A Loner Mentalist Pt. 02

Despite these facts, Jack didn't feel much safer. He doubted he could keep himself cloaked for long stretches of time and he didn't know if he could protect himself under duress, or while he was distracted, or asleep. He still had no idea who the power thief was, except that it was another mentalist. Their powers were vastly greater than his, or those of all the mentalists Jack had seen in the theatre vision. On top of that, the cloaked figure had a superior control of its power.

While Jack felt like he could cloak his own mind, he couldn't possibly use his powers to affect other minds at the same time. His vision quest came to an end as soon as he had cloaked himself. The cloaked figure had been able to cloak and steal powers at the same time effortlessly.

Jack felt like he was David, learning for the first time of Goliath's existence. Only if he were to go into this battle, he wouldn't be armed with a sling and a million-to-one chance of success. This was to be a quick dial battle and the first to dial Jack's brain modem would win. The problem was that Jack was operating a rotary phone, while Goliath was sitting at a digital switchboard, complete with call waiting and all the other trappings of modern technology. Some day, with a lot of practice and luck, Jack might have a million-to-one chance of protecting himself against the cloaked figure in a battle, but right now, his chances were exactly zero. He knew that as sure as he had known where to find those baseball cards.

His only chance of staying intact was to avoid any kind of confrontation. He needed to stay unsuspected and undetected. He slowly straightened up and dusted himself off. He shut the window and latched it. He turned back to his bed, resumed his lotus position and meditated, practicing maintaining his cloak wrapped tightly around his mind.

When dawn came, Jack was exhausted. The horrible revelations of the night, the lack of sleep and the sheer mental exhaustion of maintaining a cloak over his mind were almost enough to tempt him into bed. In light of his vision, his promise to give Mia a lift and some tutoring seemed utterly insignificant, yet he decided to do it. He wanted to do something to combat the feelings of being hopelessly impotent in the face of this new danger, but that was only part of the reason. The real reason was that he was afraid of falling asleep during the day and waking up without his powers.

In the vision, the cloaked figure had hid in darkness, but Jack knew it to be metaphorical. It probably didn't operate at night. It operated when it was awake and he surmised that he should be safe to sleep at night. With that feeble premise in mind, Jack changed clothes, splashed some cold water on his face, and went out to the car.

He got to the next county in time to intercept Mia on her walk from the group home to the bus stop. He parked where he had dropped her off the night before and waited. He took deep and even breaths as he maintained his cloak around his mind. After a few minutes, he spotted her turn the corner and walk towards him.

She was moving at a brisk pace, keeping her face turned downwards, and frequently checking behind herself, as if she feared being followed. He grunted in sympathy. He had spent the whole ride over checking his mirrors, as if that would help him spot the cloaked figure in time to do something. As she got closer to him, he realized she hadn't seen him yet. He honked his car horn and she froze in place. Only her head snapped upwards, revealing her face. Jack saw fear on her features. It was quickly replaced by relief and joy, but then anxiety crept onto it, as well.

He didn't have time to analyze her feelings as she dashed towards him and hopped into the car. He checked the clock on the dashboard. "Uh, we've still got plenty of time for breakfast before you have cheerleader practice."

"I know," she absently said as she scanned the street in the direction she had just come from. "Let's just go, ok? Let's get going!"

"Ok." He started the car and drove off. He looked at her out of the corner of his eye. As soon as he turned the corner and put the street the group home was on behind them, she seemed to let go of a lot of tension and sagged in her seat. "Problems?"

"No, no," she said, unconvincingly. "It's ok. Everything's ok."

He didn't want to press her for more information so early in the morning, so he just drove them towards the truck stop, off the interstate. It was halfway back to town and there was a diner there with some pretty colorful staff that might get Mia out of her morning funk. He was definitely desperate for a distraction, himself.

Mia sat in the passenger seat and worriedly nibbled on her lower lip. After a few minutes, she mumbled, "Jack, I, uh, I'm gonna need the pot back."

"What?"

Mia cleared her throat. "I need you to give me back the pot I... put in your locker."

"Why?"

Mia opened her mouth and then closed it. She wiped her face in frustration. "I just need it back, ok? Just... give it back to me."

