#levicoates

Bowl, Levi Coates, 1809, Art Institute of Chicago: American Art

Restricted gift of the Oak Park-River Forest Associates of the Women's Board Size: 7 × 14 cm (2 3/4 × 5 1/2 in.) Medium: Earthenware

Bowl, Levi Coates, 1809, Art Institute of Chicago: American Art

Restricted gift of the Oak Park-River Forest Associates of the Women's Board Size: 7 × 14 cm (2 3/4 × 5 1/2 in.) Medium: Earthenware

Bowl, Levi Coates, 1809, Art Institute of Chicago: American Art

Restricted gift of the Oak Park-River Forest Associates of the Women's Board Size: 7 × 14 cm (2 3/4 × 5 1/2 in.) Medium: Earthenware

The members of the Spetsgruppa Drakon Pushki stood by as Eli said good bye to his brother.  The three of them work their dress uniforms as they stood on the marble floor of London’s St. Pancreas station.  Gregori and Vikenti both stood tall in their black suit jackets, black pants and polished black shoes.  Their grey shirts were pressed, and their red ties, knotted neatly.  

Viktoriya’s hair was brushed to a jet black shine, and then twisted and tied at the back of her head.  Her makeup was applied neatly and subdued, her lips still painted red, and her eerily light eyes rimmed in black, but her eye shadow was a tame shade of brown.  Viktoriya wore her black jacket and trim skirt, grey blouse and red tie.  Her black heels were polished to a shine, and she held the leads of Ceres and Dinah in her gloved hand.

Eli was rarely the most casually dressed in a group.  He wore his favorite oxblood shirt and black tie with a pair of grey slacks tailed to his legs.  He hugged Levi good bye, as Lin stood behind them.

“Are you sure about this, Eli?” Levi patted his little brother on the back.

“I already sold my Benz and gave up my lease.  All my clothes and books are in those bags.  I’m sure, Levi.” Eli told him.  He wore a smile, but his eyes searched the station.

“I sent the message to her, Eli.  I didn’t get anything back.” Levi told him, meeting his brother’s eyes.  

While Valentina had completely walked out on Eli, she’d kept contact with Levi.  When Eli decided to leave his apartment, he’d asked Levi to let Valentina know that he was moving, and selling anything he wasn’t required to give back or needed to take with him.  Is she had left anything behind, that it would be her last opportunity to get it.  After that, he’d asked Levi to send a message to let her know that he was leaving London, and England all together, and it would be her last opportunity to see him.  She was noticeably absent.

“I guess you were wrong, Levi.  It wasn’t love.  I don’t know what it was, but it wasn’t love.” Eli shook his head with a sigh.

“I thought it was. I don’t know who sits by a hospital bedside for eight weeks, and then walks out over a night out.  I even told her that you didn’t do anything.  I don’t know what happened, Eli.  But you deserve better.” Levi shrugged.

“I know.  I’m still broken hearted over it, but I’m moving on.  We’re going to start getting active with this investigation. This is…  This is the right thing to do.  This is what I am meant to do.  And I think these are the people I’m meant to do it with.” Eli told him.  His brother was starting to tear up.

“Good luck, Eli.  I’m going to miss you.   I love you.” Levi pulled him in for another hug.

“Thanks.  I’ll miss you too.  And I love you.  Good luck with Lin.  And I’ll try to come home for New Year’s.”  Eli promised as he hugged him back.  Levi nodded as they parted. 

Eli didn’t look back as he walked back to Viktoriya, Vikenti and Gregori.  He wanted to look back at Levi, but he was afraid if he did, he wouldn’t have the courage to get on the train.  Viktoriya handed the leads over and gave him a smile.  She looked beautiful in her dress uniform, and if he hadn’t already seen it, he’d never think that she might have a tattoo spanning her entire left arm.

“Ready to go, Coates?” She asked. The other men boarded ahead of them.

Eli gathered the courage to look back at Levi and Lin, at London, at the life he’d cowered from, run from, hid from, denied, sacrificed for, built, torn down and embraced.  He looked back to Viktoriya and nodded.  Eli had not held anyone’s hand in what seemed like an eternity, so he was surprised when he felt her hand slip into his.  

For having been asleep for so long, Elijah was tired.  All he wanted was a moment alone with Valentina and Levi to get some answers, but all he had was doctors.  In the past hours, he’d seen a doctor for his mind, his heart, and his eyes, not to mention the person responsible for removing his catheter, which in Eli’s opinion was an incompetent sadist.

The last doctor had left the door of his room open, and Eli could see outside.  Someone that looked a little like Levi was out there, talking to a small woman in scrubs.  Maybe a nurse?  His eye sight had been blurry since he woke up, and now it seemed he would need glasses.  It wasn’t the worst fate in the world, but until he got them, he was dizzy and disoriented.

The Levi shaped man walked into to the room.  As he got closer, Eli decided he was Levi.  No normal person had shoulders that broad, or arms that big. “Hey Eli!  How are you feeling?  Lin said you were asking for pain killers.”

“I’m okay.  I’m really glad to see you, Levi.  Sort of see you.  Things are really blurry.” Eli said into his brother’s mind.  

“Yeah, I heard about that too.  It’s alright.  You’ll look good in glasses.”  Levi pulled up a chair next to his bed.  “How are you holding up?”

“I guess I’m okay.  Or I will be when I get my glasses.  Is Valentina here?”  Eli realized too late that he might have hurt Levi’s feelings.  Quickly, he added, “They told me you were here every day… Thank you, Levi.  I love you.”

“Aww, man…” Levi laughed, “I love you too.  You’re my little brother, if you ever need me, I’m always here.  And Valentina went home for a little bit.  She wanted to take a shower before you saw her.  She’s been sleeping here with you, afraid to take her eyes off of you.   She really took care of you while you were out.”

“Took care of me?” Eli sat up a little bit.  He still felt weak, and hadn’t been offered a meal yet.

“Yeah, when they finally let me see you, it was terrible. So I went back to your apartment and got you a t shirt and some sleep pants, and Lin pulled some strings, and let me dress you.  That sounds so worse than it was in reality.  So after a couple of days of doing work, your place, here, home, work your place, here, home, Valentina saw how exhausted I was.  She offered to help me out with you.  So Valentina would bathe and dress you during the day, so when I got off work we could just read to you and talk to you, and just… You know… Spend time with you.”  Levi explained.

“She bathed me?  Like… a sponge bath?” Eli turned a bright shade of red.

“What? Eli, you’ve had sex with her.  New Year’s Eve you were all over her! How can you be embarrassed that she gave you a sponge bath?” Levi laughed at his brother’s embarrassment.

“I just… I don’t like having people take care of me.  You know that better than anyone.” Eli said in a lame tone.

“Eli, she didn’t feel obligated to do it.  She cares about you, and just wanted to make you as comfortable as you could.  We all wanted that for you.” Levi gave him a smile.

“Yeah, I know.  I just have a hard time accepting help… So… What did I miss?  How long have I been out?” Eli rubbed his eyes, hoping to clear them, but it was in vain.

“It’s been awhile, Eli.  Ten weeks.  And we were extremely worried… The doctors weren’t optimistic.  They wouldn’t let Valentina hear any prognosis.  They barely told me anything.  Lin kept sneaking us details until the doctors figured it out.  So… You missed the winter formal.  Don’t worry, Valentina’s not upset.  Well, she was but not about that.” Levi filled him in on what he’d miss at the pub, and how his landlord sent flowers.  He talked about Lin frequently.

