The Cydonian Pyramid (17 page)

“I do have eyebrows.” He grinned. “But I left them at home.”

His smile was genuine, unlike Ronnie’s knowing, predatory smirk. Lia liked him immediately. She introduced herself. The man said his name was Kosh, and that he was Tucker’s uncle.

“I don’t suppose Tucker’s folks have shown up,” he said.

“No. There is a new preacher. He fixes sore knees.”

“Miracle worker, huh?” Kosh chuckled.

Tucker came out of the house, carrying a cardboard box. His hair was longer, and he seemed a little taller. Lia drew a shaky breath and said, “Hello, Tucker Feye.”

L
IA WONDERED IF
T
UCKER WAS GLAD TO SEE HER, BUT
she didn’t know how to ask, especially with his uncle standing right there. She wanted to tell him about Ronnie, and Father September, and that she was leaving . . . but maybe now that Tucker was back, she wouldn’t have to go.

Kosh opened the car trunk and began moving things around, making room, as Tucker and Lia made what Maria called chitchat, talking about things that did not matter. Lia felt as if she were outside herself, watching herself talk. Tucker said he liked her shirt. Lia told him how Maria tried to sneak bacon into her food. It felt strange to talk about nothing when there were so many important things to discuss.

“That isn’t the same cat you had before, is it?” Tucker asked, looking at Bounce. “Shouldn’t he be bigger? He still looks like a kitten.”

It was true — Bounce hadn’t grown at all. “Maria says he’s a runt.”

“Where did he come from, anyways?”

“He came with you.”

“What? I think I’d know if we’d had a cat in the car.”

“I don’t mean today. Later, he will come with you,” Lia said, and suddenly she knew that Tucker would not be staying in Hopewell. The boy standing before her looked
exactly
like the boy who had appeared on her blood moon — right down to the way he was dressed.

Kosh returned from the garage, carrying some tools.

“Have you returned to Hopewell to stay?” Lahlia asked.

“Just a visit,” said Kosh. He looked at Tucker. “Lahlia tells me the new preacher is even crazier than Adrian.”

“Father September preaches that computers are the source of all evil,” Lahlia said. “He performs miracles. He made Mrs. Friedman walk again.”

“See what I mean?” said Kosh with a smirk.

They talked more about the new preacher, and other things, but all Lahlia could think about was that Tucker would be leaving again — and about where he might be going.

They were interrupted by the sound of squealing brakes. Ronnie’s pickup turned into the driveway and skidded to a stop. Ronnie got out of his truck and walked toward them with an exaggerated look of astonishment on his face.

“Kosh Feye! Long time, bro!”

The men bumped fists. Lia’s heart sank. Kosh and Ronnie were
friends
?

The men began talking. Lia watched them for a moment, then turned to look at Tucker. He caught her looking at him, smiled, and rolled his eyes at Kosh and Ronnie. Bounce, standing beside her, was making an odd noise, between a growl and a mewl, his eyes on Ronnie. Lia picked him up.

Ronnie glanced at the cat with a sour expression, then raised his eyes to Lia. “Maria’s been looking for you,” he said.

Bounce flattened his ears and hissed.

“That cat never liked me,” Ronnie said.

“Bounce is an excellent judge of character,” Lia said.

“Yeah, well, Maria’s on the warpath. She’ll make you sit through a doubleheader at church come Sunday if you don’t get on top of that berry patch. You don’t pick them now, they’ll be bird food tomorrow.”

Lia thought of the huge flock of pigeons she had seen. “Birds have to eat too,” she said.

Ronnie shrugged. “Whatever you say.” He turned back to Kosh.

Tucker put the box he had been holding into the trunk of the car. Kosh and Ronnie were talking about going to town for a beer. Kosh looked at Tucker, as if asking permission.

“I’ll be okay on my own,” Tucker said. “Lahlia and I have some catching up to do, too.”

“What do we have to catch up to?” Lia asked, then felt foolish as she realized it was one of those “expressions” people here used.

Ronnie laughed nastily. “Little Miss Literal.”

A few moments later, the men got into Ronnie’s truck and drove off. Bounce jumped down from her arms and ran off to explore the garden. Tucker and Lia were alone.

Lia wanted to ask Tucker where he had been, and why he hadn’t told her he was leaving. She wanted to tell him about the Gates and the Klaatu. She wanted to tell him how afraid she had been, and how glad she was to see him again.

Instead, she said, “Your uncle Kosh is a fearful man.”

Tucker grinned. “You think he’s scary?”

“His animal skins.”

“You mean his leathers? That’s just so people will think he’s this big tough biker.”

