Feather

by Laurie Lyons

  "Good one!" Lucy said before slamming the door shut and rolling her eyes. She could hear his guffaws of laughter even as he pulled away.

  Lucy didn't have to wait at the sleep clinic. They ushered her into a lounge area where the preliminary testing would take place. Dr. Hannon was there with three men. They looked like stereotypical grad students; beards and ratty tweed jackets.

  "Lucy!" Dr. Hannon called. "Here she is!" He walked over and put his arm around her shoulders. "Gentlemen, this is Lucy Bower." The men nodded in her direction, Lucy nodded back and smiled. "Communication has been a bit of a challenge," Dr. Hannon whispered in her ear. The men were smiling but not with warmth. They seemed to be sizing her up and wondering if she was worth the long plane ride. One of the men stepped forward.

  "I am George," he said with a heavy accent. "These are my associates; Christopher and Charles." Lucy shook his hand - he was sweating. "We are looking forward to seeing marvel of memory." Lucy just smiled and nodded.

  "Excellent," Dr. Hannon said while rocking back on his heals. "If we could all take our seats?" Lucy sat in one of the four armchairs, ready and waiting. It appeared that George was the only one who spoke English for he asked all the questions and translated the answers to Christopher and Charles. He reviewed Lucy's history and the nature of her abilities even though he would have received her complete file. Most new doctors did that and Lucy never understood why. She answered each question slowly, giving George a chance to translate to Charles who was writing everything down.

  To test her memory, George pulled out a huge deck of flash cards. He laid five out on the coffee table. They were symbols in black and white - a sun, a stick figure, a circle, a flower and a table.

  "How long you need?" George asked pointing to the cards.

  "To remember those?" Lucy asked slightly insulted. A five year old could remember that sequence.

  George nodded. "We start small."

  Lucy had no patience for starting small. She politely reached out her hand and took the entire deck of cards from George. There had to be at least a hundred flash cards because Lucy was having a difficult time even holding them all in one hand. Without explaining herself, she began to look through the cards one by one flipping them over on the table after she viewed them. No one said anything and Lucy didn't look around. Two minutes later she silently passed the stack back to George. He took them and stared at her.

  "Glass, chair, car, lamp, egg, clock, house, tree, truck, television, candle, fence, bird…." Lucy said listing the cards in order. George scrambled to catch up after he realized what she was doing. She listed each card in perfect order. "Sock, butter, letter, snowman," she said as George viewed the last cards. He stared at her then he turned towards his colleagues and uttered something quickly in Polish.

  "Ahh," Christopher and Charles said in unison.

  "Show off," Nathaniel and Dr. Hannon said together. Lucy shrugged in response.

  "Amazing," George said with awe.

  Lucy smiled. "Thank you," she replied sincerely.

  It appeared that George had hoped this test would take much longer. He seemed to have little to do now. Lucy looked at Dr. Hannon with her eyebrows raised.

  "Lucy can also remember other written languages," he offered. "Even ones she does not know." To demonstrate, he reached over and slowly pulled Charles' notebook from his hands. He passed it to Lucy. She took her time with the page of foreign letters. When she was ready, Dr. Hannon took the notebook from her, handed it back to Charles and gave Lucy a fresh notepad and pen. She got to work writing exactly what she had seen. When she was finished, Lucy handed the page to Charles who compared the two copies side by side. He looked at George, his face full of shock and said something. George took a sharp breath and sat back in his chair. He stared at Lucy and shook his head side to side in amazement. Lucy smiled but this was getting boring.

  "Doctor," George addressed Dr. Hannon, "we think before now you…exaggerate girl's abilities but now we know you do not."

  Dr. Hannon grinned with pride. "Lucy is extraordinary for sure."

  "Yes," said George blankly. There was a pause as the Polish students just gawked at Lucy. Lucy looked at Dr. Hannon awkwardly.

  "Would you like to test more of Lucy's knowledge?" Dr. Hannon asked.

  This snapped George out of his reverie. "What more does she know?"

  "Oh," Dr. Hannon replied grinning, "Lucy knows most things." He turned to Lucy with his eyes twinkling. "Lucy, please list the countries of the world in alphabetical order and each capitol."

