“What for?”
As his mom danced her dealer’s dance, moving cards and chips around the table, she concentrated on the EXIT sign behind him, above the doors to the street. He realized she must be deliberately stopping him from reading her mind. As long as Holly’s fate wasn’t in the front of his mom’s mind, he couldn’t read it.
He was afraid he knew why. “Oh, no, no, no. We’re done with secrets. That’s why I’m here. What kind of place is the Res?”
She dealt a new hand. “Teenagers with power find it through the grapevine. They go there because they’ve had trouble fitting in on the outside. And once they get there, they can’t leave.”
Elijah swallowed. “Because they lock you up? Or do they give you Mentafixol?”
“Worse. They grab for power. They shift allegiances. They play mind games. They invade each other in every way imaginable.”
“It sounds like a cross between a cult and a pick-up bar.”
“Good analogy, except people with power don’t drink or do drugs. That would dull their power, and nothing feels better than power.”
“I don’t see what’s so awful about that,” he said.
“I don’t see what’s so awful about the Res,” she repeated, and even managed to convey sarcasm telepathically, like she couldn’t believe he’d said something that stupid.
Which really ticked him off. “What’s so awful about the Res, Mom? It’s bad enough that you keep all this from me for my whole life. You don’t have to act like I’m an idiot for wanting to know.” Impatiently he gave up listening to her. He looked as far into her mind as he could go.
“Don’t do that.” Ignoring the nurse’s signal to hit him again, she closed her eyes. Elijah felt her trying to make her mind go blank. But he’d already caught a glimpse of her blind fear. She opened her eyes and stared hard at the EXIT sign, deliberately clearing her mind so he wouldn’t see anything else.
“This is why I’ve always told you to keep your mouth shut about MAD and Mentafixol,” she told him. “Even mind readers can’t find you unless they’re close. But now they’re close.” She’d forgotten to concentrate on the EXIT sign. Her cold terror gripped Elijah again, stronger and more real than Holly’s hand around his throat.
“So, what do I do?” Elijah asked, tossing his useless cards back to her. “Bow before Kaylee and Mr. Diamond and pledge allegiance? Why can’t I just leave town?”
“Now that you have power,” his mom said, “you’ll be shocked how hard it is to get along out in the world without people thinking you’re insane.”
Judging from his experience of the past week, Elijah knew this wouldn’t shock him at all.
“You figure you can make a lot of money from this power,” she said. “What rich person on top of the world wouldn’t want a mind reader on their side? But those people would rather kill you than deal with you. It’s not that they want you for your power. They want other people not to have your power. They’re scared they won’t be able to control you. They want to be the ones with power, and if they can’t have it, no one can.” Ending that hand, she picked up a thick stack of chips from the holder at her side, the many dollars Elijah had lost over the past few minutes, and placed them in front of the nurse.
“Of course, you can’t be forced to join the casino,” she said. “But if you won’t join us, the casino won’t protect you. And in that case, by all means, get out of town before the Res finds you.”
“I guess that’s what I’ll do,” he said. “I need to find Holly first.”
“You can’t take her out of town with you.” Alarm swirled in his mom’s head.
“Why not?” Elijah asked, alarmed himself now, scared for Holly. “I can’t let the casino get her either.”
“That’s a decision she needs to make for herself. But if you take her out of town, she’ll be a lot more vulnerable to the Res. The Res makes that decision for you.”
Elijah should leave town, but Holly couldn’t? Their parents would keep them apart again? If that’s all the control they had over their own lives, they might as well have stayed in the ninth grade. He tapped his cards on the table in frustration.
His mother responded to that signal by dealing him another card, even though he’d intended to stand on that hand and she knew it.
He glared at her.
“Believe it,” his mom said. “There’s nobody at the Res older than twenty-five. They don’t last that long. Holly might get away eventually. I did. Kaylee did. But a lot of girls don’t. And even if Holly did get away from the Res, she’d be different. If you love her now, you wouldn’t love her then.” His mom concentrated on the EXIT sign.
“Mom,” he said. “Mom, what does that mean?”
“Think what fun they would have corrupting that sweet girl. It means keep her out of there.” Exit. Exit. Exit. Exit.
He had no choice, then. If leaving town would put Holly in more danger than staying, she would stay, and Elijah would stay with her. There was only the matter of finding her and convincing her to trust him again.
“Lady luck isn’t smiling on me today,” he said out loud, slipping off his stool. When his mom glanced up at him, he looked straight at her and thought, “I love you,” very clearly, so she would know he was saying it, not the nurse.
As he turned for the EXIT sign, he felt his mother’s message in his head: “I love you, too.” And then, when he was close to the front doors and almost out of range to read her: “Be sure you eat something.”
16
The moment Kaylee heard her office door burst open, instinctively she changed the intruder’s mind about changing her mind. Sure enough, the first person through the door was red-haired April, one eye closed against the headache Kaylee was giving her.
Carter came right behind her. “You don’t have her?” he asked April, eyes on Kaylee.
“We’re at a stalemate,” April murmured.
Kaylee knew how April felt. Neither of them could let go of the other. And neither of them could stay in this painful limbo for long. But she had more experience than April, and she knew the appearance of strength was almost as important as strength itself.
Then Nate pushed into the office, cowboy hat first. Kaylee’s will almost faltered. He was a mind changer himself, weaker than Kaylee or April, but he and April working on Kaylee together might just get through.