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communicate with them.”
    “But isn’t this all something Christopher would’ve recognized earlier? Society history is his thing. He’s in charge of all the student files. Surely, at some point he would’ve put two and two together if there were two and two to put together?”
    The familiar sounds of my sister’s shuffling flip flops and Christopher’s voice echo down the hall. I sling my backpack on. “It doesn’t hurt to ask, and in the instance that it does, it sure as hell doesn’t hurt to snoop.”
     
     
     
    Penny
     
    Dr. Adams, all sweaty, comes in the room after Elle and takes a seat at my desk chair. She pulls the top of her sundress away from her chest and blows down the front. I’m sure she would love nothing more than to be sitting in front of a fan, cooling off, but instead she has to visit me and my unraveling psyche. She catches me watching her and shrugs, an unapologetic smile on her face.
    Elle sits cross-legged on her bed. The envelope she was holding when she left to go to the “bathroom” isn’t in her hand anymore. I’m sure whatever was in it is in Wyatt’s possession now. I dig my fist into my stomach a little deeper, not liking the flash of jealousy that thought inspires.
    Jesus, Penny, not everything is about you.
    Except that envelope was!
    Why don’t you say something and stop talking to yourself?
    “I’m okay,” I say, looking from Dr. Adams to Elle. “I freaked out for a minute there in class, I know, but this day has been overwhelming. That’s all. I’m really okay. You don’t need to worry about me, Dr. Adams.”
    A discerning expression passes over her face. “I’m not worried about you, Penny, not even about your freak-out. In fact, I’d be more concerned if you told me you weren’t feeling overwhelmed and confused.” She shifts her body in the chair, like she can’t get comfortable. “Elle, how did you learn about what you are? I don’t remember exactly.”
    “When I was seven, Loren sat me down and explained that my mom had gifts – that she’d seen visions of the future and could communicate with spirits.” Elle laughs. “I was all, ‘yeah, right, could she make herself invisible too?’ and then Loren told me not to sass her and that she was telling me the truth. I remember the look on her face scared the crap out of me – it was her bad news face, so I shut up right quick. Then she went on to explain I would be able to do these things too, and maybe more, but I wasn’t going to have to worry about it for a few more years.”
    Dr. Adams shifts in her chair again and rolls her shoulders. “And then you got a home visit from Christopher and Ben when you were eleven?”
    Elle shakes her head. “No, Lookout in Charge Hazel and Lookout Ashley came to see me.”
    “Right,” Dr. Adams says, nodding. “I think you’re from the last year she went on the visits.”
    “Is that how it usually works?” I ask.
    Dr. Adams places her palms flat on my desk and pushes herself up, groaning slightly. “I gotta walk, sorry girls, my back hurts like crazy.” She shuffles past me, turns by the door and paces back over to the desk and then repeats. “To answer your question, yes, that’s how it usually works. So, what I want you to think about, Penny, is expectation. You’re coming from not the best circumstances, but they’re what you’re used to, you’re familiar with what to expect day-to-day. Even your dreams and waking up in a different place than where you were when you went to sleep probably wasn’t all that unexpected any longer?”
    I nod.
    “Every Seer and Retroact has a level of anxiety that they have to learn to live with and learn how to manage. It’s no surprise that we start having visions and rewinding right about the time our hormones are going bonkers, causing us new and greater anxieties in our lives. Now, you’ve been managing your levels well-”
    “It sure as hell doesn’t feel like it!” I snort.
    She grins. “Oh, but you