Twilight: Bay City Paranormal Investigations, Book 3

hone his talents to the point where they were under his complete conscious control?
He didn’t know, and right then he was too exhausted to think about it. Resolving to give the matter his undivided attention later, Sam drifted to sleep to the feel of Bo’s hand stroking his thigh.
Chapter Thirteen
    Thus, we may conclude that the diagnosis of epilepsy could be missed in cases where the seizure activity is confined to the limbic system—particularly the amygdala, in which induced seizures are known to produce vivid hallucinations and intense, almost paralyzing fear—and the client may be wrongly diagnosed with schizophrenia or acute psychosis. Use of the proper anti-convulsant drug can greatly reduce or entirely eradicate the hallucinations and debilitating fear suffered by these clients. Therefore, evaluation for deep brain epilepsy should be considered in all clients who fail traditional anti-psychotic drug therapy.
    Curled on the sofa of the Kimberley Inn conference room BCPI was using as their base of operations, Sam read through the “Conclusions” section of the research paper for a third time. He’d found the article that morning at a local medical library, in a year-old issue of a small but well-respected journal of psychology. The librarian had recommended the journal, claiming it published the most cutting-edge epilepsy research, which was what Sam was looking for. He’d spent half the morning finding and copying articles, which promised to be enlightening, and the rest of the day on into the evening reading them. This one, near the bottom of the pile, was proving to be by far the most informative.
    He glanced up as the door opened and his coworkers filed in. “Hey,” he greeted them with a smile. “How’d everything go today?”
    “Toby saw the butcher’s ghost, screamed like a girl and fainted.” David shook his head as he plopped onto the sofa beside Sam. “Tell you what, I’m glad this is the last day. That boy’s driving me up the damn wall. What’re you reading, Sam?”
    “Research article.” Sam tapped the paper in his hand. “As a matter of fact, I’m glad y’all are back because I think we all need to discuss what I found.”
    “So you’ve finally found something that might explain how that portal was opened?” Setting his EMF detector on the table, Bo walked over to sit on the arm of the sofa. He settled an arm around Sam’s shoulders and squinted at the sheaf of papers in his hand. “ Journal of Modern Neuropsychology. I didn’t know the library carried professional journals.”
    “They don’t. The librarian sent me to the MAHEC library, and the librarian there recommended this journal after I told her what I wanted.”
    “What’s MAHEC?” Andre asked, settling into one of the large leather chairs gathered around the table.
“Mountain Area Health Education Center.” Unfolding his legs, Sam leaned his head against Bo’s chest. “They have a pretty good-sized medical library.”
Nodding, Dean claimed the chair beside Andre’s. “So what article are you reading?”
Sam flipped back to the front page. “Epilepsy of the Primitive Brain: Diagnosis and Treatment.”
A puzzled expression crossed Cecile’s face. “I’m lost. What does that have to do with portals?”
“Maybe nothing,” Sam admitted. “Everything I’ve come up with is sheer speculation, but I think the evidence fits well enough.”
“Hmm.” Nudging Sam over, Bo slid onto the sofa beside him. “I think I know where you’re going with this, Sam. It has to do with Harry Norton’s epilepsy, right?”
Sam nodded. “Partly, yeah. I got to thinking about it on the way down the mountain. My grandfather had epilepsy, so I learned a lot about it growing up. Basically, when we found out Harry was epileptic, I started wondering if the abnormal electrical activity could play a part in opening a portal. My grandfather took Phenobarbital, not Dilantin, so I didn’t recognize Harry’s Dilantin bottle when I saw it. If I had I might’ve made the connection earlier.”
“Seizures are more or less uncontrolled firing of neurons in the brain,” Dean explained in response to the blank looks around him. “Nerve cells generate electrical impulses to make your body work, and normally that’s done in a controlled and regulated way. When you have a seizure, the nerve cells are firing out of control, which means big wild bursts of electrical activity in the brain.”
“Clear as mud,” David muttered,