A Disease of Magic

“Let’s get you unhooked,” said blue scrubs. Black scrubs stood off to the other side, looking at the machine’s readings and tapping away on his tablet. Neither had introduced themselves when I was paired with them four hours ago, which was rude but also probably on purpose. They probably knew my name, but I wouldn’t volunteer it on principle.

Normally, I wouldn’t be interested in giving up one of my days off to be here and do all this. But yesterday had been the Autumn Holiday, an extra day marking the end of summer and beginning of my favorite month of the entire year. Everything non-essential was closed, and I’d spent the entire day in bed reading.

Leo didn’t know I was here, though he was well aware that I was thinking about it. For me, it didn’t matter what information they gathered from these little trials today. They could easily get it from someone else anyways, but this way I had a chance to work my way up and make a bigger difference. At least, that was the goal.

Blue scrubs peeled off the first of the stickers harshly after removing the sensors, leaving angry red skin behind. No apologies. Some arm hair was still attached, and I rubbed the irritated areas.

“I can do it,” I interrupted, turning away from his reaching hands. “I have sensitive skin,” I added to account for my bit of rudeness. Not that I didn’t think he deserved it, but I was a bit of a people-pleaser.

Without waiting for him to answer, I gently peeled the rest of them off. My skin was still unhappy from the adhesive, but I wouldn’t get any more angry red welts from them being ripped off. Or free hair removal.

“You’ve been practicing your skill since you signed up?” black scrubs asked. It was more of a statement than a question; it had been a requirement to proceed with today. Black scrubs had yet to actually look at me today, and that didn’t change now as he flicked through the tablet.

“Yes,” I answered, just as flatly as he asked the question. No wonder these people were here and not in a hospital somewhere; no bedside manner. Or maybe they were, and volunteered here, and had nothing left to give. That, I could understand. But even the smallest of introductions when I first arrived would have gone a long way to helping me feel more at ease. As it was, I was tense, on edge, and not looking forward to this next part.

“Describe your ability,” black scrubs instructed.

“Teleportation,” I answered, crossing my arms.

Finally, he looked at me. “That’s not what was reported last week during your onboarding.”

I shrugged, feigning indifference, and said, “I practiced. It happened. Must not have realized it earlier.”

My answer acceptable, black scrubs made what I assumed were changes in my file while blue scrubs left and started moving things around at the other end of the cavernous room. It echoed slightly in here, and there was space for fifty or more people to gather with room to spare. It made me wonder what else this space was used for.

“Do you teleport yourself, or objects?”

“Objects.”

“Have you tried it on yourself or another person.”

“No.”

“Hmm.” It was a disapproving sound, as though I should have risked the lives of people just to fuck around. My fists clenched, hidden under my crossed arms.

“I’m open to trying here, today,” I added sweetly. “Though it would probably be better for me to start with a volunteer.”

Black scrubs didn’t reply until blue scrubs came back. “Get a few mice, please,” he requested, making eye contact with his colleague. Blue scrubs nodded once and left to fetch the mice.

My stomach turned. I didn’t want to experiment on living things, but…If it was the fastest way to gain clearance to help save people’s lives…

Black scrubs gestured with an arm. “Please stand on the line. We will get started now. Move the objects on the table however you wish. You may start with any object and move it to any clear space in the room.”

About fifteen feet away were a variety of items, from an apple to a bowling ball to a feather. Mundane, everyday items, ten in total.

I twisted my arm so my palm faced the items and bent my elbow slightly. I didn’t have to hold a hand out like I was a wizard performing some great, dramatic magic trick, but I hadn’t yet gotten good enough to do it without a little bit of physical direction.

With my hand hovering near my hip, I moved each item to different spots around the room in rapid succession. The bowling ball appeared at my feet. One. The broom clattered to the ground at the far end of the room, next to the trash can. Two. The water bottle rolled underneath the table it started at. Three. The feather somehow ended up in black scrub’s front pocket. Four.

Each time I moved something, my bio-screen buzzed once, alerting me to my own gamma. There had been no secondary gamma radiation so far today, making me wonder what abilities the two nurse-types had, if any.

