Yes, Drake and I were in this together. We hadn't met in person, yet I felt as if we'd been friends since childhood, just waiting to see each other again after a short time apart. When you're linked to someone in such an intimate way, it's impossible not to develop that strong bond. Or kill each other! Add to that a baby and... we couldn't turn back.
'Nurse Susie is here to change my IV.'
We both stopped breathing, waiting to see if she noticed the switch—the make-or-break moment in our plan. At least, the first such hurdle we'd have to clear.
How would we get out? Where were we? Where would we go? Who would help us? Who would believe us? Too many questions. No matter. I wasn't going to die here, unless it was while fighting for our freedom.
'She's done. She didn't seem to notice anything different.'
"Do you notice anything different?" Was it too early to hope?
'Not in my powers, but this doesn't burn me inside like the drugs did. It feels cooling and cleansing. My mouth doesn't feel stuffed with cotton balls anymore.'
I closed my eyes, took a deep breath, and held it for a few seconds before releasing it in a slow sigh.
"So now we wait."
Chapter 21 – Sam
I'd never expected to play hero, and didn't really want the role. Several other paranormals would have been better at this than me. Not for the first time, I wished for another path, a normal life in New York. My wishes were made on dead stars, it appeared.
I stretched my body and raised my arms to the sun during my daily exercise routine. My reinvigorated appetite had made my body stronger. Still, my pasty skin and flaccid muscles did not approve of me. I did my best with the time and body I had.
Three days had passed since we'd made the switch. Drake still didn't have his powers back, and I couldn't fathom another possible way to escape. We would both need access to our full powers. Already it seemed an impossible feat.
I finished stretching and went into a push-up/sit-up/strength-training routine, pushing myself not to give up. Superhuman body parts might not have been part of my special powers, but I would use what I did have to maximum effect.
"Drake, how do you think they find us?" I sweated through my t-shirt in the hot sun.
'I don't know. I've been trying to figure that out myself. They didn't find me for a long time, which seems odd. Maybe because I moved so often.'
"You were a secret ninja!" I joked. Not very funny. "What if they have a seer, someone who finds us with a third eye kind of thing? How do we escape someone who can do that?"
'I don't know.'
"I've been thinking. We both use mental powers to manipulate the mind. What if we could figure out a way to join our powers, strengthen our ability to control those frequencies, and link with whoever tries to find us? Link with them and mislead them?"
The idea had been building in my mind for a while.
'That's a brilliant idea, Sam. And it just might work. We should try it here, see if we can link to people farther away. Maybe we can start with your friends. You couldn't link to them alone, but maybe together we could. That will give us a sense of our power and range.'
"I'm not going to start controlling my friends." I felt bad enough doing it to anyone. I was not about to start adding people I loved to this.
'Of course not. We'll only practice that skill if they let us, and only with things they approve. Agreed? Whichever twin we practice on, the other can tell us if it worked.'
Would this harm them? I didn't know. Let them make the choice on their own. We had to know what we could do.
"Okay, but if they're uncomfortable with it, that's it. No pressure!"
'Should we try now?'
My guard stood by the hospital door, not really watching me, but obviously there because of me. Impossibly high electric fences surrounded the area. What did he think I would do out here by myself? Sprout wings and fly away?
I sat on the bench by the empty basketball court... an ironic venue given they only allowed us out here alone.
I rested my elbows on my knees. To anyone observing, I would look as if I were cooling down from my work out.
"Ok, I'm ready."
It's not as though we had an instruction manual for this, so we both just linked and imagined our minds as one. The sensation frightened me. My mind and thoughts expanded to include his, and I felt his do the same. It wasn't like the one-way link I normally made, nor was it like the mind-talk link we had going.
We immersed ourselves in each other—mentally naked, vulnerable, scared. After a lifetime of hiding who I really was from almost everyone, to stand before anyone completely raw made me jittery. So be it. We had to save ourselves.
I waited for the judgment, the pulling away, the fear.
Instead, I found a kindred spirit. He too expected judgment and feared the loss of our intimacy when I saw his true self.