by Layman, Tate
Whit noticed immediately when Anthony sat down at a table nearby. She took a deep breath, wondering how to ask him if he would help her.
“Already looking for another guy?” Nolan whispered in her ear.
She laughed. “No. I just need to talk to Anthony for a sec. He’s in Mind Study too, and I have a question about a … project.” It wasn’t really a lie, since she didn’t say he was in her class. She didn’t know why, but she didn’t want to talk to anyone about this yet. If she was able to do it, then she would tell them.
Nolan watched her without speaking. “Okay, I was just joking,” he said with a smile before kissing her lightly on the cheek.
Whit smiled back. Over the week, Whit had really let Nolan in. He had even held her as she told him about her parents’ accident and moving to North Carolina, tears running down her face. She’d told him about the dreams and how horrifying they could be. She’d even demonstrated her telekinesis for him.
He had opened up to her, too. He’d told more about his sister and that his life before Maverick had been pretty normal. One thing he really missed was competing in sports at his old school. This didn’t surprise her at all; she’d seen him in Movement Performance, and knew how strong he was. He told her that soccer had been his favorite, though he’d also played basketball and baseball. She noticed the sadness around his eyes as he talked about sports and his dream of playing soccer in college, which he said would probably never happen now, unless he was able to walk on to the team. He played on a soccer team during the summer, but felt his skills weren’t improving because of the lack of use during the year.
Whit felt sorry for him. Of course, after that all she’d wanted to do was cheer him up, which had led to making out. Whit still blushed thinking about it. It had happened in a semi-public place, too. She still couldn’t believe they hadn’t got caught. They’d been in the library, of all places. Since most of the tables had been occupied, they had spread out their books and papers in the floor near a back corner. A student came by every few minutes, but it was actually pretty isolated. Thank goodness. She’d been the one to start it, not him. But he had looked so sad. And at that moment, without thinking, she’d leaned over and kissed his cheek. Then his other cheek. Then his nose. Before finally finding his lips.
His reaction had been instantaneous. He’d grabbed her around the waist and pulled her toward him until she was straddling his lap. His hands rubbed up and down her thighs, before settling on her hips for a few seconds. Whit had felt like she had fire in her veins. She ran her hands up his chest, before circling his neck and pulling him closer. As if that was even possible. The kissing had been explosive, and quickly got out of control. His hands pushed their way under her shirt and along the sides of her breasts. His moan had shocked Whit out of the moment, though, and reminded her where they were and what they must look like. She’d jumped off his lap, fixing her shirt quickly.
Nolan’s eyes had remained shut as he banged his head against the wall. After a few moments of silence, they had looked at each other and burst out laughing. It had been a really good moment, and Whit knew there was no going back. She was falling for him.
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Eli was heading down the hallway when Whit managed to catch up to him. She started off with small talk, but once it became clear that they had nothing to talk about, she blurted out her question.
“Could you help me learn to mindbind?”
Eli stared at her for a second. “Why? It usually develops on its own. Why the rush?”
She knew her reason sounded stupid, but couldn’t think of another one to give him, so decided to tell the truth. “I signed up for Dark Conquest and think it’d help my team out. Can you help me?”
“Sorry, Whit.” Anthony shook his head. “I don’t know how it works, plus I haven’t really learned to control it all that well. I don’t think I’ll be much help. You ask McFaddin? She’s probably the best one.”
Whit’s shoulders sank. “Yeah, she said to wait until it shows up on its own.”
“Well, I can’t really help that much since I don’t understand it myself. Sorry. She’s probably right, you know. You can’t force it.” He frowned and then turned and walked away.
She felt disappointed that Anthony hadn’t been able to help, and as far as mindbending her options were limited. How could she learn more about it? Were there books in the library about this sort of thing? The only other mindbenders she knew were Darby and Wallace. All she needed was a starting place, then maybe she could develop it on her own. Darby was definitely a no, but maybe Wallace would be more receptive to her. She would ask him after Mind tomorrow, along with check the library for books. With that plan in mind, Whit headed toward the television room for team practice.
Rory had decided that since the tournament started in two weeks, the team needed to understand what powers they had to work with and come up with a strategy. The team was made of up Rory the bonecrusher, Ellie the vampire, Lindsey the caster, Misty the stalker, and Whit the psychic.
Practice started with each person demonstrating their powers. Whit had already seen Rory and Ellie in action, and they were awesome, but Lindsey and Misty were equally impressive. Lindsey was an ice caster, and for her demo she froze Rory’s feet together. She explained that she could do a lot more, but would need direction. Then Misty demonstrated her senses, which were extremely sensitive. She would be excellent as a guard or hunter. When it came time for Whit’s exhibition, she wasn’t able to call up a vision, but had already seen the game floor in several dreams. That meant that she could provide her team with some details about the arena. She described the ropes hanging from the ceiling, the stacks of large crates, and the maze of hallways. Unfortunately, she couldn’t remember every detail of the warehouse, but at least she was able to give them a slight advantage over the other team. Then again, the other team might have psychics that knew how to control their visions. She promised to work on getting more details via her dreams.
