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A late afternoon Colin invites all the usual suspects over at his house, for a hot chocolate and a little talk.

"I would have summoned you at Greg's bunker, but I couldn't make chocolate there, and fortunately, I don't think we have matters so pressing we can't enjoy a little sweetness. I just wanted to share what came up in my investigations lately, and hoped you could do the same."

Sylvia is there, thumb-wrestling with Sarah.  She brought a box of candy canes, meant for stirring Colin's inevitable cocoa, and every so often she gives her mug a stir and licks the chocolate off the candy's dissolving stripes.  "Don't keep us in suspense, detective."

Having lost a third time to Sylvia, Sarah says, "I think she's using the Displacer Thumb spell on me."

"Well, it's a rather interesting story. It all starts with a scholarship, some money offered as an award by a corporation to brilliant kids that are going to master in mechanical engineering. Lots of guys participate, and among them two seniors from Oak Park. Dave and Preston. Dave wins. Now I know how the VanGo keeps on going." he chuckles.
"Preston really wanted to win and he gets really mad. So mad he might do something stupid. But then he talks with a friend. Out of all people, Logan Darklighter. Logan suggests him to use his brain instead to find someway the money he needs to get to the school he deserves. Preston thinks Logan has a point, so instead of planning to kill Dave, he start planning how to get that money."
He puts on the robbery video. "And this is the way he found."

"I called you here, because I'm not sure what we should do about it. I'm a bit torn about it."

About this time, Sammy finally arrives.  "Hi guys.  Sorry I'm late."  She looks at the video and her face grows sad.  "It was him, then?  Dangit!"

Sylvia makes a little face when Colin mentions Logan and chews on the nail of her Displacer Thumb.  "Logan talked him down from murder one to grand theft?"  She's willing to believe Darklighter had the best intentions.  "Was the store insured?  Was anyone hurt?"

Sarah's face grows cloudy, "He was thinking about killing Dave?  That's..."  Monstrous, horrible, evil?  "Stupid.  I'm glad Logan talked to him.  I'll have to get him some cookies.  As for Preston, I'm think he may have misinterpreted Logan's intent... or maybe not.  Either way, both plans involved criminal behavior.  Instead of: Hey I have these brilliant robots maybe I can sell them to a corporation or use them to get a summer internship with some major technology firm and squeeze a scholarship out of them! : he decides to commit a crime.  What happens when he doesn't like the grade he gets in college that he pays for with stolen money or some other kid tries to steal one of his ideas?  I doubt Logan will be lucky enough to be around the next time.  Do you have an idea Colin?  Does anyone?"

"Killing Dave? I missed that part."  Sammy is very unhappy.  "I vote for just telling the police and letting them handle it.  If nothing else it might keep him from hurting himself any more.  He might still get charged as a juvenile if he is stopped now, so it doesn't have to ruin his whole life."

"I dunno," Sylvia says, looking thoughtful.  The playful little-girl-isms vanish.  She leans forward in her seat and frowns.  "A prison term isn't an easy fix, I've heard."

In Sarah's mind's eye, an old-fashioned telephone struggles to form.  It rings.

  ???

Sarah wanders through her mind and picks up the receiver.  "Antique phone sales, this is Sarah how may I direct your call?"

Hi, Sarah! Sylvia says, like she's just calling for a chat.  This is Sylvia.  I'm wondering, what's your stand on criminal rehabilitation?

If we take all their money, how are they going to buy us lunch?

But seriously, what I'm asking is if you'd consider messing with Preston's memory, in the interest of criminal rehabilitation.

"The shop was insured, though the jeweler, who is a really kind man, sees himself as an artist, and his very sad at having lost his works. As for my idea, what really kept me wondering is that so far he hasn't done anything... irreparable. I'm a bit afraid that if we send him to prison, he might... get worse. And I am afraid of what one with his brain could do, if he was really bent on evil."
He stops, chewing on his lower lip.
"I have been toying with a thought. If there was a way to make him get a scholarship through honest means, we could try to convince him to give back what he has stolen."

"Guys, he broke the law. He planned a serious theft, constructed his robot minions for, and set them to perform an act of grand larceny. He obviously does not see the petty ideas of ownership or personal property as things he has to worry about. Like Sylvia said, once you make that sort of decision, making further, darker ones all that much easier. I would be a different person if I let my dragons do to people what they want, what they expect is right in their opinion of right and wrong."

