Ripped Apart: Quantum Twins – Adventures On Two Worlds (33 page)

‘I’ve told him to make sure he keeps a towel on when we’re sharing a sauna. Religious inhibitions or something,’ Hannu said.

Carefully washing then drying the two long gashes in Qwelby’s thigh, and seeing the edges of his flesh knit together, Anita realised just how alien was the handsome young man with the magnetic eyes.

Trousers back on, boxers in the waste bin, Qwelby sat back down on the side of the bath as Anita picked up his shirt. Before he could stop her, she had got one arm in and slipped the shirt round behind him. He heard her indrawn breath, then felt her fingers gently tracing long curves by the shoulder blades.

‘You see anything… strange?’ he asked.

‘Heavy raised bruising…’

‘Saw you fighting, leaping in the air like in one of those oriental movies. Almost like you were flying. What more do you want?’ Hannu said brusquely. Once again uncomfortable with how Anita’s was treating the alien in such a personal and caring way, as though they had become more than boy and girlfriend.

‘You saw me?’

‘And Tullia. How the devil… ?

‘Don’t know.’ Overtaken by dizziness, Qwelby slumped forward to be caught by Hannu. Hanging onto his friend he waited for his head to clear. Instead his vision was assailed by images of burning, then a Salamander made of living flames sinuously gyrating.

‘Attribute,’ he muttered as his mind cleared. Tamina had wanted to know why her mother refused to honour her genetic inheritance from the Heroine Rrîltallâ Taminûllÿâ, and would not talk about it. The Twins had tried to find an answer through their recent access to the ShadowMarket. What they had been prepared to offer by way of energy exchange had not produced an answer. But they had discovered that the Heroine had what was called an Attribute: an energy form she could adopt at will – a Salamander. Seeing their interest, and trying to get them to offer a better exchange, their source had hinted that other Uddîšû might also have possessed Attributes.

It was obvious. The Dragon-Riding Hero would have a Dragon as his Attribute, the Unicorn-Riding Heroine, a Unicorn. But why then had his friends not seen his Dragon? Dimensions, levels, rates of vibration. Somehow, he and Tullia, their rates of vibration had slowed so their bodies were as solid on Earth as the Azurii. But their other levels were still working. How? Not with only three segments, otherwise Tazii would be able to visit Earth in their ordinary bodies. He and Kaigii must have a fourth segment, taking them closer to their Aurigan heritage. Content he had found a logical explanation, Qwelby pushed himself upright and attributed the soft buzz in Tullia’s corner of his mind to dizziness.

‘This just like at home,’ he said a few moments later with a lopsided smile as Anita finished helping him into the shirt and sweater. ‘Tullia take charge and… sort me out.’
LAIM Boy!
he thought to himself as he slipped into her corner in his mind. No thoughtsharing, but the corner was occupied. He was whole again. And so was Kaigii.

Anita trembled and reached out a hand to Hannu for support. ‘I’m feeling Tullia like I did the other day,’ she whispered, as he put his arm around her. He pulled her tighter to him than he intended. He was uncomfortable with how much Anita was wanting to care for Qwelby, and starting to fear that he was loosing her to the alien.

‘Is everything all right?’ Taimi Keskinen called.

Not now,
Anita-Tullia thought, aware that the room was awash with conflicting emotions.
I’ve got two boys to look after. And I don’t know who I am right now.

‘Coming, mother,’ Anita called back, and grimaced.

Each lost in their own thoughts, they descended to the kitchen where everyone was seated around the big table with steaming hot drinks.

‘I’ve said that we’ll leave telling the adventures until later,’ Dr Keskinen explained as they sat down. ‘There will be plenty of time when we gather at the Rahkamos, and everyone there will want to hear the story. But one celebration is in order. Qwelby. You scored more hits than all the others put together.’ The Doctor held up his hand to still the exclamations. ‘I have checked. The muzzle flash on his rifle is working perfectly. How on earth did you do it?’

“How on Earth” is a very good question!
Qwelby thought. ‘My eyes are different from yours. They give me a big advantage,’ he said as he looked at the Doctor’s wife, aware that he was playing a dangerous game. What he had said was perfectly true, but it was no part of the answer.

Taimi Keskinen felt the pale blue and shining ovals of Qwelby’s eyes pulling her into the purple centres as a voice inside her head seemed to say: ‘Explain later.’

