“I’ll try…”
“I promise, it’ll get easier the more you work at it,” Leesha encouraged her.
“What about me?” Sam asked. “What do you want me to do?”
“You and I are going to split your lists. You take the staff members, start with nurses and residents in the OB – see if you can locate any information on them – which ones are still alive, and if so, where do they live, what are they doing? Are they still practicing? We’re eventually going to need to figure out which ones to try and make contact with.”
“Okay.”
“I’m going to take the patient list and do the same. I’ll start with the nursery and the children’s ward and work my way out. I’m also going to take a shot at some more avenues at finding Dr. Blevins. He’s got to be out there. We’ll find him.”
“That’s a lot of work,” Sam commented, all business. “Next meeting?”
Lexi looked up. “Sam, we’re off on Thursday afternoon – we’ve got a half day of school that day. Leesha, what time do you get out of school?”
“Usually 2:15, but my last period is study hall, so I can get out earlier than that.”
Sam took charge. “Let’s meet at the pizzeria on Fourth Street. Lex and I can get there and order, Leesha – you just meet us there when you can, okay?”
“Sounds great! Send notes or call before then if you find anything earth shattering,” Leesha said as she headed to the door.
We are on our way to finding you, pal. Watch out.
Chapter Twenty-three
Sam hit his research with a new vengeance that weekend. He started by tapping into the hospital server to see if he could find any connections between the staff at the hospital and Dr. Blevins’ background. At first glance, he didn’t find anything that struck him as immediately out of place. No one had gone to the Naval Academy for their education, or served any time in the armed forces.
He then cross-referenced the resumes of the nurses and residents with any former employer of Dr. Blevins. Still nothing glaringly out of place.
Dead ends. All I keep running into is roadblocks. Are you kidding me?
So in the end, he spent hours researching each and every one of them – their careers before, during and after their time at Sartori. Three nurses and two of the residents were deceased, so could officially be classified as dead ends, as they obviously couldn’t be interviewed.
From the nursing staff list, seven had retired, two of which were out of the country, so they would be hard to contact as well. Of the other five, only two were still in the area – Sam made note of the most current contact information on them and filed it away.
Eight residents were on staff in the OB at that time. Three transferred to other facilities out of state – one was now a pathologist in Scottsdale, Arizona, one was in private practice in upstate New York, and another was the director of obstetrics at the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota. None were easily accessible.
In the seventeen years that passed, only five staff members that worked back then were still at Sartori. Sam took note of the names – two nurses and three residents, who were now doctors – and filed the information away. He knew his next step was to try and interview these five in person. They were the easiest to access, as they were still in town, but it would have to wait for another day. He made a mental note to try and access the hospital’s staff schedule tomorrow.
Finally on Sunday evening, after long hours of digging everywhere he could think of, he shut down his computer and gave up for the night. Sam’s head ached from staring at the computer screen too long.
I wonder what Lexi’s doing.
Although his abilities stayed steady, Sam usually tried to block his intrusive skills, especially in his own house – out of respect for his family.
So he decided to first try and look through the walls to see what she was doing. She was there, sitting cross-legged on her bed. Not doing anything. He watched for a while, but got frustrated that she didn’t seem to be doing anything. Her television wasn’t on, she wasn’t listening to music – so his ears told him – she was doing absolutely nothing.
Last resort. Her thoughts.
Tapping into what he felt was the utmost invasion of privacy, he found her concentrating on her ability. She was frustrated that she lost her powers a couple of hours ago, and worried about when the next flash would come. Rather than continue to listen to her thoughts, Sam thought the more honorable vehicle of communication was to talk directly to her. Walking through their joint bathroom, he knocked on her door.
“Lex? Can I come in?”
“Sure.”
He opened the door. “Whatcha doing?”
“Nothing,” she sighed.
Duh. Like I didn’t already know that.
“Did you already know that?”
Oh crap. She’s on to me.
“I was just checking on you. It was awful quiet in here.” Not a total lie.
“I was just thinking about everything that’s happened over the past couple of days. Trying to get a grip on everything,” she gave him a half smile. “I don’t think I’m doing a very good job – getting a grip.”
“Don’t worry about it,” Sam shrugged. “I didn’t at first either. I’m still not sure I completely have.”
“Do you really think someone – a human being – is responsible for doing this to us?”
“I guess so. Leesha thinks so, and I trust her judgment.”
“Why? I mean, why would anyone do this to us?”
“We haven’t figured out the why yet. All we’ve been able to figure is the when and the where.”
“In the hospital, when we were babies, right?”
“That’s the only connection we’ve been able to uncover at this point. It makes the most sense.”
“But how?” Sam could tell that Lexi was having a hard time sorting out all of the details, among everything else that was racing through her mind at the same time.
“I don’t know, Lex. Right now we’re trying to track down the who part of the equation.”
“And you think the who is Dr. Blevins?”
