Sleep came slowly that night, and when I finally surrendered to my dreams they were filled with horrible beatings, car crashes, blood, and a little boy who fought his way to be free of abuse.
My heart broke for the blond boy in my dreams. He reminded me of Tommy, and I wanted to comfort him, to rescue him and give him hope.
Perhaps he represented my inner child, the inner artist in me who needed to be free to create and express? Except, it didn't feel like that at all, it felt more like a memory that would haunt me forever.
Lucy and Luke met me for breakfast in our cafeteria that morning, and I told them about my dream.
Luke shoved a spoonful of cheerios into his mouth before speaking. "You're just stressed. You need to unwind. Come spar with me and Lucy. We'll work out that extra tension."
"More like beat it out of me. No thanks." I looked around to make sure no one could hear me before bringing up what I really wanted to talk to them about.
"Listen, I need your help. Someone on campus is stealing other people's powers and using them." This got their attention and they both leaned in to listen.
I told them about my conversation with Kyle.
Lucy pursed her lips. "He could have been lying."
I scoffed. "I might not be a human lie detector, but I dug pretty deep into his mind. He wasn't lying."
Luke tapped his long fingers on the table. "This is bad. No one's come forward with this kind of power. I have a hard time believing it's a student. Could one of the staff have a power we never realized before?"
I thought back to my brief encounter with the mysterious doctor with the gold tooth. "That doctor had some kind of power. Maybe it's him. He arrives out of the blue, and all of the sudden a boy shows up beaten, and someone steals Kyle's fire power to burn down the studio—not to mention Mr. K leaves without even saying goodbye. Don't you find that a bit too coincidental? And Higgins is lying to us, too."
Before they could reply, Mary and her gang walked past and shoved me into my tray of food, splashing milk and juice into my lap.
She giggled, and her lackeys followed suit. "Oops, sorry about that. Didn't see you there."
Lucy sprang from her seat. "Oh no you don't, bitch." She grabbed Mary's long blond hair and pulled it back. "You're going to apologize to Sam, now."
Enough was enough. I faced Mary but spoke to Lucy. "Let her go. I can handle this."
Lucy narrowed her eyes like a cat ready to attack, but did as I asked.
My voice came out low, but firm. "You don't learn, do you? I wasn't kidding, Mary. I'm done with your crap."
I looked to the girl on her right. "Roberta, did you know that Mary deliberately seduced your boyfriend last year so that he'd break up with you? She was jealous and couldn't stand for you to be happy."
Roberta's grin collapsed in on itself, and she stepped back from Mary.
"And Caroline, remember those awful rumors about you earlier this year? How horrible you felt for months? Mary started them because you were getting more popular than her."
Both girls eyed their leader with venomous looks.
Mary shot daggers into me, but she knew her powers were nothing compared to mine. "You're going to pay for this, Sam."
"What are you going to do? Seduce me? Give it up, Mary. I can do a lot worse than this, and I will if you don't stop bullying people."
Inside I started shaking again. This behavior felt so hateful, but also necessary. She'd tortured the student body enough.
It took a moment for me to realize that other students had stood and started clapping. The guys looked relieved—likely they'd suffered the worse, having their natural instincts and hormones turned against them every time she was near.
Once again I was so grateful Luke had immunity to her powers of seduction. I couldn't bear the thought of him being under her thrall.
Mary pushed through the crowd and stormed off alone.
The clapping subsided and I collapsed into myself. "Let's get out of here."
Luke and Lucy had phys ed training, but I had the rest of the day free.
Before we parted ways, Lucy hugged me. "I'm so proud of you, Chica! You finally stood up for yourself in a totally badass way!"
But I wasn't listening to Lucy. My attention had been claimed by another voice, one inside my head.
A soft whisper stole my breath. 'You did good. I'm proud of you, too.'
My mystery boy was awake, and he could talk to me.
***
"Can you hear me?" My heart skipped beats as I waited.
'Yes.'
I nearly fell to the ground. In all my years as a mind reader, I'd never had a two-way conversation with anyone. A lot of firsts in the mind-reading business lately.
