by Marilyn Kaye
That was all Ken needed to hear. ‘Can I talk to you privately, Cassandra?’
‘Of course, Ken,’ the medium said. To the others, she said, ‘The seance is over. We will meet again at the same time tomorrow evening.’
Dahlia and Stevie went to the hallway and Dahlia opened the door. Jenna practically fell in, as if she’d been leaning against it.
‘What are you doing here?’ Cassandra demanded to know. ‘I told you to leave!’
‘I was waiting for Ken,’ Jenna said. ‘I thought we could walk home together. Come on, Ken.’
Ken glared at her. ‘I need to talk to Cassandra.’
‘Ken, don’t tell her anything! I read her mind. She’s a fake!’
‘How dare you?’ Cassandra cried out. ‘Get out of here now!’
‘I’m not leaving without Ken,’ Jenna yelled.
Ken turned to the medium. ‘I’m sorry about this. I’ll get rid of her.’ He grabbed Jenna’s arm and dragged her out the door.
‘Ken, I’m serious,’ Jenna hissed once they’d reached the hall. ‘I don’t know who she really is, or what she’s up to, but she’s not a medium. This is a fraud.’
‘You’re just saying that to keep me from helping her find Stevie’s father,’ Ken accused her. ‘You don’t want me to tell her what I can do.’
‘It’s not just that! I’m telling you, Ken, I swear, I saw something in her mind. And she’s not telling the truth.’
Ken couldn’t remember ever hearing Jenna sound so fervent before.
‘Ken, just do me one favour, OK? Don’t tell her today. Think about it.’
‘I’m not going to change my mind, Jenna.’
‘Just wait till the next seance,’ she pleaded. ‘It’s not like anything can happen now. OK? Please?’
‘What difference is one day going to make?’
‘I don’t know! I just feel like – like it will make a difference.’
That sounded pretty lame to Ken, but he’d never heard Jenna sound so frantic. If it really meant that much to her . . .
He went back into the apartment, where Cassandra and Margaret were talking.
‘Um, I have to go.’
‘I thought you wanted to talk to me privately,’ Cassandra said.
‘It can wait till tomorrow,’ Ken said.
CHAPTER TEN
THE WOMAN WHO HAD been calling herself Cassandra pulled off her veil and cursed as the door closed behind Ken.
‘I think we’re all right,’ she told Amanda. ‘I kept my mind completely blank all the time that girl was in the room.’
Amanda reminded herself that she wasn’t Amanda. ‘Why?’
‘She can read minds,’ Serena said. ‘But I blocked her from getting into mine.’
‘You can do that?’
‘I learned how when I studied hypnosis,’ Serena Hancock informed her. ‘You concentrate on a little phrase called a mantra. Some people do this for meditating, to clear the mind. It can work when you’re around mindreaders too. When I was student-teacher in her class I was able to hide my thoughts from her.’ She started towards the kitchen. ‘I’m going to fix myself a Martini. Do you want one?’
Amanda shuddered. ‘No, thanks.’ She followed Serena into the kitchen. ‘You can’t really make contact with spirits, can you?’
Serena stared at her. ‘Are you being funny? Of course not! You know that.’
Margaret would know that, Amanda thought. ‘Oh, sure, but I was just wondering. Maybe, after doing this for a while, you might have developed the gift.’
Serena began mixing her drink. ‘It doesn’t work like that. You’ve either got it or you haven’t. It’s too bad though. If I could connect with dead people, I wouldn’t need Ken. I hope he’s not going to be a problem. I think he really wants to help Stevie. He seems like the caring type.’
‘Yeah, Ken’s like that,’ Amanda said. Once again Serena looked at her oddly, and Amanda tried to recover. ‘I mean, that’s how he’s been acting here.’ Mentally, she scolded herself. She had to remember who Serena thought she was. It wasn’t easy. She was still reeling from the revelations of the evening before.
‘Don’t you want anything to drink?’ Serena asked.
‘Just water,’ Amanda said. ‘I . . . um . . . I’m on a diet. Excuse me, I’m going to wash my hands.’
It was just an excuse to be alone in the bathroom for a few minutes. She put the lid down on the toilet and sat there.
She had to admit, Serena had designed a very clever scheme. Fortunately, when Amanda had learned who Serena was the night before, the shock had left her speechless and she was able to learn a lot about the plan by just listening to Serena talk about it.
She gathered that Margaret and Serena were friends from back in the days when they’d studied to become teachers at the same university. Teachers didn’t make much money, and Serena wanted a lot more than she earned. And it appeared that Serena was still obsessed with getting her hands on a winning lottery ticket.
From what Amanda had figured out, Serena had learned about Stevie’s plight from another friend, Jane, who taught at a different school. Stevie was in Jane’s class, and he’d confided in his teacher. Jane was so moved and saddened by the story, she’d mentioned it in passing in a conversation with Serena. And Serena – without telling Jane, of course – came up with a plan.
