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  I thought about that for a bit. “Anne told me before that Nell used to pick on Amber. She—Amber, that is—came into English today late and scared out of her mind. We were having a pop quiz on Caesar—”

  “That would be enough to scare me out of my mind.”

  I rolled my eyes. “It wasn’t test terror. That’s different. That’s like—‘oh, darn, I didn’t read the assignment, I’m going to fail this, my mom’s gonna kill me’—more like dread or anxiety. This was real fear.” I hesitated. Trust was something I was still learning, even when it came to Michael. “I also heard something.”

  “Oh, yeah?” He was nearly finished his own lunch of pizza and fries and was eyeing the roll that came with my salad. I handed it to him without a word. “Thanks. Growing boy and all that. How did you know I wanted it? Did you hear me?”

  “There are some things you just don’t have to have special gifts to know,” I informed him. “And besides, I never listen to you without asking first.”

  “Never?” He brushed my cheek with his free hand and tucked my hair behind my ear. My face heated.

  “You’re getting off-topic.”

  “What? Oh, yeah, right, Amber and Nell and you hearing stuff. So what did you hear?”

  “It was like she’s gotten involved in something bad, or something she’s afraid about. People she’s afraid of, maybe. And she’s second-guessing it. Maybe something that’s going to happen. Add that to her new togetherness with Nell, and to me it’s weird. And I didn’t mean to listen to her, by the way, but it was so loud I couldn’t miss it.”

  Michael finished off my roll and gazed at me thoughtfully. “I know you didn’t listen on purpose. You don’t have to be defensive about that with me. I’ll always give you the benefit of the doubt.”

  “Thanks. I appreciate that. I guess I am a little paranoid about it, especially now that I’m hearing so much more than I’d like.”

  “I don’t know what’s going on with Amber. It seems really out of character, both her actions and her thoughts. You really think it has something to do with Nell?”

  I considered briefly and nodded.

  “Then maybe you’d get more info if you listened in on Nell, if it’s something to do with her that’s spooking Amber.”

  I shuddered slightly. “Nell’s mind is not a nice place. I’ve picked up some vibes from her, and I don’t like them. She radiates darkness.”

  He shrugged. “Just a thought. No pun intended.” He smirked.

  I sighed. “Yeah, you’re a hoot. And you’re also right. If I want to know what’s eating Amber, I should at least check out Nell.” Glumly I poked at my salad. “She’s in my History class next period. Perfect opportunity.”

  “Hey, don’t do anything that’s going to freak you out. I get that you’re worried about Amber, but I’m sure it’s nothing big.”

  I didn’t answer Michael right away. I was thinking uneasily about my first day of King, my first day in Chemistry, when I heard someone thinking about a blood sacrifice. At the time, it had freaked me out, but then I’d had to deal with Nell, and then there had been Michael...

  “Are you really that worried?” Michael’s question snapped me out of my reverie. I noticed that people were straggling out of the cafeteria and looked at my watch. Lunchtime was nearly over. I stood and pulled my hand from Michael’s grip so that I could pick up my tray. He grabbed it from the table, stacked it onto his own and took my hand again, giving me that same sweet smile. As usual, my heart fluttered, and I squeezed his hand in appreciation.

  “I’m thinking… maybe it is a big deal. Maybe Nell is involved in… something even more nasty than we might think.”

  Michael shrugged, but I saw something flash through his eyes and detected a skip in his thoughts. In answer to my inquiring eyes, he shot me a quick smile. “I don’t think we should jump to conclusions about Nell. Yeah, she’s not a very nice person, but still…”

  “What if I told you that on my first day of school, I heard someone in Chemistry class thinking about a blood sacrifice?” I kept my voice low, as there were still some people lingering in the cafeteria as we wandered through.

  I couldn’t quite describe the expression on Michael’s face. I might have said he was stricken, but it passed so quickly that I wasn’t sure. “I guess I would have to ask you, are you sure? And if you are, then do you know it was Nell thinking it?”

  “I’m sure that I heard it,” I said without hesitation. “I don’t know who said it, but she seems the likeliest candidate.” We turned in the direction of his locker first.

