Finders Keepers

newspaper.’ Serena laughed. ‘What a crackpot. She really believes she had these other lives. And she’s so gullible! She’s falling for everything I’ve told her.’

Amanda got it. Dahlia was giving the whole scam more credibility.

‘Ken is totally sympathetic to Stevie,’ Serena continued. ‘Tomorrow I’m going to tell him I sense that he has a special connection with the spirit world. I’ll ask him to help me locate Stevie’s father.’

She yawned and set down her empty glass. ‘I can’t keep my eyes open.’

‘I’m tired too,’ Amanda said quickly. ‘I guess I’d better be going home.’

‘By the way,’ Serena said, ‘you were better tonight. But you need to be a little more emotional about your mother, the way you were last Friday.’

‘OK,’ Amanda said.

‘Oh, and I need you to do me a favour.’ Serena went to a desk and took a piece of paper from a drawer. ‘Go to the pharmacy tomorrow and get this prescription filled.’

‘What is it?’ Amanda asked, taking the paper.

Serena rolled her eyes. ‘What do you think?’ She walked Amanda to the door. ‘See you tomorrow. And try to be a little more pathetic, OK?’

On the way to the bus stop, Amanda paused under a street light and tried to read the prescription. The handwriting wasn’t easy to read, but she could tell it was one of those medical words that didn’t mean anything in regular English. Beziterol or Besiteral — something like that. She had no idea what it was for.

Thank goodness for the Internet. As soon as she was back in Margaret’s apartment she sat down at Margaret’s laptop and went online. On her third attempt at deciphering the word, she hit the jackpot.

The search engine had taken her to a dictionary of drugs. She skipped over the chemical words, and came to a definition of Besiterol that she could understand.

‘A highly potent and fast-acting insomnia medication. To be used with extreme caution.’

Amanda didn’t think Serena had insomnia. She’d been falling asleep tonight after one Martini. And then it clicked — Amanda knew how Serena was going to get the lottery-ticket location before Ken gave the information to Stevie. Somehow she’d get this medicine into Stevie, and he’d fall asleep while Ken talked to his father. And if Ken didn’t willingly offer Serena the information, she could always hypnotize him to get it.

Amanda didn’t know what amazed her more — Serena’s evil mind, or her own brilliance at figuring it all out. And those classmates of hers thought she was worthless! Well, she’d show them what she could do.

Now she was glad she hadn’t been able to tell Ken that she’d snatched Margaret’s body. They’d all be surprised and impressed with Amanda when she exposed this nasty scheme all by herself.

CHAPTER ELEVEN

KEN HAD NO FAITH in what Jenna had told him about the medium. He wasn’t stupid. He knew exactly what she was trying to do, and this had nothing to do with anything she claimed to find in Cassandra’s mind. Jenna just didn’t want him to reveal his gift, and she’d say anything to keep him from helping out at the seance.

He’d been furious at her when she stormed into the seance, but after sleeping on it, and thinking about it, he wasn’t angry any more. He thought he knew why Jenna had tried to stop him from getting involved.

She was scared. She believed all that stuff Madame said about the enemies who were out to get them, and Ken supposed there could be some truth in it for some of the people in the gifted class.

But the bad guys weren’t out to get him.

What bad guys?

Ken frowned. Jack, I wish you wouldn’t just jump into my head like that. I’m entitled to my private thoughts.

Hey, man, we never had secrets from each other. What bad guys are you thinking about?

Madame says we can’t let anyone know about our gifts because there are bad guys out there who want to use us.

What could they use you for?

Not a clue.

Besides, who’s going to believe you can talk to dead people?

Lucy believes, Jack pointed out.

Yeah, I bet that’s just because she wants to believe so she can keep in touch with me. I don’t think she’ll ever get over me.

Uh, Jack.

What?

I’m sure Lucy misses you a lot, but she’s getting on with her life. I mean, she wants to go out with other guys.

Not Simon Dowell!

No.

Who, then?

Ken sighed. Me.

You’re kidding!

Honestly, Jack, I tried to play the big brother role, but I guess she misinterpreted it. She thinks I want to go out with her.

Do you?

No! But how am I going to let her down easy?

There was a long silence before Jack responded again.

You could.

I could what?

Go out with her.

Are you crazy?

Really, Ken. I don’t want her to go out with jerks, guys who are going to put the moves on her. I trust you. And if the other guys think she’s with you, they won’t bother you.

Jack! I don’t want to go out with Lucy!

Why not? You don’t like that Amanda chick any more, right? And there’s nothing wrong with Lucy. Don’t you think she’s hot?

She’s OK, she’s just not my type. Jack, I don’t want to start anything with Lucy.

Aw, c’mon, be a pal. You don’t know how rough it is for me, thinking about her, not knowing what she’s doing, who she’s seeing. Can’t you do this for me? Please?

It was Ken’s turn to plead. Can we talk about this later, Jack? I’ve got stuff to think about for school.

OK, OK. But remember, you’re my best pal. Don’t let me down.

Jack was gone, and Ken could get back to his own thoughts. What had he been thinking about before Jack interrupted? Right, the bad guys. The ones who were not out to get him.

It was like he’d said in class — his gift just didn’t have any criminal potential. And despite what Madame had said, he honestly didn’t think that talking about his gift would endanger anyone else in the class. He just had to convince Jenna that this was true and assure her she had nothing to worry about.

He was prepared to do that in the gifted class that day. He even hurried to class so he could take her aside and have time to talk to her before Madame arrived. But when he arrived at room 209, he changed his mind — even before he went in.

There was a glass window in the door, and he could see a few students were already there. Jenna, Emily and Tracey were huddled together, obviously having a private conversation. And Ken had a pretty good feeling he knew