Here Today, Gone Tomorrow

by Marilyn Kaye

  Jenna's expression changed. "Really? Hey, I'm sorry, Em. I was just fooling around."

  "It's okay," Emily sighed. "I just feel like my gift is awfully weak. I mean, compared with the others in our class."

  "What about Carter?" Jenna said. "He doesn't even have a gift. At least, he's never shown us one."

  "Speaking of Carter, Emily knew he wouldn't be in class yesterday," Tracey told her. "She was right about that." She turned to Emily. "And you said he won't be there today, right? I'll bet you're right again."

  "But even if I am, I thought you wouldn't be there either. So I'd only be half right."

  "Have you talked to Madame about this?" Jenna wanted to know.

  Tracey was taken aback. "Since when do you trust teachers?"

  "I don't," Jenna said quickly. "Not regular

  38

  teachers. But Madame's . . . okay. I think she's different. She understands stuff."

  Tracey looked thoughtful. "Do you really think she understands our gifts?"

  Jenna shrugged. "Well, she knows about them and she doesn't treat us like freaks.That's enough for me."

  It was enough for Emily, too. At least Madame would be willing to listen. She pushed her barely touched tray away.

  "Maybe you're right. I'm going to go see if I can talk to her now."

  She was in luck--Madame was already in the classroom, going through some papers at her desk. Emily stood in the doorway and coughed loudly. The teacher looked up. She didn't smile, but she spoke kindly.

  "Yes, Emily?"

  Emily hesitated. Madame looked preoccupied, like she had something on her mind. Maybe this wasn't a good time. But then Madame spoke again.

  "Have you had a vision?"

  "I'm always having visions," Emily said. "That's the problem. Because they're not always right.

  39

  No, that's not exactly true. They're just not completely right."

  "We've talked about this before," Madame reminded her. "Are you examining the visions? Are you looking for clues that could help you make sense of them, to make the most of your visions?"

  Madame was right--Emily had heard all this before. But she still didn't get it. She reported the visions as she saw them--what else could she do?

  "Can you give me an example?" she asked the teacher.

  Madame didn't get the opportunity. Another teacher appeared at the classroom door and spoke in a rush.

  "Could you come with me? It's Martin Cooper . . ."

  "Of course." Madame rose quickly. "I'm sorry, Emily, I have to go."

  Emily didn't need any explanation for her need to leave--she could guess what was happening in some other classroom. Skinny little Martin Cooper had a gift that only served himself. If he was teased or ridiculed--which happened frequently, since he was

  40

  such a whiny, babyish nerd--he went more than a little nuts. His scrawny body was suddenly endowed with an almost superhuman strength, and he became violent. Madame was the only one who could calm him down.

  Yes, like Jenna said, Madame understood the special students. Unlike most of their parents, she accepted the reality of the gifts and she believed in her students' abilities. But unfortunately for Emily, the other students' gifts usually took up more of Madame's time.

  Ken could be tormented by the voices of the deceased, and he didn't seem to have much control over them. Emily often wondered how Ken had developed such a weird gift. He never really said much about it except to complain when dead people kept trying to talk to him. He certainly wasn't happy about it, ever, and Madame always seemed to have a special sympathy for him.

  Charles, like Martin, had a gift which could create big problems that demanded Madame's immediate attention. He couldn't make his legs move--he'd been paralyzed since birth--and somehow he'd

  41

  developed telekinesis, being able to make things move with his mind. And if he was in a bad mood, which was pretty often, he used his gift in very destructive ways.

  Amanda could take over other people's bodies. If she felt very sorry for a person, she could end up being that person. Tracey, who'd been occupied by Amanda for a couple of weeks, said this was why Amanda was so nasty to some people--she couldn't risk caring about them.

  On the other hand, Sarah didn't demand much attention from Madame, which was interesting, since she had the greatest power of all--she could make people do whatever she wanted them to do. At least, that's what they'd all been told. It was hard to believe, since Sarah was usually so nice and easygoing. And they'd never seen any evidence of her gift, since Sarah refused to use it. That was why Madame didn't have to watch her so closely. Still, the power was there, so Madame had to find Sarah pretty intriguing.