  “Sure it wasn’t the teacher?” It was no secret that Michael found Ms. Lacusta unsettling and creepy.

  “No. That I know. I can’t hear her mind. When I’m near her, I just get this weird kind of… static.”

  Michael snorted and spun the combination on his lock. “And that’s not suspicious?”

  “Well, it is, but I mean that I’ve never picked up any of her thoughts. And having heard Nell’s mind since then, I am pretty sure it was her. What if she’s pressuring Amber into something really bad? And what if that’s one of the reasons for my talent—to help people like Amber?”

  “Ah, so now you’re a superhero?”

  I knew he was teasing me, but I wanted to be serious. “No. But if someone is given a gift, aren’t they meant to use it for good?”

  Michael considered that as we left his locker. “I guess I can see that. But I don’t want you to make yourself crazy over this, whatever it is.”

  “I won’t. I’ll just take a little glance at Nell’s mind this afternoon—” I made a face, “—and see if I can figure anything out. I don’t like doing that on purpose, but I call these extenuating circumstances.”

  “The ends justify the means?”

  “Not exactly, but I just want to make sure Amber isn’t getting herself into something really dangerous.”

  We were in the thick of the crowd by now, and Michael leaned over to speak softly in my ear. “I really don’t think Nell is into anything dangerous. Mean, maybe. Cruel. That’s her thing.”

  I shrugged. “We’ll see.” We had reached my classroom, and I turned to face Michael. “Wish me luck.”

  He leaned into me again, brushing my cheek with his lips. “Good luck. See you at my car?”

  I nodded with a smile and gave him a quick wave as I went into History.

  I’ve heard some dark thoughts before. It’s just one of the delightful little benefits to my particular talent. Usually, I can’t isolate whose mind is thinking these disturbing things; it happens in a crowd, or on a busy highway, with thoughts flying at me from all the people in the vicinity.

  Today I knew exactly where the creepy feelings came from, and it wasn’t making it any easier.

  I slid into my desk, which was a row over and two back from where Nell was sitting. History was one of my favorite classes, and I was annoyed that Nell was ruining it for me.

  We were scheduled to have a lecture on the early battles of the Civil War, which I realized would be an excellent cover for picking Nell’s brain. She didn’t spend much time paying attention in this class as a rule, and Mr. Frame’s lectures bored her silly. Her mind would wander, and with luck, it would move toward Amber and whatever she was doing to scare the poor girl.

  Mr. Frame put up the first slide and began to speak. I took some cursory notes, scribbled down his outline points and slid my eyes toward Nell. She was doodling on her notebook and twirling a lock of her dark hair. Slowly and carefully I let down the wall that blocked my mind from probing hers.

  It wasn’t the sweet relaxation that came when I was alone with Michael. Instead it was like an assault, as the random mind meanderings of twenty-seven high school juniors hit me full force. I tensed, and then concentrated on narrowing down to find Nell.

  It was something odd that finally caught my inner ear. It was almost like a chant. My mom had a CD of Gregorian monks doing meditative chants, and this sounded vaguely like it, althou
gh I was pretty sure I wasn’t hearing Latin. It wasn’t English, and though I wasn’t completely fluent in French, it didn’t sound like that either. Perhaps slightly Germanic? No, too melodious for that. I couldn’t be sure.

  I was thinking that maybe I wasn’t tuned into Nell yet, since she didn’t seem like the chant type, when there was an abrupt change in the direction and tone of what I was hearing. Suddenly the darkness I had associated with Nell was there in full force. And while I wasn’t hearing concrete words, I began to have flashes of images.

  This doesn’t happen often. As I’d told Michael, the largest component of my talent is hearing thoughts. The feelings I can detect are also fairly common and harder to block. And every now and then, instead of hearing fully formed thoughts in words, I get flashes of images. It’s harder to understand and interpret these images, since often they are impressions or memories, frequently out of context.

  That’s what I was getting from Nell. I saw a group of girls, sitting outside in the dark. I couldn’t see individual faces, but I felt familiarity. I couldn’t get a grip on what the girls were doing, but I could feel what Nell was feeling—a mix of cynical pride and odd excitement. Whatever this was, Nell was the originator of the plan, and she saw herself as the one in control.

