CHAPTER NINE

The storefront of Cytology, Inc., was located in a nondescript building on the main highway, formerly home to an insurance office. Though Sabrina had driven by it many times since it appeared several weeks ago, the name was just vague enough that she had never questioned what it was.

Until now.

Sabrina, Gabby, Justin, Z and Andrew walked from the small four-spot parking lot to the front door and tried to peek through the closed blinds. “Are you sure this is it?” Sabrina asked.

“This is the address she sent,” Andrew confirmed, looking down at his phone. Patricia had sent the group a cryptic email early that morning saying she had a feeling they were looking for answers and to meet at this exact time after school.

Sabrina had been bombarded by a series of emotions ever since. It had been a long time since she’d experienced true feelings without an anesthetizing filter.

Shock was the first, gut-level emotion that had coursed through her. Patricia and Nash did have something to do with what had been happening to them all. As inevitable as it had seemed that they were involved, it was still surprising to have it confirmed, however veiled and cryptic.

The shock had quickly given way to anger by mid-morning. What gave Patricia and Nash the right to just experiment on them … or whatever this was? How many breaches of therapeutic etiquette had they committed? No way this was allowed.

She had a special supply of anger reserved for Nash, whose deceit she felt even more acutely. How could she have thought she had a connection with him?

But the strongest emotion running through her when they reached the doors of Cytology was her hunger for answers. An intense desire to understand what was happening. What exactly had Patricia and Nash done to them? The hallucinogen-in-the-water theory was the only one Sabrina could come up with. But why? And how did it allow her to go cold turkey off all drugs and feel fine? Better than fine. Exactly as she’d wished to feel for years.

Justin jammed the red button beside the door several times. A second later, Patricia’s voice crackled over the intercom. “Come in.”

The door buzzed open.

“Let’s go,” Justin said, jostling Sabrina as he pushed past her.

Sabrina followed him into a darkened, empty room containing a dismal setup seemingly left behind by the insurance company.

But in the back, behind the last cubicle, was a single locked door with a complex alarm keypad system next to it that looked completely out of place. Was that an alarm to keep other people out … or to keep the five of them in?

Before she could hesitate, the door swung open as they reached it, revealing a large room with a gleaming maple table at its center. A dozen plush executive chairs surrounded it, facing a large drop-down optical-projection screen.

What was this place? It didn’t look like any therapist’s office she’d ever seen.

Two enclosed offices with automated glass doors stood on opposite sides of the room, each furnished with the most sophisticated computer equipment on the market. Nash sat in one office and didn’t look up from his computer when they entered, while Patricia emerged from the other, smoothing down her wrinkled gray suit.

“Hello, again,” she greeted them, her eyes shining brightly. “I’m sure you all have a lot of questions —”

“What did you guys do to us?” Sabrina asked, unable to contain herself.

“And who the hell are you?” Justin jumped in. “Dr. Pearl’s never even heard of you.”

Patricia put her hands up disarmingly. “I understand the confusion. That’s why we called you here. There is an explanation for this. For all of this. Everything will become clear.”

She motioned for the group to sit down around the table as Nash stepped out and joined them. He sat next to Patricia at the head of the table, and Sabrina ignored the nervous flip-flop her stomach performed as she looked at him.

“Let’s cut to the chase,” Patricia said, setting her forearms on the table once the five were all seated. “At this point, you’re all experiencing what could be classified as psychic phenomena, correct?”

Sabrina nodded tentatively, still unsure how much they should reveal to Patricia and Nash just yet.

“Psychic? Like fortune-teller crap? That’s not what I’m having,” Justin scoffed.

“It’s a scientific label,” Patricia said. “We’ll see if it’s accurate. Why don’t we discuss what you’ve each been experiencing and then we’ll explain further?” She took the brief second of silence as acquiescence. “Gabby?”

Gabby blushed, but Patricia gave her an encouraging nod.

“Uh, well … I can see certain things that happened in the past.”

“Retrocognition,” Patricia replied, as if what Gabby said was totally normal.

