Elisha had just left the room after putting a few clothes for Jesca in the nearby dresser. I stood in the middle of the room with my hands in my pant pockets watching her. Since Nate’s and Ezra’s visit, I had run different scenarios in my head. What kind of questions would Jesca have when she woke? Would she lose it again like she did in the forest? What would I tell her about my conversation with Ezra? With Nate? knew immediately that I wouldn’t tell her anything about Nate’s and my conversation.
When Jesca started to stir, I grabbed the cloth Elisha had brought in earlier, dipped it in the basin of water, and wrung it out before running the cloth over her forehead. She was mumbling something that I couldn’t decipher. I could hear her thoughts loud and clear though; all surrounding Nate. My jea
lousy took over and I whispered, “Wake up, Jes.”
***
As we walk through the hallway in the facility now, Jesca and I are silent. Our stride falling into step and the chaffing of our clothing being the only sound. I keep my eyes focused on getting us to the cafeteria to meet the others as quickly as possible.
Jesca
The facility is hospital-like in appearance. Not like the facility I was trained in. I notice a few cracks on the floor tiles as well as in the ceiling. The walls and ceiling were cement, giving them the appearance that this facility was older than the one I was accustomed to.
Xander leans closer to me as we walk. “This facility is part of the university above us.” Xander points up. “University of Kyoto’s Department of Physics.”
I nod at him and he tucks both of his hands in the pockets of his jeans and turns his gaze straight ahead down the low lit hall.
It seems so...so...
Xander clears his throat. “Sterile, like a hospital. I noticed that too.”
I slow my pace and look over at Xander. “You heard what I was thinking.”
Still walking slowly by my side, Xander nods and looks down at the ground. “Yeah. I guess it is easier to hear the thoughts of someone you care about.”
I nod and look down the hall. “Yeah, I know what you are saying.”
Xander takes hold of my elbow gently and turns me to him. “Wait, you can hear mine too?”
His hand on my arm sends a electrifying current through me; one that I am becoming accustomed to. “Yeah, but not everything. It’s spotty.”
Not letting go of my elbow, Xander moves in closer. Why does he look worried? “Spotty like how? Could you hear my thoughts just now while we were walking?”
Jeez, what is he so worried about me hearing? “No, I couldn’t hear anything just then. Maybe it was because I wasn’t trying to listen. It makes it easier when you are wanting to know what the other person is thinking. Nate and I figured out that...”
Without letting me finish, Xander turns immediately and stalks away from me, mumbling under his breath, “Whatever.”
Xander punches a button on the wall and a set of double doors swing open. The sound of metal chairs screeching against tile and the team heading straight for us distracts me from my frustration with Xander’s reaction. As they swarm around me, asking questions simultaneously, Xander disappears into the crowd.
I am engulfed in embraces from Elisha, Nick, Jake, Monica, Angela, Luke, and Siobhan. Yeah, Siobhan hugging me was a surprise
, being that she is always so tough-as-nails. When I glance beyond them I see Sebastian, Balthazar, and Xander talking with a few men and women I don’t recognize. They are all of Asian descent. They must be the Dobrian guardians of the facility we are in. Elisha catches me off guard, pulling me into another humongous embrace.
Nick moves in behind Elisha and gently pulls her back from me. He smiles softly. “She has been stalking your room for the past two days
, Jes. Xander finally eased up long enough for her to leave clothes. She has been so worried. We all have.”
I look at the rest of the team and see the genuine worry and concern in their eyes. I clear my throat from the growing dryness. “I’m fine guys. Just a little thirsty.”
Jake moves away from the huddle they have formed. “I will get you some water.”
Being motherly, Elisha calls after him before he is out of sight. “Something to eat too. She must be starving.”
Jake waves his hand as he jogs off to the kitchen. “Got it.”
A baby’s whimper catches my attention. I look beyond Sebastian and Balthazar and see Siobhan holding a bundle in her arms, swaying back and forth. The horrific image of Michael Sanderson stabbing a woman holding a baby flashes in my mind; Balthazar’s wife and baby. Nate and I, we tried to save them both, but it was too late for his wife.
