Chapter 4: Tuesday Evening, 5:00PM

“Moom!” whined Alaina, her face going scarlet. The blush extended down her neck to the top of her chest.

Wow. She’s totally different from this morning. Just have to stay cool. Will stood up. “Hi, Mrs. Bishop, nice to see you again.”

“Doctor Bishop. Now that it’s lighter out I can get a better look at you,” said the taller Bishop. She stepped forward, her short, reddish hair bobbing gently, and scrutinized him from just out of reach.

She smells like lilacs.

Her brows raised, and her analyzing gaze paused halfway down. “Lainy’s been very busy indeed,” she remarked, her broad, scaly tail flicking from side to side behind her.

Will rolled his eyes inwardly, hearing a strangled cry from behind him.

“You’re quite the good-looking young man.” She continued, making eye contact and having to tilt her head upwards very slightly for it. “Tall, too.” Her lips, the same full ones that Alaina had inherited, formed into a smile. “Tell me, Will, do you prefer taller girls or shorter ones?”

“Mom!” said her daughter in the same scandalized voice.

This is all a test, right? It must be, otherwise she’s just messing with Alaina. “Now that you mention it,” said Will, “the last girl I dated was almost as tall as you, Dr. Bishop.” He watched the woman’s smile grow larger. “But lately,” he continued, stepping back to stand next to Alaina and raising his hand to the height of her head, “I’ve become quite partial to girls who are exactly this tall.”

The oven crowed like a rooster.

“Cute,” said Mrs. Bishop. She tapped a finger on her lip, then looked at her daughter. “Lainy, would you set the table? I think we should eat in the dining room tonight.”

“Um, the dining room?” Alaina asked, her blush having receded slightly.

“Well, we want to give your guest a good impression the first time he eats dinner here, don’t we? Unless he’s eaten here before?” her mom asked in a teasing tone.

Alaina’s blush came back in full force, but she didn’t reply, instead choosing to go to a cabinet over the counter and retrieve a trio of plates and silverware before retreating into an adjacent room.

I can’t get a read on her at all. She’s like half parent, half thirsty club girl.

“Will, can I get you something to drink?” Mrs. Bishop asked. “Water, milk, wine?”

“Water would be great, Dr. Bishop, but why don’t I handle the drinks and you can have a seat? What can I get for you?”

“Oh my, such a gentleman!” she gushed. “I’ll have a water, too. And so will Alaina, I imagine.”

“Sure, I’ll get it,” said Will. He walked to the cabinets and took out three of the larger glasses, filling two of them with water from the waterfall which splashed down off the cliffs over the sink. Mrs. Bishop walked around the opposite side of the kitchen in the direction Alaina had gone. He spotted the younger Bishop returning to attend to the oven. “Alaina, what can I get for you to drink?” he called in a voice that was slightly too loud.

She blinked at him, then smiled. “Milk, please.” She opened the oven and donned a pair of gloves.

Will carried the trio of glasses to the refrigerator, dodging around his classmate while she pulled the pies out of the oven. He retrieved a jug of milk from the fridge and filled the remaining glass, then replaced the jug and walked into the dining room with the beverages.

The dining room was exactly that: a hardwood-floored room with only a long, rectangular wooden table, its chairs, and a couple credenzas filling the room. A small Greek-styled statue sat in one corner, a planter with a substantial cactus in another. To the left, past the end of the table, the room was open and led into the sitting room he’d seen from the atrium. A small, brown kitten rolled around on the ceiling.

Alaina’s mother sat at the far corner of the table on the right, not at the head of it. His parents sat at the opposite end—his father at the head of the table—with his sister sitting next to his mother. Two other place settings were laid out next to and across from Mrs. Bishop on an embroidered tablecloth with a hot pad in the middle. She smiled over at him as he entered. “Pick a seat, Alaina can manage the rest.” Her grin reminded him of a certain predatory smile that her daughter used, but it felt more confident.

This is starting to feel like a final exam that I didn’t study for. He imagined beads of sweat breaking out on his forehead. Is she going to be like this all night? Focus! It’s for Alaina, you can do this. He walked around the table, placing a water in front of the woman as she leaned back to give him space. Next, he set the glass of milk at the head of the table next to her. Finally, he sat himself at the other corner across from her. He brought his water to his mouth and took a sip, then flashed Mrs. Bishop a relaxed smile that he wasn’t feeling.

