Listen (Muted Trilogy Book 2)

by Spoke, Nikita

  Finally, the guard nodded and moved aside so Jemma could enter.

  “Jemma!” Jack’s mental voice soothed her the moment she met his eyes.

  He looked unharmed, as Dr. Harris had said. Jemma stopped about a foot away from him, not sure she could go any closer without reaching out to him and getting them kicked out before lunch had really started.

  She held up her hand in the shape that said “okay,” pinning him with her eyes to make it a question.

  Jack nodded. “Smart. We don’t want to look like we’re Talking, and with the missed day…”

  “What happened?” asked Jemma as they moved to retrieve their lunches. Jemma grabbed a sandwich and a drink, then sat at what had become her seat, watching Jack closely as he sat across from her, moving normally. If he was hurt, she couldn’t tell.

  “Doc made a remark that doesn’t really need to be shared. I refused to cooperate the rest of the session.” His mental tone was neutral, but he looked uncomfortable as he opened his sandwich. “Wasn’t hurt, just detained a little more than usual.”

  What could his doctor have said to upset Jack enough that he wouldn’t even pass on what was said? Jemma turned her attention to her food while trying to decide whether to press the issue. He didn’t usually try to keep things from her, so it made sense to respect his wishes here. He knew, though, how much it bothered her to be kept in the dark, and their lives had been full of questions lately.

  At the sound of the door opening, Jemma turned. Josh entered, grinning, keyboard in hand, leaving the door open behind him. Jemma felt her stomach churn at the idea that this might be the reward Dr. Harris had mentioned.

  He waited until he’d reached Jack and Jemma’s table before typing. The guards didn’t react to either his presence or his words; either they’d been briefed on the situation and knew to expect him, or they genuinely didn’t care that he was there.

  “We’ve decided to allow all of our telepathic guests to share a lunch together.” Josh paused, beaming until he seemed to realize he wasn’t going to get applause. “The rules are pretty much the same. No contact is allowed, or lunch will be over. We’ll allow one very short exception for greeting on the first day, as you two were allowed.” He waggled his eyebrows. “Guests may sit either across from each other or at least two seats apart on the same side. The others have had this explained in their morning sessions, which is why they are late. Any questions?”

  Jemma had plenty of questions about why this was happening and what their real goals were, but she shook her head and saw Jack do the same. She didn’t try sending Jack any messages; of any employee in this building, Josh was the most likely to catch it if she tried to hide conversation. She couldn’t quite bring herself to let the connection drop, though, as easy as it was in this facility, and she felt anger and curiosity seeping through from Jack.

  Josh moved to stand behind Jemma, and she tried not to tense when he put his hand on her shoulder. Jack’s eyes darkened. With her back to Josh, Jemma risked a quick message laced with reassurance. “It’s okay.”

  Josh squeezed her shoulder, then walked toward the door with a typed, “Enjoy your lunch.”

  Jemma watched Jack rather than turning to see him go. “That’s just how Josh is,” she sent. She allowed some of her unease with his familiarity seep through. “He really thinks they’re doing the right thing, and I’m fairly certain he’s deluded himself into thinking I agree with him.”

  “It’s not okay.” Jack’s reply was emphatic. “This is the man they have working with you every morning? A delusional piece of crap who touches you whether you want it or not?”

  “He keeps it appropriate.” At least overtly. She was sure nobody other than Jack would have picked up on her discomfort with the contact. “I’m just… well, you know how I am.”

  “It doesn’t matter why you don’t want to be touched, Jemma.” He was watching her intently, frustration and understanding warring on his face. Jemma darted a glance toward the guards, who were looking toward the door. “If you don’t want to be touched, you shouldn’t have to be.”

  “I know,” she sent. “But right now you need to calm down before you get us caught. The guards aren’t watching, but Josh might see it on one of the tapes.”

  Jack’s jaw clenched before his eyes were drawn toward the door. He lifted his chin to indicate Jemma should look that way.

  Marcia had entered the room. Jemma stood and joined her near the door. Josh had indicated they could touch briefly this one time, if she’d understood him correctly, so she held out her hand. Marcia clasped it in both of hers.

