Free A Member of the Council by Lynn Cahoon Page B

this.
    This afternoon, he’d found his soul mate.
    A few minutes ago, sitting at his antique desk eating Chinese food, he’d lost her forever.

 
    Chapter 10
     
    Parris woke to the smell of moss, mold, and antiseptic tickling her nose. Her head pounded. What happened last night? She hadn’t stayed at the bar drinking. Her apartment only had one bottle of wine she’d opened to share with Ty. She felt like a college student after a frat party. She tried to sit up, causing her head to pound harder. Something held her down.
    “What the hell?” Bringing her head up, she glanced down at her body. She was strapped to a gurney. Her gaze flashed through the room, looking for anything familiar. Had she been in an accident? Was she in a hospital? She fought back nausea trying to remember the last few hours. She’d left the bar, walking toward the bakery to get dinner, then, nothing. If she’d been hit by a car, shouldn’t she remember it?
    Calming herself, she started checking out her ability to move. Toes on each foot wiggled fine. At least she wasn’t paralyzed. Without being able to see her entire body, she wasn’t taking anything for granted. She tried tapping her fingers.
    All five fingers on each hand ran down a scale on an imaginary piano. No, this time she felt the cool hard sheet on the gurney. No eight hundred thread count sheets here. Parris smelled a hint of bleach coming from the linens.
    She turned her head to the left, a door. No one appeared to be in the room. She shook her head. She felt clear, not dizzy. All she had to do was unbuckle the first strap, sit up, and get out of here. She felt a strong desire to escape. She never questioned her feelings. They’d kept her alive many times. Like in college after she’d turned down the ride home with her sorority sisters. Later she found out the girls were in a horrible accident, car versus train. Train wins.
    Her senses told her to escape. No matter what.
    Focusing on the first belt, she visualized the strap unbuckled leaving her free. As she tried to sit up this time, nothing held her back. She reached to untie the other belts. No straps held her. Nothing.
    Confused, she pulled back the sheet, revealing a stiff cotton gown. No injuries she could see. No cuts, no bandages, no broken legs, no bruises. Why was she in a hospital?
    The door to her left opened. A woman in a doctor’s coat over a brown skirted suit strolled into the room. The woman’s drab gray hair was pulled away from her face, blue eyes sparkling behind a pair of black rimmed glasses.
    “Good, you’re awake. You’ve removed your restraints.” She wrote something down on the chart she carried. She smiled at Parris. “Headache, still? An unfortunate side effect of the drug they administered last night. I can give you aspirin. Nothing stronger, I’m afraid. Pain medication interferes with testing.”
    The woman gently laid her hand on Parris’ forehead. “Good, no fever.”
    “Why would I have a fever? Where am I? Who are you? What testing am I doing?” Parris shot off her questions, not expecting an answer to any of them. What she heard though, chilled her to the bone.
    “You relax now. The Council wants to see what your levels are.” The woman smiled again, her once red lipstick now a memory except for the line around her lips. Parris noticed the smile never reached her eyes.
    The woman turned her back. Parris focused her attention, hoping she’d be strong enough. “You don’t want to do this. You want to let me go.”
    “I’m immune. Sorry. But good try.” The woman made a check mark on her clipboard. “I haven’t seen a strong hypno-talent in a long time.”
    The woman walked over to a machine, turning dials. “Shall we get started then? Lovely.”
    Parris felt electricity run through her. “What’s happening?”
    The woman called out, “Give me your earliest memory. Playing in the backyard with your parents. Or sitting down at the table for dinner. Something small, focus