BOOK TWO Chapter 6 Episode 17
Saturday School
The high school classroom smells of chalk and old books, its windows framing a gray October morning. Ella, Roxana, Eileen, and Helana sit at desks arranged in a circle, facing Melanie Crenshaw, whose calm demeanor contrasts with Commander Beakerâs fidgety presence. After ninety minutes of orientationâground rules, objectives, and the promise of college creditâElla leans forward, her voice sharp. âLetâs be clear,â she says, channeling her inner leader. âWeâre not spies. We wonât become spies or help you spy.â
Melanie raises a hand, her smile reassuring. âWeâre not asking that. We want to hone your skills for whatever careers you choose. Remote viewing for spying hasnât worked wellâcounter-spies block it, confuse it, or spy back.â Helana, her tone matter-of-fact and her English seamless, says, âThatâs because youâre doing it wrong.â Melanie leans in, intrigued. âWeâve refined techniques for decades to get accurate data, not imagination. How are we wrong? Teach me.â
Helana hesitates, searching for words. âWhere I come from, we donât learn techniques like you learn a language. Babies donât take classesâthey absorb it from their environment. Iâll try to explain.â She takes a breath. âFirst, everything you perceiveâsenses, spirit downloads, ESPâis imaginary. Imagination turns raw data into the reality you experience. Second, the data isnât physical; itâs from the dimension of mind, where distance doesnât exist. Thereâs no âremoteââitâs all here, around you. Third, youâre trying to view while awake. Your body canât do it. It happens in the spiritual realm, downloaded to your brain, which rewrites it based on beliefs. Thatâs why itâs confusing. Keep it in spirit, let spirit visualize, then let your brain catch up during sleep or deep meditation. Otherwise, your conscious mind distorts it.â
Helana gestures at Melanie. âAt our night school party, you came awake, fading in and out, unable to touch. If youâd come in spirit, while sleeping, we couldâve hugged, danced. Earth people have so much to learn.â She continues, âDonât fight imagination. Embrace it. Walk in it. Test it. Put a clock in another room, like your kitchen. At night, when you wake, imagine reading it without checking any clocks. Then compare it to your bedroom clock. Soon, theyâll match. Youâre not travelingâyour spirit accesses the collective soul, the Akashic records, where all data resides. Imagining travel just helps you focus.â
âOr play cards,â Helana adds, a mischievous glint in her eye. âImagine seeing your friendsâ hands. Theyâll stop inviting you.â Melanie responds, âWeâve tried similar techniques, but the dataâs often inaccurate or uninterpretable.â Helana replies, âYouâre viewing secret places blindly. Itâs like waking in a strange city on an alien planetâdisorienting. You canât interpret unfamiliar data. But your biggest mistake is using soul data adversarially. Thatâs why we wonât spy. Itâs immoral and doesnât work. Soul is love, cooperation, friendship. Adversarial intent breaks resonance with soul, garbling what you see. Never use spiritual tools in anger, or you risk losing your soul connectionâthe worst fate for a spirit.â
Melanie, her voice hushed, asks, âSpirits can die?â Helana explains, âEverythingâspirit, physicalâis information. To live, it needs energy. A body energizes spirit while alive. After death, soul does. Disconnect from soul, and your spirit fades like a dying battery, your information dissipating. Soul forgets you.â Melanie asks, âHow do you know this?â Helana replies, âI believe it. Itâs our belief system, consistent with my observations and my peopleâs. We see deeper into existenceâs dimensions than Earth does.â
Melanie exhales, awed. âThatâs profound, Helana. Itâll take years to integrate. It echoes ancient Egyptian hermetic principles. Are your beliefs rooted there?â Helana shrugs. âOur beliefs evolved over millions of years, their origins lost. Theyâve been learned, forgotten, relearned through our civilizationâs rises and falls, like yours.â Melanie glances at the girls, some dozing. âThatâs enough for morning. Time for pizza.â Eileen snaps awake. âPizza?â
The afternoon session moves to the townâs small shopping mall, its central courtyard alive with the splash of a fountain and the chatter of shoppers. The girls sit at a wrought-iron table, gelato cups and Italian sodas before them, the air sweet with sugar and citrus. Melanie sips her soda, her tone casual but deliberate. âWeâre studying situational awareness. Most people focus so much on friends they forget their surroundingsâa sign of love, but dangerous in emergencies. It can get you killed.â
Roxana, twirling her spoon, asks, âWhat do we do?â Melanie replies, âObserve discreetly. Donât stareâthatâs rude. Watch your field of view, describe it to each other. Soon, youâll know everything around you. Then, something amazing happens: youâll sense whatâs behind you as your friend describes it. We all detect othersâ energy fields. With practice, no one can sneak up on you.â
Eileen smirks. âI see something. Pete Sanchez is with Kim Dillon by the fountain. Problem is, theyâre dating other people.â Melanie laughs. âValuable gossip, if you were into blackmailâwhich weâre not. Observation yields useful info.â Ella points. âThe gelato shopâs hiring. Iâm too young, but good to know.â Melanie nods. âExcellent. Notice the familiarâpeople you knowâthen look deeper for what doesnât belong.â
Ella says, âEverything seems normal.â Roxanaâs voice lowers. âNot to me. A manâs by that shop door, not moving. Another, in a dark suit, sits by the fountain with a newspaper heâs not reading.â Ella adds, âI see one too, in the gelato shop, staring out.â Melanie asks, âWho are they? Businessmen? Salesmen? Or something else?â Roxana says, âThis is creepy. That guyâs a creeper. Iâm getting a soda refill and staring him down. Iâll tell him to stop eyeing schoolgirls or Iâm calling the cops.â Melanie responds, âDaring. Weâve got your back.â
Suddenly, Ella and Helana whip around, staring at the entrance. A young man charges in, armed with multiple weapons, heading straight for them. Ella reacts first, her mind lashing out, knocking him to his knees as she did to Jimmy Sterling. Helana follows, slamming his face to the concrete, scattering his weapons. Heâs too strong, rising, pulling an assault rifle, aiming at Roxana. Three sharp pops echo. The man clutches his chest, stumbles, and collapses face-down. The girls screamâexcept Eileen, frozen, staring at her hands gripping a Glock 40-caliber pistol.
