STARSCAPE BOOKS(2)

CORBIN THALMAYER: I don’t know. I guess we’ll never know.





the glass marble game


THE MEMORY OF the murder was so brutal, I pushed it away. It couldn’t be real. It had to be like the gorilla. Or the ants. But the gorilla and the ants happened here, in this room of rippling walls. The other thing—that awful, bloody moment—that was before. I searched my memories to see what else was before. It was like star-gazing on a cloudy night. I caught small glimmers. Flickering patches of light. I felt that if I could just clear my mind, the patches would grow together and make sense. I wanted to plunge my head into an ice-cold stream and shock away the fog.

As I lay there staring at the ceiling, the door flew open. “Good. You’re awake.”

He caught me by surprise. I started to look at him. But something in my gut warned me I shouldn’t act alert. He thought I was overmedicated. But maybe I was undermedicated. My senses seemed clearer than before. I could feel an ache in my shoulder now—an ache that he’d caused. I turned my head toward him and then past the spot where he stood. Slowly, I let my eyes drift back, as if I was having trouble finding him.

Keeping my eyelids half shut, I scanned him for clues. His clothes didn’t tell me anything. White shirt. Blue tie. Dark blue jacket with gold buttons. Gray pants held up by a thin black belt. Polished black shoes. One of his shoes smiled at me, but I was beginning to learn what to ignore. Shoes couldn’t smile.

His hair was cut very short. His face had the sort of lines that came from a lifetime of scowling, but he was still a couple of years away from looking old. As my gaze flicked past his eyes, my stomach tightened like someone had jabbed me with a needle and injected poison into my gut.

A memory hit me. Years ago. There’d been a rabid dog in the street near the elementary school. The cops had shot it. All the kids went to see. They wouldn’t let us get too close, but I saw his eyes. Dead, mad eyes. I’d had nightmares about those eyes for weeks afterward. That’s what I was seeing now.

He looked like he was in shape. Not that I was planning to tackle him. The thought of violence brought back the image of the other man. And more memories. This guy—he’d been there, too.

I shuddered as the awful sound of snapping bones shot from the past, along with the scarlet splash of fresh blood. The snaps echoed and picked up the frantic rhythm of popcorn in the microwave. I gritted my teeth until the sound faded. I still didn’t know for sure whether the memory was real. The moment floated in my mind, a single scene of fear and death, unconnected with anything else.

He slid the table over to the side of the bed. “Sit up.”

I sat.

He moved a step closer. “Ready?”

I shrugged, not sure how alert he expected me to be. Should I mumble? Babble? Drool?

He placed a cardboard box on the table, flipped the lid open, and plucked out a clear glass marble. My gut clenched even tighter at the sight of it. He put the marble on the left edge of the table. Then he took out a paper target and set it on the right side of the table. The box was large enough to hold a lot more than one marble, but I couldn’t see inside of it.

“Move the marble,” he said. “Lift it.”

I reached over to pick it up.

His hand shot out so fast I didn’t have time to react. I struggled to hide my panic as he clamped his fingers around my wrist. “Not like that, Eddie. You know the game, right?”

I nodded, though I had no idea what he meant.

He relaxed his grip. I let my hand drop to my lap. Not like that Then how?

Another glimmer burst through the clouds. Not just a star. A galaxy. An amazing, swirling galaxy with five dazzling constellations. I fought to keep my face slack as the memories flooded me. I understood, now. He wanted me to move the marble the special way. But that was a secret. Only five people knew about my hidden talent—my friends from Edgeview Alternative School. Their names were too deep in my heart to ever disappear behind the clouds. Martin, Cheater, Torchie, Lucky, and Flinch. Were they here, too? My heart beat faster at the thought. I wanted to see them. I desperately needed to see them. But I hoped they weren’t locked up like me, doing tricks for … Bowdler. That’s what the guys in the lab coats called him.

“Eddie.”

I glanced up from the marble. “Huh?”

“You seem distracted. What’s wrong?” Bowdler asked.

“Nothing.”

“Who’s Martin?”

I froze. I hadn’t realized I’d spoken his name out loud. Had I mentioned the others, too? I needed to give Bowdler an answer. “My dog,” I said, tossing out the first lie that came to mind. “Martin. He got shot. I miss him.”