Touch

  After a bit more arguing—and no apology for past transgressions—he finally agreed to introduce us to the people he knew. We set it up to meet him inside the park behind the pool hall at nine o’clock.

  There was no other choice.

  “Tell me more,” Kale said as he sat next to me on the grass. We’d left the pool hall and grabbed sodas and sandwiches from a sandwich shop in town and settled under a large pine tree behind the building.

  “What do you want to know?”

  “Tell me what it was like to grow up here.” He glanced from the sky to my face, a little sad. “Free.”

  “How about we have a conversation that doesn’t involve me doing all the talking? You can ask me a question, then I get to ask you one.”

  “Me?” He looked surprised—then worried.

  I looked away. “I want to know how you grew up.”

  This seemed to horrify him. “Why? I told you what a horrible place it was.”

  “Because…”

  He scowled and folded his arms. His expression changed—not angry, really—more like frustrated. “My world wasn’t pretty. It was dark and loud and full of pain. I do not understand why you keep asking.”

  “It’s what people do. You know, when they’re… interested.”

  “Interested?”

  “I want to know about your past. It makes you who you are.”

  His lips twisted into an angry snarl, and he jumped to his feet. “It doesn’t make me who I am. That place has nothing to do with who I am. Sue swore to me—”

  I let the turkey sub fall to the grass and sprang to my feet. Grabbing his hands, I said, “You misunderstood me. I didn’t mean that as a bad thing.” I sank back to the ground and pulled him with me. “All the things Denazen did, all they put you through, it made you strong. You came out of that place in one piece. You’re not a drooling zombie or a crazed, machete-wielding maniac. That’s a lot more than others can say, I bet.”

  A glimmer of something danced behind ice blue eyes. Sadness and maybe a small spark of hope. I died a little at the thought of him locked away from the rest of the world. “I couldn’t miss what I never had. But now that I know…” He brought his hand to my face and let it trail down my neck and under my shirt to my bare shoulder. Looking away, he said, “Please don’t ask me about that place again. I don’t want you to know what my life was like before.”

  I could have argued. Hell, I argued about everything. But the agony in his voice made me sick. I needed to know what they did to him—to Mom—but I couldn’t stand to see him hurting over it.

  Leaning back against the tree, I tilted my head sideways so it rested against his shoulder.

  I started by telling him about the first time I’d done something stupid to get Dad’s attention. “It wasn’t long after Dad started working longer hours at Denazen, and I’d been feeling kind of neglected.” I sighed and picked at the edge of my sub. “He was distant and cold—sometimes he was downright mean. I didn’t understand. For awhile I thought it was me. That I’d disappointed him somehow… It’d been my brilliant idea that sliding down the stairs on a plastic sled—to show him how brave I so obviously was—would fix all that. I was eight at the time and ended up breaking my right arm.”

  “Did he think you were brave?”

  I laughed. “He thought some colorful things—brave was not one of them.”

  Kale played with a strand of my hair. He wrapped it around his pointer finger, let it unravel, and then wrapped it again. “So you used to be close with him?”

  “I wouldn’t say close—normal is more like it. He went to work, came home, and asked me what I’d learned in school. I did my homework and watched TV with him.” I shrugged. “Normal stuff. But there was always this…barrier…between us.”

  I pulled a piece of turkey from the sub and popped it into my mouth. It was dry and tasted rubbery. Processed. Nothing beat the real thing. “It was like he was keeping me at a distance on purpose. I used to think it was because I looked so much like Mom—but I guess I know now that wasn’t true…” I sighed. “When I started hanging with Alex and his friends, getting into more and more trouble, I thought for sure he’d have some kind of reaction.”

  “And he didn’t?”

  I pulled another piece of turkey from the sub, but this time instead of eating it, I tossed it across the lawn. A pigeon swooped down immediately and snatched it away. “Nope. Sure, he’d yell and scream, but it was all empty. You could tell. He wasn’t really into it. Like he was doing it because it’s what was expected.”

