Silver Part 9

2003

The day started grey and drizzly, which matched my mood pretty well. Erin was talking with the teens, giving them the benefit of experience that Tori couldn't. I'm not sure if they appreciated it or not; to say Erin was being blunt would be kind. Their names, it turned out, where Aaron and Mariah, and the woman's was Mary. Sound asleep near the door was the boy we'd talked to on the street corner the day before, who'd come in sometime before dawn. We were told his name was Jonas.

Mary had latched onto Silver almost as soon as she saw him. I don't know if it was his age or his quiet, withdrawn manner, but she kept fawning over him—asking him if he needed anything, trying to make sure he was okay, things like that. Silver didn't seem to know how to take it. He didn't push her away, but he didn't always answer her, either. When he did it was usually with a shrug or a slight nod or shake of his head. At the moment she was trying to give him a shirt from her collection of clothing. Silver had taken off his jacket for sleeping, and in the morning when she'd seen how torn his shirt was she'd wasted no time.

"You can't keep going around in a shirt like that!" she was saying. "Just look at it—half the sleeve is missing! Now here. Here is a perfectly nice shirt. It may be a little big for you, but you're a growing boy, right? Go on, here, try it on." She kept pressing the shirt on him until he finally took it. When he hesitated about changing she pressed again, saying his old shirt couldn't be very warm, while the one she was giving him was made for cold weather.

He finally pulled off his old long sleeved t-shirt and put on the flannel button-down she'd given him. He was quick, but I was already watching so I saw that the skin over his spine was practically striped with scars. I was less surprised than I thought I should be. He glanced over his shoulder and met my eyes for a second, but then simply turned back and started buttoning the shirt.

Mary smiled and patted his hair, and Silver froze. "So bright," she said, mostly to herself. "So pure, like one of God's angels. Just like one of God's pure angels. You must indeed be blessed." She lightly touched his cheek, then went back to her things, leaving Silver still frozen in the middle of buttoning.

He stayed that way for several seconds, long enough that I was about to go over there, but then Tori came in from outside. Silver glanced at her and hastily finished buttoning, then went over to pick up his cap and jacket. Tori paused and frowned at him thoughtfully for a moment before continuing over to where Jess was sitting.

"You doing okay?" I asked her.

"Oh, sure, just peachy," she said as she sat down on the floor. "Just what you'd expect after watching my best friend get hit by a car."

I sighed. "Tori. . . ."

"Well, how do you expect me to be?" She turned to Jess, who'd tugged on her sleeve. "What?"

"Um," Jess said, "I need to go to the bathroom."

"Fine . . . c'mon." She stood and took Jess's hand, and led her outside.

I groaned and rubbed my eyes. Tori had been that way since she'd gotten up. I could sympathize, but I was still too upset myself to have much patience for it.

"Just let her be for awhile," Erin said, sounding irritated.

I looked up and frowned, but didn't say anything.

She snorted and shook her head. "Anyway, I'm going out for awhile. Get a look around."

"You sure, Erin?"

"I don't need your permission, Eddie."

"And I didn't say you did, Erin. I just know if it's a good idea for any of us to be going out alone."

Erin sighed loudly. "For Christ's sake, it's the middle of the day. Nothing's going to happen. . . ." She drifted off and looked down when Jimmy pulled urgently on her jacket.

"Momma, don't go out!" he said. "I don't want you to go!"

"Jimmy, there are things we need to get, and we won't get them by hanging around in here all day. I'll only be gone a few hours—"

"No!" Jimmy cried, startling everyone in the room. "No, don't go!"

"Geez—why?"

"'Cause—'cause. . . ." He drew a shaky breath, then let out in one big sob, "'Cause-what-if-you-don't-come-back?" He sniffed, then added in a small voice, "Like last time."

Erin went from looking annoyed to being on the verge of tears as she knelt down and gathered her son into her arms. "Oh, Jimmy . . ."

Jimmy wrapped his arms around her neck and sobbed into her hair. "Don't go . . . I don't want you to go. . . ."

Aaron and Mariah watched the scene with wide eyes, and then went back to talking quietly with each other. Mary got up from what she was doing and came over. She bent down and gently stroked Jimmy's hair, murmuring consolingly. Jonas rolled onto his stomach and looked around blearily. When he got to me he stared for a moment before recognition finally registered on his face.

"Oh, hey," he said with a yawn. "Didn't notice you when I came in last night. They with you?" He pointed at Erin and Jimmy.

"Yeah, the friends we mentioned," I said.

