Can I borrow your hairbrush?
Paige Forrest stared at the long mirror mounted over the row of sinks that lined one wall of the girls locker room. Gym class had ended three minutes ago, and all the girls were busy yanking off their sweaty T-shirts and shorts and changing back into their real clothesthe skinny jeans and tight, cropped tops they wore to impress themselves, each other and, most important, the cute boys at Ashland High School.
Everyone except for Paige, who stood frozen in front of the mirror. She was pretty with her long black hair and pale green eyes, but I didnt think that Paige was looking at herself with the normal vanity of a sixteen-year-old girl. For one, Paige wasnt putting on a fresh coat of lip gloss or mascara or dusting her face with sparkling powder like the other girls crowded at the mirror were. She wasnt gossiping with the girls around her or wondering what disgusting, gray mystery meat was going to be served in the cafeteria today. She wasnt even texting on her phone or checking her messages.
No, Paige was leaning over the sink and peering into her own eyes as if she could see something in herself that everyone else couldntsomething horrible, from the pained, twisted expression on her face.
The look made me want to know what she was hiding.
I was kind of nosy that way. Okay, okay, so I was a lot nosy that way. Okay, okay, so I was exceptionally, exceedingly, unstoppably nosyto the point of obsession sometimes. I wanted to know everything about everyone around me. Why? Well, I blamed it on my magic.
I was an Oracle with psychometry magic. A fancy way of saying that I saw images in my head and got flashes of other peoples memories and feelings off almost everything that I touched. A favorite necklace, a beloved book, a cherished photo of a family trip to the beach. I could get a vibe off anything that someone had a personal attachment or connection to, and I could see and feel exactly what that person had felt whenever shed worn that necklace, read that book, or looked at that photo.
I didnt know exactly why I had magic or why I was even considered an Oracle in the first place, but I liked the power that my psychometry gave me. I liked knowing what everyone around me was really thinking, from whether a girl was truly my friend or talked about me behind my back to whether a boy was really into me or was actually thinking about another girl instead. Like Drew Squires, my one and only boyfriend. Thanks to my psychometry, Id flashed on Drew while we were kissing and felt him pretending that I was Paige. Id dumped him on the spot.
Yeah, sometimes the things I saw and felt hurt, but I still loved knowing other peoples secrets. And judging from the weird look on her face, Paige was hiding somethingsomething big.
Paige? I asked again, a little louder this time, my voice rising over the chatter of the other girls, the squeak of shoes on the floor, and the constant slams of the locker doors.
Paige partially snapped out of whatever trance shed been in and met my eyes in the mirror.
Gwen? Gwen Frost? she asked in a daze, almost as if she didnt recognize me.
I looked at my own reflection in the mirror. Sure, my wavy brown hair was a loose, sweaty mess right now, which is why I wanted Paiges hairbrush to start with, so I could pull my hair back into a ponytail. My winter-white skin was all flushed and splotchy from attempting to play basketball during gym class, and my violet-colored eyes were a little strange-looking to start with. Okay, okay, my eyes were very strange-looking to start with.
But Paige and I had gone to school together since kindergarten. Sometimes we even hung out when our mutual friends got together on the weekends. She should know exactly who I wasespecially since shed hired me to find her missing cell phone.
Phones, keys, wallets, laptops, crumpled bras, and bunched-up boxers. For the right price, the kids at Ashland High School hired me to find things that were lost, stolen, or otherwise not where they were supposed to be. Yeah, I used my Oracle gift to make extra money instead of fighting some great, ancient evil with my magic. Sue me for being an entrepreneur and not wanting to work at some greasy fast-food dive like other kids did.
Thanks to my psychometry magic, it was easy for me to find stuff. Usually, all I had to do was run my fingers over a girls desk or look through her purse to get a good idea of where she might have left her cell phone or dropped her favorite bracelet. And if I didnt immediately see where the lost object was, then I kept touching stuff until I did. Kind of like Nancy Drew following a trail of psychic bread crumbs to wherever they led her.
People left psychic vibes everywhere, on everything they touched, and those vibes revealed everything from what theyd had for lunch to what they really thought of their best friends new boyfriend. Most of the time, the girl either secretly thought the guy was a total jerk or she wanted him for herself. All I had to do to tap into those vibes, to see peoples actions, to feel their true emotions, to discover their secrets, was stretch my fingers out and touch all the objects around me, big and small.
In Paiges case, shed promised me twenty bucks if I could find her phone before her mom realized it was missing. So two weeks ago, after school, I went over to Paiges house, walked around her room, and ran my fingers over her desk, bookcases, and nightstand. Mostly, images of Paige filled my mindsitting at her desk doing homework, looking at the collections of fairy tales she loved to read, stashing some Oreos in the back of her nightstand, even though she wasnt supposed to have sweets. All the things she did in her room on a regular basis and all the emotions that went along with themdull boredom over the homework, bright happiness looking at the books, sly satisfaction at sneaking her favorite treat right under her moms nose.
Paige had thought I was a little strange, pacing back and forth across her room and poking into all her stuff, but eventually, another image had popped into my head, one of Paiges little sister swiping the phone off the nightstand so she could snoop through Paiges text messages. Id told Paige what Id seen, and sure enough, wed gone down the hall to her sisters room and found her using the stolen phone.
Paige blinked, finally shaking off the rest of her daze.
Gwen Frost, she murmured again, her voice a little stronger this time.
She turned away from the mirror, and her eyes dropped to the wooden bench I was sitting on. Paige had already fixed her hair, which looked sleek and perfect as always, and shed put her brush down on the end of the bench, less than a foot away from my hand. Paige stared and stared at the hairbrush, her green eyes bright and glittering, and she had that weird, twisted look on her face again.