Chapter 4

As we neared our History class we saw the twins turn into our classroom just a few steps ahead of us. After they both showed up in English I knew the chances were that they’d be here too, but the knot in my stomach had me torn between hoping they would be here and that they wouldn’t be here. Sometimes it really sucks to be a girl.

Terra? Jodi’s yellow thoughts broke through mine with a touch of her hand on my wrist.

What?

Could you try to get it under control? You’re making me queasy.

What? I repeated, a little more than confused.

You’re projecting and the knots in your stomach are making me queasy! She thought at me impatiently. Could you get either your stomach under control or at the very least stop projecting?! Bright yellow.

Sorry…I blushed again, which only embarrassed me more. How many times had I blushed in just these last few hours? I was careful not to look for the twins to see where Mrs. Taylor was going to place them. If I didn’t see where they were sat, then I couldn’t allow myself to peek at him during class and I knew if I tried to figure out where they were placed it would be completely obvious. So with a straight back and a stiff neck I lead us to our usual seats. After we took our seats at one of the long tables close to the very back of the room I closed my eyes, taking a deep breath and centered myself, reinforcing my shields delicately.

“Ugh, thank you! I thought I was gonna have to take a Tums or something,” Steven said with a sigh. I glanced at him and then noticed, out of the corner of my eye, a few nearby students looking suddenly relieved about something, a few touching their stomachs or foreheads. I had really let my emotions get out of control.

“Yessss!” Jodi said in a hissing whisper.

“What?” Steven and I asked together.

“Look,” Jodi pointed to the front of the classroom and we saw the TV and VCR combo set up in front of the desks. “Movie day!” She said gleefully. In any other class this meant some boring educational video that you’d be tested on at the end, but Mrs. Taylor was an unconventional teacher and liked to show actual blockbuster movies based on history. And more often than not, you would have probably already seen the movie and didn’t have to pay attention to know what it was about.

“Alright kiddies…” Mrs. Taylor called out, pausing to let the last few conversations die down. “Since this is the start of the holiday season, with All Hollow’s Eve just a couple of weeks away, and since you all seem to be doing exceptionally well on our tests and papers, I’m in the mood for some treats!” She smiled broadly. “Today we will be starting ‘The Patriot.’” There were a few excited murmurs throughout the class.

The sound of books slamming shut and zippers closing filtered through the room as Mrs. Taylor shut off the lights. The wall was lined with large west facing windows so the room wasn’t dark by any means, but it was relaxing. A few students folded their arms and laid their heads down, while some others reclined dangerously far in their chairs. I pulled my black leather-bound journal out of my bag and set it on the table. I tucked my left foot under me, pulled my right foot up to the edge of my seat, and leaned over my desk, pen in hand and started to write idly, not fully aware of what I was writing. Poetry was a hobby of mine, not that I let anyone read it, but it did sometimes lead to some of the most amazing spell work.

“So,” Steven whispered, scooting over closer to me, Jodi doing the same on my other side, “are you still anti-birthday this year?” My birthday was on Halloween. I was afraid that Mrs. Taylor’s mention of the holiday would cause this inevitable discussion.

“Does it matter?” I asked.

“What do you mean?” Steven asked.

“Will that stop either of you?”

“Probably not,” Jodi answered.

“Probably?” I scoffed. “Definitely,” I muttered and they both snickered.

“What’s the big deal?” I felt Jodi nudge my right knee, which nudged my right arm and caused me to scratch a line through the last word I wrote. “Sorry,” and she grimaced, but I just kept writing.

“She’s right, what is the big deal? People love you all day and you get presents and get to do whatever you want because it’s your birthday! I’d have three or four a year if I could,” Steven sucked on his teeth in disgust at my lack of enthusiasm. “Personally, I would have three or four a year,” Steven said as he pretended to muss with his hair and check his make-up. I laughed quietly and shook my head. Tracy sat in the row in front of us in History and apparently heard us talking. She turned in her chair looking at me, her hands on the back of her chair and ducking her head to keep from bringing attention to herself.

“Really, Shay, your birthday is coming up?” Tracy looked excited as she whispered the question.

“Maybe,” I said suspiciously.

