Your Thoughts Are Not Safe

**That's fine with me, CJ. lol **

Luke

I walked down the streets of New Orleans, hands in my pockets as I looked around, trying to ignore the thoughts racing into my mind.

And then I got that deal to make today...

I wish I could see an opera! It'd be so cool!...

And many others. I eased through a throng of people, only to be hammered again.

Damn, that kid is rude!

Ever thought of saying "excuse me?"

Yeah, keep going, kid. Keep going!

I sighed as I stopped, standing under a white oak. I rubbed my temples, trying to shut everything out, trying to focus on myself. Think, Luke, think. Calm down. Breathe. Focus.

Then my cell phone vibrated in my pocket. I lazily withdrew it, finding a text message from a private number. Who could this be? I opened the phone and found the message.

MIND READERS. FIND DR. BLAINE IN SEATTLE, WASHINGTON.

Mind readers? Dr. Blaine? Seattle?

"What the hell is going on?"

Caleb-

Caleb walked up the apartment steps until he got to 3C. He knocked three times on the door. He didn't know how, but her was sure that what he heard was a thought, not a statement.

The door opened and Sam looked at him in shock and suprise, "Oh my God, is this a joke?"

Caleb smiled and wrapped his arms around Sam, "Man, four years. Look at you."

"Look at me? Look at you! What are you doing here?"

"It's a long story. I have to find someone, then hopefully I will be able to explain." Sam nodded and motioned for Caleb to come inside.

"Do you need a place to stay?"

"I hate to ask, but I do. I brought money, and I shouldn't be here too long."

"Dude, we're family. Come on, I don't want your money." Sam walked to the refridgerator and pulled out a sprite, and tossed Caleb one. The apartment was small and seemed to all blend in to one room.

It was evident that there was someone else living here, or staying here frequently. The sink was filled with dishes, the floor littered with clothes, the tv was going.

"How have you been, Sammy?"

"Same old, high school drop out, family discgrace, all that jazz."

"Who's staying with you?"

"Oh, my girlfriend, Kelly, lives here too. Have you seen my parents lately?"

"Occasionally, they miss you." Caleb took a sip of sprite then set it on the only patch of counter he could find. He had been trying to convince Sam to come back home for a while, but he was determined.

"I hate to change the subject, but do you know of a Dr. Blain?" Caleb asked, already knowing Sam's answer.

Isabella Milan

I sat cross legged in the darkest corner of the library. The book in my lap sounded like a load of shit, but I trudged on nonetheless.

Just as I was about to give up, I flipped the page, finding a small note shoved inside the book. On the note, written in a hurried scrawl, was:

I know what you are.
Mind readers do exist.
Seattle, Washington.
Dr. Blaine

I creased my forehead, shoving the note into my pocket quickly.

Where is that girl? I heard my friends voice, knowing full well he hadn't said anything.

"Hey, we can go now," I said, tapping Ryan on the shoulder after putting the book away.

"Thank God," he said, obviously back in one of his moods.


He drove me home in silence, leaving me at the sidewalk. That was fine though - I was sick of him being a mopey ass all the time.

"Mum, I'm home!" I called, walking through the house slowly. There was no reply, but I saw the note on the fridge.

Went on a trip.
Be back.
Here's money

Attached to the note was about $500 dollars - enough for me to last a while if necessary. I assumed my mom would be gone for at least 2 weeks, as per usual.

Perfect timing for a trip to Seattle.

Christa-

I shut my new laptop, hard. I saw him wince.

She could at least treat it with more respect. That thing cost me a fourtune.

It was my turn to wince. I'd been sixteen for only a few hours and I was already hating it. For some reason, I'd been able to hear what everyone was thinking. Withing the first six minutes, I was hating this newfound ability. I'd turned sixteen on a plane to Seattle, where my dad lives. People can get really paranoid on planes.

When I'd gotten to the airport, it'd been worse. Hundreds of people. Thousends of thoughts. All running through my head. People say that dealing with other people's problems is eaiser than dealing with your own. NOT true, at least not for me. Their pain had become my own in seconds. Not good.

