A Chosen Destiny (The Samantha Project Series #3) (20 page)

“Come on, just try.” I took his hand in mine.
 

“ . . . will be gone until next week. So it’s just me here. And I get home every day at 3:30.”

I looked at Erik. “Did you hear that?”

He nodded. I closed my eyes and held Erik’s hand even tighter. I could feel his energy flowing through me and mine flowing back to him. I opened my eyes and suddenly, I could see an open room, like a loft apartment. It had floor-to-ceiling windows. Bright city lights lit up the dark sky outside. I could feel Erik trying to break free from my grasp, but I held on, not letting him go. I continued to scan the room. In front of me was a can of ginger ale, Allie’s favorite soda. On the chair, I noticed Allie’s white winter coat and red cashmere scarf.
 

I was in Allie’s head! I could feel it. I turned to look out the window. I could see people walking on the street below. There was a flag waving in the wind. It was red with a gold lion on it. The flag seemed to be at the entrance to the building. Across the street I could see a line of horse-drawn carriages. One of them started moving along a path that led into Central Park. The scene was all I needed to find Allie.
 

“What are you guys doing?” The voice came from outside my head. I felt myself pulling out of Allie’s mind as Erik yanked his hand from mine. I looked up to see that I was back in my own room.

Colin was standing at the doorway. I didn’t have to read his mind to know what he was thinking. He’d seen Erik and me sitting on my bed holding hands, an innocent enough site, but I was sure Colin was imagining we’d done much more than that while he was gone.

I jumped off the bed. “Colin, it’s not what you think. We weren’t doing anything.”

“Yeah, whatever, Sam.” Colin turned and walked away.

“No. Wait!” I started to leave, but Erik held me back.
 

“Sam, what the hell just happened here? Were we just inside—”

“Yeah, let’s talk later. I gotta go.” I ran after Colin, who was now in his room.

I opened the door to find him sitting on his bed with headphones on. “Colin, listen. There was nothing going on.” I took his headphones off.

“Hey, I was listening to that. Emily just gave me that song. She wrote it and I told her I would—”

“What you saw just now was nothing. Erik and I were holding hands but it was only because—”

“I don’t need to know, Sam. We’re not dating. You can do what you want with him.” He put his headphones back on.

“But we weren’t doing anything! Listen. This is important. It’s about Allie.”

He pulled his headphones off again. “Allie? You talked to Allie?”

“Not exactly. I heard her thoughts in my head. She found some GlobalLife files on her mom’s computer. She knows all about me. She knows I can read minds, so she’s been trying to send me her thoughts. And I actually heard her!”

“You said she was living in New York City. How could you hear her from that far away?”

“My abilities are getting stronger. And I’ve been practicing making mind connections for two days now. Anyway, at first I could barely hear what she was thinking. I only got a few words. But then, when I touched Erik, I could hear her perfectly.”

Colin looked at me, not sure if he should believe me.

“I know it sounds crazy. And I don’t understand it, but when I was connected to Erik I could hear Allie perfectly. Every word. And that’s why Erik and I were holding hands. Nothing else went on.”

He still seemed skeptical. “And how did you figure this out?”

“When I heard Allie’s voice, Erik was talking. I grabbed his arm to get him to be quiet. That’s when I started hearing her better. Ask Erik. He’ll tell you the same thing. We had the door open, Colin. Why would we leave the door open if we—”

“So what did Allie say?”

“She said she made copies of some files from her mom’s computer. There might be something in there we could use. She copied the files to a flash drive. She wants me to come get it. I know where she lives, Colin. I could see it.”

“You could see it?”

“Yeah, it’s like when that cop stopped me on my way to the airport.”

“Sam! That damaged your brain. You haven’t even learned how to control it.”

“I know. But when I was connected to Erik, I didn’t have a headache. It was like I was using some of his energy to connect with Allie. I don’t think it was hurting my brain like last time. Maybe not at all.”

“You don’t know that for sure, Sam.”

“It doesn’t matter. It’s done now. And I know what to do.”

“Yeah, so what’s your plan?”

“You and I are going to get Allie.”

