“I didn’t want to make you feel bad, because I knew you felt so guilty at hurting me,” I went on, “but that means—I didn’t—” Tears streamed down my face. “You looked as if you didn’t care about me at all. Like I was just another obstruction. I could understand everything else, but not that. And believing you didn’t care for me…that hurt so much more than being shot.”
Malcolm stood and gathered me into his arms, holding me as I cried. “I was so afraid for you,” he murmured. “I thought if Hallstrom knew you meant more to me than just an innocent bystander, he’d never let you go. Or that he’d hurt you to make me suffer. If I hadn’t looked indifferent…Helena, he held your life in his hands. I am so, so sorry you suffered, and if I could have any moment to live over again, make different choices, it would be that one.”
I sniffled. “I don’t see how you could change it. I’d still have been in his power.”
“I got lost on the way to his house. If I’d gotten there five minutes earlier, I would have arrived before you were captured, and you wouldn’t have been involved.” He stroked my hair. “I don’t usually play the game of ‘what-if’, because trying to second-guess yourself is a fool’s errand. But in this case, it’s hard not to imagine.”
“I didn’t know.” I wiped my eyes and looked up at him. “You know I really, truly don’t blame you.”
“It doesn’t sound like that’s what this was about.” Malcolm cradled my face in his hand, stroking my cheekbone with one thumb. “That night, you looked at me—I don’t know what you were thinking, but you looked at me with such hope it broke my heart, because I knew the only ending to that standoff would leave you bloody on the ground and hating me forever. I know I can’t change your memories, but I want you to know—no matter how I looked that night, I loved you, and I hope you believe I always will.”
I leaned into his touch. “I shouldn’t need that reassurance, but I do.”
“I don’t think ‘should’ matters,” Malcolm said, and leaned in to kiss me. His lips on mine were so tender, so much the way they’d felt the first time we’d kissed, that more memories rose up, all of them wonderful. I put my arms around his neck and kissed him back, feeling peace unfold like a flower in my heart.
“I don’t know if that’s what Sydney had in mind with that assignment, but it worked,” I said a few minutes later.
“I’m in favor of anything that makes you kiss me like it’s the first time,” Malcolm murmured.
“That’s how it was for me, too. Except the first time, I thought you were saying goodbye, so my heart was broken.”
“I told myself it was goodbye, but I couldn’t stop thinking about it.” Malcolm brushed my hair back from my face. “And now we’re here.”
“Now we’re here,” I agreed. “Come to bed. I want to hold you and let that memory fade.”
“You have excellent ideas,” Malcolm said, and we went upstairs together.
I handed Wallach the paperback. Its eerie cover featured a bearded man in a top hat with his hands outstretched as if welcoming something. Lightning forked in the background, and two smaller figures in the center raced toward an old-fashioned carnival. Wallach read the title aloud. “Something Wicked This Way Comes. Is this a joke, Mrs. Campbell?”
I’d slept poorly last night despite Malcolm holding me, and I wasn’t in a mood to be polite. “The oracle chooses the auguries, Mr. Wallach, not me. I’m sorry if it’s not what you expected, but I have work to do.”
Wallach didn’t budge. “You’ve been unrelenting in your negative comments and your claims that the oracle has spoken to you. Is there some reason you want this project to fail?”
“Fail? Why would I want that? You said this would stop the invaders permanently. I have a husband who puts his life on the line on a regular basis to fight invaders. Why wouldn’t I want you to succeed?”
“And yet you claim to receive auguries about my work, as if you were qualified to pass judgment?” He jabbed a finger at the other book I’d brought out of the oracle, the one with my name on the title page in silver ink. This one wasn’t an Animorphs book; it was titled Cassandra: Princess of Troy. Even I could understand the symbolism there: Cassandra had been cursed to prophesy the truth and never be believed.
His animosity was winding my nerves to the breaking point. I said, “Look. I don’t just take books off the shelf and pretend they’re from the oracle. I think it’s enlisted me because you’re not paying attention to the auguries it gives you.”
“The oracle doesn’t know any more about this project than you do.” He cast a glance at Something Wicked This Way Comes. “If it’s not going to be helpful, it can stop providing answers. I don’t need its assistance to understand the principles behind my theory.”
His attitude made me feel defensive of the oracle. “Is that what your auguries are telling you? Are they warning you, too?”
Viv opened her mouth to reply, but Wallach overrode her. “It’s none of your business what my auguries say.”
“Well, it’s not just auguries. What about when it spoke to me directly about anchors vanishing?”
Wallach’s jaw tightened again. “It’s something I’ve accounted for already. Everything’s proceeding the way I expect. Unless the oracle can tell me something concrete, I can’t use its nebulous ‘warnings.’” His voice put sarcastic air quotes around the last word.
Viv looked worried, her attention darting back and forth between Wallach and me like she was watching Mom and Dad fight. “Maybe we should listen to what Helena says,” she said. “If the oracle spoke to her, isn’t that important?”
“This project will change the future of every human being on this planet,” Wallach said. “You know it’s dangerous, Ms. Haley, I’ve explained that to you. The results are worth the danger.”
“But—” Viv hesitated, then shut her mouth.
“Look, Mr. Wallach,” I said, “I’ve relayed the oracle’s warning. You’ve had your own auguries. It’s up to you what you do with them. But I’ve never known anything good to come of ignoring what the oracle prophesies.”
“And you and I both know the oracle’s auguries can be invalidated under the right conditions,” Wallach said. “I know what I’m doing and I don’t need any more warnings, particularly ones about dangers I’m already aware of.” He slapped his augury down on the counter. “Ms. Haley, let’s go.”
“But what about—” Viv said, gesturing to Something Wicked This Way Comes.
“We don’t need it.” He slammed through the crystal door, sending rainbows scattering over its surface. Viv followed him with one last backward glance at me.
I closed my eyes and bit back several profanities. Then I looked at my next customer. “Okay, Brandon, let’s keep moving, okay?”
Brandon gave me a skeptical look. “Did you say the oracle spoke to you?”