When Zoe ran into Bridgette in the hallway between classes at school on the Monday after being released from "hospital hell" as she fondly called it in her memory, she found that her most hated enemy in the whole school was now perfectly nice. That's one thorn in my side that I'm more than happy to be rid of. She thought to herself as she merrily went to her next class.  

Over the next few weeks Zoe continued to practice using her powers. She found that she was becoming increasingly resilient against the fatigue that came from using the mind reading power in succession and she could now use it around 6 times in a row without any ill effects. With more experimentation, she found that she could only use her more powerful second ability to enter that strange void in reality approximately once every 24 hours.

She had practiced using it on her parents and siblings on several occasions over a period of several days to come to that conclusion. On her first attempt, Zoe tried to look at Adam's memories immediately after viewing Lily's and as soon as she tried she was rewarded with a massive headache before promptly passing out on the sofa next to her siblings while they continued watching TV oblivious to what had just happened. She awoke two hours later when her mom came home from work with Pizza. From then on, Zoe decided to play it safe and made sure that she only experimented with that ability while she was sitting down in case she passed out again.

Looking through other people's memories was surreal, especially when it was people who were close to her. She found memories in each of her family members that she remembered differently. In one such case, she found a memory that all five of them had shared, but everyone's perspective of that event was slightly different. Watching herself from other people's point of view was interesting as well. Zoe knew that she was starting to get addicted to using her power. After a short time, she began using her power for trivial things like finding out where Lily had lost the TV remote two years ago. She and her parents had spent hours and hours looking for it before giving up and buying a universal remote that had just never quite worked as well. Zoe was able to locate the memory and find out exactly where it was even though Lily's conscious mind could no longer retrieve that specific memory. She found the remote inside an air vent that her 3 year old sister had apparently pried open and tossed a number of things inside. It was no wonder the living room's temperature never matched the rest of the house, one of the two vents had been clogged with toys and random stuff. Zoe felt that her power was amazing and she loved using it. 

Now that a few weeks of experimenting on her family and close friends had gone by, she was ready to do something more bold. She was going to cheat on her history exam this morning. Who needs to know ancient Greek history in the real world anyway? Surely, not veterinarians. Zoe reasoned with herself.

The truth was that she was about to cross a line. It was one thing to cheat on an evil thing like the SATs, but quite another to take all the easy shortcuts through life. It was just that the world was open to her in a way that it never had been before. She didn't need to bother with wasting time studying like regular kids, she was special now. Zoe struggled with her decision at first, but she found that it was easy to make excuses to herself for why she should cheat. With great power comes great responsibility, right? What's wrong with me? I shouldn't be using this to cheat, right? But... it's not like I'm hurting anyone. No one will ever even know what I'm doing. It's a victim-less crime. The bell rang just as she entered the room for third period World History. 

Everyone took their seats and strict, old Mr. Yates ambled his way into the classroom holding a large stack of papers. Those would be the tests. I didn't study at all. I know that cheating isn't good, but I'll make up for this later. Maybe I should become a police officer or something. I could solve crimes easily by hacking the brains of criminals. That would be the responsible thing to do with my gift, wouldn't it? She sighed as the girl in front of her turned around to pass a stack of papers toward her. Zoe took one and then passed it back. 

Mr. Yates didn't believe in assigned seating, and even though she had been one of the last people to get to class, she had managed to grab a seat close to his desk. Only one person was in front of her, and that put Mr. Yates just barely within the range of her power. It's go time! 

She focused her will on the teacher and pushed past that imaginary wall that she always felt when accessing people's memories. The world collapsed in on itself leaving her mental avatar standing in a dark void that stretched on for eternity in all directions. The now familiar blue memory orbs floated all around her. Time passed impossibly slow in this place, so she knew that she could poke around all she wanted without wasting any test time. I have to find the memory for when he made the test and spend some time memorizing all of the answers. It wont help me for the essay, but I think I can more-or-less fake my way through that. It's only worth 10% of the test anyway. I can still score an A- even if I bomb that question. 

