Inspiration Point (27 page)

“I just had my inspiration point Zeke, thanks to
you.  I know what to do, but I have to go to the lab.  Can I get Emin
to help you?”

“Yeah sure Hayl’s, you go and be brilliant I’ll be
fine,” he said smiling, his eyes full of love.

I smiled back at him and quickly left the room not
wanting to move too fast in case I drew attention to myself.  I knocked on
Emin’s door and told him Zeke needed help to get downstairs.  I didn’t
wait to hear his response, I didn’t have time, and I needed to get to the
lab.  I quickly, but cautiously headed down stairs.  Tyler was still
sketching, and Dad was concentrating on his DNA strain.  I decided to work
on this alone for now.  If everything went how I planned it would, I would
talk it over with my family tonight.

Neither of the boys paid me much attention as I went
about my experiments.  And with each one, I got closer to my goal, this
could actually work I thought to myself.  I methodically proceeded with
the rest of my tests and by the end of the day I was ready for the next
step.  But before I could do that I needed to talk to my family. 

I packed up my work for the day and put my notes in
the safe.  I walked over to Tyler who had been watching me without asking
any questions.  He was packing up too.  I decided it might be best if
I diverted the attention from me for a moment.

“How did you go with the drawing?” I asked.

“Not bad I think.  Would you like to see?” He
sounded excited.

“Absolutely,” I said, happy he wasn’t asking about my
behavior this afternoon.

He pulled his folder back out and found his
drawing.  He looked at it again before handing it to me, looking a little
nervous.  I reached out to take it, and was speechless for two
reasons.  Firstly because I couldn’t believe how good it was – although
good wasn’t the right word.  He was talented - truly talented, as if he
had been sketching for years.  The second reason I hadn’t said anything
was because the drawing was of me. 

He drew me sitting across from him at the desk,
concentrating on my work.  My face was happy and peaceful which made me
think he drew that part from memory.  My hair hung down with gentle curls,
and I think I may have even looked a little curvier in the chest from his point
of view - but I thought it best not to mention that.

“Aren’t you going to say anything,” he sounded
anxious.

“Are you sure you haven’t been practicing, I mean is
this really the first time you have done a portrait?”

“You like it?”  He questioned.

“I love it Tyler, it’s unbelievable, and the detail is
amazing, I can’t believe how talented you are.  To have gone all this time
and not realize that you’re an artist – a truly fantastic one is just
crazy.” 

I honestly was taken aback by his talent, but I
thought it best not to ask about his subject.  I didn’t want to have that
conversation just yet, I needed to work out how to get my family to support my
idea.  Tyler had been watching and must have misread my expression.

“You will have more abilities too Hayln, we just need
some time to figure them out, you’ll see.”

“I just hope we get that chance,” I said honestly.

“I’ll do everything I can to make sure we all get out
this Hayln, I promise.  You have to trust me.” I could see from his face
he meant every word he was saying - which was good.

“I might just take you up on that,” I said without
explaining anything.

“Is there something you would like me to do?” He
looked at me intensely.  “Something to do with what you were up to this
afternoon?”

Of course, it was too much to ask that he wouldn’t
have noticed.  But I thought I should use this opportunity to my
advantage.

“I can’t say anything about it until tomorrow. 
But it would be particularly handy to know more about Spencer, anyone who works
for him, and anyone who would know about us.”

Tyler nodded at my instructions when I thought of one
more.  “And if it's at all possible how much information he has on us and
where he keeps it.”

He threw his backpack over his shoulder and gave me
another nod to say he understood.

“One more thing Tyler,” I reached for him as he was about
to leave the lab.  “If it’s too dangerous for you, I don’t want you to do
it okay.  You have to promise me, you'll stay safe.”

“Hayln, didn’t you listen to anything I said to you
today.  I am practically a super soldier – I will be fine.” Then he winked
at me as he left the lab.

I turned to see Dad watching me with a curious
expression on his face. 

“Later,” I mouthed to him as I left the room.

I went upstairs to the kitchen where Mum, Emin and
Zeke were.  They all stopped talking and watched me cautiously as I
entered the room.  Mum was dishing up dinner, and I took a plate and went
to the table.  When Ian came in, to collect their dinners, he stopped
beside me.

“Everything went well today Hayln?” He asked with a
strange look on his face.

“Yes thank you, Spencer should be pleased. 
Hopefully this will all be over in a couple of days,” I said politely.

“I hope so too Hayln.”  He said with honest
concern is his voice, and then he went to the lounge.

I looked at the faces of all my family including my
Dad who had joined us now – they all looked guarded.

Feeling uncomfortable, I ate quickly then took my plate
to the sink and went outside.  I found my way to the love seat on the
verandah.  The sun had just about set, and the evening was still
warm.  It was a peaceful place to relax and plan how I was going to tell
my family what I had done.  Obviously everybody including Davis and Ian
knew I was up to something.  That in itself gave me another problem. 
If my family did decide to agree with my change of plan, Davis and Ian would be
watching us like hawks.

“You okay Hayl’s?”

I turned to see Zeke behind me his emerald eye’s full
of concern.  He moved slowly protecting his ribs and sat next to me. 
I instantly felt better with him beside me.  He held his arm out for me,
and I leaned into his chest – on his good side.

“Did everything go alright in the lab?” He asked.

“Perfect, which means we’ve got a big decision
tonight,” I said softly.

“Well your family is dying to find out what’s going
on,” he said as he stroked my hair.

“Yeah I got a bit carried away downstairs, even Ian
knows something is up,” I grumbled.

