Pain flashed through him like fire in his blood, and his strength abandoned him.
He lay on the bed panting, wrung out and useless. He fought, pulled, flexed, and lifted himself in an effort to overcome the effects of the drug, to no avail. His efforts won him not freedom, but rather several burns and cuts into his skin. They would heal soon enough, if the drug didn't inhibit that part of him as well.
Defeated, he relaxed into the bed and wondered how he'd let himself get caught. He should have listened to Father Patrick and Brad. He should've known he'd never be allowed to live his dreams.
These thoughts fanned the fires of his rage, but that fire had no will, no power to grow. Exhausted, Drake slept... and dreamt.
***
He sits on the bed, as still as a mouse—as still as a dead mouse, his new daddy would say. Dead mice can't move. Dead boys can't move either, so Drake doesn't move a single muscle. He doesn't want to be a dead boy.
New Daddy will be home soon. New Mommy locks herself in her room with the bottles that smell funny. She won't come out again, Drake knows. She won't help him, not like his real mommy who smelled like roses and laughed a lot, except that last night.
Real Mommy and Daddy gave lots of hugs and cuddles and let him eat ice cream on special days. They loved Drake, but they weren't strong like him, and when the car made the awful crunching sounds, and their blood got all over him, he watched as the light in their eyes faded to nothing.
They died and left him.
Now he will die if he isn't very careful. So Drake sits still and he waits.
When the front door crashes open, he inhales sharply, but doesn't make a peep. Not one. If he lies down or tries to hide, New Daddy will be even madder.
New Daddy starts shouting in the living room and throwing things against the wall. Soon, New Daddy will come to Drake's room. Soon, it will be Drake's turn.
Still, he waits.
His bedroom door flies open and New Daddy stands there, big and mean and scary and smelling like those bottles and cigarettes. "You've been a bad boy, son. It's time to take your punishment."
Drake squeezes his eyes shut and stays very quiet.
When the blows come, he doesn't make a sound.
When the fist lands on his face and the pain explodes in his head, he still doesn't move.
When it's over, he's allowed to lie down, finally.
New Daddy leaves and closes the door.
Drake cries silently into his pillow.
New Daddy knows Drake is strong, stronger than other four-year-olds. New Daddy knows Drake will heal.
And Drake knows New Daddy will be back.
Someday, Drake will be ready for New Daddy.
***
The wild beating of Drake's heart woke him with a jolt, sweat beading his forehead. He couldn't control the thrump-thrump-thrump as his heartbeat accelerated in panic.
A nurse rushed in, needle in hand as if brandishing a weapon. Her eyes widened in surprise and fear. "You're awake. You shouldn't be."
He ignored the stupidity of her comment. "Where am I? Why have you kidnapped and imprisoned me?"
She frowned in confusion. "We didn't kidnap you, we saved you."
He sneers at her. "From what? A surfing victory? Thanks so much for that."
She shuffled away from him, though she hadn't come close enough for him to reach her. "The doctor will be here any minute. He'll explain everything. But you're lucky we found you in time. You could have died."
She looked at the needle in her hand, then capped and pocketed it and left as quickly as she had come.
Guess she didn't want to get too close.
Drake counted the tiles on the browning ceiling as he waited for the doctor, though he doubted he'd get an honest answer from anyone here.
A moment later, a tall man with bushy eyebrows walked in. "I'm Dr. Pana, your treating physician. The nurse tells me you think we kidnapped you."
The doctor's smooth-as-glass voice wrapped itself around Drake like velvet. His will weakened, for just a moment, and the good doctor almost cracked Drake's defenses and wormed his way in. Almost.
"I was drugged, knocked out, and strapped down against my will. What would you call it?"
A caterpillar eyebrow shot up in surprise, the only evidence that the doctor had underestimated Drake's ability to resist him. "A new organization is bent on destroying anyone with unique gifts such as yours. They targeted you and would have killed you had we not intervened in time. We're keeping you here for your own safety, and, given the nature of your gifts and some of your past deeds, we found it necessary to restrain you for the staff's safety. We have to make sure you are stable and safe, Mr. Davis, before we can release you."
