Marilyn Kaye - Speak No Evil

She smiled sweetly. ‘It’s so nice of you to offer, Ken. But if you’re there, it might make it harder for me to take over someone.’

‘Why?’

This was risky, but she had to take a chance. She lowered her eyes demurely. ‘Because I have to concentrate really hard to do it. And if you’re there. . well, it might be hard to concentrate on anyone else.’

Was she coming on too strong? She cast a sidelong glance at him. It was hard to say, but she could swear she saw a little blush creep up his face. Then he smiled. Unfortunately, he wasn’t looking at her any more.

‘Hi, Nina.’

And there she was, the frenemy, waiting by Amanda’s locker. Like a cat, waiting for a mouse and ready to pounce.

Nina acted like she was happy to see both of them, but Amanda knew a performance when she saw one.

‘Hi, guys!’ Nina chirped. ‘Have you seen how nice it is outside? It’s like summer! I am so totally up for an ice cream. Who wants to come with me?’

Amanda rolled her eyes. Nina never ate ice cream. She was one of those idiots who never consumed anything nice, for fear it might add an ounce to her scrawny frame.

And to make matters worse, Jenna chose that precise moment to appear. ‘Are you ready to go?’ she asked Amanda.

Amanda should have known Jenna wouldn’t wait long by the back door. She was probably worried Amanda would sneak out of the front entrance. Which was exactly what she had been considering.

Nina, of course, was staring at Jenna with her mouth open. Amanda didn’t have to be a mind-reader to know what was going on in her so-called friend’s head. The notorious goth girl had plans with Queen Beeson?

‘Class project,’ Amanda offered by way of explanation. She raised her hand in a casual salute to the others. But inside she was tormented as she left Ken alone with Nina to get ice cream.

Was Nina really a threat? OK, she was cute, but Amanda knew she herself was cuter. Looks weren’t everything, though. And Nina did have something Amanda didn’t have. Nina was normal. She didn’t have any weird gift to deal with. Ken wanted to be normal. Would he be intrigued with the notion of hanging out with a normal girl?

Of course, she said nothing about this to Jenna. Not that Jenna would care. As soon as they were out of the building, she started to give instructions.

‘We’ll take the bus to City Hall and walk from there. There are usually three or four new admissions to Harmony House every day, and we can check them out in the reception area.’

‘Whatever,’ Amanda mumbled. They crossed the street and went to the bus stop.

Jenna continued. ‘It’s important that you’re very careful about whose body you take over. Boys and girls live in separate sections, so it’s best to pick a boy. You’ll be able to hang around Carter more. If you’re a girl, you’ll only be able to see him in the dining hall, the TV room and the game room. You won’t be able to get into Carter’s room.’

Amanda tried to tune her out. Blah, blah, blah. . She didn’t want to listen to Jenna’s instructions. All she could do was concentrate on blocking Jenna from hearing her own thoughts, mainly the thought that she did not want to be doing this at all.

THE BOY FORMERLY KNOWN as Carter Street had been in Dr Paley’s office for hours now. This was the third time he’d watched the video and listened to himself tell his story under hypnosis, but it wasn’t getting any easier for him. He still couldn’t get used to the sound of his voice. He sounded so normal — even if the story he told wasn’t ordinary at all.

‘I didn’t know where to go. I stayed at home.’

From off screen, the voice of Dr Paley could be heard. ‘Why did you choose to be a gerbil?’

‘It was the first thing that came to my mind, because I’d just asked my mother about getting a gerbil.’

‘Where you shocked to realize you could do this?’

‘No. It felt natural. I had to be something very small to hide.’

‘How did you survive?’ Dr Paley asked. ‘Were you able to eat anything?’

‘I found some crumbs behind the stove. That was a surprise. My mother was always sweeping the floor.’

‘Where did you sleep, Paul?’

That name. . He’d completely forgotten it. It still wasn’t familiar, but strangely enough, it sounded right.

‘The bottom drawer of my chest of drawers was open. I was able to jump in and sleep on a sweater.’

‘How long did you stay in the house?’

‘I don’t know. I couldn’t see a clock. I couldn’t even tell if it was day or night.’

‘Why did you leave?’

So many questions. . Paul watched his own face on the screen. He looked tired, but he kept on talking.

‘Some people must have come. I heard them close the drawer of the chest of drawers. I could feel it moving. I couldn’t get out. I was in a dark place with no food. I was hungry.’ He stopped talking, and Paul could see that his body had begun to tremble.

‘Keep talking, Paul. What happened next?’

‘The chest of drawers stopped moving. It was in another place — a cold place. I got hungrier and colder. Then the drawer was opened. I was weak, but I got out of the drawer. People must have seen me — someone yelled, someone threw something at me. I was surprised. I thought people liked gerbils. They keep them as pets.’

‘Yes, yes, but perhaps they were startled because they didn’t expect to see a gerbil in a storage unit. Then what did you do?’

‘I got away, I was outside. But it was still cold, and I was so hungry. I became a boy again.’

‘And that was when you were found,’ Dr Paley said.

‘I guess so.’

‘Why didn’t you say anything?’

‘I turned myself off.’

‘What do you mean?’

‘Like a TV. I was off.’

There was a moment of silence. Then he heard Dr Paley’s voice again, only this time it wasn’t from the screen. The real Dr Paley was in the room, and he’d paused the videotape.

‘You’ve been turned back on now, Paul.’ The doctor moved his chair so he could be directly facing him. ‘I’ve done some research on your family. You were four years old when you and your parents witnessed an act of organized crime in New York — a murder. Your parents testified against the criminals, and that put their lives in danger. Your life was in danger too. You couldn’t testify but you were still a witness. So the government put your family in a witness protection programme. Your name was changed and you were moved to another city. But the crime syndicate discovered your whereabouts and you were moved again, and then again. You have a memory of many homes, don’t you?’

Paul nodded. In his mind he saw a small house, a large house, a hotel, an apartment. He dimly recalled many times when his parents were talking quietly, worriedly, and then abruptly falling silent when he entered the room. They must have tried so hard to keep him from feeling the danger they were all in.

‘It wasn’t easy tracking you,’ Dr Paley continued. ‘Your name was changed many times. Your birth name was Paul, but you’ve been called Daniel, Sam and Jonathan. It was in your last home that your parents went back to your original name, Paul.’

So that was why Paul sounded natural, but not familiar. A lot of things were making sense now.

‘And your last names — you’ve been Fletcher, O’Malley and Kingston. Do you have a preference for one over the other?’

Paul shook his head.

‘Well, I don’t want to give you a name that the criminal syndicate might recognize. How about if we call you Paul Carter?’

Paul nodded.

‘How do you feel, Paul?’

Feel — the word made more sense now. He could remember feelings. He remembered feeling excited on the roller coaster. He remembered feeling happy when he made it all the way round the baseball diamond. He remembered feeling disappointed when he learned he couldn’t have a dog.