There was a moment of blessed peace before Alaina entered with a casserole dish that had a spatula and spoon sticking out of it. “Shepherd’s pie?” her mother said. “Oh, Lainy, it looks so good! Just like always.” The dish was placed onto the hot pad, and Alaina took the remaining seat at the head of the table after walking over to give her mom a hug. Her mom placed a hand on her daughter’s shoulder, giving an affectionate squeeze and a caring look. “Thanks, sweetie.”

“You’ve been working extra hard lately, so I figured I’d give you something to help finish out your conference week,” said Alaina, giving her mom a warm smile in return.

Mrs. Bishop sighed. “It has been a pretty tough week. Going in for patient consults last week before the conference started every night really wiped me out.” She grabbed the spatula and spoon and levered a respectable portion onto her plate. “I feel like I need a month off, but I don’t have the luxury. I keep telling them they need to find another experienced oncologist—even if they don’t have the Class—so that I can actually use some of my vacation time, but those Classist idiots have their heads so far up...” she trailed off.

Alaina passed the serving utensils to Will, having finished completely filling her plate. Is she really going to eat all that? Will tried not to stare.

“That’s enough about my problems, though,” Mrs. Bishop declared. She took a bite from her fork. “Mmm, this is amazing, sweetie. You’re the best. It’s not too late to become a chef, y’know.” She took another bite.

Will tried a bite himself. Wow, this is good. It’s bursting with all kinds of flavors. What did she put into the beef, anyway? It’s so rich... He shoveled another bite into his mouth.

“That aside,” began Mrs. Bishop, looking over the table at him with a twinkle in her eyes, “I want to know more about you, Will. The last I heard—which was a couple weeks ago—my daughter was shouting into her phone that you were a ‘spoiled, rich layabout’.”

Alaina choked mid-bite, her hand coming up to cover her mouth as she glared at her mom.

“So you can imagine my surprise,” her mom continued, impervious to her daughter’s death stare, “when I found her drooling on the arm pillow you were giving her this morning, looking more content than I’ve seen her in recent memory.” She placed her fork onto her plate and wiped her mouth with her napkin.

Will chanced a look at his crush, whose eyes looked ready to pop out of her head as her now-horrified glare swiveled back and forth between the two. What the fuck, if Alaina is a little possessive like a dragon, her mom is more like an annoying jackal. Why does she keep needling her like that? He glanced over again. Alaina’s face was turning purple. Wait, why isn’t my Trait working on her mom? He looked back at the older woman, feeling suddenly that something was out of place.

“But imagine how surprised I was when this happened after last week when Lainy was inconsolable all day Tuesday, and her eyes were all red and swollen from crying when I went to check in on her in the mornings the rest of the week—coincidentally after you came to visit.

“I know who you are, Will White,” continued Doctor Bishop, her tone changing. She stared at him across the table, her eyes unwavering. Her gaze was no longer teasing and playful. “I know who your father is, I know who he works for, and I know exactly what kinds of people he spends his time with. I put in a USCDB request last week when you stopped over, and I know what your Class is, too. I was too exhausted to see things clearly this morning, but it’s awfully suspicious to me that my daughter went out with you for the first time last night and suddenly her view of you has changed so radically.

“I’ll tell you right now, if you’ve done anything untoward to my daughter, none of your Skills can affect me, nothing your father can do will affect me, and the same goes for all of his associates. I’ll have the police, the FBI, the CEA here and I will burn your entire family to the ground. The only thing anyone will remember of you is what they learn in law enforcement textbooks.

“But that won’t even matter to you; I’ll paralyze all your muscles before you make it two steps from your chair, and you’ll spend the rest of your life as a vegetable hooked up to an IV under my ever-watching eyes.”

Will gulped, his eyes wide and his mouth completely dry. This was surely no Skill at work, just the sheer weight of the woman’s presence. He couldn’t speak or even think. His fork clattered against his plate as it fell from his hand. He was terrified.

The older woman’s eyes continued to drill into his soul, waiting for him to make the wrong move, to say anything out of line.