"Where am I?"
"You're being cared for in an undisclosed private facility where anyone intending you harm cannot track you. Now I suggest you take advantage of this time to rest and heal."
Dr. Pana pressed the nurse's buzzer. "Please bring the patient's medicine."
When the nurse returned, she shook as if scared, but Drake didn't think he was the cause. She cast furtive glances at Dr. Pana as she reached over with a needle and inserted the syringe into his I.V. "Rest now."
Euphoria flooded Drake's system and erased all thoughts of escape and all feelings of fear.
Dr. Pana smiled, and a gold tooth glinted in the fluorescent lights. "See you soon, Mr. Davis."
Chapter 12 – Sam
Sleep came slowly that night, and when I finally surrendered to my dreams they were filled with horrible beatings, car crashes, blood, and a little boy who fought his way to be free of abuse.
My heart broke for the blond boy in my dreams. He reminded me of Tommy, and I wanted to comfort him, to rescue him and give him hope.
Perhaps he represented my inner child, the inner artist in me who needed to be free to create and express? Except, it didn't feel like that at all, it felt more like a memory that would haunt me forever.
Lucy and Luke met me for breakfast in our cafeteria that morning, and I told them about my dream.
Luke shoved a spoonful of cheerios into his mouth before speaking. "You're just stressed. You need to unwind. Come spar with me and Lucy. We'll work out that extra tension."
"More like beat it out of me. No thanks." I looked around to make sure no one could hear me before bringing up what I really wanted to talk to them about.
"Listen, I need your help. Someone on campus is stealing other people's powers and using them." This got their attention and they both leaned in to listen.
I told them about my conversation with Kyle.
Lucy pursed her lips. "He could have been lying."
I scoffed. "I might not be a human lie detector, but I dug pretty deep into his mind. He wasn't lying."
Luke tapped his long fingers on the table. "This is bad. No one's come forward with this kind of power. I have a hard time believing it's a student. Could one of the staff have a power we never realized before?"
I thought back to my brief encounter with the mysterious doctor with the gold tooth. "That doctor had some kind of power. Maybe it's him. He arrives out of the blue, and all of the sudden a boy shows up beaten, and someone steals Kyle's fire power to burn down the studio—not to mention Mr. K leaves without even saying goodbye. Don't you find that a bit too coincidental? And Higgins is lying to us, too."
Before they could reply, Mary and her gang walked past and shoved me into my tray of food, splashing milk and juice into my lap.
She giggled, and her lackeys followed suit. "Oops, sorry about that. Didn't see you there."
Lucy sprang from her seat. "Oh no you don't, bitch." She grabbed Mary's long blond hair and pulled it back. "You're going to apologize to Sam, now."
Enough was enough. I faced Mary but spoke to Lucy. "Let her go. I can handle this."
Lucy narrowed her eyes like a cat ready to attack, but did as I asked.
My voice came out low, but firm. "You don't learn, do you? I wasn't kiddi
ng, Mary. I'm done with your crap."
I looked to the girl on her right. "Roberta, did you know that Mary deliberately seduced your boyfriend last year so that he'd break up with you? She was jealous and couldn't stand for you to be happy."
Roberta's grin collapsed in on itself, and she stepped back from Mary.
"And Caroline, remember those awful rumors about you earlier this year? How horrible you felt for months? Mary started them because you were getting more popular than her."
Both girls eyed their leader with venomous looks.
Mary shot daggers into me, but she knew her powers were nothing compared to mine. "You're going to pay for this, Sam."
"What are you going to do? Seduce me? Give it up, Mary. I can do a lot worse than this, and I will if you don't stop bullying people."
Inside I started shaking again. This behavior felt so hateful, but also necessary. She'd tortured the student body enough.
