Chapter Two

Gabrielle woke early in the morning, at the sound of her buzzer. She panicked for a moment, but calmed after realizing where she was. She cursed herself silently, remembering the words her mother had once spoken to her: You won't be able to survive without Dad and I. I give you two weeks, and you'll be begging us to let you come home. She reached her hand to the wall directly above her headboard, and fingered the Braille calendar hanging there. She had been at the mansion for exactly two weeks and day. Take that, Mom, She crowed internally, I guess I'm not as weak or helpless as you think I am. She swung her legs over the side of the bed, and threw off her down blanket. She stood up, jumping slightly as she stepped on something long, thin and furry. Seth yapped with indignation, and hastily pulled his tail out from under her feet.

"Sorry, boy." Seth panted good-naturedly, and licked her outstretched hand as if to say, Well, it's about time. They've been frying bacon for almost a half an hour! He circled around her impatiently as she dressed.

Gabrielle made her way precariously down the main staircase, and let the aroma of pancakes, bacon, and eggs fill her senses. She trailed her hand along the curving banister as she counted steps: 27,28,29.

"Morning, Gabrielle." called Elizabeth's voice from the kitchen off to her right, "Do you want your eggs sunny-side up, or poached?"

"Poached, please."

Gabrielle listened carefully as she entered the room. There were already three occupants, not counting Elizabeth. She detected Angel's distinguished manner of breath- slowly breathing in, holding the air in for a moment, and then quickly forcing it out.

"I'll have some more eggs too, please." It was Ken. So then he was in the room, too.

She was pretty sure that the other person was not Dr. Spear or Jenny; Dr. Spear had the curious habit of scraping his fork against his plate as he ate, and from what information Gabrielle had accumulated the day before about Jenny, the girl couldn't keep her mouth shut for more them five seconds. No; it was either Dereth Woods or Amanda Argent. It was most likely Amanda, because she had noted heavy breathing emanating from Dereth's room as she passed it on the way down to the kitchen.

Gabrielle loved the Sunday breakfasts at the mansion. Elizabeth always cooked rich English foods along with normal American classics.

"Here you are, Dear," Mrs. Nightingale said, setting a plate down on the counter. Gabrielle walked over towards the clanking noise, moving her hands along until they came into contact with the plate. There was another thing she loved about Sunday breakfast- they ate in the kitchen instead of the dining room.

They were joined first by Jenny and then by Dereth, who declined Elizabeth's offer of eggs but ate the bacon and pancakes ravenously, and then asked for seconds. The conversation was painfully slow, except for Jenny, who seemed to be trying to talk Ken's ears off. Elizabeth was busying herself with the preparation of what she called 'butter cakes', and the rest of the free world called scones when Dr. Spear came in.

"How are you all this fine morning?" He chorused. No one had ever accused him of a lack of enthusiasm. The room filled briefly with murmurs, grunts, and 'fines', and then quickly quieted down again. After he was handed a plateful of food, he announced that they were going on a tour of the nearby city.

"You children will have to learn the layout of the city if you want to cope when you start your schooling in the fall." He rocked on his feet animatedly, first forwards, then backwards. At one point, Jenny, who was the closest, thought she might have to reach out and catch him- but no- he was balancing himself perfectly.

"So hurry up and finish breakfast- than we will pull out the bus and leave for the city." The kids exchanged glances. Some of them had hardly had enough time to get used to the idea of the mansion- let alone being dragged out into the city. But there was obviously no stopping Dr. Spear once he had an idea. In a matter of minutes, he was already finished with breakfast, and peering at them in the same manner an eager five-year-old might watch his parents while waiting to go to Disney world, and he was constantly moving around. He never stayed in one spot for more than a minute.

All to soon, breakfast was over, and the teenagers, Elizabeth, and even Seth, now wearing his blue vest, climbed into the bus while Dr. Spear climbed into the drivers seat. All of the children, even those who had been at the mansion for two weeks, had been expecting a normal yellow school bus. Instead, they climbed aboard a full-length greyhound bus complete with air conditioning and television sets. Instead of the normal bus slogans or ads that were usually emblazoned across normal inter-city buses, however, was a picture of a giant eye- the emblem of the institute.

