Dominance

Chapter 20: Into The Closet

She didn't know where else to go, so Sara started heading down the hallway to the only other room that was 'male shapeshifter free'; the women's bathroom. But those plans were quickly scratched when she noticed Norman slip into the janitor's closet.
Curious, and happy to take the distraction, Sara followed him.

Peeking her head in through the slight ajar of the door, she called out Norman's name.

"Sara?" His voice bounced back, surprised. "Is everything okay?"

Sara's nose scrunched as she got a strong waft of floor cleaner. As the plate on the door boldly stated, it was indeed a janitor's closet. There was barely enough room for some shelving to house the sparse cleaning chemicals and a tired mop and bucket.

Almost all the tiny floor space was occupied by someone lying on it. Sara could tell by the groaning, that it was Eric, even before her eyes had time to adjust to the tiny low-watt light bulb that duskily illuminated the room. His head was thoroughly bandaged and he was covered by another infamous itchy granny blanket with a tacky raincoat draped atop that.

"Just escaping from an awkward conversation for a bit." Sara grimaced. Her facial expression was practically begging Norman to invite her to join him in the tiny space.

"Ah, well... It's a bit crowded, but you're welcome to hide in here with me."

Norman invited her to sit on a scraggly-looking milk crate. "I don't suppose you want to talk to me about it?"

"Absolutely not." Sara smiled back and Norman chuckled in response. She clicked the door shut behind her and clenched at the fabric of her oversized pants to stop them from sagging down as she sat. The hard grating of the plastic dug ruthlessly into her bum; likely to leave indentation marks. Meanwhile, Norman appeared to be moderately comfortable perched on his crate seat.

"It's stuffy in here." She noted as Norman opened up a laptop. The light it emitted from the screen instantly turned the tiny room brighter. "Why are you in here?"

Clutter seemed to ensue wherever Norman and Eric went. Also sharing the floor space was a mess of notes, an open first aid kit with scattered contents, memory sticks, and other small computer device pieces.

Norman looked like he was about to say something, but then stopped to consider his words before speaking.

"Doing my job and looking for clues. Eric is pretty unstable right now so it's best to be able to keep an eye on him in an enclosed space."

"And the best option was squishing him into a broom closet?"

Norman's lip twitched. "Yes, well. A volatile fenrin is not respected or prioritised by many. Let's just keep it at that."

"Ah," Sara responded, feeling the somber vibe in his words. "Is he going to be alright?"

Norman shook his head bitterly. Even in the poorly lit room, she could see the shadows of fatigue formed on his face. Norman had always seemed to have some kind of togetherness and rationality that Sara would be overjoyed to have lately. But maybe beneath those layers he was just as tired and strained emotionally as she was.

Norman pushed his hand under his shirt collar and roughly rubbed at his shoulder muscles. He then rolled his neck back and winced out a drawn-out sigh.

"I can only make him comfortable at this point. The rest is up to him. He's... been building up a bit of an immunity to Relidus lately. He's struggling to recover when his body transforms all the way."

"Drayton seemed kinda mad at you. But maybe there must be something he can do for Eric. He's in charge of a lot of important people, right?" Sara replied hopefully.

"We're not exactly his favourite people. Remember I told you I worked undercover for the GRC? Well, Eric used to work there too. There... Was an incident. He got bitten on duty by one of the test subjects. A fenrin."

Norman shook his head again. His gaze was far away in memory.

"The GRC were getting suspicious of me. But I still broke protocol to help Eric anyway. I couldn't just let them... I knew what they were going to..."

Norman trailed off as he snapped to reality. The look in his eyes hardened and his attention refocused back to his computer.

"I went against the plan and took Eric with me. The decision I made ruined our best chance of getting the taudog brothers free. I deserve everything Drayton dishes out."

"Oh," was all Sara could respond as the mood turned heavy. She softly tinkered with the clip holding her wispy hair back as she looked around the teeny room, trying to come up with something lighter to change the subject to and avoid another sour conversation.

Her line of sight halted on an open plastic carry case leaning beside Norman's milk crate chair. Inside it, a jagged blue stone sat atop some paperwork and glimmered enthusiastically against the artificial glow.

"It's a power gem," Norman told Sara before she could ask. "Greg found it on one of the many corpses he's autopsying. Ironic, really, because if I had known he would have to be summoned here anyway, I wouldn't have needed to stop and collect it. Maybe then-"

Norman hesitated and didn't finish his sentence. Sara bit her lip. She knew he was insinuating about the unfolding of events that followed that hospital morgue visit. She ignored the twisting sorrow in her heart and pulled all her focus onto the pretty gem instead.

"A power gem?"

"Certain gems and crystals can be used to fuel spells, power up certain abilities, and such. This one is small and has been exhausted by whoever kept it, but it's one of the rarest and more powerful types you can get; a blue painite."

Norman carefully picked up the small, shiny, stone and offered it to Sara to look at.

"We can't do anything with it at the moment. It could take years, but it will eventually slowly recover back to its full potential."

Sara fiend curiosity in the little crystal, trying to stuff away her guilt. Yet he thoughts remained. If she could go back, if she could make a different decision, if she could make it better; then she would.

As Sara ran her thumb over the craggy texture, the faint red coloured veins inside became noticeably brighter as she held it. Between the sharp growths of colour were cracks and pieces of embedded rock. It was initially cool sitting in her palm, but as the seconds ticked by it began to glow in her grip and became heated and weighty.

The painite started to sharply sting in her hand as its colour intensified and Sara let out a surprised shriek. Norman dived for the pretty mineral before it could strike the hard floor as Sara reeled backward. The shock on his face told Sara that wasn't a common reaction to touching a chunk of blue painite.

"Did you know you could do that?" Norman asked, cradling the painite gem tightly against him with an obvious awe on his face.

The pigment of the gemstone was now more profound, but seemed to have settled from the intense reactivity that Sara had experienced while holding it.

"Do what?" Sara groaned, holding her head as she was struck with a ruthless wave of nausea and fatigue. Her heart beat fast, but her head felt slow and groggy.

Norman remained bewildered and said nothing, as Sara slowly rose to her feet.

"I'm just going to rest for a bit," she informed Norman as she unsteadily got up and tried not to fall or step on Eric.

Sara took one last confused, but also salty, glance at the offending rejuvenated rock clenched in Norman's fingers, before she tipsily went back to the room she originally came from. She was relieved to find Clyde was no longer there and Twister still hadn't budged.
A dazed groan escaped Sara's lips as she crawled over to the oblivious taudog.

"I'm mad at you," Sara mumbled to the unsusceptible Twister, poking him passive-aggressively in the back which divulged no reaction, before lying down with an arm's length between them and closing her heavy eyelids.