Hybrid by K. T. Hanna

knew, and I panicked. I got so angry. There were captives still around us. We hadn’t exited the complex completely. One of them scowled at me and told me to stop bumping into him... and I thought it right then and there. I thought that I wanted him to die, and I imagined squeezing his heart until it stopped.”
    She takes another breath, tears streaming down her face. “My head hurt so bad, and he dropped to the ground and his eyes glazed over and blood came out of his mouth and nose. Mason checked him and said he was dead, that somehow his heart exploded.”
    Aishke moves forward and takes Sai’s hand. “I did it. I know I did it. How could I?” Her breaths are coming in heaving sobs now, and her words jumble until she’s a sobbing mess.
    Sai moves around the table and hugs her close, wracking her brains on how to give her the answer. She decides babbling is probably far better than silence. In Aishke’s current state, she’d probably take silence to mean Sai’s condemning her, and that’s just not going to work.
    “That’s why you’ve been so cheery. You’re scared and trying to hide it.” She pats Aishke’s hair, trying to soothe her. She waits a few seconds; sure her Aishke is still there somewhere. “It’s okay. It’s going to be okay.”
    “It’s not okay...” Aishke buries her face in her arms on the table.
    “No, really, and do you know why?”
    Aishke shakes her head without looking up.
    “Because Bastian can do the exact same thing. Always has been able to and always will be able to. And did you ever think he was a monster?”
    Slowly, Aishke sits up and sniffs loudly. “No.”
    Sai ruffles her hair, making it even more untidy that it originally was. “We can make sure you know how to control it and use it only when absolutely necessary. Maybe we can even limit it and make it possible to just shock them.”
    “Do you really think that’s possible?” Hope shines in Aishke’s eyes.
    “I think anything is possible. And our first order of business after my meeting in a couple of hours will be to go down to Kai’s lab and see if anyone confiscated some rabid rabbits on our raid.”
    “A rabbit?” Aishke asks dubiously.
    “Yes, a rabbit.” Sai laughs, but doesn’t tell her about the potential to explode them into a goopy mess. She can find that out later. “Now let me nap in my own bed for the first time in an age. I feel like I got hit by a steamroller.”

    The knock on her door pulls Sai abruptly from her sleep. She rolls out of bed, wary, and momentarily forgets her legs don’t quite work like they used to yet. The roll and resulting crouch land her firmly on her butt, and she grimaces before realizing she’s actually in her own apartment and the person poking her head around the door is Aishke, trying in vain to stifle laughter.
    “Just you remember who’s paying for your food.” With some effort, she pushes herself up and finds it a little easier than anticipated.
    Aishke gestures at her legs as Sai pulls clothes out of the closet. “You’re adapting well.”
    “This is called walking. I can’t run, kick, or jump yet, and phasing? That’s never going to happen if I don’t get my butt into gear, so... Adapting I may be. I wouldn’t call it well.”
    “Complainer,” Aishke quips with a shrug and walks into the lounge room, calling back over her shoulder. “Hurry up. You’ll be late unless you want to take your wheelchair.”
    Pulling a clean shirt over her head, Sai grabs a piece of bread on her way out of the apartment. “Haha, very funny. Make sure you get your studies finished. We have work to do when I get back.”
    She doesn’t wait for an answer, but pulls the door closed firmly behind her and heads to the meeting room, glad of her balance exercises. Her legs feel stronger than they did when she started her rehab just over two weeks ago. She curses herself for not rubbing oil into the joints before she left, but that can wait for tonight. Sleep was more