Sebastian
That evening,the windows were repaired and Seb’s laboratory was reassembled, almost like the whole thing had never happened. He stood in the middle of the large room, grateful all over again that Declan had noticed what was going on and jumped to action before any real damage was done. But as he looked over the peaceful hillside, he didn’t get the same wave of relaxation and focus he usually found in the mountains.
He just imagined people in masks, crawling through the snow.
Seb shivered. Then a knock at the door brought him back to attention.
“Sebastian?” Declan asked. “Can I come in?”
“Yeah,” Seb answered, running his hand through his hair. “Come in!” One benefit of nurturing a crush on the guy who had maybe saved his life: Seb was motivated to groom and dress himself properly, instead of slouching around like a distracted scientist in his robe. He’d even ironed his shirt that day and tucked it into his best pair of slim-fitting jeans.
Declan’s brow was furrowed, and Seb noticed the way his thick neck stretched when he swallowed. “I just wanted to check in, make sure you’re doing alright.”
“Oh, thank you,” Seb said. “Here, come in.”
Declan crossed into the laboratory, and Seb watched as he trailed his eyes across the equipment and computers. There was a sharp intensity to his gaze, like he was assessing everything for danger, but Seb could tell he was curious, too.
“Try to tell me what it is you do again,” Declan said. “I’d like to understand what all this stuff is.”
A smile tugged up the corners of Seb’s mouth. “Sure,” he said brightly. “Did you study much science in school?”
Declan shook his head. “I barely finished high school, went straight to work.”
“Well, you might remember, water is made up of two things, hydrogen and oxygen.”
“Right, H2O.”
“Yeah, exactly.” Most people knew more science than they realized, but Seb was aware the concepts were difficult to grasp, the same way he was useless at carrying a tune and absolutely wretched at spelling. “One thing that we know how to do is to take water and then to split it so that it’s oxygen and hydrogen again. When we do that, the splitting creates some energy, which we could in theory use to do things like power cars and cities. I’m trying to help find ways to make that process work better.”
“Turning water into energy,” Declan said. “Cool.”
Seb smiled, then gestured to the windows. “The other main ingredient is sunlight. That’s where the energy comes from in the first place. It’s why I like it in the laboratory here. The view helps me focus on what matters.” He suddenly became self-conscious, like he was getting too enthusiastic, and folded his hands behind his back awkwardly. Very few people cared about the things that Seb cared about, and even his professors at school had told to stop obsessing over hydrogen power and to find something more practical.
“Sunlight and water. You can do all that with computers?”
Seb caught Declan’s eye, and a flush spread across his chest and up his neck. “I can do parts of it. I have some other experiments, too.” He gestured to the cabinets, filled with old equipment and research. “I’ve been out of school for a few years and mainly working on my own projects here since then.”
Declan grinned. His mouth was big and wide, and when he spread his lips, Seb caught the glint on one of his gold teeth. “So you’re a genius, is what you’re saying.”
Seb laughed. “No, I’m really not. There’s no such thing as geniuses, anyway. Different people are just good at different things.”
“Sounds like some bullshit a genius would say.”
He laughed again, relieved to feel something different than worry and fear. “I had a lot of opportunities. My father was very unsentimental about my education. He just had a bunch of experts test my aptitude when I was a toddler and chose the schools based on that.”
“I’m not surprised,” Declan said dryly.
Seb minimized the window that was still up on his computer, then turned to Declan. “I don’t think I’m going to get any more work done tonight, actually.” He paused, working up the courage to say what came next. “Would you like a soda or a beer? I have some in my lab fridge.”
Declan tilted his head slightly. There was a small black heart, tattooed behind his ear, that made Seb smile. “A soda,” Declan answered. “I’m staying sober the next couple of nights, just to keep a clear head in case those guys come back.”
“Soda. Got it.”
“My father pushed me into work, too,” Declan said. “Also based on my ap-ti-tude.” He pronounced each syllable like he was spitting the word out, which made Seb chuckle.
“Into work as a security guard?” He grabbed a soda from the fridge, and when he turned around, Declan was standing right there.
“Something like that,” he answered, taking the drink. “It’s the same business my pops did. No surprise that I got a knack for it.”
