Mindspeak

by Sunseri, Heather

  “And us on the inside,” Briana said under her breath. She didn’t seem to notice the death grip Kyle had on my wrist.

  “Secondly,” Dean continued. “Students will receive new procedures on how and when they may leave the campus based on agreed-upon parameters with parents and guardians of each student.”

  “Why do I feel we’ve suddenly been imprisoned?” Dani asked.

  “Because we have,” Kyle said so that only I could hear. “You knew this was coming, didn’t you, Sarah?”

  My body tensed at the sound of my birth name. Jack, where are you? I slowly turned my head and looked up at Kyle. “How long have you known?”

  “Known what? That your father and his friends created us in test tubes, then redesigned our brains with no consideration for the possible consequences?” His fingers had to be leaving impressions in my skin.

  “That’s not how it happened. It wasn’t Dad.”

  “Shh. Here comes the best part,” he whispered.

  “And third,” the dean announced. “More students at Wellington will be enrolled into The Program and have access to the most innovative learning available to high school students anywhere.” He paused. Whispers echoed through the hall. “That’s right. The initial year of The Program was a huge success, and now, thanks to the generous donors and boosters of this school...”

  Cathy sipped a glass of champagne at the back of the room, then raised her glass, nodding toward Dr. Wellington.

  “…The Program has been relocated to Wellington Boarding School.”

  “I think we’ve heard enough.” Kyle tugged on my arm, pulling me in the direction of the exit.

  Seth no longer stood at the doors.

  When we were on the other side of the door, I thought tissue or not, I had to get away from Kyle. Kyle, I want you to let go of my arm right now. You don’t want to hurt me.

  He loosened his grip, but his fingers remained wrapped around my forearm pulling me down the sidewalk. “I know you know where your father’s journals are. If we have any hope of surviving what those yahoos have planned, you have to show them to me.”

  Let go of my wrist! Why wasn’t my mindspeaking working?

  “And if you have any hope of seeing Jack again—”

  “You know where he is?” I yanked my arm and actually broke free this time.

  He started to grab me again, but stopped. “I know exactly where he is. Right where you and I will be this time tomorrow if they suspect we won’t cooperate—on lockdown.”

  Chapter Thirty-Three

  With a loose grip on my forearm, Kyle led me to the back of the building where the infirmary was housed, but instead of entering the main floor, we descended the stairs to the basement.

  I recognized the long, white hallway immediately though I had never been there.

  “I dreamt of this place.” No, it wasn’t a dream, though, was it?

  In the back of my mind, a voice told me I should be running in the opposite direction. Nevertheless, if Kyle knew where Jack was, and he was in trouble, I had to find him.

  Kyle faced me. “Welcome to The Program.”

  I forced my feet to move. “Who are you?”

  “Don’t be dramatic. I’m still your friend. Let’s just say you and I have a lot to learn about each other. And I guess we’ll get to, now.”

  “What do you mean… now?”

  “The campus has been secured, Lexi. This,” he gestured down the hallway, “is our future. We were genetically altered. Cloned for specific purposes. You know all this, right?” He looked at me like I was dense.

  “Yes, but I’m just surprised that you do.”

  “Roger Wellington is my uncle. Sort of.”

  I thought about that. “Your uncle. And where are your parents?”

  “As you can imagine it’s complicated.”

  “Tell me anyway.” My voice came out angry. My hands shook at a 7.9 on the Richter scale. I closed them into fists at my side.

  “I am a clone of the man who raised me the first ten years of my life. That man was Uncle Roger’s brother. He disappeared, and R.W. moved me here. Opened the school.”

  “How have you kept this a secret from everyone?”

  “What?” His voice escalated. “Does it matter?” He reached for my hand, which I hid behind my back.

  “You said you knew where Jack was.”

  Behind us, the door at the top of the stairs opened and closed with a creak. I jerked my head toward the sound of mumbled voices.

  “Come on,” Kyle whispered. Not having much of a choice, I followed.

  He tried the first door on the right. Locked. As was the door across from it.

