Marilyn Kaye - Gifted - Now You See Me

‘If you feel these demerits are unwarranted, you may appeal against them,’ the woman said. ‘But not at this moment — I’m busy. You can make an appointment with the secretary.’

Jenna left, and passed the secretary without bothering to make an appointment. What good would it do? She couldn’t tell Landers about Peter Blake. She wouldn’t believe her. And if she directed Landers towards the others who were being threatened or bribed, they’d only deny it. And how would she prove she was telling the truth? Admit to having read their minds?

Outside the office, she paused in the empty corridor and leaned against a wall to catch her emotional breath. She’d been screwed, that’s all there was to it. And there wasn’t a damned thing she could do about it.

‘Are you OK, Jenna?’

She hadn’t even heard Jack-the-cop come out of the office.

‘I’m fine,’ she said shortly.

He reached in his pocket and pulled out a pack of chewing gum. ‘Want some gum?’

‘No.’

She knew how rude she must sound, but what did it matter? He’d heard Landers’s report on her. He knew she was nothing but trouble.

But she could have sworn she saw something else in his eyes. And just out of curiosity, she peeked into his head.

. . surprised. . she doesn’t seem like the type. . is she covering for someone? Wish I could get her to open up to me. .

She must have been staring at him, because he cocked his head to one side and smiled. ‘Want to talk?’

She did — but not to him. Not to a cop. She didn’t care how much sympathy she saw in his eyes or read in his mind, she couldn’t trust him.

‘No,’ she said, and walked away. But just as she was about to turn the corner, she looked back at him. Somehow, she managed to get one more word out.

‘Thanks.’

IN THE KITCHEN AT home, Tracey sat on the counter — a position that was forbidden in the Devon home. But it didn’t matter, since her mother couldn’t see her.

Her mother stood just a few feet away, with the phone in her hand.

‘Tracey isn’t here, Emily,’ she was saying. She laughed nervously. ‘Actually, she might very well be here, but she’s not available, if you know what I mean. I haven’t seen her since she left for school yesterday.’

There was a pause, which Tracey assumed meant that Emily was responding. Then her mother spoke again.

‘No, I’m not worried. Not yet . I mean, this has happened before. I’m sure she’ll turn up eventually.’

Eventually. That was the key word. Tracey hadn’t gone this long without reappearing since — since the days before Amanda changed her. At least now her parents actually noticed that she wasn’t visible. That was definitely an improvement.

Her problem now was figuring out how to share what she’d learned from Amanda yesterday. The only person she’d be able to communicate with was Ken. But every time she’d tried to defend Amanda, everyone told her she was being silly. They all thought that just because Amanda had inhabited Tracey’s body and improved Tracey’s life, Tracey had some dumb notion that she owed Amanda something.

But there was one other possible connection — Jenna. Could Jenna read the mind of an invisible person? Jenna could read people’s minds when she couldn’t see them, but Tracey couldn’t recall any circumstance when Jenna had read her mind when she was invisible. Maybe if Tracey thought about what she’d learned from Amanda, Jenna would ‘hear’ her. Their gifts were constantly developing, evolving — she’d seen Charles display an aspect to his gift she’d never seen before. It was possible that her own gift, and Jenna’s too, had potential they hadn’t yet discovered.

But only if Jenna knew that Tracey wanted her mind to be read. Tracey had to get close enough to Jenna to give her some kind of signal, to let her know. And how could she get close to her when she wasn’t permitted any visitors?

Tracey had to laugh at herself. What an idiot she was! She was invisible, she didn’t need anyone’s permission to visit Jenna.

She had to take three buses to get to Harmony House, but her biggest problem was not the distance or the time it would take to get there. Her chief concern was getting on and off each bus; if no one else was waiting at the bus stop or getting off there, the bus wouldn’t stop or open its doors. Fortunately, this only happened once, and someone came along, which enabled her to get on the next one. The positive aspect was the fact that she didn’t have to pay for the ride — but being a basically honest person, she didn’t feel very good about this. Riding for free seemed like stealing. But she couldn’t waste energy feeling guilty about it — she had no other option.

Jenna’s residence didn’t look like a prison. The brick building was painted white, and it was set way back on a green lawn. The sign on the lawn read ‘Harmony House,’ not ‘Detention Centre’ or anything like that. There were bars on the windows, but they’d been painted white too and shaped in a design that made them look more like window decorations. Tracey suspected that the two men who were standing on either side of the front door were guards, but at least they weren’t dressed like guards, and she couldn’t see any guns. They could have been doormen at a hotel.

When someone came out, she slipped inside. Now the place looked more like an institution, with its sickly green walls and the lobby that seemed more like a waiting room. But Tracey had no time to waste on criticizing the decor. She had no idea if she might suddenly become visible again. This was a pretty big place and she had no idea where Jenna might be.

Luckily, it was dinner time, and she followed people who all seemed to be heading in the same direction — a dining hall. And there she found Jenna, sitting alone at a table.

From a distance, Tracey studied her friend, and her heart ached for Jenna. She wore that dark, angry face that Tracey remembered from when she first saw her, the day Jenna entered the Gifted class. Her expression had softened considerably since then. Even when Jenna was doing her ‘I’m-tough-as-nails’ thing, she didn’t look so — so enraged. And something else too. Sad. In Tracey’s opinion, sad was worse than angry.

She moved closer and closer, until she was at the table, standing right in front of Jenna.

Jenna, it’s me, Tracey.

But Jenna’s expression didn’t change. Tracey wasn’t surprised. If Jenna didn’t know she was there, she wouldn’t try to read Tracey’s mind. How could she let Jenna know of her presence? She considered various possibilities.

Recalling her mother and the handbag, Tracey took a salt shaker from another table and placed it in front of Jenna. But the sudden appearance of a salt shaker didn’t grab Jenna’s attention. Obviously, her mind was elsewhere.

Tracey removed her own headband from her hair. It was something she wore a lot, and maybe Jenna would recognize it. She dropped it, and it landed right on top of Jenna’s sandwich.

Jenna saw it, but her reaction wasn’t what Tracey expected. She snatched up the band and stood up.

‘Whoever threw this at me, you’re in trouble!’ she yelled.

A couple of kids giggled, but the people sitting closest to Jenna just stared at her blankly. Jenna walked over to the trash bins and dropped the headband in one.

Tracey watched her mournfully. It had been one of her favourites. But she should have known that Jenna wouldn’t notice what other people wore, not even her closest friends. Jenna was the opposite of Amanda — she didn’t care about stuff like that.

She’d probably know what she herself was wearing, though. Jenna’s necklace, a thick silver thing with a dangling pendant of a skull, was one she wore frequently. Moving around the table, Tracey quickly lifted the necklace over Jenna’s head and dropped it in front of her.