by Dale Mayer
“And now?”
“And now what?” he growled. “What do you mean?”
Tia spoke from beside him. “She means do you still have those symptoms or have they improved?”
She watched him turn to face her, and his gaze grew wider. He dropped both her hands and bolted backwards. “Holy shit,” he whispered. “What the hell is going on?”
*
He straightened and glared at her. He hated feeling like nothing made sense. But that was how he felt right now. Nothing. Made. Sense. “What happened to you?”
“What happened to you?” she asked curiously. “How do I look to you now?”
“Like…” He stopped, at a loss for words, then continued in a rush, the words flying out of his mouth. “Like a ghost.”
She grinned, at least he thought that was a grin. “Okay, so now things might be back to normal.”
“How,” he waved a hand at her, “is this normal?”
“We all have the ability to leave our bodies,” Stefan said quickly from the other side of the room.
Dean cast a glance his way and caught his breath. His heart pounded against his ribs. What the hell was going on? “You too?”
Stefan nodded. He motioned to where his physical body was sitting. “Me too. I just do it consciously.”
Dean shook his head. “This so can’t be right.”
“So now you see things normally again.” Dr. Maddy’s voice was thoughtfully curious.
“If this is normal,” he snorted. “How you could figure that doesn’t make any sense to me. But okay.”
She laughed. “This is very normal.”
“Why would holding her hand,” he looked down at his now empty hands, “make any difference?”
“I’m not sure. But there is something about your connection to her.”
He bypassed everything else and went to the heart of the matter. “What would have caused this disturbance in the first place? And is this why I spent the last month going from specialist to specialist without getting any help?”
“Quite likely, but until I know more I can’t say for sure. But as your vision was affected, your perception would also be affected. Your balance and sleep patterns could be off, and you’d definitely be tired as your body struggled to right itself.” She paused, then nodded. “For whatever reason, your body couldn’t but would of course continue to try, and that would set up all kinds of issues inside.”
He was shocked, relieved, delighted and incredibly confused. “I’d love to think I was back to normal. Hell, this is the first time I’ve ever taken a sick day, and I went down for weeks.”
“Could you place the start of the problems after you helped Tia?” Stefan asked.
Dean shook his head. “Not that day, maybe not the next, but soon after I started to notice things weren’t right. But they weren’t necessarily very wrong. It was a slow decline until I couldn’t function at work and at home. As nothing improved I did the rounds and rounds of doctors.” He looked over at Dr. Maddy. “Are you taking on new patients?”
She laughed. “My patients are all here on this floor, but I do occasionally help other people.”
“More than occasionally,” Stefan murmured affectionately. “She’s yet to turn anyone away who is in need.” He motioned to Tia on the bed. “Tia is a good case in point.”
“You called. I helped.” Dr. Maddy gave him a special smile.
“But have you helped? Am I okay now?” Tia asked, her ghostly voice more of an echo than the clear ringing bell voice Dean remembered.
He gave a tiny head shake to clear his mind. “This is going to take some getting used to.”
“Yes it will, but just think – your body can heal now. You should notice a visible improvement today.”
He started. “That fast?”
Dr. Maddy nodded. “We still have to find out why this happened. But given that some things are starting to revert, we need to make sure it doesn’t happen again. I did a scan on Tia’s body looking for anomalies. Sounds like I need to do the same for yours. Maybe there was an energy switch in the visual cortex.”
“Scan and energy switch along with visual cortex in the same sentence do not sound like something I want anything to do with.”
She laughed. “Relax. It’s painless. And harmless.” At his look she smiled. “It’s a visual scan. Nothing more. Honest.”
Not sure if he believed her, he relaxed only slightly.
“Energy switch?” Tia said. “Are you saying when I was attacked, the attacker actually hurt Dean?”
“Quite possibly,” Stefan said. “He might have intended to hurt you, but Dean got in the way.”
“Or he was pissed at me and deliberately targeted me.” Dean shrugged. “If we’re talking Sci-Fi already then we might as well do Sci-Fi theories.”
The others grinned.
An alarm sounded out of the hallway and Dr. Maddy bolted. “Sorry, have to do it later.” And she was gone.
Dean looked over at Stefan to find him sinking into his body. He did a double take and watched as Stefan opened his eyes.
He gave a tiny wiggle and grinned. “That feels better.”
Jesus.
Dean turned to Tia, but she wasn’t making any move to her body. Lord, that sounded so wrong. “Are you going to do what he did,” he asked, motioning toward the bed.
Tia shook her head. “I can’t.
“Can’t?” How the hell did that work? Stefan had managed easily enough. “If I hold your hand could you?” he asked, feeling like an idiot.
“I don’t know,” she said in surprise. “Maybe.”
“Then let’s give it a try.” He held out his hand again and she placed her weird ghostly one in it before he reached across to pick up her physical hand. “Do it now,” he said.
She shrugged and awkwardly lay down on top of her body.
