The Talented (10 page)

“Two things,” I replied, “First I put myself in a trance and focused my abilities internally to aid the healing process. The second is harder to explain.”

“Try me,” Alicia said flatly.

I took a deep breath and went on, “While in the trance I went beyond healing, strengthening my skin cells, muscle fibers and bones. It was a lot of work. I have done this before on a smaller scale to help me with my workouts. It makes me a lot stronger. Usually the effects last three or four months, then gradually fade.”

Squeezing my bicep muscle, she commented, “I can’t argue with the results, but do you have any idea how crazy this all sounds? First you can mess with people’s minds, now you can heal fast and make yourself super strong. That just isn’t possible. So either you’re the world’s best conman or you aren’t human.”

I looked in her eyes and told her everything about me and my abilities. Then I told her what happened at Stuart’s house the day of the attack, and by some miracle or perhaps extreme naivety, she believed every word. Well, at least she didn’t laugh in my face.

Looking somewhat disoriented, Alicia sat silently considering it all, then said, “I’ve seen you work miracles with my own eyes. You saved me. Even though it makes no freaking sense, I believe you.” Then she asked, “What are you going to do now?”

“Now,” I replied, “I take you home.” Trying to pull the thin hospital blanket off me, my arm felt incredibly stiff and awkward. Cracks and pops issued from my knuckles as I gripped the soft cloth. Straining to swing my legs over the edge of the bed, I stared stupidly at my still unbent legs. It took serious effort to bend them enough to put my feet on the ground.

“Uh,” I stated eloquently, “I may have a little problem here.”

Putting an arm around Alicia’s shoulders for support, I stood painfully. All my muscles and joints felt swollen and tight, especially my elbows and knees. Feeling out my body I discovered with a shock that I could no longer will myself to loosen up. The tissue was too hardened to be altered further. Shuffling along, trying not to look like a zombie, I muttered, “Let’s go to our room at the Marriott. No more doctors today. It looks like this recovery might take longer than I thought.”

Looking in the small wardrobe in the hospital room, I noticed that it was completely empty.

“My clothes?” I asked.

“Gone. They had to cut them off you.”

Perfect. “Alright, then I go like this.”

We slowly stepped out and down the hallway, my flimsy hospital gown open in the back. Alicia caught a quick glance and suppressed a giggle.

“Yeah, hilarious, isn’t it. Laugh it up,” I said flatly. Extending my mind throughout the hallways I ensured that no one look our way as we walked. Although every part of me felt stiff and sore, that was forgotten when I had a single, satisfying thought. I survived.

After depositing me at the hotel room, Alicia went right back out to pick up some clothes for me. I turned on the television to see if the fire was reported on the news. Apparently too much time had elapsed since the fire to be newsworthy, so I flipped channels until settling on some obscure sports program. I tried to do some stretching exercises in bed, but it was pointless. My muscles felt as tight as steel springs.

I must have dozed off for a few hours, then awoke to see the most bizarre sports competition on the television. It was called Strongest Man on Earth, or something like that, and featured heavily muscled men performing ridiculous feats of strength and stamina. Their bodies reminded me of Harrison, and I shuttered. The huge strongmen were stacking heavy rocks onto the tops of pillars and dead lifting giant logs with handles bolted onto them. At that moment I knew exactly how I needed to recover. This new body needed to be broken in like a new pair of cowboy boots. A sudden feeling of hope and elation swept over me just as Alicia opened the door and walked in with her arms full of shopping bags.

With a cautious grin she asked, “What is it? Why do you look all bubbly and happy? Makes me nervous.”

“Alicia, there is something I need to do to get my body flexible again. There is no way that I can try to rescue Kate while I’m still shuffling around like Frankenstein. Time is crucial so I’m afraid that it will put off our return to Detroit. Is that okay with you?”

Her smile widened, “More time with you and your debit card? I think I can live with that.”

My heart skipped a beat. For a moment I was captivated by her cinnamon toned hair and amber eyes, and I felt the impulse to jump out of bed and kiss her, but my legs didn’t cooperate and the moment passed. Instead I turned off the TV and said, “Time to go camping.”

