Persistence of Vision

  Chapter 17: Reunions

  Maggie crouched beside Marcus, focusing. They were on the slope of the mountain, squatting side by side in four-foot grass, looking out at the dreary view of the landscape the mountain afforded.

  It was a nice day. Clay said it was the nicest the world ever saw anymore. The clouds were thin enough for the sun to show through periodically, and the weather was crisp but not cold.

  “Concentrate, Maggie,” Marcus said. “What do you feel?” He was crouching a few inches behind her but not touching her—close enough to be a presence and a guide but not a distraction.

  Maggie didn’t close her eyes. She’d have thought closing her eyes would help her focus, but it didn’t. Keeping her eyes open and taking in everything before her helped her to more clearly pick out the thing that didn’t belong—the thing that was not part of the earth, the air, or the natural landscape.

  Then she felt it—slight, warm, and pulsating with the quiet strength of guardianship. It was coming from a grove of trees a mile downhill.

  “There,” she said. “Joan is in that stand of trees.” She turned her head in time to see a smile of approval creep across Marcus’s face. He was glad she was finally getting the hang of this.

  “She is.” He nodded. “Good. Keep going.”

  Maggie cast her mind out again. She’d already unearthed Karl’s hiding place behind a boulder to the southwest. His mind was kind and affectionate, but it was laughing too. It reminded her of jelly but not in a visceral way—more like jellybeans, colorful and fun. That was Karl. A few minutes after she identified his location, he came walking up the slope. Marcus had somehow communicated to him that he could come out, but she didn’t know how. Now Karl sat nearby, watching the exercise in silence.

  For ten minutes, she looked for the final hider: Clay. Learning to identify things by their neurochemical structure was trickier than Maggie would have thought. It was a subtle process. She had to learn not to think directly about something but rather to brush past it and let it reveal itself to her.

  A tree felt different than a rock, but each type of tree felt different than the others. Even individual trees within a species had subtle differences, much as human beings had, so there was much to learn, to notice. Maggie wished she could spare a lifetime to learn the intricacies of such a system. She was sure it would take years to master. She got headaches just trying to identify the members of the team, and she’d gotten to know them pretty well over the last month.

  A month wasn’t nearly enough time, though. It felt like they were sitting on a ticking time bomb. At any moment something would happen—the collectives would strike, bad news would come, the world would change somehow—and then the time for training would be past. Maggie would have to rely on her team, her instincts, and what she’d learned so far to keep her alive.

  For now, she tried to find Clay’s hiding place. She felt along the green-and-yellow covered slopes, the rocky ridges, and the stands of bushy foliage but did not feel a human presence. She swept the terrain three times then turned to Marcus.

  “You said he wouldn’t go far, right? Not more than half a mile?”

  “He’s no farther away than Joan and Karl were.”

  “But I’ve scanned as far as they were—and farther. I can’t find him.”

  Marcus shook his head. “That’s because you’ve only scanned what you can see. You’re allowing yourself to be limited by your senses again.”

  Maggie turned back to the view before her. What did he mean? Was it possible for Clay to be hiding inside rocks? Should she scan the mountain itself? Or was…?

  Suddenly she got it. From the slope of the mountain she had a circular view—two hundred and seventy degrees, and that’s what she’d been scanning. She opened her mind to what was behind her—all three hundred and sixty degrees—and immediately found him. Still squatting, she spun on her toe and looked toward a cluster of peppermint shrubs that bearded the lip of an overhang.

  Karl laughed out loud, nodding his approval.

  “You can come out, Clay,” Marcus called.

  Maggie was mortified to see Clay emerge from under the overhang. It was shallow, but he’d pancaked himself against the mountain so he was completely hidden. He was less than twenty feet away—close enough to hear Marcus’s verbal call. She dropped her face into her hands.

  “He was right there the whole time?”

  “Relax, Maggie.” Marcus put a hand on her arm, and it made her stomach tingle. “You did fine. It takes practice to go beyond the five senses. You have to allow your mind to penetrate all mediums, times, and planes.”

  “If you say so.” Maggie rubbed her eyes.

  Marcus looked toward the sunset. “We’re losing the light, but I’d like to do this once more, if everyone’s game?”

  The team nodded. Maggie was exhausted, but she needed practice—and in truth she did like these exercises—so she nodded too.

  “This time we’ll all hide, me included. Clay, you stay behind for ten minutes to distract Maggie.”

  This was the reason Marcus hadn’t hidden the first few times. It was too much of a temptation for her to watch which way they went and track them from there. He wanted her to have no idea where they were so she was searching for them with her mind, rather than with what her eyes told her.

  “Then when we’re hidden and she’s looking for us, you can steal away and hide yourself.” He turned to Maggie. “We’ll just have to trust that you won’t cheat.”

  Maggie put a hand on her chest, feigning insult. “I would never.”

  “If you say so,” Karl muttered.

