Spoiler! :
“I need something that rhymes with away…May, gray, display, day…hmm a word that rhymes with away but means the same as sleep, nap, exhausted. Ugh, none of these words work!”
“Hit the hay, end of day, lay. It all depends on what exactly you are trying to say. Oops, I didn’t mean for that to rhyme. Good luck on your poem,” Kaitlyn says in her head.
“I got it!” Chelsea exclaims as she turns to look at her best friend Kaitlyn.
“What did you got?” Kaitlyn says mocking her.
“My poem, I could not think of a word that rhymed with away…” Chelsea begins.
“But then I told you what to say?” Kaitlyn says interrupting Chelsea without even opening her mouth.
“Ugh, that was you?!” Chelsea exclaims. “And you know what Kaitlyn, I hate it when you make me sound stupid by answering my questions in my head. You make it seem like I am talking to no one!”
“I’m sorry. Over the years my brain has learned to just automatically tap into your thoughts. It is kind of hard to stop.” Kaitlyn thinks.
“Whatever,” Chelsea says storming away.
“Chelsea! I’m sorry. I’ll stop,” Kaitlyn pleads as Chelsea is walking down the hallway.
“Kaitlyn, just please stop!” Chelsea screams as she turns around to yell back at Kaitlyn.
Kaitlyn knows she always hurts Chelsea’s feelings. She hates it when she does things to upset her, especially when it has to do with reading her mind. It is so frustrating. Kaitlyn promises herself she will not tap into Chelsea’s brain ever again, or if she does that she will stay silent.
♦ ♦ ♦
As Chelsea enters the lunch room she scans the crowded tables for a place to sit. She sees Kaitlyn sitting all alone in the corner, but there is no way she is going to sit there. She is sick and tired of Kaitlyn’s mind tricks. Finally, she locates a place to sit next to her brother, Logan, and all of his friends. Chelsea places her lunch tray, full of worthless food that she is never going to touch, on the table next to Logan and does not utter a word.
“I can’t believe she thinks she can just take advantage of me. She does not respect me at all!” Chelsea screams in her head.
“Do you want to talk about it?” a deep voice responds to Chelsea.
“Wow, you really think I’m going to fall for that? Just leave me alone! Get out of my thoughts!” Chelsea demands.
The voice goes quiet.
“Kaitlyn, I know you’re still there and if you don’t leave right now I am going to stand up on the table and yell to everyone in the entire cafeteria that Kaitlyn Camdenson has the ability to read minds!” Chelsea says sternly.
“Whoa, Kaitlyn Camdenson can read minds too?” the voice replies back.
“CHELSEA! WHO DID YOU TELL?!” Kaitlyn screams having tapped into the conversation at just the right time.
“Kaitlyn, has it been you this whole time?" Chelsea asks slowly.
“No! I have been leaving you alone, just as you wished. Who did you tell?” Kaitlyn asks as she stands up and storms over to her best friend.
“Umm, I don’t know, I didn’t tell anyone. I was just thinking to myself and then I got angry because I thought you were listening…but it wasn’t you?” Chelsea asks starting to feel bad for telling a stranger about her best friend’s secret.
“No, it was not me. But I swear to you Chelsea, if whoever you told spills my secret, I am never speaking to you again,” Kaitlyn says sternly.
“You know Kaitlyn,” the voice says. “If the whole school knows your secret, you’re going to want someone to talk to.”
“Who are you and why haven’t I come across you before?” Kaitlyn asks confused.
“Our duty is to keep our identity a secret, but your friend here already seems to know which means you violated the oath. I’m going to have to report you, Kaitlyn Camdenson,” the deep voice says.
“What are you talking about? I never took an oath…” Kaitlyn says trying to think back into her past.
“Oh, you must be one of the mortals...” the voice realizes.
“Yes, I am mortal…are you immortal? Who are you?” Kaitlyn asks very confused.
“Yeah, I am immortal, and I am sorry Kaitlyn, but I cannot reveal myself.” The voice says.
“Well, can you at least tell me if you are in the same room as me or what your name is?” questions Kaitlyn.
“I am in the same room as you, and to keep my identity a secret, we will say that my name is Dillon,” the voice replies.
“Oh my gosh, can you two please get out of my head?!” Chelsea says frustrated.
“Oh yeah, sorry Chels. Dillon, pick our new host.” Kaitlyn demands.
