I thought back to the dream the night of my father’s death. Jack’s hand in mine. He’d led me down the long, white hallway. I looked up at Kyle. “You haven’t been trying to kill me?”
“Of course not,” Kyle said.
“If you’re telling me the truth, then someone else is inside my head.” Another altered clone? Did I even believe Kyle? I wanted to.
My mind raced through each occasion when someone had been inside my head. It wasn’t always inside a dream. Sometimes, I started out fully awake. I was awake when I dove into that pool. I just didn’t have control of my own mind and body.
“If I’m telling the truth… Lexi, you have to believe me. We’re in this together. I dragged you down here for one purpose.”
“And what purpose would that be?” I asked, defensively.
“I need you. We need each other.” He ran his hand through his hair. “There are consequences to our powers. Sandra has been working on ways to fix that.” Kyle glanced past me, over my shoulder.
“Consequences. To entering peoples’ dreams?” I couldn’t help but wonder if Kyle had another power. Did he know if he did?
“I suffered temporary blindness every time I got inside your dreams.”
“And every time you slip inside Dani’s dreams?” I asked.
Kyle’s face softened. His cheeks drooped at the mention of Dani. “I don’t always lose my sight when I’m with her. I’m learning to understand my limits. I’m learning control.”
“Kyle, we have to find Dani. We can all get out of here.”
“Don’t you get it? There is no escape.” A distant look passed over him before his focus returned to me. “We can only learn what The Program is meant to teach us. Besides, Dani isn’t in trouble. She’s not one of us.”
Before I could respond, the door opened behind me. I whipped around. It was Seth. His black bow tie hung loose, untied around his neck. “Well, this is convenient.” He unbuttoned his sleeves and, one-at-a-time, rolled them up to his elbows.
Kyle sat in a chair beside Jack. Rubbed his hands across his face. He showed no surprise at Seth’s entrance.
I looked anxiously at Seth, then at Jack. Jack! Please wake up.
“Well, it seems Kyle is one step ahead of me. Did he show you around?”
I studied Seth. Was he here to help me escape? Could I even run and leave my friends to this craziness? There was no way I was leaving Jack like this. His eyelashes didn’t even twitch. Not a single movement. Thankfully, I could see the rise and fall of his chest.
“No?” Seth answered his own question. My palms were a sweaty mess. “Well, allow me. This is the new location of The Program. This is where you will learn more about your abilities.” Seth stepped closer to me. “Starting tonight.”
Tonight?
He gestured with his hand toward the next bed. “Lexi, meet Addison. She’s like a sister to your beloved Jack. She’s the reason he would never have left with you tonight. The fact that he feels responsible for her predicament… well… just proves how soft he is.” Seth seemed to think about that a second.
Addison lay lifeless like Jack. Long, jet-black hair draped across her pillow. She had the most flawless skin I’d ever seen. The machines beside her were lit up like Christmas trees, but remained silent.
Seth continued past Addison to the next bed. “And this is my beloved sister.” He leaned down and kissed the infamous Dr. Sandra Whitmeyer on the forehead.
I stared at the third lifeless body. I moved closer. How was this possible? I was finally seeing Sandra with my own eyes, but I still couldn’t believe what I saw.
It was me, only thirty years into the future. She was lying in a bed with a tube down her throat. “What’s wrong with her?” I reached a shaky hand to the end of the bed, steadying myself.
“Coma,” Seth said.
“For how long?”
“Can we just get on with this?” Kyle jumped up from his chair and crossed the room.
No reaction registered on Seth’s face from Kyle’s outburst.
“Get on with what?”
“Lexi,” Seth began slowly. “I promised Jack I would help you escape, but that was when my sister was still safely at the UK Hospital. Cathy moved Addison and Sandra late this afternoon. I’m afraid I need you here. You’re the only one who can help her.”
“Why did Cathy move them?”
Seth’s face darkened several shades of red. “Because she could. Because she has control over her brother. And because she wants complete control over me, Jack, and The Program.”
