The Enlightened (Mind Dimensions #3)(27)

Now I know why Eugene got all excited when I mentioned my friend is a hacker.

“It’s tempting,” Hillary says, a hint of a smile appearing on her face. “If he knew about us, going out with him would feel more honest.”

“I can’t believe this,” Mira says. “Isn’t telling them forbidden?”

“Good question,” I say, finally getting a chance to speak.

“In our society, it’s not forbidden so much as frowned upon,” Hillary says. “When you tell them, you’re responsible for making sure they don’t blab.”

“Oh, right,” Eugene says. “I hadn’t thought of that. You can prevent people from talking. This settles it, then. If you and I combine our efforts, we can be pretty secure in telling Bert everything. I can Read him from time to time to see whether he would expose us, and if he would, I’ll tell you.”

“Sounds lovely,” Mira says sardonically.

“It’s not as sinister as it sounds,” Hillary says defensively. “If things go that way, he’ll only find that he keeps forgetting to talk about this subject.”

“Bert wouldn’t talk,” I say, tired of the back and forth. “Not if we deliver this to him with proper finesse, that is. And by we, I mean me.”

“All right, we can let Bert into our little circle later,” Hillary says. “For now, just tell him you were on the phone with your mom, and I’ll make sure he doesn’t ask too many questions. We’ll have plenty of time for the whole story once we’re not in a hurry.”

She walks over to Bert and kisses him deeply. When I catch a glimpse of her tiny tongue in my friend’s mouth, I take it as my cue to avert my gaze.

“I don’t need to see that,” Mira says and touches her frozen self on the neck. With that, she’s gone.

“I’m out too,” Eugene says and grabs his other self’s wrist.

I can’t phase out because that would take Hillary out of the Quiet with me, and she’s not done with her odd, French-style Guiding technique.

“All set,” Hillary says after releasing Bert. “Hold on,” she says as I reach for my pizza-holding doppelganger. “I wanted to talk to you about something.”

“What’s up?” I ask, deciding I can stay in the Quiet for a moment longer, since no time is passing on the outside.

“It’s about this new ability your grandparents mentioned. The one they’re trying to ‘breed’ you for.” She wrinkles her tiny nose at the word. “I’ve heard about something like this before.”

“You have?”

She nods. “There have always been rumors about some of our Elders being able to Split while in the Mind Dimension, into a sort of extra level of alternate reality that’s accessible only to them.”

I’m taken aback for a moment. “Do you think those rumors are true?”

“I wouldn’t rule it out. And what’s even more interesting is that these same rumors claim it requires a Reach of incredible proportion. The kind of Reach only the most powerful Elders possess.”

“Really?”

“That’s what I heard growing up,” she says. “You’ve got to remember that my family was essentially a breeding farm to replenish the Elders’ ranks. In fact, the reason I never met my grandmother is, I think, because she is—or was—an Elder.”

“That would make her my great-grandmother,” I say.

“If she’s alive. But here’s my point. My sister’s children were supposed to join the ranks of the Elders if she had, you know, mated with the ‘right’ person.” She makes another face as she says the word ‘right.’ “My children too. Though that’s also not going to happen.”

“Okay,” I say. “So what’s the point?”

“Don’t you see? Your father had to breed with someone with great Depth, and my sister was someone with big Reach, which are, at the core, one in the same, as they both relate to how long you can stay in the Mind Dimension,” she says, looking at me expectantly.

“So what are you saying?” I ask, my heart skipping a beat.

“What if your Depth, or Reach, or whatever we’d call your thing, is already powerful enough to access a dimension beyond this one?” Her eyes gleam with excitement. “Have you considered the possibility?”

I blink a few times. Could she be right? How do I know I can’t do what my Enlightened grandparents are hoping to achieve by breeding Julia and me? How do I know I’m not on par with Hillary’s rumored Elders? After all, it’s true that my Depth, when it comes to Reading, is formidable. I can measure my Depth by recalling the furthest I’ve ever gone with it, which has to be when I Read my mom’s memories from before I was born—on the day I learned my biological parents had given me up for adoption before they were murdered. I never connected the dots before, but according to that one Reading experience, I can conclude that my Depth is truly insane.

Given that Readers split their Depth with the person they’re Reading, my Depth must at least be double my age, or a little over forty years. And who knows, it could be greater, as I’ve never tried to go further into someone’s memories yet. To put these forty years into perspective, Mira and Eugene’s Depths allows them to be in the Mind Dimension for mere minutes.