  Lucy nodded sharply and began.

  After two more hours of quiz time, a nurse led Lucy to a room. There was a regular twin bed surrounded by numerous monitors and equipment. She was asked to change and the nurse left the room. Nathaniel had waited outside so when the nurse came back he slipped in behind her. Lucy was sitting upright in the bed wearing a hospital gown. The nurse took Lucy's vitals and began hooking her up to the monitors. She explained each instrument as she attached it not knowing that Lucy didn't really care. Finally, Lucy was hooked up. She had wires protruding all along her hairline, two on her chest, four on her back and two on each index finger.

  "Lay down Sweetie," the nurse instructed. "Gently now, don't disturb the wires." Lucy did so and once she was lying down with wires splayed about her at all angles she looked sideways at Nathaniel.

  "You still look beautiful," he said with a grin.

  Lucy smiled and shimmied her shoulders to make herself more comfortable. The nurse looked up at the large mirror in the wall and said clearly, "She's ready!"

  Lucy heard Dr. Hannon's voice over the intercom. "Ok, Lucy, you know the drill. Just sleep. We may wake you in the night."

  "You stay there Doc," Lucy half confirmed and half ordered.

  "I'm not going anywhere," he reassured her. "Good night." Lucy smiled at the camera imbedded in the ceiling above her head. Nathaniel stood up and smiled at her.

  "Goodnight Lucy, I love you," he kissed her forehead and Lucy closed her eyes. She was exhausted from the rigorous testing and the lack of coffee and soon she fell into a deep, dreamless sleep.

  Lucy felt herself being shaken gently awake. She opened her eyes. It was dark except from a small light beside her. The same nurse was there and holding a flashlight.

  "Sweetie, I need you to drink this for me," she said as she pulled Lucy gently to a sitting position. As she sat up, Lucy could dimly see Nathaniel sitting in the chair still. He smiled at her. The nurse put a cup in Lucy's hand. "Drink honey." Lucy took the cup, raised it in the air as if giving a toast and called out,

  "Doc?"

  "Its fine Lucy," Dr. Hannon said over the intercom. "It's a glucose solution. I poured it myself." His voice was strained. He was tired. Lucy nodded and drained the sweet beverage, handed the empty cup to the nurse and lay back down. She was asleep within a minute. She woke up again but on her own. It was morning and as usual, Lucy had slept well.

  She sat up and stretched while smiling at Nathaniel sitting in the chair. He looked fresh and awake, not like someone who had been sitting in a chair for twelve hours. A different nurse came in with a breakfast tray.

  "Good Morning Dear," she said happily.

  "Tell me there is coffee on that tray and you get to be my new best friend," Lucy said smiling.

  "There is!" the nurse replied laughing. "Take your time to eat and get dressed. They want to do some more tests. You caused quite a stir with those foreign men."

  "Really?" Lucy said while lifting the lid off her plate. She was saddened to see cold cereal – she had been hoping for something more substantial. The coffee made up for it though. "Why?"

  "They've never seen anyone without dream waves," the nurse replied in a conspiratorial tone. "Well, to be honest, neither have we but they are quite in a tizzy about the whole thing." She began to tenderly pull the wires off of Lucy.

  "Hmm," Lucy said taking a bite of toast. "What more tests do they want to do?"

  "More
memory things I think," the nurse replied. She looked over her shoulder and added in a whisper, "one of them wanted to give you something to increase your brain function but that handsome Doctor of yours would have none of it."

  "Good," Lucy replied relieved.

  "Finish your breakfast, get dressed and I'll be back to get you in a little bit. Change in the bathroom dear, I think one of them is still in the observation room." Lucy nodded because she was gulping her coffee. The nurse smiled, patted her leg and left. Lucy could not even mumble to Nathaniel if someone was watching her but he piped up.

