her side, sliding to a stop. "What? What's wrong? What hurts?"
"My back! My shoulders! It feels like my skin is tearing apart!"
Doctor Sebbins suddenly appeared at the top of the stairs. "Posey? Posey, I'm here!"
Posey was sobbing and twisting in agony. "Oh god! Please help me, Doctor!" Blood stains began to show on the back shoulder area of Posey's nightshirt, red and wet through the cotton.
"Hold her still for me, Holly. Andy, I can use you, too." Doctor Sebbins produced a latex glove from her pocket, ripped it on, and began to palpate Posey's back while Andy fell to his knees next to Posey and held her by the shoulders.
Posey shrieked in pain again. "Please help me! It's burning!"
Dr. Sebbins grabbed at the back of Posey's nightshirt. She used a pair of scissors from the pocket of her lab coat and made a cut through the ribbed neckband. Then, she jerked the nightshirt open to reveal Posey's back. "What are those?"
Two bloody lumps had appeared on Posey's back, jutting out from her shoulder blades. Each of the lumps had a gnarled, bony-looking knob in the center.
Holly pointed and stifled a yelp. "What is happening to her? What are those things?"
"What? What's wrong with me?" Posey shrieked. "What's happening?"
"We've got to get you to the labs, Posey," said Dr. Sebbins. "Andy, I need you to carry her down there for me. Gently, now. Holly, I need you to call Doctor Cormair and tell him to come to the lab right away. Also, I want you to page Nurse Hathcock and ask her to come on the double." Holly ran to one of the intercoms on the wall and pressed the numbers that summoned Cormair and Nurse Hathcock to the lab.
"What is wrong with my back?" cried Posey.
Andy lifted her gently. "I don't know, Posey," he said. Andy smiled at her reassuringly and headed down to the labs with Doctor Sebbins on his heels.
Holly watched them go. The other doors in the residence hall opened and John, Indigo, and Sarah joined Holly in the hallway, wrapping her in a sidelong hug.
"I guess this is it," said John. "I guess it begins. This is what Cormair has been working toward."
Sarah looked down at Holly. "Was this her power?"
Holly was in a daze. Her mind was spinning. Was this sort of thing going to happen to her, too? Would it happen to all of them?
"Cormair's going to keep her away from us, isn't he?" said Holly.
"He's finally got his lab rat," said Indigo. "Posey's going to be examined, worked over, and tested to death."
"Don't say that, Indigo," said Sarah.
"At least he won't be coming for any of the rest of us for a while," said Indigo. "We pretty much get a 'Get-Out-of-Being-Tested-Free Card' here."
"That's a heartless bitch kind of thing to say," said Sarah. "Posey is our sister."
"Maybe your sister, round-eye, but she ain't my sister."
"Indigo, stifle it. We don't need attitude right now. This is a time when we need to stick together more than ever," said John. "If Posey has begun to show the changes from all our years of testing, you know that the rest of us probably will, too."
"I already have," said Holly quietly.
"What?" said John.
Holly swallowed hard and tried to get some confidence in her voice. "I said I've already changed. I have powers."
"What?"
"I can talk to animals. I can speak to them. I understand their languages." Holly was so scared she was shaking. She had come to terms with her abilities some time ago, but to actually speak about them out loud---it sounded like the rant of a crazy woman. "I can make animals do things for me. I can hear and smell really well, too."
"That's insane," said John.
"You had a Swiss Cake Roll this morning for breakfast," said Holly.
"You saw me have it," said John.
"I slept in this morning. I didn't have breakfast. I can still smell it on your breath."
John slumped back against the wall. "That's messed up."
"And Indigo---I know you smoked a cigarette this weekend when you snuck out. I can still smell it in your hair and on your skin."
Indigo blushed. "I did. But I showered like