Fourth Birth: The Oakmont Saga, Book 1

My sixth day began somewhat uneventfully, which I definitely wasn’t unhappy about. English and Government were boring and seemed to last forever, but boring wasn’t necessarily a bad thing to me anymore. After leaving, I decided that I would bring a book with me the next day, so I wouldn’t be quite as bored. Hopefully, if it was related material, the teachers wouldn’t mind too much, considering they’d never actually let me be self-guided like I was supposed to be.

That plan meant that I would have to go to the library during my evening free time, but that wasn’t too bad. It shouldn’t take me more than half an hour to find a couple of decent books that were at least somewhat related to the classes. For Government, I could reread the Federalist Papers, or something like that. For English, there were plenty of ‘literature’ type books out there that I could read, and even enjoy.

Physics was the one class that I really hated, not counting Martial Arts. Aside from knowing all of the material that Mrs. Warple was forcing me to listen to, James had abused me every class...at least the two I’d been to so far. I didn’t think that would change anytime soon.

Getting in early didn’t make a difference Monday, so I waited before heading to class, and even then made sure I walked in with Mrs. Warple. I was hoping her presence might make it a little easier for me. She almost smiled at me, as we walked in together.

“Good morning, Mrs. Warple,” I said, lowering my head, looking at the floor.

“Good morning, Melanie,” she replied. It seemed as though she wanted to say something else, but someone walked between us. Before she could speak, I turned and walked to my seat, pulling out my stuff so I looked like I was doing something.

As Mrs. Warple began lecturing, I attempted to look like I was paying attention. Unfortunately, since I already knew what she was teaching and I didn’t bring anything to occupy myself, it was hard for me to concentrate. It wasn’t long before I found myself starting to fall asleep.

I made the situation worse since I was spending portions of my nights probing through the building and I was really tired. The last time of this I almost fell off the stool, catching myself just before I did.

“Stand up and receive punishment,” I heard over my shoulder, the voice sending a chill up my spine. I looked and saw James standing there. I stood, and was about to bend over, but I was stopped.

“James, return to your seat, please,” Mrs. Warple said.

“Mrs. Warple, she was disrespectful and it’s my responsibility to discipline her,” he replied.

“Yes, I know the rules. However, due to injuries she has received from your previous punishment, she is excused from any further corporal punishment until she is completely healed, and then only under my supervision,” she said, lifting my spirits immensely. As I saw the look on James’ face, I knew what this would mean for me. My spirits suddenly did a complete crash to the floor and my stomach jumped into my throat.

“Mrs. Warple, that isn’t what we were instructed to do by the Headmaster,” he told her.

“James, this is my class and you’ll do what I say. If you don’t like it, then we can discuss it with the Headmaster himself. We can also discuss how you’re currently being disrespectful to me,” she said, taking charge. Unfortunately, what she was doing was humiliating him, and every word she said was digging my hole deeper.

He stared at her for only a moment, but he turned to me and looked into my eyes with hate in his. The look he gave me sent terror through me at what I knew would happen as a result of this. I had known that their note would be bad, which was why I hadn’t shown it. They knew anyway, and voiced it for everyone to hear. Now, James would be out to get me, somehow.

Physics had just become much worse, which I wouldn’t have thought possible. For the rest of class, I had no trouble staying awake. My mind kept going over all of the different ways that James would beat me up, or somehow hurt me for this. And that didn’t even include what I did to him yesterday and what he did to me, which I was sure he hadn’t forgotten. What scared me more was that he wasn’t sending mental jabs any longer.

When class ended, I’d already packed my stuff and headed out the door before anyone else, making sure that James was far behind me. He didn’t seem to care, looking back at him as I left. I knew better though.

I headed to the hospital for my daily shot, which was really painful and made me feel funny, although the weirdness was beginning to go away a little. Today, they added a second syringe to my injection. This new stuff didn’t hurt at all, but the feeling that came over me was even weirder than the other stuff was. I felt very relaxed for a little while, then I suddenly felt angry for no reason, even more than the unusual anger I’d been dealing with, which was almost constant now.

Heading to lunch, I almost felt nauseous from my nerves and what I was sure would happen because of the situation with James. Of course, I wasn’t sure exactly what he would do, but I knew he wouldn’t let this go without hurting me for it and for yesterday. I was also not sure how much of my nausea was a result of the shots I got.

When I got to the cafeteria, I headed to a table and waited for Aliyah to get there. I laid my head down for the wait, closing my eyes to relieve the pressure in my head.

