alone, ready to embark on what could possibly be a very dangerous mission. She didn’t know
All she knew for sure was that she’d made a promise to Jenna, to get her out of that awful place. She needed to be able to prove Jenna’s innocence, and from what Amanda had told her the evidence could only come from Mr Jackson.
It took her a while to find Clare’s house. And when she thought she’d found it she was actually at the house next door. She realized this when a car pulled into the other house’s drive and Clare got out.
Tracey tore across the lawn, determined not to get shut out this time. Clare was talking on her mobile phone, and when Tracey caught up to her she was able to hear her side of the conversation.
‘I’m telling you, she’s been released! No, I don’t know why, but we have to talk about this, today. And bring the kid.’
There was a pause.
‘Good grief, you’re the principal, you can come up with an excuse. Tell the parents it’s a special school activity or something. Or you’re taking him to see a specialist. Come up with something — just get over here.’
The kid — she had to be talking about Carter, Tracey thought. And the ‘she’ who was released — was that Jenna? Had she left Harmony House? Clare shut off her phone as she went into the house and Tracey slipped in alongside her.
Clare went through the living room, but Tracey paused and gazed around. It looked like such an ordinary living room — there was a modern sofa, a couple of chairs, a coffee table, but the only piece of furniture that grabbed her eye was a desk.
She went on through the dining room and spotted Clare in the kitchen. She was making coffee and Tracey hoped she wasn’t going to bring it into the living room. Clare might not be able to see her, but if Tracey wanted to open drawers, or move things about, she needed to do it when Clare wasn’t around.
She eased open the desk’s file drawer slowly, trying not to make any noise. A row of folders greeted her and she knelt down to read the tabs on them. Bills. . receipts. . banking. . They were the same labels she’d see if she opened her parents’ desk at home. Except for one.
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.
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.
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
