Awoken (The Lucidites Book 1) (16 page)

Although complete concentration is necessary for his telekinesis to work, he’s had dozens of successes moving objects as large as a shoebox.

When we have less than a minute left he asks how often I “know” things.

“More frequently lately,” I answer honestly.

“I wonder why,” Trent muses, pushing a dreadlock behind his ear.

“I don’t.”

“Why?” he asks, looking at me curiously.

I shrug. “Just doesn’t seem important.”

♦

As soon as I sit with Samara I bombard her with questions. “Can you read people’s thoughts without them knowing? Do you? Do they know?”

She laughs. “Why is everyone so paranoid? What all do you have to hide?”

I stare at her and she stares back. Finally she says, “I can read thoughts without the other person’s consent, but I’m also traceable. People usually know when I’m there. Can feel me somehow.”

“Well, that’s kind of a relief,” I say.

“What about you?” she asks, braiding a piece of her hair. “What kind of stuff do you see?”

“Mostly stupid stuff,” I say without enthusiasm. I tell her about that morning with the letter.

“That seems pretty helpful,” she says.

“Back to you,” I urge. “Have you read my mind at all?”

“No,” she states at once.

I’m relieved and offended at the same time. Thank God she hasn’t read my thoughts. And why the hell not? What’s so wrong with me that she doesn’t want to know my internal dialogue?

“It’s draining to read thoughts,” she says finally. “I have to be choosy.”

I watch her cautious gray eyes scan the room before they return to mine. “Besides, I make it a habit to stay out of the heads of my friends.”

♦

“It seems Trent and Samara have forgiven me for my injustices,” I say.

“That’s good, but I don’t think that’s what we’re meant to discuss here,” Joseph states.

“Just thought I’d pass it along.”

“I’m sure you did. So I guess you figured out your gift,” Joseph says, an edge to his voice.

“Yeah, and I guess you did too,” I remark dully. “Were you lying about it the whole time?”

He shrugs in a noncommittal fashion. “Were you?” Joseph asks.

I don’t respond. We’re even. Best we start fresh. “How does it work for you?” I ask.

“I see things in the distant future. Nothing immediate. I’ll see a flash of somethin’ and know it’ll happen in one, two, or five years. And it does.”

“Wow,” I say, meaning it.

“You?” He looks nervous. It isn’t an expression he wears often.

“I usually see things that are about to happen, like within the next few seconds. It’s always something stupid like a leaf falling off a tree right before it does.”

“I’m gonna need you to repeat that and this time show more pride.”

I glare at him.

“Shuman said.”

Thankfully Shuman interrupts just then to tell us time is up.

“See ya.” I flash a mischievous smile at Joseph as I stand.

“From here on out,” Shuman says, “we will be honing these abilities, making them stronger, more reliable. We are going to make them what they should be: super powers.”

Silence settles in the room, and I think everyone else is doing the same thing I’m doing: trying on this newfound pride and enjoying the way it fits.

“You are dismissed for today.” Shuman stands, stoically staring at us. After a few more quiet seconds we all shuffle our belongings and move toward the exit.

“George.” Shuman’s voice interrupts the chatter that has begun to build among the group as we leave. “Stay behind. I need to speak with you.”

Chapter Nineteen

T
hankfully, after that we don’t see George for the rest of the day. He’s been a real drag and I’m glad to be rid of him. Without his presence the mood at lunch is light and fun. It’s like a window has been opened, although that would have literally been impossible. While Joseph tries to get Trent to telekinetically throw a salt shaker at one of the white coats, Samara and I probe Whitney for more information about her ability. At first she’s shy, but after a while she eats up the attention, like a baby with her first birthday cake.

Goat Girl isn’t at lunch, and that’s probably another reason it’s so pleasant. We’re told we won’t see her that much from this point forward outside of morning workouts. Now if I could just get rid of Ren my world will improve drastically.

♦

A ton of equipment clutters up a large corner of Aiden’s lab, making the space feel cramped.