  “I’m sorry you didn’t get away in time.” Marcia’s voice echoed in her mind, summoning memories of the woman’s visit to the library, of Marcia’s warning and subsequent capture.

  “You risked everything to do that.” Jemma brought her left hand up to mirror Marcia’s grip.

  “That is long enough,” came the robotic voice from one of the guards, and Jemma nodded and stepped back. Jack stepped forward and opened his arms. Marcia grinned, and they exchanged a hug, pulling back before the guard could scold them.

  “I’ll take as many hugs as I can get,” sent Jack, sounding a little more relaxed than he had a minute earlier. “But only if the other person wants them.”

  “Even I miss hugs from people I care about, stuck in this place,” she sent. He looked at her and smiled, the expression not quite reaching his eyes. “Oh!” Jemma sent shaking her head. “We should have asked Marcia to try Talking to us without contact.”

  “Ken should be coming, too, and whoever else they’ve got here,” sent Jack.

  Jemma looked at Marcia, whose eyes were glued to the door, and tried sending her name, but nothing happened, at least not without the other woman also trying.

  The other woman whose attention was, a few seconds later, quite thoroughly wrapped up in an embrace with Ken. They kissed as if it might be their last, pulling each other as close as possible.

  Reluctance showed in every muscle when they pulled back at the guard’s order. Jemma’d had time to count to five.

  Jemma reached out her hand, as she had for Marcia, and Ken shook it for only a moment, nodding when Jemma sent, “Try to Talk to me in five seconds.” She focused on the woman, actively trying to contact her, until ten seconds had passed. Ken nodded, then allowed a quick hug from Jack before turning her attention back to Marcia.

  The couple moved to study their lunch options, and Jack and Jemma remained near the open door. Jemma could see another two guards stationed outside.

  Another minute passed, then a woman approached the door, scanning the room before turning her attention to Jemma, who extended her hand once more. “I’m Jemma,” she offered when they made contact. The woman blinked, her brown eyes looking unsure. “And you are?”

  “Katherine.” She pulled away, then brushed brown hair from her face. When Jack opened his arms to give the option for a hug, she took it, but she pulled back almost immediately.

  A minute later, there was another arrival, this one male, looking similar enough to Katherine that he had to be related. Jemma let them greet each other, their platonic hug confirming her suspicions, then held out her hand once more.

  “I’m Jemma,” she sent again. “And you are?”

  “Katherine’s twin. Sam.” He pulled back almost as quickly as his sister had. At Jack’s offer of a hug, he frowned and shook his head, moving past Jack without so much as a handshake.

  One of the guards posted outside shut the door.

  “I guess that’s everyone, then,” sent Jack. “We should eat.”

  When everyone was situated, Jemma found herself and Jack in the middle of the table, with Ken on one side of her, as close as was allowed, and Sam on the other, at the end of the table, with several seats between them. Across from Ken sat Marcia, and Katherine sat across from her brother.

  Jemma took a breath and immediately felt reassurance from Jack. “It’s been a while since we’ve been around thi
s many people.”

  She smiled at him, then turned to study the others while she chewed.

  Marcia and Ken were watching each other. Kendall was barely even blinking, and Marcia wore a reassuring smile. Jemma gave herself a mental kick before she addressed Jack.

  “We should have let them know how to Talk to each other, but I expected to be able to tell them later. You didn’t happen to, did you?”

  “I let Ken know.” He rubbed the back of his neck and looked down at his sandwich. “It might not have been the smartest thing to do. The more of us Talking, the better the chances of getting caught. The other two didn’t seem to want to Talk even when we were in contact.”

  “Katherine and Sam. Twins.” Jemma fought a smile at Jack’s surge of pride at her getting the information from them. “So there are six of us being held here, then, if Josh was telling the truth. He hasn’t lied, that I’m aware of.”

  “That means there are other facilities. The others who went missing from elsewhere, they aren’t here.”

  Jemma sent a surge of agreement, then tensed at the electronic voice.

