"Try again," Madame ordered.
"Okay." She looked at the boy and concentrated. It was as she expected-nothing was revealed to her. After a moment, Madame asked, "Would it help to get closer to him?"
"Maybe," Jenna said, but without much hope. She got up and took the vacant seat in front of Carter. Moving the chair so she could face him, she stared into his eyes. Carter stared right back. She tried to think of her gift as an x-ray, something that could see through anything. And maybe she really was penetrating Carter's mind. But all she saw was complete darkness, a black void. She didn't know if he was intentionally blocking her gift or if there was just nothing there.
"I'm sorry, Madame." She started to turn away, but something about Carter's face made her look at him again. "Madame, his eyes look funny. Like, sort of watery. The way mine get when I have a cold."
Madame approached and gazed at him thoughtfully. "Yes, I see what you mean. And he's more pale than usual." She turned.
"Amanda, would you accompany Carter to the infirmary, please?"
Obviously programmed to behave like Amanda, Other-Amanda let out a heart-rending sigh. Then, with an expression of great reluctance, she got up.
"Carter, go with Amanda," Madame said. And as always, Carter obeyed a direct command.
They had just left the classroom when Ken uttered a word that was highly frowned upon by Meadowbrook teachers. It wasn't typical of him, and Madame looked more concerned than annoyed.
"Ken? What's wrong?"
He was clutching his head with both hands. Jenna didn't even have to concentrate to read his thoughts. She thought everyone might be able to hear the shouting that was going on in poor Ken's head.
You must talk to my son. It's urgent! My boy is in big trouble, and he needs my advice.
"Leave me alone!" Ken pleaded.
This is important! Listen to me. You have to contact him, now!
"No! Get out of my head!"
Jenna jumped. She'd never heard Ken sound so angry.
Jenna and Madame watched him anxiously. A few seconds passed, and Ken's eyes widened. "Hey, I think she's gone."
"See?" Jenna said. "I told you, you just have to be tough with these dead people."
Madame, however, still looked worried. "Ken. . you're sure you haven't heard from, from …" she looked like she was having trouble saying the words". . from the missing students?"
Ken shook his head. "No, Madame. I'd listen to one of them. I just hope …" his voice trailed away.
"You hope what?" Madame asked.
"I just hope I won't have to."
By the end of the school day, Jenna's frustration level had reached an all-time high. It was pathetic- working math problems, conjugating Spanish verbs, and playing volleyball in gym class when her friends were missing and possibly in grave danger. And here she was, doing nothing about it.
Her thoughts went back to Carter. He had to know something. He was their only link to the others. If she couldn't read his mind, maybe she could get some information out of him another way.
Back in the days when she'd run with a pretty rough street crowd, she'd known some scary people. At least, they knew how to act scary. Jenna could recall a few tactics that just might shake up Carter and frighten him out of his usual zombie state. The last bell had rung, and students were leaving the building, but there were a lot of after school activities going on-club meetings, the basketball game-so the infirmary had to stay open. There was a good chance Carter might still be there.
Unfortunately, the school nurse was still there, too. It wasn't going to be easy to threaten Carter with her watching.
"Yes?" the nurse asked. "Can I help you?"
Jenna thought rapidly. "There was an explosion in the chemistry lab! A teacher told me to come and get you."
The nurse rose from her desk and glanced into the little room off the reception area. Whatever she saw must have reassured her because she snatched up a bag and hurried out.
Jenna berated herself--she should have sent the nurse to the gym, which was all the way on the other side of the school. It wouldn't take her long to get up a flight of stairs and see that there was nobody lying on the floor of the lab. Jenna didn't have much time.
In the little room, there were four cots, but only one was occupied. Carter was sleeping.
"Carter!" Jenna said sharply. "Wake up!"
Carter didn't move. She went over to him and poked his arm. "Come on, Carter, wake up!"
There was still no response. She put her hands on both his thin arms and shook him. But the guy could really sleep. If she hadn't seen his chest going up and down, she would have thought he was dead.
But Carter was weird in so many ways. When he was awake, he was like a sleepwalker. It made sense that his actual sleep would be something else altogether.
Now what was she going to do? The nurse would be back any minute. Another idea occurred to her. If Carter was in a really deep sleep, he could be dreaming-and there was a chance he could be dreaming about his recent experiences. And if he was really, truly unconscious, maybe he wouldn't be able to block her efforts to read his mind.
Having never tried to read the mind of a sleeping person, she wasn't sure if it would work. But it turned out to be even easier than reading a mind that was completely awake and alert. She didn't even have to concentrate very hard-an image formed almost immediately.
It was a house-a large house that looked old and abandoned. Windows were boarded up, and a door that had once been red was covered with graffiti. There was something vaguely familiar about the scene.
"Excuse me, young lady!" A very irate nurse stood in the doorway with her hands on her hips. "What's going on? There was no explosion upstairs! And what are you doing in here with my patient?"
"Gosh, I thought I heard something. It must have been my imagination. Sorry!" Jenna slipped past the nurse and scurried out of the infirmary.
She had to share this news with someone who would care. First she ran up to room 209, but Madame wasn't there. Then she remembered Charles talking about the basketball game. Had Ken said he was going, too?
Outside the gym, she could hear yelling and cheering. When she pushed the door open, it was practically deafening. How could people get so excited about a stupid basketball game? she wondered. Especially since, according to Ken, Meadowbrook's team wasn't so great.
Not according to the scoreboard though. Under the heading "Home," the number was 110. Under "Visitors," the score read 0. Jenna vaguely recalled Ken saying they were playing some super duper team today. It certainly didn't look that way to her.
But Jenna wasn't really interested, and she didn't waste any more time thinking about the score. She scanned the bleachers for Ken. Finally she spotted him, way up on the top level.
"Excuse me, sorry, excuse me," she chanted while squeezing by the cheering fans. When she reached the top, she practically pushed some guy off the stands in order to plant herself down next to Ken.
Ken glanced at her, but his eyes went back to the game immediately. "Can you believe this?" he exclaimed. "I don't know what happened to these guys, but they're playing brilliantly! It's not just Mike-they're all making baskets. And St. Mark's can't even score! They can't even get the ball near the net."
"Who cares?" Jenna asked impatiently. "Ken, listen, I read Carter's mind!"
That tore his attention away from the court. "What did you find out?"
"Just the image of a house. But that could be where he was being held, and where the others are now."
"Where's the house?"
"I don't know," Jenna admitted. "But I've got this feeling I've seen it before. I just need to remember …" "Oh, forget about it!"