Opheliac

by J. F. Jenkins

  Tait gazed down at her phone, torn. “We don’t have to call it a night just yet.”

  “I have other things to do. I’m fine. Please don’t worry about me. I want you to see him. One, you said he might prove to be a potential candidate for our cause. Two, I don’t want you to miss out on something good if you don’t have to. You still have a chance. Don’t waste it.”

  Nodding, Tait sent her text. “Wanna hang out at the mall?”

  She and Orlando had their first unofficial date there. Even though he’d never admit it, he’d appreciate the nostalgia.

  Chapter Fourteen

  Cadence closed her eyes and just held the papers in front of her. Most of them didn’t make much sense. They were all written in the Doctor’s nearly illegible handwriting. Closing her eyes helped her to focus her energy, to give her brain a moment to process what she did know and understand. There had to be some kind of special order to the ingredients that went into the drug. Every time she’d tried to replicate it, she’d come up with something she couldn’t use. Either something was missing, or she did it wrong because she didn’t understand. For someone who was supposed to know everything, she knew next to nothing. She hated not understanding.

  “What am I missing?” she asked out loud.

  A male voice laughed from behind her. “Do you want me to just tell you, or would that ruin all the fun?”

  Cadence hadn’t been expecting a reply, least of all a stranger. When she faced the voice, she found a teenage boy standing in the doorway. His dark hair was shaggy and fell over his dark eyes. “Who are you?”

  “Dallas. I’m staying here, remember?”

  “Oh, yeah.” She’d completely forgotten. The whole point to the group not meeting at the Apartment was because of him. Of course he was going to hear her making noise down in the laboratory and come investigating. She would.

  He didn’t move from the doorway, keeping his distance. “Didn’t mean to scare you.”

  “It’s fine. My own dumb fault. Do you actually know the answer?” she asked quietly.

  “Nah, I was just messing with you.” The subtle smirk he wore on his lips suggested otherwise, however. “I came down to see who was here. Thought it might have been Orly coming over to practice. I’ll leave you alone, though.”

  Shrugging, she returned her attention the stack of papers in front of her. “You don’t have to if you’re lonely or bored. Sometimes a little distraction or someone to bounce ideas off helps.”

  “You trust me enough to brainstorm?” he inquired, raising an eyebrow.

  “Orlando trusts you with everything inside him. That’s not something he does easily.”

  Dallas moved into the room, taking a seat in the desk chair near the computer. “No, it’s not. I’ll try not to disappoint. Science was never one of my best subjects, so I make no promises.”

  “Like I said, distractions are welcome too.”

  “So long as they don’t come from aliens.”

  She scowled. “And how do you know about all that?”

  “I know all and see all.”

  “I thought you just stalked Orlando when you were in the ghostly realm.”

  He laughed. “I followed you once or twice just to get a feel for who he was hanging around with. Gotta look after him.”

  What did he see? What did he know? How did he know? It was one thing for him to follow her around and see what she did all day, and another entirely to get inside of her head.

  “Psychic.” He cleared his throat. “Again, don’t mean to bother you. Just thought I’d give you an explanation so you don’t have to sit and wonder if you’re doing something wrong. Because it’s not obvious that they make you uncomfortable, the aliens, I mean.”

  Relief washed over her. She would hate for Jaes or Alan to think she didn’t want to be around them, Alan especially. Her gaze narrowed on Dallas. “For the record, you being in my head makes me uncomfortable.”

  “I’ve heard that before a few times.”

  “Learn to control it.”

  He dropped his gaze to his feet. “Working on it.”

  She didn’t believe him, and made sure to mask that thought as best as she could so he didn’t pick up on it. If he knew what she thought of him, he wasn’t reacting in any way. He made no attempts to defend his actions or his mindset. Orlando may have trusted him, but if Dallas enjoyed being a psychic know-it-all, then she couldn’t extend her trust to the same lengths. Reading her mind was like reading her diary. Only the lowest of the low stooped to that level and felt no remorse.

  To make matters worse, Jaes popped into the room. Couldn’t she be left alone in peace when she worked? The sight of his hazel eyes all lit up with excitement, however, lessened her irritation. Hopefully it meant he had good news.

  “I made a breakthrough,” he said. Then he noticed Dallas sitting at the computer and frowned. “Am I interrupting something?”

  “No,” Cadence said, folding her arms in front of her chest.

  Jaes gave Dallas a weak smile. “Good, I would hate to be imposing myself on either of you.”

  “You weren’t interrupting anything,” she said, making sure her words were clear. Is he jealous? He’s acting weird again, just like he did when he popped in on JD and me. She’d always wondered with the way Jaes constantly watched her. Perhaps on Altura the people were more attentive to their company. Alan behaved in a similar manner. There was something subtle in how both young men gave her attention, however. She couldn’t put her finger on it, but that small something made her wonder if perhaps there was more going on in regards to both of them.

  Dallas was smirking, nodding in her direction, like it was his sly way of hinting she was on the right track.