I finished my little demonstration by teleporting the apple into my hand—ten—and taking a bite. I’d been here for hours already, without a break, and I was starting to get hungry.

“So, not only can you teleport an item, you can change its orientation while it is in the in-between.” Black scrubs pointed to the water bottle, which had stopped rolling after running into the table leg. “And you can also set the object in motion upon arrival.”

I blinked. I hadn’t considered that his statements would be something worth mentioning. But now that he had, I had to admit it was true. I hadn’t thought about changing how the water bottle was positioned or making it move; I’d just done it because I thought it would show off my ability.

Huh.

“Apparently,” I answered unnecessarily. He was already messing with his tablet again, no doubt taking even more notes on what I’d just displayed. Great.

“Very good.” Finally, a positive reaction to something. “Let’s get close to the table. Have you tried teleporting moving objects yet?”

I thought about it for several seconds. “I don’t remember, so let’s say no.”

“I’ll roll some tennis balls slowly to start, and work our way up to a greater velocity as you succeed.”

The rolling balls made no difference; it was just as easy to summon them to my hand. Eventually, black scrubs worked up to throwing them across the room, and I had them vanishing out of thin air and into my hand. I lost track of how much gamma I had racked up, which made me grateful I wasn’t being exposed to any secondary on top of all of my own doing.

Black scrubs nodded after I got the last one. I offered it back to him.

“I’d like to try something else.” He frowned down at his tablet as he thought. Could this guy pay attention to anything else? Make eye contact for any length of time? “This time, when I throw it, I’d like to see if you can maintain its original velocity.”

“Sure, I can try. Where should I send it?”

“I’d like to see you send it to your hand.”

“Do you want me to change its path so I catch it? Or do you mean teleport it to my hand and keep it moving?”

“The second.”

Awesome.

I don’t know why, but I had very little faith in myself for this.

For good reason.

When I teleported the ball from halfway across the room to my hand, instead of continuing along at a quick speed, it fell straight down and bounced.

“Try again.”

I did, with a similar result.

“Hmm.”

“Let me try again,” I requested. “I have an idea.”

Black scrubs obliged. This time, I decided to try a wizard’s dramatic magic trick. With my arm parallel to the ground, palm facing away from me and towards the opposite wall, I summoned the ball and gave it the biggest oomph that I could.

There was the tiniest moment, less than a heartbeat, where the ball was in my hand.

Then it blasted into the opposite wall, lodging itself there in the drywall with an echoing, thunderous whack.

We stood there silently, staring.

“Uh, sorry,” I apologized.

“No need. This is why you’re practicing alone, and not with others today.” Black scrubs typed so quickly on his tablet that his fingers nearly blurred.

“Do you want me to go get it?”

“No need. We will want to measure it. Do you think you can try again, but without making it into a volatile projectile?”

“Probably.”

He threw another ball, and this time, I gave it a tiny amount of force. With my hand outstretched again, I had no problem sending the ball flying several yards away before falling harmlessly to the ground.

“You’re a quick learner.”

I turned to him, taken by surprise by the compliment. “Thank you. Is that not the norm?”

“No,” he answered without elaborating.

Alright then.

Blue scrubs returned then, carrying a cage of mice that he placed on the table where the original ten objects had been. The feather was still in black scrub’s pocket.

“We will try the mice next. But let’s start at a closer distance.”

He led me towards the table where the mice quietly squeaked in their cages.

I swallowed.

Blue scrubs reached in and grabbed one quickly by the tail, holding his hands like a small cage around the tiny creature. Its nose poked through the gaps in his hands, whiskers twitching adorably.

“I’m getting pretty tired,” I lied suddenly, not wanting to go through with this. Not today, at least. I knew if I backed out now, I’d have to do it later. But at least I would be prepared better.

Right?

“This is the last task. Do you think you can finish?”

I inhaled deeply through my nose and held it. I was scared, terrified really, of killing the mice in my attempt. Inanimate objects, even plants and fruit, were no problem. But living, breathing things?

Thinking back to my reason for doing this in the first place helped. I could save people’s lives faster if I did this today. And while I thought every living being was important and deserving of respect, if I had to rate a person over a mouse…I couldn’t not pick the person.

Just as I let out the breath to answer, my back pocket vibrated.

