41
Consequences
“What are you drawing?” Mackenzie asked, but Sketch just shrugged.
He sat in the middle of the couch in the boys’ suite, where everyone had gathered after dinner by unspoken agreement. Mackenzie sat on his right, looking over his shoulder at the art pad on his lap. His pencil glided idly across the page, the image taking shape only slowly, one line here and then another way over there, so that it was hard to tell how any of it was connected.
Daniel sat at the far end of the couch, sitting crosswise so he could rest his back against the arm of the sofa. He stretched his legs out behind Sketch, who sat forward, close to the edge, hunched over his drawing. Daniel had offered to play HRT Alpha with the younger boy, but Sketch hadn’t seemed interested, so instead he had retrieved his guitar from his room. He reclined casually, his legs crossed at the ankles, slowly picking out the tune of “Why Worry” by Dire Straits. When he reached the chorus, he began to sing softly, the peaceful quality of his voice matching the soothing words, almost like a lullaby.
Kaitlyn smiled, sitting on the coffee table facing him, having pulled it away from the couch so she and Sam could use it as a bench.
“Are you going to draw us what you saw today?” Mackenzie asked, trying again, but Sketch shook his head adamantly. That thing, whatever it was, belonged in the dark sketchpad for sure, if he ever decided to draw it at all.
“Why do you think that happened, anyway?” Kaitlyn asked.
“Isn’t it obvious?” Sam’s voice was bitter with resentment. “Rush left. He was the one who could feel it, so he was probably the one calling it. Without him, God only knows what we’re going to bring through. Lizard people, maybe, or giant bugs, or brain-sucking slimes—”
“We get it. Thanks,” Mackenzie said, raising one hand and begging her to stop. She was worried Sketch might panic again, but he ignored Sam’s catalog of disaster, his pencil still floating over the page, pausing occasionally as he tilted his head this way or that and then starting back up again, filling in small portions of the drawing here and there in a way Mackenzie still couldn’t comprehend.
“We don’t know it was that,” Kaitlyn said, her voice thoughtful.
“What else would it be?” Sam demanded.
“I’m not saying it wasn’t a factor,” Kaitlyn said, trying not to disagree with Sam directly, “but I know I was pretty tired. I didn’t feel as focused as I did last night. I think that might have had something to do with it.”
“I was feeling the same way,” Mackenzie added. “I felt the energy flowing into the blessing, but it was like I couldn’t hang on to it, or like I couldn’t direct it, or something. It kept… slipping away from me. I’m the one who’s supposed to be keeping up our protections. It was probably my fault.”
Sam rolled her eyes. “Oh, sure. Everything revolves around you, right? Maybe I opened the portal at the wrong time. Did you think of that?”
“Is that what happened?” Mackenzie asked, raising an eyebrow, but Sam just stared back at her, pursing her lips in disgust and refusing to answer the question.
“I wasn’t focusing well, either,” Daniel chimed in. He didn’t stop playing, choosing instead to speak over the soft notes of the guitar. Mackenzie had to admit that the tune was soothing, and she found herself grateful for his efforts.
“Can you always see what’s coming through the portal before it gets here?” Mackenzie asked Sketch, but he only shrugged.
“Sketch?” she prompted him again. “I know you don’t feel like talking right now, but this is kind of important.”
Sketch stopped drawing and glared up at her.
“I don’t know,” he said. “I guess. I thought everyone could, OK? I don’t always know what you guys can see and what you can’t. You see more stuff than most people, but I still see more stuff than you, and it’s not cool. I don’t like being the only one who sees everything.”
It was the longest speech Mackenzie had ever heard him make, and she raised her eyebrows in surprise, not sure what to do with it.
“I’m sorry, Sketch,” Kaitlyn said gently. “I can see how that would be hard.”
Sketch had bristled up in frustration, but Kaitlyn’s tone seemed to appease him. He dropped his shoulders back down, and after looking at her for a long moment, his expression unreadable, he turned his attention back to his pad and started drawing again.
“I’m sorry, too,” Mackenzie added. “I didn’t mean to upset you. For what it’s worth, you really saved our butts in there today. You might not be glad you can see things we don’t, but I’m sure glad someone can. Whatever was coming for us, I’m glad you were there to warn us.”
“Yeah, she’s right,” Kaitlyn agreed, and Daniel added his own, “Me, too.” Sam was the only one who didn’t comment, but she didn’t say anything to deny it, either.
Whatever he was thinking, Sketch didn’t reply.
“Maybe we were just too tired,” Sam finally said, and Mackenzie looked at her in surprise.
“I’m still mad at Rush,” Sam clarified. “He shouldn’t have left. I’m just saying I was exhausted, too. I think summoning things probably… drains us, somehow. Like when you study really hard for a test, and then after you take it you feel like you’re ready to just pass out and sleep all day.”
“That makes sense,” Kaitlyn agreed. “I don’t think we should try to summon things on our own anymore, just in case. I don’t want to let Ammu down again.”
“I don’t think we should be doing it on our own, anyway,” Mackenzie added. “Not after today. If Sketch hadn’t been paying attention, who knows what might have come through.”
“Agreed,” Daniel said. Even Sam nodded, and Daniel finally stopped playing and looked pointedly at Sketch. When he didn’t look up, Daniel nudged him gently in the back with his foot.
“What? Oh, yeah.”
But he was still engrossed in his drawing, which was finally starting to coalesce into a meaningful image. When Mackenzie looked over his shoulder now, she was amazed to see a perfect replica of one of the photographs Ammu had shown them that morning: the door of Alexander’s tomb, intricately carved to depict the side view of a life-sized lion, rearing magnificently into the air, with a single, stark lightning bolt running it through.