The room was clearer now, the space defined with plastic. She tried to move her arms and couldn't, glancing down to find her hands strapped at the waist to the table. Twisting her head, she looked all around her and stared in increasing fear at the instruments on the side table. "Please," she whimpered, "please let me go."

He ignored her as he prepared the cleansing liquid, his broad back all she could see. Gentle fingers brushed the hair back from her face and she cringed, loathing the touch of his rubber gloves. She whimpered.

"There, there," he said. "This won't take long and you won't remember it."

Moving around to the side, he tapped on the IV drip and made certain it ran into her arm. Her hands tightened into fists and she tugged at the restraints. "No," he said, "don't do that, you'll hurt yourself. Lay still, Lauren."

Haze swam in front of her eyes and she said, "Go to hell."

"I am trying to help you, to learn from you." His fingertips brushed against her waist and she flinched as he drew up her shirt. She thrashed again and his hand tightened. "Stop," he said warningly and lifted the scalpel. Her eyes widened and she ceased moving, the room beginning to dim around her. The faintest of sounds escaped her mouth, having no effect on him as he lowered the blade, glinting, to her skin. He shifted, went out of focus, and though she could not clearly see his face, she saw concern enter his stance. "Lauren, stop it!"

She was shaking all over and the instruments on the table beside him began to clatter together as it rolled away from her. He pressed the knife against her skin, threatening her to stop, and that only made her vibrate harder. It sliced into her and she screamed, the sound echoing in the space around her…

Nina sat straight up in bed, her hand going to her throat and then to her waist as she looked around her into the darkness. She was safe in her dorm and no figure loomed over her, but the dream had been vivid. She was damp with sweat and trembling, looking over at Lauren to find her peacefully asleep against the pillows. Her heart was beating fast. Pushing aside the covers, she went out into the hall and crossed to the bathroom. There was enough light to catch her reflection in the mirror and she was struck by her pale features. Running her hands under the cold water, she splashed it onto her face and tried to regain her composure. She ran shaking fingers through her hair and pulled it back from her face, lowering her gaze until she could breathe properly again. They hadn't told her more memories might come back, things she had experienced in Lauren's head but hadn't been consciously aware of at the time.

"Are you all right, Nina?" asked one of her dorm mates, from the doorway. She had been up late studying.

"I'm fine, just a bad dream." Nina stepped out of the bathroom and returned to their room. She was clammy as she climbed back into bed, sliding nearer to the wall and wrapping the coverlet around her. There were always consequences to their actions, results that came about from them tampering with the natural order. This was just one of them, but still she could not shake the terror she had felt, trapped, held down on that table as he moved over her, his plastic gloves tracing the contours of her waist. Whatever he wanted, whatever his intention, it was evil.

She was so tired that she slept in later than Lauren the next day and her roommate did not attempt to wake her. Nina arose shortly before noon, relieved it was the weekend, and walked to the library. Months earlier, when Lauren had first been attacked, there had been similar noted incidents in the news, several young women knifed on campus. She could not be certain there was a connection but it was worth perusing the archives and she went to sit in the coldest part of the building for privacy, turning through pages until she found the series of newspaper stories. None of them bore any resemblance to what had happened to Lauren and one of them had been later solved as a domestic dispute between a temperamental young man and his ex. "You weren't just a coincidence," she remarked to Lauren's faded photograph on the front page. "He chose you because he knew."

That had to be it. There was no other logical conclusion. He had known she had a gift, although how he had found out Nina could not comprehend. Lauren was intelligent but did not often date the sort of man who would see the potential in her "illness."

Glancing at her watch, Nina put everything back where she had found it and returned to her dorm. She put everything from her mind and studied, making notes and typing them out when she was finished. Lauren came home and did her own homework, neither of them speaking much as the afternoon drifted into evening. The next few days were much the same, an endless array of preoccupation as they devoted themselves to their classes. Lauren had missed weeks of school and was attempting to catch up. She spent half her evenings in the library with Garret, who had offered to help her, no doubt as an excuse just to sit next to her. Nina found them adorable but did not have much time for them, as she put her mind to her own work. The thesis topic was a continuing problem and she tore up her first four drafts, paging through her notebook of ideas and landing on something she had shared with neither Bell nor Walter. It sparked her imagination and she wrote freely for hours, applying as much logic and possibility to the process as she could, explaining how it worked and what purpose it would serve, discussing the nature of science and how the ideas of the great minds of the past had contributed to the overall body of work she proposed. She worked on it tirelessly in her free hours for two weeks as the world progressed around her and she shut out the bickering of her companions. She spent most nights in the dorm and did not often turn up at the lab, something that disappointed Walter, but he also understood obsession and let her be, not asking any questions.

