you want to have a good night’s rest, you need to sleep deeply now and not dream.”
I opened my mouth to protest but Jane clapped her hands sharply and darkness oozed
in and covered my eyes. I felt myself sinking into a deeper sleep and stopped fighting it when I
realized how tired I actually felt. Dreamwalking took a lot of energy and I knew that I had a lot of
work ahead of me.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
The next few days passed slowly and yet quickly as well. I practiced my shapeshifting as
much as I could, turning into all sorts of things. I soon found there was a pattern to how my body
changed: if it was a familiar shape I was changing into, I shifted faster. However, if it was a
completely unfamiliar one, I had to concentrate hard and it took a while. Turning back into my
own body now was almost instantaneous and I barely noticed the popping and shifting of my
organs and bones.
I’d decided to try an aquatic form with Billy’s help when Sandra, Michael, and Amy were
all busy playing cards in the lounge. I filled the sink with tepid water and sat on the counter,
staring down into the clear water. I was trying to decide what I wanted to turn into and decided to do a small fish. Why not kill two birds with one stone? Aquatic and tiny. I focused on the form
of a beta fish and felt myself shrinking slowly.
As I shrank, I shifted closer and closer to the lip of the sink, hoping I fell into the water
and not onto the floor or something. Billy stood in front of the sink, watching me carefully and
making sure I didn’t tumble off the counter. Finally, when I was about the size of a small cat, I
leaned over and fell into the water. I finished the rest of the change underwater, my gills forming
quickly so I could breathe. Once I was a beta fish, I swam quickly around the sink a few times
before stopping and studying myself. I was a bright red with silver streaks on my fins.
Well, I told you aquatic forms would be no problem, Billy told me, his mental voice
crackling with laughter. You believe me now?
Yeah I do, I replied, flicking a fin up at him. But Icouldn’t know for sure until I tried it,
right? Besides, it’s kind of fun being a fish. I love swimming as a human and now I don’t need to
surface to breathe.
Quiet now! Billy snapped suddenly. I tried to look up through the surface of the water
and saw a dark, blurry shape I assumed was Billy. It turned quickly and I wondered, with an
edge of panic, what was going on. Suddenly, I could hear everything and I could only assume
Billy had done something to let me hear.
“Hey, Michael, what’s up?” Billy asked, trying to shield the sink from Michael’s view with
his body.
“Just wanted to get some water,” Michael replied, holding up his empty glass. He looked
curiously around Billy, trying to see what was going on with the sink.
“Oh, I see,” Billy said, thinking quickly. “Sorry, I had to take over the sink for a little while.
Spilled some juice on my favorite shirt.”
“That so?” Michael asked, a tinge of suspicion on his voice. “Then why do I see a fish in
there?” Michael stepped forward and around Billy, shoving him aside slightly. He looked down
into the sink, studying the bright fish that was swimming idly around in the water. Michael was
certain there had been no animals here before they all got here, so where had the fish come
from?
“Yeah, practicing another part of my telepathy,” Billy lied desperately, hoping Michael
didn’t catch on. “I’ve been wondering if I could make people see something that wasn’t actually
there and not see something that was. Guess it works.”
With a fierce look of concentration, Billy delved into Michael’s mind and moved towards
the parts of his mind that dealt with visual stimuli. Carefully, Billy erased the picture of the fish
and replaced it with a white t-shirt floating in the water. With a silent sigh, he withdrew from
Michael’s mind and studied the other man’s face.
“Well, it works,” Michael said, poking at the surface of the water and a fold of shirt he
thought he saw. “I could have sworn there was a fish in here. Good luck with your shirt, man.”
He walked down the hallway, bouncing higher than normal because he was lowering the gravity
around himself. Billy waited until there was noise from the lounge again before turning back to
the sink.
Sorry about that, Billy apologized to me. Were you able to hear what was going on? I
wasn’t sure that was working.
Yeah, I heard, I replied, still swimming idly around the sink. Thanks for making it so I
could hear. I was really confused and worried.
No problem though I think it might be a good idea if you shifted back now, Billy replied
wryly.
Sounds like a plan, I replied cheerfully. Can you pick me up and put me on the counter?
Billy didn’t reply but reached down into the water. I swam up to his hand and held still as
he carefully lifted me out of the water. I didn’t panic but I couldn’t breathe at all once I was out of the water. Billy put me on the counter and I shifted back to my normal shape quickly, breathing
a deep sigh as my lungs settled back into place.
“That was fun,” I said when I was done changing. “Now I want to experiment in a bigger
place. Maybe a swimming pool or a lake?”
“That’s going to take some time. We’re still stuck here for another week and a half,” Billy
responded pragmatically. “But at least you know you can change into fish now.”
