Mr. Steele knew what grief looked like on others, and found the expressions to be clichéd and useless. He prided himself on his control, and counted his blessings that he didn't have to suffer in the sludge of human emotional excrement.
Before Mr. Steele could order the cat's execution—both to rid himself of the nuisance, and to punish the girl for her display of tears—the body on the bed convulsed. A fly buzzed around its head, as if waiting for a decomposing treat.
He gestured with impatience. "Never mind about the damn cat. Girl, use your para-powers to fix this." He spat the last word out as a curse.
When the girl didn't move, the guard shoved her forward. She dropped her cat, which landed on all fours, the demon that it was, and hissed at him.
He kicked at the cat, but it avoided his black boot and scurried under the bed.
The girl trembled and looked even smaller without the white fluffy buffer. "I... I can't. I'm not strong enough."
Mr. Steele kept his voice calm and even when he responded. Anger was just another emotion, after all. "You haven't even tried. I think you're much stronger than you give yourself credit for. Besides, if you don't, I'll rip your kitty apart with my nails and eat its heart while you watch. Then, I'll do the same to you."
An idle threat, as he cared nothing for the heart. No, what he wanted—what he needed—existed solely in the brain. That's where the real treasure awaited him—the real power.
***
Cerebrospinal fluid: the key to all his research. Located in the subarachnoid space and the ventricular system around and inside the brain and spinal cord, this fluid contained something very special in those with active and dormant para-powers—the blueprint for specific powers and the code to activate them.
With the right cocktail of drugs, he could forcibly activate dormant powers in a subject.
And with the right procedure, he could syphon that fluid from a paranormal and use it to enhance another person's para-power.
He almost had it, but he needed to do a few more experiments before he became his own patient, and the most powerful paranormal to ever live.
The girl who stood before him would make an excellent test subject, but he needed her to do this first.
Snot and tears leaked down her puffy red face.
Disgusting.
Another convulsion from the body.
"Do it. Now."
The girl nodded and sobbed again, but did as she was told.
Chapter 65 – Serena
Serena tried to swallow her tears and keep her sobs buried deep in her chest, but her heart hurt so bad.
Angel hid under the bed, but Serena knew her cat wouldn't leave her. That was the only thing that kept her from falling to the ground in a heap of sadness.
The bad men had taken her from her new home, the place her mom had taken her to when her dad disappeared.
Serena knew her dad's job was dangerous, but she never thought he would die and not come back to her. She missed her dad so much, and now her mom....
***
"Serena, run!" Mom screamed as the bad men grabbed her.
It happened so fast, it didn't seem real. One loud bang and her mom slumped on the floor like a doll.
Serena cried and ran to her. "Mom, Mom, get up!" She banged on her chest and covered the hole in it with her hand to stop the blood.
"No, Mom, don't leave me. Come back. No!"
But she didn't come back. She stared at Serena with big dead doll eyes.
Serena opened herself to her power and let the white light flow into her. She would save her mom. She would bring her back.
Then the bad men grabbed Serena and said she couldn't use her power. They took her away from her mom, too far away. Her power couldn't work that far.
Angel ran up to her and meowed in sadness. Serena lifted her up, staining the cat's white fur red. She pretended it was marker, and that her mom would come in and get mad at her for making a mess, and Serena would clean it up and be so happy.
But it wasn't marker, and her mom didn't come.
The bad men... they would hurt Angel, she knew. So she lied. "I can only use my powers with my cat. If you take her, my powers won't work."
They were stupid. They didn't know, so they let her keep her Angel.
Of course, they wanted her powers. Mom and Dad had said she could never ever tell anyone about what she could do, because then someone might try to hurt her.
Someone must have told.
Mom and Dad were dead, and she'd be dead soon too. Would they wait for her in Heaven? Would Angel come too?
***
Serena wished she was in Heaven, and not here with these horrible men. The baddest man of all stood tall, and when he smiled she could tell that he didn't have a soul. He would never get into Heaven.
At least her parents were safe now. But she wasn't, and neither was Angel.
She'd have to use her powers, and she could die if she did what the evil man asked. But she would die if she didn't try.
First, she had to slow down her heart. It felt like a crazy hummingbird was trying to peck its way out of her chest. Her dad used to take her to watch the birds. They'd had such fun taking pictures and drawing sketches of them.
No, she couldn't think of her dad, or her mom—only her power. Otherwise it wouldn't work.