“Yes, I heard that from Abigail. But please, for your own safety, let one of the other members handle that assignment. They have experience dealing with people like her. Eve will do absolutely anything to get what she wants. Anything. And now that some of the Founders have withdrawn their funding, I’m sure she’s in total panic mode. So stay away from her, and that includes her daughter, Sam.”
“I told you that bitch was evil,” Erik muttered.
We heard people coming up the stairs. “Looks like the medical team is here. I’ll see you later.” Rachel left.
Dr. Morgan, a neurosurgeon who was called in to analyze our scans, sat down with us. “Well, I’ve got some news. Let’s start with Erik. There was a small amount of damage to the left side of his brain, but not nearly what I would have expected. In fact, he’s already regrown some of those cells and his brain should be completely healed within a few days.”
“What about Samantha?” Dave asked.
“Samantha’s brain is taking longer to heal. But that makes sense because she’s done the mind transference three times now. The good news is that this last incident, the one in which she was harnessing Erik’s mind to connect to that girl, did very little damage.”
Dave looked at me. “Three times? Sam, I thought this only happened with the police officer and Allie.”
Not now, Uncle Dave, I thought to him, wishing he could hear me.
“There had to be another time,” Dr. Morgan insisted. “I can see it on the scan.”
Everyone stared at me for an answer. “Okay, yes. It happened one other time. But I wasn’t trying to get into anyone’s head.” I could feel my face getting hot.
“Who’s mind were you in?” Erik asked even though he already knew.
I glared at him. “It doesn’t matter. Just forget it.”
“It does matter, Samantha. Knowing that could help us in your training.” Abigail was standing behind me and I hadn’t even noticed.
“Fine. It was Colin, all right? It happened when he was at the coffee shop the other day.” I let go of Colin’s hand, waiting for him to get upset.
“You were in my head?” he asked, almost sounding flattered by it.
“Sorry about that. I didn’t mean to. I can’t control it.”
He took my hand back. “It’s okay. I know you can’t control it.”
“And did you have side effects that time, Samantha?” Abigail asked.
“Yes. But not like I did with that cop. I just had a nosebleed, but it didn’t last long.”
“And, Erik, you had another experience as well,” Dr. Morgan said. “But it looked like the incident occurred a while back.”
I could feel Erik’s annoyance with the doctor’s prying. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Jack knew he was lying. “Erik. Who was it?”
We all waited for his response. “It was Brittany. But like Sam said, it’s not like I was trying to get in her head.”
Brittany sat up straight, completely surprised that Erik somehow ended up in her mind. “When did this happen?”
“When you escaped from GlobalLife in Iceland. That car went to pick you up but they couldn’t find you. I was listening to see if I could hear your thoughts. Then Sam described where you were and I could see it, like I was looking out your eyes.”
“I thought I had blacked out or something,” Brittany said, “because I was running and then all of a sudden the car was right there. I couldn’t remember how it got there. It was like I lost a few minutes of time.”
“I had the same feeling at the coffee shop,” Colin said. “I thought I might have fallen asleep or something.”
“Yes, the person who is having his or her mind occupied by another will not remember anything that happened during that time,” Abigail explained. “Well, now that I know this, I think we’ll try some different techniques in your training. We can work here today. The equipment’s all set up in the other room.”
As everyone left, I stayed there with Colin. “I should have told you about being in your head. I didn’t because I thought you’d be mad.”
“That can’t be a reason for you to not tell me stuff, Sam. You have to be honest with me, even if you don’t like how I’ll react.”
“I don’t even know how it happened. I was just thinking about you being at the coffee shop. Then I opened my eyes and saw this girl singing on a stage.”
“So you heard Emily sing? She’s good, isn’t she?”
“Yeah, she’s really good.” I was surprised that he wasn’t more interested in me being in his mind. He should have been asking me about that, not Emily. “We should get to the training.”
We went to a room off the kitchen, where Abigail, Erik, and Brittany were waiting.
“Now that we know that the damage to your brain is minimized when you two are connected,” Abigail said, “we’re going to practice it that way today.”
“So we have to do what? Hold hands?” Erik asked.
“Yes. Sit closely and hold Samantha’s hand.”
Oh great, I thought. The one time I ask Colin to observe the training, he has to sit and watch Erik and me holding hands.
“Colin, could we try having Samantha get into your mind again?” Abigail asked. “That way Brittany can take some breaks today.”
“Sure, I don’t care.”
“Then let’s get started. Sam, you try to enter Colin’s mind. Erik you do the same, but when you feel Sam connecting, ease off and just maintain the energy connection.
I closed my eyes and imagined myself walking toward Colin, then entering his mind. I took my time, picturing his face and hearing his voice in my head. As I continued, I could feel a different energy inside me. I hadn’t noticed it when I was in his mind before. But this time I could feel Colin’s caring spirit, optimism, and his desire to help people. I could also feel his sadness.
I slowly opened my eyes and found that I was looking at Erik and me. We looked like we were in some type of trance. I turned to see Brittany standing next to Abigail. “I think this is—” I stopped, realizing it was Colin’s voice and not my own.
