‘Don’t worry, Martin won’t drop you,’ Amanda-Madame assured her.
Martin didn’t look all that confident. He stood very still for a moment, as if he was summoning his gift. Then he lifted Sarah out of her chair. The whole class watched as he raised her higher and higher, until his arms were stretched out straight and she was way over his head.
Sarah had gone as stiff as a board and she did not look happy. ‘OK, he’s done it,’ she said. ‘Put me down now, Martin.’
Amanda-Madame shook her head. ‘Martin, don’t put her down. Sarah, you have to
‘No!’ Sarah cried out.
Amanda-Madame pretended to be shocked. ‘Sarah, are you disobeying your teacher? Make Martin put you down,
‘No, no, I don’t want to do that!’
‘Wait a minute!’ Jenna suddenly shouted. ‘I can read your mind! You’re not Madame, you’re Amanda!’
Amanda wanted to kick herself. She’d let her guard down. ‘I am not,’ she said, but the denial sounded feeble, even to her ears.
Martin placed Sarah back in her chair. ‘Sorry about that,’ he mumbled. But he looked at Amanda-Madame with admiration in his eyes. ‘That was pretty cool,’ he said.
Ken was grinning too. Clearly, he wasn’t too displeased with having had his thoughts revealed. And Charles was laughing.
‘Hey, before you let Madame come back, can you dismiss us early?’
‘And don’t give us any homework,’ Martin added.
‘Amanda, you get out of Madame right now!’ Jenna yelled.
‘I’ll leave her when I’m ready,’ Amanda retorted.
The voice from the back of the room was tremulous. ‘No, you’ll leave her now,’ Sarah said.
Amanda felt something she’d never felt before. It was like her mind, her consciousness, her spirit was forcibly pulled out of the body she’d taken over. And it hurt.
Then she was herself again, in her own body, in her own chair. She looked at Sarah in wonderment. ‘You did that.’
Sarah didn’t reply. She stared down at her desk, and her expression was grim. Amanda couldn’t stop looking at her. She’d known about Sarah’s gift, but now she’d felt it. It was so powerful. And for the first time she had a clue as to why the girl was so afraid to use it.
No one else was looking at Sarah though. They were watching Madame. The teacher had put her hand to her head.
‘Madame?’ Tracey asked worriedly. ‘Do you feel OK?’
‘Did I. . Did I faint?’ Madame asked.
‘Yes,’ Amanda said quickly. Too quickly. Madame’s eyes became steely, and they were fixed on Amanda.
‘You took over my body.’
Amanda opened her mouth to deny it, but no words came out. What was it about Madame that made it so hard to lie to her?
So she took the other route. ‘I’m sorry,’ she murmured. ‘I was fooling around, and. . I’m sorry.’
Madame’s voice could have cut glass. ‘You will never, never do that again, Amanda. Do you understand?’
‘Yes, Madame.’
At least the teacher didn’t go on and on about it. She gave them a reading assignment, the bell rang, and she dismissed them.
Amanda turned to Ken. ‘We have to talk,’ she said urgently. She glanced at the door, which someone had already opened. Nina wasn’t there — not yet, at least. ‘And we have to talk
Ken got the message. He got up and followed Amanda out. She led him down the corridor and into the first empty classroom they came to.
She knew there was a security guard who came round to make sure rooms were empty, so she didn’t waste any time, even if it meant coming off as a little pushy.
‘I don’t care what Madame says,’ she declared flatly. ‘If someone like this Doctor Paley can get rid of our gifts, I’m totally up for it.’
‘Me too,’ Ken agreed. ‘Though I have to say that was pretty funny, what you pulled back in class.’
‘I guess it was kind of mean, what I did to Sarah,’ she confessed.
‘Not really,’ Ken said thoughtfully. ‘She needed a push. She has big problems dealing with her gift. She has to confront it sooner or later. I think you did her a good deed.’
Amanda preened. ‘I just thought I’d have one last crazy fling before giving up this gift for good. Do you want a long last talk with any ghosts?’
Ken’s smile faded.
‘What’s the matter?’
‘I’m thinking about Jack.’
‘Oh.’ She knew who Ken was referring to. Jack Farrell had been Ken’s best buddy, and he’d died in that accident on the field. His was the first voice from beyond the grave that Ken had heard. ‘You still talk to him?’
‘Not that much,’ Ken admitted. ‘Not like before. I guess he’s comfortable now, wherever he is. He doesn’t need me like he used to.’
‘So if you lost your gift and Jack couldn’t reach you any more, that would be OK?’
‘Yeah, I guess so.’
She wished he sounded more sure of himself. ‘Just think about it, Ken. No more ghosts asking you to check on their grandsons or watch soap operas.’
‘And no more gifted class,’ Ken added.
‘Exactly. We could be normal, Ken. Wouldn’t that be nice?’
He looked at her and smiled. ‘Yeah. Really nice. But we don’t know for sure if Doctor Paley can do this.’
‘No, not for sure,’ Amanda admitted. ‘But we can try. I feel like this is right for us. Don’t you?’
‘Yeah.’ Then he fell silent, but Amanda didn’t mind at all, because he was looking deeply into her eyes.
The caretaker came in. ‘Out,’ he said.
They left the room, and ran right into Britney.
‘There you are!’ Britney exclaimed. ‘Nina was looking for you. And so was I. Guess what? It worked!’
Amanda looked at her blankly. ‘What worked?’
‘What you made me do at lunch. Tommy just asked me to meet him at the mall! It happened, just like you said it would.’
‘Great,’ Amanda replied.
‘It’s funny, though,’ Britney went on. ‘I still can’t remember actually talking to him in the canteen.’
‘You were nervous,’ Amanda told her.
Britney grinned. ‘I guess. But I’m not nervous now! I gotta go and meet Tommy, I’ll call you tonight and tell you what happened.’
She took off, and Ken turned to Amanda. ‘You did it, didn’t you? You took over her body and came on to Tommy.’
Amanda lowered her eyes modestly. ‘I kind of had to. She’d never do it on her own.’
Ken smiled. ‘That was nice of you.’
She loved the way he was looking at her. It occurred to her that she had a connection with him that Nina could never have. And when they lost their gifts together. . it would link them in a way that could last forever.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
