Chapter 27

The hospital room was dark and quiet, save the noises of the machines Alex was hooked up to. I approached him, feeling the guilt resurge at seeing he was on a ventilator. He can’t even breathe on his own? Though I wasn’t trying, his thoughts came through as clearly as my own.

Why can’t I wake up? I can’t stay like this…somebody should just pull the plug.

I couldn’t hold back the tears this time. What kind of monster am I, that I could do this to someone? Someone who wasn’t even trying to abduct me or rape me.

Jay squeezed my hand and released it. I nodded and moved out of the way, a silent acknowledgement for him to start.

Jay placed his hands on Alex’s head and heart. Then he closed his eyes. I could feel the heat from where I stood next to him, it was so powerful. When his hands started to glow, I gasped. I wanted so much to touch him, feel that incredible energy.

Then the door to the room clicked open.

Shitballs, what do I do? There was no way I could explain either of us being in that room.

In the shadows I couldn’t make out the person, but I overheard a conversation.

“Can you check the even rooms? I’m just about to finish up my shift.”

Must be the nurse, doing her rounds. If she finds us here, we’re screwed. Should we just teleport and come back? I glanced at Jay, but he seemed so deep in concentration, I didn’t want to disturb him.

I looked back at the nurse, thinking over and over: you don’t want to come in here, you don’t need to come in here.

She stopped and scratched her head. “Why am I here again?”

Holy shit, did I just do that? Only one way to find out… I thought: you forgot to write it down, no change in his condition.

“I swear, I’d forget my ass if it wasn’t attached.” She grabbed his chart by the door and scribbled some notes. “Good enough.”

By some miracle she left, closing the door behind her.

Jedi mind control? No fucking way! It must be part of my power. I giggled, feeling oddly proud and eager to explore the limits of that ability.

Jay shot me a quizzical look, but I just smiled. “I’ll explain it later,” I whispered.

The glow from his hands burned brighter and then subsided, disappearing as if it were never there.

Alex’s eyes shot open, and the machines he was connected to worked themselves into a frenzy. I stepped back, hoping he hadn’t seen me. Fuck that awkward conversation.

“Let’s go,” Jay said. He grabbed my hand, right as the door to the room opened. We teleported back to his apartment, before the nurse saw us.

“You did it!” I hugged him, amazed we were able to pull that off.

“I only wish I could’ve stayed. He’s going to be sore once they take the IV out—”

“It’s fine, he’s awake and that’s enough,” I said. “Thank you so much.”

Jay nodded. “I didn’t sense any major problems, it was as if his brain had just short-circuited or something. Do you know what happened?”

“Not really.” It wasn’t a lie—obviously my power was involved, but I wasn’t entirely sure how it happened.

“I get the feeling I’m not the only one who did something cool in that room,” Jay said, smiling coyly. “Someone was about to come in, right? Thought I heard the door open at some point.”

“Yes! And I stopped her with a suggestion.”

“No way, mind control? Are you serious?” Jay seemed about as excited as I, in all his geeky glory. “Do it to me!”

I laughed. “Really? I mean, I would like to practice it. But what if I hurt you?”

Jay arched an eyebrow. “Duh, I’m a healer, remember?”

“Oh yeah. Okay. Tell me if I hurt you.” I was about to try to project a thought into his head, when Jay doubled over.

I helped him stay on his feet, holding his shoulders. “Jay, what’s wrong? Are you sick?”

“It’s…Vi,” Jay managed, through clenched teeth. “She’s in trouble.”

“No, she’s fine, she’s just in the…” I ran over to the bedroom to go check on her and found the room was a wreck. The dresser lay in pieces on the floor, and the bed was tilted on its side, the mattress half-spilled off. What the fuck? I thought Steve was on board, did he seriously just kidnap her?

I rejoined Jay, who was still doubled over. “They must have taken her.”

“If we don’t save her soon, she won’t survive these injuries,” Jay whispered. I could see he was trying to heal himself, but he appeared to be having difficulty.

I nodded, grabbed his hand and teleported just outside of Derek’s compound.

It was one thing to kidnap me. But taking Vi? That motherfucker is going down, in a glorious Tarantino brains-splattered-all-over-his-precious-compound kind of way.