Oracle

Wednesday, September 9

 I hoped I could slip of to lunch without having to talk to Jesse Glendower. I didn't want to explain how I can seen him at five AM from a different building, and I really didn't want to admit that the voice I was hearing was his. That's just too weird.

Unfortunately, I have slightly less luck than a paper boat in a hurricane, and Jesse stopped me before I was even out of the classroom. "Freshmeat, we need to talk about your German tutoring."

"I...I don't need a German tutor..." I said in a much too quiet voice.

"Tell that to your professor." He smiled pointedly at Abs and Jacky, who were waiting for me in the doorway. "Eric will meet up with you later. You'd better go to lunch now."

They left, and he turned back to me. We were now alone in the History classroom. Abs and Jacky had been the last to leave. "Eric Maverly, tell me why you can read my mind."

"I can't." I said. "I don't read minds. It's not possible. No one can read minds."

Really? Cuz I can.

I looked at him, shocked. "So it's you I've been hearing. You're telepathic!"

He shook his head. "No. I can only read other people. I can't project. Which is weird, because you seem to be able to hear me. I don't send, Maverly, I receive. So how is it that you're receiving me?"

I shrugged.

He sighed. "You're not psychic, I can tell. Although..." he paused for a second. "Visions? Visitors?"

I clapped both hands to my head, like I could physically shut him out. "Get out of my head!"

He stared at me, with a new intensity, although I couldn't tell what the emotion was. "Eric Maverly, what is going to happen on Sunday night?"

The next thing I know, I was being dragged before Joan's council. There she was, the inimitable Joan Carter. To her right were the Jones sisters, Molly, and then Maggie, and on their right was Laurence Overly. On Joan's left was Joel Truman, then Natalie Sanger, and next to her was Gaia DeMilo, who smiled at me.

Naturally, Joan and hers didn't eat lunch in the cafeteria. They ate in Chase's office. Chase herself was over in the corner, on a computer.

Jesse had me by the collar, and hauled me upright. "I found another one." He said triumphantly. "And he was looking for you."

Joan raised one eyebrow. "Oh yeah?" She looked at me. "What's special about you?" She didn't sound sarcastic, or cruel. She genuinely wanted to know.

I shrugged. Glendower poked me. "Fine," I muttered. Then, aloud, I said "I can see glimpses of the future." I turned to Glendower. "Happy?"

"He has visions. And, otherworldly visitors," Glendower said.

Chase looked up from her computer. "Is that where you heard the name 'Maiden of Orleans'?" She asked. "Someone from another world?"

I nodded. "She said I needed to warn someone, but she didn't say who. When I asked, all she said was The Maiden of Orleans." I looked at Joan. "I figure she meant you."

Joan put her lunch aside. I took this as a sign that I was being taken seriously. "What did she say to warn me about?"

I related El's message as best I could. All about the great evil on Miller's Rise, how he would make the ground run red and eat man flesh and everything. They were all looking suitably terrified. "One more thing," I said. "It's this Sunday night."

I talked for a while with them, laying out a rough game plan for how to deal with this. I gathered that this was sort of commonplace for them. I mean, Glendower's psychic, and I saw Joan messing around with that portal-thing.

"I can cover for you all on Sunday," Chase said, "If you really are going to sneak off campus on a school night." Crap, I'd forgotten that there was a teacher in the room.

At Lloyd Memorial, we have a 50 minute lunch period with 5 minutes on either end to get to and from class and cafeteria. Too soon, Chase was reminding us that we had classes to get to. So I hurried to the second floor to my English class. Jesse and Gaia walked with me.

"So, how was it, being inducted into the freak society?" Gaia asked. "I was so scared, last year, when she Adopted me. I thought 'How did they find out? How could they tell?' but once you know that Jesse's a psychic, it's kind of obvious."

"Well, I'm not really a full member yet, am I? Not unless I get Adopted." She shrugged. "Hey Gaia," I said, and she turned to me. "What's special about you?"

"I'm tougher than I look," She and Jesse exchanged smiles. "Uh oh, your girlfriend looks mad."

"She's not my girlfriend," I said automatically, not even knowing who she was talking about. I looked, and there was Abigail, standing at the door to our English class. "Yeah, she does."

Her arms were crossed, and she was tapping her foot.

"She's not angry, just concerned." Jesse said. "Good luck, Freshmeat."

"Bye, Eric," Gaia said, as they walked away. I waved at them and walked up to Abigail. She raised her eyebrows, demanding explanation.

"She's in my German class," I explained. They were helping me with my homework." It sounded lame, even as I said it. She was going to know that there was something else going on. Something paranormal. She was going to find out.

"Gaia DeMilo is in your German class? Why didn't you tell us?" Right, I had forgotten that. "And she helps you with your homework? That's amazing. What's she like?"

And so I told her about Gaia DeMilo. Her quirky smile, her freckled nose, the way she did pigtails so the looked all spiky and random. Her laugh. Her eyes.

Finally, Abigail stopped me, by poking me in the ribs. "You, Eric Maverly, are in love," I protested, and she poked me again. "In love," She repeated, "With Gaia DeMilo, who so far out of your league it's like a little leaguer watching the World Series." I muttered something. "She's one of Joan's girls, Eric. She's GD. And plus, she's a year older than you."

My world came crashing down. She was right. I could indulge in all the saving the world, being Adopted, winning her heart fantasies that I wanted, and I couldn't change that. Girls never date a guy who's younger than them. It's like, a law of science, or something.

So, I decided, then and there, to give up and Gaia DeMilo. We could be friends, sure. Which is all she had ever intended it to be anyway. But, being friends with her would be super awesome. I mean, we were all going to save the world on Sunday.

So, English passed without event. Mr Cameron assigned "I, Robot," by Isaac Asimov, as our book for the next month. Sometimes, you just gotta love this school. And then, before I knew it, the class was over, and was walking up the hall to the German classroom.

"Güten tåg," said Gaia, as she sat down beside me. She reached into her book bag, and pulled out the textbook. She didn't look at me as she said, "I was just talking to Jesse. He said- Well, anyway." She glanced at me and then looked away. "I'm not a year older than you. I just got skipped up a grade." She looked me in the eye. "We're the same age."

Sometimes, you've got to be grateful that someone you know is psychic. Even if they snoop around in your head without permission. Even if that someone is Jesse Glendower.