by Audrina Cole
“Don’t try that with me, young man. I know what I heard.” Kline turned to Sergeant Major Weston. “He described all the details of his healing—from the changes that occurred, to the latest scans taken which confirmed the remission of his cancer. I was there to overhear every word…and these medical records are proof!” Kline stabbed at the file with his index finger.
Weston, who had watched the exchange with increasing doubt, furrowed his brow. “The boy says it isn’t true…and I’m beginning to wonder if this isn’t some desperate bid for greater funding, Kline.”
“That’s preposterous—”
“Don’t think I don’t know that you’re looking for more federal grants for your research. You may have it in good with the board members of the National Institute of Health—which is the only reason Major General Colton sent me here to investigate—but as far as I’m concerned, this looks like a big waste of my time.”
“Sergeant Major, what did you expect him to say? He’s a teenage boy. He’ll say anything to get into the girl’s pants—”
“Excuse me?!” I gasped. Then I turned to Weston. “You dragged me down here to interrogate me on the word of a pervy creep, who says I have super powers? I’m starting to think he’s the one that wants to get into my pants! He put his arm around me when I was in the hospital on Thursday, and gave me his phone number. It made me very uncomfortable.”
A torrent of malice flooded across the table from Alex, who had no idea I had exaggerated Kline’s false gesture of comfort. He turned a venomous glare in Kline’s direction. “Is that what this is about? You’re trying to get her locked up in a lab, so you can ‘examine’ her? You’re disgusting!” He placed his hands on the table, as if he was ready to leap across it. “I ought to take you down right here.”
The MPs shifted, anticipating any move by Alex, but Weston interrupted, clearing his throat. I could feel he was panicking at how quickly the interrogation had devolved into a liability for him.
“Kline,” he barked, “did you touch Miss Perry in any way?”
“No! Of course not!” he snapped.
“We can check the security cameras, if necessary, Kline.”
Kline sputtered. “Well—I may have tried to comfort her. But it was in an entirely appropriate and professional manner…”
“Sergeant Major,” Alex interrupted, “did you pull strings to get my medical records released to Dr. Kline? Because I never released my private medical records to this man, and I doubt my parents did, either.”
Weston glared at Kline. “Please tell me you have a signed release for this young man’s records. You were the one who brought them to me. I assumed you attained them through the proper channels.”
Kline stuttered. “This…you don’t understand …”
Weston rolled his eyes. “And Gina Baxter’s records?”
“Sergeant Major, this could be a case of national security! What if—?”
“He also gave me the impression that I was legally required to come here with him,” Alex said, leaning back and crossing his arms. “I asked to see my parents first, but he said I couldn’t.”
“What?!” Weston stood abruptly, leaning forward and placing his fingertips against the table. “You forcibly detained a minor, and brought him to a military base, without his parents’ consent? Are you out of your mind, man? They could press charges for kidnapping.”
“That’s not—!” Kline began.
“He also said that it was under your orders, Sergeant Major.” Alex fixed an irritated look on his face, hiding the amusement that I knew he was feeling.
“What?! That’s it. I’ve had enough. I’m not going to let a crackpot like you ruin my twenty-year career in the military. I wash my hands of this.” Weston looked at me, then Alex. “Miss Perry, Mr. Baxter, I apologize for the misunderstanding—”
“No! We’re not done here!” Kline stood, wild eyed.
“Sit down, Dr. Kline, or I’ll have my men restrain you.”
Kline eyed the guards, who tensed, ready to pounce. He sat back down, and the men relaxed. But Kline’s agitation only grew. I could feel it choking me, making it hard to breathe.
“Now,” continued Weston, as he returned to his seat. “I hope you two will accept my apologies. And if your parents want to press charges against Dr. Kline for his charade, and his violation of your rights, then—”
“Please, Sergeant Major—can’t you see that they’re lying to you?”
“Enough, Kline. You’re pathetic.” Weston fixed him with a look of disgust as he gathered up the papers and stuffed them into the files.
