Chapter 38: Give A Little, Take A Lot

This was bothersome.

No, that isn't the right word.

This was more…irritating.

Like that constant muscle spasm that you know you can't stop.

Or maybe that thing in your eye that you can't get out, not unless you wanted to take out your eyeball in the process.

Yes, irritating was the right word. Irritating because the sound of our footsteps was almost maddening. I couldn't get myself to tune out the endless tip-taps of our shoes on the floor, going on and on and on...

We shouldn't even be here; we should be smuggling our way into the cargo of another ship by now, heading back to the U.S and far away from this place, these problems, these people…

I sighed to myself. There was no point in whining and wishing for things that couldn't happen with just the click of my heels. If I wanted us to get out of here alive, I had to make it happen myself. But I had to come up with a good plan. A really good plan.

Maybe we could snap out our wings really quick and make a break for it…no, that wouldn't work. They could easily catch us just by yanking us down. Plus we're all blinded and cuffed, so trying to kick our way free is out of the question as well-

"Hey! Can we stop walking? I got to go to the bathroom…" stated Gazzy.

"And I'm starving! Can I get some noms? Like, a baked potato or something?" whined Nudge.

I bit my lip to keep from grinning. I had to focus, and their comments weren't helping me. If there was only some way that I could talk to them without getting my ass kicked…wait a second. Maybe I can…

My mind finally started to become productive as I replayed my first encounter with Melody to try to get a grasp of how I was actually able to hear her thoughts, but it was quite difficult. Although we had practiced with the power during our time at our hideout and I had succeeded in entering her mind a few times, I still had no concept of what I was doing.

However, Melody was a different matter altogether.

She had claimed to be just as oblivious as I was in knowing how to master the technique, but she continually flaunted her ability during our training sessions together, in which she was my instructor. It was clear to me that she enjoyed having the upper hand at something, which was evident in her harsh teaching methods. But no matter how hard I practiced, I still couldn't manage to get the basics down.

I furrowed my brow with a sense of determination. Well I'll be damned if I don't get it this time when I really need it. I breathed in deep, forcing myself to loosen up and concentrate. Ok, remember what she told you. Visualize the direction of your target, detach yourself from your body, take a deep breath and plunge into them…better easier said than done… I tried to zero in on a point behind me in hopes of entering the minds of one of the flock.

Seriously, how does one even go about detaching themselves from their own body? With a chainsaw? No, I have to concentrate. If Melody can do it on command then so can I.

I took another breath and let it out slowly. Think of yourself as a ball of air, almost nonexistent… And slowly but surely, I felt myself become light, almost as if I were floating. Okay…I guess I'm doing it…now I just have to...plunge.

Great.

Well, here goes nothing I guess.

I imagined myself jumping high off of a platform and going into a swan dive as I was brought back down to earth. And I knew for a fact that I had succeeded in separating "myself" because I could feel the split as I left behind my walking body. However, I still couldn't see anything, so I waited patiently for some indication that I was listening to someone's thoughts as I had with Melody.

After a few seconds, I began to get antsy. The fact that I didn't hear a single murmur or still couldn't see anything concerned me greatly. Moments later, there was a slight tugging coming from behind me, like a rubber band being pulled tighter and tighter from two different directions. I tried resisting, only to be snapped back in the direction of the strong pull, where I was immediately met with whispering voices that sounded very familiar. It took me a few moments, but I finally realized that I had entered the confines of my own mind yet again, disoriented, queasy and with a headache that seemed to be keeping tempo to the beat of my racing heart. There was only a small part of my brain that was aware of my body slowly tipping forward, but my mind was still too jumbled to demand that my limbs act on it, so I waited for the inevitable feel of the hard floor slamming against my face.

It never came. I waited and waited for the pain to come, and there was some pain...just not in the direction that I was expecting. My body came to a sharp halt as I felt someone's strong arm encircle my waist and hold me steady. Bile slowly rose upwards to my throat, threatening to escape from my mouth, but I was able to hold it back.