Chapter 18
“I feel like an idiot,” she muttered as she lay on top of her body. She couldn’t really feel anything.
“What happens if I let go,” he said and dropped her etheric hand. “Is that easier?”
She closed her eyes and tried to sink herself inside her body. After a moment, she opened her eyes and realized she was still lying on top of herself.
They quickly tried various hand holding options, but the end result was she couldn’t seem to rejoin her body. She caught Stefan grinning at them. “What’s so funny?” she asked.
“You two. Returning to your body isn’t physical, it’s mental. Just think yourself back inside.”
She glared at him. “That’s not very easy you know.”
“That’s the trick actually,” he admitted. “It is easy. You’re making it difficult.”
She snorted, lay back down, closed her eyes and thought, let me be one with my body.
And damn if the room didn’t erupt in cheers.
She opened her eyes to see the same room but from a slightly lower position. She lifted a hand and saw the skin and nails looked right. She laughed. “I’m back.”
“You are indeed.” Dean grinned down at her. He reached out and held her hand, studying it. “This is what I thought I saw all along. Who knew?”
She grinned up at him, threw off her covers and sat up. “Whoa, dizziness.”
“You need to assimilate slowly,” Stefan said. “Adjust to the extra weight.”
She shifted a little on the bed, more of a butt wiggle that had Dean smiling, and realized Stefan was right. “It is heavy. And clunky. And awkward.”
“Life, this physical experience is all of those things, but it’s also a gift. A precious experience you need to remember to appreciate. Too many people only realize the value of this gift when it’s too late to fully experience it.”
“Understood. Body, I need to take care of you.” Still grinning, she hopped to her feet and walked around the room, stretching and twisting. “Damn that feels good.”
“And just in time,” Dr. Maddy said from the doorway. “I have a request to move u
p the arrival of my incoming patient.”
Stefan stood up. “We can take our leave now.”
Dr. Maddy nodded. “Let me know if I can help.”
“If you get a moment, do a remote scan on Dean, and let’s see if he’s got something missing or added like we assumed Tia had.”
“Understood.” Dr. Maddy smiled at the three of them. “Glad to see things are back to normal now.”
Tia walked over to the beautiful doctor. “Thanks so much. I don’t know anyone else who could have helped.”
“I think you need to thank Dean. He seems to have had the biggest impact on your healing.”
Tia nodded. “Thank heavens. I’m sorry he was hurt when I was, but I’m very glad to see him here with me now.”
She reached out, delighted when he reached back.
*
Looking down at their hands, Dean asked, “How much does any of this mess have to do with her body parts going missing. Is that still an issue?”
There was a collective silence for a long moment before Stefan shrugged. “No idea. She’s all there at the moment. With any luck she might stay all there.”
“What a ridiculous conversation,” Tia said.
“And one you’ll need to take outside.” Dr. Maddy grinned and shooed them out of the room. “We have to get the bed ready, and I’ll be busy doing the intake and initial assessment. If you want to talk still you can go back out on the balcony and visit.”
“No, you’ve been wonderful. Thanks as always. We’ll leave now,” Stefan said.
With Stefan leading the way, they quickly went down the elevator and to the parking lot. It was the early hours of the morning. The sun was rising, but the world was still asleep.
“My place?” Dean asked.
“Sure. At least until I know what’s next,” Tia muttered. “Much of my world hasn’t changed. I was attacked and I’m still in danger. My only friend is missing and could possibly be dead.”
“Maybe, but now at least you are healthy enough to deal with what comes next.” He looked over at Stefan. “Are you coming back to my place?”
“I’m wondering about going home and doing some research. Why don’t you both come with me?”
Dean really just wanted to go home and rest but knew that wasn’t likely on the agenda. He pulled out his phone to check the time and saw four new messages from his mother.
He quickly dialed her. “What’s the matter?”
“Jeremy wasn’t in his bed when I woke up at six this morning, I searched the house. He’s nowhere to be found.” She sounded hysterical.
Shit.
Chapter 19
Tia’s heart sank at the curt explanation as Dean cut off the first phone call then made a dozen more. He turned from being a warm caring individual with his own oddness to a flat stared, cold incredibly intimidating cop before her eyes.
In a way it was reassuring. When the situation demanded, he stepped up. His son was in trouble. Because of her? Surely this guy – whoever had messed her up – wouldn’t go after a child to get back at her. Or was he paying Dean back for helping her? Different possibilities ran through her mind.
He’d have no problem hurting a child to get the results he wanted. He’d done it many times before, so if he was behind the kidnapping then there was a hidden game plan. He never did anything the simple way.
Dr. Wilhelm had been very particular that rules were followed correctly. Grant money depended on results, he’d say. Real money depended on real results, and the only way to get those was to have the protocol rules followed. He’d fired more than one tech over this.
She used to laugh over it because it made her feel superior to know that the crazy doctor had to follow someone else’s bidding as she did his.
