Madman's Dance (Time Rovers #3)(81)

“You trashed a couple of CopBots?” she asked, amazed. As he nodded, her estimation of him rose by tenfold. She hit shrinks; he smashed CopBots.

Yeah, we’re family.

She grinned and gave him a thumbs-up. “Good!”

Blair looked startled. “No, it wasn’t good. When Mom and Dad found out I was to be sent Off-Grid, they decided to come with me. They were worried about me making it, you see. They never would have worried about you like that. You were always so confident, so sure of yourself.”

“That’s bull,” she shot back, looking away.

“No, it’s not.”

There was more there, she could feel it. The shrink hadn’t been her first assault. Maybe Blair had a history of this sort of thing too.

“And?” she nudged.

He looked crestfallen. “Okay, I’ve done this before. I was getting into trouble fairly regularly. When I refused to get counseling to deal with my issues, as they called them, the authorities decided I needed to go because I was a disruptive influence.”

She was astounded. “They tossed you out for that?”

“It was only supposed to be three years. Then we could come back.” He laughed hollowly. “To what? Mom and Dad had to give up everything to go with me. The money they got for the house went to pay off all those fines I’d racked up. Then the new Government took over and made all the sentences permanent.”

Endless exile.

Ants began to fire up. She doused them immediately. There was nothing she could do right now, but down the line some changes needed to be made.



“Why are you here, Blair? I understand why the parents couldn’t come, but why you? We never liked each other.”

He glowered at her. “They wanted me to. They want us to find common ground.”

“What’s the point?”

“They say it’s time we both grew up,” he replied.

Ouch.

“You never understood, Cynder. Even though what you do seems crazy, I’ve always been proud of you.”

“What?” she asked, baffled.

“You were so confident. I was just arrogant. There’s a difference.” He reached over and pulled a pillow under him. “That’s better. It was making my butt sore.”

Something told her the old Blair wouldn’t have admitted that.

“What’s up? You aren’t like this, or at least I don’t think you are. My memories are still jumbled.”

“The last year has been a bitch. Mom and Dad never said a word, never blamed me, but every time those tomato seeds appeared, I knew I’d failed. You were thumbing your nose at me, and I couldn’t tell you to go to hell.”

“Tomato seeds?”

He looked chagrined. “Sorry. I forgot you don’t remember a lot of stuff. You bought some of the rare, non-gen modified seeds and smuggled them to us. It’s against the law, Cynder. The smuggling, at least. You risked going to jail for us. Mr. Morrisey said it would have been a decade or longer.”

“But, I—”

He raised his hand. “Let me finish. If you hadn’t taken that risk, we would have starved. That’s the cost of my arrogance. Our parents could have died because I thought I had the right to tell Guv to go screw themselves.”

“Everyone has that right.”

“Not for the price we’ve paid. I was sure we’d make a living, no hassles. I was wrong, Cynder. It’s the Wild West out there. I was so wrong.”



She put a hand on his forearm. “You made it, though. You’re a tough S.O.B.”

“Not tough enough,” he said. “My little sis had to bail us out.”

“You’re here, aren’t you?”

“That’s Mr. Morrisey’s doing. I wasn’t even sure if I should come. I wanted to see you, but you might not have recognized me.”

True. It was better to fib. “Fat chance,” she said. “Let’s start over.”

“You forgive me?” he asked, incredulous. “For everything?”

“Well…”

“Like painting your new puppy bright pink?” Another sin she didn’t remember. “I called him Pinkie Pup,” Blair recalled. “Really made you mad.”

Her brother broke out laughing louder than was expected. Just releasing tension. Then he grew solemn again. “God, Cynder, it’s not gone the way I planned. And when I heard you’d been so badly hurt…”

“Just keeps happening,” she said. He gave her a questioning look. He doesn’t know about the chest wound. Or most of the other things that had happened to her. “At least it seems like it.”

“The parents sent you a message.” Blair offered her a thick envelope. At her puzzled look, he said, “No hi-tech out there. Dad goes on and on about his new clinic, which is finally up and running. Nothing fancy, just basic medical care. It’s given us some extra income because they pay us in food. Oh, and Mom is really pleased with her beets.”

“Beets?”

“Off-Grid, it’s all about food and security. The gangs are active again. There’s talk of more raids on the settlements.”

“Geez.”

He turned away, caught up in his own thoughts. It was only then that she saw the ring on his left hand. She took a gamble that it was something new, not something she’d forgotten.