Page 24 of So Normal

“Almost good enough to eat,” Hornfeldt replied. He smiled broadly, his teeth white and gleaming like piano keys in the shadow of the sunglasses.

Faith tried to move, but she couldn’t. She wasn’t bound, but her body refused to respond to her commands.

“What are you doing?” Trammell asked with a laugh.

“She’s trying to move,” Hornfeldt explained, “but she can’t. She doesn’t have the power.”

He pulled a wicked-looking stun gun from his pocket and pressed the button. A jet of blue-white plasma crossed the distance between the two spikes of the gun with an audible whine.

Faith watched unmoving while Hornfeldt tested the gun a few more times.

Suddenly, the lights came on, and they were surrounded by people moving rapidly through the terminal. Faith tried to scream for help, but she couldn’t. Her voice was as paralyzed as the rest of her.

“Oh, don’t worry about them,” Hornfeldt said, “they won’t interrupt us.”

Trammell laughed and leaned forward until Faith could smell his sour breath. “Let’s see how you fry, little girl.”

Hornfeldt approached, wearing a distended grin. He lifted the stun gun and with a hiss, jabbed it into Faith’s shoulder. Excruciating pain flooded her, but paralyzed as she was, she was unable to scream, unable to react at all.

Trammell laughed while Hornfeldt shocked her over and over. The crowd thronged around them, but no one stopped to help. No one even glanced their way.

CHAPTER NINE

A loud bark woke Faith from her nightmare. She sat straight up, gasping. Next to the bed, Turk barked again, looking at her with the typical plaintive anxiety he always displayed when Faith had a nightmare.

“Faith?” Michael said. “You okay?”

Faith turned to Michael and sighed. “Yes. Sorry. Just a nightmare.”

“Still having trouble with those, huh?” he asked gently.

His smile was filled with nothing other than concern and compassion, but Faith wasn’t in a mood for compassion at the moment. She rolled out of bed and started putting her shoes on. “I’m fine,” she said. “I’ll get us breakfast.”

“You still seeing Doctor West?” he asked.

She sat up and sighed heavily. “Well, I can’t see him right now, Michael, considering we’re on a case, but yes, I’m still seeing the therapist that our fine leader has ordered me to see.”

“Okay, okay,” Michael said, “I’m sorry. I just—”

“I know. You’re worried about me. I appreciate it, but I’m fine. I’m okay. It wasn’t the same nightmare anyway.”

“What nightmare was it?”

Faith stood and said, “I don’t want to talk about it. I’m going to go get breakfast for us and then we can talk about the case. I’d appreciate it if we kept our conversation professional for now.”

Michael blinked, clearly hurt, and Faith sighed. “Look, I’m sorry. I just …”

“I get it,” Michael said. “Things are weird after Turk and Ellie, and you don’t want to talk about it. Things are weird now that you’re seeing a psychologist, and you don’t want to talk about that. I’m your ex-boyfriend, and you’re not sure how far you and David are going to go, and you don’t want to talk about that. You want me to be your partner, but you’re no longer sure if you want me to be your friend.”

“Yeah, good idea, Michael,” Faith said. “Make this about you.”

She stormed outside and took a deep breath of the fresh air. It calmed her but didn’t take away her anger.

She understood why he was upset, but she just couldn’t handle feeling responsible for his emotions right now. I mean, God, it wasn’t like she sicced Turk on Ellie. As far as Doctor West and David went, that was her business. Her mental health wasn’t something she cared to share with Michael, and just because Michael liked to share every single facet of his newfound love didn’t mean she needed to tell him about her relationship with David.

She returned with the coffee and breakfast and when Michael started to apologize, she said, “It’s fine, Michael, just drop it. We have a case to solve, let’s focus on that.”

“Okay,” Michael said, “but we do need to talk about this.”

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