The Elements Trilogy: The Secondaries

Chapter 29: Wood

"Mr. Fox?" Dr. Logan's voice cut into my concentration of drawing an unflattering picture of him, when I was supposed to be looking at yellow fever cells under a microscope.

I looked up guiltily. "Ye-eah?"

He was standing right above me, staring down at the picture. Evie and Evalynn were standing beside him, looking amused. "Nice picture," he said finally. "But I don't think my nose is that pointy."

"Oh, um, well you see sir..." I was at a loss for words. "It's a caricature," I finished lamely.

"Mm, quite. May I keep it?"

"Uhh...what?"

"Can I keep it? It's quite good, really."

I gulped. "Uh, yeah. Thanks."

"You're much better at drawing than you are science, Mr. Fox." Dr. Logan continued." Have you ever considered art school?"

My stomach suddenly twisted. I was supposed to be attending a mandatory open house for incoming freshmen at my dream art school in Pennsylvania next week. But now I couldn't make it. I had completely forgotten about it until now.

Dr. Logan must have misread my face, because he hastily shoved the drawing into his pocket. "Uh, sorry, Derek. Didn't mean to be rude." Then he turned and walked away to another lab table, the twins trailing him.

The pretty German girl who had cured my hangover on my first day, raised her eyebrows at me.

"What?" I asked.

She shrugged. "He must really like you, Mr. Fox."

"Why's that?"

"He called you by your first name. He never calls anyone by their first name. Hardly any doctors do."

"Yeah, but he thought he was rude. He was apologizing."

"That's the thing, Mr. Fox. He never apologizes to anyone either."

"Derek?" Dr. Logan's loud voice cut through the chatter of the other doctors and interns. "Can you bring that Petri dish of yellow fever over here? But be careful, don't breathe to closely to it." He warned.

My lip curled and I glanced down at the virus. "Why?"

"Well you see Derek, you forgot to put on your mask, and you could catch it. So don't breathe near it."

"Wonderful." I picked up the dish, held it out at an arms length, and slowly started walking towards Dr. Logan and the twins.

Suddenly, there was a loud bang. Something exploded behind me, and the Petri dish slipped out of my hands and clattered to the floor, miraculously unbroken.

I whirled around, and saw Bryner and two other doctors coughing from smoke. "Sorry!" Bryner merely called out. "But we've managed to make it work!"

"Make what work?" I muttered, reaching down for the dish, all the while avoiding people rushing everywhere. "Dynamite?"

"Attention, everyone!" Bryner continued talking. "We have successfully created a cure for Alzheimer's!"

Three things happened in rapid succession. Evie and Evalynn turned white. Everyone else in the room started clapping and cheering. Someone elbowed me in the back, and I face planted right into the Petri dish full of yellow fever.

***

Dr. Logan gave me a shot, and immediately sent the twins and I back to our dorms. He told the twins to keep an eye on me, and if I caught a fever to notify him immediately.

When we got back to the girls dorm room, we were greeted by a giggly, obviously drunk Harry and Skylar.

"Hey, look Harry, it's Evie! I love Evie!" Skylar flopped an arm around Evie, and grinned at her. "And Der!" she came over to me, and gave me a huge, sloppy kiss on the cheek.

"What the hell?" Evalynn asked. "Are they drunk?"

I caught a whiff of Skylar's breath. "No doubt about it," I said, cringing. "That's definitely tequila breath."

"They can't be drunk!" Evie said angrily. "We have to go to the dance tonight!"

"Well it's okay for Skylar." Evalynn said. "She should sober up pretty quickly, depending on what her BAC level is. But Harry is a different story."

"How do you know how quickly she'll sober up?" Evie frowned, as I began searching for something to check Skylar's BAC level with.

"Well I got drunk over the summer, and was sober in the same night. I figure, we're sorta superhuman with our increased strength and stamina, so our blood absorbs the alcohol more quickly."

"You figure that out by yourself, then?" I raised an eyebrow at her.

"Diamond," she answered. "Skylar, why is there blood on your shirt?"

"We got into a bar fight," Skylar said wide eyed. "Harry almost killed someone with one punch!" she said happily.

"What?"

"Nooo," Harry moaned. "Not dead. Hurt, not dead."

"Aha!" I triumphantly held up a breathalyzer. Then I frowned. "Why do they even have one of these?"

"Who cares?" Evalynn grabbed it out of my hands and stuffed it into Skylar's mouth. "Blow." she ordered.

Skylar immediately blew into it.

"She listens well," I observed.

Evalynn shrugged. "Drunk Skylar is a happy Skylar. And happy Skylar takes orders from me without hesitating. I've learned not to question it...Holy shit!"

"What?" Evie and I leaned forward, and Evalynn held up the breathalyzer for us to see.

".49?!" I said, astonished. "Anyone else would be dead!"

Skylar lay back on the sofa and began humming the Doctor Who theme song. Harry sat up and clutched his head. "Oh God," he moaned. "Never again?"

"Harry? Are you sober?" I asked.

"Unfortunately. I had a lot less to drink than Skylar."

"Obviously." Evie said dryly.

The door behind us flung open, and we all turned around to see David, Diamond and Tony.

"Why are you guys out early?" I asked.

"The doctors let us go to get ready for the dance," Diamond answered.

"We have stuff to tell you!" Evie blurted out.

David and Diamond exchanged glances. "Us first..I don't think Lily is Chester's sister."

"What do you mean?" Evalynn asked, confused.

"Why would he lie to us?" Evie retorted.

"That's dumb, course she is." I said.

"Okay then." David crossed his arms. "If Lily is Chester's sister, then why did we see them kissing in the hallway?"