The Doctor’s Dilemma
lissa stretched and winced. Everything hurt. No surprise. Chronic overwork wasn’t new. Still, there were days when even that wasn’t enough, when no amount of effort could outrun the weight of her surna.
The clinic displayed “Dr. lissa Le Bleu, M.D.” in brass letters and, on paper, was entirely hers, but she doubted she would be sitting in a corner office at this age if she had been born lissa Smith instead. Probably not.
Connections mattered. Reputation mattered. Her parents had both, in abundance.
The clients ca in regularly. They smiled, always politely, but it rarely reached their eyes. So didn’t even bother faking symptoms well. Being seen by a Le Bleu was, for them, the true prescription.
And then there was Eydis Von Apfelhof.
lissa leaned back and stared at the ceiling. Eydis was strange. Polite, well-spoken, observant. Too perceptive for her age. The kind of student who didn’t ask questions because she already knew the answers.
Her gaze slid to the white envelope on her desk: Thomas Blackwood’s final fundraiser, embossed in gold with a theatrical mask.
At first, it had seed like a reasonable opportunity, a chance to build her own network outside the parental shadow. She’d thought the risk was worth it. Eydis’s last comnt had shaken that confidence. Not because it was infuriating. Because it was logical.
Too logical.
lissa checked her phone again. There were no calls, no ssages, and nothing from the Blackwoods. Considering their shared history, Thomas should have been the first to reach out. Their families had known each other for years, and she had always been the logical choice for his treatnt.
Fine.
She opened a browser and typed his na. Articles, headlines, photos, and clips flooded the screen. Eydis had been right: Thomas wasn’t rely recovering, he was dominating the news cycle.
Frowning, lissa clicked the top video. Two million views. It showed Thomas standing in a haze of purple smoke, barely visible. Then sohow, he walked out unscathed.
She watched it again. Slower this ti.
“What in the world?” she muttered. “That thing had him surrounded for over a minute. It doesn’t just… let people walk away.”
The footage didn’t lie, but it didn’t make sense either. She leaned back, tapping once against the armrest. Enough.
She dialed. One ring, two. He picked up.
“You don’t have to co with tomorrow,” she said.
“Hello to you too, doc,” he answered. “Little late to back out, isn’t it?”
“It’s just…” She paused. Sothing prickled at her nape. She scanned the room. Everything appeared normal: lights steady, equipnt silent.
“You all right?” His teasing faded.
“Probably exhaustion,” she reassured herself, working to calm herself. “If Thomas notices I’m not there, I’ll claim a bug and hope he accepts it.”
“No formal excuse?”
“It’s a last-minute thing.”
“Mmhmm,” he said. “Nothing to do with Dr. Le Bleu and Professor Le Bleu, I guess?”
lissa rolled her eyes. “Professor Le Bleu’s lectures on parental disappointnt remain ever popular. You should attend soti.”
His laugh rattled through the speaker. “Your folks never change. Rember when we called them air patrol?”
“Ha, very funny.”
“But the great Dr. lissa Le Bleu calling in sick?” He stretched the words. “Best you’ve got? What’s really happening?”
She scowled. No way she was explaining a worldview shift sparked by a sharp-tongued teenaged client.
“Honestly, Lionel, I have plenty to juggle. The last thing I need is to stand at a gala looking like I endorse a campaign I can barely watch.”
“Uh-huh,” Lionel humd. She didn’t need video to picture the look he was giving.
“Broken promises are part of the job description. They’ll cope.”
“Wow,” he half-laughed. “You do know you’re saying that to soone on the governnt payroll?”
lissa smiled. “Fully aware, super-secret Agent Robin.” She shrugged out of her lab coat and chucked the invitation into the trash. “So, how’s your sister? Has she realised you do more than push paper?”
Lionel hesitated. “She’s been… determined. More than usual. I thought—” He cut himself off. “Never mind.”
Irritated, lissa dug for her keys. “Lionel, she’s eighteen. You can’t protect her forever.”
“You and I both know Gifted status isn’t a gift. It’s a target.”
lissa scoffed as she locked the door. “Try telling the majority who think a Gift is the sa as winning the lottery. Suppression doesn’t erase power; it’s like watching your house burn and refusing to use the hose.”
She bit back the sharper comnt and simply asked, “Ever tell her I healed you completely, Lionel?”
A long pause. Maybe it was still sharp. lissa pictured his crimson eyes narrowing.
She softened. “Look, I’ll see Natalia soon.”
“…You’re visiting St Kevin’s?” He sounded surprised.
“Longer stay. Dean Saito asked to help with this year’s Gifted Show.”
"You agreed? After all these years of turning him down?” Lionel asked.
“Yeah, well. The smoke monster’s still active. And Adrian… he insisted.”
The elevator doors opened. “If you want Natalia safe, this is the way,” She ended the call, stepped inside, and folded her arms as the lift climbed.
Lionel was still convinced he could shield Natalia from the thing that set her apart, as if Gifted power were so viral infection that might disappear if ignored.
Utter buffoon.
lissa wondered if that wide-eyed kid had finally shaken off her past. She had hoped St. Kevin’s might give her the perspective she needed to move on.
St. Kevin’s.
Natalia and Eydis were the sa age, sa year, sa school. Could they already know each other?
She opened the door to her penthouse, murmuring to herself, “Natalia… and Eydis. Looking forward to our next eting.”
Far below, wisps of purple smoke slipped from the elevator into lissa’s empty office, thickening beside the bin. From it, a striking obsidian serpent erged.
“Striking is an understatent.” Envy scoffed. "Imagine, a creature as magnificent as I, reduced to trash duty. How tragically pedestrian.”
Her Majesty had instructed Envy to swallow everything, as if the Sin were nothing more than a cleaner. Simple to command, miserable to execute. Grumbling, the serpent unhinged its jaw and devoured the bin’s contents, plastic liner included, its scales shivering in open disgust.
“I trust tomorrow’s spectacle justifies my suffering. Yet how will my Queen react when she discovers the blue doctor is heading for St Kevin’s?”
Envy shimred into purple mist that bled into the shadows.
"Better to keep that little detail to myself,” it thought with a sly grin. “The Queen of Shadows shines brightest when the unexpected blocks her path…”
Wouldn't you agree?
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