I nod. I’ve heard the Heirs speak of their communication talismans but I’ve never actually seen one. I doubt they look anything like this iPhone object.
Dax hits a few icons and then scrolls through what looks like a list of names. He finds his own name and then a few seconds later, a ringing noise comes from his pocket. He pulls another iPhone out and shows it to me. “See, you need anything and all you’ve got to do is hit my name and it’ll call me. We can talk, no matter how far away, through these.
“However, this next feature is the most important.” He clicks on an icon that says YouTube and holds the phone up in front of me. “You know how we are taught to learn? Someone demonstrates and then we repeat his movements?”
“Yes.” The Underlords are natural mimics. We learn by repeating what we see or hear, absorbing the ability to do just about anything in a matter of hours. Some of us—including myself—can master any new skill in a matter of minutes. It’s how I’ve excelled in my lessons. Humans don’t have the same accelerated ability, I recall, according to Master Crue’s many lectures.
“Well, the same watch, absorb, repeat method also applies to recorded videos.”
“Videos?”
“I’ll show you.” Dax taps icons of letters, spelling out the words how to juggle. “We’ll start with something easy.”
I watch as a prepubescent boy with a face full of pus-filled lesions appears on the screen. He holds three round objects in his hands. I listen and absorb as the boy demonstrates how to juggle the objects. When the demonstration ends, Dax hands me three apples from the bowl on the table.
“Try it,” he says.
I picture what I have just watched in my mind, and mimic the boy’s actions, movement for movement, and juggle the apples perfectly on the first try.
Dax nods in approval.
“Child’s play,” I say, placing the apples on the table. “How will this help me?”
“Juggling won’t help you much. Not unless Daphne has a thing for clowns, but you can pretty much learn how to do anything using this application.” He picks up one of the apples and takes a bite. “There are many gaps in your education.”
“I’ve noticed,” I say under my breath.
“You aren’t as prepared for this world as you might think you are. It’s why I didn’t want you venturing out on your own yet. Who knows what trouble you could have gotten yourself into?”
Guilt clutches at me, and I wonder if I should tell Dax about what I’ve done. I don’t know how to fix the problem I’ve created with Daphne. I feel like such a fool. But if I tell him, he would probably have to tell Simon. How can I share my secrets with the one person I trust if he’s under orders to report back on me?
“Just don’t ask the Internet for dating advice. That’s never a good idea, trust me.”
“Dating?”
“You’ll see.”
“What else can that thing do? Can it track someone?” I’m thinking of Daphne and wondering if this iPhone can show me where to find her again.
“If you have the right app. Or if you have their address, you can type it into this map function, and it will tell you where and how to find the location.” He hands me the phone and then starts putting my new clothes away in a chest of drawers next to the table.
Address. I remember seeing something like that in Daphne’s papers. I’d memorized it without even really thinking about it. While Dax isn’t looking, I punch the numbers and words into the search bar in the map’s feature. After a moment, a small red dot lands on the map, showing me where Daphne lives. I could go there right now if I wanted. I could sneak out again as soon as Dax left.
I shake my head, dismissing the thought. What is it about this girl that makes me act so stupidly? I tell myself it’s for recon reasons, but I know there’s a part of me that just wants to see her again.
“I have one more thing to show you. Outside,” Dax says. “But first, we’d better do something about your hair. Someone might think you’re trying to look like a pirate if you go wandering around, looking like that.”
“I’m tired, Dax. Can it wait until tomorrow?” Really, I’m itching to study Daphne’s things some more. Learn as much about my adversary as I possibly can. I don’t want to be caught off guard again.
“Believe me,” he says. “You don’t want to wait to see this. It’s going to change your entire world.”
chapter sixteen
DAPHNE
“Wow, this place is perfect, isn’t it?” I say to Tobin as we walk on one of the lake paths.
He’d given me a tour of most of the places in town that could be reached on foot. I wheeled my old bike along as he carried Gibby and pointed out different places of interest. My favorite so far is a street of small, boutique-style shops that Tobin said is called Olympus Row. Each of the stores had been designed to look like a shop you would find in a Greek village, with the white stucco walls and blue roofs and doors. It made me feel like I’d been transported to another world. We’d stopped for gelato, and ate it while we watched a group of kids splashing in a fountain before heading for the trails that wind around the lake.
“Don’t let it fool you,” Tobin says.
“What do you mean?”
“Nothing is ever as perfect as it seems,” he mumbles. A strange black note drifts off him. It clashes with his warm vibe.
“What, is this town ripe with conspiracies and secret societies?” I say, trying to lighten his mood.
“Hey, I’m just saying you never know.…” Tobin strums a few bars on Gibby. The sound muffles whatever emotive notes he might be putting off at the moment. He sings a couple of lines from a song I don’t know and then stops walking. “Hey, speaking of secret societies,” he says, his voice much lighter now, “there’s this party next week.…” He trails off, and I’m not sure I’m following his segue.
“Are you telling me that the Skull and Crossbones are holding a recruitment meeting? Or is it a Masons sort of shindig?”
“Aliens,” Tobin says. “It’s an alien rave.”
“Ohhhh,” I say with a laugh. “Hey, what’s over there?” I point at the smaller island of the lake, even though I know very well it’s the grove. “You haven’t shown me that place yet.”
“What? Oh, that’s the grove. I thought you said you went there earlier today?”
Oh yeah. I had. “I must be all turned around,” I say, sheepishly. “Let’s go check it out again.”
“Uh,” Tobin says. “It’s just a bunch of old trees. Once you’ve seen them, that’s kind of it. Nobody even goes there. Anyway, about this party …”
“The alien one? Come on, let’s cross the bridge.”
“Yeah, that one. Except without the aliens. I was kind of hoping.…” He lets his sentence trail off again, like he isn’t sure what to say next.
I’m not sure what to say, either. Crap, had I totally been oblivious again? I’d read Tobin’s vibes toward me in nothing but a friend-zone sort of way. But as CeCe had already established, I totally suck at this sort of thing. So much so that I don’t date. I’d always been too focused on my music to care whether or not I got asked out, and I never felt like I had the time to spare when I did. Truth is, the idea of dating has always seemed like it’s in opposition to my goals. My mom had let herself get sidetracked by a guy, and look where that landed her. I know I’m hesitating too long, so I say what comes to mind first. “I, um, don’t really date.… It’s got nothing to do with you.” I cringe, knowing I sound completely lame. “I just feel like I need to stay really focused on the music department.…”