Seth leaned against Gabrielle's legs as the engine of the bus began to hum. She was about to take out a Braille book- A Wrinkle In Time- when she heard someone sit down next to her. Judging from the heavy breathing, she decided that the person next to her was male. It could not be Ken, she reasoned, because she had heard him talking to Elizabeth from a seat at the front of the bus. That left Dereth.

"Hey," He said cautiously.

"Hey, yourself." Gabrielle replied. "Ever been to the city?"

He thought before responding. "Not Chicago. New York. I grew up in the Bronx." He patted Seth on the head cautiously. The dog seemed docile, but you never knew. He had seen dogs go from friendly to vicious in a matter of seconds, and had never found a distinguishing factor between them and regular canines. Seth must have been ok, though, because he whined with pleasure, rested his head contentedly on Dereth's knee, and sneezed.

"He likes you," Gabrielle said. "He doesn't take to just anybody. Being a seeing-eye dog, he can get pretty protective." She re-adjusted her glasses as she shifted in her seat, and opened her book, as though embarrassed by what she had just said.

Dereth watched her long fingers trace over the tiny, raised dots on the surface of the paper. Her face was fixed in a look of intent concentration.

Dereth broke the silence. "What you reading?"

"A Wrinkle in Time. It's very good. A little out there, but very good."

"How can you tell what all of the different letters are from just those bumps? They all look the same to me."

"Well, there's your problem. You can't look at them. You have to feel them. Here. Give me your hand." He hesitated before putting his hand into her outstretched palm. She took his fingers and brushed them across the cover of the book. Her skin was soft and smooth, and her touch was light.

"Close your eyes. No cheating. Feel that design there, the one with three dots in the shape of a triangle? That's an 'A'. The one after it is a 'W'. Got that memorized?"

Sheepishly, Dereth admitted that he did not.

"If you really needed or wanted it, you would." He thought about her words for a while. Who was this strange girl he had befriended?

He shook his head. He shouldn't have thought the word 'befriended'. He didn't have any friends. Anyway, why would she want to be a friend to him? She was probably just humoring him. He decided not to say anything for the rest of the drive, and she seemed completely fine with that. She just ran her fingers across the pages of that book; the same indifferent look on her face.

See? Dereth's mind told him. He pushed the thought aside. What did it matter, anyway? Through the window, he watched the rolling hills fly past.

Jenny and Amanda were sitting in the back of the bus in the very last row of seats. Amanda watched, interested in spite of herself, as Jenny went through a comedy routine. She was hilarious. She paused at all the right moments, allowing Amanda's boisterous laughter to die down before proceeding to the next joke. Amanda wished she could be like Jenny; Friendly, outgoing, energetic. Instead, she was the seventh-grade geek who would rather stay home and read a book then hang around with people. Oh, no- she was much too self-conscious. Instead, she buried herself in a world of heroes and heroines, where she could be any person she wanted to be, but only for a short while, until she came to the end of the story, and, somewhat mournfully, closed the pages. She was never sad for too long, though- there was always another book.

She smiled. That could be her motto. There's always another book. Her attention returned to the girl seated next to her as she ended her act, stood in the wide aisle, and bowed mockingly. Another five star performance.

Outside, the green meadows and farming country quickly transfigured itself into a crowded highway. Amanda checked her watch. 9:00 AM. Lucky it was a Sunday, or they would have had to deal with morning traffic. As it was, the road was crowded with cars, taxicabs, and the occasional limousine.

As they drove under an overpass, Amanda noticed about twenty men in tattered clothing milling around. All were unkempt and dirty. Amanda shivered when she realized they were hobos. One held a sign reading Wil wurk for food. So this was how you made a life for yourself in Chicago.

The buildings soon turned from downtown shamble shacks to upscale skyscrapers, apartments, and business buildings. The sun glinted off of the top of a tall office complex, hitting her square in the eyes, blinding her temporarily. She jolted out of her trance as the jolly voice of Dr. Spear came on the intercom.

"Our first stop will be the Museum of Natural History. Then we will stop for lunch, and head back to the mansion."

