And then, just as suddenly, it was gone. Lexi’s body stilled, her eyes cleared, and her expression glazed over with questions Sam knew he’d have to answer.
I forgot how quick my first flash was.
“Are you better now, Lex?” Sam asked cautiously. “Is it gone?”
“Is it gone?! You’re asking me if it’s gone, like you know exactly what just happened to me,” she accused and questioned in the same statement. “Sam, do you know what just happened to me? You know, don’t you?”
“Not entirely. But I’m working on finding answers. I’m working with someone else who has been through this, too.”
“What do you mean you’re working on it? How do you know all of this?” she demanded.
“Do you remember what happened to me a couple of weeks ago in your car?”
Her expression sobered with the memory. “Uh-huh.”
“It’s happening to me too. There’s a lot to explain. And there’s someone I want you to meet. I’ll try to explain as much of it as I can, but you’re going to have to open your mind and trust me. Okay?”
She paused, silent. “Okay, Sam. I can do that.” She knew she didn’t have many other options.
“I’ve got to send a note to my partner. I’ll be right back.”
“Your partner?”
“Yes. We’ve got a meeting tomorrow after school – you’re coming. I want you to meet her – she’ll have more answers,” he turned towards the stairs. “Oh, and Lexi?”
“Yes?”
“Don’t tell Mom and Dad yet. Not until we know what this is.”
She stared at him in total disbelief. He bolted up the stairs and got his cell phone out to send Leesha a text.
“Bringing company to our meeting tomorrow. It’s time you meet my sister.”
When Leesha got his text, she knew exactly what that meant.
In the end, Lexi was so tired after her episode, Sam wasn’t able to get much out of her. He did ask her if she felt anything different about her body.
“No.” She was so exhausted, she couldn’t even put together long answers for him.
“Any more burning?”
“Nope. It’s gone now.”
“What were you doing before it happened?”
“I had just gotten home,” she reflected. “Thank goodness that didn’t happen while I was driving!”
You can say that again.
“And nothing feels weird? Your vision’s okay?” he continued to press her.
She looked around the room, “Yes.”
“Hearing – anything louder or softer?”
“Nope.”
“Smell – anything different?”
“No, Sam. What is this all about? I’m so tired, I just want to go to bed and sleep it off.”
“Okay, Lexi. I’m sorry,” Sam conceded. “It’s fine. Leesha and I can explain it tomorrow when we meet. You go get some sleep. We’ll talk later.”
“Okay, thanks Sam. I just want to forget it for now. My brain’s too tired to do anything else.”
As she walked towards the stairs, Sam took a closer look at her. She did look tired. She had dark circles under her eyes and she was walking gingerly, like someone had beaten her up. She turned to him at the bottom of the stairs.
“Sam?
“Yes, Lex?”
“You called this a headache?”
“It’s the best way I could explain it at the time.”
“It’s one heck of a headache,” and with that, she disappeared to her room upstairs.
Not long after, Sam went upstairs to try and finish the research he had started the two days before, but he had a hard time concentrating on the task at hand. He kept finding himself walking into the bathroom to peek through the crack in the door to check on Lexi. She was sleeping peacefully each time he looked, but he wanted to be close by, should she have any more episodes.
At dinner, he explained to his parents that she mentioned not feeling well, and she was napping in her room. They seemed mildly concerned, but didn’t question him further or go to wake her and check on her. Lexi slept all the way through the evening and through the night until her alarm woke her up the next morning.
When Sam did sleep that night, he had both bathroom doors wide open, just in case he needed to hear Lexi. He never did. So for most of the night, he just laid in his bed, wide awake with worry.
Chapter Eighteen
The next day flew by in such a way that Sam and Lexi never got a moment alone. Sam was in and out of the shower, and heard Lexi turn on the shower later than her normal routine.
Must have overslept.