"Who are you? Can you read minds too?"
'My name is Drake, and no, I can't. Are you the girl with the blue eyes?'
Drake. I rolled his name around in my mind. A strong, sexy name; I liked it. Did he remember me from our brief contact before he passed out? "I'm a girl with blue eyes, but not the only one."
He mentally chuckled, and the sound warmed me from the inside. 'I saw you, before they took me into the hospital room. How are we able to do this?'
"I honestly don't know. Do you have powers?" He must, to be here at all.
He hesitated. I knew that with the smallest push I could find out for myself, but I wanted him to trust me, to open up to me.
"I can control minds, and I'm strong. Someone kidnapped me and brought me here. I need to get out. Where are we?"
A girl behind me nudged me. "Are you going in?"
We stood in front of my dorm, but I didn't remember walking there. "Sorry, lost in thought." I walked into the main hall and up to my room.
Once there, I locked the door behind me and closed the curtains. This felt too private for any kind of exposure.
"What do you mean someone kidnapped you?"
He told me about the day of his surfing competition and how he was attacked.
"Did they tell you why?"
'Something about saving me from another group who tried to hurt me.'
That made sense, and jived with what Higgins had said, though the headmaster was no longer the beacon of honesty I had once thought.
I told him what I knew about the group attacking paranormals, and described Rent-A-Kid and my life as best I could.
'So you think they really are trying to help me? I gotta say, while you seem on the up and up, the doctor who treated me does not. I can smell a rat a mile away, and he's a very bad dude.'
He couldn't be talking about Dr. Sato, but I could guess whom he meant.
"Did this doctor happen to have a gold tooth and oily personality?"
'The very one. Know him?'
"Not intimately. I saw him in the hall yelling at our regular doctor the day I met you. Drake, I couldn't read him, not at all. That's never happened before."
And so I told him everything. About Mr. K and my painting and my assignment with Tommy.
For a moment, the absurdity of my situation hit me. I was talking to a voice in my head. If not for all that I'd already seen, I'd be worried about my sanity.
If Drake had been standing in front of me, there's no way I'd have been this transparent and vulnerable. But our unique way of communicating made it so much easier to trust him—after all, he was just a voice in my mind. Talking to him was like thinking—just as natural.
As the day wore into night, we kept up a steady stream of dialogue, discussing everything from our favorite food and favorite color to our deepest fears and most secret hopes. Through his memories, I saw the many foster homes he'd grown up in and the church with towering angels in a magical garden.
I showed him different assignments I'd been on and the countries I'd traveled to. We talked about Hawaii and surfing and art and college.
Even in moments of silence, his thoughts swirled into mine like vanilla and chocolate ice cream melting into each other.
With him, I felt the same comfort and familiarity as I did with Luke. They both had a protective quality that made me feel safe, but Drake did not inspire any brotherly feelings at all. Quite the opposite.
I'd always assumed that for chemistry between two people to ignite, they had to be physically present with one another. After all, didn't their pheromones have to sniff each other out or something?
But with Drake, even just mentally, science and magic combined to create something new and wonderful. The warmth of those new feelings spread through my body as his deep voice seduced my mind and heart.
Within twenty-four hours of near non-stop communication, Drake and I had created a bond that I'd never found with anyone else, even after years of friendship. This is the power of the mind, the power of thoughts—and the power of emotions.
***
Drake stayed with me throughout my classes the next day. He helped keep me awake after being up for two days, and nearly got me in trouble a few times with his smart-ass remarks about my teachers, fellow students or classes.
By the time I arrived at Luke and Lucy's suite after school, I was dead on my feet.
Lucy eyed me up and down and brewed some coffee. I curled up on their overstuffed chair and listened as Drake told me a story about Father Patrick, a man I couldn't wait to meet, based on what I knew so far.
Luke threw a pillow at me. "Yo, Sam, where are you?"
I realized I'd ignored them again. It was time to introduce them to Drake. "I'm sorry. Um, remember that mystery boy I told you about? I'm talking to him right now."
Lucy nearly dropped the coffee pot. "Shut up! Seriously? When did this happen. You can't just let random guys into your mind, Sam."