  It’s just because I’m good-looking, she decided. Once puberty hit her a long time ago, guys tended to “fall in love” with her easily based only on her hourglass curves, smooth dark skin, and luscious dark hair. She was also taller than most girls, giving her the appearance of a model. Despite all of the male attention, she’d never given them much thought. That wasn’t going to change just because the men who wanted her to notice them were older and more mature. Too bad for them.

  “So, you had a breakthrough?” Cadence said, trying to get things back on track.

  Jaes moved closer, reaching into his vest as if to grab something from inside. He glanced back at Dallas and stopped. “Yes, I had a significant breakthrough in the lab on my ship.”

  Stretching and yawning, Dallas stood from his chair. “I’ll let you talk business. Cadence, if you feel like talking anytime, just come on by.”

  “Sure,” she mumbled and waited for him to leave. When she was sure he was gone, she spoke in a rather low voice. “I don’t think he’s anything to worry about, but try not to get too excited, if you know what I mean.”

  “Of course,” Jaes said, also keeping his voice low. “I suppose I should have waited to contact you. Before coming here, I’d tried your house. When I saw you weren’t there, I hoped you’d come here to work. Impulsive of me, I know. You were the first person I wanted to talk to. I’m glad you were here and not somewhere else. Saturday is a popular night to go out and do things, or so I’ve heard.”

  She nodded. “Typically, most teens are hanging out. I’m not most teens.”

  “No, you are not.” He licked his lips. Again, he reached into his vest, and this time he pulled out a small vile of black liquid. “I replicated the drug.”

  “You…replicated it? That’s not one of the samples?” She reached for the vile, grateful he let her take it from his hands. Slowly, she shifted the contents inside, examining the slow speed in which they moved. “It’s thicker than some of the samples were.”

  Jaes still beamed all the same. “But it didn’t combust and it has all of the ingredients in it. This is a huge step. Before, I could only get a few of them to cooperate before dissolving, exploding, or turning into something equally useless. Major progress. I’m sure I don’t have the proportions just
right, but I wanted to share the order, the way to mix them all together, that sort of thing. And perhaps you have found more information on how to make it more cohesive?”

  “I’ve been, admittedly, distracted,” she muttered.

  “If this is too much for you to take on at once, I can continue to work on my own on the side,” he said softly.

  She shook her head. “No, I need this. It clears my head. There’s just—”

  “A lot going on, I’m aware. I’ve been tasked with a lot of the same assignments Alan has right now, and I know they are dangerous and time-consuming. Though I’m sure he hasn’t given you those details as of yet, you’re intelligent enough to figure out your next mission will be a doozy.” He raked his lower lip between his teeth. “And I know you have classes, and your mother. Not to mention all of your other…relationships.”

  How much had he been spying on her? Or was Alan talking a lot more than he should have about her personal life? “It’s not anything I can’t handle.”

  “From what I know about you, I’m confident you will be able to. And from personal experience, all I can suggest is to not be too hard on yourself if you don’t move on with your life after one day. It doesn’t make you less of a person. If anything, you’re more thorough when dealing with your own wellbeing. So many people downplay the importance of mental health,” he said.

  Cadence absorbed his wisdom, meditating on every word. “I feel so stupid. Not just for caring so much, but for letting it all happen in the first place. That’s the hardest part for me to get past. I was stupid. It’s still part of who I will always be—the stupid girl.” Rather than jump to argue with her, Jaes leaned back against the wall and nodded without a word. Tears welled up in her eyes and she had to look away from him. “I thought I was done with all of this. With knowledge there is supposed to be more confidence, right? Isn’t it supposed to be some kind of increase in personal power, or whatever?”

  “The thing I’ve noticed about having more intelligence is that there is a lot more room to doubt. Logic creates the opportunity for questions. If you want self-confidence, you need to start applying more faith into your life. Faith in yourself, so you can act on blind instinct. You won’t always have the time to analyze everything, and not everything is meant to be analyzed to begin with.” He laughed. “Honestly, is there anything logical about love? I certainly don’t think there is.”

  “You’re assuming my issue is with love,” she said flatly.

  He cracked a small smile. “What is it you say here? My bad? If nothing else, just remember that you don’t need to do everything with your brain. You have a heart too.”

  A heart that was busted up pretty badly, but she didn’t want to get into those details with him. Though she was curious about what his personal experience with relationships was. Jaes was so strong and solid, so independent. It wouldn’t have surprised her in the slightest if he had been single all of his life up until that point.

  “I think these are the numbers for the proportions,” Cadence said, pointing at a set of four different measuring units written on a piece of paper. “On the files I was able to swipe from the computer, they’re listed again in a recipe for salad dressing. The Doctor was clearly paranoid about someone stealing his work.”

  “And rightfully so, since you succeeded in doing it,” Jaes pointed out.

  She shrugged, smirking a little. “He should have been more careful, though I’m sure the computer down in the tunnels didn’t have records of everything he’s ever done. It wouldn’t surprise me if he had another machine he used to keep backups of every piece of data on.”

  “A master hard drive of sorts.”

  “Yup!”

  “That would be useful. It would help us understand the drug more. Though, now that I know how to make the drug, we can deconstruct the last sample we have and get the exact measurements of the components. This is an incredible development. We can do so much with this. Think about all of the people we can help.” Jaes bounced on his heels, his positive energy was so vibrant and exciting, it was contagious.

