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“I still can’t understand what that was all about the other day,” Libra said, pointing at a beautiful sunset painting on the gallery wall.
We often walked to work together, but today, I had snuck into the art gallery with her. I had an hour to kill before my shift in the hospital, so it was nice to actually spend some time with my sister. We hadn’t been too close, but over the last few months, we had been speaking more. It was her turn for the zodiac union after me, so we both felt the pressure that the other siblings experienced.
Except, now that more and more of us were successful, they were expecting us to fulfil our mission. Of course, we both wanted to, very much, but...our confidence was low. Especially after Nick defeated us so easily in the wedding dress shop. He shouldn’t have been able to get that close. Even if we still had no idea what he’d done.
“That’s gorgeous, although I’d prefer it if it had a little more green. Then, it would be perfect.” I moved on to the next painting. “I also can’t get my head around it. Nick attacked us, but...how?”
We’d all been healthy over the last few days, with no reports of anything other than bafflement. Aries had been furious and ordered Natalie not to go anywhere without him. Of course, he didn’t say it, but I could feel the resentment he aimed towards us. He was right, we should have been able to defend ourselves and Natalie.
“Nothing’s ever going to be perfect enough for you,” Libra muttered, writing a note on her handheld tablet.
She was shopping today, ready to do another art deal. Her eye for paintings was top quality. She was starting to make a bit of a name for herself online. I often caught her snapping a picture for social media and sharing it with the world.
Ignoring her snarky remark, I wandered over to a watercolour. The streaks were browns and greens, which always caught my eye. There was a female figure painted within the grass, merging in as if she was a part of the earth.
“Now, that’s you.” Libra took my arm and spun me round.
Without warning, she held her phone high above her head and took a selfie of us in front of the picture. I cringed, laughing when she showed me what we looked like. Taking the phone, I deleted it before she could stop me. Her pout made me smile.
“I’ll do one with you, but...I need more warning.”
Smiling, Libra took back her phone and gave me plenty of time to pose. Once I was happy with the outcome, I allowed her to upload it.
“Right,” I said, glancing at the picture one last time. “I need to get to work.”
Hugging me, Libra laughed when I stared at her before turning to leave. She rarely gave her siblings affection, although I had often seen her more comfortable with her friends. It was amazing how some of the zodiacs were closer than the others. I often hung out with both sets of groups. The water/fire group were interesting to me, but so were the others. We were starting to mix a little better since more partners came into the mix.
Walking swiftly towards the hospital, I hummed a tune as I glanced up at the sky. The people who crowded the pavement often didn’t see me until the last minute because I was so short, but they were very apologetic when they bashed into me.
My phone rang as I reached the sliding doors. Going through, I answered it as I made my way to the research lab. I was a nurse, but I’d been concentrating on helping scientists with their medical research.
“Hello, Leo,” I greeted my famous brother as I waved at the receptionist.
“Well, hello there, beautiful.” He smacked his lips as if he was sending me a kiss. He was so dramatic. “I was just wondering when you’re going to come clean to the rest of the group. Only because...well, people are talking about your union. You know, like they did with all of us when we were due to find the one.”
My heart went into my throat at his words. At the same time, my gaze landed on a woman who was signing in to the lab floor. Her blonde hair was cut just above her shoulders, long enough to be thick and wavy.
“I’m waiting for the right time,” I muttered, looking away when the woman glanced at me.
She was taller than me, by a fair bit considering how small I was. When I walked past, a waft of fresh perfume, reminding of the sea, swept up my nose.
Going straight into the staff room, I plonked my bag on the counter and concentrated on what Leo was waffling on about.
“...it’s not fair that I have to keep it a secret.”
“Aren’t you going on tour soon? You’ll be out of our hair...I mean, out of hearing distance.” Sighing, I slouched against the work surface.
A small sofa and chairs were in the corner. Kitchen appliances were on the side, a sink available for our use. It wasn’t a big space, but it did the job.
“I’m going on tour in a month, yes. But...sis, seriously, you’ll feel so much better once you’ve got it off your chest.” Leo’s bandmates called him in the background.
Good, hopefully they would get him off my back. He cared, I knew that. Yet, every time I spoke to him, he mentioned my sexuality. Maybe I shouldn’t have told him. If I’d kept it to myself, I could deal with it in my own time.
