The nurse shrugged. "There's always a chance, but we can't even begin to guess with this twist."

  I stepped closer to his bedside. His chest rose and fell. "Could I get a couple of minutes with him?"

  The escort and nurse exchanged looks before turning to the door. "Take your time," the nurse said. "He probably can't hear anything you say, if you're going to say anything to him. Couldn't hurt though."

  Once they were out of the room, I resisted the urge to pull the oxygen line away from his nose. "You know, Shade, maybe death would have been better than this. I have half a mind to end you right now while you can't do anything about it. You might even thank me for it." Of course, he didn't respond. None of the monitors flickered. "I've been doing my research lately. Todd Green. The split that formed the Resistance. Alistair's got plans, doesn't he? I don't know who or what to believe, but you tried to kill me rather than let me find out. I think I was right to stick you in this coma. I hope you stay there forever."

  I turned away from his bedside and walked to the door. My main interest was making sure he showed no sign of coming out of the coma. If I was going to do anything with the Resistance, I didn't want him waking up while I was out of the area. When I left the room, my original escort was gone, replaced with Professor Burke. I tried to hide my surprise. "Thanks," I said. "Just wanted to see how he was doing."

  "I will see Mr. Parker out," Burke said. The nurse nodded and we walked out. After we exited the building, I turned to thank him and leave for my dorm, but found his gaze resting on me. "Walk with me," he said.

  "Sure." I wasn't in too much of a hurry.

  We took our time crossing the campus. Burke didn't say anything at first, so when he finally spoke, it made me jump. "Shade vehemently opposed the idea of you joining the Committee. As your mentor, he had the final word. Perhaps Alistair could have overridden him. Why do you suppose he was so opposed to it?"

  "He thought I was an idiot?"

  "Not at all. He had a healthy respect for your ability to learn." Burke glanced over at me. "That surprises you?"

  I didn't even know I had reacted. "I thought all he felt was contempt for me."

  "No person, not even an enemy, is as simple as that. Although we may wish they were. It is always easier to distill a person's essence until it's pure and easy to love or hate."

  "I guess that's true. But to answer your question, I don't think he wanted me to have the information I could get from the other students, from PSInet, and from you."

  "Close," Burke said. "Close to my conjecture, at least, as he was never explicit in his reasoning."

  "What do you think it was, then?"

  "Isolation." This time, I knew I had flinched when Burke stopped and turned to me. "Don't you agree?"

  I considered it for a moment. Shade had never seemed happy with Nikki and Absynthe joining our training, but I'd never seen him try to break it up. "I don't, actually. He didn't argue against my having a partner. I don't think he was deliberately trying to isolate me."

  "It seemed that way to me."

  "I think he was trying to control me," I said, and was rewarded by seeing Burke flinch. "He didn't want me learning things outside of his teaching, or learn information he didn't give me. If he let me join, I'd have learned a lot of things outside of his control." When we had fought, he had sworn to puppet me. His only offer to let me live was to put me firmly under his control. Burke wasn't wrong about him trying to isolate me, but that was a symptom, not the root cause.

  Burke turned and started walking again, and I stepped up to catch him. "I will freely admit I wasn't aware of all of his actions and machinations. From my outside view, it seemed to be a way to keep you isolated from your peers and dependent on him."

  "He tried, for sure," I said.

  "You've given me things to think about."

  "Me too. Sorry, Professor, but I have to get back to the dorm. I'll see you at the next meeting, after break?"

  "Yes. Enjoy your time off."

  I double-timed it back to the dorm to try to beat everyone else to Andreas's room. When I knocked and he let me in, I grinned when I realized I had won. "I'm surprised to be the first one here."

  "I am pleased that you are the first one." Andreas gestured to the couch. "I have wanted to ask about that student council activity you mentioned. While you did not ask me to investigate it for you, I indulged my own curiosity."

  "Let me guess. It doesn't exist."

  "Incorrect." I frowned. "It does, in fact, exist. However, none of the students on the Student Council Subcommittee for Gifted Students exist."

  "What do you mean?"

