Mindsiege

by Heather Sunseri

  “Lexi, why don’t you want to learn to use a gun?” Seth asked.

  I stood and walked over to the table where half a dozen guns lay, mainly to get out of reach of Jack. “Because, Seth, guns scare me. And if I’m scared of guns, and if I’m caught with a gun, I’m pretty sure it could be used against me.”

  I searched my mind. Jack was definitely there. His presence, like always, was solid with concrete edges, comforting and protective. I kept searching.

  “While I agree with you in theory,” Coach began. “I think you should at least learn how the different types work, where the safeties are, and how to clear them of ammunition.” He held up a bullet. “You can rest a little easier knowing these are rubber bullets. Getting shot with one of these would sting, but wouldn’t break the skin.”

  Somehow, I was able to keep up this debate about guns while I searched my mind for other foreign presences. “I guess you’re right. I should at least learn. But I’d like to learn other weapons, too. I want to know other ways to protect myself that my enemies wouldn’t see coming.”

  Jonas smiled. “So, can Seth continue? There are others here who aren’t such scaredy-cats.”

  After glaring at Jonas, I spun around and returned to my seat. “Yes, please continue, Seth.”

  I sat back down and kept all parts of my body out of reach of Jack’s while I searched through my mind again. Bypassing Jack’s presence, I found what I was looking for. It was like finding a few specks of pepper in a shaker of salt. Jonas was sneaky, hiding in the tiny crevices of the outskirts of my consciousness.

  I immediately stretched my foot back out and made contact with Jack. He pressed the length of his leg into mine. While I could still see the tiny granules of Jonas’s presence, I blocked his mind games with Jack’s help.

  “So, the gun you’re holding now,” I said, trying to prove I was listening. “Is that a typical issue for IIA agents?”

  Coach held it loosely in his palm. “This one? This is a Glock 19, and yes, some law enforcement would carry this or something very similar. But IIA agents would also carry backup weapons of their own, so it’s good to know different types.”

  I liked the idea of backup weapons.

  Briana and Danielle both paid close attention to Seth’s and Coach Williams’s lessons. Kyle seemed to hang on every word as well. Jonas was more interested in watching the others in the room. Something told me he purposely avoided my glares, but he did not avoid looking at Briana, and often.

  Jack continued to shift in his chair. His gaze shifted from me to the classroom door to Jonas. His anxiety seemed to grow. I wanted to know why, but I didn’t want to ask now when we would have to mindspeak. I didn’t want to risk Jonas hearing our conversation.

  Toward the end of the lesson, Seth and Coach handed each of us a Glock and showed us how to unload and reload a magazine of bullets, while making sure a bullet isn’t left in the chamber.

  While I practiced with one of the pieces, Jack wandered over to Coach and spoke with him privately. Jonas helped Briana, Seth discussed something with Kyle, and Danielle and I unloaded and reloaded our own firearms.

  The guns definitely made me nervous, but the fact that the bullets were rubber eased my worry somewhat. I unloaded and reloaded the Glock three more times while I stared daggers at Coach and Jack. What were they talking about? Jack had been acting nervous all afternoon, and now he was having private conversations.

  After the fifth time I successfully reloaded the gun, I set it down not so gently on the desk in front of me. Every head in the room jerked toward me. “What?” I asked with a shrug.

  Jonas shook his head.

  Jack’s lips stretched into a thin line. Will you please remember that you’re handling a deadly weapon? For someone who claimed to be scared of guns not one hour ago…

  I started to answer him, when Danielle stood and turned toward the rest of us. Backing away from us toward the door, she brought the loaded Glock up and pointed it directly at her temple.

  “Dani?” I stood slowly, my hands stretched out as if for balance.

  She held her free hand out. “Don’t come close.” A tear formed in her eye.

  “Danielle?” Kyle was on his feet, too. “What are you doing?”

  “It’s not me,” she said.

  I shot a panicked look to Jack.

  Someone’s in her head, Jonas mindspoke.

  “Dani, can you feel someone in your head?” I asked.

