Marilyn Kaye - Gifted - Now You See Me

She was amazed to see that Clare hadn’t even tried to disguise the subject of the folder. It was right there, printed in black ink on a white tab: Gifted.

She went to take another quick look at the kitchen. Clare was sitting at a little kitchen table with her cup of coffee and she’d opened a newspaper. It looked like she’d be occupied for a while.

She pulled the folder out and set it on the desk. Taking a deep breath, she opened it.

The first page could have been some sort of application form. It bore the heading: Amanda Beeson. A small head-and-shoulders photo of her classmate was attached. It looked like it could have been a recent school photo.

Data about Amanda included her address, phone number, parents’ names and occupations. Date and place of birth. Then there was physical information.

Height: 5’2”.

Weight: 110 lb.

Hair: Light brown.

Eyes: Blue.

So far, this could have come directly from some file at Meadowbrook Middle School.

But the next piece of information was something Tracey never expected to see neatly typed in black and white on an official-looking document.

Gift: Ability to transfer consciousness into another body.

Characteristics: Subject must experience a sensation of pity for the person in the body prior to transfer. Subject is without personal consciousness, but remains physically unchanged, with all natural abilities intact. Subject appears to be operating through a remote memory of typical behaviour patterns. All consciousness of the subject is in the new body. Consciousness of person who normally inhabits body appears to be in a sleeping state.

Limitations: Subject exhibits some control in taking over a body, but has not yet achieved the ability to release body at will.

Project potential: Could replace heads of state and others in a position of decision-making in order to establish an environment suitable for project.

Tracey turned the page. The next document was devoted to Martin. There was all the basic information, but Tracey ignored that.

Gift: Ability to develop super strength.

Limitations: Subject must feel ridiculed for strength to emerge.

Project potential: Battle.

She read Jenna’s page next.

Gift: Ability to read thoughts of other human beings.

Characteristics: Subject must want to read the thoughts and must be able to concentrate. Object of mind-reading will not be aware of the process.

Limitations: Subject appears to be able to employ gift at will. Object who is aware of subject’s gift may be able to mentally block the process.

Project potential: Ability to determine loyalties and emotional states. Revelation of confidential information. Verification of intent.

Verification of intent . . Tracey assumed that was just a fancy way of saying Jenna would know if someone was telling the truth.

The document devoted to Sarah was particularly intriguing. Under limitations, it stated: Subject has personal reasons for not wishing to exercise her gift. Must ascertain the nature of the reasons and resolve her reluctance so that gift may be exploited. And under Project potential, there was only one word: Unlimited.

There was a knock on the door. Hastily, she closed the folder and shoved it back in the file. She barely got the drawer closed before Clare entered the room and went to the door.

Serena-the-student-teacher-alias-Cassandra-the-medium was at the door, along with the man Tracey knew as Stuart Kelley.

‘What’s so important that we had to come rushing over here?’ Serena demanded to know.

‘It’s the Kelley girl. She left Harmony House this morning.’

Stuart’s eyebrows shot up. ‘She escaped?’

‘No, she was released early.’

‘Why?’ the man asked.

‘I don’t know,’ Clare replied. ‘The investigator just knew she’d left. I’m hoping the kid knows something.’

‘How could he know anything already?’ Serena asked. ‘It’s Saturday — there’s no school.’

Clare ignored her. ‘Here they come now.’

Mr Jackson and Carter arrived and within seconds they were all at the dining-room table. Jackson looked tense. Carter had no expression at all. Tracey took out her mobile phone and began moving around the table, snapping photos.

‘I can’t have her back at the school,’ Mr Jackson said flatly. ‘She’s too dangerous. I can’t be constantly thinking about what I’m thinking about.’

‘But you can block her,’ Clare pointed out.

‘Not if I don’t see her,’ he said. ‘She’s got a way of sneaking around. I’ve got over three hundred students at the school, I’ve got people running in and out of my office all day. I can’t know where she is every minute.’

‘I don’t understand why you’re so anxious about her,’ Serena said. ‘You don’t even know for sure if she’s interested in reading your mind.’

‘I didn’t like the way she was looking at me in the office the other day,’ Jackson grumbled.

‘You’re the principal — it’s natural for her to hate you,’ Stuart said. ‘A kid like her, she hates any kind of authority. Look, I know her better than the rest of you. I was almost her father. Just because she gives you dirty looks doesn’t mean she knows anything about you.’

‘These kids aren’t idiots,’ Jackson declared. ‘They’re going to put two and two together. They know you were a fraud. They know Clare’s out to get them, they’re suspicious of Serena. . They’re going to start connecting the dots.’

Clare interrupted. ‘But they don’t know about you. They have no idea you’re involved.’

‘I’m not so sure about that,’ Jackson muttered. ‘The Beeson girl — she’s working in my office. She could be snooping around.’

Serena frowned. ‘Which one is she?’

‘The body snatcher,’ Clare told her.

Serena’s face cleared. ‘Oh, right. She came to one of my seances with Ken.’

Clare’s eyebrows went up. ‘You didn’t tell us that.’

Serena shrugged. ‘It was only the one time — she never showed up again.’

But Clare still looked disturbed. She turned to Carter, who hadn’t said a word. ‘Did Amanda say anything about the seance in class?’

In Tracey’s view, Carter looked exactly the way he would look if someone at school asked him a direct question. He just stared into space, not even acknowledging that he’d been addressed.

Clare appeared irritated. ‘Haven’t you brought him out yet?’ she asked Serena.

‘You haven’t given me a chance, have you?’ Serena snapped. She pulled her chair around so she could face Carter directly. She stared at him, so hard that Tracey could actually see her pupils enlarge. She didn’t blink at all. Then she began murmuring softly. Tracey couldn’t make out the words.

She spoke directly into the boy’s ear, her voice soft and rhythmic. Tracey moved closer, but even when she was practically on top of them, she couldn’t understand what Serena was saying. It was like gibberish, the same nonsense words over and over in a monotonous tone.

It was a good thing nobody here could hear her, because her gasp would have been audible. The change in Carter’s expression was dramatic. It was like a curtain had been lifted from his eyes. She hadn’t been able to see this when she watched through the window last night, so she was completely startled.

‘We want to ask you about Amanda,’ Serena said to him. ‘She came to one of the seances. Did she say anything about it in class?’

For the first time, Tracey heard Carter’s voice. It was slightly high-pitched, which made him sound very young. But other than that, it was normal.

‘Not just one seance,’ he said. ‘She went to all of them. Amanda was Margaret.’