Here Today, Gone Tomorrow

Chapter Six

WHEN SHE WOKE UP, Emily had no idea where she was-geographically speaking. She could tell that she was in a bed, but that was about it.

Immediately after she'd entered the back seat of the car, the man in the passenger's seat turned around, leaned toward her, and put a blindfold over her eyes. He'd done this gently, almost apologetically, but even so it had been a frightening moment, and Emily had started to panic. This wasn't alleviated by the woman's sharp voice.

"Don't struggle, Emily. There's nothing you can do."

"What's going on?" Emily asked, without much hope of getting an answer.

"You'll find out when the time is right," the woman said.

The man spoke in a kinder tone. "Here's something to drink."

She felt a bottle being placed in her hand. Then she heard a soft whirring sound. Reaching out, she felt a glass panel that now separated her from the people in the front seat, like in a limousine. She wouldn't be able to hear anything they said to each other.

There was one benefit to the silence and darkness. It might be easier to concentrate and envision her future. She took a sip from the bottle and almost immediately wanted to kick herself. How stupid can I be? she wondered as drowsiness swept over her.

Now, awake, she sat up in the bed. There was nothing covering her eyes, but the room was pitch-dark. She could feel a table next to her bed and something that could be a lamp on it. By touch, she located a button and pushed it in.

Light flooded the room. There wasn't much to see though. It was a plain room, with light blue walls. There was something on one wall in the shape of a window, but it was completely covered by a metal shutter. A white chest of drawers stood against the far wall.

There were two other beds in the room, but both were empty. They were unmade and looked as if they'd been slept in recently. The door started to open, and Emily stiffened.

"Good morning."

Emily let out the breath she'd been holding. "Tracey."

Tracey came over and sat on the edge of Emily's bed. "How are you feeling?"

"A little groggy," Emily admitted.

Tracey nodded. "They gave you something to make you out of it."

"Where are we?"

"I don't know," Tracey replied. "In some kind of house, but I don't know the address. And all the windows are blocked."

"How did they get you here?"

"They grabbed me inside the girls' bathroom at school and put a wet towel on my face. There must have been something in it that knocked me out.

They must have put me in a car and taken me here. I woke up in this room."

"A man and a woman with blond hair?"

Tracey shook her head. "There were two men, and the woman was a redhead."

So there were at least jour of them, Emily thought. "Who are they?"

"I don't know."

"What do they want us for?"

"I don't know that either."

"Tracey!" Emily exclaimed in frustration. "You've been here three days. Haven't you learned anything?"

She shook her head. "Nothing. I managed to go invisible on the first night and looked around the place, but I couldn't find any clues. There's a floor above us, but the door at the top of the stairway is locked. I guess that's where they stay."

A creak above them confirmed this. Someone was up there.

"I think they know about my gift," Tracey continued. "Even when I'm invisible, they whisper to each other and I can't hear a word they're saying."

"Did you try just asking them what they want?"

"Of course I asked them," Tracey said. "They just keep saying I have to be patient. Maybe they're waiting till they have us all here before they explain what they want." She offered a half-hearted smile. "No offense, but I was hoping the next captive would be Jenna. At least she might be able to read their minds and figure out what's going on."

"I can't believe you're being so calm about this," Emily marveled.

Tracey shrugged. "Someone has to be calm. Carter's worthless, of course. He's just like he is back at school. He does what he's told, and the rest of the time he stares into space. Martin whimpers and whines. Sarah looks totally freaked and barely speaks. I think maybe she's in shock."

"I can relate to that," Emily said with feeling. "Do they know about all our gifts?"

"I don't know!" Tracey replied for the umpteenth time. Then she looked sadly at Emily. "I'm sorry I dragged you into this. They made me write that message to you."

"I didn't care. I wanted to help all of you. I felt bad that I didn't see what was going to happen in time. I could have warned you."

"Don't be such a goof. You couldn't have stopped them."

Emily's stomach rumbled loudly.

"You're hungry," Tracey declared. "Get dressed and we'll have some breakfast. I have to say, they're taking pretty good care of us here. The food's okay, and there's lots of entertainment."

"It's still a prison," Emily reminded her as she got into the sweatpants and shirt that were laid out on the bed.

"Well, at least it's an upscale one," Tracey said. "There are DVDs, an Xbox, games. ." She was still extolling the virtues of their jail as Emily followed her out of the bedroom.

Emily wasn't fooled by Tracey's cheery tone. This was a Tracey thing to do-take charge and try to keep their spirits up. Clearly this wasn't working for Martin. Entering what appeared to be a dining room, they found him slumped in his seat, eyeing his plate of food mournfully.

"I like my eggs sunny-side up," he whined.

"Shut up and eat," Tracey ordered him. "Scrambled eggs are just as good. And look at that nice crispy bacon."

Carter ate steadily, but the expression on his face-or lack of expression-gave no indication of whether or not he was enjoying the food. Sarah looked exactly like Tracey had described her-just plain scared.

