The Strange Power

by L. J. Smith

Chapter 7

 

  The students seemed friendly-Rob's blond good looks had something to do with that, Kaitlyn thought. He was clearly a high-status, desirable boy, and he ate lunch with her and Anna and Lewis. Kait could see the glances other girls shot at their table.

  Anna was clearly high-status, too-because she was beautiful, not at all nervous, and she didn't seem to care if anyone approached her. By the end of lunch, several girls had come by offering to show the newcomers around. They stayed to chat. One mentioned a party on Saturday.

  Kait was very happy.

  The thing she'd worried most about was explaining why she and the others were living together. She didn't want to tell these California girls anything about psychic powers and the Institute. She didn't want to be different at this school. She wanted to fit in.

  But fortunately Lewis took care of that. Between snapping pictures of the girls, he grinned and said that a nice old man had given them a lot of money to go to

  school here. No one believed him, but it created an irresistible aura of mystery that enhanced their status even more.

  At the end of the day, Kaitlyn walked out of art studio class feeling blissful. The art teacher had called her portfolio "impressive" and her style "fluid and arresting. " All she wanted to make the world perfect was Rob.

  Gabriel, of course, didn't associate with anyone, and ate lunch alone. Kaitlyn saw him several times that day, always away from people, always with his lip curled. He could have had tremendous status himself, she thought, because he looked so handsome and moody and dangerous, but he didn't seem to want it.

  Marisol collected them after school in a silver-blue Ford van-all except Gabriel, who didn't show up at the pickup point. Kaitlyn thought about his parole and hoped he was on his way back to the Institute.

  "Now for some testing," Joyce said when they got home.

  That was fine with Kaitlyn. She was jubilant from her first day at school, and an afternoon of testing meant an afternoon with Rob. She still hadn't figured out a plan for helping him discover she was female, but it was always at the back of her mind. Maybe an opportunity would come up spontaneously.

  But the first thing Joyce did was send Rob upstairs, saying she'd call him after she got the others settled.

  "The REG is ready, Lewis," she added. She sat Lewis down at the same study carrel as before. This time Kait was bold enough to come up behind them.

  "What is that thing?" she asked, looking at the

  machine in front of Lewis. It looked like a computer, but the monitor had a grid-marked screen with a wiggly green line running across the middle. Like a hospital monitor charting a patient's heartbeat.

  "This is a random event generator," Joyce said. "It's a computer that only does one thing-it spits out random numbers. It's producing numbers right now, some positive, some negative, all completely random. That's what the green line is charting. Lewis's job is to make the line go up higher-to influence the machine to spit out more positive numbers than negative ones. "

  "You can do that?" Kait asked, looking at Lewis in surprise. "With your mind?"

  "Yeah, that's what PK is. Mind over matter. This is actually a lot easier than making dice come up a certain number-but I can do that, too, sometimes. "

  "Stay away from Vegas, kid," Joyce said, rapping him on the head with her knuckles. "They'd shoot out your kneecaps. "

  She turned to Anna. "Right, you. Same as yesterday. I want you to tell that mouse which hole to go in. "

  Anna already had the white mouse out of its cage. "Come on, Mickey. Let's go make history. "

  "Right. Now, Kaitlyn," Joyce said. She nodded Kait toward the folding screen, where Marisol was wheeling up a machine on a cart. Kaitlyn eyed the dials and wires apprehensively.

  "Don't be nervous. It's just an EEG machine," Joyce said. "An electroencephalograph. It records your brain waves. "

  "Oh, great. "

  "That isn't the part you're not going to like. You're going to really hate this. " She held up what looked like a tube of toothpaste. "It's electrode cream, and it's murder to get out of your hair. "

  Kaitlyn sat in the reclining chair, resigned.

  Marisol's thickly lashed brown eyes met Kait's only for the briefest of moments. Her full lips were curved in a bored, unchanging pout.

  "This is just prep stuff to clean your skin," she said, squeezing a plastic bottle over a ball of cotton. She swabbed several places on Kaitlyn's head, forehead, and temples.

  "Don't move your head. " She dabbed some of the toothpaste on Kaitlyn's temple, then dabbed more on an electrode. Kaitlyn watched out of the corner of her eye as the wicked-looking little thing was stuck to her.

  It didn't hurt. It tickled slightly. Kait shut her eyes and relaxed until Marisol finished wiring her up.

  "Now, Medusa," Joyce said. "As I said, we're going to monitor your brain waves while you're doing your stuff. Brain wave levels change depending on what you're doing: Beta waves show you're attending to something, theta waves show you're drowsy. We're looking for alpha waves-the ones usually associated with psychic activity. "

  She saw Kaitlyn's expression and added, "Just try to ignore all this equipment, right? You'll be doing exactly the same thing as yesterday. "

  Kaitlyn looked sideways without moving her head, and saw Marisol bringing two strangers into the lab.

  New volunteers. Kaitlyn felt a sudden sharp twinge.

  "Joyce, is one of those volunteers . . . for Gabriel?"

