THE MENDEL INHERITANCE

Growing Pains

The first signs of trouble came from the children.

Not an attack. Not a threat. Something more subtle. Something that crept up on them slowly, like a fog rolling in from the mountains. It started with nightmares. Then whispers. Then strange behaviors that didn't make sense.

Ethan noticed it on a Tuesday afternoon. He was walking through the community square when he saw a group of children huddled together. Their faces were pale. Their eyes were wide. They were whispering to each other in urgent tones.

"What's going on?" he asked.

One of the older children looked up. Her name was Maya. She was twelve. Bright. Curious. But today, her face was pale with fear.

"It's the Frequency, Mr. Cole. We can hear it. All of us. Even the ones who aren't supposed to be Receivers. It's like it's getting louder, and we can't make it stop."

Ethan knelt down. "What do you hear?"

"Voices. Whispers. Like someone's talking, but we can't understand the words. It's like static, but with words underneath. Sometimes it sounds angry. Sometimes it sounds sad."

He looked at Nora. She was already walking toward him. Her face was tense.

"I felt it too. Something's changed. The Frequency is getting stronger. More accessible to everyone, not just Receivers. It's like the barriers are breaking down."

"Can you trace it?"

"Not yet. But I'm going to try. Derek and I need to analyze the patterns."

---

Nora spent the afternoon in the monitoring room with Derek.

The monitors showed spikes. Small. Brief. But consistent. Like a heartbeat. Like something breathing.

"It's like the Frequency is becoming more available," Derek said. His fingers flew across the keyboard. "Like the barrier between the Frequency and the physical world is thinning. I've never seen anything like this."

"Could that be connected to Alex? To the fragments?"

"Maybe. Or it could be something else entirely. Something we haven't encountered before."

Ethan stood in the doorway. "Something like what?"

Derek turned to him. His face was grim. "Chimera wasn't the only entity in the Frequency. There are others. Weaker. Dormant. But still present. Marcus's files mentioned them."

Ethan's blood went cold. "Others? What others?"

"I don't know. The records Marcus kept mentioned other signatures. Other intelligences. But they were dormant. Quiet. Chimera was the dominant one. It kept them suppressed."

"Until we destroyed it."

"Until you destroyed it. Now the others are waking up. And they're curious about this world."

---

Ethan gathered the team.

Liam. Charlotte. Sonya. Derek. Richard. Elena. Nora. Alex. Dr. Tanaka. They assembled in the new community center. The building was large. Clean. Professional.

"New threat. New challenge. There are other entities in the Frequency. And they're starting to wake up."

"Great," Liam muttered. "Just when I thought we had a break."

Charlotte shook her head. "What do we know about these entities?"

"Not much. Marcus's files are incomplete. But what we do know is that they're weaker than Chimera. They don't have the same power. But they can still cause problems."

Nora stepped forward. "Problems like possession. Manipulation. Feeding on negative emotions. Fear. Anger. Grief. They're parasites. They attach themselves to vulnerable people and drain them."

"The same things Chimera did."

"On a smaller scale. But enough to hurt people. Enough to cause chaos. Enough to tear apart everything we've built."

---

Alex arrived. His eyes were glowing white. Faint. But constant.

"I can feel them," he said. "The other entities. They're out there in the Frequency. They're curious. They don't understand this world. They've never been here before."

"Can you communicate with them?"

"Maybe. They're different from the fragments. They're more like Chimera was. Hungry. Confused. Lost. They've been asleep for so long, and now they're awake and they don't know what to do with themselves."

"Can you calm them? Like you calmed the fragments?"

Alex was quiet for a moment. His eyes flickered. "I can try. But I'm not sure if it will work. The fragments chose me. They wanted to be part of something. These entities are different. They're wild. Untamed. They don't want connection. They want food."

---

The first incident happened that night.

A child in the community started screaming. Uncontrollably. His eyes were white. His body was rigid. His parents couldn't wake him. Couldn't calm him.

Ethan ran to the house. Nora was already there. Trying to reach the boy through the Frequency.

"What happened?"

