from trying to see if they were about to. They
just followed quietly, sometimes talking to each other in low voices. Their comments revolved around
names I didn’t know and nicknames for places and things that might or might not have been inside these
caves. I couldn’t understand any of it.
Jamie said nothing, but he looked at me a lot. When I wasn’t trying to keep an eye on the others, I was
often peeking at him, too. This left little time to admire the things Jeb showed me, but he didn’t seem to
notice my preoccupations.
Some of the tunnels were very long—the distances hidden beneath the ground here were mind-boggling.
Often they were pitch-black, but Jeb and the others never so much as paused, clearly familiar with their
whereabouts and long since accustomed to traveling in darkness. It was harder for me than it was when
Jeb and I were alone. In the dark, every noise sounded like an attack. Even the doctor’s and Ian’s casual
chatter seemed like a cover for some nefarious move.
Paranoid,Melanie commented.
If that’s what it takes to keep us alive, so be it.
I wish you would pay more attention to Uncle Jeb. This is fascinating.
Do what you want with your time.
I can only hear and see what you hear and see, Wanderer,she told me. Then she changed the
subject.Jamie looks okay, don’t you think? Not too unhappy.
He looks… wary.
We were just coming into some light after the longest trek so far in the humid blackness.
“This here is the southernmost spur of the tube system,” Jeb explained as we walked. “Not super
convenient, but it gets good light all day long. That’s why we made it the hospital wing. This is where Doc
The moment Jeb announced where we were, my body froze and my joints locked; I skidded to a halt,
my feet planted against the rock floor. My eyes, wide with terror, flickered between Jeb’s face and the
face of the doctor.
Had this all been a ruse, then? Wait for stubborn Jared to be out of the picture and then lure me back
here? I couldn’t believe I’d walked to this place under my own power. How stupid I was!
Melanie was just as aghast.We might as well have gift-wrapped ourselves for them!
They stared back at me, Jeb expressionless, the doctor looking as surprised as I felt—though not as
horrified.
I would have flinched, ripped myself away from the touch of a hand on my arm, if the hand had not been
so familiar.
“No,” Jamie said, his hand hesitantly resting just below my elbow. “No, it’s okay. Really. Right, Uncle
Jeb?” Jamie looked trustingly at the old man. “It’s okay, right?”
“Sure it is.” Jeb’s faded blue eyes were calm and clear. “Just showing you my place, kid, that’s all.”
“What are you talking about?” Ian grumbled from behind us, sounding annoyed that he didn’t
understand.
“Did you think we brought you here on purpose, for Doc?” Jamie said to me instead of answering Ian.
“Because we wouldn’t do that. We promised Jared.”
I stared at his earnest face, trying to believe.
“Oh!” Ian said as he understood, and then he laughed. “That wasn’t a bad plan. I’m surprised I didn’t
think of it.”
Jamie scowled at the big man and patted my arm before removing his hand. “Don’t be scared,” he said.
Jeb took up where he’d left off. “So this big room here is fitted up with a few cots in case anyone gets
sick or hurt. We’ve been pretty lucky on that count. Doc doesn’t have much to work with in an
emergency.” Jeb grinned at me. “Your folks threw out allour medicines when they took over things. Hard
to get our hands on what we need.”
I nodded slightly; the movement was absentminded. I was still reeling, trying to get my bearings. This
room looked innocent enough, as if it were only used for healing, but it made my stomach twist and
contract.
“What do you know about alien medicine?” the doctor asked suddenly, his head cocked to the side. He
watched my face with expectant curiosity.
I stared at him wordlessly.
“Oh, you can talk to Doc,” Jeb encouraged me. “He’s a pretty decent guy, all things considered.”
“She’s not giving away any trade secrets,” Ian said sourly. “Are you, sweetheart?”
“Manners, Ian,” Jeb barked.
“Is it a secret?” Jamie asked, guarded but clearly curious.
I shook my head again. They all stared at me in confusion. Doc shook his head, too, slowly, baffled.
I took a deep breath, then whispered, “I’m not a Healer. I don’t know how they—the
medications—work. Only that theydo work— they heal, rather than merely treating symptoms. No trial
and error. Of course the human medicines were discarded.”
All four of them stared with blank expressions. First they were surprised when I didn’t answer, and now
they were surprised when I did. Humans were impossible to please.
“Your kind didn’t change too much of what we left behind,” Jeb said thoughtfully after a moment. “Just
the medical stuff, and the spaceships instead of planes. Other than that, life seems to go on just the same
as ever… on the surface.”
“We come to experience, not to change,” I whispered. “Health takes priority over that philosophy,
though.”