  She couldn’t help but smile. “A counter-formula to return the taker to normal would be awesome.”

  “What? Why?” He frowned.

  She did as well. “These kids were assaulted and forced into having superpowers. That’s not a normal thing for people here on Earth, if you hadn’t noticed. You talk about rehabilitating teenagers to put them back in the state they were in before. Not having abilities would fit into this goal.”

  “I confess, I wasn’t thinking about the things it could do on your planet,” Jaes mumbled.

  No, I suppose he wouldn’t think about that. She pursed her lips, refusing to show her displeasure in any other way. Of course his priorities would be his home and the war. Did any of the Alturans truly care about what happened on Earth? The aliens had already fought on another planet and from what she understood, the outcome had not gone well for that world. Yet the Alturans moved on to another planet anyway.

  Jaes picked up a piece of paper, reading over the notes on it. “Would you want to go back to normal?”

  “Yes,” she said, no hesitation present. “I’m one of those people who wants to be rehabilitated.”

  “I understand, though I do think it’s a shame. Your gift is something you’ve always had inside of you. To me, it’s like denying a piece of who you are if you were to get rid of it completely. You won’t be whole.” He squinted at the paper for a moment. “Do you think any of this is important?”

  Sighing, she took the page from him, smirking at how he gasped. “Yes, I do think it is. If it wasn’t, the Doctor wouldn’t have bothered keeping it around. I’ve learned every phrase is an observation of the drug’s side effects. It’s the numbers I’m trying to figure out. When it comes to the side effects, those aren’t written down in any of the files I got from the computer. I’m not sure why he wanted to keep them separated. My guess is, the files were put together for someone else to use. Which is why the formula itself is coded as a food recipe, and the main focus is his personal log. Kind of like...”

  “Kind of like?” he asked softly.

  “Like he’s gathering up notes for writing up a proposal. The computer files were so neatly organized on the laptop I hacked. Not like I expect him to be disorderly necessarily, but I know my computer isn’t exactly the neatest when I’m busy doing a lot of stuff on it at once.” She went over to the desk so she could look at the electronic files she had stolen off the Doctor’s computer months ago. Files that seemed to be a whole lot of rambling about his personal thoughts on what was going on, but didn’t provide any new information—or so she had originally thought. “I think those pages you’re sitting on are his way of brainstorming. He thinks better with pen and paper, but it doesn’t make much sense. Then he comes over to the computer and types it up. Only, he didn’t put everything on the laptop we found. Because it wasn’t his laptop. It wasn’t even his backup machine for traveling. He was going to give it to someone else.”

  Jaes let out a soft whistle. “Someone who is interested in the drug and all it can do.”

  “Yes! In the beginning, the language of his personal logs is hesitant and more emotional. The more time that passed, the more he became more technical and more like a sales pitch. All of these teens he’s experimenting on are his proof that the drug is useful. So who would he be trying to sell it to, do you think?”

  “That’s a long list,” Jaes said. “Governments from both of our worlds, corporations, or individuals who run black-market operations back on Altura. If the drug is more effective at unlocking abilities than the Wimosiphyer, then they’ll be jumping on the opportunity regardless of how safe it is. There are lots of people on Altura who suffer the same problem JD does. The abilities don’t want to make themselves known. It’s a damaging disorder to be diagnosed with.”

  Cadence could believe it. The lack of obvious evidence of JD’s abilities bothered him, a lot. He clearly liked to overcompensate fo
r it in other ways, determined to prove his worth to the team. What would it be like to live on a planet where having superpowers was a normal thing? And what would it be like to be one of the few who didn’t get to show off such power? It had to be a leading cause of depression.

  She tapped her chin. “What are you going to do with the last sample?”

  “I told you, deconstruct it. Only this time, it won’t be destroyed in the process…hopefully.” Jaes gave her a weak smile. “It’s incredibly unstable. Why do you have so much hesitation in letting me have it?”

  Her gaze remained on the computer screen, even if there was nothing to look at anymore beyond the exotic waterfall picture displayed on the desktop. I could use a vacation to a place like that. “The last sample we have is the one that belongs to Angela. It’s the same formula she was given. When I read about how the side effects of the drug work and then look at her, I notice how she isn’t having a lot of the same problems. There aren’t any downsides to her power; she’s not physically different. I mean, if anything, she’s healthier than ever.”

  “And if those things are because of the drug, we’d be able to find out,” Jaes stated. “It will be in good hands. I promise.”

  She trusted him enough to believe his words. Everyone else on his ship, sans Alan, she wasn’t so sure she about. “Only you can work with it. Please, do that much for me.”

  “Of course,” he said.

  Reluctantly, she got up and went over to the shelf where she hid the final sample of the drug. I hope I don’t regret this later on. She gave it to Jaes.

  “Thank you.”

  She nodded, slowly. “Sure thing.”

  “You’ll be the first person I tell of my findings. Between this and the upgrade formula we were given, we’ll be able to learn so much.” He paused. “We should celebrate. Not tonight, I know it’s late, but sometime, it would be nice. Don’t you think?”