Crossed Off: Isolate (Part VII)

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Starla and Alec arrived at Marissa’s house just before dinner time. Things were a bit awkward at first, so Mrs. Mendegale decided to make things more awkward by starting the conversation. “So, Miss Wakefield, I am pleased to finally have proof that Marissa’s penpal isn’t a forty-year-old man in his mom’s basement.”

Alec nearly spit out his food.

“Mother!” Marissa chastised.

“Don’t insult the company, dear,” Mr. Fanchild complained to his wife.

“I’m just trying to lighten the mood,” Mrs. Mendegale insisted.

Alec nodded and spoke before finishing his green bean, “that’s what I’ve been trying to convince my friends.” He squinted and jabbed his fork towards her. “You and I understand each other, Mrs. Mendegale.”

She smiled, and for a few minutes, the only noise heard was the sound of silver on porcelain.

Starla caught Mr. Fanchild eyeing her wheelchair a few times, unable to resist his curiosity, but also unable to voice it. “I have a rare degenerative disease,” she volunteered. “They haven’t even had time to name it after someone yet. The full name is something I can’t pronounce, but that’ll probably change to Wakefield Syndrome in a few years.”

“I’m sorry, I was staring.”

“Don’t worry about it,” she told him genuinely. “The disease operates with a bottom-up structure. It started in my toes and has worked its way up to my waist. Eventually, it will reach my neck and I’ll be fully locked in. The doctors aren’t sure whether I’ll even be able to move my eyeballs or eyelids.”

“I’m sorry,” he repeated, but this time for a different reason.

“Starla, Alec, and I are going to meet some friends at the skating park,” Marissa said, changing the subject. “We’ll need to leave soon.”

“I wish you wouldn’t go there,” Mrs. Mendegale said. “It’s far too dangerous. And what about her wheelchair?”

“Well, it will roll down the ramp a lot better than my feet do, so I think she’ll be all right.”

“That’s not funny.”

“So is your face.”

Mrs. Mendegale closed her eyes and sighed before looking to Alec, the only other adult in the room besides her husband. “She learned how to think for herself last week, and we haven’t figured out how to reset her to her factory settings.”

She gave her mother a playful grimace as the only reply.

Marissa pushed Starla down the sidewalk while Alec meandered in the street nearby. “I’m not sure if I’m up for a large crowd tonight,” Starla admitted. “Do you think there will be a lot of people at the skate park tonight?”

“We’re not going to the skate park. We’re going to The Dust Fountain.”

“No one goes there,” Alec said. “Why are we?”

“I have a present for you.”

“And what might that be?”

“Well,” she began, “Tristan found that superhero league in Missouri, and Sendoa met that cloner guy in France, I figured it was time for me to contribute.”

“You don’t mean...”

“I do. I too found someone else with superpowers.” Marissa reached down to give Starla a hug around her neck. “It would seem that you’re all coming together like a jigsaw puzzle. I say that it’s meant to be.”

“Marissa,” Starla whined. “I came here to isolate myself from these people.”

“She’s not a these people. She’s my best friend.”

“Therasia?” Alec guessed.

“That’s right.”

“Why didn’t you tell us about her before?” Starla asked.

“You asked me to keep your secret, and she asked me to keep hers. But you’re here now, and I’ll be the last to admit that death comes for us all, but I kind of feel like you should meet her before you stop being able to speak. Don’t wanna be morbid or anything.”

Alec looked like he was planning an escape route.

“It’s fine,” Starla said to calm him down. “She’s right. I’m not going to be myself for much longer. I have very little to lose. Maybe René was wrong. Maybe I’m the one person who doesn’t have to fear people finding out about abilities. What’s the worst they could do to me?”

Alec moved over and stopped the wheelchair by the armrests. “I can think of a thing or two, and I’m not the psychopath. Imagine what they could come up with?”

“If I do imagine that, am I not one of the psychopaths?”

“Starla,” he said in his fatherly voice.

“You can leave,” she said.

“Like hell,” he said, releasing her.

