After a long, hot shower, I dressed in jeans and a thick black sweater. As promised, Captain Alvarez had sent a list of names to my portable communicator. Grabbing the device from my desk, I set off for the Crypto Building.
Penny was already seated in her usual chair with a large cup of coffee when I arrived. As per usual, Gemma occupied one of the other chairs in the room. Both appeared to be analyzing information on half a dozen computers at the same time. I watched silently as four sets of fingers flew across keyboards as random numbers and letters scrolled downs the screens of each of the individual monitors. I marveled at their ability to process the data simultaneously.
“Hey,” Penny called without turning around.
“Morning,” I greeted her. “Hey Gemma,” I said to the other girl. She smiled shyly before returning to her work.
“You ran out pretty fast last night,” Penny declared, still facing the computers.
“I was tired,” I replied quietly.
“So tired that you needed Erik to help you home?” she teased.
I knew that she was curious, but the last thing that I wanted right then was to rehash my fight with Erik and the accusations leading up to it. Penny would think that I was nuts. I was starting to think that I was a little nuts myself. Last night, I’d felt justified in my actions, but today with no alcohol clouding my judgment, the harsh daylight illuminated just how ridiculous I’d acted. I’d gone into a jealous rage over seeing a guy who wasn’t my boyfriend standing too close to a girl that he’d known longer than he’d known me. Then, when he’d called me on it, I practically bit his head off. I was just this side of sanity. If we didn’t find the spy soon, I was going to end up in a padded cell.
Penny pressed a key, halting all of the text scrolling across the screens, and swiveled her chair around to face me. Her bright green eyes urged me for more details, but the light dimmed when she saw my distraught expression. Her devilish smile contorted into a sympathetic grimace.
“What happened, Tal?” she asked gently.
“Erik didn’t exactly walk me home,” I mumbled, looking at my feet.
“Do you want to talk about it?” she asked.
“We got in a fight about Donavon and Ursula, and then, somehow, it evolved into something else altogether.”
Penny studied me intently, almost as if she was willing me to tell her more, but I really didn’t need her confirmation that I was losing it.
Penny slid a smile into place, but the gesture didn’t reach her worried eyes.
“So, want to plug this communicator in for me so I can get the info the Captain wants?” I asked, desperately wanting to change the subject.
“Hand it over.” She held out her hand with mock impatience and a half eye roll. I gave her a broad smile and gratefully handed her the electronic device.
Penny attached my portable communicator to one of the computers not currently being used. Again, I watched in awe as her fingers flew across the keys, entering information too fast for me to follow. Several times, she told me to hold either my thumb or my eye up to a scanner mounted next to the computer. I obediently complied and after what seemed like an excessive amount of typing, she told me that I was all ready to begin.
Taking a seat in my own swivel chair, I set to work. I spend the next several hours sifting through files on the designated students, downloading and organizing only the pertinent data for each individual. I probably could have just asked Penny, in my special suggestive manner, to do this for me, but I never used my Talents on her. After all, she was the only real friend that I had. My resolve began to waiver the longer that I had to stare at the screen.
“Done!” I announced happily. My eyes ached with fatigue and it took me a minute to uncross my vision.
“Got everything you need?” Penny asked.
“Yup, so if you could just disconnect this thing for me, I’ll be on my way.”
Penny deftly disconnected my portable communicator and handed it to me.
“See you at dinner?” she asked.
“You got it.” I gave a small wave to Gemma and set off.
My next stop was Medical. I walked through the sliding glass doors and the receptionist on duty waved me back immediately.
“Room five, Ms. Lyons,” she said pleasantly. Nodding, I continued on through the double doors to room five. The receptionist must have buzzed Dr. Thistler immediately because I’d just managed to jump up on the exam table when she walked through the door.
“Hi, Natalia. How are we feeling today?”
I hated when she said “we”, like she was somehow part of me.
