“I know it sounds crazy, but the crazier the music, the calmer and more focused I am. It distracts that part of my brain that’s constantly seeking stimulation, so in a way it levels me back to normalcy.” She finished her food and sat back to look around the room, then back at me, observing me in her space.
“Makes sense. Kind of like how Ritalin works for ADHD patients. The drug chemically gives the brain what it wants so you can focus elsewhere.” My cousin had ADHD too; the drug helped him until he figured out a way to handle himself. Yoga helped and drawing. He loved to draw.
She nodded and stood, our lunch date clearly over for now.
“I’ve got to get back to work. Thanks again for stopping by. You’ve helped improve my rep by showing up out there.” She was biting back a grin, and I was so stupid happy that I came. She was teasing me again.
“Might amp up your cool points if you kiss me by the door.” I helped put the trash back into the bag and stood up to see her looking at me.
“Do you wanna come over and watch a movie tomorrow night? I should be done by then, and I would like to hang out with you more. Maybe try exploring things a bit too.” She looked like she’d thought of this before now.
“Explore all you want.” My voice didn’t sound as confident as I wanted it to. In fact, it came out almost like a groan. I wanted her to touch any part of me she wanted. At her pace.
“Sounds good.”
Just as I was about to leave, both of our communicators went off for the Hero Society. Pops and Cora came running out from wherever they’d been and were on her shoulders immediately.
“What’s going on?” I spoke to my cool watch and waited to see where we were needed.
Chapter Eighteen
Arthur
There wasn’t someone in danger, per se, but there had been something going on by the bay, and Phillip wanted me and Gwendolyn to check it out. More people were showing up at the hospital with bad coughs. The only common denominator was they were either at the festival or near that side of the bay in the past twenty-four hours.
Neither of us dressed in our hero gear, since there wasn’t any technical saving to do. Phillip just thought my expertise in water would be helpful, and Gwendolyn’s power for metal, too. Maybe there was something around covered up by the dirt, or in the water itself. Either way, we’d see what we could find.
I drove us in my large SUV to the bay, and we got out to walk around. Everything had been cleaned up from the festival, no signs it had ever happened beyond the churned dirt from the equipment they moved in and out.
Gwendolyn told Cora and Pops to scout the area, too, looking for anything abnormal. Cora would also test the water quality. Neat trick.
“I do smell something off.” Gwendolyn’s nose scrunched up, making me take a big sniff to confirm I smelled it too.
“Yeah, what is that?” The stench was rotten. Together we walked over to the water’s edge and saw a few small, dead fish floating around. Well, that wasn’t good.
“Pops! Cora!” Gwendolyn yelled for her robot friends, and they both came zooming over.
Before she could get a word out, Pops was already on top of the situation.
“Cora found high tracesof nitrogen, phosphates, and potassium. Common ingredients found in fertilizer. There also appears to be an algae bloom of Pseudo-nitzchia. Very harmful to sea life, ecosystems, and people, if not kept in check. The database on the algae shows this happens about once a year in our area, but never enough to cause problems. Much like the red algae blooms in the Gulf of Mexico.”
“So, this is not normal, then,” I commented, looking around for any obvious signs of why this was happening. Of course, life wasn’t easy that way. There was no big red sign that said, “Hey, we are causing the problem over here.”
“I’ll call headquarters and tell them what we found; they can let the authorities know, and they can investigate it from there.” Gwendolyn grabbed her phone and started doing as she said. But there had to be a reason why we were chosen for this. Having a gut feeling, I walked over to the water’s edge and stuck my finger in the water. Not sure why—I didn’t need to control it in any way. But the water called me to it. Like a siren’s song, I just had to touch it.
Instantly, I felt sick, and pulled my finger as far away from the water as I could get. Unexpectedly, Cora walked over to me and snuggled up against my side. I didn’t trust her for one damn minute, but I reached over to pet her head nonetheless. Maybe she thought I needed comforting. My stomach was rolling, and I felt lightheaded from touching the water.
Then a sharp pain started at my thumb then shot up my arm.
“What the fuck?” The robot dragon bit me!
Gwendolyn hung up the phone and ran over.
“Oh my God! Cora!” She sounded horrified, while grabbing my hand to look at my thumb. It was still there, and truthfully only had one spot that was bleeding.
I think it was the shock that she bit me, more than anything, that made me curse. Pops walked over on his short legs and touched Cora’s back. She tilted her little head at him and started vibrating. Maybe that was how they communicated together? Through signals or Morse code?
“She was checking his blood. Small traces of the toxins in the water are now in your bloodstream. It appears you acted like a filter or sponge of sorts to the water.” He looked at me, and I stared back, shocked. All right, then. This was new information to me.
