Mindi headed to the hospital the next morning, her inner conflict still raging. Should she confront the group with their role in Nick's future, or simply help them along as best she could, leaving it to fate? Jacob's opinion was blatantly obvious. Every psychic monitoring Nick in some fashion had become aware of his involvement in the stronger connection between Nick and Brian. Had it been left up to Jacob, he would probably have marched up to the remaining Backstreet Boys and knocked a little sense into them. However it wasn't up to Jacob. Psychics didn't reveal themselves unless it was totally necessary, and since Mindi was already available to be spokesperson, the job fell to her.
She was so caught up in her thoughts, she nearly walked right into the bodyguard standing just outside the elevator on the Boys' floor.
"Whoops. Mornin' Mindi," the deceptively short, stocky man greeted her. "Y'ain't slept well."
"You got it Sam," she replied. "Waiting up for Alex. He stayed here all night, huh?"
"He was asleep in a chair when I got here." Sam nodded in the direction of Howie and Kevin's room. "Went down to get some breakfast a little while ago."
"The others?"
"They finally let Kev an' Howie sleep. Don't wake 'em if you know what's good for ya. Brian might be up though."
"Ok. When Alex comes back up, tell him where I am, will you?"
"Sure thing."
As she walked away from Sam, Mindi reflected on something she had learned over various tours with famous musicians. The moment a bodyguard isn't needed, it's as if he or she turns off, ceases to exist. One evening, out of curiosity, she slipped into the mind of a bodyguard, trying to see if the inside imitated the self-effacing exterior. What she found was a new kind of mental sheild. Behind it, the person was definitely thinking, both of various situations that might require his attention, and of other more day-to-day concerns. But all thinking was surrounded by a sort of smooth mental sheild. Nothing strong, just smoke and mirrors, enough to keep him from being noticed by the casual observer. A useful trick.
The moment she entered Brian's room, Mindi felt herself wishing for mastery of that same useful trick. His blue eyes pinned her where she stood, seeking answers. If he'd had the power, Mindi felt certain he would have torn them from her mind. There was very little guilt in Brian's eyes this morning, mainly an intense determination.
"What happened last night?" he demanded.
She licked her lips, her mouth suddenly gone dry. This was not how it was supposed to go. Instead of her lecturing Brian, it was he who was in control, the interrogator. What had Jacob's 'active role' let loose?
"Well?" he pressed. "I had a nightmare last night. It had something to do with Nick. Was one of y'all in my head?"
"Not exactly." Mindi squirmed under his unweilding gaze. It was unlike Brian to be so single-minded. Finally she marshalled her thoughts well enough to make a protest. "Look, this isn't something that I should talk about with just you. All four of you are affected, you should all hear the same story."
"If you don't change the story any, you shouldn't have any problems repeating it," he pointed out. "Kevin and Howie need their sleep, and I need some answers now."
"Can I at least wait until Alex gets here?"
"For what?" A.J. asked, walking in with a cup of coffee in one hand.
"For Brian to interrogate me."
"Y'know if you're gonna interrogate the woman Bri, make her sit in one of those way messed-up plastic chairs over there. I can tell you from experience, they're more uncomfortable than just standing."
"Bone..." both of them warned in the same exasperated tone.
"Just a suggestion. If you want to give her the third degree, be my guest." A.J. shrugged. "Personally, I thought ol' Kevvy-Kev would be the first one in line to do it, right before he fired her for betrayal of trust or something."
"This is different. I'm not mad, at least not yet. I just wanna know exactly what's going on. I think you've been holding out on us, Mindi."
"You're not wrong," she admitted, relaxing a little now that A.J. was around to break the tension "This kind of stuff isn't easy to tell, I had to sit back and think about how to say it, to whom and when."
"Considering my dream last night, I think the answers are 'tell it to me straight', 'tell it to me' and 'tell it to me now'." Brian decided.
"Huh? What dream?"
Mindi ignored A.J.'s question and began to figure out where to start. "Before I can really explain everything, you're going to have to tell us both about your dream, as much as you can remember. First, I'll tell you why you had the dream, what the 'dream' really was, and then after you tell me what you saw, we can start trying to figure out what you're supposed to do about it."