The technology left behind by the Ancients continues to be a puzzle for even the best contemporary scientists. We have found no evidence of a power source, nor circuitry of any recognizable sort. We can tell that the technology works, but why it works continues to be a mystery. And I refuse to succumb to the theory of magic.
-Excerpt from the journals of See’lar Vixala.
“Sequencing genetic markers. Searching for matches.” The voice was a soft, emotionless whisper cutting through the icy wind. Somehow, it was familiar, although Maggie was sure she’d never heard it before. Was this what they meant by dejavu? She blinked open her eyes, squinting into the white light that surrounded her. Icy snowflakes pelted her skin, and in the distance, she saw something looming as tall as a skyscraper.
“So, it found you. Finally!” The wind tore the voice away, leaving only a senseless howling behind. Warmth seeped into her, and color started to bleed into the landscape, the white blizzard fading away to show her aunts cafe and the blurry figures of Becca and her brother, Ross. She only noticed them for a moment before a furry brown face loomed over her, tongue lolling out as Chance, the stations police dog, assaulted her with doggy breath.
“The burn looks worse than it is, but I think she’s in shock.” Ross’s voice floated through the howling in her ears, and Maggie realized that it was getting much quieter. She also realized that she was sitting on one of the mismatched recliners in the cafe, a scratchy gray blanket wrapped around her shoulders.
“But what caused the burn? All I saw was this bright white light and she was screaming! There was nothing in her hand.” Becca’s voice was higher than normal, and she was pacing back and forth on the worn carpet in front of Maggie, agitatedly waving her hands at nothing. “I have to call Electra, should we take her to the hospital?”
“Calm down Rebecca, I already called Doc Zimmerman, he’s on his way.” Ross was sitting in a chair across from Maggie, his badge bright against his dark uniform shirt. He smiled when he noticed Maggie open her eyes. “Well, look who decided to join us....”
His voice was light, but there was concern in his eyes, a seriousness beneath the smile. He always did have a handsome smile. Although Chance apparently thought his was more handsome, one ear flopping as he tilted his shaggy head, blocking her view of Ross for a moment. Maggie gingerly pushed the dog away.
“It was the paperweight.” Her own voice sounded strange to her. Hoarse and shaky. She looked down at her hand, trying to focus on it. It didn’t hurt, didn’t feel hot, didn’t even feel cold... which was weird since she was holding a frozen bag of chocolate chips. Must have been the closest they had to frozen peas. A bubble of laughter threatened to spill out her mouth at the thought, and she struggled to hold it in, staring at the bag for a moment that seemed to stretch on and on.
“Easy there, kiddo.” Ross grinned at her, taking her hand and peeking beneath the bag of chocolate chips. “How ya feeling?”
“What paperweight? Maggie, no paperweight I’ve ever seen could do that. It looked like your whole hand had caught fire!” Becca paused in her anxious pacing, pinning Maggie with an intense gaze. “If Ross hadn’t already been on the way...” She paused, then spun on her heel and marched behind the counter. “I’m going to make you some hot chocolate.”
The statement reminded Maggie so forcefully of Aunt Electra that the laughter bubbled out. When in doubt: heal it with a hot beverage and baked goods! Actually, baked goods sounded really good right about now. She looked down at her hand, noticing how it shook, beneath the bag of chocolate chips, glimpsing the angry, blistering red skin before Ross set the bag back against her skin.
As if seeing the damage was some trigger, feeling started to return to her hand, an aching burn that seemed to go all the way down into her bones. In contrast the rest of her felt freezing. She moved to pick up the bag of chocolate chips to take a closer look, but Ross put his hand over it, his voice soft. “Leave them there until Doctor Zimmerman gets here to take a look at the damage.”
Maggie rested her hand back down, trying to ignore the pain searing through her hand. It felt like it was still on fire, but everything above her hand felt cold. “It hurts...” She whispered, tears welling up in her eyes. Shit, she did not want to cry in front of Ross.
“I know it doesn’t feel like it, but that’s a good thing. Rebecca will get you some pain pills, and the cold from the chocolate chips should help. Would you be up to answering a few questions about what happened?”
A shiver ran down her spine, and Maggie nodded. “Y-yeah. Yeah I’m okay. Go ahead.” She curled her arm against her stomach, staring down at the bag of chocolate chips and wondering how they weren’t melting from the heat. Maybe the paperweight had had a weird reaction to the pepper spray. That was possible, wasn’t it?
“Good. If you need to stop, just let me know. We’ll take all the time you need.”
Ross was gentle with his questions, Chance a welcome comfort with his big head on her lap. Although Chance did make it hard to eat the cookies Becca brought over until he got his own plate of doggy biscuits. “You’re going to get fat, dog.” Maggie muttered to the large German Shepard, who wagged his tail with no shame at all.
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It felt like the questions went on for hours, not that she could give him much information. She had only glimpsed the mans face for a short time, long enough to tell he had short, dark hair, and intense blue eyes. She had a vague idea that he was wearing some kind of leather jacket and boots on, but she couldn’t begin to tell him what colors they were.
By the time Ross was finished, Doctor Zimmerman had arrived, and had his own questions to ask. “Well, this is a lovely burn you have Magdelina.” He said casually, although his eyebrows raised nearly to his receding hairline. “How in the world did you come by it?”