I was startled awake when Aliyah bumped me as she sat down. “Were you asleep?” she asked, looking surprised.

“I guess so,” I replied, rubbing the sleep from my eyes.

“You already eat?”

“I’m not hungry,” I told her. She stopped eating, with her fork halfway to her mouth.

“What’s wrong? Are you sick or something?”

“I don’t feel good,” I told her, which definitely wasn’t a lie.

“Something else happened.” That was not a question.

“Not really,” I answered, knowing that was a bad reply.

“What happened now?”

“James was going to punish me, but Mrs. Warple stopped him.”

“That’s great!”

“No, it isn’t. He actually argued with her, but finally gave in. When he looked at me, it was really scary. He’s going to hurt me when he gets a chance. That’s why I didn’t want to show the note from the doctor. I knew he’d get mad at me for it and now he’s going to hurt me worse because his permission to punish me has been taken away in front of everyone. And they gave me a new shot today, along with the other one. I don’t know how much my feeling bad is that or James. I’ve been a lot madder than I should be since I got here and now I’m even madder than I was and I don’t know why.”

“Well, you won’t like this, either.” She had started, but she stopped, and I knew she was hesitant to tell me whatever it was.

“What,” I asked, not feeling good about the way she began.

“They put you at third on the strength board.”

“Why would that be bad?”

“Like I told you, it’s how we know where we stand. I’m in first and James Boyle is second, with you now third. Chelsea just got moved to fourth.” I felt a sudden urge to throw up. That was definitely not a good thing for me, since Chelsea seemed to be his girlfriend.

I ran from the cafeteria, straight to the nearest bathroom, and threw up into the closest toilet. Now I was really glad I hadn’t eaten, not that there was much chance of that in the first place.

When I was done cleaning myself up, Aliyah stood there, looking worried. “I’m alright. Sorry if I scared you.”

“I didn’t expect that to make you sick.”

“It’s just that I’m worried about what he’s going to do to me when he catches me. I know he’s going to eventually, and I’m really scared,” I told her as we walked back to our room.

“How do they know my strength, anyway? I haven’t used any telepathy yet,” I asked, suddenly remembering what triggered my reaction.

“My guess is that Mr. Miller could sense it after your attacks.”

“How? I didn’t do anything.”

“I don’t know about the first two, but I could see your strength when you had that last one. From what I saw, you aren’t third, either.” She had that same weird look she had yesterday.

“What do you mean, I’m not third?”

“I think you’re the strongest here, including me,” she said, the look not going away.

“Then why’d they put me third?” I couldn’t understand what she was telling me.

“I don’t know. Maybe because you aren’t trained. Who can figure the teachers out,” she replied, changing to one of her normal, confused looks. We were silent as we walked the rest of the way to our room. Once we got there, I fell onto my bed and closed my eyes.

“Come on. We need to get to Mrs. Wilde’s class,” she said, breaking through my thoughts, not long after I laid down.

“Okay,” I replied, grabbing a book and my backpack.

I didn’t truly realize how much harder it had been to get through the crowded halls before, even with Aliyah there. Once I was moved up so high, getting through became easy and there weren’t as many probes hitting me, although there were still some. The kids parted for me quickly, regardless of what they thought about me and they didn’t hit me anymore, except James and Chelsea, and sometimes Richard. Chelsea didn’t seem to care what the strength chart said and I think Richard was just trying to do what would make James happy.

I was hit by James and his friends four times between lunch and the end of the day, thankfully not landing on the floor once. Their mental probes were vicious though, usually with all three of them, along with other kids, sending many all at once.

Math class went by in a blur and Mrs. Wilde didn’t come to me the entire class. It was almost as if she was scared of me, although I knew better than that. She knew my anger yesterday was toward her, but she didn’t know why. I wondered if she had figured it out and maybe felt bad about it. I would’ve liked that to be true, but I doubted it was.

Why was I thinking like that? She was the enemy and I had to remember that, no matter what. The problem was, for some reason I wanted to like her, even though she was one of my kidnappers and I hated her for that. It was really weird. I was so messed up.

But, she really did try to be nice to me, kind of like Mrs. Hartman at my old school. It was funny how it was my old school now and I’d only been gone a few days.

Martial Arts wasn’t as bad today. Knowing what to expect now, and having been in classes for several years, I managed to do good enough to not be an example again, but only barely. Mr. Braun did yell at me several times. Unlike all of my martial arts classes back home, Mr. Braun focused on offense rather than defense. He wanted us to be brutal and show no mercy. My instructors back home would have been disgusted with what we were being taught.