“He’s afraid of people thinking he’s afraid.”

“You talk different now,” Tucker said.

“I’m using what you call contractions. Ronnie told me I talked like a robot.”

Tucker laughed, and that made her smile.

“Kosh is nice,” she said. “He worries about you.”

Tucker looked away. “He reminds me of my dad sometimes. I miss my parents.” A shadow of sadness and loss crossed his features. Lia thought about the Reverend Feye. She could tell Tucker that his father had once been to Romelas, but he probably wouldn’t believe her, and she didn’t want him to think she was strange
and
crazy.

“You don’t know where they are?”

“They went . . . away. That’s why I’ve been staying with Kosh.”

“Did they go away because your mother was ill?” As she spoke, Lia became aware of a faint hum, like a distant airplane.

“I think so.” The humming sound became louder.

Lia looked up at the roof. The Gate was back, hovering just off the peak.

“The Gate does not come often,” she said. “It does not stay long.”

“You came out of it, didn’t you? You and my dad.”

For a moment, Lia did not reply. Tucker’s father must have told him about the Gates.

She said, “No. There is another.” She pointed toward downtown Hopewell. “Your father found me there.”

“So he
did
go through one of those things!”

“Yes.” Bounce appeared from the bushes and ran over to her.

“Do you know where he is?”

Lia considered her possible answers. She believed that the Gate led to Romelas and that the Reverend Feye had used it to arrive on the pyramid during her blood moon. If she told Tucker that, he might follow his father into the Gate and appear — as he
had
appeared — on the frustum. He would distract the priests, and she would escape. But then she would be here, and he would be in Romelas.

And if Tucker did not enter the Gate . . . what would happen to her?

Tucker was waiting for her answer. The best thing, she decided, would be to tell him what she believed was true. She pointed up at the Gate.

“I think he went there.”

Tucker stood frozen, staring at her. She could see small things happening in his face as he processed her words. She was about to tell him more when he ran to the garage and grabbed the extension ladder from its hooks. He dragged it over to the house and leaned it against the eaves. Within a few heartbeats, he was on the roof, moving toward the Gate. Lia suddenly regretted saying anything. She could be sending him to his death.

“Tucker, wait!” she shouted, but he did not hear her. She scooped up Bounce and put him on her shoulders, then climbed the ladder and scrambled up the steep roof. “You will not be welcome,” she said.

Tucker turned to look at her.

“They may attempt to kill you.” She lifted Bounce from her shoulders and held him in her arms.

“Who will?” Tucker asked.

“The priests. You will know them by their yellow robes.” She told him of the altar and the priests. He seemed dazed, hardly able to hear her.

“But my parents are there?”

“Only your father.”

“How do you know that?”

“I was there.”

The Gate murmured and went green. Several blobs of mist emerged. The blobs became ghostly human figures.

“Klaatu!”
said Lia. Bounce was making a peculiar sound.

More Klaatu emerged and drifted closer. Tucker batted at one with his hand; the Klaatu broke apart.

“What do they
want
?” Tucker sounded scared.

“They come at moments of terror and triumph,” Lia said, remembering one of her lessons from the Lait Pike. Bounce hissed at the ghostly shapes, then let out a horrific screech and exploded from her arms, hit the roof, and made a panicked dash for the edge — straight toward the Gate.

Tucker tried to grab the cat but lost his balance and fell forward as Bounce leaped from the roof. Lia screamed. The Gate flashed orange, and Bounce was gone.

Tucker, on his hands and knees, faced the disk from an arm’s length away. He was trying to push himself back, but the Gate would not let him go. The Klaatu swooped back and forth excitedly.

“Tucker!” Lia shouted. She ran forward to grab him, but too late. The Gate flashed again. The last she saw of Tucker was the bottoms of his shoes disappearing into the mist.

Stunned, Lia watched the Klaatu stream back into the Gate. What had she done? She imagined the scene on the pyramid after her departure. Whatever happened, it would not be good. But Tucker’s father had survived and returned to Hopewell. Maybe Tucker would, too. She imagined herself appearing on the pyramid, hailed as a returning Yar — or castigated for blasphemy.
It doesn’t matter,
she thought.
Tucker needs my help.

She took one last look at the land surrounding Tucker Feye’s childhood home and saw a figure in black walking up the road from downtown Hopewell.

Kosh.

He would want to know what had happened to Tucker. She watched him grow slowly larger. Soon, she could make out the details of his face — the missing eyebrows, the off-center nose, the set of his mouth.

She waited. When Kosh finally looked up and saw her on the roof, Lia waved good-bye, then stepped into the Gate.