Gone (Gone #1)(116)

It was a tight space. Little PeK immediately sat down in a dusty corner Astrid and Sam stood awkwardly close together, crowded by the bell.

"Did you leave me a gun?" He shook his head-"No."

"YouVe asking everyone else to do terrible things. You're just asking me to watch." "There'sa difference" "U there? What?"

"Well ... I need you for your brains. I need you to observe"

"That's lame" she said.

He nodded. "Yeah. Well. You haven't been trained to shoot. You'd probably end up shooting yourself in the foot." "Ah," she said* not convinced.

"Listen, I know this is crazy, bur maybe you should think about Quinn's idea, you know, of getting L. R to zap you to Hawaii, Or whatever. He has the power. In case things don't work out.. ."

"I don't want him to zap me away somewhere "Astrid said. "I don't really think it would work, for one. And for two -. "

"Yeah?"

"And for two, I don't want to leave you."

He laid his palm gently against her cheek, and she closed her eyes and leaned intohim,"Astrid, I'm the one who's going to be leaving. You know that"

"No. i don't know that. I've prayed for it not to happen. I've asked Mary to intercede."

"Mary Terrafino?"

"No, duh." Astrid laughed. "You are such a heathen. Mary. The Virgin Mary"

"Oh. Her."

"I know you don't really believe in God much, (nil I do. I think He knows we're here. I think He hears our prayers." "Vou think this is all some master plan of God's? The FAYZ and all?"

"No. I believe in free will. I think we make our own decisions and carry out our own actions. And our actions have consequences. The world is what we make it. But I think sometimes we can ask God to help us and He will. Sometimes I think He looks down and says/Wow, look what those idiots are up to now: I guess I better help them along a little"*

Til gladly accept the help" Sam said.

"lust the same, I wish I had a gun"

Sam shook his head. "I hurt my stepfather. I hurt Drake. I may have killed Drake. I don't know. And I don't know whal's going to happen next. But here's what I do know: When I hurt someone it makes a mark on me. Like a scar or something. It's like .. T He searched for words, and she wrapped her arms tight around him. "It's like my knee, where Drake shot me? That's all healed up, thanks to Una, like it never happened. But me burning Drake? That's inside me, in my head, and Lana didn't heal that."

"If there's a fight, others will feel that hurt."

"You're not others"

"No?"

"No."

"Why?"

"Because I love you."

Astrid was silent for so long, Sam thought he must have upset her. Yet she never loosened her hold on him, never pulled away but kept her face buried in his neck. He felt her warm tears on his skin. And at last she said,"! love you, too"

He sighed with relief "Well, we got past that"

Hut she didn't join in the nervous laughter. "I have something to tell you, Sam"

"A secret?*

"I wasn't sure of it, so I didn't say anything. It's hard to separate it from IQ. Intuition is usually just the name we give to heightened but normal perception that takes place below the level of conscious thought."

"Uh-huh," he said, using his dumb-guy voice.

"For a long time I wasn't sure it was anything other than normal intuition"

"The power" he said. "I was wondering if you knew. Diana said you were a two bar. I kind of didn't want to, you know, force you to think about it."

"I suspected. But it's weird. I touch a person's hand and I sometimes see what looks in my mind like a streak of lire across the sky"

He held her out at arm's length, the better to see her face. "A streak?"

She shrugged. "Weird, huh? I see it as bright or dim, long or short. I don't know what it means, I don't have any control over it and I haven't really tried exploring it yet. But it feels like Pm seeing some measure of, I con't know, significance or something? It's like Pm seeing a person's soul or maybe their fate, but in highly metaphorical terms"

"Highly metaphorical" he echoed. "Your power is the power of metaphor?"

That at last earned him a smile and a shove. "Smart-ass. The point is, !Ve known from the start that you were important in some way. YouVe a shooting star across the sky, trailing sparks"

"Do I shoot right into a brick wall tomorrow?" "I don't know" she admitted. "But I know you're the brightest shooting star in the sky"

Computer Jack woke and felt her soft hand over his mouth. It was dark outside, but the room was bathed in the blue glow of a computer screen. He could s? the outline of her face, her dark hair. Her eyes glittered.

"Shh," she cautioned, and put a linger to her lips.

His heart was already pounding. Something was wrong, no question.

"Get up, Jack"

"What's happening?"

"You remember our deal? You remember your promise?"

He didn't want to say yes. He didn't want to. He had always known that whatever Diana wanted, it would be dangerous. And Jack was more terrified than ever.