Inspiration Point (22 page)

We were ready to test our strain against some common
viruses.  Dad held my hand beneath the counter to get my attention. 
Without saying anything, I knew that no matter what happened next, I wasn’t to
give anything away in front of Tyler.  I gave him a nod to confirm I
understood and watched him introduce the first virus to our new strand. 
He looked under the microscope, but his expression was impossible to
read.  He passed it over to me and held my hand again to steady me. 
A rush of excitement flooded through me.  I looked at Tyler, he was
watching us cautiously.  I knew I had to keep my composure.

As I looked into the microscope I knew what I would
see, and I was right.  The virus had no effect on our strain.  We
kept testing it with other viruses whilst saying out loud that it wasn’t
conclusive for Tyler’s benefit.  Every test was a success, no virus had
any effect on it.  Inside, I was on cloud nine, because this was my first
real success, but we both contained our excitement. 

We knew the next round of tests had to be done on our
rabbits.  However, if we did that in front of Tyler, he would know we were
close to something, and he'd be forced to explain it to
Spencer.   

Dad moved to another bench and started working on some
experiments from this morning.  I knew this meant we weren’t going to do
any more work on our strain until Tyler left.  I helped him for a little
while and then suggested I might help Mum with dinner.  He agreed, so I
went upstairs, Tyler watched me leave, but he stayed with Dad in the lab.

Mum seemed surprised to see me in the kitchen.  I
walked towards the stove top it smelt like bolognaise. 

“I didn’t expect to see you up here yet, you seemed to
be onto something,” she commented whilst keeping an eye on the men in the
lounge room.

“Why’s that?” I asked as I thought Dad and I had been
pretty convincing downstairs.

“I heard these two talking, they thought you might
have made a breakthrough.”

I sighed, obviously we weren’t as inconspicuous as we
thought. 

“We thought we had, but we had a setback, I thought I
would take a break.”

Mum watched me carefully and knew there was more to
the story but didn’t push it whilst they were listening.  Ian came into
the room stretching from his position in front of the monitors. 

“Smells good, Mrs Knox.”

“Thank you Ian, but I can’t seem to get the flavor
just right yet.  Maybe you could have a taste Hayln.”

I grabbed the spoon off the sink and sank it into the
pot.  I tasted it carefully as it was hot, Mum was right it needed
something.  I went to the pantry and grabbed some olive oil and then cut
some fresh herbs from the garden.

“Is she as good a cook as you?” Ian asked doubtfully.

“Better actually,” Mum replied confidently.

He seemed surprised at this and headed back into the
lounge to join Davis.  I kept adding then tasting until it was nearly
perfect. 

“Just a smidge more oregano,” I said as I sprinkled it
in, "there.”

I grabbed the oil to return it to the pantry and told
Mum to have a taste.  As I returned, she was chuckling to herself.

“Hayln, this is perfect.  You certainly do have a
talent for this.”

I just shrugged not knowing what to say.

“You know, if you ever decide to give science away,
you should really start cooking.”

Now I was laughing.  Of course, I had never tested
my talents on anything other than science so it could be intriguing to see what
else I was capable of.  I noticed Zeke was still outside with the rabbits
so I went to join him.  As I left the kitchen, Mum reminded me that dinner
wouldn’t be long.

“What’s so funny?” He asked.

“Apparently Mum thinks I should ditch science and
become a chef.” I said still smiling as I sat next to him.

“Have you been cooking?” He asked, sounding a little
excited.

“No, Mum is making bolognaise I just helped with the
herbs.”

“Awesome, I’m starving.” 

He lay on the grass with his arms behind his head as
the sun set.  The last of the day’s sunshine flickering across his
body.  I couldn’t help but admire him.  His eyes were closed which
was a shame of course but his face was peaceful.  His shirt clinging to
the muscles in his chest and arms.  I wished everything could fade away
behind us so we could lay here together – just the two us. 

And, as if he could hear what I was thinking, Emin
bounded out of the house, to interrupt us. 

“Do you smell that?” He closed his eyes inhaling the
last of the smell as he left the house.  “I’m starving.”

“Me too,” Zeke said propping himself up onto one
elbow.

“How was your afternoon in the lab?” Emin asked in a
whispered voice.

I glanced over my shoulder before answering. “Pretty
good actually, we might have figured it out, but we need to do some tests with
the rabbits.  Dad thought we should wait until Tyler leaves.”

“Good idea,” Emin confirmed.

“I was just getting used to them,” Zeke said patting
the one with the black patch. 

“Well if we are right, it won’t bother them at
all.  It will actually help them.  But I certainly won’t start with
our friend here.”

“He’s getting better, by the way, he sat up to get the
food a couple of times,” Zeke said cheerfully.

He sat now and pulled some food from his pocket. 
He put the rabbit in front of us and tested him.  Just like he said he sat
on his hind legs and reached for the food. 

“Well done,” I said patting our little friend. 
“Try again.”

Zeke held the food, but this time the rabbit ignored
him. 

“Like I said, he doesn’t get it right all the time,
but he’s improved don’t you think?”

Emin shook his head at us getting excited over this
little rabbit, but we ignored him.

“Very clever,” I said putting him back into his
cage.  “Hopefully we can try again tomorrow.”

“Dinner’s ready kids,” Mum called out to us after a
while.

Both boys jumped up to get inside as quickly as
possible, and I followed.  Dad and Tyler came up from the lab, Tyler
looked a little apprehensive. 

“Are you staying for dinner Tyler?” Mum asked.

“No Mrs Knox, I better get back to Aunt Maive - and
Spencer.”  He sounded deflated, but I didn’t want to encourage him to stay
when we needed him out of the lab.

