Gifted Touch (14 page)

Thoughts that weren’t mine,” she said in a rush, pressing her purse even closer to her body.

“What’s that supposed to mean—not yours?” Anthony asked. Was the girl a total fruitcake? She’d seemed okay at Oakvale, but this was not sounding good.

“I can’t explain it. The thoughts . . . I wasn’t thinking them. They kind of just appear in my head.

Sometimes clear. Sometimes fuzzy. Sometimes almost blocked out by static or something. And sometimes . . . sometimes they feel like other people. Like my dad. Or Jesse. Or . . . you.” She gave a harsh laugh. “Don’t think I don’t know how this sounds.

When you get out of here, you can organize a sanity hearing and testify against me.”

Anthony kept his eyes on her face. He was good at telling when people were lying. Rae looked kind of freaked, but he didn’t think she was making this up.

“What does all this have to do with why you’ve decided to take me on as a charity case?” If he could just keep her talking, maybe he’d come to some deci-151

sion about what her deal was. Right now he couldn’t help thinking they’d let her out of the hospital way too early.

“When I was in the bathroom, after the bomb went off, I got some of the thoughts, the not-me thoughts.

That’s what I call them. I have them so much, I needed a name for them. Anyway, one of the . . . the thoughts . . .” Her eyelashes fluttered down, blocking him from looking into her eyes. “It was about you. It was something like, ‘They’ll think Anthony did it.’

It’s like someone was framing you.” She raised her eyes back to his, her gaze intense.

Like she was trying to tell if he believed her. Anthony struggled to keep his face expressionless.

“And later, in the nurse’s office, I was holding that blue cup of water you gave me. And this time the thoughts weren’t about you. The thoughts felt like you,” Rae continued, almost pleading with him to believe her.

“You got thoughts that felt like me,” Anthony repeated. He leaned his chair back on two of the legs.

“What were they?” He wasn’t completely sure he wanted to know.

Rae pulled a tin of Altoids out of her purse. “Want one?” she asked.

“I want you to answer my question,” he told her.

Rae popped one of the mints in her mouth and 152

ground it between her teeth. “Basically it was just that you . . .” She stopped while she put the Altoids tin back in her purse. Anthony felt like screaming with frustration, but he waited for her to go on. “I got thoughts that made it sound like you really cared about what happened to me,” she said so softly that he had to strain to hear her. “That you were worried about me. And that you wanted to find out who did it.”

Anthony let the front chair legs fall to the floor.

This was freakin’ bizarre.

“And you think they were really my thoughts? I mean, are you supposed to be some kind of mind reader or something?”

Rae gave a helpless shrug. “I have no clue where the not-me thoughts come from. Maybe they are just more insanity.” She shook her head. “But it doesn’t feel that way, especially lately. I’m starting to wonder if—I don’t know, if I’m not crazy. Not imagining things. Because these thoughts—they really feel like they’re coming from other people.”

“Look, I—” Anthony cleared his throat. She looked so scared, so vulnerable. Almost the way she did after the bomb. “I did have some thoughts like that. Seeing you all pale and everything, it freaked me out. I wanted to do something for you. But I didn’t know what to do. That’s why I gave you the water. It 153

was lame, but it was something. ”

“It was a lot,” she murmured, sounding a lot shyer than she usually did.

Anthony scooted his chair closer to the table. “If you really believe these thoughts, then why’d you tell Rocha you saw me? You could have stopped all this right then.”

Rae pushed her hair away from her face. “God, I wish that’s what I’d done. But it would be pretty psycho of me to actually believe these thoughts are true, right? I mean, what kind of person . . . I still don’t know if I’m just being a squirrel.” She put her hands down on the table, sort of reaching out to him without quite getting close enough to touch.

“I get it,” Anthony told her. He noticed that a few strands of her curly hair were glued to her forehead.

She was getting the sweats. He was, too. This was mind-blowing. “Are you getting any of the thought things now, while we’re talking?”

It was kind of like watching a train wreck. He couldn’t stop pushing her, needing to know exactly what he was dealing with here.