This was an entirely new sort of fear for Will. He’d been subjected to his parents’ whims before, living with the constant dread of being locked away into his own private hell once more and shut out of the world, but this was different.

He was before an apex predator now, he recognized that, acknowledged his mistake. Her offspring might be a fierce hunter, but this was someone—something—at the top of the food chain. This was her den, her territory, and she was defending her young regardless of the cost. And not only defending: she would literally hunt and fight him to the death—she’d even dressed to pursue him in case he tried to run.

He possessed the total certainty that if he made the wrong choice at this moment, made even the slightest movement that she deemed threatening, that he would spend the every second of the rest of his life wishing for death.

“Mom!” shouted Alaina. “Stop it!” She grabbed Will’s hand and squeezed it reassuringly. “It’s not like that. He’s not like them.”

Doctor Bishop’s gaze flicked momentarily to her daughter, but he didn’t dare move. He didn’t even breathe.

Will lay on the bed in the room he’d been confined to. His arms were lean, almost skeletal, and they held open a hardcover book with a dragon on the front. He’d read so many books, but there were always more books, more ways to pass the time as long as Rissa—

“Lainy, be quiet for now,” said Doctor Bishop. “And stop touching him. Will, move your hand away. Now.”

His hand jerked away from Alaina’s, moving to his side without his consent. He shivered, unable to tell whether he’d moved from a Skill or from fear.

“What’s wrong, Will?” Doctor Bishop asked rhetorically. “Say something. Protest your innocence. Lie to me. You haven’t yet. Very smart. Clever. Just what I’d expect. I’m sure your father never warned you about me, not that he knew enough to give an effective warning, anyway. Humiliation has that effect on people, especially weaklings like him.

“You see, Will, talking about your Class, your Skills, your Traits to other people—to people you can’t trust with every fiber of your being—well, it can be dangerous, y’know? Why, I’ve only told a single person over the course of my life! Even my daughter only knows some bits and pieces. The government thinks that my Classes have just been about analysis. They only require you to demonstrate the first Skill you get, isn’t that right? Indicative of Future Class Potential, is what all the researchers call it.”

She chuckled, but her eyes remained fixed on his. She blinked, and a second pair of eyelids closed horizontally across her eyes. When they retracted, each eye was compounded like an insect’s. “They know what they’re doing. Give people just enough rope to hang themselves with when they think nobody is watching. But that means people like me are out there. ‘Just a single mother, a respected doctor, a Class that helps people’, that’s what everyone says, what they think.”

Will felt himself slipping away from lack of oxygen, unable to stay conscious.

“Respire,” whispered Doctor Bishop without moving her lips.

His body obeyed, and he gasped involuntarily, taking in a single breath that felt far more nourishing than it should have.

“But that’s all dependent on how the Class is used, isn’t it, Will? I mentioned trust, and I know you must be deeply concerned about that since I’m showing you so many of my secrets,” she said, her mouth smiling. “But I don’t want you to worry for my sake. I can take care of myself. Always have. I am surprised, though. Surely your father should have at least warned you to never, ever cross Dot Bishop.”

“Mom, please,” said Alaina in a small voice. “You’re scaring me.”

Doctor Bishop patted her daughter on the shoulder without turning her head. “I’m sorry Lainy, but it’s for your own good. And these are lessons that you need to know now that you’re getting older. I might not be there to rescue you next time.”

Reality warped, flickered, and his vision went dark for a moment.

She stared at her victim, her eyes blinking horizontally once more. Her eyes had changed again, the compound, insectoid eyes transforming into vibrant red eyes with a vertical slit for a pupil. “Being a [Biologist] was interesting, Will. So many strange abilities. Have you ever heard of an anomalous Class, Will? I expect not; it’s very uncommon, so much so that they wouldn’t even bother to teach it in school. Less than one in a hundred million, they say. Universities and private companies offer incredible amounts of money to anyone with such a Class who will let them run tests. And do you know why?

“It’s because those variations of ordinary Classes don’t make sense. Science hasn’t been able to explain them yet, and it terrifies everyone who understands what that means. Those claims of offering rewards for undergoing trials are nothing more than lies—I’ve seen it firsthand. They lock you away for the rest of your life, poking, prodding at you, trying to see how you work. I worked on one of those research teams for years. They never even suspected that I was what they were looking for.”

