Here Today, Gone Tomorrow

Chapter Fifteen

ARE YOU SURE YOU want to go to school?" Emily's mother asked anxiously on Monday morning. "It seems to me you need more than a weekend to recover."

"I feel fine, Mom," Emily assured her. She got out of the car in front of Meadowbrook. "Don't worry. I'll see you later."

She had to admit, she felt a little tired. But she hadn't wanted to stay at home. More than anything, Emily wanted her life to get back to normal.

She still couldn't believe all the events of the past week. She'd returned home Friday night feeling as if she'd been away for a month. So many emotions. . she'd been scared, confused, angry, depressed. . and what was she feeling now?

She wasn't sure. But she knew it wasn't bad. And she knew she'd learned something about herself.

Madame had told them all to come to her room first thing in the morning before school started for a debriefing. Emily was glad she wouldn't have to wait until the gifted class to see everyone. Having been through this adventure, would they be closer as a group?

She wasn't the first one to arrive at room 209. Jenna was already there. She nodded at Emily. "How do you feel?"

"A little tired," Emily admitted. "But okay. How are you?"

"Okay," Jenna echoed. But Emily thought she looked even more tired than Emily felt. Her eyes were unusually dark.

"I'm glad it's over," Emily said.

"Me, too," Jenna said. And she smiled-but to Emily, it looked a little forced.

Ken came in next, and he was definitely in good spirits. "I feel great," he told the girls. "You know, I always felt like I had the most worthless gift. I couldn't do anything with it. Yesterday, for the first time, it paid off!"

"How's that?" Emily asked.

"Jenna read Carter's mind, and that's how we knew about the house. But then this dead woman told me where you were! She was the mother of one of the kidnappers-Howard. She wanted me to give him a message."

"What was the message?" Emily asked.

"She wanted me to tell him he was doing a bad thing and that she was very upset with him. What was he like?"

"He was okay," Emily said. "If I'd met him somewhere else, I might even have thought he was kind of sweet."

Jenna looked surprised. "Your kidnapper was sweet?"

"Yeah, that one was. The other man was okay, too. I don't think either of them was very smart, but they were never mean to us. The woman, Clare. . she was scary."

"She knew how to dress though. I mean, the woman had style." That comment came from Amanda. Back in her own body, she sauntered into the room and took her seat. Then she examined her fingernails. "Whatever takes over my body when I'm out of it does a very nice manicure."

Charles wheeled himself into the room. Emily nudged Ken, and the two of them began applauding.

"Charles, you saved my life," Emily declared. "I wish you could have seen Clare's face when that gun flew out of her hand!"

Charles looked pleased, but a little embarrassed, too. He wasn't used to anyone making a fuss over him.

Tracey arrived next, followed by Martin. Then Carter Street walked in.

Their eyes were on him as he went to his seat and sat down, but, as usual, he didn't react.

"I wonder why they just let him go," Ken mused.

"Because he didn't have a talent they could use, I guess," Tracey suggested.

"Then why did they take him in the first place?" Emily wondered. "They seemed to know everything about all of us."

No one could answer that, and the classmates sat in silence for a moment.

The last student to enter was Sarah. She went directly to Amanda.

"I want to thank you."

Amanda stared at her. "For what?"

"For taking over my body."

Emily was very surprised. "You're glad Amanda snatched your body?"

Sarah nodded. "It put me in a position where I had to use my gift. But I didn't use it before I absolutely needed to. If I'd been in control, I might have been tempted to use it earlier." And she took her seat.

Once again, Emily couldn't help wondering why Sarah was so anxious to avoid using her gift. It was one mystery that definitely hadn't been cleared up.

Finally Madame arrived. "Good morning, class. I won't keep you long, and we can spend more time talking during our regular class time. But while your memory is still fresh, I have to ask you something. What kind of an effect has this experience had on you in regard to your gift? Do you feel different about it now?"

"I do," Ken said. "I actually got something useful from one of my voices."

Charles had something to say, too. "It was kind of cool, using my gift to save Emily. That lady probably wouldn't have killed her, but-"

"But you never know," Emily said. "Thank you, Charles."

Madame looked at Emily. "What about you, Emily? Have your feelings about your gift changed?" Emily took a deep breath.

"Yes. Now I know I really have a gift, and it's just as good as everyone else's. Looking back now, everything I've envisioned has come true."

Martin interrupted. "Wait a minute. You said the bank robbery would be a success, and it wasn't."

Emily nodded. "That's because I assumed it would be because I saw Tracey get into the vault and you break the vault door. But I didn't envision the end result-I was just guessing."

