Speak No Evil

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

ON MONDAY MORNING, PAUL Carter took his place in the gifted class, just behind Martin.

Martin turned round. ‘What did it feel like, being a cockroach?’

Paul tried to answer. ‘Like. . a cockroach.’ The last word came out sounding more like ‘rush’, but Martin got the idea.

‘Gross,’ he said.

Paul nodded. He thought about Martin’s gift, and wondered if he’d ever be able to use his strength whenever he wanted to. What would he use it to do?

He looked around the room at his other classmates. Charles. . Someday he wouldn’t be satisfied with using his gift just to make his life easier. Maybe he would stop a bullet from reaching its target and save a life. Or maybe he’d send two cars crashing into each other, just to amuse himself.

Emily. . Could she rescue an entire city by warning the inhabitants of an impending earthquake? Or would she refuse to focus her gift, and just allow fragments of visions to pass through her head?

Jenna could know good intentions and evil intentions, and she could take action. Or refuse to get involved. Tracey could be a spy, but for what purposes? Ken could channel the dead, and learn from them to help the living. . or maybe he’d just watch soap operas. Amanda could make someone’s life better. She could also make it worse.

His eyes rested on Sarah. He felt like he understood her now, and why she was so afraid. In a way, she was like Dr Paley. She recognized the terrible possibilities of her gift. She didn’t trust herself to be able to use it well. The temptations might be too great.

Paul could relate to that. So far, it had come easy for him. His gift had been used to hide and to escape. It grew out of fear. He’d learned over the past few days that it could be used to inspire fear. Not just Amanda’s fear of cockroaches and mice — Much greater fears than that.

So perhaps Dr Paley was right to want them ungifted, or even eliminated. Or maybe Madame was right in believing they could benefit mankind.

He hoped Madame would talk about this today. About all the dangers they faced — from people like Serena, Mr Jackson, Clare, the people who wanted to use their gifts for some terrible purpose. People like Dr Paley, who wanted to take their gifts away. And people like themselves.

He had a lot to learn — about himself, about his classmates, about what they could do, individually and together. And as Madame entered the room and called the class to order, he sat back and began to listen.