  And what could Emily do? Offer predictions that might or might not come true. Not exactly

  42

  something that would make Madame jump out of her seat.

  There was still some time before the bell, and Emily could have gone back to the cafeteria and rejoined her friends, but she had nothing to tell them, so what was the point? She went to her seat, sat down, and half-closed her eyes.

  Show me something, she told her mind. She waited for a vision. It took a while, but finally an image began to form. To her disappointment, the image turned out to be Amanda's friend Nina. She was jumping around in front of some uniformed cheerleaders. Then she performed a cartwheel, a split, and a back handspring. Something went wrong with the last move, and she ended up flat on her butt.

  So Nina wouldn't make the cheerleading squad. That was comforting but not very important. And nobody would care except Nina.

  Jenna sauntered into the room and sat next to Emily. "What did Madame say?"

  "Not much," Emily told her. "She got called out on a Martin emergency."

  43

  "Oh, too bad. Maybe you can talk to her after class."

  And tell her what? Emily wondered dismally. That Amanda's friend Nina wouldn't make the cheerleading squad? Madame would care about that just about as much as Emily cared.

  "Where's Tracey?" she asked, just to change the subject.

  "She had to stop at her locker. Look, here comes Madame with Martin."

  The teacher walked into the room with a hand firmly attached to Martin's shoulder. He was pouting, like a five-year-old who'd been caught with his hand in the cookie jar, and he took his seat without a word. One by one the other students came in, and the bell rang.

  Madame surveyed the room. "I see Carter's still absent. Has anyone seen him?" No one had, and Madame frowned as she made a note on a paper. Then she looked up and asked the same question Emily had asked Jenna.

  "Where's Tracey?"

  44

  "She went to her locker," Jenna offered, and Madame frowned again. She hated for students to be late.

  But Tracey wasn't late for class. She didn't show up at all. And by the end of the hour, Emily could only think of one reason why.

  Tracey meant well. She wanted Emily to cheer up, to feel confident about herself and her gift. She'd managed to make herself go invisible so Emily would believe that this particular prediction had come true. Maybe right this minute Tracey was sitting in that empty seat and hoping Emily was happy.

  She looked at Tracey's usual desk, and for a second, she actually thought she could see her friend. It was all in her imagination, of course. But just in case Tracey was there, Emily offered a weak smile at the empty seat.

  The bell rang. Jenna came to her side and looked at the empty seat. "She's getting pretty good at disappearing," she commented.

  Before Emily could respond, Amanda paused on

  45

  her way out and spoke to her. "Why are you staring at Tracey's desk with that goofy smile?"

  Jenna answered for her. "Emily predicted that Tracey wouldn't be in class today."

  Amanda shrugged. "Nah, she's just being invisible."

  "How can you be so sure about that?" Emily asked.

  "Because it's more likely t
han one of your visions coming true."

  Jenna, who would do or say anything to contradict Amanda, responded. "It's not just Tracey. Emily predicted that Carter wouldn't be in class yesterday."

  "Big deal. So she actually got two predictions right." Amanda turned to Emily. "So tell me, Miss Know-It-All, who else is going to disappear tomorrow? Me, I hope. I hate this class."

  Emily knew she was being mocked, but even so, she let her eyes glaze over to see if anything would be revealed. And she had a vision.

  "Martin."

  "Yeah, whatever," Amanda said airily and left the room.

  Jenna didn't say anything, but her skeptical

  46

  expression told Emily she didn't have a whole lot more faith in Emily's prediction than Amanda had. So the next day, at least two people were pretty surprised when Martin didn't appear in class.

  47

  CHAPTER THREE

  AS MADAME CLOSED THE door and Martin still hadn't appeared, Jenna turned around and gave Emily an appreciative

  nod. Emily didn't seem to notice--she had a dazed expression on her face. Which wasn't that unusual-- she always looked a little dreamy and out of it.

