“He’s a Chooser, too,” Wei said.
“He was at my old school the other day and was asking Sandy if Gran and Pops were healthy enough to take care of Dee. Then last night he called me and said he wanted to see Dee.”
“That seems normal,” Mr. Jenkins said. “He is her father.”
“I know, but…” I had to trust them; there was nowhere else to turn. “Ginnie told me to keep him away from Dee, no matter what. After school today I saw him hanging around Dee’s school. I’m afraid he might want to take her as a Cinderella girl.”
“Sometimes biological fathers do that,” Mrs. Jenkins said. “If he abducted your sister, it would be extremely difficult for you to get her back. He could even have her reassimilated into believing she wants to be with him.”
“I won’t let her out of my sight. But what can I do about school? Will she be safe there?”
“He’d have to have proof of paternity to get her, which he must not have or he’d have taken her already,” Mr. Jenkins said. “What school does she attend?”
“Dickens.” My stomach was churning. Not only were my hopes of finding my father in ruins, but now it was confirmed: Dee was in real danger from Ed.
“I have friends who work there,” Mrs. Jenkins said. “Do you have a picture of Dee?”
I beamed a digi of Dee’s school picture from my PAV to hers. “That’s last year’s,” I said. “Her hair’s longer now. Otherwise, she looks the same.”
“You won’t need to worry about her at school,” she said. “I promise.”
“What are you going to do?” It felt as if they had this whole network of people I couldn’t see, but who were there to do things that needed to be done. It was surreal, but comforting, too, in a bizarre way. And, somehow, being with these people made me feel closer to Ginnie. I had a feeling she would’ve been happy I’d found them.
“My friends will keep an eye on Dee,” Mrs. Jenkins said. “They are very trustworthy and will be sure that no one gets close to her. Would she be afraid of her father if he tried to take her?”
I shook my head. “She likes him. He’s always been nice to her. She never saw him hurt Ginnie. He never hit Mom when she was around.”
A large clock in the corner struck the half hour. “You can count on us for help, but it’s late now. Don’t worry about Dee. Wei, you walk Nina to the bus stop.”
“Sure. Let’s go.”
“Thank you for dinner, and for telling me about my dad.” The numbness that had threatened to take over my heart, after their silent confirmation that Alan was dead, was being challenged by the insistent sound of Ginnie’s words in my head. He was alive. They had to be mistaken.
Mrs. Jenkins bundled me up in my coat—just like Ginnie would’ve done. “Talk your friend out of FeLS. It is a dangerous business, not at all what it seems. You must convince her that even a low-tier existence is better than what lies beyond the FeLS training station.”
“I’ll try.” I couldn’t imagine anything I might say that would sway Sandy’s determination to get into FeLS.
When we got outside, it was cold. And Mrs. Jenkins’s warning about FeLS made it seem even colder. I tried to push those thoughts aside. I’d had enough for one night. I wanted normal—even if just for a few minutes.
“How come your parents don’t mind you walking around alone after dark?” I asked Wei.
“Martial arts. I can show you some moves sometime, if you want.”
“That would be ultra. Then if Ed shows up to try and take Dee…” I made some flailing motions with my arms. Wei and I both laughed, and for a moment I felt like a normal girl with a friend, just being silly. But that feeling didn’t last. I hesitated a moment before asking, “Did you see Sal today?”
She shook her head. “He wasn’t at school. Why?”
“No reason. I didn’t see him either and I wondered—that’s all.”
“Sal and I have known each other since we were babies. Since his parents died he hasn’t let himself get close to anyone. He even tried backing off being close to me. I told him, ‘No way, Salzo, we’re tight till the end.’ I know he’s afraid of being hurt if something happens to anyone else he cares about. I also know he really likes you.”
That didn’t help my mood. We stood under the yellow glow of the streetlights on Clark, the cold November winds whipped around my legs, cutting through my jeans, chilling me to the core.
As I sat on the number 33, heading home, my thoughts turned to Sal, like I knew they would. After what Wei’d said, I could almost feel myself softening toward him. I wanted to believe her, that he liked me, really liked me. And I could, almost. At least until I remembered that the day we met, he’d recognized my name. He’d known I was Alan Oberon’s daughter from the start.
I pushed Sal thoughts aside, only to be assailed by other things I’d heard at the Jenkinses’. They wanted me to believe that Alan was dead, but Ginnie’d said different. It hadn’t been the drugs talking or the Infinity machine or her injuries. She knew that my father was alive and she expected me to find him.
She also had to have known that Alan was a NonCon. And not just any NonCon, but the leader. Why didn’t she ever tell me? She could have trusted me. I’m sure she had her reasons, but I was her daughter. Who else could she have trusted? A bit of anger at her leaked out and I smacked the back of the seat in front of me in frustration. The guy sitting there whirled around.
“What’s your problem?” he snapped.
“Nothing. Sorry.” I cut my eyes to the left.
He turned back, muttering something about teenagers.
I sat on my hands. FeLS. How was I ever going to talk Sandy out of her life’s dream? As impossible as that seemed, I figured I had a better chance of doing it than finding my father. But I had to try to do both—somehow.
XXII
I got up late, with plans to go back to Robin’s Roost and poke around there. I was so late, there was no time to talk with Gran about my FeLS contract before breakfast. I had to keep moving if I was going to make sure Ed didn’t get near Dee between home and Dickens.
On the way to school, I was constantly looking over my shoulder, scanning the streets for Ed’s green trannie. Derek and Mike came around the corner and Wei showed up a second later. I noticed that Derek got real quiet, and the way he looked at her… He had the same dreamy look in his eyes that he’d had when he was looking at me two weeks ago. Skivs, he had a crush on Wei! I could not have been happier. No more crushing on me. I could finally relax again.
Before Dee ran off with her friends, Wei told her, “Wait for us after school and we’ll go somewhere special.”
“More special than TJ’s?”
“Yep.”
“Okay!” She grinned and then raced to the school yard, giggling and laughing with her friends.
“Where are we going?” That put a serious kink in my own plans to visit Robin’s Roost.
“Rosie’s.” Wei lowered her voice. “It’s DZ and we can tell Dee what’s going on with Ed. She should know.”
Mike heard “Rosie’s.” “You’re going there? Chocolate cake, white icing, sprinkles on top. Man, that’s the best!”
“I’ve got credits I picked up yesterday playing music with Riley. I’ll buy,” Derek said. “That is…” He looked at Wei. “If you don’t mind if we come, too.”
I watched him, contemplating how I felt about the shift in his affections. There was the teeniest bit of jealousy rattling around inside me, but mostly I was glad I didn’t have to deal with his crush anymore. Coming right out and saying something like I don’t want to be your girlfriend might well have ruined our friendship. I would never have wanted that to happen. Plus, I really liked Wei. And they looked cute together, his tall blondness alongside her dark-haired petiteness. I smiled to myself. It was a good thing.