"No, thank you, Rob. If you want some lunch, there are cold cuts in the fridge," Joyce said, in such a voice that Rob had to leave.
Kaitlyn followed, but she paused in the doorway as if trying to shut the door very quietly. It was sheer curiosity; she wanted to know if Mr. Zetes was going to yell at Joyce.
Instead, he said, "How long?"
"About forty-five seconds."
"Ah." It sounded almost appreciative. Kaitlyn got one glimpse of Mr. Zetes, tapping his cane thoughtfully on the ground, and then she had to shut the door.
Gabriel was already gone. Marisol and Fawn were leaving, Marisol looking sullen and Fawn looking back at Rob. Rob was chewing his lip, staring at the floor. Lewis was looking from one person to another. Anna was petting a white mouse she held in her hand.
"Where'd you get that?" Kaitlyn asked. She felt someone ought to say something.
"He was in my experiment. See? This box has different-numbered holes, and I'm supposed to make him go into one of them. Whichever number the monitor shows."
"There must be a sensor inside the hole to register whether you get it right," Lewis said, coming over.
Anna nodded, but she was looking past him. "Don't worry, Rob," she said. "Joyce and Mr. Zetes will take care of that guy. It'll be all right."
"Yeah, but can Mr. Z take care of Gabriel?" Lewis said. "That's the question."
Kaitlyn smiled in spite of herself. "Mr. Z?"
"Sure. 'Mr. Zetes' is too long."
"I just don't think he should be here," Rob said broodingly. "Gabriel. I think he's trouble."
"And I think I'm going to go crazy wondering what it is he does," Kaitlyn said. "But I don't think Joyce is going to tell us."
"Gabriel has a right to privacy, if he wants it," Anna said gently, putting the mouse in a wire cage, "I think we ought to do something to get our minds off it, since we have the afternoon off. We could go into town-or we could finish setting up the common room upstairs."
As always, just being around Anna calmed Kaitlyn down. Serenity drifted from the Native American girl and filled the room.
"Let's do the room," Kaitlyn said. "We can take lunch up there. I'll make sandwiches."
"I'll help," Rob said, and Kaitlyn's heart gave a startled leap.
What do I say, what do I say? she thought in the kitchen. Lewis and Anna had gone upstairs; she and Rob were alone.
At least her hands knew what to do. She was used to fixing meals for her dad, and now she spun the lids off mustard jars and stacked cold cuts efficiently. They were very Californian cold cuts: turkey baloney and chicken slices, low-fat salami, Alpine Lace cheese.
Rob worked just as efficiently-but he seemed abstracted, as if his mind were on other things.
Kaitlyn couldn't stand the silence. Almost at random, she said, "Sometimes I wonder if it's really a good idea to try and develop our powers. I mean, look at Gabriel."
She'd said it because she had a vague notion Rob would agree. But he shook his head vigorously and came out of his brown study.
"No, it is good-it's important for the world. What Gabriel needs is to develop some control-he's bad off for that. Or maybe he just doesn't want to control himself." Rob shook his head and slapped a piece of sprouted whole wheat bread on a sandwich. "But I think everybody ought to develop their talents. D'you realize most people have ESP?" He looked at Kait earnestly.
She shook her head. "I thought we were special."
"We've got more of it. But just about everybody has some. If everybody could work on it-don't you see? Things might start getting better. And they look pretty bad right now."
"You mean ... for the world?"
He nodded. "People don't care much about each other. But, you know, when I*channel energy I feel people's pain. If everybody could feel that, things would be different. There wouldn't be any murder or torture or stuff-because nobody would want to cause pain to anybody else."
Kaitlyn's heart had picked up. He'd "channeled energy" for her-did that mean he felt close to her?
But all she said, very gently, was, "Not everybody can be a healer."
"Everybody has some talent. Everybody could help in some way. When I get out of college I'd like to do the kind of work Joyce is doing-only try to get everybody involved in it. Everybody everywhere."
Kaitlyn was staggered by the vision. "You want to save the world?"
"Sure. I'd do my bit," he said, as if saying, Sure, I'd do my bit for recycling.
Dear God, Kait thought. I believe him.
There was something about this boy with the golden dreamer's eyes and the quiet voice that commanded her respect. A person like this, Kait thought, comes along only once in a very long time. A person like this can make a difference.
That was what she thought. What she felt was ... was ... well. . .
Anyway, there was no fighting against it anymore, she thought as they took the sandwiches upstairs.
All through the afternoon, which was spent moving furniture, arguing, and arranging things, Kait hugged her new knowledge to herself. It was both pleasure and pain, just as it was both a pleasure and painful to be able to watch Rob, to be in his company.
She would never have believed she could fall in love on one day's acquaintance.
But there it was. And every minute she was around Rob, the feeling grew stronger. She had trouble focusing on anything else when Rob was in the room, her heart began to beat hard when he looked at her, his voice made her shiver, and when he said her name ...
By dinnertime, she was a basket case.
The strange thing was, now that she'd admitted it to herself, she wanted to talk about it. To explain to somebody else how she felt. To share it.
Anna, she thought.
When Anna went into their room to clean up before dinner, Kait followed her. She shut the door, then ducked into the bathroom and turned on the faucet.
Anna was sitting on her bed, brushing her long black hair. "What's that for?" she said, amused.
"Privacy," Kait said grimly. She sat down on her own bed, although she could hardly keep herself sitting still. "Anna-can I talk to you?"
"Of course you can."
Of course she could. Kaitlyn knew that suddenly. "It's so strange-back home I never had any friend I could really talk to. But I know I can talk to you. I just don't know how to start," she added explosively, discovering this.