Birthright

CHAPTER TWELVE

Kray stared intently at Doctor Greene's back, willing the man to look at him while he readied his equipment. It irritated him that he was always ignored, even though he wasn't sure what he preferred. His gaze finally moved away, settling on a messy desk in the corner. A picture of the doctor and two females, one of them a young teenager, and the other old enough to be Doctor Greene's wife.

They looked carefree, with their smiling faces and their arms around each other. Just a normal, happy family.

Resentment rose within Kray. "Does your family know that you work here? Or do you still pretend to help people for a living?"

Doctor Greene turned around to face him. He stared intently for a long moment. Finally, "I do help people, Kray."

Outraged, he demanded, "Is that how you justify yourself? You're sick."

Instead of getting upset or offended, Doctor Greene smiled as he approached him. "My family is proud of what I do. And someday, perhaps you will understand why this is necessary, Kray. It's for your own good."

Before Kray could retort, or even laugh with disbelief, the needle pricked his skin. That abruptly ended their discussion.

He slept longer than usual and dreamed about Alex; they were racing through the woods beyond her house, Cel right on their heels. He woke up to find Shane sitting on the floor beside his own bed, watching him.

Upon Kray's questioning look, Shane said, "You were calling for your friend."

"Do I usually talk in my sleep?" he asked uncomfortably. What else had he said without knowing?

"No. Besides," Shane glanced across the corridor at the Carter and Orkoy, who were talking loudly in Aldean. "I doubt they heard you. You miss home, don't you?"

He wished he could say that he didn't. The ache in his heart told him otherwise. There was too much to miss, even the simplest things like taking a relaxing swim at the lake and riding his driffer through his neighborhood. He even missed the grueling, heart-pounding workouts that had become a part of his everyday routine. A shameful part of him wished he could return to his life, despite everything that had happened. It was painful to admit the truth, but Shane deserved more than a lie. "Yes. But I know I'm not going back. All I have left are my memories."

Shane nodded as though he understood, but Kray wondered if the two of them really could relate to one another. After all, Shane would be returning home. "Are you okay with it? Becoming a Faithful and living in the Mainland as someone's guardian?"

"I don't know what the alternative is."

"But you have a choice?"

"If I choose to make the ANEF distrust me, I will never be allowed to live in the Mainland again. I guess that would be my way of making my own decision." He bent one leg at the knee and draped an arm over it. "But what's the point? Why waste the chance for a better life? Orkoy was right, you know. It's not easy living in the Skads. I lived there with my parents before we moved to Saranth. I wouldn't be helping anyone by returning home now."

Kray thought of all of the times he had wished his parents had been with him. He grew up watching young children strolling in the park and shopping centers with their families, their little hands secured in those of their parents. Had he once experienced such comfort and security? He had grown to hate his parents for being criminals, and resented them for leaving him all alone. But the yearning to know them, to have them in his life, had never really disappeared.

And because of that, he was baffled that Shane, whose parents were still living, would choose to live without them. His new friend would be surrounded by strangers for the rest of his life, while he himself would never cease to be a stranger to them.