Extra Human

12: Chameleons

"How was your week at the Fields?" Dr. Bram waits at the doors to the iron elevators in the entrance foyer to Department E. Fresh brewed coffee stinks the inside of the elevator. I never liked coffee, never understood how adults could consume the black tar in the gallons. My parents being among them. Before school, they would make a pot of it in the kitchen. The smell always got to my stomach as it does now.

"Alright," I reply, clutching my nauseous stomach. The week was more awful than alright, but there's no use in telling him. After my own experience in the Fields that first day, the remainder of the week I sat out watching most of the fights from the sidelines which I didn't feel bad about. Teams of two terrorized the city, flames engulfed people, water almost drowned others, bloody victories left people who could barely stand proud.

And it seems no one wants to talk to me either. Angela is still mad at me for losing her fight with Drew. Every time I see her now evil thoughts of breaking my arm replay in her mind. Felicity on the other hand won't even acknowledge my presence. It must have gotten to her when I almost fell to my death. And Drew continues to be Drew. Surprisingly, Oli seems to have forgiven me for knocking him over. Then again, I don't know if twirling my ponytail in knots with his powers is a sign of forgiveness or not.

"Pleased to hear. I think you might enjoy the labs a bit more. I know I do." The elevator takes us side ways to level E. The heavy doors open to a glass hallway that allows us to look through to the different experimental labs. We enter the last lab in the hall, and the smell of alcohol hits me. It's a pungent, clean smell making my stomach troubles worse.

The lab itself is dark with the only light emitting from dozens of microscopes. There are chairs lined up in front of each desk with plates of specimens stacked on top. Screens with 3D images of DNA and organisms cover every wall, and big rumbling boxes sit in each corner of the room. There is a single man sitting in the farthest seat that accompanies me and Charles in the lab.

"Aria, this is my student Dr. Sebastian Young." Charles says as the man, or rather boy, spins in his seat. His big blue eyes are mismatched to his small head and small face. His porcelain skin stretches over a wide forehead, and his reddish brown hair is neatly buzzed.

"Please, call me Seb." His deep voice doesn't match his baby face. The boy puts out a rubber glove for me to take. When I don't take it, he retracts his hand and goes a deep shade of red. "My apologies. That was the smart thing to do, not taking my hand." Seb spins back around to continue his work.

"I know this might sound stupid, but how can you be a doctor when you're a student?" I ask, crossing around the desk to look and see what he is doing. He's squeezing a syringe filled with goo onto a petri dish.

"It's alright," he lightly laughs as he puts the dish under a microscope. "I'm in the middle of working on my thesis for a Ph.D. in genetics. But I do have a doctorate and a master's at the moment."

"How old are you? You look young to have two degrees already," I blurt out.

"It's always nice to be referred to a baby," he laughs again. It's my chance to turn red. "I'm only kidding. Don't worry, I get confused with a twelve year old boy all the time. But really I'm twenty, almost twenty-one. Actually, I graduated high school at twelve and received my Ph.D. at eighteen for electrical engineering and my masters of science in technology. It was Dr. Bram who recruited me for the genetics program Department E offers through a nearby college."

"It was well worth recruiting him too," Dr. Bram steps in and I can't be more thankful. "He was the one who came up with most of the new technologies Department E has now. Tesla's Trees and the Fields were created by this young Einstein."

"It wasn't all me. I had a lot of help. But yes I did lead those teams." His already red cheeks somehow become a darker shade of red. The two of us are giant red beats.