It took a moment for me to realize that other students had stood and started clapping. The guys looked relieved—likely they'd suffered the worse, having their natural instincts and hormones turned against them every time she was near.
Once again I was so grateful Luke had immunity to her powers of seduction. I couldn't bear the thought of him being under her thrall.
Mary pushed through the crowd and stormed off alone.
The clapping subsided and I collapsed into myself. "Let's get out of here."
Luke and Lucy had phys ed training, but I had the rest of the day free.
Before we parted ways, Lucy hugged me. "I'm so proud of you, Chica! You finally stood up for yourself in a totally badass way!"
But I wasn't listening to Lucy. My attention had been claimed by another voice, one inside my head.
A soft whisper stole my breath. 'You did good. I'm proud of you, too.'
My mystery boy was awake, and he could talk to me.
***
"Can you hear me?" My heart skipped beats as I waited.
'Yes.'
I nearly fell to the ground. In all my years as a mind reader, I'd never had a two-way conversation with anyone. A lot of firsts in the mind-reading business lately.
"Who are you? Can you read minds too?"
'My name is Drake, and no, I can't. Are you the girl with the blue eyes?'
Drake. I rolled his name around in my mind. A strong, sexy name; I liked it. Did he remember me from our brief contact before he passed out? "I'm a girl with blue eyes, but not the only one."
He mentally chuckled, and the sound warmed me from the inside. 'I saw you, before they took me into the hospital room. How are we able to do this?'
"I honestly don't know. Do you have powers?" He must, to be here at all.
He hesitated. I knew that with the smallest push I could find out for myself, but I wanted him to trust me, to open up to me.
"I can control minds, and I'm strong. Someone kidnapped me and brought me here. I need to get out. Where are we?"
A girl behind me nudged me. "Are you going in?"
We stood in front of my dorm, but I didn't remember walking there. "Sorry, lost in thought." I walked into the main hall and up to my room.
Once there, I locked the door behind me and closed the curtains. This felt too private for any kind of exposure.
"What do you mean someone kidnapped you?"
He told me about the day of his surfing competition and how he was attacked.
"Did they tell you why?"
'Something about saving me from another group who tried to hurt me.'
That made sense, and jived with what Higgins had said, though the headmaster was no longer the beacon of honesty I had once thought.
I told him what I knew about the group attacking paranormals, and described Rent-A-Kid and my life as best I could.
'So you think they really are trying to help me? I gotta say, while you seem on the up and up, the doctor who treated me does not. I can smell a rat a mile away, and he's a very bad dude.'
He couldn't be talking about Dr. Sato, but I could guess whom he meant.
"Did this doctor happen to have a gold tooth and oily personality?"
'The very one. Know him?'
"Not intimately. I saw him in the hall yelling at our regular doctor the day I met you. Drake, I couldn't read him, not at all. That's never happened before."
And so I told him everything. About Mr. K and my painting and my assignment with Tommy.
For a moment, the absurdity of my situation hit me. I was talking to a voice in my head. If not for all that I'd already seen, I'd be worried about my sanity.
If Drake had been standing in front of me, there's no way I'd have been this transparent and vulnerable. But our unique way of communicating made it so much easier to trust him—after all, he was just a voice in my mind. Talking to him was like thinking—just as natural.
As the day wore into night, we kept up a steady stream of dialogue, discussing everything from our favorite food and favorite color to our deepest fears and most secret hopes. Through his memories, I saw the many foster homes he'd grown up in and the church with towering angels in a magical garden.
I showed him different assignments I'd been on and the countries I'd traveled to. We talked about Hawaii and surfing and art and college.
Even in moments of silence, his thoughts swirled into mine like vanilla and chocolate ice cream melting into each other.
With him, I felt the same comfort and familiarity as I did with Luke. They both had a protective quality that made me feel safe, but Drake did not inspire any brotherly feelings at all. Quite the opposite.
I'd always assumed that for chemistry between two people to ignite, they had to be physically present with one another. After all, didn't their pheromones have to sniff each other out or something?
