Arrival of the Traveler (Waldgrave Book 1) (24 page)

“They don’t talk like we do,” Daisy pointed out to Lena in her wide-eyed, innocent way. “But they’re nice and I like them anyways.”

Later, when Lena asked Greg if he ever worried about them saying too much about the Silenti world, he only laughed.

“They’re kids,” he shrugged, wiping away a tear from his eye as he continued to chuckle. “They have active imaginations. When they’re old enough to be taken seriously, they’ll either cut it out when they see how serious it is, or their peers will start to mock them for being crazy. Problem solved.”

Lena forced a smile.

Greg set a hand on her shoulder. “Lena, I wasn’t born into this world. I was brought in, like you. When I was twelve, I ran away from a militant boarding school my parents sent me to. They sent me because I wouldn’t stop 
lying
 about being able to  hear what people were thinking. Everyone at school thought I was a freak as well, so I left. Human-born Silenti often find themselves on the outskirts of human society because people find them odd. That’s how the Council can scoop them up so easily without anyone noticing.” Greg paused to smile and shake his head. “Someday, they’re going to figure out that humans won’t believe them, even if they tell the truth. I just hope that they decide the friends they’ve made are worth the extra effort.”

Lena had never considered it before, but Greg was right. No one would believe the truth about the Silenti world, especially coming from a child. She supposed that someone might try to prove their advanced abilities using a trick of telepathy, perhaps by having one person read another’s mind to determine the number and suit of a card hidden from view. But hadn’t this been done already? There were reports of people with almost every Silenti ability she had encountered so far, and most humans didn’t believe it. The ones who did believe it were regarded as crazy. Even if a person were to see it for themselves, they would probably still believe there was a trick or “rational explanation” at work.

As Hesper and Eric sat in the living room watching television, Mrs. Ralston was doing a cross-word puzzle in the kitchen, and Ava was battling a headache in her bedroom, Lena found the Masons sitting at their respective desks in the office—Serena eating a bowl of cereal and chatting on the phone, and Greg playing solitaire on his computer. The office was still done up in rugby regalia, the same as it had been when Lena was little.

“Uh huh,” Serena looked over at Lena as she talked into the phone. “Of course. I completely agree. Can I call you back a little later? Something important just came up…Uh huh. Bye.”

Lena shook her head. “You really didn’t have to—“

“You want to discuss your exposition! Nothing is more important.” Serena smiled gleefully.

Greg turned his chair around and gently folded his hands.

Lena looked back and forth between them. “How did you…?”

Serena nodded. “It’s been on your mind for a while now. How much have you figured out?”

“Um…” Lena looked over at Greg, and then back into Serena’s dark eyes. “Well, not a whole lot, I guess. I need help.”

Greg stood up. “Good luck.” And he walked out of the office. Lena stared after him; had she said something wrong?

“He’s not allowed to help. No one on the Council, excepting your uncle, is allowed to help you with the exposition. Too much of a chance for bribery and coercion.” Serena took a last bite out of her cereal and set it on her desk. “We’ll need notes…” She pulled out a legal pad and a pen, gestured to Greg’s empty chair, and Lena sat down. “Now. I know this is going to be difficult for you, but your exposition needs to contain your full opinions on current events. The political situation, the religious situation, and the social situation. And don’t lie, because they’ll know.”

Lena’s jaw fell open. She knew she would be cast as a radical considering her political beliefs. Her perspective on Silenti religion was—unique—to say the least. She hadn’t even known that a social situation existed. “Oh, my God.”

Serena pointed the pen at her and then started jotting onto the page. “You believe in a God…it’s a start!” She looked back up at Lena.

I’m never going to get in…
 Lena thought.

Serena tilted her head to the side. “And that’s going to be a problem. First, you’re going to need confidence. And second, was it your intention to just broadcast that to the house?”

“No, I was just…”

“Try again, and this time think exclusively at me.” Serena said.

Lena closed her eyes and concentrated hard. 
Is this any better?

“It was okay. The exposition is usually given in the Silenti language…in thoughts, not words. As I’m sure you know, the assemblies are constituted of a great many people from all over the world. Some don’t speak English well, and communication through our thoughts—which is universal to all Silenti—is a key point in becoming a family representative. You’re going to need to work on your skills in that area.”

Lena flinched. Mrs. Ralston had given her copious lessons on Silenti thought-language, and the truth was that she just wasn’t very good at it. Her public speaking came across muffled, and she had no ability at all to hear the public thought-speak of others. It had to be specifically directed at her for her to hear it; she couldn’t generate private thought-speak at all. But she was willing to work on it. “Okay.”

Serena nodded resolutely. “Let’s start with the easy question, then. Where do you stand on our social situation?”

Easy question?
 Lena thought. “I’m sorry, which social situation?”

Serena crossed her legs and leaned back in her chair. “You’ve only been to one assembly, but I assume you noticed that the beds were always made, the food cooked and served, and the clothes always washed?”

“Yes, because the Families bring their house hands to help.” Lena said.

“House hands, servants, slaves…There’s different dogmas and situations the world over. The big situation is that the Silenti do not regulate or have any laws concerning the ethical treatment of the lower classes. They don’t have representation in the Council because most of them are recovered children—human-raised Silenti who never gain what can be considered full Silenti abilities…” Serena paused. Lena was in such a situation, except that she was in the dining room and not the kitchen. “Recently they’ve been asking for it. They want representation, and many are hesitant to give it to them on the grounds that the family representative speaks for the 
entire
 household; others say that they shouldn’t have it because they aren’t full Silenti.”

“I’m in favor. They deserve to vote.” The family representatives voted out of self-interest, and the lower classes were feeling it. Devin had told her so once while they dried dishes together.