“What? Sam, we can’t just drive into the city and pick her up. We’ll get caught. And what if it’s some type of trap? Her mom’s part of GlobalLife.”

“Her mom is, but Allie’s not. You said so yourself.”

“I’m not so sure about that anymore. I mean, if Allie knows about GlobalLife and her mom, why is she asking you to come there? She knows you risk getting caught. Maybe it’s all a plot to lure you to GlobalLife. Maybe it wasn’t even Allie you heard. You know how they use their technology to fake voices.”

“No. I’m sure it was her. I could sense it. And she’s only asking me to go there because she doesn’t know where I am. She said her parents are out of town, so we need to go right away.”

“And how do you think we’re going to do that?”

“We’ll take the car tomorrow afternoon. Everyone will think you’re going to the coffee shop, like you do every day. I’ll sneak away and go with you and we’ll drive into the city. Allie’s home from school at 3:30. We’ll meet her at her apartment building. Abigail gave Erik and me the day off tomorrow. It’s perfect timing. And Jack and Dave will be in the basement working. They won’t even hear us leave.”

“No. It’s too dangerous, Sam. And I have to meet Emily at 3.”

“You can go one day without seeing her.”

“But I told her I’d be there. I can’t not show up. She’s just starting to trust me.”

“Please, Colin. I don’t want to do this alone.” I gave him a hug. “I’m not letting go until you say yes.”

He considered it. “Fine. But only so you don’t go speeding again and getting stopped by the cops.” He sighed. “I don’t know how you talk me into this stuff, Sam. Are you getting into
my
head now, too?”

I wondered if I should tell him about how I actually
had
been inside his head but decided against it. That could wait.
 

“Don’t tell anyone we’re going, Colin. They’d never let us leave.”

“This is so unlike you, Sam. Sneaking out again. Taking the car.”

“I know, but I need to see Allie and get those files. If that means breaking the rules, then so be it.”

“It’s time for dinner. You guys coming?” Brittany stood in the doorway.
 

“Yes, we’re coming,” I said. “We’ll talk later,” I whispered to Colin.

Dave was absent for dinner, but nobody commented on it. We all knew he was on a date. It was weird to imagine Dave dating. I wasn’t sure why. I didn’t have a problem with it. I just wasn’t used to seeing him so preoccupied with a woman.
 

“How did the mind exercises go today?” Jack asked Erik during dinner.
 

He glanced at me. I gave him a look, begging him to lie about the Allie incident. “Nothing happened. We’re still trying to get it to work.”

“I read poems all day,” Brittany said.
 

Jack seemed surprised. “Really? I used to enjoy poetry. What were you reading?”

“I think his name was Robert Frost. I kind of liked his poems.”

“He’s one of my favorite poets.”

Brittany smiled, pleased that she and Jack had something in common. I could tell that she admired Jack and wanted him to be proud of her. He was the closest thing she’d ever had to a father. And unlike her mother, Jack was very encouraging and supportive of Brittany. I think that’s why she wasn’t afraid to express interest in new things, like poetry. She knew she could say things around him, and all of us, without being put down. In her old life she would have been made fun of for liking poetry. Her mother would have said she was too stupid to understand it.
 

Erik got up from the table. “It’s your turn to clean up, Dad. I’m going to watch TV.” Brittany went with him.

Jack got up to clear the dishes. “Colin, how’s your assignment coming along?”

“Good. Emily is really easy to talk to. I can ask her about most anything.”

“She goes to that coffee shop every day?”

“Pretty much. Except she won’t be there Friday. She has something to do after school. But she invited me to her house Friday night.”

I didn’t like the sound of that. Being invited over on a Friday night was a date. She was totally asking him out.

Jack turned back from the sink. “Colin, you can’t go to her house. It’s too dangerous.”

“I know. I already told her I couldn’t make it. But then she asked me to come over on Saturday, so I’ll have to come up with a better excuse.”

“Maybe we can find somewhere safe where you can take her on a date. That way she won’t get suspicious when you keep refusing to go to her house.”

I looked at Jack, annoyed. A date? Why was he calling it a date? It’s an assignment. That’s it. Just to get information. What was wrong with him? Did Erik have his dad trying to break Colin and me apart now?

