Chapter 7 · Don't Listen In

"Stop the car."

Iris didn't even glance over. "We're on the freeway."

"I said stop the damn car." My skull felt like someone was taking a hammer to it from the inside. Every thought in every vehicle around us was bleeding through. The guy in the sedan to our left was planning his divorce. The woman in the truck ahead was rehearsing a lie for her parole officer. A kid in the backseat behind us wanted to know if his dad was coming back.

"You're hearing them." Iris merged right, smooth and controlled. "The second power. Mind-reading."

"I don't want it."

"Doesn't matter what you want." She took the exit too fast. "You died last night. You woke up with it. That's the deal."

I pressed my palms against my temples. Didn't help. The voices kept coming, overlapping, drowning each other out. "How many times have I died?"

"Three."

"How many powers?"

"Three." She pulled into an empty lot behind a shuttered gas station and cut the engine. "Fire. Mind-reading. And the first one."

"What first one?"

"The one that killed you the first time.