Then she floated the television around the room. Rory and Ellie were both quite shocked at that, as she hadn’t told them about her telekinesis yet. She also explained that she might be able to control the dreams, to ask specific questions. Maybe between now and the tournament, she would see something to help them. By the end of the meeting, Whit felt good about her contributions, but wanted to do more. She wanted to mindbend and was determined to find out how.
Chapter 24
Preparing for the Dark Conquest tournament took up most of Whit’s free time over the next two weeks. If she wasn’t in class, Rory had strategy meetings and practices scheduled.
At their first team meeting, Rory started by announcing that for the next two weeks the team would spend most evenings working on melding their powers and forming a strategy. They also had to make sure they knew the rules of the competition. They looked over the informational packet they had been given at signups, and started with the Team Agreement, which basically stated that all rules must be followed and no one would physically harm another person. After everyone signed, they looked over the game instructions and rule sheets, which repeated everything Tolman had said at the assembly, but included more specifics about the gaming area and game play.
The game would be held in a large warehouse. The room would be mostly dark, with torches placed randomly throughout to give some light. Each team would have a small safe zone, found at the door that allowed them entry to the arena. Next to the safe zone was each team’s hold – a windowless room with one (non-locking) door, where they could keep captured opponents. The room only contained chairs, nothing else. The rest of the warehouse held various obstacles, such as stacks of crates, ropes hanging from the ceiling, tall climbable walls that divided the room into sections, a mazelike set of hallways, barrels, small watch tower structures, large rocks, and many other obstacles. Teams were allowed to use any objects they found during the game.
No team would see the gaming area before the competition started. This g
ave Whit’s team an advantage already, since she’d seen the warehouse in her dreams and knew the basic layout.
The sheet also explained that the game would start and end with the sounding of a horn. All the obstacles in the game area could be used in accordance with the rules. If someone got captured, he or she would go to their opponent’s hold, to sit and wait for rescue or the end of the game. According to the rule sheet, any rule broken would result in team disqualification.
There were only five hard and fast rules.
1. Games would last six hours exactly. A large digital clock, visible at all times in the arena, would keep time.
2. All team members were required to wear assigned uniforms. No uniform could be altered, must be worn in original form.
3. Captives may only be incapacitated using powers and gifts. No ropes or constricting devices allowed to restrain players.
4. No student was allowed to harm another.
The paper ended by stating that the entire warehouse was going to be equipped with night-vision cameras, to ensure that all players followed the rules.
After looking at all the information, the team started discussing strategies. Without knowing the gifts of their opponents, they needed to make sure that any plan covered all the possibilities. In the end, they came up with several vague plans. Their best plan used Misty to track their opponents, then Whit would act as bait to lure them into the open. Once exposed, Lindsey’s ice casting would trap them or Ellie would use her mesmerizing skills to restrain them. After they managed to capture someone, Rory would pick them up using her strength and carry them back to the hold. There were several variations to the plan, though, and most required the team members to be at the top of their skill, so that meant practicing.
To practice, Rory assigned each person with tasks to complete. She really was a bossy little thing when it came to the competition. It was entertaining to watch, though, and Whit spent more time being amused than upset. Their tasks were varied, and would help them in the competition. Ellie had to mesmerize unsuspecting people and find out personal information, or even compel them to follow her around. Lindsey had to freeze random items and sometimes the body parts of unknowing targets, much to their dismay. Misty’s task was actually the most fun to watch – the team would play hide and seek, and Misty’s job was to find or catch them before they reached the safe base. This was actually great practice for the competition, since it was probably what she would actually be doing. Rory practiced her physical skills in the Performance Movement room by climbing the wall and jumping off at different heights. She was also a great rope climber, and extremely quick. Whit had tried to keep up with her, but ended up sitting against the wall, out of breath, after about three minutes.
Whit’s assignments always revolved around her telekinesis, since her psychic abilities weren’t very helpful at the moment. She practiced retrieving items slowly, without people noticing. Her most impressive feat so far had happened in the lunchroom, when she stole a lunch tray from a girl caught up in a conversation with a guy at the next table. The tray floated away right beneath the girl’s nose, but moved so slowly that she didn’t notice it.
She’d been practicing her telekinesis in hope of being able to lift a person into the air by the competition. So far, just hovering a small object, like a book, was exhausting her. She was working up to bigger objects. As her telekinesis grew stronger, Whit started feeling better about her contributions.
And there was still the possibility of offering even more. Before bed each night, she attempted to control her visions. She focused on a certain topic or person, even going so far as to use pictures or writing in her journal, to try to force her mind in a certain direction. At first, it had been a total failure. No control whatsoever. She still dreamed, but the dreams varied between horrific news stories to everyday life at Maverick. She did enjoy some of the Maverick dreams, since they were usually like a short glimpse into someone else’s life. But they weren’t what she wanted.