He turned her hand this way and that, careful of the burns as he studied the odd pattern the burn made on her palm. She had expected it to be just a plain circle from where she had been holding the paperweight thing, but it was a spiral closer to the galaxy that had been suspended in the crystal, only bigger. It seemed to fit perfectly on her palm, and light glinted oddly off the blisters that were already forming.
Maggies stomach turned, and she looked away as the doctor carefully peeled away one of the blisters, not seeing the shimmering silver that spilled out. Doctor Zimmerman caught some in a tube, frowning. “You’ll need to keep this bandaged for a few days. I’ll give your aunt something for the pain, and some cream she can help you put on it so that it doesn’t get infected. But it’s not as bad as it looks. I would still like you to take some time off of work and school to get some decent rest though.”
“Time off?” Maggies eyes snapped to him, thinking of her meager savings for a car, and the idea of having to retake History 132.
“Yes.” Doctor Zimmerman said firmly, his voice allowing no room for argument. “I’ll talk to Professor Hernandez myself so don’t worry about that. You need to focus on your health right now, and your health requires you to rest so that you can heal. Am I clear?”
But her car... she was getting so close to being able to afford an old beater! But she knew from watching Doctor Zimmerman with her mother that he was not above sedating someone if they refused to rest.
She was sure that had to be illegal, but that didn’t stop him from doing it. Or her aunt from helping him. “Yes....” She said reluctantly.
Doctor Zimmerman nodded, smearing some kind of cream over her hand. It seeped into the burn, soothing the heat almost immediately. He had already started to bandage it when her aunt walked in, a frown already on her face. Well, Maggie couldn’t blame her there. There was no good reason for both the police and Doctor Zimmerman to be at the cafe this time of day.
“What’s happened?” She demanded before she was even through the door, her dark eyes scanning the room intently. She took in Ross, sitting in the chair across from Maggie, Doctor Zimmerman bandaging her hand, and Becca behind the counter, cleaning things that she had already cleaned at least twice in her need to be doing something.
Ross looked up, closing his notepad and sliding it into his pocket. “Electra, nice to see you. Everything’s alright, Maggie just had a.. rough night.”
“Rough night!” Becca made a sound that was somewhere between a snort and a laugh, glancing at Maggie, then at her brother in disbelief. “Rough night. You might as well say that Desert Storm was a little scuffle!”
“Yes, a rough night.” Ross said firmly, and stood up. “I don’t want to start a panic, Maggie is alright, she did exactly right in her situation.”
Ross turned to Aunt Electra, whose eyes had widened in alarm. Which did not lessen when he continued. “She was attacked by a drunk in that alley between Main and Tollberry Street. Probably an isolated incident but we’re going to look into it and try to find the guy.”
Electra nearly dropped her purse, her face turning ashy pale. “You were attacked? Oh my God Maggie, why didn’t you call?” She did drop her purse then, letting it land on a table as she hurried over to embrace Maggie in a tight hug. Doctor Zimmerman moved away to make room, tucking the tube of silver liquid into his pocket as he stood up.
“I’m fine Aunt Electra... it didn’t happen that long ago, you were going to be here soon anyways so we just... figured we’d wait to tell you in person.” Maggie returned the hug, closing her eyes to hold back the tears. She had already cried a few times, she didn’t want to do it again and make Aunt Electra worry more.
“Don’t you lie to me young lady, you’re shakin’ like a leaf in a hurricane. We’ll close up the shop today. Becca can go home and get some sleep, and I’ll take you home so you can get some rest as well. Unless you need her for anything more, Officer Ross?”
“You don’t have to do that Aunt Electra! I’m fine, really. I just... want to go home and get some sleep. That’s all.”
“No, we’re done here. I’ll go file my report and we’ll put a description of the culprit out. Maybe we’ll get lucky and someone will have already picked him up.”
“Someone else who? Chance?” Becca rolled her eyes at the idea. Chance looked up at the mention of his name, tail thumping against the floor, eyes a soulful request for more biscuits.
“Rebecca, I’m not the only cop, and we work with the state troopers.” Ross said. “If he’s been wandering around drunk he might already be at the station.”
“I know, I know.” Becca looked at the dozens of cookies she had made and sighed. “We’ll have a sale on cookies tonight... I’ll close up for you, just... you two go ahead.”
“Thank you Becca, make sure to record your hours so I can get you the overtime.” Aunt Electra wrapped an arm around Maggie, guiding her to the door.
“Can I talk to you for a moment Electra? I need to give you some prescriptions for Maggie.” Doctor Zimmerman nodded towards the back office, little more than a storage room with a desk in it. “Privately.”
Electra frowned, glancing at Doctor Zimmerman. “Of course. Officer Ross, can you help her to the car? It’s right behind yours, the doors aren’t locked. Becca, please pack up some of the chocolate chip cookies for us and yourself. I have a feeling we’ll all be needing them today.”
“Of course.” Becca sighed, and grabbed a couple of the bakery boxes, starting to pile cookies in them.
Maggie found she was too tired to argue, following Ross out of the door in a fog of exhaustion. She barely remembered the ride home, or Aunt Electra making up the couch for her to sleep on, just like she and her mother used to when she was little and home with a cold. She even turned on some of the familiar old cartoons, and Maggie let them lull her into a restless sleep full of strange dreams.