She spent the next two hours familiarizing herself with the lab. To her surprise, Doc, the Circ expert everyone talked about, had left electronic files full of notes about Circ behavior and medical issues to be aware of. He'd also left his personal number to answer any questions the medical staff here might have.
“Staff.” She huffed. A staff of one. I’m no doctor. “Healing hands,” Jules had said. She sighed. I hope I’m enough for these people. Even if they are a bunch of crooks, they won’t have to suffer bruises, breaks, or poor health while I’m around.
Healing them won’t make me an accomplice. She froze at the thought. Will it?
Someone knocked on the door, and Sheridan glanced up at the clock. Eleven on the dot. “Come in.”
Olivia Fallon entered covered in sweat, her face flushed.
“Are you okay?” Sheridan asked, concerned.
“I'm sorry. We were training, and the time got away from us. I just wanted to come down and ask if you could wait until I showered.”
“Actually, this won't take that long if you want to do it now.”
“Oh, okay.”
Sheridan measured Olivia's height and weight, then seated her on the exam table and took her vitals. A crash course in human physiology during her stay with Grayson, after she'd left Raul and the jungle behind, gave her the edge she'd need to carry on with her new job.
“Everything appears normal,” she said after comparing Olivia's current readings to the last ones Doc Dennis had entered when he'd given Olivia a physical.
“Everything is normal. I don't know why Mrs. Sharpe insisted we all get checked out.”
The curiosity in the woman's eyes unnerved her. Though she did her best to mentally shield herself, Sheridan had no idea if it was working.
“So what's this alternative medicine you practice?” Olivia glanced around. “I don't see anything different than what was down here the last time I visited.” Sheridan tried to explain. “I'm not a doctor; I never claimed to be one. But I have a special way with the healing process.”
“Yeah?” Olivia rolled her neck, and Sheridan heard a small pop. “Oh, man, that feels better. Jesse tends to forget I haven't been doing this as long as he has.”
“Doing what?”
“Being Circ.” Olivia smiled. “So tell me about your process.” Sheridan stared, surprised at Olivia's open trust. She'd expected to have to convince the Circs to allow her to work on them. Yet Olivia seemed very open to alternative medicine.
From what Grayson had told her, the Circs had first come into being as a government experiment to create super soldiers, but the scientists running the project had screwed up. Now, few Circs remained, and those in the private sector trying to continue Circ research were hunted down and arrested and/or killed, depending upon who did the hunting. The handful of living Circs had been created years ago, thanks to the Circe serum. Most of the Circs still in existence were male.
Females tended to be extremely rare.
“Do you mind me asking how you transitioned into being a Circ? From what I know, you can't turn Circ from ingesting bodily fluids or sharing blood.”
“Nope,” Olivia answered. “Only EP12, the Circe serum, works. I'm still not sure how I am what I am. We think maybe my dad was infected a long time ago with the serum. I'm just glad I'm Circ, so I can be with Jesse.” Right. Because only a Circ could satisfy another Circ. Sexually.
Heating up at thoughts of satisfying Jules, Sheridan cleared her throat.
“Thanks for explaining. You wanted to know about my healing process. Well, believe it or not, I build up heat inside me. I put my hands on you, and it happens.
The heat grows, and the healing starts. It's hard to explain. More like a feeling I get to eradicate pain.”
Olivia nodded. “Show me.”
“Okay. Lie back.”
Olivia lay down on the large exam table big enough to fit a giant. Or a Circ, Sheridan realized, still coming to terms with the fact that the Circs actually knew about her gift and seemed to accept it as real.
It was a heady feeling to have her talent out in the open. For years she'd been forced to hide it, scared of being considered a freak or taken advantage of by those less moralistic than herself. By people like Ricardo. But maybe I can put all that behind me and start fresh.
She glanced down at Olivia and, for the first time, began to feel hope. No time like the present.
Chapter Seven
Sheridan held up her hands. “I'm going to touch you. A light stroking outward from the direction of your heart to your extremities. It's both physical and metaphysical. Some call it a lot of bunk, but it works for me. Bear with me, okay?” Olivia nodded.
“You're much more open to this than I would have expected.”
“Let's just say I try to keep an open mind about what most of the world considers 'bunk.'” But Olivia's smile said otherwise.
It was too much to expect Olivia to believe her without proof. But she'd see soon enough.
Sheridan didn't try to convince her of anything more. Instead, she trailed her hands over Olivia's shoulders, down her arms, and to her hands. After a few passes, she worked from the tops of Olivia's thighs to her ankles. The heat of normalcy, of good health, felt right. This was where Sheridan excelled.
This was where she felt at home.
“Hey, I think you're on to something there. I feel, I don't know, warmer.” Olivia sounded surprised. She experienced Sheridan's small trespass of healing. Not that Olivia needed much, just a refresher to tired muscles.
“Relax,” Sheridan advised. “I'm going to make a few more passes. One over your head, then one more over your torso, and we'll be done.” Except when Sheridan passed a hand over Olivia's head, she felt a strong burst of heat. A mass of energy that pulsed with a strange paranormal power that nearly rocked her back on her heels.
“You okay?” Olivia asked.
Sheridan shook her head to clear it. “Fine, fine. Must have locked my knees. I just felt a moment of dizziness.” Idiot. The woman’s some kind of psychic. She'd felt that same intensity yesterday, when she was in the room with everyone. But was it a Circ trait? Were all these people gifted? Sheridan quickly bypassed Olivia's temples and breezed over her face and neck. A light touch over Olivia's chest and abdomen proved Olivia to be in remarkable health. So strong, so sure. So Circ.
Sheridan found the contrast between a normal human's energy and Circ energy fascinating. Still, Olivia didn't jolt her libido the way Jules had, nor did the woman return the energy Sheridan slowly expended while touching her.
Sheridan cleared her throat, suddenly feeling awkward. “Sorry if my touch feels intrusive. I'm not trying to be fresh.”
Olivia chuckled. “Keep going. This actually feels good.” Sheridan smiled, feeling more secure. This was child's play, stuff she'd been building on and improving on since she was a little girl. She knew how to heal, how to stimulate a body's own energy to repair itself. Using her gift both drained her and thrilled her. She moved her hands to Olivia's stomach.
And then she felt a flutter in Olivia's energy. She paused, instinctively tuned in to the odd vibration that shouldn't have been there.
“What's wrong?” Olivia asked. “You seem worried.”
“Not worried, just interested.” Sheridan cocked her head, trying to make sense of what she felt.
Jesse Fallon burst through the door not a minute later. “What's wrong?”
“Shush, I can't… Wait a minute.” Sheridan pressed her fingers down onto Olivia's belly, but she didn't push hard. She rubbed the pads of her fingers in a circle, needing to feel more. “Olivia, I need to see something. Your energy is different. Hold on.” She pushed Olivia's shirt up to bare her midriff, then let her fingers dance over the woman's lower abdomen.