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“What? No, never.”
“I think Marius had the same thing on his forehead when I found him in that field, but his was more faded.”
Chills went up her spine. And not just because Dax had been leaning in as he showed her the picture.
Okay. Maybe that was part of it.
“This may be more serious than I thought before,” she said slowly, putting pieces together in her mind.
“I think we are actually agreeing on something for once,” he said, smiling uneasily as he put a hand on her wrist in a familiar way that echoed back to their time together.
Immediately, she felt a tingle of pleasure erupt in her core. It was like he had just shocked her.
This is not good.She pulled her hand away, maybe a little too quickly.
“Oh, come on, we’ve agreed on lots of things.”
“Well, we used to…” he said.
“Fine, I get it, but yes, I see why you came back over.”
“Good,” he said a little awkwardly. “Under the circumstances I’d like to talk with the mother and girl.”
He seemed to sense her uneasiness and quickly added, “I see no need to make it formal or to take them to the Tribunal. But I am concerned that this could be connected to something much bigger.”
* * *
“It’s like we said.We had just gotten off the bus and had been just strolling around for a little bit, and then it all just happened so quickly,” the mother was saying.
She could see Dax studying the woman’s face as she spoke. And Bloom was studying him. He had genuine concern in his eyes as he listened to the woman.
Sigh. Well, get it out of your system, because this is going to be sorted out soon enough and you can go your separate ways again.The thought alone shot a longing through her as well as sadness, but she let that go.
Dax had gone over things with them a few times, but their story seemed pretty consistent. Or the mother’s story, she should say. Other than the initial outburst that identified the man, the daughter had hardly said a word.
She noted that he was being true to his word and was taking it pretty easy in his questions. As promised, he had not brought up the red starburst thing. Not until now at least.
“So, what about this,” he said as he suddenly put the picture of the starburst pattern before them. Unless she were imagining it, he was purposely putting it nearer to the young girl.
Again, she saw Dax studying their faces. This time, she joined him.
The reaction was unmistakable. The girl’s eyes in particular went big.
“What is it?” he said quickly.
“That’s Supernova.”
She thought the mother was about to hush her daughter, but she seemed to think better of it and remained silent.
“What’s Supernova, hun?” Dax was saying.
“That’s the latest drug that’s going around.”
“Drug?”
“Yup. And I hear it is crazy strong.”
“Oh shit.” This time both Bloom and Dax said it in unison.