"That's cool." He sat up and yawned again, rubbing his eyes. "Glad to see you picked this place. It's nice, as far as squats go. Rest of your friends here, too?" His eyes fell on Silver and he grinned. "Hey."

Silver shifted his eyes from Erin to Jonas. He watched him for a moment, neutrally, and then nodded slightly in greeting.

"You sure don't say much, do you? Cat got your tongue?"

Silver only stared.

Jonas was distracted when Tori and Jess came back. Silver stared at him for a bit longer, then went back to watching Erin.

Tori glanced at Erin and Jimmy, then looked at me. "What happened?"

I shrugged and stood to go outside myself. "Erin said she was gonna go out and so Jimmy's upset."

When I came back a few minutes later Jimmy was sniffling but no longer sobbing. Erin was sitting back on her heels and wiping his face with her sleeve.

"If you come with me," she was saying, "I don't want to hear any complaining, got it? We're going to be walking a lot, and you're going to get tired, but I don't want to hear any whining."

Jimmy wiped his nose on his sleeve and nodded.

Mary patted Erin's shoulder. "You've such a dear boy there. Such a sweet child." Erin sighed.

"I'm going with you, Erin," I said. "I want to get a look around, and I still don't think you should go out alone."

"All right, fine," Erin said as she stood. "You may as well."

"You guys be careful," Tori said.

"We will be," I assured her. "You staying here?"

"Yeah."

"Okay. Silver?" He turned away from the window and looked at me. "You staying?" He nodded and turned back to the window.

We looked around the neighborhood for a bit and then headed into the main part of town. It was only a few blocks away, but there was a definite jump in noise and activity. We poked around some, scavenging things as we found them. Jimmy kept his word and didn't complain, even when he was obviously getting tired and hungry. We stopped around noon to eat.

"You seem to be feeling better," I commented to Erin.

"Yeah, I guess so," she said. "I guess whatever it was passed."

"That's good. Oh, by the way, we forgot to mention it last night, after, y'know, everything that happened, but one of the cops told us there's a shelter down on Fifth Street."

"Hm."

"Thought you'd like to know."

"Thanks." Erin paused, then added, "It's nice to have the option, at least."

"Yeah." I considered for a second. "Do you think you might—"

Jimmy pulled on Erin's arm. "Momma—"

Erin pulled her arm away. "Jimmy, don't interrupt when someone's talking."

"But Momma—look!"

We both looked where Jimmy was pointing. "Is that . . .?"

I stood to get a better look. "It sure looks like it," I said, not really believing what I saw. "But how—"

Erin didn't wait for me to finish before standing up herself and yelling, "Mike!"

Mike turned and Erin called his name again. A moment later he had made his way over and caught Erin up in a hug.

"What the hell are you doing here?" she asked as she clung to him. "We saw you get hauled off!"

"What happened, Mike?" I asked. "Why'd you get hauled off?"

"That other guy'd done something, and the cops caught him for it," Mike said as he let go of Erin. "I think he was trying to sell some stuff he'd stolen. I happened to be nearby, so they took me, too, I guess. But they had nothing on me so they finally let me go. Where're you guys staying? I figured the church was out, now that the cops've been there."

"We're staying a couple blocks south of here," Erin told him.

"Anything happen while I was gone?"

"Oh, God, Mike, I don't know where to start."

"I suppose we could start from the beginning," I suggested.

We told Mike everything that had happened since we left the old church. It took a good deal of backtracking and retelling because Erin and I would talk over each other and Mike frequently interrupted us. When we finally got it all explained Mike sat down on the planter where Erin and I had been sitting and shook his head.

"Damn," he said. "I thought we'd seen the last of him."

I resisted the urge to ask who he meant—Jake or Silver.

"Yeah, me too," Erin said.

"And Surge!" Mike continued. "Wow. Poor kid. So what do you think happens to him now?"

"Foster care, after he gets out of the hospital," I said. "Whenever that is. I can't see any way around that."

"How bad do you think he's hurt? I mean, is he. . . ."

I shrugged when Mike trailed off. "I dunno. He looked pretty bad, but I'm not a doctor. I can't say."

"I can't get over that Jake's still working for those bastards," Erin said. "I don't know why they would want that piece of shit."

"Because they can control him," I said. "Why else?"

It started sprinkling, so we got up and moved under an awning. Jimmy hooked two fingers though his mother's belt loop and leaned against her hip. He was looking tired, but he didn't say anything.

