“Thank you.”Rowan impulsively went up on tiptoe.She kissed his cheek, pressing her lips against his shaven skin.He froze again, and she caught a flash of another feeling from him, gone too quickly to identify.That’s twice in a row.It’s odd, he’s normally so closed off.“I mean it.Thank you.This is… it’s wonderful.”
“We’d better go,” he said.“We’ll be late.”
CHAPTERTWENTY-SIX
The classes were not at allwhat she expected.
The room was bright and sunny, thankfully aboveground.Sheer curtains made the thin winter sunlight mellow; there were comfortable blue-upholstered couches scattered around.A merry fire crackled in a stone fireplace, a reproduction of van Gogh’s “Starry Night” hung on one wall, and a watercolor of poppies in a wheat field on another.The room was full of plants—philodendrons trailing green, orchids in small terra-cotta pots, a small orange tree set in the sunlight near the window.
A woman stood before the window, her golden hair catching fire.Four other women were on the couches, one huddling next to a taller red-haired lady.Three teenage boys and one dark-haired man took some of the other seats.
“It’s Rowan, isn’t it?”Dr.Jilssen said, pumping her hand.His sticklike paw trembled with excitement, his soggy eyes behind their horn-rimmed glasses devouring her.“Come in, come in.”
Rowan’s stomach turned over and rose, choking her.She tried to free her hand from the doctor’s but couldn’t.Justin tensed next to her.
“Dr.Jilssen,” the golden-haired woman said crisply, pushing her glasses up her sharp nose.Jilssen finally let go of Rowan’s hand, leaving her pulse to thunder in her ears.Sick, I’m going to be sick.But the feeling passed away as quickly as it had arisen.“Leave the girl alone.You’re an observer.Mr.Delgado, will you be participating today?”
“Of course,” Justin said.“I’m her mentor.”
“Good enough.”She wasn’t tall, but her posture made her seem that way.Her hair was pulled back in a chignon, stray strands escaping, but even those looked planned, intentional.She wore a blue peasant shirt and a pair of jeans, but the jeans were ironed, sharp creases standing out.Her eyes blazed green in the sunlight behind the lenses of her glasses, and a pair of long silver hoops glittered in her ears.“Will you please take a seat, then, and we’ll begin.Edward, why don’t you go first?”
Rowan lowered herself onto a blue velvet couch.Justin settled right next to her.
A teenage boy with faint ghosts of acne on his face stood up.“I, ah, I’m Eddie,” he said to Rowan.“I’m borderline telepathic.I can make people go to sleep.”
Rowan blinked.“Really?”She tried not to flinch.The boy was obviously painfully shy.Do they all just say it out loud like that?
“Who wants to?”he said, glancing at the rest of the class, and Dr.Jilssen raised one dry hand.
“You might as well try it on me, boy.”He shifted his thin frame inside his lab coat, a nervous movement.“Anything for research, you know.”
The boy’s dark, moist gaze swiveled around and met the doctor’s.“Noctis,” he mumbled; his pupils swelled, darkening his eyes.
The doctor, who had been perched on a straight-backed chair, suddenly slumped.
“Good,” the woman said.
Rowan was suddenly fascinated.The teenage boy managed to catch the doctor as he almost fell off the chair.But what excited Rowan was that she couldsee, somehow, what Eddie was doing, just like when she walked into the ward she could tell who was having trouble on a particular day, nurses as well as patients.She could sense exactly where the boy hadpressedto put the doctor to sleep.
She could also see how to do it much more quickly and easily.
Justin was completely still next to her, but all the people in the class were giving him funny little sidelong looks.
“Now,” the woman said, “Edward’s telepathy is sight-line, which is fairly usual.Amanda, why don’t you see what you can do?Edward, try to retain control of the doctor’s sleep pattern.Remember, I’m right here.”
The girl, Amanda, was dressed in a red sweatshirt and a ragged pair of jeans.“I don’t want to hurt him, Ms.Kate.”She stood, reluctantly.Her hair was a shock of carrot-top red, unsuccessfully slicked down with gel.
“Then don’t.”Kate’s tone softened.“Remember, I’m here.There’s no danger.”
The girl nodded, biting her lip.“I’m Amanda,” she said softly, not meeting Rowan’s gaze.“I can make people do things, sometimes.”
“A variant of telepathy and compulsion,” Ms.Kate corrected primly.“Whenever you like, young lady.”
Amanda approached Eddie cautiously.He sidled away from her, nervous, but when she stopped about four feet away, a change came over her.“Don’t be silly.”Her tone was suddenly deep with authority.“I won’t hurt you.Why don’t you come with me?”
Rowan found herself trembling.She’s pushing at him with her mind.Look at that.It’s incredible—and I can see it.I could DO it.I never knew…
“Sloppy, Amanda,” Kate said.“Sharpen your focus.”