His sober thought is somewhat ruined by the red and white candy cane sticking out of his mouth.

"You think he's just broken, then?  Evil?"  Sylvia still looks grave.  Her thoughts turn to witches.  "I wonder if you can fix that kind of thing."

You caught that? she asks Sarah over the telepathic telephone.  Not to put any pressure on you, but do you think you can fix that kind of thing?

Hey, I can try.  We should just knock him out first and try it then... Is that bad?  Or I suppose we could try it when he's sleeping.  That might work best.  Oh!

Sarah stops thinking for a moment (yes ha ha)... Sarah stops broadcasting her thoughts for a moment and gives Sylvia a big grin. 

Maybe this is the candy canes and coco talking but what if we pulled a Dickens Christmas Carol on him?  With your illusions and mental communication and a few nudges from me maybe he'd see the light?  Either that or the ghosts of Christmas future can knock him around and reveal how much fun he'll have as someones girlfriend in prison. 

Sammy backs up Donnie.  "If we're not going to turn him in to the police, then we need to watch him around the clock to make sure he doesn't pull off another successful robbery.  Anything else would be implied approval of his activity.  I feel a little bit sorry for him, but he can't be allowed to keep going the way he is going.  It'll only get worse from here, especially if he screws up and a person gets hurt or killed."

She starts working on a big mug full of hot chocolate.

I was thinking something less complicated, Sylvia says.  Ever hear of B.F. Skinner?

Um.  No.  Famous psychologist.  Basically, the idea is that negative reinforcement, like jail, has an unpredictable effect, but positive reinforcement, like giving a dog a biscuit for a trick, always works.

Forget the theory.  I'm wondering, could we change Preston's life by changing his memory?  If we changed him so he thought he had earned his money by doing something good, would we fix him?  Sylvia sounds a little forlorned.  I really want to fix him.  I want to know it could be done.

"He broke the law. He did so intentionally, and knowing fully well what he was doing. But what good is a punishment for if it doesn't show him what he should have done instead? We helped Darla, and we were all sure it was the right thing to do. Has he gone already too far for this? He hasn't really hurt anyone yet."

He stops to think for a moment.

"What I really mean is, what's our job? We have powers. What do we use them for?"

Sylvia seems distracted, but she turns her prematurely aged gaze on Colin.  "We keep bad guys from hurting people however we can."

"Including themselves?"

"Ideally, yes."

"Preston has a big brain. He could do lots of good things with it. He has also a serious problems of anger management. He could do lots of damage with that, and has already done some. Which choice of ours keeps most people from getting hurt?"

OOC: Phone call comes in, see new topic to answer it.

That sounds a little tricky.  First, where do we get the money?  Part of your plan should be returning the stolen items because eventually they might be traced back to a boy with no memory of the theft.  Secondly how do we explain his thieving robots?  I can reprogram a human but not his pet robots.  If we destroy his robots we might not know if he has back up information somewhere about them or if he had any other plans already in motion.  He might be confused if plan B comes walking in the door carrying stolen merchandise if his brain is telling him we received a generous grant from an anonymous benefactor. 

I can wipe the recollection of the entire event... maybe even rewrite it to think he postponed his plans and has decided to scrap them because it is illegal...  This is supposing he doesn't just toss my attempt to mess with his head off.  Some people are better at resisting this than others.  I've got nowhere near Smith's juice when it comes to mental powers.

Sarah is spaced out while Colin has been talking.  She's heard the conversation and wonders for the thousandth time if it's time she mentioned her other ability. 

I was hoping, Sylvia says, just hoping.  I guess you can't undo the circumstances that can lead a person to do the selfish thing.  His home life, his parents, his childhood memories--it's all one piece, isn't it?  There's no easy switch to flip between good and evil.  She looks profoundly depressed.

Sammy goes into another room to answer her call, and comes back a minute or two later.

It was not long after Sammy returned that Megan and John finally arrived.  Megan was carrying a manila envelope and had a rather sad, depressed look on her face.  “Hey everyone.”  She said as they made their way to where everyone was after Colin’s mom had let them in.  “Sorry we are late but…I have some…news.” 

Sammy looks over curiously.  "What's up?"

Donnie mixes two more cups, plops a candy cane in each, and slides the two mugs over the table to them.

“Thanks Donnie.”  Megan said, with a faint smile as she picked up one of the mugs and took a drink.  She looked in it a moment and the looked back up at the others. 

