Chapter 2

I was somewhat pleased to wake up in the morning. Given what had happened to me the day before, I felt I was justified to be pleased to still be alive. I hadn't had that feeling in a long time, the feeling of being glad to be alive. I guess it was some small thing to be thankful to Billy about. It wouldn't change the outcome, but I was thankful for that much. I bounced out of bed as soon as I heard Charlie finish in the bathroom. I dashed into the john and pulled up short. Charlie's door, normally completely closed, was now completely open. I watched in amazement as Charlie calmly selected her underwear for the day and laid it on the bed. She had dropped her towel earlier and I was staring at a living, breathing goddess; a naked one, at that!

I caught her watching me in her vanity mirror, a small smile playing across her face. I saw her glance down and her smile grew more pronounced, even as I was. Growing, pronounced. Shit, it was going to take me forever to piss. I debated closing the door, but left it open instead. I peed in the shower, just like any guy would.

Charlie made my lunch that morning, again, something she rarely did anymore. She had stopped being my 'mother' about the time she started dating. I carried our backpacks to the bus stop and we talked about nothing at all while we waited. It felt almost like old times, except for the petrified penis in my pants. That hadn't been a problem when I was younger. But it wasn't really a bad problem, not when Charlie was the cause.

As usual, the only seat available was next to Billy and I sat on the corner of the seat, as usual. When the kick came, I was ready and imagined my butt as a steel plate. Then, anticipating the contact, I moved backwards toward his foot at hypersonic speed just a fraction of an inch at the precise moment his foot made contact. The kids in the seats around us heard the sharp sound of his tibia snapping in two. The whole bus heard his shrill screaming. My attentiveness to his injury allowed me to go through all of his pockets until I found the watch, which I reclaimed.

"Bus Driver!" I shouted over the screams of Billy. "I think Billy needs to go to the hospital."

The driver made an emergency stop in the middle of the road, secured the bus so that no student could steal it and came back to check what was making all the noise. Billy had managed to thrash around, with just a little bit of help from me, so that the original simple fracture was now a compound fracture with part of the bone sticking out of his pants leg. There was blood, too, but that bone looked painful. It must have been because each time I whacked it, Billy's eyes would roll up in his head.

Following the Emergency procedures, the bus driver called in the emergency and headed for the emergency room. About halfway there we were met by an ambulance and Billy was transferred to a gurney and then was whisked away. I felt fairly pleased with myself, until I saw Charlie looking at me with a thoughtful look in her eye. She saw me watching her and she just shook her head slightly. She may not know exactly what happened, but she damn well knew that something had happened. Oops.

We were late arriving to school. I was late for English. Mrs. Bascom finished giving her lecture on Shakespeare's sonnets, handed out a quiz and came over to me.

"Are you all right, Mr. Hornsby?" she asked quietly.

"Yes, Ma'am."

"Well, we were all concerned about you. We heard there was a serious injury on your bus and, well, we naturally thought of you. You understand?"

"Yes, Ma'am. Thank you for your concern. It was Billy, Ma'am. His leg broke."

Mrs. Bascom looked at me in deep thought. "That is an interesting phase you used, Mr. Hornsby. Did his leg just break all by itself? He was just sitting and then — as if by magic — his leg broke? Is that what you're trying to imply?"

"No, Ma'am. I wasn't implying that his leg broke itself."

She looked at me, waiting for me to continue. I didn't.

She snorted, trying to hold back a laugh. "Well, I'm glad no one else was injured."

"Yes, Ma'am." I understood I had been warned.

Math class was quiet as Charlie was in a somber mood. She got like that when she was thinking something through. I didn't think she was mad at me, but if she knew the truth, I don't think she would be very proud of me right now. So far I had touched her without her knowledge or permission and looked at her naked, lied to her, assaulted another student, OK, in self-defense, but still, I had made it worse and tormented him after. I was no better than my peers.

I suddenly realized I was acting as if I had no conscience. Not one I could be proud of, anyway. Everything I was doing was cold and calculated. I wasn't sure I liked who I was becoming.

I walked into the science building and Mr. Griggs wasn't there today, either. A substitute teacher was there and he informed us that Mr. Griggs had had emergency surgery yesterday morning for a perforated ulcer. The substitute was going to be with us for a while. I groaned. Charlie must have known about Mr. Griggs being in the hospital, but she hadn't push it. And worse, this bozo was going to make me act like a real student. I could only hope he would let me work in the lab in the afternoons.