“Same as yesterday,” I mumbled. Sometimes, I wondered why she bothered asking; if I was feeling anything less than “fine” she’d know because I would’ve been whisked into Medical, convulsing. Her only response was a smile. Pulling my sweater over my head, I waited anxiously as she filled the syringe with the thick liquid out of a bottle from her coat pocket. I gritted my teeth as she plunged the tip of the needle into my arm and depressed the plunger.
The chemicals burned as they entered my bloodstream, and I sighed. The annoyance of receiving daily injections was a small price compared to the calming relief that the medicine provided me. As soon as she removed the injection needle, she replaced it with the one that would draw a sample of my blood. I watched as the syringe filled with my red liquid.
“All set,” she said, taping a small piece of gauze in the crook of my elbow.
“Thanks,” I muttered, and eased myself off of the exam table to head for the door.
“Dr. Thistler?” I asked, hesitating before I crossed the threshold.
“Hmmm?” she answered distractedly, making notations on her electronic pad.
“How’s Ernest today?” I asked quietly.
“Same as yesterday, dear,” she replied without looking up.
“Oh, okay. Well, thanks.” I wasn’t really sure what I’d expected to hear, but I’d hoped for a more positive response – something like, “he’s great” or “he’s regained his memory.” No such luck.
In the hallway just outside the door to room five, I paused. Closing my eyes, I swallowed my guilt. I had to see him. I had to know if he was really in as bad a shape as Dr. Thistler said. Surely not. I could understand him being confused or dazed, but the way that Dr. Thistler saw it in her mind, Ernest appeared comatose.
Quickly, I glanced to my left and my right. The hallway was empty. I opened my mind and searched for active brains. I could feel Dr. Thistler’s behind me, but she was too busy logging my visit in her files. I could feel activity throughout the entire complex and decided to keep my mind open as I turned and walked to my right.
Winding my way through the corridors of the Medical facility, I searched in vain for Ernest. I was convinced that I’d be able to track him through his mind, but I couldn’t seem to get a handle on it. Deeper and deeper I traveled into the bowels of the Medical building, scanning my palm at various locations to gain access to the more secure areas. I was definitely leaving a trail behind me – sloppy for a Hunter.
At last, I reached a door labeled Psychiatric. I took a deep calming breath; I knew that Ernest was behind that door. I still couldn’t feel his mind, but I knew in my heart that he was there. Holding one shaky palm up to the scanner, I waited, a small part of me hoping that I wouldn’t be granted access. The light on the scanner turned green, and I heard the lock on the door disengage. Dread weighed me down like a wet blanket as I pulled the door open and entered the Psychiatric Ward.
In the first room on my right, I felt an emptiness, a void the size of the Grand Canyon. My feet were forcing me forward before I could register the fact that they were taking me into Ernest’s room. I saw him immediately. He was propped up in a large bed. There was a leather belt secured around his middle, keeping him upright. I was barely able to suppress the gasp that rose in my throat. Tears of shame welled in the corners of my eyes.
Ernest stared dully in my direction, but his expression was vacant and unfo
cused. I stood paralyzed in place, the soles of my shoes feeling heavy, as though I’d stepped in wet cement. One of Ernest’s eyes began to twitch, and he made a soft gurgling noise, deep in his throat. I swallowed hard and swiped his mind. I didn’t bother to suppress the sob that clawed at my windpipe this time. Ernest’s mind was empty. Not confused, not dazed. Empty. I sunk to my knees, my fists balled at my sides as hot tears ran down my face and splashed the linoleum floor. Wrapping my arms around myself, my body began to shake.
“Natalia, I told you that this was not a good idea,” Dr. Thistler’s voice sounded behind me.
Her white lab coat clad form swam when I turned to look up at her. Dr. Thistler grabbed my upper arm and pulled me to my feet with a strength that I hadn’t believed she possessed.
“Can I put the memories back?” I stammered hopefully. Maybe I could make this right.
“No, Natalia,” she replied gently. “It’s too much of a risk.”
“To who?” I asked, already knowing the answer.
