Part 2

Lukas frowned at his image in the bathroom mirror as he toweled off after his shower. He was sunburned AGAIN, his face and torso a horrible rosy pink that clashed terribly with his bright orange hair. No matter what he did or how much sunblock he wore, he always got sunburned during physical training in the summer. Worse yet, all that exposure to sunlight made his freckles appear, turning his skin a weird mottled brown colour beneath the lobster red.

He blew out a long breath and considered asking one of the micro-kinetics to fiddle with his system, see if they could get him to tan instead of burn. Of course, the instructors would blow a fuse if they ever found out, but that was half the fun of it...

"You'll get caught," came a deep tenor from behind him. In the reflection of the mirror Lukas saw Brad, one of the oldest boys in the complex, enter the shower room. "And you won't like what they do to you."

Lukas made a childish face at him in the mirror, but he sighed. If anyone else had said that, he'd have ignored them and tried it anyway. But Brad was here because he saw things before they happened, and if he said Lukas would be caught, then Lukas would be caught.

There were only thirty-one children here, ranging from the newest addition at age seven to Brad and Giovanni at almost nineteen. Those two were just about ready to be graduated, Lukas knew. Most of them were boys, and it wasn't hard to figure out why - they were being trained for combat and military duties, and girls just weren't generally suited for that kind of thing. All four of the girls here were tough-as-nails tomboys, difficult to tell apart from the boys except for their budding figures. And every one of the children, right down to little Jean-Pierre, was extraordinarily Gifted.

For, as Lukas had discovered in his first year here at the Institute, The Voices in his head had not been the product of his imagination, or the symptoms of schizophrenia as the psychiatrists had thought. He was a telepath, able to hear the thoughts and sometimes the feelings of other people, capable of getting inside their heads and even changing what they thought to what he wanted them to think. It was an incredibly powerful Gift, and he'd worked very hard to become adept in controlling it.

Because he'd discovered something else, in his eight years here. The Strange Men had lied to him, just as everyone lied. They couldn't take away The Voices in his mind. Oh, to give them credit, they'd thought they could - but they couldn't. He'd gotten stronger as he matured, and no matter how they trained him, no matter how Lukas fought to build his shields stronger and thicker and heavier, The Voices still reached him.

He could tune them out, now, and ignore them most of the time. Most of The Voices that had plagued him after his accident were just the background murmur of people's everyday surface thoughts, and he could block those out just fine. He hadn't taken a Fit since the first month after they'd brought him here, in fact.

But the strong Voices - those he couldn't block. When people were hurt very badly, or feeling very passionately about something, that would leak in through his shields. Sometimes it would take him over completely, especially if the other person had some projective ability themselves. He still had to be careful not to spend too much time around any one person, though his limit was now on the order of days and weeks rather than minutes and hours, and improving all the time. And he had to be very, very careful about letting people touch him skin-to-skin. The first time one of the other telepaths had touched him it had taken the instructor nearly three hours to wake them both up. It was very disconcerting to suddenly have another person's entire psyche temporarily shoved into your head.

Lukas knew that he was stronger than any other telepath they'd ever trained, because the instructors talked about it to each other, and they weren't strong enough to keep him from looking past their shielding anymore. Not if he really wanted to. They worried about him, worried that they might not be able to contain him, control him.

All the children knew they were being brainwashed into obedience to the Institute. Mostly it didn't bother them, because they all knew that the Institute had saved them from themselves, showed them how to control their powers so that they didn't go insane or even kill themselves. And it was very effective brainwashing, too. Lukas had been five, nearly six, when they'd brought him here to this complex in the Swiss Alps, and a very intelligent child. Yet he literally could not remember his own last name, or recall what his Mutti or Vati had looked and sounded like. It was the same with all of them. No one remembered their families, or who they had been before coming here. They were permitted to keep their given names only because the instructors had to call them something.

But that didn't bother them, either. What little they did remember about their families was much the same as Lukas - the fear, the mistrust, the horror of parents faced with little boys and girls who were not, by any definition of the word, Normal. Lukas wasn't the only one whose parents had looked to the priests for answers, and from the nightmare he'd once picked up from one of the telekinetics, he was VERY glad his Vater had never had a chance to have him exorcised. Every one of the children here had been signed into custody of the Institute by their parents or guardians. Every one of them had been abandoned by their families. And so they created a new family here, with each other.

Brad was still watching him in the mirror, leaning up against the wall with his arms crossed, smirking. "Are you done preening yet?" he drawled, making reference to the amount of time Lukas often spent in front of the mirrors.

