[Ganzfield 2] Adversary (13 page)

He tipped his head to the side as he considered that.
Only where you’re concerned.

Ahh, the hidden dangers of soulmating. If only they’d warned us in health class
.

He laughed at that, but his joy abruptly faded as Zack flopped down across from us. His gaze fixed on me with the focus of a dog on a tennis ball. “So, what now?”

“Rescue mission.” I felt my light mood leach away. Too bad charms were so useful; we couldn’t afford to leave Zack behind. If things had been different, we might’ve been friends. But he was dangerous to me, and his presence made the muscle in Trevor’s jaw twitch.

I guess that meant the “friends” thing was out.

I wasn’t sure whether we’d be rescuing Dr. Williamson or the healers—wherever they were—but we were going to go do something, just as soon as we figured out a plan. We’d almost certainly need a charm and Zack was the only one we had.

Drew threw himself down next to Trevor with an enormous plate of food. “Rescue mission! About time. I’m in. When do we leave?” He started to eat with gusto.

“We need to find Rachel and Hannah. I have to talk to Seth, too. I’ll do that now.” I stood up.

“Do you want me to come with you?” asked Trevor.

“I’ll just be a few minutes. You can finish eating.” I felt his hunger; he really was being altruistic when he had offered to come.
Besides, I need to try something
, I added privately, giving his hand a squeeze.

As I headed toward Seth’s campsite, I visualized my telepathic shield. Rather than the crude-but-effective brick wall, the bright mirror, or some of the other things that I’d practiced with Dr. Williamson, I took a deep breath then imagined covering my mind with an intricate, delicate, nearly-invisible web—strong, supple, and undetectable. I could feel it. Knowing how it’d worked in Zack’s mind made me more confident that I could do it, too.

Now came the test.

I started walking again, slowly and quietly, toward Seth. I was about a dozen feet from the tent before he felt me.
Someone’s out there!
Fear flashed cold within him. People didn’t sneak up on him every day. Actually, people didn’t sneak up on him
ever
.

Regret tinged my thoughts steel-grey.
Ah, hell.
Seth had been through enough. “Seth, it’s me.” I was afraid to try a mental contact. I didn’t think I could broadcast thoughts and keep the shield in place, and my mind was so loud to Seth that I’d cause him a great deal of pain if my shield slipped this close to him.

“Me? Me who?”

“Maddie.” I felt his confusion. Didn’t he know my name? “The too-loud brat.”

How are you doing that?

“I’m trying out a new shield. How’s it working?”

You’re about to blast me, aren’t you?

“Not on purpose.”

Get a little farther away, then. Just in case.

I moved back along the path toward the camp, and then dropped the spiderweb shield.

Ow!

Sorry!
I moved back an additional fifty paces down the trail. I could no longer see his tent, although I still felt his mind clearly.
Better?

Marginally
.

Quick question. Did you see what happened to Matilda and Morris yesterday?

I told you—they took them.

You didn’t tell me that! I’d have remembered!

I thought I did.

Isaiah has them, then
.

Yeah, I guess he does.

What does he want with healers? Is he sick?
A snort of mirthless laughter humphed out of me—we should be so lucky.

No clue
.

We’re going after them
.

We?

Me, Trevor, Drew, Rachel, Hannah
—
and Zack, I guess.

Ah.

And Dr. Williamson?

We’re going after him, too. Any ideas?

Yeah. Nick Coleman.

Who’s Nick Coleman?

Williamson’s lawyer.

G-positive?

Charm
.
One of the first through the Ganzfield program. He’s in New York City. I don’t have contact info, but he should be easy to find. If Williamson’s being held officially, he’ll be able to do something about it. Rescuing people from the Sons of Adam is one thing, but busting someone out of a federal jail is probably out of your league. And it’s unnecessary, if you know a good charm lawyer.

We’ll find him.
It was a relief to remember that there were other charms in the world besides Zack—charms who didn’t pose a threat to me.
New York City’s only a few hours from here. We’ll get the lawyer on the case, and then go after Matilda and Morris.

Okay. Hey, take care of yourself, all right? You may be too loud, but you’re the only one I can talk to like this now.
Seth’s loneliness and pain permeated those simple words.

I bit my lip as I choked up.

And Maddie? That new shield worked really well. I didn’t hear you coming at all.

Good enough to go up against Isaiah?

If you were stupid enough to try, I guess it’d be good enough. If you have any luck or brains, you’ll get them out without getting anywhere close to Isaiah.

But that wouldn’t solve the bigger problem.
Take care of yourself, Seth. You’re in charge while I’m gone
. As though I had any authority whatsoever.

Brat.
His thought held a touch of fondness.

*  *  *

I mentally located Rachel and Sean in one of the cabins and knocked on the door. “Rachel, can you come find us in the lodge?”

Her unspoken response was full of reluctance and a few bad words. There were things she would
much
rather do, and Sean was determined to persuade her to stay and do them rather than come and talk to me.

“It’s important.” I ducked away before she could respond and before I could hear any more of Sean’s “persuasiveness.” Knowing so much about their intimacies made my skin itch. It made me feel a bit seedy, like I was a peeping-tom at the windows to their emotions.