“When?” Tracy asked.

“I don’t remember,” I lied.

“Halloween,” Jodi said and I stuck my tongue out at her.

“We should throw you a party! A costume party!” Tracy said, bouncing a little in her chair.

“YES!” Jodi and Steven said a little too loudly, drowning out my groan.

“Shhh!” Mrs. Taylor admonished from the front of the room. Tracy spun around again to face front, but not before she winked at Steven.

“Damn it,” I sighed and buried my head in my hands while Jodi and Steven giggled. It wasn’t that I didn’t like Halloween, or presents or birthdays in general, I just didn’t do well as the center of attention. If it was just going to be the three of us, I would’ve been all for it. But now, with Tracy in the mix, it was sure to be a crowd and my empathetic powers waged war with my sanity in crowds.

I looked down and saw that I had finished writing and realized I had written the blessing Steven’s aunt had asked for for her new baby, Alexis, a week or so ago. “Oh, here.” I tore the page out of my book and handed it to Steven.

“What is it?” He took the page in his hand and squinted at it through the insufficient light.

“A blessing for your aunt for Alexis’ room,” I explained and then Jodi leaned passed me, pushing me slightly towards Steven, trying to see it too.

“Why are you giving it to me?” he asked.

“So you can do it?” My answer sounded as much like a question as his did.

“She won’t believe I can do it!” He said incredulously.

“Why not?”

“Because she changed my diapers as a kid!”

“Then let her do it herself,” I said with a shrug. Jodi had snatched the paper from Steven to read it.

“She won’t believe she can do it either!” He said in an urgent whisper. Tracy’s neighbor, Michelle, turned in her desk to shoot us the classic movie theater will-you-please-shut-the-hell-up look. Steven stuck his tongue out at her and she spun back around in a huff.

“I thought this was your mother’s sister?” I tried to whisper more quietly. Steven was half Mexican on his mother’s side and the one thing I learned about the Mexican culture, other than the fact that they have the best food, is that they still believe in mystical and magical things.

“Yeah, but they never think they can do this stuff. You’ll have to do it,” he took the page back from Jodi and forced it back on me. “Just tell me what you need for it and I’ll have her buy it.”

“She’ll buy the supplies but she won’t do the blessing?” I asked, a little astounded.

“Pretty much.” Belief is very important in my line of work; like God, magic does not exist to those without true belief. If his aunt truly didn’t believe she had the power to do the simple blessing, the magic wouldn’t hold. “Don’t forget, we’re Catholic, it’d be like blasphemy for us,” Steven said.

“But she wants it done,” I said slowly.

“Yeah,” Steven said just as slowly. “So?” He didn’t see the strangeness in the situation like I did since I was an outsider in his family.

“Ugh, whatever. Sage, water from the next time it rains, and everyone out of the house, but I’ll need Alexis nearby. So I guess they can be in the backyard or front or whatever.” I listed off quickly, regretting tearing out the page now.

“Um, water from the next time it rains? That might be months from now. She kinda wanted the blessing soon,” Steven said uncertainly.

“No, it’s gonna rain sometime this week.” I corrected him, sliding my journal back into my bag.

“How do you—” he started to ask but Jodi cut him off.

“Don’t ask, Steven.” We lapsed into silence for the rest of the hour. The bell rang, startling everyone who had become engrossed in the movie and forgot to watch the clock. Mrs. Taylor jumped up and shut off the movie, calling over our rustling bags and scraping chairs.

“Ok! We’ll finish the movie tomorrow and then on Wednesday we start on the post-Civil War section.”

“Oh goodie,” I grumbled for Jodi and Steven’s amusement. We followed the rush of students out to the hall, stopping at my locker to throw all three History books inside. We all used my locker the most because it was more conveniently located than either of theirs. Jodi’s locker was out by the Gym which was all the way on one end of campus, while Steven’s locker was out by the art building, the extreme opposite end of campus. I had won the “lottery” and got one right in the middle of campus on the edge of the Student Quad.

I reached in my locker to grab my French book when it hit me; a sudden wave of dread. I dropped my book to the ground, fingers trembling and my mouth went dry.

