The Madrona Heroes Register: Echoes of the Past (28 page)

Binny zoomed back out from Zach’s mind
and into the second nearest dot. It had a light pink hue to it.
Even before she saw the details of the image she knew it was her
sister’s mind. It was pink. Who else could it be? It looked like
Cassie was reading a children’s book. Where had she gotten it?
They’d probably put Cassie in a room with some books and toys for
kids to keep them occupied. The image coming from Cassie was easy
to understand but covered in little cracks. The same cracks she saw
in Huitre’s mind when she knew he was lying. But his thoughts came
mostly in yellow. Cassie’s book was being broadcast to Binny’s
mental TV in pink. Binny wasn’t entirely sure what the significance
was of the cracks if any. Maybe it was like a phone call with a bad
connection.

There had been a third dot, off to the
right, a little smaller than the others. Binny zoomed out from
Cassie’s mind and then back in on the third dot. This one had a
purple tint. First Binny saw an image of Grater barking out orders.
She got scared for a minute thinking she was in Grater’s mind. But
then the image receded and was replaced by an image of a girl. A
girl about Binny’s age. Sitting cross-legged on a carpeted floor at
a man’s feet. She had olive skin, long black hair pulled back with
two barrettes, and her ears were pierced with gold studs. She
looked up at the owner of the feet and flashed a bright white
smile. When she appeared the image went from purple to
pink.

Binny watched fascinated as the
picture switched back and forth between Grater yelling and the girl
smiling. Each time it would also switch from purple to pink and
back again. Binny guessed that the guard was trying to control his
anger at his boss by thinking of the little girl who he obviously
cared about. The little girl’s face looked familiar. In fact, it
looked like the guard whose mind she was reading. Binny wondered,
could that girl be his daughter? A plan started to form in her
mind.

§

Zach got scared when he heard the loud
sobbing. It was Binny. She was banging on her door and crying. He
rushed to the locked door and started turning the handle furiously.
After a few seconds the banging stopped and then only the crying
remained. Zach could only pick out fragments, but the words “Zach”
and “brother” came through more than once. Zach had stopped trying
the door and was just listening intently. After another bout of
muffled crying Zach jumped back from the door to his room just as
it opened from the outside.

Standing there was a teary Binny with
the guard named Barrios behind her guiding her inside.

“
Look. You can’t do any
more of that. Please.” Barrios stood in the doorway sounding stern
but sympathetic too as he spoke to Binny. “They want you guys
separate.”

“
I promise, I won’t tell
anyone. I was just scared and needed my brother. Thank you. Thank
you.” Binny was still breathing hard from her bout of
crying.

Barrios started making his way out of
the room when Binny shrieked, “Spider!”

“
What now?” Barrios was
sounding exasperated.

“
I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m
sorry.” Binny was almost hyperventilating. “There’s a huge spider
in the corner. I’m just scared of spiders. Please do
something.”

The guard rolled his eyes and shook
his head but walked towards the corner of the room where Binny was
pointing. “Where? I don’t see a spider.”

As the guard passed Binny, she shot
Zach a wink and a smile, and then went immediately back to her
hyperventilation routine. “I swear it was there.”

“
Well it’s gone now. If it
comes back, I’m sure your brother can protect you from a spider.
Ok?”

Binny stifled her sobs as the guard
moved towards the door. Binny’s eyes told Zach to watch the guard.
The door had closed and locked behind him when he’d gone to attend
to Binny’s fictitious spider and now he had to enter a code to
reopen it. Zach watched carefully.

§

“
Nice acting.” Zach said
sarcastically but with a hint of admiration.

“
I had to figure out a way
to get you and me out of these rooms. Did you get the
code?”

“
Yeah. I got it.” Zach
moved towards the door to type it in.

Binny grabbed his arm to stop him.
“Wait. He’s still right outside.”

“
How do you
know?”

Binny paused, unsure of how much to
reveal to Zach about what she could now do. “I can see where people
are, well, where their thoughts are, in my head.”

“
Uh, wow.” Zach looked
dumbfounded.

Now it was Binny’s turn to hope Zach
wasn’t too jealous.

21

“
Why are we still
waiting?” Jay wasn’t even making an effort to be polite at this
point. Julie’s attempts to keep him calm weren’t working, and she
was getting antsy herself.

Dr. Huitre was looking pretty antsy as
well. He kept repeating various forms of “I am sure the doctor will
be here in a minute.”

Grater, the head of security, stood
stone-faced as the group stood in the small lobby of the Epaphus
building.

“
I am so very sorry for
keeping you waiting.” Dr. Samantha Trace, hair pulled back in a
severe bun, glasses perched upon her pinched face, entered the
lobby, addressing her comment to Jay and Julie. “Henry.” She
acknowledged Dr. Huitre and then returned her attention to the
Jordans. “I can only imagine how inconvenient and stressful this
must be. It was very kind of you to bring the children in at this
late hour.”

“
We didn’t have much of a
choice.” Jay muttered. Julie squeezed Jay’s arm.

Dr. Trace continued, “Of course, this
is completely our fault. You can be sure that we’ll investigate why
it took us so long to get in touch with your family. I called Henry
immediately as soon as we found our error. We’ve tested hundreds of
participants already and only your three children remain.” Dr.
Trace turned to the security guard, “Grater, will you please get
our guests some coffee.”

Grater let the slightest grimace
briefly cross his face.

“
We didn’t come for
coffee.” Jay remarked with a mix of anger and sarcasm.

