Fracture

Chapter 4

Sis, get up, Xander's voice whispers into my mind, causing the pain in my head to flare.

Stop trying to wake her? Can't you feel that she's out of whack? Alex's voice pounds in my head.

Too bad there's no mute button on my brothers.

Well yeah, but that's why she needs to wake up. She needs to tell us what happened so we can fix it.

We know what happened. Somehow Jag got into her head. We've been hearing his thoughts for days. Completely disturbing.

It's not that bad, Alex, I say. Now can I go back to sleep?

Nope, you need to fix what's happened. I can't listen to Jag another day...it's driving me crazy.

Lex is right, Alex; it's not that bad. We now know the different way he can destroy everyone...ow! That hurt.

Why don't I hear his thoughts right now? I wonder.

For some reason, when you're out, he's up, Xander says. He's finally conked out.

It only took him four days. Alex tacks on.

Why didn't you block him? I ask.

We tried, Alex says. It took too much energy.

We think he's using your energy. Sort of like how you regulate us, but your body hasn't adapted to him, Xander says.

How is that possible? I ask. I've had no energy.

Exactly, Xander says.

Where are you two? I glance around the hospital and find it empty. A dragon emblem above the double wooden doors marks this place as The Presidents. Rows upon rows of cots line the room with a desk in the center as the only other piece of furniture.

We're almost in the hospital wing, Xander says. Hold on.

A slight noise comes from the air shaft, and the cover pops off. Two figures silently drop to the floor. Just as they're about to make their way towards me, the lights turn off for a moment, then come back on.

Xander gives a mischievous smile, "Now that's what I call a grand entrance."

"What about the cameras?" I whisper across the room.

Xander waves his arm in dismissal. "Altered those this morning. It's on a loop. Six days of inactivity allows for some great footage. Although with that little power outage we just experienced, I would venture to say that everything's rebooting right now."

"What caused it?"

"Your guess is as good as ours," Xander says, making his way over to me.

I watch my twin brothers walk up to my cot. Very few people can tell them apart with their sandy brown hair cut military style, dimpled left cheeks, and 6'4" muscular frame. They even have their steps perfectly in sync down to arms swinging back and forth.

Of course, they use this to their advantage, but if anyone ever took the time to get to know them, they'd see the differences amongst the similarities. Take their personalities; Xander is quicker to joke around, than Alex.

Xander gets to me first, giving me a peck on the cheek. "Whoa, six days also produces an interesting stench. Is that dead skunk I smell?"

"You're such a pain." Alex shoves Xander out of the way and gives me a bear hug. "We've missed you."