Starcrossed (33 page)

“You, too,” he said, taking a few steps toward me with obvious effort. “I was afraid you’d—”

But then I propelled myself the last few feet and no more words were necessary. We clasped hands and gasped in unison. My headache was gone,
poof
, as if it had never been. Then Rigel kissed me and it was like all the power of the sun was pouring into me. It was the most wonderful, healing feeling I’d ever experienced: fireworks to someone who’d been blind and a hot bath to someone who’d been freezing, all at the same time. I could feel myself getting stronger, healthier, with every fraction of a second that passed.
 

It was Sean’s voice that finally penetrated. “C’mon, you two, or we’ll have to tell our mum about this.”

I turned to face him, grinning, as Rigel threw an arm around my shoulders. “Go ahead,” I said. “I
want
you to tell her—tell them all! Tell them how I looked on the bus.
And
tell them how I look now.” Because I was sure I must be glowing, I felt so full of happiness and health.

Sean’s jaw was clenched, angry, but he also looked stunned—and a little sad. Molly, on the other hand, was smiling, romantic stars in her eyes.

“That was beautiful,” she whispered now. “I’m sorry I didn’t believe you sooner, M.”

“Oh, give over,” Sean snapped at her.
 

Rigel looked out at the parking lot and gave a thumbs up and I turned to see his father’s car pull away. He must have been watching our reunion, too. Good.

Sean frowned. “This doesn’t change anything, you know. M is still grounded and you’re still supposed to stay away from each other. Her aunt—”

“Sean!” Molly exclaimed. “How can you say that, after—” The warning bell rang, interrupting her.

Sean just glowered at her, then at Rigel and me. “I didn’t make the rules,” he muttered. “C’mon, we’d all better get to class.”

Rigel and I grinned at each other—then shrugged. School just seemed so . . .
mundane
after the miracle that had just occurred. Really, what was the point?
 

Rigel, clearly picking up my thoughts, gave a little nod. “Wanna ditch?” he murmured too softly for Sean to hear.

“Absolutely. We can—”

“What are all of you students still doing out here?” It was Mr. Pedersen, the vice principal, or, as half the school called him behind his back, The Warden. “Didn’t you hear the warning bell? Oh, it’s you, Rigel, Sean.” He softened—star athletes got extra slack—but he didn’t leave. “I’m sure none of you want to be late to class. You have—” He glanced at his watch. “—three minutes to get to first period. I suggest you hurry.”

Since there was no ditching under The Warden’s watchful eye, we followed Sean and Molly into the school—at four times the speed I’d managed when I got off the bus. I was tempted to see if I could fly, I felt that good.

“So do I,” Rigel whispered, giving my hand a squeeze as we hurried to Geometry together. “I love you so much, M,” he whispered then, and I could feel the truth of the emotion right through his fingers, still entwined with mine.

“Oh, Rigel, me, too. I’ve missed you more than I ever thought I could miss anything. Let’s please not ever be apart again, okay?”

“Fine by me.” He was grinning ear to ear, but then glanced at Sean, up ahead, and his grin faded slightly. “Though our folks—and certain other people—might have something to say about that.”
 

I couldn’t believe how incredibly, magically better I felt than I had just ten minutes earlier—like night had turned to day, rain to sunshine. My mind was also clearer than it had been in over a week, forcing me to realize he was right. Not that I cared at this exact moment.

“Well, we’re together now. And it’s awesome.
You’re
awesome,” I told him.

He laughed, and it was the most beautiful sound I’d ever heard. “You’re pretty amazingly awesome yourself. In fact, I think you just saved my life.”

“Ditto.” That’s sure what it felt like—like I’d been at death’s door and now was bursting with health. I couldn’t stop grinning, either.

I’d forgotten about Ms. Harrigan until we entered the classroom and the “student teacher” frowned at our still-clasped hands. We reluctantly released each other, but exchanged a last, secret smile as we headed to our seats. Even a Martian spy who wanted to keep us apart wasn’t enough to spoil my fabulous mood.
 

Class started immediately, but all I could think about was Rigel and how wonderful it was just having him in the room. His vibe felt stronger to me than I could ever remember. Still, I was startled to suddenly hear his voice in my head.