  “In five minutes,” typed the guard, “you will begin exiting in the order you arrived.”

  She closed her eyes, then opened them again and looked at Jack. He was watching her, too, and the room was silent save for the occasional crinkle of a wrapper. “I’m not sure how well I’d handle this without you here. No more losing lunch privileges, all right?”

  “Okay. I’m not planning on it.” He was still looking at her. “I wouldn’t do well without you here, either. I wish we could still try to figure things out on a nice couch instead of on these plastic stools, though.” He wiggled and grimaced dramatically enough to get his point across without the words, and Jemma laughed silently, her shoulders bouncing. Marcia and Ken spared a moment to smile, and the twins looked as if they wanted to move even farther from the rest of them.

  She felt a nudge against her feet, and she saw Jack smirk before his expression faded into something softer. “Did you just kick me?” she asked, trying to match some of his levity.

  “Won’t do it again. I can only reach your shoes, anyway, and the guards check every once in a while.” He tapped his shoe against hers once more before pulling away.

  Their remaining minutes passed quickly, and Jack sent a wave of emotion that felt suspiciously like a hug. She returned it while she still could. As their connection broke, she crumpled the wrapper of her sandwich and shoved it inside her drink bottle, allowing herself a glare in the direction of one of the cameras before her time was up.

  TEN

  To Talk

  Jemma fought a sigh. Josh seemed to be his normal, exuberant self. He was obviously pleased by the inclusion of the others in their lunches, and he seemed to take Jemma's impatience with the morning’s session as a personal compliment.

  “The surprises aren't over yet,” typed Josh. He wasn't rubbing his hands together, but he looked like he wanted to; he was smiling, leaning forward, his wrists almost touching.

  The man seemed to fluctuate between stereotypical villain and puppy. Jemma was tired of surprises, tired of trying to deal with what was reward and what was punishment, with what she was expected to do and with her lack of choices.

  “This is another good surprise then?” typed Jemma. She was sure whatever showed on her face wasn't exactly excitement, but Josh didn't seem deterred.

  “It's certainly something new.” Josh grinned and looked at the door expectantly. Jemma followed his lead, looking up in time to see the door open.

  Katherine entered, curling a piece of hair between her fingers, her shoulders pulled forward and head bent. Josh stood to greet her, then indicated that she should sit in the chair next to Jemma’s. After a moment's hesitation, she complied.

  Jemma watched Katherine; despite the woman’s body language—after sitting, she’d crossed her arms and leaned as far from Josh and Jemma as she could—she was still easier to watch than Josh was.

  “Okay,” typed Josh. “First, we are going to try telepathic communication without physical contact.” He looked between the two women, a grin on his face. He lifted his hand before lowering it and moving it back and forth dramatically, as if waving the starting flag for a race.

  “Hi,” tried Jemma. The telltale echo was nonexistent. She wondered whether it was her familiarity with Jack that allowed her to Talk to him without contact; that would explain why Marcia and Ken seemed able to Talk. Josh nodded at the monitor, which had spiked with her attempt.

  “Were you able to hear anything?” he typed. Jemma shook her head, then turned to see Katherine doing the same. “Okay, I want you to keep trying. Let's go back and forth first, for about 15 minutes, typing your message after you send it. Then, we will switch and get Katherine hooked up to the monitor. Then we'll go from there.” He grinned again. “You're certainly going to earn your lunches today.”

  Jemma was pretty sure that Josh was a major contributor to many of her headaches; they hadn't even done much yet this morning, and her head was already throbbing.

  “Hello again.” Jemma blinked at the sound of a female voice she wasn’t controlling. She turned to look at Katherine while the other woman continued typing. “My name is Katherine, and it is nice to see you.” She looked back at Josh, waiting for a response.

  When Josh gestured to Jemma, Jemma tried to send a message. “I’m Jemma. How are you today?”

  The mundane, two-step conversation continued until Josh was ready for them to switch places. When Katherine was hooked to the monitor, Jemma in the hard metal chair instead, it started all over again. While the change in enforced routine should have been nice, the imitation of conversation was draining, and the further change to her routine, as restless as the monotony had made her, put her more on edge.