As scary as the vision he had last night was, he didn't think it would be wise of him to relinquish the marihuana. It had expanded his horizons and let him access knowledge. Last night's vision had left him nearly crazed with fear, but he would much rather know about the terrible danger and try to fight it than be blindsided.

Just because he hadn't known about the cloaked figure, that didn't mean that it hadn't been out there all this time, doing its terrible business. He was now equipped with a cloaking device and stood a chance, all because of the pot she had stuffed in his locker. While he knew it would take him a big, long while to gather up the courage to go on another vision quest, he also knew that he would have to do it sooner, or later. "No," he said to Mia.

"Why not?!"

"Well," he said, "I used some of it."

"You what?!"

Jack shrugged and smiled. "Yeah. Had me some pot. What of it?"

"Oh, fuck me," Mia whispered and sunk lower in her seat. She buried her face in her hands.

"What's the matter?"

Mia chuckled bitterly and then let out a drawn out, miserable sigh. "What's the matter? I need to give that weed back to the girl I stole it from. She was holding it for her boyfriend and he's coming for it today. She went to check on the dope and somehow figured out it was me who stole it. If I don't give it back, all of it, then her boyfriend and his friends are going to find me and take it out of me in trade." She put her hands together in a pleading gesture. "So, please, Jack, pretty please, give it back to me!"

Jack frowned. He wanted to ask her a hundred questions about what her plan had originally been, but he decided this wasn't the time or the place for a lesson in proper planning. "This boyfriend... he's a dealer?"

"Yes. And he's dangerous."

"But he was going to sell the weed?"

"Well, duh," she snipped at him. "But now he can't, cause you wanted to get high!"

He spared her a reproachful glance and then said, "I'm not giving him back the weed."

"Jesus fucking Christ, Jack! These guys are-"

Jack interrupted her with, "I'm buying it from him! Ok? I'll give the guy cash for it."

"Wait, wait, wait! Let me get this straight! You want to buy the weed I planted in your locker to get you arrested?"

Jack spared her a glance and nodded. "Yup."

"Are you for real?"

"I'm not giving the pot back," he said, "not even at gunpoint. You find out how much it costs, that is, how much they want for it and I'll give them the cash, instead."

"Two thousand dollars," Mia said.

That sounded like a lot of money to Jack, maybe even too much.But, there is a lot of weed in the bag, he told himself. He still had enough left for at least two dozen vision quests. Gaining knowledge was his only weapon against the cloaked figure and he might need even more pot than what he already had. That was the real reason he was going to pay for it. He wanted to meet the dealer so he could buy more in the future. Otherwise, Jack would just pay the dealer a visit with his dogs to make sure he never so much as threatened another girl with "taking a debt out in trade".

"Ok," he said. "I'll go to the bank and get the cash after I drop you off at school."

Mia sat quietly in her seat and considered Jack behind the wheel. She guessed that he had probably flushed the pot as soon as he had first seen it and was now willing to part with some of his inheritance, rather than see her get hurt. Her insides fluttered nervously, like they had been doing for most of last night. They had kept her from getting any proper rest.

It was anxiety, she knew. She hadn't felt it for a few years. She had used to be anxious about everything and everyone in her life. It had consumed her every waking day and every sleeping hour with fears of people hurting her, or letting her down. As they did bad things to her, over and over again, she had slowly become accustomed to the sick feeling in the pit of her stomach until it had just faded into the background noise.

She couldn't remember exactly when she had last felt it, but she guessed it must have been even before she had assumed rule of their school. If she had been a little ball of nerves, she wouldn't have been able to assert herself there in the first place. Now, she felt like engaging in a steady diet of her lips and fingernails. And the reason was the guy sitting next to her.

His offer, the genuine feeling she got from it, from him... It made her fret like she hadn't since she was little. It made her worry over whether, or not, she was worthy of it. It made her fear it would be rescinded at any moment. With one dinner engagement, he had regressed her back into a scared, little girl and she hated him for it.

Jack parked in front of the diner and said, "Now, this place doesn't look like much, I know, but every meal comes with a show. Breakfast, for instance-"

"Comes complete with an ancient waitress that limps around with a cane and doesn't write down anyone's orders," Mia said, interrupting him. "She just turns towards the kitchen and hollers out what people want." Jack gave her a surprised look. She shrugged. "One of my foster fathers was a trucker from Seraphim Falls. He took me here a few times."

