Laura Jo Phillips (47 page)

“Yes, I would, thank you,” she said, almost before she knew she was going to say it.

Jackson smiled, as did Rob and Clark, and though Hope tried not to, she couldn’t help smiling back.  A few minutes later she was walking with them toward their bungalow, explaining to them why Grace had left. 

“I am sorry that your friend had to leave, but family issues must take precedence,” Jackson said when she was finished.  “If you like, we would not mind if you continued to stay with us rather than remain alone in the other bungalow.  In truth, we would prefer it.”

Hope considered the offer, but she wasn’t sure that would be a good idea.  “Thanks,” she said, “I’ll think about it.”

“All right,” Jackson replied.  He opened the bungalow door and stood aside so that she could enter, and she wondered how long it would take to get used to someone opening doors for her all the time.  She went to wash up, then joined the guys in the kitchen, surprised to see that the table was loaded with food.

“Where did all of this come from?” she asked.  “Did you guys cook again?”

“No,” Clark replied.  “We had some food delivered from a restaurant just off the base.  It’s supposed to be good.”

“It smells good,” Hope said as she sat down in the same chair she had used that morning.  She was not surprised this time when Jackson reached for her plate and they passed it around, filling it with food.  As she watched each of the Bearens take a turn putting food on her plate, realized that it was something they greatly enjoyed doing.  She didn’t understand it, but she decided to accept it as part of who they were. 

Rob set her plate down in front of her, and she thanked him with a smile.  The food on the plate smelled wonderful, and she dug in hungrily.

“Hope, I would like to ask you about the creatures you painted on the living room wall in your apartment,” Clark said when they had all had a chance to assuage the worst of their hunger.

Hope looked up in surprise.  “You guys were in my apartment?”

“Yes,” Jackson replied. 

“Why?” Hope asked suspiciously.

“We are from Jasan,” Jackson said.  “You know that, correct?”

“Yes, I figured that part out,” Hope replied.

“We came to Earth because we learned that the women who visit Jasan have their memories tampered with, or are abducted when they return to Earth.  We came here to look into that matter, at the Director’s invitation.  Ellicia was on her way to interview you the day we arrived, so we went with her.  That was, we believe, the day after you were abducted.”

“I see,” Hope replied calmly, though inwardly she was shocked.  They had only known Ellicia for a few days?  Their feelings for her were so strong that she didn’t see how that was possible.  She realized they were all watching her so she cleared her throat and searched for something to say.

“What did you want to know about the mural?”

“What are the creatures called?” Jackson asked.

“I don’t know,” she replied. 

“I apologize,” Jackson said.  “We thought that you had painted them.”

“I did.  I just don’t know what they are.”

Jackson looked at Clark and Rob, but they appeared to be as confused as he was.  “I’m sorry, but we don’t understand.”

“The first night after I got home from Jasan I woke up with this image in my mind that I couldn’t get rid of,” she said.  “I
had
to paint it.  I just had to.  I didn’t understand it when it happened, and I still don’t.  When I was finished, I had painted the three of you on my bedroom wall.  I didn’t know who you were, or why I’d done it, which, I admit, bothered me a great deal.  But it was done and I was able to sleep again so I took a shower, ate and went to bed.

“The next day I woke up with another image in my mind.  This time I fought it for a few days.  It was...disturbing to suddenly have these things in my mind that I had to paint.  I thought that if I didn’t give in to it the second time, maybe it would go away.  But it didn’t.  I couldn’t eat, I couldn’t sleep, I couldn’t even think about anything else for days.  So I gave up and painted them.  Right after I finished, I was kidnapped.”

“We did wonder how it was you had painted us in such detail, down to the courtesy beads in our hair,” Clark said.

“Courtesy beads?” Hope asked.  “Is that what they’re called?”

“Yes,” Clark replied.  “We only wear them as a courtesy when we are not on Jasan, as an aid to help others tell us apart.”

“I don’t know why I painted you three, and I don’t know why I painted those...whatever they are on my living room wall.”