  Kale thought about this for a moment, then frowned. “Let’s not talk about him anymore. Tell me about something else. A secret no one else knows.”

  A secret no one else knew. I had one—and it was a game changer—but since Alex, trust didn’t come easy. With Kale though, the thought of sharing the deepest, darkest part of myself felt exciting and not terrifying. Still, I couldn’t get the words out. Not yet anyway. I stopped picking at my sandwich and moved Kale’s hand onto my lap. Turning it over, I pulled blades of grass from the ground one by one and watched them disintegrate in his palm. The remains would hover for several seconds before fluttering away in the breeze. Every few pieces, I’d stop and trace circles across his open palm.

  After a while, Kale cleared his throat. “School. Tell me about school.”

  I blinked. “Are you serious?”

  “Sue used to tell me about a place where people my own age gather to learn. It always fascinated me.” He smiled. “What was your favorite part?”

  I gave him a lopsided grin. “Well, there’s this class called detention…”

  §

  “I don’t like him,” Kale said as we settled on the grass in the field behind Roudey’s to wait for Alex. “I don’t like how he looks at you.”

  “Yeah? Well I’m not his biggest fan either, but he might be able to help us. Trust me, if I can tolerate being in the same room with him for a little while, so can you.”

  “Tell me why you don’t like him.”

  “It’s in the past.” I shrugged and wanted to smack myself for the constricting feeling gnawing at my insides.

  Kale stared. It was like he was looking through me. Peeking past my bullshit and seeing right into my head. Into my heart.

  He started to stand, but I stopped him. “We used to date. He cheated on me.”

  “Date,” he repeated. “The hand thing, right? He made you feel special?”

  It was times like this that I found it hard to look at Kale as someone dangerous and capable of murder. He was—I could see it sometimes when I looked in his eyes, but he was so much more. Something innocent. “At one time, yeah, he made me feel special. Then, one day, he didn’t anymore.”

  Kale looked confused. “So then why did you stop me from touching him? He did something wrong, didn’t he? He hurt you?”

  I was the last person who should be explaining right and wrong to someone. “He did hurt me, but people sometimes hurt each other. It’s part of life.”

  Kale nodded in confirmation. “And when they do bad things, they must be punished.”

  I groaned. “What they taught you at Denazen was wrong, Kale. There are different levels of wrong in the world. So many different levels.”

  “Why?”

  “Why? Why what?”

  “Why make it so confusing? There is right and there is wrong. Why does there need to be different…levels?”

  My head was starting to spin. “Because that’s the way it is! You don’t treat a murderer and a shoplifter the same. You wouldn’t condemn a cheater to the same punishment as, say, a rapist. Some wrongs are worse than others.”

  “That doesn’t make sense,” he hissed, fists clenched. “Wrong is wrong. You obey the rules or you get punished. Why does it need to be so confusi
ng?”

  “Because it’s more complicated.”

  “That word again. Complicated. You use it too often.”

  I looked him in the eye. “It’s wrong to go killing people. It’s not for you—or Denazen—to decide who lives and who dies.”

  “Who decides then?”

  I shrugged. “The government and lawmakers, but the point is, it’s rare to punish crimes with death.”

  He seemed surprised. “So then how do they get punished?”

  “Criminals go to trial, and a judge and jury hear the case. If guilty, they incarcerate them.”

  “Incarcerate?”

  “You know. Locked up.”

  Understanding slipped across his face, followed by something else—something almost sad. “Now I understand.”

  I got the feeling he still didn’t get it, but didn’t have time to question him because Alex had arrived. From across the field, he swaggered closer, arms swinging casually at his sides. His eyes jumped from Kale to me, lips twisting into an angry sneer. “Am I interrupting something?”

  I ignored the jealousy act and got to my feet. “Where are these people?”

  “They aren’t coming to us, we have to go to them.”

  “Where?”