CHAPTER NINE

My plan took us north to the scenic landscape of southern Wisconsin. The rolling hills and dense woodlands were just what I had in mind. Our new rental car was a small SUV with four-wheel drive. From the expressway we could see the bright lights of a Walmart, open 24 hours. As I pulled into the parking lot Alicia asked, “What are we doing at Walmart?”

“We may be roughing it out there so we need to be prepared,” I said.

Alicia replied, “You’re crazy if you think I’m going to sleep in a nylon bag like some kind of burrito for wild creatures to eat. It was really nice at the Marriott. Why can’t we just find ourselves the closest Marriott?”

I shook my head and smiled, “Good luck finding one around here. Actually, there should be some cabins close to where we are headed. All we need to pick up are toiletries and lots of food and water.”

We did exactly that. My cart was filled with food, and Alicia pushed a cart loaded with empty coolers and bags of ice.

A short heavyset woman with a cart of her own passed us, appearing to ignore us. Her thoughts told another story. She thought, what is a hot guy like that doing with a black girl? Does she live around here? I sure hope not. Maybe she’s a prostitute. Did she just look at my purse?

My hands tightened on the handle of the cart. The fat woman was actually afraid. Many people believe racism to be a dead issue. Not me. I know what people are really thinking and feeling. Ignorance and intolerance are everywhere. Looking over at the expression on Alicia’s face, it was apparent that she picked up on it too. Time to go.

I paid for everything and we loaded up the trunk, then continued on.

Alicia broke the silence, “Did you see a chubby white lady in there turning her nose up at us?” I nodded and she continued, “Did you actually hear her thoughts? Does that happen automatically?”

“Her thoughts were ignorant and not worth repeating,” I answered.

“I knew it!” She exclaimed, then turned to me and asked, “How can you stand it? That would drive me over the edge.”

Wearily, I replied, “It’s all I know, so it really doesn’t bother me most of the time. What bugs me more than anything are happy young people in love. Their thoughts are so sappy sweet it makes me want to vomit.”

“Seriously? Are you sure that you aren’t just jealous? That’s how I usually feel around happy people. They have something I may never have, and I resent them for it.”

“Wow,” I answered, “you really nailed it. I feel exactly the way you do. Why can’t we be happy like them?”

With a wicked smile on her face, Alicia replied, “Maybe we can,” and looked at me with those golden eyes. It dawned on me that she was attracted to me, maybe even seriously interested. That was not a huge surprise, but what shocked me the most is the intensity of what I felt in return. In some ways, I barely knew her, but on a deeper level it seemed as if I had always known her.

According to the map on my phone, we were approaching a huge forest preserve called Black Bear Woods State Park. As we turned into the entrance, Alicia muttered to herself, “A person would have to be crazy to choose to walk around in a place called Black Bear Woods. Why do you think they call it that? Maybe it’s because there are bears here. Real ones, with claws and teeth. And I’m even more crazy following you.”

I followed the road as deep into the preserve as it would go, ending in an overgrown gravel parking lot with no other cars in it. I spread my thoughts thin over the whole area, expanding outward, surveying the land and finding only a few other people in the vast forest. After influencing them to leave, I struggled to get out of the car without falling. Because of the long drive my joints were even stiffer than they were at the hospital, but I was getting used to it and could walk without much assistance. It was a warm day for September. Alicia and I both wore fashion t-shirts, designer jeans and new boots that we bought together at Nordstrom’s. We looked like we’d just stepped out of the catalog.

We walked through the woods together on a narrow, but usable, trail until we reached a rocky clearing that appeared to have everything I would need. The smooth boulders varied from bowling ball sized to the largest, which was a five-foot-long, egg-shaped behemoth. Beginning with the smallest one, I reached down, straining to bend my back and knees enough to reach the rock. Firmly gripping it on both sides, I prepared for the effort of raising it, then heaved it up with a jerk. My body shot up straight and I lost my grip on the small boulder, launching it backwards over my head and through the trees like a catapult.

