“I don’t need a partner—or want one.” Especially her, I almost added.

“I’ll grow gray hair if I hang around her.” Thorn said, looking at me with an arch in her pierced eyebrows. “Manny, I told you it wouldn’t work out.”

“Give this a chance, guys.” Manny told us firmly. “You have a lot more in common than you realize.”

“No way!” Thorn and I said at the same time. Startled, we stared at each other before looking quickly away.

“See? Almost like twins and you only just met.” Manny laughed. “Now shut up for a minute and let’s get down to business.”

“What business?” I asked cautiously.

“Investigating the vandalism. But not the usual way.” He glanced around as some kids walked by, then lowered his voice. “Using your talents.”

I glared at him. “You promised not to tell!”

“I didn’t. But I know you’ll want to when you see what Thorn can do. She has an amazing ability. It’ll blow you away.”

“I seriously doubt that.”

Thorn curled her purple lips into a smug smirk, like she knew more than I did. “It’ll be fun watching you choke on your own words.”

“Not as fun as watching you fail.” I lifted my chin in challenge. “Go ahead—try to amaze me.”

“It’ll be easy.” She grinned. “What I do is called psychometry. That means I can find—”

“I know what it means,” I cut in. “The ability to sense things by touch.”

“Not bad. Most people have never heard of it.” Thorn gave me a cautious, appraising look. “Anyway, I’ve been able to sense things by touch since I was little. I used to do it for kicks or to mess with people. It’s a great party trick, too.”

“Sure. Whatever.” I shrugged, not buying this for a minute. If Thorn were psychic, I’d eat my backpack.

Thorn shook her head. “Just for the record, I’m only doing this for Manny because he’s a real friend.” She added coldly, “You have five minutes to hide an object.”

“Like what?”

“A book, pen, a shoe—doesn’t matter. Don’t tell me what is it or where you plan to hide it.”

“Okay.” I nodded.

“Your five minutes start now.” She glanced at one of her rings that doubled as a tiny clock. “When you’re done, come back here.”

She gestured for me to go, so I took off down the hall. I kept turning corners, hoping to confuse her if she was following. This whole game was dumb and I would rather walk out of the school gate and keep going till I reached home.

I went outside into a grassy quad area and rummaged through my backpack. At the very bottom, there was an oddly shaped piece of scuffed aluminum. It was an old epée grip. The epée had been my favorite weapon in fencing class at my old school, and this grip had been my teacher’s. He’d given it to me. Mr. Landreth was the only person at that school who hadn’t turned on me when things got bad. He’d believed in me and my gift. I don’t know why I kept the grip in my pack—I just never really wanted to take it out and put it with all the other fencing stuff I never used anymore.

Thorn would never be able to find it. I looked around for a hiding place

Crouching down to hide the grip under a bench, I got a better idea. Minutes later, I returned to the library entrance where Manny and Thorn waited on a bench. When they saw me, they stood and hurried over.

“Well?” Manny prompted. “Mission accomplished?”

“Yes—it’s hidden.” I couldn’t help but grin. Thorn would never find it. I couldn’t figure out how she’d conned a smart guy like Manny. But she couldn’t fool me.

“Let me touch your hand that held the missing object,” Thorn said. When I hesitated she added, “Don’t worry, I won’t contaminate you.”

“You don’t worry me.”

“Are you sure?”

I ignored her laugh and boldly held out my right hand.

She traced the lines on my palm with her fingers, her black hair falling forward and brushing across my arm. “You hid something small. It had a funny shape.”

“Well, that narrows it down.”

“It’s very important to you.”

Startled, I tried to keep my expression calm. “Yeah.”

Manny was grinning. “See, I told you she was cool.”

“Come on, that’s an easy guess.” She couldn’t be for real. I tried to rally my skepticism. “Besides what does she mean ‘important to you’? Sounds like Mystic Manny—pure fortune cookie.”

“Whatever, Sabine. Thorn knows.”

“Then she should be able to find it.” No way, I thought with secret delight. Thorn could search the whole school and she’d never figure out my hiding place.

After staring down the hall, Thorn turned to me with a shake of her dark head. “I have the strangest urge to look in a bathroom sink. Something is in the sink.”

“Sink?” I laughed. “You are so far off.”

“Not your thing. Something else missing … ” Her voice trailed off and she rubbed the center of her forehead. “Okay, I’m getting a sense of it. It’s metal. It’s old, well used, and it’s somewhere dark and warm.”

I didn’t say anything. I nonchalantly moved my hands behind my back.

“How about the science lab?” Manny guessed.

“No,” Thorn said. “Not a classroom. Not the cafeteria.”

Pursing my lips tight, I gave nothing away.

She studied me. “You went outside, but that’s not where you left it.”

I just shrugged.

“It’s close by,” Thorn said, pacing around me. “Very close.”

“But she couldn’t hide whatever it is around here without us seeing her,” Manny pointed out.

“Unless she hid it before she returned.” Thorn’s gaze zeroed in on my backpack, which I’d dumped on the floor. She walked to it, then paused and suddenly whirled around.

Thorn came directly towards me. Before I could say anything, she reached inside the pocket of my hooded sweatshirt and withdrew the grip. Any effort to look unimpressed was useless now.

“All right!” Manny pumped his fist.

“Did you ever doubt me?” asked Thorn.

“Not for a second,” said Manny. “Now what the heck is that?”

I ignored Manny’s question. “How did—did you … ?” My words trailed off.

“It’s just a weird talent. Like some people can paint or play the piano. I can find things.” Thorn handed the grip back to me. “And you must have some weird trick, too, or else Manny wouldn’t want us to be partners.”

“Partners,” I echoed with wonder. Maybe, just maybe, Manny wasn’t totally demented.

I really looked at Thorn this time. Past the Morticia makeup, multiple piercings, and heavy chains—into her gray eyes. Amazingly honest eyes. And I knew with sudden clarity that I’d been completely wrong about her. She wasn’t a fake.

I was.

And I remembered what Opal had said about my “gaining a new gift soon.” I’d thought she meant something, not someone. Thorn?

Took you long enough, Opal said. Your intuitive skills are getting rusty, certainly from lack of use. But there’s hope for you.

And when I told Thorn that I was psychic, she didn’t call me crazy.

She believed.

* * *

When I got home later, Nona was frantically tearing up the house, looking for her missing car keys. She was positive she’d left them in her purse, only they weren’t there. They weren’t in any of her other usual hiding places, either. Not the cubby hole in the recliner, the toe of her slippers, or the fridge.

Something Thorn said jumped into my head.

I went straight to the bathroom sink.

And found the missing keys.