Radiant (27 page)

After dinner, they all played
board games before Mary and Mom said goodnight to Ba and left. They boarded the bus in silence and sat across the aisle from each other.

"So, did you tell Ba what a horrible monster I am for not letting you see Carter?" Mom asked.

Mary didn't look at her. "I just told her we broke up. I didn't say why."

Quiet.

"I stopped by Anna's to talk with Ben," Mom said finally.

Now Mary looked at her. "What for?"

"I wanted to ask him about renting studio space for you," Mom said.

"I thought there
wasn't money for that," Mary said.

"I got a rais
e at work," Mom said. "He told me he's actually closing his shop for a few weeks while he's in Dubai working on some installations for Mr. Maxwell."

"He decided to do it?"
Mary asked.

"Apparently so," Mom said. "But he's still going to leave the workshop open. One of his friends, a lady named Hannah, is there regularly working on things for a couple hotels in the city. He said
she has a key and knows how to set the alarm and lock up. And she can show you how to use the tools and stuff. I put some money down for the space and on account for your materials. And I signed a liability form, so don't saw your hand off because we won't be able to sue him."

Normally, Mary would rol
l her eyes and laugh. Instead, she asked, "Why are you doing this?"

Mom shrugged.

Mary looked out the window again. "Thanks."

"You're welcome."

They said nothing until the bus dropped them off near their apartment. When they got inside, Mom sat at the table to go through the mail. Mary headed for her room, but she stopped at the door. "Mom?"

"Yes?"

"I don't think you're a monster."

Mom tossed an advertisement f
or air duct cleaning into the recycling bin. "Good to know."

Mary st
arted to go into her room again but stopped once more. "I love him."

"I'm sure you do," Mom said.

"No, I don't think you understand," Mary said. "You know I don't throw that word around. I love him."

Mom looked up at her.

"But not as much as I love you," Mary said. "That's why I'm not seeing him."

Mom said nothing.

Mary came and kissed her on her cheek. "Good night." Then she went into her room and closed the door.

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- 2
7 -

Shot

Mary started working on her planet mobile a few days later. She made about a dozen sketches before she settled on a design she liked. Before he left for Dubai, Ben introduced her to Hannah and gave her a quick lesson on how the shop worked. Hannah was a young woman with short brown hair and hipster glasses. She was nice and helpful, but Mary had to keep her distance because the cigarettes she smoked made her smell like she was burning.

Hannah was working on four
huge oil paintings that she had set out side by side. Each canvas stood over six feet tall.

Mary star
ed at the cacophony of color on the massive canvases. "This is so cool! Are these going in the lobby of the hotel?"

"One of the hall
ways on the way to the restaurant," Hannah explained.

"I want to do a huge painting now," Mary said.

Hannah laughed. "If you do, you'll want to frame your own canvas. It's a lot cheaper to do it yourself."

"I've done little ones in Art class," Mary said. "But not a big one before. Would you show me some time?"

"Sure," Hannah said. She put down her brush and wiped her hands on her apron. "I'm going outside for a bit. You'll be okay for a few minutes?"

Mary nodded. "Yeah. I'm just cutting more pipe. I'll be fine."

"Okay. Holler if you need anything." Hannah grabbed her cigarettes and a bottle of mace from her purse before stepping into the back alley.

Mary went back to the band saw, where a long metal pipe waited for her. She had
used a pen to mark out where she wanted to cut it to make the arms of the mobile. She put on some safety goggles and hit the "On" switch. The saw screamed to life.

Zzeeeerrrrrrrr!

When she was finished making the cuts, Mary switched off the saw and pulled off her goggles. She examined the pipe pieces and found some rough edges at the ends. Not wanting to cut herself on them and give her tetanus, she went into the tool cage and grabbed a large metal filer.

When she came out of the cage, she saw
Phos standing alone in the middle of the room.

"Hi," he said.

"Hi," she answered. "What are you doing here?"

"S
eeing you."

She looked down at the heavy filer in her hands. "You're not supposed to."

"I know," he said.

She said nothing.

"I've experienced a new human emotion," he said. "Hate."

S
he remained silent.

"
I
hate
being away from you," he said.

"I'm sorry," she said. "I can't do anything about that."

"I know," he said again.

Mary
swallowed. She didn't want to cry, but she felt the tears coming. "You should go."

He nodded
. "Okay. Good night, Mar—"

Crash!

They looked up.

"What was that?" Phos asked.

Mary shook her head. "I don't know, but it came from the store."

They went towards the front of the building.
From the dim streetlights outside, Mary could see that the front door was slightly ajar. "Hannah?" Mary asked. She switched on the lights.

Behind the register stood a man she didn't recognize. The empty till w
as pulled out all the way and little mint tins from the rack next to the register were scattered on the tile floor.

"Who are you?" Mary demanded.

The man looked at her like a deer in headlights.

Mary gasped. "
You're robbing the store! Get out of here! HANNAH!"

"Shut up!" the man cried.

"HANNAH!" Mary screamed.

The
intruder pulled out a gun and pointed it at them with a shaky hand. "I said
shut up
!"

Phos
pulled Mary behind him. "Sir, please. There is no need for violence."

"Where's the money
kept?" the man demanded.