Dereth scowled as the bus pulled in front of a large, impressive-looking building draped in banners proclaiming things like six million year old dinosaur bones, or Mummies found in Ancient Egypt. Carved over the large stoop, which was fashioned after the Roman Parthenon, were the words Smithsonian Institution of Natural History.

He remembered the days when he had mocked such school groups going to places like this. If only his friends could see him now, he thought. At least they weren't wearing uniforms. He pawed the hooded sweatshirt he found in the dresser drawers that morning. He wondered if everyone staying at the mansion was given new clothes, or if his case was special, and they knew he would need them because of his 'situation.' All adults who had ever known he was homeless referred to it as his 'situation.'

After everyone had gotten off of the mighty greyhound, they were shepherded through a small back door by a large, surly looking woman wearing a wrinkled blue uniform. She wore a small identification card that said her name was Clarita Loams. Clarita did not small as she herded them in with what looked like day-care center groups.

Dereth almost laughed as he watched Elizabeth going practically insane trying to keep their group together. When they were through the doors, she began counting heads.

"Ken, Gabrielle, Angel, Amanda, Dereth-" She patted each of them on the head before looking around. "Where's Jenny? Jenny?" Dereth realized that this woman actually cared about them. He felt sort of sorry for her as she frantically turned her head in search of the missing girl.

Suddenly, Jenny popped out from behind Elizabeth, obviously enjoying the commotion she had caused. "Here, I am," She chorused innocently. Elizabeth looked so relieved that Jenny was all right that she did not reprimand her.

"Of course, dear," was all she said.

Mr. Spear and Elizabeth allowed them to form into two groups of three. Jenny and Amanda immediately stood by each other, and Ken stood next to them. The other three did not move at all, but the groups had still been formed by default. Dereth thought of how strange it was that Amanda, Jenny, and Ken seemed to be the most normal, or the least abnormal, and they automatically formed into a group. From what he had heard, this was the type of thing that Dr. Spear and Elizabeth had started the institution for- so no one would ever have to feel left out again. He wondered if such a thing was inevitable. It was written all over history- slavery, the holocaust, most wars- the stronger group would always attempt to kill or maim the weaker group. It was a basic survival instinct; one he had been a part of a thousand times.

Elizabeth took the 'normal' group, while Dr. Spear went with the others. Edward seemed thrilled to be able to walk through the exhibits, but his enthusiasm was met with bleak stares. Angel smiled politely and tried to feign an interest, but it was obvious- especially to Gabrielle, the resident empathic- that she was putting on a show so as not to injure his feelings. Gabrielle and Seth walked to the side of the group, and Dereth pretended to be off by himself, though he never strayed far from their path. Yet Edward remained happily oblivious to the fact that he was the only one who desired to be there at all.

They walked through several exhibits, the majority centering on Dinosaur bones, fossils, and ancient cultures.

They stopped in a large room filled with hundreds of tiny crystals that were connected together with beautiful precision. Hung from the rafters of the ceiling, the lustrous pieces of glass seemed to glow and take on an almost ethereal light, Changing from first a translucent icy-pink color to reflective blues and purples as the observer walked around it. The clouds outside shifted, and a sunbeam shone down from a skylight built into the ceiling. The glass sculpture glistened with a million different hues, and each fragment reflected light onto its neighbor, until a beautiful design of luminosity twirled on the blank walls. Everyone walked towards the large plaque on the wall.

Aurora

Built in the 1950's by an artist who wishes to remain anonymous, the aurora sculpture is one of the prized gems of the Smithsonian institution. It has been mathematically plotted so that no two views of the sculpture will be the same from anywhere on the musical staircase. It was made from several different types of crystal, including obsidian, quartz, glass, and sapphire.

Gabrielle Thompson leaned lightly against the wall closest to the group. She listened as Dr. Spear chortled merrily about light, colors, and the sun, and reasoned the exhibit they were in must be rather impressive. She also knew none of it would ever mean anything for her-especially light and color. Sometimes she imagined that she remembered light from when she was very little, but she could never be sure, and the only color she knew was the deep black which held the light from her eyes. The sun, at least, meant warmth against her skin.