I saw Hannah in the lodge, checking on her patients. All five looked whole and healthy this morning. Melanie rotated her shoulder for Hannah’s inspection as I passed. She didn’t have any more pain from her wounds; none of them did. My relief for them was selfishly tinged; I no longer had to endure their pain with them. Sea-green satisfaction emanated from Hannah—she loved what she could do.

Hey, my cell phone’s still here!
I hadn’t really expected to get it back. I pocketed the phone and charger then gave Trevor a light kiss as I sat down.

Everything all right?

I nodded.
I think we’ll be leaving this morning.

Rachel and Sean entered the lodge, grabbing some food before they joined our table. They both looked flushed and their eyes were overly bright, as though they were high. Hey, there was a thought—what would the mind of someone drunk or high feel like? Personally, the idea of messing with my own brain that way freaked me out. Why risk addiction? Why risk being out of control? However, if someone else was already doing it, I didn’t see the harm in telepathically checking out the sensation.

Once the entire group had gathered around the table, I told them what Seth and I had discussed. “I think we can get this charm lawyer on the case for Dr. Williamson. If he’s being held by the police or the FBI or something, he needs legal help more than he needs what we can do.”

“Charm lawyer?” Drew asked with an air of awed disgust, which was echoed by many other minds around the table. He glanced at Zack. “No offense.”

“None taken.” Zack was considering the possibilities of his own career in law. I had to admit, it was a natural fit for someone with exceptional persuasiveness. And hey, I’d heard that thought from him. I hoped that, as I learned how that spiderweb shield of his worked, I’d be able to work around it and read him better. It wasn’t nearly as strong as the more noticeable shields I’d practiced—more like camouflage than armor.

“Rachel, where are Matilda and Morris now?” I asked. The golden threads shot out like a starburst from her mind. I reminded myself that most people, even most G-positives, didn’t get to see this part of it—the emotions and energies the others used in these amazing displays of light and color. It really was beautiful, though. What a pity more people couldn’t see it. I sent an image of it to Trevor.

You see this all the time?
he asked, surprised.

You don’t see your extra hands this way?

No. How do you see them?

I showed him the limbs of shimmering, golden light that seemed to flow from his torso—the energy that flowed through and strengthened the rest of his body and down his legs. I smiled as I recalled how those arms of light widened as he shielded me and how I felt surrounded by sunlight made solid. Not to mention how the energy shaded to red and ran over my skin when he kissed me.

Scarlet electricity flared between us. We reluctantly pulled back from the feeling when it took hold.
Show me more later,
he said, and I shivered in anticipation.

Work first.
I took a deep breath and focused back on the world outside our heads.

Rachel seemed to travel along her golden beam, going south. “Other side of New York City. Looks like New Jersey, I think, or maybe Pennsylvania.” We knew she could get us to the right spot as we got closer. In her thoughts, I could see Matilda and Morris tied to chairs in a dark room. They looked dirty and frightened, but alive and whole. If Isaiah had wanted them dead, they’d already be corpses. If he’d wanted to experiment on them—like with Trevor—they’d most likely be sedated and on operating tables. The memory made me shudder.

I told myself they were okay for the moment.
Right?
I had to make the decision—we needed to fix on a course of action. Something twisted deep within my heart. What if I was making the
wrong
decision? Should we be going after Matilda and Morris right now? Was I making a mistake? Were they in immediate danger?

Hannah was appalled that she hadn’t figured out the other healers were missing sooner. “When I didn’t see them among the dead, I was relieved. And I was so busy as soon as we arrived last night, I didn’t think—” her voice broke.

“It’s okay, Hannah.” Trevor hated to see people hurting.

I tried to distract her. “How’s the dodecamine supply?”

“The sparks salvaged eight vials from the infirmary. Four ccs each. Plenty of syringes, too.”

“Can you find out what they can spare us?” I asked. It’d been six days since my last injection. “I’m due for a boost tomorrow.”

“How much do you need?”

“Point-eight ccs a week.”

If Hannah had been drinking anything, she’d have done a spit-take. Her eyebrows shot up. She’d never heard of a G-positive needing such a high dose. “
What?
That adds up to like…three times normal dosage.”

“I know. Matilda thought it was better to give me smaller, more frequent injections.”

Hannah considered that. Her thoughts filled with the possible side-effects that some rapid-burners experienced.

Yeah, I know. Stroke and brain damage,
I told her silently, eager to move on to another topic. “Anyone else getting low? We might be gone a while.”

“I am,” said Drew. “I’ll hit six weeks on Friday.”

“I’m good for now,” said Trevor. The others were okay for at least the next week or two.

“Where’s it come from anyway?” asked Zack.

“A pharmaceutical company in New Jersey,” replied Hannah. “It’s written on the label.”

Apparently, New Jersey was the new nexus of the universe. Everything we needed to find was probably right off the Turnpike. “I guess we’re going to Jersey, then,” I said.

Sean was set on joining us. He’d gone through an entire day thinking Rachel had been killed; now he was determined to stay close to her. How much could he add to the team, though? After all, Drew was one of the strongest sparks. I did a quick mental check with Trevor, Drew, and Hannah.
You guys okay with Sean coming with us?
Hannah didn’t mind and the guys were both enthusiastic. Rachel was considering staying behind if Sean wasn’t included. I didn’t check Zack’s mind; I didn’t consider him truly part of the group. Besides, I couldn’t read anything from him at the moment, anyway.