Free Open Minds by Susan Kaye Quinn Page A

to know it, as much as he wanted to pretend otherwise. Instead, I ground my hands into the tops of my legs. “You’re going to go to college and meet the future Mrs. Lobos Santos and live happily ever after. And I’m not. I’m not normal like you. I’m never going to be.” The bare truth of that burned a hole through my chest and tears stung my eyes.
    I tried to blink them back. Simon now stood at attention, his hands clenched at his side. Panic climbed up my back.
    “You could still change, Kira,” Raf was saying. “And it doesn’t matter anyway!” A sudden urge to move gripped me. Before Simon could do something worse than glare at us, I had to get away from Raf. I rose so quickly, I stumbled across the chair.
    Raf got up to stop me from leaving. He moved close, hovering over me, as if he could impress me with his height or sincerity, but all I saw were the puppet strings that Simon could cut in an instant.
    Raf’s voice trembled. “You’re my best friend, Kira.”
    I edged away from him. “You’ve always been my best friend, Raf.” Fear made my voice sharp. “But that’s all we can be.” The broken look on Raf’s face was more than I could stand.
    I left him standing in the middle of the cafeteria.
    chapter FOURTEEN

I tore through the cafeteria door and blindly stumbled down the hallway.
    I tried not run past the few loitering students, but my legs were so strung with tension I could have sprinted all the way home without stopping. I turned a corner, but Simon caught up to me. A sudden tug at my elbow spun me to face him.
    “Well.” The glare still chiseled his features. “I understand things a little better now.”
    “Understand what?” I jutted my chin out and refused to be intimidated.
    “Why you’re so afraid to jack into your boyfriend’s head.”
    My stomach did backflips. “He’s not my boyfriend.”
    “Not for lack of trying.” His words were biting, his smile cruel. “But you almost killed him when you jacked him. Didn’t you?”
    A tremble ran up my arms.
How did he know?
“You were in Raf’s head.” The accusation hung between us like a poisoned dagger.
    “Of course.” He didn’t quite sneer, but it felt like a slap anyway.
    I stifled my anger.
He was in Raf’s head. From across the cafeteria.
No one read minds that far. “You didn’t… did you jack him?” My mind rewound over Raf’s words. It didn’t make sense for Simon to force Raf to say those things.
    “No.” Simon’s dark look was back. “I was waiting for
you
to do it.”
    My shoulders sagged and the fight drained out of me. “I couldn’t.”
    The hardness on his face dissolved, and he heaved a heavy sigh. “You’re not
like
him, Kira. You’re never going to be like him. We’re
different
. Eventually you’ll have to jack into his head and control him like everyone else. That’s who we are.”
    I clamped my eyes shut. What good were crazy mind powers when they forced me to control or lie to the people I loved?
    Simon touched my cheek. “I know it’s tough,” he said. “But you need to accept it.” His fingers were warm under my chin. “You’re a mindjacker and that’s not going to change. Jacking is what you’re meant to do.”
    I drew in a deep breath. I could feel the rightness of Simon’s words, even if it twisted my insides. All those years of wishing hadn’t changed me into a reader. And Raf would never change into a jacker either. We were stuck with who we were.
    Students trickled out of the cafeteria and headed for class. They had normal lives and bright futures like Raf. Simple problems like who to date and how to pass their classes.
    I will never be like them.
My breath leaked out as I contemplated jacking all of them. Every day.
    Simon glanced down the hall. “It’s time for class. Promise me you’ll try. With
everyone
.”
    I hesitated. The last time in math class hadn’t exactly ended well. “What about Taylor?”
    “If she starts thinking trash about you again, I’ll