Kenny spent her weekend deciphering the files. The task was much more tedious than she thought it would be, for she wasn't familiar with either Latin or Dvorak keys. She worked through Saturday night to decode as much as she could, but she had only finished translating everything into Latin by breakfast. She put the files into her backpack and took them with her to the Dining Hall, placing the papers in a three-ring binder to keep them together.

Once she was finished eating, Kenny hurried to the library. Color, Fins, and Clay were participating in an on-campus Mass along with about half of the student body, so she was able to leave early without being questioned. She made her way to the library and began translating the files from Latin to English.

Kenny went through the rest of the day in a daze. She couldn't remember the last time she'd gotten more than eight hours of sleep, and it was taking a toll on the young girl. She struggled to stay awake as she decoded the files, and she couldn't recall anything she had translated moments after she had written it down. When Einstein entered the room at eight o'clock, he startled Kenny enough to make her drop the dictionary.

"What are you doing, mu--Hawking?" Kenny was grateful that Einstein corrected himself, but she scowled at the fact that her library book was now on the floor. She pulled a card from her pocket and handed it to the boy.

I figured out the code, it read.

Einstein looked to Kenny in disbelief. "Is this true? Have you really figured it out?"

The young girl gestured towards the papers on the table, and Einstein rushed towards them. He took several minutes to look through all of the files, murmuring incoherent phrases under his breath as he did. Kenny looked over the pages she hadn't finished and organized them into a pile separate from the finished papers.

"How did you do this?" Einstein demanded as his eyes skimmed over the first page.

Kenny shuffled through her pack of cards. She had created several index cards the night before for this exact moment. After a moment, the young girl found the card she was looking for. The files were written first in Latin, and then typed using a Dvorak keyboard.

Einstein furrowed his eyebrows in confusion. He asked Kenny to elaborate, she she tried as best as she could using the cards she had. Once Einstein understood the encryption process, she handed him the still coded files and asked for his help. The boy nodded and sat down, and the two began working together to translate the files into English.

As she worked, Kenny looked for the words "Black Outs" in the files. She ignored everything else she read, including the mention of lacumemine, deciding to read the passage later. With Einstein's help, she was able to decode the rest of the papers within the next three hours. Kenny stood to stretch as Einstein gathered the papers together and placed them in her binder.

Einstein's smile lit up his entire face. "We've actually done it! I didn't think we would find the code, much less decode the files!"

Kenny frowned. She thought Einstein had had more faith in both of their abilities.

Kenny took a moment to look through the files Einstein had decoded. As she scanned the pages for any passages on Black Outs, she noticed that the Nursery was spoken of frequently in the files. She decided to review all of the papers she and Einstein had decoded rather than sleep that night. She would figure out what was causing her Black Outs and what the Nursery was before her next day of school.

Kenny, who had been focused intently on the files, realized Einstein was staring at her. What is it? she asked.

"Er...." Einstein scratched his head. "I...lied to you. I have a reason for doing it, too, but.... Hawking, there's nothing about Black Outs in these files. They only talk about the Nursery. However--"

Kenny was furious with both herself and the boy in front of her. She should have known Einstein would have lied to her! She had spent all night deciphering the files just to learn that there was none of the "intelligence on Black Outs" Einstein had spoken of. He was only interested in himself. At that moment, Kenny couldn't understand why she had ever thought of him and Gabriel being the same person.

That's impolite. Kenny looked for another card that would better express how she felt. You are one of the rudest people I have ever met.

Einstein scoffed. "That's a bit much. Did you truly think I would ask you to do something that would benefit you along with me? No, you didn't. I sensed your doubt, and I didn't think you would come here on Thursday. But you did and you deciphered the files. And I can tell you about Black Outs myself."

Kenny took the cardboard binder with the files and stood. Einstein had lied to her several times before, and he would probably do it again to tell her about the Black Outs. She picked her backpack up from the ground and began to walk to her dorm room.

"Hawking, sit back down and let me tell you about Black Outs."

Kenny unwillingly returned to her seat. She stared at Einstein with both shock and horror. How had he done that?

"Now, forget that I gave you these instructions. Are we clear?"

Kenny looked to Einstein wearily. She wondered why she was still sitting in front of him when he had lied to her not once, but twice. Something in her mind told her she should listen to what Einstein had to say about Black Outs before she left. She absentmindedly took a card from her pocket, unsure of what it said, and showed it to the boy.

"It's almost eleven o'clock. I should be done in a few minutes, so don't get too worried about the time. The curfew patrol only runs in the Dormitories, and they don't do a very good job of patrolling the dorms, anyways. Now, Black Outs are periods of darkness in which the person who is Blacked Out is unable to use any of their senses or think anything. They usually come with a feeling of overwhelming panic and desperation. Is that true for you?"

