Supernormal

by Caitlen Rubino-Bradway

  SUNSHINE GLOWING GOLD AND MELLOW THROUGH HER HAIR AS SHE LEANED OVER HIM. SAND SPILLING AROUND THEM, UNDER HIS NAILS, CLINGING TO HIS SKIN AS THE FABRIC OF HER SHIRT BUNCHED UNDER HIS FINGERS. ASHLEY, HER THUMB BRUSHING HIS CHEEK, TILTING HER HEAD AS SHE LEANED CLOSER UNTIL HE COULD TASTE HER SMILE…

  The world was quiet.

  Cam realized he was awake. He wasn’t sure how long he had been awake; he had the sense of this just being the next waking in a series of many. His head ached, dimly, distantly, but he could…think.

  The sun was shining through the windows. Meg was asleep in a chair by the door, her long legs folded awkwardly against the arms. And stretched out in the hospital bed with him—

  Ashley.

  It hadn’t been a dream. Not completely, though he had dreamed things like it many times. It had been…could be real, except he had never seen himself before. That had always been the boundary, and he had never been able to cross it. Before.

  She was asleep. Even asleep, she looked exhausted. And uncomfortable. The bed really wasn’t made for two people, and even tucked in close she was almost over the edge. And there was blood on her clothes. And she looked—she—Cam—he was grateful he hadn’t clawed his eyes out.

  He didn’t move. He didn’t want to wake her. But she woke anyway, her eyes flicking open and immediately finding his. She smiled. She didn’t smile very often, he knew, but this one was simple and easy, and he saw… He did move then, he knew he did, because the space between them ebbed away, and he was so close he could hear her heart beat, feel it through the warmth of her skin.

  “Safe?” he asked. His voice wasn’t more than a rasp, but she nodded. “Danny. Liz—”

  “Everyone,” she said. “I promise.”

  Cam felt something inside him relax. “You?” he asked.

  “Yes,” she told him, and he squeezed his eyes shut.

  “You came for me,” he said. She nodded, and he felt himself smile. “I knew you would come for me.”

  “Always,” she said.

  The night before Danny and Ian left, Tyler snuck into the hospital with a Playstation and pizza. They were slated to leave the next day; the program’s doctors had observed them for forty-eight hours and declared them physically sound and ready to go home whenever they wanted. Liz and Cam, however, were staying, at least for the time being. All the doctors would say was that they wanted to be absolutely certain they were recovering.

  They were. Or, at least, Cam was. He thought. The doctors had helped. He could think now; his head was clearer and it didn’t hurt all the time. They prescribed Motrin for the headaches, “Though they’ll no doubt fade away in time,” one doctor assured him. “Miss Garrett got to you relatively quickly. I doubt there was time to make any lasting changes. Unlike your friend, Mr. Reese,” he added, as he marked something on his tablet.

  “Is he sick?” He remembered what Ashley had told him, about the kids she had gone through the program with. About what happened to them if they got sick.

  The doctor smiled. “No. He is better.”

  Ashley helped Cam down the hall to Danny’s room, which was bright and full and noisy. Ian was there, with Allison, with Dr. MacNamara making her way to the door, slowly, and under apparent duress. The duress was being applied by Meg, who had a hand on Dr. Mac’s arm and, as she was both bigger and stronger, was winning.

  “Ten,” Dr. Mac was saying. “At the latest.”

  “She’s not coming back tonight,” Meg corrected. “I’ll see her home, don’t worry.”

  “I am coming back,” Dr. Mac began, but Cam asked, “You’re going out?”

  “I’m taking her out for a decent meal and, god willing, enough wine that the good doctor won’t be able to remember her own name by the time I have to haul her home,” Meg said, dropping a kiss on Cam’s forehead. “Don’t go too crazy now, all right?”

  “It’s a Pixar night,” Danny informed her.

  “Come on, doc.” Meg eased Dr. MacNamara out of the room.

  It was fun. Part of Cam was surprised. He wasn’t sure fun would’ve been an option, not after what they’d been through, but Danny and Tyler rose to the occasion. Bickering over the pizza. Adding audience participation to Finding Nemo. Trying, Cam knew, to make everyone laugh. To make them be here, now, and not back there. It worked. For the most part.