  Jenna hadn't meant to hurt Emily's feelings about her gift. She liked Emily. She might be a space cadet who cried a little too easily, but she was a good person, and she was a friend. And Jenna didn't have all that many friends.

  That was pretty much her own fault--she knew that. She'd come to Meadowbrook Middle School after a brief stay in a program for troublemakers, and she hadn't kept that a secret. In fact, she'd acted like she was proud of her bad reputation and kept up a veneer of toughness that scared most of her

  48

  classmates away. Only Tracey and Emily hadn't been put off by her attitude. They got to know the real Jenna, and they accepted her.

  So Jenna really hoped she hadn't hurt Emily's feelings, and just to find out, she searched Emily's thoughts. It was never easy reading Emily's mind-- with all those premonitions and visions, it was kind of cluttered. It was easier to figure out what Emily was feeling--Jenna could almost always get a sense of that.

  Actually, Jenna sometimes found it difficult reading the minds of everyone in this class, especially Madame. Probably because none of them was completely normal.

  But she got enough from Emily to reassure herself that Emily wasn't brooding on Jenna's teasing. Emily--like Jenna--was wondering where all the missing students were.

  So was Madame, apparently. The teacher looked seriously disturbed as she surveyed the room.

  "I'm going to the principal's office," she announced. "I want you all to spend the time writing down your own personal goals for your gifts."

  49

  This wasn't an unusual assignment. Madame frequently ordered them to ponder their gifts and note their thoughts. But this time, she looked like her own thoughts were elsewhere.

  She left the room, and Jenna turned to Ken sitting next to her. The dark-haired, broad-shouldered former athlete seemed lost in his own thoughts, which wasn't unusual either. He was a friendly guy, but he always looked like something was bothering him.

  "What's going on?" she asked him. "Where do you think they are?"

  Ken gave his head a little shake, as if he was trying to lose whatever was occupying his mind. Or maybe he was just responding to her question.

  "Not a clue," he replied. "Can you read their minds?"

  Jenna didn't think so. Every now and then, if someone was trying to be heard, she could read minds from a distance. But usually she had to be in close proximity to the person.

  "I'll try," she said. She closed her eyes and envisioned Carter,Tracey, and Martin. Nothing came to her.

  50

  "They're not trying to contact me," she told Ken. "Me neither," Ken said.

  Jenna was relieved to hear this, since only dead people talked to Ken. She looked around at the others in the room. Emily was still staring into space, probably trying to drum up visions, which was a good thing, Jenna suspected. She didn't want to disturb her.

  Off to the side of the room in his wheelchair, Charles seemed to be trying to amuse himself. Two pencils, engaged in what looked like a sword fight and unguided by any hands, floated in the air in front of him. Clearly Charles was moving them with his mind. He didn't appear to be concerned about the missing students. That made sense, since Charles rarely thought about anyone but himself---which was probably why he didn't have a friend in the world.

  Sarah was doing what she was supposed to be doing. She had her class notebook open on her desk and was writing studiously. Jenna didn't bother to read her mind. Sarah seemed to avoid thinking

  51

  anything interesting in case she felt tempted to use her gift.

  Amanda was fidgeting. She rapped her fingernails on her desk, opened and closed her notebook, and tapped a foot. Finally, she got up and went over to Ken, the one person in the class she felt was on her social level and therefore worth communicating with.

  "This is creepy," she declared.

  "No kidding," Jenna remarked.

  Amanda shot her a quick withering look as if to say "I wasn't talking to you." Jenna didn't care. Having hung out with Amanda when Amanda was occupying Tracey's body, she knew that she was a mass of contradictions--inside, she was actually sort of decent. But her mean-girl act wasn't just on the surface. It went pretty deep, and sometimes Amanda could be sincerely nasty.

  Never to Ken though. Even if he wasn't involved in sports anymore, he'd been a total jock before his accident, and that obviously counted for a lot in Amanda's book. Jenna often suspected Amanda had a crush on him.

  52

  "What do you think, Ken?" Amanda asked.

  "Something's going on," Ken said. "If they were sick, they'd be on the absentee list. Their parents must be worried."

