Yesterday's Gone: Season Six (36 page)

But how?

Was this a power she’d always had? Something that only manifested itself in a moment of stress? Or had Luca somehow changed her when they were in each other’s head?

It was all so confusing, and not the sort of puzzle Emily could easily solve. She loved working out problems, just like her dad. But you needed to
see
the pieces before you could solve the puzzle, and Emily had never felt more blind. Nor did she think the answers were that evident, even if she knew where to look. Like much of life’s great mysteries, you could spend an eternity wondering and still not know for certain.

If Luca had done something while inside her head,
why
did he do it? And what else had he done? Did he lay some alien seed inside her, waiting for the right moment to hijack her like the aliens on The Island and ship?

To make matters worse, she was stuck in a room with Jake, whose thoughts were practically shouting themselves at her.

He was scared, uncomfortable around her, and clueless around girls in general.
 

Does she think I’m big and fat?

She probably thinks I’m dumb.
 

I need to say something to make her not hate me so much.

But what? Everything I think of sounds stupid. What am I gonna say, “Hey, how about us all nearly getting killed?”
 

Why didn’t Boricio take me with him? Leave someone else to watch over her and Luca?

Emily wanted to say something to put him at ease, if only so his pain didn’t spread into her mind. But she didn’t want to encourage him to stay.

Emily wondered if she could push a thought into his head without him noticing. Get him to leave the room so she could be alone with Luca.

She was pulled from her thoughts by a knock on the basement door and then heard Jazz shout, “Hello!” as if they were long-lost best friends.

Jake looked as relieved for the interruption as Emily felt. “Come on,” he said, ushering her out of the room, leaving Luca alone, and into the living room of the basement.

As everyone hugged one another, Emily sank into a couch against the wall, feeling as awkward as Jake had been feeling a few minutes ago. She recognized the people from Luca’s memories, but she didn’t know their names.

A sad-looking man held the hand of a boy who looked like his tiny twin. A pretty redhead stood beside them with a girl who was surely her daughter clutching her hand. Behind her stood another woman who Emily thought seemed both sad and mean. For no reason she could identify, Emily decided that she didn’t like that woman at all.
 

The children laughed as Jake scooped them into his big arms and swung them around, his awkwardness gone.
 

And suddenly, Emily felt an odd warmth, like she, too, was happy to see these people. Before she even realized it, Emily was suddenly standing, waiting for them to notice her. Or for Jazz or Jake to introduce her.

Emily wanted to run up and hug them. Wanted to play with the children.

Wanted to be
included
.

Emily wondered if these feelings were also somehow Luca’s doing, like he’d imprinted these people onto her like animals sometimes did with people. Some sort of forced bonding among everyone Luca’s Light had touched in some way.

She stared harder at the group, waiting for them to notice her, feeling like she didn’t belong, and that she should stay on the fringes. Maybe even go back to Luca’s room.

Emily’s head started to hurt, and she noticed the room’s colors getting brighter. She didn’t always see auras around people. Usually, she had to focus, unless they were being very emotional. But as she watched the group, her sensitivity, along with the headache it was bringing, intensified.

Colors swirled around them, darker shades of red, purple, and gray, signs that something awful had happened. But of course, Emily figured, something awful
had
happened to most people living in The Wastelands.

She wanted to pry, to peer inside their minds to see what sorts of things they’d been through. Maybe she could find some way to relate to them better, whenever they finally noticed her.
 

But peeking into their minds would be wrong, so she shouldn’t.
Couldn’t.

The sad man came close enough for Emily to hear him. He looked at Jevonne, “Are Boricio and Ed still out looking for Mary?”

“Last I heard. How’d ya know?”

“I radioed them earlier.”

As the group caught up with each other’s recent events, Emily sat back on the couch, focus elusive. Her head was swimming, stomach churning. She felt sick, and needed to leave. She decided to creep back toward Luca’s room, hoping nobody would notice her.

But Jake grabbed her hand, raised it, and said, “Hey, everyone, this is Emily, the girl from the ship.”
 

“Really?” The boy’s face filled with wonder.
 

He left the sad man and came up to Emily. The little girl followed. “What’s the ship like?” he asked. His aura was confusing — bright blue mixed with swirling darkness. Same as the girl’s, indicating both happiness and either fear or grief.
 

Emily shrugged, not knowing what to say.

The little girl looked at Emily with big eyes. “You’ll tell us, won’t you?”
 

A bead of sweat dripped from her temple. Emily raised a hand to wick it away, wrestling her growing discomfort.
 

Something’s wrong. I can feel it.

“I don’t know … ” she said, wanting to say nothing, desperate for Luca’s room.
 

The children looked at her with hopeful eyes, wanting to hear her story, their hope a glaring contrast to the feelings she somehow felt
behind
their eyes — the feeling that the children had crossed through the other side of something awful and were looking to her stories as candy to numb their pain.
 

She started telling them about the ship, barely able to focus on her words, but somehow getting through.

“ … It’s
big,
” Emily finally finished, her head feeling like someone was plunging an ice pick into it.

“Big?” the boy repeated. “How big? Is it shiny inside? How fast can it go?”
 

The little girl kept looking from the boy to Emily.
 

“It feels bigger than The Island, even though it’s not.” Emily whispered because anything else would have seemed too loud. “There are a lot of really long hallways that turn in circles. It’s easy to get lost.”
 

Emily couldn’t shake the feeling that something was terribly wrong. A tingle she couldn’t explain, and had never felt before, crackled all over her body. Dad would probably say it was her gut talking. But what was it saying, and what could she do to make sure that she listened?
 