“But I think it only happens if I touch an object,” Gabby added. “I touch the object, and then I have a vision about it and whatever’s happening around it.”

“With retrocognition, it’s like you’re tapping into the energy of the object,” Patricia explained, scribbling furiously in the Moleskine journal laid in front of her. “How about you, Andrew?”

“It’s like my brain has been liberated,” Andrew told them, at the edge of his seat. “Anything with logic, numbers, sequences. It’s all very clear to me now.”

“Interesting …” Patricia said, smiling as she jotted something down. She eagerly turned to Z. “Zelda? Or, sorry, Z?”

“I’ve been hearing people’s thoughts,” Z volunteered. “I don’t always know whose they are, though.”

“Clairaudience,” Patricia confirmed, putting a name to it. “Justin? How about you?”

He tipped back in his chair so far that Sabrina thought he was going to tip over. “I was staring at some d-bag my mom brought home and then he flew across the room.” He cracked a small smile. “Unfortunately he was fine.”

“How were you feeling right before it happened?” Patricia asked.

“Pissed. Like I wanted to throw him across the room.”

“Psychokinesis,” Patricia replied, studying Justin as if he was under a microscope.

“Psycho-what?” Justin asked, defensiveness already creeping into his voice. His jaw set, and Sabrina wondered if objects were going to start flying around the conference room.

“Psychokinesis. The ability to manipulate matter through your mind. Has it happened again since?”

Justin shook his head. “I actually tried a couple of times this morning with a book. Just to see if I could move it across a desk. Nada.”

“Psychokinesis requires more mental strength than almost any other clairvoyant ability, so it can be more difficult to summon,” Patricia explained without looking up, scribbling even more notes.

It was Sabrina’s turn. Nash arched an eyebrow at her. “How about you, Sabrina?”

“I saw my brother,” she replied, looking him straight in the eye. “My dead brother.” She deliberately kept her eyes on him, challenging him for an explanation. Because it hadn’t escaped her notice that so far they hadn’t gotten one.

“Have you seen any others yet?” he asked.

“Others? Like other … ghosts?” Would other ghosts besides her brother now be appearing to her out of the blue? The thought hadn’t occurred to her before. “I mean, are ghosts even a real thing?”

“You already saw one, did you not?” Nash answered unhelpfully.

“Yeah,” she replied, irritated. “But is this real? How is any of this happening? Why is it happening? I thought we were here to get answers.”

Nash looked at Patricia and she cleared her throat.

“You’re right. As you can obviously tell, this program is different than we initially let on,” Patricia said. Justin snorted at the understatement. “For one thing, Nash and I are not psychologists.”

While the others gaped, Sabrina wasn’t that surprised. They’d lied about so much, so why not that? Maybe Nash isn’t off-limits, after all. She pushed the embarrassing thought below the surface, reminding herself that he was a liar — and that Z might be able to hear what she was thinking.

“If you’re not shrinks, then what is this?” Z asked. Sabrina leaned forward. It was a good question. Who were they? Doctors? Researchers?

Nash’s eyes swept across the group. “We work for the FBI.”

It was the last thing Sabrina had expected to hear, and this time she joined the group in speechless shock.

“What do you mean?” Z finally sputtered.

“We work within a covert section of the FBI’s national security branch,” Nash clarified. “We’re based out of the bureau’s Albuquerque field office, but we moved up to Cedar Springs several weeks ago for this assignment.” Sabrina was reminded again of that afternoon in Sonic. He must have just arrived in town. Nash was an FBI agent.Completely off-limits.

“While you were in the classroom with us that day, you each ingested a chemical compound that caused these changes within you. In the water,” Patricia explained.

“I knew that’s how you did it,” Andrew said.

“You really did drug us …” Sabrina smarted at the violation. It didn’t matter that she’d spent years ingesting drugs of her own accord. This one had been given without her consent. “How is that legal?”

“If we’re talking about the FBI, they don’t care about legality,” Z said authoritatively. “They have a whole department devoted to shutting people who’ve seen UFOs up.”

