Beth shook her head. “Wish I knew more.”
Cole sighed, remembering his appointment with Michelle. He had no desire to go anymore, but it would be a better distraction than doing nothing. “Can you drive me to Michelle's later? She's going to help me catch up on all the schoolwork I missed.”
Seeing the state that Cole was in, Beth didn't even grumble when she said, “Sure.”
7
They had their first home-cooked meal in weeks that night. Beth seemed to miss cooking so she had whipped up an elaborate four courses, and they were both stuffed before they could finish half the food. Cole helped clear the table and dry the dishes after the meal, and then he stood around idly, delaying the inevitable. He was not in the mood to be socializing or learning that night.
“Wanna get going?” Beth said.
“I guess so.” He gathered his books and trudged out the door with Beth.
They arrived at Michelle's, and Cole sat there, looking up at her house.
“Have a good time,” Beth said. “Learn some things. What time should I get you?”
“I don't know, I guess I'll call.”
“I'll be sitting around waiting with anticipation.”
Cole didn't reply. He climbed out of the car and rang the doorbell.
Michelle answered cheerily. “Hi, how's it going?”
“It's okay,” he said, stepping inside.
“Let's go to the back as usual.” As she led him through the house, he received a warm welcome from her parents and an awkward hello from her brother. He did his best to be polite and not sound soul-crushingly depressed.
In the back room, Michelle had taken out her textbooks from all her classes and piled them up on the desk. “So where do you want to get started? Maybe math since that test is coming up first?”
“Sounds good,” Cole said, taking off his backpack and retrieving his notebook. He had to admit to himself that this was not as bad as he had feared. Michelle's sunny attitude was infectious, and his depression was already less crushing. “What subjects have I missed?”
“Let's see, what was the last thing you learned?”
Michelle proceeded to go through the textbook and give a brief overview of the subjects they had covered since he had left. Then she took out a notebook and pencil, and went through an example of each, step by step, demonstrating how she was calculating the answers. Cole asked a few questions along the way whenever he lost the train of logic, but overall he picked up on it better than he had expected.
“I knew you'd have no trouble keeping up,” Michelle said. “I just went through about a week's worth of work in an hour. Goes to show how much time they waste in school.” She chuckled.
“Yeah, it does,” Cole said, surprised that he was smiling. “I'm pumped now and ready for the next section.”
Michelle grew suddenly serious. “Before we do, um, how was your trip? Amy said that you were visiting relatives? Some kind of an emergency?”
Amy's name sent a pang through Cole's body, which almost overshadowed the fact that Michelle was acting strange. “Yeah, I had to go visit some relatives across the country who were having a hard time. They needed my aunt's help and she didn't want me staying here alone. I told her I didn't want to miss that much school, but she insisted that I come. Annoying but what can you do?”
“Yeah, that's rough. Everything is okay now?”
“Yep, I won't have to go back anytime soon.”
“That's good. And that was it? It just came up out of nowhere?”
“Yeah...” Cole wondered where she was going with this line of questioning.
“Oh, I'm sorry, I'm just so relieved. I was getting paranoid and thought I might've had something to do with it.”
“You? No, not at all. Why did you think that?”
Michelle smiled awkwardly, her cheeks turning crimson. “Well... We had that night of bowling and, y'know, I said that stuff, and then the next day you were acting weird and then you were gone. I figured it was probably coincidence but I couldn't shake the feeling that I'd done something terrible. Oh, this is so embarrassing.” She turned away and covered her eyes.
“I promise you had nothing to do with it. But it's not embarrassing to think that. It makes sense you did. It was really terrible timing. I'm sorry, I should have told you I was leaving. I guess I might have been feeling a little awkward after that night.”
Michelle uncovered her face and looked back at Cole. “No, it's fine, you didn't need... It's... Can we forget this whole thing and pretend I never said anything? Please?”
“Yeah, no problem,” Cole said slowly. He had never seen Michelle this vulnerable and it made him uneasy.
“Good, great, let's get back to work.” She flipped open her textbook and plunged back into the math problems, talking more rapidly than usual.
Math was the only topic that was mentioned for the rest of the evening, and the lessons did not let up until Cole checked the clock, and realized with alarm that it was past ten. “I'm sorry,” he said, interrupting Michelle in the middle of an explanation. “I think I need to get going. It's getting late. Can I use your phone?”
Michelle tore her eyes away from the book to look up at the clock. “Wow, I can't believe it's so late. I don't think I've ever done math for this long. Yeah, absolutely, let me go get it for you.” She left and returned a minute later with a cordless phone.
Cole called Beth who, in an exhausted voice, said she would leave in a few minutes. Michelle was facing away from him, gathering her books, as Cole hung up. He watched her briefly and then said, “This was awesome. I feel like I'm almost caught up in math already. Thank you.”
Michelle stopped organizing and turned around. “Oh, I didn’t mind at all! I hope I was helpful.”
“Definitely. Can we make plans soon to finish up math and start on something else?”
“Yeah, I should have some time this weekend. We can focus on whatever your next test is in.”
