Devious Origins

CHAPTER 33

I stumbled through my afternoon classes in a fog. How could I have missed this? OK, sure, there was that whole criminal conspiracy thing, and being kidnapped, and trying to figure out my relationship with Dee. I think it's fair to say I've had a few distractions to deal with. But for a guy with the supposed superpower of empathy, this was a pretty big thing to miss.

Maybe I should have kissed her. There was that moment when we were saying goodbye... a pause when I totally could have kissed her, but I was so shocked by what I had just realized, it slipped past, and she walked away.

Or maybe kissing her would have been unfair. Is that really the sort of relationship I want with Tilly? Would I just be leading her on? I'm still trying to figure out what sort of relationship I'm building with Dee. I care about Dee, that is certain, but so far its not really romantic, so it's not like I would be cheating on her. So why am I even hesitating with Tilly? I mean, she is amazing, and I really like her. But I'm not sure how I actually feel about her.

It's like I can feel the emotions of everyone else around me without any problems, but I can't figure out what I feel. How screwed up is that?

My fellow students began packing up. The class was over. I looked down at the empty page of my notebook and realized I hadn't taken any notes all afternoon. I also couldn't remember much about any of the lectures. There was nothing to be done about it now, so I tucked my notebook away and joined the crowd now shuffling its way outside. I needed to get to the Intergalactic for a mission planning session with the rest of the team.

My thoughts remained turbulent on the bus ride there. I arrived to find Dee and DualCore already in the bean bag room. Kate and Sebastian joined us with a tray of coffees and teas shortly after. Originally Dee was going to keep her two skateboarding friends out of the mission, but we quickly realized our plan needed more legwork that we had legs for, so she recruited them.

Dee greeted me even before I was fully settled into a bean bag chair. "Hey Barry, how'd things go with Tilly?"

"Um... good. It was good. She's good. She says hi, by the way."

Dee gave me a curious look. "OK... that's good. But did she remember anything about that night at the bar?"

"Oh... oh yeah. That. Yes. She didn't remember a lot, but there was some creepy guy that might be important. He tried to buy her a drink. It's probably worth following up on." I had almost forgotten the entire purpose of my meeting with Tilly. Now that I had been reminded, the puzzle pieces in my head were moving again.

"That's great," Brian said. "Do you think she would be willing to look at a photo line-up? We can compile a list from the local Omicron Upsilon Iota membership, the employees of the Freedom Birthright Foundation... maybe we'll get lucky." He was already tapping at his tablet.

I shook my head. "I'm not so sure that will get us anything. Tilly seemed to think Mr. Creepy wasn't from around here. He talked like he was just visiting."

"That doesn't fit our profile," Liz countered.

"Maybe our profile is wrong." I felt like we were close to something. Like another puzzle piece was about to click into place. "We've been assuming this was all run locally, but what if it's not. We know people disperse all over the country after they graduate. Maybe the people running the conspiracy have also."

Suddenly Liz started tapping frantically at her tablet. She sent some data to her brother with a swiping motion, and he was soon tapping and swiping just as energetically.