Jack nodded. There was no judgment in his eyes, like she feared there would be.

She was suddenly angry with herself for fearing his reaction. On impulse, she decided to test the mettle of his offer. She needed to know where the limits were. She needed to show him where she truly came from. If he was going to balk at her history, then she would rather he do it right away. She looked away from Jack and casually said, "He tried to get into my bed one night."

She closed her eyes, imagining his reaction. Was he going to be horrified? Shocked? She tried to guess what he would say, or do. Would he cry and insist he pay for a therapist to fix her? Would he see her as tainted goods? A hundred different reactions went through her mind in the next second and she was still surprised when he simply said, "But you were never one to stand for that kind of shit, so he hadn't succeeded."

She opened her eyes and looked at him. "You're tougher than you give yourself credit, Mia. Way tougher." His eyes were understanding and he even looked to her like he was admiring her. Her insides fluttered again. He removed his seatbelt and opened his door. "Come on! I'm buying!"

When he got out of the car, she took advantage of his turned back to wipe some moisture from her eyes. She sniffed her nostrils clear and got out herself. As she followed him into the diner, she resolved to keep her treacherous emotions in check.

The waitress was as loud as she remembered her and the breakfast was tasty, if a little more greasy than she was used to. He drove her towards school and she found the courage to insist he drop her off a few blocks away. She had expected him to object and insist on delivering her to the front door, for the entire cheerleading squad and half the varsity teams to see.

He surprised her by simply pulling over where she indicated.

"When and where do you want me to pick you up?"

Mia mulled it over in her head and said, "Pick me up here, around half past noon."

"Ok," he said and drove off to the bank. He withdrew the money needed for the weed and then went to the library. He spent the rest of the morning doing his homework and studying. Or, at least he tried to. The images of his vision from last night were still vivid in his mind. His schoolwork simply couldn't scrimp up any relevance in light of those revelations. In the quiet of the library, he focused on meditating and maintaining his cloak.

When he drove to the meeting place, Mia was pacing nervously and wearing her cheerleader outfit. She jumped and waved as soon as she spotted him coming. Jack frowned as he pulled over. She never wore the uniform outside of school and she never jumped and waved. "What's the matter," he asked her as soon as she opened the door.

"Weed girl texted me while I was running drills," she angrily said. "Her boyfriend already came by for the weed. He was pissed off to hear it was gone and he made a scene at the home. Security had to intervene, so I'm out of the fucking home. I'm homeless. They called me just now to let me know." Her tone turned miserable. "I have nowhere to stay. I, I, I didn't even shower after practice. I stink. I'm homeless, I stink and the dealer boyfriend is on his way over here with some friends."

Jack put a comforting hand on her shoulder and softly said, "Where exactly is he coming?" Mia blinked back some tears as she shook her head. Jack guessed the guy was coming to the school. He wouldn't know where else to find her. "That's ok. Everything's going to be alright. Do you know what kind of car he's driving?" She shook her head again. He gave her shoulder a squeeze. "When exactly did he leave the home?" Mia shrugged and wiped the tears from her face. "It's going to be ok."

He knew the guy could make the drive over in about thirty-five minutes, if he was angry enough and gunned it. He drove to his house and parked in front. "Ok, Mia, you're going to wait for me in there," he said and nodded towards his house.

"What is this place?"

"This is my house and I think you're going to live here, too." Mia turned her teary eyes towards him and her mouth fell as she gaped in disbelief. He flashed a reassuring smile at her. "Try not to worry about it. We'll talk some more after I come back. Now, I really have to go to school to catch this guy and settle matters with him, ok?" She looked unsure about everything, but she nodded.

He got her out of the car and signaled his dogs that she was a friend. He unlocked the door and pushed her inside, along with both their schoolbags. "Bathroom's there, kitchen's through there, make yourself at home!"

He ran around back and called for Spot, his captain amongst canines. Along with Spot, he selected four dogs he was training for Alpha and had them march into the SUV. He drove off and was at the school in record time. He worried over how he was going to recognize the dealer, until he turned into the school's parking lot.