The thickness in my chest was back. The crazed look in Seth’s eye had me digging the heel of my hand into the spot over my heart. I glanced from Sandra to Addison to Jack, and then I counted the number of steps to the door. I would never make it. Seth and Kyle were both twice my size.
But I was fast. I could come back for Jack.
And Danielle and the others.
“If you’re thinking about running, let me assure you there are guards crawling all over this campus, and there is no way you’re getting past the electric fence.”
I swayed on my feet, suddenly lightheaded. “What do you want from me?” I asked, deflated.
Seth’s lips lifted. “That’s my girl.” He walked over to stand by his sister, glancing over his shoulder at a dark, glass window at the far side of the room. A one-way window, maybe? “Okay, I want you to stand there.” He pointed to the opposite side of the bed.
I positioned myself between Sandra and Addison. Kyle backed up against the opposite wall, watching while chewing on a hangnail.
I stared down at the older version of myself and swallowed hard against the urge to vomit. “You want me to heal her,” I whispered.
Seth stared at me, but stayed silent. Kyle shifted, appearing uneasy.
“I don’t even know what’s wrong with her.”
“She tried to alter her genetic make-up by injecting stem cells into her own brain.”
My mouth fell open.
“Something went wrong.” Seth stared down at his sister’s face. I tried to imagine the emotion he felt for her. Admiration, maybe. Or did he feel responsible for her? “I think you’ll be able to see the damage to her brain.”
“Why would I heal her?”
Seth’s eyes lifted to meet mine. “Because you have no choice.” He looked nervously at the dark window again. “And because she has the knowledge to help all of you with the unintended consequences of your powers.”
Did I care about that? I wasn’t all that sure we should use these powers to begin with. Especially since I had a super bad feeling about The Program and the intentions of Cathy DeWeese and Dr. Wellington. Dad hadn’t mentioned Cathy’s involvement.
Just when I thought the situation couldn’t get worse, the far door opened, and in walked Cathy and Dr. Wellington. “What’s taking so long?” Cathy asked. She glided over to a wall of cabinets, still dressed in a bright red suit.
“Well, Lexi, I guess you have a lot of questions,” Dr. Wellington said.
I remained silent, not taking my eyes from Cathy who pulled several items out of a cabinet. She proceeded to place a needle on the end of a syringe, then tipped a small glass bottle upside down. After sticking the needle into the bottle, she extracted the clear liquid.
Dr. Wellington didn’t seem to care that I ignored him. Cathy turned and walked toward me.
Don’t come any closer, Cathy. I screamed inside my head. Then I thought to Jack. Wake up!
Blood immediately began trickling out of my nose. I leaned over and wiped it on Sandra’s bed sheet, leaving a disgusting streak of dark red.
“Now, let’s see what you can do. We don’t have any more time.”
What was that supposed to mean? “I guess we’re going to skip over the formality of discussing why I no longer think you have my best interests in mind,” I said. “You know. As the wife to my legal guardian.”
Cathy’s lips slowly stretched across her face in a smile that would chill
sand in an African desert. “I guess some personality traits did survive the cloning process. You have a smart mouth just like Sandra.”
My eyes followed the syringe she waved through the air. “Exactly what do you hope to accomplish tonight? I’m obviously not going anywhere.” I gestured toward Dr. Wellington standing guard by one door and Kyle standing at the other.
“Seth says you now understand your power. Tonight, we all get to witness a miracle as you bring Sandra out of her coma.”
“I thought you hated Sandra. Why would you have me do this?”
“Because before she slipped into this state, she discovered a way to stop some of the side effects of your… abilities.”
“So? What exactly is going on here? What do you hope will come of our abilities?”
“You’re just as dramatic as Sandra. Always needing to know every last fact before making one single decision.” She took a step toward me. “We’re not bad people, Lexi. We just want to help you use your gifts… for good.”
Somehow, I doubted that. Or maybe Cathy’s and my definitions of “gifts” and “good” were different. “If The Program is meant to help and you mean us no harm, then why all the added security? And what’s in the syringe?”