“Yeah,” she admitted.

“Tell me,” Anthony urged.

“It’s full of static. But it’s like, ‘Can’t stand another day.’ ‘Better than being at home.’ ‘Have to 154

get Tom some Dos Equis,’ ” Rae muttered.

Anthony felt a trickle of cold sweat run down the back of his neck.

“I’ve completely freaked you out, haven’t I?” Rae stood up. “I don’t know what I was thinking.

How could you believe me? Most of the time I don’t even believe myself.” She turned and started to walk away.

“Have to get Tom some Dos Equis,” he repeated.

“That’s weird.”

Rae turned back to face him, her purse held in front of her like a shield. “Why is that weirder than anything else?” she asked.

“Because Dos Equis is the beer my stepdad drinks. And his name is Tom,” Anthony explained.

“That is kind of weird. But typical. Lately, anyway. Look, I’ve got to go.” She hesitated. “So is it okay with you if I help out Jesse?”

“Yeah. If you want,” Anthony answered, half his mind still on the Tom / Dos Equis thing. He didn’t know what he was supposed to think about Rae’s “not-me” thoughts. But whatever else was going on with her, now he was convinced she wanted to help him.

Rae took one step, then hesitated again. “There was another thought I got in the bathroom that day,” she admitted. She dropped her eyes to the ground. “I got the one about you being set up. But I also got one 155

about me.”

“What was it?” Anthony asked when she didn’t continue.

She raised her eyes to his. “The other one . . . It said, ‘Definitely kill Rae.’ So, if I’m not insane, which is a total possibility, that I am insane, I mean—” She stopped, taking in a quick, sharp breath. “If I’m not, then whoever set you up was planning to kill me with that bomb.”

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Chapter 9

I know Rae’s powers are developing. I can almost see it happening when I look at her.

I don’t think she’s realized that she is . . . becoming. She knows something is wrong. I’m sure of that. But she has no idea what she is already capable of.

Even I don’t know exactly what form her powers have begun to take. But I will, perhaps even before Rae knows herself. I have to work fast. If Rae starts to use her powers before I figure out what they are, someone could end up dead.

*

*

*

Rae ducked into the bathroom—

/got my period /
wonder if Vince
/

—instead of heading right to the cafeteria. If she was going to have a “spontaneous” Jeff encounter, which she was pretty damn sure she was, she wanted 157

to brush her hair and put on some fresh lipstick.

Rae headed over to the sinks. She started trying to squeeze between two other girls so she could see a little patch of mirror. The girls immediately backed off, giving Rae a whole mirror to herself.

One of the benefits of being an out-of-the-closet psycho, Rae thought. But it bugged her that she’d never even seen the girls before. They were clearly freshmen—the fact was practically painted on their Clearasil-dotted foreheads—so there was no way they’d witnessed The Incident in the cafeteria last year. Still, they’d obviously heard all the gory details.

The freshies rushed through their primping and hurried out of the bathroom. “It’s not contagious, you know,” Rae muttered. One of the stall doors behind her swung open. Oh, great, now somebody’s heard me talking to myself, she thought. She glanced over her shoulder and saw Lea heading toward her.

“What’s not contagious?” Lea asked.

“You know. My insanity,” Rae answered.

“Did someone say something to you?” Lea demanded. She looked ready to storm out into the halls and start kicking butt.

“No. Not really,” Rae said. “It’s just, you know, I can tell people aren’t exactly comfortable when I’m around.”

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“Butt-head kind of people,” Lea answered as she washed her hands. “Not your friends. Speaking of which. What’s up with you being a no-show at lunch the last couple of days?”

Rae shrugged. So did Lea think it was in Rae’s

“best interest” to keep eating lunch with them, even if it wasn’t good for her to show up at their parties? Rae had to bite back the comment.

“Let me guess. Marcus and Dori. I told them they shouldn’t let you know that—” Lea stopped short.