  "She doesn't know the half of it," he said standing up. "Good morning my beloved." He kissed her head and sat back down. Lucy half smiled as she kept her head over the plate. "I went over there a few times and Dr. Hannon spent most of the night arguing with them." Lucy raised her eyebrows quickly in response. "Yes," he continued, "they kept suggesting things like injecting you with stimulants while you slept to try to elicit a reaction. Dr. Hannon settled on the sugar solution but of course nothing happened. I think the Charles one would put your brain in a jar on his desk if he could. At one point they wondered aloud what effect electric shock therapy would have." Lucy raised her eyebrows again. "I thought the good doctor was going to punch his lights out." She smiled, not being able to imagine Dr. Hannon being violent at all. "I wish I could kiss you right now, you always look so beautiful in the morning." Lucy quietly scoffed as she hopped out of bed and headed to the bathroom. Looking at herself in the mirror, she was fairly sure that Nathaniel needed his eyes checked. Her hair was sticking up all around her face from the wires and she still had the glue residue in most spots along her temple and hairline. She washed most of it off, wet her hair to slick it back down and got dressed. When she came out, the nurse was changing the bed linens.

  "They are waiting for you in the lounge dear. Do you need me to show you the way?" she asked.

  "No, I can find it," Lucy replied.

  "Good, good," the nurse said barely looking up. "Thank you for coming and take care of yourself."

  Lucy and Nathaniel went to the same lounge. Dr. Hannon greeted her and the three students nodded stiffly at her. Lucy noticed that Charles was looking at her with a sense of awe. It was a little disconcerting. Nathaniel was right; he wanted Lucy's brain in a jar. They ran through some more tests. Lucy listed off the cards again without having to consult the deck and answered numerous more questions. After two hours, they were done. Everyone stood and Lucy shook each of their hands in turn. She had to awkwardly pull her arm back from Charles who didn't seem keen to let her go.

  "Will we see you at party today?" George asked warmly.

  "No," Dr. Hannon jumped in, "Lucy has other obligations. You will see her at the conference tomorrow." He was being protective and Lucy was grateful. She normally didn't like being handled but in this case, especially with Charles leering at her, she was appreciative. They said goodbyes again and Dr. Hannon led Lucy out of the building to his car. On the drive home, Dr. Hannon gave Lucy the inside scoop on the night.

  "They were of course astounded at your memory, that was a given but once they saw your silent brain patterns, things changed." He shook his head. "They stopped seeing you as a person and saw you as a lab rat. It was unnerving. They couldn't comprehend why you go to school at all. Why didn't I have you traveling around like an academic sideshow to make money? They wanted to inject you with numerous drugs, some of which have been banned in the U.S. for years, to see what the effect would be. I spent most of the night arguing with them. I'm exhausted."

  "I'm sorry Doc," Lucy said sympathetically. "You still have to go to that wine and cheese this afternoon. Why didn't you have me take the bus so you could go home for a bit to rest?"

  "Oh that's kind of you but remember I still have to pick up Dr. Gorski at the airport in a couple hours and I left the flight information in my office. I have to go back to the University anyway. I am going to meet Brian at the event."

  "Thank you for watching out for me Doc," Lucy said truly grateful for him.

  "It's my job," he said smiling.

  "No," Lucy said shaking her head. "It's not. They aren't the first scientists we have run into who think of me like a specimen and I am thankful that you go the extra mile to make them all see that I am a person."

  "Well doll," he said reaching out and taking her hand. "I love you like a daughter." He laughed a little. "I thought I might have to hit that Charles character over the head with something. He sure took a shining to you." Lucy gave an involuntary shudder as they pulled up to her dorm. "Ah the young fun parties," Dr. Hannon said looking out his window at the quad. Preparations were well underway for the Summer Solstice party. A band was setting up on stage, lights were being strung and tables were being set up with BBQs.

  "You could ditch the wine and cheese and come," Lucy offered with a smile.

  "Too old Lucy, too old," he replied sadly. "But you have fun and don't stay up too late, the conference is at ten."

  "I'll be there, thanks again Doc," Lucy said leaning over and hugging him.

  "You made me proud again Lucy," he replied squeezing her tightly. She got out and let Nathaniel out of the back seat as she grabbed her bag. They climbed the stairs and as they approached Lucy's room, she started to laugh. Six individual post-it notes were stuck to Lucy's door. Written on them were the letters.

  P A R T Y !

  "Anastasia," she and Nathaniel said in unison laughing. Nathaniel leaned in and examined the notes closely.