I shut my mouth with an audible snap. I had to be more careful. The humans hardly wanted a lecture on
soul philosophy. Who knew what would anger them? Or what would snap their fragile patience?
Jeb nodded, still thoughtful, and then ushered us onward. He wasn’t as enthusiastic as he continued my
tour through the few connecting caves here in the medical wing, not as involved in the presentation. When
we turned around and headed back into the black corridor, he lapsed into silence. It was a long, quiet
walk. I thought through what I’d said, looking for something that might have offended. Jeb was too
strange for me to guess if that was the case. The other humans, hostile and suspicious as they were, at
least made sense. How could I hope to make sense of Jeb?
The tour ended abruptly when we reentered the huge garden cavern where the carrot sprouts made a
bright green carpet across the dark floor.
“Show’s over,” Jeb said gruffly, looking at Ian and the doctor. “Go do something useful.”
Ian rolled his eyes at the doctor, but they both turned good-naturedly enough and made their way
toward the biggest exit—the one that led to the kitchen, I remembered. Jamie hesitated, looking after
them but not moving.
“You come with me,” Jeb told him, slightly less gruff this time. “I’ve got a job for you.”
“Okay,” Jamie said. I could see that he was pleased to have been chosen.
Jamie walked beside me again as we headed back toward the sleeping-quarters section of the caves. I
was surprised, as we chose the third passageway from the left, that Jamie seemed to know exactly where
we were going. Jeb was slightly behind us, but Jamie stopped at once when we reached the green screen
in, not sure what to do with myself. Melanie remembered that there were books here, but I reminded her
of my vow to not touch anything.
“I got things to do, kid,” Jeb said to Jamie. “Food ain’t gonna fix itself, you know. You up to guard
duty?”
“Sure,” Jamie said with a bright smile. His thin chest swelled with a deep breath.
My eyes widened in disbelief as I watched Jeb place the rifle in Jamie’s eager hands.
“Are youcrazy? ” I shouted. My voice was so loud that I didn’t recognize it at first. It felt like I’d been
whispering forever.
Jeb and Jamie looked up at me, shocked. I was out in the hallway with them in a second.
I almost reached for the hard metal of the barrel, almost ripped it from the boy’s hands. What stopped
me wasn’t the knowledge that a move like that would surely get me killed. What stopped me was the fact
that I was weaker than the humans in this way; even to save the boy, I could not make myself touch the
weapon.
I turned on Jeb instead.
“What are you thinking? Giving the weapon to a child? He could kill himself!”
“Jamie’s been through enough to be called a man, I think. He knows how to handle himself around a
gun.”
Jamie’s shoulders straightened at Jeb’s praise, and he gripped the gun tighter to his chest.
I gaped at Jeb’s stupidity. “What if they come for me with him here? Did you think of what could
happen? This isn’t a joke! They’ll hurt him to get to me!”
Jeb remained calm, his face placid. “Don’t think there’ll be any trouble today. I’d bet on it.”
“Well, I wouldn’t!” I was yelling again. My voice echoed off the tunnel walls—someone was sure to
hear, but I didn’t care. Better they come while Jeb was still here. “If you’re so sure, then leave me here
alone. Let what happens happen. But don’t put Jamie in danger!”
“Is it the kid you’re worried about, or are you just afraid that he’ll turn the gun on you?” Jeb asked, his
voice almost languid.
I blinked, my anger derailed. That thought had not even occurred to me. I glanced blankly at Jamie, met
his surprised gaze, and saw that the idea was shocking to him, too.
It took me a minute to recover my side of the argument, and by the time I did, Jeb’s expression had
changed. His eyes were intent, his mouth pursed—as if he were about to fit the last piece into a
boy out of this.”
Jeb’s sudden face-wide grin reminded me, strangely, of a pouncing cat.
“It’s my house, kid, and I’ll do what I want. I always do.”
Jeb turned his back and ambled away down the hall, whistling as he went. I watched him go, my mouth
hanging open. When he disappeared, I turned to Jamie, who was watching me with a sullen expression.
“I’m not a child,” he muttered in a deeper tone than usual, his chin jutting out belligerently. “Now, you
should… you should go in your room.”
The order was less than severe, but there was nothing else I could do. I’d lost this disagreement by a
large margin.
I sat down with my back against the rock that formed one side of the cave opening—the side where I
could hide behind the half-opened screen but still watch Jamie. I wrapped my arms around my legs and
began doing what I knew I would be doing as long as this insane situation continued: I worried.
I also strained my eyes and ears for some sound of approach, to be ready. No matter what Jeb said, I