Class with Bell continued in its usual vein, with him challenging them and her daring to answer him, sometimes in a contradictory manner. He liked her to argue with him so long as they did not hold it against one another at the end of the day. It was easier not to think too much about him when they were apart, although she did inform him of her dream and what else she had remembered. It was coming to her gradually, remnants of information that seeped into her mind and refused to be shaken, pieces of a puzzle she did not understand but that contributed to rising unease. Bell thought it might be prudent to make another attempt and Lauren dutifully allowed herself to be hooked up to the machine, lying back in her restraints without complaint, for she felt safe with them. Beneath the pain was an unusual kind of excitement as their minds connected and Nina saw more flashing images, the details of the room coming into focus under the hypnotic drugs Walter was administering. But this time something else happened. Lauren started to remember along with her and in the rush of fear that accompanied it, the room began to shake.

Walter snapped his head up from the machine and said, "Oh, this is not good… the machine won't be able to handle it!"

"Then take it off her!" Bell was already pulling the contraption off Nina's head, the wires threatening to entangle him as Lauren's fearful electrical current sent a massive surge through it. Sparks flew beneath his fingers and he cried out, dropping it. Lauren's body lifted slightly up and she flickered, her energy connecting with Nina's and pulling her through a haze of colors and sounds. This time it was different, far more powerful and Nina reeled from it, feeling as if she might throw up. Standing in a basement room with hanging plastic around them, Nina drew in her breath as she held out her hand. It was not transparent and from the nausea that assailed her, she knew they had literally transported somewhere else. It was as she remembered it from her dream, sinister and ominous, but more so due to the dried pool of blood under their feet. Her eyes searched the space and as a door shut somewhere in the distance, she gasped and clung to Lauren. "Take us back!" she pleaded. "Lauren, he's coming! Take us back to Walter!"

"I… I can't," stammered Lauren, but her hands were already shaking. She backed into the corner and slid to the floor, Nina going down with her. This was real. It was not an illusion. They were actually there.

A dark figure approached and Nina said, "You have to, now!"

Lauren cried out, covering her face with her hands. Nina could not see his face in the shadows but knew he had seen them, for he dropped whatever he was carrying and pushed through the plastic. His fingers fell on open air as they traveled still hanging on to one another and reappearing in the lab. It looked as if a tornado had gone through it, for there was not a bulb or a beaker that was not shattered, pages scattered the length of the room, a few still sliding across the floor from the wake of the implosion. Walter came running toward them, dripping blood from a cut on the side of his face. She felt Bell's hands close around her arm, attempting to pry her loose from Lauren. "It's all right, let go." He carried her to the examination table and sat her down on it, feeling her skull beneath her hair and looking into her eyes, which were still dilated. "Are you all right?"

She tried to answer him and couldn't; she felt as if she would faint and he laid her down, glancing at the others. Lauren was not as affected, having traveled before, and she and Walter looked on with concern.

"Is she going to be all right?"

"I think it's just the shock," Bell answered.

There was a pause as Nina's hand wrapped around his and his eyes softened as he looked at her. Walter had been repressing his reaction for as long as possible and now said gleefully, "I've never seen anything like it! You just vanished, her with you, and blew up half the lab! How wonderful!"

Startled, Lauren said, "I'm sorry."

"No, no, never mind that, everything can be fixed. You have shown us it is possible to leap from one place to the next. Oh, this is going to do my research a world of good. Where is my pencil? I must write down all the readings." He patted his lab coat and found a liquorish whip, which he stuck into his mouth as he went in search of a pencil.

Lauren drew her sweater closer around her and came to stand beside Bell, asking, "Is he always like this?"

"Unfortunately, yes." Bell smiled at her.

Their voices murmured in the background as Lauren told him what had happened, his concern evident that they had been seen. Nina was slowly coming around but did not attempt to rise, watching them interact through the haze that had descended over her mind.

"I do not think it is safe for either of you on campus," Bell said, "particularly not now. Nina said you had a sister here in town. Maybe it would be a good idea to spend a few days with her."

"What about Nina? She isn't going to want to leave, not so close to finals," Lauren said.

He brushed the hair out of Nina's face, his hand lingering. "Nina is not going to have a choice. There's a phone in the other room. Call your sister."

Footsteps faded into the background and whispering commenced, Bell leaving her for a short time. Nina was well enough to sit up, though her head felt like it had been smashed into a brick wall. Walter handed her an aspirin and a glass of water without comment and she took it, ruefully considering what remained of their machine. Hours of work, of tedious tampering and tweaking, now lay smoking on the floor. Remembering that Bell had been injured attempting to save her life, she slid off the table, steadying herself before she went to fetch a medical kit.

"It's not worth you making a fuss over it," he said when she tried to look at his hands.