They came up on the Dust Fountain, an ancient relic of a time when the local government was attempting to revitalize the area decades ago. The commissioning of the large fountain nearly bankrupted them. If not for a rich man dying during his travels west who fell in love with the town and bequested his fortune to it, the fountain could have been all that remained. Instead, it was left almost perfectly alone; a kind of holy ground to act as a reminder of what might have been. It was never cleaned or maintained, and was only allowed visitors on rare spiritual occasions, but still it remained standing tall. Through rain and wind, it never crumbled, and no one really knew why. “Won’t we get caught here?” Alec asked as they approached. “I assume people walk by all the time.”

“Sure, if we’re above ground,” Marissa agreed. “But we’re going downstairs.”

After they had finished lifting Starla’s chair into the fountain, Marissa took a water bottle out of her purse and stuffed it inside the mouth of the large horse statue. “Therasia’s cousin discovered this,” she went on as the water drained from the bottle. “Rain can’t reach it accidentally, but some kind of catch is released when it fills up with enough water.” Once the bottle had been emptied, the entire statue twisted and revealed a winding ramp. “She’s hoping to use this as her superhero lair some day. No one else is aware of its existence, as far as we can tell.”

“Oh, my God,” Starla said. “This is amazing!”

“It’s like it was designed for you. You would think they’d have built it with stairs.” She took control of the wheelchair and headed down backwards, keeping Starla from rolling too quickly. “We have to hurry. Once the water drains all the way, the statue closes back up on its own.”

“This is brilliant,” Alec admired.

“Be prepared to say that again.”

They reached the bottom of the ramp and found themselves in the lair’s antechamber. Lit torches lined the wall, yet it was unrealistically cold. A girl walked in from a door on the other side of the room. She outstretched her arm while she was still a good distance from them, as if to shake their hands. “You must be Alec and Starla.” A large flame slowly grew from her hand and crackled softly. “My name is Therasia Jarvi. It’s nice to finally meet you.”

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Microstory 130: Therasia Jarvi

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Therasia Jarvi might have been the most powerful anomaly of all. She could manipulate the movement of atoms, exciting them or slowing them at will. This allowed her to make the immediate area hot, cold, or windy. With better control, she was able to generate fire, ice, and water. Other anomalies could do one or two of these things, but Therasia could do them all. The more she practiced, the better she became, and the wider her range. It was theorized that, if she worked hard enough, she would be able to alter the climate of the entire world. That she wanted, she could have destroyed the planet. Therasia lived in Winnipeg, Manitoba which was one of the coldest cities in the world. She was excited when she discovered what she could do, and hoped to one day use her abilities as a superhero. Unrelated to her abilities, her parents had trouble understanding her. She did well in school, and got along with her classmates for the most part, but she also had a strange way about her. The world of psychology was only recently starting to investigate autism spectrum disorder, and history would later suggest that she would have been diagnosed as belonging somewhere on the spectrum had the field been ready for her. She expressed ideas and made connections between things that people had trouble relating to. There were concepts in her head that made sense to her, but not to most others. She was one of only a handful of people to be put on a list by the founders of Bellevue, so they were able to find her with no prompting. They insisted that she complete tertiary school, but in the meantime, was allowed to visit the hotel regularly. A boy who was only a couple years older was just finishing college at the same time and was placed in a similar sort of probationary period. They quickly latched on to each other, but the other members made her feel equally as valuable. Before Bellevue, however, there was really only one person who loved her without question; her best friend, Marissa. And it wasn’t even until later that Marissa learned of her secret...

