by A. A LEVINE
They mean she’s scared of her own shadow and that she’s so different from the girl she was before. “I’m sorry.”
Gwynn rolls her eyes. The vulnerability passes, and the bitch is back. “I don’t need your pity.”
“It’s not pity. It’s empathy. I know how it feels not to know what’s going on with someone you care about. Don’t forget, I have a twin brother somewhere on this massive property and I have no idea how he’s really doing.”
◆◆◆
My last class ends and I begin my journey toward what’s becoming the place where I am spending more than half my time, the operations building. Between school, training, tutoring, and work, I haven’t had a minute to myself in almost a week.
“Wanna go grab dinner?” Chloe asks falling into step beside me.
“I would love to, but after tutoring, I need to swing by the library.”
She gives me an exaggerated pout. “Between that, the gym and the library, I hardly see you anymore.”
Shane, Leo, Wes and Gwynn are heading our way. The group stops in front of us and Leo gives me a lopsided grin. “Hey Holli, we’re playing tonight at eleven. You’ll be there right?”
“I have a research project I need to do.”
“You can blow it off for a few hours. Come on out and help us celebrate making it through that last endurance trial. Besides, if it weren’t for you we’d have all flunked at capture the flag and it could have been one or all of us getting cut.”
“Maybe. I’ll try.”
“Don’t try. Do.” He glances at Chloe. “She can come too.” Gwynn grabs him by the arm pulling him away.
Chloe and I walk a few more feet before she asks, “So you’re part of that crowd now?”
“You’re kidding right? They like to use my head as target practice when they’re throwing any type of ball around.”
“They invited you to whatever party they’re having tonight.”
“They invited us, and I haven’t agreed to go.”
“You should.” Her voice is quiet, and she turns to watch them on the other side of the lawn.
“Well then, you should too, because there’s no way I’m going without you.”
What Leo, Shane and the rest of their friends are playing is cards, checkers, and darts. What they’re doing is having a get together that is spinning into unauthorized party territory. It’s that part of the evening that will create enough chaos to allow me to slip away.
It took some effort on my part to make sure Mrs. Price’s door wouldn’t fully lock behind her when she left for the day. There was a disagreement in the hall between two students that kept her out of the room long enough for me to add scotch tape to the doorframe. I’m grateful for that skirmish, because I was planning to spill my drink on her so she’d have to go to the bathroom to get cleaned up.
I wait until the social room is at max capacity, and Chloe is buried in a sea of bodies, before sneaking out. I move quickly through the building up to the second floor pausing in front of the Mrs. Price’s office door. Am I really going to do this? I give the handle a shake. The tape is still in place and I ease the door open, closing it behind me with a soft click. The entire floor is dark, so I leave the light out so that no one reports that a light was left on in one of the offices.
Even if my mother hasn’t been in contact with Mrs. Price, I have lots of questions swirling in my head, and I can’t help but think that the orange folder has the answers. I slide open her desk drawer and I’m confused to see it’s empty. It’s the same drawer she slides open and closed every day, but the folder is missing. Did she take it with her? I scan the room and spot a safe that looks like the one dad keeps in his office.
The lock on this thing is flimsy. It’s easy to pop it open with a nail file. I don’t have one, but the letter opener on the Mrs. Price’s desk should do the trick. It takes a few tries to jimmy the lock, but finally I feel the tip of the file hit the spring that’s on the inside and the door swings open. The little wire attached to the latch pops easily back in place, so no one will ever know it was tampered with.
The safe is full of folders. I thumb through the tabs reading the names. Gwynn, name, Shane, Chloe, Millicent, and a few more people I recognize from the junior class. I finger through them all, finally finding my name. The information about me extends to more than one folder. There are five of them to be exact. I pull them out straining to read in the dark. There’s a small swath of light coming into the room from the window. I drag the folders across the floor and sit under the window to get a better look at the documents. The clinical case notes go back years. These folders have every test, interview, and assessments I’ve endured since the age of four. How is that even possible? I don’t remember coming to P Biotech until I started attending school on campus. That was the year Aiden, and I turned eight. But the information is all here. Including photos and doctors’ notes about me spanning that four-year timeframe. I look at the digital clock over the door. Chloe will notice I’m gone soon, and I don’t have time to sift through everything.
I scan the notes quickly looking for the section about downgrading. It’s a bunch of medical double speak, but I have no problem understanding the part that says the level of telepathy I had as a kid used to be much higher. The notes go on to say my gift tapered off when I started school. I fast-forward to now, in black ink with three underlines, Mrs. Price notes that my telepathy is ramping up again.
These answers just lead to more questions. Telepathy at four? Isn’t that kind of young to have broken out? Everything I’ve ever read lists puberty as the catalyst. I read a little more, about a hospital stay for a cold, that I don’t remember having. The folders are negative for any mention of Aiden other than that we’re twins and he shows no signs of having any Psionic abilities.