Seth leaned on her leg. She patted him briefly on his furry head, and held firmly to his leash. She could hear her companions' voices moving away in the distance, already discarding the glorious image of the light sculpture. She wondered, briefly, if they even knew what they had. She sighed resignedly-what else could she do?- and fallowed their diminishing footsteps.

After they had left the Smithsonian, Elizabeth pulled them over to a small food kiosk, and, her voice full of gaiety, proclaimed that they would be eating from a street vendors-"To get the full experience"- and they could pick anything they fancied.

After buying their food, they walked over to a park-style bench plastered with several ads, all in various stages of decay, and sat down. Amanda, Jenny, and Elizabeth happily discussed a few of the exhibits at the museum, and Dr. Spear listened amusedly. Ken, Angel, and Gabrielle ate in silence. Dereth, however, had been done with his corndog before they had even sat down, and was now observing his current surroundings. He was sure the Ghettos of New York were worse then the Ghettos of Chicago, but you really never did know, and this neighborhood did not seem one of the best the city had to offer. A few hobos and bag ladies wearing multiple layers of dirty, mismatched clothing leaned against the wall adjacent to the bench, and several scantly clad women that he was almost certain were hookers walked the alleys.

None of this mattered to him. He had seen it all in New York. What did catch his attention was the gang of boys sitting in the stoop across the street. Their clothing and faces were smeared with dirt, and their suspicious eyes were hard and cold, watching him warily, as a wounded tiger watches its brethren close in for the kill. I'm one of them, He thought suddenly. He didn't belong at the Spear institute any more then Edward and Elizabeth belonged on this street.

He heard the squeal of tires before he saw the car. The car was old, rusted, and unimpressive looking. Then he noticed the hand protruding from the passenger side of the window, its long, graceful fingers curved around something that glinted silver. A gun. It was pointed directly at the bench.

Dereth was not frightened. He had looked death in the face many times before, almost always in identical situations, and had learned to stay calm. There was very little you could do at this point, if that bullet was coming for you.

Three shots rang in slow succession, everything lethargic and languid. He watched Seth going berserk in slow motion, as though he were moving through some gelatinous liquid. The first shot went directly over his head-he found himself thinking how ironic it was that he was going to die by the hand of some stupid gang right after he had gotten himself out- The second shot bounced off the metal pole of the bench- maybe he would finally be with his mother. Then he was overcome with a deep feeling of peace.

His thoughts were interrupted as he realized the third bullet was not coming for him, it was going straight for Jenny. A sharp, red-hot jab of anger gripped his chest. It would be fine if he died, he was just a worthless gamin, but this girl had a home. She had a mother, a father, and maybe even grandparents. Who were these people to come and take her life away? He knew what he had to do.

He began to concentrate his mind entirely on the bullet. He could feel the energy pushing against the back of the miniscule cartridge, every moment sending it closer and closer to the girl's chest. He thought about imploding the energy of the bullet, making it disappear entirely. That would take too much time-maybe if he could not stop it completely, he could lessen the blow, so that it would not be fatal. He concentrated, harder then he had ever concentrated before, on pushing the energy backwards, forcing it to cancel itself out. At the very last moment, the bullet stopped in midair, and fell into Jenny's lap.

Her mouth was open in horror, but she did not scream- She was silent for perhaps the first time in her life. He could almost see her life flash before her eyes as he was overcome with a terrible exhaustion. He felt as if every single drop of energy in his body had evaporated through his pores. His eyes rolled into the back of his head as his knees crumpled. He fainted clean away.

Gabrielle fought to hold Seth down-the shots had really frightened him- as she felt the limp body laying next to her. She clutched his wrist at a pulse-point, and felt for the tiny rhythm she hoped was still beating in his veins.

Tiptiptiptiptiptip

She felt relief flood into her fingertips. He was alive! She was not sure of what had just happened, but had felt, as she was sure everyone else sitting on the bench had felt, the energy that had been liberally flowing out of Dereth Woods. She then thought about all of how much explaining Dr. Spear would have to do once the police arrived. She could feel the selfishly curious attention of the audience which had quickly accumulated around them pressing in on all sides.

Edward Spear stared at Dereth, as if astonished, for a brief moment before saying, "I believe it is time for us to return to the mansion." His usually jolly voice was shaded with graveness.