somewhere between the sacred silence and sleep [.open.]

It hurt a little when Jeremy flinched at the touch.  Not because she was offended or anything, but because it was sad that even a friendly touch could frighten him, almost like a flighty racehorse.  In answer to his apologetic glance, Lisette gave him a wry smile.  Whatever it was that'd happened to him, it wasn't his fault.

The scars that laced his skin were varying in their degree of freshness.  Some were nearly healed, and others were puckered and red.  His answer to her concerned question wasn't reassuring at all.  If anything, it was more of a deflection of the question than an actual answer.  When he flinched again, her gaze flickered away and she moved back to give him a little space.  "Sorry," she murmured under her breath.

Suddenly, there was a change in his demeanor, from quiet, if agitated, to frenzied.  He exclaimed that he needed to talk to the headmistress frantically, and his abruptly energetic manner nearly startled the girl.  When she spoke, her tone was one of forced calm, since her own heart was racing.  "I'm sure we can call the headmistress up here," Lisette said, trying to be reassuring (and probably failing).  Among her friends, she usually wasn't the calm, steady one, but rather the dramatic, emphatic one.  Which obviously was not helping in the current situation.

She nearly reached to grab his arm when he stood up, but quickly enough realized that it wasn't a very good idea.  "Please sit back down," she pleaded.  "The nurse will be here soon, and he wants you to stay as still as possible.  You won't be doing anyone any good in this state."  Not sure if he would listen, she added, "I'll call the headmistress if you sit." 

Jeremy, once on his feet, made the realization (AGAIN) that he would not get very far. His legs had barely gotten him this far. Frustration added to that potent cocktail of panic and confusion. The impotence he'd felt since the marketplace hazing that had led to their kidnap boiled up within him and roared so loudly in his ears that he scarcely heard Lisette's first helpful response.

He listed to the side, but righted himself and finally answered the girl, "This is the only thing I can do." The dream-wanderer's voice remained taut, laced with pain and weariness. Perhaps one of the tragedies of his existence was that he couldn't lapse into unconsciousness to take the edge away. His own rest depended on the restfulness of those around him.

Foresta could never accommodate him safely, even without the kidnapping. Too many here had been ravaged by some kind of physical or emotional trauma.

He was indecisive about sitting back down. In a way, he knew he'd never make it out the door on his own. That rational thread of thought was buried, though, within an entire fabric of other emotions, none of which were based in logic.

Luckily, he was spared the decision by the arrival of a short, Latino gentleman with stitches above his eye and a few bruises across his face. The man opened the door, but stayed in the doorway for the time being. However, his brown eyes were warm and gentle and his tone the same. "Thank you for staying here, Jeremy." His accent was thick, but it wasn't too hard to understand him.

Jeremy immediately stilled with suspicion and the man noticed it instantly. "I know you from your file. We've been looking for the students that are still missing. I'm the nurse. I'm here to take you to the clinic, if you let me."

The voice matched the one he'd heard over the phone. By now, there would have been some kind of inconsistency. Still, Jeremy looked at Lisette for support. The nurse was wearing scrubs, and he had not moved from the doorway. Both of those were good, he could process this at his extremely slow pace.

"I need to talk to the headmistress. I need to warn everybody-"

At this, the man held up a hand to forestall any more vocal exertion. "She knows. We've been down there." He didn't elaborate. For Jeremy, it wasn't necessary. The last four words were enough. Relief washed over his face and his knees stopped holding him.

The nurse moved as though he'd had a rough night (and from the looks of it, that was most certainly the case,) but he had apparently been prepared for Jeremy to drop. He slung one of the boy's arms over his shoulders and asked Lisette, "Anything I should know before taking him? Thank you for keeping him here. And feeding him." The man had spotted the wrappers.

Jeremy mumbled numbly, "Still here."

