The Sound of Wind by Raegan Millhollin

  **

  Now that he had the chance to talk to Mr. Hansen, Hugo found that he didn’t really want to. Unfortunately Nancy was watching him hesitate, so it was really too late to back out now. Hugo slowly opened the door and peaked inside. The lighting in the office was normal, which meant that Mr. Hansen was already using his ability on him. There must be a camera in the waiting area, since his ability worked on anyone he could see.

  “Come in.” Mr. Hansen sounded like nothing had happened.

  Hugo finished the laborious process of entering the room, carefully shutting the door behind him; it seemed very important that he make as little noise as possible. “Hi.” Hugo took a seat at the desk. There was no reason to look at the illusion in front of him, he’d get no response from that. The thought made his chest tighten.

  “You wished to speak to me?” So politely formal.

  Hugo squeezed his hands together in his lap and drew in a deep breath. He let it out slowly in the waiting silence. “I…uh…I wanted to apologize. I’m sorry, I didn’t mean…to…”

  “Apology accepted. Next time, just warn me before you kill someone I know.” Mr. Hansen chuckled.

  It was a joke. What Hugo had done was a minor inconvenience, nothing more. It was forgiven and there would be a next time. He would kill someone else, just hopefully it wouldn’t be a friend of Mr. Hansen. He’d been upset over nothing. It wasn’t a big deal and he was the only one that didn’t understand that. “You’re…not going to yell at me?”

  “Don’t worry, I’ve already gotten that out of my system.”

  Wait, so he had been upset, but he’d just taken the day off and gotten over it? That was what a minor inconvenience was. Hugo had gotten it all wrong, Mr. Hansen wasn’t concerned about his brother at all. Hermes had been the boogieman, but now he was gone. Again. This time for good.

  “How are the lists coming?”

  That was it? The conversation was over? He apologized and everything was forgiven? It was ok to kill people if you were right. It wasn’t a big deal. “I-I finished them, but I haven’t written it down yet.” He wrestled with the fragments of his brain that kept catching on that concept. Move on, Mr. Hansen has asked you to do something for him. Just keep talking. This is business. This is the way the world works, even if you don’t understand it. “You’ll be happy to know neither list is particularly long. I don’t really have enough of a psychological profile on the outside groups to include them either way.”

  Mr. Hansen nodded, “Maybe we can work on getting you that necessary education.”

  “I-if you want.” He did want to find out more about Gregori Melnikov, the man who would kill Madeline. Try to kill Madeline. He could change that.

  “Also, I want you to speak with Christian and Dr. McFadden. They found some interesting equipment at that hospital in Canada, and I want you to investigate who funded that nurse’s research. Unfortunately we are no longer able to ask her directly. How is your Chemistry?”

  “Largely non-existent,” Hugo responded reflexively.

  “Get a reading list from Dr. McFadden as well. I think it will help your investigation.”

  “A-alright,” Hugo stammered, stumbling on the casual tone of the conversation.

  “I believe that’s it. You can go.”

  Hugo stood and quickly left the room, his chest tight and something cold and hard settling in his stomach. Professional. He needed to be professional. He needed to type up his report. He’d add himself to the lists, but not the doctor or CJ.