Page 13 of Dark Medicine

“I don’t think so,” said Adam. “I think, for whatever reason, it didn’t affect everyone. If it had affected everyone, all the soldiers on base, the contractors, and so forth would possess unique abilities. We would have known or heard of something so widespread.”

“Hmmm,” said Caroline thoughtfully, “maybe. Maybe this pink fairy dust only affects children of a certain age.”

“Caroline, it’s not fairy dust,” said Kane, smiling at the older woman.

“And just how do you know that, Mister smarty-pants? Did ya nae see the fairies? So, they don’t exist, is that it? Well, we nae see many things, but they still exist,” she said with hands on her hips.

“You’re right, of course,” he said apologetically, “I’m sorry.”

“She actually might be onto something,” said Adam. Kane raised his eyebrows at his friend and then looked at Flip and Spook, both shrugging their shoulders. “Listen, we were all under the age of ten when we were exposed. The only outlier is Fiona’s brother, who would have been a pre-teen, maybe eleven or twelve.”

“He’s right,” said Fiona, looking away from the group. “I mean, Ian never showed signs of the gifts to others, but as early as fifteen or sixteen, he was experiencing it. I remember because he argued with my parents about them placing him in a gifted program for math and science, he absolutely refused. Then something changed when he joined the Army.”

“What do you mean? What changed?” asked Kane.

“His commanding officer was having him tested,” she said casually. Flip dropped the fork against his plate, the clattering sound of silver against china making Caroline and Angela jump. Spook eyed Kane, who stared at Adam.

“Honey,” said Adam calmly, “this is very important. What do you mean his commanding officer was having him tested?”

“I mean, he said that he thought Adam had ‘special skills’ and should be tested. Adam said the tests were brutal, and he didn’t want me to endure the same, so he told everyone I was a cousin when I visited, not his sister. He was trying to avoid showing his skills, but they were doing something that was making it very difficult for him. I told him that it seemed dangerous.”

Kane let out a long slow breath and looked at Adam.

“Fiona, baby,” he said slowly, “that would have been very important to know earlier.”

“Oh? I guess I didn’t think it was relevant. I mean, no one knew I was his sister. Did they? And what would it matter if the Army was testing him? He was in the Army, so it makes sense they would test for aptitude in certain areas,” she said, lying. Fiona knew very well why Ian had lied and what would have happened to her, but somewhere in her mind, she still wasn’t certain about Adam and his friends.

“It would have been very easy to identify that you were his sister,” said Flip. “If you were coming out to the base to visit him, they could have checked your identification at some point and traced you back. It’s an easy thing to find out, Fiona.” The big man tried to speak softly and calmly, but his insides were telling him that this was not a good thing.

“What was his commander’s name?” asked Kane.

“I honestly don’t know,” she said, looking a bit frightened. “He said it was best I knew nothing, but he said that he was frustrated with Ian because he was showing no signs of his true ability.”

“Yet he had abilities?” Flip waited patiently, watching Fiona’s facial features. Adam said nothing, waiting for Fiona to tell the others. There was the slightest movement, the slightest twitch, and he knew. “He did, didn’t he? The things you saw him doing in the forest, they were his abilities, right?”

“Y-yes,” she said quietly. “He made me promise I would never tell anyone. But, well, I guess it doesn’t matter anymore, does it?” Adam shook his head, and the others did the same. Fiona moved around the room as if circling for the right spot. She finally settled on a small wooden stool next to the fireplace.

“He was able to memorize hundreds of thousands of formulations, numbers, anything mathematical or scientific. Ian always had a good memory and was always good in math and science, but something changed for him. Something changed on or around the time we were at the base. Suddenly, he was remembering things that seemed so obscure, things, that quite honestly, he never even studied.”

“Like what, Fiona?” asked Aislinn.

“He once asked if I wanted to see a trick. I was maybe ten or eleven at the time. He opened up a book. I think it was Fundamentals of Physics. He literally flipped through the pages and then recited every word, every formula, and every answer. It was astonishing. At first, I thought he had memorized it earlier, so I grabbed a book of my father’s off the shelf, something about structural engineering, and he did the same thing.”

Kane was quiet for a moment and then looked around the room. Someone was playing with lives… theirs, but others as well.

“Why didn’t you say anything earlier?” asked Aislinn.

“I honestly didn’t think it would matter. Ian is dead, and I’m not sure if his abilities had anything to do with the pink dust or if he refined them on his own after he left school.”

“It seems an unlikely coincidence,” said Spook. “I mean, we were all exposed to it, and even if your brother was exposed at a later age than all of us, something obviously changed in his DNA.”

“I think we need to start looking for others that would have been at the base as well,” said Kane. “When we return stateside, we need to make a list of every child we remember from our time there. I know there weren’t many because I didn’t have a lot of friends, and the town was so small it was mostly just adults.”

“Doesn’t that seem odd to you?” asked Caroline from her big armchair. The others turned to the older woman, sitting with a wise, knowing look on her face.

“What do you mean?” asked Spook.

“I mean a town with adults, but no children, other than all of you? That’s odd. Where there are adults, there is procreation, unless it’s all men, or they were only there for show.”

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