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 kidding, 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.