“Thanks,” Rush said, his voice almost a whisper. He was so grateful for her forgiveness that he was afraid he might break down a little if he looked her in the eye, but he did it anyway because it felt like the right thing to do. The smile he got in return felt like a lifeline in the midst of a raging sea.
“I’m sorry, Rush,” Kaitlyn said. “I wasn’t thinking about it that way. If I had to choose between fixing things for a living or staying here… well, I’m not sure which one I’d pick, to be honest, but I know it wouldn’t be an easy decision.”
Rush just nodded, not trusting himself to speak. Tick-Tock and Sketch still looked mad, but at least Grid and Gears seemed to understand.
What if we can’t summon anything without you? Sam wanted to ask, but of course she couldn’t. This was the most amazing thing she had ever been a part of—the first thing in her life that had ever really mattered. For all she knew, he was about to ruin it for all of them, and there wasn’t anything she could do about it.
“Fine,” she said icily. “Do whatever you want. I’m going back to breakfast. Some of us have work to do today.”
When Sam stood up, Sketch did, too. “I’d never pick a job over you,” he said, and his words felt like a knife in Rush’s heart as Sketch followed Sam out the door.
“He’ll understand when he’s older,” Mackenzie said, repeating what she had heard her mother say countless times about her youngest sister—every time she started sulking because their father was leaving again. “He’s too young to have career goals.”
She grinned when she said it, and Rush managed to smile a little too. Then she surprised him by hugging him goodbye.
“Take care of yourself,” she said. “Don’t worry about us. We’ll be OK.”
“Thanks, Grid,” he said, feeling grateful all over again.
“Knock ’em dead,” Kaitlyn said, saying goodbye to him next. She hugged him, too, and when she pulled away, she winked at him cheerfully, her smile as bright as ever. Rush knew in that moment that he would remember her that way forever, smiling like the summer sunshine, and he suddenly understood everything Daniel saw in her.
“Take care of her,” Rush said as Daniel got up in turn and hugged him awkwardly, clapping him on the back. “And look out for Sketch, too, OK? Maybe watch some TV with him at night or something? He’s not used to being alone.”
“I’ll look out for him,” Daniel promised. “I have a little brother at home. We’ll hang out. Trust me. He’ll be sick of me before it’s over.”
Rush laughed a little. But the laugh threatened to stick in his throat, so he stopped before he gave himself away.
“Thanks,” was all he managed to say, and Daniel nodded.
“God, I still have to pack my stuff!” he exclaimed suddenly, but Ammu shook his head in reply.
“I signaled Christina when we came in,” Ammu explained. “It has been taken care of. Your bags will already be on the bus by now.”
“Oh. Wow. I guess this is really it, huh?”
“I did not mean to take you by surprise,” Ammu said gently. “We felt that a long goodbye would only distract the group further from the work that lies ahead.”
“Yeah, I get it.”
Rush looked around at his three friends who were still there. Grid nodded at him, and Kaitlyn smiled warmly, holding Daniel’s hand.
“Well, I guess this is goodbye,” he said. He hugged them each one more time for good measure and then walked out of the classroom with Ammu trailing behind him. As promised, the bus was waiting in the driveway, and Ammu walked him up to its door.
“It has been an honor to know you, Ashton Hunt,” Ammu said. “May peace be with you all your days.”
“You too, Ammu,” Rush said.
He hesitated on the bus steps, looking back at the lodge, but no small, familiar face appeared at the door. After a long moment, he sighed and stepped up into the aisle, taking a seat by the window as the driver slowly pulled away.
He watched the lodge all the way down the long driveway, ready to stop the bus with a shout, but no one came running out to give him a last-minute hug, or to offer him a final smile of forgiveness. All he saw was Ammu, the lone sentinel, who stood waving a silent goodbye until the bus finally turned the corner, and he passed out of view behind the trees.
39
Briefing
Christina and Ammu gathered everyone back into the classroom after breakfast, where there was now a television in front of the whiteboard with a DVD player hooked up to it. Mackenzie was grateful when Christina sat down with them at the far end. Leaving one of the six chairs empty all morning would have been a bit too reminiscent of a missing man formation, and if Mackenzie was feeling Rush’s absence, Sketch and Sam were taking it ten times harder.
Mackenzie had expected Sketch’s glum demeanor, but Sam’s vehement reaction surprised her, making her wonder whether Sam had liked the charismatic gamer more than she had let on. Mackenzie sat in the chair near the door on purpose, so that Sam and Sketch would both have to sit somewhere in the middle. Whether they liked it or not, neither one of them needed to feel any more alone right now than they already did.
In the end, Sketch sat next to Mackenzie, and Kaitlyn sat next to Christina. Daniel hesitated for a moment but ultimately sat next to Sketch, and Mackenzie nodded at him thankfully, leaving Sam to perch sullenly between Daniel and Kaitlyn. Ammu took his place near the television, cleared his throat, and began speaking.
“What I am about to tell you has its roots in ancient history, but I believe the historical facts will be difficult to take in—and even more difficult to believe—without a modern reference point. The video I am about to show you took place in Afghanistan. It is one of the events that prompted the development of the Intuition Assessment Battery.”
Ammu turned the television on, and the image that appeared was a still shot of a helicopter, viewed from above.
“This footage is highly classified. I can only show you the very brief segment that applies to our work here at the ICIC. It was captured by a drone, which was filming a certain mission, the details of which are not important. What is important is what happens in the next seven seconds of real time, so watch closely. I’ll play it at half speed to make it easier to see.”
Ammu pressed a button on the remote, and the video started moving. There was no sound, but the blades of the helicopter began to turn, and the camera tilted oddly for a moment before returning to its original angle. A second later, something raced into the picture from offscreen. Even at half speed, it moved incredibly fast. The image was blurred by the movement of the camera, but still, it was clear enough—whatever it was flew right up to the helicopter and caught the main blade in its hands, stopping the rotor and sending the copter into a wild spin.
“What the hell?” Sam blurted out, sitting up straighter and staring at the screen.