“I just realized something,” Rob said.

“What’s that?” Hope asked.

“If I remember correctly, the fur on the birds in the mural match the colors of your braids,” he said.  “Was that deliberate?”

“Yes, I noticed that too,” Hope said.  “And no, it was not deliberate.”  Hope reached for the glass of juice in front of her plate, the tattoo on her wrist catching her eye.  She frowned.

“What is it?” Jackson asked.

“I just remembered something,” Hope said.  “The eyes on those creatures that I painted are the same as Harlan’s.”

“Hang on,” Clark said.  He got up and left the room, returning quickly with a small device in his hand.  He fiddled with it a moment, then aimed it at the wall.  Suddenly the mural from her living room appeared on the wall beside them.

“
Re!
” Hope exclaimed as she gazed at the wall.

“Ray?” Rob asked.

“
Re,
” Hope corrected, giving the ‘r’ sound a slight roll.  “It’s Greek for,
wow
, or
amazing
.”

She turned toward the mural.  “I thought so,” she murmured.  “Look at the eyes.”

“Can I see the owl again please?” Clark asked.

She held her wrist up.  “They’re the same shape, same color, and same design.”

“Is that unusual?” Jackson asked.

“It’s not unusual for an owl to be depicted with round eyes, no.  But this is a stylized owl, specific to Greek mythology.  The eyes are unique to this design.  I think the eyes on the painting look the same as the ones on my wrist, don’t you?”

“Yes,” Jackson replied.  “It is also interesting that you call this bird an
owl
.  Do you remember what Ellicia said about the babies’ Clan name?”

“Owlfen,” Hope said, then her eyes widened in surprise.  “
Re!
  I didn’t even think of that!”

“These creatures that you painted must be Owlfen,” Clark said. 

“If they are Jasani Clan animals, why don’t you guys recognize them?” Hope asked.

“Because they are one of the two Lost Clans,” Jackson replied.  “We didn’t even know that there were supposed to be two more clans until recently.  When we learned about them, we were told only their names.  We have never seen them, nor have any Jasani in many thousands of years.”

“I don’t understand,” Hope said.  “I know that Harlan is the babies’ father.  I see it in their eyes, and the shape of their noses.  What’s more, I feel it.  So how is it that they are Owlfen?”

“You do ask good questions, I’ll say that for you,” Rob said with a grin.

Hope laughed softly.  She simply couldn’t help herself.  As hard as she fought it, she could not deny the connection she felt with these men. 

With that thought, came the reminder that they had loved Ellicia.  She turned back to the mural to hide the sudden pain she was afraid would show in her eyes.

“You know what else I just realized,” she said.

“What?” Jackson asked.  He had felt Hope’s joy, then her sadness and withdrawal, and it baffled him.  With everything else that had happened, the fact that their very own Arima was sitting there, with them, should have been exciting and miraculous.  Instead, he felt as though his heart were about to break with the weight of Hope’s grief, and his own.

“Harlan, Mattlan and Weldan each have just a little bit of hair on their heads,” Hope said.  “Did you guys notice that?”

“Yeah, it’s cute,” Rob said.  “Though I do hope it grows a bit thicker. Harlan wasn’t bald, was he?”

Hope smiled again and shook her head.  “No, he wasn’t bald.  And he had brown hair.  Did you notice that little Harlan has white hair, Mattlan has red hair, and Weldan’s is brown?”

“Sure,” Rob said.  “I also noticed that the colors match those three braids you wear.  Do you color them that way for a particular reason?”

“I don’t color them,” Hope said.  “I was born with them.”  She pointed at the mural displayed on the wall and the Bearens all looked at it.

“I see,” Jackson said.  “How interesting.  You painted three creatures that none in living memory have seen, and the color of their fur matches the hair on the babies, as well as your three braids.  Those creatures must be Owlfen, and what’s more, they must be the way the boys will look when they are grown.”

“That’s amazing, isn’t it?” Hope said softly.  “I wonder what it all means?”