  "I don't know where Gabriel is-although I'd like to," Joyce said grimly, handing Kait a pencil and clipboard. "Now relax, kiddo. No blindfold or earphones this time. "

  Kaitlyn shut her eyes again. She could hear some activity on the other side of the folding screen-Joyce giving a photo to the volunteer.

  "Right," Joyce said. "The subject is concentrating, Kait. You try and receive her thought. "

  It was only then that Kait discovered how anxious she was. Yesterday she hadn't known what to expect.

  Today she did know, and she was uneasy. Worried that she wouldn't be able to perform-and worried that she would.

  She didn't feel like sliding down that mental chute into nothingness again. And if she did succeed . . . what if she drew something as grotesque as yesterday's picture?

  Don't think about it. Take it easy. This is what you're here for, remember?

  Don't you want to learn to control your power?

  Kaitlyn gritted her teeth, then made a supreme effort to relax, to tune the world out. She could hear muted voices.

  "Still beta waves on the EEG. " That was Marisol.

  "Give her time. " That was Joyce.

  Be calm, Kaitlyn thought. Ignore them. The chair's comfortable. You didn't get much sleep last night.

  Slowly, gradually, she felt herself sink into drowsiness.

  "Theta waves. "

  Blackness, falling . . .

  "Alpha waves. "

  "Good!"

  Kaitlyn's hand began to cramp and itch. But as she lifted the pencil, eyes shut, she suddenly remembered yesterday's picture. Anxiety twisted in her stomach.

  "Back to beta waves," Marisol said, as if announcing a death in the family.

  Joyce peered around the screen. "Kaitlyn, what's wrong?"

  "I don't know. " Now Kait felt guilty as well as anxious. "I just can't focus. "

  "Hmm. " Joyce seemed to hesitate, then she said, "Right, wait a sec," and disappeared.

  She was back again quickly. "Shut your eyes, Kait. "

  Kaitlyn obeyed automatically. She felt a quick dab and then the touch of something cold on her forehead.

  Very cold.

  "Now try again," Joyce said, and Kait heard her go.

  Again Kait tried to relax. This time she felt the darkness swirl around her immediately. Then she had an odd sensation, a feeling of pressure in her head. Like an explosion building. And then-

&n
bsp; -pictures. Images rushing in, almost with more force than Kaitlyn could stand.

  "Alpha waves like crazy," a faraway voice said. Kaitlyn scarcely heard it.

  Nothing like this had ever happened to her before-but she was too startled to be afraid. The pictures were kaleidoscopic, each passing in a flash almost before she could recognize it.

  Gabriel. Something purple. Joyce-or someone like her. Something purple and irregular. A doorway with someone standing in it. A bunch of purple round things. Something tall and white-a tower? A bunch of purple . . . grapes.

  She could feel her hand moving, drawing small circles over and over on the paper. She couldn't help opening her eyes-and the instant she did, the images in her head vanished.

  She'd drawn a bunch of grapes. Made sense. That was the picture she'd gotten most frequently.

  Recklessly, ignoring the wires, she stood up and looked around the screen.

  "What happened?" she demanded of Joyce. "I saw pictures in my head-what did you do?"

  Joyce stood up quickly. "Just put on another electrode. "

  Kaitlyn put a hand to her forehead. It felt as if there was something between the electrode and the skin.

  "Over your third eye," Marisol added stonily.

  Joyce glanced back at her. Marisol's olive-skinned face was expressionless.

  Kaitlyn had frozen. Her drawing yesterday. . . "What's-what's a third eye?"

  "According to legend, it's the seat of all psychic power," Joyce said lightly. "It's in the center of your forehead, where the pineal gland is. "

  "But-but why would an electrode-"

  "God, she's still in alpha waves," Marisol interrupted.

  "Time to get you unwired," Joyce said briskly. She began pulling electrodes off. Kaitlyn felt the forehead one go, but Joyce's hands moved so quickly, she didn't see what became of it.

  "By the way, what did you get?" Joyce asked, taking the clipboard from her. "Oh, terrific," she cried.

  "Oh, look at this, everybody!"

  The warmth in her voice made Kaitlyn forget what she'd been upset about.

  "I don't believe it-you got the target picture exactly, Kait! Exactly, down to the number of grapes on the bunch. "

  Anna and Lewis were crowding around. The volunteer, a tall girl with night-dark skin, showed Kait the photo she was holding. It was a bunch of grapes-and Kait's own drawing might have been traced directly from it.

  "That's impressive," a warm, drawling voice said from behind Kaitlyn. She felt her heart pick up speed.

  "I think it was an accident," she told Rob, turning.

  "No accident," Joyce said. "Good concentration. And a good volunteer; we'll have to have you back. "

  Rob was looking at Kaitlyn's face, his golden eyes darkening. "Are you okay? You look kind of tired. "

  "Actually-this is so strange-I just got a headache. " Kait put her fingers to the center of her forehead, where pain like an ice pick had suddenly begun jabbing. "Oh-I guess I didn't get enough sleep last night____"

  "I think she needs a break," Rob said.

