anything to her, he would have already made his move. Laura met his gaze, and saw only the purest assurance in his eyes. She could trust him.
Slowly, tentatively, she reached out to place her hand on his. Her fingertips grazed his palm, and their skin touched.
A flood of thoughts, not her own, erupted into her mind. It was commotion. Mayhem. A thousand different voices cried out disjointedly, each clamoring for her attention. It felt like her head would explode. Images completely foreign to her flashed through her mind, but none was there long enough for her to make it out. There was not enough room for all of them. The thoughts trampled through her head, until she thought she would lose herself in the uproar. Her own voice cried out to her, but was just as quickly lost in the turmoil. She was disoriented. Where was she? Who was she? The link. She saw her hand, touching another. Who’s was that? She couldn’t tell. Her sense of self-awareness was fading. Her conception of herself was fading. She didn’t know how much longer…
Abruptly, all that was gone. Her own thoughts rebounded harshly to her, and she staggered back. She looked up. Logan was standing there, smiling at her knowingly.
“What… what was that?” she managed.
“A trick.”
“Is it… normal?” She was short of breath, and felt like she had run a hundred miles.
“Normal enough for me, anyway.”
“All those voices I heard… what were they?”
“Thoughts.”
“What?”
“They were thoughts, and you could hear them.”
“Who’s thoughts?”
“Everybody’s in the school. And some people outside the school, near us.” The way he said it made it sound like he was explaining the most natural thing in the world, like spring weather.
“Wait,” Laura said, staring wide-eyed at Logan, “are you telling me that I just heard the thoughts of all the students in the school?”
“And some of the teachers, and some other people close by.”
“That’s… astounding. Is it dangerous?”
Logan shook his head. “If it was, I wouldn’t have shown it to you.”
“Was that some sort of link that was made, when our hands touched?”
Logan smiled. “You’re quick. Yes, you could say that a link was created. It’s more of a bond, really, but it’s… hard to explain.”
“And what about you? Can you hear them, too?”
Again, Logan shook his head. “No. I can’t make any of them out. All I can do is transfer them to another person.”
Laura stared. She had just heard the thoughts of people around her. And Logan was explaining it to her patiently and calmly, as if he was completely used to it. “How long have you had this? How long could you… transfer… these thoughts to other people?”
“Forever,” he said simply.
“What are you, like some kind of mutant? Like those X-Men?” The closest thing Laura could think of that would match this was Professor Charles Xavier’s mindreading abilities in the X-Men, but that was just a movie!
Unexpectedly, Logan began to laugh. “No way,” he answered. “Definitely not.”
“Then… how do you do it?”
“I don’t know. I just can.”
“Have you ever used it before, then?”
“Like how?”
“For some kind of an… advantage?”
He laughed again. “Some advantage,” he said sarcastically. “All the voices converge as one, and you can’t separate them at all.”
“Then, what’s the point? Why’d you show me?”
“Well, to tell the truth, there is one way you can separate them.”
“And what’s that?”
“If you have a strong emotional bond to somebody, and they share it with you, their thoughts… stand out. Call out is more like it, actually.”
“A strong emotional bond? Like… love?”
“Or hate. The person… calls to you. Their thoughts become more distinctive. But in that case, it works both ways.”
“What do you mean?”
“They feel the emotion more intensely if you do it.”
“You mean, if you listen to their thoughts?”
“Yes.”
“That’s… that’s a miracle,” Laura marveled.
“Not so,” Logan answered.
“What? Why not? It’s absolutely a miracle.”
“No, not really. They start to feel the emotion more intensely. So somebody who hates you starts to detest you, wanting you dead. And somebody you love becomes obsessive, following your every move. It’s quite the opposite of a miracle, really.”
“Woah. I didn’t think of it that way.”
“And if the emotion fades some time later – if you stop feeling it yourself – the bond from this still remains.”
“They continue to hate you?”
“Yes. But in the new, stronger way.”
“Wow,” Laura whispered.
“Did anyone call out to you like that, when we touched?”
Laura thought back. She knew what Logan was asking. He wanted to know if Brady’s thoughts beckoned her.
“No,” she finally admitted.
“Well, I think that answers