Microstory 129: Andrew Langlais

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There was something very poetic about Emmanuelle and her brother, Andrew Langlais. They were package deal. Through a rare process called superfetation, their mother became pregnant with Andrew at a time when she was already pregnant with Emmanuelle. The doctors were worried about complications, what with Andrew being three months premature, yet they were both born healthier than most. In fact, they grew up never having gotten sick even once. Though not considered twins, the two of them were inseparable. They did practically everything together, and knew all of each other’s secrets. One day in primary school, Emmanuelle broke her arm on the Vector field and was sent to the school doctor. An older girl was in the office at the same time with a painful illness. She was suffering from stomach pains, a migraine, and aches throughout most of her muscles. Out of instinct, Emmanuelle approached the girl and tried to comfort her by holding her hands. They both began to shake and their pores widened spontaneously, yet they were unable to let go. Blood drained out of the girl’s arms and forced itself into Emmanuelle’s. After the process was over, the girl was feeling better than ever. Emmanuelle, however, was not. She started to feel the same symptoms that the girl had before. She had somehow removed the illness from her and taken it into herself. Feeling his sister’s pain from the other side of the school, Andrew raced down the halls and burst into the doctor’s office. Again out of instinct, they grasped each other’s arms and repeated the process. Andrew pulled the disease into himself, but did not become sick like she had. Instead, he nullified it. He even managed to heal her broken arm at the same time. Apart, Emmanuelle’s and Andrew’s abilities were useless. He couldn’t heal anyone on his own, and she couldn’t heal anyone alone without suffering from their condition. They gladly joined Bellevue so that they would have the resources they needed to start a healing foundation. They could not heal other people’s physical injuries (though Andrew could heal both his own and his sister’s), but together they healed literally countless people of otherwise incurable diseases. After enough time, they stopped aging, and were discovered to be incapable death. They turned out to be two of only three true immortal anomalies.

Microstory 128: Donna Belmonte

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The entire population of a small town in Iowa was aware of the fact that Donna Belmonte was a medical marvel. Learning of her ability had sparked a major overhaul of their attitudes. The once dying town was reinvigorated with a desire to stay together. Many volunteered their time and energy into renovating the old and decrepit flour mill. Donna had unwittingly brought everyone closer, and formed a strong community that simply could not be broken. When she was a child, her vermiform appendix became inflamed. Though fairly important to the immunity response to disease, it was technically possible to live without, so hers was surgically removed. Later that week, she went in for a follow-up visit with the doctor who discovered her appendix to be fully intact. It had regrown. Despite hesitation from her family, the doctor began gradual and relatively safe experiments on Donna’s body. Over time, they found it possible to extract any organ from her, and it would grow back on its own before she died from its absence. Furthermore, her blood type was unlike any other seen before. Her brother insisted that they call it Blood Type K, and the name stuck. Her blood and organs were 100% compatible with anyone else’s body. There was not a single case of rejection. As the years went by, Donna was treated like royalty. She was given an unlimited allowance, the nicest house of all, and a team of dedicated guards. When she became a legal adult at the age of 16, she began to pursue her ability at full force, spending the majority of her time in surgery. A group of citizens were charged with transporting her organs across the continent, while another was responsible for making sure that no one noticed that they were all somehow coming from the same person. Amongst protests, Donna joined Bellevue at a time when it was still in its relative infancy. They promised that their resources would allow her to use her gift at its optimum level. Her neighbors were forced to accept her decision, and even ended up abandoning their homes to form new lives in the previously only hypothetical town of Bellevue, with the hotel at its center.

Microstory 127: Baldwin Grant

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When Baldwin Grant was in tertiary school, he came under the rage of a bully. The bully would torture him both physically and emotionally, but he was always careful to never leave a mark, or any other proof that anything had happened. He was always so nice to everyone else, so no one believed Baldwin when he made his accusations. Baldwin’s anger over the matter seethed in his mind, and he formulated a plan. He had always hesitated to use his ability because of the ramifications for the spacetime continuum. There was no telling what could happen after one of his jumps, but the bully problem had developed beyond any other choice. With the help of his little sister, he discovered that he could take other people into the past with him if he so chose, and it was this feature that allowed his plan to work. One day, in the middle of class, he stood up from his seat, walked over to his bully, and just began beating him ruthlessly. The teacher and the other students eventually managed to pull him off, but the damage was done. Baldwin smiled and threw his consciousness back in time to the moment just before standing up, taking only his tormentor with him. All of the sudden, the bully jumped out of his seat and started freaking out, claiming that Baldwin had just attacked him. Unfortunately for him, from the perspective of everyone else, that never happened. Only he and Baldwin had any memory of the event. The bully never went back to school, but stayed home to learn by private tutor while receiving counseling and psychological treatments.