  “No,” he protested. “Why are they locked?” He tried them all.

  Finally, the last door on the right was unlocked. He pulled me in after him. I entered and turned immediately to peer out the small window of the door to see the owners of the voices we had heard. The room behind me was mostly dark. It smelled funny. Clinical. Sterile.

  Kyle stood close to me. At my back. “They’ll be looking for you.”

  “Who? Cathy and Dr. Wellington?” I asked. If Kyle was the person from my dreams—Smoking Man—then he had tried to kill me. Was he leading me to my death now?

  “They want the journals.”

  I whipped around ready to protest when I noticed we weren’t alone. I faced three occupied hospital beds. The room extended beyond two other doors that had been locked. Dim lights above the beds illuminated a small portion of the room. Machines were hooked up to two of the people in the beds. The one I faced first was…

  “Jack!” I ran to his side. I placed my hand on his cheek. “Can you hear me? What happened to him?”

  “He’s fine. Just sedated.”

  “Sedated? Why?”

  “To get him away from you, I suppose.”

  I ran at Kyle and punched him in his chest. “So help me, Kyle, if you don’t stop talking in riddles and tell me what is going on…”

  “You’ll what?” He grabbed both of my arms and easily lifted my body away from him. “You think you have this all figured out, don’t you? You thought Jack would get you out of here, and then you’d what? Change your name? Slip into a whole new life?”

  “Why do you care? Why not let me go, Kyle? We were friends.”

  “We still are. Don’t you get it? There is no escape from what we are.”

  “You tried to kill me,” I said, surprisingly calm.

  His eyes widened. “Kill you? What are you talking about?”

  “I didn’t recognize you at first, couldn’t make out your face. Your voice didn’t sound familiar. But this morning, your eyes came into focus.” I paused. Kyle’s face was completely unreadable. I looked at Jack out of the corner of my eye. He lay motionless. “When I noticed Dani’s painting of your eyes, I knew you were the one inside her head the other night, inside my head this morning, and you tried to drown me.”

  Kyle’s eyes widened. “I looked for you by getting inside Dani’s head. That is true. I also tried to show you this place this morning.” He gestured around the room with his hand. “But Jack showed up and woke you. I even got inside your dream the night you father was killed. I tried to show you this place then and the fact that Jack knew about it. But drown you? Why would I try to kill you?”

  I thought back to the dream the night of my father’s death. Jack’s hand in mine. He’d led me down the long, white hallway. I looked up at Kyle. “You haven’t been trying to kill me?”

  “Of course not,” Kyle said.

  “If you’re telling me the truth, then someone else is inside my head.” Another altered clone? Did I even believe Kyle? I wanted to.

  My mind raced through each occasion when someone had been inside my head. It wasn’t always inside a dream. Sometimes, I started out fully awake. I was awake when I dove into that pool. I just didn’t have control of my own mind and body.

  “If I’m telling the truth… Lexi, you have to believe me. We’re in thi
s together. I dragged you down here for one purpose.”

  “And what purpose would that be?” I asked, defensively.

  “I need you. We need each other.” He ran his hand through his hair. “There are consequences to our powers. Sandra has been working on ways to fix that.” Kyle glanced past me, over my shoulder.

  “Consequences. To entering peoples’ dreams?” I couldn’t help but wonder if Kyle had another power. Did he know if he did?

  “I suffered temporary blindness every time I got inside your dreams.”

  “And every time you slip inside Dani’s dreams?” I asked.

  Kyle’s face softened. His cheeks drooped at the mention of Dani. “I don’t always lose my sight when I’m with her. I’m learning to understand my limits. I’m learning control.”

  “Kyle, we have to find Dani. We can all get out of here.”

  “Don’t you get it? There is no escape.” A distant look passed over him before his focus returned to me. “We can only learn what The Program is meant to teach us. Besides, Dani isn’t in trouble. She’s not one of us.”

  Before I could respond, the door opened behind me. I whipped around. It was Seth. His black bow tie hung loose, untied around his neck. “Well, this is convenient.” He unbuttoned his sleeves and, one-at-a-time, rolled them up to his elbows.