“To you,” she responded as if the answer were obvious. The answer had been obvious; I’d just needed to hear her say it.
“I don’t care!” I insisted. “This is all my fault, I’m a monster.”
“No,” she said firmly. “No, you are not. And you are much too valuable to this organization to risk a memory re-implementation.”
“What about Ernest? Wasn’t he valuable?” I demanded.
Dr. Thistler gave a weary sigh, and then gently led me from Ernest’s room. Her non-response brought to mind the words that Ian Crane had thrown at me in Nevada, “You have no idea what your Agency does to innocent people,” he’d said. Maybe I hadn’t known then what Toxic did to innocent people, but I was starting to realize it now.
Crane had told me that my parents’ deaths were a consequence of war; was Ernest’s condition now a consequence of war, too? Could I be so callous as to accept that notion? Once again, I was left with more questions than answers. Worst of all, I was starting to wonder how much of what Crane had told me was true.
I desperately wanted to go back to my room and pull the blankets over my head, form a barrier against the outside world, but instead I walked numbly from the Medical building to the Arena to meet Captain Alvarez. I couldn’t erase the image of Ernest and his blank stare from my fragile psyche. Ernest’s condition was considered an acceptable risk of psychic interrogation, but it wasn’t a risk that I wanted to be part of.
I was still distracted when I reached the Arena, so distracted in fact that when I rounded a corner, I ran smack into another person. To top it off, that person was Erik.
“Sorry,” I mumbled, sidestepping around him.
“Tal, wait.” He grabbed my upper arm. “I’m so sorry about last night –”
“You have nothing to be sorry about,” I said, cutting him off. After witnessing the fruits of the destructive side of my Talent, my embarrassment over what had happened with Erik seemed trivial.
“No, you were right, Talia. It is none of my business what does or does not go on between you and Donavon. We’re just friends after all ...”
“Right, just friends,” I muttered. I hated the part of me that felt the deep bite of disappointment at his calling us “just friends.”
“So, we’re good?” he asked
“We’re good.” I smiled tightly.
“Want to help us with the demonstration?” he asked hopefully. I was about to say “no,” Dr. Thistler had said that I wasn’t supposed to physically exert myself, but instead, I agreed. I decided that what I needed, more than hiding myself under my covers, was a distraction. Erik gave me a big smile and squeezed my shoulder in a buddy-buddy kind of way that he would’ve done to Henri as he walked away. My mood plummeted so fast that the splat when it hit the ground could’ve been audible.
Making my way to Captain Alvarez, I linked our communicators like Penny had shown me, so that I could transfer a copy of the information that I’d downloaded. Then I found Erik and Henri and changed from my own clothes into an adapti-suit that zipped up to my neck. I plaited my dark curls into two thick braids, then wrapped a black-and-white bandana over them and tied it securely at the base of my skull. Henri had dressed to match.
Captain Alvarez was speaking to the large group of students assembled in the Arena stands. I followed Henri to the center of a mat and we took up positions facing each other, about ten feet apart. We waited for Captain Alvarez to finish his introductions. The shrill sound of the whistle reverberated throughout the Arena, and I wasted no time in charging Henri.
We ran at each other, but he lunged first, his long body leaving the ground and becoming completely horizontal as his huge hands reached for me. At the last second, I broke to my right, dropping to the ground in a roll. Henri tucked his long body into a roll of his own and we spun around to face each other once more.
Henri rose to his full height, but I’d remained crouching, and I didn’t hesitate before I launched myself vertical like a lioness using my Telekinesis to propel myself higher so I would collide with Henri’s shoulders. He was ready and caught me, wrapping his long fingers around my waist and flipping me over his head, but not before I’d made contact. I added the momentum that I already had to Henri’s flip, and let my feet fly over my head, landing squarely on the ground.
Henri stumbled as a result of my blow and dropped to one knee in an effort to steady himself. He flung one leg out and I felt the front of his foot connect with the outside of my ankle, effectively cutting me down, and I fell.