"Think we should go back?" Erin mused.

"It's not raining that hard," Mike said. He tucked some of her hair behind her ear.

Erin smiled at him. "I guess not."

Jimmy looked up at me and rolled his eyes. I snorted softly and gave him a wry smile.

"Well, I think I'm going to head back before it gets any wetter," I said.

"Okay," Erin said. "Jimmy, why don't you—"

"I'm staying with you!" Jimmy said before she could finish.

Erin sighed. "All right. I just don't want you to get sick. Let me know if you're getting too cold."

I left them and went back to the garage. When I got there, I found Tori and Jess playing with Jess' deck of cards, and Mary looking out the window with apparent concern. "Where is everybody?"

"Aaron, Mariah, and Jonas went out earlier," Tori said. "Silver just stepped outside, I think to smoke. Where's Erin?"

"With Mike. We ran into him about an hour ago." I smiled at her shocked expression. "He said they let him go because they had nothing on him."

"Wow. Cool."

Tori might have been going to say more but Mary came over and put her hand on my arm. "You're young friend has been outside for so long, and it's getting so wet out there," she said. Behind her back Tori rolled her eyes and mouthed ten minutes. "Can't you go out and tell him to come in?"

"Hey, I don't tell Silver to do anything," I said. She continued to look upset so I sighed and reluctantly added, "But I'll go and talk to him, if you want." I'd been looking forward to being out of the rain.

"Would you?"

I pulled the hood of my jacked back up and went back out into the rain. It wasn't raining hard, but it was definitely more than sprinkling. On a hunch I went around to the back of the garage. Sure enough, I found Silver there standing under the scant shelter of the eves, cupping a hand around what was left of a cigarette. He had his jacket on but open, and he was wearing his shades, which looked pretty odd, considering the weather.

"Hey," I said. "Mary wants me to tell you to come inside."

"I know," he said, looking out at the rain. "I heard."

I snorted and leaned back against the garage. "That figures. Guess you heard me tell Tori about Mike, too?"

He nodded, taking a drag.

"I'm glad he didn't end up in jail," I continued. "That's at least one good thing that's happened lately."

"Yeah. I'm glad he didn't, too." Silver dropped the cigarette and ground it out, then stepped out from under the eves. He took off his cap and ran his fingers through his hair, shaking it back from his face, and looked up at the clouds.

"Mary's really gonna have a fit, now," I muttered.

Silver stood there for a moment, letting the rain hit his upturned face. Then he shook his hair out again, and wiped some of the water off his shades. "I was eleven the first time I felt rain," he said suddenly.

"Eleven?" I echoed.

He nodded. "The concept of rain fascinated me. All weather fascinated me, but rain especially. I used to try to imagine what it was like."

"Can't imagine not knowing what rain is like."

"I didn't see the outside until I ran away."

"Wow."

Silver stood there for a moment more, then wiped more water off his shades and turned to me. "Why does Mary act that way toward me?"

I shrugged. "She mothers everyone, not just you."

"But she is around me the most. Why?"

I shrugged again. "Maybe 'cause you're young. Maybe 'cause you don't seem like you're really . . . attached to anybody. Y'know, like Jess has Tori and Jimmy has Erin. I dunno. She bugging you with it?"

He hesitated, then shrugged.

"Well anyway," I said, shifting away from the wall, "I'm going back inside, and you probably should, too, or else Mary might come out here and drag you in herself."

He seemed to consider for a moment, then brushed his hair back once more and followed me in.

Mary did have a fit when she saw how soaked Silver had gotten. He just told her he'd be fine and sat down in a corner. That didn't reassure her, of course, but her attempts to get Silver to dry off or change clothes failed. He didn't exactly ignore her, but he hardly acknowledged her. She finally settled for draping a blanket over his shoulders. For all he reacted, he might as well have been oblivious.

Erin and Mike came in before long, and Aaron and Mariah showed up a few minutes later. Mike greeted Tori and Jess, but was doing his best to ignore Silver. Silver just sat in his corner and watched everyone, like usual. Sometimes I could swear he forgets to blink.

Erin sat down with Jimmy in her lap. Jimmy wrapped himself up tighter in Erin's jacket and leaned against her shoulder. "I suppose we gotta figure out what to do from here," Erin said.

"Yeah, next time they might send somebody more competent than Jake," I said. "But what do you think we could do?"

"How'd he find you guys last night?" Mike asked.

"He and those asses were keeping an eye out for us," Tori said.

