The Mind Reader

The problem with heroes: you can never tell what's going on in their minds.

Like my brother Felix. He always acts so tough (he isn't really, of course) but I know there has to be something else going on behind that manly act of his. If I were leading a mission that could either save or destroy the world, I'd be freaking out. If that were Felix's case, he would never tell me. This would take some serious mind-digging that only a Jupiter Adept could pull off.

I glance over at Sheba, snoring contentedly on the ground a few feet away from me. (Sheba snores? Why am I not recording this?) I must have thought that maybe I'd get a chance later, because I decide not to wake her and shift my gaze to the other Jupiter in the group. Ivan looks a lot like Sheba, with dark amethyst-purple eyes and blonde hair. They could be twins. I cross over to him and shake him awake, barely thinking about what I was doing.

Slowly, Ivan blinks awake. "What is it, Jenna?"

"Nothing," I respond, then realize how stupid that must have sounded. You don't wake someone up in the middle of the night for nothing. And why could I feel heat slowly creeping into my cheeks?

"Well, yeah, it is something," I amend. "Can you...read Felix's mind for me?"

Ivan looks surprised. I should have guessed. This isn't the kind of thing people ask him every day.

"I really shouldn't," he says. "But if something's concerning you about him, I could..."

I nodded. There were about a million reasons I was concerned for Felix. For one, whenever he jumps off of something, he always lands on his ass. I'm sure he should have broken it by now after the fifth waterfall.

For another, the ponytail. I don't care how many times he claims to have been "inspired by the Xian culture" or whatever. It's annoying when everyone thinks your older brother is your sister.

Finally Ivan agrees and we pick our way through the sleeping figures around us. I start to realize (blushing again) that not everyone looks as cute as he does when they're not awake. Garet has his mouth open and looks like he's hitting on Mia in his sleep. She rests not far from him, her white dress billowing out around her. Piers still has the manly expression on his face and manages to keep it despite the headdress he's wearing. Kraden...well, he's an old man. Enough said. Isaac is the only one who really compares, but then he's my only childhood friend that isn't my brother or a complete idiot (huge arrow to Garet). I try to shake the thoughts from my head as we approach Felix. His dark brown hair is lying around him in a tangled cloud, one hand on his sword.

"Are you sure you want me to do this?" Ivan asks.

"I'm sure," I confirm. "And I was kind of hoping that...I could see too?"

He nods compliantly. In order to share the good stuff the mind reader drags in, you have to be touching them, so I'm expecting Ivan's hand to slip into mine. What I don't expect is the electric feeling that courses through me when it happens.

At first I wonder if he used the wrong Psynergy and I just got a voltage of shine plasma. But no, the bright beams of mind reading are pulsing off of him, angling toward Felix.

Holy Mars, Ivan's hand is so warm and soft. It's all I can do not to close my eyes and lean against him. For a second it feels like the world is spinning.

Then the deluge of memories hits me. First there's a flash of images, from the last emu Felix killed to the enormous bruise he's sure is forming on his ass.

Then I see Vale, our hometown, a huge village of lush green grass and straw-roof houses. Rain is pouring down, thunder illuminating the sky, and I figure out what he's remembering. This is the avalanche that nearly destroyed the village. Felix is up to his chest in water, clinging to a sharp beam of wood. I can feel his strength ebbing away as if it were my own. Suddenly his grip loosens and he plunges underwater. Now I can hear voices, including mine, screaming his name. One of his own thoughts sneaks in, clearer than anything else in the maelstrom of noise.

That's all I can remember. What happened then? Did I sink or did I float all the way out of Vale? How did they find me?

I watch a soaking version of Felix wake up. In front of his stand the two people that forced us against our friends, made us travel with them until we thought every step would be our last. The pale man with the mane of blue hair is Saturos, and the blonde woman with red triangle-shaped markings on her face is Menardi. They used my brother, knowing that he had something to do with Isaac. But they saved him before they knew any of that...so they couldn't have been completely evil, could they?

Apparently Felix didn't think so. I picked up several thoughts from his as the image blurred. I hate you. I hate you. Don't hurt them. I'll do anything if you don't hurt them!

Then he's on the aerie of Venus Lighthouse, fleeing what looks like an explosion with Sheba at his side. They're lighting the beacon. Unleashing Alchemy's power on the world. This is what I want, right?

I begun to discover what I'd suspected all along. Felix is just as conflicted as the rest of us. Betraying Isaac and the others at the lighthouse had been the hardest part of all for him. Now that all of us were working toward the same goal, I hadn't thought it mattered anymore.

Suddenly another of my brother's thoughts cuts through that almost makes me stumble backward. If I had died back then, just drowned in the river, everything would be so much easier.

I let go of Ivan's hand. Instantly all the memories disappear, dissolving like crystal powder after it falls over your enemies. I feel like I've just been through a million battles. Tears well up in my eyes.

"I never knew he felt that way," I choke out.

"Neither did I," agrees Ivan.

Then he puts his arm around my shoulder, and the electric feeling returns. I hope he isn't reading my mind right now, because there's a lot more there, fighting for space against the concern for my brother. But I can dwell on it later.

If I had died, everything would be so much easier. I understand now. Every times Felix does something stupid, that must be what's going through his mind. I want to tell him I'm sorry. Ivan, too, for dragging him into this.

But I'm glad I did. I'm so lucky to have a mind reader at hand.