Chapter Thirty

Flashes of lifeless faces invaded my thoughts. They would be hard to forget. It didn't matter what Paul or Dr. James had said to me; I knew they were already dead in all the ways that counted. There was no way they could recover and be normal again. A confused sense of fury and sadness coursed through my veins.

"I was in a room and there were large cylinders in perfect rows." I paused to catch my breath. I looked around the small space. Everyone was staring expectantly at me. "There had to be at least five rows of ten or so cylinders. Each contained a body. They were floating. It was horrible."

"And you saw Troy?" Samuel asked. His posture was rigid. "Are you sure it was him?"

Samuel and I had grown close over the past few months—there was no denying, we had a special connection—but despite our similarities, we were still different.

"Samuel, it was him. I know it. I'm complete certain I saw Troy in one of the cylinders."

"What else did you see?" Samuel asked.

"I don't know—some kind of fluid—but Dr. James said the people weren't dead."

"So, were they connected to some sort of breathing machine?"

"I don't know. I don't think so." I looked over at Audrina. She had moved closer as I'd told my tale. "Why are you so curious?"

"I just need to know exactly what Dr. James, I mean, our Mother, is working on right now."

"Fine. Yes, I think they were connected to something."

"Good. Maybe she has found a way to preserve the human bodies to be hosts."

"Wha—"

"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said that," Samuel shook his head. "I was just thinking out loud. Ignore my previous comment."

"It's a little hard to do," Audrina said.

"I agree."

Samuel rubbed his hands together. "I'm sorry. I misspoke."

"Okay. Whatever. In the meantime, my hand—it's disappearing." I held up my arm to show them.

Shock flickered across Gave's face. The area below my elbow was completely gone. I could feel it, but as I continued to wave my arm back and forth, there was no way to see my wrist or fingers. The sight caused a single tear to escape and roll down my cheek. Soon I would be just like Theo: gone to the human eye.

Audrina held up one of her hands. It was hard not to stare at the gaping hole. "Esa, we're both disappearing."

I clutched the front of Samuel's suit. "You have to help us, Samuel. You can't let this happen to us."

He shook his head. "I think I may have come up with a something to reverse the effects of whatever Dr. James did to the three of you, but I don't know how well it works. I haven't tested it. I'm not ready to use it on any of you yet."

"Test it on me," Theo said from the other side of the room. "I have nothing to lose."

"What?" I couldn't help but yell back at him. "What about me? What about the team?"

"Esa, I can't have you this way. You can't even see me. No one can see me," his voice trailed off and then he gave a soft laugh. "Trust me, it definitely has its perks, but I didn't sign up for this. Besides, we now both know that it was me who came back and was physically hurting all of you. Why would you want me around anyways? What if I attack again?"

"Because you're family," Audrina said matter-of-factly. "Theo, you need to stop this pity party. You attacked us while you were under the influence of some sort of drug."

Theo huffed. "It's not a pity party, Aud."

"Call it whatever you want," Audrina said, looking around the room, trying to figure out exactly where Theo was standing. Suddenly, she was lifted off the ground.

"Theo! Put me down!" Her eyes widened as she stared down at her dangling feet.

The sound of Theo's laughter filled the room.

"I'm serious. Put me down...softly. Now!" Audrina playfully snapped. It was good to hear laughter, even if it was only a hint of it.

"Fine," he lowered her body. "Sometimes you all are no fun. I'm not planning on staying invisible, so this is my last real chance to have any fun."

"Theo Marcus, you are a jerk," Audrina the empty space in front of her body. "But, I'm glad you plan to show us your handsome face again sometime soon."

"Oh please, he's not that good looking," Gave walked over to Audrina with a smirk on his face.

"Gave! Take that back!" I playfully yelled in an attempt to try and show some respect towards Theo.

"Never!" Gave responded making us all laugh. It felt good to be with this group. Slowly, our laughter died down into silence as reality once again sunk in for all of us. Our laughter had been a brief distraction, but that was it.

"Samuel, let's do this," Theo clapped his hands. "There's no sense in dragging it out."

"We will need to go to my lab in Station One. I can't do it here. I don't have the right equipment," Samuel pointed around the room before tapping his medallion. Instantly, we were back at Station One.

Samuel began to rummage around with several different vials on his desk.

"I'm walking over to your table and will lie down on my back," Theo said from somewhere inside the room.

"Okay. I'll need to somehow mark your body so I know where to safely inject you," Samuel said.

"Where do you have to inject me?" Theo's voice suddenly had a hint of concern.

"The neck area would be best."

"Of course. Yes, let's put a needle in my neck. Let me guess...it's not a little needle, is it?"

"It depends on what you classify as little," Samuel turned towards a glass box and typed in a code. The lid slid back and my brother reached inside and pulled out an odd-looking rectangular device. As he grasped one end of it, the rest lit up in a series of different colors.

"What is that?" I asked, mesmerized.

