They seemed to be in an examination room. Monitors lined the walls, and a few complicated machines adorned the interior. Trevor lay on a gurney in the middle of the room, with several nurses in white uniforms attending him. Kinson noticed a few cords and IVs attached to the unconscious boy.
Celeste ran up and peered down at Trevor. "Is he alright?"
Rachel coughed. "Honestly, it's kind of hard to tell. He's not exactly responding like normal psionic exhaustion cases. We're planning to wake him up, but it might be kind of risky. We don't know why he's unconscious, so it might be some sort of defensive measure. There might be some risk in prematurely removing the coma. Once we find the cause, we should be able to act."
"Did you tell his parents?" Celeste asked.
Rachel snorted. "Naturally. How long do you think I've been in this field?"
Kinson felt a lump settle in his throat. He didn't know much about what the psionic enhancers were or anything in fact, but it seemed too much of a coincidence to ignore. He swallowed hard and decided to speak up.
"So, uh, I might know something about what's happening here," Kinson lowered his head and mumbled.
'What? Speak up then," Rachel admonished him.
"Before the competition, I overheard Trevor talking with his teammates about something called psionic enhancers. I know I should have said something, but he had been working so hard, so I didn't want to do anything that might…" Kinson tried to explain himself, but Rachel interrupted him.
"Save his life?"
Kinson flinched but nodded. "I don't know what they are, nor could I find anything about them online."
"Hmmm, sounds like some form of performance drug, but for psionics. Can't say I'm familiar with the concept," Griffon scratched his chin. "If anyone knows about tech, it would be the BPI. Maybe some of their experiments leaked. Still, Trevor seemed like a nice guy. What would drive him to use illegal means?"
Kinson lowered his head again. "Uh, I might know about that too. Before the competition, I spoke with Trevor, and he said he feels someone is influencing him whenever he was with the team."
"And you were going to tell us when?" Rachel snapped with a frown.
"He said he was going to confess after the competition, so…"
"Why didn't you tell me?" Celeste cried out, her eyes filled with betrayal.
Kinson looked down at Trevor and felt the lump in his throat grow bigger. "I-I'm sorry. But I didn't want you to worry."
"What makes you so great? Why can you worry but I can't?" Celeste asked softly.
He didn't know what to say. Looking around at the circle of faces, Kinson felt guilt rising within him. He balled his hands into fists and endured their stares.
A weak voice cut through the silence like a knife, and everyone's gaze latched onto Trevor.
"Wh-What happened?" he called out weakly.
Celeste rushed to his side and grabbed his hand. "It's okay, everything's okay."
"I was at the competition. Where am I now? What did you do? Get back! what's going on?" he cried, snatching his hand from Celeste.
Celeste stepped back in shock, hand twitching. Rachel took her place, her frown deeper than usual.
"Calm down, I'm a trained medical professional. You had an accident and suffered a bit of trauma. It's normal to have a fuzzy memory at first, but that will change. Would you allow me to evaluate your condition?" she asked passively.
Trevor looked up at her and began to nod when his eyes fell on Kinson. Immediately, his face contorted, and he began to shout.
"You! You probably turned me in! Are these cops in disguise?" he snarled.
Kinson's mouth dropped. "Huh? But you told me to turn you in no matter what!"
"To think I could trust you. I won't be making that mistake again," Trevor grunted and turned away from Kinson. He started to rip the cords out of himself, ignoring everyone else in the room
Rachel sighed and shook her head. "Griffon, if you please,"
Griffon walked forward and grabbed Trevor, restraining him. When the weakened boy tried to resist, he released his aura, stunning him. Rachel approached and placed her hands on his temple.
"Thank you. This will take a moment," she said softly.
Rachel closed her eyes and began breathing deeply. Trevor froze the instant she placed her hands on him, and the two remained still for several minutes.
"What's happening?" Celeste shakily sat down. Her eyes, which were normally still pools of serenity, trembled gently. Her hands still shook from Trevor's harsh words.
Kinson sat beside her, unsure of what to say. He finally settled on some vague comfort. "He's been through some tough things, so he's not himself. I'm sure he didn't mean anything he just said to us. I bet he feels bad about it later."
"These past few weeks have been insane," Celeste murmured, and gently rested her head on his shoulder.
"Y-yeah." Kinson stuttered, color seeping across his cheeks. Still, he didn't protest and even lowered his shoulder to allow for their height difference.
He looked up and saw Griffon staring at him. When they made eye contact, the man raised an eyebrow and mouthed something that looked like "third wheel." Kinson intentionally looked elsewhere, curious about the interior decoration on the walls. He was slightly disappointed to find them completely bare, covered only in the stark white paint. The periodic beep from the monitors echoed in the silence, the steady signals giving them a bit of comfort about Trevor's situation.
A few minutes passed and Kinson was just yawning when Rachel suddenly jolted, and fell backward, a scream escaping her cracked lips. Everyone, except Griffon, jumped and looked about in Alarm. Celeste's weight disappeared from his shoulder, and they both leaped to their feet.
"Rachel!" Griffon dropped the still-frozen Trevor and caught Rachel before she staggered to the ground. Her eyes rolled wildly in her head, and panic filled her face. Her short shallow breaths bordered on hyperventilation and her old hands shook violently.
It was several minutes before Rachel managed to compose herself. By the time she was able to communicate, tension was thick on everyone's faces. Once she calmed down, Griffon led her to a chair and finally let go of her.
"Well?" he asked gently.
Rachel raised a shaky finger and stabbed it toward Trevor. "There's something in there," she gasped, "Something indescribably horrid."
Griffon's voice hardened as he glanced at Trevor. "How could you tell?"
Rachel took a few deep breaths before she continued. "I was taking a look at his soul when I came across traces of some sort of malevolent will. It was only a fragment if you could even call it that, but…" she broke off and took a shattered breath, "it scared me."
"You saw something in his memories?" Kinson raised his eyebrows. That felt familiar.
"No, I can't perceive memories. It was more like something left an impression on his soul, and I found that. Almost like…" suddenly, the blood drained from her face, and her visage twisted once more. "Impossible!" she whispered in a tone so soft they had to strain to hear her.
"That's enough," Griffon abruptly broke the atmosphere. "This isn't for these ears. I'm going to the President."
Rachel nodded and took a long look at Kinson. Right before it became uncomfortable, she waved them all away. "Anyway, the boy's fine. There are some traces of other psionics on his soul, so they likely did manipulate him a bit, but nothing too serious."
Kinson and Celeste both sighed in relief. "When will he wake up?" Kinson asked.
"I put him to sleep because he was acting unpredictably. Now, at least, we know that it's got to do with that negative force inside him. Fortunately, that presence seems to be fading and should be gone in an hour or two. You can leave him here with us, and we'll see that he's returned when everything's taken care of," Rachel explained dismissively. Before she even finished, she had already joined the nurses in removing the rest of the lines attached to Trevor.
"I'll join you," Griffon opened the door and followed them out.