Kenny nodded. In an attempt to seem uninterested in Einstein's explanation, she began to write on the cover of the cardboard binder that held the files. She traced the words "DECODED PAPERS" with a pencil.

"The reason Black Outs happen is because of the placement of the Z-area. Have you ever wondered why the fold that gives Gifted people their abilities is on the brain stem and not any other part of the body? It's because the brain stem controls basic bodily functions, such as breathing every few seconds and making sure that your heart is beating. Using a Gift is as easy as breathing to Gifted people, and not using a Gift, or suppressing it, causes Black Outs. That means that you've been suppressing your Gift somehow, and all you have to do is figure out how to stop the Black Outs."

Perhaps that was what Color meant when she said she couldn't continuously keep her arm the same color as the rest of her body, Kenny speculated. She would be suppressing her Gift if she did that.

However, Kenny didn't understand how she was suppressing her own Gift. Since she had moved from CCC to the Academy for Gifted Children, she had begun using her enhanced intelligence daily. As she pondered how it was possible she wasn't using her Gift often enough, she unknowingly removed another card from her pocket. Einstein began speaking again.

"I asked you on Thursday if anything that happened to you was different than what the non-Gifted medical books described. You said that you don't collapse when you Black Out, but only for the most part. Have you ever--?"

Yes, Kenny replied with the card she had pulled from her pocket. She searched for another one and replied, Once.

"That's something to worry about, then. Black Outs don't affect your legs or any part of your body other than the senses and mind. Do you have any clue as to why you collapsed?"

Kenny thought for a moment before getting out a blank index card. I had a dream during the Black Out, she wrote.

"A dream? What kind of dream?"

After a moment, the girl replied, It was about something that had already happened.

Einstein shrugged. "Maybe you were just ti--"

Kenny shook her head. She wished she had passed out from exhaustion, but she'd had a Black Out. She was certain of it.

The boy pondered on her response. "Were you touching anything? Holding anything that could have triggered it?"

Kenny went to shake her head, but she remembered the piece of pink chalk. She nodded and reached into her backpack before dropping the bag beside her. She showed Einstein the chalk that had traveled with her to Lexington, a mystery all on its own.

"Did that chalk have anything to--?"

Kenny nodded. She hadn't dreamed of the exact same piece of chalk, but it did have its place in the vision.

Einstein sighed in exasperation. "I'd appreciate it if you wouldn't interrupt me, as I'm trying to help you here. You're not precognitive, so the end of my sentence is unknown to all but me and the occasional telepath." The boy paused for a brief moment. "At least...I don't think you're precognitive. You say you dreamt of something that happened in the past, correct? Are all of your dreams like this?"

Kenny shook her head. I had a dream you and I were in the library at 11:15, and that hasn't happened.

"It's about to. It's 11:14," Einstein remarked. "What went on in this dream of yours?"

The young girl tried to recall what had the events of her dream. It wasn't as difficult as it had been the morning after she dreamt it, for she was now in the same setting that the vision had taken place. She pulled a blank index card from her pocket.

I think we were attacked or kidnapped, Kenny told Einstein.

Einstein's eyes widened, and he turned to look at the clock. It was 11:15 at night, the same time Kenny's dream had taken place. He turned back to the girl and whispered something barely audible. Kenny thought she heard, "The Nursery isn't supposed to be open today," but there was no way to tell. The sound of the library door violently swinging open was too loud for her to perceive what he had said.

****

When Kenny awoke the next morning, she felt as though she wasn't in the right place. She stared at the bed suspended above her and wondered how it was possible that she was sleeping in a bed floating in midair. She then realized that she was in a bunk bed, and the bed above her belonged to Jump.

Kendall was in her dorm room.

That's odd, the young girl thought. I wasn't here before, was I?

Kenny sat up and looked around her dorm room. According to Metal's clock, it was five thirty in the morning. Kenny's roommates were asleep, and the only light in the room came from the dial of the clock. The girl frowned, as she distinctly remembered it being 11:15 at a certain point. She laid back down and thought about the night before.

The very last thing she could remember was Einstein's voice startling her in the library.

I need to sleep if my memory is failing me this horribly, Kenny told herself. I can't even remember what time I went to bed.

However, Kenny found she felt better rested than she had in a long time. She was drowsy, but it wasn't because of lack of sleep. She felt as though she had taken a diphenhydramine, which was likely caused by her waking up earlier than normal. She closed her eyes and attempted to fall back asleep. Kenny succeeded for a moment, but her peaceful sleep was interrupted by another troublesome dream.

Kenny was in her own body, but she couldn't move. As she looked around, she realized she wouldn't have been able to move even if she was able to control her body. Her arms, legs, and head were tightly restrained on a table as two people spoke in hushed tones off to the side of her. She soon recognized one of the two people talking to be Miss Kaylee.