“Let’s back up before anyone gets panicked, please,” Patricia continued. “Part of our division at the FBI deals with developing new drugs. But not just any drugs. My department’s mission is to develop drugs for a purpose. Drugs that assist the bureau in solving crimes or that further aid our quest for justice here and abroad. My own background is in neuroscience and biochemistry. The compound you ingested was a special project of mine. A serum that unlocks the brain. That gives you access to psychic abilities you might not naturally be able to access. It took my previous partner and me many years to create it and synthesize it to perfection.”

“Then why are you using it like some kind of superpower Zoloft on us?” Z asked.

Patricia looked slightly ruffled, even with the smile on her face. “That’s not exactly what we’re doing, though the side benefit of this compound is that it neutralizes emotional responses in the temporal lobe. That’s why all of you should’ve noticed some of the issues you’d previously been dealing with have lessened to an extent, correct?”

Sabrina looked around the table as the others nodded. Was that the trade-off? Patricia and Nash drugged them against their will but for good reason? Part of her could admit that the consequences hadn’t been all bad. She’d forgotten how exhilarating it felt to be clearheaded, to have the full working capacity of her brain. And as weird and eerie as it was to see Anthony, the idea of seeing him again — maybe even getting to speak to him — was compelling.

That didn’t take away the fact that this had been done to them against their will, though. And without their full understanding of the consequences. Nash had already hinted at seeing other ghosts. Sabrina had a suspicion those spirits might not be quite as friendly as Anthony.

She spoke up, trying to put it all together. “I don’t understand. The cost of fixing our old issues is to replace them with new, weird issues?”

“I don’t think this is an issue,” Andrew chirped from his spot beside her. “Not for me. I don’t feel sick all the time and I’m a genius. It’s way better.”

Patricia’s eyes twinkled as she looked across the table at him. “I was hoping some of you would see it that way. We don’t view what’s happening to you as a set of problems, either. We see them as a set of assets. This is not a punishment. Some people would give everything for these kinds of skills.”

Sabrina doubted there were long lines of people willing to trade in their own free will for the chance to see ghosts. Though Andrew was nodding in enthusiastic agreement with Patricia, the others seemed to share Sabrina’s doubts.

“Maybe other people would want these skills,” Gabby said diplomatically. “But how do you know we did?”

Justin nodded swiftly. “Right. You drafted us against our will.”

“And you still haven’t told us why,” Sabrina pointed out. “If it’s not about fixing our problems, why did you do this to us?”

“Fair enough,” Patricia conceded. “We didn’t give you the serum just to alleviate some of your issues. There’s something we’re asking for in return. You all were chosen for a reason. This town was selected for a reason, too.”

Justin scoffed in surprise. “Why would anyone choose this town for anything?”

“As you are all aware, there was a murder in this area a few weeks ago on the edge of the Arapahoe Woods. A woman named Lily Carpenter. And the killer is still at large.”

“Probably long gone,” Justin responded. “I heard it was some out-of-town bum who needed cash and whacked her for it.”

“That’s just what the cops want you to think because they can’t admit there might be a serial killer on the loose,” Z said.

“I heard it was something to do with that guy who wanted to turn her house into a mall,” Andrew said, reddening when he realized a second too late that the guy was Z’s father.

“All theories with no evidence to back them up,” Patricia said. “Most people do not have all the facts. Lily Carpenter was actually a former FBI agent.”

Sabrina looked up in surprise. The quiet woman who sold homemade candles was an FBI agent? Sabrina had assumed she was a nature-loving hippie type. Never in a million years would she have guessed she was in the FBI. Then again, how much could you ever tell about someone from the outside?

“But why aren’t they saying that she was an FBI —” Andrew began and Nash cut him off.

“Not everything has been made public.”

“Lily wasn’t just any FBI agent,” Patricia added. “Before she left the bureau years ago, she was my original partner. She created the serum with me.”

“The serum you just gave us?” Sabrina asked. She was totally confused.

