Dark Series, The Color of Seven and The Color of Dusk (Books We Love Special Edition) (20 page)

Cain spoke steadily, his deep voice soft and melodious, but he knew his words didn’t really matter.
Right now, nobody here either
knew or cared what he said
. They
were floating, floating, on clouds of crimson and purple, soaring over the riverbanks.

Joshua
rode a
huge white stallion towards the newly risen moon.
Somewhere in the back of his mind, he knew he
should be
scared shitless
.
The
effort
just
was
n’t worth the trouble.
He urged his phantom mount higher.
He heard Cain’s voice, soothing and soft, but
it was only meaningless noise.
It seemed he’d only arrived at the riverbank when Abe pulled his arm and hauled him to his feet. He was mildly resentful of the interruption.
He’d passed the moon and was on his way to the stars.

“Time to go, Josh.”

“Already! We just got here.”

Abe laughed. “Dat’s de way it se
em when you listen to Cain. Tol
’
you. But tonight, I do
an
rightly know just why, tonight it do seem diff
ere
nt someway.”

“Sho’ ‘nuff,” concurred Eulises.
“Cain be cut from a different cloth, dat’s for sho’.
Do you be wantin’ to speak wi
th
him, Josh? You ain’t rightly met him yet.”

“Well, we fix dat right now,” said Cain
. He appeared soundless at t
he boys’ side. “You ain’t joined us ‘fore now, has you, son?”

“No, suh.” Now that he’d come down from the night sky, Joshua’s senses were beginning to clear. He knew the polite thing to do was introduce himself
.
R
ight now he wasn’t sure he wanted to.

Cain saw returning clarity in the boy’s eyes
.
Have to watch this boy.
His
eyes gleamed with intelligence.

“Well, I be real pleased you did, son. Real pleased. And glad to have you back. Anytime. De fellowship of our brothers
and sisters
. Be
dere
anything finer in
dis
great world?”

“No, suh,” said Josh, beginning to back away. “I thanks you for lettin’ us come. Abe, ain’t it time we headed back?”

“Probably so. My mama, she go
an
likely tear me up bein’ out
dis
late,” he said, evidencing little concern over the prospect
. Up until Cain’s arrival,
the thought of his mother’s wrath made him cower like a six year old.

The boys turned and headed back up to the boundaries of Wharf Street.

Cain stared thoughtfully after them. That boy. He’d noticed him before, at St. Barnabas. Cain called out to one of his remaining followers.

“Silas!”

“Yes, suh?” Silas did
n’t
precisely stand at attention but
it was a close thing.

“Dat boy, de one c
ome
with Abe and Eulises and Jeremiah. He ain’t come ‘fore now.”

“Naw, suh.”

“Who he be? Whu
t his name?

Silas looked after the departing group.

“Oh, him. Dat be Josh Devlin. Surprised to see him here.”

“Why dat?”

“Josh, he got mighty uppity last few years. Like he ain’t got time for none of us no mo’.”

“How so?”

“He, well, Doc Everett, dat’s Doc Everett Devlin, he raise Josh since he a baby. Josh’s Mama, she come off de street and she die havin’ Josh. Doc Everett, he take him in. Doc like dat, didn’t surprise nobody. But back fo
ur
, five year ago, Doc Everett’s son, Mist’ Paul, he come home from someplace foreign where he in school. An
’
Josh, he go to live wi
th
him. He a doctor, too. An
’
dat do be all Josh seem to care about now, taggin’ after Mist’ Paul. Like I say, I surprised to see him here.”

“Sho’ nuff,” mused Cain. “Now, ain’t dat int
e
restin’?”

Cain walked away.
When he was far enough removed from any of his followers, he laughed.
Doc Everett, he take him in. Doc like dat.
Sure Doc was like that.
The boy’s
nose was sharp
,
his skin
creamy brown.
H
is lips, though full, could
n’t
be called large.
Either the older Devlin
’d been
havin
g
some fun or
the
younger Devlin
’d
be
en getting
educated.
Because that boy was half-white.
And
a Devlin, for certain sure.
Foundling, hell.

So.
Could he use this?
Cain already knew both Dr. Devlins, father and son, had a lot of influence in the black community. Cain always did his homework.
And it did appear that whichever Devlin had fathered the boy,
Joshua
was important to the Devlin family
. Oh, yes.
Cain could use this.
He didn’t know exactly how, not right at the moment, but he’d know when the time came.

* * *

Joshua
never slept late. The next morning,
he woke only because Paul was shaking his shoulder
. Hard.
“Josh! Time to get moving! What’s the matter, late night? You out with some sweet young thing last night? Knew I wasn’t giving you enough free time, why didn’t you ever say anything?”

“Unnnnn,” intoned Josh, and tried to settle back in his pillow.

