There was magic thrumming in the air. Somehow, Dr. Garbuglio found the perfect incantation, an unlikely combination of words that convinced Samantha Gregulus to let Dan stay with Freya for the night. If only they had Unity with the doctor so he could know how thankful they were! It wouldn’t be long.
When they joined everyone outside, Dan saw the years lifting from his mother’s face as they embraced through Freya’s eyes. Watching, Freya was struck by how much strain Samantha had been under, felt her lie like a bitter stone in Dan’s stomach.
Freya radiated assurance it was temporary. There was a sea change coming. All their deceptions would be swept away, and when the tide receded, they would be left on the shore, naked and new. Dan blubbered apologies while his mother told him it was all right.
Maybe it would all be okay. Maybe Lassa could work something out, figure out some sort of explanation for all this. They were together, and nothing else mattered.
After they disengaged, Samantha explained Freya and Dan would stay at Lynn’s condo for the night so she could get back to her shift at the hospital. If Malcolm was still at large in the morning, the three of them would go to Bangor to get Lassa, then they would figure out what to do next.
Freya and Dan nodded their agreement, working hard to separate their motions. Speaking aloud seemed impossibly sparse now. People talked in outlines, pencil sketches of what they meant. Unity was a perfect photograph where nothing could be mistaken. On the ride back, Freya and Dan were completely immersed in a deep, silent conversation. They almost missed it when Lynn drove past Paonia Place.
“What’s up?” Freya asked.
“Black SUV in the parking lot. I’m going to circle back, tell me if it’s him.”
Lynn looped around the block and coasted past the parking lot. There was no black SUV.
“I don’t see one. Are you sure are you it was there?” Freya asked.
“Very sure. Keep an eye around us.” Lynn’s voice was high and strained. Freya and Dan scanned around the car as they drove.
Will the Starball warn us if there’s danger? Dan wondered.
It hadn’t warned Freya about the feds showing up, or the time when Malcolm snuck up on her at the river.
We can’t depend on it. Freya decided, feeling instant agreement. The pleasure of their accord was muted by their arrival at the Sillas Police Department. They stared out the windows as Lynn made her report to Officer Kim. They strained their eyes at the shadows beyond the floodlights. The pistol in Freya’s pocket intruded at the edge of their consciousness.
I’m sorry, she radiated, but there was no need, he understood. Lynn climbed back into the Mercedes in a blast of cold air.
“He’s sending a car over to scope it out. I left a message with the property manager asking them to check the tapes. Maybe we can get a license plate. Are you two all right?”
“Yes,” they said, in accidental unison.
Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.
“Just shaken up,” Freya added, trying to smooth over their odd harmony. “Are we going to stay at the police station all night?”
“I’m figuring that out,” Lynn said. She called Samantha first and left a message when it went to voicemail. Dr. Garbuglio picked up on the first ring, and Lynn filled him in. From Dan, Freya caught a drift of reassurance at the steady sound of Dr. G’s voice.
“I’m glad you’re all right. I hope they find him soon. Are you going back to your apartment?”
“I don’t think so. The police say they can’t have an officer sit there all night, but we can stay here at the station. We might just drive to Bangor.”
“I think that would be wise. If you want something closer, I can give you the address of a motel I use for domestic violence patients. It’s about a half hour north of town, very quiet.”
“That would be great, thanks.”
“I’ll send it over. Any of you, feel free to call me if you need to talk. I’ll be available all night.”
They all thanked Dr. Garbuglio.
“Let’s just go there,” Lynn said after checking the map. “I’m too tired to drive to Bangor. Can you two keep an eye out and make sure we’re not followed?”
Freya and Dan took turns looking out the back of the Mercedes until they got out of town and the roads were dark and empty. As they got farther away, Freya was swept up in a wave of Dan’s optimism. With Garbuglio and Lassa’s help, they would figure out the Starball. They would add more and more people to Unity, and with the help of that gestalt, they could defeat the investigation.
How far did it go? She felt Dan's hopes spiraling upward. Could ten people be United? A hundred? A hundred thousand? Even a cabal of ten could change the world.
Since that snowy night at the Rabbit Hill Inn, their conversation with the Waltzes had been turning over and over in Dan’s head.
It’s our only chance for survival as a species, Jeremias had told them so gravely. He’d had no idea of the secret Freya and Dan shared. He’d never suspected they might be the ones. The idea burned bright in Dan’s mind, darting forward with manic speed. He felt Freya’s apprehension at his frantic thoughts, and she was reminded of Lassa’s idea the Starball was sent to eradicate them.
She never felt Unity. This isn’t our destruction. It’s our salvation. This is the key to the universe.
They were Dan’s convictions. His confidence was absolute, his ideas boomed larger than her fears. He was afraid he was overwriting her thoughts the way he had at the ski lodge, but this was different. Freya tried as hard as she could to believe Dan, and she couldn’t quite get there.
They were the only car on the road. The stars were bright above them. Freya gazed upward and recognized Pollux.
That’s Gemini, she explained to Dan, who knew nothing of the stars he aspired to join. On his own, he could barely pick out the big dipper. Freya smiled as he looked out through her eyes, seeing so many things for the first time. Sirius, Canopus, and Rigel, the three brightest. Algol the Demon Star in Perseus, which was really three stars that regularly occluded each other.
Dan absorbed not only her knowledge but the things that informed it. Moonlight on Randall’s face as he gazed upward, the smell of his cigar in the night air, never again. With that memory came her lonely comprehension of distance, the impossible gulfs of nothing between everything. It was as if Dan had been wading, and he’d taken a step and slipped in over his head.
The root of Dan’s optimism was ignorance. Everything he knew came from stories, impossible warp drives and ridiculous space marines. But they were just the meager efforts of hacks trying to put a human face on the unknowable. Tiny grains broken off from infinity, small enough for a mortal to digest. Freya knew the truth. Against the universe, Earth was not even an atom. Sol was the atom, the Earth was an electron, and they were less than nothing.
She felt Dan’s mind darting away from the understanding. It hurt him to try and hold the idea. Freya shut her eyes, and the stars blinked away, leaving only afterburn. She wished she hadn’t thought that. She was bringing them down.
I’m sorry, she thought.
I just wasn’t ready, Dan answered.
She squeezed his hand harder as Lynn pulled off the main road. This was their exit.