by Dale Mayer
He slipped out from under the covers and headed for the washroom. His cell phone buzzed as he passed his charger. He snatched it up and carried on into the washroom.
Stefan. Good.
He read the short message. Stefan hadn’t found a missing person’s report on either the deceased male or Simone. Figured. She’d likely killed him and booked it.
He stepped into shower. The water hit his sore back, making him lean over and let the heat pound away at the muscles.
He didn’t know what to do with Tia next. She was supposed to have been meeting Stefan when she was attacked. Maybe he could convince her to continue with that plan this morning. He couldn’t have let her walk out to the streets last night. She’d been ready to but he’d seen the hesitancy, maybe the fear. She might have been on the streets for years, but she’d lost that edge somewhere in between. In that time she’d gotten lax. And when forced back into the old situation, weak. That’s how her attackers had gotten to her. She might not have been able to fight off or avoid the confrontation when she’d been street smart, but now there was a layer of I don’t want to live like this anymore surrounding her.
He didn’t blame her. He wouldn’t want to either.
He finished his shower and managed to run his electric razor over his heavy stubble. Feeling better, he wrapped the towel around his waist and walked into his bedroom.
And damn if his bed wasn’t empty.
His heart pounding, he stopped in place. Had she been taken or just woken up in a weird place and been frightened?
The door to his bedroom was closed – just the way he’d left it. So was his window. The bedding appeared to be the way he’d left it. And…he walked closer. This could take some getting used to…she was still in bed, but from what he could see, she was completely invisible. As in the blankets on his side were pushed back as he’d left them. But on the other side the blankets raised in the air over her missing form.
So was she still sleeping?
And how come he couldn’t see her now?
He desperately wanted to ask Stefan some of these questions. He could see her head lying on the pillow and could hear her breath rising and falling in her chest. She slept.
He quickly texted several questions to Stefan.
And got dressed.
Not sure it was safe to leave her but not really having much choice, he walked downstairs to his kitchen and put on coffee. As it started to drip, his phone rang.
Stefan.
“She’s sleeping but appears to be completely invisible.” Quickly he explained what he’d seen last night in the middle of the night and the way she looked now.
“Why the hell is she able to do this?” he asked. “It makes no sense. No one can go invisible.”
“She’s not going invisible as much as her energy is taking on the look of the energy beside it. It’s a cloaking method she developed to hide. She could do it somewhat before her attack, but now it seems like she’s beyond capable.”
“I don’t know about capable because she’s not in control. In the middle of her nightmares her body was in and out of whatever state this is.”
“Interesting. She hasn’t had enough time since waking from that coma to assimilate the changes to her system. The attack was horrific but only on an energy level. So it needed time to recharge. A six week rest like that meant her system was busy doing something. Healing in some areas. It could take her a week or two to incorporate the changes and possibly months to understand how they affect her abilities. It could even take much longer for new abilities to show up.”
Dean couldn’t imagine. “You were going to help her before, can you help her now?”
“If she’ll let me.”
“Hmmm.” He didn’t know what to say to that. “Do you want to come over here? Or meet us somewhere?”
“She needs to see a doctor. Her system is shorting out.”
“There’s a doctor for this?” He’d never heard of such a thing.
“Yes. A couple. One in town. I’ll have to contact him.”
“Okay, get back to me as soon as you can.”
“Will do.”
He hung up and turned to pour a cup of coffee. And stiffened. Slowly he turned around to see an empty room. But…not an empty room.
Casually he poured a second cup and set it down on the table. “Here’s one for you, Tia.”
He felt the nervous start, the anger. “No, I don’t really see you. I hear you somewhat. I see something off from the corner of my eye. But I can’t see you.” He placed the coffee on the table. And faced her directly. “It’s more sensing you.”
A chair was pulled back by an invisible hand, and suddenly she sat down fully visible.
He breathed a sigh of relief.
“There, that should be easier on you.”
She shot him a dirty look and tugged the coffee toward her.
He grinned. “I gather you need caffeine to start your day.”
That earned him a second dirty look, but so far she hadn’t said a word. That worked for him. He busied himself making a large omelet for breakfast and, without asking, split it in two and delivered hers on a plate with the cutlery to go with it. “Add that to the caffeine for your stomach to have something to work with.”
“I have no caffeine,” she muttered, tugging the plate closer.
He laughed and retrieved the coffee pot. He filled both cups again then sat down across from her. She was eating like she hadn’t had a decent meal in weeks. He stopped his fork halfway to his mouth. She hadn’t eaten in weeks. And that would account for the wan skeletal look to her. She really did need fattening up.
They ate in silence. He wanted her to finish before he brought up Stefan and a doctor. He suspected both wouldn’t go down well.
When she was done, she pushed her plate back and tugged the coffee closer. Slouching down she sighed and closed her eyes. “Thank you, I enjoyed that.”