After Martial Arts class was over, I made it through another day of mental preparation, which was harder than usual. Mr. Miller seemed to try and push me really hard, for some reason. It was probably because he knew I was strong now and thought he could draw out my ability by being so hard. He didn’t realize that I was deliberately holding back. At least I hoped he didn’t.

I did listen to his lessons to other kids, which let me to pick up finer skills than I taught myself. I watched what they did really close, trying to see how they did things. I’d practice them when I could, which would be hard since I didn’t have a partner for it. I figured I’d gotten pretty good at hiding my thoughts, not that it was really needed, since no kid really tried to enter my mind anymore. All they did was tried to poke me with probes, which was definitely not the same. They did enter Aliyah’s mind all the time though, including Mr. Miller. That had to be how they were trying to watch me. It made sense, at least, because they knew I wasn’t happy and they had to assume I’d eventually try to run away.

After Mr. Miller’s class, I headed to the classroom that I’d been assigned for my tutoring with Mrs. Trulin. I was really not looking forward to this.

“Hello, Melanie,” she said when I came in.

“Good afternoon, Mrs. Trulin.”

“We didn’t start off very good last week, and I apologize for that.”

She seemed to be waiting for me to reply, but I really didn’t know what she was expecting and more to my normal way of doing things, I didn’t want to speak, so I continued to wait.

“You know, when someone offers an apology, you should accept it graciously.”

“I’m sorry, Mrs. Trulin.” I tried to appear meek. Of course, I really was scared.

“Melanie, I was wrong to try the approach with you that I tried, and it made you mad. What I really want to do is find ways to keep you from getting angry, and maybe help you learn to handle your anger better.” She confirmed my belief that Mrs. Wilde would tell her, even if Mrs. Trulin didn’t say it outright. Even though I expected it, it made me mad that she betrayed my trust that easily.

“First, let’s talk about what made you mad the other day,” she said looking at me expectantly. Again, I wasn’t sure what she wanted, but it was clear she wanted me to talk. I was really afraid of making her mad, so I continued to sit quietly, with my hands folded in my lap and my face turned down as well.

“Well, are you going to tell me what made you so angry?” That surprised me a little.

“No, ma’am,” I replied, still with my eyes down. Maybe Mrs. Wilde didn’t actually tell her, at least not everything. Also possible was that she wanted me to discuss it, even if she already knew what it was.

“That’s not the answer I was expecting or hoping for. Let’s try again, shall we. Tell me the first thing that made you mad Friday.”

For this one, I could answer her and unfortunately, my mind didn’t get control of my tongue fast enough. “Waking up here,” I replied, looking up a little at her, my anger flaring a little for no apparent reason. She just stared at me for a moment, a look on her face almost like surprise.

“So, you’re angry just by being here?” she asked.

“Yes, ma’am.”

“What was the first thing I said that made you angry?”

“Good afternoon,” I said, knowing I sounded sassy, but unable to stop myself. She looked at me like I’d slapped her. I just sat there quietly again, not speaking, which seemed to be irritating her. I didn’t know why I was doing this and I really didn’t want to. It was definitely not like me, but I couldn’t stop myself.

“Melanie, I can’t help you if you don’t help me,” she finally said after a long pause. My anger suddenly exploded, thankfully not enough to trigger one of the seizures, but definitely enough to get me in trouble.

“I don’t want your help, ma’am,” I told her, being bolder than I probably should’ve been, but my anger took away my caution, my inhibitions seemed to be almost completely gone.

Something felt funny inside, like I had less control than I should and I was even more careless than I had been before, not that I’d been here that long. It was even worse than the last few days were, though. Is this what it was like to lose your mind?

“Whether you want it or not, you need it. You can’t control your gift unless we teach you how.”

That was all it took. “You’ll never control me!” I screamed, just before my vision went red and that click happened like a gunshot in my head, bringing a burst of pain unlike anything I’d ever felt. I actually heard myself scream, my mouth completely open emitting a horrible sound.

It was far worse than any of the other attacks. There was a blinding flash of light and then complete blackness. The pain continued into the blackness, though. I felt that growing thing in my head, feeding on the energy the attack released.

After an eternity in the pain filled void, light began to come back, although I had no idea how long I was actually there. Images began to form in my vision, but they didn’t make sense. I was seeing the inside of one of the brain scan machines, like on my first day here. Maybe all of this had been a bad dream and it was still my first day. That’d be nice...very nice.

