The Book of Joby (101 page)

As he sat correcting papers, a knock brought Joby’s eyes up to find GB standing shyly in the entrance to his classroom.

“GB!” Joby said, getting up to greet him. “Welcome back.”

“Thank you, Mr. Peterson.” GB smiled uncertainly.

“It’s Joby.” Joby grinned. “Mr. Peterson’s my father, remember?”

“Yeah, okay.” GB smiled as they shook hands. “It’s just still weird, callin’ teachers by their first names.” He ducked his head. “You know.”

“Yeah, I know,” said Joby. “It all seemed weird to me when I first got here too. In fact,” he said, nostalgically, “it was about this same time of year. You’re going to like Christmas here, GB.”

“I wanted to come thank you,” GB said quietly, “for helping me so much. The Carlsons told me everything you did while we were driving back. And getting me that job. You don’t know what it means. I thought for sure they’d just kick me out of town.”

“You belong here,” said Joby. “We weren’t about to let that happen. Have you been over to see Muriel yet at the Heron’s Bowl?”

“Yeah.” GB smiled. “She’ll be fun to work for.”

“Just watch out for her sense of humor,” Joby said. “Her son’s a friend of mine, and believe me, a tendency for sadistic pranks runs in their family.”

“I didn’t meet him,” said GB.

“No,” Joby said, feeling the smile leave his face. “He and some friends ran into demons in November. Two of them were killed.” The waves of grief were always smaller now, but still managed to surprise him. “Cob was sent away for his own protection.”

“Sent where?” GB asked. “Where is there for us besides here?”

Joby hesitated. The Garden Coast’s existence was under tighter wraps than ever. With Ferristaff no longer around to draw attention to it, everyone just hoped the demons would have no reason to probe so far north. Still, GB had been vetted by several members of the council. The address in Seattle GB had given them checked out: gutted by fire two years earlier, a couple dead, their son still missing. Joby saw no reason not to answer GB’s question. He was one of them now.

“He’s in a place called the Garden Coast, well north of here,” said Joby. “GB, what I’m telling you is one of our most closely guarded secrets. It’s vital that no demon ever have reason to suspect it’s there. You mustn’t speak of it to anyone unless they bring it up. Okay?”

“Sure,” GB said. “You get good at keeping secrets on the street. Does Nacho know about it?”

“We all do,” Joby said. “Everyone who’s of the blood, I mean. That’s why I’m telling you. In fact, quite a few of us are up there now working to hide it more thoroughly, and preparing for the worst if it’s found. You may end up helping them yourself, once you’ve settled in here.”

“Have you been there?” GB asked.

“Just once,” said Joby. “It was quite beautiful, but I’d be of no use up there now.”

“Why not?” GB said, giving Joby another shy smile. “You seem pretty helpful.”

“What they’re doing takes all kinds of power I don’t have,” Joby said wistfully.

“That’s not what I heard,” said GB. “If you’re of the blood, you’ve got powers.”

“Well, yes, I have been told that,” Joby sighed. “But if so, mine are hidden way too well to find. Since all the trouble started I’ve tried, a couple times, to do things, or even just to sense this power everybody says I have. But nothing happens. I’ve talked to Solomon about it, and—”

“He’s one of the ancients, right?” asked GB, his eyes suddenly alight.

“Yes,” Joby said. “I forgot you hadn’t met him yet. He and Jake are both stretched pretty thin, as you can imagine.”

“So, Solomon said you don’t have powers?” GB said skeptically.

“Not exactly,” Joby said. “Just that it’s much harder for someone who wasn’t raised to use them early. He says it’s like being French. Either you’re born and raised that way, or you’re toast.”

“Yeah, but . . . maybe I shouldn’t be questioning an ancient,” GB said hesitantly, “but I’m not sure that’s right.”

“Well, the proof is in the pudding.” Joby shrugged. “Like I said, I’ve tried.”

“You didn’t try with
me,
” GB said. “I think . . . I could help you do it.”

