The Unseen Trilogy (10 page)

“And what do you call it?”

“My curse, I suppose.”

“It’s not a curse. Get that out of your head before we go any further. It may not be a gift, but it’s certainly not a curse. I like to think of it as a responsibility. And that means we don’t treat it haphazardly, wantonly going through life using crutches to control it. We must work hard to use it to the best of our abilities, constantly honing it so that we’re at our best every day, so that we can hopefully use our talent to bring some good to this world.”

“Oh.” I hadn’t really expected an epic monologue from her, and I didn’t know how to respond. Truth was, I’d never looked at it that way.

“Now, are you ready to begin?”

I took a deep breath. “As ready as I’ll ever be.”

Camden started thinking first. His voice came to me smooth and low, very Barry White.
Welcome! How’s it going so far?

Well, I’ll let you know in a—

Tracy interrupted us.
No small talk. Just work.

I looked at her.
What are we supposed to talk about?

You are not to engage me. You are to block me out entirely. Get to work.

I scowled at her, and she scowled right back. Shifting my gaze back to Camden, I waited for him to say something else, but he didn’t. Neither did Tracy.

So, any tips on disciplining my mind?
I asked him.

I think it’s different for everyone. The way I found my center might not work for you. I think that’s why she said you have to—

Do it yourself, Mackenzie. Quit asking him for ways to cheat
,
Tracy interrupted again.

Stung, I blurted out, “I wasn’t trying to cheat. You said to talk about work!”

She tilted her head, and her expression softened a bit. “Okay, clearly, you’re not getting what’s happening here. Let me walk you through it. You and Camden will share a thought connection. I will interrupt, trying to provoke you any way I know how. My job is to be as distracting as possible. Yours is to ignore me, filter me out, and eventually not hear me at all.”

Feeling dumb and chided, I hung my head a bit.

“Maybe it’s a good time for lunch? I’m getting a little hungry myself, Trace,” Camden ventured.

“What?” I looked around for a clock. “It can’t be time for lunch already.”

“It is, if you want it to be,” Tracy said.

“But I haven’t learned anything yet.”

She chuckled. “Sure you have. You’ve learned who Camden and I are. That’s enough for the morning. We’ll revisit this in an hour.” Her soft demeanor vanished. “Don’t keep me waiting.”

“Of course not,” I said as I stood and scrambled out of the small room, grateful for even a momentary escape.

Owen was waiting for me when I practically fell out of the room. I straightened, trying not to look like a complete buffoon.

“How’s it going?” he asked, although I was certain he already knew the answer.

“I suck. But Tracy gave me a break for lunch, so let’s go get some food.”

“Oh, come on,” he said as we walked toward the stairs. “You don’t suck. No one can do it on their first day.”

“Really?”

“Well, I don’t know. I’m not the authority on training. You’d have to ask Tracy for some hard facts. But I’m sure almost no one can do it on their first day.” I jabbed him as we finished climbing the stairs to the main floor.

“And you? Did you do it on your first day?”

He smiled devilishly. “Honey, I never kiss and tell.”

I rolled my eyes. “So no, in other words.”

He shrugged his shoulders. “Nope. Took me about a month.”

I withered at the thought of accomplishing nothing for a full month, but the flurry of activity in the kitchen quickly distracted me. People were at the fridge getting food, making sandwiches at the counter, taking chips and snacks from the pantry, and a few others were already eating at the tables.

It was still an adjustment to be around so many people without my iLs. The image of my broken lifeline flashed in my mind. How would I function if it took me a whole month to learn anything? I swallowed the rising panic, bringing myself back to the bustling kitchen.

“Jeez, how do you get what you need without getting in the way?”

“What do you mean by ‘getting in the way’?” he asked as he reached around the girl standing in front of the fridge to grab a bottle of water. “Want one?”

I nodded. In the end, I stood off to the side while Owen made us a couple of sandwiches, grabbed a few handfuls of chips, and carried our plates to the table.

“Thanks,” I said as he put my plate in front of me.

“I may not have learned to zero in on one voice on my first day, but I’ve always known how to make a mean ham sandwich.”

I smiled in spite of my mood.

Tracy and Camden came in and got their food, but they didn’t stay. I wondered if they were friends outside of torturing new people together.

Owen laughed out loud. “They’re not torturing you. Don’t let Camden hear you say that. He’d be destroyed, the old softie.”

“Camden? Really? He’s so…” I trailed off, trying to come up with a politically correct way to describe him.

“Big, black, and intimidating?” Owen filled in between bites of his own sandwich.

“A bit less eloquent than how I was going to put it, but yes.”

“Don’t let him fool you. Tracy, on the other hand, is genuinely a hard ass.”

“I picked up on that all on my own.”

“Ha! So, you
are
learning something!”

The fire in my eyes was hot enough to wilt the lettuce on his sandwich.

“Oh, come on. What did you expect on your first day?”

“I don’t know.
Some
kind of success,” I said as I picked the crust off my sandwich and jammed it into my mouth.

He lowered his voice. “I think you being here at all is a success, but that’s just me.” He looked into his water bottle as he took a drink instead of making eye contact. “Listen, the world can be a terrible place. I know you’ve seen it. But as mind readers, we have the potential to help fix it. Someone once said something about how the opportunity to change or save one life was worth a little sacrifice. But I think she was talking about her favorite boy band or something to do with music. It probably doesn’t apply here.”

I swatted at him. “Yes, well, I just hope I can live up to everyone’s expectations.”

Putting down his water, he leaned in toward me. “What exactly do you think we’re expecting?”

“I don’t know. It’s got to be amazing though, given the way you practically begged, lied, and cheated to get me here.”

