Gifted: Finders Keepers by Marilyn Kaye

almost made Ken blush. Finally Vladimir made an exit, and Cassandra was available to hear from another spirit.
    ‘Margaret, your mother is here.’
    ‘Oh, yeah?’
    ‘She wants to know if you’ve been taking your vitamins.’
    ‘Uh, sure.’
    ‘She wants you to know she’s watching you, Margaret.’
    ‘OK.’
    ‘And thinking about you.’
    ‘Great,’ Margaret said.‘Tell her I’m thinking about her too.’
    Ken opened his eyes again. There was no sign of a tear on Margaret’s face. He noticed that, above the veils, the medium’s eyes were open too. Ken didn’t blame her. This was a completely different Margaret from the one they’d seen the previous Friday .
    ‘Well,’ Cassandra said finally, ‘your mother is very pleased to see you’re feeling better. She wants to say goodbye now.’
    ‘Bye, Mom,’ Margaret said.
    The medium noticed that Ken’s eyes were open, and she frowned. Obediently, he closed them.
    ‘Someone else is coming,’ Cassandra said. ‘I think it may be Cleopatra, Dahlia.’
    Ken uttered a silent groan. Where was Stevie’s father? Didn’t the man realize how desperately Stevie needed to talk to him?
    He made a decision. As soon as the seance was over he was going to have a private conversation with the medium. Despite Madame’s warning, he was going to tell her about his gift.
    Because together, if they joined forces, they just might be able to help Stevie.
    Hey, man, what’s up?
    Jack, not now! I’m in the middle of a seance. I ’m trying to concentrate!
    But did you talk to Lucy? Did you tell her not to go out with Simon?
    Yeah, I told her.
    Thanks, pal. Look, could you do something else for me? You’ve still got my iPod, right? I left it at your place a couple of days before I died, remember?
    I think so. Why?
    Could you give it to Lucy for me? And tell her it’s from me?
    OK, OK. Jack, listen, I gotta go. I really want to concentrate on this seance.
    Sure, man. See ya.
    Ken opened his eyes for a minute, and realized that Cassandra’s eyes were open too. And she was looking straight at him. Maybe she’d sensed he hadn’t been paying attention. Obediently, he closed his eyes and thought about Stevie’s father.
    But Cleopatra was the last dead person to speak to them that night.

 
C HAPTER E IGHT

    A MANDA WAS RELIEVED WHEN the medium turned her attention to Dahlia. It wasn’t easy, pretending to talk to Margaret’s dead mother. Especially when she knew Margaret’s mother wasn’t dead at all.
    What was Margaret up to anyway? She’d been in Margaret’s body for almost three days now, and she was no closer to an answer. But she wasn’t letting the question drive her crazy. She was having too much fun for that.
    Bored with the conversation between Dahlia and Cleopatra, she closed her eyes and let her mind drift back, to remember and relive the very interesting weekend she’d just enjoyed …
    Once she recovered from the shock of learning that Margaret wasn’t a drab, depressed woman with a dead mother, she explored the apartment to learn who she really was. Unfortunately, Margaret didn’t keep a diary – at least, Amanda couldn’t find one. There were photos – more of Margaret on the tropical beach, plus pictures of her at what looked like a party. She didn’t see any pictures of her alone with a guy, so she assumed Margaret didn’t have a current boyfriend. She was glad – it might be hard to fool a boyfriend into believing she was really Margaret. In fact, she decided it would be best to spend the next few days on her own, and try not to encounter any of Margaret’s close friends. After seeing the credit cards in the wallet, she knew she could have a very nice time all by herself.
    After a good night’s sleep in Margaret’s comfy bed, Amanda woke feeling refreshed and ready to begin her new life as a twenty-five-year-old adult. Having watched a great many television series about young single women, she had some good ideas as to how she could spend the