The Flight of the Silvers (Silvers #1)(175)

“Why should I believe you? You lied to me. Pretended you were a stranger.”

“I am a stranger, Hannah. If I had an ounce of sense, I’d stay that way. This isn’t my struggle.”

“Then why are you following us?”

“There’s no ‘us.’ Just Theo.”

“Why him?”

Ioni looked to Theo and sighed. “It’s complicated. Suffice it to say that I have a special empathy for augurs, this one in particular. It gives me a modicum of comfort to help him through this rough patch.”

“Help him? You already hurt him!”

“What do you mean?”

“You’re the one who told Mia to bring him to the health fair. We took your advice. If you knew what would happen—”

“I knew he’d get treated.”

“He got arrested!”

“And then he got treated,” Ioni replied. “In the augur game, it’s never a direct line from A to B. If you want things done, you have to make bank shots. Theo will learn that soon enough.”

Hannah shot her a baleful glare. “People got hurt.”

“People always get hurt. There’s no such thing as a perfect future. Someone always gets the pointy end.”

“Who are you?”

Ioni rubbed her weary face. “You can’t handle the answer. Not today. Just take comfort that I’ll be out of your hair in a minute. Once I’m done here, none of you will see me again for at least two years.”

Hannah looked to Theo. “At least tell me what you’re doing to him. Are you healing him?”

“There’s nothing to heal. These are just birth pains and they’re almost done. In thirty-eight minutes, he’ll be stronger than he’s ever been in his life.”

Hannah’s brow arched. “I want to believe that.”

“You’ll see soon enough. But listen, hon, it’s not all roses. By the end of the day, he’ll have a whole new burden. He’ll need you more than ever.”

“What are you talking about?”

“He’s been doing penny ante stuff up until now. Parlor tricks. Very soon he’ll know the true nature of his talent. Power like that can ruin a person, Hannah. You have to keep him anchored. You and Mia and Zack and Amanda, you’re his family now. Comfort him. Love him. Yell at him, if need be. Just don’t let him fade away into the futures. That’s where people like Theo become people like Azral. You do not want that.”

Ioni’s pretty young face twisted with hatred. She raised a stern finger.

“The time may come when you’ll be tempted to trust the Pelletiers. Don’t. They destroy worlds, Hannah. They destroyed yours twice.”

The actress felt a sharp flutter in her stomach as she tried to process all the new information.

“You’re right. I can’t handle this.”

“I said you couldn’t handle my story. I have every faith you can handle yours. I’ve seen you in times to come, Hannah. You’re magnificent.”

The actress flicked a hand in hopeless bother. “If you know so much about the future, then help us.”

“I just did.”

“Tell me something I can use to save someone I love.”

“Sweetie, I just did.”

Hannah clenched her jaw, exasperated. Ioni lay a gentle hand on her wrist.

“If I could fill your life with smiles and happy faces, I would. But the future doesn’t work that way. It’s a map that’s always changing. I can’t even guide you through the minefield of today without steering you wrong. All I can tell you is to be brave, be strong, be there for the people who need you. You do that and you’ll be okay.”

“If the future’s always changing, how can you be sure?”

Ioni bloomed a sage little grin. “There are some events in life that are so reliable, we don’t bother predicting them. The sunrise. The full moon. The rainbow after a storm. These are all things that can’t be stopped by mere mortals. You know what the augurs call them?”

“What?”

She took Hannah’s hand and breathed a soft whisper through her hair.

“Givens.”

Ioni kissed her cheek, then backed away. Hannah looked into her palm and found a small folded square of purple paper. A crude pencil drawing of a theater mask graced the front. A happy face.

Once Hannah glanced up again, the girl with two watches was gone.

She took a heavy gulp of air, then reclaimed her seat on the shoeshine stand. She fumbled with the seams of her paper construct until she gave up and stuffed it in her jeans pocket. Her hard drive was already overflowing with wild new data. She couldn’t take another byte.

Theo continued to twitch in somnolent anguish. Hannah stroked his arm with her fingertips, rolling Ioni’s words around her thoughts like boulders. You have to keep him anchored. You and Mia and Zack and Amanda, you’re his family now.

A cold flutter gripped Hannah’s heart when she caught Ioni’s glaring omission. Why didn’t she mention David?

The light on the pay phone turned green. The door swung open and a gaunt old woman exited the tube. Zack tapped Mia’s shoulder.

“You’re up.”

—

She fed enough coins into the slot to buy twenty-six minutes. A recorded voice asked her to close the tube door and kindly spare others from her business. Mia ignored it.