"You sure they don't have any way of tracking us or something?" Mike's eyes drifted over to Silver as he said this, but he seemed to realize what he was doing and quickly looked back to us.

"I doubt it," I said, giving Mike a warning look. I wanted to tell him not to bring that up again, but I didn't want to mention it myself.

"What are you guys talking about?" Mariah interrupted us.

"Never mind," I said quickly. "It's nothing."

She gave me a dubious look. "If there's something weird going on. . . ."

"No, really, it's nothing," Erin said. She sounded more convincing than I had.

Mariah didn't look like she bought it, but she let it go. "Well anyway," she said, "did any of you see Jonas while you were out?"

"No," Erin said.

"I thought he went with you?" I added.

"He did, at first, but then he went off on his own to, y'know, 'work,'" Mariah explained. "I hoped he'd be coming back, 'cause of the rain."

"Well, we haven't seen him," Erin repeated. "But he'll probably be back soon; he's not likely to get much business in this weather."

Mariah shifted and tucked some hair behind her ear. "Yeah, well, Jonas doesn't always have as much sense as he should. I just get kinda worried about him, sometimes." She shrugged, then went back to the other side of the room.

Jess looked up from her cards. "Business doing what?"

"Never mind," Tori said quickly.

Jess gave her sister an exasperated look. "I think I can guess, Tori. I just asked because I wasn't sure."

"Never mind anyway."

"It's not working, Tor," I pointed out. She shot me a glare.

We returned to talking—guardedly, having been reminded that there were other people around—about what out next move should be, but we didn't come to any decisions and after awhile we gave up. Nobody mentioned the shelter, which both surprised me and didn't. Jimmy had fallen asleep sometime in the middle of the discussion, and Erin had shifted him to the floor and tucked a blanket around him. Silver had kept quiet the whole time, watching us with those strange eyes of his. At one point he had shifted his stare over to Aaron and Mariah. They had been talking quietly across the room, looking this way, but when then saw Silver watching them they had both turned away and Aaron had reddened. Silver had stared at them for a moment or two, his face neutral, before turning his attention back to our conversation. It wasn't long after that that we gave up and started talking about other things.

"Hey, Tori," I said a few minutes later, "how is it you guys ended up here instead of in foster care or something?"

"We got kicked out of the apartment before anyone else realized our mom was gone," she said. "And then, I dunno, we just . . . didn't. Why?"

"Just wondering."

"And out here you hear so many horror stories," she added. "Start to think it's the last place I'd want to be. But I guess the kids with good experiences don't end up on the streets, huh?"

"Yeah." I paused a moment, then added, "You ever think about it? I mean, if it does work out, it's bound to be better than here."

"Yeah . . ." she said slowly. She seemed to think for a moment, then turned to Silver. "What about you, Silver? Why are you here and not in the foster system?"

Silver had been fiddling with the wrapper of a (rather broken) chocolate bar he'd taken out of his pocket, but at Tori's question he stopped and looked at her. I couldn't decide if his expression was suspicious or just very guarded. Tori was visibly taken aback, and didn't seem to know what to do. Silver stared at her for several seconds before looking back down.

"Um . . ." Tori started after he'd looked away, "hey, if you don't want to talk about it. . . ."

Silver shook his head as he chose a piece of chocolate and wrapped the rest of the bar back up. Tori and I exchanged looks.

Silver had barely taken a bite when Mary, who had been drifting around the room, bent over him and pulled the blanket back up over his shoulders. He froze.

"Poor dear," she said, smoothing his wet hair back from his face. "You must've had a terrible time. My poor little angel." She patted his hair and adjusted the blanket again, then wandered off. It was probably close to a minute before Silver started moving again, long enough that the chocolate piece had melted against his fingers.

The rain let up after a few hours. Aaron and Mariah went back out, and Mary followed a bit later.

"That lady seems nice an' all," Mike remarked after she'd left, "but I don't think she's playing with a full deck." Erin snorted.

"Give her a break," Tori said. "Her heart's in the right place."

Mike's gaze drifted over to where Silver now stood, looking out the window. "Yeah maybe," he muttered, "but I'm not sure her brain is."

I was enough fed up with Mike's suspicions that if he hadn't been halfway across the room I might have hit him. Instead I glared, which he ignored. Silver was standing with his back to the room and didn't make any sign that he'd even heard Mike's comment. After a moment he dug a crumpled pack of cigarettes out of his pocket and headed outside.

Mike barely waited until the door was shut before he turned to me. "Why the hell are you so protective of that little freak, Eddie?"