“You’re welcome.” He got up and retrieved the dirty dishes, rinsing then adding them to the dishwasher. “Do you need more coffee?”
No answer. He turned to find her head resting on her arms on top of the table. She was sound asleep. Again.
No wonder. She’d been through a lot and her body was on overload. Did he leave her there to sleep this off? Which could be hours yet. Or did he take her back upstairs?
Undecided he stood and watched her for a long moment.
And damn if her body parts didn’t start to flick off and on again. One minute he could see her forearms and shoulders, the next they were gone and her head appeared to be resting in mid air. Then the arms and shoulders reappeared and her head disappeared.
He jumped back. That just looked…wrong.
Thankfully her head reappeared quickly.
Shorting out, Stefan had said. Yes, that made sense. He didn’t understand it but could see that if this was electrical impulses then there was something definitely wrong. Stefan’s doctor might be the best person for her to see. He doubted she’d agree.
Just then her head reappeared and seemed to stabilize. He walked a few steps forward, thinking maybe she just needed rest, before he realized only the back of her head had reappeared.
Her face was blank.
Like a jagged line cutting off the back of her head, he could see where her face should be and the rest…was more or less, gone.
This was too much.
He reached for his phone – again.
Chapter 11
She was so tired.
Like in the old days when she’d been running forever with no end in sight. Not tiredness after a long workout knowing you’d done something good for yourself, that you’d recover and do well in an hour or two. This was long-term exhaustion that came from being in a stressful situation for way too long and knowing it didn’t matter what you did, it wasn’t going to change any time soon.
She was at the end of her rope.
Which made no sense.
She’d been sleeping for six weeks.
What was the problem? Why hadn’t her system recovered? It needed to. She couldn’t keep doing this. She needed to get away. Having no strength, and all her energy going to heal her damaged system meant she couldn’t run. She was as weak as a newborn kitten.
Look at her. She’d fallen asleep at the kitchen table. Even now, lying in the same position for so long, her body hurt. Her toes ached. She’d been so hungry she’d inhaled the food and now her stomach wanted to revolt. Lord, she was a mess. Somehow though she’d landed at a place where someone appeared to not only hear her but see her – at least enough to know where she was. And he wasn’t freaked out by her fatigue and disappearing act.
Maybe that was a macho male front instead.
With her head still resting on her arms, she tried to assess the damage to her system. The shock over Simone added more stress. In the background she could hear sounds somewhere else.
Voices. A conversation.
She wanted to listen.
But the words weren’t making sense, it was like the sentences were backwards. She gave her head a shake and tried again. Now the voices stopped talking. She sat up and pushed her hair back off her face and stared bleary-eyed around her. She was alone in the kitchen. Dean’s kitchen. Reassured that she recognized the place but unnerved at the jumble of words in her head, she pushed her chair back and stood up.
Instantly the room swayed around her. Jesus. She grabbed for the edge of the table and hung on until her world stopped spinning.
What the hell was wrong with her? She stuffed the fear that something major was going on back down deep inside.
She was just tired, just needed time to rest. That was all.
Bravely she took one step. Then another. Okay, that was better. A few more and she was almost confident all was well again. The living room was through the wide doorway in front of her. She managed a couple more steps and saw the couch. She made her way over to it and collapsed down. Maybe a nap. If she could just sleep a little longer she’d be fine.
Surely…
And she closed her eyes.
And dropped back under.
*
“See what I mean?” Dean felt vindicated. Stefan and Dr. Manson, a friend of Stefan’s, had arrived right after Dean had called. They’d been watching Tia sleep, their conversation low and modulated so as not to wake her.
She’d woken anyway.
But it was the way she’d woken, obviously dizzy, moving in and out of visibility in a way that had the air crackling with electricity but more than that…she hadn’t seen them. And they’d been standing right in front of her.
Like what the hell?
Now she was asleep again.
“I’d like to have her back at the hospital,” Dr. Manson said.
“Ha,” Dean said. “Good luck with that. If she doesn’t want to stay you know she’s just going to walk out.”
“She might, but we have a few ways to keep her in,” Stefan said quietly, his gaze locked on Tia.
“But she’d have to be willing or it would be a fight every minute.”
Stefan nodded absentmindedly. “She’d need to be willing.”
“She’s not.” Dean made that clear. “I don’t think there’s anything you can do to make her willing either.”
“I don’t know about that. She’s not in good shape.”
“Actually, she’s in great shape,” Stefan said. “But her synapses are off.”
Dr. Manson said, “That would be very unusual.”
“Hmmm.” Stefan sighed. “We need to run some tests.”
“If she’s feeling bad enough she might be willing to undergo some,” Dean said. “She’s not very trusting.”
“With good reason. She was tested a long time ago. Fascinated, the specialists ran every test possible and then some.” Stefan turned slightly away. “Some of the tests were uncomfortable. Others downright painful.”
“What about her parents? Didn’t they do something to protect her or at least limit the time she was a lab rat?”