  The others grinned, including Marcus. Maggie thought he had a beautiful smile.

  “But if it’s just me, how will you know when I’ve discovered you?” she asked.

  “Come find us. None of us will go far.” His eyes swept over the other three with a stern look. “And you will have to use your mind to bring yourself to us. This will be good practice. Especially if it gets dark. You’ll have to use your mind rather than your eyes to see. Feel the rocks in front of you and move around them. Feel the slope of the earth before you put your foot down. Go slowly so you don’t get hurt, but come find us.”

  Maggie nodded, not sure if she liked this. Marcus, Joan, and Karl got up, and Maggie turned to face the cave. She could hear their footsteps retreating down the slope but tried not to focus on them so she couldn’t be accused of cheating.

  “So.” Clay came to sit beside her. “How’re you doing, Maggs?” His voice was soft but steady, just as his presence was.

  She shrugged. “Fine, I guess.”

  “Don’t be so glum, Maggie. You found us all.”

  “Only after a hint from Marcus. I know I’ve come a long way, but it still feels like a setback when I can’t figure it out on my own.”

  Clay shook his head. “You always were independent. Don’t worry so much. You’re trying to learn in a few weeks what we’ve all been taught since childhood. It’ll come naturally. Give it time.”

  “What if we don’t have time?”

  Clay looked at her steadily. “We haven’t gotten any information about new movement from the collectives. For all we know, we have all the time in the world.”

  “Isn’t that the problem? They’ve been too quiet. I know you all don’t want to worry me, but don’t insult me either.”

  He sighed, dropping his gaze. “All right, yes. Things are too quiet, and we don’t know why. But the fact remains that we don’t know anything and we won’t…until we do. So you should relax and stop being so hard on yourself.”

  Maggie didn’t have any more comebacks, so she dropped her gaze to her lap.

  Over the past few weeks Maggie had spent time with every member of the team, but none more so than with Clay. Clay’s wife, Kara, was five months pregnant with their first child. Maggie ate dinner with them when Marcus was working and frequently spent evenings in Kara’s company. She thought they were some of the sweetest, most loving, do
wn-to-earth people she’d ever met.

  “So,” Clay said after several seconds of silence. He pulled a water beaker from a bag Marcus had brought out with them. “Any questions, comments, wonderings, things you’ve thought of that I can help with?” He tilted his head back and drank deeply from the beaker’s spout.

  “Clay, what…is the meaning of life?”

  Clay laughed mid-gulp, choked, and then coughed and sputtered fountains of water into his own lap. Maggie giggled and scooted away to avoid being sprayed.

  When he recovered, Clay turned flat eyes on her. “You know, I really wish I could experience the feeling of having water come out my nose. Oh, wait, I can!”

  Maggie wiped tears from her eyes as Clay swatted water from his shirt. “I’m sorry, Clay.”

  “You’re spending too much time with Karl.”

  “Yeah, I s’pose.”

  “So.” He made a show of carefully putting the water beaker away. “Are there any other questions you have for me, before I find a place to hide that you’ll never think of?”

  “Hey, low blow!”

  Clay spread his hands, eyebrows arching in mock innocence.

  Turning serious, Maggie took a deep breath. “There is one thing I’ve wanted to ask, but I think it’s a sensitive subject. You can tell me to back off if you want.”

  Clay laughed. “I’m not going to tell you to back off, Maggie. You can ask me anything you want.”

  Maggie cleared her throat, suddenly nervous. “Do you know how David died?”

  Clay’s smile faded. “You mean Marcus’s brother?”

  She nodded.

  “Honestly, Maggie, I have no idea.”

  “What?” She’d asked Joan, and Joan hadn’t known either. It was a mystery that no one felt the need to explore.

  “Really, I don’t. David was gone before I met Marcus. It doesn’t take a telepath to see how mention of David affects him, so we haven’t pressed him about it.”

  “None of you know?”

  Clay considered for a moment. “Doc might. I don’t know. I’ve never asked. But the way he sometimes talks to Marcus about David—with a certain measure of, I don’t know, authority?—makes me think he knows more than the rest of us. Have you asked Karl? I’ve never heard him say anything, but he and Marcus have known each other for something like twelve years. They’re best friends. I can tell you two things for certain.”

  “What?”

  “One, whatever happened, it was tragic. The kind of thing that changes a person. And two, that Marcus feels responsible.”

  Maggie cocked her head to one side. “Why do you say that?”

  “He wouldn’t have such a visceral reaction to it otherwise. Marcus didn’t know his mother. She died when he was little, so it was just him, his father, and his brother growing up. Marcus’s father died before I met him too and much more recently than his brother did. Yet mention of his father doesn’t evoke the same reaction as mention of his brother does.