Just as she was about to ask Jeremy to sit down again, the door opened to reveal a man wearing scrubs.  For some reason, he had bruises and stitches on his face, which was a bit worrying.  It was reassuring, however, that the man's countenance was warm, and his tone soft and friendly.  The boy looked over at her worriedly.  In return, she gave him a small smile.  After that, though, Lisette remained silent, letting the nurse and the boy converse on their own.  

When the boy practically collapsed, however, she moved to catch him, but the nurse got there first, supporting Jeremy with an arm around his shoulders.  By now, the position was starting to look familiar.  She acknowledged the gratitude with a dip of her head and by saying, "It was no problem."  

The nurse also asked her if there was anything he should know before they left.  She gave a small laugh when Jeremy muttered that he was still there.  "Indeed.  Well, there's not much to say.. I don't know what happened to him, but it was definitely something traumatic."  The girl glanced at him again.  "Will either of you mind if I come along?"

Jaime shifted the boy's weight a little, just to make it more comfortable for Jeremy. The kid didn't weigh much at this point, but he was taller than Jaime (by at least four inches, though it was likely more). The Cuban smiled at the girl. "If he's been this headstrong, it probably was," he returned, his dark eyes twinkling. He was relieved that another student had been found, even if it did mean more work for him.

He nodded when the girl suggested that what had happened had been traumatic. A shadow crossed his face and his expression quickly went from surprise to a concerned gravity at her request. Jeremy's response was immediate. "Yes. Wait, no. Uh."

Jaime shook his head, carefully looking over the girl's face. "We are at capacity right now. You won't like what you see." He sighed. "I only say this because you will find out soon. We had several students go missing in the past half-year. We found most of them yesterday." This was a particularly sensitive topic and Jaime hesitated here. The staff had not been briefed yet on how to broach the subject with students and his position, while necessary, was not as stable as it needed to be to survive a scandal.

The nurse rubbed a cheek against one of his shoulders distractedly. "You can come down if you want. Again, the clinic is not a good place to be right now and you will only be allowed to visit with Jeremy due to privacy concerns."

She laughed quietly in response to the man's comment.  "No, it was really no trouble," she repeated with a wry smile. "Even with his cheekiness." Even if it had been, she couldn't exactly have ignored him and gone back to sleep.  Wanting to make sure nothing happened along the way, Lisette asked if she could come along.  She thought maybe having someone somewhat familiar around might help, even though the assumption was a little arrogant.  Jeremy's response came with no hesitation, but was a little confusing.  On the other hand, the nurse's was much clearer, but disappointing.  She supposed he was right, though.  The infirmary wasn't a good place to be if you were wary of blood and seeing people who might possibly be mutilated.  She felt bad for thinking so, but it was kind of disgusting.

Lisette exhaled softly and glanced at the clock.  It was still early, and she was exhausted.  "I suppose I should let you get some rest, Jeremy," she said. "I'll come visit you in a couple hours, though."  She looked back at the adult for approval.  "Is that okay?"  Maybe by then he'd have gotten some much needed rest and recovery, and gotten his wounds tended to.  And a shirt.

The nurse nodded his approval, commenting, "Better give it at least five. Looks like your friend here will need stitches if my healing doesn't take. His parents also get priority visitation."

Jeremy seemed to get with the program at this point. "My parents are here?!" Hope mixed with subtle horror colored his tone and Jaime nodded.

"They've been here since we found out you were missing. Come down to the clinic and we'll get you cleaned up enough to see them, ok?" The nurse's tone was soothing enough to calm Jeremy down again and the boy nodded his permission (as though Jaime needed it).


--~0~--


Nurse's office, a few hours later:

Jeremy, cleaned and stitched up, reclined on a cot, flanked on one side by his parents. They had arrived almost as soon as they'd found out he was at the school and had not left his side once. At times, it was an awkward affair as he'd been cleaned and stitched up. The wound on his shoulder was covered with a bandage and a clean white shirt.

The only reason his parents had been allowed to stay was his mother. They could avoid disrupting the rest of the injured in the clinic through her power. It also meant that she had no-holds-barred access to his thoughts.