  He sat on the edge of a chair. "The subcommittee exists, one page, one link to it, buried deep within the student government website. It did not show up on the internal search. I only found it when running their web structure through an analyzer. The supposed chairman of the subcommittee exists, Professor Austin Burke. Predictably, he is an enigma as well."

  "You're telling me."

  "So he is in fact the chairman?" I nodded and he continued. "There is a list of student members, but none of them exist in current school records."

  I rolled my head side to side, considering what it could be. "Did you check past records?"

  Andreas frowned. "That did not come to mind. Do you think the list could be old?"

  "Yeah. I think it could be." If it was a list of old members, I could use it. "Send me the page? Actually, write down the page? I don't want it to leave a trace back to you."

  "That seems excessive," he said, but he still got up and walked to his back room. A minute later, he handed me a slip of paper. I glanced at it, committed the address to memory with a blip of psionics, and then turned the paper to ashes with another blip. "And that is even more excessive."

  "It's for both of our protection," I said. "Make sure you clean up any evidence you did that analysis."

  "I take it the gifted nature of this group is your particular gift."

  "Yes." I locked gazes with him. "And that's why you need to be careful."

  "I shall do so. In the meantime, let us begin celebrating the end of this trimester."

  Within the next half hour, all of our friends began to show up. When Kaitlyn arrived, Nikki was in tow. I didn't expect to see her. She eyed me and I lifted a hand in greeting, but she didn't respond. I shrugged it off.

  Andreas slid a glass over to me. "I have experimented with this batch," he announced. "There is a new ingredient. I hope that it meets with your satisfaction." I picked up the glass and took a seat next to Nikki. She didn't react at all.

  Drew grimaced at Andreas as he poured himself a glass. "Dude, please tell me it's nothing like whatever secret ingredient went into that green shit."

  "Yeah, that was vile," Jess agreed. "I didn't think I'd ever wake up after that. Nothing could get that taste out of my mouth. I swear that shitty aftertaste lasted a week."

  "It is different from that blend," Andreas assured us. "I do have a new liqueur that I would like to try later. I do understand if you are not courageous enough to join me."

  "I'll talk Max into it when he gets here," Jess declared. Everyone laughed, except Nikki. She sat with her legs curled up under her and her arms crossed over her chest. She wasn't smiling. I wanted to poke her and get her out of her funk, but I also wanted to keep all of my fingers.

  "Where is he?" Kaitlyn asked. "Thought he'd be here from the very start."

  "Meeting with a professor," Jess said. "He's just about failing a couple of courses. Hopefully he got his shit together. I'm going to be pissed if he blows this chance."

  I grinned. Over the last two weeks, we had worked on his brain chemistry. It wasn't perfect, but he felt like he was retaining a lot more information than before. His confidence was through the roof. I didn't think he'd blow the test at this point. "Have faith in the man," I said.

  Jess snorted. "Have faith, you say. I have faith in his mood swings, not much else. The asshole goes from despair to arrogance in two days. We even made a bet about it."

  "What did you bet?" Drew asked.

  "None of your fucking business."

  "Oh. That sort of bet." He looked to Lisa. "What did they bet, dear?"

  Lisa giggled. "That's none of your fucking business, dear."

  "You're fun sized, but you're no fun at all."

  "Says you." Lisa sat on the arm of the couch next to Drew and kicked her legs in the air. "You don't want to know what we say about you behind closed doors."

  "I'm totally curious," Drew said. "No, seriously. We can have a session of deadly honesty tonight and take turns roasting each other. I'll even volunteer to be the first victim."

  "Let's not," Kaitlyn said. "I really don't want to hear about dicks and boobs all night. Especially mine."

  I leaned forward. "Your dick or your boobs?"

  She threw me a withering glance before laughing. I leaned back and glanced over at Nikki. She rolled her eyes and shook her head, still barely even making eye contact. At this point, I felt like calling myself single. She wasn't even trying to bridge the gap anymore.

  "I thought it would be fun," Drew said. "Don't you think so?"

  "You just want your ego stroked," Lisa told him.

