The Forbidden Trilogy (11 page)

Euphoria flooded Drake's system and erased all thoughts of
escape and all feelings of fear.

Dr. Pana smiled, and a gold tooth glinted in the fluorescent
lights. "See you soon, Mr. Davis."

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.