The girl’s mom approached her, smiling sweetly. She held out her hand, and Emily took it.
 

“I’m Teagan,” she said, shaking Emily’s hand.
 

She looked behind Teagan at the boy’s father then the children, looking at each in turn while the woman told her their names.

“That’s Brent, Ben, and Becca. Brent is Ben’s dad, and I’m Becca’s mom.” She glanced at the woman that Emily didn’t like, though she still didn’t know why. “That’s Marina.”
 

“It’s nice to meet you,” Emily said.
 

Still smiling, Teagan said, “It’s nice to meet you, too.”
 

Emily didn’t know what else to say, so she let the part of her mind that was listening speak instead. “Why are you scared?”
 

Teagan blinked, seemed to think, then said, “Well, we were all scared, we all were. But I feel better now that we’re here.”
 

There was so much that the woman wasn’t saying.

Emily asked, “Is that because you came from a bad place?”
 

“Yes,” Teagan nodded, her face falling from pretty to almost ugly. “We came from someplace terrible.”
 

“Let’s talk about something else,” Jazz said, interrupting the awkwardness. “Does anyone want to sit down?”

Everybody stayed standing.

The man and his children were looking at Emily in a way that made her uncomfortable, maybe trying to figure out why she was asking such odd questions. Had she not heard them tell their stories to Jazz and Jake? Truth was, Emily could barely pay attention. But she’d heard enough to know they weren’t telling the whole truth — of the horrible things Emily sensed.

Emily felt them all looking at her. She smiled.

She sensed the woman — Marina — at the room’s edge. Emily didn’t know if she was imagining it, but she felt the woman’s eyes on her, maybe wanting something, though she had no idea what that might be. Her aura was gray as well. But unlike the others, it was
only
gray, without a lighter emotion inside her.
 

There was something burning in the woman shared by no one in the room. Yes, they were all scared, but this woman was feeling something deeper, an emotion Emily couldn’t quite place. It was like the woman was having trouble with her thoughts or her feelings, and that made her mad at everyone. Maybe, Emily thought, she’d been forced to do something she didn’t want to do.
 

As Emily stood there listening to the kids, and then to Jake and the kids, she felt two things. First, her dizziness and headache began to subside, as if the kids’ happiness chased her pain away. But she also felt Marina’s eyes the entire time.

Why is she staring at me?

Emily tried to look up a few times, to prove that Marina wasn’t looking. Each time she dared to do so, the woman was just staring blankly at the room in general, not specifically at Emily.

Like a ghost.

The more she thought about Marina watching her, the more Emily’s headache begged its return.

I think it’s her making me sick. She’s so twisted up inside, I’m feeling it.

She had to leave the room. Hell, she had to get out of the basement. The woman’s thoughts were contagious.
 

But then, as if Marina were reading Emily’s mind, she told Jazz, “I need some air.”

“You should go to the roof,” Jazz said. “That’s the best place to think, and breathe. I could use some air myself. I’d be happy to go with you if you’d like.”
 

“No.” Marina shook her head. “I need some time to myself.”
 

She needs to get rid of the thing inside that’s making her mad.

Marina left through a secret door leading from the basement to the house. Once the door closed behind her, Jazz said, “Man, what’s wrong with
her
?”
 

“You have no idea.” Brent sighed. “She seems cold, but believe me, Marina’s been through hell.”
 

Jazz said, “Sounds like you’ve all been through hell, but at least you didn’t forget how to smile.”
 

“Marina had it the worst,” Teagan said. “She saved us twice. Once before we were taken prisoner, and another time after. We’d be dead if it wasn’t for her. And it couldn’t have been easy to do what she did. It’s no wonder she’s shaken. I’m sure she’ll be fine, we just need to give her some time. Like she said, she needs some air.”
 

With Marina gone, Emily felt suddenly better, no longer dizzy or sick to her stomach. She considered how odd that she’d feel so many of Marina’s feelings. While she’d always been sensitive to people’s emotions, and oftentimes influenced by them, she’d never felt it so strongly. Whatever hell Marina had been through must’ve been even more traumatic than anyone was saying. Maybe they’d share later, after the kids were asleep.

“Where’s Luca?” Ben craned his neck toward the room where Luca was sleeping. Emily wondered what he’d looked like the last time the boy had seen him, and if he’d be shocked when he saw Luca again.
 

Jazz said, “He’s sleeping.”
 

“Can we see him?” Becca asked.
 

“Maybe later.” Teagan tousled her daughter’s hair. “But right now I don’t think we should disturb him.”
 

Ben turned to Emily, dragging Becca behind him.
 

Almost demanding, he said, “Tell us about the spaceship!”
 

Becca giggled. “Yeah, tell us about the spaceship!”
 

The children’s sweet innocence reminded Emily of something she’d lost long ago and hoped to someday recapture.
 

She turned around, sat on the old sofa, and gestured for the children to join her. As they sat on either side of Emily, she saw their auras turn brighter blue, dotted with hues of blushing pink.
 

Emily smiled, sinking into their happiness like a bath.
 

“Ask me anything,” she said.
 

* * * *

CHAPTER 6 — Jake Barrow

Jake was still in the basement, back in Luca’s room, trying and failing to keep his eyes off of Emily. He was supposedly in charge of watching Luca, but all he could do was stare as Emily sat in the bed next to Luca, reading through a book she found on the shelf in the living room.