Yesterday's Gone (Season 5): Episodes 25-30 by Sean Platt, David Wright Read Free Book Online Page A

OLSON
     
    Black Island
     
    Mary sat on the couch, watching as Paola played with Teagan’s girl, Becca. Jade sat beside the young mother, looking guarded, and not unlike a gloomy college kid with her bright-blue hair. 
    Mary couldn’t blame her for looking miserable. They’d been dragged here against their will, and she’d yet to see her father, Ed.
    Mary wanted to say something to let Jade know things would be OK, that Desmond was there and wouldn’t let anything bad happen to her father.
    Becca giggled, a deep and almost-hoarse guffaw when Paola tickled her.
    Mary watched, feeling a sense of joy swell inside her. It was the most lively she’d seen Paola since she emerged from the coma after Desmond saved them and brought them to the other world before coming to Black Island. According to Desmond, Luca had created the portal to save them, not him. After Paola had woken from her coma, they headed immediately to the island.
    Mary continued to watch Paola as the girl smiled at Becca. She even played peek-a-boo with the girl, which might be the most Paola had said since the coma. It seemed like having a younger child around drew Paola out from whatever shell she’d been in.
    Dr. Morgan said these things take time.
    As if the Black Island doctor could possibly have a clue. They didn’t know what had happened to Paola in the chamber or how Luca had come to bring The Light inside her. The Black Island medical staff was as much in the dark as any of them.
    Desmond, however, had his theories, and seemed to believe that Paola’s recovery and her recent waking visions were all good signs.
    Easy for him to say: she’s not his daughter.
    But if anyone could understand what Paola was going through, it had to be Desmond. He had a bit of The Light inside him, too. He said everyone that Luca saved had The Light inside them, but he seemed more connected than anyone else.
    Desmond could see, hear, and do things that Mary sure as hell couldn’t. Nothing as powerful as healing people like Luca, but he had made a coin float, and seemed to be excellent at convincing people that his needs were theirs, even more than before. He also seemed smarter. Desmond had always flirted with genius, but The Light seemed to tune his intelligence tighter, as if it took everything good and made it better.
    The mere fact that Desmond managed entry into Black Island Research Facility and had convinced Director Bolton to let him (a civilian) head up a search for the vials spoke volumes for just how much The Light had improved Desmond’s verbal skills. Or it spoke volumes about how desperate Black Island was to get any sort of help in a war it was losing against an enemy it barely knew, let alone knew how to defeat.
    “Do you feel different?” she had asked Desmond one night. 
    “Of course. I’ve been changed from The Light. You have too, Mary. We all have. It’s inside us all.” 
    Mary did feel stronger, but chalked that up to her many months of training, not some alien DNA or whatever the hell she had coursing through her body. If pressed, Mary would have confessed that she felt nothing special at all. 
    But that couldn’t have kept her from denying the changes in Paola, even before she’d entered the chamber. Her daughter had somehow become a healer, like Luca, and had aged just the same.
    Mercifully, Paola had stopped gaining years since their return. Though she’d also healed no one. It was hard for Mary to find comfort in that. 
    Mary watched Paola talk with Teagan, and thought the same thoughts she’d been threading together all morning: she’d settle for whatever she could when it came to Paola. Mary was just glad to have her daughter back, even if she wasn’t exactly the same.
    Brent returned from the kitchen, holding a cold Diet Coke in each hand. He offered one to Mary.
    “Thanks,” she said, taking the Coke as he sat down beside her.
    They both looked at Brent’s son, Ben, lying on his belly, pushing two trains on the floor,