We all said goodbye to him, and Mum dished up two
plates for Davis and Ian.  The rest of us took our seats at the table to
enjoy our meal, it actually was delicious.  All the boys including Davis
and Ian had seconds saying it was the best spaghetti they’d ever had.  Mum
looked at me with a knowing smile which I returned to her.  I sat back and
watched them eat their meals, all thoroughly enjoying it.  I felt
satisfied, although I didn’t do much really.

Ian brought the plates back when he was finished,
Davis rarely interacted with any of us unless it was to boss us around. 
Ian’s eyes found mine at the table, and gave me a slight nod to show his
approval of the meal.  Even this made me happy.  Ian left the room
again, and I turned to watch Emin practically lick his plate clean.

“It’s like you’ve never been fed before,” I said
laughing.

“Well to be fair you and your mother have outdone
yourselves,” Dad added.

“Hayln was the star today,” Mum said cutting him off.

“In the kitchen and the lab,” Dad said softly.

Now I felt embarrassed, I started clearing the table
feeling everyone’s eyes on me. 

“I’ll meet you in the lab Hayln, don’t forget the
rabbits.”

I nodded and went outside to get the cages, Emin
joined me.

“Try to get to bed by midnight,” he said
quietly.  “And don’t forget to wear the same pajamas as last night. 
I will wake you when were ready.”

We took the cages back inside when Davis met us at the
stairs of the lab.

“What’s going on?” He asked sternly blocking the
entrance.

“Dad asked us to bring the rabbit’s inside,” I
confirmed stating the obvious.

“But why frea…. I mean Hayln” he said correcting
himself.  He must really like Mum’s cooking I thought to myself.

“He said he just wanted to try something, I’m not sure
what he is up to.”

“Well, I’ll be watching, and if I think you’re up to
something I’ll call Spencer - do you understand?”

“Well, when we figure this out we will want you to
call him won’t we, to end this.  You’re not the nicest house guest to live
with you know.” Emin added, and we stalked past him down the stairs.

“Be careful,” he added to me quietly at the bottom of
the stairs.

“Everything alright?” Dad asked, assessing our moods.

“Nothing a baseball bat wouldn’t fix,” Emin said.

We all smiled at each other and then Emin went back
upstairs.  I filled Dad in on what happened and that we were going to have
another meeting tonight.

“Well we better get started,” he said pulling my
rabbit from the cage.

“Let’s not start with that one – he’s my favorite,” I
told him.

Dad smiled at me and grabbed the other rabbit. 
We injected the strain into the rabbit and made ourselves look busy while we
waited for him to either accept or reject the strain.  Finally, Dad took
some samples and once again he was extremely casual when he glanced under the microscope. 
I held the microscope now, to have a look, and mirrored his response on the
outside, but was jubilant on the inside – it had worked. 

We now could start introducing the viruses.  This
was a long, arduous process, waiting to see the results between each virus. 
But worth the wait, every test was successful – we had done it. 

“How can we be sure we haven’t strengthened any of
their abilities?” I questioned.

“I doubt it is even possible with the way you designed
this strain.  However, the past subjects showed signs within the first hour
last time.”

“So we wait?”

“Yes, we wait.”

That hour seemed to last forever but once passed we
couldn’t find any additions to their abilities. 

With a sigh of relief, I looked at Dad wanting to know
what our next move would be.  He checked the time it was just after
eleven. 

“I think we should ask Davis to have Spencer here
tomorrow,” he said.

“Should we wait and talk about it tonight?”

“I would, but I don’t think we will get to our rooms
without being questioned.” 

I nodded in agreement as we packed up for the
night.  We turned off the lights and went upstairs and as predicted Davis
was waiting for us in the hall.

“What’s going on Professor?” Davis asked sternly.

“We may have had a breakthrough actually, would you
mind letting Spencer know so that he could visit us tomorrow.  I would
like to show him where we are at.”

“I’ll let him know,” Davis said pulling his phone from
his pocket and returning to the lounge room. 

Dad and I went upstairs and got ready for bed quickly
hoping to get a little sleep before we would be woken up.

I was lost in the most beautiful dream with
Zeke.  I could feel the warmth of his body above me whilst his lips were
kissing me so softly they felt like velvet.  I reached for him, pulling
him closer when I realized, I wasn’t dreaming. 

I jumped a little and he stopped kissing me.  I
could still feel his breath on my face and see his silhouette above me from the
moonlight sneaking through my curtains.

“I thought I was dreaming,” I said reaching to touch
his face.

“I know,” he chuckled to himself. “If you hadn’t woken
up, who knows what I would have been allowed to get away with.”

“With my parents and Emin across the hall, I doubt you
would have gotten away with much at all.”

He smiled and helped me up from the bed, and we went
to Emin’s room in silence.

“What took you two so long?” Emin asked in a brotherly
tone.

Neither of us said anything and Mum glared at Emin so
the topic was dropped.

“So, how did you go” Emin pushed, desperate to know
what happened in the lab.

“You did it, didn’t you?” Mum asked.  “I would
know that look anywhere.”  She was looking at Dad smiling, she looked
proud, but I also thought I could see more than that in her eyes.

“Yes, we successfully separated the strain, or should
I say Hayln did.”

Zeke took my hand in both of his while Mum, and Dad
looked at me proudly. 

“I knew you had it in you Prodigy,” Emin said
lightheartedly.  “Now what?”

“I’ve asked them to get Spencer here tomorrow. 
Davis was waiting for us upstairs he knew something was up,” Dad confirmed.