Cathy’s smile grew. “All in good time. You’ll learn everything you need to know, and you’ll see that we’re actually the good guys.”
Are you freaking kidding me with this? I wanted to scream. Instead, I kept my face emotionless and my voice even. “What if I fail?” Did I really want to know the answer to that?
Again, she smiled and a chill moved through me. “Let’s not find out.” She waved the syringe at Kyle. “Now stand next to her and let’s see what she can do.”
Kyle approached me with an apology in his eyes.
“Why are you helping her?”
Kyle looked nervously at his uncle and Cathy. “I have to. I have to know what Sandra created me to do. And I need her to take away my blindness.”
He made a move.
I held up my hand to stop him. My eyes drifted to where Jack lay, defenseless. “No, I’ll do it. Whatever you want.” A small part of me died inside.
Chapter Thirty-Four
I backed up so I could see all three beds. Seth shifted on his feet. Anticipation flitted across his face. The other three watched Sandra for the slightest change.
I closed my eyes and imagined Sandra’s brain. I immediately saw neurotransmitters, neurons and receptors at work. In biology class, we had discussed how the sleep aid Ambien works on our brains—by binding to certain receptors and thereby altering how our brain processes sleep. This had to be how any drug designed to make us sleep or alter our brain activity worked, right?
Except in Sandra’s head, electrical impulses fired from neuron to neuron through the chemical synapses. Her brain looked like the Fourth of July. Something was wrong though. Fluid pooled in small quantities in various areas of the brain. It was almost as if her brain activity was no longer communicating with the rest of her body.
I couldn’t believe it. I actually saw the spots that needed repair—the tiny holes causing the leaking of cerebral fluid in the brain, thereby causing her state of unconsciousness. What would happen when I healed Sandra Whitmeyer, the mastermind behind an army of cloned healers? Was I destined for imprisonment at Wellington? A life of being forced to play God for the mad scientists who killed my father?
Were Cathy, Dr. Wellington, Seth and Sandra all conspiring with the IIA to control the clones who were just beginning to learn about their abilities? Would I let them control me?
No, thank you.
I could hear Cathy tapping the syringe against her palm. What would she do to me if I failed? Could I live with myself if I succeeded?
I turned my attention to Jack, picturing his brain in my head. It was perfect. Just like a picture from a textbook. Except, by some miracle, I could see a substance binding itself to the receptors of many of the neurotransmitters. Like Ambien, only stronger.
A chill started at the base of my neck and traveled like an avalanche down my spine. I needed this boy lying in that bed. He had become so important to me. A lifeline. What would he tell me to do right now? My stomach clenched.
Think, Lexi.
Next, I pulled up the image of Addison’s brain. It wasn’t her brain that captured my attention, but the condition of her skull. A large, disfigured circle on the back of it was a different color from the rest of the skull. Like it had been replaced with artificial matter.
Jack. He had healed her other injuries—the skull, maybe—but not the brain. That was what Seth had told me. Addison’s brain was nothing like the perfection I had just seen in Jack’s. Addison’s brain showed two major contusions to the front and right sides.
A huge weight pressed down on my chest. I forced my breathing to be steady and controlled.
“What is she doing? Is it working?” Dr. Wellington asked. The natives were getting restless.
I kept my eyes shut tight. It was decision time. I had seen the brains. I had no idea if I could heal or even help any of them. Or what would happen to me if I did.
“Remember who she’s cloned from. Who knows what she’s doing,” Cathy said with enough sarcasm to practically break my concentration. “It goes against my better judgment to even allow her here.”
“She’s never tried this. Give her time.” Seth was a walking contradiction. One minute he reminded me that I had no choice but help his sister, and in the next, he protected me. Still, I feared what his reaction would be when I failed to bring his sister out of the comatose state—when he no longer needed me.
I blocked them all out and concentrated. If I had any hope of staying alive, I was going to have to give them something they wanted. If I had any hope of escaping, I had to go against the beliefs and values I’d held firmly for most of my life.
