Lightly sweated and disoriented, I awoke to total darkness. It took me a minute to realize that I wasn’t standing in front of my dead husband. I was lying on the couch in my living room.

I pushed myself up and over the padded arms switched on the reading lamp. Slumping back into the couch, I laid my head back and mentally walked through the nightmare I’d just experienced.

Details were fading but, I could recall the salient parts. In the dream, Jake says I will be dead by Monday. Figuring my cover blown, I called Chomsky who transferred me to Wilkes. I filled a suitcase and walked to meet a bus that would get me out of town. At the bus stop, children seemed to appear and disappear with no discernible mode or method of movement. Lockley accosted me at gunpoint and took me out of town where I came face to face with my dead husband, Robert. No explanation or apology, my “loving” husband greeted me with the words, “It’s an experiment, Maribel. We’re doing it for the children.”

I rubbed my eyes and thought back to the last thing I remembered before apparently falling asleep on the couch. Jake’s warning that I would die before Monday; he knocked over his cocoa and ran out of the house. I could not recall anything after that. What had I done in between? What time was it?

I saw them as I started up to check the kitchen clock. Like two little birds perched on a high wire, they sat on my love seat. “Jake – Amy? Am I still dreaming or are you two really sitting on my sofa?”

I expected a giggle or some childish response. Instead, they were as surprised as I was. Amy said to Jake, “It worked. It really worked.”

Jake nodded. “You had a dream, didn’t you Ms. B? You dreamed about leaving town and Mayor Lockley and Dr. Bob, right?”

I studied their faces. “Yes, Jake, I had a dream. It was very disturbing, but how did you know?”

“We sent it to you, Ms. B. We’ve never done anything like that before…” Jake said.

“We like you Ms B. We don’t want you to die. We had to make you see what will happen so you can get away,” Amy added.

What?! I knelt before them and took their hands. “Are you saying that you – the two of you, caused me to have that dream and that this dream was a – my future?”

They exchanged a brief glance and Amy said, “Yes, Ms B.”

Impossible - isn’t it? I needed time to think. I’ll be right back. Don’t go anywhere.”

The kitchen clock read 9:10 pm. I must have awoken around nine. Jake left around five o’clock. What happened in those four hours? The dream. What else?

I grabbed a water bottle from the ‘fridge and downed it in three gulps. Feeling better, determined to get to the bottom of this mystery, I returned to the living room.

Louise Mitchell, Jeremy Penny and Todd Morrison sat on the couch. Surprised and shocked, my heart leaped into my throat. Where did they come from? I’d heard neither knock nor doorbell.

Silent glares, the three of them bored holes through me. Uncomfortable seconds passed before I sat in the overstuffed chair. From here I had all five children before me.

“Louise, Jeremy – Todd, I wasn’t expecting so much company this evening.” I looked a Jake and Amy. “Did either of you hear the doorbell?” They shook their heads, no and stared at the floor. There's something going on here. I sensed hostility between the two groups of kids.

I addressed the newcomers. “So, I’m surprised and curious. How did you get in and why are you here?”

Jeremy and Todd, always quiet and shy boys, looked to Louise. I always believed her smarter than her peers. I’d never been able to get close to Louise. There was something disturbing about her that I’d never been able to pin down.

She raised her nose, eyes flashing and said, “We came for you, Ms B. We got here by teleportation.”

My gasp was audible. I couldn’t decide what shocked me more; that they’d come for me, or how she claimed to get into my house.

A smile flashed over Louise’s lips. “Teleportation is the act or process of relocating yourself by psycho-kinesis. Not all of us can do it, but all of us here, can. We can do a lot of things, Ms B, thanks to Dr. Bob.”

Dr Bob, again. Thinking outside the box had always been one of my stronger suites. Trying to think through a mud puddle that grew deeper and thicker with every revelation, and talk at the same time was not.

Twice, now, Dr. Bob had been mentioned. I’d dreamed of Robert. A connection? I decided to ignore her claim of teleporting, for the moment. I didn’t believe it, anyway. “Who is Dr. Bob, Louise?”

She remained smug. “His name is Dr. Robert Bloom. He’s not a medical doctor, but you already know that, don’t you? All of us kids just call him Dr. Bob. He’s in charge of the project.”

Oh, yes, I knew. Dr Robert Bloom, physicist, my husband, was not as dead as previously reported. I looked at Amy and Jake. Their eyes were tightly shut. They seemed to be concentrating on something. I wonder what?

“They’re damming, Ms B. That’s what we call it. They’re blocking us from reading their thoughts.”

The continual surprises were so much, so quick, that I was actually becoming immune to them. I realized that the only way I would get through this was to roll with it, take everything at face value and evaluate later.

“So, you are all telepathic?”

