Speak No Evil

a distraction. And he knew exactly how he could do it.

He crept out of her bag and started crawling up her leg. As he expected, Amanda let out an ear-piercing shriek and leaped out of her chair. Paul dropped to the floor and scurried away before Amanda could step on him.

‘It’s a cockroach! There are cockroaches in my bag!’

Somebody picked up a book and threw it at him. Paul dodged it and frantically searched the floorboards for a hole to crawl into. Then it dawned on him that here was the perfect opportunity to introduce his gift to the class. He shifted back to his human form.

‘Carter!’ Madame gasped. The rest of the class stared at him in stunned silence. The unfamiliar attention unnerved him, and it took a lot of effort to formulate any words. They came out as ‘I haff uh giff’, but he was pretty sure they got the meaning.

Madame gazed at him in wonderment. ‘So I see,’ she said.

There was a short rap on the classroom door, and then the door opened. Dr Paley walked in.

‘Excuse me for interrupting your class, Madame,’ he said. ‘Ah, Paul. I thought I might find you here.’

Madame’s eyes darted back and forth between the boy and the doctor. ‘Paul?’

‘That’s his real name, the name he was given at birth,’ Dr Paley said. ‘We’re not sure about his surname, so we’re calling him Paul Carter.’

‘Paul Carter,’ Madame repeated. ‘Well. We’re pleased to have you back here, Paul.’

‘I’m afraid he can’t stay,’ Dr Paley said. ‘As you can see, Paul has made a lot of progress. He’s recovered his memory, and he’s beginning to speak.’

‘And he has a gift,’ Madame added.

‘Yes, Paul is a shape-shifter. But he still requires some counselling and therapy before he can be released from Harmony House. You’ll have to come along with me, Paul’

Paul looked at Madame beseechingly, and Madame smiled but shook her head. ‘I’m sorry, Paul. We’re all very excited about this, and we look forward to having you back, but you’ll have to leave with Doctor Paley now.’

Paul understood. As he walked to the door with the doctor, he looked at his classmates. Tracey and Emily smiled at him. Most of the others were looking at him in a friendly way too. Only Jenna was frowning.

And Amanda, who had emptied the contents of her handbag on her desk, was clearly upset. ‘He nibbled at my granola bar, Madame! That’s gross!’

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

THE THOUGHT THAT A cockroach had been in her handbag — even if that cockroach was really a human being — made Amanda sick. It wasn’t just the granola bar. He could have crawled over everything. By the time she left class, she had decided to toss out everything that had been in her handbag and replace it all with new stuff. First of all, she’d go directly to the mall and buy cosmetics. She’d need a new wallet, a replacement for her cell phone cover. .

But all plans to restock her handbag were swept away when she found Ken waiting for her by her locker.

‘Ken, are you OK? What happened?’

Ken looked totally wiped out. He tried to smile but it came out looking more like a grimace.

‘I’ve been in the office all day, waiting to get a note for my absence.’ He sighed. ‘I had to tell him, Amanda.’

‘Tell who what?’

‘Officer Fisher. I had to tell him about my gift.’

Amanda drew in her breath. ‘No. .’

‘He kept asking me all these questions. And I couldn’t come up with a story that would explain how I knew where the bomb was. I mean, what could I say? That I knew the guy who committed suicide and he told me what he was going to do? I didn’t even know the poor man’s name!’ He leaned against the wall and let out a deep sigh. ‘So I told him I talk to dead people.’

‘What did he say?’

‘He thought I was joking.’ Ken gave her a half-hearted smile. ‘You can’t blame him. He told me I would have to come up with a better story than that. And I ended up telling him everything.’ He clenched his fists, and he looked like he was in real pain. ‘Everything, Amanda. Not just about me.’

Now Amanda felt really sick. ‘You told him about our class? About all our gifts?’

‘Well, I didn’t go into details. But he knows we’re a bunch of freaks.’ He sighed. ‘Madame is going to kill me.’

‘But he actually believed in your gift?’ Amanda asked.

‘Yeah, I guess so. Weird, huh? And then he let me go. . but you should have seen the way he looked at me. Like I was some kind of alien.’ Suddenly he slammed his fist against the locker. ‘I hate this damned gift!’

Amanda had never seen him so upset. She touched his arm. ‘It’s OK, Ken. It won’t be for much longer. Tomorrow we’ll see Doctor Paley and get that laser thing. No more gifts. We’ll be normal.’

‘Shh,’ Ken whispered. Amanda turned to see Sarah coming towards them. She approached them tentatively, and when she spoke, her voice was barely audible.

‘That was a very brave thing you did, Ken,’ she said.

He looked at her in confusion.

‘I told the class how you located the bomb,’ Amanda explained.

‘Oh.’ Ken forced a smile. ‘I wouldn’t call it brave.’

‘Of course it was,’ Sarah said. ‘You revealed your gift so you could save people. I don’t know if I would have the guts to do something like that.’

‘Maybe you’ll never have to make the choice,’ Amanda said. ‘If you could lose your gift. .’ She looked at Ken with a question in her eyes. He shook his head slightly.

Sarah shrugged. ‘Well, I just wanted to say. . I admire you.’

‘Thanks, Sarah,’ Ken said, and the girl left them.

‘Why didn’t you want me to tell her about Doctor Paley?’ Amanda asked.

‘I don’t know,’ Ken said simply. ‘I guess, maybe because her gift is so powerful. And maybe she should hang on to it, because she could really save people.’

‘But if she doesn’t want to save people,’ Amanda began, and then clamped her mouth shut. Nina was there.

‘Who’s saving people?’ she chirped.

Amanda had to press her lips together to keep herself from yelling ‘none of your business’, but Ken actually smiled at Nina.

‘The X-Men,’ he said. ‘We were just talking about what it would be like to have super-powers. What do you think?’

‘Not a clue,’ Nina said blithely. ‘Anyone want to get an ice cream?’

Of course, she was looking at Ken when she asked the question, but Amanda answered.

‘No.’

To her surprise — and extreme annoyance — Ken said, ‘Sounds good.’

Amanda stared at them as they started towards the exit together. Then she hurried to catch up with them.

‘I’ve changed my mind,’ she announced.

She didn’t get it. Two minutes earlier, she and Ken had been having this intense, serious discussion. Now he was listening to Nina chatter about her day’s activities, and actually paying attention.

‘. . then Mr Jones called on me in history, and I hadn’t read the assignment, so I started coughing and he let