Ha, ha.
Except that since Kait's drawings always came true, somebody was going to get burned. Somebody involved with that safe, maybe? Kait tried to recapture what she'd been thinking about while scribbling. Too much. Psychic attacks, Canada, Bri dowsing, Jackal
Mac on the astral plane, Renny's PK. And the safe, of course, even though she'd tried not to think about it.
This picture could involve any of those things. Kait had a very bad feeling about it, made worse by a nagging, growing headache.
What about the other picture? The one that was supposed to be visualizing the secret room? Kait looked at it and wanted to slam her fist on the table.
Garbage! Trash! Not literally, but the drawing was useless. It wasn't the inside of a room at all, and it certainly didn't show a crystal. It was a line drawing of a sailing ship on a pretty, wavy ocean. Sitting on the deck, right below the sails, was a Christmas tree. A nice little Christmas tree with garland and a star on top.
Kaitlyn's eyes were stinging with pain and fury. The first picture left her helpless. The second was useless.
And that makes me completely hopeless.
Suddenly she couldn't hold her feelings in. She crumpled them up with a savage motion and threw them as hard as she could at Frost. One hit Frost on the cheek, the other hit Frost's volunteer.
"Kaitlyn!" Joyce shouted. Frost leaped up, one hand to her cheek. Then she made a rush for Kait, her nails clawed.
"Frost!" Joyce shouted.
Kaitlyn put a foot out to block Frost. In elementary school she'd been a pretty good fighter, and right now it felt good to fend Frost off. And if Frost whacked her, she was going to whack right back. She felt calm and queenly standing there ready to kick Frost in the chest.
"Come on, snowflake," she said. "Come get me!"
"I will, you!" Frost shrieked, charging again.
"Gabriel, help me! Renny, you stay in that seat!" Joyce shouted.
Joyce and Gabriel dragged Frost back and sat her down hard in a chair. Kait was tempted to go after her, but didn't.
"Now," Joyce said in a voice to cut through steel, "what is going on?"
"I got mad," Kaitlyn said, not at all sorry. "Everything I draw is trash."
"Smash," Bri said quietly. Kait had an urge to snicker.
Joyce was staring at Kait, lips compressed, brow furrowed. Abruptly, she pulled the tape off Kait's forehead.
"How do you feel?" she said.
"Bad. I have a headache."
"Right," Joyce muttered. "All right, you go upstairs and lie down. But first you pick up those papers and put them in the trash can where they belong."
Stiff-backed, Kait stalked over to the crumpled wads, picked them up. Then, as Joyce turned back to her clipboard, she faked throwing them at Frost again. Frost went red, and Kait hurried out of the room.
Upstairs, she shut the door of her bedroom and wondered what had come over her.
Was she crazy? No, of course-it was the crystal. Joyce had used a big piece of the crystal and it had made Kaitlyn act like the psycho psychics.
And I must be pretty crazy to start with, because it didn't take much, Kaitlyn thought. Maybe Bri and the others were a lot saner than me to begin with. I wish I could have seen them before . . .
She let out her breath, trying to make sense of her feelings. She'd really been furious there, furious and completely indifferent to any consequences her actions might have. She'd would happily have scratched Frost's eyes out.
Well, maybe that wasn't so crazy. After all...
Kaitlyn sat on the bed heavily. She kept trying to tell herself she didn't care about Gabriel-but if she didn't care, why did she hate Frost so much today?
And Gabriel certainly didn't jump up to defend me, she thought. He probably enjoyed watching us fight.
Kait rubbed her throbbing forehead, wishing she could go outside and lie under a tree. She needed air. Idly, she toyed with the balls of paper in her other hand.
Then she looked up as the door opened.
"Can I come in? My riding lesson was canceled this morning," Lydia said. She sounded depressed.
"It's your room," Kaitlyn said.
She kept rolling the paper balls around, squashing them against each other. She'd taken them so Frost wouldn't pick them out of the trash can and laugh at them-but was that the only reason? Now she wondered if it hadn't also been some survival instinct kicking in.
None of her drawings was really worthless. Maybe she'd better keep them.
"What's the matter?" Lydia asked.
Kait frowned. Lydia was picking now to talk? "I've got a headache," she said shortly, and dropped the paper balls in a drawer.
Then she remembered her promise to Lewis. She glanced at Lydia out of the side of her eye.
The smaller girl looked very neat in a brown riding habit. Her heavy dark hair was pulled away from her small pale face, and her green eyes showed up more than ever. Neat and rich-and miserable.
"Have you got a boyfriend?" Kait asked abruptly
"Huh? No." She hesitated, then added, "I'm not after Gabriel, if that's what you mean."
"It isn't." Kait didn't want to talk about Gabriel. "I was thinking about Lewis-did you ever notice him?"
Lydia looked startled-almost frightened. "Lewis! You mean Lewis Chao?"
"No, I mean Lewis and Clark. Of course Lewis Chao. What do you think of him?"
"Well ... he was nice to me. Even when the rest of you weren't."
"Well, he thinks you're nice, too. And I told him-" Kaitlyn caught herself. Oh, Lord, this headache was making her stupid. She'd almost said that she'd told Lewis yesterday she'd bring him up. Frantically, she tried to think of another way to end the sentence.
"I told him that you'd think you were too good for him. That you'd just laugh at him. That was a long time ago," Kaitlyn finished at random.
Lydia's eyes seemed to turn a darker green. "I wouldn't laugh. I like nice guys," she said. "I don't think you're very nice. You're turning out just like them," she added, and left the room, slamming the door.
Kaitlyn leaned back against the headboard, convinced she just wasn't cut out to be a spy.
And she still didn't feel quite herself. One thing was certain, she couldn't let Joyce put her in contact with the crystal again. It made her lose control, and when she lost control anything could happen.