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cadet, because then he wouldn’t have been able to continue recording that cadet on the sly.
    A gigantic shudder of relief coursed through Nellie, and she sank back in her chair. Well, she could live with Westcott and her instructors knowing what went on inside her head. They were her superiors after all, every one of them had been through Detta training and knew what was necessary to produce a functional cadet. Still, she didn’t like it, all these secrets going on behind her back. If she was one of their best cadets, why did they have to keep things from her?
    Well, at least it wasn’t a secret any longer. And if Westcott knew her as well as she now realized was possible, Nellie thought grimly, he would probably have guessed where her thoughts were headed before she’d even left Room Fourteen. That meant their next sessionwas going to be a real humdinger. With a tiny smile, Nellie called up filing cabinet twenty-five in her head and placed her thoughts about Room Fourteen into drawer two, folder eight. Then, her mind cleared and ready for action, she focused on Col. Jolsen’s diagrams of the venor virus at the front of the room.
    HEADED DOWN the main hallway of the girls’ dorm after classes, Nellie traded insults with the girls gathered in bedroom doorways and dodged the odd missile aimed at her head. It was the usual after-school gauntlet, when dorm hallways became a barrage of jibes, flying objects and the odd physical encounter. Play for an Advanced cadet was an extension of the warfare they studied in classes, and Nellie loved it, her senses on high alert as she hurled insults in return, ducking and wheeling to avoid a shoe or hairbrush. Times like today, when she was really tuned, her mind leapt some kind of barrier and everything solid dissolved into a landscape of vibrations. When this happened, people and objects retained their usual outlines but were lit up with vivid pulsing colors, the bodies of nearby girls turning into multicolored fields with tendrils of excess energy rising from their backs. Even inanimate objects glowed as if alive and everything felt sped up, Nellie’s senses operating at triple their normal speed.
    It wasn’t the same thing as scanning vibes — this energy was too huge and raw for something that fine-tuned. Still, the whole thing was a real rush, especially the way it allowed her to pick up instantaneously on what was happening behind her. Right now, for instance, she didn’t have to look over her shoulder to keep track of the two girls she’d just passed, she simply had to remain alert to any surge in energy. An abrupt explosion of heat from their vicinity made it easy to predict the mass of vibrations that came sailing toward her head, and with a grin Nellie ducked the flying book, not even glancing up as it sailed past and on down the hall.
    “Third eye,” the two girls hollered. “You’re a witch, Kinnan, a witch.”
    Without looking back, Nellie gave them a casual over-the-shoulder wave. As far as she could tell, none of the other cadets were able to read vibes, nor were any of her instructors. So no one had caught on to how she could sometimes sidestep flying objects and tackles from behind with apparent ease — at least she hadn’t told anyone. A sudden thought hit Nellie and she slowed her pace, a frown creasing her forehead. Was it possible Westcott had figured out her vibe-reading ability? He’d never hinted at it, not even once, but that didn’t mean much.
    As she turned off the main hall into the smaller corridor that led to her room, walls and objects began to lose their inner glow and return to their normal state. The passageway stretched ahead, empty and quiet, except for a security alarm that beeped faintly overhead. Whistling, Nellie slipped a package of oolaga candy from her pocket and tilted it into her mouth. Today the snack machine had flashed a vivid orange message after dispensing the candy: Warning — your account is now overdrawn. It was two