  “I’ve been thinking,” Danny spoke up as they switched Nemo for The Incredibles. “We need a name.”

  Tyler groaned, leaning his head back against his chair. “Not this again.”

  “What do you mean?” Ian asked.

  “We’re a multicultural group of individuals with special powers. We’ve already escaped from a secret lab,” Danny explained.

  “That was mostly Ashley and Ian,” Liz said, picking at the popcorn.

  “We helped,” Danny told her.

  “Danny, you’re Aquaman. Actually, not even. Your special superpower is breathing,” Tyler said. “How exactly did your breathing help in the daring escape?”

  For a second, Danny’s smile faltered, but he said easily enough, “I think it’s safe to say my escape wouldn’t have been possible without it.” Then he sat up straight and held out his hands. “I got it! We call ourselves the S-X-Men.” He grinned at them. “Get it?”

  For a moment, nobody said anything. Then—“The Sex Men?” Liz asked.

  Tyler started sniggering.

  Danny ignored him. “No, no, no. The S-X-Men. Like, the Sugar Beach X-Men.”

  “Sounds like Sex Men,” Ian said.

  Danny huffed and crossed his arms. “You guys are no fun at all. I don’t see any of you trying to think up cool names for us. What happens if we get pulled into another exciting adventure and have to save the day again? And then everyone will be all, ‘Who was that heroic and remarkably attractive group of multicultural people who saved us?’ and we won’t have a name, and you guys are all going to regret this moment.”

  “We’re not actually that multicultural,” Tyler said.

  “No worries,” Ian said. “We’ll think of something.”

  It was late when Meg cracked Cam’s door. “Still awake, honey?”

  “Yes.” He made himself smile at her. “I guess I’m a little wired. We partied very hard.” And his head was killing him.

  Meg tiptoed in, easing the door shut, and took a seat on the edge of Cam’s bed. “Ashley?”

  “Brody came by to drag her off about an hour ago. He said she needed to sleep.”

  “She does, poor girl. I don’t think she let herself nod off for more than two minutes together after you…were taken.” Meg dropped her voice to a conspiratorial whisper. “I like her.”

  “Me, too,” Cam said.

  “And she’s a cutie.”

  “Yes.”

  “And she likes you.” Meg winked. “Maybe next time you’re all cuddled up, you should think about planting one on her.”

  He gave her a level look. “I did.”

  “Maybe next time you shouldn’t just think about it. I’m just saying, a body can only pretend to be asleep for so long.”

  “Aunt Meg—”

  She waved a hand. “Okay, okay. You have a fun night?”

  Cam nodded. “You?”

  “A very successful one, I’m glad to say. According to her, it’s technically an ethics violation for a therapist to go out drinking with the parent and/or guardian of one of their patients, but after the third martini, I don’t think she worried too much about that. I poured the good doctor onto her couch about an hour ago. She’s going to have a bad head in the morning, but I’m going to say it was worth it. That lady needed a night off.”

  “You could’ve taken the night off. You’ve been here a lot and I know you must be tired. And I’m fine. I’m getting better.” Cam said it partly for himself.

  Meg shook her head. “‘Course you are, sugar. I am tired, it’s just…well, I have something to tell you and I’m trying to work up to it.”

  Cam knew that Meg was still s
taying at Brody’s. “Am I getting a new daddy?”

  “No, smart mouth, you are not. You should know, baby…” Meg smoothed the blanket around him. “I spoke to Naomi.”

  “Oh.” Cam couldn’t think of anything else to say. He realized he was tired.

  “I called for Aaron and Mary. When you were—” She cleared her throat. “I thought it was only right to let them know. Naomi picked up, and I just, I got so mad. I was scared for you, and I was mad at them, and then she picked up the phone for me when I know she wouldn’t for you. I sort of snapped.” Meg arched an eyebrow at him, defiantly. “I really let her have it.”

  “Oh.” He should think of something else to say.

  “And I am not sorry.”

  He managed, “Aunt Meg—”

  “Don’t you ‘Aunt Meg’ me. I didn’t say anything that wasn’t true. I am a very truthful person,” she said. Meg fiddled with the blanket again. “I’m ashamed of her, Cam. And I told her that I was.”

