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.What happened to you?I’ve been.they’ve been working with me.I’m sorry I didn’t get back to you sooner.Standing there on the boardwalk, knish in hand, Steven frowned.An old woman gave him a questioning look, but he ignored her and walked down to the nearest stairs.He sat on the bottom step and listened to Marty while he ate.You did pretty well on your own, Marty said.Yeah, well, thanks for leaving me at that airport.Lucky there was a bus to pick me up.You’ll have to move on now.You were supposed to meet someone there in Atlantic City, but she’s not there now.Meet someone?Steven was delighted at the prospect of having a partner in this.Her name is Lorraine.She’s a little girl, about five years old.Five years old! What good is she going to do me?She has great powers.But a man was after her, and he caught up to her.Fortunately, she used those powers to get away from him, but now she needs to be with someone.She’s in a town called Westbrook, a few hours from here.You’ll have to make your way to the nearest train station, in Oakville.It will take you directly to Westbrook, where Lorraine will be waiting.So now, after using up the last of his money to hail a taxi into Oakville and then buy a ticket to Westbrook, Steven was on his way to meet “one of the others.” He was glad that he’d bought a hot dog before leaving the beach, because now his stomach was starting to protest from hunger.A young boy doing all the traveling he’d accomplished in two days needed more energy than one small potato cake could provide.In a few minutes the grumbling turned to pain, and Steven thought with much chagrin that he was going to be sick.Oh, please! Not here!He doubled himself up and begged the pain to go away, not wanting to draw attention to himself.But someone was suddenly aware of him.Some distance to the north, walking along the boardwalk in Atlantic City, Rachel was struck once more by a feeling that Steven was in need.She grabbed Eric’s arm.“Eric!” she whispered, trying not to draw attention to herself.“I feel him again.”Eric stopped.“Steven?” he asked.After a night of thinking, he’d decided Rachel’s sudden knack for telepathy was no stranger than anything else he’d seen in the past few days.“He’s on a train, I think,” Rachel said.“Maybe a bus.Eric, let’s find out where the nearest station is.Maybe they can tell us if a child bought a ticket, and where he went.”“Then let’s go,” Eric said.“There’s a security guard over there, maybe he can help us.”He was glad to finally be able to do something concrete.38WHEN LORRAINE WALKED down the street now, no one even looked twice at her.She was nicely dressed in an orange-and-yellow-striped shorts set.Her dark hair was pulled into a high ponytail with a bright orange “scrunchee,” and she was even wearing new sandals.The woman in the store had accepted her payment without question.But when the little girl left the store, the shop owner jolted slightly as if coming awake.She had the sense that something strange had just happened, but since she couldn’t explain it, she simply went back to her work.Lorraine tried calling Marty, but again he did not answer.She hoped he was all right.Then she called Steven.He didn’t answer her with words, but she had a strong feeling he was very, very near.Perhaps he was in town right now, looking for her!No sooner had she thought that than something made her look beyond the crowd of window-shoppers to the opposite corner.A dark-skinned young boy had just turned onto the block.At once Lorraine knew who he was.She had never felt such an attraction to another human being, at least not in her memory.She wanted to shout to him out loud, but didn’t dare attract attention.Instead, she quickened her step.Steven?I’m here now, Lorraine.Don’t be afraid.And then they were face-to-face.Impulsively the little girl threw her arms around the older boy.They hugged; that drew some discreet stares!“I’m so happy to see you,” Lorraine said.“I’m so glad I’m not alone!”“We’ve never really been alone,” Steven said.“Marty has been with us.”Lorraine shook her head.“Not always,” she said worriedly.“Sometimes he goes away.”“I know,” Steven said.“I wish I knew where he was at those times.Because when he’s gone, I don’t know what to do.”“I know what to do right now,” Lorraine said.“I’m hungry.I hardly had any breakfast.”Steven smiled.“I didn’t have any at all.Let’s go to that little place over there and have some lunch.”The two started for a small restaurant across the street.But halfway across, Steven gasped, stopping short.Lorraine took hold of his arm
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