“Wait! I can prove it. I can prove that she can heal! You’ll see, I’ll show you!” Kline jumped up, and as the MPs drew their weapons, Kline ducked behind me.
“No!” I cried, attempting to leap away…but it was too late.
Kline used my body as a shield, and before anyone could react, he’d reached around and grabbed my left hand with own. Something silver glinted momentarily in his other hand before I felt a streak of pain slice from my wrist, upward.
“Nooooo!”
I saw Alex launch across the table, faster than the MPs. The room was filled with chaos, and all I could do was stare down at the gushing river of scarlet that streamed down my arm.
“Alex?” My own voice, shaky and frightened, sounded far away.
I heard the sounds of struggle, and felt myself falling, until I was caught in someone’s arms. Then I smelled him. Alex. I was in his arms, and I could feel him wrapping something around my wrist.
“Oh God, Ember, it’s bad,” he whispered in my ear. “You need to heal yourself.”
Heal. Yes, I could feel the energy centers within me opening wide, ramping up to let the universal energy pour fourth…
“See? Can you see?” Kline was fighting the restraints, but he was no match for the burly MPs. “Watch her! She’s going to heal herself! She’ll have to heal herself now. Then you’ll see. Then you’ll see I was right!”
No! I thought, forcing myself to stop. I clamped down as hard as I could, forcing my energy centers closed. I couldn’t prove him right. Even if it meant that I died, I couldn’t heal myself. To do so would put my family at risk.
“Ember? Can you hear me?” Alex’s lips were close to my ear. “Heal yourself. You’re bleeding really bad.”
“No,” I said, barely able to move my lips. “I can’t. My family…I have to protect them. So tired…” I could feel my words slurring, but I didn’t care. I just wanted to shut my eyes for a few minutes. My eyelids were so heavy.
“Please, Ember,” he begged. I could hear the tears in his voice, and his agony only intensified my own pain. “For me? Just heal a little. You won’t make it to the hospital.”
But I knew that if I let up even a little, and opened my energy centers, I wouldn’t be able to control the flow. It was taking everything I had to keep them clamped shut. I turned my face away, curling up in his arms. I could feel the pressure he put on my left arm, but I could feel the blood soaking my arm, my shirt, even seeping through my denim skirt.
“An ambulance is on its way.”
“She doesn’t have that kind of time.”
More talking. More jostling. I was barely aware of what was going on. My entire being was focused on fighting my very nature.
Don’t heal. Don’t heal. Don’t heal.
“Please, Ember. Wake up. Wake up! Don’t leave me. Stay with me.”
I swallowed, my tongue feeling thick. I was so sleepy. “I love you, Alex.”
“Ember…” his voice broke.
Then I was swallowed by the darkness.
Chapter 10
“She’s awake.”
“No she’s not. She hasn’t moved.”
“Trust me, I can feel it. She’s scared.”
“Ember?” Something touched my hand.
I couldn’t move. I couldn’t open my eyes.
What the hell? Where am I? I tried to open my mouth, but it wouldn’t cooperate.
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“Ember? Wake up. Hey. I know you’re in there. Don’t be scared. You’re okay. We’re all okay.”
I managed a strangled sound, then finally, I opened my eyes.
I was in a hospital bed. Alex sat in a chair to my right, and River stood just behind him.
“What happened?” I asked, my throat dry and raspy.
“Dr. Kline sliced your wrist with a scalpel,” Alex replied. “You almost bled to death. How could you do that, Ember? I…I almost lost you.”
“Geez, Alex, she just woke up, get off her case. I told you, she did the right thing. If she had healed herself, they would have locked her up for sure.”
“That’s better than being dead!”
“That’s what you think.”
“Stop it,” I croaked. “Where’s Mom? And Dad? And Meadow?” I looked around the room, but no one else was there.
“Calm down, Em, they went to get coffee. I practically had to force them. They’ve been by your side all night.” River gave me a lopsided grin. “They were worried you’d eat the hospital staff.”
