Clutching his head, Eden looked around to find Cam staring directly at him. Though his eyes weren't visible, the gaze still chilled Eden to the bone. Cam knew it was him.

After a moment, Cam walked towards Eden, and beckoned with a glove-covered finger to lean down.

"Use your magics on my friend again," the voice was cold. "And I will scramble your mind. Do I make myself clear?"

Immediately, Eden realized that Cam – who sounded like a boy – didn't know who he was. He was there because Greyson had probably mentioned him to the mind mage.

"I hadn't meant to," Eden whispered. "I did apologize, I was just wondering if he were friends with you, and if he knew if you'd be back."

"Don't do it again."

"I won't," Eden said, then feigned thinking for a moment. "Well, not intentionally. I'm doing my best to learn how."

"Do you know any other mind magics?" Cam asked.

"No," Eden answered. "Silkspeech is the only magic I know, period, actua-ah!"

A pain sharper and stronger than any other went through his mind, and it took all of Eden's willpower to not drop to his knees and clutch his head.

"Nice lie," Cam growled. "But I know you're a spatial mage. I wouldn't recommend giving me an obvious lie again."

"How did you know?" Eden asked when he recovered from the assault.

"I saw you teleport," Cam responded. "I know who you are. It's no coincidence your first day fighting after our last match was when I showed up. You wanted to see if I'd fight you again."

Somehow, Cam knew who he was. The game was up, and there wasn't too much point continuing to pretend he wasn't who he was.

"Will you match me again?" Eden asked, a little too eagerly. "I mean, would you like to fight me again?"

"Friday night," Cam said. "Since you lost this one, fight until no one else will, then I'll fight you."

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Cam turned and left after delivering his threat and then making an agreement for a future match. The boy made his way through the crowd until he reached Blake and Greyson, who were at the bookkeepers, trying to figure out where he'd gone.

"There you are," Blake said when he noticed Cameron's returned. "Where'd you go?"

Cameron shrugged in response, then accepted his envelope of winnings, and the trio left. As they did, Cameron sensed someone following him, and became happy he'd extended his mental range out again.

He attacked the stalker mentally with all he could without pushing past what he thought would damage the man without faltering in his step.

When they returned to the hotel, Cameron went through his winnings. Nearly a grand, and he still had the four hundred from the first fight.

"Most of it probably came from your match against Eden," Blake told him. "The more often you fight, the more you'll make. Keep in mind, though, that the more you win, the more people will bet on you, lowering the overall winnings."

Cameron shrugged.

"I'm going to get some rest," he pulled off his hoodie. "I'm going back on Friday."

"Why?" Blake asked. "That's two days from now."

"Eden and I are fighting again on Friday."

"Why do you think that?"

"Because we agreed to it."

"When?" Greyson asked. "You said you couldn't get telepathy down yet."

"I can't," Cameron shed his shoes, then climbed up into the bed. "We talked after the match. That's where I went."

"But Eden left after the match."

"Eden removed the mask and hoodie, dummy."

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Blake and Greyson looked at each other in mild shock at Cameron's comment, then back to Cameron, who had already passed out. They really should have expected that Eden did something like that. How else could he have just showed up the same time that Cameron was there? He could have someone watching, but why wouldn't he watch, too?

"You know," Greyson said after a few moments. "I feel like an idiot. Cameron can tell the differences between minds."

The two of them suspected Cameron's empathic powers, though never brought it up to him for fear of chasing him off. But when he always knew who was there, it was a little obvious he could do more than just mentally assault people, and they knew he couldn't use telepathy since he'd been trying it with them.

"Yeah," Blake said. "He knew Eden was there even after Eden 'took off the mask'. It means he also probably knows if Eden's a boy or a girl."

Greyson sighed, then headed for the shower. After he took one and changed into his pajamas, he climbed up onto his bed and looked at Cameron, who looked rather peaceful. The other kid was still as rough as he'd been at the start, though his suspicion had faded away. At least, his suspicion of them.

He still refused to return to Elaine. He also cried when he thought he was alone. They weren't aware of it, but that only happened when he'd pulled in his mind after being alone for awhile, and didn't realize someone else had shown up.

Stolen story; please report.

It was breaking Greyson's heart, who knew from what little they could get out of him that Cameron wanted a family. Anytime one came up, he became bitter and cynical, but Greyson could see past that to the desire.

It made Greyson desire for family again, though he didn't really consider what he had before 'family'. Thoughts of family lulled Greyson to sleep, and when he woke in the morning, Cameron had gone, though Blake said he promised to be back later that day.

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Cameron, meanwhile, was wandering down the streets, listening to the voices in his head.

"Now that is what I call ugly. Whoever bred such a thing should be put down."

"Can we put you down?"

"What are we putting down? I've got some stuff to put down."

"We're voices in Cameron's head, we can't put anything down. Nor have anything to put down."

"What do you mean?" Cameron asked under his breath, and the voices didn't respond. "You just said you're just voices in my head, but that can't be, can it?"

"Well, we could be voices in other peoples' heads."

"Yeah, only no one else has the spell to let them hear us, and it's your innate gift."

"Speaking of spells, you've been going about telepathy wrong."

"I have?"

"Yeah," a different voice responded, one Cameron had only heard once before – when the truth serum made all of the voices in his head start talking against their will. "You're assuming it runs in the same vein as your empathy and have been attempting to use your empathy to hear the thoughts of others.