Abigail raced to write something in her notebook. I closed my eyes again and imagined myself slowing pulling away from Colin’s mind. When I opened my eyes, I was back in my own head.
Erik took his hand from mine. “That was freaky. I don’t think I want this power.”
“How do the three of you feel?” Abigail asked. “Sam? You first.”
“I feel fine. No headaches. Nothing really.”
She made some notes. “Erik? Colin?”
“I feel like Sam sucked all the energy out of me,” Erik said, kidding.
Abigail looked worried. “Do you feel tired? Sick? Weak?”
“No. I was joking. I feel okay.”
“Colin? Were you aware that she was in your head?”
“No. I felt like I was sleeping. And then I woke up, not sure what had happened.”
Abigail got excited. “I’m amazed that it worked so well! Let’s take a break, then we’ll have Erik try the same thing with Brittany.” She left and Brittany and Erik followed.
“So what was it like?” Colin asked. “Did you learn anything by being in my head?” He laughed. “Or was it empty?”
I gave him a hug. “It wasn’t empty. I could feel your energy. I could feel what a good person you are, Colin. I always knew that, but it’s different when you can feel it like that.”
I didn’t think I should ask about the sadness I felt in him. I knew part of it was because he missed home and his family and his old life. But I was sure that at least some of it was because of me.
“Colin, I know I’ve said this before, but I really am sorry about what happened.”
Colin seemed uncomfortable, as if I’d learned too much by being in his mind. “It’s in the past, Sam.”
But it wasn’t and we both knew it.
When Brittany and Erik got back, we tried the exercise again. Erik couldn’t get in Brittany’s
mind the first couple times, but on the third time, he did. It was strange having him in control while I acted as the energy source. Erik was right. When it was over, I did feel like he’d sucked the energy out of me. But it didn’t last. Within a minute or two, I felt normal again.
We continued to practice the rest of the day. I was able to enter Brittany’s mind and even had her drink a glass of water. She didn’t remember even doing it. Later, Colin had to leave to meet up with Emily, so Jack came in and Erik tried it with him. He was able to make it work the first time.
“This skill could be very useful, Dad,” Erik said when they were done. “I can make you do things without you remembering.”
“Don’t be getting any ideas, Erik,” Jack said. “This was for practice only.”
Around 5, Dave walked in, all smiles. “Abigail, are you ready?”
She went up to Dave. “Oh, yes, David. I didn’t realize the time. Can we stop at my place on the way? I’d like to change.”
“Certainly. We have plenty of time.” Dave smiled again. I’d never seen him smile so much.
“What’s the deal with them?” Erik asked Jack once Dave and Abigail had left. “Has he said anything to you?”
“Sure. A few things.”
“He has? Like what? Tell me!” I begged.
Brittany raced up to Jack. “Yeah, what did he say?”
Jack laughed. “Well, I didn’t know you were all so interested in this. I really shouldn’t talk for him, but I think it’s fair to say that he has grown quite fond of Abigail.”
“Yeah, we can see that,” Erik said. “What else do you know?”
“I know that she’s a widow. She has no children. She was a college professor for many years at the University of Minnesota. I’m surprised she didn’t mention that to you, Sam. Anyway, she moved out to the east coast after her husband died. Joined up with the rebel group many years ago.”
Brittany was getting impatient. “We want romance details, Jack. Are they just dating? Or are they getting serious?”
“I think Dave’s pretty serious about her. He talks about her constantly.” Jack laughed again. “I told him the other day he needs to give it a rest because it’s interfering with our work. But that’s how it is when you’re in love. Can’t get the person out of your head. Enough about Dave. Let’s head home.”
When we arrived there, Colin had just returned from his encounter with Emily. He was in the kitchen starting to make dinner. When I walked by him, I noticed the faint smell of perfume. I tried not to think about how it ended up on him.
“How was your date?” Erik asked Colin, knowing it would irritate me.
Colin blushed. “It was okay.”
Erik laughed. “Look at him! He’s turning red. What happened? Did she finally make a move? Or did you?”
Brittany purposely bumped into Erik on her way to the fridge. “Maybe he doesn’t want to talk about it.”
“Yeah, just drop it, Erik.” I was really getting tired of Erik trying to push Colin toward Emily. He knew I wanted Colin back. Thankfully, Jack walked in and started talking about something else.
After dinner, Brittany and I watched an old movie from the limited selection of VHS tapes we found stashed in a closet. Colin and Erik joined us halfway through.
“What are you guys watching?” Colin sat next to me. He had changed shirts, but I could still smell the perfume on him.
“That movie with the teenage werewolf who plays basketball,” Brittany replied.
“I wonder if there really are werewolves,” Erik said, halfway serious.
Colin laughed. “The next full moon why don’t you head to the woods and check your theory, Erik?”
“I’m serious. It’s not that unlikely when you consider that Sam and I are half alien. If someone made a movie about us, nobody would believe that we existed either.”
“We’re not half alien, Erik. Only a small part of our DNA has the alien material. And do you have to call it ‘alien’? It makes us sound like freaks.”
Ever since learning that my cells contained genetic material from an alien life form, I’d tried to deny it. I hated talking or even thinking about it. Having software in my cells was bad enough, but finding out about the alien material was even worse.
