Part Fourteen
The idea came from, ironically, the book Kyle had been given as punishment. Once he accepted the plan, he did (to his credit) go wholeheartedly into a reading phase. Tess, on the other hand, wasn't too happy with this new development. He ignored her for two days, busy reading and then much to her disgust spent the day after searching the library for other books by the same author.
She blamed this entire debacle on Maria and so in true get even style spent this time away from Kyle with Maria, complaining and making sure Maria knew exactly how unhappy she was with this situation. That plan kind of backfired on her as all it succeeded in doing was to bring Maria and Tess closer together – a development decided by all the guys in the group as extremely bad. Who knew what the two of them together could come up with? Definitely not good.
It was lunch at school and they 8 teens sat in a secluded section of the courtyard discussing their findings. The idea was to scan lightly the minds of all the surrounding people. A sort of dreamwalk, just not as deep. Isabel was the one chosen for the task, dreamwalking being her particular expertise. It was to discover any unusual activity. Maria of course called it 'Mind Patrol.' Michael then in reply said she watched way too much Buffy. That got them both started on an argument, with escalating voices.
"Hey, I'm not the one that watches Dawson's Creek," Maria hit back at Michael.
Six shocked faces turned to Michael.
"You do not. Please say you don't," Alex pleaded. This was ridiculous he thought. Michael is supposed to be scary. Scary people don't watch Dawson's Creek.
Michael didn't answer. That in itself was an answer. Maria didn't have the same qualms,
"He likes Joey. And thinks Pacey is really cool."
"Please, Joey is supposed to be with Dawson," Liz said.
"How can you say that? Pacey is so much cooler than Dawson. Dawson is just boring.," Michael spoke without thinking. The somewhat horrified faces of his friends to statement made him blush slightly and duck his head, "I'll just shut up now."
He knew it was a bad idea to watch the show in her presence. She had been making fun of him about it since she found out. Speaking of the her, Maria was killing it laughing so hard she was practically on the floor. Max and Kyle was just as bad. Liz was looking insulted because he had called Dawson boring and Isabel looked dignified but amused with that face that said one more thing and she would burst out laughing. Tess, on the other hand was wearing her "you'll are strange species" look.
It took all of them at least 10 minutes to compose themselves. Even after that someone kept making small cracks about the show and that would start them all again. With lunch almost over, it was decided that Isabel, Tess, Max and Liz would use the last period of the day, which was free for study to try a daytime scan. They would mind patrol twice every few days, one at night and one during the day. The others would keep watch while Isabel went under. Michael had art and he left immediately, practically running to avoid Maria's laughter following him. Kyle headed for gym and wrestling practise and Maria and Alex left for English soon after.
The four remaining teens walked to the library and found a quiet corner on the second floor to practise. Max and Liz kept watch to prevent anyone seeing Isabel and Tess held Isabel's hand. The idea was to basically surf the surface of minds. She didn't require a picture because she wasn't trying to enter the mind of one particular person but it did require a lot of concentration. It took her a few minutes to reach the place.
She called the place the dreamscape. It was similar in her mind to an endless field covered in mist. A photograph was like directions to a person's mind or subconscious. This time she was just entering the dreamscape and wandering around, lightly picking up stray thoughts and images as she passed. The minds of those closest to her were also the nearest to her physical manifestation of herself in her mind as well.
She walked past Max, Liz and Tess's dreamscape representations without trying to delve deeper and moved further afield to those she could not recognise and began to walk, lightly scanning as she moved. Time moved differently in the dreamworld Isabel was walking in. A few seconds could take an hour and an hour could be a minute.
Tess watched Isabel carefully as she lay against some bookshelves her eyes closed, her eyelids flickering slightly. She glanced at her watch and saw that nearly 60 minutes had passed. It was time to wake Isabel up. You had to be careful when waking someone up from a dreamwalk but Tess had had plenty of practise over the summer during their practise sessions together. But before Tess could lean over to wake her friend up, Isabel sat up suddenly. She blinked a few times and then stood up in one fluid motion and in determined steps moved towards the steps to exit the library.
Tess stared at her in confusion. Isabel looked furious. Tess hurried after rapidly moving friend and moved along with Max and Liz, who had just noticed Isabel's new awake state, to stand in front of her. They three of them blocked her way down and waited for an explanation for her angry exposition.
Downstairs in another building, Kyle was changing in the locker room with the rest of the wrestling team. He had finished earlier than they had and was on his way out when he remembered he had forgotten his book in the gym. He grabbed his stuff and detoured to fetch it. It was by chance he overheard the conversation that began after his departure. One that would never be said in his presence for fear of retribution. They all knew how he felt about her. She was practically family. His sister. To say he was furious was an understatement. Kyle's hands curled into fists. But before he could do anything, the coach saw him and called him over. By the time he had finished discussing the new wrestling teams strategies, the guys had already left. Kyle stormed out of the locker rooms after them.
