his hands, folded his arms across his chest, forming an X over his heart, a fist on each shoulder, and he bowed his head. Then he stood in silence for a moment.
“We have to be careful with him, James,” Lucy whispered. “He still sees himself as a king, the chosen one of the gods. And we have no idea what powers he has.”
“I know a few.”
She shot James a look, her eyes wide. “You do?”
“Lucy, it’s amazing. He can absorb knowledge, everything contained in a book—or even a device—just by laying his hands on it.”
“What do you mean, even a device?” she asked.
“He put his hands on the TV for five seconds, and then he was using the remote and channel surfing.
And I’ve been watching him touch things. He’s been through every book in the library. He’s touched the engines of this boat.”
“My God, that’s amazing.”
“Yeah, and it’s not all. He keeps trying to touch me, Lucy, but I’ve been dodging him.”
“Why?”
“He said he could absorb words, information, knowledge…and…power.”
She frowned, seeing the worry in James’s eyes.
“You realize his English is—”
“Amazing, and getting better by the minute,” James said. “Not perfect, though, so I’m guessing it’s the ideas, information, rather than grammar and syntax, he absorbs from the books. But before that, when I told him I’d used my healing power to raise him, he asked me to give my power to him, and when I said I couldn’t, he said he would take it and he came at me.”
She frowned hard, shooting another look at Utanapishtim. “How did you avoid him?”
“Threatened to put him right back in that damned statue. I was bluffing, but apparently I’ve got a good poker face.”
“Hell.” She thinned her lips. “He could be dangerous.”
“I have no doubt he is,” James said. “We’ve just got to get him on our side—and find out what other powers he has.”
“And what his vulnerabilities are, as well,” Lucy added. “The sun clearly isn’t one of them.” She found it very odd that she could so easily take her eyes from a man who was a walking, talking archaeological find and yet get so easily trapped in James’s deep blue eyes. She was lost there then, though he was unaware of it.
“If anything, he seems to be drawing strength from it,” he said, watching Utanapishtim and in the process giving her time to adjust her focus before he caught her staring at him in what probably looked like abject adoration.
She shook it off. “We need to get him to the island. He’ll have time to get his bearings today, before everyone rises. And by nightfall maybe we’ll have softened him up about whether to help us or not. And then, once he meets them, they’ll win him over. Just like they did me.”
“I agree.”
She was staring at him again. Dammit.
He must have sensed her gaze, because he met it faster than she could look away, and his lips pulled into a tender smile. “We really did it, didn’t we?”
“We? You did it, James. I was barely any help at all.”
He shook his head slowly, pressing a palm to her cheek. “I couldn’t have done it without you. If I manage to save my people, Lucy, it will be because you helped me. I wouldn’t even have known where to find Utanapishtim’s remains without your help. I can’t begin to figure out a way to thank you.”
She felt her blood rushing to her face and had to lower her eyes. But her smile would not be contained.
“We’re not finished yet, James. But I promise, when all this is over, I will come up with a way for you to repay me.”
“It won’t be enough.”
She raised her head again and met his eyes as he went on.
“Whatever you ask for, it won’t be enough,” he said, and his eyes were darkening, sliding over her face and lingering on her lips. He bent closer, his lips brushing hers, and she swayed against his body.
Utanapishtim shouted as if in pain.
They pulled apart, startled. The old one was holding his head between his hands, his eyes closed tightly.
“By the teeth of Enki, what is that?”
They rushed to his side. “Tell me what’s happening to you, Utanapishtim,” James said, his tone respectful but strong.
“Pain. Cries. Shouts. Voices, many voices. Entire worlds shout my ears all together. It…aiee, it loud!”
“We’re nearer the mainland than we’ve been so far,” Lucy said. They were moving alongside a peninsula jutting out from the mainland, and the island was just beyond.
“They