  There was a shift, and I perceived that what I had seen before was memory, while now it was moving to a future image, possibly a plan. It was just slightly less defined; the same girls were there, in the same circle, but this time, someone else was present. I could see her face clearly. With a jolt of dread I realized Nell was thinking of Amber. And she wasn’t thinking of her with warm, fuzzy feelings.

  Instead there was an intensity of hate, resentment and… envy? Before I could delve deeper into that idea, I could see Nell imagining herself. In her own mind, Nell was even taller, more strikingly beautiful and—powerful. The power of her mind was so intense that for that moment, I was there, in the circle, with the other girls. I felt a mixture of excitement and terror as I gazed at Amber’s face. And then Nell was behind Amber, both of them facing the girls… and me. It was with a shock of horror that I realized Nell was holding a long and deadly looking knife. As she drew closer to Amber, she raised the knife and...

  I shrieked, and in that moment I was back in my seat, in History class. My head was spinning. With real effort, I pulled my mind away from Nell’s and threw up my mental wall to protect myself.

  The room was still tilting, and I gripped the desk. The buzzing I was hearing wasn’t an influx of group thoughts; it was the blood pounding in my ears. I realized vaguely that Mr. Frame had stopped lecturing and that all the students sitting nearby were turned in their seats, staring at me.

  “Miss Vaughn! Are you all right?” Mr. Frame’s voice seemed to be coming from far away, even though I was dimly aware that he had left the front of the room and was moving toward my seat. I couldn’t answer him yet; I was still concentrating on staying upright.

  Then I felt a cool hand gentle on my neck. “Put your head down on your knees,” the voice belonging to the hand instructed calmly. I followed directions mutely, and soon the room had stilled, although I was still shaking and terrified.

  I ventured a glance up and recognized my new friend as a girl who was in a couple of my classes. I knew she was in my French class, but since the teacher insisted upon calling us by our French names in that class, I wasn’t sure what her real name was. On the bright side, I was fairly certain that she wasn’t one of Nell’s followers.

  At the thought of Nell, I sucked in another fast breath and tried to raise my head.

  “Take it slow,” my friend advised. I met her warm brown eyes, full of compassion and concern. I nodded and breathed slowly.

  The entire room was focused on me, and I was feeling better enough to be completely mortified by that fact.

  “I’m okay, really,” I assured everyone, slowly sitting up. I scanned the room quickly to see if anyone believed me. My gaze tripped over Nell’s and stuttered there. She was staring intently at me, and it wasn’t concern I saw on her face. Suspicion and curiosity narrowed her eyes. I tore myself away as Mr. Frame spoke.

  “Miss Pryce, would you please escort Miss Vaughn to the nurse’s office? She’s still looking a little green around the gills.”

  I realized Miss Pryce must be the girl kneeling next to me, who had taken care of me and kept me from fainting dead away. She stood and put her hand under my elbow, helping me stand.

  “Sure, no problem.” She turned to me. “Can you walk it, do you think?”

  I nodded and tried to stand slowly. “Really, I think I’m okay. It was just—I got a little dizzy. I’ll be fine. I don’t think I need to go to the nurse.”

  Mr. Frame was already shaking his head. “No, better safe than sorry. Go ahead.”

  We moved out of the room and I breathed in the fresh air gratefully. Humid it might be, but at least I was away from Nell.

  “Okay?” my escort questioned me.

  I nodded again. “Sure. Just enjoying the air.” I glanced at her. “I’m really sorry, I don’t know your name. I’m new and I’m still figuring everyone out.”

  She laughed. “That’s okay. I was new last year. I know what you mean. I called one girl Melissa for months, and then I found out her name was Miranda. I was so embarrassed! My name’s Cara Pryce.”

  I nodded, smiling faintly. “Good to meet you. I’m Tasmyn Vaughn.”

  “Yeah, I know. We have French together, too.”

  “I thought so. Well, thanks for rescuing me. I don’t know what happened. One minute it was all battles and the next I was going down.”