“Great.” Cole collected his own books and packed them into his bag. “My aunt should be here soon.”
“We can go wait by the front door,” Michelle said, leading the way.
As they walked through the house, they passed her brother who said with a smirk, “What were you two doing back there all night? Working hard?”
“Shut up,” Michelle said, half angry, half embarrassed. When they were in the other room, she whispered to Cole, “Just ignore him. Older brothers.” She shook her head, indicating the general annoyance that they were known to cause.
Cole smiled. “It’s okay.”
They stood by the front window to wait for Beth, an awkward silence falling between them. Michelle opened her mouth, but abruptly closed it again.
Cole racked his brains for a topic to break the silence and pass the time until Beth arrived. “What was the hardest test since I left?”
“Oh, um,” Michelle said, breaking her own train of thought. “I guess Spanish. Ms. Morrison is such an annoying stickler. I wonder if she'll allow you to make it up. If she does, we should get started on that because, man, was that hard.”
“Yeah, I hope she does, I guess. Those tests were always impossible.”
“Yeah.”
They lapsed into another silence until Cole, on a sudden impulse, piped up, “Hey, to prove that there's no hard feelings about – that thing that never happened – why don't we hang out sometime? You know, outside of tutoring.”
“I'd like that.” Michelle smiled.
“Cool, what kind of stuff do you like to do?”
“Um, I don't know, we could see a movie?”
Beth pulled up outside the house and honked twice.
“Yeah, that sounds fun. We'll figure out a plan. I'll see you in school tomorrow.” He opened the door.
“Bye, Cole. I'm looking forward to it.”
“Bye.” He walked out the door and, as he turned to wave back to Michelle, he thought he noticed her blushing again. He had never intended to ask her to hang out. I
t had happened almost automatically as if someone else were doing it for him.
“Didn't know if you were ever gonna call,” Beth said as Cole opened the door. “I almost gave up on you and went to bed. Learning must have been fun.”
“Yeah, it was,” Cole said, feeling uncomfortable.
“I'll bet it was,” Beth chuckled. “Going over to a girl's house to get tutored and staying out late. You're gonna do all right for yourself.”
“Thanks but it's not like that,” Cole mumbled, even more uncomfortable now.
Cole refrained from conversation for the ride home, and they were hardly through the front door when Beth's cellphone rang. She looked at the screen and handed it to Cole. “It's Asher.”
Cole hesitated, considering not answering for a second. “Hello?”
“Hey, Cole, any luck?”
“Yeah, I got three blocks before it faded.”
“Oh, nice. My family was really uncool about it so I wasn't able to test. At least you got some results. Was Beth able to reply or were you able to feel her location?”
“I don't know, I didn't try.” Cole shifted his weight. “Asher, I don't know if this is a good idea to keep doing this. I really need to be concentrating on getting rid of these voices.”
“Those don't have to be mutually exclusive. You can do both. Think of all the awesome things you could do if this works. And who knows, maybe the answer to getting rid of the voices is by getting in tune with your abilities. One might lead to the other. Unless you've got any better ideas?”
“No. Actually, that's the best idea so far. But just letting you know, even if the voices are the direct reason I have these abilities, if I have a chance to get rid of them, I'm taking it.”
“That's cool, man,” Asher said. “I understand. In the meantime, let's enjoy it while we can.”
“Yeah, all right, I will. I'll see if I can have a two-way communication.”
“Awesome. Let me know what you find.”
They hung up and Cole handed Beth her phone back. “Before you go to bed, can we do that telepathy exercise again real quick?”
Beth raised an eyebrow. “After what you said in the car, you're still going to do that?”
“I don't know how to get rid of these stupid voices,” Cole said, growing exasperated. “And Asher said that maybe learning these abilities better could be the key.”
“Of course he did.”
“Can you just do it? I'm really not in the mood.”
“Fine, fine. What do you want me to do?” Beth said.
“I'm going outside. You go into a random room in the house and try to respond to me with where you are.”
Beth put her hand on her hip. “You want me to try using telepathy back?” she said, confused. “Even if that works, it could just be because we're related. Maybe I have the ability too.”
“That's a good point,” Cole said. “Well, if it works with you then I'll have to find someone else to try it with.”
“Good luck with that one. I'm sure lots of people would be perfectly accepting of you having telepathy.” Beth laughed, and then her face became contemplative. “You know, I never considered that I might be able to do what you're doing. Huh. All right, go outside. Let's do this.”
Cole wrapped himself in a jacket and went outside into the brisk night air. He stayed within two blocks to ensure he still had a good connection and broadcast, Aunt Beth. Can you hear me? Try to say something back. He heard nothing in his head, so he began to retrace his path, one small step at a time, straining to listen for a voice.
He was one block away when he stopped, his brain whirling, and took one step backward. Then one step forward. He took another step forward, concentrating, straining… and broke into a full run all the way back to Beth’s house.
“Beth!” he called, out of breath as he burst in the door.
“Did you hear me?” she called back, and came out of the bedroom to meet him, an unusual expression of excitement on her face.