I should have landed on my face, but my reflexes were quick from years of training. I was able to get my hands underneath me and instead fell in an awkward push up position. I felt Henri close in from behind, and judged the distance to be close enough for contact. Pushing up onto my hands, I kicked back as hard as I could just as he was bending towards me.
My feet caught him first in the stomach and then in his chest, knocking him backwards and off-balance, giving me enough time to get on my own two feet and turn to face him. By this time, we were both breathing heavily, and I knew that I must be sweating terribly in my suit, but the temperature-regulating function kept me comfortable.
We both backed up a couple of feet as we tried to catch our breath. I felt what Henri was going to do before my mind could really register it. The suits could stretch and mold to any body shape, making them easy to morph in.
Henri kicked off the ground and leapt towards me again, but this time, as his feet left the ground his body morphed into his favorite go-to shape – a gigantic bird. Henri flew at me in bird form and I had barely enough time to react. Letting myself fall backwards, I kept my feet planted. I used my own powers to keep my body horizontal with my knees bent. Henri the bird flew right over me. As soon as he cleared my head, I twisted around and jumped, wrapping my arms around his thick neck. I was unable to get my short legs wrapped around his body because his huge wings were in the way.
He flew low around the Arena with me clinging to his neck. He tilted one way and then the other in an attempt to throw me off, but I held tight. Throwing all of my concentration to my mental abilities I willed him to change back. Within seconds my mental battle won out over his physical one, and we were falling to the ground, a tangle of human limbs. We rolled several times until finally his heavy form landed on top of my much smaller one. He lifted himself up to take the weight off of me, I gave him a wicked smile as our eyes met, and I had just a second to see the look of confusion cross his face.
As soon as he had lifted himself off, I tucked my knees to my chest and used all of the strength that I could muster to kick him in the stomach. Henri flew backwards, propelled farther by my telekinetic powers. But I had only seconds of satisfaction before I sensed a new threat coming.
Rolling first to my stomach and then quickly to my feet, I had just enough time to see a huge predatory cat leaping at me. Henri rarely morphed into anything besides the huge bird, but that didn’t mean that he couldn’t. I dove to the side
as the huge cat landed where I’d been standing only seconds before. I stood, and the cat and I circled each other. I again risked using my mental muscles to will Henri to change back to human. I watched as my efforts were rewarded and the huge cat was replaced by Henri’s human form, now down on all fours.
Using my mental powers often physically exhausted me. I’d trained since coming to School to utilize them during a fight, but rarely implemented them in a real battle. While I’d had the best physical training available, and could hold my own against a normal person, I was really no match for a Morph. I’d used my mental powers because it was my best defense against a trained fighter like Henri in his morph form, but it cost me a great deal of my own strength.
I stood facing Henri, my entire body shaking from the physical and mental exertion. My skin was dry, thanks to the suit, but sweat stung my eyes and soaked my bandana. Taking several deep breaths to calm myself, I tried to refocus my mental energies.
Henri slowly rose from his hands and knees. I tensed, readying myself for his attack. Instead, he slowly bent at the waist in a deep bow. I let out a huge sigh; he was calling an end. I inclined my head and gave him a small bow in return. He walked over to me and wrapped his long arms around me. I knew that he could feel my body shaking against him, but he didn’t comment.
“You’re better than I remember,” his mental voice filled my head. I knew that he was just being nice, but at that moment, I would take any compliment that I could get. As we drew apart, I opened all of the senses that I’d been directing solely on Henri to the entire Arena. The whooping and cheering of the students filled my ears. Giddy from the physical release of tension, I turned and gave them a small wave. Dr. Thistler was wrong, I thought to myself. Physical exertion was exactly what I needed.
“Amazing, Tals,” Erik said, giving me a hug.
“Thanks.” I smiled at his praise.
“Yeah, I might even have a bruise or two,” Henri joked. Bruises were unlikely since I’d only hit him where the suit covered.
“They’ll make you look more manly,” I laughed, playing along. “Frederick will love them.”