Zoe's trial-and-error experimentation on her family had helped her learn a lot about this place. Memories that were more recent glowed a brighter blue than the others. She always started with those memories closest to her mental avatar. There were memories that formed the core of what a person was, which were a deep azure that would pulse slowly with a light that moved from the center of the orbs to the outside in a wave. Zoe had also discovered early on that she had the ability to somehow search for things she wanted. All she had to do was concentrate on what she was looking for and memories that fit the bill would appear in front of her. She was still far from a master at doing this, but found that as long as she kept the search simple, she would have excellent chances of successfully finding what she was looking for. 

She focused her willpower on the need for recent midterm exams and three bright blue orbs appeared before her. Makes sense. Midterms are going right now for all of my classes, and he teaches three different class levels. Of course he'd have made exams for each. She touched the orb to her left first.

The world bloomed into existence around her once more and she saw the everything from Mr. Yates' perspective. She was at the school and he was sitting at his desk working on an exam. He had a document up on his PC and was typing away. A steaming cup of coffee sat next to the older man and he took sips intermittently. Zoe could see from what was typed at the top of the document that this particular exam was for Mr. Yates' the tag at the top of the test that this particular exam was for his US history class. She had taken that class last year, but with Mrs. Sweeny, and had barely made it through in one piece. Memorizing obscure dates and reading boring history books was definitely not Zoe's strong point. Memorizing the preamble of the US Constitution was one of the most painful and mind-numbingly boring events that she could remember from US History. No need to force myself to relive that trauma. I think that history teachers just exist to waste people's time. Why can't all classes be as useful and interesting as Science and Math? Zoe mused before backing out of the memory. 

The void expanded around her, and once again she stood alone in the sea of lights. Well, that one was a bust. On to the next! She entered the middle orb this time. Mr. Yates was once again in the same classroom that she sat in now, and was standing by the window looking outside. The sky was gray and getting darker and the trees swayed hard in the wind. Rain pelted the window of the classroom making a rhythmic tapping noise. He closed the blinds and went over to his desk. Mr. Yates took a moment to turn on his PC and then sat down and opened up a program that he was going to use to make the test. This time the test seemed to consist of a blank map of Europe that he was placing dots onto. This one is a bust too. Looks like a Geography, exam to me. Zoe was about to leave the memory when there was a knock at the door of the classroom. Zoe had all the time in the world and decided to sate her curiousity. It's pretty late in the day, I wonder who could be coming to see him. Maybe a parent or another teacher? Zoe let the memory play out.

The teacher got up and opened the door to the classroom. He seemed to be getting excited about something. Zoe saw that it was a student who had been knocking on the door. She was a thin, pretty girl with long blonde hair tied into a braided ponytail. She was probably a Freshman by the looks of her. What is she doing here at this time of day? Zoe thought.

Mr. Yates invited her into the room. 

"So... Mr. Yates, you said that if I came here this afternoon, you'd go over the last test with me and give me a little extra help? Will you really let me make up the test?"

Mr. Yates smiled and motioned for the girl to sit down. Zoe reeled in disgust at hearing what was going though the man's head. What a sick freak this guy is. She should not be here and he should not be going after students like this. The older man smoothly sat down next to the girl, her name was Jamie, according to Mr. Yates' thoughts and he had been watching her carefully over the past few months, plotting a way to make this girl his. Zoe wanted to exit this memory, but just like how people couldn't help but look at an accident on the freeway, she continued watching.

"I can help you get an A in the class. You just need to do as I ask and not tell anyone. Not your friends, and not your parents. Ever. It's not hard, you see? I can even help you when it comes time to get into a University. I will write you a great recommendation. All you have to do is agree to become my, 'friend.' What do you say?"

Zoe could see a realization come across the girl's face and could almost feel the waves of panic that were practically shooting off of Jamie. The old man reached over and touched the girl's shoulder. Zoe watched as Jamie jerked away in revulsion. Mr. Yates was not a good looking guy and he was ancient as far as Zoe was concerned.

"The offer is on the table, young lady. If you're not interested, then I'll just find another girl to be my 'friend.' The choice is up to you. And don't get any ideas of telling anyone about this conversation. No one is going to believe you, and I will make sure that you continue to fail my class if you utter a single word. I trust you know how to keep your mouth shut?" Zoe couldn't see the man from this perspective, but she had a feeling that he had a lecherous grin on his face at that moment.

