Page 10 of Dark Medicine

“A place called Sierra Depot,” she said.

“Fucking hell!” cried Flip.

“What? What did I say?” asked Fiona.

“Honey,” said Adam, turning her to face him. “We all had fathers who worked at Sierra or were stationed there. Your brother would have been there long after we were there as children, but it seems a bit of a coincidence.”

“Did your brother have any ‘gifts’?” asked Aislinn.

“Y-yes,” said Fiona quietly. “It wasn’t the first time we were there. Our father was an engineer. He worked there when I was just a baby and Ian was maybe ten or eleven. Ian said we used to play in the pink dust that covered everything in the house.”

All eyes turned to look at one another, their knowing eyes following Fiona’s story.

“Ian started to lose his temper a lot when my father moved us closer to San Francisco. My parents thought it was just a phase. I was too little to remember much about it, but when I was about seven or eight, he was in high school. I followed him one day as he went for a walk in the woods. I hid behind this big dead redwood on the forest floor. I couldn’t believe it. He had this notebook and was writing so rapidly it didn’t look real. When I walked closer, he was writing these crazy formulations, like mathematical and scientific.

“I must have moved, and he heard me. He walked so calmly toward me I honestly thought he was going to kill me. Instead, he crouched down and said I had to keep it a secret. I was so happy. My big brother and I had a secret. He was holding my hand, and he had this long deep cut on his forearm from a piece of metal he hit. I looked down at the cut and wanted it to go away. It was ugly and was scarring my brother.

“Ian said nothing. It was as if he knew. We watched it just disappear and then appear on my arm. Within a few minutes, it was gone from my arm.”

“Fucking hell,” whispered Spook. “That’s some crazy shit, Fiona, but it does explain why you go in and out of your Irish accent. I mean, you don’t sound American but not fully Irish either.” Fiona nodded at Spook.

“Yes, at that age, it was pretty scary. But Ian wasn’t scared. He said we were special and we would be able to help the world. A year later, he graduated from high school and joined the Army. I didn’t see him much after that, but I honed my skill. I can’t see the illness like you can, Adam, but when someone is sick, I just know.”

“How do you mean?” asked Kane.

“My boss, h-he’s been harassing me at work,” she said tentatively.

“He’s what! I’ll kill the son-of-a-bitch!” said Adam. Flip and Spook grinned at each other. Aislinn smiled at her friend.

“No killing, big guy,” she said with a half-grin, her red-rimmed eyes now dry. “He keeps trying to touch me, and last week, I gripped his forearm and held it firm, telling him no. I couldn’t see it, but I felt it. He’s dying from a large tumor somewhere in his body. I could have saved him. Right then and there, but I just couldn’t make myself do it.”

“You shouldn’t do it. He doesn’t deserve it,” said Adam. “And you’re quitting that job on Monday.”

“First, I don’t work on Monday. It’s a holiday. Second, you’re not my boss or my father or my brother or even my boyfriend. You don’t get to tell me what to do!”

“I like her,” said Flip, smiling.

“I can remedy one of those right now,” said Adam. “You’re mine. Mine.” His possessive tone was unusual. His friends stared at one another. Fiona’s eyes grew large, her cheeks flaming red, but it was the angry eyes that made everyone hold their breath.

“Yours? What kind of Neanderthal reaction is that? No one says, ‘you’re mine,’ and a woman just jumps, Adam Thorn! I’m not some American floozy… no offense, Aislinn…”

“None taken,” she said with a smile.

“I’m an Irish woman with a mind of my own. I appreciate that you were with me today and helped me, but that doesn’t make me ‘yours.’ Now, if you’d like to date me properly, we can discuss our situation.”

“Fine, we’re dating,” he said with his arms folded across his chest.

“Adam,” said Aislinn quietly. “Perhaps we should start with you asking her to join us all for dinner this evening with Angela and Caroline.” Adam looked at Aislinn and then at his friends. He nodded and let out a long breath, his hand diving into his thick hair.

“Fine, I’m sorry, Fiona. Would you be so kind as to join me and my friends for dinner this evening?”

“Now, that wasn’t so hard, was it? Yes, I’d love to join you,” she said, smiling. “Not to be a wet blanket, but what do we do about our gypsy friends who seemed to know I was a healer?”

“We’ll figure that one out. Let us do some investigating of our own,” said Kane. “For now, no one leaves here without a battle buddy.”

“Battle buddy? Is that what this is? A battle?”

“Of a lifetime,” said Adam under his breath.

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