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.Placing the book on thetable, he thumbed through the pages, then pulled out a small photograph."My wife took this four days before the Traveler left.He ate dinner at myhouse that night."Holding one edge of the photograph like it was a precious relic, Antoniohanded it across the table.Gabriel took the photograph and stared at it for along time."And when was this taken?""About eight years ago."Gabriel looked up at them.His face showed pain, hope, joy."This is myfather.He was supposed to be dead, destroyed in a fire, but here heis sitting next to you."40Gabriel sat beneath the night sky and examined the frayed snapshot of hisfather.More than anything, he wanted Michael to be there with him.The brothers hadstood beside the charred remains of the farmhouse in South Dakota.They haddriven around the country together, whispering at night when their mother wasasleep.Was Father still alive?Was he looking for them?The Corrigans had searched for their father constantly, expecting to see himsitting at a bus stop or gazing out the window of a café.Sometimes, when theyentered a new town, the brothers would glance at each other, feeling tense andexcited.Maybe their father was living here.Maybe he was close-veryclose just drive two blocks west and turn left.It was only when they reachedLos Angeles that Michael announced that the speculation was over.Father wasPage 159ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.htmldead or gone forever.Let's forget about the past and move on.While the stars glimmered overhead, Gabriel questioned the four members of NewHarmony.Antonio and the others were sympathetic, but they couldn't give himmuchinformation.They didn't know how to find the Traveler.He hadn't contactedthem or left an address."Did he ever mention that he had a family? A wife? Two sons?" Rebecca placedher hand on Gabriel's shoulder."No.He never said anything.""What did he tell you when he said goodbye?""He embraced each of us and then he stood in the doorway." Martin's voice wasstrained, filled with emotion."He said that powerful men would try to make usfrightened and filled with hate.They would try to control our lives anddistract us."".with glittering illusions," Joan said."Yes.With glittering illusions.But we should never forget that the Light wasin our hearts."The photograph and Gabriel's reaction to it did solve one problem.Antonio nolonger believed that he and Maya were Tabula spies.As they finished the wine,Antonio explained that the community was protecting a Pathfinder and thisperson lived in an isolated location about thirty miles north.If they stillwanted to go, he would take them there tomorrow morning.***###MAYA WAS SILENT walking back to the Blue House.When they reached the frontdoor, she stepped in front of Michael and entered the house first.There was afeeling of aggressiveness about this act as if each new location was a placewhere they might be attacked.The Harlequin didn't switch on the lights.Sheseemed to have memorized the position of each piece of furniture.She quicklyinspected the house and then they faced each other in the living room."It's okay, Maya.We're safe here."The Harlequin shook her head as if he had said something very foolish.Safetywas a false word for her.Another illusion."I've never met your father and I don't know where he is," Maya said."But Ijust wanted to say that maybe he did this to protect you.Your house wasdestroyed.Your family went underground.According to our spy, the Tabulathought you were dead.You would have been safe if Michael hadn't gone back onthe Grid.""That might have been the reason.But I still.""You want to see him."Gabriel nodded."Maybe you'll find him one day.If you have the power to become a Traveler,you might meet him in another realm."***###GABRIEL CLIMBED THE ladder to the loft bed.He tried to sleep, but it wasimpossible.As a cold wind came down the canyon and rattled the window frame,Gabriel sat on the bed and tried to become a Traveler.None of this was real.His body wasn't real.And he could leave it.Just.Like.That.For an hour or so, he argued with himself.Assuming that I have the power,then allI have to do is accept that fact.A plus B equals C.When logic didn't work,Page 160ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.htmlhe closed his eyes and was swept away by his own emotions.He could find hisfather and talk to him if he could break away from this cage of flesh.Withinhis mind, Gabriel tried to walk from darkness into light, but when he openedhis eyes he was still sitting on the bed.Feeling angry and frustrated, hepounded his fist on the mattress.Eventually, he fell asleep and woke up at dawn with the rough wool blanketwrapped around his body.When the shadows disappeared from the corners of theloft, Gabriel pulled on his clothes and climbed down the ladder.No one was inthe bathroom and the bedroom was also empty.He went down the hallway to thekitchen and peered through a crack in the door [ Pobierz caÅ‚ość w formacie PDF ]