“Yes,” Patricia replied. “The night she was killed, a cache of serum was stolen from her safe.”

Andrew was suddenly suspicious. “How did you manage to give us this serum if it was already stolen?”

Sabrina flashed him an impressed look, grateful to have his newfound powers of deduction on her side.

“We had the serum stored in multiple places. Being one of the chemists involved originally, Lily had a sizable cache in her own locked safe. I kept the rest. The night she was killed, Lily’s serum was stolen from her safe.”

“And that’s why she was killed?” Andrew asked. “So someone could steal the serum?” Patricia nodded gravely and Sabrina finally understood what Patricia had meant earlier. When she said some people would give anything for these skills. To someone out there, this serum Sabrina had just ingested was so valuable that it was worth killing for. Not that she had any idea why.

“The perpetrator used Lily’s code to open the safe in her home. Though a gunshot wound killed her, her body was also covered in fresh third-degree burns.” Another detail that had been left out of the papers. “We believe those burns were a torture tactic. So the perpetrator could find out where she was hiding the serum and get the code to her safe.”

“Whoever killed Lily Carpenter has that serum,” Nash interjected. “They must be found. Immediately. Because having this compound in the wrong person’s hands would be catastrophic.”

Sabrina’s stomach tightened. “I thought you said there was nothing wrong with this drug. ‘Synthesized to perfection.’ Now it’s a catastrophe?”

“This was a drug created for good, if used correctly,” Patricia replied. “But a person who has no clue how to administer the serum … that’s a different story.”

“Or a person who intends to use the serum for the wrong reasons,” Nash added. “A person who wants to exploit it to do harm. To commit crimes. To claim power. Not to mention, this serum is classified. If we don’t find out who has it, they could expose it. Or worse, clone it and distribute it at large.”

Andrew’s eyes widened. “Or they could sell it to our enemies. Create an army with heightened abilities, always one step ahead of us.”

“Exactly. You can’t imagine how much people would pay for a weapon like this,” Nash continued. “Imagine our enemies with Z’s ability. They could be listening to our thoughts right now.”

It was a terrifying prospect, and Sabrina realized there were probably many more.

“That’s why it’s extremely important that we find out who did this to Lily so we can get the serum back in FBI hands,” Patricia said. “As of now, we’ve only reached dead ends. We have no leads to speak of.” She leaned forward in anticipation, her gaze intent on the five of them. “That’s why we decided to turn to something less traditional.”

Sabrina saw something click in Andrew’s eyes.

“You want us to help you solve this case,” Andrew concluded. “Armed with our new abilities. Use the serum to find the serum.”

Sabrina thought he was nuts until she saw Patricia and Nash both nodding.

“He’s right?” Z asked, as stunned as Sabrina.

“Yes,” Patricia said. She was silent for a moment, letting the concept sink in. When she spoke again, her voice was lower, more solemn. “We recognize this is unorthodox. The FBI does employ psychics on cases from time to time, but we’ve never attempted this before. It may not work and we’ll have to accept that. But the FBI decided the stakes of this case are high enough. That’s how important it is. We need to find out who killed Lily Carpenter and get the serum back.”

Questions erupted in Sabrina’s brain like fireworks. “Why didn’t you all just take the serum yourselves? Wouldn’t it make more sense to use it on trained FBI agents and not a bunch of teenagers?”

“Believe me, we tried,” Patricia responded. “On adults, the drug causes no pronounced results. But there’s something to the fact that a younger brain is still developing, the synapse growth accelerating at a higher rate than a mature adult’s, that allows the drug to take hold. This seems to be the ‘magic window’ when the drug operates most effectively.”

Gabby nervously twisted her hair to the side of her neck. “You said this was classified. So our parents don’t know anything about this?”

“They can’t,” Patricia said. “Those letters we told you we sent out about the group-therapy program — the ones they didn’t respond to — that was the extent of our communication with them.”

“And they can’t even be traced back to you anyway, I’m sure,” Z noted.

