"I had a vision."
I knew it. "What of?"
"I’m still deciphering.” They took a seat in a quiet corner.
"Is that good or bad?"
"Could go either way, though right now the feeling in the pit of my stomach is telling me it isn’t positive."
His instinct to protect flared to life. "Can you tell me more?"
"No, I have to meditate on it for awhile, see if I can glean more." She shook her head. "Worst timing ever."
"We know better than most life doesn't wait for the right moment."
She sighed. "It's true. Only the reception to go, and we're free."
An unspoken word lingered in the air between them, very much felt. What then?
Chapter Fifteen
"How are you feelin’?" Tavel asked as he eyed Charlie. He'd set up a make shift lab in the basement, where he'd carefully monitored Charlie for the past few weeks. So far there had been no ill effects. His DNA had altered to a closer facsimile to that of a Shar. If he had more time he would wait to see if he yielded greater results. He was down to his last sample of the D'Shar elixir. There was no time to spare.
"Better every day. You were right. Whatever you mixed together suppressed my Shar genes." It had done the exact opposite actually. It made him more Shar, but the inhibitors in the mixture blocked his powers. It was the perfect situation. They both got what they wanted, and Charlie was none the wiser. I’ll have an unlimited supply.
"Good." He pulled on his gloves and walked over to the counter
where the young man perched on the edge. "I'm going to draw some more blood and run a few tests. I know it's tedious, but your safety and well being is my top concern."
"Thanks, Unc. I appreciate it."
He smiled. "Pleasure is all mine." He tied off his arm with a slip of rubber material and handed him a blue stress ball.
"You know the routine. Give it a few squeezes for me." He tore open the white square he'd placed on the sterile tray beside the counter in preparation. "That's good." He swabbed down the area of his inner arm, prodding gently with his fingertips for a vein. Found it. He reached over and opened the package with the needle, pricked the skin and hit the vein on the first try. The red liquid filled up six vials. What looked normal to the human eye held a blue tinge, normal to a Shar. This was as good as it was going to get. He'd take a portion of the blood and plasma he'd gathered and make a new Elixir.
"When will you get the results?"
"In a few days." Tonight. "But don’t worry. Things look good. As long as you continue to take the pills I'm providing, I see no reason why you can't live a normal life. You'll probably find your health will improve and you'll rarely get sick. In the occasion that you do, it'll be mild."
"I'm down with that." Charlie grinned.
"I thought it was a nice perk." He removed the rubber band and pressed down the folded gauze. "Hold this down for me." He grabbed the Band-Aid from the tray and applied it when Charlie removed his fingers. "Good as new. Contact me immediately if you notice any new developments. Good or bad."
"Will do. Am I free to go? I have a class in about an hour."
"Yeah, we're all done here."
"Awesome." Charlie hopped down from the table. "You going to be around for awhile?"
"A little while longer, but I have things that need to be tended to. I'll let you know before I take off.”
Charlie nodded. "All right, I'll see you later then." He gave a wave and bounded up the stairs in a hurry to beat the mid-day traffic. The minute he heard the front door shut Tavel locked the door behind him with his powers and went to work. Bunsen burners came to life, and he walked over to his workstation. Heavy, black slate tables were lined up on the far side of the wall with numerous devices placed on their surfaces. He set the tubes in a rack, choosing one to divvy up into other tubes, adding different solutions to each before he placed them in a centrifuge where they spun. Seconds stretched to minutes as he hovered over the machine, anxious to run his analysis. When the cycle stopped spinning, he took the first tube off and moved down the tables. He'd made his own machinery. Human technology mixed with Shar. The sleek, black machine glowed green as he started it up with his mind. He'd made it to look like a microscope, but it did so much more. His hands shook as he unscrewed the top, took a dropper from the table, sucked up at tiny bit of liquid, and placed it on a slide.
Tavel set the glass rectangle beneath the scope, and it whirled to life. It cast a projected rundown of all the elements and compounds found in Charlie's blood. His mind worked overtime as he digested the information and ran over scenarios. He didn't want to simply recreate the elixir that kept him from dying. He wanted to go one step further and achieve success. Summoning a recorder off one of the desks he hit play and began to talk. "Trial one…"
Twelve grueling hours later he held a murky blue liquid up to the light. To drink or not to drink. Always a risk-taker he lowered the bottle, removed the top, and tossed it back. The bitter flavor puckered his lips and dried out his mouth on contact. Sweat ran down his body in sheets. He quickly shed his sweater and jeans. Stripped down to a plain, white t-shirt and plaid boxers he was still on fire. Anxiety made him pace the floor as he came down with a case of the jitters. A sharp stab of pain struck his stomach.
"Ugh." He dropped to his knees, literally bowled over by the pain. Is this how my life ends? The writhing ended as he convulsed, and darkness engulfed him.