The girl stood up awkwardly and went over to the door. "I wont say anything. I promise. I can't do this though... I'm sorry. I have a boyfriend and... I just can't do this," she stammered and her hand shook as she reached for the door. A moment later she was gone and the teacher went back to his computer. Zoe could no longer contain her disgust and left the memory.

This sick bastard needs to pay! I can't believe that he gets away with this! How has no one ever turned him in? Or is it that people have and he's right that no one would believe them? Zoe decided that she would make sure that this man never hurt, or threatened another student again. First, she had to finish what she came here for though. 

She opened the third orb and watched as Mr. Yates made the exam she was now taking. She watched it in its entirety four times, memorizing the answers. Once she was satisfied, it was time to bring on some justice. This man had abused his position of power and it would not go without punishment. She spent some time and confirmed that he had done this same thing countless times over the years. The man was a serial pedophile. Even if he does get found out he'll just be fired and maybe spend a couple years in jail before getting out and continuing to prey on the weak elsewhere. He's like fifty years old and from what I found by searching for events like that one he has done this type of thing around twenty times. I'll provide justice for all the girls this man has hurt and blackmailed. It's not as though anyone could find out I did anything to him anyway. 

Zoe thought about what she could do for a little while and the longer she spent deliberating, the angrier she became. She decided on her course of action. Her justice would be swift and terrible. Zoe pulled all of the man's memories close until she was surrounded by the glow of the blue lights. The only darkness left was beneath her feet. She concentrated hard on erasing every single one of the memories. One by one the lights blinked out of existence. After what seemed to be several minutes, the final memory popped out of existence.

She stood in the darkness, there was nothing left of this man. He was now an empty shell. Zoe felt exhausted. Erasing that much had really taken a toll on her. I hope I don't end up in the hospital again. Even if I do though, it was worth it to stop this piece of trash. The real world came crashing back to existence around her and she saw that only about a minute had passed by in the real world. She had really spent a lot of time in that monster's head. She felt her skin crawl at the thought of having anything to do with him and she felt as though she needed a shower.

She forced herself to not let the exhaustion she felt take control over her and looked over at Mr. Yates who sat in his desk chair. He had a glazed over look on his face. It was clear that whatever she had just done had caused major brain trauma to the man. There was even drool coming out of one side of his mouth. She quickly looked back down at her test and filled in all the multiple choice bubbles at lightning speed. Zoe finished the exam by jotting down a few paragraphs for the essay question at the back and then waited. I need to not be the first person to turn this test in. It's too suspicious, considering I'm usually one of the last ones done with these kinds of tests. She leafed through the pages of the test a couple times before first few students finished and she heard the shuffling of papers and feet as people got up to go turn in the test. 

Zoe had glanced over at Mr. Yates several times as she had been pretending to check her answers and his condition had worsened. It looked like half of his face had lost all muscle control and drooped down in an odd way. It was like what she had heard stroke victims looked like. Trent, the smartest guy in school as far as Zoe could tell, was the first person to walk past her with his finished test. He noticed the teacher right as he passed by her chair.

"Mr. Yates! Are you okay? Someone, call 911! Go get another teacher! Hurry!" he ran over to the other side of the desk and was checking over the teacher.

Zoe just sat in her chair, still kind of recovering from the mental fatigue that had been a result of destroying that monster. The rest of the class panicked and all got up out of their chairs. A few moments later several teachers ran into the classroom as well. Zoe stood up as well at this point so that she wasn't the only one sitting down and not reacting. She faked shock and spoke to the other kids around her about the teacher. While she was doing this, she took time to think about what she had just done. She searched her feelings and found that she didn't feel the slightest bit guilty for destroying Mr. Yates. In fact she felt kind of numb. Sometimes you have to become a monster to destroy a monster. He got what he deserved. Zoe steeled herself to keep that thought in her head and ignored the smaller voice that was screaming at her from deep within telling her that what she had just done was terribly wrong.