  She shrugged. “It happens. I volunteer at the hospital, in the blood bank area, so I deal with a lot of fainting. You might have a virus or something.”

  “Maybe,” I replied. Cara paused beside an opened door. The inside was like a mini-doctor’s office, with a cot, a scale and a vision chart. A red-haired woman was seated at the desk along the far wall.

  “Can I help you ladies?” she asked.

  Cara took charge. “Tasmyn kind of passed out during our History lecture and Mr. Frame asked me to bring her to you.” She followed me inside and closed the door behind us. “Tasmyn Vaughn, Mrs. Heiger, our school nurse.”

  I smiled. “Nice to meet you.”

  “Same here, although I’m sorry you’re feeling bad. Why don’t you go lie down on the cot? I’ll take your blood pressure and see how you’re doing.” She turned to Cara. “Thanks for bringing the patient. You need a pass to get back to your classroom?”

  Cara shook her head. “No, thanks, I’ll just go right back and it should be fine. Anything else I can do for you?” she asked me.

  I shook my head, and then something occurred to me. “Oh, wait, maybe.” Perching on the cot, I turned to Mrs. Heiger. “Are you going to let me go back to class or are you going to send me home?”

  “Our general protocol with fainting is to send you home. If you’re going to be passing out, we want it to be in the comfort of your own home, where you’re not a law suit waiting to happen. If you have a big test or something you don’t want to miss this afternoon, we can see how you feel after you lie down. I might be willing to negotiate.”

  This was a first; I was upset not to have a test that might keep me in school. “No, I only have a Math class left today—and it’s just another lecture.”

  “Then I foresee a trip home. Do you have a parent who can pick you up?”

  I nodded. “My mom works at home.” I turned back to Cara. “Is there any way you could let Michael Sawyer know I’m going home early? He’ll be waiting to drive me. He’s in English right now, in building three.”

  Mrs. Heiger seemed amenable. “Go ahead, Cara. Take this pass and get the message to Miss Vaughn’s ride.” Her voice was wry, and I flushed.

  I felt stupid sitting there on the cot as Mrs. Heiger bustled around me. She took my blood pressure, pronounced it borderline low but not dangerous and decided my malady was either hormo
nal or viral. While I rested, she telephoned my mother and assured her that I was fine but in need of a ride home.

  As I waited for my mom to arrive, my mind wandered back to Nell and what I had seen and heard in the scary place that was her head. I shivered and hoped Michael would be sufficiently concerned about me to come by the house after school. I needed to talk about this with someone, and he was my favorite candidate.

  My mom is not the type to freak out about little stuff. She was very calm when she picked me up at the nurse’s office, and she didn’t say much on the ride home. But after we parked in the driveway, she turned to me.

  “Anything you care to share with me?”

  I opened wide and innocent eyes. “What do you mean?”

  “You’ve never been the fainting type or the faking type. The nurse says you don’t have a fever, and you said you’re not feeling sick. Is there… something else going on, something I should know about?”

  I wasn’t trying to hear my mom think, but I did pick up a few of her stray theories. “Mom! No! How could you think that?” My face was burning with embarrassment.

  My mother had the good grace to look slightly abashed, even as she defended herself. “Tas, I trust you… but you have a boyfriend now. I think you and Michael are responsible, but you’re still… teenagers. Who fancy themselves in love. It’s not that far-fetched to follow that line of thinking to a logical if unpleasant conclusion.”

  I barely contained an eye-roll that would have gotten me in serious trouble. “I can assure you that this had nothing to do with Michael. And I’m not—we don’t—really, Mom!”

  She shrugged. “Okay, okay. Well, then, what was it? What made you pass out—or nearly?”

  I squirmed a little in my seat. “I was picking up some nasty vibes from a girl who sits near me, and I think it was just too much.” That was true, and right now it was all I wanted to share.

  “What kind of nasty vibes? Are we talking dangerous stuff or teenage girl petty stuff?”

  “I’m not sure,” I replied slowly. “I think just mean girl type of stuff. You know, picking on other kids.”