“Melanie, how do you feel?” It took me a moment to recognize Mrs. Wilde’s voice, which meant it wasn’t a dream.

“Hurt,” was all I could manage to say.

“I know. It’ll go away, but it takes some time.”

“Hey doc,” a male voice called out.

“Yeah, what is it John?” she asked.

“The spot’s gotten bigger. You need to see this,” John said and even I could hear concern in his voice.

There was a long period of silence and then I felt someone take my hand. “Melanie, there’s something inside your mind that’s making your attacks more severe and allowing you to have them more often. It’s directly related to your anger. I don’t know what Mrs. Trulin did or said that made you angry, but I need to know. Would you tell me?”

“No,” I managed to say. I knew my anger got really bad, really fast when I was with her. Even though I was angry at being here, something was different about it, more intense. It’d been that way since I got here, for some reason.

“How about this. I’ll be completely honest with you. There’s a spot in your brain that’s getting bigger, and we’re worried that it could kill you. It’s somehow linked to your attacks and your anger. I desperately want to help you learn to control your anger, before that happens.” It must be the thing I felt growing, feeding off of the energy from these attacks.

“Mrs. Trulin wants to control me too.”

“She only wants to help you control your anger, Melanie, but for different reasons. Melanie, for some reason, she makes you mad. Maybe it’s just a personality conflict, but something has to change. We need to remove anything that increases the odds of you getting mad.” She ignored my comment.

“Then let me go home,” I weakly said, interrupting her.

“I can make no promises, but I’ll see if I can get you out of the tutoring sessions with her,” she told me, again ignoring my comment.

“Thank you,” I mumbled, accepting at least that small favor.

“Now, are you feeling up to walking? I think John would like his table cleaned off.”

“Don’t make me the bad guy, doc,” he yelled from his office.

“I have no idea how he hears me so easily,” she whispered, smiling at me. I gave no acknowledgment of her attempted humor.

She helped me stand up and we walked back to my room, which seemed further away than I remembered it. It was a very slow walk, since I hurt so much and I was having trouble taking steps. My feet didn’t seem to want to lift. When we got to my room, she helped me change into night clothes and then helped me get into bed, kind of like Momma did. That thought hurt as I had it. I was beginning to believe that I’d never see her again.

“Are you up to eating?”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“What would you like?”

“Meat with green vegetables.”

“What for dessert,” she asked, smiling.

“None, thank you.”

“What kid doesn’t want dessert,” she asked, looking a little shocked.

“I don’t eat all the sugar and grain. It’s bad for me.” She looked at me with an odd expression, but didn’t linger on it.

“Alright, I’ll have your dinner brought up. You’ll get to eat dinner in bed.”

“Thank you Mrs. Wilde,” I replied, beginning to feel like myself again.

“You’re welcome, Melanie,” she said, lightly squeezing my shoulder and then leaving.

A little later, she returned carrying a tray with my dinner on it, and a glass of water. “You didn’t tell me what you wanted to drink, so I got a glass of water.”

“That’s what I want. Thank you, Mrs. Wilde,” I replied, as she set it on the bed beside me.

I propped myself up and began eating. As I started eating, she sat in my desk chair and watched me. It was a little odd to have someone watch while I ate, but I was hungry enough that I didn’t really care. About halfway through dinner, Aliyah walked in.

“Hello, Mrs. Wilde. Hey Mel,” she said, looking worried as she looked between both of us. “Is she sick?”

“No, she had another attack today. This one was a little worse than before.”

“Wow, she’s had a lot of them.”

“Yes, she has. Too many, in fact.”

“Why’s she having so many?”

“Well, there’s a small spot inside her brain that we think is causing them, or at least making them worse. What really worries me is that you have it too. We think you aren’t having these problems because you were brought here much younger and went through the anger management classes before they became a problem.”

“So if she goes through the anger management stuff, then she’ll stop having them this bad?” She looked hopeful, but I knew better.

“I really don’t know. The problem is, Melanie’s very angry and also much older than you were. I honestly don’t know how to fix this, and the spot’s growing.”

“What does that mean?” Aliyah asked.

“It means they think it’ll kill me if I can’t stop getting mad at them,” I told her, before Mrs. Wilde answered.

“I wouldn’t have said it that way, but that’s pretty much it,” she agreed.

“So, you need to stop getting so mad at them,” Aliyah said, as if it was that simple.

“I can’t.”

“Why?” Aliyah asked.