  She cocked her head and squinted her eyes at me. “Feel them? What kind of question is that?”

  A crazy one, I guessed.

  Suddenly, she stood straighter. Her eyes darted all around, not focusing on any one thing. “There’s a voice inside my head.” She listened for a moment, then her eyes focused on me. “I have a message for you.”

  I stood straighter, grabbed onto the desk.

  Danielle brought the gun down, cocked it, then pointed it at her head again.

  My pulse raced. I felt lightheaded.

  A lone tear ran down Dani’s cheek. “You have until tomorrow.”

  To do what? I threw out to anyone who was listening. But no one had time to answer, because of what Dani did next.

  She pulled the gun away from her head and pointed it straight out in front of her, aiming it at nothing at first. She twisted her body to the right. To the left.

  Jonas started moving. Racing in front of Briana, he motioned for her to get down. He signaled likewise to Kyle. Jack and Coach already had guns cocked and in their hands. “Please don’t shoot her,” I pleaded.

  I won’t do anything I don’t have to do, Jack replied.

  Jonas got closer to me, and another tear escaped Dani’s eye as she met my frightened stare, took aim…

  Jonas leapt.

  Dani fired.

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  “Why are you not freaking out?” Jack asked.

  “You would rather I did?” I stood on top of my dorm building and looked out on the entire front half of the campus. I kept one eye on the infirmary to my left, and another on Wellington’s front gate.

  “I’m just surprised, that’s all.”

  “Did you get Jonas all fixed up?” I asked.

  “His shoulder is fine. I healed the torn labrum around the joint. He cried out like a baby.” I heard the smile in Jack’s voice.

  “Dani was so upset. I left her sleeping. Kyle is with her.”

  “Good.”

  My eyes studied the lack of movement around the front gate. Yesterday, Sandra physically broke through the security barriers of Wellington, and today, she proved she was capable of powering through mental barriers, too.

  Four guards stood at Wellington’s front gate—two inside the gatehouse monitoring security cameras, two in front of the actual gate. They didn’t appear to be armed, but according to Coach, they were each equipped with more than one firearm, a police baton, and most likely a knife of some sort.

  I lifted my chin toward the front gate. “Did you know that before you arrived… I’m pretty sure the one or two security guards who stood at Wellington’s front gate were unarmed? Didn’t need the security.”

  “Hmmm.” Jack moved closer and leaned his back against the railing, watching me.

  “Did you also know that until about a month or so ago, I had a simple routine? I swam. I went to classes. I visited my Gram. I hung with my best friend. I drew and painted.” I sucked at the art thing, but it was therapeutic, giving me a creative escape when I needed it. And looking back on it all now, I liked my boring, normal life.

  “That was before you met me. Now your life is exciting, unpredictable, and adventurous.” Obviously joking a little, Jack’s voice sounded upbeat for the first time all day. The warmth of his gaze begged for my attention.

  “No, I didn’t know you,” I said. “What a distraction you proved to be.”

  “Hey!” He knocked my arm playfully. “Are you saying you wish I hadn’t been there to heal your broken arm? Or to talk my friends
into bulldozing the school’s brand-new security fence to break you out of here?”

  I couldn’t help but smile at him. “Technically, I’m not sure I would have broken my arm if you hadn’t been in my way when I flew out of the girls’ locker room. And as far as helping me escape Wellington?” I cocked my head. “Have you looked around lately? We didn’t make it very far.”

  Jack’s grin faded, taking the momentary light mood with it. “I know. I’m sorry.”

  “It’s okay. Wellington wasn’t the problem, only the people that had moved in.” I moved closer to him and ran my fingers along his chest, tracing the design on his concert T-shirt. “You also know that Sandra and the IIA want something that they apparently can only get from me.”

  Jack circled his arms around me and brought my body flush with his. His chin rested on top of my head for a moment before he bent down and nuzzled his face into the crook of my neck. “I know,” he whispered.

  “These mind games… the IIA… Sandra… They won’t stop until they get what they’re after, or we’re dead.”