I move past the team and slowly walk over to Siobhan and the baby. Balthazar angles to stand next to Siobhan now and says, “Jesca, this is Marcus.”
I look up at Balthazar and the sadness in his eyes take
s me back to the moment when he held his dying wife in his arms. I nod at him and look back at baby Marcus in Siobhan’s arms, not wanting to invade his sorrows any longer.
It is kind of shocking to see Siobhan be so nurturing. Not the harsh, combative mentor she has been pegged as. Marcus grunts and whimpers having been shifted from one set of warm arms to another as Siobhan places him in Balthazar’s. Before releasing him, she whispers, “He might still be tender.”
Tender? Before I can ask why, Xander does, “Tender? What happened to him?”
Balthazar lifts Marcus and carefully places him over his shoulder. He pulls Marcus’s blanket down, revealing the back of his neck and a faint, pink scar. He was implanted? Xander moves in closer, flashes of concern in his eyes. “When?”
Balthazar’s lowers his voice as he rocks back and forth, side to side, calming the baby. “As soon as we got to the facility. Miriam and I did not have a chance to implant him before I was sent away by Michael. Hindsight, it is a blessing he wasn’t implanted with a Sondian Copula. Removal of a Sondian Copula takes a toll on the body. Removal from an infant could be life threatening.” Balthazar’s pauses and a shadow of misery falls over him. “Miriam and I, we were colleagues. When we first met, I had just instituted the fellowship. She was introduced to me by a ... trusted colleague.” Balthazar’s lips thin momentarily before he continues. “She agreed to go to Sonde with the rest of our growing team. Miriam was a brilliant geneticist and I was thrilled to have her with us.”
Balthazar looks down and lightly rubs Marcus’s back.
“We fell in love and secretly married in London on one of our return trips from Sonde. No one knew about us. She became pregnant and questions began to arise, especially from Michael Sanderson, then an executive board member. He wanted to know who the father was, if he was a Sondian or an average civilian. Miriam did not trust Michael or his reaction to our union if he discovered it. She told him that it was an average civilian and she didn’t plan on ever telling him.”
Balthazar looks at Sebastian with saddened eyes, then back at me. “Michael had taken control of many of the proceedings in
regards to the fellowship and on Sonde, Miriam and I both agreed that she should ask him if she could be sent back to London for a safe delivery of the baby. Michael told her that it wasn’t possible and that she would need to deliver on Sonde. Not wanting to stir the waters with Michael and the rest of the fellowship, I told Miriam that we would find a way to get her out of there soon, but that we should wait until the baby was born. The baby had a safe delivery and when Miriam sent word, I went back to Sonde. That is the day I discovered how Michael had taken over the fellowship and turned it into something I never could have imagine. I had planned to bring Miriam and Marcus back with me that day, but they stopped me.”
Balthazar covers Marcus’s head with the blanket again and shifts him from his shoulder to his arms. I move closer to Balthazar, wanting to get a better look at Marcus. I try to ignore the feeling of Xander hovering close behind me, wanting to get a closer look at him as well.
Balthazar whispers, “When I saw who you and Nate where chasing, Miriam in the woods and the bundle in her arms,” Balthazar pauses and lowers his head to kiss Marcus on the forehead, “I knew that she took the opportunity the intersection offered and traversed from Sonde to save herself and our son.”
I can’t help myself, wondering if he is human. Sebastian answers my thought. “When we got here, we immediately ran tests on him. DNA samples, EKG, EEG, and every other test we could to rule out that he was…” Sebastian clears his throat, “alien due to the environment in which he was born. When we cleared him, Balthazar did not want to wait on implantation any longer. He wanted Marcus to be protected.”
Balthazar looks at me. “He is a healthy, human boy thanks to you, Jesca.”
Nick chimes in, “Just baked extra fast, huh Marcus?” Leave it to Nick. I hear him call out, “Ouch! What
, babe? I’m just joking!”
