The Sound of Wind by Raegan Millhollin

  **

  Hugo was pacing. He knew he should stop and CJ’s expression told him he should stop, but he couldn’t sit down. Mr. Hansen was in surgery and it was all his fault. He’d given the man a brain aneurysm or something trying to break Hermes’ conditioning. And he was going to die. There was no way around it. Mr. Hansen was going to die and it was because he had talked him to death. Hugo chewed on his nail.

  “Will you please sit down?” CJ exclaimed, kicking her legs against the waiting room chair.

  “I can’t! He’s going to die and I killed him!”

  CJ’s face scrunched up, “What? No? There was something wrong with his brain, you didn’t do it.”

  “But I did. If I hadn’t tried-”

  CJ huffed, “Not everything is about you, Hugo.”

  Hugo stopped moving. Then the door opened and Dr. McFadden emerged, quietly closing the door behind her. “Is he dead?”

  The doctor raised her eyebrows at Hugo, then chuckled a little, “No, no he’s going to be fine. He just needs to rest.”

  Most of the tension left Hugo’s body and he slipped his hands in his pockets. “What happened?”

  “Well, he had a small brain hemorrhage, probably due to a sudden high level of stress. You did a very good job of reacting so quickly. A bit longer and things might have been much worse.”

  Oh god, he really had almost killed Mr. Hansen by talking to him. However, the tone in Dr. McFadden’s voice suggested the case wasn’t as close as she was making it sound. He couldn’t figure out what her ability to control metal had to do with surgery. Maybe she had other abilities she was hiding? And why was she hiding them here, where there were people that would understand her? He wanted to ask, but it would be invading her privacy and that was rude.

  Dr. McFadden lightly touched his arm, “Hugo, it’s fine. Mr. Hansen is going to be fine. Alright?”

  Hugo dipped his head, nodding, “Ok.” It was pointless trying to explain that it was his fault, most likely no one would believe him. He just wouldn’t try it again, not until he’d talked to Mr. Hansen’s brother to find out if he wanted to be found. Maybe Hermes put in the strong conditioning just to make sure his brother wouldn’t try and kill him again. Hermes was alive and the world wasn’t a hive mind, so it seemed like his file had exaggerated or misinterpreted his neurosis. Maybe it was possible to reconcile the brothers and Hermes would remove the conditioning himself. Maybe he could really help Mr. Hansen.