“Don’t worry about the henchmen, we can deal with
them.  I do think you need to relax a little though.  We don’t want
Spencer hanging around at the moment.”

He was right of course, Spencer is the last person I
needed around watching me.  I snuggled further into Zeke arms happy to
have him with me.

“I don’t suppose you will tell me what’s happening?”
He asked softly.

“I think its best I tell you all at once – so I am
afraid you will have to wait too,” I said smiling at him.

“Did Tyler figure out what you were up to?”

“He knows something is happening, but doesn’t know the
details.  I don’t want him in any more danger from Spencer.”  He
didn’t say anything but I could tell that he agreed with me. “I did ask him to
find some information for me, about Spencer and this project though.”

“Do you think he can, without raising suspicions?” He
questioned.

“Well, we’ll find out tomorrow, but we really are
going to need as much information as possible for what I have in mind.”

“Okay, not fair – if I can’t know what’s going on
let’s talk about it later,” he joked with me.  “I’m sure there are better
things to do anyway, especially if you need to relax.”

“Agreed, do you have anything in mind?” I teased.

“Well since your parents can see us through the window
I think we should keep it PG.  How about we just sit out here for a while
and talk, I am actually pretty tired, and I wouldn’t mind a nap before
tonight’s meeting,” he said as he kissed my forehead.

So we sat there talking about everything.  He
asked me about school, my mum and my abilities and I asked him about old
girlfriends, college and Emin and Tasma.  After talking for a couple of
hours, I realized there was a chill in the air and thought I should probably
get him inside so we could both get some rest before the meeting. I helped him
up, and we made our way in when I thought of one more question for him.

“What did you have planned for our first date the
other day?”

“We are still going to have our first date Hayln –
I’ll make sure of it.  And until then you will just have to wait and find
out.”

“Not even a hint?” I pleaded.

“It’s annoying when someone has a secret isn’t it,” he
teased.

“You will know mine tonight though.”  I argued as
we went upstairs.  I didn’t see any of my family on the way so I figured
they must have gone to bed already. 

“Be patient Hayl’s,” Zeke said as he kissed my hand
softly.  I walked him to his room, and he stopped at the doorway.

“Don’t you need some help to get into bed?  You
know I don’t mind helping you get changed,” I said grinning.

“I think I might get a little distracted with your
help,” his beautiful eyes were glowing at me.  “Besides I can manage
myself, but I will see you in a couple of hours, to hear your brilliant plan.”

“I’ll be there,” I smiled back at him as he leaned in
to kiss me.

His strong arms wound around me, and I felt as if I
was ready to face anything.  This was perfect, considering what I was
going to propose to my family in a few hours.  I was still enjoying his
warm kiss when we heard someone in the hall. 

“Mum wanted me to check if you needed a hand to get
into bed – and apparently I am your personal nurse,” Emin grumbled.

We both laughed but didn’t let go of each other. 
“Your off the hook tonight Emin, I’ll be fine.”

“Thank God – well I’m off to bed,” Emin said and then
turned to look at me.  “And I will talk to you later.”  And with that
we all went to our rooms to get some sleep. 

Before going to sleep I lay in bed and went over how
to tell my family my plan.  I also tried to think of any objections they may
have, and worked on my rebuttals.  After about an hour, I was as prepared
as I could be and I drifted to sleep.

“Wake up Prodigy - it’s time to fess up,” Emin said
softly as he woke me.

“Coming,” I whispered rubbing my eyes hard to try to
wake myself up quicker.

He grabbed my arm before I could stand up.  “Can
you tell me one thing first?”
 
I
nodded and waited for his question.
 
“Does your plan
involve taking these wanker’s down and us living happily ever after?”

I couldn’t help but smile, “Yes”

“Well then I’m on your side no matter what.  Come
on they’re waiting,” he said.

Dad, Mum and Zeke were already in Emin’s room, just as
he said, and all eyes were on me as I entered.  When no-one spoke, I
figured they were waiting for me to start so I took a deep breath - may as well
get this over and done with.

“So I suppose you all want to know what happened this
afternoon?”

“Of course, we do – hurry up and just tell us,” Emin
urged.

“Alright, well for a while now I have been working
with human brain cells and one of the areas I was focused on was restoring
memories.  It was just something I was doing here at home.  When Dad
said I couldn’t help him today, I thought I would do some work on my
project.  The composition of Dad’s DNA strain gave me a lot of new ideas.” 
I could see they were getting frustrated with my long winded explanation, but I
felt I needed to tell them the whole story.

“Anyway while I was working on it today I was talking
to Tyler about his abilities and the future and he said something that gave me
an idea.  He said he wished he could forget all about this mess we are
in.”

“So you’ve invented a time machine or something have
you?” Emin joked.  I glared at him because he said he would be on my side
tonight.

“Not a time machine obviously,” I said rolling me eyes
at him.  “But not far off.”  I had their attention now so I
continued.

“What if instead of restoring memories, I could
isolate specific ones and delete them so to speak.”

I looked at my families expressions.  Emin loved it,
I knew he didn’t need any more convincing even though he had no idea how I
would do it.  Zeke looked proud he also would be on my side no matter
what.  Dad, on the other hand, hardly looked convinced.  I had my
work cut out for me there so I looked at Mum and she looked, well, confused.

“Is that even possible?” She asked, sounding a little
frightened.

“Well that’s what I was doing this afternoon and then
I got my inspiration point.  Actually Zeke provided me with it,” I said
smiling at him.

“That better not be something disgusting,” Emin said
with a strange look on his face.  I was about to thump him when Dad spoke.