“So… Who is Lin?  You’ve mentioned her a lot.  She’s my nurse?” Eli kept watching the door, hoping for a fuzzy Valentina, but so far he was disappointed.

“Yeah, she’s your nurse, but she’s also my girlfriend.  We started dating a few days before your accident, and then you got transferred here… She’s amazing.  Lin’s beautiful, caring, supportive, and just … An angel, I swear.” Levi mooned.

“She wasn’t the one that took my catheter out, was she?  Because that was the devil.” Eli argued, jokingly.

“No, that wasn’t her.  Don’t worry about that.  As soon as we get you cleared on all your tests, we can get you home and you can start recovering comfortably.” Levi reached over at patted Eli’s hand.  Elijah threw his head back against the pillows.

“Eight weeks, Levi.  Eight weeks gone.  Eight weeks.  Levi… What if she doesn’t…” Eli started, but Levi interrupted.

“She loves you, Eli.  Really.  Truly. Capital “L” love.  Eight minutes, eight hours, eight days, eight months.  She would wait for you as long as she needed too.  She held your hand every day, every night.  She told you stories.  Valentina didn’t mind that she had to carry you through the mud.  Valentina didn’t care that she had to wash the sweat from your chest with a wash rag – actually I think she liked that part.  She has a thing for your chest hair.  Valentina didn’t care that you were being fed through one tube and peed through another.  Valentina didn’t care that she sat next a silent man for eight weeks.  She knew that was the deal when she started dating you.  Eli, she loves you.” Levi assured him.  Eli smiled.  He knew it in his heart, but just needed to hear it.

“I love her too.  I told her so.  I don’t know if she heard me, but I told her.”  Eli let out a sigh.  But this sigh was different.  He wasn’t the defeated, Elijah anymore, disappointed in the world around him.  Eli was happy, hopeful and proud of the world he lived in.  He remembered what Tracker had written - no, not Tracker, he remembered what Mischa had written in that first journal.  He remembered that first time Valentina had actually spoken to him, and read him her father’s words though neither knew it yet.

“She knows, Eli.” Levi gave his brother a smile.

“Who knows Eli?” Valentina asked she walked in, wearing a broad striped blouse in blue and navy, and matching navy skirt.  A red cardigan was thrown over her arm, with her bag, but she dropped them both when she saw him.  “Eli! You’re awake!”

She ran to close the distance between them, her heels clicking across the linoleum floor.  Valentina threw her arms around his neck, kissing him passionately.  She ignored his sweat, chapped lips, stubble, messy hair and bad breath.  She only wanted to kiss him.  Eli felt a guilty for it.  She smelled of sweet perfume, freshly showered and groomed for him.  Her lips tasted like strawberries, sticky but sweet.

“Eli! Oh, Eli!” She blushed when realized Levi was beside them.  She slid from his side, and smoothed her skirt out before fetching her things off the floor. She couldn’t let her embarrassment smother her happiness.  “Eli, I’m so happy to see you awake. How are you?”

He took her hand and held it tight, lacing their fingers together, wanting every proof she was there.  “I’m dizzy, I’m hungry, I want a shower, I can’t see, and I just lost two months of my life.  But I don’t care because right now I am holding your hand, Valentina Lytton.”  He looked up at her. Valentina was close enough for him to make out her features.  Eli met her eyes, speaking truthfully. “I love you.”

“I love you, Elijah Coates.” Valentina said back, squeezing his hand.  The words were just for him, but she didn’t speak in hushed tones.  She wanted their love to be known.  She didn’t seem to care about their ages, and the time between, or his position as her instructor.  Or maybe the fear of losing him made her realize how trivial that was.  Eli was certainly ready to put those aside for the sake of his happiness.

It was Yuri that had helped him come to that realization.  After they left Captain Sima behind, Yuri set to teaching Eli how to heal his memories, and even better yet how to heal himself.  Without acknowledging it, Elijah had been living in fear of happiness for his entire life.  Anton had done the same, Yuri told him, and until the day they parted, was living it still.

“What would be so bad if you were happy?” Yuri asked him, while they walked the halls of the museum.  Most of the memories were complete again, and even parts that were unfinished before the attack were being processed and resolved.

“Well, I…” Eli had started.  He stopped to think about it before answering. “Valentina might have a hard time at school, because I’m her teacher.”

“That’s all you can come up with?  Elijah, she’d be proud to be on your arm, and no one would judge her for dating you.  Your father isn’t going to hit you anymore.  Valentina isn’t Rhianne, or any of the girls from college, or the girls after.  She likes you for the man inside.  She likes your gifts, and that you have private conversations.  She like that you do what you want.  And you do.  I saw that conversation on the dirt road.  Anton never coerced you to that research.  You chose it, and you are making this progress.  Be proud of yourself.  There is much to be proud of.” Yuri told him.  Eli decided then to try to stop worrying so much, and enjoy his life instead.  Living in fear wasn’t helping any, so what the point to continually make himself miserable?

“Thank you for helping Levi to take care of me.” Eli pulled her closer by her hand.  He was weak, and would be for a while.  Thankfully, by some miracle his muscles hadn’t atrophied much.  Levi made him look small enough already.  Valentina took a seat at the edge of his bed, smiling down at him.

“Of course, Eli.  I didn’t mind at all.  I think it helped my mind, knowing that I could help you in some way.” She cooed to him.

“I’m going to need help when they release me.” Eli started, uneasy with his words. “They told me that I’ll need to see a lot of doctors.  There will be a lot of tests and follow ups.”

“Anything you need, Eli. I’m here for you, to help in any way I can.” Valentina answered before he even got to the question.  He nodded in thanks.  She kissed him in reply.

“Enough about me,” he told her when Valentina pulled her lips away. “Worrying about me aside, how have you been?  It’s been eight weeks, I must have missed a lot.”

“Alright, I guess.  I’ve mostly been here with you.  No one is in the carriage house with me.  It’s so big with just me there.  Um, I did steal a morning to go to Denvellia and explain what happened to you to the other students.  The fourth and fifth year students have offered to step in and help the first years in the meantime.” Valentina explained, stroking his hair.  Eli was keenly aware how long and greasy his hair was.

“Liebe still isn’t back?  Have you heard from her at all?” Eli closed his eyes.  Despite his embarrassment, her nails felt good against his scalp.

“No, I haven’t seen her since she left for home back in December.  I asked my dad if she’s alright, but he’s not living in the penthouse, so he hasn’t run into her either.”  She moved closer to him on the bed, letting Eli rest his head against her shoulder.

“I hope she’s alright.  How is your father?”  Since meeting Mischa, it was hard to think of Colonel Lytton as Valentina’s father.  Eli wanted to talk to Valentina about Mischa and Yuri, and what he’d seen in his own mind, but the timing wasn’t right.

“I think he’s doing well.  We’ve spoken on the phone a few times.  He’s worried for you.  He says you remind him of my birth father, but he didn’t really elaborate.  Dad’s got something going on too, he’s getting really busy with it, but he can’t tell me about it.”  She told him.  It wasn’t until that Levi cracked his neck loudly, that they remembered that his brother was in the room.  He wasn’t asking for attention though, Levi was just stiff.