The idea came from, ironically, the book Kyle had been given as punishment. Once he accepted the plan, he did (to his credit) go wholeheartedly into a reading phase. Tess, on the other hand, wasn't too happy with this new development. He ignored her for two days, busy reading and then much to her disgust spent the day after searching the library for other books by the same author.
She blamed this entire debacle on Maria and so in true get even style spent this time away from Kyle with Maria, complaining and making sure Maria knew exactly how unhappy she was with this situation. That plan kind of backfired on her as all it succeeded in doing was to bring Maria and Tess closer together – a development decided by all the guys in the group as extremely bad. Who knew what the two of them together could come up with? Definitely not good.
It was lunch at school and they 8 teens sat in a secluded section of the courtyard discussing their findings. The idea was to scan lightly the minds of all the surrounding people. A sort of dreamwalk, just not as deep. Isabel was the one chosen for the task, dreamwalking being her particular expertise. It was to discover any unusual activity. Maria of course called it 'Mind Patrol.' Michael then in reply said she watched way too much Buffy. That got them both started on an argument, with escalating voices.
"Hey, I'm not the one that watches Dawson's Creek," Maria hit back at Michael.
Six shocked faces turned to Michael.
"You do not. Please say you don't," Alex pleaded. This was ridiculous he thought. Michael is supposed to be scary. Scary people don't watch Dawson's Creek.
Michael didn't answer. That in itself was an answer. Maria didn't have the same qualms,
"He likes Joey. And thinks Pacey is really cool."
"Please, Joey is supposed to be with Dawson," Liz said.
"How can you say that? Pacey is so much cooler than Dawson. Dawson is just boring.," Michael spoke without thinking. The somewhat horrified faces of his friends to statement made him blush slightly and duck his head, "I'll just shut up now."
He knew it was a bad idea to watch the show in her presence. She had been making fun of him about it since she found out. Speaking of the her, Maria was killing it laughing so hard she was practically on the floor. Max and Kyle was just as bad. Liz was looking insulted because he had called Dawson boring and Isabel looked dignified but amused with that face that said one more thing and she would burst out laughing. Tess, on the other hand was wearing her "you'll are strange species" look.
It took all of them at least 10 minutes to compose themselves. Even after that someone kept making small cracks about the show and that would start them all again. With lunch almost over, it was decided that Isabel, Tess, Max and Liz would use the last period of the day, which was free for study to try a daytime scan. They would mind patrol twice every few days, one at night and one during the day. The others would keep watch while Isabel went under. Michael had art and he left immediately, practically running to avoid Maria's laughter following him. Kyle headed for gym and wrestling practise and Maria and Alex left for English soon after.
The four remaining teens walked to the library and found a quiet corner on the second floor to practise. Max and Liz kept watch to prevent anyone seeing Isabel and Tess held Isabel's hand. The idea was to basically surf the surface of minds. She didn't require a picture because she wasn't trying to enter the mind of one particular person but it did require a lot of concentration. It took her a few minutes to reach the place.
She called the place the dreamscape. It was similar in her mind to an endless field covered in mist. A photograph was like directions to a person's mind or subconscious. This time she was just entering the dreamscape and wandering around, lightly picking up stray thoughts and images as she passed. The minds of those closest to her were also the nearest to her physical manifestation of herself in her mind as well.
She walked past Max, Liz and Tess's dreamscape representations without trying to delve deeper and moved further afield to those she could not recognise and began to walk, lightly scanning as she moved. Time moved differently in the dreamworld Isabel was walking in. A few seconds could take an hour and an hour could be a minute.
Tess watched Isabel carefully as she lay against some bookshelves her eyes closed, her eyelids flickering slightly. She glanced at her watch and saw that nearly 60 minutes had passed. It was time to wake Isabel up. You had to be careful when waking someone up from a dreamwalk but Tess had had plenty of practise over the summer during their practise sessions together. But before Tess could lean over to wake her friend up, Isabel sat up suddenly. She blinked a few times and then stood up in one fluid motion and in determined steps moved towards the steps to exit the library.
Tess stared at her in confusion. Isabel looked furious. Tess hurried after rapidly moving friend and moved along with Max and Liz, who had just noticed Isabel's new awake state, to stand in front of her. They three of them blocked her way down and waited for an explanation for her angry exposition.
Downstairs in another building, Kyle was changing in the locker room with the rest of the wrestling team. He had finished earlier than they had and was on his way out when he remembered he had forgotten his book in the gym. He grabbed his stuff and detoured to fetch it. It was by chance he overheard the conversation that began after his departure. One that would never be said in his presence for fear of retribution. They all knew how he felt about her. She was practically family. His sister. To say he was furious was an understatement. Kyle's hands curled into fists. But before he could do anything, the coach saw him and called him over. By the time he had finished discussing the new wrestling teams strategies, the guys had already left. Kyle stormed out of the locker rooms after them.