"He was sleeping. Then he woke up like this. Possessed. But not by Chimera. Something else. Something smaller. Meaner."

"Is he in pain?"

"He's terrified. Whatever is in him is feeding on his fear."

Ethan looked at Alex. "Can you help?"

Alex stepped forward. His eyes glowed brighter. Brighter than Ethan had ever seen.

"I can try."

He touched the child's forehead. White light pulsed from his fingers.

The child's screaming stopped. His eyes returned to normal.

He looked around, confused. "What happened?"

"You had a visitor," Alex said. "But it's gone now. It won't bother you again."

---

Ethan helped the child's family. Calmed them. Explained what had happened.

"These entities are new. They're not like Chimera. They're smaller. But they can still hurt people. They feed on fear. On pain. On anything negative."

"What do we do?" the mother asked. Her voice was shaking.

"We learn to protect ourselves. We work together. We get stronger. The same way we learned to fight Chimera."

"Can you teach us?"

"We're already teaching. Nora and Alex are leading workshops. Meditation. Visualization. Mental barriers. It's not easy, but it works."

---

Dr. Tanaka gathered the community the next morning.

Everyone assembled in the square. Hundreds of faces. All looking at her.

"Everyone needs to be aware. The Frequency is changing. There are new presences in it. They're not as powerful as Chimera, but they can still hurt you. They can still manipulate you."

"What can we do?" someone called out.

"You can learn to block them. The same way we learned to block Chimera. Nora and Alex are here to teach you. Listen to them. Learn from them. Don't ignore your instincts. If you feel something strange, report it."

---

Nora and Alex spent the next few weeks teaching.

Every day. Morning and evening. Meditation sessions. Visualization exercises. Mental barrier training.

The community learned quickly. They'd been through worse. They'd survived Chimera. They'd survived Marcus. They'd survived everything the world had thrown at them.

But some of the Receivers struggled. The entities were subtle. They found cracks in the barriers. They exploited weaknesses.

One woman started having nightmares. Vivid. Terrifying. She couldn't sleep. Could barely function.

Another man started hearing voices. Accusing him. Blaming him. Telling him he was worthless.

A third felt overwhelming grief. For no reason. No cause. Just endless, crushing sadness.

"The entities are feeding on emotions," Nora said. "They're not strong enough to possess. But they can manipulate. They can make people feel things that aren't real."

"Then we need to teach people how to fight that," Ethan said. "How to recognize the manipulation."

---

Richard had an idea.

"Teach them to recognize the manipulation. The emotions that don't come from themselves. The thoughts that feel foreign. Like someone else put them there."

"Like cognitive behavioral therapy?"

"Exactly. The Frequency is just another sense. People can learn to distinguish between what's real and what's being projected. It takes practice. But it works."

---

The training continued.

Weeks passed. Months.

The entities remained active. More incidents occurred. More people were affected. More families lived in fear.

But the community grew stronger. More resilient. More prepared.

Ethan watched his people. Proud. Protective. He saw them struggle. Saw them fail. Saw them get back up and try again.

"We're not going to let fear win," he said one night. The bonfire was burning low. His voice was quiet. "We've come too far for that."

---

The first entity was trapped three months later.

A young woman in the community had been hearing voices for weeks. They'd been getting louder. More insistent. More aggressive. She couldn't sleep. Couldn't eat. Could barely function.

Nora and Alex worked together. Tracked the entity through the Frequency. Cornered it. Surrounded it.

"Stay away from her," Nora said. Her voice was hard. "She's protected. You can't have her."

The entity screamed. A sound that wasn't quite sound. A frequency that made the air vibrate. Then it went silent.

"It's gone," Alex said. "Trapped in the Frequency. It can't hurt her anymore."

---

The community celebrated.

Bonfire. Music. Laughter.

Ethan sat with Nora. Watched the flames. The children were playing. The adults were talking. The fear was gone. For now.

"We did it again," he said.

"We did. Together."

"Will there ever be a time when we don't have to fight?"

Nora was quiet for a moment. She stared at the fire. Her face was peaceful.

"Maybe not. But that's okay. As long as we have each other. As long as we have this community. That's enough."