“Telepathy is the first thing we learn. You were about to ask them what they were concentrating on, weren’t you, Ms B?”

“Very good, Louise. Yes, I was about to ask that.” What I really wanted to know was everything she knew about Robert and the project. “What other, uh – skills have you learned?”

Louise, Jeremy and Todd exchanged glances. I realized they’d just “talked” when Jeremy and Todd silently stood and moved to either side of my chair. I felt uncomfortable -- trapped.

“Telepathy, you’ve seen. We can move objects – that’s telekinesis. We can teleport. You’ve seen that, too. We can…”

“Actually, I’ve never seen you teleport and I don’t believe you.” I was looking directly at Louise. As I finished the sentence she was gone. In a blink, she had disappeared. A second later, from the kitchen behind me I heard her footsteps and voice.

“Is that proof enough, Ms B?” Louise stood in front of me. Now, I felt threatened. Okay, enough of this. I tried to stand up. I couldn’t move. From the neck down I was paralyzed. Icy fingers of fear prickled my heart.

 “Whatever you’re doing, Louise; stop it, this instant!”

 Louise, unfortunately, was afflicted with arrogance bred among some people who have power over others. She was ten, maybe eleven, but she spoke as an educated, powerful woman. Her attitude was cavalier.

“No need to be afraid. Didn’t you want to see what we can do?” Her faux concern was unreal. She knew it and dropped her act. “OK, let’s cut the crap. You were supposed to be at the bus stop. We came here to find out why you weren’t. You’ve kept Dr. Bob waiting.”

I’d taken for granted that Dr. Bob was Robert. Robert is waiting? Looks like I haven’t changed my future very much. The wheels in Louise’s brain were spinning, evaluating. Leaning over Amy and Jake, she asked. “You told her she could change her future? How does she know about meeting Dr. Bob? You two have some answering to do – later!” Damn! I have to remember that they can read my mind.

A car, in front of the house, distracted Louise. She ran to the window. “Our ride is here. We’re going to release your legs, Ms B – only your legs, so you can walk. Let’s go.”

 Jeremy and Todd helped me to my feet. Suddenly, all three are flying through the air. They slammed into the wall and fell to the floor like rag dolls. Simultaneously, I realized I could move all of my body parts.

Jake was pulling my hands. “Let’s go, Ms. B. We’ve got to hurry before Mayor Lockley comes in!”

Amy was standing over Louise and her tag team, apparently holding them in place. “Amy, can you hold them another minute? Just one, I have to get something, first.” I saw her nod her head as I ran up the stairs.

In my bedroom, I scrambled through the closet to the wall safe. Shaking, I missed the combination the first time, but got it on the second. “Hurry, hurry,” I kept whispering to myself. I grabbed the agency cell phone and after only a moment’s hesitation, pulled out the holstered .38 Special and box of ammunition.

Someone was banging on the door. I grabbed Jake and Amy turned to follow us. I snagged a coat on the way out the back door.

Three blocks away I stopped running. Trying to catch my breath, I pulled Amy and Jake into a hug. “You can teleport, too, right?” T

hey were way ahead of me. “We can’t take you, though, Ms B. We can take objects, not people,” Jake said.

 Dammit! “OK. How do I get to the lab? Where can I find Dr. Bob?”

“The Ridgeway Farm. Do you know where that is?” Amy replied.

I knew about Ridgeway Farm. It was an old abandoned farmhouse complete with two silos and a huge barn. I’d driven by it once and remember it looked as if a strong wind would flatten the whole place. Someone had spent a lot of money to put a lab in there and keep it looking dilapidated.

I turned the agency cell phone on, dialed and after several rings, got my contact.

“Whosh ‘is?” Oh, my god! Déjà vu. Chomsky had been drunk when I called him in my dream.

It seems Destiny continually strives to keep its path. You can chuck, you can jive but Destiny will keep trying to hold its line. I told him my cover had been blown; he transferred me to Wilkes. I hung up. Louise had given Wilkes away when she told me I was supposed to be at the bus stop. No one knew that but Wilkes.

I dialed again. An operator answered, “Oregon State Police, how may I direct your call?” I told the operator to connect me with their Operations Division.

“Zimmerman, can I help you.” I identified myself as an FBI agent and told him the story.

“Why haven’t you contacted your agency? Special Agent Wilkes is responsible for this area, I believe.”

“Wilkes is in on it, Officer Zimmerman!”

“I see. Well – uh, I guess I can send a car out.”

“Now?”

”l dispatch it right away.”

I thanked him, reminded him where to send the car and turned to the children, “Let’s go.”

“Are we going to walk all the way out there, Ms. B?”

“No, Amy, we’re going to steal a car.”

“Yes!” Jake exclaimed.

