"You first," Michael answered. He didn't think it would be long before someone told Cameron the truth about him. But for now, for tonight, he didn't want to deal with her pulling away from him.
Cameron wrapped her arms around her knees and laced her long, graceful fingers together. "I ran away. Our friend the sheriff found me. He made this deal with my parents. If they'd allow me to live here and participate in some tests of my psychic abilities, he'd, I think the expression he used was, take me in hand. Meaning, make sure I studied enough to get good SAT scores. Make sure I didn't run away again. Basically make sure I was a good little girl."
"And they said yes?" Michael asked.
The edges of Cameron's aura darkened to an oily gray. "Oh, yeah. They said yes. I get the feeling he may have given them some cash to sweeten the deal." She let out her breath in a long sigh. "But even if he hadn't, they probably would have jumped on it. They aren't too crazy about having a freak for a daughter."
There are a lot of sick puppies in the world, Michael thought. People who would sell their own daughter… they had to be the sickest. "How old were you when you first realized you could… do things other people couldn't?"
Her aura's yellow splotches widened, the gray rim grew darker, and jagged streaks of red appeared. Talking about this was stressing her out majorly.
"You know what?" Michael said quickly. "It doesn't matter. We're both freaks. That's really all we need to know about each other. Let's talk about something else."
"Like getting out of here," Cameron agreed, her voice low and tense.
"Wait. They're bringing Adam over," Michael cautioned. He and Cameron watched in silence as two guards escorted Adam to the cell. Michael could hardly stand to look at Adam's face. The color was drained, and his eyes… his eyes looked dead. No more life in them than a couple of marbles.
"What did they do to him?" Cameron whispered.
"It's what I did to him," Michael answered. "Remember when he touched the sheriff and started screaming? He was screaming because he saw images from the sheriffs brain. I don't know which ones exactly, but I know for sure he could have seen the sheriff kill a couple different people."
"Wait. How is that something you did?" Cameron asked.
"I told him to touch the sheriff even though I knew he'd see things that would probably give him nightmares for the rest of his life," Michael answered. "He thinks of the guy as his dad. Or at least he did."
One of the guards opened the door and Adam walked inside, his shoulders all hunched over like he was afraid someone was going to beat him up or something.
"I'm sorry," Michael said as soon as the door was locked behind Adam. "I'm sorry I had to make you play the game with Da-with Valenti. But you needed to know the truth about him. He's dangerous, Adam. This place is dangerous, for all of us."
Adam didn't answer for a moment. He didn't even blink. He just stared at Michael with his dead eyes. "Can we leave?" he finally asked.
"I think we might be able to," Michael answered. "But we'd need your help. Can you help us?"
Adam shuffled over and sat down in front of the cot. "I can help," he said.
"Okay, you remember how today we linked with Bill and found out what his mother looked like?" Michael asked.
Adam nodded.
"We're going to do that with one of the guards. But instead of a mother, we're going to be looking for kids, okay? Go over and ask the guards if you can have something from your cell. When they go to get it, you and I will link. Then when the guard comes back and opens the door, you link with him and together we'll get a picture of his kids, okay?"
"Yeah," Adam answered softly. He got up and walked over to the door.
Cameron leaned close. "You think you can trust Pinky?" she asked.
"We'll see, won't we?" he answered, trying to ignore the smell of the beach coming off her. He couldn't get distracted.
Adam tapped on the glass, and a moment later the guard opened the door. "Could I have my cards?" Adam asked. "I forgot them."
"Why not?" The guard locked the door and headed off. Michael stood up and moved behind Adam. When the guard came back, Michael noticed that he moved one hand to his cattle prod before he opened the door again. Michael had been trying not to look suspicious, but obviously it didn't work. He moved back a step, careful to keep his fingers on Adam's arm.
Adam reached for the cards. The moment his fingers touched the guard's, Michael was in. The two of them together really were powerful. Okay, kids, Michael thought. I need kids. The images blurred as they rushed past, then bam!-a little girl with dark braids and no front teeth appeared. Michael broke the connection and returned to the cot.
"Deal us a hand of crazy eights," Michael told Adam. He wanted everything to look nice and normal in the cell.
"Crazy eights?" Cameron repeated. But Michael spoke up before she could pursue.
"So, freaky girl, is there anything you can do to help us bust out of here?" Michael asked as he watched Adam lay out the cards.
"Sorry. I'm, uh, the experiments tapped me out. I did some other ones before they brought me into the lab with you guys," she answered.
"Okay, here's my plan, then," Michael began. "I can do this thing where I change people's appearances. Have you ever done that, Adam?" Adam shook his head. Cameron looked stunned. "I'm thinking that I'll make Cameron look like the guard's daughter. I'll threaten to kill you if they don't put down their weapons and let me lock them in here while we make a run for it."
"Maybe you're the one I should call Pinky," Cameron said. "The guard knows his daughter isn't in the compound."
"Yeah, his mind knows that. But what's his gut going to say when he sees his little girl in here? He's just going to want to save her, right?" Michael asked.
"I guess. Unless he's like my father," Cameron answered. "You know there will be other guards between here and the exit, don't you?"
"Yeah, but we'll still have our little girl hostage. And Adam and I have power." Michael shot a glance at Adam. It was very hard imagining him using his power to hurt anyone. It wasn't anything Michael would want him to have to do, either. The thought started the acid in his stomach churning.
"Maybe it would work better if I changed Adam's appearance," Michael said. As the hostage, Adam wouldn't have to hurt anyone. Michael would just have to hope he could handle any of the pain inflicting that came up. The way he was feeling right now, he might even enjoy it.
Michael moved down to the floor and sat across from Adam. "Move around so you can help me block the guards' view while I make the change," Michael told Cameron. She slid into place beside him.
"You ready?" Michael asked Adam. As soon as he nodded, Michael reached out and touched his face. "What I'm doing is moving the molecules around in your skin and bones to make you look like the little girl we saw. You can help me. Just focus on the molecules and squeeze them apart or push them together to make the changes."
The changes began happening so quickly that Michael could hardly register them all. Adam's hair darkened and grew longer. His cheekbones lowered. His front teeth disappeared.
Our power is more than doubled when we're linked, Michael realized as he and Adam completed the transformation in seconds, something that would have taken Michael fifteen or twenty minutes to do alone. He was definitely going to have to try some of this with Max and Isabel. If the three of them connected and used their powers… it was too mind-blowing to take in.