His bright blue eyes were locked on hers and she'd turned a ghastly shade of pale. Jeremy's father's grey-eyed gaze moved from his wife to his son, concern linger on his angular features. Jeremy finally broke the silence with an urgent murmur, "Please don't worry. Half of that stuff had to be in the dreaming."

She nodded in acceptance, calculating in her mind what time it would be in 5 hours.  About ten-thirty A.M.  "Alright.  See you then, I guess," Lisette answered.  The boy seemed both happy and anxious at the news that his parents were here.  She wondered about the source of the conflicting reaction.  

--~time skip~--

After taking a wrong turn and wandering the halls until she recognized one of the rooms, she finally found her way to the infirmary.  The place was huge, and as soon as she stepped inside, her senses were assaulted.  There was a faint buzzing coming from the overhead lights, and a strong smell of bleach and other industrial-strength cleaning products.  She wrinkled her nose and held back a sneeze as she approached the receptionist's desk.  

"Hello, I'm here to visit Jeremy?"  She realized that she didn't know his surname, and hoped there weren't multiple Jeremys in the infirmary.  All of the beds seemed to have their curtains drawn, or they were hidden from her view by the other beds' curtains.  "What?  Oh, Jeremy Sommer?" the receptionist answered after a moment, processing the words spoken in an unfamiliar accent.  "Er, I think so."  Lisette received a somewhat disapproving look from the woman, which she ignored.  "Just to let you know, his parents are with him, too."

She was directed to the bed Jeremy was in.  Drawing aside the curtain very slightly, the girl poked her head in.  "Jeremy?"  There were three adults at his side, one of which was the nurse from earlier.  The other two must be his parents, then, she reasoned. 
 

Jeremy looked over at the shift in the curtains. Jaime, who had been unobtrusively writing a few things down on a clipboard he left at the foot of the bed, excused himself. Her definitely looked more like a student and less like a prisoner, but there was a hollowness to his cheeks and eyes that spoke volumes. The woman standing next to him also leveled an even gaze at the newcomer. At first she seemed to be on the cusp of shooing Lisette away.

Then a spark of recognition hit her face and she smiled warmly at the girl. "You're Lisette." The woman held herself as though she wanted to collapse from relief into a chair, but there were more things to worry about than she'd anticipated. Jeremy's father walked around the foot of the bed to pull Lisette into a tight bearhug. Most of Jeremy's features seemed to be turning out more like his father's than his mother's. Eventually, his youth would harden into similar planes. He did share his mother's astonishingly blue eyes, though. "Thank you for helping our son," his mom continued sincerely. "You will never know how much your actions mean to us."

Jeremy made an embarrassed sort of gesture, glancing up at his mom quellingly. He didn't have to say anything, though. She already knew. She offered her son a wry half-smile in response and he shook himself. "Lisette, these are my parents. Mom's a telepath and Dad's a plane-seer. Er. He sees into other planes of existence. Or something."

Soon after she left, the nurse left, leaving her alone with Jeremy and his parents.  She returned the woman's steely gaze steadily, but all of a sudden, it appeared as if she had an epiphany, a smile lighting her features as she greeted Lisette by name.  The man took her by surprise with a strong embrace, which she accepted awkwardly and tentatively.  She was receiving quite a lot of gratitude for her minor involvement in the whole mess of thing.  Ducking her head as a pink flush tinted her cheeks, she answered, "Really, it was no trouble.  I think the nurse deserves more thanks than I do."  For one thing, he had been the one to bring Jeremy down here, and tend to the boy's injuries.  

It was interesting to hear that his parents were Gifted as well.  Her own parents hadn't been, and she hadn't known that it could be inherited.  Their abilities were both psychic ones--apparently, that kind of gift ran in the family.  

Telepathy.  Did that mean the reading of minds, or the ability to communicate mentally?  Tele- meant mind, and -pathy meant emotion, which didn't give much insight to the details of the woman's powers.  It made her a little uneasy to think that her every thought could be 'heard'.  Her brain had always been a safe place where she could quite literally speak her mind without judgement, but it seemed like that might no longer be the case.  

