The Thought Readers (Mind Dimensions #1)(25)

I’m so flabbergasted by all the revelations that it barely registers that Mira just made a joke about tits.

“It’s a deal,” Eugene says, answering for his sister.

We pause our conversation when our food arrives. Eugene is served a three-roll special, Mira has a sushi bento box, and I have my sashimi deluxe. I’m a big fan of sushi—to me, it’s like an edible work of art.

Returning to our discussion of how long I can stay in the Quiet, I say, “I can’t give you an exact amount of time.” Grabbing a piece of fatty salmon with my chopsticks, I explain, “As I said, I eventually get bored and phase out.”

“But what’s the longest you’ve ever been inside?” Eugene asks, adding a huge wad of wasabi into his tiny soy sauce bowl.

“A couple of days,” I say. “I never really kept track of time.”

Mira and Eugene exchange strange looks.

“You don’t fall out of the Mind Dimension for a couple of days?” Mira says.

“What do you mean ‘fall out’? I get bored and touch my skin to phase out. Is that what you mean?”

They exchange those looks again.

“No, Darren, she means fall out,” Eugene says, looking at me like I’m some exotic animal. “When we reach our limit to being in that mode, what you call the Quiet, we involuntarily re-enter our bodies. For me, that happens after about fifteen minutes, which is considered pretty standard.”

“I’m slightly above average for Readers, and practically a prodigy for a half-blood,” Mira says, echoing his stare. “And my max time is a half hour. So you must see how this sounds to us. You’re saying you can stay there for two entire days—or even longer, since you’ve never been pushed out.”

“Right,” I say, looking at them. “I never realized that was anything abnormal—well, more abnormal than going into the Quiet in the first place.”

Eugene looks fascinated. “That would mean your mother had to have been extremely powerful. Almost at the Enlightened level, if you’ve never been forced out thus far.”

“But if you get forced out, can’t you just go right back in?” I say, confused.

“Are you messing with us?” Mira’s eyes narrow.

“I think he really doesn’t know,” Eugene says. “Darren, once we get pushed out, we can’t go right back in. The recuperation time is proportional to how long we can stay there, though it’s not directly related. There’s a strong inverse correlation between short recovery times and longer times in the Mind Dimension. So the elites get the best of both worlds: a short recovery time and a long time inside. How it all works in the brain is actually my area of research.”

“Eugene, please, not the neuroscience again,” Mira says with exasperation before turning her attention to me. “Darren, if you truly don’t know about recuperation time, then your power must be off the charts. Only I didn’t think a half-blood could have that much power.” The look she gives me now is unsettling. I think I prefer disdain. This look is calculating, as though she’s sizing me up.

“You have to let me study you,” Eugene tells me. “So we can figure out some answers.”

“Sure, I guess. It’s the least I can do,” I say uncertainly.

“Great. How about tomorrow?” Eugene looks excited.

“Hmm. Maybe the day after?”

He smiles. “Let me guess, you’re going to spend a whole day going around Reading people’s minds, aren’t you?”

“Good guess,” I say, smiling back.

“Okay. Thursday then,” he says. He looks ecstatic at the prospect of putting more electrodes to my head.

“So, I can’t Read another Reader’s mind?” I ask as I eat a piece of pickled ginger. This is a question that’s been bothering me for a bit.

“No. But I bet you wish you could,” Mira answers, downing the last of her sushi.

“It’s only possible to do that to someone before they learn to Split for the first time, when they’re children,” Eugene explains. “Once people have experienced the Split, they simply get pulled into your Mind Dimension with you if you try to Read them.”

“And if you and I manage to Split at the same time?” I ask. “Would we see each other in there?”

“Now you’re getting into very specific and rare stuff,” Eugene says. “It’s almost impossible to time it that perfectly. Dad and I managed it only once. Even if you did, you’ll find that, no, you see the world still, as usual, but you don’t encounter each other. The only way to have a joint experience is to pull someone in. If either of you touches the other, the other will get pulled in. Once that happens, you’ll be using up the time of the person whose Mind Dimension you’re in.”

“Using up the time?” I ask, finishing the last bit of my sashimi. This was amazing fish, I realize belatedly.

“As you bring people with you, your time is shared with them. If I pull you in, together we would stay in my Mind Dimension for about seven or eight minutes—about half of my fifteen-minute total. Similarly, how deep you go into someone’s memories is half your total time.”

The Reading Depth thing gives me an idea. If what Eugene says is right, then I think I have a better gauge of my ‘power’ based on my Reading of Eugene and Mira’s neighbor, Brad. That sci-fi flick that he and Mira watched at the theater left the big screen at least six months ago—which means that I can spend at least a year in the Quiet.