The Survivors

Chapter Seven: Road Trip, pt. 2

"Is that what that is? Man, it was about to drive me insane. Every single person is thinking something all the damn time, and I could not for the life of me figure out how to turn it off," she laughed. I did, too. I knew the feeling.

"My family knows about the senses. They know I can sense minds from afar, too. That's how I found you guys in the first place, looking for Mark's mind," I explained.

"But you couldn't sense Mark's mind when you met him," she said.

"How did you know that?"

"You shouldn't have been able to get any read off him," she said. "He was projecting both times you saw him."

"Astral projection? That's why? I thought he was just impervious to my skills. I hadn't even thought of that," I said. His actual being wasn't there. "What can't he do?" I asked.

"I don't think there's much he can't do, though he can't read minds, so you're one up on him there," she smiled. "And ever since you've been around, I've been one-up on him, too. I thank you for that." Her voice was so sincere. She was thinking she wished she had a sister instead of three brothers who didn't understand her. She was glad I was here.

"Ginny, you're so sweet," I said, responding to her thoughts and dying to know why she was having more fun with me after four days than she had with Madeline in however long they had known each other. "Do you have to focus to do the mind reading?" I asked, wondering if she had my powers exactly as I had them.

"Oh, yeah. It's doesn't work all the time yet, but when it does, it's golden," she said. "Does your family know about the perfect memory thing?" she asked.

"You've already picked up on that?" I asked. "Perceptive."

"I've never been particularly observant," she admitted, "but four thousand yards back, there was a wildflower growing parallel to the ground instead of upright like all the others, and two days ago a girl dropped her sunglasses two blocks away from where I was, and, well, now I notice and see everything and can't forget it. I'm sure I got that from you."

I laughed. "I don't think they know. It's turned out to be useful several times," I said. I thought back to when I was lost in the rainforest in Costa Rica and had managed to find my way out just by having run through there at my top speed days before.

"You'll have to tell me about the rainforest later," she said. It was going to take some getting used to her seeing so clearly into my mind. I was glad we were friends; it would have been scary for me if we weren't.

"Do they know about the languages?" she asked, again surprising me.

"No one knows about that one either," I admitted. She had already picked up on my ability to speak any language that was spoken to me. "How did you figure that out?"

"I was trying to talk to the guy making my burrito at Chipotle," she said. "He didn't speak English, and I was getting frustrated, and then all of a sudden I said everything I'd been trying to say, but in Spanish. I was amused, so I found people at the mall who were thinking in another language and came up with a reason to talk to them. Turns out it worked in three different languages in twenty minutes, so I knew it had to be one of your powers."

"Do you not have any powers if you aren't around others who do?" I asked.

"I have no specific talents, no. Just the basics. I'm sure I could go without food, too, but why bother?" she asked. I shook my head. I didn't see eye-to-eye with them on this. "Have I missed any of yours?"

"That's it," I said. She had nailed every one.

"I thought you said you each only had one power," she prompted. "What was that about?"