Right, like this happened every day. There goes Sam, the mind whore.
I explained about how we connected and our night and day together.
Lucy sat on the couch across from me and handed me a mug of coffee. "No wonder you look like something a dog spit out."
"Gee, thanks, you're sweet."
Luke poured a cup for himself and sat next to Lucy. "So he's here, right now? Can he hear us?"
"Yes, he can hear what I can. He's basically hearing my thoughts, not so much you. But don't worry guys, I've spent hours and hours talking with him, exploring his mind. I know we can trust him."
Lucy frowned in disapproval. "He could be playing you, Sam, trying to get into your mind to hurt you. With everything that's happened recently, do you really think it's a good idea to let a stranger in like this?"
"If you can't trust him, then you have to trust me. I know him—yes, even after only one night, I know him. He can help us, and with everything that's going on, we need the help."
Lucy's eyes widened. "You're in love with him. Oh my God, Sam, you're in love!"
Heat flooded my face. "Stop! We are close, and I'll admit to some... feeling." Oh my God, this was such an embarrassing conversation to have with him listening.
He chuckled in my mind, and I wanted to mentally swat him, but that just made him chuckle harder.
"Let's just see how it goes, but for now, you don't need to worry. He's not a spy and he's not trying to hurt me. He wants to help."
I stared them both down, and while they didn't fall into immediate trust with Drake, they were willing to try.
I did a mental victory dance. "Okay, let's focus. Something's going on here, and we need to figure out what it is. It's time to create our own assignment. You in?"
Lucy stood and stretched. "You know I am. We obviously can't sit by and do nothing."
We both looked to Luke.
He grinned like the Cheshire Cat. "Seriously, do you even have to ask?"
I smiled. "Okay, here's the plan. I'm going to go back to the studio and dig through the rubble in Mr. K's office to see if I can find any clues. I just have this sense that in our last class together he was trying to tell me something, and I need to figure out what. Luke, see if you can dig up any dirt in Higgins's office, and Lucy, you're the interrogator. Question students, faculty, even Higgins if you can. Also, scope out the clinic and figure out who's lying. We'll meet back here tonight to compare notes."
'How can I help?'
How could Drake help? He was strapped down and powerless, though I didn't say that to him. I could only imagine how impotent he felt right now. "Find out what you can from the nurses and Dr. Pana if you see him again. He's the key here."
"Be careful, everyone, and remember that Rent-A-Kid is watching us. Don't raise too much suspicion."
***
The wind whipped my ponytail across my face and chilled me to the bone, but still I didn't move to open the door to the studio. I couldn't. My plan had sounded good in the comfort of Luke and Lucy's suite, but now, standing alone to face the remains of my life's work... my enthusiasm for this mission waned.
'Are you okay?'
"No, not really. Whoever burned down this studio turned my dreams to ash as well. I mean, I still have school, but without my art...."
A flash of emotion seared me, and a memory stormed my senses. The taste of the sea, the feel of the sun and wind, the surf under my board... wait, not my board, Drake's. I'd never been surfing, but in that moment I knew exactly how it felt to ride a wave and let go of all the pain and fear, all the social expectations and the need to hide my true self in public.
In one blow, that dream died as they dragged me—him—away.
A tear slid down my cheek. I wasn't the only one mourning the loss of a dream. "I'm sorry."
'You're not alone, I just wanted you to know that. And someday, when I have my powers back and am free, I'm going to do some serious damage to the people who've hurt you.'
His words released in me a primal urge to feel safe and protected, to belong to someone in a more intimate way than I'd ever experienced before. Still, in that moment he was just a voice, and I had to do this on my own.
I opened the door and stepped in. Raw pain filled me at the sight of my painting.
'Show me what it looked like, before the fire.'
His request surprised me, but I did as he asked. With eyes closed, I projected the exact details of the painting I had poured my soul into. Just as I had experienced his love of surfing in a visceral way, he shared not just the visual beauty of my work, but the love and passion with which I had dedicated myself to it.
'Thank you. Now, it will never truly be gone.'