Lukas stuck his tongue out at his friend. Though Brad was more than five years older than him, they had been close friends since the older boy had come to the Institute two years after Lukas. As close as Lukas let anyone get, anyway, though that wasn't saying much. Though the American's foremost power was the ability to see the shifting patterns of the future, he had some small telepathic ability of his own. More importantly, he had a natural mental shielding so thick and dense that Lukas could not penetrate it, even if he tried. The only time he ever heard Brad's thoughts was when Brad wanted him to, and that was just fine with Lukas. It meant that he could spend as much time as he wanted with his friend, and never have to worry about getting caught up in the other boy's mind.

Brad opened up a little to him now. *However much you stare at them, your muscles aren't going to fill out overnight, you know,* he projected with some amusement. Lukas rolled his eyes.

"I know that, dumbass," he replied in English. Everyone here spoke English, since it was the language the classes were given in, though the children were encouraged to keep practicing their native tongues. You never knew when an extra language might come in handy. Lukas was very proud that his English had almost no trace of an accent now. "I'm just standing here thinking about how glad I am that I'm not as butt-ugly as you are."

Brad laughed, and Lukas grinned at him in the mirror. In truth Lukas thought Brad was very handsome, though not in the muscle-bound way of some men. The American had reached his full height at six foot one, and his shoulders had broadened and his chest filled out quite a bit in the last few years. He was still slender and likely always would be, but it was a whipcord slenderness, like a really good martial artist. His sable hair was buzzed into a short crew cut, just like the rest of the boys, but somehow it still gave the impression of being silky soft. His face was very angular beneath his glasses; some might have said he was harsh-looking, and they would have been right. But his cinnamon eyes were full of the fire of intelligence and a kind of ruthless passion, and Lukas knew that Brad was going to be very powerful one day. And on that day, Lukas, his best friend, would be standing there by his side, laughing at all the little Normals as they crawled around under their feet.

Lukas, on the other hand, was a scrawny thirteen-year-old who showed no signs of filling out any time soon. His arms and legs were too long for his body, and he was forever tripping and tangling up in things, and knocking things over. Throw in the freckles and the carrot-orange hair, and he looked like an overgrown Raggedy Andy doll. Brad kept telling him to be patient, that he would grow into his limbs with time, but patience was one thing Lukas had never been very good at. His only saving grace were his eyes, so green that one of the Irish students had once remarked that he must be part Sidhe, whatever that was.

"Lukas..." Brad had gone very solemn all of a sudden, and Lukas frowned. Automatically he tried to probe into the other boy's mind to see what was bothering him, and ran up against his friend's shield. He shook his head to clear it of the slight buzzing, and made himself pay attention to what Brad was saying aloud.

"Lukas, they're sending me away."

Lukas blinked. "Away? Away where?"

Brad shrugged. "Back to America, I think. I'm going out into the field, on assignment. They're graduating me."

Lukas was stunned. They'd known it would happen soon, of course - no one ever stayed at the Institute past their nineteenth birthday, unless they came back as instructors. But... somehow he still wasn't ready for it. Brad graduating meant that they wouldn't see each other again for at least five years, until Lukas graduated as well. Brad straightened up off the wall and came over to rest his hands on Lukas' shoulders, gripping them tightly and staring at his friend in the mirror.

"Don't forget me, Lukas," he said viciously, and Lukas was startled at the amount of feeling in the older boy's words. Brad didn't usually let his emotions show, preferring to keep people guessing at what he was thinking and feeling. "Don't let them brainwash you into forgetting about me, about our friendship. They're going to try, you know. They don't want us to be loyal to anyone but them, because otherwise we might band together and decide we didn't want to follow them anymore."

Lukas nodded. That much was common knowledge among the students. When you had a group of people this powerful under your control, you didn't do anything that might risk them rebelling. "I promise, Brad," he swore, and he truly meant it. They stared into each other's eyes in the mirror for a long moment, and finally Brad said something that would have sounded very strange to anyone listening to them.

"It's raining out," he said conversationally. It was a stupid thing to say, because neither of them had been outside yet today and there were no windows in the complex, so how could he know if it was raining or not?

But it wasn't as odd as someone might think. It was, in fact, a private code phrase between the two of them, that meant Brad wanted him to open up a tight mental connection between them; one buried so deep in their minds that the instructors wouldn't even know it was there, much less be able to listen in. As far as Lukas knew, he was the only student who could do that.