“Okay, no one lied or cheated, and I think begged is a harsh word to describe any of our interactions.”

I rolled my eyes. “Typical insecure man. I was being facetious.”

“Well, I don’t know what that means because I would never behave that way.” He hid his grin behind his sandwich.

I threw a chip at him.

“Hey! Don’t waste good chips!” He picked it up off the floor and ate it. I cringed. “Five-second rule.” He rolled his eyes dramatically. “Girls and their cleanliness. Jeez.”

I laughed. “What time is it, by the way? I don’t want to keep Tracy waiting.”

“None of us do.” He glanced at his watch. “Yeah, let’s go.” He gathered the plates and put them in the dishwasher, leaving no trace that we’d been there at all. Considering how many people had been through the kitchen at lunch, it looked surprisingly clean.

Owen approved of my observation. “That’s the idea. We all pitch in and clean up after ourselves. This place would be a sty if we didn’t.”

We walked back down to the gym in silence. I was too consumed by the prospect of more failure to make small talk.

When we got there, Owen tried to encourage me. “Don’t think about it like that. You’ll get it eventually, and when you do, it’ll be awesome. Like your Everest.”

I frowned. “I already have my Everest. And I still haven’t conquered that. The last thing I need is another unreachable goal.” Despairing, I turned to face him. “Maybe this was a mistake.”

He took me by the shoulders. “This was not a mistake. Nothing with you in it is a mistake.” He paused, letting that sink in. Then he shook me a little. “Now, tuck in your bottom lip and get to work. There’s no room for self-pity here.”

I straightened up. “Yes, sir!”

He smiled at me, but I couldn’t quite bring a smile to my own face. The prospect of the long lesson before me was too daunting.

And, as it turned out, I was right to dread my next lesson. The afternoon dragged on, drenched in failure after failure. Tracy continued to berate, attack, and otherwise annoy me as I tried desperately—and unsuccessfully—to focus on Camden. Although the work wasn’t physical, I was sweating from the effort by day’s end.

I’d lost track of time when Tracy finally sat back in her chair. “I think that’s enough for today. We’ll pick back up here tomorrow.”

I frowned. “Can I try one more time?”

“Honestly, Mackenzie, I don’t think one more time is going to make a difference. You’re not going to have your epiphany moment today. You’re just not. Might as well come to terms with that right now.” She looked over at Camden. “You ready to call it a day?”

He nodded.

“No,” I said, too loudly for the small room. “One more chance. That’s all I’m asking. I refuse to end the first day of this new life in defeat.” I thought I saw a flash of sympathy pass over Tracy’s eyes, but it was so brief that I couldn’t be sure.

“Fine. You have ten minutes.”

What makes you think this time will be different?
Camden asked me.

Taking a deep breath, I concentrated on Camden’s voice and my breathing. I closed my eyes, hoping it would help me shut Tracy out that much more.
I don’t know. It probably won’t.

I thought I heard Tracy’s voice say something, but it was too quiet to make out the words. Not like a whisper, though, more like an echo. I resisted the urge to strain to hear what she was saying. I probably didn’t want to know anyway. Camden and breathing. That was all I cared about.

No, probably not. But at least you’ll know you’ve tried your best, right? You can go home feeling satisfied.

I guess. I wanted to have some kind of success today. To know I made the right choice.
When I opened my eyes, he was staring at me intently. Tracy had moved across the room and was standing right next to me.

“Jesus! You scared the hell out of me. What are you doing?” I yelled.

She leaned on the table in front of me. “I can’t believe it.”

“What?” I looked back and forth between the two of them. Camden had a huge, goofy grin on his face, but Tracy just looked perplexed.

“I’ve never heard of someone doing it on the first day,” she muttered, almost to herself.

“Me either,” Camden said. “We’ve got a regular prodigy here!” He got up, and it felt like his height and breadth filled the small room completely. Reaching for my hand, he shook it enthusiastically. “Congrats! You did it.”

“I did?”

“You did,” Tracy answered. “I was talking nonstop that whole time, and you didn’t hear a single thing.”

“She was slinging some real doozies too,” Camden said, pride saturating his voice.

“Like what?”

“That you were a total failure, that you were wasting our time, and that I wanted to go get some dinner before I died,” Tracy said, completely deadpan, like the insults meant nothing to her.

And they shouldn’t have meant anything to me. She was trying to provoke me. That was her job. But the words still stung. “I’m not a total failure,” I said quietly.

“No. You’re not,” she said. “Far from it.” And with that, she patted me on the shoulder and left the room. Camden followed, but not before flashing me another huge smile.

I sat alone in the room in disbelief. I’d done it. I’d actually controlled it.

Someone knocked on the door. “Yeah,” I said without looking to see who it was.

“I hear you’re a superstar,” Owen said, quiet caution mixed with the excitement in his voice.

“I guess.” I was still staring at the spot where Camden had been sitting, not quite able to believe it. After all that effort, it had seemed easy, almost natural.

He sat down in Camden’s spot, right in my line of sight, so I finally looked at him. “What if I can’t do it again tomorrow? I only did it the one time.”

Owen laughed. “That’s what you’re in here worrying about? That you won’t be able to do it again?” He dissolved into more laughter.

I crossed my arms over my chest and glared at him. “Why is that funny?”

He straightened up immediately, clearing his throat. “It’s not.” A smile cracked his face. “Except it is, Mac. No one’s ever achieved what you’ve done this quickly. You’re a natural! Of course you’ll be able to do it again tomorrow.”

“I just wish she hadn’t interrupted me, so I could be sure. She scared the hell out of me.”