“Welcome everyone,” Aiden says, walking over carrying a small handheld device. “You all will remember the GAD-C, from your first few moments at the Institute.” He holds out his hand, presenting all the large equipment jumbled around a bunch of wires and computers. “This is the second one we have here at the Institute and it’s brand spanking new. I just built it.” He slaps the side of a metal box and something sounds like it falls and breaks inside. With a guilty smile he waves it off. “No worries, that thing isn’t really an important part of the GAD-C. Anyway, you’ll remember this is how we generate your body from a dream layer. This large device is super helpful. For instance, let’s say you decide to dream travel to France. Like so many, you fall in love with the French culture and decide you want to live there and eat croissants for the rest of your days. Airfare is costly and your consciousness is already there, you just need your body. Believe me, you’re going to need your body to enjoy all those pastries. So what do you do? You go and find one of these handy dandy GAD-Cs in order to bring your body all the way to France.
Comprende?
”

Samara and Whitney giggle. Aiden looks pleased. Apparently his goal is to entertain, as well as educate.

“Okay, and on a serious note, while trying to fight Zhuang you might need to generate your body at some point. We aren’t sure what the dreamscapes are going to look like, or the strategy for that matter. The point of today’s lesson is to orient you with the idea of autogenerating your body, which takes some getting used to. We’re going to practice this until you’re comfortable with it and the shock wears off, which will probably take several turns. Also, I won’t be there to operate the machine for you so you’re going to need to know the proper procedure.”

Samara holds up her hand. “The other GAD-Cs, how will we find them?”

“It all depends on the dreamscapes,” Aiden explains. “If we know where you’ll need them then we’ll make arrangements. Otherwise, there are roughly half a dozen located throughout the world. You’ll be given these locations and can travel to them to generate.”

A spark shoots from a cluster of wires next to the GAD-C. Aiden eyes it nervously. When it dies out he says, “It’s supposed to do that.” Then he rubs his hands together eagerly. “So who’s first?”

I don’t volunteer. Neither does anyone else. It doesn’t matter because when everyone’s silent for too long Aiden points at me. “Oh, Roya, that’s so nice of you. You’re so brave.”

I shoot him an angry grin.

“All right, here’s what you’re going to do: Dream travel to the room you arrived in the first night. You remember, the one where you almost died.” There are several chuckles from my peers, which ignite a brilliant smile on Aiden’s face. “There will be a GAD-C in that room. You’ll then meet my lovely assistant, Amber. She will help you operate the GAD-C. Once you’ve obtained your body, I want you to dream travel back to this room and we’ll test this ol’ boy.” Aiden points his fingers like a gun at the contraption. “Got it?” he asks with a smile.

I don’t have the heart to say no, so I nod. With an arm around my shoulder, he steers me to the back of his lab.

“Do you usually
have
to volunteer people to get them to test your new equipment?” I ask him.

He gives me a look of mock offense. “I gave you the
honor
of going first.”

“Well, I really don’t want to take that privilege away from someone more deserving. Maybe we should go back and draw straws,” I say, feeling rather giddy.

Aiden shakes his head. “We can if you want to, but you’ll lose the opportunity at bragging rights.”

“Oh, is that what’s at stake?” I say with a laugh.

We exchange looks. The breathlessness that accompanies all of my interactions with Aiden intensifies. I quickly glance away.

“In all seriousness, are you ready to do this?” Aiden ask, tethering his excitement under his sensibility.

“Of course,” I lie, caught up in his enthusiasm.

His excitement takes center stage again. “Fantastic! You’ll be stellar!” We stop by a cot. “You don’t have to lie down to dream travel, but until you’ve done it for a while, it’s the safest way.”

Lying down on a soft mat on the cot, I stare at Aiden nervously. He’s grinning.
Is he always grinning? Is he one of those naturally happy people?

When I’m comfortable, his grin fades from his lips and resurfaces in his eyes where it shines brighter. “You’ll do great! I’ll be waiting when you return.” He turns and I watch him walk away, missing the expression in his eyes immediately. Closing my lids I refocus and within seconds I whirl through a tunnel, hopefully headed for the room four levels up.

When I arrive I expect a rush to generate my body. Amber, Aiden’s “lovely assistant,” explains that isn’t necessary this time because my body isn’t hanging out at the bottom of a lake, but rather resting comfortably on the cot in Aiden’s lab. Then something odd occurs to me.