  "What is that written in?"

  Lucy didn't have to look closer. "Lipstick," she answered grinning. "She's a dance major, what does she need a pen for?" She let them into her room still laughing quietly and closed the door. Lucy turned to see Nathaniel standing inches away from her. She looked up at him, he was not smiling but was gazing at her with an intense smoldering look.

  "What?" she half whispered. She could feel his breath on her cheeks and his chest was lightly brushing up against her. Lucy breathed in his sweet smell.

  "It is very difficult for me to be so close to you and not be able to touch you," he said softly. "It has been a very long night for me." Lucy realized that they had not had a moment alone for nineteen hours. That was the longest they had ever gone without touching each other. Lucy felt an immediate need to touch him. She laid her hands on his chest.

  "Miss me?" she breathed as she grabbed his shirt and pulled him toward her. Nathaniel wrapped his arms around her and they both leaned back against the door. He tilted his head and kissed Lucy with such force that her legs failed her. Lucy's hands traveled over his shoulders, arms and through his thick black hair, trying to keep as much of her in contact with him.

  There was the familiar desperation in both their kisses as they responded to each other with more and more urgency. Again the questions popped into Lucy's head. Was today the day? Was this the last kiss? Was this the last time she would hold him? Feel him? Kiss him? The last time she would feel his breath on her skin or smell his intoxicating smell? Nathaniel added so much to Lucy's existence that life void of his light and shine would be a pale, black and white comparison. She gripped him tighter, feeling her so familiar panic and desire cocktail of emotions.

  Nathaniel paused and looked into her eyes. "You never cease to surprise me Lucy."

  She smiled in response. "Stick around for more." He kissed her again, softly and tenderly this time. "I wish now that we didn't have to go to the party," she said sighing.

  "It will be fun," he assured her.

  "For you though?" she asked.

  "It's still fun for me," he said shrugging. "I like your friends even if they can't see me."

  "Good," Lucy said. "I should go and shower and get ready to go."

  "All right," he sighed. "I guess I can let you go for a little while." He squeezed her tightly and kissed her again.

  "Don't ever let go," she whispered against his lips. She stepped back and thought for a moment. "May I have a flower for my hair pleas
e?"

  "What kind?" he asked raising a closed fist.

  "I don't know," Lucy shrugged, "something pretty." Nathaniel thought for a moment and then opened his hand. Sitting in the middle of his palm was a white orchid. Lucy smiled and reached for it but Nathaniel closed his hand again. She looked at him confused.

  "Wrong color," he explained and opened his hand again to reveal another orchid but purple.

  "Perfect," she said picking it up. She kissed him lightly again and headed to the bathroom.

  The bathroom was empty; most girls were already at the party. Lucy showered and dressed slowly, taking her time to look her best. She wore a tank top and a pair of Capri jeans. She dried and brushed her hair and put on a little makeup. She was humming to herself as she secured the flower in her hair with a bobby pin.

  She didn't hear him.

  She didn't see him coming.

  She couldn't see him, no one could.

  The Angel wasn't the only one who could be invisible.

  She didn't know he had been waiting all morning for her.

  He stood behind her for a moment as she regarded herself in the mirror. Slowly, carefully he reached out. She sensed something and began to look behind her but she was unconscious before she moved an inch.

  Chapter Eighteen

  Fallen

  "There is no greater sorrow than to recall in misery

  the time when we were happy."

  ~Dante

  In Lucy's dorm room Nathaniel jumped up. Something had happened – something monstrous. Ignoring all rules of politeness, he sprinted down the hall and burst into the bathroom, "Lucy?" he called out. "Luc…." There it was. The purple orchid lay on the tile floor. It was withered and brown - something evil had touched it. "No!" Nathaniel raged as he sprinted for the window. He jumped though it destroying the glass and metal grate and part of the frame splintered around him. He felt his shirt rip to shreds in mid-air as his wings unfurled behind him. Furious, he began to search the little town. The Demon would not go far, not beyond his own area anyway. Fear and wild fury coursed through him. He stopped at the top of the church steeple, out of breath. He collapsed to one knee at the tallest point in town.