  “Okay,” typed Josh finally. He seemed pleased again. “Now, I’d like to add in some contact. Jemma, I want you to put your hand on Katherine’s arm.” Jemma did as she was told, and Josh nodded, satisfied. “Katherine, you may begin.” He turned his attention to the monitor, to which Katherine was still attached.

  Immediately, Jemma heard Katherine’s voice echo in her mind. “My name is Katherine, and it’s nice to see you.” In contrast to the words, she sounded neutral. Jemma couldn’t feel any emotion coming through the connection.

  Josh, still staring at the monitor, leaned forward, his mouth opening. He looked at Jemma and raised an eyebrow, and when she nodded in response, he grinned. As Jemma continued to watch, he actually tilted his head backward and laughed soundlessly. After several seconds, he refocused his attention on Jemma. Some of her confusion must’ve shown on her face; he started typing.

  “Knowing that you can communicate telepathically with contact is one thing,” Josh typed, “but actually seeing it confirmed on the equipment…” He gestured dramatically. Grinning once more, he typed again. “Okay, Jemma. It’s your turn. Don’t forget to type what you said. Remember I can see the activity, but I can’t see what you’re saying. Not yet anyway.”

  He winked at her.

  Jemma clenched her fists and closed her eyes before looking back at Katherine. “Are you really going to go along with this?” Jemma sent the other woman. Katherine’s eyes darted toward Josh while Jemma typed carefully into her cell phone, composing the expected greeting and response for Josh’s benefit.

  Katherine nodded. “Fighting them only makes things worse. They’re trying to help.” Following Jemma’s lead, Katherine typed what Josh expected to hear. From what she could see of him, though, she wasn’t sure he would care exactly what they were saying as long as they continued Talking.

  “You really believe that? People who are willing to kidnap and experiment on others against their will, they only want to help?” Jemma closed her eyes again, then typed a longer exchange to compensate for the activity she knew had shown on the monitor.

  “I’m not gonna talk about this anymore. I’m following the rules. Stop trying to break them or I�
��ll tell.”

  Jemma, a fan of rules and order even as a child, had sometimes made things difficult for her spirited younger sister. Now, she felt a stab of sympathy for the times she’d tattled on Jill, not that Jill had ever been harshly punished, not as a relatively good-natured kid who was so much younger than the one turning her in for her misdeeds.

  “Okay,” typed Josh, and Jemma jumped at the male voice. “I know we haven’t been going for very long, but I’d like you two to go ahead and switch places again.”

  Jemma obeyed, and the short, telepathic conversation that followed adhered to the script perfectly in word. On Katherine’s end, the recitation was monotone. On Jemma’s, it was sarcastic.

  Josh interrupted again only minutes later. He checked to make sure his tablet was recording before he leaned toward them, his eyes sparkling. “Now that you’ve gotten used to speaking to each other telepathically with contact, I want you to pull away. Leave an inch between your hand and her skin,” he directed Katherine, typing quickly, “and then continue with the script.” He gestured almost royally this time.

  Katherine pulled her hand away from Jemma, leaving her fingers resting on the arm of the medical chair. When nothing happened between the loss of contact and Katherine’s typing of the conversational nonsense, Jemma could almost feel Josh’s disappointment. She kept her eyes trained on Katherine as she attempted to send a message, lack of echo enough confirmation of failure that Jemma typed her response.

  “Keep trying,” typed Josh.

  They went through another exchange, words communicated via their cell phones rather than telepathy.

  “Again.”

  Once more, they traded empty pleasantries, this time about weather that neither had seen in weeks.

  Josh put down his keypad, the resulting clatter loud enough to draw Jemma’s focus, and ran his hands through his hair. He glanced at the tablet, which was presumably still recording their session, then picked up his keypad once more. “Katherine, move your hand closer. Cut the distance in half, at least. I want you as close as you can get without touching.” After she’d complied, Josh nodded for her to begin. His shoulders drooped when she typed her message before any activity displayed on the monitor. He looked at Jemma, his eyes pleading.