Baldwin continued to hone his skills and study his limitations. He could only experience a span of time twice at the most. If he went back one minute, and then waited for two minutes, then he could only go back one minute at the most, because he had just hit his wall. He would never be able to go back to an earlier moment in his life and alter some older decision. He could, however, send his consciousness to witness an alternate reality that would have sprung from that altered decision, allowing him to see what might have been. When Baldwin’s former school bully, Gregory Schuster caught up with him many years later, he thanked him; not for the beating, but for opening his eyes to his inner demons. Older and wiser, the two of them became incredibly close friends. Together, they opened up a private practice and used the second part of his ability to help people understand their mistakes, and put their pasts behind them so that they could find peace and move on. Baldwin would go on to become a mentor for Verner Holt in his own goal of helping people.

Microstory 126: Connor Higgins

Click here for the list of every Bellevue Profile.

Like Helen Larkin, Connor Higgins was one of the few people to be categorized as meta-anomalies, in that his only ability was to negate other people’s abilities. Sandro Watts’ darts have no effect on him, Hosanna Katz cannot manipulate his feelings, and Patience Cooney would not be able to place him inside one of her stones. Though his ability to prevent others from using their abilities had limited range, he would always remained unchanged by them, regardless of how far they were standing from him. For instance, if fire manipulator Diane Ghoti was far enough away to create a fireball and send it flying towards him across the distance, a protective force field would surround him, even though the fire itself was really just like any other fire. But there was also a downside to this. There was no way to turn his ability off, or control its targets. Connor has never teleported with Jaklyn Simonds. He has never passed through a wall with Serenity Theodo. While it’s true that, if Catriona Rice were to turn invisible within view of him, he would be able to see her when no one else could, it is equally true that he has never been physically capable of seeing one of her magnificent holographic images, even as others do. Though he passionately wanted to join Bellevue and be a part of the group, it was simply too impractical at first. They couldn’t risk having him near someone like Blake Williams when there was a quake that needed neutralizing, or Ellen Snider mid-flight. Later on in the organization’s history, as growth became more and more necessary, he traveled the world and recruited non-anomalies for field and office positions, but he missed out on a lot of the goings on. He wasn’t alone in his job, though. His best friend, Bree Nolan stuck with him even though he prevented her from using her ability. There was one major contribution that Connor was able to make. When his blood was mixed into paint, and then applied to a room, that room could become an effective prison for anomalies. This would prove to come in very handy once Bellevue started encountering some disagreeable and dangerous characters.

The Advancement of Mateo Matic: April 12, 2036

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“How can we be sure that it worked? You could just be in the exact same position as you were before. You could have even been standing there for an entire year, and now you’re just pretending that it worked.” Leona, always the skeptic.

“I suppose you’re right,” Mirage replied.

“I am?”

“She is?”

“You’re right,” Mirage began to clarify, “in that you would never be able to know. You could jump for 300 days, and in those 300 years, I will never never aged. I could never prove to you that I was jumping through time.”

Leona and Mateo had no idea how to respond to that.

“I don’t know about all that,” said Parker, the same astronaut from a year ago. “But I do know that when you two disappeared last year, Mirage disappeared as well, and she reappeared at the exact same time.”

“Can her nanites turn invisible?” Mateo asked.

Leona and Parker laughed. Mirage looked at him like he was a three-legged puppy.

Parker? came a voice from the intercom.

“Parker here, go ahead.”

I have two visitors here who claim to be from Alyerr Base, but I can’t reach Alyerr on the comms network. They say they know you. One of them is named Gardner.

“That’s my mother, here to take us back home,” Mateo confirmed after Parker gave them an inquisitive look.

“Let them through, please,” Parker said into his comm before turning his attention back to the other three. “You’re lucky I manipulated the schedule to get myself back here at this time. I still wasn’t convinced that you guys were telling the truth about what you are, but I couldn’t risk some poor schmuck having to deal with you.”

“We appreciate the sentiment,” Leona said, half sincerely and half sarcastically.

Ironically, since the lawyers could never prove that their house exploded due to human error, Aura won an out-of-court settlement case. Reaver was forced to pay them millions of dollars. The look on his face was said to have been just absolutely hilarious, and reminded Mateo that he had yet to encounter the man in person. What would happen when that day inevitably came? In the future, Reaver’s message had suggested that they were somehow kept from killing each other directly, but that probably wouldn’t stop him from punching him in the face.

