“Yeah, shut up, guys,” Cece said. “Maybe we should go get Mrs. G.”
“Just tell her,” Marissa said, shaking her head. “We’re going to be late for dinner.”
“Tell me what?” I asked, my hands beginning to tremble. There was something I didn’t know, something about the school. I could suddenly sense it, as if I’d been ignoring the feeling gnawing at mind until now. A missing piece of the puzzle. My blood ran cold in my veins, and I shivered.
“I’ll do it,” Sophie said. “Okay. You must have realized by now that you’ve got some. I don’t know what to call it. a gift of some sort. A psychic gift.”
My heart pounding, I just shook my head. My visions. how do they know?
Marissa looked annoyed. “Oh, c’mon. Think about it. A sixth sense, maybe. Premonitions. Something. something out of the ordinary.”
Still I said nothing. There was no way in hell I was going to own up to it. “Well, everyone here does,” Sophie said. “Every single student at Winterhaven.”
No. No. It was impossible; it couldn’t be true. “You’re joking, right?”
“Does she sound like she’s joking?” Marissa snapped, tossing her hair over one shoulder. “C’mon, out with it. You’ve got to do something special, or you wouldn’t be here.”
I tried to swallow, but my mouth was too dry. “Maybe I do. But you can’t tell me that everyone here—”
“Yes, everyone,” Sophie insisted. “Every student, every teacher. Even the headmaster.”
“But,” I sputtered, “but. that’s insane. There’s no way—”
“Think of it as a school for gifted and talented kids,” Kate offered. “Only we’ve got a different sort of talent, that’s all.”
“So you’re telling me, what? That this is some sort of. of magic school?” I asked.
“No, nothing like that,” Sophie said, shaking her head. “This is just a regular prep school, where all the kids happen to have psychic abilities. We can’t even use them in class, by the way. It’s against the COPA.”
“Code of Paranormal Activity,” Cece clarified. “Basically, it says you’re not allowed to use your gifts in class, to manipulate or harm your fellow classmates in any way, or for any sort of personal gain. I forget what else. ” She trailed off, shaking her head.
“You’re lying,” I said. They had to be; there was no other explanation. This was a normal school. expensive, yes. Elite, maybe. But normal.
“Why do you think you’re here, then?” Marissa asked, her tone a bit softer.
“Because my stepmother moved to New York, that’s why, and this looked like a good school. That’s it. No other reason.”
“Didn’t you feel somehow. drawn here?” Sophie asked.
Oh my God. I did. It was true, and I couldn’t even explain it. Was it possible that they were telling the truth? Taking a deep breath, I searched my instincts, and my eyes suddenly filled with tears.
She was telling the truth. As crazy as it sounded, she was. Now it all made sense — the strange comments and questions that I hadn’t understood.
“A day of discovery,” Dr. Blackwell had said.
Cece reached for my hand. “See, that’s the way it works,” she said softly. “Winterhaven somehow finds its students. They apply, they come. No one knows how.”
“If you build it, they will come,” Kate intoned.
“But. but what if someone came who wasn’t. who didn’t. you know,” I stammered. “Have gifts?”
“They don’t,” Sophie said with a shrug. “So, are you going to tell us what your gift is now?”
“Yeah, I’ll show you mine if you show me yours,” Kate said with a laugh.
“Here, I’ll go first, if it’ll make you feel better,” Sophie offered. “Remember this morning, about your shoulder? After I’d touched your hand? Well, all I have to do is touch someone, and I can tell if anything is, you know, wrong. With their body. Illness, injury, stuff like that. It’s some rare form of clairsentience. I want to be a doctor someday. I’m really good at the diagnosing part, but as far as treatment goes. ” She trailed off, shrugging.
“What did you call it?” I asked. “Clair. what?”
“Clair-sen-ti-ence.” She enunciated each syllable, as if she were talking to a child. “It’s when you can sense or see something just from touching a person or an object — like, about the past or future or whatever.”
I nodded. “Okay, what about the rest of you?”
“I’m a tellie,” Kate volunteered, her voice full of pride.
“A tellie?”
“Yeah, telekinetic. I can move stuff. With my mind. There’s a lot of us here at Winterhaven. Wanna see?”
Wow. People could really do that? I mean, having visions was one thing, but actually moving things with your mind? Goose bumps rose on my skin, a shiver working its way down my spine. “Maybe later,” I murmured. “What about you?” I asked Cece, silent beside me.
“Astral projection. Thank God for Winterhaven, because I couldn’t really control it before I came here. You know, like it was sort of involuntary? It was getting scary.”
“It’s still scary,” Marissa said with a frown.
Astral projection? I didn’t even know what that meant.
“Marissa’s just grouchy because her gifts are a little more undefined.”
Marissa shot Sophie an icy glare. “I’m just your basic empath is all. Pretty low on the gift-o-meter, as my friends here like to remind me. Whatever you have, it can’t be any lamer than that.”
“Visions,” I blurted out. A sense of relief washed over me, taking me totally by surprise. It felt good to say it out loud. “I have visions. About the future. Usually bad stuff.”
Cece frowned. “Uh-oh, precognition. That must suck. Can you. you know, prevent the bad stuff? Once you’ve seen it?”
I shuddered, thinking about my dad. “Sometimes. But I. I have to be subtle about it. Otherwise people just think I’m psycho.”
“Ah, I see the problem there.” Cece nodded, squeezing my hand. “That does suck.”
Yeah, it did. “So, what else is there?” I asked. “The other kids, I mean.”
“Mostly run-of-the-mill stuff, like us,” Marissa answered. “Clairvoyants, clairsentients, telekinetics, a few like Cece here who can project. Aidan can read minds, and I bet he’s telepathic, too. And then there are a few freaks who can shift.”
“Shift?”
Sophie nodded. “Yeah, shape-shift. I wouldn’t have believed it if I hadn’t seen it with my own eyes. I had to room with one my freshman year.