"Other planes of existence?  That must be interesting," she said, with a soft laugh.  "I see you finally got a new shirt," the girl added, smiling slightly.  It seemed to be brand new, what with its stark-white color.  And despite the harshness of the color, it provided a sort of reassurance of cleanliness and health.  

"Nonsense," was his mother's reply as his father stepped away from the girl. "You stepped in twice where others would not have, doing more than anybody would have expected of you." Jeremy's dad nodded emphatically.

For Jeremy's part, he kind of wanted this part of the conversation to be over. It was getting embarrassing. He cleared his throat when his mom didn't show any acknowledgement of some thoughts he was projecting her way. He apologized to Lisette, saying, "Sorry, I couldn't keep her out this time." He pulled a face and added quickly, "But she won't read you or anything unless you ask. At least not intentionally."

At this, finally, his mother looked abashed. "I sometimes do pick up things when people are upset." She smiled at the girl. "I don't make a habit of intruding on anybody. Jem's a different case, though. Family dynamic and all that."

As for the planes of existence comment Lisette made, the man merely nodded, a cryptic expression gracing his features as he glanced to the woman. She nodded and murmured to Jeremy, "We're going to see about getting you moved back to your dorm, okay?"

And, with that, they left. The curtain hushed closed behind them. Jeremy rubbed the back of his head, his hair too tangled to drag his fingers through. "Yeah, this is one of the ones from my dorm room," he replied vaguely. "Did you... ahhh... get back to sleep okay?"

She let out a silent breath when she was released. Being embraced by random people was not an everyday occurrence. At least, not for her. She couldn't speak for anyone else. The older woman pressed on with her thanks, to which Lisette just shrugged noncommittally. Well, if they insisted. Observing the family, the girl noticed that while Jeremy seemed to resemble his father more, he shared his mother's bright blue eyes, somewhat similar to her own.

Lisette brushed off Jeremy's apology with a wave of her hand. "It's fine." He went on to assure her that her privacy wouldn't be violated, which was definitely more than nice to know, though she did feel a little sheepish that she'd been at all wary of his mum encroaching on her thoughts. "You must be psychic, too," she said jokingly. Or just empathetic. Either way, it was eerie how he'd basically answered her thoughts, only aloud. The timing was perfect, too. Well, who could know for sure, when it came to a fickle thing like magic and a school for people who had the ability to wield it, in some form or another.

"That's a relief," she replied to the woman, humour in her voice, and a polite but earnest smile on her lips. Jeremy's father, however, did not expand on the intricacies of his power. It was mostly self-explanatory, aside from exactly what planes were the 'other planes of existence'.

The two remaining adults soon left, leaving her and Jeremy alone. In reply to his question, she lifted a shoulder. "Not too horridly," she answered.

"So, Jem," she said teasingly, with an arched eyebrow. "Feel any better? I'm assuming the nurse stitched up those cuts."


OOC Note: OHMYGODTEMP JEM IS THE NAME OF ONE OF MY FAVORITE BOOK CHARACTERS EVER

The clinic was waking up, relieving in that he could talk normally now. He seemed to look at Lisette with new eyes. Though he still retained some of that flighty demeanor that had characterized most of his actions up to this point. At first glance, she could easily be one of his cousins, but her features were different enough and her hair was darker. Her eyes may have been blue as well, but they were a lighter blue-gray where his were closer to the intensity of cobalt.

"Not really," he answered, not really understanding that it was a joke (it had been a long time). "It's the first thing everybody worries about when they meet my mom." His old teammates and friends had never wanted to visit his house once they found out. It wasn't like they were telegraphing this sort of thing, but it wasn't like his parents were keeping it a secret either. Before all of the anti-Gifted stuff, the community had been pretty accepting of them.

He was pleased that she did get some sleep after he'd left. Rest sounded fantastic; maybe he'd be able to get some himself sometime. "Good." There was not much he had else to say about that. He shifted awkwardly in the cot.

