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Joyce let out a stifled breath, turned her ge lasses from Kaitlyn’s face Kait was startled but wouldn’t show it; she returned the aquaht," Joyce said at last "Coood if you want another clairvoyant," Gabriel said once they were in the living rooood"
Joyce sat down, one triot to be kidding," she said shortly
"I want to join you," Kaitlyn said The buzzing was gone from her ears; she could speak in cool, nonchalant tones
"I’ her here if it wasn’t true?" Gabriel asked He flashed one of his brilliant, unsettling smiles
Before Joyce could reply he added, "I’ve looked into her mind She’s sincere So why don’t we just cut the bull? I’ry"
"Why would she want to join us?" Joyce demanded She looked shaken by Gabriel’s conviction
Kaitlyn went through her speech about believing Mr Z’s theories about psychics and supreood at it by now And, she was finding, it was fairly easy to sell it to people anted power themselves It was a motivation they could understand
At the end of the oration Joyce bit her lip "I don’t know What about the others? Your friends"
"What about them?" Kaitlyn said coldly
"You were involved with Rob Kessler Don’t deny it"
Kaitlyn could feel Gabriel waiting for the answer, too "We broke up," she said She wished, suddenly, that she had thought more about this part of the story "I was interested in Gabriel and that made him furious Besides," she added with happy inspiration, "he likes Anna"
She had no idea what made her say it, but it had an unexpected effect on both Joyce and Gabriel
Joyce’s eyebroent up, but sohtness went out of her mouth Gabriel hissed in a sharp breath-like someone about to say, I knew it all the time
Kaitlyn was startled She hadn’t n-and neither had Anna-or at least she didn’t think so
And she couldn’t think about it now She had to stay firmly in thetorn
"Look," Kait said "This is straight up I wouldn’t come here if I wasn’t serious-I wouldn’t put aze "Because you guys can do things to hiht? I wouldn’t risk that" In fact, it wasn’t soo Mr Z’s psychics could attack over any distance, and if they found out the truth about Kait, he’d be an obvious target Noas too late to turn back-the only way to protect her dad was to ood
"Hht us"
"Sure I went to the Fellowship and found it was a crock They can’t even help themselves, much less anyone else And-it’s not that I don’t care about Rob and the others any to lose I want to be on the winning side"
"You and Lydia," Joyce said, grimly a else I suppose we can use you as a hostage," Joyce et so to see what Kaitlyn’s reaction would be
"Right," Joyce said briefly, handing Kaitlyn the sunglasses "Nobody else is up yet Get it yourselves"
A little different from the cheerful-hoht, not bothering to shield it frorinned
The kitchen was different Dirty, for one thing; there were dishes in the sink and Coke cans spilling out of the wastebasket A cardboard box full of sloppily shut take-out containers was on the counter
Chinese food, Kaitlyn saw Joyce never let us have take-out Chinese And those boxes of Frosted Flakes and Captain Crunch in the pantry-what had happened to Joyce’s health food kick? An act?
"I told you she wasn’t exactly running things anylance at her
Oh Kaitlyn shrugged and poured herself a bowl of Captain Crunch
When they were finished eating, Joyce said, "Right, go upstairs and get yourself cleaned up You can go in Lydia’s rooeht"
Kaitlyn was surprised "Lydia’s living here?"
"I told you," Gabriel said "Under her father’s thu, Kait said, "Which room do you have now?"
"The same as before" He indicated the best roo one that had cable hookup and a balcony Then he gave her an evil glance "Want to share it with -size bed"
"I think Joyce would put her foot down about that," Kaitlyn said
She didn’t knohich roohtly on the door of the room she used to share with Anna Then she looked in
Lydia, s out of bed She saw Kaitlyn and squeaked Her eyes darted around the roo for an exit, then she took a sideways step toward the bathroom door
Kaitlyn chuckled In a way, it was a relief to see someone more scared than she was "What’s the hurry?"
she said, feeling lazy and dangerous Like Gabriel
Lydia seeled a little, like a worm on a hook, then she blurted, "He made me do it I didn’t want to leave you in Canada"
"Oh, Lydia, you’re such a liar You did it for the sa side"
Lydia’s cat-tilted green eyes opened even wider She was a pretty little thing, with a pale and delicate face and a heavy shock of black hair Or she would have been pretty if she hadn’t always looked so guilty and slinking, Kait thought
"The saht you here-?"
"I cauys," Kaitlyn said fir her duffel bag over the twin bed that wasn’t rumpled, and dropped it with a thu Instead, Lydia looked as if she thought Kait was crazy
"You came on your own " Then she stopped and shook her head "Well, you’re right about one thing,"
she said "My father is going to win He alins" She looked away, lip curling
Kaitlyn eyed her thoughtfully "Lydia, how come you’re at the Institute? You’re not psychic-are you?"
Lydia shrugged vaguely "My father wanted me here So Joyce could watch me, I think"
And you didn’t really answer the question, Kaitlyn thought Gabriel had said that if Kait had picked up the red-haired hts, either she or the red-haired htly telepathic But Kaitlyn had been able to tell how Joyce felt about her, and now she was getting strong feelings from Lydia It wasn’t that she could tell exactly what they were thinking; eneralthought Telepathy in the web didn’t count; Gabriel had hooked thes was so new
Like just now she could tell that Lydia had a lot on her ht be induced to talk
"So what’s it like around here?" Kaitlyn asked casually
Lydia’s lip curled farther, but she just shrugged again and said, "Have you met the others?"
"No Well, I mean, I’ve seen their astral forms before, on the way to Canada"
"You’ll probably like those better than their real forested She wasn’t really as interested in the dark psychics as in the routine around here-soive her an idea where Mr Z kept the crystal But any inforured it was better to be aggressive inMr Z’s new students She didn’t want them to think she was afraid of them
"You want to see them?" Lydia was afraid of them
"Yeah, coht and was rewarded with a faint, adrin "Let’s tour the zoo"
In the hallway, they nearly ran into Joyce She glanced at them and then knocked briskly at the door of what had once been the co for an answer, she threw the door open
"Everybody up! Renny, you have to get to school; Mac, we start testing in ten minutes If you want any breakfast, you’d better move it"
She moved on, to yell at another door "Bri! School! Frost! Testing!"
Kaitlyn, with a clear view of the first roo
Oh, my God, I don’t believe it
The room was now a bedrooht No, worse