“He can’t tell you about it, or he won’t?”  Eli knew just as well as Valentina did how stubborn Colonel Lytton was.

“He can’t.  It’s classified.  I think he might be trying to get his job back at the CIA.  It’s the only think I can think of.  But he’s been retired for years.  I don’t know why he’d suddenly become interested in it again.”  She wondered aloud.

“You can stay with me if you are getting lonely at your apartment.” Eli told her without thinking of the greater implications.  “I don’t like the idea of you living alone like that.  Something could happen.”

“We can talk about that more when you are released.” She said after a moment of thought.  Valentina squeezed his hand gently, and then they settled into a silence.  Eli rested more of his weight on her as he drifted into a sleep.  Valentina was startled when a doctor knocked on the open door.  Levi was on his feet first to greet him.

“Hello, Doctor Grety,” Levi said shaking the doctor’s hand, “I’m Eli’s brother Levi, and this is his girlfriend Valentina.  Eli just fell asleep, but we can wake him if you need.”

Eli’s eyes opened again.  He still wasn’t used to his new blurry view of the world.  Without letting go of Valentina’s hand, he signed with his other.  Eli moved his fist to his chin, his thumb tucked under, moved it away from his face, and then opened his hand and gestured over his face, touching his fingers to his thumb as they moved down.

“It’s nice to meet you Valentina, Levi.  We’re all very happy to see you awake, Elijah. I’m sorry to interrupt your time with your family, but we’d like to do some examinations.” Doctor Grety seemed very empathetic to Eli as he walked to his bedside.

Eli tried to sit up again.  Valentina helped him into a comfortable position and got to her feet.  With both hands, Eli made fists at his chest and opened them, fingers spread.  Eli rolled his wrists, pointing with both index fingers, and then curling them, his eyebrows raised in question.  Eli curled his right hand into a “C” shape opened toward his chin, and gestured down the center of his chest.

“I understand, Elijah.  How does it sound to go down to optometry, and perform your refraction test?  And then we’ll break for lunch before we do your blood work.  It would be best to do that on a full stomach any way.”  Eli liked Doctor Grety.  He seemed like the only doctor in the entire hospital that was listening to him.

Valentina leaned in to kiss Eli good bye, “I’ll be down in the waiting room.  Call me when you are ready for lunch, I’ll come eat with you.” She told him as her lips left his.  He simply nodded in return, and watched her leave the room until he could recognize her anymore.

Without warning, Levi pulled Eli’s blankets back and helped his younger brother into a wheel chair.  Eli was embarrassed by his frailty.  Being in his own clothes rather than a hospital was a small comfort.  Levi did not patronize his brother by asking if he needed any more help.  Sensing Eli’s discomfort and embarrassment, he only clapped his brother on the shoulder and promised to meet him for lunch.  Eli nodded as he was wheeled away.  

He spent the rest of his day in tests, exams and interviews.  If the hospital had a specialist in any field, Eli saw them.  Diets were planned and recommended, medication had been prescribed, and appointments were made.  Doctors even studied him while he slept.

After another two weeks in the hospital, Eli was finally released.  Levi was there to pick Eli up.  Something had come up between Valentina and Billy Duke that needed her attention, leaving Eli in a sour mood.  So soon after his vow to live life more optimistically, Eli stalked into his apartment with a scowl on his face.  He tried not to think of what was so important that Valentina would choose Billy Duke over himself.

“Don’t worry about it, Eli.” Levi warned him as they walked into Eli’s apartment.  Everything was as Eli left it the morning he’d left for Fairgarden.  A stack of mail was left on the kitchen table, waiting for Eli to read.  Of course, any bills or urgent mail had been taken care of by Levi as it had arrived.

“How can I not?  From the moment I told her she could stay with me, things got weird.” Eli adjusted his glasses for the third tie that hour.  He’d picked out a pair of black Ray Ban glasses with rounded rectangular frames, and wasn’t used to them yet. “And now she’s off with her ex-boyfriend.”

“Things aren’t weird, Eli.  She was probably was just worried that it was some medication speaking and not you.  Or maybe she was just a little afraid of that next step, but she still loves you.  Getting upset over this Billy Duke thing is not worth it.” Levi set down Eli’s bags.  He tried to reason with his brother, but Levi could tell Eli doubted him, “Come on, she doesn’t seem like the type to go behind your back.  He was probably hitting on her, and Valentina’s telling him to back off.”

“Yeah… You are right, she’s a good person.  Valentina wouldn’t cheat on me.”  Eli sighed. “So what were your plans for tonight?”

“Oh…” Levi turned red.  He looked around the room for an excuse, but Eli already knew the rejection was coming. “I have a date with Lin.  This will be our first time out that I don’t have to worry about you in the hospital, so I was going to take her to see this band she likes.”

“Levi, it’s okay.  Go have a good time with Lin. I should do some stuff around here.” Eli absently went through his mail. “I should really take a shower.  Then maybe I’ll go to the barber.  And I should probably go to the market.”

Rebuilding a mind was not exactly an easy task.  Especially with no telepathic ability of your own, and the next best thing is working through a psionic conduit.  Yuri was a surprising help.  His psionic gift gave him a remarkable amount power to work with.  And while normally scattered in his thoughts and behaviors, Yuri was unusually focused.  It was almost enough to make Mischa forget that Yuri was a man that couldn’t remember to bathe himself. 

They had practiced with psychic links when Mischa and his team were younger, free men.  Yuri’s older brother, Anton would link Yuri to Mischa, and their captain would issue orders to them through the link.  They would sometimes train in Mischa’s mind, the telepathic Utkin brothers attempting to uncover some piece of information in his mind.  The Utkins were highly skilled agents, working carefully and with precision.  The operations they played at were designated neuro-intelligence, though the team never had an opportunity to exercise their skills in any official capacity.

Nearly everything Mischa had learned about telepathy and neuro-intelligence came from Anton Utkin’s research and study into the topics.  A born telepath himself, Anton Utkin had been the foremost philosopher of vlast’ – the Russian term for gift, serving under the scientific branch of the Spetsnaz division Prizrak Rytsarya.  The Prizrak Rytsarya were the policing group that registered prizrak – gifted people, accredited training facilities, and expanded Russia’s knowledge of their emerging new prizrak community.   However, the Prizrak Rytsarya was also a military organization that fought for their country, investigated situations that involved prizrak, or sentenced criminal prizrak.  

Anton had been locked away in a laboratory until Mischa had picked the elder Utkin for his team, the Spetsgruppa Yaytso.  The oldest, and not the most athletic of the team, Anton had often sat out of military exercises while he studied the vlast’ of his team mates.  He was most fascinated with Mischa. While his tracking was unique, it was Mischa’s mental barrier that piqued Anton’s interest.

Most formally trained telepaths had learned to build mental barriers, Utkin had explained to Mischa.  There were a few competing schools of thoughts on the how the barrier should be built and maintained, but they were standards just the same.  Mischa’s mind was different.  He was not a telepath, nor had he been formally trained.  Instead of the strong main defense, with fail-safes for insurance that most telepaths started with, Mischa had several barriers of varying strengths, false locks, decoy defenses and traps protecting a collection of departmentalized and fragmented thoughts and memories.  Even the skilled Utkins often had difficulty getting to the places Mischa didn’t want them to explore, and they were operating with the advantage of being in a complicit mind.  They would go in for an address of an embassy and only find grocery lists.  Anton was astounded by the complexity of Mischa’s mind.  He would be just a fascinated by Yuri now if he ever had the chance to study him.

