56
“THE FORMULA MADE ME SO GHASTLY ILL,” DAMARIS
KEMBLE said. She spoke in a monotone, as though just the act of
talking was no longer worth the effort. “I thought anything would
be better than feeling that sick. But after I recovered I began to
realize what I had lost.”
Fallon Jones had not wasted any time. Damaris had
arrived at ten o’clock the following morning. She was not traveling
alone. A J&J hunter accompanied her. Rose and Hector were
presently entertaining him in the outer office.
“I think I understand,” Chloe said gently. “It
would be like waking up one day and discovering that you had lost
one or more of your normal senses.”
Damaris squeezed her eyes shut to stop the tears.
“Sometimes I dream that I’ve recovered my sensitivity. But as soon
as I open my eyes I realize that nothing has changed.”
“You said that you didn’t just lose your
para-senses. You also lost your father and your sister at the same
time. That would be a terrible blow for anyone.”
“I’m seeing one of the Society’s psychologists, but
I don’t think it’s doing much good. I feel so overwhelmed. If I
could just get back to feeling normal I think I could deal with the
rest of it. Do you really feel you might be able to help me recover
at least some of my talent?”
Chloe looked at the floor. The faint oil-on-water
sheen of the antidote radiated subtly in Damaris’s
footprints.
“Let me see what I can do,” Chloe said.
She got to her feet, walked around the desk and
took Damaris’s hand. Carefully, lightly, delicately, she went to
work.