Remembering the drink in the car, Emily eyed the food warily. But Tracey had said it was okay, and there was Carter, not showing any side effects from eating it. Along with the eggs and bacon, there was toast and orange juice that looked freshly squeezed. Emily didn't think she'd be able to eat, but she surprised herself.

Maybe it was because the place just didn't seem scary at all. Except for the lack of windows, they could have been in any normal, ordinary house. They sat around a big table on comfortable, matching chairs. The plates were decorated with a floral pattern, similar to the dinnerware Emily knew at home. There were real forks, knives, and spoons, not plastic ones.

Surreptitiously Emily touched the edge of the knife lightly. No, it wasn't sharp enough to cut anything tougher than eggs. Not that she'd ever have the guts to stab a human being.

From what Emily remembered from the night before, they hadn't behaved like serious bad guys. The woman wasn't friendly, but she hadn't been nasty, and the man was almost nice.

She was pretty sure it was the same man who entered the dining room at that moment. He was thin, slightly balding, with a neatly trimmed short beard and wire-rimmed glasses perched on his nose. As he approached the table, everyone froze and looked at him.

He placed a stack of napkins on the table. "Do you need anything?" he asked the group in general. "I suppose you're too young for coffee."

He wasn't frightening at all. In fact, as he gazed around the table, he looked a little uncomfortable, almost nervous.

No one said anything. "I can make more toast if you want it," he offered. When none of them asked for any, he left the room looking relieved.

As she continued eating, Emily noticed a tear trickling down Sarah's face. Tracey must have noticed it, too. Sitting next to Sarah, she leaned over and put an arm around her shoulders.

"It's going to be okay," she said soothingly.

Sarah flinched and shrugged off Tracey's arm. "Get off."

Emily eyed her curiously. She didn't know Sarah well at all, but she was always nice in class, never rude. Clearly the situation was affecting her. She just hoped that meant Sarah would use her gift if it became absolutely necessary.

They were all finishing their breakfast now. Again Tracey took charge.

"Who wants to go into the living room and play Grand Theft Auto?" she asked brightly.

No one jumped at the opportunity, and it didn't matter anyway, because at that moment the hostage-takers or kidnappers or whatever they were all entered the dining room. There was the balding guy and another guy with a lot of curly brown hair who was shorter and fat. While the skinny guy still looked nervous, the shorter one was grinning. They weren't young but they weren't old. Emily guessed they were around her mother's age.

It was the woman who really grabbed her attention. For one thing, she was very pretty, sort of glamorous looking. Emily estimated her age at around thirty, but she wore a lot of makeup so it was hard to tell. She wore fashionable tight jeans with boots and a polka-dot shirt. Her long black hair gleamed with midnight-blue highlights, and she wore hoop earrings that looked like real gold.

Her eyes were blue, but a very different shade of blue than the streaks in her hair. They were so pale they were practically transparent.

What was really amazing was her expression-or, more accurately, her lack of expression. Her perfectly sculpted features were completely blank. For a second, her lips stretched and turned up slightly at the ends, but never in a million years would Emily have called that a smile. If anything, it made her shiver.

"Welcome," she said, although there was nothing welcoming about her flat voice. "I hope you're all comfortable. My name is Clare." She indicated the chubby guy. "This is Howard, and the man on my other side is George."

George looked at the ground and murmured, "Hello." Howard beamed at them. "Hi, guys!"

Now she was positive George was the man who'd been in the back seat with her. But she wasn't sure about the woman. The voice sounded familiar, and she could be wearing a wig. Or last night's blond hair was a wig. Or the red hair Tracey had seen. . Oh, why was she thinking about hair at a time like this?

Clare continued. "I know this must be strange to you, and you have to be wondering what's going on. Well, now that you're all here, we can explain."

Emily looked at Tracey and knew she had to be thinking the same thing. If the point had been to kidnap all the gifted students, then they weren't all here.

The woman might have been a mind reader. "We're not bringing in all your classmates, by the way. You're the ones we need now."

Tracey spoke up. "Why?"

"For your gifts, of course." The odd lip twitch which must have been her version of a smile appeared briefly again. "You're all exceptional young people with very special talents. Tracey, you can become invisible. Martin, you're capable of great strength. Emily, you have the ability to see the future, and Sarah. . Sarah, you have the greatest gift of all. You can control people."

Emily shuddered. She sounded so matter-of-fact, she could have been talking about who excelled at math and who could play the piano. Maybe this was why she seemed scarier than the men. There was something unreal about her.

As scared as she was, Emily had to say something, and she said the first thing that came to mind.

"What about Carter? He doesn't have a gift."

Clare didn't seem surprised, and she only glanced at Carter, almost as if he was insignificant. "That doesn't matter. We've got the people we need."

Again, Emily was amazed at her own daring. "The people you need for what?"

The pale blue eyes rested on her. "You're going to help us rob a bank."