"What about the two different visions you had of me?" Amanda wanted to know. "I mean, of me-as-Sarah? First you said I'd have her gift, and then you said I wouldn't have it."

"That's because you fell down," Emily said simply. "And I didn't see that.You wouldn't have been able to freeze George. But you did fall, and I guess that's what pushed you out of Sarah's body. Sarah came back into herself and froze George. In my vision, I saw all the possibilities." She grinned. "Maybe the floor was waxed that day and a butterfly flew past the floor cleaner and she left too much wax on one spot."

Madame smiled. "The butterfly effect. I suppose it could have an impact on predictions."

"There's more," Emily said. "I have to learn to separate what I see in my visions from what I want to see. Like, I saw Martin would throw a sofa, and he did. But I'd only hoped he would throw it and break a door down-I didn't see that in the vision. And I have to look for details in the visions. Calendars, watches, newspapers-anything that might indicate a day or a time. I need to notice what people look like. Does someone have a suntan? That could mean the event I'm envisioning is going to happen in the summer." She went on to tell them about the vision she'd had of her mother's bad haircut, and how she thought the vision was a failure because her mother's hair came out okay.

"Looking back, I realize that in the vision, my mother was wearing her heavy quilted coat. The bad haircut will happen in the winter." She smiled. "Anyway, I know I still have to work on my gift. I need to practice examining and interpreting my visions. But at least now I know for sure that I have a gift. And it has value."

"Very good, Emily," Madame said with approval. "Now you can begin to use your gift realistically."

Emily was feeling pretty good when she left the classroom with Tracey. "I'll tell you the best thing that came out of this whole experience," she confided. "My mother's giving me a cell phone. Of course, she'll probably call me every ten minutes on it." She shivered and stopped. "I left my sweater in 209. I'd better go back and get it."

"See you at lunch," Tracey said.

Emily went back to the classroom, but she paused outside the door when she heard voices. She recognized them-Madame and Jenna were talking.

She knew it wasn't right to eavesdrop, but something about the intensity in Jenna's tone kept her there, listening.

"I read her mind, Madame. Clare-before she got away. It was just a glimpse, but I learned something.

She didn't care about robbing that bank. This was a test-of us. Some of us, at least."

"I was afraid of that," Madame said. "What was she testing-the extent of their gifts?"

"Yes, but more than that. She wanted to see how much resistance the students would present-if they could be manipulated and coerced. I can understand why they didn't take me. I'd have read their minds and known what they were really up to. I don't know why they didn't take Charles or Ken. Or Amanda. Well, they did take Amanda, but it was an accident. But this whole thing, it had nothing to do with robbing a bank. It was an experiment, Madame."

"And was she pleased with the results of the experiment?" Madame asked.

Emily had to strain to hear Jenna's low voice. "Yes. And she didn't care what happened to Howard or George. There are other people involved, but not them. And the other people-they've got plans. I don't know what the plans are, Madame, but I think something big is going on. Something a lot bigger than a bank robbery."

Madame spoke calmly. "Yes, I can believe that, Jenna."

"Who are these people, Madame? What do they want?"

"I'm not sure. But you're right, Jenna. They're planning something. And they're very dangerous."

"What are we going to do, Madame?"

"We're going to work together, and you're going to learn how to use your gifts defensively."

"Are you worried?"

Emily wished she could see Madame's face. She had a feeling it might tell her more than her words.

"I'm not worried about you, Jenna. Or your classmates. I'm worried for the world. And how my gifted students are going to have to save it."

There was a silence in the classroom. Which was fine with Emily. She didn't want to hear any more. She could leave her sweater there for the time being.

The halls were crowded now as people hurried to their first classes. Emily hurried, too, and tried not to think about the conversation she'd overheard. But she had to think about it because it was there, in her head, and it couldn't be pushed aside. And the questions went around and around.

What did those people want from them? Who were they, really? Would she be called upon to predict their motives? And how could a handful of middle school teenagers save the world? So much to think about, to worry about …

But oddly enough, she didn't feel panicked. She and her classmates were special. They had gifts. Maybe now they'd begin to learn the real purpose of those gifts. Hearing voices, reading minds, snatching bodies--there was a reason why they had these unique talents. Maybe now, in the face of something really big, they'd learn how to use them in the best possible way.

Emily would have her visions. She'd try to see what she could in the future and try to understand what she was seeing. She'd look for clues and read between the lines. She would interpret; she'd weed out the irrelevancies.

And always keep her eyes open for butterflies.