Reese laughed again.
“He liked all kinds of music, especially soundtracks.”
“Why?” Reese rolled over a little.
“He never said, but I think it was the stories.”
Reese furrowed his brow.
“I didn’t get to go to the movies much, so he’d get the soundtracks, and we’d make up these elaborate stories. Half the time, they didn’t have anything to do with the actual movie, but it was fun. Especially if I was well enough for us to act some of it out.” Tying sheets to the bedpost to make a pirate ship. Opening the windows and yelling at the birds because they’d become the subjects of a new king. Crawling around in the closets in search of treasure. All the things Koda should have grown out of years before, yet he’d stayed there, so Luca had someone to go with on his adventures.
“He turned down a scholarship at a big University and went to a local state one so he’d be there when I had treatments. Our parents weren’t happy about it. But Koda didn’t care. I was always more important.”
Even when it cost him passing grades, he’d always been there. Always.
“Most of all, he never lied to me. Never told me something and didn’t do it. And he made every promise come true.” Two points of pain blossomed under each of Luca’s ears. “Disneyland.”
“Disneyland?”
Luca cleared his throat and somehow kept his voice from trembling. “One of those charity groups got us tickets to Disneyland. I mean, I was eight and had never been anywhere like that. All the colors, the characters, the rides. Like magic and terrifying all in one. But Koda was there, and I wasn’t afraid.
“We rode some of the rides, but there was this one, some sort of roller coaster. I think it had loops. It’s hard to remember. I wanted to ride it. But when we got to the front, I wasn’t tall enough to reach the Mickey Mouse hand. So the guy told me to come back next year after I’d grown a couple of inches.”
Logically Luca knew the man’s smile had been genuine and his laugh good-natured, but his child-self had molded the encounter into cruelty. The villain and his last words before he destroyed his victim.
“Problem was there wasn’t going to be a next year for me. I’d heard everyone talk about it. I mean the leukemia and how they didn’t think the treatment was working, but it wasn’t until I stood there in front of that attendant that I’d really understood that dying meant there were no ‘next times.’ That every experience would be my last. That I would be gone. It’s why I was there in the first place. It was my last chance to enjoy something before I was too sick to do anything ever again.”
The laugher of other kids, the clank and thump of carts coming to rest on the tracks, the scent of popcorn, hotdogs, candy. How the girl next to Luca in the other line carried the pink stuffed animal with all the pride of an Olympic gold medalist.
How the lady in the flower skirt scolded the pair of twins as they walked past. The ring and whistle of skill game winners. Cartoon voices. Familiar songs. Every detail of that single moment had burned a place in Luca’s mind.
“I cried.” Until his chest had threatened to burst. “For the first time, I actually cried about dying.”
Outside the bedroom window, the wind tapped the glass with tree limbs and thunder rumbled.
“After Koda calmed me down enough that I could listen, he had me sit on a bench. Instead of sitting beside me, he got down on his hands and knees so all I could see was his face. Then he swore to me I would get better, and he would take me to Disneyland with the yard mowing money he’d been saving for a dirt bike. He promised me we would go, and I would get to ride that ride.”
Dr. Dante wiped his eyes.
Somehow Luca was able to hold back his tears.
“I believed him too.” Luca shrugged. “I mean, he was my brother, I was eight, and he walked on water. So of course I believed him. I was just scared he might be wrong. Because no one believed I’d get through the treatment.” Luca smiled. “But he wasn’t, and I went into remission. Then two years later, almost to the day he made his promise, we went to Disneyland, and I rode that stupid ride. Looking back, I don’t even think it was all that great.” And Luca hadn’t cared because Koda had been there. He’d even made losing the skill games fun.
“That’s the kind of person Koda was, Dr. Dante.”
Reese nodded like he hadn’t expected any other kind of answer. “In other words, he was just like you.”
And Luca had never imagined someone could see him the same way.
* * *
Luca’s worry, his concern, his empathy, it traveled to Nox through the strange connection the Anubis gave them. It had always been strong enough for Nox to hear Luca’s voice if he wanted him to, but now there was more.
The rustle of fabric and soft conversation. When Nox concentrated, fragments of light and movement filtered in. Then the scent of Dr. Dante’s sorrow.
When Nox realized what Luca saw, he shifted his attention back to the room. The Varu were gone, leaving behind Dekker and the other two Mah.
Dekker’s two betas finished their third plate of food and squabbled over the leftovers.