Charles Ingrid - marked man 02 The Last Recall by Charles Ingrid Page B

for me. And it must not drop or break before you release it in my hands."
    There was a sharp intake of breath from the other side of the wall. The whites of the boy's eyes showed as he glanced toward the doorway. "All right," he said numbly. He closed his eyes briefly.
    Franklin murmured softly, "Just build that phantom arm we talked about. Just build it . . . and reach. Nothing that you can imagine is outside your grasp."
    They watched the young man who sat immobile in his chair, the starkness of his bandage setting off the richness of the face bowed over his chest. Thomas thought he would be a handsome man . . . there was character in the squared jaw and flat cheekbones. His neck was scarred where gills had been cut out—many of the survivors had that attribute. It was, after all, what had kept them alive in the beginning. They had gone back to the ocean after the disasters, most of them living on and around Catalina for the first years, filtering back to the mainland only afterward. Now, generations later, those gills were not necessary. He did not know if Stanhope had had his gills cut for cosmetic purposes or medical ones. Those not utilizing their gills or born with immature ones, faced disease and pain through them, and surgery was an attractive alternative.
    Stanhope opened his eyes and looked across the room to the table. He held out his hand. The rice bowl rose steadily and answered his movement, floating across the distance to settle in his palm. He handed it to Franklin who said nothing and let no emotion show on his Asian moon face.
    Stanhope might more properly have sent the bowl to Franklin, but then he would not have been able to maintain the control the Protector said he wanted of the Fetch. Normally Thomas would wonder abut the confidence, or lack of it, prompting such a control choice. Today, after all they'd been through, he knew the boy had to be tired.
    Lady said, "Thomas, you're up."
    She had a set to her mouth that told him she didn't wish to be argued with. Whatever she had in mind, then, would be extremely taxing. Thomas shrugged. He moved from the young man's side and hunkered down in front of him.
    "I could teach you dowsing, but I won't. Why?"
    Surprise blossomed in Stanhope's eyes, but no more than the startlement in both Franklin and Lady's faces. "I—I don't—"
    Thomas held up a finger, silencing him. "Think it over. You'll have an answer."
    The boy blinked. He sat very quietly, so quietly that
    Thomas knew how hard his heart pounded, for he heard it like a drum within his own senses, and he could feel the steady throb of the boy's wounded shoulder. Thomas hid his smile then, for he knew the boy was Reading him, or trying to, for an answer. He firmly shut the boy out.
    Stanhope's face reflected abrupt dismay. Then he said uncertainly, "You can't teach me to dowse because it's illegal. And . . . and I've heard you say that any fool can learn to dowse, but finding clean water, that's the hard part, and that's the DWP's job. So, I guess, that's why."
    Thomas stood up. Stanhope's flint brown gaze followed him. "Am I right?"
    He smiled. "Tell you later."
    Lady gave him a puzzled stare. "You, too," he said to her.
    She made a face before pulling up a stool to sit opposite Stanhope. "Okay," she said. "Two down and one to go. How are you feeling?"
    "I think I'd like to sleep for a week."
    They all laughed. "We know the feeling." She patted his knee. "I'll make this quick." She was wearing aa apron over her good blue dress now and from its pocket she withdrew a house rat. It was as big as both her fists together, a small cousin of the wolfrat. This one looked about tamely, unafraid. Its whiskers trembled as it tasted the air, and its tail lashed about.
    She set the rat on Stanhope's knees. "I want you to kill it," she said. "Burn an ulcerous hole in its side, turn its flesh to decay. Or maybe you'll choose to close its throat up and choke it to death. Or still its heart. However you want to do it. But