The Denbys stared. Ruthie stood still. Skippy tried to squirm out of Simon’s grip and eat the regurgitated mouse.
“You. Go with her.” Tess pointed at the children, then at Ruthie. “You two go look at the apartment buildings.” She pointed at Pete and Eve, then turned to John. “You take Skippy outside. And do not tell Meg he ate a mouse or she won’t let him stay with her in the Liaison’s Office.”
Everyone rushed to obey, leaving him facing Tess over a puddle of barf.
“Find something to do,” she said.
This wasn’t the time to remind her that he was the leader. He edged around her and headed for the stairs. But he looked back and saw Tess watching him. She did not look happy.
Of course, he wouldn’t be happy either if he had to clean up the barf. It smelled worse than the Denby children.
* * *
Leaving Jake Crowgard perched on the front counter in the Liaison’s Office, Meg dashed over to the Three Ps, the Courtyard shop for paper, postage, and printing. When she’d opened the back door of her office a few minutes ago, she’d seen the lights go on in the shop, so she knew Lorne was getting ready for his workday.
Just need a couple of minutes to check on Lorne and make sure he’s okay with being here today, Meg thought as she stepped into the shop. Just need a few minutes to . . .
She hadn’t been inside the Three Ps. Everything she’d needed to do her work at the Liaison’s Office had been provided, from the pens and pencils to the clipboard and pads of paper she used for it. Now she stood frozen just inside the doorway.
No prickling. No pins-and-needles feeling. No sense of prophecy. But as she looked at the sheer number of items on display, she knew entering the shop had been a mistake.
Then Lorne walked out of the back room and saw her. “Meg?”
He started to hurry toward her, then stopped, and she wondered what he saw in her face that made him look so worried.
“Is something wrong?” he asked.
There’s no danger here, no threat, Meg thought, feeling panic start to bubble inside her.
“I’ll call Simon.” Lorne turned toward the counter and the phone.
“No!” Her vehemence surprised both of them. “No,” she said again, struggling for control. “Don’t call Simon. Not yet. I just need a minute.”
She didn’t talk to Lorne the way she talked to Merri and Ruth about images and how she and the other cassandra sangue had been trained in the compound. If she tried to explain, would he understand?
Only one way to find out.
“I’ve seen images of office supply stores,” she said. “If this was a lesson, I would be shown an overall picture of the inside of the store. Then there would be images of the merchandise—one image to represent a particular kind of thing.”
“So you would be shown the outside of an appointment book and maybe an inside page that would show a date?” Lorne asked.
Meg nodded. “We only had the images that the Walking Names wanted us to have, instead of everything.” She gestured to indicate the shelves of merchandise that filled the walls and the two chest-high units that provided more display space.
Running out of time. She couldn’t leave Jake on his own for too long, especially when it was her job to take deliveries.
Lorne looked around. “So without someone setting boundaries, you would try to catalog everything in the shop as different images?”