Salient Secret

Chapter 52

I regain consciousness and come to find that I am in an unfamiliar place. I recall being injected in the neck which helps me refocus reality a lot faster. I try to move my hands but I can't, same with my legs.  I'm strapped down to some sort of table, there's a light right above me, I can't even turn my head because it has been tied down too. 

"Dane!" I scream getting frustrated with the lack of the ability to move. 

"Hello sunshine," his footsteps are very audible, it's clear that he is walking towards me. 

"Where's Kai?" he is my main concern. 

"Don't you worry about Kai, I sent him home, you are the one I wanted."

"Why?" 

"You are by far my most powerful fulminare. You can't feel pain, you can heal yourself and others, there's a high chance you could bring someone back to life,"  there's no ways I can do that. Bringing someone back to life includes reattaching their souls back to their bodies, and last time I checked I am no witch. 

"Let's say I could...who would I be resurrecting?"

"Everyone," he replies. Is this man crazy?

"I need them as lifeless zombies. People have proven to be backstabbing," I kind of feel for him, his life's work literally drove everything good he had in life away... but then I remember that I am currently strapped to a table- 

Wait, why am I strapped to a table? 

"Why am I strapped on this table?" he doesn't say anything, he flashes his cynical smile, walks away and returns with a blade. 

**** 

Kai's pov 

"Kai, you have been here for days. Sammy misses you and Palmer and I are worried about you. Please, come home."

"Lorenzo, I'm not leaving here until we find Avery. So if you want me to go home then you're going to have to help me find her."

"And we will, but there is nothing we can d-"

"BULLSHIT!" I shout punching the bag as hard as I can. "You let the one person who could help us go." 

"Arlo didn't know anything, you read his mind for yourself."

"That doesn't mean he didn't know any- wait you're right, I read his mind, well not read but I was in there."

"What?" 

"Lorenzo, if Doctor Stevens was Dane the whole time...I connected our minds so that I could show her the memory. There has to be a way to tap into a mind you've connected to. If anyone would know how, it's Palmer," hope has been restored, I grab my things and rush over to Palmers apartment. 

I knock on the door, and Sammy answers. 

"Kai!" he says while giving me an 'I missed you so much' hug. 

"Hey buddy!" 

"Kai, hello, you're back. Come in," Melanie says with a warm smile on her face. I walk in and see Palmer colouring in a picture in her book. 

"Hello Palmer, my precious little sister, get over here," she looks at me weirdly while walking towards me. Okay I  admit, that was a bit too dramatic. I bend down and give her a long hug so that I can whisper in her ear, "Is it possible to reach back into a mind you've connected to?"

"I've never needed to do that but I'm sure it's possible. We can't talk about this now. Offer to take me out for ice cream tomorrow at noon." 

"What brings you by?" Melanie asks while handing me a glass of juice. 

"I just wanted to know if I could take Palmer out for ice cream at noon. I enjoy bonding with my long lost sister." 

"How sweet of you, of course you can. I was going to have to take Palmer with me to work tomorrow because her creche sent an email out saying one of their roofs collapsed, the kids have to stay at home for the rest of the week."

"I can watch her the whole week if you'd like." 

"That would be great!" 

"Let me just go wrap up a few things at work now and I'll swing by tomorrow for Palmer after I drop Sammy off at school." Sammy has been here because Lorenzo told Melanie I'm going on a business trip for a few days. I'm grateful to her for watching him but a few days will be all she ever gets with him. I tell Sammy to get his things and we go back to the hotel. While he plays with his toys, I continue looking for apartments. I am staying because this is where she is. 

The thought of her already being dead crosses my mind but I force myself to shake it out and believe she is alive. She has to be. 

*****

I wake up in my bed for the first time in three days. I've been sleeping at the gym, comfortability was not a priority for me, being able to fight Dane was. I feel like I failed Avery by not being able to protect her. 

I use that as motivation to get out of bed. After dropping Sammy off, I pick up Palmer and make my way to the gym. 

"I've never done this before Kai."

"Palmer this has to work." 

"No pressure," Lorenzo adds even though there's a lot of pressure, Avery's life is on the line.

Our plan is for Palmer to tap into the connection I made with Dane and then use it to tap into  his mind, or at least just to find out where he is or where Avery is. 

I shift into Palmer and sit in front of her, she places her hands on my head and I feel her entering my mind. That must be the connection. So far so good. She let's go of me and her eyes go white. After a few seconds she falls to the ground.

"Did it work?" I ask but she shakes her head.

"I need more time to figure this out," she explains. We don't have more time. I storm outside to be alone, but when I get outside some man in a suit is standing by my car. 

"Can I help you?" I ask in an impolite way.

"Kai Grayson?" he asks and I nod, "Hi, I'm Clint Smith, I work for Salutis. You were at our headquarters in Brazil the other day." I am so not in the mood for this guy, "We watched our surveillance footage of that day and noticed you changing into a little girl. We then noticed a grown man we thought we imprisoned, changing into  Doctor Stevens, but then he got up and disappeared. But then he returned...somehow. As time went on, you were injected in the neck and you changed into, well... Kai Grayson. The real Dane James appeared after you both fell to the ground and kidnapped you as well as the girl who was with you. You then later returned, but as Dane James, you stared me in my eyes and disappeared. Our footage then caught you appearing out of nowhere on our holding cell floor, our parking lot and our common entrance."

"What you here to kidnap me and experiment on me?" 

"On the contrary Mr Grayson. We're not idiots, when we saw Dane, we knew you were one of his experiments. We want to recruit you."