Cole became immediately less excited when he saw her. “Oh, I’m sorry, no, I didn’t. But I was able to locate you the same way I found the others. If I concentrate really hard, I can sense when I’m getting closer to you.”
“Oh.” Beth’s face fell. “That’s neat.”
“It could still be because you had the voices so now I need to test on someone who definitely does not have these abilities or voices.”
Beth had started to recover. “How are you going to do that?”
“Shouldn’t be too hard. The person doesn’t need to know I’m doing it. I don’t even need to communicate. I find someone’s mind and latch on.”
“Oh, okay. I’m heading to bed. I’m exhausted.”
“Okay, good night.”
Beth headed into her bedroom but Cole was too wired for sleep. All he wanted to do was test his theory. He went to the front windows and peeked through the blinds. It could be anyone. He scanned the street, but it was late and there was not a soul to be seen outside.
His eyes refocused on the house across the street where he could make out the silhouette of a person through the shade over the window. He watched the silhouette move across the room while focusing on finding the mind of the person he could almost see. With his practice at finding others' minds, it had become easier; it was like sending out feelers.
His mind found something and, to test his theory, he went back outside and across the street toward the house. Sure enough, as he neared the house, the sensation in his mind became perceptively stronger. He took a few steps back and it became weaker. A burst of excited energy coursed through his body, and he leaped into the air and ran back to the house.
It had worked! Once he formed a connection, he could locate anyone, regardless of whether or not that person had his ability. The only remaining hurdle before locating missing people would be to figure out how to locate someone who you could not see and never met. That was a major hurdle, to be sure, but Cole was so pumped from his victory that he felt able to do anything. In the morning he would call Asher with his findings and they would discuss the next step. They would be able to do this, and the sooner the better. If destroying the voices meant losing this ability, then he wanted to use it to help someone at least once before it came to that. When his adrenaline wore off, his body was drained and he dropped into bed, falling asleep almost instantly.
* * *
Amy’s eyes fluttered open in the pitch black of her room. The first rays of sunlight were still a ways from reaching the horizon. She stared at the ceiling, her heart pounding, her mind flashing through the gruesome images of her dream that were so terrifying as to make her forget, for one precious moment, the cruel nightmare that had become her life. In this half-waking state, everything seemed surreal and she was having difficulty parsing the dream from reality.
As her head cleared, the confusion faded, and the memories of the last few weeks resurfaced with brutal clarity. How did this happen to me? Amy thought. I wish I had never tried to be nice to Cole that first day in the lunchroom. I should have let him finish eating by himself. If I had never talked to him, none of this would have ever happened.
She clenched her fists in anger, on the verge of tears, her breath coming in ragged gasps. She couldn’t believe she hated Cole this much, but it was true. He had helped her a long time ago only to make everything worse in the end.
No, that’s selfish, she told herself. If it wasn’t you, it would have been someone else. Whoever was unfortunate enough to love him first would have suffered the same fate. He helped you and now it's time to return the favor. You’ve never given up before and I won’t let you give up now. You can beat this. You just need to think.
Productive thinking, however, had become a nearly impossible task lately, being, as it was, always consumed by the torture that came from within. She wished more than anything, in this rare peaceful moment in the middle of the night, that she could fall asleep and never wake up.
No! Come on, Amy. Focus. Before the
y pop up and distract you, what do you know? What facts can you use to figure this out? If only I could go to Cole like last time and have him deal with it. Why haven't I done that yet? Why do I push him away? I always want to tell him, but when I get near him I think it's a bad idea. But there's never a reason to change my mind except... Her face paled as the idea struck her. They don't want him around me. They must be manipulating me without me even realizing it. They're messing with my thoughts!
Now, Amy, a sly voice spoke from within her, that type of thinking is unhealthy. We told you we are here to stay, so let’s make up and be best of friends.
No, I could never accept you murderers being inside of me! Shut up and leave me alone.
That’s not very nice. We’ve tried our hardest to be accommodating.
Why are you here? Can’t you just answer that? Amy said to the voice.
We already told you.
That’s not an answer!
It’s the truth, whether you want to believe us or not. Why do you reject us? We haven’t even –
Leave me alone! she interrupted.
Resisting is only going to make it harder for both of us. You know there’s no escape.
Go away, go away, GO AWAY, “GO AWAY!” she shouted into the night as she covered her head with her pillow and squeezed her eyes shut. But there was no blocking them out.
8
Cole slept straight through the night so that when he woke refreshed in the morning he was full of the energy from the night before. He brushed his teeth and dressed, and when he thought it was late enough he called Asher.
After three rings, there was a groggy, “Hello?”
“Oh, sorry, Asher, I didn’t mean to wake you.”
“No, it’s cool, man,” he mumbled. “What’s up?”
“I was able to track my distance from a random person. It works! It works with anyone. All I did was the same thing that you used to find me. It was harder to perceive and the maximum distance wasn’t as far, but it worked.”
“Whoa, that’s awesome,” Asher said, more awake now.
Voices in the Night (The Dark Mind Trilogy Book 3) Page 7