CARLA

The Letter Opener

  Simon adjourned the meeting and Carla returned to her cabin to process all the information. She held the door open for Travis who followed her into her room.

"I thought you might like to talk?" The child asked.

"I do, come in Trav I need to pick your brain." Carla said, still deep in thought. "How old are you?"

"I'm ten, but I'm big for my age." Carla ruffled his curly blonde hair. They sat on her sofa facing each other.

"Tell me your story, why can't they see you?"

"I was born normal, and at two years old, I became this way. My mother was the same, but she had the ability to switch it on and off. But I can't." He said sadly.

"Did the Organization take you away from your parents?"

"No they were killed in an earthquake when I was five. Simon was a friend of my father's, they worked together. So he took me in and I've been with him ever since."

"Don't worry Trav, I have a feeling your ability won't reach maturity until you do."

"Do you think so?" Carla nodded. "Wow, bring on puberty." The child said with a beaming smile.

"You're an exceptionally intelligent boy, let me bounce some things off you."

Carla proceeded to summarise everything she knew. She could sense people's abilities, she could smell them. When she wanted to, she rendered them powerless by touching them, the way she did with Slade and Sasha in the boardroom. She was immune to most superpowers she'd encountered so far, which she proved when she refused to submit to Taylor's will.

  Carla's thoughts turned to her toxic blood. She frowned wondering what would happen if she sustained an i jury. She had never fallen over or cut herself so her first experiment was to see what would happen if she did sustain an injury.

"You want me to stab you?" Travis exclaimed jumping off the sofa in fear.

"Not fatally, just a little stab..." Carla explained as Travis fled her stateroom.

"No thanks, you can ask someone else. Like Sasha, I'm sure she'd love to stab you..." the invisible child called, disappearing down the hallway.

"Sorry Trav, I didn't mean to scare you..." Carla called after him. "Shit."

  She had to learn to act human even if she wasn't technically one of them. She lay in her large bed and stared at the ceiling for a while, deep in thought. Carla sat up in bed, anxious to challenge herself, both physically and emotionally. Carla was keen to discover her boundaries, if she had any.

She walked down the hallway in search of a willing antagonist. As she neared his cabin, Carla sensed he was not alone. She looked at her watch, it was just after 6pm. Dinner time for vampires, Carla thought, turning away quickly. But it was too late, his door flung open.

"Are you lost?" Luke asked angrily.

"I need to talk to you." Carla blurted out, blushing when a female cabin crew member walked out of Luke's cabin. The woman was straightening her uniform, smiling and still flushed with excitement. Well that verified that people didn't hate it when vampires fed on them, Carla thought. The vampire stood in his doorway and folded his arms across his
board chest impatiently.

"I heard the child. You're looking for someone to hurt you?" He asked with an evil grin.

"I'm looking for someone to try." Carla said raising an eyebrow.

"I may not be able to feed on you but I am certain I can still be of assistance." Luke stepped aside, inviting her into his stateroom. Carla looked around. It was similar to her cabin but smelled of him so strongly, it was intoxicating.