A black Golf with red and orange flames painted on its sides was there, parked in the middle of the lot and drawing his eye. Standing next to the car were three guys and they were calling out towards a couple of girls in cheerleader outfits. The girls were being led away from the trio by guys in letterman jackets. There were dark glares exchanged back and forth, but the trio retired to their car without picking a fight.

Jack reluctantly dropped his cloak for a moment to issue complex orders to his dogs. He opened the rear door and let them out. He put the car in gear and gunned it towards the Golf, head on. The two cars came to a screeching halt with just a foot of space between them. The driver of the Golf, a short, white guy with a short, spiky hairdo and ten tons of bulging muscles on his bare arms, jumped out of his car. "What the fuck, man?! Are you fucking crazy!? Get the fuck outta here!"

Jack calmly stepped out of his car and came face to face with the second guy from the Golf. He was an older, black man that was nearly as tall as Jack. He wore a drab shirt that was tight over his muscles. He appraised Jack with a cool, calculated gaze. The driver sidestepped through the gap between the vehicles to come face to chest with Jack. "Hey," he yelled and raised his hand at Jack's face, "you nuts, or what?"

"Are you looking for Mia," Jack calmly asked.

The black guy raised his eyebrows at the driver, while the driver stopped halfway through his rant to say, "Yeah. You know where she at?"

"I do," Jack said. "I understand this is about some pot."

"I don't think you understand nothing, son," the driver said. "Bitch owes me."

The third man clambered out of the Golf and Jack gave him a look. He was a skinny, pasty, white dude that looked like he was eighty pounds soaking wet.

"I'm here to make payment for the pot," Jack said, looking down into the driver's eyes.

"Oh, yeah," the driver said. "You got two large, son?"

Jack reached behind himself and took the envelope with the cash out of his back pocket. His move made the two muscle-bound men flinch. The driver stepped away from Jack and the black man reached into the back of his own pants. Jack guessed that the man had a gun tucked in there.

Jack handed the envelope to the driver. "Here it is."

The driver glared at him and then shot a glance at the black man, who shrugged at him. He snatched the envelope out of Jack's hand. He opened it and quickly counted the cash within. Jack looked around. There was no one in sight. "It's all here," the driver said.

The black man returned his empty hand to the front and visibly relaxed. The driver looked to be thinking for a moment and then he put the envelope in his back pocket. "Now, the cash makes us square about the pot. But there's also the matter of respect. We need to be square on that, too."

Jack spared a glance to the other two men. They both grinned happily, which Jack took as a bad sign.

"Mia stole the pot from us," the driver said. "You paid for it, so that makes us square on the pot. But there's still the matter of thieving. Of respect. She disrespected us when she stole from us. You tell us where we can find Mia and we'll be square on that, too."

"And what do you intend to do with Mia," Jack asked.

The black man and the scrawny guy smiled ugly, leering smiles in response. The driver stepped towards Jack and raised a hand to put it on his shoulder. "We're gonna teach that girl some respect. Don't you worry about that! You should worry about telling us where she's at."

Jack knew they meant to rape Mia. He could see it in their eyes. He snapped his fingers and the dogs revealed themselves, growling low at the trio. Two dogs were covering each of the muscle guys and the fifth was on the pasty one. The men jumped up in surprise and shouted in fear. The black man reached for his gun, but Spot jumped up behind him and took a gentle nibble on his hand, making him scream and stick his hands straight up in the air.

"Easy," the driver said to the German shepherd that was growling at his groin, "easy now!"

"Shut up," Jack said. "I had hoped that we could come to a peaceful solution for this situation and reach an amicable arrangement which would allow me to purchase more product from you this coming summer, but that's not likely anymore, is it?"

"What," the driver said, uncomprehending.

Jack huffed and rolled his eyes. "Look, dickhead," he said, standing over the driver menacingly, "you will no longer go looking for Mia. In fact, you will avoid her from now on. Are we clear about that? If you don't avoid her and you come anywhere near her, ever again, you're going to get mauled by dogs. I won't be anywhere near you when it happens. There will be no warning at all. A dog, or two, will just sneak up on you when you're alone and maul you." He grinned at their pale faces. "Don't worry, they won't kill you. They'll just bite off the parts of you that you like the most. Is that understood?"