  I glanced to Jess. She was leaning forward, phone cradled in her hands. "Texting Max?"

  She looked up at me and sneered. "What makes you think that?"

  "The fact that you're obviously smitten."

  "Fuck you, Kev, you're obviously smitten."

  I grimaced. "Hell no, I'd never date a smoker."

  "I thought that too." She put her phone in her pocket. "But you know what, life's pretty weird. Seize those weird connections. They're the ones that matter."

  "Deep," I said.

  "Oh shut up. Someone pass me something."

  Andreas pushed a glass toward her. "So, is anyone doing anything special this spring break?"

  "I was hoping for another trip to Florida," Drew grumbled. "Man, good times."

  Lisa prodded him. "Don't bring that back up if you know what's good for you."

  "Sorry."

  "No more going to beaches with tons of hot chicks in bikinis for you. At least, not without me."

  Drew's face lit up. "We should totally all go together!"

  "It's too late to plan it for this break," Lisa said. "Already got tickets to go home."

  "Same here," Jess said. "Not that you'd catch me dead on a beach."

  "Worried about your bikini body not holding up?" Drew asked.

  Jess looked down at herself, then back up at him. "Are you kidding me? I rock a bikini like no one else. The problem is this." She pointed at her red hair, then her pale skin. "If I'm out there for more than, say, six seconds, my skin turns the same color as my hair. Even if I put on an inch of sunscreen first. We burn like crazy, motherfucker."

  "I wouldn't be able to make it either," I said. "I'm actually staying here over the break. Taking a summer class."

  "Lame," Drew said. "All work and no play makes you crack, man."

  "I'll be fine." It wasn't a class, exactly, but Absynthe had promised to catch my training up a bit. She had finally explained why she wasn't training me herself. With a half dozen agents twisted and out of action, Alistair was sending her out for fieldwork regularly. Training had to take a back seat.

  "I'm heading back home too," Kaitlyn announced. "A little early for beach season, but why not? I'll get out there and enjoy the man flesh."

  "You sure will," Drew said with a leer. Lisa poked him again.

  "What about you, Nikki?" Andreas asked. All eyes turned to her. She didn't seem to be paying any attention at all. "What are your plans for the break?"

  She shrugged. "Heading home, I guess."

  "You guess?" Jess asked. "Didn't decide yet?" Nikki shrugged again and declined to answer. "Oh, I get it.

  You're going off to spend some time on the beach too, right? Work that body. Make Kev all jealous and shit."

  "Funny," Nikki said.

  "Seriously, what's your deal?" The room suddenly quieted. Jess leaned toward Nikki. "You've been throwing fuck-off signals all evening. I don't know what's going on between you two, but shit, this is a celebration of the end of the trimester. Lighten up. Have some fun."

  "Let me ask you something," Nikki said. She flicked her hand at the half-empty glass in front of Jess. "Does drinking make you more of a bitch than usual?"

  It caught me by surprise and I turned to stare at her. No one else reacted for a moment either. "Excuse me?" Jess sounded more surprised than angry, but the anger caught up quickly. "What the fuck-"

  "Just curious." Nikki stood up, stretched, and walked to the door. "Good night, everyone."

  The room stayed dead silent until the door closed behind her. As I expected, all eyes turned to me. Jess pointed at me. "Your girlfriend is a cast iron bitch, you know that? What the fuck, man? What the fuck was that?"

  "Believe me, I wish I knew." I looked to Kaitlyn, who shrugged. "Things aren't great between us lately."

  "I was wondering why I hadn't seen her lately," Drew said.

  "I can tell you why," Jess said. "She's a bitch. You better find the rod up her ass and pull it out."

  Before I could respond, the door opened. Max walked through frowning. "I just passed Nikki in the hall. She didn't even say hi. Something happen?"

  "We were just discussing that, Maxiepoo."

  "Don't call me that, Jessipoo."

  "I'll cut you."

  "You two are so cute," Lisa said. "It's almost too much for me."

