Читать книгу Entwined - Cheryl Ntumy S. - Страница 14

Today is the one-week anniversary of the dawn of my telepathic powers. There are two very good reasons why I’ve paid attention to this fact. One, it’s Thursday, my old friend. Two, it seems my powers have deserted me.

I didn’t understand why Dad was so quiet during breakfast. It’s only now, walking side by side with Lebz on the way to school, that it hits me. All I hear apart from Lebz’s chatter are birds, traffic, the intermittent voices of passers-by and feet crunching on sand. No thoughts. It’s gone from flickering and fading to absolute silence.

I turn to Lebz. “Quick, think of a number!” That always works in popular culture.

Lebz sends me a sidelong stare.

“Are you thinking?”

She sighs and rolls her eyes. “Yes. But I already know you can read my mind.”

“I can’t!” I’m surprised by how disappointing this is. I had grown rather attached to my gift, and to have it taken away without warning is just cruel. “Maybe I’m sick.” I reach up to feel my forehead.

“Connie?” Lebz pokes me in the ribs.

“I’ve lost my telepathy,” I groan, and start looking around me in dismay.

“I don’t think you dropped it,” says Lebz wryly.

I glare at her. As we approach the school gate, I pick a random passer-by and squint at him, hoping for a glimpse into his head.

“Stop it, you’ll scare people,” hisses Lebz, swatting my arm. “Maybe there’s a disturbance on the frequency or something.”

Sigh. I prefer the Lebz who is clueless about the supernatural and admits it. A car pulls into the parking lot beside us. It’s Wiki’s dad, who waves and flashes a blinding smile before jabbering to Wiki in rapid-fire French. Wiki nods, climbs out of the car and waits for us to reach him.

“Connie’s lost her telepathy,” Lebz reports, lips twitching.

Wiki smiles. “Maybe you should call your service provider.”

“This is serious!” I can’t believe my friends are being so insensitive. “It’s completely gone! What if somebody did something to me?”

Lebz’s smile vanishes. “Somebody like who? Do you have enemies?”

I doubt it, but she doesn’t have to know that. “Maybe it’s Amantle and her friends, afraid that I’m getting too close to their secret.”

Lebz snorts. “The only thing you’ve been getting close to is Rakwena.”

“Maybe it was temporary,” suggests Wiki. “Maybe you were never meant to be a telepath.”

I regard the two of them with increasing suspicion. “You guys are happy about this, aren’t you? I can’t believe it!”

They exchange glances. “I’m sorry, but it’s not pleasant having you in our heads all the time,” says Wiki. “We’re your friends, but we like our privacy.”

Well, when he puts it like that… I didn’t see it as an invasion of privacy. If anything I felt that their thoughts were invading my space. “I’m sorry,” I say sheepishly. “I didn’t think of it that way.”

“Ja – everyone else did the thinking for you,” quips Lebz.

Wiki and I groan in unison. There’s no time to condemn her weak jokes – it’s time for class. I’ll send Rakwena a message. He’ll know what’s going on.

“It’s normal,” he assures me during break. “Now it’s going to start stabilising.”

“Stabilising?” I’m not sure I like the sound of that. “What do you mean?”

“You won’t be hearing everyone’s thoughts any more,” he explains. “It’ll be more subtle. You’ll be able to sense what someone is feeling and thinking when you’re with them, and if you focus on someone you’ll be able to get into their head.”

You know, I’m really starting to think that this boy isn’t being straight with me. He knows far too much about telepathy for a non-telepath.