The doctor tapped her finger on the table, and her hand began to scale over. “Respire,” her whispering voice buzzed through his body, forcing air into his lungs. She turned to her daughter. “Alaina, you’ve taken Biology by now. You know what a fight-or-flight response is, I’m sure. What I’m doing now is triggering a similar, but modified response in his body. His brain is being overloaded by especially aggressive secretions of the same chemicals which make him too afraid to move the slightest bit, but his lungs and airway are shrunken, so he can’t breathe unless I make him.”

“Mom, please,” whispered Alaina, tears running down her face behind her glasses. She clutched at her mom’s nearest arm. “Stop, please. Mom, please, I’m begging you. He doesn’t deserve this. Please, mom. I’m scared.”

The universe shuddered. He sat on the ceiling, staring up at the floor, where he watched a woman seated across from a different him slowly transform into a literal dragon.

Doctor Bishop tapped her claws on the table, the reticulated scales on the thing that used to be her hand rippling. “I will give you no second chances, Will White.” Her voice had changed. It was deeper, fuller. He felt it in his bones. “None. I was extremely generous with your father the one time he crossed me. I allowed him to pay for his transgression. I permitted him to continue living, repugnant though he may be. But this is my daughter, Will White. This is my family. If you lie to me, if you even think of lying to me, I will know. And I will destroy you.”

She grinned at him, a lizard-like grin full of nothing but sharp, pointy white teeth, and she seemed to loom larger in her chair. “I hope you try to lie, to weasel out of it like your father did. I want you to. If you’ve done what I expect then I’ll be sad, because you’ll have hurt my daughter.” A tiny tongue of flame shot out between her teeth as she spoke. “But it will be a good lesson for her all the same, and I’ll take care of the rest.

“Tell me, Will White. Have you ever done anything to intentionally harm my daughter, to undermine her independence, to prevent her from making her own decisions?”

The pressure on him relaxed abruptly, and he fell forward onto the table, struggling to breathe on his own. He slowly looked up, barely able to force himself to meet eyes that he could only describe as dragon-like from books he’d read. They blinked vertically at him, the crimson orbs glowing ominously, and all else faded from his consciousness. “No,” he said through chattering teeth, struggling to get the words out despite the universe screaming at him not to speak. He felt something running from his nose. “I would never do something like that. Ever.”

The eyes blinked at him again. “Huh,” said Doctor Bishop, her brows lowering. “I was so sure I figured that all out.” She brought a claw up and tapped it repeatedly against her lip, the smooth flesh puncturing easily on contact and regrowing instantly after. “Well, this is embarrassing. Sorry, Lainy. Sorry, Will. Let me clean this up.”

She held her right hand up in front of her. A claw shot out almost too quickly to see and pierced clean through Will’s skull. The last thing he heard was Alaina’s scream.

4î½< blinked as the world came back into focus.

“How are you feeling?” asked a Ô?i-ü sitting across from him.

He blinked again, then shook his head. He rubbed at his eyes. Wow, did I Y²iÊ^ asleep? Memories crashed ©3¯¦T on him in a fractured jumble of a mess, and his eyes rolled back into his RÌF#Ø.

“Oh damn, I forgot to put them back in the right order...”

He àæ:2×B bú½èdäçCáÌ.

“Sorry, sorry, I haven’t needed to do this in a while. Wake up, Will. Dinner’s getting cold.”

Will blinked. He rolled his tongue around in his mouth, then smacked his lips to try and disperse a lingering coppery flavor.

Dr. Bishop sat across from him, scooping a forkful shepherd’s pie into her mouth. “Mmm, I think this might be the best one yet, sweetie.” she said, savoring the flavor.

“Um, Will made that one,” said Alaina, staring at Will with concern.

“Did he? Well, we’ll just have to have him over to help with dinner more often, then! Will, you’re welcome here any time.” said Dr. Bishop with a motherly smile as she took another bite.

Ugh, what the hell. He blinked again. “What ... What just happened?”

“Oh, that was my mistake,” said Dr. Bishop. “Again. Twice in the same night, I haven’t been this embarrassed in years! I’m so sorry, Will, I may have gone a little overboard.”

