Fledgling(29)

I sighed. “They don’t and I don’t.” I looked from one lean, sharp face to the other, realizing that they had drawn away from me a little, and now they looked oddly uncomfortable. They fidgeted and glanced at one another now and then.

I said, “Tell me about my family, my mothers. How many mothers did I have anyway? Were they all sisters except for the human one? How many sisters did I have?”

“Our mothers were three sisters,” Stefan said, “and one human woman who donated DNA. Also, there were two eldermothers—our mothers’ surviving mothers. The two eldermothers were the ones who made it possible for us—you in particular—to be born with better-than-usual protection from the sun and more daytime alertness.”

“They integrated the human DNA with our own somehow?”

“They did, yes. They were both over 350 years old, and biology fascinated them. Once their children were mated, they studied with humans from several universities and with other Ina who were working on the problem. They understood more about the uses of viruses in genetic engineering than anyone I’ve ever heard of, and they understood it well before humans did. They were fantastic people to work with and talk to.” He paused, shaking his head. “I still can’t believe that they’re dead—that someone would murder them that way.”

“Could their work be the reason they were murdered?” I asked. “Did anyone object to it or try to stop it?”

Stefan looked at Iosif and Iosif shook his head. “I don’t believe so. Shori, our people have been trying to do this for generations. If you could remember, you’d know what a celebrity you are. People traveled from South America, Europe, Asia, and Africa to see you and to understand what our mothers had done.”

“There are Ina in Africa, and they haven’t done this?”

“Not yet.”

“Was anyone visiting just before the fire?”

“Don’t know,” Iosif said. “I hadn’t spoken to your mothers for a week and a half. When I phoned them in the early morning and told them I wanted to visit the next night, they said they would be expecting me. They said if I came, I had to stay a few days.” He smiled, apparently taking pleasure in his memories, then his expression sagged into sadness. “They told me to bring at least five symbionts. I took them at their word. The next night, I gathered five of my people and drove down there. Vasile had wanted to use the helicopter for something so I took one of the bigger cars. When I got there, I found smoke and ashes and death.” He paused, staring out into nothing. “Once I’d seen it and understood it, I called home to get Stefan and Radu to come down with some of their symbionts to help clean things up, to hunt for survivors, and to keep our secrets secret.”

So that was how Hugh Tang had wound up at the cave looking for me. “What have you learned since then?” I asked.

He turned away from me, paced a few steps away, then the same few back. “Nothing!” The word was a harsh whisper. “Not one goddamned thing.”

I sighed. Suddenly, I’d had enough. “I think I need to go home,” I said. “Let’s go get Wright, and you can take us back to the ruin.”

“You are home.” He stood in front of me and looked down at me with an expression I couldn’t read, except that it wasn’t an altogether friendly expression. “You must think of this place as your home.”

“I will,” I said. “I’ll be glad to come back here and learn more about my life, my family. But I’m tired now. I feel … I need to go back to things that feel familiar.”

“I was hoping to convince you to stay here until tomorrow night,” he said.

I shook my head. “Take me back.”

“Shori, it would be best for you to stay here. Wright has hidden you successfully for this long, but if anything went wrong, if even one person spotted you with him and decided to make trouble—”

“You promised to give us a week,” I said. “That was the first promise you made me.”

He stared down at me. I stared back.

After a while, he sighed and turned away. “Child, I’ve lost everyone but you.”

Stefan said, “All of our female family is dead, Shori. You’re the last.”

I wanted more than ever to go home, to be away from them and alone with Wright. And yet they pulled at me somehow—my father and my brother. They were strangers, but they were my father and my brother. “I’m sorry,” I said. “I need to go.”

“We Ina are sexually territorial,” Iosif said. “And you’re a little too old to be sharing territory with the adult males of your family—with any adult Ina male since you’re too young to mate. That’s what’s bothering you.”

“You mean I feel uncomfortable with you and Stefan just because you’re male?”

“Yes.”

“Then how can I live here?”

“Let’s go back to Wright. I think you’ll feel better when you’re with him.” He led me away from Stefan toward a side door. I looked back once, but Stefan had already turned away.”

“Is he feeling territorial, too?” I asked.

“No. He’s willing for you to be here because he fears for you—and for himself. And you’re not mature yet, so there’s no real danger …”