“Remember how I mentioned awhile ago that my dad was looking to make a run for the US Senate?  Well, he did not really get the backing of his party for that, and so getting good financing would have been really hard.  So he has been talking with his old firm about returning, which they were more than happy to hear.”

“It turns out that some really big corporate clients my dad has done work for in the past have some seriously major projects, acquisitions, restructuring and the like in the works over the next few years, and having my dad return to Baker McKenzie will insure they use the firm for these deals.  But…a lot of this stuff will be in the European operations of the companies, so my dad needs to start getting involved now and get up to speed on some things.”

She paused a moment, and then continued.  “So, he will be the new managing partner of Baker’s London office.  Tomorrow morning he is resigning as mayor.  My brother and I will go into school and take our exams early, I have pretty much been ready for them for a couple of weeks now, several days of ten hour study sessions at superspeed is helpful that way,” she said with a weak smile.  “Then tomorrow night we will all be on a flight for London.  The movers are starting to pack up the house right now.’

OOC: Darn my slow posting. 
--------

<Before Megan and John arrive>
Sarah nods.  If there was a switch I'd be a very busy girl.  If his will power wasn't strong enough to resist me I could probably fix Preston.  I could, with enough time, remove any evil schemes and root out the source for where this anti-social behavior is coming from.  I could make him a model citizen but by the time I'm done I'm not really sure if it would still be Preston.  That's why I haven't been using my power much until you introduced me to Smith.  Still, sometimes I wonder if a fresh start wouldn't be best for some.  Killers, rapists, child molesters.  A lot of people with completely messed up childhoods that have turned to violence and crime, still just acting out against it all.  What would they be like with no memories of any of it. 

She takes a sip of her coco and considers the idea.
I guess I can see where that sort of experiment could turn someone a little odd.  All I will need is an untarnished tropical island somewhere along the major airline flight paths and an initial test group.  I could easily acquire more subjects from any passing airplane.  Or better yet, some of the cargo and tanker ships out at sea, they would just assume the person had fallen overboard in the night.  Sorry my wandering imagination is kicking in and revising the Isle of Dr. Moreau huh?  No worries.  I like the world the way it is.  Mostly anyway. 

Hey.  Why doesn't Smith go around fixing dictators and evil overlords?  Or does that become self defeating?  You turn a genocidal maniac into a decent human being and his fanatic followers drag him down and murder him for losing faith in the cause?  Or even if you managed to fix a large group of the followers they might all be over thrown by the next group waiting in the wings with fewer morals about wasting human lives to be in charge. 

Do you think I should spill the beans to everybody now?

<After Megan's announcment>

"You're leaving?  You can't leave!  John, tell her she can't leave." says Sarah with half an urge to add some oomph to that comment.

Sammy says excitedly, "London?  ENGLAND?!  That's awesome!  I mean, it sucks for you and John, but London?!  That's a quick trip to anywhere you'd want to go in Europe!"

Megan smiled slightly at Sammy’s enthusiasm.  “Yeah.”  She admitted.  “My mom was saying its only about two and a half hours by the Eurostar from Waterloo Station to Paris.  She’s already arranged for a trip for her and I there for a few days over this weekend to do some shopping.”

Megan’s smile faded again as she looked at the other girl.  “Sammy, Torrance Shipman, the new cheerleading captain is the girl I was talking about Sunday night.”  She said.  “After the squad outing Saturday night we went over to her place and she was talking about how she was interested in El, and that he could ‘trade up’ after Diane mentioned he was dating you.  I…really didn’t stick up for you.  I was a bit drunk, so I was afraid if I opened my mouth too much, who knows what I would have said, like how you could easily kick her butt from here to the moon.  I’m sorry.” 

Sammy considers the information for a moment.  "It's okay.  I can see why you wouldn't tell me her name, and I can see why you wouldn't try to warn her off more strongly.  It's not up to me anyhow.  All I can do right now is pitch a jealous fit over something that hasn't happened. That would just make me look bad since I have no reason at all to be suspicious of El.  I'll just have to sit back and watch.  At least now I know who I'm supposed to be watching."  She takes a long draw off of her mug of chocolate. 

"London. Wow. That's a huge move. I hope the best for you. Velocity going to get another costume I imagine?"

Sarah nudges Sammy, nods towards Sammy's coco and says quietly, "If you need something stronger I can fix you up with a root beer float."