I choked back a sob and went to Mr. K's office. I pulled my sketchbook out of my book bag and ran my hand over the cover with the gold emblem, then opened it to the sketch I'd drawn from his mind the last time I'd seen him.
The box had been important. It had to be here somewhere.
I searched his desk, his cubby and his metal filing cabinet, but found nothing of note. His office had survived the fire with less damage than the studio, but it didn't reveal any secrets that would help. Frustrated, I fell into his chair and put my head on his metal desk. That's when I noticed the painting on the wall. It had been moved and hung slightly askew.
No way. That was too clichéd even for Mr. K. But... what if?
I went over and moved aside the painting. Sure enough, he had a safe.
Now what? What combination of numbers would be most important to Mr. K? I thought back to all the times I'd read his mind for assignments. Piece by piece, I recalled numbers that stood out. 4-15-70, the date he'd lost his wife and child in a freak accident.
The safe clicked open and inside sat my box.
I ran my hands over the delicate detail of the carving; he'd done the work himself. Grief threatened to overcome me. I missed him so much. No one had ever understood me or my passions the way he had.
The box didn't open on the first try. It had been locked, but I couldn't find a spot for the key. The box didn't have a keyhole, but an emblem—fit to complement the one on my journal—adorned its front.
Using a metal letter opener from the desk, I pried the emblem off my sketchbook and inserted it into the emblem on the box. With a firm twist, it opened. I held my breath in anticipation of what I would find.
Nothing. The box was empty.
I turned it upside down, as if gravity would magically spill the secrets I'd hoped it would contain, but of course, nothing fell out.
Crushed, I couldn't contain the tears anymore. Sobs tore through me and I unleashed all my rage and fear and grief. I nearly threw the box across the room, but stopped myself in time. Mr. K had made this; it was all I had left of him.
"What am I going to do, Drake? I can't live with the loss of both Mr. K and my art."
'We'll find a way, Sam. I promise. Have you checked for any secret compartments in the box? When I lived in foster care I had to hide things important to me, and that's how I did it.'
Excitement overcame me and I looked on the box with new eyes. The inside didn't seem as deep as it should have been. Using the same letter opener, I loosened the bottom on all sides until it popped off.
A letter lay in the compartment, and it had my name written on it in a familiar scrawl.
~~~
Sam,
If you're reading this, I'm gone. Please know I would never leave you here alone, which means I didn't leave voluntarily. There are deep secrets at this school, and I've only scratched the surface. One of my students disappeared after she left. She's not where Higgins said she'd be. I fear a worse fate for you. Get out, Sam. However you can, get out. Someday, if I'm still alive, I'll find you.
You were the best of them all.
Mr. K
P.S. I made this box for you. Keep your own secrets in it.
~~~
What had Mr. K discovered that scared him so much, and what did they do to him?
"Drake, did you see?"
'Yes. Do you believe me now? They kidnapped me, Sam. They didn't save me from shit!'
"I don't know. Yes. Maybe. It's all so much. I wish I knew what to do. I wish Mr. K was still here."
Luke and Lucy needed to see this. I put the letter back and sealed it, then slipped the box into my bag.
I left Mr. K's office and walked right into Headmaster Higgins.
"Sam, what are you doing here?"
"I came to see if any of my art survived. The first time, I was too upset."
His face softened. "Of course. Actually, I'm glad I ran into you. The clinic is looking for you. It's time for your vitamin shot and checkup."
"Right now?" I had a standing appointment every three months for that, and this was odd timing.
"Yes, they've revamped the vitamin cocktail, and we need to make sure all the students get it. There's been a nasty flu going around and it'll help keep you healthy."
'Need everyone healthy. Healthy and happy.'
"Okay, I'll head there right now."
"Great. Oh, and did you find anything?"
"Not really. Everything's pretty much destroyed."
"I'm sorry, Sam. I really am."
"Me too."
I left before he could question me more, and headed to the clinic.
'Don't let them give you any drugs, Sam. Vitamins my ass.'
"I don't have a choice. There's nothing I can do about it."
He sighed mentally but didn't say anything more about it.