  Kyle sat in a chair beside Jack. Rubbed his hands across his face. He showed no surprise at Seth’s entrance.

  I looked anxiously at Seth, then at Jack. Jack! Please wake up.

  “Well, it seems Kyle is one step ahead of me. Did he show you around?”

  I studied Seth. Was he here to help me escape? Could I even run and leave my friends to this craziness? There was no way I was leaving Jack like this. His eyelashes didn’t even twitch. Not a single movement. Thankfully, I could see the rise and fall of his chest.

  “No?” Seth answered his own question. My palms were a sweaty mess. “Well, allow me. This is the new location of The Program. This is where you will learn more about your abilities.” Seth stepped closer to me. “Starting tonight.”

  Tonight?

  He gestured with his hand toward the next bed. “Lexi, meet Addison. She’s like a sister to your beloved Jack. She’s the reason he would never have left with you tonight. The fact that he feels responsible for her predicament… well… just proves how soft he is.” Seth seemed to think about that a second.

  Addison lay lifeless like Jack. Long, jet-black hair draped across her pillow. She had the most flawless skin I’d ever seen. The machines beside her were lit up like Christmas trees, but remained silent.

  Seth continued past Addison to the next bed. “And this is my beloved sister.” He leaned down and kissed the infamous Dr. Sandra Whitmeyer on the forehead.

  I stared at the third lifeless body. I moved closer. How was this possible? I was finally seeing Sandra with my own eyes, but I still couldn’t believe what I saw.

  It was me, only thirty years into the future. She was lying in a bed with a tube down her throat. “What’s wrong with her?” I reached a shaky hand to the end of the bed, steadying myself.

  “Coma,” Seth said.

  “For how long?”

  “Can we just get on with this?” Kyle jumped up from his chair and crossed the room.

  No reaction registered on Seth’s face from Kyle’s outburst.

  “Get on with what?”

  “Lexi,” Seth began slowly. “I promised Jack I would help you escape, but that was when my sister was still safely at the UK Hospital. Cathy moved Addison and Sandra late this afternoon. I’m afraid I need you here. You’re the only one who can help her.”

  “Why did Cathy move them?”

  Seth’s face darkened several shades of red. “Because she could. Because she has control over her brother. And because she wants complete control over me, Jack, and The Program.”

  The thickness in my chest was back. The crazed look in Seth’s eye had me digging the heel of my hand into the spot over my heart. I glanced from Sandra to Addison to Jack, and then I counted the number of steps to the door. I would never make it. Seth and Kyle were both twice my size.

  But I was fast. I could come back for Jack.

  And Danielle and the others.

  “If you’re thinking about running, let me assure you there are guards crawling all over this campus, and there is no way you’re getting past the electric fence.”

  I swayed on my feet, suddenly lightheaded. “What do you want from me?” I asked, deflated.

  Seth’s lips lifted. “That’s my girl.” He walked over to stand by his sister, glancing over his shoulder at a dark, glass window at the far side of the room. A one-way window, maybe? “Okay, I want you to stand there.” He pointed to the opposite side of the bed.

  I positioned myself between Sandra and Addison. Kyle backed up against the opposite wall, watching while chewing on a hangnail.

  I stared down at the older version of myself and swallowed hard against the urge to vomit. “You want me to heal her,” I whispered.

  Seth stared at me, but stayed silent. Kyle shifted, appearing uneasy.

  “I don’t even know what’s wrong with her.”

  “She tried to alter her genetic make-up by injecting stem cells into her own brain.”

  My mouth fell open.

  “Something went wrong.” Seth stared down at his sister’s face. I tried to imagine the emotion he felt for her. Admiration, maybe. Or did he feel responsible for her? “I think you’ll be able to see the damage to her brain.”

  “Why would I heal her?”

  Seth’s eyes lifted to meet mine. “Because you have no choice.” He looked nervously at the dark window again. “And because she has the knowledge to help all of you with the unintended consequences of your powers.”