  "Of course," Joyce said at once. "Why don't you go upstairs and lie down, Kait? We're done here. "

  Kait was wobbly on her feet.

  "I'll help," Rob said. "Hold on to me. "

  It was the perfect opportunity; better than any plan or trick Kaitlyn could have thought up. And it was useless, because all at once her head hurt so badly that she only wanted to lie down and go to sleep.

  The pain came in throbbing waves. Rob had to lead her into her bedroom because she couldn't see straight.

  "Lie down," he said, and turned off the bedside lamp.

  Kaitlyn eased down, then felt the mattress give under Rob's weight beside her. She didn't open her eyes.

  She couldn't; even the diffuse afternoon light from the window hurt.

  "It sounds like a migraine," Rob said. "Is the pain all on one side?"

  "It's here. In the middle," Kaitlyn whispered, indicating the spot. Now she was feeling waves of nausea.

  Oh, wonderful. How romantic.

  "Here?" Rob said, sounding surprised. His fingers on her forehead were blessedly cool. Strange; they'd been warm last time.

  "Yes," Kaitlyn whispered wretchedly. "I'll be all right. Just go away. " And now, to top everything off, she'd told the boy she loved to get lost.

  Rob ignored the suggestion. "Kait, I was wrong. It's not a migraine; it's not even an ordinary headache. I think you're sick from burning energy too fast-psychic energy. You've run yourself dry. "

  Kaitlyn managed a feeble "So?"

  "So-I can help you. If you'll let me. "

  For some reason, that frightened Kaitlyn. But a stab of agony made up her mind. "All right. . . "

  "Good. Now, relax, Kaitlyn. " Rob's voice was soft but commanding. "It may feel strange at first, but don't fight it. I have to find an open transfer point____"

  Cool, deft fingers touched either side of Kaitlyn's neck, paused for a moment as if searching for something. Then lifted, not finding it. They moved to probe delicately at the tender area behind the jaw.

  "No . . . " Rob murmured.

  Kaitlyn felt her hand gently taken. Rob's thumb centered on her palm, his index finger directly opposite it on the back of her hand. Again he seemed to be searching for something, moving his fingers minutely.

  Almost like a nurse feeling for a vein before taking blood.

  "No. "

  Rob shifted. "Let's try this-move that way a little. " Kaitlyn followed his urging and scooted toward the side of the bed. She opened her eyes automatically-and then quickly shut them in alarm. Rob was bending over her, his face very close. Suddenly a pounding heart added to her pain.

  "What. . . ?" she gasped.

  "This is just one of the most direct ways to transfer energy," he said simply. "You need a lot. "

  His lack of embarrassment or self-consciousness saved her. Kaitlyn kept her eyes shut and held still as he put his forehead to hers. Their lips were almost touching.

  "Got it," he murmured. His mouth actually brushed hers, but he didn't seem to notice. "Now . . . think about where it hurts. Concentrate on the place. "

  A minute ago she hadn't been able to think about anything else. But now . . . Kaitlyn's awareness was flooded with him. She didn't want to move or breathe. She could sense his entire body, even though only his forehead was touching her. Third eye to third eye, she thought dizzily.

  Then, all at once, a new sensation rushed in and drove out all thought of anything physical. It was so new that she didn't have any way to classify it.

  It wasn't like sight, or touch, or taste, but Kaitlyn's fogged brain tried to interpret it that way. If it had been sight, it would have been millions of sparkling lights that glowed and glittered like jewels. A dynamic, changing pattern of multicolored sparks, twinkles, and flares.

  If it had been touch, it might have been pressure-not an uncomfortable pressure, but one that swept away all the pain of her headache. Like a river rushing through her mind, clearing out everything stagnant and clotted and decayed.

  If it had been taste, it would have been like fresh, pure water-water she drank greedily, like an exhausted runner whose mouth has been full of choking dust.

  It was electrifying-overwhelming. It didn't simply take away the pain. It filled her with life.

  Kaitlyn never knew how long she lay drinking in the life-giving energy. But some time later, she realized that Rob was slowly sitting up. She opened her eyes.

  They looked at each other.

  "I. . . thank you," Kaitlyn said, barely above a whisper.

  She expected him to smile and nod. Instead he blinked. It was the first time she'd seen him at a loss for words.

  And then, as they looked at each other, a simple thing happened. Neither of them looked away. With ordinary friends you always look away after a moment -or you speak.

  But Rob
didn't speak and he didn't look away.

  The air between them seemed to shimmer.

  It was as if Rob were seeing her for the first time. More than that-it was as if he were seeing a girl for the first time. He looked astonished and wondering, like a person who had never heard music before suddenly catching a few notes of a beautiful melody on the wind. Catching it and wanting desperately to follow it.

  His expression was that of someone on the brink of the greatest discovery of his life.

  "Kaitlyn?" he whispered, and his voice was awed and questioning and almost frightened.

  Kaitlyn couldn't speak. They were both on the threshold of something so big-so transforming- that it terrified her. It would change everything, forever. But she wanted it. She wanted it to happen.