Deo matches my whisper. “He knew what was about to happen. Everything. When we were here alone, before Lucas came back, he told us everything. Said Lucas would shoot the three of them, but not me.”
The guy appears to be in his early twenties. Average height, slightly above-average weight. Mixed race, I think. Maybe Asian and African heritage. And from what Deo’s just said, he also had a little something extra that you’d never guess from looking at him. You’d think the ability to see into the future would be a useful talent, certainly a much more useful talent than my own. Yet Cregg ordered him killed—ordered him killed almost certainly knowing that he would see it coming. But how would this guy know about me? Could he foresee what was coming even after his death?
“I didn’t exactly believe him until I saw the gun,” Deo said. “And I still thought Lucas was going to shoot me. The older guy—Jaden called him Will—he started freaking out as soon as they brought him in, but he never spoke, just kept trying to yank his arms free. I’m thinking maybe he was mute. The girl, though . . . I think he called her Roxana. It was so weird. She smiled when that Jaden guy told us. At first, I thought maybe she didn’t believe him either, but looking back . . . yeah, she did. Then at the end, right before Lucas walked in, Jaden looked straight at me and said to tell Anna to pick him up first.”
Okay, then, Jaden. I guess you’re first.
I crouch next to him, placing one hand on his knee, and visualize pulling one small brick from my front wall.
The force of his psyche coming through that tiny space is so strong that it hits me physically. I think I’d have fallen backward if Deo hadn’t been there to catch me. Picking Jaden Park up is easy. The tough part is getting that brick back into my wall. It’s like closing the door against a windstorm, because there are others out there.
And not just the two whose bodies are next to us.
There are dozens.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
Jaden Park’s thoughts fill my entire head. At first, they aren’t coherent. Mostly confused, random sensations. But then they start to take on form.
Cold.
Head hurts.
Then he laughs. Not a full laugh, just a short ironic chuckle.
My head most definitely should hurt. So . . . I guess you’re Anna?
Yes.
This is the first time I’ve been staring at someone’s body while I heard their voice. The first time I’ve ever actually seen the body of someone I picked up, aside from those ghostlike glimpses I catch sometimes in the mirror. I’m not really sure what to say to him. Sorry you were shot? That somehow doesn’t seem adequate when I’m pretty sure he realizes I’m the reason he was shot.
He picks up the stray thought.
Sorry works for me. But you didn’t shoot us. From what Will told me, you and your friend could be next, so you don’t need to be apologizin’ to any of us.
So . . . he’s not mute then? Will, the guy with the dreads?
No, he’s mute . . . or was mute, I guess.
He seems sad to see the other man’s body, so I look down at the floor again.
But he could write. And if it was only you and Will, and you kept your thoughts kinda quiet, he’d write what he was thinkin’ too, not just stuff he pulled out of your head. Especially if he’d known you a while, like he had me. We’d been roommates for three years. He’s learned to filter me out.
Deo’s hand presses my shoulder. “You got something?” he asks, as he helps me to my feet.
“Not yet. I’m just a little . . . dizzy. Maybe if I sit down for a few minutes. Close my eyes and see if I can clear my mind, open up some space. Could you get me some water?”
“Sure.” He walks with me to the chair he sat in earlier. “Be right back.”
Deo probably knows I’m talking nonsense. But I need some time to see what Jaden knows before I let Cregg in on the fact that I’ve managed to download the first half of his test. If I sit there like a zombie while we’re chatting, Cregg will probably put the pieces together.
I close my eyes and lean my head back.
How did you know this was going to happen? And why didn’t you try to stop it?
As soon as the thought forms, I realize how harsh it sounds.
Way to go, Anna. Blame the dead guy for letting himself get killed. That’s . . . really not how I meant it.
It’s okay. Fair question.
And when Jaden answers, it’s not like it was with Molly and the others, where things trickled in gradually. I didn’t even realize Molly was murdered for the first week or so. All that came through was that she needed to find Pa. Eventually, all of my hitchers seemed to figure out what was going on, that I could help them get out of the perpetual loop they were in. But at the beginning, most of them were kind of clueless.