So now I was in my dad's car, heading to his house or whatever. It turns out he's more nervous than I am to see me after oh, nine years. So he bought me one of the best laptop computers on the market for my birthday.

For the half an hour I'd been in his car, I'd been staring at an email.

I know what you are,
Mind readers do exist.
Seattle, Washington
Dr. Blaine

I shook my head and leaned against the window, watching suddenly unimportant things flash by.

What can I say to her? I haven't said a word to her in eight years

"Nine." I muttered under my breath. I saw his head jerk to look at me.

"What was that, Christa?"

"Nothing, Dad." The word had a bad taste in my mouth. "You can call me Chris." I told him.

"Okay." He looked at the road and concentrated at the incredibly easy task of driving. I opened the computer again and clicked open the internet. It was time to research a certain doctor.

~Jean~

Jean groaned as her alarm went off. She reached on the bedside table and slammed on the snooze button, sighing. Sleepily she opened the eye that wasn't shoved down into the pillow. 12:00. She smiled lazily. One more minute until I'm seventeen! she thought excitedly.

As if on cue, Jean's mom burst into the room, singing happy birthday loudly and off-key.

Jean took her pillow out from under her head and playfully threw it at her mom.

"Mornin', gloria!" Annie Noel chirped, catching the pillow and climbing on top of her daughter. She nuzzled her nose into Jeans' neck.

"Mama, stop!" Jean squealed. "That tickles!"

"One more minute until your birthday! Oh! 12:01! Happy Birthday, Jeanie!"

Jean laughed. "Mama, I can't breathe."

"Oh, sorry, sweetie." Jean's mom pulled herself off the bed, heading for the door. "Hurry and get dressed so you can open your presents!" she said excitedly. I can't wait! She's going to love the book I got her.

"What book did you get me?"

Jean's mom turned around and smiled. "What book, hun? Who said I got you a book?" Did she see the copy of The Earthly Knight I got her?

"The Earthly Knight?! I've been waiting for that book forever!" Jean squealed, jumping out of bed to hug her mom.

"Wait Jean, I didn't say anything."

*That's all I can put in for now. I have to go. Later! *

Xenia Abaryth, September 17th, Las Vegas.

The hall was brightly lit and decorated in shades of blue and silver with chrome covering half the surfaces and reflecting the harsh white glow to every segment of the room. Xenia loved it! But then of course, she had been at the epicentre of all the plans and this wasn't her first opportunity of viewing the layout.

As she entered, all the lights dimmed except a single white spotlight that picked her out and followed her decent of the chrome covered stairs. Xenia smiled and waved at the people already gathered there. The various teenagers smiled and waved back. They weren't highly fond on Xenia but she knew how to throw a good party.

Show off, Xenia heard and right on top of that, Who does she think she is? She faltered, her smile slipping a little as she stared about the room. But then, she'd known how artificial her 'friends' were... but it heard to hear it.

The stairs finally came to an end and Xenia found herself in front of a microphone, also as planned. One of the staff hurriedly placed a tiara on her head. The bubble of thoughts was expanding until Xenia couldn't tell what came from who and she started to feel dizzy and her head ached real bad.

"I..." Xenia murmured into the microphone. "I... I hope you all have a good time." She cracked a weak smile and moved further into the room amidst murmurs and thoughts along the lines of 'What? That's it?'

And then she bumped into Carly and immediately cared nothing for the thoughts of the others but merely lingered on that one strong, surprising thought of 'Is Xen okay?'

"Uh... sorry," Xenia murmured, flushing a little and angry that she was so out of control at the worst possible time.

"What's going on, Xenia?" Carly asked. "You seem a little out of it."

"Yeah, guess I am," Xenia said. "None of them really care do they?" Xen looked wistfully. The poor thing's only just realising that now? Carly thought.

"They only care about themselves," Carly confirmed. "And what makes you think I'm any different?"

Kelly:

After logging on to Yahoo, Kelly ran a fast search for the message she had recieved earlier that morning.

