Page 146 of Sky Song
“Stubborn. I will kill Ren for letting you in.” He wasn’t joking. The crazy energy swirling and pulsing around him may have been fragmented, but it was brutal. For the first time, Cricket felt truly afraid of what he could do.
She lifted her head and examined his face. “Do you eat? Can you rest?”
He shook his head no, to both. “I pace a lot.” A trace of wry humor was so Lyle. “The need to move, to run and fight is tearing me apart. I can’t keep a straight head. Sometimes I can’t keep my wits at all, and hours disappear when I don’t know where I was.”
“There must be something that can bring you relief.” She was desperate for a remedy.
“If there is, I don’t know what it is.”
Something occurred to Cricket. “What happened to the implant? What did you do with it?”
“I threw it down the white crap bowl at your house.” Just like that, her spirits fell. “Even if I could put it back, we’refucked. I can’t fly with it. And I can’t fly without it. I’ve got you a ship but you will have to find another pilot.” He buried his face in the crook of her shoulder and held on tight.
There’s always an element of risk, he’d once told her. He took the risk, and he lost.
Cricket smoothed his silky hair, started massaging his scalp in gently soothing motions of her fingers. “It will pass. You’ll get better, and get back to normal.” In the back of her mind, a scared little voice whispered that the effects of the drug as strong and as devastating as detrozanine could have ruined his system beyond repair, but she told the voice to shut up. “We will wait for as long as we have to for you to get better.”
He gazed deep into her eyes, and she saw her reflection in his onyx orbs. “Promise me this. When Ren finds another pilot, you’ll go with him.”
“Without you?”
“Without me.”
“Absolutely not.”
“When I recover, I’ll find you. I swear. You know I will.”
“I believe you, but it doesn't matter. I will never leave you, sick and hurting, locked up in the basement. If you think I can, you’ve lost your mind.”
“What if I do lose it, in truth?”
“What if it were me? Would you have left?”
He closed his eyes, and it was the scariest thing.
Cricket didn’t remember how she made it back to Ren and Rosamma’s apartment. Paloma was still there, quietly working on her fancy mini set-up. Rosamma was reading a book in the corner.
Upon seeing her, Paloma led with, “You look truly terrible,” and Cricket dissolved into tears.
“Now, did you have to say that?” Rosamma chided as she stood up and came to put her hands on Cricket’s shoulders. “It’s Lyle, isn’t it?”
Cricket nodded through sobs. “He’s gotten worse.”
“Now, now. Let it out, cry. Sometimes it’s the right thing to do.” Rosamma slid one hand to touch Cricket’s wrist, skin to skin. Immediately, warmth flooded her, a powerful boost. On the heels of the energy came a realization that Rosamma shouldn't be doing that. Cricket jerked her hand away. “Don’t, please. You can’t grow any weaker. And I’m fine, just upset.”
Paloma frowned. “What are you talking about?” It was evident that her neighbor - and now a roommate - wasn’t in on the magic of Rosamma’s touch.
“I have the ability to calm people through touch,” Rosamma explained shyly.
“Really? Wow. Did you just touch Cricket?”
“I did. I had touched Lyle before. Maybe I should do that again - my touch seemed to help him.”
Cricket dabbed at her puffy wet eyes. “That’s why he used to come in the night, yes?”
Rosamma colored slightly. “You heard him?”
“Yes, I did.”