“Correct. Because they cannot know,” Nash replied. “The five of you cannot tell them about this. In fact, you can’t tell anybody. Not your friends, not your siblings, not a teacher, nobody. Everything we’ve explained today is classified information and it must stay that way.”

Sabrina couldn’t remember the last time someone had trusted her with anything.

“What if we do tell?” Justin asked defiantly.

Z sighed. “Like anyone would believe you. If you tell someone you’re moving people across rooms with your mind, they’ll just think you started taking steroids.”

Justin glared at Z. “Like anyone would believe you either. They’d probably just think you became a schizo.”

“Like anyone would believe any of us,” Gabby said, her hushed tone instantly commanding the group’s attention. “That’s why they picked us. That letter they sent out — that’s how they vetted us. Who had parents, a family, that would care the least? Who were the biggest lost causes? Even if we told our parents, it’s not like they’d care. They already think we’re crazy. We went to Dr. Pearl to ask her about the meeting and she thought we were making the whole thing up.”

“She’s right,” Sabrina concluded, thinking of her own parents. The five of them were trapped any way they looked at the situation. But for some reason, that thought didn’t anger her as much as it had earlier.

Patricia surveyed the group slowly before she began to speak. “What we said to you in that classroom was true. Others might have given up on you, but we do believe in you. We wouldn’t have done this otherwise. We wouldn’t have taken such a big risk. You guys are tired of people underestimating you. Of disregarding you. We want to take you seriously. Here’s your opportunity on a silver platter.”

Sabrina wavered. There was no doubt they’d been used. But they weren’t being recklessly experimented on. They were being used for something important.

“No offense, but why should we help you guys?” Justin interjected. “You drugged us. We didn’t sign up for this.”

“Who cares?” Andrew said. “Seriously, what was so great about our lives before this? What are we all honestly giving up?”

Nothing. There was nothing great in Sabrina’s life to give up. The few interactions the five of them had had in the last few days were the most engaging ones she’d had with anyone in years.

“There’s no way what we’re giving up is better than what we’re getting in return. I’m only seeing an upside,” Andrew said.

Justin sucked in his breath sharply. “Speak for yourself, loser. My life was fine before this.” He turned his dark eyes to Patricia and Nash. “I might not get anyone to believe me, but that doesn’t mean I have to help you.”

“If you don’t want to help, there is a simple solution,” Patricia offered mildly. “There is an antidote to this compound. An antibody I can inject that neutralizes it. We wanted to let you experience the effects of the compound firsthand so you could make an informed decision, but if you don’t want to help with the case, we can reverse what’s happened to you at any moment.”

“And the antidote makes everything go back to normal?” Justin asked, though the edge in his voice had softened, as if now that he knew this newfound ability could disappear, he was rethinking whether he was angry.

“Yes. You will all go back to exactly how you were before,” Patricia replied. She added with emphasis, “Exactly.”

“Issues and all,” Sabrina said, and Patricia nodded.

There it was. The choice Sabrina hadn’t been given before was now hers. The options were stark opposites. She could go back to being the addict dismissed by everyone. To being the girl people didn’t trust to string together a coherent sentence. Or she could stay this new version of herself, a girl trusted with a secret. Sure, they only picked her because she was considered a lost cause by everyone around her. But she could still use this as a chance to prove everyone else wrong. To do something of actual value. To make up for all the years she’d wasted.

“What happens with the antidote if this actually works and we find the serum?” Z asked. “Are you going to force us to take it?”

“No,” Patricia answered. Sabrina felt a burst of relief that confirmed everything she’d already been feeling about the antidote. “It will always be your choice whether you want to take it or not.”

Sabrina leaned forward tentatively. “So can you tell us how any of this would work? Us helping you to solve the case and find the rest of the serum?” Sabrina asked. Quickly, she added, “I’m not saying yes for sure. I’m just curious.”

Patricia raised an eyebrow at the group. “It might be easier for us to show you how it would work.”

