The Return of the Titans (15 page)

The man nodded. “Oh yes, madam. That he will
certainly be able to do.”

“Good,” she said. “Gerry,
when you can, I want you to write, tell me how you are and whatever
else you are allowed to. Okay?”

“You bet, Mom. As often as
I can.”

“Time is up,” Mr. Denofrio
said. “The others have to contact their parents as
well.”

:Okay Mom, I have to go. Say hi to Dad for
me. Tell him I'm okay.”

“I will, honey, I will.
You be good!”

Gerry smiled broadly but Justin saw tears
course down his face as his mother told him to be good. “I will
Mom. Love you.”

“Love you, son.
Bye.”

“Bye Mom,” Gerry said and
took his hand out of the liquid. The pool went black at once and
again the liquid began to roll and bubble.

Gerry stood up and quickly wiped his face
before turning to the others. “Thanks, Mr. Denofrio,” he said.

The man just nodded. “Now, who's next?” he
asked.

Norm took his turn next. It was more
difficult to contact his parents, because they weren't in any rooms
that had water in them. Finally, in exasperation, Mr. Denofrio put
his hand into the pool beside Norm's and somehow focused the Ocular
into Norm's bathroom. Justin and Aaron kept turning away and
clapping their hands over their mouths as Norm's voice echoed out
of his family's toilet.

Finally, his father entered the bathroom
and, once he was convinced that he wasn't hallucinating, which took
a few minutes, he called in Norm's mother and they had a similar
discussion to the one that Gerry had had with his mother. And once
more, the parents decided that it was safer for their son to remain
where he was than to come home.

After the connection was broken, Mr.
Denofrio indicated that Aaron should go ahead. He refused.

“Sorry, sir, but I've
already decided to stay. I don't have to ask my father for his
opinion,” Aaron said stiffly.

Mr. Denofrio looked surprised. “But, don't
you wish to reassure him? Tell him you are all right?” he asked,
sounding puzzled.

Aaron shook his head. “No, I don't.”

Mr. Denofrio stared at him for a long moment
and then shrugged. “Your choice, of course. All right then,” he
nodded at Justin, “it's your turn.”

Justin hesitated and looked at Aaron, who
seemed to know what he was thinking. “It's okay, Justin. Take your
turn. I'm fine not talking to him.”

Justin nodded and moved to the edge of the
pool.

“You know what to do,” Mr.
Denofrio said. “The same as the others. Concentrate on one person,
think about where they should be and,” he glanced at Norm and
rolled his eyes. “hope that we don't have to communicate via toilet
again.”

Justin stifled an urge to giggle and closed
his eyes, thinking about his mother. Of course he knew where she
would be. Where she always was. On the sofa in front of the
television. And she always kept a water pitcher on the table beside
her head, to save her from having to get up too often for a drink.
He concentrated and when he felt he had her image as strong in his
mind's eye as possible, he looked down and touched the liquid in
the pool.

It was warm, which surprised him. And it
felt thick, heavy like oil or cream. It was almost a disgusting
sensation, but he tried to ignore it and kept thinking of his
mother.

The pool began to glow again and the image
floated to the top. Yes, there she was, staring at the screen, the
glow of the TV casting moving shadows over her face.

She looks more tired than usual, Justin
thought, concerned as always for her health. He watched her for a
moment and then spoke softly.

“Mom?” he said.

Unlike Gerry's mother, she didn't jump as
she heard his voice. Instead she just turned her head toward the
table so that she was looking out of the pool into Justin's
eyes.

“Hey sweetie,” she said
weakly. “I knew you'd get in touch soon. How are you
doing?”

Justin was surprised by how casual she was
taking the bizarre form of communication.

“I'm fine Mom, fine. Um,
you don't seem too surprised to see me talking out of a pitcher of
water.”

She chuckled. “Wilson told me about his
mission a few years ago, when you began to go through your changes.
It took some time but he finally convinced me. I got used to
surprises like this. Well, sort of. Besides, my new bodyguards said
that you might be getting in touch and that it would be a
bit...unconventional. They were right.”

