Coming of Age (19 page)

The doctor the foreman had summoned laid one final strip of tape in place and cocked her head slightly as she inspected her handiwork. “Okay, Neoma, that should do it,” she said, nodding. “You'll need to have the Dayspring nurse change that dressing tonight after she puts more salve on the burn.” Pulling a pen and small pad from her bag, she scribbled briefly on it. Lisa, looking surreptitiously over her shoulder, found the marks totally incomprehensible. “I want you to give this to the nurse or your Senior as soon as you get back home,” the doctor continued, folding the sheet and handing it to the preteen. “It tells the kind of salve I used, and also the kind of pain pill I gave you.”

“Okay.” Neoma took the paper with her unbandaged hand and carefully put it in her pocket. Already her face was taking on an almost dreamy expression. “Can I go now?”

“Yes, but not by yourself. That medicine is very strong, and you shouldn't try to fly or do much teeking while you're taking it.”

Neoma nodded, accepting that with unusual calmness. Glancing around the silent group of girls standing at Neoma's shoulder, Lisa gestured to Amadis. “Fly her home, will you, Amadis? Make sure she gets to Gavra and then come back here.”

“Okay.” Amadis stepped forward and took Neoma's arm. The doctor nodded, and together the two pre-teens headed into the sky.

“Well, if that's all, I'll be going,” the doctor said, snapping shut her bag.

“Thanks for coming by,” the foreman said, offering her his hand. “Just send the bill to the company; we'll work out any payment problems directly with Dayspring.”

The doctor nodded and headed toward the site exit. Sensing perhaps that the excitement was over, the group of onlooking men also drifted away to return to their jobs, leaving the kids and the foreman alone.

“What did you mean by payment problems, Mr. Vassily?” Lisa asked him, a little suspiciously. “Neoma was doing just what she was supposed to when that spark hit her. You're not going to claim she was negligent, are you?”

Vassily waved a hand. “Oh, no, don't worry about that—the company'll pay her medical costs and the standard damage points, all right. I just didn't want the doc sending Dayspring a duplicate bill—they do that sometimes.” He nodded to her. “How about you? Feeling any better now?”

“I'm fine,” she said, caught a little off guard by the question. “Why shouldn't I be?”

“You were shaking pretty badly when Neoma and Rena came down,” he told her, blue eyes gazing steadily into her face. “First big accident you've ever been this close to?”

Lisa felt her face turning hot. Had he noticed the boneheaded mistake she'd made up there? “I guess so,” she admitted, hoping desperately he wouldn't say anything in front of the younger girls—the humiliation would be unbearable. “I've never seen people almost get killed before.”

“But they
didn't
get hurt—don't forget that,” he pointed out. “You girls got it stopped in time, and nothing even got damaged. Right? So take a deep breath and forget it, okay?”

Obediently, Lisa inhaled deeply. It didn't help; her stomach was still full of angry dragonmites.
First the thing with Daryl, and now I almost kill someone,
she thought morosely, her anger and shame beginning to give way to a gnawing fear.
Everything's just fatting apart around me. What's
happening
to me?

Vassily's voice cut into her thoughts. “Look, kid, you're not in any shape to go back up there right now. Take your crew home and come back after lunch if you feel up to it.”

“No!” The word came out with a force that startled even Lisa. “I'll be fine. Let's get back to work.”

Vassily shook his head. “Not till you've had a chance to get over this,” he said bluntly. “Look, I've seen this sort of thing too many times. You go back up there now and you'll be so anxious to keep watching the load that, first thing you know, you'll make yourself stop blinking. Then, when your eyes dry out, they'll water so much you'll risk losing it. No, you go home and come back at one, and we'll see if you've calmed down enough then. I can have the welders catch up on the secondary struts.”

Lisa dropped her eyes, a painful lump in her throat. “All right,” she muttered. Gesturing to the others, she headed upward, wishing she were dead.