  "It's totally too much for me," Kaitlyn said. She shifted over closer to me and squeezed my hand. "Sorry things are sucking for you guys," she said quietly while the others bantered. "Wish I knew what was up with her."

  "It'll settle down one way or the other," I said.

  "Hopefully it'll work out," she replied.

  "So," Jess said, cutting off any other conversation. "Let's hear it, Max. What's the final score?"

  Max took a deep breath and held his hand out over the table, curled his fingers into a fist, and stuck his thumb up. "Passed. Totally passed."

  "Hell yeah, dude!" Drew offered him a fist bump. "Never doubted you!"

  "You were probably the only one," Max said. "Shit, I wasn't sure myself."

  "Bullshit," Jess said. "You were bragging up and down that there was no way you'd fail. Asshole."

  "How am I the asshole?"

  "Because you are."

  "So what was the bet?" I asked.

  Jess flushed and looked away. Max grinned. "None of your fucking business," he said. "But believe me, I'm going to enjoy every moment of it."

  "You better," Jess snapped. "And we're going to have a serious talk about my bet too."

  "What, you expect me to do that even when you lost?"

  "I'd like you to."

  "I'll think about it."

  "Please."

  I raised my eyebrows. "I didn't know you knew that word."

  "Shut the fuck up, Kev. I'm serious here."

  Max sighed. "You carry through on your side of things and we'll talk about it."

  "Deal. Now, to celebrate, have this drink." She beckoned to Andreas, who brought over a wine glass. The liquid inside was iridescent blue and left trails as it swirled around the sides of the glass. "It's his new thing and you're going to drink it."

  "I'm going to drink it, you say?" Max picked up the glass, studied it, and placed it back on the coffee table.

  "How about no. Drew and I know better than to drink anything that Andreas made when it's blue or green."

  "It is substantially different from the green variation," Andreas pointed out.

  "You're still going to drink it," Jess said.

  "Why?"

  "Because it's an aphrodisiac that makes you irresistible to women, especially redheads."

  Max seized the glass. "You wouldn't lie to me, would you?"

  "Of course not." She waited until half the drink was down his throat before adding, "Unless it was really, really funny."

  Max choked, but finished it off. We all waited for his reaction. He covered his mouth and let out a small burp. "That was actually really tasty. Do I want to know what went into it?"

  "No."

  "Great. Do you feel oddly attracted to me yet, Jess?"

  She shrugged. "Any attraction to you is odd."

  "I didn't just drink antifreeze or anything like that, right?" He sat up straighter. "Actually, no, this is probably worse. I don't think I can feel my throat anymore."

  "That may be an unintended side effect," Andreas said.

  Max opened his mouth again and promptly slid off the couch. While everyone clustered around him to see if he was in actual need of medical assistance, my head suddenly rang with a telepathic summons from Absynthe. I shook my head and walked to the door. "Got to make a call, I'll be back in a bit," I announced. I suspected no one even noticed.

  Absynthe stood in the lobby of the dorm. To my surprise, Nikki stood next to her. "This has gone on long enough," Absynthe said as I walked up to them. "I hoped that you two would conduct yourselves professionally in spite of your current relationship difficulties."

  "Did I miss something?" I asked.

  "Miss Wainwright is refusing to continue your team training next trimester," Absynthe snapped. "Clearly, I have the authority to order this to happen, but even if I do, it's not going to happen, is it? Is it, Nicole?"

  "I said I didn't want to right now," Nikki snapped right back. "I have a lot of things to think about."

  "You've had a month and a half to think things over," Absynthe said. Nikki's head snapped back, and then she glared at me. It wasn't as if I wouldn't tell Absynthe my side. "Let me be blunt, Nicole. Get your shit together."

  "I'm not the only one who needs to get my shit together!"

  Absynthe looked at me and shook her head. "Sure, Kevin's not totally blameless, but he's the one who went on the assignment, handles his responsibilities, performs independent research, continues his personal training, and so on. What have you done in the past month?"

  "Schoolwork? Lots of it? I've had a lot of time to be myself too. Sometimes a girl has to be a girl. Maybe you remember? I think you were one once."

 

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