Dark Visions (6 page)
"Healing, I guess," the blond boy said simply. "Some places call it therapeutic touch, some places call it channeling energy. I try to use it to help."
Looking into his steady golden eyes, Kaitlyn felt oddly ashamed. "I'm sure you do," she said, which was as close as she could come to saying "thank you." Somehow she didn't want the others to know what had happened between her and Rob earlier. She felt strangely confused by him-and by her reaction to him.
"I'm sure we all do," Rob said, again simply. His smile was slow but infectious-irresistible, in fact.
"Well, we try," Anna said. Kait glanced at Lewis, who just widened his eyes without saying anything. She had the feeling that, like her, he hadn't worked too hard at helping people with his powers.
"Look," Lewis said, clearing his throat. "I don't want to change the subject, but. . . can I pick my room next? Because I'd like . . . ummmm, that one."
Rob glanced into the room Lewis had indicated, then stepped down the hall and looked into two other doors. He turned and gave Lewis an oh-come-on look.
Lewis wilted. "But this is the only one left with cable. And I need my MTV. And my computer and my stereo and-"
"There's only one fair thing to do," Rob said. "We should make that room a communal place. That way, everybody can watch TV-there isn't one downstairs."
"But then what do we do?" Lewis demanded.
"We double up in the small rooms," Rob said briefly.
Kaitlyn and Anna glanced at each other and smiled. Kaitlyn didn't mind rooming with Anna-she was actually glad. It would be almost like having a sister.
Lewis groaned. "But what about my stereo and stuff? They won't even fit in one of those small rooms, especially if there's two beds in there."
"Good," Rob said relentlessly. "Put 'em in the common room. We can all listen to them. Come on, we'd better start moving furniture."
The first thing Gabriel did was scan the room, prowling around it with silent, wary steps.
He looked in every corner, including the bathroom and closet. It was big, and luxurious, and the balcony offered a quick escape route-if it turned out that escape was necessary.
He liked it.
He flopped on the king-size bed and considered whether he liked anything else about this place.
There was the girl, of course. The one with the witch eyes and the hair like flame. She might be an interesting diversion.
But something inside him twisted uncomfortably. He found himself on his feet and pacing again.
He'd have to make sure it was just a diversion. That kind of girl might be too interesting, might tempt you to get involved. ...
And that could never happen again.
Never. Because ...
Gabriel wrenched his thoughts away. Aside from the girl, there wasn't much to like here-and several things to hate. Kessler. The restrictions on his freedom-being under house arrest. Kessler. The stupidity of the whole study these people had planned. Kessler.
He could do something about Kessler if he wanted. Take care of him permanently. But then he'd have to run, and if he got caught, he'd end up in lockup until he was twenty-five. It wasn't worth it-not yet.
He'd see how annoying Kessler turned out to be. This place was tolerable, and if he could last out the year, he'd be rich. With that much money, he could buy freedom-could buy anything he wanted. He'd wait and see.
And as for them testing his powers-he'd see about that, too. Whatever happened, it was their problem.
Their fault.
He settled down on the bed. It was early, but he was tired. In a few minutes he was asleep.
Kait and the others didn't get much moved before Joyce called them down for dinner. Kait rather liked the feeling of eating at the big dining room table with five other people-five, because Gabriel hadn't come out of his room, ignoring all knocks at his door. It was like being part of a large family, and everyone seemed to have a good time-except maybe Marisol, who didn't talk much.
After dinner they went back to furniture arranging. There was plenty of furniture to pick from; the jumble in the hall and rooms seemed to include every style ever invented. Kait and Anna's room ended up with two mismatched single beds, a cheap pressed-wood bookcase, a beautiful French Provincial chair, a Victorian rolltop desk, and the nightstand that had attacked Kait in the hall. Kaitlyn liked all of it.
The bathroom in between the two small rooms was designated the girls' bathroom-by Rob's decree.
"Girls need to be nearer to their stuff," he said obscurely to Lewis, who by then only shrugged. The boys would use the bathroom off the common room.