"Aw Leo, did she trip? You should have let her fall on her face. Then she could gravel on the ground like the bitch that she is," called back Alyssa.

I heard the snickers coming from the sidelines, which confirmed my earlier thought of this whole charade being just for the amusement of the many enemies that were lined up against the wall as they watched the humiliation of us, their prey, as if we were the main attraction in a New York day parade.

"Leo, if she won't stand up to walk, just drag her. It doesn't really matter to me."

There were two small tugs from my cuffed hands, which caught me by surprise. I was expecting more along the lines of "yanking-the-arms-out-of-the-socket" type of deal mixed with maniacal laughter, not gentle helping hands.

I straightened up slowly, trying to regain my bearings. As soon as I was stable on my feet, the arm encircling me dropped and prodded my back to continue to walk. I furrowed my brow, glaring into my blindfold while contemplating on whether or not to obey the command, but decided to choose the smart decision and follow orders so as not to draw any more attention to myself...well, for now at least. I began to walk without so much as a thanks in the direction of my "savior".

Damn. Why do only a handful of them have to show signs of kindness or compassion? Can't they all just be the same so that I can hate them all? I wondered. Hopefully it was just a one time thing and it won't happen again. I don't want any feelings of remorse or sympathy to get in the way if I have to fight or kill him.

And with that, I pushed Leo's benevolent act out of my mind so that I could concentrate once more and try my luck again with mind hopping. This time, I went for launching my astral body at my desired direction instead of diving, and with this concept I found myself successful in inhabiting the mind of the Eraser behind me.

At first, I wasn't too sure that I was inside his mind at all. It was eerily quiet, and the only confirmation that told me that I had made it werethe small wisps of voices fluttering through my ears. There were too many overlapping one another to truly comprehend what they were saying, but they reminded me of the many incoherent thoughts that zipped through my mind on a daily basis, all of them clamoring to become my main thought for all of 5 seconds.

Just as I was about to return to the safe haven of my own body, the whispers abruptly disappeared, only to be replaced by a single booming voice, which must have belonged to the Eraser. I covered my ears from shock and from the immense pressure on my ear drums, willing myself not to scream in fear of being heard, but the voice was still able to penetrate my measly defense.

"I CAN'T WAIT TO RIP APART THESE FREAKS ESPECIALLY THAT ONE IN BLACK THINKS HE'S SO COOL ACTING ALL CALM AND COLLECTED WELL LET'S SEE HOW COOL HE IS WHEN I TEAR OFF THOSE WINGS OF HIS NICE AND SLOW I WANT TO SEE HIM SQUIRM AND BEG FOR MERCY BEFORE I CRUSH HIS SKULL IN-" The thought continued in a never ending stream of consciousness, ignoring any type of breathers or spaces in-between one thought to another, almost like an out of control train speeding down the tracks. I could no longer stand any more of the noise or his callous thoughts and that elastic feeling had returned, feeling taut and ready to snap at any moment, so I scurried back to my own quiet mind.

Filthy, vulgar, idiotic moron. I'll kill him before he even lays a hand on Fang... I seethed. I had to force myself to calm down and deny the urge to turn around to shoot venomous words at the Eraser. After flexing my fingers to release some of the rage, I noticed that upon leaving my body behind, it had gone on auto drive and continued walking with the same pace that I had left it. With this knowledge in hand, I counted 35 steps, giving myself ample amount of time to recuperate my exhausted mind, and continued once more with my mind hopping experiment.

Each time became more and more easier than the last and I learned valuable information with each new round; the elastic feeling was not about distance, but my own endurance to last outside of my body before I had to return and the booming voices were indeed the main thoughts that were occupying the minds of the Erasers at that moment. When occupying ones mind, you can see what they see, so I assumed that if anything was said within someone's mind, they would hear it as well.