By the time she hit the kitchen, Sam was downstairs with both parents, so she couldn’t ask him the array of questions that finally started to build up in her brain as the shower steam cleared her muddy head. She remembered that Sam wanted to be discreet in front of the parents, so she opted not to ask too much.
“Um, Sam?”
“Yeah, Lex?” he shot her a warning look.
“Are we still on for that study group after school this afternoon?”
“Yep. It’s at 3:15, at the coffee shop.”
“What study group?” his mother asked perkily, trying to be involved.
So not the time to dig, Mom.
“Oh, a few of us are getting together to share notes for a trig test next week.” Sam hoped that his mother couldn’t tell he was lying. When he tapped into her thoughts, he knew she bought it.
“What time do you guys think you’ll be home?”
Lexi shot him a questioning look. He was in charge of talking, since he was the one with all the details.
“We’ll be home for dinner, Mom. 6:30-ish?”
“Sounds great. I’m off – have a great day at school!” She leaned in to kiss all three of them on the cheek and breezed out the front door.
Sam didn’t see Lexi much at school that day either, but they never normally saw each other – they didn’t share a single class this semester. When they did pass in the hall, there were too many people around to have a private conversation. Sam could hear the frustration and nagging questions in Lexi’s thoughts, and wished he could reassure her.
I wish I could reverse this mind reading thing – that I could project my thoughts into someone else’s head. Hmmm… I’ll have to ask Leesha if that’s a possibility, and if so, what I need to do to practice.
In the end, they never got any time alone during the school day. Even after school in the parking lot, they just shot each other knowing glances across the parking lot, signaling that they would meet in a few minutes at the coffee shop.
Sam walked in first, followed a few seconds later by Lexi, and Leesha instantly saw the family resemblance. They both had All-American looks with thick, wavy blond hair – his shorn fairly short, hers pulled back in a loose ponytail. Their eyes were the same shade of green, and although Lexi was a few inches shorter than Sam, they had the same athletic build and look.
Sam saw Lexi step in the door behind him, so paused to let her catch up, then led the way for her. As they approached the booth Leesha was in, he turned to Lexi for introductions.
“Lexi, this is Leesha. Leesha, my twin sister, Alexis.”
Leesha could see the fear in her eyes, so cautiously stood up and slowly reached out her hand. “It’s nice to meet you Alexis.”
“You can call me Lexi. Everybody does.” She smiled a little, but both Sam and Leesha could tell she was still very uncomfortable and scared.
“Here, sit down. I’ve got lots of questions.” Leesha decided she would take the lead, and the pressure off both Sam and Lexi. “Sam, you did your research?”
“I did.” He pulled his four fat envelopes out of his pack and Leesha’s eyes bugged with the mass of information he brought with him.
“You’ve been busy!”
“A little,” he smiled proudly. “I’ve got some leads for us.”
“Good,” she said, but gave him a quick, discreet nod towards his sister. ?
??Let’s start with the most important part first, though. Lexi, how are YOU doing?”
“Um… I’m feeling better after yesterday, if that’s what you’re asking. But I have a lot of questions. Sam and I haven’t had much of a chance to talk. I was so tired yesterday after everything happened, and we’ve not been alone since. So I don’t know much about what’s going on. Can you fill me in?”
Leesha looked at Sam, then back at Lexi. “What did Sam tell you?”
“Not much. I didn’t give him a chance…” she said, almost embarrassed. “He told me that I wasn’t dying, it was just a flash of pain, and that it would go away. And it did. He stayed with me the whole time, but then I was so tired I went straight to bed.”
“She slept for sixteen hours,” Sam interjected.
Leesha turned to Lexi and touched her sleeve. “Can you tell me what happened? Don’t leave out anything.”
“There’s not much to tell,” Lexi sighed. “I just came in the door from school and all of a sudden a burning pain started in my temples and took over my body. I dropped to my knees, and I couldn’t breathe. It felt like I knelt there for hours, but it was probably no more than thirty seconds or so before Sam came in.”
