“Yeah, of course they do,” he said, grinning. “But I told you I can’t really control it very well. Sometimes I just reach out. I’m sorry.”

“Actually, you know what,” she said, glancing at him with a sly smile. “Try again. See if you can get what I’m thinking.”

“But you just told me not to.”

“I know, but now I’m telling you to try. I want to show you something.”

“Okay,” he said and reached out for her with his mind, but this time instead of reading her thoughts and emotions, he hit the equivalent of an invisible brick wall. Screwing up his face, he tried again and bumped into it again.

“Boom, that just happened,” she said and snapped her fingers at him with a smackdown attitude.

“What was that?” he said, his curiosity seriously piqued.

“I blocked you, dude. With my invisible wall.”

“Oooooh . . . teach me to do that you must, Jedi Master Yarnell,” he said, doing his best Yoda impression.

She smirked. “We’ll see . . .”

As she dragged him around, she explained that the main building—which housed the dormitories, classrooms, dining hall, chapel, and administrative offices—was designed in the shape of a cross. It clicked firmly into place in his mind, but on a subconscious level the SEAL in him had already been constructing a mental map of the floor plan. For the operator, situational awareness was a life-or-death proposition.

“. . . originally, this was the only building,” she explained, “but they expanded when they ran out of room. So now there’s the pool house, the equestrian center, and they’re building a new student center because the commons here are super lame. The new one is going to have a movie theater, a food court, and even a bowling alley. How cool is that?”

“Sounds pretty cool.”

“Supposedly they were going to build a skateboard park, but I think that’s on hold now,” she said, leading him outside to show him the grounds. “Olivia says that there would be, like, tons of liability if someone got hurt.”

“Probably true,” he said with a nod as he took a seat on a bench along the path that led down to the lake. “Who’s Olivia?”

“Oh, she’s my best friend I’ve made since I’ve been here.” She sat down beside him. “I wish I could be roommates with Olivia. But no, my roommates are . . . never mind.”

“Darilyn and Elizabeth?” he said, their names coming to him like a breath.

“Yeah,” she said.

Her wall was down again, and her raw teenage angst hit him like a sledge.

They don’t like me because I’m different. They’re jealous, especially Darilyn. They all have their stupid little cliques, and nobody wants to hang out with me. Mandatory one-on-one meetings twice a week with Pastor Dee don’t help either. It just draws more attention to me instead of less. Grown-ups are so clueless . . .