  "Carter doesn't have any parents," Amanda pointed out. "And Tracey's parents probably think she's vanished on purpose. But if Martin's parents don't know where he is, they have to be going crazy. He used to live across the street from me, and I remember his mother always calling for him to come in if he was out playing."

  Jenna couldn't resist. "So you and Martin played together as children?" she asked mischievously. "Were you like best friends?"

  Amanda didn't even dignify that with a reply. "Ken, what do you think we should do?"

  "I don't know," Ken said simply.

  Jenna had a suggestion. "We could ask Emily who's going to vanish next." She turned to Ken. "Emily predicted that Carter and Tracey and Martin would disappear."

  Ken's eyebrows went up. "Yeah? Hey, Emily." He raised his voice. "Emily!"

  53

  Slowly, Emily turned to them. "Yes?"

  "Come here," Amanda said imperiously.

  Don't take orders from her, Emily, Jenna thought furiously. But Emily wasn't a mind reader, and she still looked so dazed, she'd probably take orders from a squirrel.

  She made her way over to Jenna, Ken, and Amanda.

  "What's going on?" Amanda demanded to know.

  Emily was taken aback. "How would I know?"

  Ken spoke much more kindly. "Did you have a premonition that those three would disappear?"

  Emily nodded. "Yes. But that's all I saw. Just them not being here."

  Amanda sniffed. "That's all? Oh, great. You see people missing--big deal. What good is your gift, Emily, if you don't know why they're gone or where they are or anything?"

  Jenna was glad to see that Emily was now getting annoyed with Miss I'm-All-That. "Sorry if my gift doesn't meet your high standards of---of giftedness, Amanda."

  Jenna clapped her hands in glee and Ken grinned.

  54

  But Amanda was not pleased. Her voice rose. "You know what I think, Emily? You're just showing off. You didn't even have any premonitions."

  "Oh yes she did," Jenna interjected.

  Amanda ignored that. "You're a great big fake, Emily."

  Emily drew herself up. "I am not."r />
  Now Amanda's voice became shrill. "Oh yeah? Then tell us who's going to disappear next!"

  Now Jenna understood. Amanda was getting nervous.

  Emily looked directly into Amanda's eyes. "You are."

  It was all Jenna could do to keep herself from patting Emily on the back to congratulate her. This was exactly what Amanda needed to hear-- something that would make her freak out. She deserved to be frightened.

  And she was scared--anyone could see that. She went completely pale, and given the amount of makeup she used, that was pretty dramatic. And her thoughts were so clear to Jenna that she was surprised everyone couldn't hear them.

  55

  Ohmigod ohmigod ohmigod what am I going to do, help me, somebody, help me . . .

  And then Amanda ran out of the room, looking as if she was about to throw up.

  "That wasn't very nice, Emily," Ken said.

  "I couldn't help it," Emily said simply. She turned and went back to her seat.

  "It served Amanda right," Jenna said to Ken. "She can be pretty nasty."

  Ken shrugged. He'd been distracted by a new game Charles was playing on the other side of the room. Charles was sending things into the wastebasket next to Madame's desk. First, he threw a crumpled piece of paper. It sailed through the air and landed in the basket. Then he crumpled another piece of paper and did the same thing.

  "It's amazing, what that guy can do with his mind," Ken said. But Jenna thought it was a waste of a gift to use it on stupid activities like that.

  When he got bored, Charles looked around for something more interesting to toss.

  "Charles, stop it!" Sarah cried out as her bag

  56

  suddenly left her side and went sailing through the air in the direction of the wastebasket.

  Why didn't Sarah just make him stop? Jenna wondered. She knew why, of course. Because Sarah refused to use her power. What Jenna really wondered was why she wouldn't use it. As with Ken, there was something secretive about Sarah.

  Now Sarah's bag hung in midair, upside down, and all the contents poured out into the wastebasket.

  "Charles!" Sarah wailed.

  "Cut it out, Charles," Ken said, but Charles ignored him. Jenna glared at him in disgust.

  "You're such a jerk, Charles. No wonder you don't have any friends."