Later that night, Colin and I went over our plan to get Allie. We needed a way to let her know we were there. We decided we’d slip the doorman a note and ask him to hand it to her as she walked into the building.

The next morning, I went to Colin’s room to make sure he wasn’t backing out on the plan. But he was still on board, mainly because he didn’t want me going into the city alone.
 

At lunch, Erik cornered me in the kitchen, wanting to talk about what had happened the day before. We hadn’t been able to talk about it since Colin interrupted us.
 

“Why are you avoiding me, Sam? That was some serious shit that happened yesterday. I’m still freaked out by it.”

“What’s the big deal, Erik? We got inside her head. You said you were in Brittany’s head. It’s the same thing.”
 

“That was different. I was in Brittany’s mind for like a minute, if that. This lasted longer. I could see out that girl’s eyes. I could move for her. Or were you doing that? Which one of us was controlling her?”

“I’m not sure. But I think I turned her head to look out the window. Or did you do that?”

“I didn’t do it.”

“Then maybe I was controlling her and you were just observing. But I needed you, Erik. That was the only way it worked. I needed your energy.”

“Did you feel sick afterward?”

“No. And I didn’t get a headache. Did you feel okay?”

“Yeah, but we should still probably tell my dad. And Dave and Abigail.”

“Not yet. Dave and Jack are busy working. And if we tell them now, they’ll have Abigail over here testing us. I thought you wanted a day off from all that.”

“That’s true. Then we’ll tell them tonight.”

Around 1:45, the house was quiet. Erik was helping Brittany do some math problems on the computer downstairs, where Jack and Dave were working. Colin and I snuck out to the car and left. He drove and I sat in the back seat, not wanting to be seen through the front window.
 

Colin had on a baseball cap and hooded sweatshirt, along with his winter coat. I had on the same. They were the only disguises we could come up with. New York City is full of street cameras, so we hoped we wouldn’t have to get out of the car. But if we did, we needed to at least try to hide our identity.

It took almost an hour and a half to get to Manhattan. Colin had never driven in a city that big before, but you would have never known it. He maneuvered the city streets without any problems. By 3:20 we were parked in front of Allie’s apartment building.

“Are you sure this is it?” Colin asked.

“Yes. I can see the red flag with the lion. And I recognize this area. The street looks just like it did in my head.” I handed him a small envelope. “Here, go give this to the doorman.”

“What if we can’t trust him? Or what if he opens it? What did you write on the note?”

“It just says to get in the car. I described the car so she’d know which one.”

“She won’t just get in some strange car because a note tells her to, Sam. She doesn’t even know who it’s from.”

“I wrote something in it so she’d know it was from us. It’s something only she would know.”
 

“What did you write?”

“Together we can save the world.”

Colin turned back to me. “The motto for that science club we had when we were kids? You remember that?”

“Of course I remember. I still have the drawing you did for our club logo. Or I used to. It’s sitting in my bedroom back in Minnesota. I used to look at it all the time.”

He smiled. “I didn’t know that.”

“I was showing it to Allie right before all this happened. I was giving her a hard time for not joining our club back then.”

“Nobody would join our club, Sam. We were the only members.”

“I can’t believe how many hours we spent on those stupid experiments. We almost blew up your mom’s kitchen that one time.”

He laughed. “Yeah, she was so mad. My mom stopped funding our experiments after that.” He glanced at the rear view mirror. “Sam, look! Allie’s right behind us, walking on the street. What should we do?”

“I don’t know. I didn’t think she’d be walking. I thought a car would drop her off. Okay, when she comes by, I’ll open the door and say her name.”

I waited until she was right next to us, then cracked my door open. Allie was walking fast with her head down, tapping on her phone.

“Allie!” I said it loudly, but she didn’t hear me with all the street noise. “Allie!” I yelled. She kept walking, now several feet ahead of us. I closed the car door. “Colin, she didn’t hear me! Now what? I can’t run after her.”

Colin honked the car horn. A short but loud beep. Allie stopped and whipped around. She scanned the street while crowds of people raced past her. I cracked my door again and stuck my hand out the window, waving. She saw it, but turned and started walking back toward her building.