Strange Attractors - Kim Falconer [69]
The sun was setting and a stream of golden beams shone through the clouds.
‘Of course.’
Grayson rubbed his throat. ‘And that goal is…’
The clouds closed in as the moments passed. The rain returned, beating out a steady rhythm on the bamboo roof. Everett tapped his fingers. ‘We’re both looking for lost ones, so we might as well do it together. I’m heading for the Allied States in the morning. That’s one place the thief could be, unless he’s still lurking in the depths of the jungle.’
‘Lurking?’ a woman said. She entered the bungalow, her arms laden with vegetables. She was barefoot, in a short dress, with most of her body under the shelter of a wide-brimmed hat. She spilled her load into the sink and hung the hat on a peg by the door, then offered a smile, dazzling white against her dark brown skin.
Everett startled. ‘Where have you been? Lurking around yourself, are you? Brewing something with the others?’
‘I’ve been in the vegetable garden, Everett, digging sweet potatoes and yams. Hardly the job of a lurker.’
Everett straightened. ‘I didn’t mean lurking like a beast, of course. It’s just a turn of phrase. Means nothing.’ He motioned her to the table. ‘Regina, this is Grayson.’
She reached out her hand and nodded briefly before looking to Everett. ‘Best use your phrases carefully, Ev. You know what words can do.’
Grayson didn’t miss the exchange. This was an old argument between them, a stalemate perhaps. She seemed to know how to handle him, though, her responses snapping him out of his paranoia. That was a relief.
‘As I said, a figure of speech, nothing more,’ Everett said.
‘Did you two work together?’ Regina asked, turning her attention back to Grayson.
‘Not really,’ Grayson said. ‘We met briefly in Sector Six. He was treating a friend of mine.’
‘So you say. I strangely cannot recall a bit of it.’ Everett held his mug in both hands, staring into it.
‘Memory works mysteriously you know.’ She winked at Grayson, noticing his tattoos. ‘And you remember a different world, I see. Same as our Everett.’
‘That’s not true!’ Everett slammed his mug on the table.
She shrugged. ‘You can add it up any way you like, Ev. Please yourself. But you are not of this world and if you’ve forgotten why it’s because you don’t want to know.’
Everett’s face darkened. ‘You don’t know what you’re saying.’
‘But I do.’ She went to the sink, filling it from a jug and washing her hands. ‘All his roaming? The disappearing? You seek your own kind.’
‘I seek the thief that took what was ours!’
‘Those children would be grown by now, living their own lives without thought of their origins. The sooner you see that, the sooner you can let it go.’ She pointed a long purple gourd at Grayson. ‘He’s your key, Ev. I’d listen to him.’
Everett didn’t reply. Instead he raised his eyebrows at Grayson. ‘What’s it to be? Are you coming with me to the Allied States? We can start our search in Sector Six. That’s the first drop-off from the Borderlands.’
Grayson cringed inwardly though he kept his expression smooth. The Allied States was the last place he wanted to go. He remembered the feeling of relief when he’d left Sector Six the last time. There was no part of him that wanted to return. Yet the Entity had brought him here. What if Rosette had become trapped there again? It was possible. She’d been in a repeating cycle before. He couldn’t abandon her just because he wasn’t enjoying the search. Of course, he wasn’t even certain if this now was before or after he’d been there the first time. Everett’s memory certainly wasn’t helping situate them, nor was his state of mind. He seemed to have developed a personality disorder since they last met. He didn’t want to aggravate the man, but he needed more facts.
‘What happened before you left Sector Six, Everett?’ Grayson asked. ‘What’s the last thing you do remember?’
Everett looked away.
‘Tell him,’ Regina said. ‘If you don’t, I will.’
‘Truth is,’ Everett finally said, ‘I don’t remember a thing. It’s like I was never there.’
Hotha stood on the edge of the cliff, high above the gates of Temple