Going to bed, Kaitlyn was happy. Indirect moonlight came in the window behind her bed-north light, she noted with pleasure. It shone on the beautiful cedar-and-cherry-bark basket Anna had placed in their bookcase, and on the Raven mask Anna had
hung on the wall. Anna herself was breathing peacefully in the other bed.
Kaitlyn's old life in Ohio seemed worlds away- and she was glad.
Tomorrow's Sunday, she thought. Joyce promised to show us the lab, and after that, maybe I'll do some drawing. And then maybe we can look around town. And on Monday we'll go to school and I'll have a built-in set of friends.
What a wonderful idea. She knew that Anna and Lewis, at least, would want to eat lunch together. She hoped Rob would, too. As for Gabriel-well, the farther off he was, the better. She didn't feel sorry for him at all. ...
Her thoughts drifted off. The vague discomfort she'd felt about Mr. Zetes had entirely disappeared. She slipped easily into sleep.
And then, suddenly, she was wide-awake. A figure was standing over her bed.
Kaitlyn couldn't breathe. Her heart seemed to fill her mouth and throat, pounding. The moonlight was gone and she couldn't make out any details of the figure-it was just a black silhouette.
For a wild instant-without knowing why-she thought, Rob? Gabriel?
Then a dim light came through the window again. She saw the halo of mahogany hair and the full lips of Marisol.
"What's wrong?" she whispered, sitting up. "What are you doing here?"
Marisol's eyes were like black pits. "Watch out-or get out," she hissed.
"What?"
"Watch out... or get out. You kids think you're so smart-so psychic-don't you? So superior to everyone else."
Kaitlyn couldn't speak.
"But you don't know anything. This place is different than you think. I've seen things . . ." She shook her head and laughed roughly. "Never mind. You'd just better watch out-" She broke off suddenly and looked behind her. Kaitlyn could see only the black rectangle of the doorway-but she thought she heard a faint rattling sound down the hall.
"Marisol, what-"
"Shut up. I've got to go."
"But-"
Marisol was already leaving. An instant later, the door to Kaitlyn's room silently closed.
CHAPTER 5B
y the next morning, Kait had forgotten about the strange visit.
y the next morning, Kait had forgotten about the strange visit.
She woke up to a distant clanging, feeling as if it were very late. A glance at her bedside clock showed that it was seven-thirty, which, of course, meant it was ten-thirty in Ohio.
The clanging was still going on. Anna sat up in bed.
"Good morning," she said, smiling.
"Good morning," Kaitlyn said, feeling how wonderful it was to have a roommate to wake up with.
"What's that noise?"
Anna cocked her head. "I have no idea."
"I'm going to find out." Kaitlyn got up and opened the bathroom door. She could hear the clanging more clearly now, and along with it, a weird shouting voice-and a sound like mooing.
Impulsively she knocked on the door that led from the bathroom into Rob and Lewis's room. When she heard Rob's voice calling, "Yeah, come in," she opened the door and peered around it.
Rob was sitting up in bed, his rebellious blond hair tousled into a lion's mane. His chest was bare, Kaitlyn noticed with an unreasonable feeling of shock. In the other bed there was a lump of blankets which presumably contained Lewis.
Kaitlyn suddenly realized she was wearing a T-shirt nightgown that only came down to her knees. It had seemed quite natural to walk around in it-until she was confronted by the indisputable reality of boys.
She looked desperately around for the source of the clanging and mooing as a distraction. Then she saw it.
It was a cow. A cow made of white porcelain, with a clock in its stomach. The measured, hoarse voice coming from it was shouting in a marked Japanese accent, "Wake . . . up! Don't sleep your life away!
Wake . . . up!"
Kaitlyn looked at the talking alarm clock, and then she looked at Rob. Rob smiled his slow, infectious smile-and suddenly everything was all right.
"It has to be Lewis's," Kait gasped, and began to giggle.
"It's great, isn't it?" said a muffled voice from under the blankets. "I got it at Sharper Image."
"So this is what I can expect from my housemates," Kait said. "Mooing in the morning." She and Rob were both laughing together now, and she decided it was time to shut the door.
After she closed it, she looked at herself in the bathroom mirror. She didn't usually spend much time at mirrors, but just now . . .