“He’s my best guess at this point. He’s got the background, the education, the experience and the opportunity. Plus, he went to jail for something – we don’t know exactly what – but whatever it was, it must have been illegal. Hopefully once we find him, we can figure out the how, and most importantly the why.”
Lexi paused for a few more moments, thinking. “So this jailbait doctor just walked into our hospital room, did something – we have no idea what - to us, that years later made us go through this horrible pain and gave us crazy powers…”
“That’s our theory.”
“Makes us sound like the teenage mutant ninja turtles.”
He laughed a quick whoosh of air out of his lungs, sat down on her bed and shrugged. “That may be the best explanation I’ve heard so far!”
They laughed softly for a moment, and then Lexi turned serious again. “So what can I do to help track him down?”
“I’m not sure you should do anything just yet, Lex. You really need to work on your powers. Specifically controlling them during your flashes. You can’t be going through a flash in public, scream in pain, then just suddenly disappear from sight! People might notice.”
“Okay, you’re right.”
“I’m always right,” Sam said and she slugged his arm. “I know this is frustrating for you right now, but Lexi, if you’re going to help, we need you to be able to focus and control yourself. You’ll get there. Your flashes will stop soon, and then you’ll be able to help in other areas. But for now, just try NOT to let others in on this little secret, okay?”
“Okay,” she sighed. “But you’ll let me know if I can do anything else?”
“I promise.” And she knew he meant it.
Chapter Twenty-four
Sam continued to follow Lexi through school on Monday. She was nervous about having another flash, so while she didn’t talk much
to her friends, he could hear her thoughts race. By the time they got home from school, she was so relieved that she didn’t have to go through the pain at school, she was giddy and wouldn’t stop talking to save her life.
I’m sorry I asked… Since when has she EVER talked to me this much?
She continued to pace and talk, talk and pace for two hours straight. She pumped Sam for information about his research, talking a mile a minute. Then she changed subjects to ask him about Leesha’s abilities and theories until Sam heard his mother’s car coming into the neighborhood.
“Lex! Shhh… Mom’s coming.” He lifted his nose into the air. “And she’s bringing home Chinese! Sweet!”
Lexi turned from him to bound out the door to help their mother with the bags of dinner. “Hi, Mom!”
Suck up.
At dinner, she continued to blather on about this and that. Sam was so bored from her constant chatter, he tuned the dinnertime conversation completely out, and focused on detailing his next steps of research information he would gather. He needed to tap into the current hospital server and see if he could find a rotation schedule for the staff for the next couple of weeks – or however long they had set already. He also wanted to do a detailed criminal background check on all of them – just in case anyone else had been in trouble with the law for some reason.
That might be another connection. Good thought…
All of a sudden his mind snapped out of his to-do list as he heard his sister mention Leesha’s name in the middle of her babbling. His head snapped up and he tried to concentrate on what she was saying before she said too much.
Shut it, Lexi!
The table went suddenly quiet, and Lexi’s mouth shut and her eyes met Sam’s.
His mother looked from Lexi to Sam and back. “What were you saying, dear? Who is this Leesha?”
“Oh, she’s just a girl we met at a study group once. She doesn’t go to our school, but she’s really nice,” Lexi tried to change the subject. “Hey Dad, can you pass the moo shoo?”
Did you just hear me?
Sam saw her look up at him again, and heard her think “Yes, I heard you, moron. Quit yelling at me!”
I just projected. I JUST PROJECTED! Awesome!
Lexi was smiling back at him and thinking “Yes you are! That’s great – congratulations! This is going to make talking to you so much easier!”
Fantastic…
“I heard that!”
He couldn’t help but feel a little smug. He was making progress.
Sam did a little research that night, printing a copy of the hospital rotation and on-call schedule, plus a criminal background check on each of the staff members on his list, but wasn’t able to do much more than print and file the paperwork. He needed most of his evening to finish an essay that was due first thing in the morning.
He finished shortly before ten, and was beat from the evening’s excitement. He took a quick shower, brushed his teeth, and literally fell into his pillow asleep.
The next thing he knew, he was being awakened by Lexi’s voice. “Sam!”
His eyes flew open. Now with his heightened sense, he couldn’t tell if it was light or dark, so he looked at his clock to determine the time. 3:45 a.m.
“Sam!”
It sounded like she was close, but after a quick scan of the room, figured that she must be calling to him from her room. He wondered if she was awake, or was dreaming and calling to him from her sleep. He swung his legs out of his bed and walked towards the bathroom door to go and check on her.
“Sam!”
This time, the sound of her voice was behind him, so he knew she was in fact in his room. And this time he could hear her jumping up and down with glee. But he still couldn’t see her.
“Lexi?” he whispered, not wanting to wake his parents downstairs.
“I’m over here.” He still could not see her, but could tell from her voice that she moved again – this time to the other side of the room.
She’s screwing with me. At 3:45 in the freaking morning. Wait…
“You flashed?” His mind was alert finally.
“Yep!”
I can’t believe I didn’t hear her.
“Why didn’t you come get me? I would have helped you.”