I hear Elisha chiding him in an audible whisper that it wasn’t the time.
Balthazar takes it in stride. “Yes, he did develop in-utero differently than a normal human pregnancy. We figure it had to do with the environment and properties of Sonde.”
I look up at Balthazar, rest my hand on his arm, and smile. “He is beautiful
, Balthazar.”
Bal
thazar looks at me thoughtfully. “He looks like Miriam.”
I feel my heart clench and guilt burn within me. I couldn’t save her. “I’m sorry
, Balthazar. If only I had gotten to her sooner…”
He looks down at Marcus, then back up at me. His voice quivers, “You saved my son
, Jesca. I will always be grateful for that.”
Sebastian puts his hand on my shoulder. “Do you want to hold him
, Jesca?”
I look at Marcus and see that he has settled back into sleep. I shake my head slowly, “I don’t want to wake him.”
Balthazar clears his throat and shifts him to the crook in his arms. “Oh, it takes a lot to wake up this kid during the day. Doesn’t it, Marcus? He is a night owl.”
Jake comes to stand behind Siobhan and holds out a bottle of water. I take it from his hand. “Yeah, Siobhan and I have night duty with this little dude.”
I’m greedy with the water bottle and drain the entire thing in seconds. Siobhan snickers, “Thirsty much?”
I put the lid back on the empty bottle and before I realize what he is doing, Balthazar is placing Marcus in my arms and grabbing the bottle from me. I make sure his head is resting in the crook of my arm.
I wince a little out of sympathy for the baby. “I don’t want to hurt his neck.” I smooth his blanket and tuck it under him with my other hand.
Balthazar leans over and looks down at Marcus. “You won’t, he is tough like his second cousin.”
That is right, he is my second cousin. Anna, my mother was Sebastian’s niece. I shake my head thinking about the complications of my life now, when only a year and a half ago, I was concerned about my work schedule interfering with my classes. Marcus lets out an embittered grunt and I intuitively hush him. “Shhhhh, little guy. It’s alright, I’ve got you.”
Eyes still closed, Marcus’ face relaxes from the scowl, and stretches
, arching his back out of my arms. I hold him tight, but give him the room he needs to stretch. He slowly settles back into the crook of my arm and releases an audible breath from his small parted lips. His every movement is a miracle in itself. The warm hand I know very well settles on the middle of my back. I pull my eyes from the baby’s and hone directly in on Xander’s. Diverting his eyes from mine, he looks down at Marcus and whispers, “Beautiful.”
I look back down at Marcus to hide the heat rising under my skin from Xander’s nearing presence. “Girls are beautiful, boys are handsome.”
I feel Xander’s breath graze my shoulder when he says in all seriousness, “I know. I was talking about you.”
I pull away from Xander an inch or two and begin to sway back and forth, refocus on Marcus’s angelic face; distracting myself from how Xander’s making my pulse quicken.
Marcus being a distraction works, but instead it stirs images that play out quickly like a movie reel, but in reverse.
Baby Marcus lying in my arms with Nate hovering behind me in a lake.
Stabbing Michael and diving off a cliff after Miriam and the bundle in her arms.
Miriam plummeting into the lake with Marcus after being stabbed by Michael.
Chasing Miriam and the bundle in her arms through the Aokigahara Forest.
Nate and I holding each other in the SUV before entering the forest, telling me he loved me.
The kiss Xander and I shared at the Kyoto safe house before the intersection.
A man on a computer screen at the safe house. Adam something...Clairborne, Adam Claiborne!
I remember now. He is a scientist. He spoke of black holes, white holes, the soulless wanting to draw us to them. He said whoever went into the black hole might very well be ripped apart, but Ezra and Nate made it. I don’t deserve to be standing here holding this baby while my father and Nate are God knows where. I look up at Sebastian and Balthazar. “We need to talk.”
Siobhan must see the conversation going south real quick, because she moves in toward me and puts out her arms. “I will take Marcus. It is time for him to go down anyway.”