“We can’t let anyone else know about this. Since Chelsea already knows, I guess she is our only option.” Dillon explains.
“Well, then how about you come over to my thoughts?” Kaitlyn suggests.
“Wow, you really are a mortal. It doesn’t work like that Kaitlyn. We both have shields; we cannot communicate unless we have a host.” Dillon said.
“We can talk to each other in person,” Kaitlyn suggests.
“We can, but then my identity is revealed,” Dillon says contemplating her suggestion.
“But, you already know who I am and what is the big deal about our identity?” Kaitlyn asks.
“Okay, you obviously need someone to explain the rules to you so I will leave you a note in your locker as to where and when we will meet,” Dillon explains.
♦ ♦ ♦
Chelsea suddenly can not stay away from Kaitlyn. She wants to hear all about ‘Dillon’ and when they are going to meet. Kaitlyn is happy that her best friend has forgiven her, but she knows her intentions are wrong.
“Did he leave you a note yet?” Chelsea whispers.
“Nope,” Kaitlyn says.
“Will you tell me when he does?” Chelsea presses.
“Nope,” Kaitlyn replies.
“Are you listening to someone right now?” Chelsea asks trying to figure out why her best friend is so detached from their conversation.
“I’m always listening to someone,” Kaitlyn says frustrated with Chelsea.
“Wait, like always?” Chelsea asks suddenly more curious about Kaitlyn and her strange ability. “You mean like you are never able to just be by yourself?”
“I can, but it hurts my head because all I hear is screeching,” Kaitlyn says annoyed.
♦ ♦ ♦
Once Kaitlyn arrived at her locker after sixth hour, she found a piece of paper folded into a very small square. It is from ‘Dillon’.
Kaitlyn,
I am sorry, but I need to keep my identity a secret so we cannot meet in person. I will explain as many of the rules and questions you might have in this note. First of all, we need to keep our identity a secret because if a lot of people know who we are and what we are capable of then we will be heavily recruited to help the CIA or FBI. Helping investigation groups is against our code.
What is our code? Our code is to be helpful to others when they face difficulties or to be there for someone when they fall on hard times. (You have obviously figured this out over the years.) Our leader Victor takes great pride in this. He believes if we don’t use what we know to help others then we are simply wasting our abilities.
What are our abilities? We are able to hear the thoughts of one other person at a time and communicate with them as if they are hearing their own thoughts. Having this ability allows us to put our code into effect. Another ability we have is to talk to each other. Although, as you learned today, we need to have a host to talk through. This does not happen often because we need to keep our identity a secret (as I said before). Sometimes there is a rare case where we are able to communicate to each other through a common host who knows a little about our secret (Chelsea). When this happens, we need to be careful about what we say so that our host does not learn too much about us.
To assist us with keeping our abilities a secret, Victor has created a code word for us. If you are within a host and you sense there is a third person present, we say the letter “V” with an echo on it. Being that you are fifteen years old and have been a Minder for four years, I would assume you are able to communicate with an echo. If you are unsure what I am talking about, try it. First you say the word and then follow the word with an internal voice inflection. This will not alarm your host. More times than not, they will not even pick up on it. Okay, now that I have officially freaked you out, you are probably wondering what we are. We are not superheroes, we are not villains, and we are not gods, no we are known as Minders. To put this in perspective, we are supernatural. (Much like the characters in those crazy Twilight books that most teenagers your age have read).
How many Minders are there? I have personally met around five hundred Minders in my lifetime, but Victor says there are roughly six thousand of us. How have I been able to meet five hundred Minders? The answer is immortality. Victor usually finds us when we are around seventeen years of age. (And if Victor does not find you then one of us other Minders will).
After you are found, you are given the option to keep your abilities and become immortal or lose your abilities and all memories of having them and remain mortal. As you probably can guess this is where I have to ask you whether you want to remain mortal or be given the freeze of immortality. Of course you do not have to decide at this very moment. You have until your seventeenth birthday. On this day, Victor will come to find you and you can tell him your decision. You will also tell him what age you want to be frozen at. So it is a good thing I found you now, you have plenty of time to decide what you want for your seventeenth birthday. I hope this clears up a few of your questions and I hope to actually meet you in two years at our annual conference. But ultimately, the choice is up to you.
Happy Minding,
-“Dillon”
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