I’m picking up your thoughts so well today! Can you hear mine if you try?

Involuntarily, I glanced at him to see him watching me with a questioning look. I gave him a tiny nod, then thought back,
I can! This is awesome! If we can do this, it won’t matter if they don’t let us talk in school.
Then, mainly to test this new, wonderfully enhanced ability, I asked,
Did your folks try to keep you home today, like my aunt did? Did you hear about these Healers that are coming to town?

Yeah, my mom was all about that this morning. Guess we don’t need them now, huh?
His triumph and amusement came through with the words and I had to suppress a grin that the teacher—and especially Ms. Harrigan—might notice.
 

I sure don’t. I feel fantastic! I love you, Rigel.

We continued “talking” like that through the whole period—off and on, since occasionally we did have to pay a
little
bit of attention to the teacher. It was wonderful. It also seemed to get easier and easier, the more we communicated this way. By the time the bell rang, we’d nearly caught each other up on our ten day separation, though we’d done some of that in emails already.
 

The one thing I didn’t tell him about was the weird effect Sean’s touch had on me at Thanksgiving dinner. I would eventually, of course, but for now I didn’t want to do anything to spoil Rigel’s—or my—euphoria.

When Molly met us in the hall on the way to second period, I gave Rigel’s hand a quick squeeze and thought,
Now it won’t be so hard to play by the stupid rules. See you in English.

Can’t wait. Love you, M!
With a half-wink, Rigel headed off to his Spanish class and I walked with Molly most of the way to Computer Apps.

“I still can’t believe how much better you look,” she said wonderingly.

I gave her a huge smile that made her blink. “
So
much better. Didn’t I tell you I would? Do you really, truly believe me now?”

“I do. I have to. I just didn’t expect . . . But it’s great. I think.”

I could understand why she’d feel conflicted, between her loyalty to Sean and all the political stuff her parents kept pushing, but I wasn’t conflicted at all. “It
is
great. See you at lunch!”
 

Once or twice during second period, I could have sworn I heard a faint echo of Rigel’s thoughts and wondered if he was trying to think at me from a distance. I thought back,
I hear you, I think,
the second time, but didn’t get anything after that. I’d ask him next period if I’d imagined it.

I hadn’t.

Yeah, I wanted to test the limits,
he admitted once English class started—with us again paired with different partners on opposite sides of the room.
Wonder if we can increase our range with practice?

Worth a try,
I thought back. How awesome would it be if we got to a point where we could communicate from different rooms . . . or from across town, even?

Let’s test it at lunch
, he suggested.
Since you’re probably still grounded?

I think so.
Aunt Theresa hadn’t actually mentioned it since I got sick, but with Rigel back in town, she probably would. Now that I was better, though, I was definitely going to try that “persuasion” thing on her if she tried to lay down more rules.

We “chatted” in Science, too, which was easy, since Rigel sat right behind me. The challenge there was trying to avoid the eye of our new exogeology expert, who was totally another Martian.

Not only was Mr. Gilliland impossibly young and hot for a teacher, but he kept staring at me, acting almost as starstruck at seeing the Sovereign for the first time as the
Echtran
tourists who visited Jewel. It was a huge relief when the bell finally rang for lunch. I headed for the door quickly, glad that our new “expert” was apparently too in awe to try to talk to me—yet.

Sean intercepted me before I’d gone three steps down the hall—how did he do that, anyway?—and Rigel immediately dropped back.

“I take it you’re still feeling better?” he asked, dropping into step beside me as I headed for the lunchroom. “Or are you just putting on a good show?”

Fully aware that Rigel could hear every word with both his ears and his mind, I couldn’t suppress a big grin. “I feel fabulous! Better than I did
before
Rigel went away.”

He frowned down at me, clearly skeptical. “So, on the bus—”

“You can’t think I was faking. I told you what would make me better, you just didn’t want to believe it. And now you know: when you keep Rigel and me apart, you’re literally making me sick. Are you really okay with that?”

