Free Lucy by Laurence Gonzales

She flipped through the last one and saw this scrawled in a shaky hand on a single sheet in the middle of an otherwise blank book: “Lucy, forgive me.”
    Jenny paced her study, trying to think through all the implications. What had Stone done? What had Jenny herself done by bringing Lucy here? She turned to find the girl staring at her from the doorway.
    “I sensed a disturbance in The Stream. I thought I’d see if you were all right. I hope you didn’t catch my flu.”
    And in that moment, Jenny felt that she had all the proof she needed. What she’d just read was real. The Stream. Of course. Stone himself had talked of it. It’s the way that all animals communicate. Jenny had sometimes felt it herself in the jungle. But as a product of American culture, she was inclined to dismiss it.
    Her swirling emotions overtook her now, and Jenny felt a wave of love for this girl, a powerful urge to protect her from what was coming. But could she do it? Could Lucy be protected in this world? Unable to control herself at the sight of Lucy, Jenny burst into tears.
    Lucy crossed the distance between them and pressed Jenny into her arms, patting her gently on the back as one might do with a child who has fallen. Lucy’s head barely came up to Jenny’s breasts. So small. So vulnerable. Yet so powerful. Jenny felt Lucy’s energy surging through her. She now believed what Stone had written. Lucy was real. And she knew that she mustn’t let anyone find out. She must protect the girl at all costs.
    “What’s wrong? What’s wrong?” But Jenny couldn’t speak and simply let her tears flow. The room was suffused with sunlight. The squirrel was still in the tree, screeching about the hawk.

6
    LUCY’S FIRST THOUGHT WAS that she had made Jenny sick. But then her eyes fell on her father’s notebooks scattered around the chair, and she understood. Lucy had completely forgotten that Jenny had taken the notebooks from the camp. Now Jenny stood on the brink with Lucy, and all the evidence that she’d been ignoring flooded in on her in one great wave. Lucy held Jenny in her arms as she wept briefly. Then Jenny gathered herself and held Lucy at arm’s length to study her.
    “Why didn’t you tell me?”
    “I’m sorry. I didn’t know how.”
    “Of course. Of course.” Jenny let go of Lucy and turned, taking a few steps toward the window. She turned back and said, “With the attack, the murders—it was too crazy for me to think clearly. Not that I would have believed you anyway. Oh, wow, I just don’t know what this means yet. I’m afraid for you, Lucy.”
    “Papa warned me that people wouldn’t believe. Or that if they did they’d want to destroy me. He also said that there would be good ones. Good humans. I sensed that you wouldn’t care that I’m not human.”
    “You are human. You’re as human as I am. You’re no different than if you had … I don’t know. Some other genetic difference. An albino is different. There are all kinds of people. You’re human,” Jenny repeated, as if trying to convince herself. “You’re human.”
    “It’s okay, Jenny. I know what I am. I’m something completely new. Papa made sure that I had no illusions about how people might react.”
    “This is real, right? It’s not some sort of hoax?”
    “It’s real.”
    “Then that was your mother? The dead bonobo in the hut?”
    “Yes. Leda.”
    “I’m sorry.”
    “I know.”
    “What was the plan? I mean, I’m trying to get my mind around this. What was your father’s ultimate plan for you? What on earth was he thinking? He talked about breeding, like you were some sort of prize animal. How could he do this to you?” Jenny looked as if she might begin to weep again, but she held back her tears. “Why would someone do this to a child?”
    “We were supposed to move to London next year. He’d been grooming me for this my whole life. I was to go to college in England. People would be told that Papa had lost his wife to a