Free [Ganzfield 2] Adversary by Kate Kaynak

Sean. They were fuzzy and indistinct; Rachel focused only on her boyfriend. Her golden thread seemed infused with her love for him, surrounding him and making him glow in her mind—an aura of sunlight breaking through the darkness.
    As Rachel concentrated, more of the vision expanded and cleared. I saw Harrison and Ellen McFee. They both stared blankly into a huge fireplace in a large, high-ceilinged room. Their faces carried the marks of shock.
    Survivors.
    There were survivors. Rachel’s golden connection to Sean headed south.
    Drew’s sudden, horrified thought for his brother jolted him into full panic. “Harrison!” He flung open the front door and jumped out. Trevor stomped on the brake pedal with his ability, then shifted the gear back into park and shut off the ignition. Drew raced across the field toward the sparks’ buildings, nearly tripping over several more bodies in the snow.
    “Drew!” I called to him. “Drew! Harrison’s okay! He’s with Sean!”
    It took Drew several steps to register what I’d said and several more for him to slow down. The rest of us climbed out of the van. He’s with Sean, I repeated. Rachel’s seen them. I don’t know where. Somewhere south of here.
    More corpses lay between the field of bodies and the lake. They wore strange, metallic, hooded coveralls, like spacesuits from a 1950s sci-fi movie. These weren’t Ganzfield people. Wispy grey plumes of smoke filtered out of the seams by the hood and at the wrists and ankles where the gloves and boots had come loose. I felt Drew connect to the still-smoldering fires, sensing the damage they’d caused to the bodies within the metallic suits. Apparently, they’d been less fireproof in practice than their wearers might’ve hoped.
    No wonder all of the survivors Rachel had envisioned seemed to be sparks.
    I still couldn’t hear anyone beyond our little group, which now seemed pitiful and small. My chin began to quiver and I glanced quickly at the treeline. My telepathic range was so short! If anyone tried to ambush us now, I’d be able to give almost no warning.
    Hannah bent to check for signs of life from some of the people lying in the snow, slaughtered in the place I thought of as home. Whoever the killers were, they’d attacked at night. The Ganzfield people all wore sleep clothes. No coats. No boots. The attackers must’ve been immune to charms. I recalled the earpieces that Trevor had crushed in the car yesterday. The healers could knock someone out with a touch—would the metallic suits have worked against the healers, as well? I took a shuddering breath and looked for them. Matilda. Morris. Lester.
    Lester was dead. Hannah cried out when she recognized him. Zack started a body count. Forty. Forty G-positives lay dead on the grounds, with another fourteen corpses in metallic suits. Rachel still focused on Sean; she tried to identify the other people around him. They were almost all sparks. Except for the ones who’d been with us, all of the charms and RVs of Ganzfield lay dead at our feet.
    My brain didn’t seem to be working right. Between my own shock and the overflow from the group, I couldn’t focus. I felt a rolling hollowness within me that might turn into a scream. The thoughts of the others barreled into my mind and back out, unprocessed. I tried to detach myself from it all—to rise above it and see it as a problem to be solved. We needed to figure out what to do next.
    Oh, my God. There’s Grace!
    A sob escaped as I covered my mouth with my hand and fell to my knees. Oh, Grace. No! Her eyes were closed, as though she was sleeping. It looked like she’d seen her killer take aim and, knowing she couldn’t stop it, had simply shut her eyes and hoped it was a bad dream. She’d been a strong person, a fighter. Somehow, I’d expected her to look angrier. I felt a hot tear escape my eye, leaving a wet trail down my cheek that quickly turned cold.
    Frank. Oh, no. Not Frank.
    Bullet holes riddled our