The telepathic link we suddenly seem to have tells a different story. If it’s not listed in my files, I think it’s still safe to assume he hasn’t told anyone yet. A camera phone would come in handy right about now, so that I could take this information back to the dorms to study. There’s no way I’ll be able to copy any of this. I flip another page. There’s a brief reference to mom, but it doesn’t mention anything about where her latest assignment has taken her. I’m not all that surprised that she hasn’t bothered to look in on us. It’s typical of my mom. She’s been absent a lot these last few years and Aiden and I have gotten used to her not being around. A sticky note at the back of the last file catches my eye. It must be misfiled. It’s empty of a name, date or anything and talks about someone named patient zero. I put everything back where I found it and wipe my prints off of all the surfaces I touched. I learned two things during this trip. One- I showed telepathic abilities as young as four and Two- there’s another gap in my memory. This one spans four years.
The names on those folders are bugging me. As far as I can tell, I’m the only one getting tutoring, and Millicent is the only person who’s changed internships. What’s happened with the other students that’s earned them a file in Mrs. Price’s safe? Is it their connection to Millicent? The last session Mrs. Price had a lot of questions about Millicent and even though I had no answers, I feel like she was looking for something important. She and Gwynn were friends, Shane follows Gwynn everywhere and I’m Gwynn’s roommate and Chloe’s my friend. Damn, that’s a convoluted game of six degrees of separation, but it’s the only thing that makes sense.
Millicent’s eating alone in the cafeteria again. Most of the time she eats outside but today’s rain makes that impossible. I slip into the seat across from her and can see her thoughts are going a mile a minute. I eat without talking or asking questions. It’s important to her that I don’t try to engage her in a conversation. The longer we sit the quieter her mind gets until finally she’s focused on her food and the book in front of her again.
The alarm on her watch goes off and I tell her to have a great day.
I won’t have any good days ever again.
That's a depressing though
t. What’s going on with her that would make her think that? I can feel that she’s lonely and my heart goes out to her.
I sought Millicent out for dinner last night but she never came down to eat and she’s missing from breakfast this morning. She’s on my mind all day and I try to find her telepathically but I can’t. Wherever she is, is beyond my reach. The rest of my day is so busy, that I don’t have time to try again.
I’m grabbing my food and looking for a table to sit at when I sense her. She’s standing a few people behind me in line. I grab my tray and take my time getting a drink watching to see which table she sits at. It’s the same table as before and I slip into the seat across from her. Once again we eat in silence and with each moment she relaxes a little more. This time when I tell her to have a good day she pauses at the door and gives a small lift to her shoulders.
We repeat our lunch routine through the rest of the week and each day I try to track where she’s going when she leaves the lunchroom and fail.
Please. Not today. I’m too tired to go today.
Another Sunday, another day my sleep is disturbed by someone else’s antics. I get out of bed. An early morning run at the gym should help silence the voices in my head. I round the corner of the dorm building just in time to see Millicent get in an Orion sedan.
I scrap my plan to go to the gym, in favor of running on campus. Specifically, in the direction of that car. I lose sight of it the moment the road veers away from the trees but I can see the driver’s thoughts with no problem. I follow the car on foot turn for turn right until the moment when they pull turn onto the road that houses the medical building from that first day on campus.
We’re on the backside of the building. The car goes into an underground parking structure and everything is blank again. I can’t sense anything in the building. It’s like the whole thing is constructed with S-chips. These are more powerful than the ones everywhere else. I can see there are cameras mounted at every angle and multiple sets of roaming guards walking the perimeter. What kind of medicine are they practicing in there that requires that amount of secrecy and surveillance?
If I were home, this would be one of those times when my dad would tell me that my inquisitive nature is going to get me in trouble.
Chapter Twenty
Xander
“One, two. Two, two. Two, one, two, two.” John calls out combos and Shane throws punches in response to the sequence count. Something’s changed. I can’t put my finger on why, but the dynamic between him and Holli is different. It’s like they’ve called a truce, and it seems to be throwing the rest of the recruits off their game.
The session ends and we dismiss the group. Instead of lingering around like she usually does, Holli grabs her towel and heads toward the door. Almost immediately, Shane and Leo fall into step behind her. Gwynn links arms with Leo and Holli’s friend Dax engages her in shadow boxing fight while Chloe trails behind.
Alex motions for me to grab a mat and juts her chin towards the door. “What do you think, boys? Capture the flag did all that?”
John drops his mat next to ours. “I think tutoring has made her more comfortable in her own skin and despite the challenges she has in our daily training activities, she seems to have come through another endurance trial with flying colors.”
Endurance trials included a half marathon, twenty laps in the pool and ultimate Frisbee, followed by more telepathic brain scans. Alex smirks at him. “So she belongs here now?”
“No. This only reaffirms my opinion that she doesn’t. Sure she’s great when we’re in the bottom of the ninth, but we don’t need clinch players on our team.”
“So we’re grading on consistency now?” I ask.
“You can grade them however you want but my vote hasn’t changed. This isn’t the place for her.”