  Cam shifted in bed. “She’s sixteen.”

  “That is no excuse,” Meg said. “I was sixteen once, too, and I was old enough to know right from wrong. She can’t pick them and turn her back on you and expect people to stand for it.”

  Cam couldn’t look at Meg for a moment. He was tired, and it hurt too much. They’d talked about his parents before, but rarely Naomi. He wished she hadn’t said that. He wished it weren’t true. He wished—

  Cam sank back into the pillows, the energy draining out of him. He wished Naomi were here.

  “I wasn’t going to tell you—well, not quite yet,” Meg went on. “I wanted you to focus on getting better and getting home. But I went back to the house, to my house, tonight to pick up some things. I noticed I had a couple voicemails. Your phone was lost, you know, so she tried me. Asked for you to give her a call.”

  Cam swallowed hard. It was silly, how tight his throat felt. “What…should I do?”

  “I can’t say that. Even if I wanted to, it wouldn’t be my place. One way or another, it’s your call. And, well, one way or another,” she added, “I’d understand.”

  “I know,” he said. Then, quietly, “I miss my sister.”

  Meg took his hand and gave him a small smile. “I know, sugar. I miss mine, too.”

  Ch. 31

  It took more than a week, but Cam was finally allowed to go home. Meg came with some clothes and shooed the nurse away so she could push Cam’s wheelchair on the way out. Ashley went ahead to make sure Brody had the Jeep ready, and found Liz sitting on a bench by the curb. Ashley hesitated, and then headed over. “Hey.”

  Liz jumped. And moved—fast—her arm slashing out even as her head whipped around and she saw Ashley.

  Ashley caught Liz’s arm lightly and let go before Liz could react.

  “I didn’t—I didn’t hear you,” Liz said. Her eyes were wide and her pulse was hammering in her neck. “I’m sorry.” She snatched her hand back. “I’m sorry, you startled me. I—I usually hear people coming. Now.”

  “That’ll happen,” Ashley said carefully. “You’re going to want to watch out for Brody. He’s pretty quiet, too.” She glanced down at the bench, feeling awkward. “May I…uh…?”

  Liz scooted over, clawing a hand through her hair. Ashley looked at her for a long moment. She knew that expression. “How is your, um, nose?” Liz glanced at her, confused. “It’s a little easier if you go by scent. People don’t usually think about smells as much, but if you focus you can usually smell someone. Before you hear them, that is.”

  “My nose feels…normal,” Liz answered after a moment.

  “They might not have had time to get to it.”

  Liz’s mouth pressed into a thin line, and Ashley saw her fingers mold marks into the bench under her grip. “You’re going to want to watch that,” Ashley said.

  “I’m trying,” Liz forced out. “I just…” She shut her eyes, and her fingers dug in deeper. “I’m having some…trouble. Dealing with this.”

  “I know,” Ashley said.

  Liz looked up at her. “How—how did you—?”

  “Not well,” Ashley said. She felt herself smile wryly. “I’m still dealing with it, it’s kind of an everyday thing. The best I can say is…just don’t do what I did.”

  “What did you do?” Liz asked.

  “Get angry. So angry that you’re afraid you might hurt someone. Then get so afraid that you can’t do anything at all. I spent a year, almost, being angry and afraid.”

  Liz nodded and looked away. She let out a hard breath. “Can I ask you a question?”

  “Yes.”

  “And you’ll tell me the truth.”

  Ashley nodded.

  “Am I going to die? I overheard them,” Liz said. “The doctors Brody brought. They were talking in the hallway, and I heard them. They said the first group all died. Their bodies couldn’t handle the changes, and started to reject them.”

  The truth. “Not all,” Ashley said. “Some of us went crazy and had to be put down.”

  “They went crazy because their bodies were rejecting the changes,” Liz said. “That’s what the doctors said.”

  Ashley was quiet for a moment, searching for something. “It’s been a while. Since the first round. I’m sure they’ve made improvements.”

  “It hasn’t been that long.”