  “His father is gone, and I’m sure Marcus misses him, but when David’s name is mentioned…it’s just different. His stance and mood change. Marcus isn’t opposed to showing emotion, Maggie, but when he shows it, he’s always in control. He shows what he wants to show. Anytime David is mentioned, what I feel from him is uncontrollable emotional vulnerability…on the edge of collapse. Mention of David is the only thing that can do that to Marcus.”

  Maggie’s frown had deepened as Clay spoke. This wasn’t the answer she wanted, and it was more disturbing than anything she would have expected to hear.

  “Do you think it was his fault?”

  Clay shook his head. “I don’t know. Marcus is a loyal guy. I don’t believe it could have been anything malicious, especially given his reaction to it now. He was a teenager at the time. Maybe it was a negligence thing. People tend to blame themselves for loved ones’ deaths, even if it wasn’t anything they could have prevented.”

  Maggie nodded. That was true enough. “You have amazing insight into people, Clay.”

  He smiled his soft, shy smile. “Well, I listen more than I talk.”

  Maggie’s smile widened. “I’ve noticed. You’re going to be an amazing father.”

  Clay looked more pleased—more proud—than Maggie had ever seen him. “Thank you.” It was said softly, despite the obvious pleasure he felt at her compliment.

  “Well.” Clay shook off the serious mood. “I’d better get to hiding, and you’d better get started. The sun will be gone before you know it.” He got to his feet, dusting off the back of his pants. He started to leave but turned to throw an index finger up. “No cheating.”

  She flicked her wrist in his general direction. “Yeah, yeah. Get going.”

  Tuning out the sound of Clay’s retreat, Maggie began canvassing the landscape, feeling for the presence of the others.

  She had almost asked Marcus about his brother a few times but kept chickening out. It was common for the team to assume Maggie knew something and be surprised when they remembered she didn’t. Maggie often wondered if she had known Marcus’s history before, and if he didn’t realize she didn’t know it now.

  She started far away, scanning the land much farther than she knew they would have gone, and worked her way in. Far off in her periphery, she felt something, but it was unfamiliar and much farther away than Marcus said they’d be. Probably just an animal or something. She kept looking.

  There. She’d found Marcus. She felt drawn to him in a way she couldn’t explain. Every time they did these exercises, he was always the first one she found.

  Still, her relationship with Marcus was more awkward than with the others. She was becoming comfortable enough with the team to laugh and joke with them, but it wasn’t that way with Marcus. He hadn’t mentioned their prior relationship, but Maggie couldn’t imagine he didn’t know that Joan had filled her in. She supposed he was just giving her space, trying to keep the awkwardness away. That was gracious of him, but a part of her thought it would be less awkward if they got it out in the open. But she could be wrong about that, and she was too shy to bring up the subject. She wished he’d do it. He was the guy.

  Straightening her legs, which felt good after squatting for half an hour, Maggie picked her way down the slope. One thing she knew for sure was that she felt safe with Marcus. Despite the uncomfortable avoidance of certain subjects, when they were alone and found something to talk about, the conversation came easily, and she found comfort in the fact that he knew her well and had loved her once.

  She hadn’t gone fifteen feet when someone called her name. It startled her both because she hadn’t expected a break in the silence until she got to Marcus and because it hadn’t come from a member of the team. Skidding a few inches in surprise, Maggie quickly regained her footing and turned around. Lila, Joan’s daughter, was emerging from the cave.

  Perhaps Lila needed her mother for something. Maggie turned and walked back toward her. “Joan’s out there somewhere, Lila. Do you need her?”

  Lila came to stand a few inches in front of Maggie and looked at her steadily but didn’t answer right away.

  “Lila? Are you okay?”

  Lila cocked her head to the side. “It is you, isn’t it?”

  Shivers ran down Maggie’s spine, and she stepped back involuntarily. “Where did you hear that, Lila?” she demanded. “Why would you say that to me?”

  Lila smiled in a way that made Maggie’s hair stand on end. Something was off about her eyes—they had an iridescent glow, and her voice sounded deeper, more guttural than normal.

  “Lila?”

  Lila stepped closer and reached a hand up to Maggie’s forehead. “You can call me B.”

  Her fingertips rested between Maggie’s eyes, and white-hot pain exploded inside Maggie’s skull. She felt something thud against her knees, and in the flashes of sight between bursts of blinding pain she realized it was the ground. She wanted to wrench away from Lila’s fingers, but the pain was too intense to think about moving.


  Whatever Lila was doing, Maggie couldn’t fight it physically. She tried to fight it with her mind. She didn’t actually know how, but she thought of a barrier. It helped, dulling the pain ever so slightly. She pushed the barrier, using it as a shield to push the assault away from her brain, but Lila’s power struck downward with renewed force.

  Maggie’s throat was raw, but she couldn’t think why. Just when she thought the pain couldn’t get any worse, it burrowed down more deeply until the entire length of her spine felt like it was on fire.

  She heard other noises she couldn’t identify. They were drowned out by the sound of the pain in her skull. Then there was nothing.