A little? Wait, did all that really happen? I feel like ... What? His face screwed up, and he looked in the direction of the atrium. “Do I really drive a fire truck?”

Alaina turned her wide-eyed gaze towards her mother, her hands cupped over her mouth and nose. “Mom, you broke him! What did you do?”

Dr. Bishop paused mid-bite. “Really? I could have sworn...” She pursed her lips. “Okay, maybe the third time’s the charm,” she said, putting down her fork and raising her hand.

“Whoa, hold on,” said Will, holding his hands up in front of him. “It’s okay, it’s not that bad.” He thought back. “There’s a few weird things here and there from the past week, but it’s not that bad. Uh, did you ... Did you just rewrite all my memories?”

Dr. Bishop rolled her eyes. “No, I just looked through them all for fun. Of course I rewrote some of them. You wouldn’t even be able to exist in the same room as me now and remain conscious if I hadn’t.” She picked up her fork again. “I removed some bits and pieces from our little misunderstanding so you could remember it more objectively. I’m really sorry, I thought—Well, it’s in the past now, no point in worrying over it, huh?”

“Right,” said Will. He felt something wet and looked down, finding a large wet spot on his shirt. “Um, this—”

“That’s nothing!” said Alaina quickly, reaching over to grab one of his hands. “Don’t think about that!” She turned her head to her mom. “Um, Mom, you did what? I didn’t know you could do that. Well, any of that!”

“Let this be a lesson to both of you not to be alone with people whose abilities you aren’t totally sure about,” lectured Dr. Bishop, finishing her portion of shepherd’s pie. “It’s always a risk, even if it’s a low one on average—statistically speaking, of course.” She gave Will a meaningful look.

What’s that look supposed to mean? Ugh, this is pretty fucked. What the fuck, were my parents really here? He looked over. The rest of the seats at the table were empty. He looked up. No Toby either. Wow, what a mind fuck.

“As for what I did, well, the short answer is that I reached into his brain and changed the way some of his neurons fire. I removed the emotional response and memories of most of his reactions. And a couple other bits that he probably would thank me for getting rid of.” Dr. Bishop grabbed the serving utensils and fixed herself another, smaller portion. “I may have accidentally nicked a couple other spots along the way. Like I said, I’m a little rusty.”

“Um,” said Will. He blinked again. This is going to take some time to sort out. How far back does it go? The last time I remember having a car was ... I had a car a week ago Sunday. “I don’t think you did remove all of the emotional response?”

“No,” said Dr. Bishop, smiling back at him in a less wholesome way. “I know you mean well now, but I wanted to leave a little reminder of what I’d do if that ever changed.”

Will gulped. So that did all happen? He goggled at Dr. Bishop.

“Will, please, don’t stare at me like that in front of your girlfriend,” Alaina’s mom said coquettishly. “You’ll make me blush. Eat up, it’ll get cold!”

Will blinked, then looked down at his plate. He took a bite. Is it just me or does this taste even better than I remember? He chewed quickly, realizing that he was starving. “This is really good, Alaina!” he remarked, looking over.

Alaina gave him a weak smile. “Thanks, Will. I’m really, really sorry. Um...” she trailed off, tapping at her emptied plate with her fork.

There’s no clock in here. How long was I getting mind wiped for? Wait, why am I not more freaked out about this? “I take it you didn’t change Alaina’s memories?”

Dr. Bishop frowned. “I would never do something like that to my Lainy!” she exclaimed, sounding offended.

But you’d do it to her boyfriend?

“Um, wouldn’t you?” asked Alaina, tapping her finger on her fork.

Her mom turned her whole body to face her daughter. “No, Alaina, I would never do that to you. I don’t do it very often, and I don’t do it lightly. It’s only because I wanted you to have a chance being happy together that I did anything at all this time. Just imagine if any time you mentioned me he turned into a twitching puddle on the ground.” She wrinkled her nose. “Nobody wants that.” She turned forward in her seat, then took another bite. “No future son-in-law of mine had better be that spineless, Lainy,” she remarked.

Does that mean she approves? This is too fucking weird.

“Mom!” Alaina spluttered, covering her face with her hands.

