[Ganzfield 2] Adversary by Kate Kaynak Page B

within him lightened. Good—I hated being the cause of those feelings. The emotions between us seemed to get caught in feedback loops so often these days. Now that he no longer felt guilty, the positive cycle started. Silver light flickered playfully between us.
    Hannah cleared her throat loudly. The intensity between Trevor and me made something within her squirm. “Maddie, I need you to help with one of Zack’s scans.”
    I reluctantly pulled myself out of the sensual cocoon Trevor and I were beginning to weave. “What do you need me to do?”
    She hesitated, and then framed a thought. I need you to try to read Zack so we can see what he’s doing when he blocks minders.
    Her seriousness sobered me. This needs to be kept quiet?
    Hannah nodded.
    “Say when.”
    Trevor looked at me curiously, but didn’t ask directly.
    We went down the hall to the machine that did a combination CT and PET scan. From studying neurology as part of my minder training, I knew that the CT showed the structures of the brain, including the changes in the basal ganglion that all G-positives experienced when exposed to dodecamine. The PET scan showed activity within the specific parts because the radioactive dye followed the blood flow. More blood flowed to active regions and to newly developed cells, so the images lit up more brightly in those areas.
    Don’t do anything with him right now, Hannah told me. We’ll start with a baseline reading.
    I nodded. I shielded my mind as much as possible and stood back. I figured that blocking couldn’t hurt, and it might actually lessen any mental energy I might be leaking into the situation. It really didn’t change my experience of his thoughts—or, rather, of the silence that stood in their place. However, telepaths were louder to other telepaths. If Zack had an ability related to telepathy, he might be sensitive to the same types of energy.
    I frowned. It was as though his ability was the opposite of a projective telepath’s.
    Whoa.
    Wait a minute. The only telepaths who could block were Dr. Williamson and me, and we were the only ones who could project thoughts to others. Were the abilities related? Could Zack become a projective telepath, even if he couldn’t hear thoughts? In a way, it would be like a deaf person learning to speak verbally. And if Zack could learn to project thoughts—could he learn to charm that way?
    Silent mind-control. Yikes. No wonder Dr. Williamson was interested—and no wonder he wanted things kept quiet. With an ability like that, Zack could be the most dangerous G-positive at Ganzfield.
    Well, the second most dangerous, at least.
    When the first scan was complete, Hannah signaled me with a silent, “ Okay, now ,” and I focused on trying to read as much as I could from Zack’s mind. I pushed for information—dropping subtle thoughts into the narrow strip of consciousness I could hear from him—a trick I’d picked up from Dr. Williamson. If I did it right, he’d think the thoughts were his own.
    How did Dr. Williamson discover I was a G-positive?
    I saw the memory that this evoked—a confrontation with several football players in his high school, all much larger than Zack. One had shoved him and Zack had snapped. He had told the guy to drop dead and had punched him. The jock had fallen hard and not gotten up. Most times, such an event would’ve resulted in Zack getting his butt kicked by the guy’s friends, but he’d told them to “Just leave me alone!” They had.
    What’s my worst memory? Zack frowned and glanced at me, suspicious. His thoughts slammed shut. I pushed at his mental shield, amazed at the subtlety of it. If I hadn’t known what I was looking for, I would’ve missed it. Like a spiderweb, it was gently yielding—nearly invisible—yet stronger than it looked. Now that I’d seen it, I thought I could duplicate it.
    I smiled. This little field trip had been very educational.
    “We’re done.” Hannah gathered up the external hard drive