The class was boring and I was trying to work on the problem of getting into my lab, but my attention kept being drawn back to the droning coming from the front of the room. Something was bothering me about the substitute. And when something bothers me, I generally gnaw at it until I figure it out. He seemed competent enough. In fact, he seemed to know as much as Mr. Griggs did about science or more. He never read from the textbook as he lectured; in fact, he was using terms and theorems that weren't in our textbook, more on a university level course, not high school.

He also talked into the chalkboard when he wrote on it, something that takes teachers years to learn, so he wasn't a rookie. His shoes were OK. That's the first thing they tell you to look at as people will change a lot, but not their shoes. He was wearing loafers, what you would expect any professor to wear.

Wait! Professor? Nice suit. Really nice suit. Good haircut, $75 shirt. This guy's no substitute. He's not quite a professor; more like a Government-issue professor would be. That would explain the extra scratches on his belt, a place to clip a badge and gun holster.

'Shit, Doug, ' I told myself, 'you're seeing boogie men, now. One simple attempt on your life and suddenly the whole world is a conspiracy.'

I laughed to myself and tried to let it go, but I couldn't shake the nagging feeling. I decided I didn't want to be alone in the lab with him in the building, so I left with the other students after class and headed for the library. I chose a place where I could see the science building and, as luck would have it, where I could also see into Mr. Griggs' office and private lab. I spent the afternoon watching the substitute searching through files and drawers, becoming more and more frustrated as the day wore on.

I left before the last bell. I dashed off a note to Charlie letting her know I was going downtown and hurried to the bus stop to catch the city bus. I would have teleported, but I didn't know where I could appear without someone seeing me. Still, it was just two transfers and a short walk and I was at the hospital Mr. Griggs had been brought to for his ulcer. No one told me, it's just that this was the only hospital with a GastroIntestinal (GI) surgeon, someone you would need for surgery on a perforated ulcer.

I slipped into the GI ward and walked up and down the hallways looking for Mr. Griggs. It wasn't until my third hallway that I caught a break. I spied the substitute teacher coming out of the elevator just as I was turning the corner. Fortunately he turned the other way, letting me see the outline of a Glock pistol in the small of his back. Teaching must be very dangerous where he is from, no?

I followed the sub towards a section of the hospital that had been closed due to lack of patients. The hall was still bright with lights but there were no patients in the rooms and no nurses at the station. The sub pushed open a door, slipped inside and closed it behind him. I hurried up to the door and tried to hear.

'Dummy, ' I thought to myself, 'you can turn invisible.'

I went into the room across the hall and went invisible. All my clothes fell in a heap at my feet. I folded them neatly and hid them in the closet. Then, I pushed my hand through the closed door, walked across the hall and then through the door where the sub had gone.

Four men were in the room, five counting Mr. Griggs. Mr. Griggs didn't look like he had had surgery for an ulcer. He looked like he had had the shit beat out of him. I was about ready to assume these guys had done it, but before I did anything I thought I should listen. Besides, these guys had guns. What was I going to do, pee on their shoes?

"You didn't find anything?" one of the men asked the professor.

"Nothing that would cause them to do this," said the sub, indicating the injuries to Mr. Griggs.

"Could it be someone after something old he's done? One of his old projects? One of his previous ops?"

"Like what? The old stuff everyone knows about. And the ops are top secret."

"No, I meant some of the science fiction-type stuff he's already done that no one is supposed to know about, like, you know, that energy whatsamajigger."

"Enough! This is not a secure room!" I took it this guy was in charge.

"Maybe we're on the wrong track," he continued. "Griggs mentioned a kid — Hornsby — in one of his reports. Did you see him today?"

"Yeah. Wimpy little runt. Smart, bright even, but nothing special. Spent the class daydreaming and in another world. Of course, there's nothing unusual about a bright kid being bored in class, though. There was nothing in the locked lab but the stuff Griggs was working on with the regular students. Nothing of the kid's."

"OK. Well, thanks for filling in, professor. I guess you can get on back to DC."

"No problem." With that, the sub got up and left the room.

