(REWRITING) The Skylar Experiment : Coveting

13. Rumor Has It

Lauren entrusted Raymond in Greg's care as he drove him to the hospital and left him there. She hadn't been able to focus in class since, and Luc blew up Heather's phone for news but their guardian wouldn't answer. She was probably swamped with patients. Slowly, the senior mutants learned about the incident and became uneasy throughout the rest of the day, growing ansty for more information. 

When the last bell rang, everybody gathered in Greg's empty classroom and they set out on leaving after the halls emptied. 

"Shotgun for a ride with Matt," one of them called. 

"Who's going with me?" Harper asked. 

People split up, the twins, Ben and Devin ending up in Greg's vehicle. A moment later, three cars vroomed out of the parking lot and sped towards the hospital. The large group passed through the entry doors, mounting the stairs to the right department and asking at the desk about Raymond. The secretary looked up at her monitor and Lauren fidgeted on her spot. 

"He's... in room A-506. You may visit him but only three at a time."

Lauren bolted, leading the group as her eyes read the boards. All she could think of was if he was all right. She found the room with the door open and went inside. Everyone else followed, heedless to the limit. 

"Hey!" Raymond grinned. "You guys made it."

He laid on a stretcher in a hospital gown, a book on his lap. All the other stretchers were vacant and he was the only patient there. Healthy color had returned to his face, unfettered by pain. His phone charged on the nightstand. He seemed drained, but comfortable and... okay. 

Lauren approached the bed, a crease between her eyebrows. "So what did they find? How's the stab wound?"

People surrounded the gurney, muttering words like 'don't die, man' or clapping him on the shoulder in some twisted, unexplainable sense of pride. Matt leaned in and they exchanged a firm handshake. 

"I'm on watch and I'm not sure when they will discharge me," he said with a sigh. "All because of a tiny seizure I had after being admitted."

Lauren gripped one of the rail latches. "You had a what?"

"Did Heather find what was wrong?" Greg demanded, moving between Matt and Ben. 

Raymond looked bummed about the confinement, but Lauren still had the urge to slap him. He was in here because of his own stupidity. They stared at each other, Raymond seeming to want to tell her something but refrained in front of the audience. All she gave him was a disappointed head shake as she saw the hospital bracelet around his wrist... and darker veins. 

"She did, actually." Raymond stirred in the bed, using his arms to carefully adjust himself. "She sent a blood sample and another off of the injury to the lab. They found a substance that carries particles of mercury. The dagger must have been swimming in some weird gunk before they threw it at me. Clever fuckers... Can't believe they freaking sent me here."

"Yeah, well, if you didn't act like a moron, none of this would have happened!" Lauren shot, flushing. 

Her brother motioned at her to calm down. "We don't have time for this. Dude, are you going to recover?"

"I'll be fine, pipsqueak. My body just needs time to drain the mercury out. Until then my injury won't heal right. There's only enough in my system to piss me off but not to make me suffer. For now, Heather wants my ass here in case another seizure starts. When I'll go home, I'm... not allowed to walk much as long as I'm not clean by the next lab test."

He'll most likely skip a whole week of school. The group nodded in acceptance, wincing. It sucked, but at least he wasn't in serious trouble. 

Raymond smirked. "What, you thought you'd get rid of me so easily?" 

"A guy can dream, right?" Luc laughed, relieved the problem would fix itself eventually. He felt his sister relax beside him. "But frankly, Heather's right. Sit your ass down and rest. It'll give us a break from you."

They all started joking around that, eager to lighten the atmosphere. Lauren ignored how Raymond's eyes kept flicking to her as she said nothing. Her eyes darted over the group, and she noticed that Greg disappeared from the room. 

She excused herself and moved towards the door. Out in the hall, she walked to the endpoint when she spotted him speaking with Heather. Her hair was tied up and she dressed in a white coat, a stethoscope curled around her neck. They almost saw her, but she whirled behind the wall along the corner. 

They stood close enough for her to hear every word. 

"While we were in the car, he warned me that they were looking for twins. It won't be long until they find them... There's only one set in this town..."

"They have no way to know if it's true--that they can heal people." Heather's whispering voice was shrill and uneasy. "I don't understand how... There was no way they could have known that!"

A cold wave of understanding nearly swept her off her feet. Hunters. Twins. Two words that struck her galloping heart with fear. 

Lauren stared at the floor, wondering how long they knew about this rumor concerning them. She connected the dots, a flutter numbing her chest. This was about the hunters--more precisely, the hunters Raymond encountered last night and he hadn't told her. They were realizing her and Luc had an odd ability...

"I'm not sure what to do," Greg replied. "Taking them out of school won't to help and learning to blend with humans is a valuable thing. We took years to nail it on our own. I don't know about you but sometimes... I still want to rip somebody's throat when I'm in a mood."

Heather didn't answer that, and Lauren would have wanted to know if she struggled with that urge. If she did, it didn't show. Every mutant felt it while growing up--the visceral instinct to react with violence towards a threat. It was the first warning she'd been taught when puberty kicked in as well as her abilities. The pull appeared as mood swings that could deteriorate if provoked, and often times it ended in a massive fight when friction broke out between two people. 

Lauren always managed to control that anger and it stopped bothering her long ago. She knew friends who were fierce and impulsive because of it--off the top of her head, Raymond, Luc and Devin counted among them, but it didn't make them killers. 

"I didn't forget, either," she said. "But we've come a long way and we need to make sure they do, too. Hunters will not get their greedy hands on my kids, and that's a promise." She stopped for a second. "I need to go and make my rounds. We'll discuss this later with everyone else. Now's not the right place or moment." 

Lauren's mouth opened as her guardian turned the corner and caught her standing there. She tensed with a sudden movement backwards, hands gripping a clipboard tighter. Pushing a strand behind her ear, a smile hid the ominous frown engraved on Heather's face. 

"Lauren... I thought you were in Raymond's room."

Greg stepped forth, both adults scanning her gravely. They hadn't wanted this to leak, even though it had everything to do with her... and her brother. Despite dread flourishing in her gut, she stared around, then pointed in a random direction with a clueless expression. 

"I'm looking for the bathroom?" she prompted innocently. 

Heather nodded, eyes narrowing. "Sure, they're right down the hall. Just turn--hey... are you alright?"

Her mind spiraled into scenarios of what this could mean for her and her family. If hunters were combing Oakwood for a pair of twins, they'll uncover them if they hadn't already. There was no way to stop it even if they dropped out of public school. 

And the prospect of monsters trying to corner Luc and hurt him flipped her stomach upside down. She inhaled deeply, keeping her gaze latched onto Heather's. With a forced smile, she was able to reassure her that she hadn't heard a single crumb of the message--that her discussion with Greg had remained private. 

"Yeah... Yeah, everything's fine."

Sorry if this was not too good, I felt like my writing was off the whole way through and wasn't super inspired 😌. Ima release it but there's a high risk I'll come back one day to edit the fuck out of this tidbit. I spent the whole day on an essay in French and my brain's all like... stOoOop switching languages all the time 😂