My phone.

I snatched it out, buying myself a little bit of time, and swiped up on Leo’s message. We quickly exchanged messages; he must have been waiting for my reply.

Leo: Where are you?

Me: Out. Busy. You good?

Leo: Fine. When will you be back?

Me: Not sure. Soonish? As soon as I’m done with this. Gotta go, though. See you later.

Leo: What are you doing?

I left his question unanswered. Black and blue scrubs were looking at me expectantly.

“Sorry. Roommate wondering if I was okay,” I said by way of explanation. “I think I can at least try with the mice.”

“Good. Just to your hand, please.”

I focused on the white, wiggling mass in blue scrub’s hands, holding mine out in front of me and creating a little cup so the mouse wouldn’t immediately fling itself out of my grasp. If I was being teleported through space and time, I would probably be pretty disoriented and not know to stay put.

Willing all the negativity, the thoughts that I couldn’t do this, into a box and shoving it closed and locking it away in some dark corner of my mind.

I tugged.

And was immediately bitten.

I yelped and jumped back, barely managing not to drop the mouse that was in my hands. I dropped to my knees and let the little heathen onto the ground.

“Why did you do that?” Blue scrubs asked, watching the mouse skitter across the white floor. It nearly blended in, its pink tail the only thing standing out against the floor.

“Sorry, it bit me,” I answered, inspecting my hand. There wasn’t even a mark, no tiny indents from tiny teeth.

Blue scrubs went after the mouse, but I decided to help him out and teleport the mouse back into the cage with its friends. The other mice squeaked and scattered when the other mouse reappeared, but they quickly settled.

A wave of exhaustion washed over me. I pressed a hand to my forehead and spread my feet apart to better keep my balance.

“That’s all I have in me today,” I announced.

They wrapped up their notes, hooked me up to more machines for another twenty minutes while I got to sit and drink water.

While they waited for the tests to finish running, I checked in with my bio-screen. I hunched over to hide it from any cameras that might have been watching the room.

Tally

Weighted

P1

3

3

P2

8

16

P3

5

15

P4

0

0

S1

0

0

S2

0

0

Total

16

34

That was…different.

The only object that might have been classified as primary gamma level three was the bowling ball, but what four other objects created that much gamma to register as P3?

I counted again. Each of the ten items at the beginning. The tennis ball…four times. And then the mouse, twice. That made sixteen.

That number matched my total tally; I hadn’t forgotten that I had done something earlier today, at least.

Was it when I intercepted the tennis ball and kept them moving those two times? The first time like a bullet, and the second, more controlled time? Did that impact the amount of gamma used? Current evidence suggested yes, but that still left two instances unaccounted for.

I cleared my bio-screen, leaning back against the chair and waiting out the remaining few minutes until the scrubs unhooked me and sent me home. I’d have to bring this up to Leo, but…another time. I didn’t want to deal with his ridiculous disapproval tonight.

“Tell me you didn’t.”

“Didn’t what?”

“Do that stupid trial thing.”

How he knew that’s what I was doing yesterday, I had no idea. Did he just automatically jump to the worse conclusions, at least in his own head? Was it my lack of response to his question about what I was doing, and he assumed I was keeping secrets?

I mean, that last one was true, but still. Assumptions were running rampant.

“Do you want me to lie to make you feel better, or do you want the truth?”

“Callie, are you fucking kidding—”

“No, you don’t get to do that!” I pointed an accusing finger at Leo. He was on the other side of the counter. My coffee spluttered into the mug behind me. He couldn’t even wait until I was caffeinated to pick a fight with me, and that was to his detriment. I was a lot less patient without it. And he was about to get a reminder. A mean one.

“It is not your decision to make! I get to decide what I do with my time, my body, how I want to help people. This is me trying, because I’m not a fucking genius like you who can work with all this amazing tech. I’m a nobody, just like too many other people who’ve been kept in the dark and suffering and dying in silence. So I’m going to try my fucking best to stand up for them and give them a voice.”

I spun on my heel, giving him my back.

I was done.

So done, with all of the bullshit Leo kept trying to pull.