I scowled at River. “Shut up!” I glanced over at Alex, but he just squeezed my hand.
River rolled his eyes. “Hey, it’s alright, he’s cool with it.”
“I wouldn’t say I’m ‘cool’ with it.” Alex made a face. “But I’m…adjusting to the idea.”
“I would have told you, Alex, I swear I would have. But—”
“I get it. You were protecting your family. I just wish you could have trusted me.” He stroked my cheek with a finger.
“I did, believe me. I knew you wouldn’t betray us. But Mom was worried…and to be honest…”
“…she thought you’d think she was a freak,” River finished for me.
“I feel like a freak,” I said, slumping down in my bed. I couldn’t imagine what kind of thoughts must have been running through Alex’s head.
“You’re not a freak. You’re…gifted.” Alex winked. “And you saved my life…not to mention my mom’s life. You’re a hero.”
“A hero that wants to eat the people after she saves them,” I muttered.
Alex’s eyes went wide. “Did you want to eat me?”
“No,” I snapped. “Well, I might have, if you hadn’t reeked of chemo, and if I hadn’t high-tailed it out of there.
“Jenna was smelling pretty good, though,” River snickered.
“Shut up!”
“What about my mom?” Alex asked. I sensed he was almost afraid to know.
“No, I promise. I told you, I was really careful, and I didn’t even heal her that much. I mean, she was hurt a lot, so it wasn’t a small healing job, but it was nothing like what I gave you. I only needed one blood bag.”
“You needed two, but you drank one,” River corrected.
“Hold on—when did you drink blood?” Alex’s eyes widened. “I was with you the whole time.”
I blushed. “When I went to the bathroom. It was in my purse.”
“That was the ‘snack’?”
I nodded. “How is your mom doing?”
“She’s a lot better. She’s awake now, and Dad is with her. I’ve been up to see her a couple of times, but mostly I’ve been here, during visiting hours. Dad texts me with updates. Now that you’re awake, and you seem okay, I’ll go up to visit her in a while.”
I squeezed his hand. “I’m glad she’s doing better.”
“Thanks to you. She has a lot of physical therapy ahead of her, but she wouldn’t have made it without you.”
“I’m going to go up there and give her a little dose of healing later,” River said. “I figure if we just give her a tiny dose now and then, no one will be the wiser. The nurses will just think Mrs. Baxter heals fast.”
“I wish we could do more,” I said.
“Don’t, Ember. You’ve done plenty. I hate to see Mom in pain, but we can’t risk anyone finding out what you are. My mom wouldn’t understand. And I know your mom wouldn’t want anyone else to know.”
“Hey,” River interrupted, “I’m going to go tell Mom and Dad that you’re alright.”
“Don’t tell the nurses I’m awake, yet. I want to talk to Alex first.”
“Well, don’t do anything that will set off your heart monitor too much,” my brother grinned, and winked. “Or the nurses will come running.”
“Eew, get out,” I snarled, and River snickered as he left the room, pulling the door shut behind him.
The room was quiet, and I sensed that Alex felt as awkward and nervous as I did.
“So,” I began, “what really happened? I mean, I know Kline cut me, but…after that, it’s all fuzzy.”
Alex took a deep breath, and sighed it out. “Well, I dove across the table for Kline, but the MPs got to him first, and then I saw you turn white. The blood…it was everywhere. I caught you just before you fainted. At some point, I used my t-shirt to wrap your arm.”
I glanced down at his shirt. “That explains the Sacred Heart Hospital t-shirt.” Then my eyes trailed down to his jeans, and I nearly got sick. “Oh my God, Alex,” I whispered.
His jeans were coated in rust-brown stains. Looking down at his hands, I could see hints of reddish-brown caked under his fingernails and in the creases of his skin.
“Yeah…I tried washing up. I can’t get it all off. And they didn’t have pants in my size down in the gift shop. My Dad tried to make me go home to shower and change, but I refused to leave.”