“That won’t do well before the Council.” Serena looked up very solemnly.

Lena shrugged in frustration. “But if I’m not allowed to lie, then—“

“Try to think about it from a different angle,” Serena tucked the pen behind her ear as her hand movements became more animated. “You’re well-traveled, yes? How many times has intervention from an outside force caused a people to stand up, unite, and peaceably agree to a new governing system? Rarely, if at all, to my knowledge. It takes a revolution.”

“You think the lower classes would revolt?” Lena asked.

“It happened in France, and many other places. But it’s not about what I think…It’s about the fact that, historically speaking, you can only be sure that a vote will be used responsibly if it’s 
taken
 by those who want it.” Serena reasoned.

“So…” Lena mulled Serena’s position over in her mind. “You’d rather the Council waited for a violent upheaval that would probably divide the community further, rather than settling it now? Is that what you mean by 
taking
 it?”

Serena threw her hands in the air. “It’s not about me! It’s…look, you’re insane if you think the majority of people on that Council would vote to give their servants a voice in the law. It’s good to be the king, right? Same reason they’ve kept it a system of mostly first-born males. It’s self-preservation. Change won’t happen overnight. What I’m trying to say is this: they won’t let you in if you have an agenda concerning the lower classes. None of them are really from the lower classes. So you need to frame your opinion carefully—overnight change never works, fair statement?”

“Sure.” Lena replied. It seemed to have worked for France.

“So maybe you do support better representation of the lower classes, but not tomorrow. Not next week. Not next year. You support a system that will prepare everyone, the lower and upper classes, for a new governing system. Slow, gradual change—because we have a problem and it needs to be fixed. Just try to avoid defining ‘slow’ in concrete terms.” She looked over at Lena, who wasn’t convinced. It was the biggest load of bull she had ever heard, and yet she had heard it several times before from various politicians. “Just think about it. Maybe talk to someone about it.”

Lena shook her head. “I’ll think about it. It’s not right, though.”

Serena scribbled onto the page and looked back up. “What about politics?”       

“Integrationist.” Lena replied flatly. “That’s not up for debate.”

Serena scribbled onto the page. “And where do you stand on religion?”

Staring at the ceiling, Lena sighed. “Nowhere. I don’t believe in the portal. I’ll respect the religions of the Silenti as long as they don’t intrude on my life.”

Serena cocked an eyebrow. “You don’t believe in the portal? Not at all?”

Lena leveled her gaze. “Nope. It’s never actually been confirmed as real—probably just lore.”

“That’s very interesting.” Serena raised her eyebrows, turned to a new page on her legal pad, and scribbled.

Suddenly feeling as though the session had taken a turn to becoming a psychological examination, Lena felt defensive. “Just because I’m a Daray doesn’t mean that—“

“Not because you’re a Daray.” Serena looked up quickly. “Because your mom is the only living Silenti who claims to have actually seen it.”

Standing in the doorway of Ava’s bedroom, Lena looked at the strained figure lying on the bed. She had changed into a silver nightgown and cotton candy-like pink bathrobe, and her face was obscured by the eye mask and cold towel compress on her forehead. An open bottle of aspirin sat on the nightstand.

“Mom?”

“Is it important, Lena?” Ava moaned.

“When did you see the portal?” Lena asked.

Ava lifted the eye mask just enough to peek out from under it. “You’ve been talking to Serena. There’s no point in my telling you because you’ve already got your opinion.”

“All she told me was that you saw it. I need to know what you saw because…I never thought it was real, I guess.” Actually, Serena had said that Ava was the only living person who 
claimed
 to have seen it, but Lena felt it best to leave that tidbit out.

Ava removed her compress, sat up, and pushed her mask up. She spoke in an exhausted tone; each word dragging out like it weighed too much to easily travel the distance from mouth to ear. “Sit down. It’s a long story.”

Lena sat down on the bed next to Ava. She was hoping what her mother was about to say would decide her mind for her by being either entirely ridiculous or revolutionary—anything in between would stick her in a difficult spot.

“Fourteen years ago, Aaron and I were in Ecuador diving the reefs for our third anniversary. We lived very much like you lived, I suppose. Place to place, one right after the other. No real home.” Ava shuddered. “I wanted to go home, but I didn’t want my father to have you. He was so angry with me, he said he’d kill me if I ever tried to come home. When he found out about Thomas, he started petitioning to gain custody because he immediately named him his heir. But I wasn’t going to give him the satisfaction.

“I was selfish and I wanted to prove to him that I could do what I wanted when I wanted, but it was hard. It was so much harder than I ever thought, because you and Thomas were such a handful. I never knew taking care of kids could be so hard—you were always hungry, or sleepy, or needed changing…did you know that kids don’t toilet train until they’re three? Sometimes you two would just cry and cry for no reason. One of you would start to cry and wake up the other…I was overwhelmed. Two small children, and we were always traveling to keep Thomas away from him. It was hell.

“And then there was Ecuador. Aaron wanted to take me scuba diving for our third anniversary…I didn’t want to celebrate it at all, but I guess it worked out lucky for me. He took me out on a private tour…one of his friends had a boat and was certified. He stayed up on the boat with you two. When we were down there, we found a box partly buried in the coral. A big old trunk, just like pirate’s treasure in the movies. Aaron said to leave it at first, because the coral was growing all over it, but then I saw what was written on it. It was in Latin, which I didn’t know, but there on the lid…smack in the middle of the lid…was the word ‘Silenti.’ And I knew. I just knew.” Ava looked over at Lena, who sat with her eyes straight ahead, focused on the wall opposite the bed.

“Wait.” Lena furrowed her brow. “I thought the portal was old. Like, older than Latin--older than the word 'Silenti'.”