At first, I’d chalked it up to him being concerned for me. But even presented with my reasoning, and assuring him that I was quite capable of taking care of myself, he still treated me like some helpless princess who didn’t need to get her hands dirty or worry about the people in her kingdom.

Fuck. That.

As soon as Leo started to make noise, surely to keep arguing with me, I snapped, “I’m fucking done with these conversations, Leo. I don’t want to hear it any more. You’re not treating me like an equal. And until you do, you don’t get to have an opinion on what I choose to do.”

“I’m trying to look out for you!” he shouted back.

I whirled and all but shrieked, “You’re smothering me!”

He stalked around to come toe to toe with me. I held my ground, almost wavering. I crossed my arms in front of me protectively, and they brushed against him with how close he was.

He hands landed on my shoulders. I tried to shrug them off, but he just held on tighter.

Asshole.

I could try harder, or even teleport him away from me and hope I could do it like I managed with the mice yesterday, but I didn’t. Not yet, at least.

“Callie, I…” He sighed, dropping his head. His forehead was a hair’s breadth away from mine. It made me feel a little cross-eyed, trying to look at him. I gave up and settle for starting at the stitching of his shirt near his neck.

“You need to let me go,” I forced through gritted teeth.

He dropped his hands, but didn’t move away.

“I worry because I love you. I don’t want to see you hurt.”

I yielded a step, and he moved with me. “Leo, you know I love you too, you’re my best friend, but seriously? I’m my own person.”

He shook his head. “You’re not hearing me. You haven’t been hearing me.” He stepped forward, forcing me back another step. I was almost at the counter now.

Caged. Cornered.

“I think I fucking am.”

He placed his hands on my face, something I couldn’t recall him ever doing before. His thumbs stroked my cheeks slowly, softly, as his eyes bored into mine.

“Callie, I’m in love with you. Not a friendship love, or a sibling love. Like a wish-you-weren’t-dating-that-tool love. You should be with me.”

My brain short-circuited and I twitched in surprise as Leo kissed me.

A month ago, I would have been over the moon at his declaration. I’d harbored a crush on this man for almost the entire time I’d known him.

But now? With the way he had been treating me, trying to control me? There was nothing less attractive to me right now than that type of behavior. The number of red flags was alarming now that they were waving in my face. And I realized then that over the course of the last several weeks, that Leo had been losing my friendship. I didn’t feel like he respected my decisions, respected me, and that wasn’t something I could ever look past. And that meant that any sort of relationship with him was an absolute no, even if I wasn’t still with Alex.

And if he thought that some grand declaration would change my opinion on what I wanted to do to help people, to convince me to change my mind for him, he was going to be sorely mistaken.

I teleported.

I didn’t mean to. But after the moment of frozen shock had passed, I wanted to move.

And suddenly I was on the far side of the living room, my back pressed up against the wall.

I tumbled to the floor.

My entire body was buzzing. Not exactly unpleasantly, but more uncomfortably, like when a limb falls asleep and the blood rushes back in when it’s shaken out.

“Callie?” Leo called out, undoubtedly searching for me.

“I’m fine,” I called from the floor, hoisting myself up and trying to ignore the tingles that were slowly dissipating.

Leo rushed over, but didn’t get too close. “You…you teleported. Yourself.”

“Yes. It appears that way, doesn’t it? If you’ll excuse me, I need to go lay down.” It wasn’t a lie. The room was spinning, and there were almost two Leo's standing in front of me. My first few steps were unsteady.

Leo reached out to help me, but I swatted him away.

“No,” I said. “I’m very pissed at you right now. And that’s putting it lightly.”

“Why?”

Sometimes I wish I had the audacity of this mediocre man.

I turned my head as far as I dared and glared. He just frowned, like he was concerned if I was okay or not. I’d have to be properly threatening later.

“I could write a dissertation on all the reasons I’m mad at you right now.”

My teleportation must have been impressive or unexpected enough that he let me retreat into my room without a fight.

“We can talk another time,” he promised. I rolled my eyes and slammed my door behind me after spotting Lucie curled up in my laundry basket. At least it was my dirty clothes this time.

When I went to clear the notification from my bio-screen, I saw for the first time a new level to my gamma table, one that Leo must have programmed to activate if I ever got to that level.

P5.