Smith thinks it'd be more efficient for someone to drop dead than have a sudden change of heart.


I don't know.  Sylvia looks worried.  I haven't even told everyone I can read minds now.  I don't want them getting weird about it.  She splits a sly smile.  I know.  How about we tell them together, and if anyone freaks out, you make them all forget we said anything?


Sylvia stares.  "Just like that?  Wow," she says slowly.  "Good luck."


She gives Donnie a sharp look.  What the hell is he thinking?  Beat.  Wait.  Stop.  I don't really want to know.

“I was going to try to keep an eye on what she might be trying to do, and if I thought she might try to hurt or embarrass you, I would have done something to interfere or warn you again.”  Megan said.  “But I don’t think you have anything to worry about where El is concerned.”


The blonde teen the looks over at Donnie.  “Thanks Donnie.  If I do decided to keep heroing, I will get another costume, and probably another name.  Would be a bit of a give away if Velocity suddenly disappears from Chicago and appears in London.  But I do have a means of getting a new costume if I want one.”  She glanced over at John at that last part.


“Thanks Sylvia.”  She replied as the other girl spoke up.

Glancing down at the folder she was holding, she held it out and set it on the table.  “I wanted to hand this over to you all, you can do with it what you want too.  This has information on the three most likely suspects for Spark that Greg was able to dig up.”

Colin is clearly shaken by the news.

"That's quite abrupt, I'm sorry about that. So we have just a day to make you farewell presents? No party or anything? The cheerleading squad and the Usual Suspects won't be ever be the same."

Blackbird, is there any special advice I could give her?

“Thanks Colin, but I am afraid there is only about twenty four hours.”  Megan said with a sad face.  “I had not gotten around to getting Christmas presents for you all yet, but seeing as I don’t start at the boarding school I’ll be attending until after the new year, once I unpack, which will only take a few minutes, I will have nothing else to do but learn my way around London and shop.  So I am sure I will find some great stuff to send back.”

Sylvia looks distressed but keeps quiet, adding Megan's name to the roll of vanished comrades.

Sammy just shakes her head and whispers back.  "No thanks."


"Nah.  He's a good guy.  That's why it doesn't surprise me to find out someone else is interested in him.  I'll just have to deal with it."

“Oh yeah.”  Megan said, suddenly remembering something as she reached into her purse.  “I had been working on a way to try to catch that thief that was stealing stuff at school before I reveled my identity to you all.  He has not been active lately, but…just in case, you might want to try this.” 

She pulled out an IPod and another small device with a screen on it.  “When he was at the height of his activity, I put a tracking device in my old IPod.  If he starts becoming active once more, you can try to get it stolen and use this,” she held up the device with the small screen, “to track him.”

Sarah says, "If you leave... well you might never find out.  I mean, did you ever find out anything about Lawson Labs?  With that weird water guy and whatever stuff you fell into... we still don't know anything about them.  Are they trying to make supers or was that just a happy coincidence that one attacked us there and we first discovered our powers shortly afterwards?"

Megan shook her head.  “No, I never learned anything about what the lab might, or might not, have been doing that lead to my obtaining powers in the accident.  The settlement with them has been finalized though.  My dad didn’t say how much it was for, but has basically said that between that and the trust funds I already have, I shouldn’t ever have to worry about money.”

Well that's just swell... Oh nice petty thought.  Aren't I over that haves and have nots crap yet?  *sigh* a work in progress.  She's leaving and your self obsessing again and. *knock knock* dazing out in front of everyone?  Right.

Sarah says, "I'm going to dig into them soon.  Now that I can go most anywhere it's time.  Just wish I knew something about computers.  The answers are probably all on them.  If I find out anything I'll email you.  Maybe even send you copies because if anything happens they'll be safer that way."

“Okay, sounds good.”  Megan replied to Sarah’s comment.

She then looked back around, her face becoming sad once more.  “Well, I should probably head back home to work on my packing.”

Sammy looks over at Megan, uncomfortable, not knowing what to do because she's never had to say a big goodbye before.  "Good luck, Megan.  Have fun out there.  I can only begin to imagine the places you'll go and the things you'll see.  I know it seems sad now because you're leaving what you know behind, but... wow.  Where you are going is pretty awesome.  Don't feel too guilty about enjoying every minute of it, ok?"  She steps forward and gives the other girl an awkward hug.  "Good luck."

