Marilyn Kaye - Here Today, Gone Tomorrow

"Amanda!" Ken said again. "Do you have any ideas?"

"No," she replied and continued putting on her makeup.

"Don't bother with her," Jenna informed him. "She's not Amanda."

Ken understood what she meant and groaned. "Oh, no."

Madame arrived. Despite the events of the morning, she seemed calm, though Jenna thought she detected a dark glint in the teacher's eyes. She didn't waste any time on opening remarks.

"We have a situation," she said abruptly. "And we've all got to work together." She stopped. "Where's Charles?"

As if on cue, the door opened and Charles wheeled himself in. "Sorry I'm late," he said casually. "I was hanging with my friends."

"What friends?" Ken murmured. "Could I have everyone's attention?" Madame demanded. "Amanda?"

"She's not Amanda, Madame," Jenna told her.

The teacher sighed and closed her eyes for a moment as if trying to absorb this new bad news.

"All right, thank you, Jenna. Charles, would you please stop that immediately!"

Jenna realized that paper clips were jumping out of the tray on Madame's desk and going into the cup that held pencils and pens. But Madame had spoken more sharply than usual, and Charles stopped.

Madame continued in the same tone. "We can't afford not to take this seriously, people! I do not believe that Tracey is invisible or that Martin has run away from home. Someone-some organization-is causing members of our class to disappear, and these disappearances have something to do with who you are. We have to figure out who is behind this and why."

"Do you think they're in danger?" Ken asked the teacher.

"It's quite possible, though not in the way you think. I don't think they will be physically injured. But I do think they will be used."

Jenna knew what she meant. It was Madame's greatest fear for them-that their gifts could be utilized by people with bad intentions. Trust no one-that was her mantra. But Madame's next comment surprised her.

"I must say, though, I feel a little better knowing that Emily has gone in search of them."

Jenna's mouth fell open. "Why?"

"Because in a situation like this, I think she's our best hope," Madame said simply.

Jenna couldn't believe what she was hearing. Emily, their best hope? Emily, with her inaccurate predictions? Emily, whose gift was the weakest of them all?

If Emily was their best hope, Jenna thought, then they were in more trouble than she'd ever imagined.

WHEN SHE WOKE UP, Emily had no idea where she was-geographically speaking. She could tell that she was in a bed, but that was about it.

Immediately after she'd entered the back seat of the car, the man in the passenger's seat turned around, leaned toward her, and put a blindfold over her eyes. He'd done this gently, almost apologetically, but even so it had been a frightening moment, and Emily had started to panic. This wasn't alleviated by the woman's sharp voice.

"Don't struggle, Emily. There's nothing you can do."

"What's going on?" Emily asked, without much hope of getting an answer.

"You'll find out when the time is right," the woman said.

The man spoke in a kinder tone. "Here's something to drink."

She felt a bottle being placed in her hand. Then she heard a soft whirring sound. Reaching out, she felt a glass panel that now separated her from the people in the front seat, like in a limousine. She wouldn't be able to hear anything they said to each other.

There was one benefit to the silence and darkness. It might be easier to concentrate and envision her future. She took a sip from the bottle and almost immediately wanted to kick herself. How stupid can I be? she wondered as drowsiness swept over her.

Now, awake, she sat up in the bed. There was nothing covering her eyes, but the room was pitch-dark. She could feel a table next to her bed and something that could be a lamp on it. By touch, she located a button and pushed it in.

Light flooded the room. There wasn't much to see though. It was a plain room, with light blue walls. There was something on one wall in the shape of a window, but it was completely covered by a metal shutter. A white chest of drawers stood against the far wall.

There were two other beds in the room, but both were empty. They were unmade and looked as if they'd been slept in recently. The door started to open, and Emily stiffened.

"Good morning."

Emily let out the breath she'd been holding. "Tracey."

Tracey came over and sat on the edge of Emily's bed. "How are you feeling?"

"A little groggy," Emily admitted.

Tracey nodded. "They gave you something to make you out of it."

"Where are we?"

"I don't know," Tracey replied. "In some kind of house, but I don't know the address. And all the windows are blocked."

"How did they get you here?"

"They grabbed me inside the girls' bathroom at school and put a wet towel on my face. There must have been something in it that knocked me out.

They must have put me in a car and taken me here. I woke up in this room."

"A man and a woman with blond hair?"

Tracey shook her head. "There were two men, and the woman was a redhead."

So there were at least jour of them, Emily thought. "Who are they?"

"I don't know."

"What do they want us for?"

"I don't know that either."

"Tracey!" Emily exclaimed in frustration. "You've been here three days. Haven't you learned anything?"

She shook her head. "Nothing. I managed to go invisible on the first night and looked around the place, but I couldn't find any clues. There's a floor above us, but the door at the top of the stairway is locked. I guess that's where they stay."

A creak above them confirmed this. Someone was up there.

"I think they know about my gift," Tracey continued. "Even when I'm invisible, they whisper to each other and I can't hear a word they're saying."

"Did you try just asking them what they want?"

"Of course I asked them," Tracey said. "They just keep saying I have to be patient. Maybe they're waiting till they have us all here before they explain what they want." She offered a half-hearted smile. "No offense, but I was hoping the next captive would be Jenna. At least she might be able to read their minds and figure out what's going on."

"I can't believe you're being so calm about this," Emily marveled.

Tracey shrugged. "Someone has to be calm. Carter's worthless, of course. He's just like he is back at school. He does what he's told, and the rest of the time he stares into space. Martin whimpers and whines. Sarah looks totally freaked and barely speaks. I think maybe she's in shock."

"I can relate to that," Emily said with feeling. "Do they know about all our gifts?"

"I don't know!" Tracey replied for the umpteenth time. Then she looked sadly at Emily. "I'm sorry I dragged you into this. They made me write that message to you."

"I didn't care. I wanted to help all of you. I felt bad that I didn't see what was going to happen in time. I could have warned you."

"Don't be such a goof. You couldn't have stopped them."

Emily's stomach rumbled loudly.

"You're hungry," Tracey declared. "Get dressed and we'll have some breakfast. I have to say, they're taking pretty good care of us here. The food's okay, and there's lots of entertainment."

"It's still a prison," Emily reminded her as she got into the sweatpants and shirt that were laid out on the bed.

"Well, at least it's an upscale one," Tracey said. "There are DVDs, an Xbox, games. ." She was still extolling the virtues of their jail as Emily followed her out of the bedroom.

Emily wasn't fooled by Tracey's cheery tone. This was a Tracey thing to do-take charge and try to keep their spirits up. Clearly this wasn't working for Martin. Entering what appeared to be a dining room, they found him slumped in his seat, eyeing his plate of food mournfully.