Holli
It’s been a week since my impression of a cat burglur and each day has brought three more questions that I didn’t have before. That psychic blip I had in the woods is back and it’s been a constant presence for the last six days. I haven’t seen them, and I can’t hear them, but I know they’re there. Somebody’s following me, and it has me on edge. During today’s sparring session, I was so unfocused trying to focus on who it is, that I spent a crazy ass amount of time flat on my back. I hadn’t seen that much of the ceiling since my first month here.
Xander waits for the last recruit to leave and then calls me over. He asks - okay pretty much demands - that I explain why my head is in the clouds.
I sit on the floor and start stretching. “I’ve been doing some research and I guess it’s got me distracted.”
He peers deep into my eyes and presses his finger along the sides of my head. "You took a nasty hit during endurance trials. Any blurred vision? Headaches? Nausea?”
Is he checking for a concussion? “I don’t have a head injury.”
“Just checking.” He sits on the floor beside me. “So then what’s got you so distracted?”
“I’ve been spending a lot of time in the library.” I open my backpack and show him the book I found. This one just like the last was out of place, and I’m the only person to have ever checked it out. “There’s a lot they don’t tell us about our gifts. I think they like to keep us in the dark because it makes us dependent upon them and easier to control.”
“Them?” He reads the page I have opened. “Telepathy. Telekinesis. Teleportation? Holli, we already know these are the gifts a breakout manifests.”
I point to another paragraph and encourage him to keep reading. “See this section on something called a push? It’s when a telepath is strong enough to convince someone that something that doesn’t exist is real. Like a paranormal hypnotist.” The book has more information than what John explained. “I’m guessing you already know about this?”
“Sure. I learned it in my history of species class twelfth grade year.” He explains. “There were a handful of telepaths that used to be that strong in our organization, but they’re all gone now. It’s just like teleportation that ability faded away over the years.”
That’s the part that’s got me distracted. “But why? Mankind rarely takes evolutionary steps backwards. Moral ambiguity and cultural deviations aside.”
“Who knows?”
The way he says it makes me think that he does know, or at the very least, he has a theory. I press for an answer. “Why do you think it happens?”
“I’m honestly not sure. If I had to guess, I’d say it’s because of something about recessive genes and biology.” He slips his hand in mine. “We’re not sapes Holli, we’re breakers. We can’t exactly set our generational expectations based on human norms. There’s still so much about us that no one knows.” He points to the book. “Don’t get so caught up in trying to learn everything you can about the past, that you lose focus on the present. Your teachers will go over all of this when the time is right.” He lips press against my cheek. “For now, the only thing you need to worry about is staying in the program and going shopping for a kick ass dress for your junior prom.”
I hadn’t thought about prom season considering we’re not exactly having a normal high school experience. “We get a prom?”
He grins. “I probably shouldn’t have mentioned it. We don’t want the recruits focused on anything other than the training they’re going through, but yes Holli you get a prom, and a plus one.”
I duck my head to hide my blush. He wants to be my plus one. “I’m glad you told me. It’s nice to know there’s a bit of normalcy in my future. At the main campus we never heard anything about what happens here and to tell you the truth the not knowing has been stressing me out.”
He bumps his shoulder against mine. “Well, de-stress. You’re still here, you’re still in it, and I’m confident you’ll make it through this next phase with flying colors.” He leans forward and I hold my breath in anticipation for his kiss. I see him, as my eyes flutter close, before I hear the heavy steps in the hall. “John’s coming.”
/> Xander turns slowly towards the door. “Nobody’s-.” Instructor doom appears in the doorway before he can finish telling me I’m wrong. John doesn’t have to be a mind reader to know he’s interrupting, but instead of discreetly leaving he steps further into the room, and his eyes go immediately to the book on the table between us.
“What’s going on here?”
“Biology lesson.” Xander closes the book and passes it back to me. I cram it into my book bag ignoring John’s penetrating gaze.
“If I remember correctly you hated biology.”
“I did, but it doesn’t mean I don’t remember a thing or two.”
John’s eyes swivel to me. “Holli if you have science questions, maybe you should consult your science teacher.”
“It was more a history of our species question. I was just asking Xander if he knew why some of our powers seemed to disappear after the first few generations of recorded breakouts.”
There’s a small twitch to his brow. “And what did he tell you?”
“What do you think I told her?” Xander snaps. The force of his words causes me to recoil. “That I don’t know, and that we’re all still so new to this, that there aren’t any hard and fast rules about the mutation of the gene or our species.”
John’s gaze bores into me. “You’re going to be late recruit. I suggest you get a move on.”
I’m happy to put some distance between myself and the mounting tension in the room. But not too much distance. I can tell they’re about to exchange words and I pause outside the door to listen.
“You shouldn’t be talking to her about this stuff.”
“I didn’t bring it up, if that’s what you’re thinking. She asked me questions, and I gave the only answer I’m allowed to give.”
“Xander, man, you need to put some distance between the two of you. She is clouding your judgment.”
“I know how to handle inquisitive recruits. You act like I haven’t had the same training you and Alex have.”