Faint color rose to his face at her use of his nickname. It took a moment to get past that, but he forestalled the shrug he would have offered to her question under normal circumstances. "Yeah, stitched up and bandaged. Explained some stuff too. I've been gone for a while, apparently."

He shifted to sit up a little more, wincing when the movement pulled at his stitches. "So. Uh. Are you new to the school or something?"

"Well, most people are probably inclined to be a little uncomfortable around a mind-reader," she said. "But I meant it as a joke."  Mind-reading might be considered one of the malevolent abilities by ungifted people, considering how much power one had with the ability to see what others were thinking.  She didn't blame people for being wary of some powers, but it didn't make sense with others that were either harmless and neutral or benevolent.  Lisette had always thought jealousy and fear of the unknown were the main culprits behind whatever fears the rest of the world had.  

It was.. amusing, almost, to see the color flush in Jeremy's cheeks at hearing her use his nickname.  When he actually answered, though, she made a mental note to stay away from sharp objects whenever possible.  Sharp objects meant gashes, and gashes meant stitches.  Which meant needles.  Needles were one of the few things she truly despised, and that made routine vaccinations and blood tests absolute nightmares.  

After a moment of quiet (although the rest of the patients in the room were waking up and creating background noise) during which he shifted himself in the infirmary bed, he asked if she was new to Foresta.  "Relatively new," the girl answered after a moment of consideration.  How much time was considered 'new'?  "Is it that obvious?"  

He looked blank for a moment at her explanation, then laughed hollowly. "Right. Sorry." When had he lost his ability to laugh convincingly? When had he lost his sense of humor? Maybe it was instantaneous, when his rescue from the marketplace lynch-mob had revealed itself as a ploy to capture Robbert and Ansleigh.

As for her reply... he smiled, an expression that was foreign to his gaunt features. "I was relatively new before my absence. I would have remembered you, I think." It wasn't an attempt to butter Lisette up, or garner affection. As of right now, it was a truth he most definitely believed in. That was more than what he could say about much of his current understanding of things. Even reality was more tenuous than that.

He leaned back into the sheets with a sigh, feeling ancient without any of the insight that age was supposed to bring. He didn't really want to remain at the school after this experience. He might have given anything to brush the dust of this place off his heels, if not for the news his parents had shared with him earlier.

For now, it seemed, they were stuck here at Foresta. Both of his parents had gotten jobs in the town. His mom was now a very active pediatrician at the hospital and his father could write pretty much anywhere.

"Where are you from? I mean, aside from Britain?"

The corner of her mouth quirked up in a sort of wry half-smile that, like his laugh, was lacking in humour.  "It's fine," Lisette said.  Jeremy's smile in response to her question about the obviousness of her status as a new student was a little more happy, though.  He reassured her, saying that it was only because he thought he would have remembered her. 

"Why, thank you,"she said, smirking. "I'm very flattered."  Of course, she was quite sure he didn't mean it that way--she wasn't daft.  He seemed like he could use some lightness, though, to distract from his aforementioned 'absence'.  The presence of all these other students who'd just been found was enough of a damper.  

Another silence, and Jeremy once more spoke first, with another question, asking what part of Britain she was from.  "London.  I lived closer to the countryside than the heart of the city, though," Lisette said.  She had often traveled around the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland with her family.  In England alone, there were quite a lot of different accents--Geordie, Scouse, Sussex, Mancunian...  Some of them were a little challenging to understand, too.  She liked Welsh and Irish accents most; there was something about the lilting melodies of their speech that was indescribable.  Something like one of the piano pieces she had once learned, but long forgotten.

"Whilst we're on that topic, where are you from?" she asked curiously.  She couldn't tell from his accent; she knew America had different accents as well, but she didn't remember what each sounded like and where each was from.  This was mostly due to the fact that the girl had only visited America once before--New York and Los Angeles, basically the most well-known cities in America.