Not much fun at the time, but then she’d thought it was only short term and that he was trying to help her. Her parents were supposed to pick her up that first summer for the holiday, and she’d planned on never coming back. Only they never came. There’d been no contact since Christmas, and they’d missed every holiday in between. Still, there had been hope, until the doctor made it clear she didn’t count. Her parents didn’t want her. He was the only one who wanted her, and she was so much better off with him.
Like hell.
All she did all day long was get her arm pricked for new blood tests, and do demonstrations. Play with his stupid toys, even the fancy ones from some labs. Wilhelm had spent thousands of dollars on items that would affect her abilities. Sometimes her abilities changed, and she often got too tired to control her energy the way he wanted her to.
She tried to hide her abilities but it didn’t always work.
He truly believed her quality of life improved with him. Maybe it had, at least in the beginning. When she entered puberty, her abilities had been erratic as hell. They’d also increased tremendously. She had to admit that as much as she hated him for what he was doing to her, he did it because he believed in her and that he could replicate the results artificially. He wanted to create applications for military use, medical use – although how her stupid ability to blend into the world around her would help anyone who was sick she didn’t know.
But he figured the interests would be global. Unfortunately, he died before he achieved that goal.
Good thing for her.
He’d died in the lab. A kid attacked him, she’d heard. Chaos had reigned. When she’d finally managed to get the hell out of there, no one was left. She had walked right out of the damn place and never looked back. Over the years she’d been afraid that maybe that had been a rumor, and Dr. Wilhelm was still alive. Her biggest nightmare, that old fear that he’d somehow survived and would find her.
The only one she missed was John. She’d connected to him in a way she hadn’t been able to others. He’d had some weird ability, but she didn’t know exactly what it was. All she knew was that Wilhelm had been excited when John arrived.
John had been older than the other kids. And more developed. He’d been cute, approachable and for a hurting teen like her, he’d been a rock star. She’d crushed on him for weeks. He’d given her the bracelet she’d lost in that fight for her life. She’d been delighted, then he was gone.
She wondered what happened to him.
She remembered various names of the people who’d worked in his lab, but they were all students and she only knew them on a first name basis. They’d been much nicer than the long-term technicians, but just when she was at the point of being friends with them, they were gone the next day. It gave her quite a complex until she realized the good doctor was doing it on purpose to keep her isolated so she would stay close to him.
That wasn’t possible. She already knew her life was never going to change if he had his way, so why get closer if he’d never let her go? Better to make friends with others and hopefully find someone sympathetic to her plight. Hell, people were letting animals out of testing laboratories all the time. Crazy groups were going in and breaking them out if there was no other way.
Why was no one breaking her out?
It took her years to understand the answer.
It was because no one knew she was a prisoner. They all just thought she volunteered.
She turned to look at Stefan. Fatigue had wrinkled the skin around his eyes. Also now there was a hum to his features as if something was alive she hadn’t seen before. His eyes were brightly focused. He was in working mode.
He was looking for answers to the disappearance of Dean’s son. He used his abilities to help others. Her abilities on the other hand were ridiculous. Oh wow, she could look like a wall.
So not helpful.
Her glance fell on Dean, once again back on the phone calling his mother.
“Good, I’m glad they are there already,” he said. “I’m on my way.” He was already walking toward the door.
She figured his whole world had collapsed. And she’d been forgotten. Maybe that was a good thing.
“Dean,” Stefan called to him. “It’s
all related.”
Dean carried on towards the door as if he hadn’t heard. Tia looked over at Stefan, but his eyes were closed and he appeared to be relaxed, sleeping even. She frowned, not sure what to do. She stood, ready to take off after Dean and tell him what Stefan said, but he hit an invisible force and came to a shuddering stop.
He spun around. “What the fuck!”
“The energy in this mess is connected to Tia. We knew there was always a chance of him finding out about your involvement. But we hadn’t considered they could easily track your mother and therefore find your son.”
Dean looked at Stefan. “You helped my son before. Can you track him now?”
“If I can’t, I know someone who can,” he said. “He’s a relatively new addition to my group, but he’s a hell of hunter.”
Tia looked at him closer. “Group?”
Stefan tossed her a casual look. “Group.”
She was desperate to ask more questions, but Dean was already talking. “How do we get his help?”
“I’ve already contacted him.” Stefan headed to the door. “I need to see the inside of the room Jeremy was taken from.”
“I’m coming,” Tia said, running after Stefan. “If this is because of me, I want to help.”
“You’re not going to be able to,” Dean said. “You’re just going to be in the way.”
“We don’t have time to argue. Let’s go.” She opened the truck door and hopped into the back seat. Stefan jumped into his car.
Dean threw up his hands and raced to join them.
*
What the hell? Why were they all coming? Dean needed to focus on getting his son back. Not on all the rest of this shit. He knew that was important, but his son came first.
“We’ll get him back, I can track his energy. He’s in good health and relatively happy. At the moment he thinks he’s on an outing with one of your friends.”
