If I wasn’t going to hide the truth anymore, I might as well see the moment they started to doubt me. “You’re going to think I’m completely crazy,” I said. “No,” Maddy said, “we’re not. Don’t you get it?” No matter how animated James got, his glossy brown hair stayed perfectly in place. “We’re not stupid, Lois. Gamers don’t read each other’s minds. Not normally.” They were willing to listen. They were receptive to hearing what I’d been so certain would make me an outcast of the highest order. “That’s it,” I said. “Sounds like you were figuring it out already. They might not be mind readers, not exactly, but they are sharing a consciousness. They’re connected to each other.” I paused, then finished, “What we saw and heard from the lab is an experiment using real-sim tech to link the Warheads into one many-headed mind. Project Hydra in action.”
