whomever they pleased . . . sometimes loving no one . . . no ticking clock—
There was a quiet knock at the door, and Aaron’s heart slapped against the inside of his chest. But the man who entered was nothing like what Aaron expected.
Dr. Selavio ducked through the doorway, clipboard in hand, and stood to his full height; he nearly reached the ceiling. His white lab swished in behind him, parting to reveal a beige collared shirt and matching tie. His skin glowed bronze, and although his eyes sagged from lack of sleep, they were bright, heroic.
Aaron breathed a sigh of relief.
Dr. Selavio saw him turn away from the poster and grinned, revealing a wide, immaculate row of white teeth. “A world transformation in just a few years,” he said, nodding to the poster. “I pity all their lives before the discovery. All those wars and all that hatred. All that loneliness.” He reached out his hand. “Casler Selavio.”
Aaron took his hand and felt calm wash over him. It was only after the handshake that he noticed the black flakes of blood on the man’s knuckles.
Casler saw where he was looking and rested his hand out of view behind the clipboard.
“I apologize for my son’s behavior this evening,” he said. “He has trouble coping with his condition, and he often lashes out. It’s always something. Lately, he’s been sneaking off with my things.” He scanned the room before his eyes settled on Aaron again. “In fact, I don’t mean to pry, but has he ever showed you anything curious?”
“Curious?” said Aaron. “Like what?”
“Perhaps a vial?” he said.
Aaron swallowed. “What was in the vial?”
Casler just smiled. “You will tell me if that vial turns up, won’t you?”
Aaron nodded.
“Excellent,” said Dr. Selavio, beaming at him. “Now about what happened to you tonight . . . ” He scanned his clipboard. “Clive discovered his ability to inflict pain on others a few years ago, quite by chance, actually. We’ve seen counselors about it, and by now, he knows the risks of permanent injury, both to himself and his victims. His slipup tonight was unacceptable.”
“How does he do it?” said Aaron.
The corner of Casler’s mouth twitched. “Sadly, my son’s connection to his half is weak,” he said. “The attractive forces that hold his clairvoyant channel together tend to drift. When he touched you in just the right spot, those loose forces tugged at your channel and caused you tremendous pain—and in your case, knocked you out. Your reaction did concern me a little, so I hope you don’t mind that I took the liberty to examine you earlier.” Casler nodded and glanced up, his eyebrows low and brooding. “What troubles me, Aaron, is that curious lump of scar tissue you have blocking your channel.”
Aaron was used to hearing bad news from doctors, and he zoned out most of what Casler said, but this surprised him. “How’d you figure it out so fast?” he said. “You can’t possibly have an MRI machine here?”
With a smile, Dr. Selavio reached out and bent Aaron’s head sideways. “Ever felt pain in this spot before?” he said, his thick finger probing the back of Aaron’s skull.
“Sometimes,” said Aaron, suppressing the urge to shiver.
“I understand you and Clive share the same birthday,” he said. “You must be excited.”
“Yeah,” said Aaron, unnerved as Casler continued to feel around the back of his head, “just about as excited as anyone with a blocked channel can be.”
“Hmm—” Casler pulled his hand back. “With your permission, Aaron, I’d like to run a simple test to see what we’re dealing with here. I’ve got some equipment down in the cellar.”
“What kind of test?” said Aaron, wondering if Justin Gorski had ended up in Dominic’s cellar after his “appointment.”
“There’s something about that scar tissue that really troubles me,” he said. “I’m actually not authorized to test minors, but since this is a private home—and since you only have a week until your eighteenth birthday anyway—I’m willing to make an exception. I’d like to reveal the identity of your half.”
***
Aaron’s eagerness to know his half switched to utter dread when he stepped into the musty wine cellar ahead of Dr. Selavio and saw the tripod-mounted, powder-white glass globe affixed with an orbiting brass scope.
Aaron had only seen them in pictures. Now he was looking at a real one—an aitherscope—a device that used a property of fused quartz to allow a viewer to peer inside his own clairvoyant channel, thereby revealing his half. They were rare, and you