'What does Martin do?'
'He breaks down the door. Behind the door, there's a safe.'
'Do you know the combination of the safe, Emily?' Clare asked.
'No, I can't see it. But the banker has gone into the vault to open the safe, so Tracey will see the combination. There's a lot of money in the safe. You're waiting for Tracey, Sarah, and Martin outside in an SUV. You drive away.'
'So the robbery is a success,' Clare said.
'Yes,' Emily replied.
'Thank you, Emily.' Clare permitted herself a frosty smile. 'Well, we've now seen what Tracey, Sarah, and Emily can do. That just leaves Martin. But we're not going to ask Martin to demonstrate his gift right now. We've been told by a trusted eyewitness about the havoc Martin can create, and we don't want any broken dishes. We'll think of a way he can show us his talents later. Now, you're all free to do as you please this afternoon.'
'Can we leave?' Tracey asked.
Clare gave her a chilly look. 'No.'
Back in the living room, Martin returned to his video game. Amanda-Sarah and Tracey gathered with Emily.
'I think we pulled that off pretty well,' Tracey declared.
'Oh, absolutely. We totally fooled them,' Amanda-Sarah agreed.
'Not because of you,' Tracey stated. 'Where did you come up with that silly hypnosis voice?'
'It wasn't silly!' Amanda protested.
Tracey turned to Emily. 'How did you keep from laughing?'
Emily shrugged. 'I don't know.'
'And that was a great story you gave them,' Tracey added. 'It sounded totally believable, like you were really seeing the future.'
Emily tried to smile. 'Thanks.'
Amanda was still annoyed over Tracey's criticism of her performance. 'I think I was very believable. I sounded just like Sarah.'
'How would you know what Sarah sounds like?' Tracey asked. 'I'll bet you've never had a single conversation with her in your whole life.'
While the two of them bickered, Emily crept away. She took a book from the bookshelf without even looking at the title. Then she sat down, opened it, and stared at a page without reading a word. Maybe if she looked like she was engrossed in the book, the others wouldn't bother her. She couldn't let them get too close-they might be able to see how upset she really was.
There was a reason why she'd been able to make her story of the future sound so real. She hadn't made anything up-she wasn't that creative.
It was a very precise and realistic vision-the clearest, most detailed vision she'd ever had. It didn't require any interpretation. It was a real vision of a very real crime. What she'd just told them was exactly what would happen.
Chapter Ten
It was about three months ago,' Jenna told Ken. She had to yell into his ear to be heard, since the crowd was still cheering that last unbelievable basket. 'I was with these friends.' She hesitated. Just about everyone knew about her reputation, but she didn't want Ken getting the wrong idea about her.
'Well, they weren't exactly friends, just some people I was hanging out with because I had some problems at home, and-'
'Yeah, okay, whatever,' Ken said impatiently. 'What about the house?'
'We were looking for a place to sleep for the night,' she confessed. 'We'd been kicked out of the bus station …' She paused again. Thinking about her past on the streets wasn't easy. 'Anyway, we saw this abandoned house, and we tried to find a way in, butit was all boarded up. I was kind of glad because the house looked so spooky to me. One of the guys, he had a can of paint, and he started spraying graffiti on the door. I don't know why. That was the house I saw in Carter's mind.'
'Do you remember where it is?'
'I think so. I'll bet that's where Tracey and the rest of them are.'
'There's only one way to find out for sure,' Ken said. He stood up. 'Is it far? Can we get there by walking?'
Jenna rose, too. 'Shouldn't we go to the police and tell them?'
'Tell them what? That you read Carter's mind and now you know where the missing kids are? Come on, Jenna. They're not going to buy that.'
He was right--Jenna knew that. There was also the fact that certain police officers might recognize her. . and they would be even less likely to believe any story she might tell them.
'But even if we find the house, what can we do?' she asked Ken. 'Break in and rescue them? Whoever kidnapped them must be there, too, watching them. Maybe with weapons. How can we fight them?'
Ken thought for a minute. 'We need Charles,' he said finally. 'Even if the kidnapper has a gun, Charles could get it out of his hand. Come on, let's get him.'
At that moment, a whistle blew and a huge roar went up from the fans. Jenna glanced at the scoreboard and saw that Meadowbrook had won by a landslide.
They pushed through the excited crowd and made their way to the gym floor. Charles was still in the same place, applauding wildly and watching the team congratulate each other, slapping hands in the air and clapping each other on the back. Ken and Jenna hurried to his side.
'We think we know where the missing kids are,' Ken told him hurriedly. 'You have to come with us.'
Charles stopped clapping. 'Why?'
'Because you can make things move!' Jenna said in exasperation. 'You might have to make a gun drop out of someone's hand or make a door open.'
'I can't,' Charles said. 'Mike and the guys are going out for pizza and they invited me to come.'
He smiled happily. 'They think I bring them good luck.'
'Oh for crying out loud!' Ken exclaimed. 'Charles, your classmates could be in big trouble! Don't you want to save them?'
'I'd rather go out for pizza with the basketball team,' Charles replied.
'Too bad,' Ken growled. He went behind Charles and grabbed the handles of his wheelchair. Charles pushed on the brake so the chair couldn't roll.
One of the players saw them. 'Hey, what do you think you're doing? Leave Charles alone!' He started to come toward them, and several teammates joined him. They didn't look happy.
'Ken, we can't force him to come with us,' Jenna said hurriedly. 'And I think we'd better get out of here or we won't be going anywhere either.'
Once outside the gym, Ken turned to Jenna. 'Which way?'
'You know the industrial park behind the bus station? It's just past that.'
Across the street, in front of the mall, they had to wait almost half an hour for a bus, which let them off in front of the bus station twenty minutes later. It took them another fifteen minutes to make their way through the industrial park. But the house was right where Jenna remembered it was.
Without speaking, she and Ken went to the front of the place and looked for an entrance. She recognized the graffiti on the red door. Without much optimism, she gave it a push, but it didn't budge. They wandered around and looked for another way to get in. But the house was so boarded up, they couldn't even make out if there was a light on inside. They couldn't hear anything either.
Ken pressed his face up against a crack in a board. Seconds later he let out a cry of pain.
'What?' Jenna cried out in alarm.
'It's that woman in my head again!' Ken moaned.