Aura spent a large amount of their money on a private spacecraft in order to retrieve them from the moon. Mateo tried to apologize for this, and for the exploding house, but she just said that she always wanted a spaceship, and that the blame for the house belonged solely to Reaver. Advances in space travel allowed the trip from the moon to take a matter of hours; the majority of their day that year. It could have been much worse. Some ships use less fuel and take days, which would have trapped in space during their jump. If Leona hadn’t fallen into his pattern, he actually might have tried doing that to see whether being in space could stop him from jumping at all, or if the powers that be would just cut their losses and let him die in the vacuum.

“I assume that you can’t simply leave Earth’s atmosphere without someone’s permission,” Leona said on the way back. “I mean, even if only rich people can do that at this point, is it not still heavily regulated?”

“It is. But it only took a few bribes to get out and back in,” Samsonite explained. “Though some collaboration has been taking place, space exploration is largely disjointed. If one country wants to send a vessel up, other countries can’t really dispute their attempt, unless it poses a clear threat to human life. Technically, we are subject to the laws of Japan as they were the easiest to contact regarding our intentions, and the most interested in keeping other governments out of their affairs.”

“I have another question,” Mateo said.

“Yes, honey?”

“How...does one...vomit space?”

“Are you asking for theory or practical application?”

Mateo just lurched against his seatbelts.

Samsonite quickly grabbed a pack from a drawer in the wall and opened it before handing it to Mateo. “Remember that there is no up and down. You’re going to have to propel the sick forward, and then use that liner to wipe your face before closing it and stuffing it into the ziplock bag as fast as you can.”

Mateo did as he was told. Leona didn’t seem to have any trouble, though she did always seem to have a stronger stomach than him.

Relatively speaking, when they were not far from Earth, an alarm began to sound. Then a voice came on the intercom, Private spacecraft Gelen, this is the Titan Exploration Project. Please come in.

Samsonite reached over and spoke into the microphone, “This is The Gelen. Go ahead, what’s the problem?”

We have been assigned to contact your vessel regarding an emergency. We are in the middle of experiencing a collisionally cascade. I repeat, a major Kessler catastrophe is occurring. They are currently using an ablation laser to clear the debris, but it will be another few days before you can return to Earth. Please enter an orbit of 3,000 kilometers and ration your supplies.

Samsonite shook his head urgently, “we have an injured passenger. We don’t have a few days before he dies. We have to reenter atmosphere now!”

I apologize for this. They are maneuvering the lasers as fast as possible. There is nothing that we can do. If you attempt reentry, you will all die.

“What happened?”

It was Reaver, sir. He sent an unauthorized unmanned space probe. It exploded and began the cascade. It’s...it’s awful out there. At last report, three people were dead, with several more still in immediate danger. You’re lucky to have still been out so far.

“What are we talking about?” Mateo asked.

“Space debris,” Leona explained. “When Reaver’s ship exploded, it sent shrapnel hurtling towards other objects. Those objects hit other objects, and it just keeps going. It would be like trying to walk across the highway. This is his latest attempt to kill you.”

“How did he know? We were so secretive,” Aura insisted.

“The question is, how are we going to get these two to safety. We cannot be in a moving vessel at midnight.”

“Can we go back to the moon for now?” Mateo asked.

“It would take too long,” Leona said.

“I can get you back down,” Mirage claimed. “Everybody put on your helmets. I’m going to be eating the ship.”

After some arguments, the four of them finally agreed that her plan was their best option, and their only chance for survival. As the ship drew closer towards the debris, they sealed themselves up. Mirage’s nanites chewed on the material of The Gelen and converted it to increase the number of her nanites. They were replicating at an astonishing rate. Mateo watched as the ship was being torn apart. It was only exposed to the vacuum for a few minutes before the nanites were numerous enough to create a second vessel around them.