“Well, the pain was bad, but by the time my brain woke up and I realized what was happening, I decided to take advantage of being alone.”
“Why?”
“I wanted to see if I could manage the power while the burn was running through me.”
That makes sense.
“Did you? Were you able to?”
“I did, Sam! I was able to turn it off and on whenever I wanted to! You know what this means, don’t you?”
“Lexi, first of all, please show yourself. I feel like I’m talking to an imaginary friend!”
In a blink, she appeared, standing in the corner of his bedroom. Her arms were crossed in front of her, and her smile couldn’t have been any bigger.
“Thank you. Now, what does this mean?”
“That I don’t have to be afraid to flash in school or public! I can handle this, Sam. I can!” She seemed as excited now as she was when she first discovered what her power was.
“That’s good, Lexi. Really, great job!”
“Sam, I want to do more! Give me something else to do.”
She really does want to help. One step at a time…
“Well, Lexi, first thing’s first. Have you documented any of tonight’s flash?”
“No. Not yet.” She sulked like this boring task was not the job she wanted.
“Go get your laptop and bring it here. I’ll help you. Then we’ll work more on stretching your powers.”
“Okay. Thanks Sam!” She ran off to get her computer.
Well, she gets an A for enthusiasm.
Chapter Twenty-five
Lexi’s power – the ability to make her body’s matter transparent – was not as easy to sense coming and going as Sam’s was. When Sam’s abilities shut off, he instantly sensed the difference in his hearing, smell, sight. Lexi’s, on the other hand, was more of a light switch effect, in that you had to mentally turn it off and on.
Sam was sitting in his trig classroom the next morning, trying his best to not pay attention to the teacher’s boring demonstration, when he glanced through the door and saw Lexi pacing back and forth outside his classroom. Tapping into her thoughts, he heard the frustration and disappointment in her voice when she told him that her power vanished. They continued to have a silent conversation from classroom to hallway as Sam practiced his projection skills.
“How did you find out?” Sam asked.
I hope she’s not testing this in the middle of her classes…
“I was in the bathroom – alone, Sam – and tested it in the stall.” She sounded crestfallen.
“Lexi, it’s okay. It’ll come back. I know you’re excited about all of this, and you’re doing everything you can to stretch your powers, but it’s not going to all happen overnight.”
“I know, but it’s so infuriating!”
“Lexi, calm down. First of all, you need to stop pacing in the hall. People are going to notice you’re acting weird.”
“Oh. Sorry. Didn’t think of that.” She stopped pacing and paused by a bulletin board to act like she was reading the material. “I just needed to talk to you, and knew you’d see me.”
“It’s fine. That’s better. Are you sure no one saw you in the bathroom?”
“Yes, I’m sure. Sam, I know how careful you and Leesha want us to be. And I understand why. I’m not a total dope.”
“I know, Lexi, but sometimes your enthusiasm gets out of control…”
“You’re right. I know, you’re right.”
“I’m always right – didn’t I already tell you that?”
He heard her grunt through the wall.
“Secondly, Lexi, I promise you’ll be back soon. My flashes came and went, and so did my abilities. And I promise I
was just as frustrated as you are – maybe even more so, once I got the hang of controlling them.”
“Really?”
“Really. Just be patient. But quit acting like a lunatic in the halls. We can talk about this more after school. For now, make sure you write down the time you think you lost your power, and we can log everything at home, okay?”
“Okay.” She still sounded bummed, but Sam knew he couldn’t do much about that.
Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday came and went, and Lexi still hadn’t flashed again. She barely spoke to anyone in her sullen gloom, not even silently to Sam.
I swear, girls are the moodiest. She’ll be a blast at our meeting this afternoon. Can’t wait…
But when she sprinted into the pizza joint after their half day of school, Lexi looked like she was busting at the seams with joy.
“Did it happen again?” Sam asked, his clipped question in obvious code.
“Nope,” she sighed. “Not yet.”
“Then what’s with the sudden change in attitude?”
This oughta be good.
“I just thought of a way to help in our research!”
“Okay… What is it?”
“I’ll tell you, but let’s wait for Leesha. I don’t want to explain it twice.”
Like talking’s ever been a problem for her.
“Fine,” he said. “Let’s decide what to eat. I’m starved.”
Suddenly, Sam felt a sense of déjà vu, but couldn’t quite put his finger on it. His head snapped up and he concentrated on testing his senses. Nothing sounded out of place. He did a quick scan of the room – didn’t see anyone or anything out of the ordinary.
“What is it?” Lexi noticed that he had a strange look on his face.
“I’m not sure. Probably nothing. Something just feels weird.”
He mentally scanned the room, tapping into the thoughts of everyone. There was nothing strange about the mental or verbal conversations around him. He then peered through the restaurant walls outside to see if he could find anything weird. Still nothing.
I must just be losing it. All this super power business is messing with my head.
He took one more glance around, only to see Leesha coming in the front door to meet them, and his mind cleared to focus on the work that they needed to cover. She smiled as she greeted them and sat down.