Why is she nervous?
Her pronounced Japanese accent, stronger than usual, gave away her unease. "How you feeling?"
I stretched my arms and moved my neck around to work out the kinks. The inside of my mouth reeked. "Fine, just a bit of a headache." Probably brought on by my roommate. Well, and the black eye.
"And you, Mary?" she asked.
"I feel wonderful." Mary crossed her long legs seductively and purred. Her slinky silver gown showed off more than it covered. Who the hell was she trying to impress in here? Her para-power to seduce couldn't claim any new victims in the absence of heterosexual men.
Dr. Sato took my blood pressure, checked my temperature, and examined my eyes and cheek. "You bruised. Bone hurts, but you be better soon. Just no jumping."
Again with the nervousness.
I slipped into her mind but met only gibberish, having never had a chance to learn her particular dialect. It unnerved me—nothing clear, as if I'd lost my hearing or eyesight. Normally, the images that filled her mind were of her homeland or the clinic, benign and useless to me.
Today I felt terror coming off her, and saw a flash of a man with a gold tooth leaning over an unconscious girl.
"You go now. Headmaster Higgins expects you. You get dizzy or have troubles with eye, come back. And you take it easy until eye sees better. And no jumping too. Okay?"
I nodded and bit back a comment about how hard it would be to refrain from jumping everywhere.
My book bag sat on the chair by the fake flowers. I hopped off the bed—oops, does that count as a jump?—grabbed it, and walked through the long corridors to the exit while processing Dr. Sato's dark thoughts. Confronting Higgins always made my stomach hurt, but getting away from Mary made it worth it.
Few people walked the corridors of the clinic. Where were all the normal personnel?
I stopped at the front desk to sign out. Something's out of place.
A movement caught the corner of my eye.
A boy, about my age, tall and muscular, lay unconscious on a stretcher. I only saw a glimpse through the electric doors to the surgery. His messy blonde hair had flecks of red in it. Dried blood. A gash ran over his forehead. As the doors closed, his eyes flashed open and held mine for one long moment.
'Help me.'
The mental message sent me staggering back in its ferocity. An urgent compulsion to respond overwhelmed me, a need to do as he'd asked.
Then the boy lost consciousness. My mind cleared, and whatever had grabbed hold of me disappeared.
Missy, an attractive, plump woman who worked the front desk, frowned. "Are you okay? Should I call the doctor?"
"No, I'm fine. I just... head's still hurting, you know."
She did know. Her eyes gleamed with sympathy. I'd always liked her. She baked us cookies from time to time, and kept her blond hair in a messy bun held together with random pencils. I'd tried it once on my hair, but couldn't make it stay put.
"Missy, who was that boy they were wheeling in? He looked hurt, but I don't recognize him."
Not many kids lived on the huge estate. We all knew each other, at least by sight. The memory of his persuasive presence in my mind had me unnerved in ways I couldn't explain. My body betrayed the anxiety with sweaty palms and a racing heart.
Missy avoided my eyes, something a lot of people did unintentionally, thinking it would keep me from reading their minds.
'She shouldn't have seen that... hope she doesn't say anything... I could get in trouble... don't want her to get in trouble either... sweet girl.'
"Oh, don't worry about him, love. Now you'd better be going. Headmaster Higgins doesn't like to be kept waiting."
"Of course. Have a good day, Missy."
Her face relaxed. "You too, Sam."
I opened the door to leave the clinic, but stopped when I noticed Dr. Sato in the hall talking with a new doctor I didn't recognize. Her face squinted in anger and her arms flailed about as she made her point. He looked even angrier and spoke to her in a low, mean voice, and took a step forward, his hand held up in a way that made me flinch in fear for her.
I slipped into his mind and—something shoved me out and slammed the door! My head pounded like it had been pummeled with an anvil. That had never happened before. The doctor looked at me and his rage melted into a smile, a gleam of gold tooth shining from his mouth. My insides turned to Jell-O as his aura seduced me into complacency, but then the urgent plea for help from Mystery Boy pushed out the unwelcome intrusion. The doctor had some kind of para-power, and he was immune to mine.
Shock flooded my system. And fear. No one had ever been immune to my mind-reading. A trail of dread crawled up my spine and wound itself around my heart.
I fled to the comfort of the outdoors.
The sun felt ten shades brighter than normal outside the double glass doors. I pulled my sunglasses out of my backpack and walked the winding trails through campus, my body still shaking from both unusual encounters. The warmth calmed me, but not enough to erase the effects of that strange boy and his compelling mind, not to mention the creepy doctor.