”Thanks Sammy.”  Megan said as she hugged the other girl back, her eyes tearing up.  “You take care yourself.  Good luck with your number at the Winter Concert, I am sure it will be awsome.”

Sarah jumps up and gives Megan a hug.  "I'll email you.  We can skype or whatever once your setup.  No way my parents are going to pay for international phone calls.  Let me know about all the guys with dreamy English accents."

Megan gave Sarah a big hug in return.  “Yeah, I’ll get things set up as quick as I can.”  She replied, a tear rolling down one cheek this time at saying goodbye to one of her oldest friends.

Colin gets in line for the hugs. "I'll send you the paper, and photos of everything interesting happening here. We'll take care of everything. You take care of yourself. I'll check the BBC news, and when a great hero with amazing speed will appear in London, I'm so going to frame it. You've been the first of us. And who knows, if Sarah gets better at her latest trick, maybe we'll drop by, sooner or later." he says, trying to smile.

Megan gave a slight smile at Colin’s words as she hugged him back.  “Thanks Colin, I look forward to hearing what’s going on with you guys.  And you all are always welcome if you do get the chance to visit.”

"Good luck Megan. I am sure you will succeed wherever you are. Keep fighting the good fight." Donnie raises his fist an waves it a little before looking away, embarrassed.

Megan gave Donnie a smile as she brushed away some of the tears that had been running down her cheeks.  “Thanks Donnie, you take care as well.”  She turned to Sylvia, giving the other girl a smile as well.  “Take care Sylvia.  Be sure to look out for each other.”  The blonde teen then made her way out of the house with John to head back home.

"Well, there goes my holiday mood." Colin says, stirring what remains of his chocolate.

"We were talking about Preston and what to do with him."

Don't you have any kind of advice for these situations? I mean, there must be a moment when a choice could make a big difference in his life, and we could help him make the right choice. Or would that mess with the universe balance or something like that?, he asks his guide.

Humanity requires free will.  With time things will become clearer, your understanding of the great wheel will improve and you will realize that what is happening now isn't always what's important, but the path those action lead to.

"Well..." Sammy says slowly.  "If you want to give him a warning, give him a chance before you turn him in to the police...  one of us could confront him.  Tell him we know what he did and why did it, but that he still really needs to find a legal way to get the money for school.  Or we could get someone he respects to say that to him."

Sarah asks Sammy, "Who does he respect?"

"When I came in, Colin was saying something about Logan Darklighter.  I don't know Logan, but... Sylvia has lunch with him once in a while.  Or maybe Mr. Heep could say something."

Sylvia lets that first bit of information slide and hopes everyone else will let it go, too.

Colin looks at Sylvia like he would like to tell her something but couldn't.

"I'm not sure how I feel about Logan. And I'm not sure it would work. I like the idea of giving him a warning, though. It gives him a choice. It'd be up to him what happens next."

And he would still have his free will, wouldn't he?

OOC: this would happen after the end of the meeting, so if you want to go on and it confuses you, I'll ask SO to split it.

While handing his friends their coats and waving at them, Colin grabs Sylvia gently by her arm.

"Syl, have you got a moment? There's something I'd like to talk with you about. It won't take long."

Assuming she agrees to stay a bit, he goes on.

"It's about Logan Darklighter. What do you think of him? I quite can't figure him out."

Sylvia looks a little guarded.  "What do you mean?  Do I think he's a bad guy?"  She pauses, really seems to search herself for a moment, and then shakes her head.  "No.  He's all right."

"It's just that, I dunno, he is involved in so much stuff. First, Rory's card. Now this. You're sure about that, I mean really sure? How much does he know about us?"

Now she looks unhappy.  She doesn't like where this is going.  "A lot," she ventures, "but I think he gets it from the people he talks to.  I've told him a little about me, about what I do, but I don't share anyone else's business with him."

"Ok. I just wanted to tell you to be careful and... well... could you ask him something and see how he reacts?"

Sylvia looks grave.  This feels squirelly, talking about Logan as if he were just some suspect.  Sylvia's not good with squirelly.  "Sure," she says slowly.  "What?"