  Did I care about that? I wasn’t all that sure we should use these powers to begin with. Especially since I had a super bad feeling about The Program and the intentions of Cathy DeWeese and Dr. Wellington. Dad hadn’t mentioned Cathy’s involvement.

  Just when I thought the situation couldn’t get worse, the far door opened, and in walked Cathy and Dr. Wellington. “What’s taking so long?” Cathy asked. She glided over to a wall of cabinets, still dressed in a bright red suit.

  “Well, Lexi, I guess you have a lot of questions,” Dr. Wellington said.

  I remained silent, not taking my eyes from Cathy who pulled several items out of a cabinet. She proceeded to place a needle on the end of a syringe, then tipped a small glass bottle upside down. After sticking the needle into the bottle, she extracted the clear liquid.

  Dr. Wellington didn’t seem to care that I ignored him. Cathy turned and walked toward me.

  Don’t come any closer, Cathy. I screamed inside my head. Then I thought to Jack. Wake up!

  Blood immediately began trickling out of my nose. I leaned over and wiped it on Sandra’s bed sheet, leaving a disgusting streak of dark red.

  “Now, let’s see what you can do. We don’t have any more time.”

  What was that supposed to mean? “I guess we’re going to skip over the formality of discussing why I no longer think you have my best interests in mind,” I said. “You know. As the wife to my legal guardian.”

  Cathy’s lips slowly stretched across her face in a smile that would chill sand in an African desert. “I guess some personality traits did survive the cloning process. You have a smart mouth just like Sandra.”

  My eyes followed the syringe she waved through the air. “Exactly what do you hope to accomplish tonight? I’m obviously not going anywhere.” I gestured toward Dr. Wellington standing guard by one door and Kyle standing at the other.

  “Seth says you now understand your power. Tonight, we all get to witness a miracle as you bring Sandra out of her coma.”

  “I thought you hated Sandra. Why would you have me do this?”

  “Because before she slipped into this state, she discovered a way to stop some of the side effects of your… abilities.”

/>   “So? What exactly is going on here? What do you hope will come of our abilities?”

  “You’re just as dramatic as Sandra. Always needing to know every last fact before making one single decision.” She took a step toward me. “We’re not bad people, Lexi. We just want to help you use your gifts… for good.”

  Somehow, I doubted that. Or maybe Cathy’s and my definitions of “gifts” and “good” were different. “If The Program is meant to help and you mean us no harm, then why all the added security? And what’s in the syringe?”

  Cathy’s smile grew. “All in good time. You’ll learn everything you need to know, and you’ll see that we’re actually the good guys.”

  Are you freaking kidding me with this? I wanted to scream. Instead, I kept my face emotionless and my voice even. “What if I fail?” Did I really want to know the answer to that?

  Again, she smiled and a chill moved through me. “Let’s not find out.” She waved the syringe at Kyle. “Now stand next to her and let’s see what she can do.”

  Kyle approached me with an apology in his eyes.

  “Why are you helping her?”

  Kyle looked nervously at his uncle and Cathy. “I have to. I have to know what Sandra created me to do. And I need her to take away my blindness.”

  He made a move.

  I held up my hand to stop him. My eyes drifted to where Jack lay, defenseless. “No, I’ll do it. Whatever you want.” A small part of me died inside.

  Chapter Thirty-Four

  I backed up so I could see all three beds. Seth shifted on his feet. Anticipation flitted across his face. The other three watched Sandra for the slightest change.

  I closed my eyes and imagined Sandra’s brain. I immediately saw neurotransmitters, neurons and receptors at work. In biology class, we had discussed how the sleep aid Ambien works on our brains—by binding to certain receptors and thereby altering how our brain processes sleep. This had to be how any drug designed to make us sleep or alter our brain activity worked, right?

  Except in Sandra’s head, electrical impulses fired from neuron to neuron through the chemical synapses. Her brain looked like the Fourth of July. Something was wrong though. Fluid pooled in small quantities in various areas of the brain. It was almost as if her brain activity was no longer communicating with the rest of her body.