A bit of the setting sun cut through the tall conetrees in the distance, sending one final ray of brightness into the preteen girls' lounge. Closing her eyes against it, Lisa pretended she was melting into her chair and wished she could actually do so.
It's the reverse Midas touch,
she thought bitterly, remembering the story tapes she used to listen to.
Everything I touch turns to garbage.
She'd done who knew what to Daryl, was destroying her body with lack of sleep, and to top it off had nearly killed someone at work—and then had had to be sent home like an oversensitive Seven. The fact that the crew—minus Neoma, of course—had been able to return to the site and finish out the day's work was meaningless as far as Lisa was concerned. She'd been humiliated, and Mr. Vassily, her girls, and Gavra all knew it. Squeezing her eyelids tightly together, she wondered if she should seriously consider running away.

“Lisa?”

She opened her eyes, blinking away the tears that had collected there. The girl standing in front of her wasn't one whose name leapt to mind. “Yes?”

The girl—a Ten, probably, Lisa thought—gave her a tentative smile. “Hi. My name's Camila Paynter. You don't know me very well, but I've noticed you've seemed upset for the past week or so. I wondered if I could do anything to help.”

Lisa shook her head, unreasonably annoyed that Camila had picked up on something she'd been trying to keep hidden. “Thanks, but I'll be all right.”

Camila shrugged slightly. “Sometimes it helps just to talk about your problems, you know. Maybe with someone older and wiser than yourself.”

Lisa snorted. “You?”

“Oh, no.” Camila's eyes had taken on a serene, faraway look. “I'm talking about someone who has reached the heights Man was meant to reach. A man who has touched the truth and wisdom of the universe—and who loves us enough to share it.”

Despite her black mood, Lisa found herself growing mildly interested. There was genuine conviction beneath Camila's words—an unusual trait in a Ten. “Sounds awfully impressive. How come I haven't heard of him before?”

Camila smiled conspiratorially. “Because the other adults would kill him if they knew he was teaching us about the Truth after they rejected him. That's why we meet in secret and only talk about it to each other.”

A memory clicked in Lisa's mind: Camila was one of those she'd seen sharing a hand signal in this same lounge the night she'd first decided to try and learn reading. “With hand signals and everything, I suppose, like any other secret club?” she sniffed.

Camila shrugged, not taking offense at the scorn in Lisa's tone. “The signal helps us identify each other when we're away from the temple site. But the Heirs of Truth is nothing like those silly clubs,” she added. “Why don't you come with me tomorrow and see? Whatever's bothering you, I know the Prophet Omega can help you.”

“I doubt it.” Lisa hesitated, but there was something in Camila's voice that seemed to break down the barriers Lisa had built for herself. “Someone I know has disappeared,” she said with cautious vagueness, “and I'm worried about what might have happened to him. He—”

“He?” Camila broke in sharply. “Is he a Five from Ridge Harbor?”

Lisa shrank back a little, startled by the intensity in the other's voice. “No—he's a teen who used to be here in Dayspring.”

“Oh.” Camila seemed disappointed, but before Lisa could ask about it she brightened again. “Well, look—I know for a fact that the Prophet Omega is very concerned about people who disappear. If you'll come with me tomorrow and tell him all about it, I'm sure he'll be able to help you.”

Lisa sucked on her sore lip, torn by indecision. If she went with Camila, she would lose valuable time in her search for Daryl. But if this Prophet Omega really
could
help … “How could he find Daryl for me?” she asked Camila. “And where would we have to go to meet him?”

“Oh, he's got lots of ways to find things out,” she said confidently. “And the temple site is only about sixty kilometers from here, up in the mountains.” Shyly, she touched Lisa's hand. “Please come, Lisa. I know the Prophet can help you … and I think you could learn a great deal from him. About how the Truth in life and Transition can give you power.”

Transition!
Lisa felt a shiver run up her back. It was her fear of Transition, after all, that had pushed her into this whole mess in the first place. The Truth about Transition …
and
power over it? It was worth a try; the Prophet Omega could hardly foul things up more than Lisa had done already by herself.

“All right,” she told Camila. “I'll come with you.”

