Are You Thinking What I'm Thinking? by Belle Payton

had telepathic powers. Did she know something that Ava didn’t?
    She followed the others into Charlotte’s backyard.
    â€œAva!” Alex waved her over. The group had gathered on the patio.
    Ava eyed Ben’s basketball, abandoned on the court. She’d so love to shoot some hoops right now. Instead she spun in a slow circle, surveying the Huangs’ large yard. “Harvey! Hey, Harvey! Here, boy!” Ava yelled.
    â€œWhat are you doing?” Corey asked.
    â€œIt seems like the logical way to start.” Ava almost laughed. How ironic! Now she was the logical twin!
    â€œI’ve called him a zillion times. Try using your psychic powers,” Charlotte begged Alex as Ava continued to call for Harvey. “Please.”
    â€œI need Ava to help me,” Alex said.
    â€œDo you have Harvey’s leash? Or a favorite toy?” Emily asked Charlotte.
    â€œWhy?” Ava asked.
    â€œSo you and Alex can pick up Harvey’s vibe. Kind of like how the police have search dogs sniff a missing person’s clothes,” Emily explained. “It will help you locate him.”
    â€œThe Sackett twins are now the search dogs searching for a dog!” Xander hooted.
    â€œNot funny!” Ava gave him a light punch on the arm.
    Charlotte ran inside and quickly returned with a blue braided leash. She placed it in Alex’s outstretched hands.
    â€œI’m ready.” Rosa positioned her phone to videotape.
    â€œAva?” Alex didn’t have to ask. Ava knew the question. She couldn’t say no. Not now. Not in front of everyone.
    â€œFine. We’ll try,” Ava agreed. She turned to Rosa. “But no filming. I’m serious.”
    Alex nodded. “Ava and I have to be alone. Someplace quiet so we can focus.”
    â€œWe’ll go by the swing set,” Ava said. “You guys should look for Harvey. Yell for him. Search the neighborhood.”
    Corey gave her a fake salute and headed off with Xander in one direction. Charlotte ran off alone in the other.
    Ava scrambled up the ladder that led into an enclosed area at the top of the slide. When her head bumped the log-cabin-like roof, she sat. Alex followed, her long skirt tangling around her feet.
    Ava stared out the cutout opening for the slide. “What now?”
    â€œWe hold Harvey’s leash and hold hands and try to see where he is,” Alex said matter-of-factly. “Visualize him.”
    Ava intertwined her fingers with Alex’s.
    Alex began to hum. A low sound, as if she were really concentrating.
    Ava thought about Harvey. Harvey. Harvey. Where was he? The last time she was here, he’d sprinted to the Whittakers’ big house. Wait! Someone should check there.
    â€œHold up.” She dropped Alex’s hand and her end of the leash. She peered down the slide. Rosa and Emily waited below. Lindsey lounged on a cushioned chair on the patio, playing on her phone with a scowl on her face. “Someone needs to go to the Whittakers’,” she called down to the other girls. “They’re a couple of houses away. Harvey ran off there the other day. Maybe he went back.”
    â€œI’ll do it,” Rosa offered. “I know them.” She took off with Emily, and Ava returned to Alex.
    â€œWe need to really focus,” Alex reminded her. “You need to be totally in tune with me. And Harvey.”
    â€œI am.” Ava held on to her sister’s hand and the leash.
    Five minutes, she decided. If Alex doesn’t get some sort of vision-thing in five minutes, I’ll tell her that the Power doesn’t work. That it never worked.
    Ava thought about Harvey. All at once, her stomach growled. Now all she could think about was food. She hadn’t eaten since the banana this morning before practice. She wished she’d bought a hamburger at the game. The stadium snack bar had surprisingly good burgers. And there were sweet pickles at the condiment bar you could