My muscles froze when the female who had been standing at the desk came in. I had assumed she was not going to be hanging around. Smiling, I looked anywhere but at her as she found her locker and started to put her things inside.
“Leo, I’ve got to go. Enjoy your day, and make sure you write a good song.”
Hanging up, I turned to flick the kettle on, instantly regretting it when I realised that it would be rude not to offer the newcomer a drink.
“Hello,” she said.
Looking at her, I smiled, but she only stared. Her harsh expression made me pause. What was wrong with her? Why was she looking at me like that?
“I thought we weren’t allowed personal phone calls in the staff room?”
My mouth dropped open of its own accord. I quickly shut it as silence filled the room, except for the sizzling sound of the kettle starting to heat water. Her skin was smooth, tanned. It looked like she’d been on holiday somewhere warm. Yet, I didn’t feel encouraged to ask her. Making conversation wasn’t on my to do list now.
“Are you going to explain?” She folded her arms across her waist and cocked her hip to the side.
My gaze followed the movement before it snapped back to the threatening growl that coloured her face.
“I’m sorry,” I said. “Are you my new boss?”
My sarcastic tone made her take a deep breath. Her face straightened before she turned to her locker, grabbed out her uniform and left the room. Good riddance to her. I didn’t like her energy one bit.
As I made myself a tea, I grabbed a biscuit out of the tin. We all shared responsibility in filling it up. It was my turn next week. I had made a rota for us to top up certain luxury items that the hospital wouldn’t supply, including food.
Putting the rude woman out of my mind, I changed into my scrubs and headed towards the main office. There were several desks in there with a door that led to the lab.
We had been researching viruses for the last year after the hospital was issued a grant from the government. Two doctors researched what they could, checking to see what happened to a virus’s structure, replication, pathogenesis and evolution.
“Morning, Virgo,” Gary, the main doctor, greeted as I came into the room.
Looking over to his desk with a smile on my face, I froze when the new woman caught my eye. She was standing next to Gary, wearing a doctor’s white coat. I had probably just assumed she was a nurse, but no, she probably was my new boss.
“This is Alice.” Wasting no time, Gary didn’t give any of us a chance to talk. Instead, he shooed her into the lab, closing the door behind him.
My breath huffed out as they went. At least he saved me the embarrassment of muttering an apology. Our other doctor had left two weeks ago, and we hadn’t been expecting a replacement for a while yet.
“Are you okay?” My colleague, Lacy, raised her eyebrows.
I was still staring at the door, gobsmacked by my encounter with the rude woman. She might have been a looker, but she was rude all the same.
“Who’s that?” Moving over to my desk, I plonked my stuff down and sank into my chair.
Lacy was a popular girl in her late twenties. Although I was a few years younger, we had become quite close. Working together was fun. Because it was serious work, we often made jokes about Gary.
Watching me closely, Lacy picked up a pen and threw it at me. It rebounded off my arm, making me look at her, instead of the door.
“She’s just graduated from Uni. Her scores were so high, they hired her straight away. I think her name’s Alice.”
The woman’s haughty attitude would grate on me if she kept it up. Maybe her first day nerves were getting the better of her, but they wouldn’t get the better of me.
“She had the cheek to have a go about my personal call in the staff room.”
Frowning, Lacy glanced towards the door. “She better not try that one on us. She’s younger than me, more likely to be your age. I won’t have her telling me what to do.”
Flicking my computer on, I waited a century for it to load. According to the funding department, our computers didn’t need to be top notch new ones. The ones we had were perfectly adequate, which was frustrating.
“Let’s just hope... I dunno.” I couldn’t even make an excuse for her.
She gave me a weird feeling, which instantly made me paranoid. My family had been brought up to be on the lookout for danger. I tried my hardest not to always suspect someone of wanting to hurt me. Being a love warrior hadn’t been as glamourous as I’d imagined. When I was a child, my parents, who were technically our guardians, were good at persuading us that what we were here to do in this lifetime, was something amazing. It was so remarkable, we would bring love back to a planet that had lost its way.