*    *    *

Patricia didn’t specify where they were ultimately headed, but Z was still putting one combat boot in front of the other, walking toward Nash’s van in the parking lot with the others. Maybe it was morbid curiosity pushing her forward. Or maybe it was the idea of being on the inside of the biggest story in Cedar Springs. Half the town was convinced that a serial killer was camping out in the woods, waiting for his next victim. If they only knew it was so much bigger than that.

And so much worse.

How do you beat a foreign army who can move bodies with their minds? Or who can figure out the other side’s strategy through just one vision?

“Are you sure about this?” Gabby whispered as she sidled up to Z. “Don’t you think it’s dangerous to get involved in a murder case?”

The danger factor hadn’t crossed Z’s mind. At least not in that way. “Probably. But if some psycho has the serum, we’re still in danger even if we don’t go along with this.”

“I don’t know …” Gabby said, her forehead creasing with worry. “Maybe I should ask for the antidote.”

“Why don’t you come with us and then decide afterward if you want it?” Z suggested. “That’s what I’m going to do.”

Gabby exhaled, relieved not to have to make the decision. “Okay. That’s a good idea.”

Z followed her into the van and Nash pulled out of the parking lot. Z rubbed a hand over the soft fuzz of her hair, contemplating the antidote herself. Did she want to go back to feeling … empty? It wasn’t as though she’d spent the last two days thinking about rainbows and unicorns, but her new world did feel a little like someone had turned up the brightness on a computer screen. Would it be so bad to hear people’s thoughts occasionally? It was kind of like heightened eavesdropping. Now that she understood why it was happening, it didn’t seem such a bad exchange. Provided that Patricia and Nash were telling the truth, which, of course, she could never know. Government agencies were famous for their secrecy.

Even now, she had no clue where they were headed. Patricia just said that once they got there, they’d all have a chance to test out their new abilities and see how using them could lead to finding the serum.

Andrew’s voice broke through her thoughts. He leaned forward toward Patricia. “How is the serum able to do this to us? Scientifically speaking.”

“Great question.” Patricia twisted her body around to face them. “We all possess a range of mental powers we’re usually not aware of. The primary compound in this serum, like that in many drugs, opens the channels within your brain that you’re not typically able to use. LSD, for example, activates the serotonin receptors to allow for heightened perception.”

Z’s ears perked up. Every antidepressant she’d ever been prescribed claimed to increase her serotonin levels, but none of them worked. Until now.

Patricia continued, her eyes sparkling as if she could talk about this subject for hours. “Our compound operates on the so-called ‘psychic neurons’ of the prefrontal cortex of your brain. When this area is stimulated, abilities are elevated, which allows for clairaudience, clairvoyance, psychometry, precognition, telepathy … all versions of what some would call a sixth sense. Individuals with natural talent in this arena — I’m not talking palm readers, but people with true, inherent telepathic gifts — are able to stimulate this neuron naturally. This compound mimics that ability, though it works differently on different people.”

“That’s why we’re not experiencing the same things,” Andrew noted.

“Why don’t you recruit real psychics to help you instead — people who naturally have the gift?” Sabrina asked.

“The FBI does employ psychics now and again to help with a case that’s gone cold,” Patricia answered. “But they’re not always reliable. This serum should be a much more effective way to derive those skills. It’s almost like creating an infallible psychic.”

“Are you a chemist, too, Nash?” Andrew asked.

“No,” Nash answered.

Justin eyed Nash curiously. “So are you, like, the muscle?”

“No.”

When he didn’t elaborate, Patricia added, “Nash is a special agent in the counterterrorism unit.” And not much of a talker, Z thought. “Like I said before, the missing serum is a national security threat.”

The pavement ended and Nash turned off the wooded rural road onto a dirt path.

“Are you going to tell us where we’re going right now or are we supposed to use our superpowers to guess?” Justin grumbled.

When the van finally stopped, Nash looked at their faces in the rearview mirror. “We’re here.”

Z recognized the place from the photographs in the newspaper.

It was Lily Carpenter’s cabin.

Patricia and Nash had brought them to the crime scene.