Celestial
Page 28
DEDICATION
For Henrietta Soos
1936–2014
You were the bravest person I’ve ever known,
and I will miss you every minute till we meet again.
About Susan Fodor
Susan Fodor is the author of The Silver Tides series.
A dreamer. Wife. Mother. Friend. Dessert enthusiast. Theologian/Pastor. Australian. Passionate.
Bi-lingual—English/Hungarian.
Overly involved with fictional characters.
Avid supporter of International Talk Like a Pirate Day.
Has eclectic taste in music, food, and clothing.
Enjoys taking random photos of Tuvok her cat.
And always has time to look for the best in people.
For release dates, contests and random musings:
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Comet Cotillion
(A Celestial Mini-Wave)
Sutton Shields
The Helena Hambourg House for Maladies, evening. Today was a draining day…and by draining, I don’t simply mean the emotional kind. I spent a grueling twelve hours locked in a cold, gray room, strapped to a rotating table, with Madame Helena and one of her sadistic doctors hovering over me. With every flip of the table, they would stab me with scary-big needles and drain my blood. Now, I have the ever-fashionable hospital bandages decorating my neck, wrists, thighs, and temples. So not cute.
The Helena Hambourg House for Maladies housed unusual youths. Yes, I was, am, and will always be unusual…and apparently dangerous to world order. Insert epic eye roll. You see, somewhere along the way, humans evolved into something a little more than human—they started developing gifts, talents. Such talents—or malfunctions, as Madame Helena calls them—ranged from the relatively common practice of telekinesis to soul swapping with actual demons. In my not-so-humble opinion, we constitute a pretty kick ass subset of mankind. Unfortunately, our government doesn’t agree. Thus, we have institutions like Madame Helena’s. The simplest solution in the government’s mind was to remove the freaks from society, shove them in an institution, and throw away the key. The real kicker? Madame Helena and all adults who head these institutions also have powers…and they may use them…against us. Nice, huh?
Institutions like Madame Helena’s typically employ doctors who have zero problems partaking in unethical medical practices. The doctors usually perform gruesome procedures in an effort to remove our talents from our bodies. Some days, it was mental torment designed to convince us that our powers were evil; other days, it was physical torture…like today.
My talent? They classify me as a Reader. I can read the future in a regular old deck of cards—the very same kind you’d use to play a game of Go Fish or Poker. Granted, it wasn’t the fanciest talent, but when it can predict everything from war to impending tragedies, illnesses, and death…well…it really was kind of awesome. Thus, from eight o’clock this morning until nearly nine o’clock tonight, the doctors tried to drain my card reading ability. Of course, their efforts didn’t work; I have made it my personal goal to never let those prejudiced bastards win. Ever.