Findind it she read it aloud:

"ello people, You may think this is stupid but please let me assure you, this is completely true. Have there ever been any incidents in you life when you could hear someone say something, but there lips didn't move? Well if so you may be one of the few who have what I would diagnose as Hummania Hearititus. You can read peoples minds. If you are one of the very few people, there are only 12 foreseen, please try and contact Dr. Blaine. If you can't reach him, come to Seattle, Washington. He wil meet you there."

Kelly sat back as she finished the letter.

What was she going to do? Was she some kind of..Freak? Did her mom know about this?

"Kelly! Breakfast!" Her mom hollered.

"I'm coming!" Time to get some answers. she thought, heading down the stairs.

Colt:

Might as well get something to eat, you only turn 18 once. He sighed to himself stopping in a local coffee shop.

I so get to serve that hunk. One of the waitresses smile. I wonder how old he is! He frowned and sat down as far away from the waitress as he could. An older waitress walked over and smiled.

"Can I get anything for you to drink, hun?" She smiled. He looks like he could use some coffee. He smiled up at her, finnally someone that didn't think about what he looked like. That really got annoying. Most any guy would love to know what girls were thinking. He hated it!

"Some coffee, I don't know what I'll eat yet." He smiled.

"Alright, you take your time, I'll be back with the coffee." Bet he'll drink it black. Most fellows like him do. I don't know how they do it. It just... He concentrated on the menu in front of him drowning out all hte other voices.

Xenia Abaryth, September 17th, Las Vegas.

A few hours after her birthday party, Xenia sat in her room, massaging her head with one hand as the other typed on the keyboard. She tapped the enter key and waited for her search results. Got to be something somewhere...

The page finished loading and Xenia looked at the top, almost groaning aloud as she read Results 1 - 10 of about 42,400,000 for Mind readers. (0.29 seconds). She clicked the first link and scrolled through it, finding herself on some stupid children's game. One down... a lot to go. She clicked the next link and the next and filtered through until she reached a link for Yahoo answers. She clicked it.

"Are there such things as mind readers?" Xenia read aloud and there, the one and only answer was: 'Indeed. Seattle, Washington.'

Xenia smiled and wrote Seattle carefully and neatly on a piece of paper. Then she booked herself a flight for the next day, a little annoyed at having to pay so much extra to get first class but also excited for the adventure to begin.

"Man, this could be a real fun power to have," Xenia decided, moving to her window where she could look out over the various shoppers and tourist wandering the streets of Las Vegas. Wonder where I might find a hot chick, one guy was thinking.

"Right up here," Xen whispered. "And I'm more than you can handle."

Kelly:

OMG! Why am I here? she asked herself, as she sat quietly across from her mom, who was smoking a cigarette, and her dad, who was overweight and grumpy as usual.

He dad loked at her as if he wanted to beat the crap at her all the time, and her mom was like, I don't care. With out knowing it, she layed her hand on her thigh where the scar was. When she was 13, her dad had tried to killher but only succeeded in splitting open her thigh.

That girl is going to be of no use. she heard her father think, shaking his head.

"I will too be of some use!" Seh screamed, jumpng up from the chair.

Her dad looked shocked. "Nobody said anything." He grumbled, wiping up his spilled coffee.

She shook her head. "But you just...I thought I heard...you said.." she stopped.

"Will you just shut the hell up Kelly? Eat your breakfast and get your ass to school! I'm sick and tired of this bullshit." Seh got up and walked out, slamming the door to her room.

"Thats ok Ma! I won't be coming back!" She screamed at her moms door.

The door opened. "Where you gonna go? Hawaii?Pffft." Her mom hollered.

"I'll go to Seattle! Maybe somebody there will love me unlike my no good parents!" She grabbed her bag and headed up to her room for her phone and laptop. Stuffing it in her bag she grabbed a few change of clothes out of teh drawer stuffing them in an extra bag.

To hell with this place. I want answers! she thought as she headed back down the stairs.

"KELLY!" Her dad bellowed.

She ignored him and kept walking till she reached her worn out toyota.

Fuck this place. she thought cracking up her car.

Luke

I had to get answers. I had to see Dr. Blaine. I had to see if I wasn't alone, if there were more like me.