I considered warning Mike that Silver could most likely still hear him, but decided not to. "What the hell do you have against him?" I snapped back instead. "He's done more than any of the rest of us."

"Maybe, but—"

"Geez, Mike," Tori cut in. "Don't start that shit about Silver somehow starting this mess, or about him being how they found us, okay? Just don't start."

"Okay! Geez."

Jimmy sat up and rubbed a hand over his eyes. "Why's ev'rybody yelling?"

"Sorry Jim," Mike said. "Didn't mean to wake you."

Jimmy pouted and glared at Mike.

"So, anyway, now that everyone else is gone," Mike said, "does anyone have any ideas?"

"I dunno, but I'm getting tired of this," Erin said. "There's gotta be somewhere we can go where they won't follow us."

"Yeah, but where?" I said. "We don't even know how big this company is—or anything about it, really."

"I bet Silver does. Now, wait—" Mike added when Tori and both looked at him, "I mean he said he hacked into their computers to get you guys out, right? Well, maybe he saw something there."

There was a pause while we all thought about this.

"I'm sure he would've told us if he saw anything important," Tori said. Mike looked dubious.

"And anyway, he said he didn't have much time to look in the computers," I added.

"Wouldn't hurt to ask him," Erin said.

"Go right ahead."

Erin looked like she wanted to say something, but seemed to reconsider.

"And that still wouldn't solve how we'd get to wherever," I continued. "We have no car, very little money—and nowhere to go, really."

There was another pause.

"And y'know," I added after a moment, "we're not exactly making it hard for them, staying on the streets like this. Out here there's no one to miss us if the disappear. Or even notice, really."

"Shit—is that why you brought up the foster system?" Tori shook her head and continued without waiting for me to answer. "Do you really think they'd just give up?"

"Maybe not, but it'd sure make it harder for them. Think about it. There'd actually be somebody to notice if you went missing. Somebody who could do something about it. It might make these guys think twice, at least."

Tori still looked dubious, but thoughtful. I didn't tell her that I wanted to see her and Jess off the streets anyway. I don't think I needed to.

"So what about the rest of us?" Mike said. "You, me and Erin don't have such an easy out."

"Yeah, I know," I said.

"And there's no way my family would want anything to do with me," he added, "even if I wanted to go home."

I suddenly thought of my dad's relatives, who lived—the last time I'd heard anything about them—several cities away. I'd been close some of them when I was little, but I doubted they would want anything to do with me now. To be honest, I was too afraid to find out.

"We still need to do something," I said, partly to distract myself. "Leaving town might be a start."

"You already pointed out that we have no car," Mike said. "What happened to that old one we had? Never got it started again, Tori?"

Tori shook her head. "No. It's pretty much dead and buried."

"So—what do we do? Get another one somewhere?"

"How? We lucked into the last one."

I realized Erin had been quiet for some time and glanced at her. She was gazing off to the side, idly stroking Jimmy's hair. She looked upset, but also somehow resigned.

"Maybe they'll just get tired of chasing us after a while," Mike said, distracting me.

I snorted. "Yeah, right, Mike. After all the trouble they've gone to so far?"

"Yeah," Tori mused, "but you'd think if they really wanted us, they wouldn't keep sending a screw-up like Jake."

"Jake's expendable," I said. "They probably figure it's no big loss if something happens to him. But still," I added, "we can't count on only having Jake to deal with next time. That's twice he's fucked up. They might not want to give him another chance."

Mike had noticed Erin's uncharacteristic silence now and was watching her with a concerned frown on his face. "Erin?" he said, tentatively. "You okay?'

"Hm? Oh," Erin said as she glanced up at him. "Yeah, I'm fine."

"It's just that you haven't said much. . . ."

"Maybe I don't have anything to say," she said with a touch of irritation.

"You never have nothing to say," Mike retorted.

"Fuck off, Mike," Erin said, halfheartedly.

"Um," Tori said, watching them warily, "I think I'll go see what's keeping Silver." She got up and headed outside.

Tori came in a minute or two later with Silver trailing behind her. He sat down near the door and pulled off his shades. Mike glanced over with poorly disguised suspicion; Silver met his eyes, and kept staring even after Mike had turned away.

Some time later Mariah, Aaron, and Mary came back and we had to give up. It was just as well, because we were no closer to a solution and several tempers were wearing thin. I went outside and leaned against the side of the house that hadn't collapsed. I was watching the street but not really seeing it; I was too lost in thought to notice much at all.