“I don’t need to be protected from stuff,” Rae snapped. “I’m not going to lose it if everyone’s not perfectly, sickeningly nice to me all the time.” She noticed a faint blush on Lea’s cheeks but rushed on.

“You know what would have helped, though? If someone had given me a heads up. I would have liked a couple of minutes’ warning.”

Like from my supposed best friend, she added silently.

Lea nodded. “I should have said something.

You’re right. It’s just that I told them to keep it a secret, at least for a little while. But Dori, the girl can’t keep her hands off Marcus for a—” Lea stopped herself again. She took a step toward the door. “So are you coming?” she asked, her voice suddenly all cheery and peppy. “We can sit at a different table.” Rae flinched. “I brought my lunch,” she said. “I 159

think I’m going to eat in the art room. I’m right in the middle of this painting.”

“Oh. Okay. I know how you get when you’re in artist mode,” Lea answered, sounding the faintest bit relieved. “So I’ll see you later,” she added. She gave a little wave as she headed for the door.

Rae quickly brushed her hair and did some minor makeup repair, ignoring the not-her thoughts that buzzed through her brain. She hurried out of the bathroom and made straight for the stairwell. When she reached the door, she grabbed the knob—

/get lucky/

—then hesitated. Maybe she was being a little too eager. Nothing was less attractive. She’d figured that one out pretty fast when she’d first started playing the guy-girl game. It wouldn’t kill Jeff to have to miss a day with her.

Although it might kill me, Rae thought. She’d been looking forward to her vacation to the land of normal all morning. Especially with all the Anthony stuff heating up, Rae needed a little bliss time. Tomorrow, she told herself. Jeff doesn’t need to know—

Before she could finish the thought, the door swung open. And Jeff was grinning at her from the other side. He grabbed her by the wrist and pulled her into the stairwell, then shut the door behind them. “I made us a picnic,” he told her.

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“I can see that,” Rae answered, staring down at the square of folded sheet loaded with food.

“And just in case you’re wondering, no animals were harmed in the preparation of this lunch.

Although I cut my finger when I was making the car-rots.” He showed her the Band-Aid on his pinkie.

“Poor baby,” Rae said, falling into flirt mode.

“You could kiss it and make it better,” Jeff suggested. He gave her an exaggerated leer.

Rae laughed. “I guess I could do that. Since you got the injury cooking for me.” Then she took his hand and gave his finger a quick kiss.

The atmosphere in the stairwell became charged, like the way the air outside feels right before a thun-derstorm. Rae’s eyes found Jeff’s, and they stared at each other for a long, dizzying moment. Then Jeff leaned forward, just a little. Rae leaned a little toward him. And somehow they were kissing.

I’ve known this guy for, like, four days, Rae thought as she slid her hands into his hair. This is probably not the best idea.

But it felt so good. Her whole world was his hands and her hands, and his mouth and her mouth. And that world was a wonderful place to be.

Rae spotted Jesse in the 7-Eleven parking lot as the bus pulled up across the street. Show time, she 161

thought. The bus’s doors wheezed open, and she climbed out, did a quick traffic check, then ran over to Jesse.

“So is that guy Nunan working today?” she asked when she reached him.

“Yeah,” Jesse answered. “I could have just gone in and talked to him myself.”

“Do you know him at all?” Rae asked, not bothering to lecture Jesse about why this wasn’t something he should do alone.

Jesse shook his head. “Not really. I’ve seen him with Anthony a couple of times.”

Rae peered through the window at the guy behind the counter. He was stroking his shaved head and giggling to himself. Unfortunately, he looked like the type who might have difficulty remembering a variety of things. “So you ready to do this?” Jesse answered by heading to the door. He held it open for Rae, then they headed to the counter side by side. “Nunan,” Jesse said. “How’s it goin’?” Nunan ran his hand over his head one more time, then peered at Jesse. “Do I know you, little guy?” Rae saw Jesse’s shoulders stiffen at the little-guy crack, but he let it go. “I hang here with Fascinelli sometimes. This is his new girlfriend.” Jesse jerked his thumb at Rae.