Through Anton and Yuri, Mischa learned that every mind was structured differently – telepathic or not.  It was all a matter of how the person, or host, thought of themselves, how they saw themselves and how they wanted to see themselves.  It was hard to hide yourself from a telepath that was in your mind.  Mischa’s mind was laid out like computers file system, heavily encrypted and difficult to crack with too much junk data to scrub to make use of anything.  Anton’s mind had been laid out like a library, years of knowledge memorialized in books to be studied over and handed down.  Malena’s mind, Anton once told Mischa, was arranged like a scrapbook.  Each memory in her mind cherished and preserved, a life lived well and full of love.  Yuri had one of the stranger minds Mischa had been in, and the only psionic mind – he’d never tried to connect to Murroh.  Yuri’s mind was a spider’s web, strands of silk connecting one thought to another, and another, and several more.  Strings knotted and over lapped.  It was deceptively open and misleading.  Destroying one part of his thought web often caught a telepath trapped in another portion, while only serving to gain Yuri’s attention.

This young man’s mind was laid out as an austere museum with floors and pillars of marble and doors of solid oak six inches thick and twenty feet tall, inlaid with bronze and glass.  The doors had been locked up with heavy chains.  The iron was thick, the links intricately connected, sometimes to several other links.  There was no padlock; the chain was connected in an infinite loop.  Mischa and Yuri climbed the few marble steps, both imagining themselves still in their Spetsgruppa Yaytso uniform – a solid black battle fatigue with a grey stripe down the right leg of the pants and right sleeve.  Their memories even recalled their badges and shield, a gold egg embroidered on black.  They were armed, symbolically, with their service pistols, and the knives tucked into their jackboots, but only Yuri would actually be able to fight if they needed to.  

“What is his name, Yuri?” Mischa whispered to his friend.  The hushed tone was unnecessary, either their host was aware of their presence and could accept their help, or he was too injured to recognize them and needed their help.

“Elijah, sir.  Elijah Peter Coates, twenty-seven years old, male, resides in London, England.” It was a positive sign that Yuri’s twenty-year-old procedural training was returning.  Together they inspected the chain.  Mischa was looking for weak links, but Yuri didn’t seem interested.

“Is he locking us out, or has some one locked him in?” Mischa asked as he stepped away from the chain, defeated.

“This is my chain, sir.  I locked him in.  He was extremely vulnerable after Horowitz’s attack and I didn’t want anyone taking advantage of him.”  Yuri carefully picked the chain apart, the links coming apart in his hands.  “Psychic shrink wrap.”

“Is that safe for him?” Mischa asked, concerned.  Anton had never told Mischa of anything like that, but his lessons had been cut short rather abruptly.

“Da.  He’s already starting to heal.  But he’s afraid, and it’s going slowly.”  Yuri explained.  The chains came apart in his hands and hit the floor silently, evaporating into an ashy smoke.  “He is a very careful man.  He tries to be very aware of everything around him.  He heard me coming the first time, but nearly didn’t listen to me.”

Yuri opened the door slowly, the massive wood and bronze piece sliding open silently.  Inside oil lamps rose to light the room, greeting Mischa and Yuri with a bronze statue of Elijah, just as Yuri had sketched for Mischa, a man lost from his own time.  Mischa would have taken Elijah for a relic from Victorian times, a dapper gentleman of means.  A compass had been inlaid in the marble of the floor with Elijah at the center.  In each direction, West, North and East marble steps led to the memories.  Each hall was labeled, words chiseled into the marble: Past, Knowledge and Heart, respectively.

“Do you know where he would be?” Mischa looked around, marveling at the number oil lamps illuminating the museum of Elijah Coates’s mind.

“It’s his mind.  Technically speaking, he’s everywhere.  But he’s taking comfort in his memories.  We will find him some where he feels safe.  Or somewhere he would feel he needs to protect.”  Yuri explained.

“If it were me…” Mischa started, but Yuri had already wandered away.  The younger man was climbing the stairs to the east wing, the hall of Elijah’s past.  Mischa hurried to catch up.  He was not used to not being the one giving orders, even after fifteen years in a prison.

“Don’t you think he’d be protecting his heart?” Mischa asked, falling in step with Yuri.

“Exactly.  So we go where he is not.”  Yuri said decisively.  “We need information about him, and importantly, show him we are trustworthy.”

“And we gain his trust by sneaking around?” Mischa doubted the tactics, but he was not a trained telepath.

“This isn’t a smash and grab, sir.  He knows we are here.  We need to show him we are respectful of our host.”  Mischa was impressed with how many of Anton’s lessons were still quick to Yuri’s mind.  Yuri Utkin was seeking redemption for the way he’d let others use him and abuse his gift.  He would not let Elijah succumb to whatever he was so fearful of. 

They explored Elijah’s hall, looking into the memories of his childhood, each was displayed in a diorama.  The glass was broken in some of them.  In others, some small but important detail was missing.  This was how Elijah expressed his damage.  It all looked fairly easy to repair, but again, Mischa was no telepath.

Mischa would stop as often as Yuri allowed.  He watched an awkward childhood unfold in front of him.  Elijah wasn’t older than three, cornered at the table while his father yelled at him.  Large blue eyes welled with tears, but that didn’t seem to deter his father.  A little lip quivered.

“You have something to say, Elijah?  Well?  Open your gob and spit it out!” His father shouted, putting hand down too hard on the table.  Silverware rattled against the plates. Elijah didn’t speak, instead trying to blink the tears away.

“Stop it!” A boy only a few years older than Elijah insisted.  “If Eli doesn’t want to talk, don’t make him!”  That must have been his brother.  The older boy slid out of his chair and hugged Elijah protectively, with his back to his father.

“Levi, take your brother upstairs, and you little brats stay up there until I tell you that you can come down!” Their father balled his hand into a meaty fist and slammed it on the table again.  Both boys jumped in surprise.  Eli was little more than a baby, being threatened by his father.  Where was Elijah’s mother in all this?

Almost all of Elijah’s happy memories were of his brother, Levi.  It was Levi that taught Elijah to ride a bicycle, or took care of him when he got sick, read him stories at night and scared away the bad dreams.  Elijah wanted to be just like his brother, and wanted to do everything Levi did.  They played soccer together, card games, made up games to help each other learn sign language.  They were best friends.

When Elijah was fifteen, his gift emerged.  He came in to his telepathy suddenly and abruptly.  His father did not take the news well, beating him until Levi overheard and saved his little brother again.  Now eighteen, Levi had grown into a wall of muscle.  He got between their father and Elijah, taking a swing to his strong jaw in the process.

“God gave the boy a mouth!” His father yelled as he tried to get to Elijah again.

“God gave him a lot more than that!  He’s your son, god dammit!  Lay another hand on him and I’ll call Officer Costings.  God knows I already should.”  Levi spit back at his father.  Levi slept in Elijah’s room that night, on the floor in a sleeping bag.

“Thank you, Levi,” Elijah said, the first purposeful telepathic message he shared with his brother.

