Marilyn Kaye - Gifted - Now You See Me

At first, it was just in her mind — it was her own attitude that made her feel ‘invisible’ to people outside her own family. If she didn’t deserve attention at home, why should she expect anyone else to notice her? That was the kind of vibe she gave off, and people reacted by not giving her any consideration. At school, teachers never called on her. On the street, people would bump into her and then look surprised, as if they hadn’t realized anyone was there. In shops, she couldn’t get a salesperson to wait on her.

It got worse and worse. Since no one seemed to care about her, she stopped caring for herself. And as bizarre as it sounded, it seemed inevitable that she would become physically, as well as emotionally, invisible.

But all that had changed. Tracey had learned to assert herself and demand the attention she deserved as a human being. She could still disappear, sometimes on purpose, but she didn’t have complete control over her gift. Neither did Emily or Jenna, but they were all learning more and more about what they could do. Emily had learned how to examine her visions of the future, so she could understand what she was actually seeing. As for Jenna. .

‘Read any interesting minds lately?’ Tracey asked her as they strolled through the mall.

‘Nothing worth talking about,’ Jenna said. ‘But I was thinking, the other day — you know what would be cool? If I could hang out at police stations and check out all the people who are arrested, and tell the cops whether or not they really committed any crimes. Or go to trials and read the minds of the defendants. I’d be able to tell the judge if they were guilty or not, and they wouldn’t even need a jury.’

‘Dream on,’ Tracey commented. ‘You think the judge would believe you?’

‘And since when do you want to help police officers?’ Emily wanted to know. ‘You’re always saying you don’t like cops.’

‘And even if the police believed you, Madame would kill you,’ Tracey added.

Jenna made an elaborate ‘who cares’ gesture. ‘Big deal.’

Tracey and Emily exchanged knowing glances. Jenna liked to act tough, as if she wasn’t scared of anything or anyone, but her friends knew better. All the students in the Gifted class had a healthy respect for Madame. She was one of the few people they could totally trust with the knowledge of their gifts, and the only one who really understood the gifts and what they meant.

Madame was always telling them to keep their gifts secret, and for good reason. They’d all had experiences with some real low-life types who wanted to use their abilities for less-than-noble purposes.

Jenna glared at them both. ‘I know what you’re thinking.’

Emily gave her a reproving look. ‘Jenna, you’re not supposed to try to read our minds.’

‘Didn’t have to,’ Jenna declared. ‘It’s all over your faces — you think I’m showing off. But I’m telling you, I don’t care what Madame thinks.’

‘And you’ll never know, will you?’ Tracey said. ‘You can’t read Madame’s mind, right?’

‘Not if she knows I’m around,’ Jenna replied. ‘You know, I’ve finally figured out why some people are a total blank to me. If they know what I can do, they can figure out how to block their thoughts from me. That’s why I could never read my mother’s mind. She always knew about me.’ She sighed. ‘I used to think it was because we’re related. And I thought that was why I couldn’t read that — that man’s mind. Because I believed he was my father.’

Tracey knew who she was talking about. A man had turned up one day over a month ago and claimed he was Jenna’s long-lost father. At first she believed him, and she was thrilled. But he wasn’t her father; he was no relation to her at all. Somehow, he’d learned about her gift. And all he really wanted was for Jenna to read minds for him so he could win at poker.

‘He knew what you could do so he blocked you,’ Emily said.

Jenna nodded. ‘What I always wondered was, how did he find out about me?’

Neither Tracey nor Emily could answer that. And Tracey was more interested in learning something else.

‘So, how do we block you?’

Jenna grinned. ‘You’ll have to figure that out for yourselves.’

‘It’s easy,’ Emily informed Tracey. ‘I’ve been practising. You get the feeling she’s poking around in your head and you just shut her out. It’s like an instinct or something.’

Jenna gave her a sour look. ‘Thanks a lot. I don’t care, anyway. I mean, it’s not like you two ever think about anything worth hearing.’

‘That’s right,’ Tracey said cheerfully. ‘Besides, we always end up telling each other what we’re thinking.’

‘That’s true,’ Emily noted. And even Jenna had to agree with that.

Tracey agreed too, and she felt pretty good about it. It was nice having friends she could be so open with, friends who understood what you were all about. Their parents knew about their special talents, but they couldn’t really understand, since they didn’t have these gifts themselves. That was what made the Gifted class so special. They could talk freely about their abilities and everyone could relate to them. They could be appreciated and respected by each other.

OK, maybe ‘everyone’ was an exaggeration. Tracey spotted someone just a short distance in front of them who’d never expressed much appreciation or respect for any of her classmates.

Jenna saw her too, and groaned. ‘Uh-oh, watch out. The Evil Queen and her Evilettes are here.’

Amanda Beeson was looking into the window of a new boutique, Apparel, with her pals Nina and Britney.

‘Gee, from a distance, they almost look like human beings,’ Jenna commented.

‘Oh, come on, Jenna, they’re not that bad,’ Tracey remonstrated. ‘OK, Nina and Britney are pretty snotty, but Amanda can be OK sometimes.’

‘Yeah? Like when?’

Tracey turned to Emily. ‘Don’t forget, she was the one who saved you when you were trapped in the closet at school with that awful Serena. Remember?’

Emily shuddered. ‘I’m not likely to forget that . But it wasn’t Amanda who burst into the closet, it was you .’

Tracey shook her head. ‘Amanda had taken over my body, and she was in control. So it was really her.’

‘Oh yeah, that’s right,’ Emily murmured.

‘I don’t care, I think she’s positively despicable,’ Jenna declared. ‘She didn’t do a thing to help Ken in that seance scam, remember?’

It was less than two weeks ago, so Tracey wasn’t likely to have forgotten the event already — they’d been discussing it ever since. Ken’s so-called ‘gift’ was the ability to communicate with dead people. Looking for someone who might understand what he could do, he’d got involved with a fake medium. Amanda had taken over the body of another seance participant. Amanda could only do this when she felt sorry for someone, so this woman must have seemed pretty sad. But even when Amanda learned that the participant was the medium’s partner-in-crime, she’d done nothing to stop the scam from moving on.

‘That was pretty weird,’ Tracey admitted. ‘Especially because I always thought Amanda was into Ken.’

‘Amanda is into Amanda,’ Jenna declared. ‘It must have been really horrible for you, having Amanda in your head.’

‘I don’t know,’ Tracey answered honestly. ‘I don’t remember anything. It’s like I was asleep.’

‘She’d better not ever try to take over my body,’ Jenna declared.

‘I doubt that could happen,’ Emily said. ‘She has to feel sorry for someone before she can take over their body. Why would she ever feel sorry for you?’

‘Because I can’t afford the clothes in Apparel,’ Jenna replied. ‘Not that I’d ever want any of them. And you know what? I don’t buy that business, about Amanda feeling sorry for people. She’s a selfish snob and she never thinks about anyone but herself.’