Or seemed to look at him. After a pulse-pounding moment, he realized they were just looking in the direction of the noise, not at what caused it.
“What the hell?” Faye muttered.
“No idea,” Henry said. “That was weird.”
“Yes. Yes, it was,” Faye said, her brow crinkling.
“At least they’ve stopped arguing,” Milo said to no one in particular.
“You can make yourself visible to Henry if you keep concentrating. Keep trying,” Adelina said.
“What? How do I do that? I didn’t try to knock the coffee cups off the table, so I clearly have no clue how I did even that much.”
“Once you’ve got a toehold, the more you assert yourself into physical space, the more it will accept you. The more it has to accept you. Trust me, just keep knocking things over. See if that works.”
“This is insane,” Milo muttered, but floated over to a bunch of knickknacks cluttering up another of Faye’s tables in the living room. He swept an arm across them, shattering the entire lot.
Faye and Henry stepped back, both wearing identical shocked Os on their faces. “What the fuck?” Faye said, standing now. “Is this something you’re doing, Henry? Because if it, it isn’t fucking funny.”
Henry said nothing, just stared at the spot where the knickknacks had gone flying. “Hang on a second, Faye. Hang on. I think I see… something.”
“Where?”
“By that table.”
Faye squinted. “I don’t see anything. And what do you mean by ‘something,’ anyway?”
“I don’t know. Just–”
A mirror in the hallway smashed.
Shoes on the mat by the door flew across the floor.
The glass doors of Faye’s china cabinet exploded inward. Everything inside, on all three shelves, was dumped out onto the ground. Pieces of cups, plates, and china dolls flew in every direction.
Faye just stood rooted to the spot, her eyes closed, hands over her ears as the destruction took place around her.
Henry, on the other hand, stared hard at the place in the air from which everything seemed to be falling. And then it happened. Not in gradients – like a fuzzy TV picture becoming slowly clearer as it’s tuned in – but like a balloon bursting. Suddenly, Milo was just there for Henry.
Henry stared at his friend, who held in his hands a large silver tray with a full teacup set on it, about to bring it down at his feet. His face was red with exertion.
“Milo?”
Milo looked up at the sound of Henry’s voice.
“Henry? You can hear me?”
Henry nodded. “I can see you, too.”
“Holy shit.”
“Henry, who are you talking to?” Faye said. “What the hell is happening?”
Milo turned to Adelina, searched her face for an answer because words to ask a proper question would not come.
Adelina understood, said, “She can’t see or hear you, Milo. I don’t know if she’ll ever be able to. But Henry can.”
Milo turned his attention back to Henry. Felt a lump in his throat. Knew tears weren’t far behind. “Henry,” he said.
“Yeah, Milo, it’s me. Put the tray down. You’re freaking Faye out. Just set it down gently, OK?”
Milo looked down at the tray in his hands as though he’d no idea how it’d gotten there. “Yeah,” he said, shaking his head clear. “Yeah, sorry.”
Milo moved over to the coffee table, close to where Faye sat still staring in disbelief at Henry. With shaking hands, Milo set the tray down.
“Henry, are you going to tell me what in the fuck is going on? Who just destroyed my apartment?”
“Milo did,” Henry said. “He was just trying to… get my attention.”
Faye said nothing, just sat down on the couch, trying to get her breathing back under control.
There would be no expressions of disbelief from Faye. No doubting what Henry told her. She’d just seen something whip around her apartment, smashing everything to bits – that much was certain. If Henry said it was his Milo, then great. Mystery solved. She had no gas left in the tank to fight him. What she wanted more than anything right now was to sleep. Close her eyes, fall away from the world.
To Henry, Milo looked somewhat insubstantial. Not transparent, but more like how someone appears backlit against the sun on the horizon. Definitely there, but with shadows hovering, seeking to obscure.
Henry took two steps toward Milo, easily closing the distance between them. They stood in front of one another for a moment, then Henry reached forward and down, made to hug Milo – but as gently as he could. He neither knew what Milo was made of, nor had complete control of his new muscles. His arms encircled Milo, and Milo waited with his eyes shut for them to go through him. But they didn’t. They touched him. Held him as softly as metal could hold anything.
“Where were you?” Henry said, his mouth near Milo’s head.
“I’ve been with you the whole time, old friend. The whole time.”
Neither felt the need to say anything else, so they just stood like that, breathing, for a long moment.
When Henry pulled away and stood back up – as much as he could – he said, “Who else is here? I saw you looking at someone else earlier.”
Milo glanced at Adelina, who was shimmering and smiling nearby.