“Her parents tried when she was young, but she was too much for them. After she entered the program they, along with their son who had none of the same issues, literally disappeared into the night and left her behind.”
Dean stared at Stefan. “What? Isn’t that abandonment?”
“In theory, but in truth they signed papers to give her to the project and the head of the project. Ansell Wilhelm. He was a highly decorated doctor who’d done cutting edge research on genetics, but mostly with animals.”
“So what? Tia became his first human test subject?” Dean asked incredulously. “That’s not legal.”
“No one knew,” Stefan said. “There was a minor scandal when the world found out but no one cared. Paperwork disappeared and there was a lot of innuendo but no proof. Still, his funding was cut off when the hint of scandal happened and he more or less went off the grid, taking several of his patients with him.”
The doctor said, “Likely went underground. Possibly even a third world country. There is lots of money available if you aren’t too worried about where or why.”
Dean hated to think of Tia’s childhood as a test subject. “She must have had a horrible life.”
“Actually, it was worse than you think. That trailer you were at yesterday,” Stefan said, “was her childhood home.”
“What?”
“Yeah, it took a bit to run that down. I actually got the confirmation from her then ran it through the database. Her parents owned it for seven years. Along with signing her over, they might have been paid to disappear.”
The doctor threw out his arm suddenly as if to silence them. They all paused to stare at Tia. Her body was illuminated in a weird gold.
Stefan caught his breath and quickly moved forward. The doctor followed. Dean stood in place wondering what the hell had happened. Her body, instead of disappearing one chunk at a time, now lit up in one area at a time, but it was a luminescent glow like from the inside out. It was crazy.
He watched both Stefan and the doctor walk around Tia, studying her energy, her body. They were acting almost as crazy as she was. When Stefan dropped to his knees and peered from a bent over angle at the area where her foot glowed, Dean realized they were looking for something on her…or in her.
Lord only knew which. And why.
Surely this was an organic kind of issue. No, they said something about electrical. What he knew about electricity was minimal. He could change out plugs and fix a lawn mower cord after being run over but not much more. The principles were easy though – if you were talking about normal electricity.
He understood electrical currents flowed through the body. And she appeared to be “shorting” out. He just never imagined such a thing was possible.
In fact, he’d have said it was completely impossible.
Besides, if there were interruptions in her electrical impulses, she might feel weird but none of that should affect how she visually looked as in disappearing body parts.
The electricity wasn’t affecting him. He should be able to see all of her like a normal person.
But he couldn’t.
He had to admit it was fascinating.
And it was easy to imagine how a scientist might be willing to do just about anything to study her.
But what kind of tests had they performed? Ones to see how much power she had and what interrupted it? What could make her problem worse? Or how low her energy could go and she could still function?
None sounded like fun to him.
After a moment, as the other two men studied her intently, he asked, “Well? Any idea why she’s doing this?”
“Several ideas,” the doctor muttered. “Truly, she is unique. This must be a result of her individual abilities being shorted.”
Stefan said, “Yes, but is the shorting happening because she’s doing it, someone is doing it to her or is she injured in some way?”
“If she wasn’t…she will be soon. This is affecting her organic systems.�
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“So you see her heading for a whole body failure?” Stefan asked, his forehead creased. “I was thinking she’s been doing something like this for years – probably while asleep – only something has set it off now in a big way that she can’t control.”
“What?” Dean stood beside Stefan, staring down at the young woman who’d become a little too important in his nice neat orderly world. “Are you saying someone has done this to her? As in trying to hurt her?”
“Quite possibly.” Stefan stood up and brushed his pants off. “In which case we do have one chief suspect.”
“The guy who attacked her earlier?”
“I’m presuming so.” Stefan turned to study the room around them. “Now if only we knew who that was.”
From the other side of the room, the doctor said, “I need to run some scans to see if there are any implants hidden in her. It could be microchip size, and I think it’s sending a pulse or something to disrupt her system.”
“Or maybe it’s not on all the time, as that would make it easier to detect, but something might have set it to go off accidentally. You know, like a smoke alarm when the battery is dying or a CO2 alarm when there is gas.”
“Maybe this is an alarm system,” Dean suggested.
Stefan turned to stare at Dean. “That’s a very good possibility. This could be her body sending a message. These being the symptoms of the bigger problem.”
“I need her back in the hospital,” the doctor said.
They all jumped back slightly when Tia opened her eyes and said in a hard tired voice, “I’m not going back there.”
Chapter 12
Tia wanted to bolt up from the couch and run as far and as fast as she could from the three men. But she didn’t move a muscle. In fact, she wasn’t sure she could. Her body was starting to seizure but her muscles didn’t appear to move. Energy seizures? Was such a thing possible?
People with abilities seemed to have two systems. One physical and one energetic. If a person could get sick on the physical system, in theory it should then be possible to get “sick” on the energetic level.