“Y’know, I’m glad this happened,” said Dr. Bishop after she’d cleared her plate once more. “Well, maybe It would have been better if it wasn’t your boyfriend here, but my point stands. Lainy, you should have more confidence in your mom. Maybe knowing that I’m not just some helpless doctor will help with that.”

“And you’re not afraid that I’d tell anyone?” Will asked between bites. “I mean, not that I would! I definitely would never, ever tell anyone. I promise.”

Dr. Bishop laughed. “I believe you, Will. Your father would use his Skill and try to guarantee someone wouldn’t talk about it that way, but that’s so inelegant, especially with how pitifully short his little thing can last. I prefer more definite solutions. Believe me, Will, when I tell you that you will regret it if you try to talk to anyone other than us about my Class outside of this house.”

Will gulped.

She turned to her daughter. “Sweetie, I’d really appreciate it if you kept this to yourself. I know you and Ayanna tell each other everything, but this really needs to stay a secret or your mom might get taken away to a lab to be cut up and dissected. Okay?”

“O-okay, Mom,” said Alaina, fidgeting with her fork. She sighed, then reached over and scooped another heaping serving onto her plate.

Did she really eat that entire first plate? Where is she putting it all?

Dr. Bishop eyed her daughter’s plate.

“Mom, um, you’ve mentioned you know Will’s father?” asked Alaina. “I, uh, I kind of met him last night?”

Dr. Bishop blinked, her eyes once again glowing red. “What? Did he touch you? Did he—I’ll kill him.”

Alaina grabbed her mom’s hand. “Mom, relax. It’s okay. It’s okay, I promise. It didn’t work on me, okay?”

Her mom looked over. “He tried?” she snarled, a puff of smoke coming out of her mouth.

Fuck, Alaina’s mom is even scarier than my father. What the actual fuck. She’s like an older, craftier version of Alaina with crazy Skills that make my brain hurt to even consider. And an even worse temper.

“Mom, calm down for a sec. Look, he didn’t know who I was at first, and it didn’t matter anyway. I, um ... I have a Quirk. None of those types of Skills work on me.”

Dr. Bishop blinked, and her eyes returned to normal. “So you’re finally going to tell me about your Class?” she pouted at her daughter. “You said we were gonna talk on Friday, but then you stayed over at Ayanna’s all weekend. Almost like you were avoiding me...”

“Alright, yes, I’ll tell you. But first I want to know how you know Mr. White. He, um, your name came up when we were talking, and he sort of had a weird reaction? He suddenly became a lot less, uh, confrontational.”

Dr. Bishop chuckled, then began to laugh outright. She continued laughing for quite some time.

Alaina and Will shared a look, but neither was willing to disturb the older woman. They continued eating.

“Ah, Billy White,” said Dr. Bishop at last. “It’s not much of a story, but it is a fun one. Years ago, hm, maybe three or four years now, Billy’s father got transferred to my care. He had an especially advanced case of lung cancer—years of smoking, nothing out of the ordinary. I was a little less well-known than I am now, but people still transferred in because I was still very good at what I did.

“The day he was moved to my hospital, Billy came in with his wife—who I immediately banned from coming back because she sneered at me when she thought I wasn’t looking, what a lovely woman—and they did the whole onboarding process where I tell them what to expect, when visiting hours are, that sort of thing.

“Billy came back the next day by himself, though, and he tried to sign me up as his assistant. He said I had the beauty of a girl half my age—of course I did! I can look however I want, and I didn’t need him to confirm that I made good choices—and he had some hard tasks that he needed help with. He tried to use his sleazeball Skill on me, and the other one that makes people want to agree with him.”

Will’s eyes were wide. “I can’t believe he did that,” he murmured.

“Were you—Did it work?” asked Alaina.

Dr. Bishop snorted. “Of course it didn’t. No Skill works on me if I don’t want it to.”

What.

“But I pretended like it did just long enough to take him behind a curtain where nobody would see. And then, well, let’s just say that while I lacked a number of the Skills that I have today, I more than made up for it by having a truly legendary temper and considerably less self-restraint than I’ve got now. And after that, I made him come in every Thursday to mop all the floors in my wing until his father was released.”