PART THREE


Chloe waved her hand in front of Lex Luthor's face again. And again. Back and forth, faster and faster, until her hand was little more than a blur. And, just like before, the man didn't react. Didn't blink. Didn't flinch. Nothing. He just stared at the painting, as if nothing else in the world existed.

"Oh, God." Chloe whispered as she let her arm drop. Eyes wide, she stared at the young millionaire. He stood there, stiff and still as a statue. The lights were on, but nobody was home. "I've gotta…do something," she decided. But what did a person do in a situation like this? Besides stand there like an idiot trying to figure out what to do?

A sudden, unpleasant thought occurred to her. She threw an uneasy glance towards the hall entrance. What if someone else saw him like this? He'd probably hate that. And news of the incident would be all over town in an hour. Lex wouldn't be able to go anywhere in Smallville without people whispering behind his back even more than they did now. And, for some reason, the thought bothered her. Why, she wasn't sure. She and Lex weren't exactly pals. They were barely casual acquaintances. To be honest, Chloe would kill for an exclusive, newsworthy picture of Lex to plaster across the front page of the Torch. In fact, she could take out her digital camera and snap a quick shot or two right now. She could even see the headline.

WHAT AILS THE LUTHOR HEIR?

But, for some reason, the thought repelled her.

Knowing someone could walk down the hall any minute, Chloe grabbed Lex's arm with both hands. "Mr. Luthor!" she exclaimed as she tried to shake him. "Lex!"

*****


For Lex Luthor, the world outside the painting no longer existed. He knew it was still there, but no longer felt connected to it. Instead, he existed within the painting. He spiraled down, deeper and deeper into the sea of colors, until they had consumed every one of his senses. The blue felt cool, like an autumn breeze. The green smelled fresh, like newly cut grass. The red tasted hot, spicy. The purple was like the trill of a flute.

Then, he heard something else. Something from outside. It was a faint, rhythmic sound, like the pounding of a distant drum.

Thump-thump…Thump-thump.

Fascinated, Lex listened to the pounding grow louder. As he focused on the sound, the colors started to darken, to dim. One by one, they released his senses.

Suddenly, he felt a strange, swooshing sensation, like there was a cord wrapped around his waste and someone had decided to pull him out. He watched the painting speed further and further away, watched it fall into a deep, bottomless well. And that sound got closer and closer, calling him back.

Thump-thump…Thump-thump.

*****

Lex gasped, his return to reality like being doused in ice water.

"Oh, thank god," he heard a female voice whisper. But he couldn't see who it was. The lights in the hallway were too bright. They blazed down on him, blinding him.

Eyes squeezed shut, Lex staggered away from the painting. Only, once he started, his balance departed, momentum took over, and he couldn't seem to stop.

"Okay, so we're going this way," said the mystery voice. Lex realized she was holding his arm, which was all that kept him from falling. But, apparently, she wasn't strong enough to stop his backwards progress. So she staggered with him across the hall until his back slammed into the opposite wall. "Yeah, you can lean here. Leaning's good."

So he leaned, one hand pressed to his head, and the ache he'd managed to escape for a few moments.

"Are you okay?" the voice asked. "What happened? Whatever, it totally freaked me out. Do you need a doctor or something? I've got my cell phone. Should I call somebody?"

As the flow of words continued, Lex felt his headache easing somewhat. And it no longer felt like two high-powered flashlight beams were being directed at his eyelids. He also realized the voice was familiar.

"Miss Sullivan?" he asked, interrupting the onslaught of questions. Hesitant, he opened his eyes, relieved to find they were back to normal.

Chloe stood in front of him, worry puckering her brow. "What's going on?" she asked. "What happened? I mean, you were totally out of it for a good five minutes."

Five minutes. It had felt…longer. Like hours.

Frowning as his mind went over what happened, Lex glanced at the painting. The experience had been strange. Frightening. Exhilarating. Unpleasant, but almost pleasant at the same time.

"Are you alright?" Chloe finally demanded.

As he looked back at the eager young reporter, Lex realized something. The sound was still there.