The new nanite ship had a much smaller interior than the first so that the hull could be extremely thick and protective. Still, Mateo could tell that small pieces of the debris were damaging Mirage as they flew towards her at high speeds. She seemed to feel some level of physical pain. There weren’t any windows, but she kept them updated on how close they were to the surface. The kilometers she was listing off decreased alarmingly fast. Holes began to form between the nanites, but the structure continued to hold. Fire overwhelmed them as their descent was far too steep, but she was trying to get them down as fast as possible. Finally, they were in the air. Mirage transformed her shape so that she was more like a platform than a ship. They continued to fall, and she spoke to them through their comms, I’m doing my best, but I cannot decelerate fast enough. My nanites are faltering, and it’s almost midnight central time.

Mateo watched as the nanite platform grew smaller and smaller. Nanites were dropping away like flies. They weren’t strong enough to hold on to each other. She made one final push, trying to get them over the water. Mateo tore off his helmet and grabbed a handful of nanites, stuffing them down his own throat.

“I’m so sorry, Mateo,” Mirage cried.

“Stay with me, literally,” he yelled as loud as he could through the wind.

“I can either send my consciousness to the nanites you swallowed, or I can remain behind to save your family. I lied. The procedure didn’t work. I have been waiting for you for a year.”

An alarm rang out from Aura’s watch. “No!” Mateo yelled. Leona pulled him into a hug just before they jumped into the future. Mirage’s nanite platform was gone, along with his mother and Samsonite. They were still probably fifty meters up in the air...over land.

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Crossed Off: Confidentiality Agreement (Part VI)

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Once Kathleen had all of the information, she put on her game face and took charge. She ordered Tristan to go fill the car up with gas so that Alec could take a shower, then she started packing Starla’s clothes for her. Reading Kathleen into the situation was probably the best decision she ever made. She had become instantly protective of Starla. She zipped up the suitcase and carried it over to the door, looking outside to find that her brother had not yet returned. “Who is the closest geographically of your confidants?”

“Well, that would be Marissa in Winnipeg, Manitoba,” Starla answered. “Why?”

She looked at her watch as Tristan was pulling up. “You can trust these people, right?”

“Well, yeah, I can. But Marissa is even younger than me. I’ve become friends with her parents, but it took some time and convincing.”

“I hope it was enough. You should go up there, as long as the people from Hudson aren’t aware of her.”

“They’re not, but I’m not so sure about this. I mean, that man told me to stay away from people I don’t already know.”

“You barely know them. You’ve not met this woman who knows languages, and who knows who else they’re bringing?”

“Don’t you trust Denton?”

“No. It’s not like we’re married or anything.”

Starla had no argument, but still wasn’t sure this was enough to run off. She was just getting comfortable in Kansas City. She wasn’t being stalked by the government, or some other shadowy organization. She just wasn’t certain about a small group of normal people who hadn’t given her reason to fear them.

Kathleen could sense her persistent hesitation. “Tristan found this guy and his people in the area, right?”

“Yes.”

“If for nothing else, you should put some kilometers between you and them. Like, maybe around 1300. If one of them is worried about the others, then we should be worried about them too.”

“That makes sense.”

She looked at her watch as Tristan was walking up the steps. “I’m sure Alec is almost out of the shower. It’ll take you about seven hours to get there, so Tristan and I will help you get into the car now.”

“Thanks for this, Kathleen.”

“Don’t mention it. You’re family.”

After asking Marissa's parents for permission to visit her in person, Starla received a sort of telepathic call from another of her confidants, Sendoa Michel who lived near the edge of Bayonne. He had just gotten back home from a day of looking for work and was trying to relax on his balcony. Hey, Starla. How’s it going?

Not the best. I’m closing ranks, and going to see Marissa. You haven’t told anyone else about us, right?

Of course not, he replied. Tell me what happened.

Well, what happened with you?

We’ll get to that later.

Both Tristan and I found other people with abilities. One of them told me that I should basically not trust anyone else for the rest of my life.

That sounds kind of harsh, but I can’t say that I’m totally against it.

Are you surprised that I’m not alone?

He shrugged his shoulders. It would be a grand statistical anomaly if you were the only one.

Starla agreed. Did you need me for something?

Well, I have been having this strange feeling about a meeting that’s coming up. It’s a super secret job offer of some kind. I’m not supposed to tell anyone that it’s even happening, and you telling me that you’ve just discovered others like you has only got me worried more.