‘You okay?’ Qwelby whispered, leaning close to Anita. ‘I borrow lot of energy.’

‘Borrowed?’ she asked. ‘Taken’ had felt more like it.

‘Yess.’ He gave a lopsided smile. ‘Now I borrow all. Anoder time I lend.’

‘The same people you borrow from?’ Anita asked, no longer whispering.

‘No. Who need,’ he replied, remembering that with Nils and Jarno present he had to keep to simple Finnish.

‘Is this only for your healing?’ Hannu asked.

‘Now, yess. Tomorrow. Anyting,’ he replied, knowing he would have to explain better when Hannu’s other friends were not around.

‘And then you give, lend, to someone else?’ Anita asked as she used a tissue to wipe away the hot chocolate that was dribbling from the corner of his mouth.

‘Yess.’ Qwelby smiled, his eyes gently twirled and he saw her cheeks redden.

‘It’s late,’ Taimi said. ‘Time we all got ready for midnight.’

As everyone moved, Qwelby leant across to Anita. ‘I sorry. I thought you Tullia. I took lots.’ He glanced at Hannu. His aura was flickering with dirty yellow and both of their auras were swirling with feelings of discomfort Qwelby did not understand.

‘You lot energy now,’ he said to Hannu. ‘You know how give your energy.’ Then felt uncomfortable for a reason he could not fathom.

As they rose from the table, Hannu and Anita glanced at one another, looked away and blushed.

Ah, I understand. Azurii do not hug and hold hands like we do. So they can’t share energy when they need it.
Qwelby was satisfied that he understood what he had come to think of as “their problem”.

As the boys filed out of the door, Dr Keskinen held Qwelby back. He had an idea of how to prove the boy a fake.

‘I’ve been thinking of how I could get a message to your home world. My first idea is to try to add another transmission to one of the TV programmes you and your friends watch. I’ll do some work on that and we’ll talk another day.’

‘I’m sure that swelling is going down already,’ Taimi said in a surprised tone of voice, one arm round her tired-looking daughter.

‘Yess, I borrow lot energy.’ Qwelby gave Anita a smile of gratitude.

Qwelby saw Mrs Keskinen’s eyes searching him. He gave her a faint smile and saw the look in her eyes.
She understands!

‘Come on Qwelby!’ called Hannu in a grouchy voice, poking his head back through the doorway. ‘Let’s go home and party.’

Stepping out through the back door, Qwelby stumbled and almost fell onto Hannu. The two boys made their way back to the Rahkamos’ house with Qwelby’s arm draped over his friend’s shoulders. Hannu’s mixture of jealousy and fear of losing Anita waned as he felt Qwelby’s need for more than just physical support. Biting back his desire to ask for an explanation of what had happened, he concentrated on supporting his now very obviously alien friend.

Qwelby used the time he spent washing and changing to store in a small room in his mind those experiences that were not to be shared during the celebrations. Drained of all his energy, he did not have enough strength to turn it into a seamless box, and had to be content with hoping that he had been able to safely lock the door.

*

Sjöström knew Arttu from her time as a constable in Jyväskylä. When she reached the station, the discussion with him was brief and to the point. His statement would be that he was badly hurt during the burglary, had tried to hide in the woods, and got drunk. His metal flask had come into contact with the laser. Her report would not mention that the boy had several nasty gashes on his neck: so no charge of GBH.

There had been children playing in the woods that night. Naturally they had been attracted by the commotion of him and his cronies being arrested. Any mention of them actually being involved would be laughed off as pathetic attempt at bravado, as though to say eight police officers could not manage Arttu and his cronies by themselves. And one of her constables had a black eye coming that was going to look good when photographed the following morning.

Arttu understood Sjöström’s unspoken meaning. No pig was ever fair, but. On the other hand, she could stitch him up if she wanted. He agreed. He had no choice. As the sergeant left the police surgeon arrived to remove the knife still stuck to the melted flesh on his hand.

Arttu vowed that once that had healed he would make the boy regret revealing his hiding place. Seriously regret!

