The Guidance - By Marley Gibson Page 0,31

now experiencing it full-blown."

"Loreen Woods?"

"Yeah, she's sort of my mentor," I say. "She's helping me develop my abilities."

"How do your parents feel about that?"

I roll my eyes. "How do you think? Mom's like really religious and is having a hard time with the fact that I'm practicing divination in my room. She's marked passages in the Bible with Post-it notes on how divination is wrong. She ratted me out to my Episcopal priest, but fortunately he's open-minded and has experience with gifted people and tells me it's God's plan for me."

"I see," Dr. K. says. "Well, one step at a time, Kendall."

Now I bite my lip. "What do you have in store for me?" Visions of extra-long needles sucking fluids out of me while I'm strapped down to a gurney in a straitjacket cross my mind. This is definitely my imagination in overdrive.

Dr. Kindberg stands and opens a door to an adjoining room. Ahhh, the torture chamber. Or maybe not. "First off, I have several tests I'd like to do with you. Nothing intrusive. Some mind exercises to see how good you really are. I like to test for precognition and extrasensory perception. It's a good way to gauge if a patient is faking for the sake of attention, has a severe medical problem, or really does possess the skills you think you do."

I don't think I possess psychic abilities; I know I do. And I also know something else that Ken Kindberg, MD, PhD, doesn't know. I have Emily with me. My ace in the hole.

"Let the games begin," I say with a smile.

"Okay, Kendall. I want you to breathe, relax, and concentrate." Dr. Kindberg sits across the table from me and shuffles an ordinary-looking deck of cards.

"Watch out," I say with a grin. "I'm killer at blackjack."

He laughs and lays out five cards in front of me, face-up. "These are Zener cards. We use them in a guessing game to test if a patient might have extrasensory perception. They were invented by a well-known psychologist named Karl Zener. There are twenty-five cards, made up of these symbols."

I glance down at the cards laid out.

"These are the cards I want you to concentrate on," he informs me. "I'm going to shuffle more and then take a card out of the deck one at a time. You won't see the face, but I'll ask you to identify the symbol on the card. And we'll keep going through the deck until you've had enough or are tired."

Dr. K. reaches for a clipboard with some sort of score sheet on it. Geez, what if I can't do this and I fail? Then he'll think I'm a fraud and not really experiencing these conversations with spirits. As he turns over the first card and looks at it, my pulse accelerates. How will I know which symbol to pick? Will it be right? Wrong? Holy crap! This is worse than calculus!

"Relax, Kendall," he repeats. "Focus on the card. Trust your instincts."

I open my mouth to speak, but he stops me.

"There's no rush."

I close my eyes, picturing the rows of cards: circle, cross, square, star, squiggly thing.

"Squiggly thing," I say.

Not saying a word, Dr. K. makes a mark on his chart.

"Well?"

"I'll go over the results with you when we're done."

I slump a bit in the chair, wanting immediate gratification. Guess I'll just have to be patient. I try to relax and control my breathing so I can see the cards in my mind's eye. He picks up another one and holds it up, the design facing toward him. It's not like I can make anything out through the thickness of the card.

"Star."

Another card.

It's a square, Emily whispers to me.

Ugh! I wish she wouldn't tell me. "Square." What? She already told me.

"Circle," I say for the next one, after a few moments.

This one's a cross ...

Put off, I smack my hands on the table. "Would you stop?"

Dr. K. widens his eyes. "We just started."

"No, not you." I close my mouth before I say too much. "Sorry. Go ahead."

We go through the entire pack with me reporting each geometric shape. Over a hundred, at least. Emily gave me only a handful of the answers. Though doesn't that prove I talk to spirits, if one is helping me out?

Last card. I'm exhausted. It's like my mind's been on a treadmill or something. I don't think I have the strength to make another guess.

You're tired, Kendall. It's a circle ...

"Emily! I told you not to tell me!"

Dr. K. slowly