L'affaire Bob

16. Palatial Headquarters

"No. Please, no. Not her, too!" was the thought that immediately buzzed in my head.

-"Unfortunately, yes," said Emma.

-"I thought only Amanda could talk to me like this!"

-"Well, she's the only one allowed to do it. But technically, she's not the only one who can talk to you through telepathy."

-"Why is she the only one allowed to do it? And if she is, why are you talking to me now?"

-"Well, Blind Guy, anyone can create a telepathic connection with a person they know well, or have enough information about, since they would have an idea of how their mind works. There are many more details to know about telepathy, but I don't have time to tell you everything now. Besides, you will have later on a lesson just for that. Anyway, to answer your question, when a time-traveler is still a protegee, only his guardian is allowed to have a telepathic link with him. Alas, Amanda just went to a meeting. She didn't have time to remind you to come, which is why she asked me to do it instead. I'm doing it underground though, no one should know about it. But as soon as I finish, I will close this connection immediately, so you probably won't hear from me anymore," she explained. "At least, in your mind."

 Judging by her tone, I could practically tell she was smirking, even though I could not see her.

-"Yeah, whatever. So, when do you want me to be there? In twenty minutes? Half an hour?"

-"Right now, actually. The four others are already here. It seems like you're the only one who's late. And I have a feeling that this won't be the last time."

-"Hey, to my defense, I'm the only one who works in our class. The others spent their whole day at the base, so it wasn't a problem to arrive on time."

-"You're wrong about that. Francesco does work too, you know. I thought he already told you since you guys are roommates."

A bitter chuckle escaped my lips. 

-"You'd be surprised."

-"Hmm. Enough talking. Come to the training room. Tout de suite!"

-"I'm coming! I'm coming," I hissed.

And in a flash, I was gone from my apartment, and in the training room.

As expected, the four were standing with Emma, looking at me. Some— Francesco and Emma, mostly— were glaring at me, while the others were throwing me disappointed looks.

The lesson went on smoothly. Well, as smoothly as it could be, with my lovely roommate and my dear coach in the room.

After what felt like forever, I was back in my apartment. It was already 9:30 pm. My table mates insisted on me staying for dinner, and didn't let me go home before it.

My stomach didn't argue with that and obliged happily, despite my mind having a different opinion about it.

See, on a normal weekday, if by 8 pm I wasn't back to my house, I would've been late to work the next morning, which would have been— as you may know by now— unacceptable.

Miraculously, however, I didn't arrive late to work because my dreams had woke me up around six in the morning.

Tuesday passed in a flash. At work, things were more or less back to normal. Mr. Gautier avoided mentioning Bob and instead grabbed every opportunity to torture his employees.

Lunch was pretty ordinary too, and so was the rest of the day.

Believe it or not, I was starting to get used to those training sessions and was slowly accepting the new side of me I recently discovered. My brain had already warmed up to the idea of spending every afternoon there, and it was becoming a part of my everyday life.