"Well, Rory's card, that thing was so evil they had to destroy it. It polluted everything around. It polluted and poisoned his dreams, and in the end it killed him. Now, Vandross knew what he was doing. After Rory's death, he kind of hypnotized Shelia to try to get the card back. He had sold it online, but I guess he knew how to keep track of it. And he sold it to Logan. Then Logan told Matt to give it to Rory and that's how he ended up with it. I'd like to know how long Logan had it before giving it Matt, because he could have been exposed too. I'd like to know if he felt anything strange, and why he decided to give it away. I'd like to know if Vandross could have a reason to try to kill Logan. I'd like to know if Logan has anything to do with Vandross. It looks like you trust him, so I guess he won't have anything to hide. But otherwise..."

What upsets Sylvia most, she thinks, is that she's upset at all.  She clamps her arms across the flat of her suddenly sore stomach and a line vees down between her eyebrows.  "Logan gave Rory that card, through Matt?"  She's speaking slowly as if she needs to simplify and pick out the facts.  Her expression hardens, and she nods.  "I'll ask him about that next time I see him."

Colin nods too. He didn't like what he had to do either. "Just be careful, ok?"

Sylvia nods and looks away as she feels her eyes watering.  It'd be embarrassing to cry in front of anyone.  Especially in front of Colin.  Especially over Logan.  She clears her throat to steady her voice.  "I guess it's possible someone could be that good a liar, right?  They could tell you what you want to hear, so you think what they want you to?"

"It's also possible that they simply don't have anything to do with that. I trust you, Syl. You're smart. I don't want you to think less of your friend. Just... be sure before you go any further."

He looks down.

"I'm sorry I have to ask you this, but... I guess I'm a bit obsessed. I just feel like if what Vandross does hurts someone else, it'll be a bit my fault, because I couldn't find him and stop him."

"No more your fault than any of ours," she tells him.  Then she pauses and looks around to see if anyone else is listening.  "We could search for him now.  I'm getting a little stronger."  She taps her temple.  "I could try to read minds, try to figure out how he's connected to what's going on in school."  She pauses again.  "But I'm not sure it's the right thing to do."

"I wish we could have someone make Shelia remember what Vandross made her forget. If we could restrict the field a bit I'd go for it, Syl. As it is, I'm afraid scanning everyone's thoughts would just net you a massive headache. I don't want you to try anything that could hurt you."

She looks thoughtful.  "Hey, Colin?  Say, 'Smith.'"

"Huh? Why? 'Smith'"

Sylvia holds up a hand to beg pardon.  Hello hello?  Testing one, two, three.  Is anybody listening?

Hand-Grenade in a barrel of oatmeal.  That's how subtle you are.  Is there something I can do for you?

If you had a cell phone, I could do this like a normal person.  I was wondering:  have you ever tangled with magic?

"I'll get one tomorrow.  As for magic, yeah, a couple of times.  At least that's what I assume it was."

Did you win?  She explains.  Someone hypnotized this girl--  Image of Shelia.  --who might know something about the death of her brother.  Her brother was killed by magic.  I'm just wondering if there's something I should watch out for before I go looking for lost memories.  Like, on Supernatural--  A fluttery moment of teenage swooning over tall, tanned types.  --they go in with rock salt and holy water, and they do exorcisms.  Do you think it'd be dangerous to go poking around?

Sarah smiles at Colin and says in a friendly directory assistance fashion, "Thank you for calling Sylvia.  Sylvia's mind is currently in a meeting but she values your input.  Please hold and the next available brain cells will be with you shortly or poke her with a stick to leave a message."

"Give me a minute," Sylvia says, with stagey patience.  "I'm checking to see if there's anything I should worry about before I look for Shelia's missing time."

I didn't keep score.  Effects are effects, like energy is energy.  Regardless of the mechanism.  Missing memories are usually only not there because someone told you to think something else happened.  So, walk through the sequence of events and instead of watching where you're going, check to the left and right, up and down.  Memories are tricky to locate, but they're probably there unless someone chemically erased them.

Okay, Sylvia says, suddenly terse now that she's got her mind locked on a goal and a means to get there.  Thanks.  If you don't hear from me for a while, come get me.  I'll have taken a wrong turn somewhere and lost my mind.

"Hey, Colin?  You talked some with Shelia, right?  Can you help me persuade her to let me find Vandross?"

"I don't think she would have any problem with that. I think she wants her brother's killer caught as much as we do. I could get fragments of visions from her. What you plan on doing isn't painful or anything, right?"

"Not unless I really screw up," Sylvia hedges.

"I'll talk to her and let you know." Colin says, relieved that he finally knows what to do.