  Alex shrugged. “The location changes every day for safety reasons. Tonight, they’re over in the old abandoned warehouse outside of town. We can take my car.” Without waiting for a response, he turned and started off.

  I hurried to catch up, Kale at my side. “Wait, the location of what exactly?”

  He slowed his pace but didn’t stop. Grinning at me from over his shoulder, he winked and said, “The party, of course.”

  §

  From the outside, the warehouse looked empty. No crowds gathering out front. No flashing lights or pulse-pounding beats. Only eerie silence. When questioned about whether or not he had the right place, Alex only waved us forward and jumped from the car.

  We made our way to the back, where we found two burly guys standing in front of a single metal door. Alex turned to me as we approached them. He was smiling like a guy who’d just stolen the last cookie. “Here’s the catch.” He inclined his head to the two men standing guard. “The guy on the right can tell if you’re a Six or not. No genetic abnormality, no entry.”

  My mouth fell open and a chill raced down my spine. “You’re telling me they’ll only let me in if I have an ability?” This was an unexpected and potentially disastrous turn of events.

  Alex relaxed and cracked his knuckles. Leaning in, he bared his teeth. “I know this is a totally foreign concept to you, but you don’t have a choice.” Without waiting for a response, he turned to the two men. “Howdy, boys.”

  The bouncers turned. “Shit,” I whispered. Attempting to cover up the terror I knew was creeping across my face, I shoved past Alex. I had to get control of the situation before it was too late. If I didn’t, there’d be some serious explaining to do. Standing between the two men, I smiled sweetly and placed my hands on my hips. This did two things. It accentuated my slim waist, and it also allowed me to hook my thumbs into the material of my T-shirt, stretching it just a bit tighter. I had to make this look good so no one would be suspicious. “So do they make you stand out here all alone all night?”

  The older of the two pinched the bridge of his nose and closed his eyes, but the younger guard smiled back at me. Bingo. He leaned across the doorway, stretching out his arm and subtly flexing his muscle. “We get an hour break halfway through the night.”

  I tilted my head toward the door. “An hour is plenty of time to get in some trouble. If you let me in, I’ll wait for you. Bet we can find a nice quiet corner to get to know each other a little better.”

  His smile bloomed into an all-out grin as he pulled the door open, gesturing me, Alex, and Kale inside.

  As we entered, Alex shook his head, a small grin on his lips. “You’re the only non-Six girl I know who could flirt her way into a place like this.”

  I pushed through the door with Kale beside me. Once Alex tried to shoulder him away, but a single look from Kale and the subtle hint of removing his glove, had Alex trailing behind. I steered us to an empty table in the back corner of the room where there were fewer people. Kale was nervous about the crowd so I was hoping it would help him relax.

  Thick, velvety swatches of onyx material covered the walls while strobe lights danced across them, skimming the edges before assaulting the ceiling in an array of rainbow color. Around the bottom layer of the room, several makeshift bars were set up, each manned by a beautiful and very well-endowed blonde. The upper level was a mass of bodies, all grinding and thrashing to the techno beat blaring from well-hidden speakers. The sound system—as well as the acoustics—were fantastic.

  “So what is all this?” I asked, having to lean closer to Alex than I would have liked so he could hear me. I couldn’t help being aware of his leg pressed firmly against mine. Somehow I’d ended up between him and Kale.

  “This is where the Sixes go to party. They come from all over. If you thought the raves down by the river were wild, you ain’t seen nothing yet.”

  I wanted to smack him. “I get that it’s a party, you idiot. What I don’t get is why it’s Sixes only? And while we’re at it—why are they called Sixes?”

  “Because Stan Lee already has the patent on mutants?” Alex snickered, leaning back. “There’s a genetic abnormality that shows up in the sixth chromosome. Not incredibly original, but appropriate.”