After my latest trip, it dawned on me that it wouldn't be a good idea to go into the minds of the Flock members. I had a feeling that Nudge and Gazzy would freak out and blow my cover, Total wouldn't be able to do anything, and Fang...well, I didn't really want to hear his thoughts. But he's my best bet so I might as well suck it up and do it.

I inhaled quietly while counting to 40, but was interrupted by another small tug from my restrictive chains and the voice of someone to the right of me. "I highly suggest that you stop what you're doing now before I have to make you," said Leo quietly, so much so that I wasn't quite sure that he had said anything at all. My mind went blank for half a second.

Was he talking to me or someone else? But if he was talking to someone else, he wouldn't need to whisper... I now focused on the rest of my surroundings only to realize that the hall had become more noisy with the arrival of even more boisterous Erasers crowding around to see their prey. There were many yells for us to die and evil laughter bouncing against the walls to make me feel almost claustrophobic. But there was still not enough noise to conceal the fact that Leo had whispered something to me. Even if no one heard, they still have eyes. Why isn't anyone calling him out on it? Could he really have been talking to another Eraser nearby or am I just finally cracking under the stress? Or maybe he didn't move his lips at all...

I pondered this last thought slowly, wondering if it could really be done without the need of a skill equal to that of a ventriloquist and how I would go about pulling it off in a situation like this, where with one slip up, I could end up torn apart by the many jaws and claws of the surrounding enemies. Nonetheless, I more or less threw caution to the wind and decided to try it anyway, figuring that if he wasn't talking to me then the most that I would receive as punishment was maybe a hard tug along with a menacing snarl as a warning.

Making a small gap between my lips as if I was letting out a sigh, I uttered the safest thing that I could think of in that moment. "What?" I questioned, my voice barely carrying to my own ears much less to anyone else. I realized then that it wasn't such a difficult task to speak without moving your lips; it all had to do with the tongue's movements. While thinking this, I had almost missed Leo's reply.

"You heard me. If you didn't you would've stayed quiet," he said with that same whisper, filled with a calm and quiet demeanor in his tone. I immediately pegged him as one of the few here that actually preferred to stay in the background and watch everyone than to act violent.

Those were always the most dangerous ones.

And the most annoying to handle.

Damn, he got me there. Definitely a smart cookie. I tried once more for the innocent facade, just to hear how confident he was in his accusation. "Um...if you can't already tell, I haven't been able to do anything other than be led around on a chain and walk. There's been no chance for me to make a move...well, not yet at least. So I have no idea of what you're accusing me of." I spoke slowly as a reminder to myself to not use my lips too much to form the words that I was saying

"Oh, is that right? Well, regardless of whether or not you can fathom what I am talking about, if you do it again, I am afraid that I'll have to stop you," replied Leo, completely unfazed by my plea of innocence. We had both fallen silent, his calm threat looming between us, and although we were surrounded by a plethora of noisy, brutish Erasers who were all clamoring over each other like monkeys trying to get a good look at us, I was able to tune out everything, including the steady beats of my heart; it was only his voice that I wanted to concentrate on. But in the elongated cease of noise between the two of us, a nagging curiosity had gotten the best of me.

"Why are you so positive that I've done something wrong? I mean, there are five of us that you've taken prisoner. What makes me so different from the rest?" I asked, hoping he would answer. He didn't disappoint.

"There were plenty of signs that pointed to you."

"What kind of signs, if I may ask?" I questioned in a genuine tone of curiousness. What did I do that gave me away, and how long did he know about it?

A few seconds passed without a response from him, so I had assumed that I wouldn't get an answer from him so easily. It took about 15 steps more, while I was mulling over my methods that I had assumed had gone undetected, before I finally received what I was hoping for.