"Your arm has been giving you trouble."

I jumped practically out of my skin and whipped around to find Silver standing less than three feet to my right. "Holy shit, Silver, don't do that!"

"I'm sorry," he said. "Startling you wasn't my intent."

"Geez. Coulda fooled me. What d'you want?"

A look I couldn't place flicked across his face at the annoyance in my voice. "Your arm," he repeated. "It appears to be giving you trouble."

"Oh. Yeah, you could say that."

He stood there with his hands in his pockets, waiting for me to continue.

"My shoulder started hurting a couple days ago," I finally said. "Right around the time the cops raided the church, actually."

"Was its mobility affected?"

"Yeah, I couldn't move it too well."

He studied my shoulder for several seconds, his face expressionless as usual.

"Why?" I said after a moment, starting to get irritated again. "D'you know what's wrong with it?"

"I can guess," he said. "They may not have had time to adjust the implants properly, so they may be malfunctioning. Another possibility is that your body is rejecting them. Most likely the connection between your natural nervous system and the implants' artificial one is shaky, and the signals are unreliable. It may only mean that your body needs more time to accustom itself to the artificial network—or it could indicate a breakdown in the implants or their network."

"Uh . . . huh."

"The human body is remarkably adaptable, but these implants are pretty extreme, and you're the first human on whom they've been tested. Not expecting there to be problems would be unrealistic."

I stared at this kid standing next to me casually talking about advanced science and found myself thinking about the scars on his forearms, and the ones on his back. I reminded myself that he'd said the implants had never before been tested; but I also couldn't help but think of his reaction to the Biotechnology Enterprises logo.

"Does your shoulder still hurt?" he asked.

"Um . . . no, not right now."

"Do you now have problems moving it?"

"Um." I looked down at my arm. "I dunno. I haven't really been using it much."

"I noticed that."

I raised it and flexed my wrist a bit, and tried turning my arm some. "I dunno," I said again. "I hadn't gotten used to it yet. It's not really doing what I want it to, but it wasn't before, either." I sighed and lowered my arm. "Hey listen—don't pay any attention to Mike. He's just being a paranoid ass."

"I don't fault him for distrusting me," Silver said.

"He doesn't have any reason to be so suspicious."

"Nor does he have much reason to trust me."

I frowned at him. "What do you mean by that?"

He hesitated. "People are naturally suspicious of what they don't understand. Trust must be earned."

"You sound as if you don't think any of us would trust you."

He inclined his head a bit, so that part of his face was hidden by his cap. "It does surprise me."

"Oh, fucking hell. Are you saying we shouldn't trust you?"

"Your trust surprises me," he said, looking up. "But it is not misplaced."

"Well, that's good," I muttered as I turned back toward the street. I realized what annoyed me was feeling like he was questioning me, like he thought I might be deceiving him, even though I doubt that was what he meant.

I eyed him as he watched the sun disappear behind some buildings. "You're not used to having people trust you, are you."

He looked over, then shook his head and turned back to the sunset. After a moment, he said abruptly, "As far as I could tell, the laboratory isn't owned by any one company. There seemed to be at least three or four companies working together, but I don't know what all of them are, so I couldn't say how far their influence extends."

"What about that one with the green logo—the Biotech place. They're involved in this, aren't they? What do you know about them?"

His jaw clenched and he didn't immediately answer When he did it was in a low, dead voice. "That company is located several hours away from here. They have no direct presence in this city."

I had a feeling that if they had, Silver wouldn't be here, but I kept that thought to myself. "But they are involved, aren't they? I mean, what about that box Jake had?"

He nodded, slowly. "They are providing some equipment and research. Beyond that, I cannot say." The sun had pretty much set by now and Silver took off his shades and tucked them into his shirt pocket.

I snorted and turned to head back to the garage. It didn't seem like I would get any more out of him tonight. "Y'know," I commented, pausing for a moment, "if you weren't so damn closed off all the time, maybe more people would trust you."

"I know."

He followed me in and leaned against the wall while I sat down near Tori and Jess.

Tori held out a can of beer. "Want one? Aaron brought 'em. That Aaron." She pointed. "Not our Erin."

"Sure, thanks."

She twisted around and started to offer one to Silver, but he shook his head. "That's right, you don't like beer," she said. "You're too young to be drinking, anyway."

"So're you, Tor," I pointed out as I opened my can.

"What, you gonna turn me in?"

"How much does Aaron have, anyway?"

She shrugged. "A case."