  Jack’s hands began to roam. He pulled my body closer, if that was even possible. Cool air seeped under my sweater as his right hand slipped under my shirt. I wanted to curl up and escape until I only existed inside his arms. His breath tickled my ear. “I won’t let anything happen to you.”

  Though Jack attempted to distract me with his wandering hands, I played back today’s incident in my head. “Something doesn’t add up with the way Dani took that shot, or the way Jonas leapt in front of me.” My body tensed as I said out loud what I had been thinking. Hopefully, Jack’s touch shielded Jonas from hearing my thoughts.

  Jack sighed, releasing me a little. “What did Dani say?”

  “She was too upset to talk about it. And I’m scared to put her in further danger. I can’t know for sure who’s listening in on our conversations.”

  Stroking my hair absentmindedly, he kissed the top of my head again, then held me out just slightly, one hand still resting at the small of my back, skin on skin. “I’ve been spending a lot of time inside your head the last few days.”

  I feigned shock.

  “You knew?”

  “Of course I knew.”

  “Did it bother you? Why didn’t you say something?”

  I shrugged. “Because it comforted me. I could have shut you out.”

  “I know, but—”

  “When you first explained how you could hear my thoughts, it bothered me, but then I learned how to shut you out. So, it was my choice.” I looked away again. “Having Jonas inside my head isn’t comforting at all. And the thought of Ty or anyone I don’t know inside my head is making me crazy. I don’t know what they’re doing or when they might make me do something against my will. Dani is so upset. They made her shoot a gun at someone, Jack. I know how she feels. I have to find a way to get that thing out of her.”

  “Well, I’ve been studying your mind. I’ve studied how neurons fire and how brain activity behaves when I’m inside your head. I’ve seen how it’s different when I’m touching you versus when I’m not. Or even when I’m across campus. I can tell when you’re sleeping. I know when you’re freaking out and when you’re happy.” He paused.

  Bothered by the silence, I glanced up at him. “Go on.”

  “I also know when Jonas is inside your mind.”

  “You do? Because I can’t always tell. It takes quite a bit of effort to monitor my own mind. I sense when you’re there. I sometimes sense when Jonas is there, but mostly he slips in and out undetected.”

  Lexi? I could hear a huge tension in his words. Jonas is always inside your head.

  My eyes widened. But then I remembered Jonas’s presence earlier at the same time Jack had been touching me and roaming around in my brain. Jonas’s invasion had looked like tiny specks of darkness among lots of light. My pulse began to race. Is he there now? Can he hear everything we’re saying?

  Jack shook his head. “I’m almost positive he can’t.”

  “Almost?”

  The pressure of Jack’s palm to my back intensified. He reached down with his other hand and threaded his fingers with mine. “He gets visibly frustrated when I touch you. At first, I actually thought he was trying to get close to you. After you two returned from campus that night, and he had kissed you…”

  “And after I gave him a black eye,” I reminded him.

  “Yes, that, too.” Jack shifted feet, keeping physical contact with me. “But I noticed him looking at you differently, and I couldn’t figure it out. He reacted to you differently after that. Thankfully, I had already decided to get you away from him. But then he showed up at Wellington.”

  “Ty or the IIA was controlling his mind. I was forced to heal Sandra.”

  “Exactly. Jonas began acting like he knew what was best for you. I was insanely jealous at first. I’m pretty sure that’s exactly what he wanted.”

  “Wait a minute. Are you saying that you no longer trust Jonas?”

  Jack looked away from me. “Not exactly. I just don’t know. I’m wondering if we can afford to trust him if we’re not sure.”

  “But how do you know he can’t hear everything we’re saying right now?”

  “Ty. He made a huge mistake when he told us I was your shield. Now Jonas is being more careful and less obvious with how he invades your mind.”

  “You’re wondering if Jonas has truly been deserted by Sandra and the IIA.” I said the thing I’d been thinking ever since I’d healed Sandra and she’d fled the facility.