“I think it means that you are meant to be their mother,” Jackson said.

Hope dropped her hand to her lap and turned away from the mural.  This wasn’t a subject she wanted to discuss right now, so she searched for a way to change it.  It didn’t take long for her to think of a new question.

“How is it that you guys found us in the desert?” she asked.

“We didn’t,” Jackson replied.  “Ellicia did.”

“How?” 

“She used this,” Jackson said, reaching into his pocket.  He withdrew his hand and held it out to her.  Hope looked down and gasped at the sight of her missing earring.  She reached for it slowly, hardly daring to believe it was really sitting there in his palm.

“How did you get this?” she asked as she picked it up and looked closely at it.  Yes, it was definitely her earring.

“Ellicia found it,” Jackson replied.  “In the hall outside the elevator in your apartment building.  She used that to find you.”

Hope nodded.  She knew a little about Ellicia’s psychic talent from Harlan.  “I could have sworn I had both earrings after I arrived at that compound,” she said.  “Karma said she remembered seeing it on me the first night after we left the compound.  I thought I’d lost it in the desert.”  

“Sometimes things happen that there is no explanation for,” Jackson said. 

Hope started to put the earring on, but put it into her pocket instead.  “Well guys, thanks for dinner,” she said as she pushed back her chair and stood up.  “I think I’ll go to bed now.”

“Do you want to stay here?” Clark asked.

“No, I don’t think so,” Hope replied.  “Grace set everything up over there for me with some clothes and toiletries.  It’ll be easier to stay there.”

“I’ll walk you,” Rob offered, standing up quickly.  Hope wanted to tell him that she was capable of walking next door on her own, but the expression on his face was so hopeful that she held her tongue.   

A few minutes later Hope locked the door behind her, then went to the bedroom Grace had set up for her.  She changed into a nightshirt and a pair of soft cotton pants, then climbed onto the bed with the earring that Jackson had returned to her.  She set the earring on the bed and stared at it for a long moment, trying to make up her mind.

As a little girl just learning to use her owl, she had once tried to spy on her mother and her Aunt Olivia in an effort to find out what they had gotten her for her birthday.  Unfortunately, the two women had psychic abilities of their own, and had sensed her presence.  The upshot of that experiment had been no birthday present at all.

She had never understood how they’d known she was there.  The owl was not real.  It had no physical presence.  It was just the image that always entered her mind when she wanted to fly away from her body.   

She had never again used her owl to eavesdrop until shortly before she’d left for Jasan.  Harlan had asked that she use her owl to listen in on a meeting between a suspected crime lord, and some other people that he said were criminals.  He’d found out about the meeting just an hour earlier, and there was no time to deploy electronic surveillance.  She’d agreed only because he’d told her that they were trying to kill Ellicia.  The fact that they were bad guys made it seem at least a little okay, and afterward Harlan had told her that what she’d learned was extremely important.  Nevertheless, she’d promised herself she wouldn’t do it again.  

Now, in spite of that promise, here she was considering eavesdropping on the Bearens.  She was trying to convince herself that since they’d been through her apartment without her knowledge or permission, that she had a right to invade their privacy in return.  But that argument wasn’t working, and she couldn’t think of another one.  It was a bad idea, it would be wrong, and she knew it.

“Just do it,” she told herself softly.

She picked the earring up, put it in her ear where it belonged, then closed her eyes and focused on her owl.  She pictured the silver bird in detail, with its gold trimmed feathers and turquoise eyes.  For a moment the eyes appeared reproachful, and she hesitated.  There was no owl, she told herself.  It was just the image she used to help her focus.  Since there was no owl, it could not have reproachful eyes.

Hope refocused, relieved that the eyes were as they always were, without expression.  The owl shot upward and she found herself looking down at the little bungalow set amidst dozens of other dark, quiet bungalows in the residential area of the base.  She flew over them in a wide circle for the pure, exhilarating fun of it before settling on the roof of the Bearens’ bungalow.  Again she hesitated, considering what she was about to do.