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Hawke took the hand-held wand and moved it slowly in front and then behind Noah. When he finished, he looked at his tablet.
“Looks good. Numbers are better than before, tissue mass is good, blood pressure, heart... all looks good.” Hawke looked at Noah. “Dream-walked lately?”
Noah nodded. “Yeah.” He told him about the mist. “What do you think that’s about?”
Hawke’s eyes widened at the news of the stone breaking. “Off the top of my head, I’d say your emotions drive the mist which could be a problem. It comes to you, which means on some level there’s a link. But the ability to use it like that is amazing.”
Noah agreed the rock deal was cool.
“With the shot, your gift is still evolving. Be prepared for it to strengthen as time goes on.”
“Trailing mist is my gift? Seriously, that’s an enhancement? What am I supposed to do with it?” He didn’t see it. Most of the time the mist attacked him, where was the benefit in that?
“Once you’re able to control it, to call it at will, you can shape it to whatever you need it to be, it’s a formidable tool.” Noah must not have looked convinced because Hawke continued. “Imagine the various shades in a mist, from clear, allowing you to see through it or dark enough to blind you. In a fight or escape, that ability alone can mean the difference between winning and losing. Weaponized, it is better than rope, handcuffs or plastic ties. Plus it will torment your enemies with their own dark memories. Don’t forget what it did to the rock, it’ll do that to anyone or thing you tell it to.” Hawke inhaled. “It’s one of the most awesome enhancements I’ve ever seen.” He looked at Noah. “It appeared before the shot?”
Shocked by Hawke’s depiction of the mist, it took Noah a moment to respond. “Yeah, it did.”
“I suggest you work with it every day until you’re comfortable using it as an extension of you. Just as you’d practice arming and disarming a weapon, do the same with this. Every day you’ll grow stronger, master it in the dream and during sunlight.”
That surprised Noah. “I can use it awake?”
“Of course. I’d bet the only reason it’s so strong when you’re asleep and dreaming is that your conscious mind blocks it during the day.” Hawke raised his hand. “That’s normal. But when you’re asleep, your subconscious allows the mist to rise because it’s an intrinsic part of you. Begin calling on it while you’re awake, see what it can do and how you can use it. Once you accept it as a part of you on a conscious level it’ll always be available.”
Noah sat heavily on the chair. “All this time I thought it was the PTSD.”
“That may be part of it or the trigger. It’s possible that the anger and grief you experienced created the mist as a coping or defensive mechanism after you were resuscitated. Coupled with your brain injury, the induced coma, and long recuperating period it’s highly feasible that you walked through dreams with the mist as an extension of you. That’s probably a better way to explain it.”
Noah had no words. He couldn’t begin to think along those lines and stared at Hawke for a few moments. “Will Mia control it too?”
“Time will tell,” Hawke said. “Soon you’ll know more, but it is a powerful gift. Be prepared for some sort of backlash or limitations.”
“Backlash? Limitation?” Noah asked.
“Something that powerful has to be limited or you could place large areas of the world in darkness,” Hawke said with a soft smile.
Noah hadn’t thought of that.
“The greater the gift, the higher the cost to use it. It may drain your energy leaving you weak if you use it for prolonged periods, or if someone suffers from it, you might feel some of their pain. Or you could black out. It varies. You’ll learn what they are once you use them.”
“Anyway to learn them before I need to use them? It’d suck to be in a sticky situation and fall asleep,” Noah said.
“Time will tell, everyone’s different,” Hawke said as he clapped Noah on the shoulder. “Let me know how it turns out, I’ve never heard or seen that particular power before.”
Still processing their conversation, Noah nodded, took a deep breath and stood with his hand extended.
Hawke shook it.
“Thank you. I appreciate you making sense of this.” He ticked them off with his fingers. “The hit to the head, dying, the injection, induced coma, nightmares, dreams, it all started there. That’s where chimera started.” He shook his head. “Makes a lot of sense now.”
“Good,” Hawke said. “Things will be easier to accept now that you see how the enhancement evolved.”
Noah nodded and walked with Hawke to the door. “We’re good to leave now?” Noah was the last one examined.
“Yes. Thomas will visit the compound after he gets a handle on his enhancements. By then the scanning and other equipment I’m revamping for your team should be ready.”
Noah hadn’t known about any of that but nodded anyway. “Thank you again.” He and Hawke walked in companionable silence down the hall toward the conference room. Thoughts tumbled and jockeyed in his mind for dominance.
Control the mist. It’s a part of me. Triggered by the trauma to my brain. Control it. Backlash. Limitations. By the time they reached the conference room, he wanted a quiet place to sit and think.
The look on Mia’s face alerted him something had happened. She stood and handed him his cell phone which she kept during his exam.
His cousin Liam had sent a text:
Two guys in military uniforms came by looking for you. Wanted to know where you went and when you’ll be back. I don’t know the answer to either and didn’t tell them. They said it was important for you to contact them. Got their information for you to contact them.
“They’re looking for you already?” Mia said looking worried
Noah thought of Dr. Higgins and his stupid comments. He never should’ve shared that information about her personal life. He’d been so pissed, so angry... now they were looking for him.
“Seems like it.” Unsure of what to say or do, he read the text message again. If they saw him now, they’d suspect he was enhanced.
“Is Liam safe?” she asked surprising him.
“Why wouldn’t he be? He’s been a civilian for eight years.” Noah wasn’t sure why she asked that question. The military didn’t want Liam for anything.
“Will you call them?” she asked.
“No. There’s no reason to do that,” he said.
“In that case, they will continue looking for you and Liam is their only link.” She met his gaze with an earnest one of her on. “Even if you don’t join them, they will want to know how the experiment turned out. That’s how the Liege operates, the reason we hid for decades. It’s more than what happens on the operating table, the really important information is how the shot or surgery impacts you. It’s data to improve or scrap a project. They will always want to know how the shot affected you, Noah.”
Her words rang true but he didn’t know what else to do. “I don’t have to return their calls or go to see the therapist or report for a physical. The most they can do is stop sending my retirement checks –”
“The moment you do those things, your value rises exponentially because they’ll know that you know you’re enhanced. The question then becomes what to do about it. The others are probably in a training program, someplace far away from society. Can’t let the media or anyone know the government’s giving dying soldiers’ injections that change them into enhanced humans, right?” She looked up at him with a cocked brow. Every word she said made perfect sense
“Worst it may get to a point that they decide to put you down rather than leave you alone. Kind of, it’s with us or no one else,” she said.
“Motherfuckers can try, but I’ll be kicking asses till Sunday if they step to me with that shit,” Noah said, growing pissed.
“Just putting all of this out there so we can decide what to do. I don’t want to put the team in their crosshairs any more than you do,” she said.
He hadn’t thought of that. “I’ll leave,” he said quickly.
“We’ll leave,” she corrected and took his hand. He pulled her close and held her tight.
“No one has to leave the team,” Thomas said. “If they come for you, we’ll deal with it together. If you deviate from normal behavior, you shine on their radar instead of being a blip. We’ll deal with it when we get back to the complex.”
Noah looked down at Mia. These were her friends and family, whatever she wanted to do was fine with him. She nodded and leaned against his chest.
“Okay,” Noah said hoping his cousin would be okay.