“Because they kidnapped me and keep lying to me,” I told her, beginning to get mad again.

“We’re not lying to you,” Mrs. Wilde said, sounding defensive, but not angry.

“Yes you are!” I yelled, my temper quickly erupting, and a lot faster than it should’ve.

“Exactly how do we lie to you?” Before I could reply, she said, “No, don’t answer that. This is a conversation that needs to stop. It’ll only make you angry and that’s exactly what we’re trying to avoid.”

It was already too late though. Just thinking about the way they lied to Momma, Daddy and me, along with how they believed they were making this country better, just fueled my anger.

My vision was already beginning to turn red, and I could feel my mind beginning to disconnect. There was a small feeling of that click as Mrs. Wilde began to try and calm me.

“Melanie, please calm down. This is exactly why I stopped that discussion. Please calm down,” she said, her hand rubbing my back. I could feel the passion in her voice and it actually did help me to calm down, oddly enough. The red haze began going away, slowly fading, and I felt my mind engage again, but there was already pain from where I was on the edge of having another one. Maybe I did have a small one, but I wasn’t sure. I knew I felt that thing inside grow a tiny bit, though.

“Mrs. Wilde, I can’t help get mad when you talk about that, but I also want you to understand it the way I see it, which none of you will do,” I told her, fighting through the pain, since it wasn’t too bad for me to fight it.

“If it’ll help you, I’ll listen, but only if it won’t make you angry.”

“Will you really listen?”

“I’ll try. That’s all I can promise.”

I looked at her long and hard, finally deciding to tell her how I felt and how I saw things, regardless of how much trouble I got in for it. This time it wasn’t me not being able to control myself. I was in complete control and knew I needed to do this, if for no other reason than to at least have explained my point of view to one of them, even if they wouldn’t agree with it.

“The Headmaster and Mrs. Trulin came to my house and promised my parents all of this wonderful stuff about how good this school was for me and that I’d learn so much. They told us it was in New York. All of that was a lie, every bit of it. This school is no better than my old elementary school. It’s a lot worse, and my parents have no idea where I am. I’ll bet you’re going to tell them that I’m dead or something, so you don’t have to worry about sending me back home for summer vacation. I already know you’ll never let me go home, because you know I’d never come back and I know too much. Not only was I kidnapped, but I’m being abused. I’ll bet they don’t even get my letters,” I told her, knowing that I was jumping around a lot, but my mind wasn’t completely working as it should, even if I didn’t have a full attack.

“I imagine you’re right that they won’t get your letters, and you probably won’t get any from them.” She looked unhappy, but didn’t comment on my suspicion of my death.

“I’ve been kidnapped. Why wouldn’t I get mad about that?”

“None of the other kids get so angry about it,” she said, but actually sounded like she wasn’t feeling what she was saying. That was at least a start.

“That’s because they’ve been brainwashed, or don’t know they’ve been kidnapped, because they were younger and more gullible,” I replied, earning an odd and unhappy look from Aliyah.

“I really wish you wouldn’t use that word to describe it.”

“What do you want to call it!?” I yelled, my anger flashing like gas on a fire. This time, I had control of it though, and I knew it. It was a very tenuous control, but it was there, for now.

“We’ve brought you to a specialized training facility to help you learn to cope with a special gift and to manage your anger with relation to it.”

“You lied to us and our parents to get us to come here. If you didn’t lie, our parents probably wouldn’t let us come. In other words, you took us through lies and deception, ultimately against the will of our parents. That’s kidnapping, according to the law in any place you want to go.”

“I wish you could see the good that this program actually does.”

“It hasn’t done me any good,” I threw at her, then I closed my eyes and breathed deeply for a while. I needed to regain control, before I totally lost it, which I was perilously close to doing.

“What’s one of the most important things for a person during their life?” I asked, once I finally calmed down enough, my passion still very strong though.

“I have a suspicion that your answer is based on your faith, from watching you these last few days.”

“It is, but that shouldn’t matter for this question.”

“So what’s this most important thing?” She looked genuinely curious.

“One of the most important things, but not the most important is family, only second to God.” There was an intensity in my stare that even I could feel. “You’ve broken that by stealing us from our families!”

“You have a family here, if only you would embrace it.” She still didn’t understand what I was trying to tell her, although she was the adult and I was the child.

Again, I closed my eyes and breathed deeply. This time it was out of frustration, not anger. “My parents and my brother will always mean more to me than anyone here.” I dropped my hands to my side in exasperation. “Even if I’ll never get to see them again,” I said so softly I doubt she heard.