S
ATURDAY DAWNED BRIGHT AND
clear, with strong southerly winds that promised unusually warm temperatures even for August. Good weather for flying; but despite that, Lisa—her spirits initially revived by the hope Camila had given her—felt herself slipping into gloom again as the two preteens headed south toward the Tessellate Mountains. Second thoughts were beginning to nag at her, and now with this headwind cutting drastically into the speed they could make, this trip was going to take even more time than she'd expected away from her search effort. The universe, she decided glumly, was still out to get her.

Lisa had flown among the lower slopes of the Tessellate Mountains several times in the past, but such trips had almost always been to the west, toward Rand, where the peaks were taller and more majestic. Much of the territory Camila led her over was therefore unfamiliar and, within a very few minutes, began to look disturbingly alike. “How do you find this place?” she shouted to the other preteen.

Camila pointed behind them. “We started into the mountains right where the Nordau River comes out—we passed over an abandoned metal refinery just over the first ridge, if that helps you.” She raised her hand and pointed ahead. “See those two funny-shaped peaks there—they look like someone took bites out of them? Stay to the left of those and you fly right into our mountain. We're building the temple on the eastern slope, where we'll be able to watch the sun rise. Wait'll you see the model the senior acolytes have made—it's going to be beautiful.”

Lisa made some kind of polite reply and drifted away, settling back to her flying again. Camila had already shown herself more than willing to talk at length about her club, and Lisa was in no mood to hear how the Heirs of Truth was doing wonderful things in someone else's life. Not yet, anyway.
If
this Prophet Omega helped her find Daryl … well, maybe then she'd be willing to believe this was more than just another kind of hive club.

The first jolt to her skepticism came as they approached the mountain and began to circle to the eastern side. Four or five figures could be seen at first hovering or darting near the slope; but as Lisa and Camila continued circling, more and more kids came into view until Lisa realized with a shock that there had to be a good hundred of them working on the temple site. The number staggered her—she'd envisioned perhaps twenty or thirty members at the most.
Maybe there
is
something to all of this,
she thought, daring to hope again. The size of the hole the kids were digging into the mountain gave a second, equally strong jolt. Already it looked deep enough to swallow the fourteen-story building she was helping build in Barona—and according to Camila it had to be made still bigger! For the first time Lisa began to understand the excitement Camila felt for what was happening here.

Coming close, Camila pointed downward. “There's the tabernacle,” she said. “You ready to meet him?”

Lisa looked at the tent nestling casually beneath the jagged rocks being teeked out of the mountains. Inside that tent was the man who led all of this. “I guess so,” she said.
I hope so,
she thought.

Arrayed in his white robe and gilt-edged stole, his chair flanked by two senior acolytes, Omega listened in silence as Camila explained the newcomer's problem. His first Hope—that the “missing friend” she sought was Colin Brimmer—had been quickly dashed, but he was careful not to show his disappointment.
A Prophet of Truth cares about all people,
he reminded himself; and if showing some interest and making some promises could entice a new member into his fold, it was time well spent. It made a good break from all these damn confessions, anyway. His eyes flicked to the silent group of waiting confessors just as another kid slipped through the meeting room door and joined them.

Camila finished and bowed. “Thank you, Acolyte Paynter,” Omega said, nodding his head in return. Shifting his gaze to the newcomer, he said, “Please come forward, Seeker Lisa.” The preteen took a hesitant step forward and he continued, “The Truth that dwells in us can locate your friend, wherever he may be. Do you believe this?”

Lisa licked her lips. “I'm … not sure, sir. I mean … it sounds impossible …”

“It sounds impossible because you do not yet recognize that Truth resides within you,” he chided her gently. “Like your muscles, the use of your inner power must be trained and exercised. Here, we can train you; but only if you are willing to put forth the effort.”

He stopped, watching closely the play of expressions across her face. Camila had jumped the gun, he decided; Lisa wasn't quite ready to join up. Still, she
was
close. With a little effort they might still manage it.

“Sir …” Lisa began.

“Do not be troubled,” Omega put in kindly. “Your friend is certainly uppermost in your mind right now—that is only natural. When we have found him perhaps you will let us show you the power Truth can give to your life.”