Men in dark suits swarm, ushering the girls to an exit where a van waits. One grabs the gun from Eileen, posing as the shooter. Others slip into shops, their movements precise. In a sterile safe house, the girls huddle on a couch, the air heavy with antiseptic and tension. Eileen stares at the wall, catatonic, unresponsive. A physician checks their vitals, her face grim.
Melanie paces, her voice sharp. âBeaker, fess up! What happened? No bullshitâwas that real or staged for training?â Beaker, his voice strained, says, âHow could it be staged? Ella knocking him down, the gun sliding to Eileen, her shooting like a seasoned cop? Impossible.â Melanieâs eyes narrow. âIf it wasnât staged, was it a hit? He was aiming at Roxana before Eileen stopped him.â
Beaker says, âWe donât know. Heâs a nutcase, from what weâve gathered. Probably a coincidence.â Melanie snaps, âCoincidence? Nutcases are easy to manipulate. I think it was a hit, thwarted by the girlsâ training. Who trained Eileen on weapons? Not summer camp.â Beaker replies, âWe shot targets, no advanced training. I think she channeled her mom. Faced with death, her psychic skills tapped her momâs police training. Itâs the only explanation.â
Eileen stirs, whimpering, her eyes darting. Roxana cradles her as she sobs. Helana speaks, her voice hollow. âHis mind was blackâa bottomless void. I couldnât hold him. Something evil was there.â Beaker asks, âPossessed?â Melanie corrects, âNot possessed. Mind-controlled. A puppet for someoneâor something.â
Ella, on the phone with her mom, lowers it, her face pale. âMom says the news reported an off-duty FBI agent shot the guy. Thatâs a lieâEileen did. Why?â Beaker explains, âSanitizing. A 14-year-old killing with military precision raises questions. We said an FBI agent did it, grabbed the surveillance footage, and cleaned it. It happened too fast for phone videos.â
Ella, skeptical, asks, âThose cleanup guys were just there?â Beaker admits, âTheyâve been shadowing you for months. You didnât notice. Weâre keeping you safe. The agents are embarrassed they didnât stop him sooner. They apologize.â Ella asks, âThe FBIâs watching us?â Beaker clarifies, âNot exactly. Theyâre a multi-agency task forceâFBI, CIA, NSA, AFOSI, Secret Service. Elite, secret, unknown to Congress. Keep their secret; theyâre keeping yours.â
Ella smirks. âLike the presidentâs kids?â Beaker replies, âBetter.â Ella says, âAnd we still had to save ourselves. Some security.â Beaker nods. âRetrainingâs started. You might not always protect yourselves, so keep them around.â Eileen, her voice small, says, âI didnât finish my gelato. Can I get another?â Beaker responds, âIâll order one, Miss Danvers. Right away.â Helana, forcing a smile, says, âIâm Miss Danvers too.â
In the safe houseâs dim bedroom, Ella sits on a cot, the night heavy with silence. Roxana prays softly, her rosary beads clicking, while Helana tries to sleep, hoping for night school. Ella opens her diary, her hand trembling.
Dear Diary,
Nothing much happened. I knocked a guy down with my mind. Eileen shot him. We watched him die. Just another day in our quiet town.
I wasnât scared. I screamed, but I felt in control. Overconfident? Maybe. If Iâd been scared, could I have acted? What scares me is how good it felt when he went down. Exciting. I wanted to fist-pump. I hate action movies, but this was thrilling. I need to fix that.
Eileenâs in shock, barely remembering she killed someone. How will she feel when it hits? This is spiraling. Thatâs what terrifies me.
Iâm scared the Navy will take us away to âprotectâ us. Iâd rather stay home, even if itâs riskier. Let the agents watch outside. Someone tried to kill us. A minute later, he was dead. They wonât try again soon.
Melanie tried teaching remote viewing. Theyâre clueless. Helana will teach us, as always. Helanaâs going to night school alone, if she can sleep. She needs her mom. Sheâs scared too.
Roxana and I are watching Eileen, ready for nightmares. Itâs a long night. Roxanaâs prayingâmaybe itâll help. I donât know. Melanieâs a therapist, offering help. Weâve got this. We always do.
Goodnight, Diary.