“I’m just saying that you and I have all these powers, like this werewolf kid does. So if we exist, maybe werewolves do, too. I bet more people believe in werewolves than—”
“Quiet! I can’t hear what they’re saying,” Brittany yelled.
As the movie played, I thought about what Erik had said. We did have powers, just like the werewolf kid. But I didn’t really think of them that way. To me, they were more like side effects of the genes. We practiced controlling them, but we didn’t really use them for anything. Why weren’t we using them? Why weren’t we figuring out how to use them against GlobalLife? Our powers were stronger now. We were getting more confident in them. There had to be a way to make them useful.
I didn’t see the end of the movie. My mind was too busy thinking. When everyone got up, I didn’t even notice.
“Sam, the movie’s over. Are you going to bed or staying here?” Brittany asked.
“I’ve got an idea,” I said, still trying to imagine how it would work.
“An idea about what?” Colin asked.
“I think I know how to get the alien genes from the vault. And we don’t even have to go near it.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
Game Night
Everyone sat down again. “I know this sounds crazy, but just listen. Erik and I have this new mind control power right? We can make people do things. Make them say things.”
“Yeah, we were all there today, Sam,” Erik said. “What about it?”
“We can use that, Erik. We can use that to get the alien genes. All we need to do is take over Eve’s brain.”
“No way. I don’t want to be anywhere near her brain. Forget it, Sam.”
“Think about it, Erik. If we could get inside her head, we could make her go into the vault and take the alien genes.”
“We don’t know if she even has access to the vault.”
“Allie can find out. And if Eve does have access, it’s perfect. We’ll do it at night when nobody’s around. She’ll get us the genes without any alarms going off. She’ll be the one on camera. It’ll look like she stole them. They’ll never know it was us.”
“You’d have to control her mind for a long time, Sam,” Colin said. “Couldn’t that damage your brain?”
“Not if Erik and I are controlling her together.”
Erik was skeptical. “I don’t know. We just learned how to use that power. Even if I agreed to this, I’m not sure we could pull it off. We need more practice.”
“Then we’ll practice. I’m not saying we have to do this tomorrow or even next week. But it’s a plan. A plan that might actually work.”
“I have to think about it. The idea of being in Eve’s head still makes me sick.”
“Then don’t think of it that way, Erik. Just focus on the end result. We get the genetic material and Eve gets the blame. GlobalLife will have to deal with her.”
I could see Erik imagining all the things GlobalLife could do to punish Eve. “I guess that could be a good thing. But I still need to think about it.”
We all went to bed. The next morning, Erik was knocking on my door.
“Yeah, what is it?” I called out from under the blanket.
Erik opened the door and raced over to my bed. “Okay, I’m in. I’ll do it. Let’s go tell my dad. He’s eating breakfast with Brittany.”
I sat up, rubbing my eyes. “Is Dave up yet? We should tell him, too.”
“Um, Dave never came home last night, Sam.”
I started to panic. “Why? Is something wrong? What happened?”
“Don’t worry. He called last night and talked to my dad.”
“Talked to him about what? Is Dave all right?”
Erik smiled. “Yeah, I’d say he’
s all right.”
“What does that—” An image of Dave and Abigail flashed in my head and I suddenly understood. “Oh. Well, that was kind of soon.”
“Hey, at their age you can’t wait.”
I punched him. “Erik, we don’t even know if that’s what they were doing.”
“Yeah, I’m sure they were just up playing board games all night. Or discussing genetics.”
“I can’t think about it. Let me get dressed. I’ll be out in a minute.”
When I came out into the living room, Dave was walking in, wearing the same clothes as the day before. I caught him before he got to his room.
“So, Uncle Dave, late night, huh?” He seemed embarrassed, but I didn’t care. He’d embarrassed me tons of times with Colin.
“Um, yes. I need to stop in my room quick. I’ll be right out.”
During breakfast, Erik and I explained our plan to Jack and Dave. They didn’t approve, but they didn’t completely ban it either. In fact, I could tell they were considering it but wanted to discuss it with the members of the rebel group. If we did this, they wanted a well-thought-out plan that considered all possible outcomes.
Knowing we might actually try the plan made me even more focused on perfecting the mind control power. Erik seemed to feel the same way. We spent the entire day over at the rebel group house, this time practicing on some of the people there. We wanted to see if we could take over the mind of someone we weren’t familiar with. After some practice, we were able to do it.
Abigail was impressed at how well Erik and I were doing. Later in the day, she called a meeting with some of the members to discuss our plan. I was shocked that everyone was actually on board with it. Or at least the idea of it.
“This will take a great amount of planning,” Abigail said, “and Samantha and Erik will have to continue to work on this skill. But I think we all agree that it could work. So we’ll be forming committees to explore the best way to do this. We need to consider all possible complications that could arise.”
The meeting continued. There were even plans to bring in members from other parts of the country, including some ex-military guys from Virginia. When the meeting ended, I was a little overwhelmed. I never thought they’d even consider my plan, but now we were actually going to try it.
A Chosen Destiny (The Samantha Project Series #3) Page 19