“I would do anything for you, Eli.  Please never forget that.” Levi told him back.  From that night on, any time Elijah wanted to speak into Levi’s mind, he was allowed in.  It was the only way they’d ever speak from then on.

It seems to Mischa that telepath was the worst gift someone could have.  He had yet to meet a telepath with a happy childhood.  The Utkins had a terribly family, growing up.  Their parents were already struggling to make ends meet when Anton was born.  Things were tighter ten years later when Yuri was born.  Their mother - like Elijah and Levi’s, mother loved them but couldn’t protect them from their father’s temper.  Anton’s telepathy emerged when he was only thirteen, and was beaten with his father’s belt on a near daily basis.  Twelve years later, their father used that belt to hang himself, the day after Yuri came into his telepathy.

Elijah’s last two years of high school were a tense time for him.  Levi had moved to London, removing the buffer between Elijah and his father.  He tried to spend as much time out of the house as possible.  Elijah joined the swim team, and an after-school book club.  He got a job in the school’s library, re-shelving books in the afternoon.  He even took a music lesson, learning to play the accordion and concertina.  It seemed like he would do anything to keep himself out of the house and avoid his father.

It was during his time in high school that Elijah found his personal style.  What had started as wandering into second hand stores and vintage shops to kill time on his way home from school became a fascination with three piece suits, waist coats and silk ties.  He started with cheap suits that Elijah even learned to sew to mend the tears and holes.  Eventually he’d saved enough money to buy a real wool suit and have it tailored to his measurements.  It turned to be an expensive hobby, but wearing his nice clothes made him feel better about himself, and without Levi around, Elijah had poor self-esteem.  These waist coats and trousers might as well have been three piece suits of armor.

Elijah was so desperate to escape his home life that a second gift emerged.  He developed an illusionary gift.  Elijah’s daydreams often became almost lifelike.  He could walk the streets of seventeenth century London, or Paris, or wherever else he wanted to be.  Elijah had no idea he could share some of his especially vivid dreams until his father had a nightmare that he had beaten Elijah to death, a fear Elijah himself had when he worried how to tell his father of his increasing power.

“Sir?” Yuri noticed Mischa staring at the scene, watching an eighteen year old Elijah sit up in his bed, in a cold sweat while he waited for the beating to come.  He didn’t sleep that night.  Yuri’s voice caught Mischa’s attention again, “Sir, are you alright?”

“Da, I’m just in awe of you telepaths.  You aren’t given enough credit for what you go through.”  Mischa caught up with Yuri at the end of the hall.

“Nyet, it is not easy.  But the lucky ones have people that recognize their worth.”  Yuri took him around a corner and through his memories of college.  Many of the displays were dark or being reworked.  Elijah was rearranging the importance of some of his memories.  Elijah had grown to be very handsome, stylish, witty and smart, and gained a lot of female attention.  But not many of his relationships lasted very long.

Mischa saw the same scene repeated with a few different girls.  She would be beautiful, hearing, and shallow.  Many of the girls mislabeled Elijah’s muteness as being a good listener.  Communication was often one sided – ironically on Elijah’s side, and the relationship became mostly physical.  But soon after, even the sex would fizzle.  It was always Elijah that ended the relationship.

Going to college in London did mean that Elijah was reunited with Levi.  Many of the happier memories returned with his brother back in his life.  They spent evenings in pubs, sometimes drinking, sometimes playing as a band.  It was in one of those pubs that Elijah met his first serious girlfriend.

Rhianne had spotted before Elijah before he saw her.  She was a pretty girl - more of a cute than beautiful, with lots of thick, dark hair and wide hazel eyes.  Rhianne always looked as if she was amazed by something.  It was seeing Elijah sign his order to the bartender that gave her the courage to approach him.  Rhianne was completely deaf, which was strange and new for Elijah.  He understood her just fine, but there was always a slight feeling of disconnect in Elijah’s mind.  Despite being mute, he never associated much with the deaf community.  Of course, he never quite associated much with the hearing community either.  

Rhianne and Elijah dated for three years – the rest of Elijah’s time at the University of East London.  They made a nice couple, and they participated in the things couples were supposed to.  Rhianne would attend Elijah’s swim meets, and he would go art galleries with her.  There were picnics, and dinner dates, movies and Elijah meeting her parents.  Rhianne never met Mr. and Mrs. Coates, and Mischa didn’t blame him for that, but he did introduce her to Levi.  He was the only person Elijah considered to be family.  Her parents liked him well enough, and Levi liked her, and both parties expected a wedding.

But beneath the surface, the relationship was sour.  Aside from both signing, Elijah and Rhianne had little in common.  Being completely deaf, she couldn’t fully enjoy music the way Elijah did.  Being hearing, Elijah was never accepted by Rhianne’s deaf friends.  One of her friends, Patrick, actually accused of Elijah of “faking deaf” and being mute for attention.  Elijah didn’t like Patrick much after that.

Elijah found Rhianne extremely pessimistic, which he couldn’t stand.  She was would always ask him if he thought she was pretty, or looked good in something, but never believe his answers.  Rhianne thought Elijah was self-absorbed and too focused on his appearance.  She didn’t understand what his suits meant to him, or the fact that he just liked to have his hair combed back.  The annoyances grew and the fights broke out frequently.

Elijah found himself making excuses not to see her.  He knew he was unhappy with Rhianne, but it was her decision to break it off with Elijah. Their break up came from a fight about what to do after college.  With graduation just six weeks away, Elijah had started to look into a self-education college, a place his brother had introduced him to.  Rhianne was upset with the idea.  She had wanted them to move in together, and for Elijah to get a job working for her father’s bookkeeping office.  She’d planned out his whole life without bothering to consult him on it.  They fought until three in the morning, signing the whole time.  Rhianne never felt either of his gifts.  Mischa wasn’t even sure if she knew he was telepathic.  He also wasn’t sure if Rhianne simply didn’t care, or was trying to sabotage Elijah in his admittance interview, scheduled for the next morning.  There was an odd amendment to the memory, that Patrick had taken Elijah’s place in Rhianne’s plotted life.  It made no difference to Elijah’s life, but for some reason, he felt that fact was worth noting.

Mischa and Yuri were starting into the far end of the hall of knowledge, into his most recent memories.  Time seemed not to matter; it was unclear how long they had spent with Elijah.  It felt like a life time, but also only a few minutes.  Everything was frozen in place, and moving at its own pace.  Mischa wondered if all minds were such contradictions.

“Sir? Look at that display…” Yuri was cautious.  He pointed at a diorama until Mischa joined him.  Elijah sat before a large desk, an aged familiar man sat behind it, interviewing him.  They walked closer to watch the memory

“Eet is nice to meet you, Eeleezhah.  Your brother spoke very heeghly of you.  I am Doktor Anton Utkin, I am deereector of the geefted studies here at Deenveleeya.” The old man spoke with a Russian accent.  The harsh tone was hard on Elijah, but welcoming to Yuri and Mischa.

