MORGAN WAS STILL SEATED IN FRONT OF the computer when they got to the control room. He leaned back.
“Did you find anything interesting?” he asked with a smile.
“Heh, Kendis and I found Alex and Ro,” said Jade, grinning, “and they found a canteen with still usable coffee.”
“Did anyone think to bring a cup for me?” spoke up Sparrow.
Ro laughed and handed him the large, lidded container she had found and filled. “Of course, Sparrow! You know we wouldn’t forgit you.”
Sparrow smiled and accepted the cup with thanks. “Tally, what did you and Dotshea find?” it asked.
He turned to Jade.
Jade nodded and turned to Maggie. “Apparently, I’ve always had an esa.”
Maggie’s eyebrows shot up. “What esa? I didn’t know you had any! Or even any potential. What do you mean you’ve always had one?”
Jade chuckled. “I forgot to tell you the results of my test the other day. The tester seemed to think I have potential though it didn’t know for what type. It said I would probably manifest soon. Now, it appears I’ve had a talent without knowing it, all my life. At least, Kendis and Alex thinks so, and now, so does Tally. I’m having trouble believing it is a talent. I mean, I thought Humans didn’t manifest abilities until after their eleventh birthday so it never occurred to me that everyone wasn’t able to do this. And it’s not that big of a deal anyway.” She told her mom what she could do.
Maggie stiffened when she heard, then she made her way back to her chair and sat down slowly. Her face had gone a washed out shade of brownish gray. Alex and Jade rushed to her side.
“Mom! What’s wrong?” Jade asked anxiously. She had never seen her mother look like that.
Alex knelt and took her cold hands in his. “Mom?” he said softly, “What is it?”
Ro and Kendis looked at each other, mystified. Kendis shrugged helplessly as Sparrow sat watching this unfold, head tilted.
Tally joined Alex and Jade at Maggie’s side, looking up at her, concerned.
Morgan glanced hesitantly over at Rachel, who nodded at him.
He cleared his throat and said gently, “Maggie, it’s okay. She’s all right. It won’t happen…it hasn’t happened to her. It’s different for her. She has lived with it all her life, it didn’t come on suddenly, so you don’t have anything to worry about. It won’t be like it was for him.”
“He’s right,” Rachel joined in. “This is a good talent for Jade, she’s handling it fine.” She went over and put her arms around Maggie.
Alex, Jade, and Tally, were staring at them, perplexed.
“What are they talking about, Mom?” Jade was thinking maybe she shouldn’t have said anything. Mother Earth! What would happen if she mentioned the levitating? She hoped Sparrow hadn’t said anything to her mother about that. “Who are they talking about?”
Maggie disentangled herself from Rachel and pulled her hands out of Alex’s. She looked down at the floor.
“They’re talking about my brother,” she said in a hushed, sad voice.
“Your brother died when you were both young,” said Alex, in confusion. “What does that have to do with this?”
Maggie had long ago told them about her older brother, her only sibling, and they had seen pictures of him. Their mother had a few and their grandparents had framed images of him all over their house. They knew he’d been sick for a while before he died. One of their twin brothers - Sebastian - had been named for him.
Maggie raised her head and looked at him, eyes glistening with unshed tears. “It’s getting dark and we need to get back to camp. I’ll explain everything to you there.”
She got up abruptly and headed for the door saying over her shoulder, “Jade, you don’t have to worry about climbing back down from here. We found the lift and Morgan’s gotten it to work.”
Alex slowly stood up, exchanging mystified looks with Jade. They hurried out behind their mother, Alex instinctively reaching for Jades hand, which she automatically placed in his just as she had when she was a little girl. Tally fell in step with them. The others silently trailed them down to the lift in the hatch.
The trip back to camp was uneventful and mostly silent. Dots and Tally stayed on the lookout for anything out of the ordinary, spotting a family of mice scurrying along in the dark at one point. Nothing else stirred.
sent Maggie to Jade as Sparrow lifted the camp shield.