After almost two weeks of trying, she finally succeeded. She stared at a picture of Rory and Ellie for one minute before going to bed. When she finally got to sleep, they were the first people she saw. Her dream didn’t show anything to do with Dark Conquest, just them on their way to eat dinner together and talking about Rosco. Rory was asking how far they’d gone physically. Ellie blushed and then, surprisingly, answered that they were taking things reasonable slow – only on-top-of-the-clothes stuff. Rory was about to ask another question when Whit woke up.
The next night, she focused on a picture of Nolan. He had given it to her when he found out what she was trying to accomplish. She succeeded in dreaming about Nolan, but it was the vision she’d had on her first day of Mind Study. This time, there was sound. She was sitting at a table with Rory and Mark, who were discussing their holiday plans. Mark was going to his grandmother’s in Florida, while Rory was going skiing in Colorado. Whit glanced around the room and noticed Nalini and Darby sitting with a group of guys, one of whom was Nolan. Nolan wasn’t talking, but staring at Whit with anger. As Whit continued to watch, Nolan jumped up, grabbed his tray, and stomped across the cafeteria. He stopped directly in front of her and started yelling about trust and how disappointed he was in her. How he didn’t understand. Why would she believe he would do something like that? The longer he yelled, the more irritated he looked. Finally he turned, walked directly to Darby, and grabbed her hand. He was tugging her toward him when Whit woke up.
She felt a bit depressed by the vision of Nolan and her fighting, especially because it appeared to happen right before holiday break. That would be really bad timing, if it was true. He was really upset with her in the dream, and what exactly had been going on with Darby? She tried to put it out of her mind, but the vision was always there when she closed her eyes.
Still, at least she’d been able to focus her visions a little bit. Even if she’d seen things she didn’t like. She only had two nights before the Dark Conquest tournament began, and knew she needed to focus even more if she was going to be successful. She concentrated both nights, but didn’t even dream again. No visions at all. How many times had she wanted the dreams to stop, and they hadn’t? But now that she wanted to dream, they abandoned her.
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Team practice had kept Whit from spending too much time with Nolan. Every time she was free, he wasn’t. They usually ate together, but even during that time, almost all their conversations were about the upcoming tournament. They had discussed practice, but nothing specific. They both knew that at some point they could be competing against each other, so they kept the discussions very vague.
After class the day before the tournament, Nolan left a note for Whit on her room door, asking her to meet him in the library to study. Whit’s heart immediately sped up. It felt like it’d been forever since they’d been alone, and it sounded wonderful. She flashed back to their last study session in the library, and grinned. Maybe a small bit of making out in public wouldn’t be out of the question. In the end, she was in such a hurry to get to their back corner of the library that she almost walked right past him sitting at one of the tables.
With Darby.
As Whit approached the table, Darby gathered up her stuff and stood up. She walked around the table and whispered in Nolan’s ear, making him laugh. With a look in Whit’s direction, she kissed Nolan on the cheek and squeezed his arm, then left the library, throwing one more look at Whit.
Whit’s mouth dropped open in shock. What had just happened? Why was Darby kissing Nolan? It was on the cheek, but he’d still acted like it wasn’t a big deal. And right in front of her! Whit started to wonder if this was a normal occurrence. What exactly had she been missing during her team practices?
She started to turn around and leave, her heart felt like it was squeezed in a vice.
“Whit!” he whispered loudly to get her attention. He obviously didn’t know what she’d just seen. She turned around, her face like stone. “What’
s wrong?” he asked, concerned. She thought she must look upset, though she felt more stunned than anything.
She took a deep breath, trying to control her emotions. “So, what’s the deal with Darby?” She gritted her teeth to keep herself from ranting at him and causing a huge embarrassing scene in the library.
She must have surprised him, because he just sat there looking at her, saying nothing for several long moments. Whit assumed he was thinking of a good lie to tell her, and rolled her eyes in a huff.
“Okay, just hear me out,” he started. “One of the guys on our team got sick with the flu, so we had to replace him.”
That didn’t explain it, Whit thought. He could do better, so she waited in silence, just staring at him.
“We needed a specific gift and so I asked –” He hesitated and took a deep breath. “Darby.”
Whit took a deep breath of her own. That didn’t exactly explain the kiss. “Whose idea was it to ask her?”
Nolan shook his head. “Mine. But she was the only one we could think of.” He was already getting defensive, and Whit hadn’t even said anything about the kiss or lying to her yet.
“So she just joined your team today?” she asked, noticing that Nolan refused to make eye contact with her. She already knew what he was going to say but was hoping she misunderstood the signs.
“Actually, she’s been on the team since the beginning.” He frowned down at the table, still focusing on it instead of her.
Whit didn’t know what to say, so she just sat there. She thought back and remembered him telling her that he was going to be on an all-boys team. She had even asked him to join hers, before he told her Mark had already spoken for him. But had he asked her to join his? Absolutely not. He’d needed someone gifted in mind, and hadn’t bother to ask her. He’d immediately gone to Darby, his ex-girlfriend. The girl he’d been so cozy with at the party, and now the library.