Sean glanced over his shoulder at Rigel, now walking a dozen paces behind us, then back at me, clearly conflicted. “You know I don’t want you sick,” he whispered—as if that would keep Rigel from hearing. “I’d
never
want that for . . . for lots of reasons.”

I figured he was referring to what he’d confessed about his lifelong fixation on me . . . something else I’d never mentioned to Rigel. I quickly diverted my thoughts before Rigel could pick up on them.
 

“Then help me convince everyone else that Rigel and I need to be together. Because that’s the
only
way I’ll stay healthy, Sean.”

He didn’t say anything else before we reached the cafeteria, but I could see he was thinking hard—and not liking where those thoughts were leading.

 
Rigel sat in the far corner of the lunchroom—part of his experiment, I assumed, though several football players joined him as soon as he sat down.
 

Can you hear me now?
he thought at me as soon as I joined our usual table with Bri, Deb and the O’Garas.
 

Loud and clear,
I thought back. We grinned at each other across the thirty yards or more separating us. This was
way
easier than before our separation and reunion. Cool.

“You still feel okay, M?” Molly asked, pulling me back to the group at
this
table. Despite her earlier words, she still looked slightly surprised.
 

“Yep, I feel great—now.”
 

She and her brother exchanged worried glances but didn’t question me further.

Bri had gone out of town for Thanksgiving, and Deb’s grandparents and aunts and uncles had been visiting, so neither of them knew how sick I’d been. Which meant they didn’t find anything remarkable about me being well today. But Bri was frowning anyway.

“You and Rigel aren’t fighting again, are you?”

“Again? We never—um, no. We’re not fighting.”

“Then why is he sitting way over there?”

“My aunt—” I began, but Bri waved that away with one hand.

“Like she’d know whether or not you guys sit together at lunch? It’s not like anyone here would actually
tell
her.”

I looked pointedly at Sean, then Molly. Sean just grinned, admitting nothing, but Molly had the grace to drop her eyes.
 

“Are you kidding? She knows almost all of the teachers,” I pointed out after an almost-awkward pause. “If we sit together at lunch it would totally get back to her and she’d make my grounding even worse.”

Bri didn’t look convinced, but Deb backed me up. “They were talking to each other in Geometry this morning, and it sure didn’t look like they were fighting.”

Of course that made Sean scowl, which made me wonder what he’d tell his mom, and what she’d tell Aunt Theresa.

Can they do anything worse to us than the last ten days?
came Rigel’s thought.

I glanced over at him and noticed that Ms. Harrigan was patrolling the cafeteria today, eerily reminiscent of “Mr. Smith” back in October. She couldn’t possibly suspect that we were communicating right now, but I still felt a little shiver of apprehension . . . or maybe premonition.

I sure hope not,
I sent back.

naesc geaniteach
(nesh gan-it-EEK)
genetic affinity

I’d been in the house maybe five minutes that afternoon when the phone rang. Hoping it might be Rigel—maybe wanting to test the range of our new, improved telepathy—I answered eagerly. “Hello?”

It was Mrs. O’Gara.
 

“M, dear, if you’re well enough, can you come to our house? Sean and Molly tell me you’re feeling much better today.”

“Um, I should probably ask my aunt—” I began, feeling strangely reluctant.

“I’m sure she won’t mind,” she said firmly. “She’s said you can come here any time. Just leave her a note saying where you are, so she won’t worry if she gets home before you do.”

Her voice held a hint of command I’d never heard directed at me before, but I couldn’t think of a reason to refuse. “Oh. Uh, sure. I’ll be over in a few minutes.”

I hung up, frowning. Every instinct told me something strange was going on. Another new development on Mars? Guess I’d find out when I got there.

It only took me a minute to drop my backpack in my bedroom and use the bathroom. Then, curiosity overcoming reluctance, I headed over to the O’Garas’ house. Mr. O opened to my knock.

“Thank you for coming, Excellency. Nearly everyone is here already.”

“Everyone?” I echoed. His use of my title increased my foreboding, but he was already heading into the living room. After a second’s hesitation, I followed.

Not to my surprise, Allister was there, along with Sean, Molly and Mrs. O’Gara. And two others, a man and a woman I didn’t recognize.