A Diamond in My Pocket

  * * *

  After lunch, I head to Clara’s office and she then ushers me down the hall for medical testing. Clara introduces me to Suki Kimura, yet another beautiful woman with dark brown hair and flawless skin.

  Ms. Kimura explains the procedures I’m about to go through will take roughly three hours and are standard. Everyone undergoes them, she says. She draws my blood, x-rays me, hooks me up to all kinds of monitors, and places electrodes on my scalp to make sure I have a brain.

  Good to get confirmation.

  Clara moves me to another room. She attaches wires and electrodes to my chest and plugs them into a machine, then she flips a switch. A shrill noise echoes around the room and the thumping of my heart sounds as if it has been hooked up to a rock band’s bass system. Startled, Clara jumps, then stumbles quickly to pull the wires and flip the switches off.

  The door opens, and a middle-aged adult male with a name tag identifying him as Mr. Evans hurries over to Clara and shouts, “What did you do, hook a human up to the machine?” His eyes travel to mine and back to hers.

  Ms. Kimura pushes her petite frame past Clara. “Clara, did you forget how to run the machine? Here, let me help.” She proceeds to do the exact same thing Clara had already done. Again, terrible screeching and super loud thumping and swooshing sounds fill the room before Ms. Kimura unhooks the cords. “Well, clearly we have some damaged equipment. Bring her into my office and I’ll evaluate her.”

  “I don’t think that will be necessary,” Clara says calmly. “She passed the rest of the exam. We’ll address the heart evaluation later. Calli, come with me.”

  She ushers me out into the hall. We walk in the direction of her office.

  “What was that all about?” I ask.

  “I don’t know. The machine worked fine last week.”

  Another woman approaches us. She looks to be older than anyone else. She says to Clara, “A group of Readers are here to see you. They say it’s urgent.”

  “Thank you, Abby.” Clara turns to me. “I’m sorry Calli, I must excuse myself. Go outside and get some fresh air. I’ll find you later.”

  “Sure,” I reply.

  I could easily spy through her glass door to investigate what is going on, but I resist the urge to eavesdrop and head outside.

  Ah, the outdoors of the Big Sky State. A spectacular view of the snow-tipped Rocky Mountains encompasses the giant compound/school/hotel/freak-show. I wander around the perimeter of the building and find some basketball courts and a large manicured lawn. Several teams of boys and girls spar off on the courts. Far off, near the tree line, I see a row of four small cabins with manicured lawns and trimmed bushes. They remind me of the ones at summer camp where the counselors slept.

  I continue my walk around the backside of the compound, noting many exterior doors on the ground level and a large veranda on the second floor. Way down at the opposite end I find an indoor swimming pool. I didn’t even know there was a pool. Cool.

  I round the final corner and run smack dab into Chris. My abrupt appearance startles him, because he reaches out and takes hold of my arms to steady himself. I know he doesn’t recognize who he’s holding because I witness the realization hitting his brain with a boom. He lets go of my arms as if I’m contaminated with the deadly Hantavirus.

  “Why are you here?” He clears his throat. “I mean, shouldn’t you be with Clara?” he asks me with unjustified irritation.

  “She’s meeting with the Mind-Readers. They arrived a little while ago. I guess they have urgent business.”

  He opens his mouth to say something, but nothing comes out. Instead, he stares into my eyes for a few seconds, then looks away and steps around me.

  “Talk to you later, Calli,” I mutter under my breath as I rub my arms where Chris touched them. Oh great, now I’m like the ditzy girl in the lunch line, all goo-goo over a simple touch. His scent hangs in the air, and I can’t help but take a deep breath. Regardless of anything else, his smell is darn near irresistible. His confused expression, however, makes me wonder if he wants to accept me into the clan or kick me out.

  I make my way back into the building and up to my room, paying close attention to my surroundings to avoid running into anyone else. I’ll wait for Clara to come get me.