The guy in charge came over and looked down at Griggs. I could tell he was concerned about him. I was glad I hadn't had to piss on his shoes.

I knew I could pass through things when I was invisible. I also knew that Charlie had somehow gotten a sense of me when I touched her. I was standing there next to an unconscious man, my friend and my teacher. If I couldn't help him, who could I help? I closed my eyes and touched my fingers to Mr. Griggs' head. I knew sensations could pass from me, now I wanted to find out if I could sense anything from him.

The heart monitor on the wall behind Mr. Griggs went crazy, then settled down. I felt really strange for a minute, then I 'saw' what had happened to Mr. Griggs. I also realized I was in his body, using his mind and his memories. Damn, that catheter jammed up my prick hurt! Fucking nurse must have used an extra large.

I opened Mr. Griggs eyes and looked out at three very surprised agents. I, or Mr. Griggs, knew who they were and he only trusted one of them, the leader.

"You, stay. You two, out," I said with Mr. Griggs' voice.

The leader nodded.

"Listen, not much time. The people that did this to me, it was a family in town, last name of Jones. Could be a fake name. Strange bunch, maybe hired by Chinese or Russians. Whoever. Too much money, too nosey. Father and two oldest kids caught me coming out of Chinese Food place. Check out Ms. Brisard, French teacher. She placed the order, had me pick it up."

"Brisard? Why? Isn't she the one you were dating?"

"Only to get close. Guess it worked, huh? It felt like a setup. We didn't run into each other; they were waiting for me at the restaurant."

"Any ideas why?"

I had to really dig deep into Mr. Griggs' memories here and it made me feel dirty. He had a hunch, but I could also tell he didn't like to reveal his hunches until he had proof. But he was going to be laid up for a long while, too, and couldn't investigate on his own.

"From before. The explosion. Don't know for sure, just a feeling. Family connections, maybe? I don't like to guess."

"Anything else?"

"Tired. Got to go now."

I slipped out of his mind and Mr. Griggs body settled back into the pillow, still unconscious.

The older agent stood looking at his unconscious friend for a long while, deep in thought. Then, shaking his head in disbelief, he turned and left the room. Shortly after, a tough looking nurse stepped through the door and settled into a chair to watch over Mr. Griggs.

I went back to the room across the hall, turned visible, got dressed and made my way out of the hospital. I teleported back to the school and caught the last activity bus back home. Charlie was on the bus and we sat together, riding in silence.

"So, did you go see Mr. Griggs?" she asked as soon as we were alone.

"Yes. When did you know?"

"I was in the office yesterday morning when the hospital called."

"Oh."

"Yeah. 'Oh' is right, you little twerp. You lied to me. I know you must have a good reason, but something is going on."

"Uh-huh." I let it hang.

"And? Are you going to tell me or are you going to make me find out?"

Charlie would find out, too. I knew that.

"I, uh, I can't tell you right now."

"Why not?" Charlie was very much a bottom line kind of girl.

"Because I don't know what's going on," I said. I was almost crying, I was so frustrated.

"Does it have anything to do with what happened to me last evening?"

"Sort of," I said blushing.

"Well, at least you have the grace to be embarrassed about it. And what about what happened to Billy this morning? That, too?"

"Kind of."

"I take it that whatever this is, it's not something to do with your normal teenage hormones running amok?"

"Uh, no, not really."

We had finally entered the house. Charlie sat me down on the sofa and she pinned me there with her glare.

"So, what is it you can't tell me?"

I didn't know what to do, so I disappeared. My clothes fell into a heap where I was sitting.

Charlie fainted.

I sat and waited. Charlie had never fainted on me before but I figured she was OK. She was not in physical distress and it was just the emotional shock that caused her to faint. After a minute or two she opened one eye.

"Dougie? Are you there?" she asked.

"Yeah, I'm right here," I answered.

"Dougie? Dougie? Where are you?" She was getting scared. She hadn't heard me.

I had never tried to talk when invisible. I was beginning to understand a little bit about what was going on with this invisibility stuff, but I hadn't thought about sound waves being affected. It made sense that if light waves were affected it would do the same to sound waves. I turned visible for her.

"I'm right here, Charlie," I said again.

"Shit, Dougie! Don't do that! You scared the crap out of me." Then it hit her. "You little horny toad! That was you last night. You - You — You..." she sputtered.