Gifted Connections 4

“We’ll talk about this later,” Remy said sternly, giving Micah a pointed look.

Micah blushed red and ducked his head. “Yes, sir,” he mumbled.

“I can cloak the team when Blake, Alex, Lincoln, and Jace aren’t available,” Miranda spoke up. “I’m up anyway, every night, until Harry finally sleeps peacefully.”

The snarky side of me wanted to snort and commend her for being there for at least one of us.

“I can go as well,” Dr. Wong stated.

“You know I can be counted on whenever you need me. I’m not sure my manipulation with earth will come in handy, but I’m down,” Terrance added.

“One team,” Marcel piped up.

“One fight,” most of us answered back.

Talk about Harry had abated, and we all went back to our cupcakes and coffee in quiet conversation around the table, when suddenly Darren spoke up.

“What about the halo?” Darren asked hesitantly. “One night when he’s sleeping, we can measure his brain activity and learn how to stop the…door from even opening.”

“Hmm,” Greg began to contemplate the idea as Drake, Remy, and I looked at each other in concern.

“That’s brilliant,” Paul spoke up.

“It’s definitely an option to be looked into,” Kirk agreed.

Remy cleared his throat. “In theory, it’s great. In practice, I don’t like it. A few of us were discussing this earlier, and we came to the conclusion that we don’t know what the long-term effects the halos may have yet. We know it’s painful if the gifted were to try and use their gifts. Electric currents zap them. Harry’s ability isn’t voluntary. If he’s repetitively shocked, who knows what that can do to him in the long run. We don’t want him afraid of his gift or to fear sleep even more than he already does. It’s one thing for us to use it on people that are guilty of causing harm instead of good with their gifts, but if it were my child, I would find another way to help him.”

Darren looked slightly embarrassed.

Jace immediately spoke up. “It was a great idea, man. We thought of the same solution. We just had

time to discuss it. We do have a project we would like you to work on, though.”

He looked over at me and Drake. I nodded, knowing where he was going with this conversation.

“What’s that?” Darren asked eagerly.

“Well, Jemmy will have to agree.” Jace smirked at Jemmy, then looked back at Darren. “We know Gavin is great with coding, but we heard you used to be a hacker.”

Darren flushed once more before looking at Paul. “I used to be until Uncle Paul hired me.”

I was surprised by this revelation. I never even knew they were related. From a few other expressions around the table, it was news to most of us.

“Well, with Jemmy’s ability to manipulate electricity, we were thinking with the proper training, and if she knows what you are looking for, she could possibly track this hacker,” Jace explained. “Catch him or her at their own game.”

Darren snorted with laughter and then quickly turned his eyes to Jemmy. She was openly glaring at him. “It’s not that simple, plus…” He coughed. “She really doesn’t…I mean, she…”

“Go ahead and say it, Nerd.” Jemmy glared at him. “I’m not book smart in the traditional sense. I’ll have you know, before I made my connection I was able to get free music off of Itunes. Now that I’m stronger I’m sure I can learn.”

“That’s child’s play, though.” Darren snorted.

“She did it with just a few strokes of a key,” Gavin defended. “She honestly won’t need that much help.”

Jemmy shot him a grateful smile.

“It doesn’t hurt to try,” Paul said in amusement before he gave Darren a pointed look. “If we’re doing this, I don’t want to find out you transferred any money anywhere. Focus on the mission.”

“I did that only once.” Darren nervously pushed his glasses up, but he couldn’t hide his smirk.