Julie interjected, trying to redirect
the conversation. “How long will this take? When can we be with
them?”

“
Excellent question. I’m
so sorry for not explaining that first.” Dr. Trace was doing her
best to be conciliatory, but her voice sounded
irritated.

“
Your children are in the
exam rooms right now. I need to interview each of them briefly,
10-15 minutes at most, and then I’ll draw some blood and you can be
on your way.”

“
I am sure Dr. Trace will
get it done very quickly.” Dr. Huitre tried to sound
encouraging.

“
Great, let’s go to them
and get started.” Jay clapped his hands together.

“
Actually,” Dr. Trace
paused, sighed, and added, “I have to do the interview on my
own.”

“
What?” Jay and Julie
remarked in unison.

“
Part of the test is
having the child characterize their own experiences and health. We
have a specific protocol we use to collect the information, and
we’ve found that the presence of even the most restrained parents
can’t help but skew the results.”

“
You’ve got to be kidding
me!”

“
I wish I were, Mr.
Jordan. But I promise, as soon as the interview is over, we’ll
bring you and your wife in so you can be there for the blood draw.
I assure you we take the absolute minimum, and the needle is very
small.”

Julie looked like she was going to cry
at the thought of her children getting stuck with needles that
evening on top of everything else they’d already had to deal
with.

§

“
Don’t forget, wait for my
signal.” Binny reminded Zach for the third time.

“
I know. I
know.”

“
Good.

Zach looked at his sister, his face
extra serious, “Binny, why does it have to be you?”

Binny was touched by her brother’s
concern. “We each have a job to do. I’ll do mine so you and Penny
can do yours.”

“
But yours is the most
dangerous. It’s not fair.”

“
Zach,” Binny’s voice got
low, “There is no fair. Things just are.”

Zach shuffled his feet and looked like
he was approaching Binny to try and give her a hug. Binny spared
him the awkwardness adding, “We’re going to be fine. I’m going to
be fine. OK?”

Hug narrowly averted, Zach continued,
“Just remind me again, how will I recognize the signal?”

“
Trust me. You’ll know.”
Binny had a big grin on her face.

§

Binny closed her eyes for a moment,
concentrating, “OK. Now or never. That guard is in the outer
hallway around the corner. Let’s go.”

Zach typed in the code he’d seen
Barrios enter in the door’s keypad. The light blinked green. Zach
went through first making a quick dash down the hall and out the
building. Binny left the interview room as well but instead of
rushing out she moved towards the big glass window on the opposite
wall.

Hunched in a corner, her face buried
in her bunched up knees, was seven-year-old Cassie. Binny thought
she looked scared, like she was about to cry. Cassie’s nervousness
could end up revealing her powers and make all of Binny, Zach, and
Penny’s efforts worthless. The thought of leaving Cassie all alone
hurt Binny’s heart. She wanted to go in there and protect her. But
like she’d said to Zach, they each had a job to do. Even
Cassie.

Binny rapped her knuckles gently on
the window. Cassie’s head jerked, looking in that
direction.

Binny slid back the panel over the
narrow slot in the wall under the window and bent down to whisper
through it. “Cassie. Cassie.” Binny whispered as loudly as she
could while having her utterances still considered
whispers.

“
Binny?”

“
Come here. I’m on the
other side of this slot.”

Cassie padded over to the wall. “I
can’t see you.”

“
I know sweetie. But I can
see you. It’s a one-way mirror.”

“
Oh.”

“
Listen Cassie, do you
remember what I told you?”

“
I’m scared.”

“
I know. It’s gonna be ok.
I promise. You just have to stay calm. Zach and me and Penny are
going to get you out of this.”

A handful of silvery tendrils of light
started to slowly form around Cassie.

Binny continued more urgently,
“Cassie, seriously, you’ve got to do what I said. You can’t turn
invisible now. We can’t show them what you can do.”

“
I’m really scared.” The
tendrils were swimming around Cassie now and she was starting to
flicker in and out. Binny could see the chairs and table right
through her sister every time she flickered.

“
Cass, you’re turning
invisible right now!”

“
I am? I am?” Tears were
streaming down Cassie’s face.

“
Yes. It’s ok. I know you
can do this. I promise. I will protect you.”

“
Then why aren’t you in
here? Please come in here. I don’t like being alone.” Cassie was
visible again with only a few wisps of light slowly snaking around
her now.

“
I have to go do
something.” Binny responded slowly.

The silver light grew in strength
again, and Binny knew her sister was about to turn completely
invisible.

§

“
Honestly, I’ve never
heard of anything like this before.” Jay complained. “Why does the
interview matter? The blood test will either be positive or
negative. I want to see my kids now.”

Huitre intervened, “Actually,
combining psychiatric observation with blood labs is a holistic and
accepted approach to diagnosing patients. Luce Laboratories has
always been at the forefront of clinical research.”

Dr. Trace waited for Huitre to finish
his sentence before addressing Jay and Julie directly. Julie
thought she detected some condescension towards Huitre from Dr.
Trace, but then wondered if she had imagined it. “Yes. Thank you
Henry.” Trace smiled her pinched smile. “I have a son of my own.”
Julie noticed Dr. Trace pausing just slightly after the mention of
her own son as if she was picturing what he might be doing at that
moment. “I promise to treat your children just as I would treat my
own son. OK?” Dr. Trace gently nodded as if to indicate that the
conversation was over and it was time to test the
children.