“You should have asked for scrubs to wear, or something.” I couldn’t take my eyes off his jeans, stiff with dried blood. My blood.
Alex shook his head. “I didn’t even think of that. I was just out of my head with worry. I wouldn’t have even washed my hands or changed into this t-shirt that River bought, if your mom hadn’t insisted. I think your blood on my shirt was freaking her out.”
“How long have I been unconscious? I wasn’t in a coma, was I?”
He shook his head. “The doctors said you weren’t, but you’ve been unconscious for a whole day. It’s Tuesday.”
“Everyone must have been out of their mind with worry.”
“Yeah. Your mom was worried that you’d go…um…berserk?”
I could feel the color rising in my cheeks. “Why would she think that? It only happens when we heal too much, not when we lose blood.”
“I guess your body was struggling hard to heal itself after you passed out. Luckily your mom was waiting for you downstairs and was able to get in the ambulance with you, while I followed behind in your car. I guess she was able to keep you from healing.”
“How…how did she do that?” I’d never heard of such a thing.
“I don’t know. She said she didn’t even know if she could do it. But when I told her why Kline cut you, she knew that if you suddenly healed up a sliced-open vein, it would be really bad for you and your family. She said something about working to keep your centers closed, or something like that.”
“Wow. I didn’t even know we could do that for another person.”
“I don’t think she did, either.”
“I assume she…uh…”
“Fed?” Alex looked sheepish, and I could sense how hard it was to take it all in. “Yeah, your dad and River showed up not long after we got to the hospital, and they had a backpack with them. They took care of her.”
“What happened to Kline?”
“The MPs took him into custody. That guy is a loon. Apparently I wasn’t far off with the self-medicating remark. They found vials of pills on him, prescribed by him and made out to patients that don’t exist. Hey, he didn’t really touch you, did he?” Alex’s hand tensed in mine as his temper flared.
“No, not in that way. I just…embellished the story a little.”
He sighed. “I almost lunged across the table and broke his neck.”
“I sensed that. So did the MPs—I think they were ready to take you down.”
“That was the only thing holding me back. This anger…my emotions…it feels like
I’m losing control.”
I squeezed his hand. “We’ll figure it out. Maybe Mom can tell us why it’s happening, and why you look so…” outrageously sexy “…different.”
He flashed me a crooked smile, and I blushed, glad he couldn’t sense my emotions. His rush of arousal, however, was as obvious to me as a neon sign.
“Anyway,” he cleared his throat, averting his eyes, “Sergeant Major Weston stopped by earlier today, and told us that he made a few calls. After looking into things, Weston said it sounds like Kline was skimming off the top, with his grant money. That’s why he wanted to prove that you were special—he thought it would get him a boatload of grant money, and he could cover up what he was doing a little bit longer.”
“I can’t believe that guy was doing heart surgeries on people.”
“I don’t think he would have been, much longer. Some of the Sacred Heart staff had noticed him displaying some erratic behavior, and reported it to their superiors, who reported back to Johns Hopkins. I think he was headed for the end of his career, no matter what.”
“Has the media picked up the story yet?”
Alex shook his head. “Weston didn’t say it in so many words, but your mom got the feeling that this has been one big embarrassment for the military, so it seems they’ve quashed it. I think he was feeling your mom out, to see if she was planning to press charges against Kline, or go to the media. Fortunately, it sounds like some branch of government is going after him for the embezzlement of government grant money. So your family doesn’t have to get involved, and Kline will be in jail for a long time.”
“I can’t believe I got my family into this mess.” Tears stung my eyes. “My whole family could have ended up as lab rats, or worse, because I was too stubborn and careless.”
“Hey, you care about people. That’s a good thing.”
“Almost getting my family interred in a research facility isn’t a good thing.”
“Well, neither is almost getting yourself killed,” he said, looking away toward the window. “I can’t…just the thought of losing you…” When he looked back, his eyes were shining with unshed tears. “You meant well, because you’re an amazing person. But please, don’t take any risks that could end with you being hurt, or taken away from me.”