“He knows Anton.” Yuri looked at his older brother.  His emotions couldn’t be counted. Yuri missed Anton, he was happy to see him, but sad to see him so aged.  He was always mad that Anton never attempted to rescue him, but was relieved that his brother had made it to old age safely. “It’s Anton…”

Yuri was reluctant to leave the memory.  The last time he had seen Anton, he was rushing a panicked Malena Sima away from the park-turned-battlefield.  Anton had taken a shot to the leg while he carried a crying and bleeding Valentina Sima, Mischa’s five year old daughter.  He stumbled, but he never fell.  Anton turned behind a building, and Yuri never saw his brother again.  It was also the last time Mischa saw his wife and daughter.  Mischa would never see Malena’s beautiful citrine eyes or warm smile again.

“Do you think he still thinks about me?” Yuri asked, his voice steeped in sadness.

“Of course he does, Yuri.  You’re his brother.” Mischa assured him.

“Do you think he knows I’m alive?” Tears threatened at Yuri’s eyes and his voice cracked.  Mischa didn’t have the heart to tell him that Anton had probably long given up on Yuri’s survival.

“Yuri, remember where we are.  We are on a mission, we need to help Elijah.  You are doing very well, so let’s continue.”  It was difficult to calm Yuri without sounding patronizing.  But just the same, Yuri nodded and wiped his eyes.  Mischa clapped him on the shoulder as they continued away from Anton’s desk.

The hall of knowledge was interesting, but a sterile exhibit.  At Anton’s direction, Elijah was researching the way gifts developed.  Anton was interested specifically in telepaths, particularly telepaths with a secondary gift like Elijah himself.  Mischa was surprised to see a memory of Elijah researching psionics.  It made him wonder why Anton would be looking into such a rare occurrence without knowing Yuri’s fate.  Anton and Murroh were never close friends, and seemed to be irrelevant.

They passed recent memories, more of Elijah doing research.  He seemed to do little else. Of course, he spent time with Levi, usually swimming or in a pub. There were fewer memories with women, and they rarely formed a lasting impression.  Outside of the insular community of a college campus, his experiences with women became embarrassing situations.  His handsome face or muscular physique would often get her attention but when he tried to sign in conversation, the women were instantly disinterested and walked away.  By his second year at Denvellia, he stopped trying with women, falling into his work instead.  

As his fourth year was about to start, Anton informed Elijah of business back in Russia.  He was taking leave, and placing Elijah in charge of the program in his absence.  Mischa noticed that they were getting closer to another corner, one that must turn into his heart.  The call of these memories was warmer, more complete, and protected.  These were most important to Elijah.

Mischa and Yuri stepped into Elijah’s first class on his own.  They watched him handle the ignorance of his interpreter with grace, and not let his annoyance show.  They watched as he conquered his nerves in front a sea of strangers and blank faces.  They watched him experience love at first sight when a blind girl wearing too much concealing make-up entered the room.  She was introduced as Valentina Lytton.

Mischa was surprised and reminded of a dream he once had, nearly twenty years ago.  Malena had jokingly called it Schrodinger’s Valentina.  In his dream he was faced with a room full of Valentina.  Hundreds of faces, all hers, all different were watching him.  They were the possibilities of her futures.  Only one could happen, but there were so many of her.  Valentina Lytton had been one of those possibilities, but in his dream, she was in the United States military, and not blind.

After what happened to Malena, Mischa had expected Murroh to take Valentina, and tracking them over the years had assured him so.  Recently they had parted, and this must have been why.  After fifteen years, she was standing in front of him.  She was beautiful despite the make-up covering the scar she got from the bullet meant for him.  She had her mother’s grace, and his eyes.  She always did.  Valentina was there before him, but Mischa didn’t let himself get too happy.  She wasn’t really there with him.

They walked the hall slowly, watching Valentina and Elijah fall in love.  It was gradual at first, starting with polite acquaintance, then a mutual respect.  A budding friendship grew stronger until Elijah could not help but love her.  Elijah fought his feelings, trying to think better of it.  Valentina had a boyfriend that both Elijah and Mischa hated.   Also, their age difference occasionally made Elijah uncomfortable with his affections toward her, but as long as they remained a secret, he could pretend his love didn’t exist.

“Sir, he has some of your journals.” Yuri noticed as Elijah and Valentina bonded over translating an old book.

“How and why would they have my journals?” Mischa wondered aloud to Yuri.  But it was true, between them Elijah and Valentina had four of his journals, a book from high school, one he had kept from college along with his philosophy text book, his unbound journal from his time interned in Sweden, and the last, a journal stolen from Utkin’s office, started shortly after Valentina was born.  On the night Elijah showed her the fourth journal, they shared their first kiss.  The kiss was a slow wild fire.  Months of passion were quickly rising to the surface.  There was more to the memory, much more, but to Mischa’s relief, they were interrupted by Elijah.

He was dressed in a grey wool waist coat and trousers over a black shirt and white tie, brandishing a pistol at them.  An antique dueling pistol, of all weapons, absurd but he could do damage with it.  Weapons were only a metaphor in the mind, a symbol for the attack telepaths and psionics used.  Elijah’s blue eyes were narrowed, cautiously eying Mischa and Yuri.

“I’ve let you see enough.  Who are you?”  He asked.  His mouth didn’t move, but Elijah’s deep voice accented with a London dialect came from all directions.

“I am Yuri Utkin, and this is my commanding officer, Captain Mikhail Sima.  We mean no harm, we are here to help.” Yuri put his hands up in a gesture of surrender.  Mischa followed suit.

“Utkin?” Elijah lowered the pistol, but didn’t holster it.  He was still suspicious.  At least he was reasonable.

“Yes, Utkin.  I believe you know my older brother, Anton Utkin.” Yuri explained.  Seeing Elijah’s positive reception of the news, he continued, “And Captain Sima is the birth father of Valentina Lytton.  You’ve been calling him Tracker, or M.S.”

The pistol returned to the holster on Elijah’s hip.  He closed the distance between them. “Ghosts have come to rescue me?  Am I being haunted?”  His voice was no longer booming, but he was still using telepathy to communicate.

“No Elijah, I felt the malice toward you at Fairgarden.  I tried everything I knew how to get your attention and warn you.” Yuri extended a hand to Elijah.  “I’m only sorry I couldn’t do more for you.”

“That was you?  And also you that trapped me in here?” Mischa wasn’t sure if Elijah was angry with Yuri.  Elijah’s voice was flat, and his face was stony.  He ignored Yuri’s hand.

“Yes, I did seal you in here.  It was for your protection.  When I realized Horowitz had double crossed you and Valentina, I was afraid he’d try to take you and use you or sell you or worse.  Telepaths are useful tool.  You were badly hurt, and Valentina was struggling to move you.  I had to get you to safety, and I was afraid if you’d fight me for control, and end up hurting yourself more that Horowitz already had.  I sealed you back so I could help you and Valentina.” Yuri admitted, rambling too quickly.

“Wait, wait, wait.” Elijah cut it, “You sealed me in my mind and took control of my body?”

“Da.  Yes.  I violated the first civilian rule, and did not ask for permission before I acted.  But it was an emergency.”  Yuri finally lowered his hand.

“Why were you so afraid to be in my mind without my permission?  What makes you think that you are so dangerous?” Elijah wasn’t reaching for his pistol.  That was a good sign.

“I am psionic.  I may only use my gift on civilians in dire situations, and with my commanding officer’s permission, which I failed to obtain.” Yuri gave his answers honestly.

“Am I turning psionic?” Elijah’s resistance fell away at once.  Mischa could feel the vulnerability.