“Not a word.” I warned Alicia with a hint of a smile, as if she even needed to speak, her rolling eyes and shaking head saying it all. Moving onto the next rock, which was slightly larger, I repeated the process, this time easing it up more carefully. While I could feel the heft of the rock in my hands, it seemed much lighter than I expected. Over and over I repeated the process until I was dripping sweat, eventually lifting a hunk of granite two feet across about waist high before almost dropping it on my foot.

“Okay, Hercules, time for a break,” Alicia ordered, handing me one of the many bottles of water hidden in her pack. I gripped the bottle too firmly, squeezing half its contents onto the ground, and cursed in frustration. Looking concerned, Alicia soothed, “Shh, Adam. Patience. You have to relearn how to do everything and it’s going to take time. Relax and try to enjoy it. Just don’t hurt yourself, because you’re too big to drag all the way back to the car.”

She was really an amazing person. What a surprise, I thought as I realized that we were staring at each other. At the same time we pulled apart; Alicia fussed with her backpack and I resumed my exercises.

At sunset, we drove to a collection of little rental cabins near the state park. Usually the word ‘cabin’ is used to describe cute little villas decorated in a rustic north woods style. These were not those kind of cabins. No, these were the genuine article, constructed out of huge logs and generously applied mortar. Beside each building was an orderly stack of neatly quartered firewood, undoubtedly intended to be used in the fireplace built from granite boulders. The rocks looked identical to the ones that I had been heaving around all day. The cabin nearest the road doubled as an office, and luckily the lights were still on.

Bells jingled when we entered the front door of the office. The interior was decorated with roughly painted carvings of bears, ducks, even fish. A large deer head was mounted on the wall over the service counter. Sitting on a stool behind the counter was a scrawny young man with silver piercings all over his face. He somehow managed to look bored and surprised at the same time. On the inside he was shy and nervous. Every time those bells jingled he worried that another group of hunters would barge in and tease him about the piercings. He kept a shotgun behind the counter and fantasized about making those hunters eat their words. But at heart he was a good boy and those fantasies served to satisfy his desire for revenge. They were enough for him.

“Can I help you?” he mumbled. It must be hard to talk with metal in your lips. He spoke to me but his eyes were glued to Alicia. Her t-shirt was riding up due to her considerable chest, which made her navel just visible beneath it. Sparkling there was a yellow sapphire mounted in gold, undoubtedly purchased using my debit card. Skinny bling-face couldn’t take his eyes off of it. I shifted my weight, blocking his view. He blinked.

“We need a cabin please. One week.”

Bling-face ran my debit card and opened a small metal cabinet mounted to the wall behind him. It contained seven hooks with seven keys hanging from them. He handed me the key to cabin seven. Lucky number seven. The key was a real metal one, not an electronic key card. The kid showed me a map of the grounds and how to find our cabin.

“Slow week?” I asked. He made eye contact for the first time and replied, “Slow season. The government outlawed hunting in the state park. The land north of the park is fair game, but people hunting up there tend to camp out this time of year. You’re the only guest as of today.”

Alicia wandered around the room looking at the various decorations, and predictably bling-face gawked at her. This time he was fixated on her butt. No piercings there. Time to go before his eyes fell out of his head.

We drove through the winding gravel lane until we pulled up to our cabin. I unloaded all the supplies while Alicia settled on the sofa. I unpacked our bags and brought our toiletries into the bathroom. Needing a shower in the worst way, I stripped quickly and turned on the water to its hottest setting. Stepping into the steaming shower felt like heaven, and the tension worked its way out of my body until I felt almost relaxed. The strange workouts helped. They really helped. After a long shower I dried off with one of the small, thin towels provided by the cabin. They were a far cry from the plush towels I enjoyed at the Book Cadillac. Wrapping the meager towel as best I could around my waist, I became acutely aware that I shared a remote cabin in the woods with a beautiful young woman. To further complicate things, the more time I spent with Alicia the more I began to really enjoy her sense of humor and her sassy attitude. During my long workout my thoughts often drifted to her, and the possibilities between us. If I were completely honest with myself, it would be hard to deny that I had an alternate motive in bringing her with me. It would have been just as easy to return her to Detroit first, but I did’nt want her to go away. The changes to my body were frightening and painful, and I needed someone. This was not a time to be alone.