Page 73 of Homebound
“This is my birth sign. It’s a blend of three family signs. The base is of my mother’s, the middle part is from my sire’s clan, and the top belongs to the man who raised me. My birth father had died early.”
“Oh. Can the signs be the same for several people?”
“Some signs are shared. Siblings have the same birth sign. Other marks denote your social standing, your chosen profession, your rank. Crimes, if you committed any. Many things. No one shares all the same signs.”
Gemma was silent for a moment thinking that she hadn’t been mistaken. The illustration of a Rix in Dr. Delano’s office depicted the same tattoos that Simon bore. She knew because her memory had absorbed every tiny detail about him.
“Simon, do you remember I told you how my uncle got bitten by Perali?”
“Yes.” He stretched and clawed at the brick wall.Clawed.
His nails made a rough scraping sound, and with a mixture of fascination and horror, Gemma observed white grooves appear on the stone’s surface.
“Did you just do that?”
“Do what?” He resumed his slow shuffling pacing.
“This cat thing on the wall.” She clawed the air with her own hands and meowed. “Nail sharpening thing.”
He stopped. Looked at his hand. “The nails are growing out. They itch.”
Gemma’s eyebrows hit her hairline. “I gotcha.”
“You were telling me about your uncle.”
“Yes. Perali saliva is apparently not good for us, puny humans with no claws and only one heart. Uncle Drexel’s arm got badly infected and needed treatment. Aunt Herise arranged for treatment, so twice now I’ve taken my uncle to a clinic. He’s very lucky to have gotten the appointments, mind you, and his doctor is top-notch, knows a lot about aliens and their bad effects on humans. He works out of a nice warm examination room where I stay and wait for Uncle Drexel. There are pictures on the walls. Of aliens.”
He stopped pacing and planted his feet wide towering over her, curled up in the chair. She had to throw her head way back to look at him.
“One drawing is of a Rix. And he has the same marks of his neck.” She pointed to his throat.
“And can you swear they are the same?”
“I can.”
He made a grunting sound deep in his throat.
Gemma swallowed. “His name is Dr. Delano.”
He didn’t say anything.
“He is a very educated man. I think he was glad to talk to me about his interest in alien physiology after he learned I work with aliens. And he asked me about you.”
The frosty air around them got frostier.
“By name?”
“He asked if I came across a Rix housed at the prison. There aren’t many of you running around Earth, so of course, it is unusual. He got real… intense.”
“Intense,” Simon repeated softly, sibilance adding a sinister quality to his words.
Gemma gripped the armrests of the wheelchair tightly.
“Simon, are you in danger from Dr. Delano?”
He cocked his head, eyes black and noncommittal, the mirrors reflecting the world around him without letting anything out from within.
“Danger?” he echoed reflectively and went back to pacing. “I’ll find a way to kill him. Eventually.”