“No.  You are shaken, Elijah, but you have strong walls.  It would take war to break you.” Yuri offered his hand again.  This time Elijah shook it, then even pulled Yuri in for a hug.  When he pulled away, Elijah turned to Mischa.

“Captain Sima…”  Elijah started.  He paused to find his words.  He’d spent so much time with Mischa’s journal, he’d never thought he’d actually meet him, even in this capacity.  “Valentina… I… Are you alive, sir?”

“Yes, but not free.” Mischa was as careful with his words.  “We are being held prisoner.”

“Why haven’t you tried to escape?  There are so many people that miss you.” He could hear Valentina’s hurt in Elijah’s voice.  Her pain was his pain.

“When we disobey, people out here get hurt.  Next it could be Valentina, or my best friend Colonel Murroh Lytton.  Or it could be you.  We can’t risk that.  Too many people have been hurt already.”  Mischa sighed.

“Where are you?  We can find you.  We can rescue you and you can see Valentina again.”  Elijah insisted.

“No, Elijah.”  Yuri cut in. “You aren’t ready yet.  You need to heal.  You need to be there for Valentina and Levi.” 

“When I’m healed?” Elijah was hopeful.  Mischa’s heart broke, watching Yuri and Elijah.

“Be patient, Elijah.  Heal first, everything else comes second to that.” Yuri put his hand to Elijah’s should. “The damage isn’t severe.  I can help if you need.  If you allow me to.”

Valentina had barely left Elijah’s side since Levi brought her into his hospital room.  She was too afraid to find out she wouldn’t be allowed back in.  Eventually, she had to leave to shower and change, but she always came back.  Every day Valentina was there, holding his hand.  At night, she would curl up in the hospital chair next to him, resting her head on his shoulder.  No one asked her to leave.

Levi came by every night after he’d finished his shift at work and stopped by Eli’s apartment.  They had a routine at first.  Levi would say hello to Lin, give Valentina a hug, say hello to Eli, and then they’d all give Eli his sponge bath.  After the third time, Valentina offered to get Eli’s things during the day, and even give him his baths.  Levi was reluctant to agree, but Valentina could tell he was relieved to have the help.

Once Eli was washed and dressed in clean clothes, Valentina and Levi would talk to him.  To be honest Valentina was always talking to him, telling him about how she slept, or what she was having for breakfast.  She would read the paper to him, or magazines, or books.  Levi would read him Roman myths, or talk to him about work.  He talked about Lin a lot.  They hadn’t been dating long before Eli’s admittance to the hospital, but the stress on Levi had put strain on their relationship.  Lin and Levi would either be short lived, or stronger than steel, and right now Levi was optimistic.

Sometimes they made jokes with Eli.  It had started with Levi teasing his brother, but Valentina got the hang of the light ribbing and joined in.  At the least, Valentina was laughing.  She hadn’t cried in in the past twenty four hours.  She was as thankful that she had Levi there as she was that Eli had Levi for a brother.

This evening, Levi had brought his guitar to the room.  Lin had brought in a second soft chair a few days ago, and Levi laughed as he tuned the instrument. “Eli, we had to turn down a paying gig.  How are we going to go on without our lead singer?” He played and sang for Eli for a while.  Levi had a nice voice.

They were interrupted as a doctor entered the room.  He didn’t ask Levi or Valentina to leave, but didn’t speak to either one of them either.  He checked Eli’s chart, the read out of the many machines, and his vitals.  The doctor’s face was blank as looked over the sleeping Eli.   He scribbled on the chart and wandered out of the room again.  Valentina almost stopped him, wanting to ask about Eli’s condition, but Levi stopped her.  If the news was bad, he didn’t want to hear it.

Instead she decided to try her hand at a joke. “Eli, don’t think this is getting you out of work.  I’ve been wheeling your hospital bed down to Denvellia and propping you up in the lecture hall.  The first years haven’t been able to tell the difference.” She forced a smile.  Valentina took Eli’s hand again, lacing their fingers together.  Eli’s fingers curled around hers.  Her eyes widened.  She tried another.

“Eli, it’s so unlike you to over sleep.  You are usually up before I am.” Her voice trembled, but for once it was hope she was fighting, and not tears.  “This is something I never understand, since I’m the one that makes breakfast, not you.”  Levi laughed behind her.

“He’s looking a little better, I think.  Maybe he has some of his color back?” Levi didn’t notice Eli’s hand, but it was true.  He wasn’t as pale any more, and his cheeks held a little flush from the chill in the room.  His lips weren’t so dry, and looked at a normal pink color.  The beeps seemed to sound more positive, but that might just have been in Valentina’s mind.

Valentina leaned in kiss Eli.  His lips pursed to meet hers.  She heard his voice, quiet and weak in her mind. “Valentina, I love you.”

Valentina now understood why Murroh cried so often over guilt.  It’s the only thing she felt like doing.  Her heart was in a vice.  It hurt to breath.  She felt like she was under water.  And she was the healthy one.  When she delivered Eli to the hospital in Rugby, the closest town she could navigate to in her panic, she immediately asked the nurses to call the police.  Her clothes were still stained with mud and Eli’s blood.  The nurses and doctors took Eli away while she was left trembling in the lobby.  Of course, the police were sympathetic to her, and tried to make her as comfortable as possible, but it was hard to be comfortable when Eli might be dying.  She tried to remain as calm as she gave her statement.  Her hand was shaking as she signed the deposition.  Twenty seven hours after the attack, Valentina went to a hotel room for a shower and to change her clothes before returning to the hospital to wait for news.   After a few days, a doctor came out to tell Valentina that Eli was in stable condition.  She requested that Eli be transferred to a hospital in London to be closer to home.

A week had passed since Valentina made it back to London, and Eli was admitted to a local hospital.  He still hadn’t woken since Valentina had managed to coax him into the back of the Mercedes, and Eli wasn’t even truly awake then.  She was sure of that.  The only thing she’d liked about the hospital in Rugby was the updates.  She might not have gotten to see him, but she still was kept up with Eli’s condition.  However, back in London, it had been seven days with no news.

Just the same, here she was again in a hospital lobby, crying into a magazine.  She’d only been back home to the carriage house twice – both times only to shower and change.  There was no point in staying.  There was no point in staying.  Valentina was sure Liebe wasn’t returning.  She felt like an island.  She was alone.  All Valentina wanted to do was to hold Eli and promise him he’d be okay.  He was hurt, he could be dying and it was her fault.  People were staring at the pretty girl in the expensive dress and heels, crying in a Swiss accent.

Through bleary eyes, Valentina swore Eli had just walked in to the hospital lobby.  It couldn’t be Eli.  Eli was up in his hospital bed.  Fake Eli was in a red t shirt and a dirty pair of jeans, a leather bag slung over his shoulder.  Valentina rubbed her eyes again.

“I’m here for Elijah Coates,” Fake Eli told someone at the nurses’ station.  He turned while the nurses behind the counter went for the sign in clipboard, a pen and whatever else they needed to let this man up to see Eli.  She wondered if he’d get turned away as coldly as she had been.  Fake Eli looked tired, liked he’d been worried.  “Valentina?  Are you here to visit Eli too?”  Fake Eli was actually Levi, Eli’s older brother.  They really did look alike.  Levi was just a bigger, more muscular Eli.