“Now it’s your turn,” I countered, crossing my arms. “You need to work on your
telekinesis some more. And I need to go talk to Amy. She’s been avoiding me the past few days
and I don’t blame her. But I need to fix this, or at least try.”
Billy nodded and an impish smile crossed his face. Backing up, he lifted a hand towards
me and I felt myself floating off the counter. I yelped quietly, my hand flying up to cover my
mouth so I didn’t draw any attention from the others in the lounge. I floated slowly down to the
floor and got my feet underneath myself.
“Seems weight is no problem,” Billy smirked. “You’re the heaviest thing I’ve lifted and it
didn’t feel any different than if I were lifting a coffee cup.”
“Good to know,” I grumbled though I couldn’t help but smile. There were some
interesting pranks that each of us could play if we put our minds to it. Michael had taken to lying
in wait as we walked down hallways and then either raising or lowering the gravity in the area. It
was becoming a bit hair-raising to walk and wonder if you were going to float away, feel like you
were getting smushed to the floor, or just walk normally. And the paper shuttles were almost
constantly hovering above his head.
I waved to Billy as he headed to his physical with Dr. Carnesby and walked through the
hallway to the lounge. Michael was occupied by dealing the cards and Sandra so I moved
normally. I paused at the entrance to the lounge, my eyes automatically finding Amy. She was
laughingat Michael’s extravagant movements, her legs curled beneath her on the chair. A pang of hurt went through my chest again; I really missed her. Clearing my throat, I walked into the
lou
nge and stopped next to Amy’s chair.
“I know I’m probably the last person you want to see right now,” I started, staring down
into Amy’s narrowed blue eyes. “But I was wondering if I could talk to you for a few minutes?”
“Sure, talk,” Amy replied, waving a hand negligently at an armchair near her.
“I meant privately,” I said, hoping Amy would take me up on it. I really missed talking to
her, even if all that happened was I talked and she listened. Sighing, Amy unfolded herself from
the chair and waited until I started walking down the hallway. I went to my room and held the
door open for her. She walked in and sat down on my bed with an annoyed look on her face.
“What do you want to talk about?” she asked, her voice hostile.
“I want to talk about the argument we had and you breaking up with me,” I began, taking
a seat in thewooden chair across from the bed. “I’d appreciate if you’d hear me out before
arguing with me. Please?”
“All right,” Amy said after staring at me for several seconds. I could tell she was
interested, but Sandra’s manipulations were still running deep.
“You know Sandra controls emotions, right?” I began, hoping I wouldn’t immediately
alienate her by discussing Sandra. At Amy’s nod I continued, “Well, once I cooled down from
the argument, I realized that the anger I was feeling came out of nowhere. I think Sandra flamed
my anger and caused me to fight with you after you told me you wanted to break up with me in
the group. And I think she has been manipulating you to distance you from me.”
“I’m not saying I believe you, but why would she want to do that?” Amy asked, her head
tilted to the side with a look of confusion on her face.
“Because she wants to create... allies, I guess would be the best word,” I replied. “Adam
and Jane both believe that Sandra craves power. She would have gotten power if she had
become a district attorney. But now, she has a far different sort of power, one that is far easier
to use. She can gain complete control over someone just by manipulating their emotions.” “Really?” Amy snorted, shaking her head. “She’s not some sort of criminal, George.
She’s a good person. You just don’t know her because you’ve been spending all your time with
Billy.”
“Then why is she separating you and Michael?” I asked, growing a little desperate.
“Maybe Sandra doesn’t want to turn into a dictator or something, but you have to admit, she
hasn’t been all that ethical in the use of her powers.”
“So that’s the problem you have with her,” Amy said, pointing at me. “She isn’t doing
what you think she should do with her ability and it pisses you off. So what if she wants friends?
I like being around her and I think she’s a lot of fun. What proof do you really have that Sandra
is doing something wrong?”
“Nothing concrete,” I admitted quietly. “But Billy can read thoughts and intentions. He is
suspicious of her. Doesn’t that count for anything? I can feel her trying to manipulate my
emotions and I can usually fight against it. They’re never positive emotions. It’s always anger
and rage that Sandra’s trying to manipulate in me. I think she did that to you to get you to break
up with me to further isolate you.”
“Do you realize how ridiculous you sound?” Amy asked, laughter wheezing out of her.
“She’s not manipulating me. I was genuinely angry you had abandoned me. What else was I
going to do?”
“But that’s the thing, don’t you see?” I argued desperately, trying to make her
understand. “We’ve been together for years and one week of not seeing each other constantly
was enough to make you break up with me? Don’t you see how overly dramatic and excessive
that is?”
“Really? I’m overly dramatic and excessive now?” Amy asked, her voice dangerously
quiet. “I don’t think I am. I think I had a perfectly reasonable reaction to what you were doing.