“Not only that, you teach the kids to be mean to each other and look down on the weaker kids and beat them up. What kind of a screwed up family is that?” I asked, returning to normal volume. “I’ve always been taught to be nice to people and help people that are weaker than me. I think I’ll stick with what Momma and Daddy taught me,” I said, finishing my argument and plopping down on my bed, done in more ways than one. I wasn’t even sure when I had stood up.

“Melanie, when did you start hearing the voices?”

“I don’t know,” I replied, exasperated and tired, my thoughts still jumbled from the little attack I had.

“What do you mean you don’t know?”

“I don’t remember,” I answered, and suddenly realized what I’d said, but knew it was too late. My hate for her suddenly blossomed to life again, with vigor. And she had almost gotten me to liking her. How did I not hear the question when she asked it? What was wrong with me?

“So, you’ve been hearing them for a while?”

“I don’t hear voices,” I said, returning to my typical refusal of their existence, but looking at her through hate filled eyes. There was no way she couldn’t tell what was going through my mind, and she didn’t need to be a telepath for it.

“But you just said you didn’t know when you started hearing them,” she said, knowing she’d caught me.

“If I heard voices, they’d lock me up again.” Her eyebrow lifted at that, but she didn’t say anything.

I knew I’d just screwed up, yet again. That was twice in one conversation. She’d tricked me into giving up information that I wanted to keep secret and I knew it. I’d betrayed Daddy because of her. I was an absolute failure, in everything I did.

“I hate you!” I whispered, with such passion I was almost seeing red from the strength of the emotion I was feeling. This wasn’t an attack kind of red, at least I didn’t think it was. It was just pure hate, which before coming here I never thought I’d feel for a person.

“I’m tired. Can I go to sleep now?” I wanted to end this before I said anything else, the hate boiling inside of me.

“Melanie, I’m really not the bad guy. I wish you would talk to me so I can help you.”

“I’ve talked too much already, and thank you, but I don’t want your help.” I layed down and turned my back to her. “You are the bad guy,” I whispered, unable to stop myself.

“Alright,” she said as she stood up, picking up my dinner tray. “Good night, girls,” she said as she left.

“How long have you heard the voices?” Aliyah asked, once she’d gone.

“I don’t hear voices.” I was angry at myself for making such a stupid slip.

“You won’t tell me either?” I could hear the hurt in her voice. I had to let her be hurt, though. If I told her, they’d find out by tomorrow.

“I can’t,” I said, almost whispering, because I knew I was hurting her by not trusting her, but I couldn’t.

“You mean you won’t,” she said, the hurt even more clear than before.

Rather than respond, I just pulled the covers over my head, almost wanting to cry, but I stopped the tears from coming. I just blew it with the first real friend I’d ever had, thanks to Mrs. Wilde. At least it’d make it easier to abandon her when the time came.

“Let me guess. We’re here to discuss the Brager girl again,” the Headmaster said.

“Yes, sir,” Rebecca replied.

“What is the issue now?” It was obvious that he was irritated.

“There is an anomaly in her brain that needs to be handled with care,” she replied.

“What are you talking about?”

“In the X4 serum development, there was an anomaly encountered that killed every subject that it was administered to. Melanie has that same anomaly in her brain, as does Aliyah.” There was a bit of whispering as she said this.

“What problems does this anomaly create,” he asked, playing along with her.

“It’s directly related to the anger connection with psychic bursts. With every other child that’s come through this program, the child might have an attack, and it’ll be weeks, sometimes months before they have another. To a great degree, that depends on their ability to control their anger. However, there’s a very definite safety mechanism built into the serum and the telepathic region to stop attacks from occurring too close together.”

“Yes, we all know this.” His frustration came through in his tone.

“Yes, sir, we do. Melanie has been here for five days and has had at least eight attacks that we know of, several happening before she’s completely recovered from a previous attack,” she said, shocking them all, except Mike. “With how she responds afterward and her very obvious anger issues, I wouldn’t be surprised if she’s had more we’re not aware of.”

“Alright, so she is an angry child,” the Headmaster quipped.

“Yes, she is, but that’s not the extent of the anomaly. You see, there’s a small micro-energy spec in her brain. It’s growing, with each psychic burst. That micro-energy spec is identical in nature to the anomaly that killed the subjects in the X4 experiments.” That silenced everyone.

“So, why does Aliyah have it?”