He opened the channel, lacing it around and around with shields to keep stray thoughts from leaking and alerting the instructors. Brad turned him around so they were face to face, and leaned down so that their foreheads were touching, their eyes only an inch apart. That, of course, made the connection even stronger, so that Lukas could feel some of what Brad was thinking even beneath his incredible shielding.

*I've never told anyone this, Lukas, and I'm telling you now because I trust you not to betray me,* Brad told him silently. Lukas' eyes widened, but he let nothing else betray his surprise, in case the instructors were watching the bathroom cameras. *The brainwashing didn't take with me, Lukas. I still know who I am, who my family was.*

Lukas fought to keep his breathing and pulse steady, using the control techniques they'd been taught in their martial arts classes. *How?* he asked, amazed. No one escaped the brainwashing, because the instructors who were telepathic could TELL if it wasn't working, and step up the program. Except...

Brad nodded as he read the thought in Lukas' mind. *That's right. I was already too old when I got here, but that might not have mattered if it wasn't for my shield. If you can't get past it, of course they can't either. And I've let them see what they expected to see. As far as they can tell, I'm perfectly under their control, a good little soldier. But I'm not, and someday I'm going to break free of them, and use my Gift for myself.* He paused, staring deeply into Lukas' eyes, searching mentally for some sign of understanding.

Lukas understood, all right. If Brad really was free of the brainwashing, that still didn't mean that he was free of the Institute. The Institute had been training Gifted children for generations, and every one of those children who were still alive were utterly loyal to the Institute. If Brad went rogue, struck out on his own, they'd hunt him down mercilessly, and not even his Gift would be able to save him in the end.

Brad nodded again. *That's right. I can't do it alone. But Lukas... you're not completely under their control either, do you realize that? I know you don't remember much about your life, but they've had you since you were five, so that's to be expected. But you're too powerful for them. They can't reach the very deepest parts of your mind, unless you let them. DON'T LET THEM. Keep them out, hide like I did, and when you graduate, I'll come find you. And we'll go rogue together, watching each other's backs. I know we can do it. I've Seen that we can do it, if we work together. IF you don't let them get you.*

Lukas' heart was beating very rapidly in his chest now, and he couldn't make it slow. What Brad was saying was exciting enough, but there was more, beneath the words, that made Lukas very curious indeed. Roiling emotions combined with a strong kind of hunger that he didn't really understand. But he knew this much - it sparked a bit of that same hunger deep within himself. *I won't let them get me, Brad. I won't forget you, and I won't let them find out about you, either.*

There was a gleam of satisfaction in his friend's golden eyes. *Wait for me, and I'll come for you, I promise.* Then he did something that shocked Lukas past thinking at all - he leaned down and sealed his lips over Lukas' mouth, kissing him the way he'd seen Sven and Ingrid kissing, all tongue and lips and spit.

And - and it felt good. So good, that his whole body tingled. He trembled beneath his friend's passionate touch, and finally found the strength to respond. But he'd barely started when Brad pulled away again, his expression closed and forbidding, already shutting down the mental connection between them.

"Don't forget," he said shortly, and turned and walked to the door. Once there he paused, and looked back over his shoulder. "And if you don't stop daydreaming and hurry, you're going to be late for class."

Then he was gone, and Lukas knew that it would be years and years before he ever saw his friend again. And he wondered why Brad had done that, kissed him the way a boy was supposed to kiss a girl. He hadn't known boys could kiss that way, too. They'd certainly never talked about it in their sex-ed class!

And he also wondered about the last brush of Brad's mind against his, before the shield had come down - the one so deep, so quiet, that he wasn't sure if it really was Brad's thought or just his own imagination. The one that had whispered, *I love you,* just like Sven and Ingrid were always thinking at each other. Lukas tried to avoid hanging around the twins, because their lovey-dovey manner was so disturbing when the Instructors weren't around to catch them being incestuous. But this hadn't felt mushy like that - this made him tingle inside, the way the kiss had, and made him wish that he was old enough to graduate already, so that he wouldn't have to be apart from Brad at all.

Then he remembered Brad's last spoken words, and he realized what his friend had meant. He HAD been staring off into space for the last five minutes, and if he didn't run he was going to be late for class! He bolted for the door, dressed in nothing but his towel, scrambling for the boy's barracks where his uniform and books waited.

Wait for ME, Brad, he thought to himself, making sure it was deep enough that the instructors wouldn't overhear it. I'll be there, by your side, when you need me most. I promise.

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