I bought a ticket for Seattle, Washington. I had no one to turn to; I lived alone. My parents had kicked me out, thinking I was a demonkin or merely insane, a possibility they refused to live with. They didn't even acknowledge me as their son, but as just a stranger they would avoid.

To Seattle, it is. I settled in the chairs at the loading deck, and waited, ignoring the thoughts that attacked me.



**I can't post much; I'm too busy right now. Please, try not to leave me behind!**

~Jean~

"What do you mean, you didn't say anything? I just heard you."

Jean's mom shook her head, a thoughtful look planted on her face. Is Jean okay? Maybe we should just eat some breakfast and go to the mall, see if she gets better there.

"But mom, there's nothing wrong with me. I'm perfectly fine."

Jean could see the frustration clear on her mom's face. "Just get dressed, please. We'll go to the mall after breakfast, okay?"

Jean nodded, keeping her mouth shut. Her mom left her room, closing the door behind her.

Jean took some cute clothes out of her dresser and set them on her bed. As she was chaning out of her pajamas, a thought struck her. If I could hear my mom talk and she wasn't saying anything, does that mean...?

She strode over to her desk and moved her computers mouse, taking it out of sleep mode. Once the desktop was visible, she noticed in the corner that her hotmail account told her that she had one new e-mail. She moved her cursor over to it and opened it, and was taken aback by what she saw.

Dear Jean,

Mind Readers do exist. You are not alone.

~Dr. Blaine, Seattle, WA

"Mom!" Jean cried as she rushed over to her bed. She hurriedly put on her clothes and taking her suitcase out of hibernation, all the while saying, "I'm taking a plane to Seattle!"

~At the Airport~

Jean stood with her mom out by the gate. "Are you sure this will help you?" her mom asked, concerned.

Jean nodded. "I told you it would. Dr. Blaine can answer all of my questions. I'll be back home as soon as I can, and I'll call you as soon as I get to Seattle."

Jean's mom nodded, tears in her eyes. "Okay. Make sure yo give me your hotel phone's number. I'll be waiting for you here when you get back."

Jean hugged her mom, whispereing 'I love you' as she walked down the gate to the plane, looking in front of her after her mom escaped her view.

Luke

I saw her enter the room. She had an uncertain, confused air about her, as if she was afraid and bewildered beyond her understanding. But...no thoughts came from her. I could not tell what she was thinking. At all.

I stood up and feigned a stretch, striding away from my chair long enough to brush past her. Still no thoughts.

What the hell is going on? Who is she?

Ironic that we were both heading for Seattle, Washington. I shrugged and returned to my seat, waiting for the call to board the plane.

~Jean~

Jean noticed that there weren't that many people in the waiting area. She walked over to a chair that sat behind a man who had gotten up and stretched. They brushed past each other, and she got a wier sensation. There were so few people in the room that she could match up voices with thoughts, but she couldn't match up his.

I...I don't think I can hear him, she thought as she sat down.

*Yes, short, I know.*

Xenia Abaryth, September 18th, Plane.

It was cosy up at first class with more space for moving and no crying babies or squabbling couples but in another sense, it was also ridiculously crowded. Most of the seats were occupied by business men or minor celebrities (the plane was flying from Las Vegas afterall) and their heads were just so full of thoughts that Xen was beginning to feel claustrophobic.

Can't forget my lines, not now, this could be my big break,[i] the rather cute actor a little further down the plane was thinking and right on top of that: [i]If we put three thousand over there and the other four thousand with the oil company but then what to do about the laptop stocks?

On and on they went, giving Xenia a headache. She sank back in her padded chair and when the attendant asked if she could help with anything, Xenia demanded a pair of ear muffs. The attendant blinked in surprise, the expression suiting her doll-like face and blonde hair.

"But it's so quiet here," she murmured. Or did she think that? Xenia wondered. It's not fair. On TV shows the heroes always get good at controlling their power. Why can't I distinguish between thoughts and speech yet?

"Please," she entreated the attendant who nodded and walked back down the aisle. She returned not much later and Xenia greedily grabbed at the ear muffs, pulling them down over her head. Strange child, the attendant thought as she walked away. Xenia groaned and looked out the window, trying to push the thoughts away.