"I don't have a name for it. Again, guys, I haven't really had much time to perfect this stuff. Dr. James developed it initially when she was doing some genetic research a few years ago. I saved most of the experiment and then modified it once I found out about Dr. James injecting you all with some sort of body-altering serum."

"Let's do this," Theo's said. "I don't want to think about this anymore."

Tears fell down my face, leaving wet streaks in their wake. I approached the table and felt for his hand. "We'll all be here while you do this."

"Thank you, Esa." His fingers tightened around mine. "You were awesome back there at Artek."

"Thank you," I responded trying to hold myself together. I needed to be strong for him.

Samuel walked over and placed small strips of tape on Theo's body. "Is this your ear?" Samuel asked.

"Does it feel like my ear?" Theo responded sarcastically.

"Yes. Don't patronize me. I have to ask these questions, just to confirm," Samuel continued to walk around the table. "I think we both want to make sure I hit my mark...the first time."

"Well, you're asking stupid questions."

"Fine. I'll be quiet and just hope I hit your neck area for the injection. Otherwise, I'll have to do two, maybe three injections. I guess practice always makes perfect."

"I want you to know that I think you're a big jerk."

"I don't really like you either," Samuel continued to place bright pieces of tape around Theo's body. "Okay. I think I have a pretty good idea where your head is on the table. Hold still. This will just take a second."

Samuel placed the rectangular object on the spot where he had marked Theo's neck. It made a series of short beeps and then one louder, much longer beep.

"Gah." Theo gasped.

Suddenly, the noise stopped. We all waited, unsure what was going to happen next, but everything stayed silent. I looked up at the clock and watched as different numbers flashed on its screen.

"LUX," Samuel said.

"Yes, sir?"

"Please scan his body."

"Will do." There was a pause for what felt like five minutes, but which I knew was probably much shorter. "His scans show no activity."

"Wait! What does that mean?" I looked over at Samuel.

Samuel studied one of the holographic images that had appeared, showing the outline of Theo's body. "It means there's no movement."

"Is he dead?"

"Yes. That's exactly what it means."

"You've got to do something!" I ran over to him and grabbed his arms. The second my hands touched him, I experienced an electric shock.

"Ouch!" I shook my hands, trying to forget the pain. "That really hurt this time."

Samuel gave me an odd look. "Did it hurt more than normal?"

"It felt like it did."

"Great. Now that we are changing, we are becoming weaker," Audrina said as she looked down at her boots. "I think Dr. James is intentionally making the girls on the team weaker so she has fewer of us to fight."

Samuel crossed to Audrina and reached for the hand that had already started the disappearing process. Her eyes widened when she realized what he was going to do.

"No!" She tried to pull her hand back, but it was too late. "Ouch!" Audrina wailed. "What was that for?"

"I wanted to see something." Samuel walked back to the image of Theo. "Hold on, Theo."

Samuel placed both hands on Theo's chest and sent several bolts of electricity through his body. The monitors changed for a brief second but then went back to showing a flat line.

"Samuel, do it again," I moved closer, uncertain if we were hurting or helping Theo. I hoped it was the latter.

Samuel looked over at me. "Esa, I'm not sure this is the right thing to do. We might be killing him instead of helping him."

"He's already dead. We've got no other options. Samuel, you have to save Theo. I don't want to live without him," I clenched my eyes shut and prayed for a miracle.

Samuel extended both of his hands over Theo and then plunged them down onto Theo's chest. "Sorry, buddy," he murmured as he let loose several strong bolts of electricity. The surge caused the outline of Theo's body to glow bright blue.

"Samuel, something is happening," I whispered, unable to take my eyes off the image in front of me. "Do it again!"

"Esa, it may be too much. I think we should wait a little bit longer—"

"Do it. Now!" I tried to muster enough courage to make them all believe that I was back in control. I willed my knees not to shake or give out from under me.

"I will do it one more time and that's it. His body can't take this much electricity."

"How do you know?"

"Because you told me my touch was more painful. Esa, I'm sending four times the voltage into him than I sent into your hand. It's a lot! It's enough to burn his insides."

"Fine. Just do it one more time." Samuel let both of his hands hover over Theo for several seconds and then he quickly thrust them back down onto Theo's chest. The intensity of the electricity caused Theo to glow even brighter, as if he had neon lights outlining the shape of his body.

We all watched for several seconds. The outline continued to glow brightly in the dark room, and then it began to fade. "No!" I shouted as I ran towards the table. "Samuel, you have to do something!"

Samuel came up behind me and wrapped his arms around my chest. "I'm sorry, Esa. There's nothing else I can do. I told you all, I hadn't tested the drug." Samuel began to shake. I knew he had finally let the best of his emotions get to him as he cried on my shoulder. "I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry," he sobbed. "I killed him."

I wanted to turn around and console my brother, but I couldn't. He was right. He had killed Theo.