Shutdown (Glitch)

Adrien hadn’t been able to tell us how he’d done it, but the simple fact that he had managed it at all inspired Jilia to begin this new training regime. “So now let us pair up. Shaun, you’ll spar with City.”
    City kicked at the ground. “If I wanted to take a nap, I could have just skipped class and gone to my bunk.”
    Shaun was a recently acquired addition who’d come in with a group of refugees a few months ago. His glitcher power was to put people to sleep. With one touch of his mind, you were unconscious within seconds.
    But Shaun was approaching City with an equal wariness. She’d become adept at gauging her electricity just to stun a person. Even though Jilia had repeatedly told us not to attack back with our powers, since the point of the exercise was to learn to recognize and hopefully withstand the mind-worker’s power, several of City’s last sparing partners had ended up on the floor anyway.
    “Ginni will be paired with…” Jilia paused, looking momentarily confused.
    “Simin,” a dark-haired boy in the corner said, looking only mildly annoyed. “My name’s Simin. I’m the one who makes you forget.”
    “But I’m starting to remember you,” Ginni piped up. “I watch the video of you explaining it every morning and sometimes I even remember you until lunch!”
    It didn’t sound like much to me, but Simin beamed at her. I was struck by how lonely it must be to be him. Unlike most of us, his Gift was involuntary and constantly active, even in his sleep.
    Jilia went on to pair up the others. Everyone let out a grumble when Rand got paired with Amara, who could make you feel euphoric. Of all the mind-workers, hers was the only Gift that was actually pleasant to be attacked with.
    “And Zoe, you’ll be paired with Max.”
    I glared at him, but nodded curtly. It was a good idea to pair with Max, I knew that. After all, if he managed to override the anklet and tried to disappear and escape, I was the only one who could sense him with my telek to track him down before he got far. Though I didn’t think he’d be that stupid, not with the kill chip now installed at the base of his brain.
    “Remember what I’ve told you to practice. Visualize your mind like a house. First seal up the windows, then the door, then any cracks you find. Make your mind into a fortress and focus only on its walls. When you feel the tug of an intrusion, put up another wall.”
    We all nodded, but it was far easier said than done.
    “Hey,” Max said, coming up to me as all the groups paired off around the room.
    I put myself in a relaxed but alert stance. “Attack,” I said.
    “Zoe, wait, can’t we talk at least a little about—”
    “Attack!” I said through gritted teeth. “Or I’ll slam you against a wall.”
    He hung his head, and all I wanted to do was slug him. But he didn’t say anything else, he just got into a similar stance as me and closed his eyes.
    I set my jaw and tried to put up the mental walls Jilia described. I could feel the telltale intrusion of his power on my mind only seconds before he disappeared from sight. This was another reason why I paired with him—he was the best. I closed my eyes and tried to concentrate on how the intrusion felt. Over the past several months, I’d begun recognizing the signs. There was a very slight pressure right behind my forehead and very occasionally I’d feel a gentle tugging pulse on my own thoughts.
    I kept my telek raised the whole time. I always felt more secure when I had a concrete sense of my attacker in front of me. I concentrated on letting my mind expand as I tried to push out the intrusion and fortify my walls.
    But then, for a startling second, Max disappeared from my telek-sense as well. My eyes flew open and I reached out to grab hold of where his forearm should be. My hand gripped solid flesh and my telek latched on to him again.
    “What?” Max asked, becoming visible to my eyes.
    “What did you just do?”
    He looked at me steadily. “I didn’t do anything, Zoe.”
    I stared hard at him another long moment. You’d think after all this time I’d be able to recognize for sure when he was lying. I thought about sending a com to Beka to have her come question him, but she was off preparing for her mission with Henk. I shook my head. I was probably being paranoid. I’d been concentrating so hard on trying to push him out, I must have let go of control on my telek for a moment.
    I took a deep breath and closed my eyes.