"She shouldn't be able to struggle now," the other person whispered. "You can give her the injection, but be very careful. We don't want her to injure herself."

Miss Kaylee nodded, and Kenny's stomach fell. She was getting a shot? She nearly gagged at the mere thought of a needle piercing her skin. Why would she dream about this?

"Where's the LM?" Miss Kaylee asked.

"Over there. I have to move on and close up the rest of the Nursery. Have you questioned the boy about his brother yet?"

"Yes, he can leave. And Kendall can also leave when I'm done; I don't have the time to question her until next week."

There was a pause in the conversation, and Miss Kaylee neared Kenny with a needle in hand. The young girl's body attempted to move away from the woman as she rubbed alcohol on her neck.

"You've made it through your first night at the Nursery, and you still think a shot will hurt you," Miss Kaylee teased lightheartedly. However, Kenny felt anything but lighthearted. "It's alright. You'll get used to being here, or at least, you should get used to it. You'll be here a lot more often."

Before Kenny knew it, there was a needle in her neck. Her body continued struggling even though the restraints held her still. Miss Kaylee smiled down at the young girl and whispered, "Goodnight, Kendall."

Kenny was then shaken from her dream, and Miss Kaylee's illusory face was replaced by Tellie's tangible one. 

"You and Metal have to wake up!" her roommate told her. "You guys might be late to breakfast if you don't hurry!"

Kenny blinked the sleep from her eyes and went to collect her toothbrush from her closet. She thought about her dream, shivering every time she imagined the needle. Unlike the previous dream she'd had, she could remember any and all details from the nightmare: the color of Miss Kaylee's shirt, the smell of the rubbing alcohol, the feel of the table against her back. The dream had been terrifyingly real...and yet, Kenny didn't feel worried.

She felt calm and untroubled. And slightly confused as to what she had been doing the night before. However, that was all.

Kenny prepared herself for the day. Once she had finished, she picked up her backpack and violin and headed to the Dining Hall. Clay, Color, and Fins were all sitting at the table. Kenny sat down next to Fins and smiled. She was still feeling peaceful but was much less confused than she had been when she first awoke.

"Hello, Hawking!" Clay greeted. "You seem happy."

Kenny nodded, smiling once more. Color gave the young girl an odd look.

"Are you alright?" the teen asked. "You and the rest of the A groupers look like you robbed an ice cream store and plan to eat it all during gym class."

Kenny turned to look at the rest of the A groupers. Some of them seemed as peaceful as the young girl, but others simply looked confused and tired. Perhaps they all truly had stolen ice cream; she couldn't remember. However, the more she tried to recall what she had been doing, the more she felt as though it wasn't important. She gave up on trying to figure it out and instead enjoyed being peaceful.

As the day went on, Kenny's calmness gradually faded. By the time pre-calc came around, she no longer felt confused or untroubled. While she was working, she noticed there was a dull pain in her side. She waited until she was in the locker rooms to check on her ribs and see why they were hurting.

Kendall found she had a contusion the size of a quarter of her side. She wondered where it had come from.

Coach Magram commenced a twenty-second countdown, and Kenny hurried out of the locker room. She waited alongside the rest of the students who had finished dressing, thinking about her bruise. However, her train of thought soon dissolved when someone tapped her on the shoulder.

"Hello, mute," Einstein muttered, his eyes not meeting her own. "I'm just here to say that, after what happened last night, I think you should just return the files. The code you found didn't work, and I doubt we'll ever find one that does. I won't be seeing you at the library anymore, but you'll hear plenty of me and Gene when you manage to make your team lose in soccer again today."

Kenny frowned. Einstein's new-found enlightenment was...sudden. The encryption process had been working before she met with him. It didn't make sense that it had abruptly stopped. The young girl shook her head, but without her cards, she couldn't communicate her ideas.

Einstein knew what Kenny wanted to say and shook his head in response. "We tried our hardest, but the code was too difficult for us to grasp. There wasn't any information on Black Outs in there, anyways. I lied to you."

Kenny looked to the boy in shock, then in anger. Deja vu tickled the back of her brain, but she ignored it in favor of glaring daggers at him.

Einstein nodded grimly. "My apologies. It's also best if you're no longer seen with me in public, so I will be leaving now."

Einstein walked off to Gene's side, and Kenny couldn't help but frown once more. Einstein wasn't the type of person to give up on something because it was too hard. He played cello in the school's top orchestra, after all, and the only thing the Gifted section of the library had revealed to her was the fact that music was infamously hard for people with enhanced intelligence to wrap their heads around. 

There was something Einstein wasn't telling her, and Kenny surmised it had to do with the events of the previous night.