For disclaimers, please see Chapter 1.
Jesse returned to his room after his conversation with Adam and stretched out on his bed, staring up at the ceiling.
Why did I just lie to Adam?
Again, he felt that itch in his brain, but it had gained strength.
Am I forgetting something? It's that same feeling like when I've forgotten to do something and can't remember what – just that I've forgotten something.
Jesse considered going to speak to Emma about it, thinking she should scan him with her powers and figure it out, but then thought better of it. Jesse figured Emma had crashed after the long night of waiting to find out about Brennan. She wouldn't appreciate being woken up for something as trivial as helping Jesse remember what he had forgotten. She'd probably just recommend that he meditate on it anyway or at least something along those lines.
Jesse shrugged, thinking it wouldn't hurt anything to try meditating on it. He didn't have anything to lose. He closed his eyes and slowed his breathing, focusing on the itch, letting it grow.
Brennan stirred, and even that small movement caused him to moan in pain.
"Brennan? Are you awake?" he heard Adam ask.
Brennan opened his eyes slowly, squinting at the light. "Yeah. What the hell happened? I hurt… everywhere."
Adam smiled. "I'm not surprised. Based on the power surge you had, it's a miracle you're still alive."
"Power surge?" Brennan asked, and then images of what happened flashed in his mind. He remembered the electrical steams, how they grew stronger and then he pulled them back, taking them into himself. He remembered searing pain, and then nothing else.
Adam sighed. "Yes, Brennan. It appears your powers are mutating again."
Brennan looked at Adam, right into his eyes. "Adam, be straight with me. What did Jesse do to me?"
Emma knocked on Shalimar's door. "Shal?"
"What's wrong?" Shalimar asked, opening the door.
"Nothing, not really. I couldn't sleep, and I could feel you worrying all the way over in my room. I thought maybe we could train a little or something, just to work off some steam."
Shalimar smiled. "Yeah, sounds good to me. Let's go."
"Like that?" Emma asked, noting that Shalimar only had on her bra and panties.
"Oh, probably don't want to give the boys a show, do I?" She quickly pulled on a tight half t-shirt and some lycra shorts. "Okay, ready."
Emma laughed, following Shalimar down the hallway. "I don't see how that's any less of a show, Shal."
"Well, if we happen to stop by and see Brennan, maybe a little show will raise his spirits."
Emma rolled her eyes. "I'm sure it will raise something."
Shalimar grinned as she neared the end of the hallway and turned to take the stairs up to the dojo.
"You want to do one on one, or work on your kata?"
"Actually, I want to kick some GSA ass."
Shalimar giggled at the ferocity in Emma's voice. "Alright," she said, stepping over to the holographic controls. She glanced down at the screen. "Huh – I've never seen this program before. It looks new." Her fingers hit a few keys. "Looks like Brennan has been using it every night for the past couple of weeks. Wanna try it?"
"How difficult is it?"
"Let's find out." Shal hit the button to launch the program.
A strong, confident Jesse Kilmartin materialized in front of them. "Think you can take me this time?", he asked.
"What the hell?" Shalimar exclaimed, hitting pause on the program. "Brennan's been training against a holographic Jesse?"
"It's Jesse, but it's not. This Jesse seems a little different, Shal. Don't you think?" Emma walked closer to the hologram. "He's a little rougher, more confident."
Shal tilted her head, taking another look at holographic Jesse. "I think you're right, there's something different about him. We need to find out what's going on. Come with me."
Emma trailed after Shalimar, who strode purposefully out of the dojo. "Where are we going? To see Brennan?"
"No," Shal answered, not breaking her stride. "We're going to a computer to look at the security footage. I want to know for sure what's been happening in that dojo."
Jesse giggled and ran back over to Adam. "Did you see? Did you see?"
Adam smiled at the young boy, ruffling Jesse's hair with his hand. "I sure did. That was excellent."
"What should I do now?" Jesse asked, his twelve-year old face suffused with happiness. Finally he'd found someone who thought his powers kicked butt. His parents may call him a freak on a daily basis, but at least Adam didn't. You couldn't get any cooler than Adam.
"Well, Jesse, since you froze the water in the pool, how about you unfreeze it now?"