“Oh, hello Levi.” Valentina rushed to her feet.  Levi caught her elbow to steady her, just like Eli would have done.

“Woah, slow down!  You look terrible, Valentina.  Have you slept at all?” Levi was concerned for her.  She could see it in his eyes.

“No, not really.  I’ve just been waiting for news about Eli.  They won’t let me see him.”  Valentina’s voice waivered.

“C’mon.  We’ll go see him now.” Levi said, giving her Eli’s smile.  Valentina followed Levi as he started into an elevator.  The more she saw of Eli in his brother, the more she missed Eli.

“Excuse me!” One of the nurses shouted after them.  She tried to catch them. “Family only!”

“She is family!” Levi insisted as he hit the button to close the door.  He took Valentina’s hand, sensing her insecurity.  The elevator ride was tense.  Levi filled the empty silence. “Don’t let those ladies down there push you around.  If Eli was awake, he would have two requests: First, to have you by his side.  Second, to request the fanciest hospital gown they had.”  Valentina laughed through her worry.

“How is he?” Valentina dared to ask Levi.  Her voice was still shaky.

“He’ll be doing much better once he knows you are there.” Levi looked at her.  She wasn’t buying the line, as thoughtful as it was.  “He’s still asleep.  They have Eli hooked up to an IV and a catheter and these other machines.  Sometimes I think I see his lips move, but it doesn’t seem like he’s saying anything.”  The truth seemed to hurt Levi as much as it did Valentina.

“Levi…” Valentina broached the question carefully, “Has Eli ever tried to vocalize before?”

Levi rubbed his neck as he thought on it, “Huh… Not really.  When he was a baby, he’d grunt a lot.  But outside of that or some stuff that was beyond his control… You know snoring, hisses of pain, the groan of a stomach ache… No, he’s always been mute.  He’s been signing since he was two.  Why, did something happen?”

The elevator doors opened onto a floor with a very somber atmosphere.  Something Valentina couldn’t put into words, but this wasn’t place where a lot of good news was delivered.  She spoke in a hushed tone to Levi, “When I was carrying him away from the field where he had been attacked, it sounded like he was trying to speak.  But it wasn’t right.  Like the sounds were all stuck in his throat.”

Levi shook his head, confused.  He couldn’t come up with an answer.  They stopped in front of a closed door to single patient room.  The chart on the door had Coates, E. labeled on it.  Levi didn’t move for the door handle. “I’m not sure.  I don’t have a lot of answers right now.  I’m sorry Valentina.  Go on in.  I know you have a lot to say to him.”

“You don’t want to go in?” Valentina looked worried all over again.

“Not yet.  You deserve some time alone with him, and I need to talk to Lin first.” Levi gestured at a nurse in dark scrubs.  She was busy with patient, a sympathetic look on her face.  The patient was in a wheel chair, and Lin was down on one knee for her, and had the woman’s hand in hers.  There was something about the nurse was radiating a special warmth.  Sure she was beautiful on the outside, her dark almond shaped eyes meeting her patients, her beautiful black shining hair pulled back in a simple ponytail, but even more she had an inner beauty that told Valentina that healing was Lin’s calling.

“Do you know her?” Valentina asked, curiously.

“Yeah, that’s my girlfriend.  Don’t worry this isn’t how we met.  But with her here, I feel a little better about Eli being in the hospital.  She’s a little guardian angel.  So, go ahead.  He needs his guardian angel.” Levi opened the door for her.  Valentina gave Levi a hug before she slipped inside.

Valentina’s heart dropped.  Eli was still.  Machines beeped and hummed around him.  There was an IV that led into his arm, and another bag hung from a hook at the foot of his bed.  He was pale, the color had drained from his face.  A breathing tube led from an oxygen tank behind his neck and threaded over his ears and into his nose.  Gauze was taped to a place on his forehead.

She edged closer to the bed.  He looked so fragile in the sickly mint colored hospital gown, and covered to the waist by a thin blanket.  Nervously, she took his hand.  “Eli… I know you don’t want me to say it, but… I’m sorry.  If I didn’t start looking for Tracker… If we didn’t start looking for Fairgarden… If I didn’t trust that stupid Abraham Horowitz… I’m sorry I let this happen to you.  I care about you so much…”  Valentina started to cry again.  She didn’t know what else to say, or do.  She just held his hand and cried until Levi slipped into the room.

“He’s kind of hard to see like that, huh?” He said as he brought in the bag, and Lin followed with a cart of medical supplies.  At first glance Valentina saw a sponge, a tub of water, towels and a box of gauze.

“I’ve never seen him so…” Valentina tried to find the right word but couldn’t.  “It’s like he’s not even there.”

Levi took a moment to introduce Valentina and Lin.  Lin gave Valentina a soft smile and offered her sympathies.  While the women were introduced, Levi approached his brother. “Hey, Eli.  How are you feeling today?”

Valentina watched Levi as he moved.  He hurt to see his brother in such a state, but he didn’t seem to be nervous around him like Valentina was.  Levi pulled back the knit blanket, and with Lin’s help, they disconnected some of the tubes, and stripped Eli’s hospital gown away.  There were more bandages hidden beneath the gown.  Lin removed the bandages to remove some well healed scars.

“Oh, don’t be embarrassed, Eli.  Lin’s a nurse and Valentina’s seen all this before.”  Levi spoke to Eli as if he were responding.  Maybe it helped Levi cope.  He picked up a sponge from the cart as Lin wheeled it to his side.  Levi dipped it in the water and wrung it.  Valentina was surprised by Levi’s gentle touch as he washed the sweat and dirt from his brother’s skin.

“Have you had to do this for him before?” Valentina watched him, curiously.  She felt useless in the room.

“No since he was a kid when I used to babysit him.  But he’s my brother.  You’d do the same for me, right Eli?”  Levi continued to give Eli a sponge bath.

“Is there anything I can do to help?” She asked, hopefully.

“Yeah, that would be great.  If you want, you could do his back while I hold him up?” Levi offered her the sponge.  They worked together to get Eli as clean as possible, given the circumstances.  Valentina used a washcloth to clean his face, fighting back tears to be so close to him.

Once toweled off and dried, Lin check Eli’s wounds, and only needed to replace gauze over two of them.  Levi went in the bag he had brought in and pulled out a pair of sweatpants and a t shirt.  With Valentina and Lin’s help, Levi worked to dress Eli in something more comfortable, then Lin reconnected all of Eli’s tubes and wires.

“I have to get back to work, Levi.” Lin said, getting up on her tiptoes to kiss him on the cheek.  Levi handed Valentina a navy colored quilt with a heavy knit, and excused himself as he walked Lin from the room.  Valentina covered Eli with the blanket, planting a kiss on his dry chapped lips.  As she smoothed out the blanket over his legs she recognized the quilt from Eli’s apartment.

“Eli, do you feel better now that you are in your own clothes?” Valentina tried to talk to him like Levi had.  Her voice trembled.  “I wish I would have been able to see you sooner.”

Levi walked back over, pulling over two chairs.  He let her sit closer to Eli, and Valentina took the seat with a thanks.  She held Eli’s hand again, lacing their fingers together.

“So, I brought a book… I used to read it to Eli when we were little.  I thought I’d read it to him now.” Levi said, taking out a copy of Jupiter’s Court, hardcover book about Roman myths.