The Maplethorn Initiative (Book 1, The Maplethorn Series)

Why Us?

Keegan returned to his seat on the edge of the desk. "Dr. Bensen?"

Benjamin Bensen blinked himself awake and looked up. "Yes?"

"Good morning. Hey, you know how I want you to trust me, right?"

Bensen folded his hands in his lap, looking like he might fall asleep any minute. "Of course."

"Cool. And I want you to be honest with me too. Can you do that?"

The doctor seemed to struggle with his answer.

"Drex?" Keegan said with his eyes still locked on Bensen. "I need you over here."

"What about your mojo overflow?" Cam asked from the far side of the room.

"Don't worry about it. I need you to ask him some questions."

"Why me? And what questions?"

"I never used my ability to interrogate anyone before," Keegan explained. "It might go smoother if you ask the questions, and all I have to do is want to hear the answers." He stood and offered Cam his spot on the desk. "Just ask about what he did to us and what's going on in the basement. There has to be a ton of stuff you want to know."

Cam reluctantly took Keegan's seat, pressing both hands between his knees. "Uh, hi. How's it going?"

"Better questions, Drex," Keegan sighed.

"I was being polite."

"To the guy who locked me in the basement for a month!"

"Right," Cam agreed, finding his resolve. "So, Dr. Bensen, why us?"

Keegan's eyes slipped closed, and his lips began repeating, "tell him, tell him," without making a sound.

The doctor stirred as if waking from an unintentional nap and remembering something very important. "You were all flagged as problem students," he answered earnestly.

"And you were trying to make us behave?"

"You were selected to undergo a procedure designed to minimize the impulses that got you into trouble."

"Tell me about the procedure," Cam continued. "How does it work?"

"We believed we could cure certain psychological disorders by bombarding specific areas of the brain with focused radiation."

"Radiation?" Cam's voice carried a mixture of anger and surprise. "When did that happen?"

"It was the day you came to my office. When we put you in the chair."

"You said that was just an examination," Cam snapped. "I don't remember signing a consent form agreeing to let you nuke my brain!"

"You boys are too young to give consent," Bensen chided. "The contract your parents signed when you were admitted to Maplethorn gives us license to diagnose and treat any behavioral disorders."

Cam's eyes ballooned, and his nose crinkled. "By frying our brains?"

The doctor seemed to drift toward sleep again. "The contracts are a bit vague in that regard."

"How'd you zap our brains without melting our whole heads?" Tober asked, somehow making the question sound sincere.

"We have a device that focuses multiple beams of gamma radiation on a single point inside of the brain," Bensen lectured. "The targeted brain cells lose their ability to reproduce, and healthy portions of the brain are forced to take over the functions of the damaged area. We can use this procedure to rewrite the neural pathways and synapses responsible for behavior."