“Bodyguards?” Justin said
in surprise.

“Oh yes, two nice young
men who look quite capable. And I believe there are others outside
the building as well.” She smiled. “I'll be feeling like a
celebrity if this continues.” Then his mother's voice became
serious. “Are you all right, hon? I mean, really all
right?”

“Yeah, Mom. I really am.
This place is amazing. I can't talk about it, I guess, but one
day...anyway, I had to tell you I was okay and I had to know that
you were too.”

“I am, Justin. You know
about poor Wilson?”

Justin turned away for a moment as his eyes
blurred with tears. “Yeah, I know. They told me.” He turned back to
look at his mother. “He died for me, Mom. That's another reason I
wanted to talk to you. To tell you that I think I owe it to Wilson
to stay here, to learn what I can. I don't want to think that he
lost his life for nothing. Although I don't think I'm worth
anyone's life, especially his.” His tone was bitter.

“But Justin, you are worth
it,” his mother replied simply. “At least, you are now. He's dead.
And he gave his life so that you could live. And me too. I agree
with you. Stay there, wherever you are. Learn, grow, become what
Wilson wanted you to become. I'll miss you terribly, but I can be
strong, as long as you can be.”

“What did Wilson want me
to become. Mom? Did he ever say?”

A tear rolled down his mother's cheek. “A
good man, Justin. That's what he said to me more than once. 'I hope
Justin grows up to be a good man.' That's all he wanted. And so do
I.”

Justin pinched his leg hard to stop himself
from crying. He had to get through this.

“Okay Mom, then that's
what I'll do. I'll stay for as long as I have to. I think I'll be
able to write, and if I can, I'll write as often as
possible.”

She smiled through her tears. “You'd better,
young man,” she said with mock severity. “I'll write too. Maybe the
old-fashioned way.” She winked slightly. “Take care, hon.”

“You too, Mom. All my
love, always.”

“Mine as well, hon.
Bye.”

Justin pulled his hand from the liquid and
stood up as the pool went dark again. He looked over at Mr.
Denofrio who nodded.

“Well, we're done here,
gentlemen. Please follow me back out.” And the man headed for the
exit, the four teens trailing behind him, each lost in his own
thoughts.

Chapter 11

As the boys left Mr. Denofrio in the
courtyard and headed back toward their rooms, they passed several
groups of other teens being led by several of the Guardians. Some
of the others smiled or nodded as they passed but no one said
anything. Most of them looked either worried or hopeful.

“Want to bet that they are
all going to be calling home?” Gerry asked the group.

“Why do you say that?”
Norm wondered.

“Makes sense, doesn't it?”
Gerry winked. “If they're anything like us, I think a lot of them
will stay if they know their folks are okay.”

“So you think this is a
way that Mr. Fitzgerald and the others are using to convince them
to stay?” Justin asked him.

“Sure. Why not? They
already let us know that they want us here. If this helps them,
that's cool by me. Why, do you think they're being sneaky or
something?”

The group turned into the corridor leading
their rooms. Justin shook his head.

“Maybe not,” he said. “But
it convinced us, didn't it?”

They grew quiet as they all thought about
it. Justin and Aaron opened the door to their suite, waved at Gerry
and Norm and went in.

Once in their room, both teens collapsed
onto separate couches. Justin kicked off his shoes and put his feet
on the table. He sighed deeply. Aaron copied him and put his head
back, staring blankly at the ceiling. Neither one spoke for a few
minutes. Finally, without looking at him, Justin spoke hesitantly
to Aaron.

“You okay?” he
asked.

Aaron didn't say anything but when Justin
glanced at him, he nodded.

“Good,” Justin continued.
Then he put his head against the back of the couch and closed his
eyes.

“Justin?”

“Hmm?”

“Did I do the right
thing?”

Justin looked over at his friend, who was
still looking up blankly.

“The right thing?” Justin
asked.