“And the burning hit your entire body – head to toes?”
“Uh-huh.”
Sam interrupted to ask Leesha the question that was nagging him. “Why do you think it happened only in your head, but affects my and Lex’s entire body?”
“I have a theory on that,” Leesha answered. “I believe that since my abilities are concentrated to my mind only, my head is the only thing that was affected when the chemical makeup in the body changed. Your abilities, however, reach and are accessed throughout your whole body, so the progression of whatever this is affects your whole body.”
“I guess that makes sense,” Sam shrugged.
Leesha turned back to Lexi. “What can you do?”
“What do you mean what can I do?” Lexi looked puzzled.
“You haven’t told her?” Leesha shot Sam an accusatory glare.
“Haven’t told me what?”
“No, I haven’t told her. I haven’t had the chance. I got to ask her a few questions, and didn’t see anything out of the ordinary. We didn’t get any further than my first line of questions. It’s not something you can just bring up over the breakfast table!” Sam shot back at Leesha.
“HAVEN’T TOLD ME WHAT?” At that, both Sam and Leesha stopped glaring at each other and focused on Lexi and her terrified expression.
“Okay, Lexi, I’m going to start from the beginning and give you the highlights.” Leesha took a big breath. “Stop me at any point if you have questions.”
“Okay.”
“I started having these flashes when I was fourteen. For me, they lasted about three months. They came and went, each time they were a little less painful, but lasted a little bit longer. About the second time it happened, I realized that it was changing the makeup of my brain, and creating a special ability inside my mind. My power is telekinesis.”
“Wait… You’re telling me this is going to continue for MONTHS?” Her expression increased from terrified to horrified.
Sam grabbed her wrist. “Yes, but it gets easier, and it eventually ends. I think mine are done.”
“When did yours start?”
“About three weeks ago.”
“So yours didn’t last for months?” Lexi asked hopefully.
“No, Lex, they didn’t. We don’t have anyone else at this point to compare with, but we think that the flashes act a little bit differently. We’ll learn more with yours.”
“Great. Like a lab rat. I can’t wait.”
“We’ll help you through it,” Sam promised.
Lexi turned back to Leesha. “Your brain changed?”
“Yes. I can now move things with my mind.”
“I don’t believe you.”
Sam chuckled under his breath, and Leesha used her mind to push a napkin across the table to rest in front of Lexi.
Lexi shook her head in denial. “That was just a breeze. That’s not possible for a person to do with their mind.”
When she took her eyes off of Leesha’s and looked back down at the table, Leesha’s glass of water was suspended in the air, gliding gently towards Lexi. She set the glass down in the center of the napkin.
“Are you serious? You really did that with your mind?”
“Yep. Pretty cool, isn’t it?” Leesha gave her a half shrug and tried to sound nonchalant about the subject. She could see that Lexi was struggling to wrap her brain around the entire topic. It was a lot of information to process in one setting.
Lexi then turned to her brother. “Can you do that, too?”
“No, I wish,” he shot Leesha a jealous glare. “My abilities are more centered around my senses. My hearing, sight, smell, taste and sense of touch are all heightened. Like right now, I can smell the cinnamon they just opened in the back kitchen and I can hear the gentleman in the far corner of the room as his thumbs text a message on his Blackberry.”
Lexi looked up to glance over Sam’s left shoulder, and sure enough there was a man in a ball cap texting on his gadget.
“How did you know it was a man? Did you see him when we came in?”
“No, he just sat down a few minutes ago. I could tell by his aftershave, which he really needs change.”
“Then how did you know it was a Blackberry?” Lexi was still in disbelief.
“The keys make a different sound than phone ones, plus the screen has this annoying little hum when it is lit up. I doubt anyone else can hear it, but it sounds like a mosquito in my ear.”
“That’s amazing!”
“Wow, Sam,” Leesha finally interrupted them. “You really HAVE been working on your skills. I’m impressed!”
