Coming Home: The Finders Series

CHAPTER 9: NO TIME TO WASTE

That afternoon I met with two kids up in the art room. I knew what their first question was going to be, and I was ready for it. 

"So really now, how did you know what the car was?" Eric asked. 

"Come on now.  Do you really expect a magician to reveal his secrets?" I was smiling while I said it.  I had good reason to smile too.  I had them interested in getting to know more about me now.  It would be easier to do what I needed to do, I explained that I had gotten a large donation of seats at the movie theater in the next town over.  I wanted to make it clear to everyone that the only way they could go is if they had their chores done before 1:00 on the Saturday in question. Anyone who did not have their chores done by then could not go.  I also needed the kids to choose between the two movies playing there.  They could only go see one, and so I wanted to see which one was going to be the more popular movie to go see.  Elizabeth was the one to see the problem with that. 

"The movie theater their changes their movies every Friday.  How are we going to know what is going to be playing in time to vote for it?"

"I am good friends with the manager over there," I told them.  "He told me with two movies were going to be." Quickly, I triggered future sight.  The two movies were going to be Emerald Isle and A Land Without Time.  I told the kids this, and they seem to prefer A Land Without Time.  I figured it would make a good debate for the rest of the kids as well.

"We need to have these posters done by Wednesday so we can get them up and around the place in time.  Do you think we can do this?"

"Sure," they said, and we got to work on the posters.  As we worked over the next few days on these posters, it gave me time to talk to them.  At first, they were very cautious when they answered my questions.  Over time, though, they began to open up more.  A couple of times, I manipulated the conversation around to their parents.  I was hoping to see an image of their mother in their memories.  Still, they were very guarded on this subject, especially when it came to their mother.  Elizabeth seemed more protective of that subject than Eric did, and a couple of times, I sensed a lot of pain from her.  However, I attributed it to the parents being dead and her still in mourning.

At this time, I had taken to watching the kids in their classrooms.  The first thing I noticed was that Eric was something of a daydream work, but whenever the teacher estimate question, he had the right answer.  I had also seen that when he was in those types of predicaments, her face would scrunch up for a bit even though they were in separate classrooms.  One time I open my mind and listened.  I was right.  Eric was daydreaming, and when the teacher called on him, she would supply the answer so he would not get in trouble.  While watching them in class, I saw that they did interact with the other students but only as far as they had too.  Otherwise, they stayed to themselves here too.  Elizabeth was the more guarded of the two, and Eric was a little more outgoing.  Again, I chalked it up to her being in mourning. 

Another thing I had done was to talk to some of the other kids about these two.  I wanted to see what the others thought and felt about Eric and his sister.  Most of the kids thought they were just shy.  Mike Higgins, on the other hand, had a slightly different take on them.  It seemed he had seen Eric passing something to Elizabeth late one night.  The only problem was that her bedroom was one flight up and on the other end of the building.  He swore that there were no strings or cables or anything like that, but the other kids had not believed him when he told them.  They said he had dreamed it all.  He was trying to catch them at it again, but he was not successful since that first night.  I knew he had not imagined it, however. 

Tuesday afternoon arrived, and I was starting to get a bad feeling.  I could not explain it, but I felt like something was about to go very wrong.  I had discussed this feeling with Phil, and I explained that I had learned to trust my feelings.  He agreed and said that he would help me keep an eye on the kids throughout the day.  While we were cleaning up after finishing the last of the posters, I felt it.  Someone was trying to probe my mind.  Not only that, but they were probing everyone else as well.  I focused on both children.