He had planned it all out. What to say and how. Instead, now that he was with her, he started at the end. “I’ve been making investments.”
She listened with a wide-eyed astonishment as he described it. She made no comment as he stopped in midsentence, backed up, and talked about how he had lied to Arnold and Sandrine and his academy teachers. How he had held back. Created a myth that they accepted as truth. Not just Braxos. All the others. Which brought him back to the investments. He described creating the algorithms and the mock investments that followed. Honing his investment instrument in the process. He had read that term in theJournaland liked how it suited his work. His investment instrument creating the melody of money.
When he was done, Celeste touched the tip of her tongue to her lips. Hesitating. Then, “How much have you made? I mean, since all this went real and you started investing those people’s money.”
“Three hundred and ninety-seven thousand dollars. A fifth is mine.”
“Child …” She seemed to find it difficult to shape the words. “Colin, honey, why haven’t you told anyone before now?”
He found himself clenching down. Walking forward atthe level of thought and bone and sinew. Gathering himself. “Because the money isn’t important. Well, it is. But that’s not the secret.”
“Seems to me that’s all you’ve been doing for months on end. Manufacturing secrets.”
Another step. Close enough now to peer over the edge. “I had to.”
“I don’t see why.” When he remained tightly clenched and quiet, she showed a genuine irritation. “I don’t even understand why youthinkyou needed—”
“That’s not why we’re meeting. That’s not the reason I’m here.”
Something in the way he spoke pushed her back a notch. “Well, now.”
“I’ve been preparing.”
“For what?”
“For something that had to stay a secret. Until today.”
“You’re going to tell me the big reason behind you living a lie?”
“Yes.” He took a long breath and …
Released.
He told her everything.
CHAPTER18
Celeste insisted upon both spending another night in Wilmington and making the appointment with Roland herself. She said that way the attorney would view Colin’s situation as separate from their investments. Colin gave her Roland’s home number from memory, then listened as she talked. She began by apologizing for calling on a Sunday afternoon, her voice very different from anything he had heard before. She was very formal, her diction almost mechanical in its precision. And something more. Celeste spoke with solemn authority. There was no question in Colin’s mind that she was the individual in control.
That night he ate dinner with the other Sojourn House students, only he filled his plate according to Camila’s instructions. The taste of vegetables and meat without gravy was not bad, just different. He sat at the large table and pretended to follow the easygoing Sunday conversation. But most of his attention was given over to analyzing his eating habits. He realized he had been lazy, making choices thatsuited. It shamed him that he could be so intensely focused on his mind and his algorithms and his investment instruments, and at the same time deny his body its requirements. It wasn’t just the food, or the missed swimming lessons. He had to learn a greater sense of balance.
For the first time in weeks, the path of his thoughts led him to his internal state. Colin had been so intensely focused that the absence that defined his internal world had become little more than a whispered longing. Now as he ate a silent meal, Colin wondered if this was how his entire life would unfold. Never knowing a time when the absence did not define him.
As if in response, a series of mental images took hold. Mira and Lucas. For the first time, Colin viewed them as a beacon for his own tomorrow. Perhaps.
He was drawn from the hopeful reverie by a voice asking, “Is it true what they’re saying, you’re going to the university?”
The boy who spoke was a newcomer named Lenny, an African American youth of eight. Colin had heard snippets of conversation about him. Lenny was the new amazement. His near eidetic ability was capable of vacuuming up whatever text or information was put before him. He was studying languages. All six offered at the academy. And linguistics, the root foundations of human speech.
Colin replied, “I started this term.”
“What’s it like, being there with all those big people?”
“They mostly leave me alone.”
“They watch you, though, don’t they. Give you the eye. Make you feel smaller than you already are.”
He was a strange little fellow, with slightly mottled skin, like caramel and chocolate had not been fully blended. His eyes held a brilliant cast, an intensity that Colin liked. “I try not to let it bother me.”