As I approached the clinic, Luke and Lucy walked past me. "Hey, where are you two going?"
They both smiled with glazed expressions that contained no hint of personality. "Just back to our room. See you around," Lucy said.
I couldn't hide my exasperation. What was going on? "Wait, what did you find out?"
Luke slugged my shoulder. "Oh, Sam, you worry too much. Everything's fine. They're waiting for you in there, and we have to go."
They walked away and left me stunned.
'Your friends have been compromised.'
"They're like pod people. I'm scared, Drake."
'Me too.'
But what could I do? I couldn't hide or escape, so I walked into the clinic and spied on every mind I could find, fighting a mounting headache the whole time.
***
My trepidation mounted when the doctor with the gold tooth walked into my room. "Hello, Sam." He flipped through a chart. "Looks like it's time for your vitamin dose. This is an enhanced version and will give you added health benefits as well as strengthen your powers."
"Who are you?"
"You are a direct young lady, aren't you? I'm Dr. Pana. I created this new serum and am overseeing the distribution of it."
'Sam, that's the doctor who treated me.'
"I know."
"Please hold out your arm and lie back. You might get dizzy or even fall asleep for a time. That's completely normal."
'Sam, don't! Please.'
"I have no choice."
My arm shook, but I offered it to him like a sacrificial lamb. For all my newfound courage, I still just let myself be pushed around. I'd never had any real power over my own life, and I realized I never would.
"Don't worry, it will only hurt for a second."
The prick came, and my body filled with a warm glow as I slid into oblivion.
Drake's voice touched at the edges of my consciousness. I reached for him, but he slipped farther and farther away, until he was gone and I was alone.
***
The little boy sits on the bed once again and waits. When New Daddy gets home, he's going to be ready for him this time.
New Mommy gets older every day and her skin wrinkles and sinks into itself in a yellowish muck. Drake won't hurt New Mommy, even if she does let New Daddy beat him.
New Mommy hurts herself enough for them both.
But New Daddy, he won't be allowed to do this anymore.
The door slams open and the little boy waits, quiet as a dead mouse.
Then New Daddy is standing over him, a gun in his hand.
The blow lands before Drake can move, but Drake's been practicing.
He pushes New Daddy's weak mind. He pushes harder and harder—with each bashing from the pistol, he pushes.
This beating hurts more than the rest. The metal from the gun breaks open his skin and bone. He might not heal from this, but he doesn't care as long as New Daddy doesn't either.
As Drake fades into darkness, as he becomes truly as quiet as a dead mouse—as a dead boy—he pushes one last time.
He hears the gunshot and feels New Daddy's brain and blood hit his face.
New Daddy shot himself.
***
The nightmare woke me from my drugged stupor. A deep ache built in my womb and pulsed through me. I calculated my cycle, but no, I still had a few weeks for that. Still the cramps burned inside me, as did the memory of that dream.
Of Drake's dream.
Drake's memories.
My breath hitched at the realization that all of my nightmares recently had been his. This was his childhood—his inner child, not mine.
I cried for him and called out to him in my mind.
'I'm here. Are you okay?'
"Are you? I saw, Drake. I saw what happened to you."
He grew quiet and I feared he'd left.
'Do you hate me?'
"What? Why would I? You were a child trying to protect yourself. But what happened after your foster father killed himself?"
'I was in a coma for a week. Once I recovered, the orphanage took me back, and my foster mother was put on trial for abuse and negligence. I spent the next several years in and out of foster families until I finally ran away and moved in with my best friend Brad.'
My mind tumbled around as it tried to process what kind of life Drake must've had.
'How do you feel? You don't seem as drugged as your friends.'
"I don't feel that different. A little loopy and very achy."
I placed my hand on my abdomen. Sharp pain shot through me every few minutes. Maybe I had the flu. I did feel flushed. It could also be a side effect of this new "cocktail" they'd given me.
When Dr. Pana came into my room, I did my best impression of how Luke and Lucy had acted, and the doctor released me with instructions to rest for the remainder of the day.
If only a nice nap could have solved all my problems. I had to find a way to save my friends.
