Deep Betrayal

wanted the feel of it as quickly as I could make it a reality. I stared into his eyes and walked a few more feet, until I fell forward into the water and took ten long strokes out to him. He took me in his arms.
    “Did you feel that?” he asked.
    “Of course. You’ve done that to me before, remember? But you don’t have to. I’ll always come to you.”
    “I wanted you to have a recent hypnotic experience to draw on. Now here’s what we’re going to do. What I did there, I projected my thoughts into you.”
    “Like you did with Jules.”
    He winked. “Right. In the air, the thoughts only go in one direction: out. In the water, it’s like osmosis; the thoughts go freely back and forth, from one mind to the next. But not with me and Maris and Pavati. Not anymore. But you …”
    “You think it’s really them I’m hearing?”
    “You said you’ve heard other voices before—not just mine and your dad’s. Who else would it be? We’re going to go out into the channel. I want to see if you can hear them, but I don’t want them to hear you. Receive; don’t project. Not yet. I want you to keep your thoughts completely blank.”
    “How do I do that?” I couldn’t imagine how that wouldbe possible, particularly when I was out in the middle of the lake in the arms of Calder White.
    “Picture your mom’s canvases.”
    “Which ones?”
    “The blank ones. Think big, white, and blank. Don’t try to put any pictures on them. Keep the canvas as clean as you possibly can.”
    “I think I can do that,” I said. “For a while.”
    “But at the same time, I want you to listen. You’ve got to listen without reacting. As soon as you react, it will be like slapping paint on the canvas. Don’t be afraid. Don’t get mad. Don’t get curious.”
    “That sounds harder.”
    “Very. But it’s important. Can you do that?”
    “I’ll try.”
    “ ‘Do, or do not. There is no try.’ ”
    “You’re quoting Yoda?”
    He smiled.
    “Okay. I’ll do it.”
    When we were an even distance from both the mainland and the Madeline Island shoreline, Calder looked at me with a serious look. “Exhale,” he said. “Blow it all out.”
    “I’ll need air,” I said.
    “You’re only doing it to relax. Blow everything out of you. Think blank canvas. Then fill your lungs and I’ll take you down. We’re going to go for a short time. Fifteen seconds. Obviously you won’t have any trouble with that. When I take you back up, you can tell me if you heard anything.”
    I nodded, inhaled, and then slowly let everything out.Once I’d pushed all the thoughts from my head, I inhaled deeply, and Calder took me down.
    Blank , I thought. Blank canvas . I let the canvas grow bigger, wider, pushing everything else from my vision. And then I was above the waterline again.
    “Anything?” Calder asked.
    “Nothing,” I said. “I guess you were wrong.”
    “I’m not wrong,” he said. “We’ll go to another site.”
    We swam north along the shoreline toward Basswood, and I could feel the tension building in his arms the closer we got.
    “Would they keep the same campsite?” I asked.
    “Your dad and I have already searched the most obvious places. Still no sign, but we’re habitual by nature, and you have an uncanny way of running into them.” He stopped with a nervous glance at Basswood. “Are you ready?”
    “Yes,” I said, exhaling, letting the canvas expand in my mind until I was looking into clear, bright light. My head was a vacuum and the world was silent. Calder brought me under, and a tinny ringing filled my ears. And then one word: Die .
    I must have flinched, because Calder had me into the air with such a burst of speed I choked on the water.
    “Die,” I said. “They’re dying.”
    He shook his head. “ Someone’s dying,” he said. “It’s not them.”
    “I don’t know. It sounds like they’re in pain.”
    He looked confused by that. “That’s enough,” he said. “I think we’ve got our proof. Your range isn’t very good, but if you can get close enough to hear them, they can hearyou. Next time, no blank slate. We’re going to send them a message.”
    “When’s next time?”
    “You said your friend has a boat?”
    “That’s what Jules said.”
    “Then we’re taking them on a boat tour tomorrow. And they should bring their suits.”
    The next time we came up for air, we were on the southeast shore of Madeline, right before Big Bay Point. Calder studied the shoreline, looking back