"Shut up," she answered, and turned his palms upward. The electrical current had caught him on the inside of his wrists and she cringed at the nasty-looking burns it had left behind. Rolling up his sleeve she applied salve and wrapped his wrists, remarking, "Your students are going to be very intrigued by this tomorrow."

"Considering half of them probably think I am Victor Frankenstein, it will do them good to wonder." He allowed her to finish tying the bandage and her fingertips lingered, caressing his skin and sliding upward into his sleeve, her eyes lifting to explore his face. His fingers turned over and rested against her wrists, responding in the only manner he could and with equal desire. He suddenly leaned down and touched his lips to hers, the tremors in her intensifying as she responded with yearning. He was taller than her and she had to stand on her toes to reach him, bracing against his arms. Their bodies melted together and the kiss deepened, him urgently parting her lips beneath his as he wrapped his arms around her.

Behind them, Lauren reappeared and on seeing them turned around and went back into the office. She waited a few minutes and then stuck her head out, noticing that they had returned their attention to the medical kit, suddenly remembering that they were not alone. Walter came striding out of his office pulling on his coat and Lauren reappeared. "My brother-in-law is coming to pick me up," she said as if she had seen nothing. "I should get some things from our room."

Glancing at Nina, the professor said, "So should you."

She opened her mouth and at his warning glance, shut it again. She did not want to run away like a frightened child. Well, he might make her spend the night away from the dorm, but he could not prevent her from attending classes. His expression informed her that he was aware the battle had not yet been won but she allowed him to assist her with her coat without making any condescending remarks. Walter was to accompany them and they made an unusual trio tramping across the spacious lawn. He waited for them in front of the building as they went upstairs. Entering their room and flipping on the light, Lauren shoved various things into an overnight bag and said, "I won't mind missing a few more days of school. I just hope you are all right."

"You don't need to worry about me; the boys will hover over me constantly. It will prove annoying in the end." Nina opened her bureau drawer and pulled some clothes out, pushing them into a suitcase. She had no idea where she was going, but suspected she would be staying with Walter. Tucking her hair behind her ear, she felt Lauren looking at her and glanced over, blushing slightly at the amused look on her friend's face.

Lauren sat down on the edge of the bed. "Five bucks says you're staying with Dr. Bell. Make the most of it."

"Honestly, Lauren…"

"Oh, come on. I saw you two in the lab." She grinned and lifted her eyebrows suggestively. "Go for it. I mean it."

Choosing not to dignify her suggestion with a response, Nina placed the books she would need for the night's homework into her book bag and swung it over her shoulder. "Are you ready?"

"Are you?"

Rolling her eyes, Nina led the way downstairs. Lauren's brother was a little while in coming, since it was a bit of a drive, but soon a familiar car pulled up in front of the dorm and he got out. His dark hair was covered in a winter hat and she could tell he had spent most of the day outdoors from the color in his cheeks. "Marilyn is glad you've decided to take a few more days off," he said as he loaded Lauren's bags into the trunk. "She's looking forward to spending some time with you and discussing the nursery. I wanted blue but she says pink is more appropriate."

"Your daughter is not 'pink,' " said Lauren with conviction. "She's much too tough for that, you can see it in her face. I'm with you, blue all the way."

"Great, that's two against one, three if you count the kid." John high fived her and as she slid into the front seat, he looked across the top of the car and said, "Nina, we still want to see you at the house. Marilyn is insisting on it. She was quite taken by you." He waved and climbed in, slamming the door. He had a natural ease with Lauren as he smacked her hands away from the dials on the dash. She was attempting to change the radio station and made a face at him as they pulled out, turning to give Nina an exaggerated smile in parting.

"DO IT," she mouthed, and gave her a thumbs' up.

Laughing, for she could do nothing else, Nina turned to pick up her bag and found Walter had it. He marched her across the lot to his run-down station wagon and put it in the back. "Get in."

She did not argue as she slid inside. "Where are we going?"

"You'll see." He leaned down and connected the wires under the dash, having lost the keys the week before. The engine sputtered and came to life, the heater taking a little while to warm up. Nina suspected he held his car together by sheer force of will, as it had certainly seen enough abuse in its time. She watched the passing streets, glancing at a sign as they entered an apartment complex. She had never been there before and as he stopped the car and got out, she asked, "Where are we?"

"Bellie's and my apartment," he said. "It's a bit of a mess."

Her eyebrows went up. "I'm staying with you, both of you?"

"I was in the dorm until six months ago but this flat came up for rent and we needed more secure storage space than just the lab, so yes, you're staying with us… unless, of course, you're too afraid of what the landlady might say." He smirked as he made his way up the stairs, leaving her to glance around surreptitiously and follow. He knew her too well to suspect she would let that stop her. Turning a key in the lock, he let them in and switched on the light.