Two minutes later I picked out a Ford Explorer. “Okay, who wants to do the honors?” Neither responded. “Mind over matter, right? Quantum mechanics says that all matter at the micro level is energy and that conscious intelligence can influence all energy. That’s what Dr. Bob has been teaching you, isn’t it?”

Slow nodding of heads. “So, put your hand on the door and think it unlocked.”

Jake was eager. He placed his palm over the door lock, closed his eyes and “clunk”, the doors unlocked.

We piled in, Amy in the front passenger seat. “Want to turn it on?” She giggled, reached across and put her hand on the ignition switch, concentrated. The engine engaged, I shifted to D and we were off.

I was relieved and glad that I’d paid attention to Robert’s explanations of quantum mechanics over the years; especially the day he was so excited about an experiment that confirmed the mind over matter theory. What I still didn’t understand was how he amped-up the children’s brains. It took a tremendous amount of conscious energy power to create the desired effect.

On the way, I queried the children and learned that they’d all had brain surgery; they took three pills every day and spent hours in classrooms learning how to use and control their new found powers. They also told me that several other children were disenfranchised about the experiences at the farm.

I turned into a forest, half a mile from the farm. Amy and Jake described the layout. As I suspected, the lab facilities were underground. I briefed the kids on what I wanted them to do and they vanished. I blinked. That’s sure gonna take some getting used to!

I checked the pistol and put it in my coat pocket. I had no key to turn the ignition off, so I put it in park and let it run. Choosing a route cross country, I set out walking.

Fifteen minutes later, I approached the barn from the backside, away from the highway. I wasn’t surprised to see Lockley’s BMW. Déjà vu had become the norm and a tremendous asset; from the dream I remembered that Lockley had a gun.

He was standing just inside the old barn door with Louise, Jeremy, Todd and another man. The distance and poor lighting provided only by a lantern at their feet made recognition of the second man difficult. My gut told me it was Robert. I couldn’t discern the words, but the two men were arguing.

A minute later, Louise and the boys disappeared into thin air. Damn, that’s disconcerting. Lockley entered his car, slamming the door and, in a spurt of dirt and gravel, zoomed toward the highway. Robert was alone.

I caught up to him as he started down a stairway, revealed by an open trap door in the floor. “Hold it, Dr. Bloom or should I say, hold it, honey."

He stopped, turned and I saw my dead husband for the first time in ten years. The big smile on his face slipped only briefly when he saw the gun pointed at his head. He held his arms open to me. “Maribel, I knew you’d come. I can’t tell you how happy I am to see you again, after all these years.”

What, no “It’s an experiment, Maribel. We’re doing it for the kids.” So much for dreams and déjà vu; or, maybe I’d finally and completely changed my future.

“Stay where you are. Set the lantern on the ground and put your hands behind your head. You’re under arrest.”

 “What? Darling, you can’t arrest me. I’ve done nothing illegal.”

“I’ll have seventy-two hours to think of something.”

 “Maribel, listen. It’s an experiment. We’re doing it for the children.”

Dammit, there it was. “****, Robert. I don’t care about that. You survived the plane crash, Danya must have as well. Where is she?”

He looked at the floor and back. Were those tears on his cheeks? “I’m sorry, Maribel. Danya did not survive. I was the only survivor.”

I took two steps forward. I was boiling mad, the gun shook. “You’re a liar! Tell me the **** truth, you bastard.”

“That is the….” He dropped his hands, extending them toward me in supplication.

“Get your hands back behind your head!” Robert complied. “Why did you go into hiding? Why did you let me believe you were dead?” I reached my left hand forward to steady my shaking pistol hand. Tears, unwelcome, unexpected and uncontrollable trickled down my cheeks.

“Maribel – darling, please believe me, if there had been any other way. Any way at all, I would have taken it.”

I wiped my eyes with my left wrist. I took a step backwards. “Get on the floor, on your stomach, hands under your crotch. DO IT – NOW!” He did. This is too easy. What am I missing, here? I patted him down. “Put your hands behind your back and roll over.” Again, he complied, and I patted down his front. He was not carrying a weapon.

I pulled out the cell and hit the buttons with my left thumb. “If you’re calling for help, you’re wasting your time – honey. Agent Wilkes, that’s who you were calling, isn’t it? Wilkes and I have worked together for many years. He’s kept the feds off my butt, quite well.”

I ignored him. I wasn’t calling Wilkes.

“Reinforcements have arrived, however. Mine. I believe you know Louise, Jeremy and Todd?”

I spun around, dropping the phone. Children or not, I planned to shoot. I pulled the trigger. The damned thing didn’t fire. Again – nothing! I turned to run. The gun flew out of my hand and I found myself face down on the floor, pushed and held by invisible hands.