“I told ya I would.” Sam turned back to Lexi. “Mine are new. We haven’t really figured out everything yet. There are still a lot of questions, and Leesha’s having me test different things – like projecting my sense of touch beyond objects that I’m not actually touching. Which reminds me… Leesha, do you think I can reverse the mind reading ability – like project my thoughts into other people’s heads, rather than catch their thoughts in my head?”
“Hmm… That’s an interesting theory,” Leesha started to consider it, but got interrupted.
“You can read minds?!”
“Oh yeah,” Sam smiled at his sister. “I can’t believe I left that part out. It’s probably the coolest part!”
“Prove it.” Lexi closed her eyes.
“Lexi, you can’t just sit there thinking that you don’t believe me. Give me something else.”
She opened her eyes, then shut them again.
“Mom’s chocolate cake. Of course, your favorite. Give me something harder.”
Her eyes flew open in surprise. “You could have just guessed that!”
“Then give me something harder!”
She shut her eyes again, this time pinching her eyebrows together in concentration.
“A brown Hermes saddle bag,” he said, then paused to think. “That’s what you wanted for your birthday? That’s so snobby of you, Lex!”
“How could you possibly…”
“I told you!” Sam smiled back at her smugly.
“Can you do it all the time? Did you hear how mad I was at you this morning for taking longer in the shower?”
“Yes, I can do it all the time, but I do try and block it out. It’s a little annoying – some of the thoughts. And yes, I did hear you this morning, but it’s not my fault you overslept.”
Lexi glared at him. Then, resigned that this was happening to her, she turned back to Leesha for information. “Okay, tell me everything, from the very beginning. Don’t leave anything out.”
And both Leesha and Sam took turns telling their stories to Lexi, detail by detail, until they downloaded all of their experiences to her. After that, they walked her through Leesha’s theories, and the research th
ey both put in up until today’s meeting. It was getting late, so they didn’t have time to review Sam’s new information and everything Leesha gathered in her work, so they decided to meet again that weekend.
Since the twin’s parents were out of town on Saturday, they opted to meet at their house – it was private, casual, and Sam could sense that Lexi would prefer to stay close to home as much as possible, just in case she was hit with another flash. He couldn’t help her much at school, but once they were home – and she’d be spending most of her free time at home – he’d know how to combat the pain.
Chapter Nineteen
He caught the boy’s eye as he sat there in the coffee shop, but he was pretty sure that Sam didn’t notice anything unusual about his presence there. He was there to eavesdrop on the prearranged meeting between Sam and Leesha, but the addition of the twin was a bonus he wasn’t expecting. She must be coming into her own set of powers.
In the end, he was too far away to hear much of the conversation, other than a few bits and pieces. They seemed to be filling her in on the details they gathered to this point. It didn’t matter anyway, the biggest piece of excitement was that the twin – Lexi – was now in the circle. He took out his blackberry to send a note to his research assistant to tell him the news. “The twin is here. Must be phasing. Will send you her power once I know.”
He got an immediate response back from his very efficient and resourceful assistant, which made him glad that he decided to keep him in the end, rather than terminate him for his knowledge of the project. The latter had been a fleeting thought once a few years ago – you never could be too careful with those you shared your secrets with. There had been a few casualties, and he was smart to dispose of them. They would have ultimately exposed him for what he was trying to do. But Charlie proved himself faithful, and so he remained on staff, and would until his resources were no longer needed.
As he watched them, it struck him as sheer dumb luck that he had three of his patients together in one place. With each one he found, he had to uncover their power and send the information to Charlie, who then would figure out the chemical combination that was administered in its dormant state seventeen years ago. He was also responsible for finding the most current pharmaceuticals similar to what was used almost two decades ago. Charlie then compiled the medical charts that were lost so many years ago and updated them with the most current medical alternatives. Unfortunately it felt like they were often working backwards – find the power, then document the mixture that caused it.