Did I have to do it their way? Was there another way? I may have been created with a purpose, but I also had a choice. I would find a way to accept my fate and use it for good. Or I would die trying.
I blocked everything out of my head. All sounds. All smells. All visions. Except for Jack and Addison. More specifically, I brought up their brains like I was viewing them on an X-ray reading machine.
Then I honed in on the many receptors inside Jack’s head, all coated with a substance—a drug—designed to make him sleep and block me out. With my mind, I flushed that substance out of his brain, through his body and into his stomach. There, like bad shrimp, it churned until it had to be expelled.
Jack’s breathing changed from a slow constant to a more rapid inhale and exhale. Even though I kept my eyes shut, I heard the sound of liquid hitting the bed and the floor in front of him as he projectile-vomited everywhere.
Cathy shrieked.
“Ugh!” Kyle shouted.
Jack gasped for breath. “What the hell?” I suppressed a smile.
The smell hit me, playing with my own gag reflexes.
Tightness began to creep up the back of my neck. A slow fire ignited at the base of my head. I felt woozy. Similar to how I’ve always felt when I mindspeak, but amplified.
Once again, I shut out everything in the room that didn’t matter. If I had any hope of doing what I needed to do, I had to concentrate.
I entered Addison’s brain having no idea how to help her. I only knew I had to try. Like Jack’s, the receptors inside Addison’s brain were coated with a substance that I assumed kept her securely in a coma while the rest of her head injuries slowly healed.
Thinking that Addison might not survive the violent throwing up I had just put Jack through, I decided I would bypass doing anything with the foreign substance keeping Addison safely in sleep.
Instead, I focused on the contusions, massaging the larger one with my mind and willing the indentation to the brain matter outward.
The outer rim of her brain began to transform and smooth over. The contusion had all but disappeared when the throbbing pain behind my eyes worsened.
<
br /> I swayed. I reached out a hand and steadied myself on the bed beside me. I wasn’t sure I could keep going.
“What is going on here? Why is Lexi here, Seth?” Jack’s voice broke through my concentration. “Lexi, what are you doing?”
“You can’t stop her now,” Cathy said. “You’ll kill her.”
“How can you be sure this won’t kill her anyway?”
“A risk we had to take.” I heard the frigid temperature of Cathy’s words.
I tried again to shut out their voices.
Lexi, can you hear me? You don’t have to do this.
I did though. I couldn’t stop now. Jack was going to help me escape tonight and leave him here. He never would have asked me to heal this innocent little girl who was like a sister to him.
Now, he wouldn’t have to.
When I was nearly certain I wouldn’t collapse from the throbbing in my head or the dizziness, I got to work on the second contusion. Though smaller on the surface, it ran deeper. The tissue beneath the surface was a dull gray color. Still, I managed to nurse the injury while fighting the increasing feeling of nausea and blocking out the voices in the room.
Slowly the concave area of the brain pushed out. The tissue gradually took on a healthier color, similar to the perfection of Jack’s brain.
The pain behind my eyes grew in intensity. I gripped the sheet on the bed beside me.
“Lexi?” Jack’s voice was like a soothing drug.
Skin brushed against my arm. My eyes sprang open. Jack’s dark blue eyes were the first things I saw. The room tilted. The walls seemed to close in. I stepped backwards to catch my balance and bumped into a rolling cart. I reached for Jack, but missed him completely as my eyes went fuzzy.
Both hands grabbed at air as I slowly fell backwards. Jack reached for me, his eyes wide. It was too late. I collapsed to the floor.
Jack kneeled beside me. I stared up at him. “What are you feeling? What hurts? Do you feel sick?”
I blinked once. Twice. Too many questions. My head was an exploding inferno. I grabbed on to his soaked shirt and pulled him to me. His ear to my mouth. “I did it,” I whispered. “I healed the damage to her brain.”
He pulled back. Instead of relief and happiness, his face registered alarm. His eyes were huge. He gripped my shoulders with each hand.