“I don’t know. The brain scans have been forwarded to the head of the neurology department at the lab. I suspect he’ll be coming here at some point, but I can’t be certain of that.”

“How is it that it is affecting the Brager girl, but not Aliyah?”

“I suspect that Aliyah learned to control her temper before it manifested, since she came here much younger. Melanie didn’t have the benefit of that earlier training and has come here already angry, which makes her tipping point much easier to achieve. And although I can’t be certain, I suspect the Sterocartalide is increasing her anger. That’s a rare but known side effect with it. It should also be noted that the spot in Aliyah’s brain is growing, but much slower, likely due to the early training.”

“Are you telling me that we need to dance around this child’s anger issues, even more than you already suggested?” There was no mistaking his sarcasm.

“That’s exactly what I’m telling you.”

“I will not instruct all of these teachers to do that,” he stated.

“Then you’ll be responsible for killing her.” She didn’t hold back, tired of his stupidity.

“Surely it is not that serious.”

“Actually, it is,” she said, matter-of-factly. “The spec is no longer a spec. When we first found it, John had to magnify over 200% to see it. Magnification is no longer needed to see it and it is encompassing sections outside of the telepathic region now.” This time, there was stunned silence.

“Alright, tell us what we need to do to placate this child’s temper.”

“Well, the first thing I suggest is discontinuing the tutoring sessions with Emily.”

“Why are our tutoring sessions a problem?” Emily asked.

“For some reason, you invoke her anger. Maybe it’s simply because you were part of her recruitment, which she pointedly mentioned as a point of contention. But to be honest, I’m not really sure. What I do know is that you definitely bring out her anger.”

“Alright, I would accept that, if it’s needed. However, I think she needs the tutoring to help her unlock her skill, if we want to get her up to speed,” Emily conceded.

“As to that, it may not be as necessary as we thought. Melanie has been able to hear thoughts since before she came here, although I don’t know for how long, or how well,” she informed them, eliciting more whispering.

“How do you know this?” Emily asked, truly curious and obviously excited.

“She let it slip in our last discussion. It was obvious she was unhappy when she realized her perceived mistake, but it was done. There was one other thing that came out during that discussion. She’s been in a psychiatric hospital, which she also didn’t want to tell us,” she told the group, and again paused. “That brings us back to the need for her background check, which I still haven’t seen.”

“Neither have I,” Mr. Stone replied, who was the head of security for the facility.

“Well, let’s have one started, then,” the Headmaster said.

“That’s already done, but it’s still pending,” Mr. Stone replied.

“Who authorized it?” the Headmaster asked, sounding angry that it’d been done without his approval.

“I don’t need authorization when a student comes in without one, or there’s a concern over a change in the student’s security status,” Stone said, not giving the entire story of the background check.

“That girl actually has backbone?” Mr. Braun asked.

“She definitely has backbone, in spite of her meek outward demeanor,” Rebecca replied. Mr. Braun acknowledged that with an interested expression and a nod of his head, but no more comment.

“Now, back to my recommendations,” Rebecca said, returning to the original discussion before they got off track. “We need to avoid mentioning anything about any potential benefits of this facility. She sees none and it only serves to infuriate her, if it’s mentioned.”

“You are telling me that she sees no benefit in this program, or this school?” The Headmaster was incredulous.

“No sir, she does not,” Rebecca said, not elaborating.

“I’m teaching her advanced science. Surely she sees benefit in that,” Mrs. Warple said.

“Margaret, that girl is way beyond what you’re teaching. She could probably teach the class for you. Has she been paying attention to your lectures?” she asked the old science teacher.

“No, she’s a very distracted child. I’m amazed that she scored so high on her assessment test,” she said.

“She’s distracted because she’s bored. You’re teaching material that she already knows. I’d bet she scores the highest grade on your first test, without paying attention to your lectures or studying for it.”

“That’s not possible. She’s only ten years old!” Margaret exclaimed.

“Yes, she’s only ten years old, and she seems to have a variation on the concept of an eidetic memory. It remains to be seen if it continues into adulthood, but it’s serving her well right now. She sees something and memorizes it almost instantly, but to make it more impressive, she actually internalizes it almost as fast, which is not normal for an eidetic memory. Now, back to the purpose behind this current topic. We cannot discuss with her how beneficial this facility could be for her. She simply does not see it as such, and actually sees it quite the opposite.”

“Why is that,” Emily asked.

