Mich instantly snapped herself out of her own trance, feeling a sharp pain at the base of her neck as she broke the connection. “Shit!” She shook Nev out of his trance. “Nev, come on!”
Nev blinked a few times. “Wha—? What happened?”
Mich ignored him, dropping to the floor beside her cybersis. “Nissie?” She felt for a pulse. “Nissie, come on! Snap out of it!”
Nev was still rooted in the same spot on the couch, gingerly touching his throat. “What was . . . I . . . my neck . . . what was she doing?” he said weakly.
MM, who had been standing by watching the proceedings from a far corner, was on his knees beside her in a moment. “Ani? She’s not breathing, Mich!”
Mich curled her lip. “I noticed, MM!” she snapped with more venom than she intended. “Do you know CPR?”
“No! Dammit—I kept meaning to take the classes. Don’t you?”
Mich shook her head. “I’m cranked up right now, which means my powers are active—there’s too great a risk that I’d crush her rib cage. Go find someone who does!”
Nev spoke up. “I do.”
Mich performed an admirable double take. “You—what?”
Nev dropped his lanky body down next to Anissa, gently pushing Mich out of the way. “I learned how a while ago after Nameh arrived—figured it might come in handy.” Nev used his long fingers to gently tip Anissa’s head back; he leaned over her, pressed his lips to hers, and gave a long, slow breath.
“Come on, darlin’. I know you can make it,” he whispered. He breathed again. “Come on . . . ”
Anissa convulsed, coughing a few times. She took a big gasp of air, then sat up suddenly. “YYYYYYYYYEEEEEEEEEEEEIIIIIIIIIIIIAAAAAAAAAIIIIIIIII!!!!!!!”
Mich clapped her hands over her ears. “Yeouch!”
Nev sat back on his heels and grinned wryly. “I guess that means she’s okay. I didn’t think my kisses were that bad.”
Anissa remained on the floor, taking big gasps of air and staring glazedly ahead.
Mich eyed her nervously. “Nissie?”
MM tilted Anissa’s head back and looked straight into her eyes. “Ani? Ani, honey, are you okay?”
The glazed look in Anissa’s eyes cleared partially. “MM?”
MM grinned with relief and pulled Anissa into a tight hug. “Yeah, babe—it’s me.”
Mich sat back on her heels. “You had me worried there, sis.” She cast a sidelong glance at Nev. “Both of you.”
Nev looked down at his damp shirt and tossed the drenched locks of hair out of his eyes. “Mich, why am I all wet?”
“Because you’ve been sweating magnificently, sir,” Mich said.
Anissa spoke hesitantly, still trying to collect her thoughts. “I . . . I don’t know what happened . . . it’s like . . . I was trapped.”
“You were,” Mich replied. “Linked to Nev’s subconscious you were ‘trapped’ right along with him, wherever he was . . . ”
“Yeah, but it was more than that—it’s like—I was stuck in his mind, and I couldn’t get back to mine—almost like when someone astrally projects into another body, and their own body dies and they’re ‘stuck’ in the other person’s body?”
Though she’d never experienced anything like what Anissa had described, Mich could grasp the concept. “Not that I’m an expert, but I imagine the intense emotions flooding around didn’t help any. Were you able to glean anything else before you passed out? Nev kept screaming about ‘gray people’—that mean anything to you?”
Anissa sighed. “Well, I didn’t sense any real people, per se—almost like they were shadows of people . . . not full people . . . I don’t know if that helps.”
Mich stood up and started to pace restlessly. “He said that they were the people who requested him, and that was just before they grabbed him. I got Nev from Selphie, but she’s not necessarily the one who requested him. She told me herself that her place always had stray clones lurking around.” Slowly but surely the pieces were starting to fall into place.
“You know what, and this is going to sound strange, but it was the same feeling the time I went to this supposedly haunted house—I kept feeling like someone or something was there, but it was a real someone, but someone only partially real—like a shadow. And I got this feeling of envy and jealousy—like it wanted to be a ‘real’ person.”
Mich pursed her lips thoughtfully. “Hmmm . . . maybe Nev was supposed to be the . . . vessel . . . for these ‘gray’ people.”
“You mean they were going to use him, or others like him, so they could become ‘real’? So that would mean they were trying to find a way to kill him, and get rid of his entity or life force so they could possess the husk? Oh good Lord.” Anissa stopped, horrified by her own conclusion.
Mich nodded. “Yeah, I mean, you get clones ready made to exact specifications—it stands to reason that they’d be an ideal choice . . . only Nev foiled their plans somehow.”
Nev looked up at her, his eyes even wider than they’d been when he’d awakened that morning. His face was a dull, chalky white that was rapidly turning green. “That’s what . . . oh, man, I’m gonna be sick.” He scrambled to his feet and ran to the bathroom, slamming the door behind him.