"Your body slumped a few times, but just a little bit. At first, I took no notice of this; you were probably exhausted or giving up to what you felt was the inevitable." I sensed a hint of a smile tugging at the corners of his mouth just by listening to his almost silent speech. "But then I realized that there was a pattern. True, it wasn't a systematic one because there was always a time lapse that wasn't a constant duration from the time when your body slumped to when you stood erect again, but there was a pattern nonetheless." I remained expressionless throughout his explanation, letting the information sink in. Not many people would notice that - in fact, I didn't believe anyone else in this room noticed these slip ups of mine – and for that, I had to admit that I did gain a small bit of admiration for him.

Still didn't change anything.

"And you immediately thought to accuse me because...?"

"You were the only one showing signs of being mischievous. Do you honestly expect not to hear some type of loud comment or ruckus of some sort from the others behind us if they noticed any of their captives doing something out of the ordinary? Keep in mind, they never fail to torment their play things in order to mentally wear them down enough to where the captured knows in the backs of their minds that they cannot win, but still put up a useless fight for survival. That is why I singled you out."

Observant AND has excellent deductive skills. It's no wonder Alyssa favors him to do her dirty work. And it's a good thing that I decided against going into his mind. He may not have been able to sense me right away, but I would have been caught a lot sooner.

This time I couldn't help myself; a rueful smirk escaped from underneath my lips. I always liked a challenge, and challenges of the mind were no exception. "You know it's not wise to tell your prisoners exactly how you figured them out. I may be innocent, but in the future it would be to your benefit not to reveal anything. They'll make sure not to make the same mistake twice."

"Whoops. Did I let something slip? Well, what do I know? I'm just a simple guard," replied Leo in a tone that clearly indicated that he was no simpleton, not by a long shot.

I fell once more into a contemplative silence, soaking in all of the information that I had gleaned from that last bit of our conversation. It was obvious that Leo was not stupid. He would not have said something that made him sound as if he was a gossiping worthless guard on duty. Hell, I doubted even a loose-mouthed guard would say something like that to their prisoner, something that sounded so mutinous no matter how you spun it.

Does this mean that he may be a potential ally? I began to question. But he must know that I'm not stupid either. There's no way that I can just blindly trust him just from some whispered conversation. No, it would definitely not be wise to count on him at all. Best to just stick to my original idea of possibly having to duke it out with him later on.

But what are his motives? Obviously he doesn't take this "job" seriously like the rest of these monsters do, and yet he is highly regarded as more than enough to babysit me. So why is he here? What did he do to be considered so competent above the rest? Despite my dismissal of how to deal with him when the time came, my curiosity raged inside my head. I didn't need to know his life story – I didn't care and there was absolutely no way that I would get the opportunity to ask – but I at least wanted to know something!

"Can I ask you another question?" I murmured innocently.

"You just did. But I'm afraid time has run out for anymore ideal chitchat."

The corners of my lips turned down into a small frown. Run out? I wondered, only to come to an abrupt halt, thus bringing me back to the reality at hand. I had almost forgotten that I was blindfolded and walking down a long corridor.

"You're late, Alyssa. He's not very happy," said a quiet, timid voice, one in which even I had to strain my ears in order to make out exactly what she was saying.

"I don't care. Just shut up and open the doors," came the harsh reply of Alyssa in that ferocious, demanding tone of hers that completely dwarfed the others' with her authority. It was only then, when the creak of doors that were slowly being opened filled my ears, that I realized that the two voices sounded like a duplicate of one another in voice pitch, so much so that it could have been one person speaking.

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Author's note: Oh wow, that was a really long hiatus. Longer than I expected it to be. *looks back at previous chapter* Haha, I love how I said that the next chapter would come out before New Years. Well, I guess New Years hasn't happened yet. XD At least the chapter is long (hahaha, sorry I couldn't shorten it).

Anyway, I really did need that break. If I didn't have it, I would have been bored with the story and may have actually stopped writing it all together (what a shame! T.T). But school is out and although I have a packed summer, I should be able to start pushing out some chapters again.

And to think, I'm not even half way done with this story. Enjoy!