But with Drake, even just mentally, science and magic combined to create something new and wonderful. The warmth of those new feelings spread through my body as his deep voice seduced my mind and heart.
Within twenty-four hours of near non-stop communication, Drake and I had created a bond that I'd never found with anyone else, even after years of friendship. This is the power of the mind, the power of thoughts—and the power of emotions.
***
Drake stayed with me throughout my classes the next day. He helped keep me awake after being up for two days, and nearly got me in trouble a few times with his smart-ass remarks about my teachers, fellow students or classes.
By the time I arrived at Luke and Lucy's suite after school, I was dead on my feet.
Lucy eyed me up and down and brewed some coffee. I curled up on their overstuffed chair and listened as Drake told me a story about Father Patrick, a man I couldn't wait to meet, based on what I knew so far.
Luke threw a pillow at me. "Yo, Sam, where are you?"
I realized I'd ignored them again. It was time to introduce them to Drake. "I'm sorry. Um, remember that mystery boy I told you about? I'm talking to him right now."
Lucy nearly dropped the coffee pot. "Shut up! Seriously? When did this happen. You can't just let random guys into your mind, Sam."
Right, like this happened every day. There goes Sam, the mind whore.
I explained about how we connected and our night and day together.
Lucy sat on the couch across from me and handed me a mug of coffee. "No wonder you look like something a dog spit out."
"Gee, thanks, you're sweet."
Luke poured a cup for himself and sat next to Lucy. "So he's here, right now? Can he hear us?"
"Yes, he can hear what I can. He's basically hearing my thoughts, not so much you. But don't worry guys, I've spent hours and hours talking with him, exploring his mind. I know we can trust him."
Lucy frowned in disapproval. "He could be playing you, Sam, trying to get into your mind to hurt you. With everything that's happened recently, do you really think it's a good idea to let a stranger in like this?"
"If you can't trust him, then you have to trust m
e. I know him—yes, even after only one night, I know him. He can help us, and with everything that's going on, we need the help."
Lucy's eyes widened. "You're in love with him. Oh my God, Sam, you're in love!"
Heat flooded my face. "Stop! We are close, and I'll admit to some... feeling." Oh my God, this was such an embarrassing conversation to have with him listening.
He chuckled in my mind, and I wanted to mentally swat him, but that just made him chuckle harder.
"Let's just see how it goes, but for now, you don't need to worry. He's not a spy and he's not trying to hurt me. He wants to help."
I stared them both down, and while they didn't fall into immediate trust with Drake, they were willing to try.
I did a mental victory dance. "Okay, let's focus. Something's going on here, and we need to figure out what it is. It's time to create our own assignment. You in?"
Lucy stood and stretched. "You know I am. We obviously can't sit by and do nothing."
We both looked to Luke.
He grinned like the Cheshire Cat. "Seriously, do you even have to ask?"
I smiled. "Okay, here's the plan. I'm going to go back to the studio and dig through the rubble in Mr. K's office to see if I can find any clues. I just have this sense that in our last class together he was trying to tell me something, and I need to figure out what. Luke, see if you can dig up any dirt in Higgins's office, and Lucy, you're the interrogator. Question students, faculty, even Higgins if you can. Also, scope out the clinic and figure out who's lying. We'll meet back here tonight to compare notes."
'How can I help?'
How could Drake help? He was strapped down and powerless, though I didn't say that to him. I could only imagine how impotent he felt right now. "Find out what you can from the nurses and Dr. Pana if you see him again. He's the key here."
"Be careful, everyone, and remember that Rent-A-Kid is watching us. Don't raise too much suspicion."
***
The wind whipped my ponytail across my face and chilled me to the bone, but still I didn't move to open the door to the studio. I couldn't. My plan had sounded good in the comfort of Luke and Lucy's suite, but now, standing alone to face the remains of my life's work... my enthusiasm for this mission waned.
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