Having resigned himself once to being a magical retard, Joby wasn’t eager to jump through still more pointless hoops. “That’s very kind of you, GB,” he said, “but—”

“You gotta let me try, at least,” said GB. “You’ve done all this stuff for me. I really wanna do this for you. Okay?”

“Well, what did you have in mind?” Joby said, seeing no way around it without completely rebuffing GB’s generosity. Might as well fail one more time and have it done.

“Okay,” GB said, heading for a table at the back of Joby’s room. “Let’s sit here.”

“We’re going to do it now?” Joby asked. “Here?”

“Good as anyplace.” GB shrugged. “We’ll be able to see if anyone comes in.”

“What exactly are we going to do?” Joby asked, sitting down beside him.

“First, we have to find it,” GB said. “Sounds like you lost it pretty early. But it’s gotta still be in there, and once you remember what it felt like, the rest’ll be like swimming.” He smiled. “Once you’ve done it, you can do it.”

“Uh-huh,” Joby said, certain that GB was in for a disappointment. “And if there’s no magic in there to remember?”

“It’s there,” GB said firmly. “Nacho says you use it all the time without knowing, so we prob’ly don’t even have to look that far back.” He turned to Joby, seeming suddenly uncomfortable again. “But, here’s the deal. You gotta promise not to tell anyone how we did this, okay?” His expression became grave. “I mean
seriously
promise.”

“Why?” Joby said uncomfortably. “What are you going to do?”

GB said nothing for a moment, then, “If I tell you, will you promise not to even tell the Council what I said?”

“That depends on what it is, GB. To be honest, it’s sounding like whatever you’ve got in mind is nothing we should be doing anyway.”

“It’s nothing bad,” GB insisted earnestly. “It’s just that . . . when people find out what I can do, they get all tweaked sometimes. So . . . so I just don’t let them know I can.”

“Are you going to tell me what it is?” Joby pressed.

GB sighed, seeming braced for trouble. “I can sort of get in people’s heads and . . . look around for things.”

“You read minds?”
Joby said. Then, less comfortably, “Are you doing it now?”

“No!” GB said hotly. “That’s what I’m talkin’ about! The minute people find out, they get all paranoid. But it doesn’t just happen. I have to work at it, and I
never
do it without permission. Anyone who uses the power at all would feel me in there in a second anyway, but people still treat me like some kind of peepin’ Tom.” He frowned. “So now I’ve told you. You can trust me or not. It’s your call.” His sullen expression made his expectation clear. “If you tell, I’ll just go find some other town to live in.”

Joby wondered uncomfortably whether other people around Taubolt had been reading his mind. “You can’t be the only one who has this gift,” he said.

“Most of us can send things
into
other people’s minds,” GB said, “but being able to pull things
out,
that’s rare.” He shrugged unhappily. “Lucky me.”

“Is it . . . unpleasant?” Joby asked.

“It doesn’t hurt, if that’s what you mean,” said GB. “Might feel a little strange, is all.” He looked hopefully at Joby. “You’re gonna let me?”

“I might,” Joby said, still trying to decide.

“And you won’t tell anyone?” GB asked.

“No,” Joby said. “I won’t betray your trust. But I’m counting on you not to betray mine either by doing anything I’ll be sorry for later.”

“I won’t,” GB enthused. “Honest! Okay. First, lay your hands out flat on the table, and I’ll put mine on top of yours.” When they’d done so, GB said, “Now close your eyes and get relaxed. Think about fallin’ asleep or some-thing . . . on a warm day. . . . Let your body just slow down, your breathing, your blood . . . everything gettin’ slower.”

They were silent as Joby let himself relax, noting that GB’s hands were very warm, and getting warmer.

“Okay,” GB said. “I’m gonna start lookin’. It feels different for different people. It could feel like gettin’ dizzy, or like your ears are ringin’, or even like you’re forgettin’ things. But I won’t do anything to hurt you, and I’ll get out the minute you ask, okay?”

Joby nodded, tensing up a bit despite himself.

“Okay,” GB said, “now, when I find what we’re lookin’ for, you’ll sort of see it—like a daydream. Latch on to that and concentrate until the dream gets stronger. Ready?”

