The Intuitives(56)

“Why?” Mac wanted to know.

“Get ready…”

Both girls were stacked together just inside the rear door of the north building.

“Now!” Sam yelled.

They dashed through the doorway and ran straight into Rush. He killed Sam with a headshot, but Mac ducked under it and knifed him instinctively.

Mac killed Rush, flashed onto the screen, and there was a brief moment of silence before the team burst into cheers.

“No way!” Sketch exclaimed.

Gears and Disco both shouted incoherently.

“Told you,” Sam said, spawning and running back to the north building.

“Stop!” Ammu shouted, but they couldn’t hear him over the sounds of the game and their own celebration.

“Wait! Please!” he tried again, but he still couldn’t get their attention. Christina put her right thumb and forefinger into her mouth and whistled explosively, bringing everyone in the room to a standstill.

“Samantha,” Ammu exclaimed, grinning from ear to ear, “In exploring Rush’s talent, I believe we have discovered your own!”

? ? ?

Ammu was so excited that he didn’t bother to get Sam alone, walking over to her chair instead and beginning to speak to her right there in the room. Sketch took off his headset and wandered over toward them, sitting on the floor nearby where he could hear better. Slowly, the others followed.

“Samantha,” Ammu asked, “how did you know you had time to meet up with Mackenzie before Rush took the third generator?”

“I don’t know,” Sam admitted. “I just knew.”

“But you were certain of it.” It wasn’t really a question.

“Yeah,” she acknowledged.

“And how did you know when the two of you should run out of the building? You could not see Rush on the map.”

“No, I couldn’t. I couldn’t hear him either. I just… I don’t know… I just knew when to go.”

“Samantha, I believe that you have a very particular talent for timing.”

Sam thought about this and started to get excited.

“You are smiling,” Ammu said encouragingly. “Tell me what you are thinking.”

“Well, I always know what time it is, even without a clock. And I always know when I have to leave to get somewhere on time, or how long I’ll need to study for a test. But that isn’t very impressive, is it? I mean, it isn’t like being an artist, or a musician, or having a knack for machines, or whatever.”

“Oh, no, you do not understand!” Ammu protested. “Samantha, the only reason we try to find such a pathway is to tap into our unconscious awareness. You, my amazing girl, do not seem to need such a pathway at all! Mackenzie uses her Muay Thai, for example, to access her unconscious knowledge of place. She understands positioning on an intuitive level. That is her true affinity. Our goal is to help her access that awareness in everything she does, not just in martial arts.”

“She learned the maps really fast,” Sketch interjected. “Does that mean Mackenzie can do it in the game, too?”

“Yes, Sketch! Good! She is already starting to apply her ability in other areas. And Samantha,” he announced, beaming at her proudly, “has a true affinity for timing—an affinity which she is already able to access on many levels, rather than through a single open pathway.”

Again, it wasn’t a question, and she had to nod her head.

“I believe now,” Ammu continued, “that the sense of importance you felt about taking the Intuition Assessment Battery, and about coming here, had to do with timing as well. What do you think?”

Sam mulled it over before answering, despite feeling a little self-conscious about everyone watching her.

“I felt like it was important to take the test that day, but then the feeling went away,” she said, still uncertain.

“Because you had already made the decision to go to school,” Ammu pointed out. “There was no need for your unconscious mind to prompt you any further.”

“Oh! And once I had decided to come here, that decision was already made, too!”

“Indeed!” Ammu agreed. “You do not have what you consider to be a special talent because your unconscious mind is not limited to a single pathway. You are already able to access your intuitive knowledge of timing in every aspect of your life. It helps you to be an excellent student in many subtle ways, I am sure, and it brought you here as well.”

Sam was so happy that tears started to well up in her eyes. She belonged at the ICIC after all. She looked around at the others, embarrassed, and Rush came to her rescue by changing the subject.

“Don’t think this is going to get you out of a nickname,” he said, grinning wryly.

“Gamer tags!” Sketch exclaimed. “But wait, Sam didn’t kill you. Mac did.”

“They killed me together. Mac knew where to be, and Sam knew when to be there. Honestly, Sketch, as if any of you scrubs could kill me by yourselves.”

Sketch giggled. “So what are their tags, then?”

“Grid,” he said, raising his chin toward Mackenzie, “and Tick-Tock,” nodding at Sam.

“Perfect!” Sketch crowed.

“They are indeed,” Ammu agreed. “Absolutely perfect.”