Twicelight

Chapter - 8

Third person's pov:

"Can I ask just one more?" Sana pleaded as Tzuyu accelerated much too quickly down the quiet street. He didn't seem to be paying any attention to the road.

Tzuyu sighed.

"One," Tzuyu agreed. His lips pressed together into a cautious line.

"Well... you said you knew I hadn't gone into the bookstore, and that I had gone south. I was just wondering how you knew that." Tzuyu looked away,
deliberating.

"I thought we were past all the evasiveness," Sana grumbled. He almost smiled.

"Fine, then. I followed your scent." Tzuyu looked at the road, giving Sana time to compose her face. She couldn't think of an acceptable response to that, but she filed it carefully away for future study. She tried to refocus. She wasn't ready to let him be finished, now that he was finally explaining things.

"And then you didn't answer one of my first questions..." Sana stalled. Tzuyu looked at her with disapproval. "Which one?"

"How does it work - the mind-reading thing? Can you read anybody's mind, anywhere? How do you do it? Can the rest of your family... ?" Sana felt silly, asking for clarification on make-believe.

"That's more than one," Tzuyu pointed out. Sana simply intertwined her fingers and gazed at him, waiting.

"No, it's just me. And I can't hear anyone, anywhere. I have to be fairly close. The more familiar someone's... 'voice' is, the farther away I can hear them. But still, no more than a few miles." Tzuyu paused thoughtfully.

"It's a little like being in a huge hall filled with people, everyone talking at once. It's just a hum - a buzzing of voices in the background. Until I focus on one voice, and then what they're thinking is clear. Most of the time I tune it all out - it can be very distracting. And then it's easier to seem normal" - Tzuyu frowned as he said the word - "when I'm not accidentally answering someone's thoughts rather than their words."

"Why do you think you can't hear me?" Sana asked curiously. He looked at her, his eyes enigmatic.

"I don't know," Tzuyu murmured. "The only guess I have is that maybe your mind doesn't work the same way the rest of theirs do. Like your thoughts are on the AM frequency and I'm only getting FM." Tzuyu grinned at me, suddenly amused.

"My mind doesn't work right? I'm a freak?" The words bothered her more than they should - probably because his speculation hit home. She'd always suspected as much, and it embarrassed her to have it confirmed.

"I hear voices in my mind and you're worried that you're the freak," Tzuyu laughed. "Don't worry, it's just a theory..." His face tightened. "Which brings us back to you."

Sana sighed. 'How to begin?'

"Aren't we past all the evasions now?" Tzuyu reminded her softly. Sana looked away from his face for the first time, trying to find words. She happened to notice the speedometer.

"Holy crow!" Sana shouted. "Slow down!"

"What's wrong?" Tzuyu was startled. But the car didn't decelerate.

"You're going a hundred miles an hour!" Sana was still shouting. She shot a panicky glance out the window, but it was too dark to see much. The forest along both sides of the road was like a black wall - as hard as a wall of steel if they veered off the road at this speed.

"Relax, Sana." Tzuyu rolled his eyes, still not slowing.

"Are you trying to kill us?" Sana demanded.