Thump-thump…Thump-thump.

Soft at first, the rhythmic pounding sound grew steadily louder,

Thump-thump…Thump-thump.

until it drowned out any other sounds, even the ambient noise of the Talon just beyond the entryway. But unlike the other noises that had plagued him all day, this one didn't seem like an assault on his sense of hearing. In fact, it was soothing. Calming. Filling his head, dulling the edges of the headache that had been stabbing at him since this morning.

"Lex?"

As he listened to the pounding, he noticed his vision start to dim. As he felt his eyelids droop, he realized he was getting lost in the sound just as he'd gotten lost in the painting.

"Lex?!" Chloe exclaimed, grabbing his arm, snapping him back to reality. And he noted, with interest, that the pounding seemed a little faster.

Thump-thump-thump-thump.

"Okay, that's it," the young reporter said, frantic. She reached into her purse. "I'm calling someone."

Knowing instinctively that letting her call someone was a bad idea, Lex held up one hand. "No," he said, enough command in his voice to halt her movements. With some effort, he managed to push the sound away enough to focus on the present. "I'm fine, Chloe. My mind just…wandered."

"Uh-huh," the blond said, skepticism written on her face. "That's why I found you standing like a statue in front of that painting. That's why you didn't blink when I waved my hand in your face or yelled in your ear. I mean, you weren't blinking at all, Lex!"

As he imagined the scene she must've walked in on, Lex sighed. He didn't know Gabe Sullivan's daughter all that well. But he knew from reading her paper that, once her curiosity was piqued about something, she didn't let it go until she had answers.

But, at the moment, he wasn't up to a verbal sparring match. Couldn't come up with a logical explanation for the way she'd found him. Couldn't worry that she was the eager young editor of Smallville High's newspaper. His headache was dulled, but it wasn't gone. And that sound

Thump-thump…Thump-thump.

was distracting.

"I'm sure the situation must seem a little strange to you, Chloe. But, I assure you, I'm alright."

"What?" Chloe started to argue. "Lex, you can't tell me…"

"I'm sorry," he interrupted, "but I'm late for an appointment at the mansion. Excuse me."

Leaving her there, too startled by his abrupt departure to speak, Lex walked away. As he stepped out of the hallway and into the Talon proper, he braced himself for the onslaught of noise that would assault his ears. Only, it didn't. In fact, the noise level in the room didn't seem any higher than usual.

Sighing in relief, Lex walked towards the exit. And, as he neared the door, that thumping sound faded.

*****

Chloe's mouth was still hanging open. She couldn't believe. She'd just found Lex Luthor in the weirdest position imaginable, and he'd just walked away without explaining a thing. And, no, 'I'm fine' wasn't an explanation. It was stonewalling. Which she supposed he was an expert at. Still, considering the condition he was in, she could have at least made it harder for him to get away with it.

"Yep, those interviewing skills are razor sharp today." Taking a deep, frustrated breath, Chloe pressed her hand over her heart, which was still racing. For a minute there, when it seemed Lex was about to take another trip to La La Land, she'd panicked. If he had blacked out again, she would have been in the same position as before: trying to figure out what to…

Blackouts!

The thought was so loud, it actually startled her. Was it possible what she'd walked in on was Lex having a blackout? She'd heard that he was pretty sick when he returned from that island. Were blackouts a symptom of his illness?

"In which case," she muttered, eyes widening in horror, "should the man who drove off a bridge when he wasn't blacking out really be behind the wheel of a high performance sports car?"

Thoughts of twisted metal and exploding gas tanks galvanized her into action. Chloe took off. She ran down the hallway. Navigated the coffee house's maze of tables and customers. Uttered a quick apology whenever she bumped into someone.

Chloe hit the door with enough force to make her palms sting. Cursing under her breath, she hurried out onto the sidewalk. And arrived just in time to see Lex's car disappear into the distance.

"Crap!" she hissed, dragging a hand through her hair. "Way to go, Sullivan." Not knowing what else to do, she crossed her arms and just stood there, hoping Lex was as fine as he'd said he was.



(TO BE CONTINUED)