Joby took a deep breath and nodded again, then felt it, right away, like a waterfall of inaudible voices in his mind. “Wow,” he whispered.

“Shhhh,” GB said. “Pay attention, watch.”

For a long while nothing changed. Joby just felt GB’s feather-light presence sifting through his mind like a barber’s fingers running through his hair. It was kind of relaxing, really. “Nothing’s happening,” he said at last.

“You always use such tiny brushes of power,” GB replied. “I can’t find anything big enough to make you see it.”

“It feels kind of neat though.” Joby smiled. “God, this is weird.”

“Keep quiet,” GB urged, then uttered a soft exclamation and said, “There!” Joby felt a sudden plunging sensation, as if he’d lost his balance. His hands clamped down involuntarily on the tabletop beneath GB’s. “Relax,” GB said calmly. “Can you see it? Man! How could
anybody
miss a thing like
that
?”

As GB spoke, Joby had already begun to slip into a dream of astonishing vividness, both frightening and fascinating—not just images but sound and touch—all his senses. Soon GB’s voice was all that proved he was still in his classroom.

“Where is this?” GB asked.

“It’s the lake!” Joby said, recognizing his surroundings in amazement. “I remember this! This was our swimming hole.”

As Joby spoke, the experience ceased to feel like mere memory at all. The rising sun crested trees across the lake to spill across the rock ledge where he sat naked and dripping in the early sun, covered in undulating reflections of sunlight, and feeling suddenly as wild, as still, and as beautiful as everything around him. Lost in light and warmth, he gazed out across the dazzling water, and became aware of movement all around him in the silence.

Tiny flies danced on the lake’s surface. Bees and dragonflies darted or hovered all along the shore. Ants searched rocks and pebbles for morsels to bring back to their queen. Thistle seeds and iridescent strands of gossamer drifted through the air, backlit with rainbow fire by the rising sun, until it seemed the entire world was one slow, swirling dance of glinting, golden illumination. It was the strangest feeling, yet familiar in some nameless way as well. A small wasp landed on Joby’s arm, carrying the rainbow in its wings, but he felt no fear of being stung, only the tickling touch of kin. A bottle fly, also covered in rainbows, landed on his knee; one more intimate connection with the moving, luminous scheme of life that stretched away across the lake into the forest beyond, and on out of sight. With a surreal surge of wholeness and well being, Joby wondered how he’d stumbled into this sudden fairyland, and what might happen if he tried reaching farther into—

“Whaaaaaaawhoooo!”

The shout and several pounding steps behind him were all the warning he received before Jupiter’s body came hurtling past him to land like a depth charge in the lake, drenching Joby and his perch with spray, and shattering the spell.

“Jupiter!” Joby shouted, filled with delight to see the boy alive.

“Were you
blind
?” came GB’s voice.

The dream dissolved in shards of light and sound as Joby’s eyes flew open, swimming in unshed tears.

“How could you feel all that and not notice?” GB laughed, seeming oblivious to Joby’s sudden pang of grief at having had and lost his young friend yet again.

“Feel what?” Joby asked, pulling himself forcefully back into the present.

“That was
it,
man!” GB said incredulously. “What’d you think, your average tourist sees the whole world edged in fire? You could’ve flown across that lake and taken half the water with you filled with that much power!” GB shook his head and laughed again. “No gifts, huh?”

Joby was astonished. “You mean that feeling was—”

“The power we all tap into.” GB nodded. “I anchored that memory in your conscious mind before I pulled out, so it should come back pretty easy when you want it. Now all you have to do is learn to find that feeling in yourself again, then aim it with your will, and things will start to
happen,
dude.”

“Like what?” Joby said, still filled with disbelief.

“Let’s find out.” GB grinned. Reaching into his coat pocket, he pulled out a book of matches, tore one loose, and laid it on the table between them. “Here’s what you do,” he said. “Try to fill up with the memory of that morning—your whole body, not just your head. Then focus that feeling on what you want the match to do until it does.”

“That’s all?” Joby said. “But I still don’t know what I’m doing.”