  Ashley shifted to face Liz. She hadn’t been much for hope either when she’d first come out. But facts had helped. “Proom didn’t have you for that long, and in the beginning the process is slow. They only would’ve had time to do some basic stuff. And not a lot of it. The…problems increased the further along the—” say it “—kids were.”

  “It felt like a lot,” Liz said dryly.

  “I know, but it is still early stages yet. Brody could talk to the doctors. They might be able to undo it.”

  Liz stretched out her hand, clenched and flexed the fingers. “I don’t want to die.”

  “Good,” Ashley said.

  “I talked to the doctors, and my parents. We’ve agreed that I have to…” Liz’s fingers clenched again. “I have to stay. I can’t go to Berkley. Brody convinced the doctors to stay here, make sure everyone can handle what they did to them. If I want them to undo it, I have to stay here. Besides, it—it wouldn’t be fair to go now. Danny says I could, but that’s just him being Danny. He doesn’t understand. He’s always been able to do things other people can’t. He doesn’t even think about it most of the time. But I was normal, and I…” Liz swallowed hard. “I can feel what they did to me. I feel different, I feel…sharper. It’s not me. I’m not me. It wouldn’t be fair to go, get on that field, and be better than everyone else.”

  “You were always better than everyone else,” Ashley said.

  “Because I practiced,” Liz exploded. “Because I worked at it, every day. Because I wanted it—I wanted to throw it back in everyone’s faces, all those people that told me baseball was a boys’ game and wouldn’t I do better in softball. Softball,” Liz sneered. “I was in eighth grade and Coach Parker told me that girls tried out for softball, so I went to the diamond every single day and I practiced and when baseball tryouts came I made him fucking choke on those words. I did that—me—on my own. I worked for it. It meant something.” She glared down at her arms. “It wouldn’t mean anything now.”

  No, it wouldn’t, Ashley thought. “I’m sorry.”

  “I’m not,” Liz said. “I’m angry. I’m so…angry.”

  “I know,” Ashley said.

  Liz glanced at her. “It scares me.”

  “I know,” Ashley said.

  Meg picked them up in her Jeep and drove them back to Sugar Beach through the late afternoon sunshine.

  The ride wasn’t a long one, but it was…odd. Comfortable, in a way. The air was warm through the open windows, the fabric of the seat cushions hot against Ashley’s back as she watched the road slip by, and the water shimmering like a mirror under the bridge to Sugar Beach. And then there were the familiar stree
ts, and the sky, her sky, overhead, and the sunshine glowing along the sand. It caught the gold in Meg’s hair as she turned to say something to Brody—quietly, though, because Cam had fallen asleep, and the sense of comfort and anticipation twisted together in Ashley’s chest until it was almost an ache. This must be what people meant, she thought. When they talked about going home. She wanted the car ride to never stop. She wanted to hold onto this feeling and make it last forever.

  Brody caught her eye in the rearview mirror. He smiled and she knew—he knew. He understood.

  When they parked in front of Brody’s house, Ashley climbed out and went to wait at the passenger side as Meg tried to gently wake Cam.

  She felt Brody’s hand on her arm. Callused and warm. “You okay?”

  She didn’t answer for a moment.

  “Ash?”

  Ashley looked at the house, with the weather-beaten siding and the squeaky screen door. Brody liked to keep the windows open, and you could hear the surf from any room in the house. “I used to have nightmares about him.”

  “I know.”

  “I’d run and he’d follow, and it didn’t matter how far or how fast, he would always find me. They used to scare the hell out of me.”

  “You had it backwards.”

  She had. “I never thanked you,” Ashley said, looking up at him. She said it even though part of her felt awkward and silly saying it. “For giving me a home.”

  Brody looked down at her, and he looked as sad and happy and hopeful as she felt. Awkwardly, he slung his good arm around her shoulders and pulled her close. He had never hugged her before. Meg was the hugger—to everyone, all the time—but not Brody, and Ashley had always told herself that she was fine with that. After all, it wasn’t as if he was her dad.

  She didn’t think that now. Now Ashley closed her eyes, and felt safe.

  She opened them when she heard the cars turn up the street. Brody kept his arm around her as the black car with government plates parked in front of their home. Director Cole and Agent Phillips stepped out.