Rebeka had been in a few of my classes, and I liked her. She was supposed to be in Paris, but of course she wasn't. Paris and New York were dreams spun from naive innocence, something we'd both lost.
Rebeka's doctor, a petite woman with long dark hair and brown eyes—eyes that struck a familiar chord in me, though I couldn't place her—nearly knocked me to the ground when she spoke directly to my mind.
'Please do not make a scene. Go back to the room quietly and pretend you do not see us. I'm your friend. I'm here to help, but they won't let me near you. Lock onto my mental signature and find me later. My name is Ana.'
"Who are you?"
'We'll talk more later. I must go.'
When I got back to my room, I told Drake about Rebeka and Ana.
'Be careful. I don't trust anyone who works here,' he said.
"I don't either. I'm just surprised to find another mind reader. Wonder why I couldn't sense her during my scans?"
'I don't know, maybe she has a way of blocking someone else. That would be cool if you could learn that.'
"Yeah, well, one thing at a time."
We hadn't made much progress with our get-out-of-jail plan, but my mind-controlling abilities had improved. It seemed I was a natural—a big plus for us. It was like a game, to see what I could do, how far I could push it.
Over the next several days, I kept to little things that no one would notice or suspect, except for erasing memories. It worked. This gave me hope, though I was still too nervous to do anything major, and I never tried it while Dr. Pana was around. I had no idea if it would work on him, and I had no desire to alert him to my new abilities. Whenever he came to my room, I kept my mind clear of anything incriminating.
I'd adapted too easily to controlling other people's minds. Sure, it was for the right reasons, but it felt wrong. Should I, or anyone, have the right to alter people's thoughts and control them in that way? Yet I'd spent my life spying on people's minds for Rent-A-Kid, and I still used my powers as if mind reading was less invasive than mind control. In a way, it was, but I began to understand why Nurse Susie considered me an abomination. Whether reading minds or controlling minds, we still violated people's privacy and took something from them in the process. Still, we were born this way. We were used and locked up because of these gifts, so it seemed reasonably moral to use our para-powers to escape.
These moral arguments tumbled through me and became my shadow companions, taunting me each time I practiced my powers.
Drake had a similar schedule to mine, but we never met. They didn't let us near anyone else, but I could tell through my mental scans that there were at least three others in the building.
I learned about the video surveillance and the doors with special scanners, which only worked with certain staff ID cards. Dr. Pana, Nurse Susie, and one other presence further away whose thoughts were unusually fuzzy, revealed little. Was that Rebeka or Ana? Why couldn't I lock onto Ana's signature like she said? Where might the others be? Perhaps they had Rebeka on a drug that kept her mind hidden?
I worried about her being here too. I wanted to save us all, but we had to get out and find help before we could assist anyone else. Sort of like the oxygen masks in the airplanes—you have to save yourself first, or everyone dies. Something like that.
Again, pragmatism reared its ugly head.
I worked to cultivate patience and keep my body strong. When in the yard, I walked, did lunges, pushups, sit ups, and running in circles. My muscles burned in new and painful ways, and the heat sent bile rising to my throat regularly. At least they unhooked the IV during this time. It was a relief to be free, in a manner of speaking.
I kept an eye out for Ana or Rebeka, but hadn't seen either of them again.
I didn't think continuing the workouts would hurt the baby, though I only knew about pregnancy what I'd learned from television and biology class. I wasn't a badass or anything, not like Lucy. My mental gifts had demanded that I focus on my studies. I knew some basic moves, but I pretty much sucked at martial arts and hand-to-hand combat. Drake would have to handle that if necessary.
Rent-A-Kid required us to stay in top shape for health and longevity, yet, despite my best efforts, my body grew weaker every day, even as my powers grew stronger. It was as though the baby drained my body to feed my mind.
While outside one afternoon, all my senses kicked into hyper-focus. The chain link fence imprisoning me screeched in a high-pitched whine as the wind blew against it. My body flooded with sweat as the sun beat down. My belly ached, and even the skin on my abdomen burned as if stretched and torn.
The changes were happening so quickly!
My once flat stomach pushed out before my eyes. I half expected a monster to burst through my skin, like that scene in Alien. I doubled over in pain, fighting tears and trying to slow my breath.