Having done some of her student teaching at Meadowbrook in the gifted class, she’d learned about their special gifts. She knew what Ken could do, and she thought he’d be able to get in touch with Stevie’s father. So she set herself up as a medium, contacted Stevie and Ken, and enlisted Margaret to help her out by acting like a satisfied client. This would hopefully convince Ken that ‘Cassandra’ was a legitimate medium. And as payment, Margaret would get a cut of the money from the lottery ticket.
What Amanda hadn’t figured out yet was how Serena would find out the location of the lottery ticket before Ken told Stevie. And she was afraid to ask because she was sure Margaret already knew.
She was also curious about Dahlia’s role in all this. But she didn’t even have to ask about that. When she returned to the living room, the Martini seemed to have put Serena in a talkative mood.
‘This is going even better than I expected,’ Serena mused. ‘We really lucked out when Dahlia showed up. That was a good idea you had.’
What idea was that? Amanda wondered. ‘You think so?’ she asked carefully.
‘Obviously – Dahlia would never have turned up if she hadn’t read the ad you put about me in the 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 what it was about. Jenna was trying to get the girls to gang up on him, to stop him from going to the seance and offering to help the medium. He sighed in exasperation. What did they think they could do? Tie him up and sit on him?
No, it was more likely that they were planning to hound him and nag him till he broke down and gave in. Or threaten never to speak to him again. Or cry? No, not those three.
Like he cared anyway. Like these girls were more important than a kid whose family was about to lose their home. As far as Ken was concerned, Jenna, Emily and Tracey were being selfish – more concerned with their own safety than the suffering of others. And the minute they started bugging him, he was going to tell them that.
He opened the door, looking at them in scorn as they practically jumped out of their seats. The three of them wore almost identical guilty expressions. Ken went to his seat and opened a book. But before he began reading, he gave each one of them a long, hard glare.
It was pretty effective. The girls didn’t approach him.
Jenna didn’t even bring up the subject in class. Actually, she didn’t have a chance – Charles and Martin got into an argument about some stupid thing. Martin felt like Charles was making fun of him, and his gift came out. When he attacked Charles, Charles made a light fixture fall on Martin’s head. Even though neither of the boys was seriously hurt, it was utter chaos in the classroom. But at least it kept everyone’s attention off Ken.
He was still concerned about Jenna’s efforts to stop him, and when he arrived early at the seance that evening, he spoke to Cassandra before the others arrived.
‘If that girl comes by here tonight, don’t let her in. Actually, if any girls come by, don’t let them in.’
Since he couldn’t see Cassandra’s face, he had no idea if she was puzzled by his demand. She didn’t act disturbed. In fact, she changed the subject.
‘I’m glad you’re here early, Ken,’ she said. ‘There’s something I want to talk to you about.’ She motioned for him to sit on her sofa, and she sat by his side.
She spoke softly. ‘Ken, I hope this won’t sound presumptuous. I haven’t known you very long, and yet I feel as if I do know you. In a unique way.’
Ken stared at her. ‘I – I don’t know what you mean.’
She continued. ‘I believe we may have something in common. Something very deep and profound.’
Ken swallowed hard. He didn’t know what to say.
‘I believe,’ Cassandra said, ‘that you may have a special awareness of the spirit world. As you know by now, I am receptive to their messages, and thus I am highly sensitive to others who are receptive. I think you and I may have similar gifts.’
Ken nodded. ‘I was going to talk to you about that tonight. Sometimes, dead people contact me.’
The m
edium nodded. ‘I suspected this might be the case. And tonight, Ken, I may need your help.’
‘With Stevie?’
She pressed her hand gently on his. ‘Oh, I was right – you are perceptive! I so desperately want to help this boy find the lottery ticket. But you see . . .’ she lowered her head . . . ‘I must confess that while I do have a gift, I am not the strongest medium in the world. And for some reason I’m finding it very difficult to communicate with Mr Fisher, Stevie’s father.’
‘Do you actually think I can help?’ Ken asked. ‘I’ve never even tried to contact spirits. They come to me.’
‘If spirits can find you, you can find them,’ Cassandra said. ‘With my assistance, of course. Will you try? For Stevie’s sake?’
Ken nodded. ‘Absolutely.’ Then he asked, ‘Could we keep this just between us? I don’t want everyone to know I have a gift. No offence, but I don’t want to get into the medium business.’
‘Don’t worry,’ Cassandra said. ‘They won’t even be aware of what’s going on. You just pass whatever you learn on to me.’
Margaret arrived at the apartment then, followed by Stevie and then Dahlia.
‘Margaret, could you help me in the kitchen for a minute?’ Cassandra asked. The two women disappeared into the other room.
‘How ya doing?’ Ken asked Stevie.
Stevie actually smiled. ‘That money you paid me . . . my mother was able to buy Cindy some shoes from the thrift store. They’re not new, but at least they fit her and they don’t hurt. And she found some cream at a pharmacy that’s helping Dena’s rash.’
‘That’s great,’ Ken exclaimed. ‘So things are better, huh?’
Stevie nodded, but his smile faded. ‘But the landlord came around again. He’s only giving us another week to get the rent money together.’
‘Well . . . maybe by then you’ll have the money,’ Ken said. He didn’t tell the boy about his plan to help the medium because he didn’t know if it would work, and Stevie had already had enough disappointments in his life.