valedictorian of her classâor the rebel so bored he dropped out and invented a new computer language. What I mean is, you gave up that advantage here. Everyone could see eight moves ahead. Forget it. You could talk to each other like normal people. No one could impress anyone else.
She was the exception.
Jack glanced up sharply at the interviewer. She had no gleam in her eye. Her pasty white skin didnât glow with the excitement of giving away secret information. She was just doing her job.
She?
Jack said. He began doodling on the blank sheet again.
The woman whose name youâve been muttering in your sleep. Arden.â
The interviewer pronounced the name very precisely.
She was the exception.
After another long pause Jack nodded.
She was the exception. She was a step beyond. Maybe several steps beyond. Half a dozen people I know sincerely believed she was the product of genetic manipulation. Or possibly an alien being. âImagine being her parents,â someone once said, and we all shuddered.
Was she so frightening?
She was perfectly charming. That was part of it. We all lived by manipulating other people, to one degree or another, so that wasnât what was scary about her. Her ability to insinuate herself into a group was extraordinary, but not unprecedented. That wasnât why she scared people. It was because she did things that had nothing to do with intelligence. After talking to you casually for one minute, she could tell you that you hated your older brother, and she would always be right. She wasnât just smart, she was a mind-reader. But somehow you knew it wasnât ESP, it was her picking up signals you didnât know you were giving. Desperately you would try to stop, but be helpless. If you were having an affair, God forbid she should see you and come across the room. Within thirty seconds she would be giving you that slow smile, and you would know she knew.
Maybe she wasnât so smart, maybe she just had a very good network.
She would have had to have satellite coverage. And x-ray vision.
As Arden came across the room in Denver Jack tried to keep his thoughts absolutely blank, and succeeded. Heâd gotten good at this since knowing her. Arden stopped and chatted with two or three people, but he knew she was coming his way. And his lone remaining conversational partner, a young woman named Elizabeth Rayona, was hurting his concentration.
âWho is she? When did you first meet her?â
âLast year. Her grandmother introduced us. I said how do you do and she just looked at me for a long few seconds, then said, âIâm sorry.ââ
Elizabeth turned to him. âWhat was she sorry for?â
After a long pause, Jack said, âFor me. I was sad. I hadnât told anyone, but an old friend of mine had just gone missing. Not one of us. No one anyone in the circle would know.â
Elizabethâs voice was growing more concerned. She was facing Jack so she was in profile to Arden, and Jack could tell that Elizabeth was trying to stand straight and not glance aside, but she couldnât help herself. Neither could he. âAnd she knew about your missing friend?â
âNo one knew!â Jack burst out. âI hadnât talked about her and I wasnât giving anything away. But she read me. How I was feeling. And I didnât want to be read! You know? I didnât want to beâcomforted.â
âSo did sheâ?â
âHello, Jack,â said a low, luminous voice. Yes, luminous: her voice gave off a soft glow, illuminating the features of her listeners so they seemed to stand apart from the others in the room, in a subtle spotlight. Or possibly that was only in Jackâs imagination.
âHello, Arden. Do you know Elizabeth Rayona?â
That was a cruel thing to do, after the build-up heâd given Arden, to unleash her immediately on the new girl. But Elizabeth had annoyed him a little by making him