Little Jesse rolled his eyes. "That's easy. How about… I make it disappear!" Jesse turned around and glanced at the pool. The ice vanished.
Jesse looked back to see Adam staring at the pool curiously. "That's very impressive. Did you make it invisible, or is it actually gone?"
Jesse rocked back and forth on his heels and said, "Guess you'll have to find out for yourself!"
Adam walked over to the pool and since he was still fully clothed, gingerly put his foot down on the first step inside the pool. He didn't get wet, the water had vanished completely. Adam took a few more steps in, and then walked into the center of the empty pool and looked up at Jesse. "Where did the water go?"
Jesse giggled again. "Oh, it's around. Look up!"
Adam turned his face to the sky, and water spilled from the air, just from nowhere. It cascaded down onto Adam, soaking him completely. "Jesse!" Adam yelled.
The boy laughed so hard he fell down.
Adam stepped back, startled by Brennan's question. "What do you mean? Do you remember Jesse doing something to you? What did he do?" Adam stopped, realizing he had probably said too much.
Brennan shook his head slowly. "I don't remember anything, but I read your notes, Adam." Brennan said, giving up one of his secrets. "I came into the lab late one night and you had fallen asleep." Brennan saw Adam's frown and continued. "Yeah, I read your notes while you were asleep. You wrote that it was either the steroids or Jesse, and you didn't think it was the steroids."
Adam's frown deepened. "Those are confidential files, Brennan, and you shouldn't be reading them."
"It's not confidential when it's about me, Adam. I have a right to know. Now tell me what Jesse did, or what you're afraid he did."
"I can't tell you that, Brennan," Adam replied, his fingers pinching the bridge of his nose out of habit.
"Adam, if I'm mutating out of control again and I might die, I have a right to know why. Just tell me."
Adam turned away from the lab bed and grabbed a syringe off of a nearby tray.
"What are you doing?"
"This will help you sleep."
"Adam, I don't want sleep – I want answers."
Adam grabbed Brennan's arm, and prepared to inject him. Brennan attempted to break free, but the pain and weakness he felt made his struggle ineffective. Adam slid the needle in easily and pushed the plunger down.
"Adam! No! This is wrong!" Brennan managed to say, before his eyes drooped closed and he passed out.
"I'm sorry, Brennan. I need time to think."
Jesse opened his eyes, dazed. What the hell was that? That couldn't have been a memory – I didn't meet Adam until I was 16, right after he and Shal pulled me out of the pod at Genomex.
Jesse remembered that at twelve he had been away at boarding school in France. His parents had sent him there after he had been caught cheating on a test. His best friends were Simon and Guillaume. Bastian was another close friend. But why did they seem so fuzzy in his mind?
A headache began buzzing in his head, threatening to grow larger. Jesse stood up from his bed, swaying on his feet before regaining his balance and squashing the queasiness he felt. He stumbled to his bathroom and opened the medicine cabinet, his hand reaching for a bottle of aspirin. After twisting the cap into the proper position, he popped it off and then shook two aspirin into the palm of his other hand. He looked at them for a moment and then shook out two more.
He put the aspirin bottle back, then shut the cabinet and reached for a glass. He turned on the water and filled the glass with room temperature water. He popped the four pills into his mouth and then took a big swallow of water, washing the pills down.
He grimaced at the temperature of the water, wishing for ice water instead. He remembered his dream, or maybe memory, and how Adam spoke of a frozen pool of water.
What the hell, he thought, what could it hurt?
Looking down into the glass of water, and thought about it turning to ice. He didn't concentrate on it, he just sort of willed it, like he'd done with phasing the quarter lately.
He wasn't surprised when the water froze inside the glass. He wanted to be, but he wasn't.
He set the glass down on the sink, the cold from the solid chunk of ice not the only thing chilling him.
I was 16 when I met Adam. Or was I?
Author's Notes:
Sorry it's been a while since I updated. Life got a little crazy, but an email from Feral's Revenge reminded me that I needed to get this story finished. Marie Crosby, anne laure, and Feral's Revenge - thanks for the reviews (and the prodding). I'll try to get more chapters posted asap.
Also, my apologies for the frightening amount of typos and other errors in Chapter 5. I looked back at it to see where I left off and saw that it wasn't pretty. I'll try to do better going forward.