Waters of Lethe, Book 2

50. Mind Games

My heart rate skyrocketed when Scott walked towards a now quiet Jai with a black gloc in his hand. I felt lightheaded and nauseous, something I hadn't felt in a long time.

I couldn't find the words to speak. Couldn't find the words to ask —no, beg— Scott to not kill Jai.

Jai watched Scott with hard eyes as he stood at Jai's feet. Jai was hardheaded, not stupid. I knew this.

The two men had a kind of stare down, and I realized they were both hardheaded. The only difference was that one's hardheadedness would get him killed.

Scott's face softened, making me more uneasy. Then he raised the gun to Jai's head.

Finally, finally, I found the words to speak. "Kill him and you might as well kill me."

My voice was strong, surprising to both Scott and I because of the fact that I'd just been given something to make me somewhat calmer, and I was beginning to feel it. Scott raised his eyebrows and pursed his lips, then nodded. He lowered the gun, looked at Jai one more time and smiled at him, then walked the ten feet back to me. He sat in the chair at my thighs, his silence threatening. Then, reaching over my upper body, held the gun up so the end of the barrel rested on my temple.

My mind went blank. Completely, totally, blank. So, this was what it was like to have a gun pressed to your head?

My brain was trying to start functioning again when I heard Jai swallow hard. I wanted to look over at him, but my eyes were fixed on Scott's unreadable expression.

Jai exhaled. It seemed as if his brain had shut down on him, too.

The thought of the last thing I'd ever see before I died never crossed my mind. I never thought of death, never thought that it was something that could happen this early in my life. I never in a million years imagined Scott would be the last person I ever saw alive when Jai was sitting ten feet away from me. Yet here I was, staring down the business end of the pistol Scott pressed against my temple, making me unable to look away.

But he wanted to use me. He needed me. 

He needed me.

"Go on," I whispered.

"I beg your pardon?" he asked, shocked.

To my right, I heard Jai whisper. His voice was small, like a frightened child's. "Don't..."

"Do you need me or not? If you didn't, I wouldn't be here right now. You obviously need both of us, so why are you threatening to kill us?"

Again, Scott pursed his lips. Only this time, I'd tripped him up. "You're right. No need for this." He turned and walked to the counter, then gingerly set the gun down. He turned around to us and leaned back against the counter and crossed his arms, then looked us over.

"Do either of you know why it's called Waters of Lethe?" Scott asked in an amused tone, like a professor teaching a subject that he was in love with.

I looked at Jai, whose face was still pale from the whole gun thing. I didn't even know if he was paying attention.

Scott snapped his fingers. "Are you two just blessed in the physicality department, or is there also something up here?" he asked, tapping his head.

I searched my brain, which was only half functioning again. I had no clue what a Waters of Lethe was. I tried analyzing the words separately. Waters? Lethe... Maybe it meant lethal? It was a good guess, but I knew I was wrong. 

Jai cleared his throat, but it still came out a tad bit hostile. "It's a river of Hades. Souls who drank from it forgot everything from their past lives. Right?"

I looked back at Jai and narrowed my eyes at him. What?

He saw me and did his best to shrug his shoulders. "I liked Greek mythology a little too much in middle school."

Scott clapped his hands, earning a pissed look from both Jai and I. "Congrats. You were a nerd. Can you tell me where the word Lethe comes from?"

Jai looked annoyed and shook his head. "No. But here's an idea: Why don't you quit wasting everyone's time and just tell us?"

Scott ignored him. "Lethe was the spirit of forgetfulness. Of oblivion."

It clicked, the program they used to rearrange our brains and Scott's Greek mythology story. I understood that the program was like the river: it made us forget about our past lives. But all I could say was, "Cool."

Scott looked hurt, as if, instead, he expected us to ooh and ahh at how clever he was. Assuming it was he who came up with the program in the first place.

"Cool?" Scott asked incredulously. "I can separate your memories, erase your memories, replace your memories with other memories. I can make you hate or love someone, I can make you absolutely want to kill someone. Or a whole group of people. I can put traits in you, I can take traits away. It's like the Sims, and I'm the player. I'm God."

"You know what?" I began, trying to bring my hand up so I could pinch the bridge of my nose but forgetting I was tied down. "Please, just kill me. Or do whatever you're going to do. You're giving me a headache." 

Scott grinned, like my words didn't phase him a bit. The calming medicine he gave me was bumping my conscious down a few levels, making me a little more carefree with my words than I probably should have been.

"El," Jai started, "I swear, if you don't... Why won't you just shut up?"

I didn't like the way Jai was talking to me, as if it were the first time we'd met and he was a jackass again. Like he didn't care to be around me and just wanted, at most, to tolerate me.

Stop, I told myself. It's Jai. He cares about you. And this medicine... 

Scott looked absolutely pleased, though, like he was about to burst out in a fit of giggles. "No, no! Keep going! I like this banter you two have going on. In fact, why don't we keep it going?" Scott asked, pulling up a chair to sit beside Jai. Scott pulled the overhead computer down so it was eye level with him, and he began to tap away on the screen.

"Keep it going?" I asked, turning my head to the side to watch them both. I did my best to keep my anger at bay as I inconspicuously tugged against the restraints.

Scott continued to type on the computer, then stopped and called out one of his assistants. Scott only pointed the assistant to something that I couldn't see, then went back to typing. "Yeah," he said in a chipper voice. "I think it'd be funny to watch you two go back and forth like a bunch of two-year-olds like you did when you first met about eight months ago. Except this time, I don't think you'll grow to love one another like you do now."

My heart rate sped up by both Scott's words and the assistant bringing long white electrodes to hook up to the computer that Scott worked on beside Jai.

Jai watched Scott with hard, angry eyes. Like a caged tiger who fantasized about getting out of the cage and mauling Scott to death. Scott saw Jai's hostile look while the the guy in the white lab coat turned the computer so that he could see it and type on it. I realized that he was pulling up the program.

We were about to start.

Jai's mind was about to be wiped for the first time. My mind was about to be wiped for the billionth.