  “Exactly. So, I’ve been watching. And today—”

  “Maybe that bullet was meant for Jonas.” Jack’s expression remained unchanged as I said out loud exactly what he was thinking. “Just maybe… whoever controlled Dani’s mind ordered her to shoot Jonas, not me. And that person knew the bullet would not kill or even hurt Jonas badly.” Maybe it was even Jonas who was inside Dani’s head. He had proven he could get in and out without the host body knowing.

  “I think he knows I’m starting to not trust him. I also think he staged saving your life in order to win it back.”

  I stared out across campus again, mentally exhausted from wondering who was manipulating my mind and who was my friend. “What do we do?” I asked. “I can’t ignore Sandra’s demands to give myself over to her by tomorrow, and I’ll need Jonas to get me inside.”

  So, we get closer to Jonas. He won’t be able to hide his true intentions forever.

  ~~~~~

  Jack held my hand, rubbing his thumb over my skin. We walked along the sidewalk behind the bombed classroom building. I was amazed by how well Dean Fisher and President Wellington had kept knowledge of the incident covered up. Had this been a public school, Wellington would’ve been a media circus.

  Eventually, Jack would have to let me go, therefore breaking his protective shield. We couldn’t spend the rest of our lives joined in some way, as nice as the prospect of him touching me forever sounded now. But we had to push forward with our plan to get Addison back and rid both Addison and Dani of the trackers embedded at the bases of their brains.

  We went over my part of the plan one last time.

  “Your job is to learn more about the trackers. Who has them? How are they inserted? How are they manipulated? Who controls them?”

  The more I thought about the plan, the more nauseated I became. Not to mention my goal of getting Jonas and everyone else out of my head.

  “You cannot mindspeak to me once our plan is put into place. So when I let go of you outside the next building, you’re on your own until we meet up later tonight. Do you understand?”

  I cocked my head. “Of course I understand. I can’t mindspeak to you if I have any hope of learning what I need to from Jonas without him getting suspicious. Like I told Seth, since I can’t escape this crazy, stupid situation, I want to know everything. Maybe then we’ll find a way out.”

  Jack stopped and turned to me. He pulled me close and whispered, “I hope so.” H
e brushed his hand down the length of my cheek, then leaned in and pressed his lips to mine. After two light touches with his lips, he pressed harder, deepening the kiss and taking my breath with it.

  I pulled away first, swallowing hard. My heart constricted, but I had to ignore the ache for now. “You haven’t told me your part of the plan.”

  His lips tugged downward. “I can’t. We can’t risk Jonas reading your mind once the shield is broken, and learning what I’m up to. But I will tell you that part of my job is to find out why my mom is keeping Father’s whereabouts a big secret.”

  Jack was scared I would blow the entire plan, and for good reason. I would never forgive myself if something happened to Addison or Danielle—or anyone—because of my vulnerable mind. “When will I see you again?”

  He rubbed his thumb across my lips, my cheek. He tucked a strand of hair behind my ear. Anything to keep touching me. “You’ll see me soon. I promise. Try not to anticipate that moment though. The plan will work better, the less you know.” After one last kiss to my lips, Jack stared into my eyes. Promise me you won’t take any unnecessary risks. You’ll call out to me if your life is in danger in any way. I will come immediately.

  I lifted his hand and brushed my lips across his knuckles. You know I can’t promise that.

  He countered with a lingering kiss to my forehead. I love you for your courage and your honesty.

  I love you for seeing things in me that aren’t there. I gave him a weak smile.

  Then, he let go.

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  I found Jonas at the gym where Wellington’s boxing and wrestling teams worked out. I was pretty sure no one from those teams remained on campus. Regardless, we were alone.

  He worked the speed bag as I approached. The room reeked of leather and sweat. I searched my mind, and didn’t see his small presence there at first, but remembered that Jack had said Jonas was always there. I examined the darker corners. That’s where I found him hanging out, practically dormant. I tried to watch how the small specks representing Jonas’s invasion into my mind reacted when I spoke. Hey, Jonas.