"I don't
think there's any here," Phos said calmly. "But if it's money you want, I can give you some."

"What are you doing?" Mary hissed.

"Mary, please," he whispered. He looked back at the man. "Is it all right if I get my wallet?"

The gun was getting shakier, b
ut the man nodded. "All right. But no funny business, got it?"

"I'll turn around, so you can see my hands." Carefully, Phos turned and reached for
his wallet in his back pocket. He turned again and held it up.

"Throw it here," the man
ordered.

Phos tossed the wallet over to the base of the counter. Still training the gun on them, the intruder slinked
over and picked up the wallet.

"You stay there," he said. "Don
't follow me."

"
Of course," Phos said.

The man began backing towards the door. Mary looked down. His left foot was headed for the mint tins.

"Watch out!" she cried.

He
stepped on the tins, and they slipped out from under him.

Bang
!

Mary gasped.

Phos translated and was on the man in an instant. He grabbed the hand holding the gun, and Phos' hands ignited.

"
AAAAARRRRR!
" the intruder shrieked as his skin sizzled and crackled from the heat. He dropped the gun, crying and cradling his scorched hand.

Phos kicked the gun aside.
Then he turned to Mary. His eyes became as wide as plates.

Mary was still standing in the same place. She
followed his gaze and saw a wet, red patch forming on the front of her shirt.

The filer in her hand
suddenly felt too heavy. It slipped from her fingers and struck the floor with a loud
clang!
Then her legs gave out.

"Mary!" Phos caught her before she hit the ground.

Mary looked down and saw blood pooling on the floor. "Is that mine?" were the words that came from her mouth.

Phos tore he
r shirt, revealing the hole where the bullet had gone in. He placed one hand over it. "Hold still. This will hurt."

Before she could ask what he was
about to do, searing pain gripped her whole body. Mary screamed.

"That's it!" Phos said. "That's all. I'm done. It's all right. I'll transl
ate you to the hospital now."

"What on earth is going on in
—?" Hannah said as she came from the back of the shop. "Holy crap! Who are you? What happened—OMIGOSH MARY!"

Phos
cursed under his breath. He couldn't translate without being seen now with Hannah there. "Please call the police and an ambulance."

Hannah didn't move for a moment, still too shocked as she looked from him and Mary to the intruder curled up by the door.

"Now!" Phos shouted.

Hannah jolted back to life
. "O-okay!" She ran to the phone on the wall.

"
Phos?" Mary asked.

He looked
down at her. "Yes, I'm here."

A tear raced down the side of her face.
"I'm scared."

He held her tighter. "I know, but y
ou'll be all right."

"How do you know?" she asked.

He said nothing for a moment. Then, he kissed her forehead. "Because I promise you will be."

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- 2
8 -

ICU Again

Mary's memory was fuzzy. She recalled an ambulance ride. Phos was also there. The paramedics almost didn't let him go with her, but when he told them her name and how to get a hold of her mother, they let him.

Mary
also remembered some nurses and a surgeon. They were talking quickly and she couldn't understand what they were saying. Then, one of the nurses said, "We're going to give you something to help you sleep, okay Mary?" And everything went dark after that.

Everything was still dark now. Mary didn't know where she was o
r the time, feeling like she was drifting around in a dream. She couldn't open her eyes or move anything, but her ears seemed to work. She heard a soft, rhythmic beep and a mechanical hum. She also heard voices that seemed far away.

"
I shouldn't have left her alone!" It was Hannah. And she was crying.

"It's all right."
That one was Mom. "You didn't know the store was going to be robbed?"

"But I turned off the security alarm so that I could go outside and smoke," Hannah wept. "It's all my fault!"

"Look," Mom said professionally. "It's really late. The police have that man in custody, and the doctor said Mary is stable. You should go home and rest, Hannah."

Hannah blew her nose. "Okay.
I probably need to also call Ben and let him know what happened. I'm so sorry again."

There was quiet for a moment before Mom spoke again. "You should go home, too, Carter."

Carter? Phos was there, and Mom wasn't screaming bloody murder at him?

"I…can't," he said. "Please, M
s. Phan. I know I shouldn't have gone to see her. She actually told me to leave. But please don't make me be far from her now. I'll stay in the waiting room. You won't even see me."

More quiet. Then Mom said
in a shaky voice, "You don't have to do that. You can stay here. I…I actually prefer it."

Mary heard her mother begin to cry. She sounded like she was sobbing into someone's shoulder.

"It's all right, Ms. Phan," Phos said.

Mom cried for a solid few minutes before she could talk again. "I
am
a monster."

"
No you're not," Phos said.

"
Yes I am," she said. "I keep hurting the people I love. My father and mother. My daughter. I just didn't realize how much I had hurt her by keeping her from you."

"You were protecting her," he said. "Good parents do that."

"Yeah, but I did it for other reasons," she said. "I guess I was a little jealous. Ever since I was a girl, I dreamt that I'd meet a guy in some romantic way like my parents met. My own knight in shining armor. I started dating when I was eleven years old. I thought if I started early, I'd have a better chance of finding him. But I found a lot of jerks instead. My father used to say he'd die of a heart attack if I dated another jerk. After so many jerks, I started to believe that there were no knights in shining armor. When Mary met you, I wanted to believe that you were another jerk."