Tori's can was already more than half empty. I made a mental note to watch how much she drank.

A minute or two later Tori emptied her can and went to get another one. Jess frowned at it as Tori sat back down, but Tori pretended not to notice.

"D'you think the hospital would let us see Surge?" Tori said suddenly.

I lowered my can and thought for a moment. "I don't know why they wouldn't. But it's halfway across town."

"Yeah. I know."

Silver was watching Tori from where he now sat against the wall nearby, his expression much softer than usual. "You and Surge seem to be pretty close," he said.

"Well—yeah. He's my best friend. We've known each other since grade school." She smiled a bit and added, "Back even before he was called 'Surge.'"

"Tori, you said you wouldn't have a lot," Jess interrupted.

"This isn't 'a lot,'" Tori insisted. "It's only my second can."

"But Tori. . . ."

"Let it go for now, Jess," I suggested.

"But—She said—"

"I know. But let it go for now."

Jess made a frustrated noise and muttered as she folded her arms. "But she said."

Tori smirked a bit as she watched her sister. "You don't have any siblings, do you, Silver?" she said over her shoulder. When he shook his head, she added, "Consider yourself lucky." Jess smacked Tori's leg.

Silver watched them interact, then said, quietly, "I wish I did."

Tori lowered her beer and looked back at him again. "Do you have any family?"

He shook his head.

"None at all? What happened to them?"

He shrugged, and said, "I never had any."

"Geez. I mean, I give Jess a hard time," she reached over and mussed up her sister's hair, earning a few protests, "but I wouldn't trade her for anything. There must've been someone you were close to, right?"

Silver hesitated a moment, then said, "There was . . . one person, whom I usually saw once a week."

"That's—that's it? Well . . . shit. I think I'm starting to see why you ran away."

One corner of Silver's mouth twitched into a wry smile.

A second or two later he asked tentatively, "Do . . . do you have much family?"

"None in this state, and none we really know. It was really just me and Jess and our parents." She proceeded to tell Silver what she knew about her relatives and, when he asked, what had happened to her parents.

Silver surprised me by asking several more questions, and not just about her family; when she mentioned school again, he started asking her about that. Whenever she seemed about to stop talking he'd ask her another question.

"You must've been home schooled or something, huh?" she said after a minute or two of explaining what learning in a large classroom was like. He nodded, although with a slight hesitancy I think Tori missed.

Tori finished off her beer and stood to get another, ignoring Jess' noises of protest. When she sat back down I took the can from her before she could open it.

"Wha—hey! What's the big idea?"

"You've had enough," I explained.

"What business is that of yours?"

"I don't want to clean up after you if you get drunk."

"Who says I'll get drunk?"

"I've seen you get into alcohol before, remember? It doesn't take much."

She made an offended noise but didn't seem quite able to form a protest. "Well—well, fuck you, Eddie." She moved a few feet away and turned her back on me, but didn't go for more beer. Jess gave me a grateful look and I gave her a smile.

Silver had been watching but now he seemed distracted, staring at the door. He suddenly stood and pulled the door open, then went outside.

"Silver?" I called after him. I stood and went to the doorway.

"What's that about?" Erin asked from behind me. I shrugged and shook my head.

Silver was crouched at the end of the fence near the sidewalk, and I could just make out another figure slumped down in front of him. Silver helped the other one stand and, all but carrying him, started back toward the garage.

Mariah was watching from beside me and let out a sigh that was somewhere between relief and concern. "Oh, Jonas . . ." she said as we stepped aside to let the two of them through.

Jonas giggled as Silver carefully set him down against the wall. His lower lip was split, he had a black eye, one cheek was scraped up, and he generally looked like he'd gotten off worse in a fight.

"I'm glad you find something funny," Mariah said as she knelt down in front of him.

"Oh, c'mon 'Riah, I'm all right," Jonas insisted as Mariah opened his jacket and pushed it and his ripped shirt aside.

"What happened to your shirt?" she asked. "And shit—what happened to you?"

"Shirt got ripped—'Riah, your hands are cold." He started to squirm away but stopped and winced. "Ow. That hurt."

"And you sound surprised? My God, just look at yourself!"

Jonas indulgently looked down at his torso and then let out an amazed laugh. "Well, whad'ya know. Guess they left marks after all."

Mariah just sighed.

"He ends up getting beaten up like this every now and then," Aaron told me in an undertone. "He doesn't know how to stay out of trouble. He's always been like that."

"Does he get high like this often?" I asked.