  After searching the room for a moment, he tapped me on the shoulder and pointed to the upper level. I tilted my head skyward in time to see a small-framed girl in a blue leather bustier and really cute boots dump a large box over the edge. Like silver snow, a million pieces of metallic colored confetti rained down on the crowd. With a flick of the girl’s wrist, the confetti stopped its descent and began swirling and fluttering above the dance floor, moving to the beat. It was beautiful.

  A loud explosion tore my attention from the dancing confetti. A stocky shirtless boy stood by the entrance with his arms raised high above his head, sparks shooting from each of his fingertips, while a young girl who looked no more than twelve or so watched with a wide grin. Fluttering in the air above her head for a few seconds, the sparks twitched and jumped until they formed a single word. Amber.

  In front of our table, a couple stopped long enough to kiss passionately. The girl looked familiar—I was sure she’d been in my English and Math classes last year. When their lips touched, the air hissed and sizzled, sending smoke curling skyward.

  “Wow,” was all I could say as they disappeared into the crowd. Alex grinned at me, a too-familiar expression I’d told myself I hadn’t missed. Below his lips, Fred, the smiling yellow labret bead, seemed to wink. I shook my head to clear the stupidity. No way was I going there again. “So they’re free to be themselves here.”

  “Exactly. No one has to hide.”

  “Isn’t it a little dangerous? I mean with people like Dad and Denazen never far away, is it smart to have all these Sixes bunched up in one place together? What happens if you’re, like, raided or something?”

  “Raided? I think you need to lay off the TV, Dez.” He snickered. “Besides, I told you, the location changes all the time. Plus, we’re in no danger from the local PD—we have a few Sixes on the force.”

  “How do people know where it’s going to be if the location is always changing? I’m guessing there’s no mass email…”

  He smiled. “Craigslist.”

  “Huh?”

  “Each afternoon, someone posts an ad for something under the lessons section. When Sixes call the number listed in the ad, they’re asked a question. If the answer given is right, they get another number to call..”

  “So…it’s like a scavenger hunt?”

  Alex smiled.
“Zactly.”

  “Couldn’t anyone figure out the answer?”

  He shook his head. “Nah. Not likely. It’s usually something silly and unrelated. Something only one of us would know. The first time, you’d have to know someone to get the answer right. Something that happened at a previous party, or you might be given a name and asked what their four-one-one is.”

  “Four-one-one?”

  “You know a Six’s four-one-one and you know their gift. Their ability.”

  “Well, what about Denazen? You don’t think they could find you without the ad?”

  “You saw the outside of the building. Did you have any idea this was anything more than an old abandoned building?”

  “Yeah, what about that?”

  Alex shrugged. “A Six,” he said with a wink. Glancing down at his watch, he sighed. “We have a little time till she gets here.” Hand extended, he nodded to the dance floor. “Shall we?”

  The room was loud. Surely I’d heard him wrong. “You did not seriously ask me to dance with you.”

  He slid out from his chair and stood. The sleeve of his dark T-shirt rode up to reveal a tiny glimpse of the tattoo hiding beneath. The Chinese symbol for freedom. I remember asking him why freedom. He’d told me he liked the symbol. Another thing he’d lied to me about. “It’s just a dance, what harm could it do?”

  I thought about it. The music pumped and the air was electric. On the floor, bodies swayed and convulsed, lost to the beat. Would it hurt to have a few minutes of normalcy? I thought back to the way our bodies moved together. Even after all this time, the memory brought a flush to my skin and a rush of heat racing through my limbs. I slid over and stood, giving him a quick nod. “You’re right, what would one little dance hurt?”

  His grin widened. “Zactly.”

  “What do you say, Kale? Want to dance your first dance with me?”

  Kale looked from me to the dance floor. It was packed, but I’d already scouted a small corner at the edge that was fairly empty. It’d be safe. He must have seen it too, because he smiled and stood. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw him grin at Alex, a totally guy smile that said nah-nah-nah-nah-she-picked-me-not-you. We left Alex sitting alone at the table with a sour expression on his face.