“Hey, wait a minute! You feel alright? Something wrong?”

“I’m fine. Give me a minute, will ya?”

“Sure?”

“Sure I’m sure. Can’t anybody sleep late once in a while in
this
house?”

“No. Don’t have time for it. Janie’s got hotcakes for breakfast.”

“Not hungry.”

“What? Thought you weren’t sick?”

“Not sick. Just not hungry. Up in a minute.”

“Better be. Got lots
of rounds to make
this
morning.”

J
oshua threw back his covers in irritation
when Paul left the room
. He felt nervy, itchy, scratchy, unsettled in his skin. A body couldn’t even get any decent sleep around here. He realized suddenly he was annoyed with Paul.
Not for waking him
up
.
For being Paul. What on earth was the matter with him?

All at once Joshua remembered his moonlight ride across the heavens and shivered. He wasn’t sure if he shivered in apprehension or in anticipation.

“Josh! I’m go
in’ to
eat your stack of hotcakes if you ain’t out here in two minutes flat!”

Joshua fought a sudden,
inexplicable urge to yell back, “Just shut the hell up!”
He’d never felt like that before in his life.

“Comin’!” he yelled back.

* * *

Joshua
fought
intense irritation
all day.
It
mov
ed
under his skin
,
swarming
like
ants every time he heard Paul’s voice
. It had something to do with that
great phantom horse
he’d ridden across the face of the m
oon last night.
That night ride hadn’t been normal.
He knew it.
Shouldn’t be repeated.
Un-huh.
He knew nothing about Cain, where he came from or why.
He shouldn’t go back to the riverbank.

But
what an adventure!
And being with his own people again!
Who would ever understand him better?

He strolled out of the house around 7:00 p.m. that evening
, mind made up
.
He
’d
never go back to that riverbank.
No
way, no how
.
Nothing would make him change his mind.

Abe and Eulises and Jeremiah passed by the house. They paused and lifted their hands in greeting.
T
hey hadn’t done that since they’d
all
been
twelve years old.

“You comin’?”

Joshua
hesitated for only
a heartbeat.
He went.

Chapter
Twenty
-One

Sadie noticed the changes first.
Even Doc didn’t realize
the pain Sadie’d hidden to
raise Joshua without proclaiming to the world he was hers. No mother ever guarded a child with more care. She knew him.
Inside and out.

The c
hanges were small at first.
Josh paced restlessly throughout the house.
He’d always viewed the world with wonder. Now, it seemed nothing gave him pleasure.
His voice
lost expression. His s
ense of humor
,
uncannily similar to his brother’s,
went into hibernation.
Most of all, she noticed a certain flash in
Joshua’s
eye when
anybody even spoke to him.
When that flash seemed to edge past irritation and over into anger, she consulted Paul.

“Mist’ Paul, you notice anything different ‘bout Josh lately?”

“He’s growing up.”

“
Dat
ain’t it.
Since he been goin’ out with his friends in
de
evenings, he different.”

“God, Sadie, I pushed him too hard.
I didn’t realize.
He needed some time to himself.”

“He
full of hisself, he ill as a goat,
and he ain’t eating right.”

Paul grinned.

“Well, whu
t?
Doan jest grin at me like a monkey!”

“He’s in love.”

“He whut?”

“He’s in love.
Face it, Sadie, he’s almost a man.”

“You know
dat
for sho
’
?”

“Welllll,” Paul drawled out the word.
Of course he’d noticed the changes but he’d been a
seventeen
year old boy
himself
. He was pretty sure
all of Josh’s symptoms
would be instantly cured by
a good roll in the hay
, but he valued his own hide enough not to say that to
Sadie.

“He hasn’t said so, but I know, just the same.”

“He in love, he tell you ‘bout it, Paul.
He tell you everything.
D
at
ain’t it.”

“No, he wouldn’t.
When you’re seventeen,
nothing’s ever
happened to anybody else
but you
, so nobody else understands.
This is one thing that’s real private, Sadie.
He wouldn’t tell me.”

“Humph!” snorted Sadie.
“Well, it ain’t goan stay private too much longer do he keep flashin’
dat
look.
You know de one I mean?”

Paul laughed.
“Yeah, I know.
Caught it a time or two myself, but Sadie, he was such a good child.
He’s been such a good boy.
Growing up’s not easy and it’s been especially
hard
for him.”

“I knows
dat.”

“He’s never given a speck of trouble so he’s entitled to be a little difficult every now and then.
Don’t you think?”

“Humph!” Sadie snorted again.
“Little difficult be one thing.
He’s just about crossed
dat
line over into a pure-de-pain in the behind!”

Paul hooted.

“An’ he cross it any further, I’m g
oan
give him a pain in the behind!
You hush up
dat
laughin’, I mean it.”