Waiting for the Moon

Selena tried to sort through the rubble in her mind. There were so many questions she wanted to ask Ian, points she didn't understand. She thought a "keeper" took care of animals and a "doctor" took care of people. But she was wrong. Again.

215

The questions jumbled and scrambled in her head until she couldn't think at all. She reached for Ian, but he was already past her, moving down the gravel path.

She stumbled to catch up and led him into the woods. When they were halfway there, the screams stopped. One moment the world felt split by sound, and the next it was utterly, preternaturally silent.

Selena picked up her skirts and hurried, scrambling over fallen logs and rocks and patches of lichen to get to the secret place. Andrew was still there, curled in a tight, trembling ball, his face stained with dirty tears, his eyes vacant.

Selena came to a stumbling halt.

Ian moved toward Andrew and crouched down close beside him. Selena followed cautiously, kneeled on Andrew's other side.

"Andrew." Ian said the boy's name in a powerful, authoritative tone of voice. "Andrew. Can you hear me?"

Nothing.

"Andrew." Ian said the name again and again. With each repetition, Ian's voice became a little more strained, until finally it broke. He massaged his temple and looked away, sighing softly. "Oh, Jesus."

"You need to get him to look at you," Selena said. She was fighting panic with everything inside her, but the insidious emotion nibbled at her composure, made her want to cry again.

Ian drilled her with a desperate look. "How?"

"Get closer, talk more softly."

He flinched at every word, as if they were tiny darts flicked into his skin. He gritted his teeth and sidled closer, leaning down. "Andrew, can you hear me?"

Once again, there was no answer.

Selena inched closer. "Touch him the way you touched me earlier. Force him to look at you."

"Touch him?"

Selena heard the fear in Ian's voice and she under-

216

stood. Maeve had told her of Ian's gift and the pain it caused him. "You must."

"I can't."

Selena's gaze didn't move from his face.

He swallowed and looked away from her. For a long, silent moment, he stared out at the trees and said nothing, then, finally, he turned back to Andrew. She noticed that his hands were shaking as he brought them to Andrew's face. Carefully he pressed his hands against Andrew's cheeks and tilted the boy's face up.

"Andr-" Ian didn't finish. With a cry, he yanked his hands away from Andrew's cheeks. He careened backward and fell to his knees, burying his face in his hands. He started to shake. "Holy Christ ..."

Selena went to him. "Ian, what is it?"

Slowly he looked up. His hands plopped lifelessly in his lap. "I didn't know," he said, gazing at Andrew. "No one told me. Jesus, how could I not know?"

"What did you see?"

He bowed his head and rubbed his eyes, releasing a small sigh. "There are some things I hope you never learn, Selena."

"But Andrew-"

"Is too young to know that kind of pain." He shook his head again.