“To start, you lied to her and her parents in order to recruit her, and she’s well aware of it. Lying is a big deal with her. She has a high bar for her ethics and morals. It’s a very high bar and that’s a very large factor. Not only that, I think based on your sales pitch, she expected this to be some really top notch school for only the smartest kids, which it’s not. In other words, she was let down and I believe that it’s not a minor let down for her. That girl is nothing short of a genius, and she’s been starving for mental stimulation. The one bright spot we have is Aliyah. She has bonded to Aliyah in an incredibly short time. What’s just as shocking is that Aliyah has also bonded to her, which most of you know is extraordinary in itself,” she explained.

“Alright, until we find a solution, everyone is to try their best to keep from angering this child,” the headmaster agreed, with an exasperated tone.

“One item to note, punishment doesn’t anger her, at least not yet. However, it does frighten her. All of that could change as she becomes more angered at unjust punishment, which she pointedly mentioned the abuse she’s suffering during our discussion. Remember, we need to do whatever we can to keep her from getting angry,” she told them, emphasizing what she had been saying.

“Rebecca, let me know when you hear from the lab,” the Headmaster said.

“Yes, sir.” Everyone headed out, going to their homes to relax for the evening.

As she was leaving, Mike and Emily caught up with her, clearly wanting to continue the discussion. “Rebecca, you suggested that Melanie has been able to use her skill before she came here. How do you know this,” Mike asked.

“Like I said, I tricked her into telling me. We’d been discussing why she was so angry and I changed topics without warning. A trick I learned during my undergraduate work. I asked her how long she’s been able to hear the voices. She said she didn’t remember, which implies that it isn’t recent. That in itself is concerning, but what’s almost as concerning is that if I’m right it means she can turn it off,” she said, making Emily and Mike raise their eyebrows at the implications.

“That’s not possible,” Mike finally said, although he was already suspecting that it was indeed possible.

“No, it’s unlikely, based on known observations. However, she basically said that she could hear the voices, and was obviously unhappy when she realized she told me so. She began denying it as soon as she realized what she’d said, but it was too late. What she didn’t tell me, but is obvious is that she can silence her skill. I know what all of the documentation says about that trait, but I also know what you two have observed with her. No apparent manifestation of her talent. You know that every child that manifests has uncontrolled links until they learn control or to silence it. Why haven’t you observed any links from her, if she has indeed manifested already? Remember, Emily caught her listening in the van on arrival. There has never been an exception to that and I really doubt there was with her.”

After a pause, to let them process what she’d said, she continued. “The last point I’ll make, which is a small stretch, but I think still relevant is that she knows she needs to control her anger. I’ve observed her actively work to bring her anger under control, using standard breathing exercises and concentrating on other things, just like we teach them. I can only guess at her success level, considering how many attacks she’s had, but all of those points strongly suggest she’s very much able to use her telepathy.”

“Why was she in a psych…,” Emily began, then her face lit up with understanding. “Her parents probably thought she was going crazy and took her to a shrink, who admitted her to the hospital for tests and some kind of intense medical treatment.”

“That would be my assumption,” Rebecca agreed.

“If she’s developed an advanced skill this young, what else might she be hiding?” Emily asked, now that the full implications were setting into her mind.

“That’s a very good question, and one we won’t get any answers to in the near future,” Rebecca replied.

“Not with her current anger issues and that energy burst waiting to happen,” Emily agreed.

“If we’re correct, we can’t do anything about it, such as trying to discover what she may actually be able to do. Her secrets in that regard will remain hers, at least until we can get a grip on the problem in her brain,” Rebecca told them.

“Are you sure it wouldn’t be beneficial for me to work with her?” Emily asked, hopeful.

“Under the circumstances, I think it could be disastrous,” Rebecca replied.

“Emily, as much as I know you want to work with her, I have to agree with Rebecca. In addition, if this hypothesis is true, then your work is moot anyway,” Mike said.

“For some reason, you anger her without trying. We must avoid getting her mad at all costs, at least until we can figure out what’s going on in her head,” Rebecca told her.

“As much as I hate it, I have to agree with you. I wish I knew why I make her so mad, though,” she said, obviously disappointed, especially now that they believed she was much more skilled than previously thought and much more skilled than a child her age should be.

“I’ll try and find out, but I make no promises,” Rebecca consoled the younger woman. “She’s very closed, so getting anything out of her is a trial. I’m amazed I managed to get her to say what she did. Something has her off balance right now, and I don’t think it’s the Sterocartalide. If I can figure out why she’s so angry, I’ll let you know.”

“Thank you,” Emily replied. They said their goodbyes and headed to their homes.