Ingenious

Chapter Twenty Two

We settle into the little motel around noon yet somehow the day feels like it's been stretched out forever. We all change into normal clothes and lay the files out over the dining table.

"Okay, we have a system," Kacey starts, "let's use it. Red tab equals suspicions they have, blue equals lab results, green equals key dates/locations, yellow equals other important information." The tabs sit at both ends of the table and we each start with different files. I read through the first quarter of research, Ryan does the second, Kace does the third and Everett the fourth. Maia and Shawn will go through the notes from the testings on July 22nd for each of our years and see what they wrote about us. As I open the report it's a whole lot of big fancy science words I never really cared to learn since I had no interest in going to pre-med. I use the dictionary on the phone to look up all the words, then write notes on a sticky note to put inside. It starts by discussing what they know so far about Kace so I mark it with a lot of red and blue tabs. They give her stats from grade school, then the testing and even her first month of classes in pre-gov. Then they move on to talking about their powers.

Caused by erratic emotional outbreaks. Produces some sort of illusion for people to see. Could possibly be an evolution in the human brain or something caused by the chips placed in their brain.

I quickly mark it with a red tab, but write down that was a big possibility. We know most of the information will be in Everett's file but he's probably the smartest out of all of us so it's good he's the one reading that file. Plus I don't think I could handle the pressure of being about to find out why we are this way. I keep flipping through the hundreds of papers outlining some of Kacey's results and general information as I wait for Everett or Kacey or someone to gasp with the information they find. We all have been writing on post notes and sticking them up in a mind map on the wall but so far it's all vague.
"Found it!" Maia exclaims pointing at her name, "here's my testing information!" We all give her a smile as she reads through it and Shawn reads through Kacey's. That's least likely to give us what we need since those are general files anyone can take out. I keep reading my own booklet making small notes with the theories and reasoning along with lab results and scientific observations from Kacey they used to back it up. Yet nothing is definite and we need that definite answer.

Around 4 hours after we start, I finish reading through it and I close the book. The first quarter is just theories we'll have to put together. I go to join Shawn and Maia who are adding to the mind map with personal knowledge about ourselves.

"What do we have?" I ask them quietly. Ryan, Kace and Ev are still deep in writing and if they've found anything for sure it's in the piles of sticky notes next to them. I go over to Ryan and grab his sticky notes to put them up on the wall with everything else.

Kacey's MRI had a larger hippocampus (thing that stores dreams/memories)

That would go under the mind deformities section up on the board. Maia and Shawn take some sticky notes from Ryan's pile I hold and we continue to sort.

Kacey's temporal lobe is constantly active - much more than the normal person especially in sleep

More brain stuff. Thank god for the internet or we wouldn't understand this. I place it under brain deformities and pick up the next one.

The medulla produces more adrenaline than the average person

Almost everything from Ryan's pile talks about physical deformities and differences. I hand the rest of his pile to Maia and grab Kacey's. Everett is holding onto his tightly, deep in thought. I open up to the first post-it to see what her general part is about.

Genetics may play a factor - would need to conform with family's medical history.

I look up at Kacey who is no longer a person reading about her genetics but a machine shredding through these papers to find out the truth. I put her note up under the genetics category my part briefly mentioned was a possibility.