Much later than planned, the Rahkamos’ house was full of a boisterous crowd. As well as the Keskinens, Nils and Jarno were there with their families, also Oona. Previously, she had asked Hannu if she could come, and his parents had been happy to agree. Oona’s father had forbidden her brother to join in the laser game for fear of damaging his ankle again on the uneven ground, hidden by the thick snow. To Oona that had meant a boring evening at home as the odd one out between her parents and her brother with his girl-friend, Ilta.

After everyone had left the Keskinen’s, Anita had called Hannu on his mobile and told him to keep Qwelby upstairs until she arrived so she explain her idea of a story to account for his eyes. That his family originated in Japan and over generations had migrated across Asia, intermarrying with Mongolians. It was an unusual genetic occurrence. All his family were the same.

Qwelby was content. The last part was true. He would nod when she said that, and just not comment on the other part. He was the hero of the night. Exhausted, and with his sore throat and mouth, he was happy to let the others explain as much as possible of the evening’s events.

When Hannu and Anita had realised that Qwelby was not following them, they had gone back to look for him and seen him seized by Arttu. They had followed, hoping for a chance to rescue him. Qwelby was sure that they over dramatised the story and was very happy when they both kept the promise Anita had made and did not mention seeing Tullia, nor any dragon. He had promised them he would tell them the whole story when they were alone.

The flash and scream? Some weird connection of knife, laser pack and the torc around his neck was all that Qwelby could offer with a shrug of his shoulders. He let them examine his EraBand, made of interlined rectangles each of three coloured metals. The gold and platinum were recognisable. ‘Black is Xzyliment. Very strange metal,’ he said, happy to keep to ‘baby talk’, and not try to explain that it was produced by the XzylStroems, and was thought to come from the Shadow World as it had a much higher concentration of anti-matter than was normal.

The sound of fireworks heralding midnight and the New Year interrupted their talking. Normally, they would have gone to the edge of the village to watch. Now, it would take too long to get dressed for the cold and walk that far, so they all trooped upstairs to watch the rockets bursting in the sky.

Back downstairs Qwelby headed for the sofa where he had been sitting with Hannu and Anita, to discover Oona sliding in at the end next to him.

With all four youngsters seated, Qwelby found himself squashed between Hannu and Oona, arms awkwardly trapped in front. Oona was much smaller than him and he moved one arm to rest along the back of the sofa behind her. As he did that he saw her blue eyes looking at him from her pale face with her small, red lips and rosy pink cheeks framed by long blond hair. It was such a contrast to sitting next to his twin or any of their friends at home that he could not tear his eyes away. And there was something else.

He became aware of a warm feeling, more than just the heat of their bodies touching. This feeling was inside. He was puzzled.

‘You look uncomfortable. With your arm like that,’ Oona said.

He saw her little pink tongue flick out across her lips and a look in her eyes he was unable to decipher.

Feeling embarrassed as he realised he had been staring at her, he grinned sheepishly and let it drape around her shoulders. She was right. That was more comfortable.

As conversation restarted, Qwelby was happy to let his friends continue to do most of the talking for him. Soon, Oona’s head was resting on his chest and one of her hands on his thigh. The contact and the warm feeling were very relaxing. He gave a deep sigh and saw Oona look up at him with a question in her eyes.

Fatigue overtook him. He was aware that she was concerned for him, in a different way from his twin. It was nice. So much had happened that night that he didn’t have the mental energy to explore the new sensations he was feeling, or those he detected in Oona.

‘Mmh’ he mumbled as he smiled at her and, without any conscious thought on his part, his arm pulled her a little closer.

Oona snuggled her head back onto his chest and he felt her hand give his thigh a gentle squeeze.

A knock at the door stopped conversation. A few moments later Paavo ushered Sergeant Sjöström into the room. Saying that she was off duty, she was happy to accept the offer of a drink to celebrate the New Year and also, she explained, the good news she brought. Appraised of the official version of events, and she emphasised “official”, the owner of the jewellery shop was offering a small reward to the children without whose actions his property almost certainly would not have been recovered. The news about the reward could have waited until later, but Sjöström had felt impelled to satisfy her curiosity about the stranger. And she had a good excuse. She asked after the children, finally turning to Qwelby.

‘Good. Thank you,’ he replied with a smile. From deep within he summoned up the energy to add to his accompanying thoughts total conviction of having recovered from nothing more than a sight bump. He wished he could shake her hand and transfer that thought to her as a strong feeling.