Her hair was rather disheveled, falling in fine tangles to her waist. Wispy red curls had formed on her forehead. Her strangely ringed eyes looked back at her sarcastically.
So you don't care about boys, huh? they seemed to ask. So how come you're thinking that next time you ought to brush your hair before barging in on them?
Kaitlyn turned abruptly toward the shower-and that was when she remembered Marisol's visit.
"Watch out or get out. . . . This place is different than you think. ..."
God, had that really happened? It seemed more like a dream than anything else. Kaitlyn stood frozen in the middle of the bathroom, her happiness in the morning draining away. Was Marisol crazy? She must be-she must have some kind of mental trouble, creeping around in the middle of the night and standing over people in bed.
I've got to talk to someone about it, Kait realized. But she didn't know who. If she told Joyce, Marisol might get in trouble. It would be like snitching-and then again, what if it had all been a dream?
In the sunlit, bustling morning, with sounds of laughing and washing all around, it was impossible to even consider the idea that Marisol's warning had been genuine. That there really was something wrong at the Institute.
Marisol herself was in the kitchen when Kait went down for breakfast, but she returned Kaitlyn's questioning look with one of sullen blankness. And when Kait said politely, "Marisol, could I talk to you?" she just frowned without looking up from the orange juice she was pouring.
"I'm busy."
"But it's-it's about last night."
She was more than half expecting Marisol to say, "What are you talking about?"-which would mean that it had all been a dream. But instead Marisol shook back her mahogany hair and said, "Oh, that. Didn't you get it? That was a joke."
"A joke?"
"Of course, stupid," Marisol said roughly. "Didn't you know that? You superpsychics are all so stuck-up-couldn't you tell?"
Kaitlyn's temper hit flashover.
"Well, at least we don't sneak around at night acting like lunatics!" she snapped. "The next time you do that, you'd better watch out."
Marisol smirked. "Or what?"
"Or. .. you'll see!" Just then the others began arriving for breakfast, so Kaitlyn was spared having to think up a more specific threat. She muttered, "Nut," and snagged a muffin.
Breakfast was lively, just as dinner had been the night before-and just like the night before, Gabriel didn't show up. Kaitlyn forgot all about Marisol as Joyce told them the house rules and described some of the experiments the kids would be doing.
"We'll do one session of testing this morning, just to get some baselines," Joyce said. "But first, anybody who wants to call their parents can do it now. Kaitlyn, I don't think you called your dad yesterday."
"No, but this would be a great time. Thanks," Kait said. She was actually rather glad to get away from the table-looking at Rob's hair in the morning sunlight made her feel strange. She called her father from a phone at the foot of the stairs.
"Are you having a good time, hon?"
"Oh, yes," Kaitlyn said. "It's warm here, Dad; I can go out without a sweater. And everybody's nice-almost everybody. Most people. Anyway, I think it's going to be great here."
"And you've got enough money?"
"Oh, yes." Kaitlyn knew her father had scraped together everything he could for her before she left. "I'm going to be fine, Dad. Honest."
"That's terrific, honey. I miss you."
Kaitlyn blinked. "I miss you, too. I'd better go now-I love you." She could hear voices in the room just in front of her. She went around behind the staircase and saw an open door in the little hallway below the landing. Joyce and the others were in a room beyond.
"Come on in," Joyce said. "This is the front lab, the one that used to be a family room. I'm just giving the grand tour."
The lab wasn't at all what Kait had expected. She'd envisioned white walls, gleaming machines, tile floor, a hushed atmosphere. There were machines, but there was also an attractive folding screen, lots of comfortable chairs and couches, two bookcases, and a stereo playing New Age music.
"They proved a long time ago at Princeton that a homey atmosphere, is best," Joyce said. "It's like the observer effect, you know-psi abilities tend to fade any time the subject is uncomfortable."
The back lab, which had been a garage, was much the same, except that it also had a steel room rather like a bank vault.
"That's for complete isolation in testing," Joyce said. "It's soundproof, and the only communication with the inside is by intercom. It's also like a Faraday cage-it blocks out any radio waves or other electronic transmissions. If you put someone in there, you can be sure they're not using any of their normal senses to get information."
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