The Darkest Path

her.

“Nat?”

“I’m tired,” she said. “I should…”

“The Army won’t take us. You know that.”

Nat started to go, but I slid out of my chair and took her wrist. Her pulse beat a dull rhythm against my palm.

“Cal.”

“There’s nothing we can do here,” I said. “All we can do is get as far away as possible. Ithaca isn’t — maybe it’s not perfect, but it’s better than being here. I know that.”

I slid my hand down her wrist and opened her hand so her fingers were draped across my palm.

“Just come. Okay?”

We were suspended there for a breathless moment and then Nat leaned in toward me. First there was the warmth of her breath on my cheek and then her lips touched mine, once, gently. Then she pulled back again.

I waited for something more but she turned away, striding across the porch and to the door. Bear and I both watched as she slipped into the dark house and vanished.

20

Diane scooted her chair next to mine when I sat down to breakfast the next morning.

“So Kate told me all about you being taken by the Path,” she said in a conspiratorial whisper. “I hope you don’t mind.”

“No, it’s okay.”

“I just think it’s soooo interesting,” she said. “My father says the way Hill co-opted progressive ideas about economic justice and then mixed them with this kind of pastoral religious fundamentalism was an absolute masterstroke. And you know I don’t believe any of that propaganda about the Choice and killing all those people. I mean, I don’t want them to win or anything, but all that talk is just total religious bigotry. I mean, agree with them or don’t, but they’re people, not monsters. Right?”

Diane waited for a response, but I pretended to be absorbed in digging my fingernail into the rough grain of the tabletop. I was relieved when the rest of the group filed out of their bedrooms and collapsed into chairs around the table.

Everyone’s eyes were half closed, their hair twisted into sleepy tangles. Christos brought coffee in thick earthenware mugs. Kate was at the end of the table. Her dark hair was bound with a paisley bandanna, her cheeks picking up a reddish glow from her rose pajamas. She glanced up at me over the edge of her mug and then quickly looked away. Diane shook her head and laughed softly. When Kate got up to get more coffee, Diane leaned over to whisper in my ear.

“Our Kate gets a little squirrelly when she decides she likes someone. Prepare for rough seas, sailor.”

“What are you talking about?”

Diane patted my arm gently and went back to her drawing. “Don’t worry, love, you’ll figure it out.”

Alec sauntered in, stretching his arms over his head. A slip of belly hung out under a Superman T-shirt. “Well well well,” he said, clapping me on the shoulder. “Sleep okay?”

“I did. Thanks.”

Alec dropped into his place at the head of the table, and Christos pushed a cup of coffee over to him.

“I had a dream that I stepped out onto the stage at Lincoln Center for my very first performance of Hamlet to find that I was not wearing any pants. It was disturbing for all involved.”

Alec took a deep drink of the coffee and then looked over my shoulder. His eyes brightened.

“Well, this must be the reclusive Natalie! Come, join us. Christos, our lady needs coffee! Oh, and Bear’s here too! Bear!”

Bear dashed across the floor and jumped up onto Alec’s leg. Nat hovered awkwardly in the doorway to the dining room. She had transformed since I saw her the night before. The traces of dirt and blood had been scrubbed clean and her hair was washed. She was dressed in a clean pair of corduroy pants and a black T-shirt. Seeing her filled me with a strange sense of weightlessness. I caught her eye and nodded to an empty seat next to me. Nat quietly folded herself into it.

“Hey,” I said.

“Hey.”

“Morning,” Kate said, with an odd edge to her voice, looking from Nat to me. Nat gave her an awkward smile and nod. “You look pretty this morning. You get enough rest?”

“Yes,” Nat said, barely a whisper. “Thanks.”

“Chris, we got a girl here who needs coffee and food, stat!” Alec shouted.

“I’m on it!”

Nat’s hand moved beneath the table to take mine. It sent a tiny electric pulse through me. Our eyes met and she smiled.

“Breakfast is served!”

“Huzzah!”

As before, the food came out on platters, one after the other, an impossible abundance. It was an assault on the senses — vibrant yellow eggs shot through with gooey cheese and ham. I nearly laughed, seeing the stunned blank of Nat’s face as she watched it all paraded before us. Bear had his paws up on the table, bopping from one person to the next, gracefully accepting offerings of egg and bacon and toast. I dug in, devouring what was before me, and then the plate was refilled.

I turned to Nat, eager to see how much she was enjoying her first real meal in days, but her plate was still full. The eggs gleamed and the bacon lay in piles. She had gone pale, staring down at it all, fork in hand.

“Hey,” I said under my breath. “Are you—”

“So!” Alec announced to the table. “Who’s up for some post-breakfast rock climbing and then maybe a little high-noon fiesta?”

“Let’s do it,” Christos said, followed by Reese and Diane.

“Sounds great!”

“Perfect.”

“Awesome,” Alec said. “Cal, your gimpy arm means you’re useless to us, but I’m guessing Nat will be more than happy to show us all how it’s really done. Right, Nat?”

Nat didn’t look up. Didn’t move. Everyone at the table went silent, watching her. I nudged her under the table and she looked up with a start.

“Ah, there you are!” Alec said, grinning. “I was just asking if—”

“Where does all of this come from?”

Nat’s voice was flat and hard.

“Where does what come from?” Alec chuckled, his easy smile still gleaming.

“The house. The food. All of this.”

Alec laughed, wiggling his fingers in front of him like falling rain. “It cascades from the heavens,” he said. “Like manna. We go outside in the morning and there it is.”

“Don’t listen to him, Nat,” Diane said. “Christos’s and Alec’s daddies are beyond super rich. Christos’s dad is the last big Greek shipping magnate left, and Alec’s dad is an uberproducer in Hollywood. You guys know Downtown Cop, right?”

“You will not take this monkey alive!” Reese called out in a guttural, German-sounding accent.

“I will now dance the dance of my people!” Christos echoed.

“Anyway,” Diane continued once the laughter died down, “it’s about the biggest movie series ever, and Alec’s dad produced them.”

“Along with many other notable—”

“—independent and Oscar-winning films,” Kate said. “We know, Alec.”

“You see,” Alec continued, “one of the benefits of being obscenely wealthy is that when you get tired of