The Thought Readers (Mind Dimensions #1)(48)

“No, Darren, thank you for offering, but I’m not asking you to fight Caleb,” she says, still having a hard time keeping a straight face. I’m insulted. How does she know I’m not secretly some Kung Fu master?

“You have an amazing Reading Depth,” she continues. “You can offer to take him into the mind of some famous fighters. I suspect he would find the idea intriguing.”

Eugene looks from me to her uncomfortably. “But—”

“Eugene, please, I’m trying to help save your sister,” Julia interrupts, and Eugene falls silent, his expression smoothing out.

“Can someone actually do that? Bring another person into someone else’s mind?” I ask, wondering what Eugene had been about to say. He’d seemed worried about something for a moment.

“Yes,” she says, “absolutely. It depletes your power even faster than pulling someone in, but from what I saw, you won’t have a problem with that.”

“Why can’t Caleb do this himself?” I ask. “Why can’t he Read some fighter’s mind on his own?”

“For all his fighting prowess, Caleb isn’t very powerful when it comes to matters of the Mind Dimension,” Julia explains. “He can’t go back very far at all with his Reading, and he can’t do it very often, which is exactly why such an opportunity might appeal to him.”

I consider questioning her further to figure out what made Eugene uncomfortable, but then I decide against it. “Fine, I’ll do it,” I say instead. I can’t see any other way to help Mira at the moment, and I find the idea of doing this fighter Reading thing rather intriguing. If Caleb is doing it to get better at fighting, does it mean that by joining him, I could get better, too? Or, more accurately, will I actually learn how to fight as a result of this?

“Great, Eugene, let’s go so they can have some privacy,” Julia says, grabbing his arm and pulling him back toward their frozen bodies.

“I don’t know how to thank you for this, Darren,” Eugene says on his way to his frozen body, and I shrug in response, still unsure what the big deal is.

As soon as they phase out, I walk up to Caleb and pull him in.

“Darren,” he says with a smirk. “To what do I owe the honor of being pulled into your own personal Mind Dimension?”

“Julia said you might be able to help us, for a price,” I begin, and Caleb laughs.

“Did she now? And what did Julia think would be my price?” His grin reminds me of a hungry shark.

“She said you like fighting, in all its forms,” I say, hoping I don’t sound crazy. “She said I can take you into the mind of a couple of fighters as payment.”

“Interesting,” he says, crossing his arms. “And did she say anything else?”

“No, just that.”

“You really did just learn how to Read yesterday, didn’t you, Darren?” he says, still grinning. “What Julia ‘forgot’ to mention to you is that very few Readers would agree to offer me this kind of deal.”

“Why?” I ask, wondering if I’m about to learn the reason for Eugene’s concern.

“Because it’s considered a private, almost intimate experience to pull someone else into a Reading,” Caleb says, his grin fading. “You get glimpses of the other Reader’s mind, and vice versa.”

“Oh.” I try to keep my jaw from dropping. “What does that feel like?”

“I only did it once,” he says, completely serious now. “But that time, it was incredible.”

I stare at him for a moment, then shrug. “I don’t care,” I say. “To save Mira, I’ll do it. I’ll let you get inside the heads of a couple of people of your choice.”

Caleb looks like a happy shark again. “We have a deal then,” he says, smiling widely. “I’ll let you know whose minds I choose.”

Why do I feel like I did something reckless just now?

“Oh, don’t make the long face,” he says, apparently sensing my sudden unease. “I promise not to deplete your Depth. We both know you can go back very far, so getting to see a few fights shouldn’t be a problem at all. We won’t see how these men began their careers, only something fairly recent.”

“Okay, sure.” I decide to worry about it later.

“Good. Now pull Eugene and Julia back in.”

I do as he says.

“Here’s the plan, people,” Caleb barks, taking control of the situation. “Eugene and Darren will leave, looking exceedingly disappointed. Julia, I’ll meet you in the parking lot after I get the supplies I’m going to need. We’ll pick you gentlemen up on Emmons Avenue.”

“Who else is coming with us?” Julia asks. “Not Sam, I presume?”

“You presume correctly,” Caleb says. “It will be just me.”

“Just you?” Julia frowns.

“Oh, ye of little faith.” Caleb smirks at her. “One of me is probably overkill for this mission.”

“Yeah, yeah,” she says. “I don’t doubt your machismo, Caleb; I just want the girl to survive the rescue.”

“She will,” Caleb assures her. “You have my word on that.”

“Okay, then let’s get back to our real lives,” Julia says.