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second, studying her intently. Then he sighed audibly. “I wanted to apologize.”
    “Apologize?” Laura was taken aback. S h e was ready to apologize to him!
    “Yes. For what I did last week. I realized, in the last few days, that what I did was… wrong.” Laura could see that he was struggling to say the words. “But it was wrong not because of what I did, but because I did it without asking.”
    “Asking who? Me?”
    “Yes. I shouldn’t have acted without your permission.”
    “Wel , to be honest… I doubt I would have objected. I just wish you weren’t so violent. With them.”
    “I know. But I also know this: he’s not good for you.”
    “Who, Brady?”
    “Yes.”
    “You know, I kind of figured that one out myself, this weekend.” Laura laughed nervously. “And I also wanted to apologize to you . For the way I acted after. I had no right to punch you, or say al those things. But… I was emotional. I couldn’t help it. So…
    I’m sorry.”
    With the apology complete, Laura turned to leave. Stiffly. Her cheeks grew hot as she said that, and she didn’t want him to see her blushing.
    “Wait,” Logan said, stopping her right before she opened the door. “You told me you wanted to know what Brady thinks of you.”
    “I did, yes,” Laura admitted, looking down at her feet. “But I was just caught up in the moment. It’s irrelevant, now, anyway.”
    “Wel , if you want, I could show you.”
    “What?” Laura turned back slowly, and looked at Logan. He looked very serious. “What do you mean?”
    “I mean what I said. If you want, I could show you what Brady thinks of you.”
    “How?” Laura asked suspiciously. “Is this some kind of trick?”
    “No, no trick,” he assured her. Then he held out his hand towards her, palm up. “Take my hand.”
    “Uh…” Was he trying to hit on her in some strange, unorthodox way? Suddenly the confinement of the room became al too apparent, and the feeling of being trapped that she experienced with those four guys around her returned.
    “There’s no trick, I promise.” His voice was sincere, and it seemed… trustworthy. If he wanted to do anything to her, he would have already made his move. Laura met his gaze, and saw only the purest assurance in his eyes. She could trust him.
    Slowly, tentatively, she reached out to place her hand on his. Her fingertips grazed his palm, and their skin touched.
    A flood of thoughts, not her own, erupted into her mind. It was commotion. Mayhem. A thousand different voices cried out disjointedly, each clamoring for her attention. It felt like her head would explode. Images completely foreign to her flashed through her mind, but none was there long enough for her to make it out. There was not enough room for al of them. The thoughts trampled through her head, until she thought she would lose herself in the uproar. Her own voice cried out to her, but was just as quickly lost in the turmoil. She was disoriented. Where was she?
    Who was she? The link. She saw her hand, touching another. Who’s was that? She couldn’t tel . Her sense of self-awareness was fading. Her conception o f herself was fading. She didn’t know how much longer…
    Abruptly, al that was gone. Her own thoughts rebounded harshly to her, and she staggered back. She looked up. Logan was standing there, smiling at her knowingly.
    “What… what was that?” she managed.
    “A trick.”
    “Is it… normal?” She was short of breath, and felt like she had run a hundred miles.
    “Normal enough for me, anyway.”
    “Al those voices I heard… what were they?”
    “Thoughts.”
    “What?”
    “They were thoughts, and you could hear them.”
    “ Who’s thoughts?”
    “Everybody’s in the school. And some people outside the school, near us.” The way he said it made it sound like he was explaining the most natural thing in the world, like spring weather.
    “Wait,” Laura said, staring wide-eyed at Logan,
    “are you tel ing me that I just heard