"What you really need to do is push your mind to theirs, but not as a weapon. Simply push your mind outward. It's similar to your empathy, but not quite the same. As you do, keep your mental ears open and you'll hear their thoughts. To project your thoughts to others, don't push your mind or try to use your empathy's brushing of their thoughts to forge a connection. Instead, simply push your thoughts to them. Think of that more like your mental ram."

"How come I've only heard you when the truth serum made everyone talk?" Cameron asked.

"I prefer not to clutter your head," the voice responded. "There are a few of us you'll have only heard when that happened. Try what I said on the lady with the black lab."

Cameron looked around, noticing the woman sitting on the outdoor patio of a cafe. Rather than trying immediately, since it looked like she'd just sat down, he walked into the cafe and ordered a banana, piece of banana bread, a banana-nut muffin, and a large orange juice. Taking those, he went to the outdoor patio and sat down so the woman was in his view.

He wasn't sure why the voice wanted him to try on her, but he did, pushing outwards with his mind, but not his empathy. At first, nothing happened, but after a few minutes of trying, he sensed her mind, but not the way it felt.

For several minutes, he attempted to listen.

"-staring at me?" A female voice entered Cameron's mind, and he realized he'd succeeded. "Maybe he wants to pet Rufus?"

And then he realized she was thinking about him and that he'd been staring at her in his attempt. He pulled out of her mind as she walked over with the chocolate lab.

"Hi," she said. "I couldn't help but notice you staring at me."

"Um," Cameron blushed. "I, um… can I pet your dog?"

"Sure thing, sweetie," she said.

Cameron slid off his chair and start petting Rufus, deciding to try his telepathy on the dog.

"This feels good!" The thought was accompanied by images, and Cameron could sense the happiness the dog felt. "Oh, yeah, that's the spot!"

Cameron touched that spot again, and Rufus filled with joy again, so he scratched it, and Rufus leaned into his hand, his tail wagging.

"Seems he likes you," she said, and Cameron smiled up at the woman. "Mind if I sit with you?"

"Um," Cameron hesitated.

"Just say 'yes', it won't hurt you."

"Yes," Cameron nodded, wondering why his new 'teacher' was pushing this.

He was wary. The last time the voices led him to someone, that person used a truth serum on him and it caused all of the voices to overwhelm him. He almost passed out. Cameron still wasn't sure why they did that as they had always protected him in the past, always, and they refused to answer his inquiries about it.

"Give me one moment to grab my stuff," she said. "Mind watching Rufus as I do?"

"Sure," Cameron said, then went back to playing with Rufus as she grabbed her things and moved to sit across from his seat.

Cameron played with Rufus for another minute, then sat back on his seat, the dog sitting beside his chair.

"I'm Abigail," she introduced herself.

"Ca-Cameron."

"Nice to meet you, Cameron," she said, and he took a big bite of his muffin. "So, Cameron, it's a Thursday at nine in the morning. How come you aren't in school?"

Cameron looked panicked.

"I'm not going to call the police," she smiled. "There are sometimes good reasons why children aren't in school. How old are you?"

"Iu-twov," Cameron swallowed the bite of muffin. "I'm twelve. I'm home-schooled. M-my parents had to go out for the day, and I, um, snuck out."

"Lame-ass lie."

"I thought it was pretty good."

"He's twelve."

"Yeah, but depending on which half of him you look at, he's either still a kid or been an adult for years. He should've had a better response."

Cameron paused at that comment. The voices sometimes referenced his halves, though that was the most blatant statement of it so far. What did they mean, he was already an adult? He was only twelve.

"Everything alright?" She asked.

"Um," Cameron flushed. "I have voices in my head that don't shut up sometimes."

"Voices in your head?" He sensed her worry. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah," his face flushed again as he realized he'd blurted it out to a random stranger. "It's why my parents school me at home and don't let me out alone, and… I just wanted to go out and see people. Eat something other than what they make for me or what I get from the kitchen. They said it's skivo-skino-"

"Schizophrenia?" She asked.

"Yeah, that," he looked down at the table. "The voices tell me to do things all the time."

"What kind of things?" She asked.

"Go here, go there, eat this, don't eat that, don't go into that public restroom, because you'll regret it. It's never anything bad, but Mom and Dad and the therapist dude all say to not do what they say. It's not like they tell me to go dancing naked in the woods and-"

Cameron cut off, then narrowed his gaze at her.

"This kid is way too suspicious," her thoughts hit him as he tried to hear them again. "He's a good liar. I've finished my food, maybe it's time to bow out?"

"I've a meeting to get to," Abigail told Cameron, bending down to pick up Rufus's leash. "Maybe I'll see you around, Cameron?"

"Maybe," he said low in his throat.

Abigail picked up her trash and tossed it in the can, then left, and Cameron stared at her. She'd somehow gotten him to start rambling, yet hadn't fed him anything.

"Did she use magic on me?"

"No," the 'teacher' voice responded. "She just has that sort of presence about her. She's a social worker, and could tell from experience that you were a boy of the streets."

"Did you know I'd cause her to come over?"

"It was a possibility," the voice admitted. "But it was harmless. She's right about you being a good liar, though."

"What did the other voices mean?" Cameron asked. "About me being a kid or adult depending on which half you looked at?"

"You are only half-human," the voice answered. "Your other half is a species which is born fully-grown. Since your mother was human, you are forced to go through puberty. It's quite sad, to be honest. Want to try reading more thoughts? There are a few people who might amuse you."