I’ve talked with Sandra since then and she agrees with me. You were the one out of line. You were the one who left our relationship. Now, I’m done talking to you. Please leave me alone until
we finish the trial and leave the facility.”
“But, Amy, please,” I begged, reaching out a hand for her as she stood up and headed
for the door. “Just listen to me, please. Sandra is trying to manipulate all of us. She’s succeeded
with Michael and she’s manipulating you. Just listen to me.”
But Amy just shook her head and walked out the door. She slammed it behind her, the
simple motion voicing loudly that she was finished with me. I sighed and scrubbed a hand over
my face, wondering what I could have done to make the conversation go better. But I didn’t
think there was anything I could have done. I hadto tell Amy about Sandra’s manipulation. The
influence of the other woman was very strong, though, and I could only assume that Sandra
strengthened the positive feelings Amy felt for her whenever they were together. So far, there
didn’t seem to be a limit to how many people Sandra could control but she could only
reasonably affect two of us.
I shook my head and stood up since it was about time for my own physical. I was the last
one today. Dr. Carnesby seemed to be changing the order every day and I could think of no
idea why. Maybe he wanted to see if doing the tests at different times would change our results.
So far, he’d had no luck in separating out a marker or something in our blood to tell him why the
drug had worked on us and not on previous test subjects.
As I walked out of my room, I ran into Billy coming down the hallway. He nodded at me
and then pointed back towards Dr. Carnesby’s office. He could probably tell from my thoughts
that I didn’t want to talk right now. I nodded back and smiled my thanks, slowly making my way
through the building to the doctor’s office. I felt agitated and angry and depressed, worried that I
hadn’t made Amy believe and fearful of what Sandra might do.
When I got to his office, Dr. Carnesby was taking notes in his ever-present notebook. He
waved me over to the examination table and I sat down. Watching curiously, I tried to read his writing but it was too small for me to make any sense of. Finally finishing, he put away his
notebook and turned to me.
“Well, George, how are you today?” Dr. Carnesby asked.
“I’m all right, I guess,” I replied, shrugging. I didn’t really want to get into my failed
conversation with Amy, though I knew it was probably something he and Billy should know. “I
tried talking to Amy.”
“Oh? How did that go?” he asked curiously. Dr. Carnesby sounded as if he didn’t know
what had happened and that might very well be true. Jane probably wouldn’t have interrupted
him while he was dealing with Billy’s tests.
“Badly. She didn’t believe me at all that Sandra is manipulating her,” I replied bitterly, my
mouth turning down in a grimace. “She thought that it was a natural progression of our
relationship that I pulled away and she broke up with me. Amy won’t hear a word against
Sandra.”
“I’m sorry, George,” Dr. Carnesby said sincerely. “I wish that could have gone differently
for you. However, we expected that. Sandra seems to have mastered her ability very well.”
“I know, but it still feel
s horrible,” I snapped. “Can we just get these tests over with? I’m
not good company right now.”
Dr. Carnesby nodded and went about thephysical with his usual efficiency. I still didn’t
feel the needle prick from the blood draw but I’d gotten used to that by now. Whether it was a
side effect of my ability to shapeshift or of the drug adapting to me, I didn’t know and, to be
honest, didn’t really care. I held the gauze over the small wound, waiting for it to stop bleeding
as Dr. Carnesby finished labeling the little tubes.
“All right, you’re done George,” he said, turning back to me. “However, after dinner, I
want to have another meeting with all of you. I believe it would prove instructional as to
everyone’s mental health and intentions. You will not be exempt from it.” “I understand,” I muttered glumly and hopped down off the examination table. I made my
way out of his office and to the kitchen. I pulled out the ingredients to make a stir fry since it was
my turn to cook dinner tonight. Billy wandered into the kitchen as I cooked but just took a seat at
the table in silence. I was grateful for that; talking was the last thing I wanted to do right now. I
watched the stir fry cooking, letting the silence continue. Finally, when everything was done and
I was setting it on the table, I broke the silence.
“Dr. Carnesby wants to see us all after dinner,” I told Billy as the others came in. “He
wants to have another group discussion.”
“Boring!” Michael exclaimed, sitting down and piling his plate with rice, vegetables, and
chicken. “Besides, we’ve all pretty much mastered the abilities we’ve got. What else do we need
to talk about?”
“I don’t know,” I answered. “He didn’t really get into it.”
I let the real reason float through my mind, knowing Billy would be able to pick it out. He
nodded as he spooned food onto his plate. This telepathy thing was actually kind of fun. Now if
only it was used for a much less serious thing. Dinner was strained, talk circling around the card
games Sandra, Michael, and Amy had played. Billy interjected a few comments here and there
since he’d played a similar game before but I stayed silent.
After the terse dinner, Michael and Amy cleaned up while Sandra, Billy, and I headed out