“How can you see me? How can you hear me? I’m dream traveling and you aren’t, right?” I ask, confused.

Amber gives a knowing look. She’s tall and willowy, making me feel like a child as I stand beside her. “You’re correct, I’m not dream traveling. An exceptional technology allows us to interact. It’s a screen on the GAD-Cs Aiden has built. Most GAD-Cs can’t do this, but he invented a device that enables it on the ones in the Institute. This is crucial because otherwise how would we know when to operate the machine to generate people’s bodies? It really is amazing technology and on its own could be quite an incredible device.” Remorse or maybe envy dances in her eyes briefly. She refocuses on me. “Well, you ready to do this?”

“Yes,” I say.

She instructs me on the procedure for operating the machine to generate my body from its current position to where my consciousness is located. It consists of pushing a series of buttons, checking a few readings, and aligning some dials. Although it’s scientific, it seems easy.

“If you misread something and make any misalignments then the results could be disastrous.” Her pinched nose draws up a bit into the air cautiously.

This gets my attention and I have her run me through the process three more times. When I’m confident I take the measurements, align the dials, lie down on the table inside the blue lights, and tug the button attached to the long wire beside me. I press the button and the magic happens. Since I’m not drowning, the experience is way less intense. It still burns and there’s definitely a jolt and a shock that occurs when consciousness rejoins with my body. The weirdest part is when I take the first breath. I hadn’t noticed it the first time, because my lungs had been aching. This time I observe my breath move in reverse. Just as I breathe in I forget how and expect the air to breathe me. I inhale and my lungs are somehow outside myself. This has to be more of a mind game than anything and now I understand why Aiden wants us to practice this.

Once I’m stable, Amber tells me to relax and dream travel back to Aiden’s lab. This is the part that makes me nervous. After I dream travel to Aiden’s lab then I’ll have to generate my body using the brand new, untested GAD-C, which seemingly has some bugs. What if it doesn’t work? What if it deforms my body in the process?

Since I know I don’t have a choice, I try to push these thoughts out of my mind and think of something to bolster my confidence. Before closing my eyes I tell myself I can trust Aiden and his device. That doesn’t work. I tell myself,
if you can’t trust the Head Scientist for the Institute, who can you trust?
That doesn’t work either. I remind myself that this man built a machine that sees pure consciousness. This also has no real effect.

Truth be told, in the end it all comes down to odds. Aiden saved my life once. I don’t think he’d make me a guinea pig for this experiment just to kill me off. He has a reputation to protect and from everything I’ve discerned he’s gained this super scientist reputation by being incredibly competent. Logic is what tells me to trust him, and so I do. I close my eyes, feeling the fear subside, and focus on his lab. I hear the music, see the messy piles of gadgets, the posters covering the walls, and then I see him. Seconds later I push through the tunnel and then quite suddenly I stand in the lab next to the GAD-C.

Aiden’s leaning against a nearby wall eyeing me with a clever smile. “Glad you could join us, Ms. Stark. I must say that was awful fast.”

My body is hot and cold at the same time, although I know I don’t really have a body at this point. Still I look down, wondering if I’m wearing clothes or if they’ve stayed behind waiting to be generated. Thankfully it isn’t like one of those strange dreams.

“Now,” Aiden continues, “if you wouldn’t mind, please demonstrate to the spectators exactly how to generate your body.”

I hit exactly six buttons. Take readings on thirteen different instruments. Align three dials. Lie down. Hit one button. And then there’s a stall, like a car engine gives before it decides to turn over. It ambles on until I gasp and realize it’s oxygen I’m pulling into my lungs. It’s worked. I’m here, in body form—sweating, excited, and relieved.

“And that’s how it’s done,” Aiden chirps with excitement. “Roya, since you seem to have mastered that after only one turn, I dare say you’re officially done for the day and can go. Who’s next?” the Head Scientist asks like a game show host.

I scoot off the platform and take a few breaths. They feel like kindling in my throat at first, jagged and sharp. The voices around me are distant, indistinct. All I hear is the music and my own thoughts as they pour through my consciousness. I float off in the direction of the exit.