“Virgo?” Gary poked his head through the door. “Could you join us? I need to get Alice up to speed with what we’ve been doing.”
Swallowing, I slid from my chair, glancing at Lacy as I went through the door. She stuck her tongue out at the last minute, making me bite back a laugh. If Alice was the new doctor, that meant I was her new assistant.
“Aren’t you a nurse?” Alice asked as soon as I came into the room.
The smell of disinfectant was always rife in the lab. Tables lined the outside of the room, with two in the centre. They were white with various machines on them.
Alice sat with Gary in the centre of the room. He handed her a file as soon as I lowered myself onto a stool opposite them.
“I am. I still do shift work, but I’ve cut my hours in half so I can work here, too.”
Gary leant over and patted my hand. He was a middle-aged, unassuming man, with a rotund belly and glasses. His stubble was getting a little too long for protocol. Would Alice pull him up on it?
Shaking myself, I stopped with the immature thoughts. She had to be nice. Most doctors were.
“Well, if you work with me, I want full commitment from you.” She didn’t look up as she read my notes.
I almost choked, so instead I cleared my throat as Gary’s eyes widened. He looked between us before he sat forward, getting closer to Alice.
“Virgo’s been incredibly valuable to this research. Her natural ability to see healing qualities has helped us to figure out how medications can be used for preventative measures. I’ve often asked her to go and train as a doctor. She would probably match your results.”
Alice’s cheeks burned red as she lowered her gaze. Her rudeness had been shot down by my friend and colleague. Yes, we were pretty young, as were all the females that worked in the lab, but that didn’t make Alice better than any of us, even with her pretty distinction.
“I look forward to working with you.” She quickly changed her tune when the doctor had proved her judgement of me wrong.
But, what had given her the right to judge me on a phone call? Non personal calls in work time had been a loose rule around the whole hospital. Staff room calls, when no one else was in there, hadn’t ever been frowned upon. Especially not in this department as there were only four of us in it.
“Now, you’ve been training in New York, so I’d love to hear about that. But, first, I’ve got an important phone call meeting. I’ll leave you with Virgo so you can get to know one another better. Show her the ropes,” Gary said to me as he got up to leave.
Once he was gone, Alice glanced at me. Something about me had riled her, and something about her had riled me also. Which meant, I had to make an effort.
“Let me show you our equipment.” Standing, I was about to move to the nearest machine when Alice shook her head.
“I know what everything is. It’s a very similar layout to the lab in New York. The funding came from there, so they wanted a similar set up.” Pointing, she indicated that I sit down again. “Let’s talk about you.”
Doing as she suggested, I lowered myself back on the stool. My heart thumped in my chest as she looked at me, studying my face. “What about me?”
Her intense gaze made me wonder what she saw. Did I look like someone who would be good at my job? Or, was she doubting everything Gary had said based on my call with Leo?
“I’d like to know about your natural ability.”
Her words caused my palms to sweat. My natural abilities were powers I’d had since I was a child. If I looked through a microscope, I could see how the cells moved. Yet, my real power was with alternative medicine. My herb poultices had been used by my siblings our whole lives.
Whenever Leo or Aries accidentally hurt themselves, or each other, with their fire, I was there to assist in the healing. Saggi was much more sensible when she had trained her power, but her creation of fire was different compared to the other two fire element boys.
“I can’t really explain it. When I see a virus attack healthy cells, I can see what’s needed to bring it under control. Sometimes that’s led to preventative meds being created. It’s my job, not really an ability.” I stumbled over my words, slightly nervous by her interrogation.
Her shoulders relaxed as soon as I stopped talking. She smiled for the first time, relieving the pressure in the room. Her face was very pretty when she wasn’t scowling.
Ducking my head, I stopped looking at her. My thoughts sometimes took on their own mind, analysing every little thing. In fact, I usually sat and watched people so I could rationalise them.
“Well, if you’re as good as Gary says, I look forward to working with you.”
A small nod dismissed me as she went back to reading a file on the norovirus. Her sudden change in attitude sent my mind spinning. Getting up from my seat, I walked towards the door, slightly confused by what had just happened.
“Oh, and one more thing,” Alice called as my hand prepared to open the door. “Don’t ever expect to be as good as me, regardless of what Gary says.”
