deCEIVED (Book 2)

24: Lucas

I opened my eyes and sat up with only one thought running through my head- today was the day where we would Bill-proof our minds with Samantha's new machine.

None of us knew what to expect, so when we trudged over to the café for breakfast, we were all shivering for a while. Some of us looked like they could calm down after they ate, but the rest of us were ready to throw up. I had as much anxiety as they did, but I didn't freak out.

"I heard that we're going to have to scan our thoughts in front of our partners," Milo said to Phoebe.

"You mean...they'll be able to see our thoughts?" Phoebe asked.

"That's what I heard," Milo answered.

"Great. Hopefully, this won't take very long." Phoebe groaned.

"I think that we're going to be doing this for at least a day without stopping. That's probably why Magnus was putting a cot in every training room last night." Tiffany interjected.

"When did you see that?" Devon snickered.

"We were the last two people to finish our training, and when I thought the hallway was empty, I saw Magnus pushing a cot into one of the training rooms. I pointed it out to you, Devon. Don't you remember?" Tiffany explained.

"I don't think I was listening to you at the time," Devon admitted.

Tiffany rolled her eyes, did a facepalm, and groaned, "Of course you weren't."

"I'm sorry," Devon apologized.

"Thanks," Tiffany mumbled.

After breakfast, Samantha demonstrated how we would use the machine. "All you have to do is sit there and wear this helmet while your thoughts are being scanned. The helmet must be plugged into the machine at all times. Also, this equipment is very easy to break, so you better be careful while you are using it." Samantha told us.

Everybody nodded.

"Do any of you have questions before we begin?" Samantha asked.

Axel's hand shot up.

"Yes, Axel?" Samantha said to Axel.

"We're working with the same partners as yesterday, right?" Axel inquired.

"That's right," Samantha responded.

I glanced at Michaela, who had a nervous expression on her face, just like everybody else. But she was smiling a bit, and she seemed a little more relaxed than the others. I was lucky to have such a confident partner.

Samantha crossed her arms and announced, "Now if there are no more questions, you may go to your training rooms at this time."

Michaela and I walked away from the cluster of Scapers and headed off to our training room. When we passed by Nathan and Phoebe, Nathan saw Michaela and whispered to her, "It'll be alright, Michaela." Then he quickly kissed her cheek before running with Phoebe to their training room.

"Are you ready?" I asked Michaela.

"I think so. I mean, we're just wearing a helmet for a few hours. What's the worst that could happen?" Michaela snorted.

I held the door open for Michaela, who smiled at me and thanked me before walking into our training room.

"So I heard that we were supposed to test the machine out on each other before we can get started," Michaela stared, "but I can test it out first if you want."