Marilyn Kaye - Out of Sight, Out of Mind

"But the student you take out will miss what the rest of the class does," Madame objected.

"But think of the potential benefits, Madame. Your objective is to teach your students to deal with their… their peculiarities. There's been a lot of research that indicates that hypnosis can have a real impact on a person's ability to control bad habits."

Amanda took advantage of her invisibility to scoot around the desk and take a good long look at Serena. Personally, she couldn't see why Madame was so nervous around her. Okay, Serena was pushy, but why did Madame look so suspicious? Was she afraid that the students would like Serena as a teacher more than they liked her? But Madame didn't seem like the kind of person who cared about popularity.

The other students were arriving, and Madame spoke more softly to Serena. "Their habits, as you call them, are not necessarily bad."

"Well, you know what I mean," the student teacher said. "And I do have Mr. Jackson's permission to carry out these sessions."

Madame's lips tightened. Then she nodded. "All right, Ms. Hancock."

"Call me Serena."

Madame turned and surveyed the room. "Charles, please go with Ms. Hancock to the room next door."

"I don't want to go with her," Charles muttered.

"Now, Charles, there's nothing to be afraid of," Serena said brightly. "This will be fun!" She grabbed the handles of Charles's wheelchair and pushed him out of the room.

"Is she going to hypnotize Charles?" Emily asked when they were out of the room.

"She's going to try," Madame said. "Not all people can be hypnotized. Unique people may have… unique reactions.

Amanda thought she could see a little smile on the teacher's face, but it disappeared too fast for her to be sure.

"Now, let's see," Madame continued, surveying the room again. "We have some absentees today. Martin has the flu-his mother called the office. And Tracey-"

Jenna interrupted. "Tracey's here, Madame. I can tell."

"Thank you, Jenna, but I must remind you that it isn't appropriate to read Tracey's mind without her permission. Or anyone else's, for that matter. Now-"

But once again she was interrupted, this time by a crash that practically made the whole room vibrate. "Oh dear," Madame said. "I think hypnosis has brought out some anger in Charles."

Sure enough, seconds later the door swung open and a furious Serena stormed in, followed by Charles, who was wheeling himself this time.

"That-that brat made my chair fall over!" the student teacher fumed.

"Oh my, that wasn't very nice, Charles," Madame scolded, but her tone was mild, and Amanda could have sworn she saw a glint of satisfaction in the teacher's eyes. "Ms. Hancock-I mean, Serena-why don't you take Ken today instead?"

Serena glared at her. "No, I think I'll have her." She pointed to Emily.

"As you wish," Madame said coolly.

Serena's expression changed dramatically, and she smiled sweetly at Emily. "Is that all right with you, Emily?"

Amanda watched them leave and wondered if Serena's hypnosis might help her. Maybe if she was unconscious, Serena could reach the real Tracey inside her and get her to come back out…

There was a voice at her ear. "Or maybe hypnosis would turn you into Tracey for good. Wouldn't you just love that?"

Shut up, Jenna, she thought fiercely. And don't make fun of me. Help me! After a second, she concentrated as hard as possible on one additional word. Please?

It seemed to take forever before the girl sitting behind her whispered in her ear again.

"Okay."

I'M NOT DOING THIS for yow," Jenna said. "I want to help Tracey. I'm sure she's not thrilled about having you inside her body." She read Amanda's mind. Yeah, right, whatever. Just do it.

"And don't give me orders! I don't care if you're Miss AU-That Amanda Beeson-you can't boss me around."

Jenna was almost surprised to hear the tiniest touch of meekness in Amanda's mental response. Okay, sorry. Where are we going?

"My place."

I hope none of her scummy friends are there.

"Don't worry, nobody's home," Jenna snapped. This was the day the new lottery tickets went on sale, and the jackpot was huge. Her mother was always willing to stand in line for hours if necessary.

She thought putting in the effort would bring her more luck.

Could you please turn off your little gift? I'm entitled to the privacy of my own thoughts.

"Like I'd be interested in anything going on inside your feeble little mind."

Then stop reading it!

Jenna tried. But there was no missing Amanda's reaction when they turned the corner.

Ohmigod, she lives in Brookside Towers! Yuck!

Jenna gritted her teeth. It was too bad Amanda couldn't read her mind-she would hear herself being called every nasty, dirty name ever invented. But Jenna kept telling herself-just as she'd told Amanda-that she was doing this for Tracey, and she kept her mouth shut.

But why was she so intent on helping Tracey? It wasn't as if they were great friends; they knew each other only through the gifted class. And she didn't know anything about Tracey, since the girl didn't say much at all, even when she was visible.

Unsure as to whether Amanda was alongside her or behind her, Jenna held the door to her apartment open. She knew Amanda was inside when she sensed her discomfort at finding herself in such shabby conditions.

"It's not the kind of castle you're used to," she declared, "but it's clean."

What's her problem? I wasn't even thinking anything.

Well, maybe it was just what she expected Amanda to feel. "Sit down," Jenna ordered, pointing to the sofa. She pulled up a chair. "Are you facing me?"

Is she going to try to hypnotize me?

"No, I'm not into that." She caught a glimpse of something else in Amanda's head and couldn't help nodding. "Yeah, I think Serena's kind of weird, too." Then she frowned. Was she actually finding something in common with this snob?

"How did you get inside Tracey in the first place?" she asked. She caught a glimpse of a response in Amanda's mind, but it was obvious to her that Amanda was trying to put one over on her.

"You cared about her? Ha! Amanda Beeson cares only about Amanda Beeson." Jenna concentrated on getting deeper into Amanda's thoughts, but there wasn't much to learn. Amanda was now mentally counting backward from one thousand. Obviously, she was trying to keep Jenna from learning more about her.

"Okay, okay, I get it," Jenna said. "And I don't want to know you either. Like I said, this is for Tracey." She took a deep breath.

"Tracey, I know you're in there. It's not your fault that this-that Amanda took over your body. But you've got to be strong now. Come out, get rid of her, take over."

Does she have to make it sound so violent?

"Stop thinking!" Jenna barked. "I can't reach Tracey if you keep interrupting. Tracey, I'll bet you can hear me. I don't know why you become invisible like you do. Maybe you're just shy or something. But now it's like you've completely disappeared, and that's worse. Now, if you come out, Amanda can go back into her little princess world and you can come back into yours and everything will be normal, okay? Tracey? Tracey!"

Jenna concentrated as hard as she could, but all she could sense was Amanda trying very hard to think of nothing.

"I give up. I can't hear her at all." You can't give up - I have to get out of here! Bring her back!

"I just said I can't! Look, did it ever occur to you that maybe she doesn't want to come back?"

You mean I could be stuck inside Tracey forever?