The night my life changed began with a crashing headache – the result of a long day at the hospital. The patient in question had been a baby, just eight months old, and this was one of the few times in my job where I refused to let nature take its course.
I will never forget the look on his mother's face as she begged me to do whatever it took to save him, even though I was just a trainee doctor. I t was as if she was actually aware of my abilities. It was partly what persuaded me to save him.
I decided to become a doctor because I wanted to help people, not because of my savant gift, and I swore to myself when I was offered work experience at one of Denver's hospitals that I would not play God. But as I saw that baby boy, whose life was being taken away before it had even really started, I knew I could not just sit around helplessly and do nothing.
And so I sat by his crib, holding his tiny hand in mine and working on him for almost an hour, focusing all my energy on this baby. He would not die on my watch. The other doctors were amazed. A 'miracle' baby.
Just as I was about to leave, I met Jacob's mother again. "I don't know how I can ever thank you," she said. That was when I realised: she knew what I did. She had to be a savant. Perhaps I cheated. Perhaps I did play God, but I felt good. That little boy had a soulfinder somewhere, and if I had allowed him to die today, she would have never got to meet her other half. I knew, after years of waiting to meet my own, that nothing could hurt more.
I was snapped out of my thoughts by the shrill ringing of my phone. I groaned, taking one hand off the steering wheel to clutch my head. "Trace?" I answered.
"Hey, Xav. Sorry to call you after work, but I need a favour. It's important." I sighed. Of course. At least I could tolerate Trace. My youngest brothers, Yves and Zed, were nauseatingly in love with their soulfinders, one of the reasons I was staying at Will and Uriel's apartment in Denver while I had a job at the hospital, and not at home.
On the other side of the line, my oldest brother transformed from being Trace to Officer Benedict, the super tough cop. "Hey! Are you driving?" He must have heard my engine running in the background. I grinned at my brother's responsible side, so different from the bad boy he used to be. "Xav, you should not be on the phone while you're driving."
"All right, all right," I laughed, "I'm hanging up now. I'll be there in ten." I ended the call, putting the address he'd given me into my Satnav and pulling onto the Interstate 25.
Trace was, for some reason, at a hotel in the centre of the city, not too far from the hospital. He'd obviously already spoken to the porter, who I vaguely recognized, as I was promptly ushered into an elevator and directed to the tenth floor.
The hotel suite was modern, with black and white furnishings that reminded me of the apartment we rented in London. Trace led me through to a bedroom where I noticed two girls. One was gazing at my brother and the other, who was lying on one of the beds, seemed to be trying to figure me out, staring intently.
"This is my little brother, Xavier, or Xav," Trace broke the silence to introduce me to the older girl, who reminded me of a Cleopatra with her striking features. "Xav, I've got some amazing news: meet my soulfinder."
Weirdly, I did not feel the pang of jealousy that usually consumed me around my younger brothers and their soulfinders. Trace was my oldest brother, who had to watch the two youngest find their other halves before him, and, though he rarely showed it, I knew it was the hardest for him. If anyone deserved their soulfinder, it was definitely Trace.
I knew that using my gift tonight would result in an even worse headache than I already had but I checked Diamond over and turned my attention to her sister.
"Crystal. Noticed her name on the list. My age, isn't she? How're you feeling darlin'? I asked, smiling as Trace rolled his eyes, the reaction all my brothers had when I turned on my charm.
"I'm OK." She got up and I made possibly the most stupid comment ever about her height, which was clearly a sore subject. She tightened her robe and made for the bathroom. "I'd prefer not to be examined, if you don't mind."
"You're one prickly lady patient," I said, reaching out with my gift to see if she was feeling any pain. I received a wave of nausea and a pounding in my head, the latter having nothing to do with Crystal.
"Crystal doesn't do telepathy," Diamond informed me, offering an explanation for my failed attempt to get through her concrete walls.
"She's not a savant?"
"Not much of one," Crystal muttered under her breath, and I sensed this was another of her insecurities.
"She has a gift but it gets in the way of telepathy. Can you check her over without it?"
"I don't want him anywhere near me." Crystal barged past me and slammed the door to the bathroom.
"Well, using my special spidey sense, I'd say she just got sick." I joked.
"I'm sorry about Crystal. It's just been-"
"Don't worry about it," I smiled, interrupting Diamond's apology. "I was working in the maternity ward at the hospital today – had my fair share of angry women." I winked.
"Xav wants to be a doctor," Trace told Diamond, just as my phone began to ring shrilly.
I winced at the sound of it. "Long day," I explained, indicating my head, as Trace raised his eyebrows.
"Hey, Uri."
"Xav, where are you?" Second brother asked.
"I had to do something for Trace, but I'm leaving now," I explained, "which reminds me. Trace has some amazing news: he's found his soulfinder."
"Really? That's great." Uriel would have fooled me , but I was no stranger to the feeling of not knowing where your soulfinder is. Watching your brothers find that before you is always tough, no matter how happy you are for them, and Uriel had been finding things almost as hard as Trace.
"Yeah, really. I'll see you later, Uri." I hung up the phone and grimaced.
"I'm guessing he didn't take it well?" Trace asked, looking concerned.
"You know what it's like better than anyone, Trace. He's happy for you though, man. He'll come around." I reached in my pocket and found a pack of aspirin, swallowing two tablets dry. "Bad headache," I explained to a confused-looking Trace. "Sometimes saving lives can take its toll."