“Well, you know. Not
talking to my Dad and stuff.”

“I don't know, Aaron. Do
you think you did?”

“Yeah, I guess so.” He
finally looked over at Justin. “It's just that, we don't get along.
At all. And I know it probably sounds horrible, but I'm actually
happy to have a reason not to go home.” He stared at Justin. “Does
that make me a bad person?”

Justin sat up and returned Aaron's stare.
“Of course not! Look, Aaron, I don't know you well yet. But I think
that you're okay. Really. And maybe, when all this is done and you
go home, things will be better. My Mom used to use that old saying
'absence makes the heart grow fonder'.” He grinned at the other
teen. “Well, maybe it will.”

Aaron smiled a bit and sat back. “I hope
you're right, Justin. And thanks for that.”

Justin didn't answer, just sat back and
closed his eyes again. It had been a very full day, he thought. He
was tired and his feet were sore. He opened his eyes slightly and
glanced over at the clock. Five-thirty. A half hour until dinner.
He closed his eyes again, just for a second.

He sat up and looked around wildly. The door
chime rang again and as he looked over at Aaron, who was staring at
him with a bleary, blank expression, Justin realized that they both
must have dozed off. The clock over the door read five-fifty-five
and he knew they had only slept for a few minutes. He yawned and
sleepily said “Come in.”

The door slid open and Mrs. Mallon was
standing there. She glanced in, noticed the boy's dazed expressions
and smiled widely.

“Sorry lads, I think I
woke you up. But Mr. Fitzgerald would like you all in the Court for
dinner tonight.” Neither of the guys spoke, just grunted as they
tried to wake up. She laughed. “Now get a move on. The food's
already being served and the Commander doesn't like to be kept
waiting.” She nodded at them both and turned away, the door closing
behind her.

Justin leaned forward and grabbed his shoes,
while Aaron stood up, gave his head a shake and ran his fingers
through his hair.

“I'm just gonna use the
bathroom, Justin,” he said as he walked toward the bedroom. “Be
right out.”

“Okay,” Justin said,
yawning widely again. “I'll wait.” He tied his shoes, stood up and
stretched. He felt like he could sleep for hours but he was also
very hungry and he waited impatiently for Aaron to come
out.

The two teens joined several others as they
headed for the Court. Three girls were walking together and Aaron
greeted them cordially and introduced two of them to Justin.

“Just, this is Amanda and
Janice. And, um...” he looked at the third girl who grinned, her
bright curly auburn hair bouncing as she walked.

“I'm Denise. And you guys
are...?”

“I'm Aaron. Mr. Talkative
here is Justin,” Aaron said with a teasing grin. Justin felt his
face flush and poked Aaron in the ribs

“I talk, Aaron. But I'm
still trying to wake up.”

The girls all laughed. “Did you guys nod off
too?” The two boys nodded. “Us too. All this walking around today,
I guess. This place is so big, it'll take days or weeks to explore
it all.”

“So, are you three going
to stay?” Aaron asked as they approached the door to the Court. The
girls looked at each other.

“We're still debating
that,” Denise said seriously. “But now that we've talked to our
folks...”

“You contacted your
parents too?” Justin spoke up.

“Yep. And it was such a
relief...” The door opened and Denise stopped speaking as they
entered the Court.

Most of the other teens seemed to already be
there. The arrangement of the tables had changed somewhat. There
were still a lot of them scattered around the large room, but
several tables had been set end to end in the middle of the room
and these were loaded with trays, pitchers, mugs and utensils. Mr.
Fitzgerald was at his same spot on the dais as the night before and
as Justin and the others entered, he stood up.

“May I have your
attention?” The buzzed of conversation ended abruptly. “Thank you.
Now that you are all here, we can begin. This may be our last
chance to dine together as some of you may be leaving in the
morning, so I thought that a buffet would be appropriate.” Several
of the older Guardians moved forward and began taking the tops off
of the trays. The smell of food suddenly wafted through the room
and Justin felt his mouth watering.