Aaron wrinkled his nose. "Not usually two days in a row."

Jonas was now trying to bat away Mariah's hands. "Cold-cold-cold!" he complained. He started to stand but Silver, who was crouched down nearby, caught his shoulder and gently pushed him back down.

Jonas smiled in a far-off sort of way. "Your hands are nice and warm, did you know that?"

"Who gave you the drugs?" Silver asked, his hand still on the other boy's shoulder to keep him seated.

"Some guys." Jonas reached up and started playing with some of Silver's hair. "How'd you get your hair to match your eyes like that?"

Silver let go of Jonas' shoulder to catch his hand and push it away. "Where they teenagers?"

"I think so. Why? You want some?" Jonas giggled.

"It wasn't the same ones who beat you up, was it?" Mariah asked.

Jonas rolled his eyes. "No, of course not."

Silver sat back and studied Jonas intently. I nudged him with my foot and he glanced up.

"Are you going where I think you're going with that?" I asked. He just looked at me, and then back at Jonas.

Jonas carefully pulled his jacket over his shoulders and zipped it. "Why? Where's he going?" He was looking at Silver in a bemused sort of way.

"Jonas—Jonas!" Mariah resorted to grabbing his chin to get him to look at her. "What. Happened!"

"You worry too much," Jonas said as he pulled away from her. He wiped his lip and shrugged. "I ran into some guys who don't like me much. Afterwards this guy and his friends come by and asks me if I wanted to try something. Said it would make me feel better and I could try some free if I wanted."

"What was it?"

"Something new. I forget what he called it."

She made a noise of disbelief. "I would think you'd know better by now. You don't know what was in it or what it would do—"

To Mariah's annoyance, Jonas laughed. "I didn't leave my parents to be lectured by my cousin, y'know." He shifted a bit and then stretched out on the floor. "I'm all right. Really. Perfectly fine."

Silver watched Jonas while Mariah made a disgusted noise and stood. "I don't think you appreciate how dangerous that was," he said.

"Don't you start now, too," Jonas said good-naturedly as he looked up as Silver. He giggled and added, "It's not like I'm new to the streets, y'know."

I heard Mike mutter, "Coulda fooled me."

"Even so," Silver said evenly, "there was still more danger than you realize."

Jonas made a dismissive wave of his hand and closed his eyes.

Silver stood and went over to the window, carefully sidestepping where Mary was sleeping. I followed him.

I nudged him again and said, "Well?"

"It's what Jake uses," he said immediately, in a low voice.

"Are you sure?"

He nodded. "It's the same substance. I can smell it on him."

"Really?" I had never realized it had an odor.

I followed his gaze out the window to the small, dark yard with its row of unkempt bushes along the back fence. Silver looked around for a moment, then moved across the room to the partially open door and stared out intently. I was starting to figure what he must be thinking and found myself chewing my lip.

"Now what's going on?" Erin asked as she came up beside me.

"I dunno," I told her in an undertone, "but Silver said he's high off the same stuff Jake uses."

She snorted. "That doesn't mean anything."

"You sure about that?" I said, still watching Silver. "When was the last time you saw it on the streets?"

"It still doesn't mean it's anything we have to worry about. Silver probably doesn't even know what he's talking about." She dropped her voice when she noticed Mariah looking our way. "And anyway, why that kid? What's he got to do with us?"

I bit my lip again. I had been wondering the same thing, but couldn't dismiss it as easily as Erin did. Then something occurred to me. "they were watching us yesterday, remember? What if they saw us talking to him?"

"That's still pretty loose—is there something you want?" She directed this last to Mariah and Aaron, who had approached us.

"Uh huh," Aaron said. "We want to know what's going on."

"None of your business."

Mariah pointed to Jonas and said hotly, "It is if it's putting my cousin in danger."

"Your cousin puts himself in danger," Erin muttered.

"Look, you seem like decent people," Aaron said, "and you're nice and all, but we don't want any trouble. We've got enough to worry about."

"We haven't done anything," Erin said at the same time as I said "We don't want trouble, either."

"Look," I continued, "if you're that worried, we'll be leaving in the morning."

Erin raised her eyebrow at me, as if to say "We will?"

Aaron shifted from one foot to the other. "Well, y'know, it's not like we want to drive you out or anything. . . ."

"We should be going soon, anyway," Mike said, coming up beside Erin.

Aaron and Mariah looked at each other, and then Mariah said, "We just don't want to get mixed up in anything."

Neither did we, I wanted to say.