“I think I am too,” Anissa staggered to her feet and headed towards another bathroom.
Nameh, who had remained silent during the entire ordeal, sat up on his bed, trembling. “Mich, all this stuff is scaring me.”
Mich leaned against the wall for support. “It’s scaring me, too, Nam.”
“Me three,” MM said.
Anissa came back in the room, looking pale. “Count me in on that, too.”
Nev appeared at the bathroom door, panting. He staggered back into the room, his wobbly legs only supporting him for a few steps before he stumbled and fell to his knees. “I remember it. I remember everything. Oh, God, how’m I gonna deal with this?” he moaned.
Mich dropped down next to him and pulled him upright. “I? Try we, Nev. You’re not in this alone, pal.”
Anissa shook off MM’s supporting grip, crossed the room to Nev’s side, and grabbed his hand in hers. “That’s right, you’ve got all of us—and besides, I don’t think I could forget what I saw and felt today.”
“And I know I can’t,” Mich added.
Nev looked at her. “Was it hard to control your temper when you had to . . . listen to all that?”
Mich put her arms around his shoulders and hugged him tightly. “You’ll never know.”
Mich heard Anissa’s voice in her mind. ::I’m worried though, Sis—where are these gray people? Are they still out there?::
Mich shivered. ::I don’t know. At this point there’s no reason to think that they’re not. however, all of our information is coming from his memory—we have no way of knowing how reliable Nev’s perceptions are.::
Anissa nodded ruefully. ::True—unfortunately, I don’t think that’s gonna keep me from having nightmares of my own tonight.::
::Me either. Between worrying over him and thinking about this I don’t think I’ll be sleeping much.::
::Well, I guess I’ll just have to look for other activities to keep my mind off of it, then.:: Anissa’s tone was devoid of any amusement.
::Hm . . . I wish Cin was here.::
::You and me both.::
When Mich spoke her voice was unusually low. “Makes me wonder—you think there are any other clones out there who’ve had this happen to them?” Every inch of flesh on her body crawled.
“Might be—or even worse . . . ”
Nev couldn’t stop the small moaning noise that emerged from his throat. “Worse?”
“What if there are ‘clones’ which are really gray people?”
Mich felt the room spin wildly. “Oh, man. How would we tell?”
“Don’t even think that, Ani. Don’t say that—it’s just too scary,” MM said, running a hand absently through his curls.
“I don’t know . . . ” Anissa trailed off. The possibilities that she’d just raised suddenly made the Library a much darker place.
“No. There aren’t,” Nev said, some of the familiar strength returning to his voice.
“How do you know, Nev?”
Nev looked down, idly scratching the back of his left hand. “‘Cause I was the first one they tried it on, and when it didn’t work with me—and they tried more times than I want to remember—they gave up, and got rid of me.”
“‘Got rid’? What do you mean?” Anissa asked, not sure she wanted to hear the answer.
Nev sighed, trying to halt the shaking of his hands. He felt slight movement behind him and felt Mich’s hands close tightly over his, giving him strength as he once again yielded to the rush of memories that had finally been unlocked.
“From the time I was created I spent my whole life locked in that room—no light, no heat, nothing. The only lights I ever saw was when . . . they were comin’ to get me. When they . . . found out that-that what they were tryin’ to do—take over my body—wouldn’t work, they cut me loose.”
Anissa looked at Mich, who sat with her head bowed, her long red hair partially obscuring the tears streaming down her face.
“I-I’d never been outside before,” Nev continued. “Thank God they released me at night—the daylight would have driven me nuts. I stumbled around for days until I happened upon the Library. Damn thing scared me outta my wits—I’d never seen anything that big my whole life. Selphie was outside and she took me in. Her clones treated me okay but I was too scared to let anyone get too close . . . until Mich.”
Mich drove the image of a lost, frightened Nev from her mind and struggled to rein in her temper. “Yeah, and it took three weeks for you to even look at me.”
“I’m sorry,” Nev said ruefully. “I just . . . ” He trailed off, sighing in frustration. “I was convinced that they were comin’ for me . . . that I’d wake up and be back in that room . . . ”
“And you couldn’t tell me because you were scared,” Mich said. Suddenly it all fit. “And when Nameh came along—”
“I was able to forget. I thought that it was behind me so pushin’ it out of my mind was easy.” He put his head into his hands.
“Guys,” Mich said. “I think it’s been a very long night and we all need some rest. Why don’t we adjourn for the night. Tomorrow we’ll get Cin and Camille and figure out what—if anything—we’re gonna do.”
On to Chapter Six
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