Why would it worry you? Besides it being so mysterious? she added.

I don’t think it has anything to do with you, but when they contacted me, it just reminded me of when you and I first met, and when I first met Alec. Ya know, just the way they talked.

I don’t understand.

The job is in Usonia, Starla. It’s a factory in the middle of nowhere in a place called Brazil, Indiana. Hell they want with a guy like me? I hear the owner is originally from Spain, but his hometown is over an hour and a half away. I’m concerned that he may know about you.

Maybe you’re just suspicious of everyone you meet, like I’m becoming now.

Yeah, maybe.

Do you want me to stay for the meeting? Starla asked.

If you’re not busy.

I’m just riding with Alec. Here, say hi. Starla pulled Sendoa all the way into her body. “Hi, Alec, it’s Sendoa.”

“Nice to meet you, Sendoa. Are you one of Starla’s multiple personalities?”

“What?!” Sendoa yelled from Starla’s body.

“I’m kidding,” Alec said with a laugh. “We’ve all become so uptight and serious. Let’s try to get back to the joy of life.”

Sendoa didn’t reply.

“Never mind. Go back to whatever you two were talking about. I’m just the driver.”

“Right...” Starla and Sendoa went back to France together. That was weird, he said.

We are all really stressed out, she explained.

There was a knock on the door.

You’re meeting here? she asked.

Yes, just another weird thing. Stay here with me, but don’t say anything.

I won’t, I promise.

Sendoa opened the door and let two men inside. They introduced themselves as Kip and Alonso Silva.

“I’m sorry to overstep, but I’m not sure what this is about,” Sendoa admitted after offering them drinks and a place to sit.

“Honestly,” Kip said, “I’m not sure about this either. But Mister Silva here thinks that you could help us.”

“Don’t be rude.” He turned to Sendoa. “A friend I knew in secondary school has mentioned you before,” Alonso said. “She told us how you cared for her in college, and kept her secret about how she grew up with Amadesin parents.”

“I am known to be a confidant of sorts, yes.”

Starla accidentally took control of Sendoa’s body when she laughed, which meant that, from the visitor’s perspectives, he was the one laughing. Sendoa took control back and coughed apologetically. “Sorry about that. I have many secrets.”

“We’re counting on that. And we’re hoping you could keep one more.” Alonso gave his associate the floor, “Kip?”

Still hesitant, Kip went into his pitch. “We are in need of further employees at our factory. One of our managers is leaving us because her wife got a job on the other side of the country. You see, Mister Michel, we have an extremely low number of employees. Most of production is...automated. We simply must retain at least eleven people in management, or we fall apart. It takes a very long time for us to hire someone new under normal circumstances, but we do not have a lot of time. We would need you to start right away, and we need to be able to trust you from this day on.”

Alonso continued the pitch, “I remembered our mutual friend talking about you, and knew that you were our best option for our confidentiality requirements.”

“Look,” Sendoa began, “I actually know what it’s like to work somewhere that required confidentiality. I won’t even tell you about it. That’s how reliable I am. I assure you that, whatever it is, I can and will keep trade secrets from the outside. I could leave the job later with bad blood, and I still wouldn’t tell anyone what I know. You most certainly can trust me.”

Alonso looked to Kip who gave a nod of approval, clearly still worried that they weren’t able to process him the way that they were used to. “Okay, then I suppose it’s time for me to show you,” Alonso said, standing up.

“Show me what?”

“Please do not freak out,” Kip urged him.

Alonso pulled a hair out of his own head and blew on it. A confused Sendoa lost track of it as it drifted away, but soon it showed itself more clearly. A gray light shone from the floor and expanded until revealing a door out of which Alonso’s clone came out and shook Sendoa’s hand.

Tristan had been right about René’s people, and Starla had been right about there being people with special abilities that didn’t have anything to do with just having a better brain. He’s even more amazing than I am, she said through their psychic connection.

“This is the secret you would have to keep,” Kip told him. “This is why we have so few employees. Most of the work is done by guys like our friend here.”

Sendoa smiled widely. “When do I start?”

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