“Shay?” Jodi asked hesitantly.

“Tracy,” I whispered almost too quiet for even me to hear.

“What?” Steven asked, placing his hand on my shoulder to shake me, but in my state the simple touch opened our channel in a flood. In an instant he knew what I knew and all the color drained from his face. I dropped everything, forgetting to shut my locker, and took off at a dead run, racing to the school parking lot.

“Steven, what the--” Before Jodi could finish her question Steven had grabbed her by the wrist and took off after me, pulling her along behind him.

“Something’s going to happen to Tracy if we don’t get out there!” Steven tried to explain in a rush as we rounded the office building and skidded to a halt on the asphalt of the parking lot, searching desperately for Tracy. Unfortunately the bell had only rung a few minutes ago so the parking lot was still full of cars, making it very difficult to figure out where we should be looking. Finally, after what seemed like too long, Steven pointed off to the right, “There’s Nick’s truck.” Again I took off like a shot, only to be hindered by the impatient line of cars that snaked through the aisles.

We weaved in and out, dodging between parked cars, trying to get closer to the truck. I felt like I was slogging through quicksand and the faster I went the harder it was to get to the truck. The mounting dread turned into pure panic when I saw Tracy’s black curly hair over the roof of the car next to the truck.

“Shay! What’s gonna happen?” I heard Jodi call behind me but I didn’t stop to explain.

“She doesn’t know,” Steven said helpfully. “She just knows something’s gonna happen.” He sounded like I would have if I could’ve forced myself to speak, but I was concentrating all of my energy on getting to Tracy. Suddenly, when we were still ten cars away from them, I heard Nick’s voice carry back to me.

“Just get in the goddamn truck!” Didn’t he know any other way to say that? Red colored the edges of my vision, tinting everything around Nick and Tracy. “Now damnit!” Nick yelled, grabbing her upper left arm and jerking her towards the truck and shoving her hard. She hit the side of the truck with her right shoulder and I could see her grimace of pain. I stopped short, knowing even with his broken collarbone, none of the three of us stood a chance against Nick.

I spread my fingers wide with my hands down at my sides, set my feet hip-width apart and drove my energy down past the asphalt into the ground. Steven and Jodi came up on either side of me, each placing a hand on one of my shoulders, lending their energy to me. This was no time for secrecy.

As I reached looking for the dormant fault lines beneath Nick I could still hear him yelling at her and calling her names, apparently no longer worried if people heard him treating her this way, the arrogant bastard. I took my anger and directed it to fuel my need, finally finding a wire-thin fault line. I grabbed hold of it, forcing the flow of my energy into it, guiding it to the place that Nick stood next to his truck.

I heard the crack and crumble of the asphalt as the fault line swelled with power, having gained enough control to keep the ground from shaking to give myself away. Inch by inch it came closer to Nick, opening a jagged line in the asphalt as it neared him.

“You just don’t listen!” Nick yelled, inches from Tracy’s face, and grabbed her collar and shook her roughly.

“That’s enough!” an unfamiliar, rough voice called out at him. I reigned in my energy, holding the fault line at bay just feet away from my target to look for the source of the voice. Ian came striding through the parking lot. The anger in his face and swelling of his shoulders made me wonder if he was just going to pick up and throw the cars that were in his way.

“Who the fuck are you?” Nick turned to look at Ian, fury plain on his face. Ian didn’t answer him. He strode confidently up to Nick, balled up his right fist, pulled it back, and fired, punching Nick square in the mouth. Nick reeled back, his head jerking up and back as he stumbled backwards a few feet. Ian didn’t stop though, advancing on Nick and throwing a left hook that caught Nick on the jaw line and caused his mouth to fall open. Then Ian threw an upper cut and caught Nick’s chin with his right fist again, lifting him off his feet to fall to the ground, flat on his back. I swear I heard his head bounce off the black top.

I pulled in my energy, careful to control the speed, afraid of a backlash, and siphoned off some of the excess to Jodi and Steven who still stood sentinel at my sides. Jodi was wide-eyed, never taking her eyes off of Ian to see the damage he was inflicting on Nick. I blinked finally, all our energy back in place, and pulled out of the ground.

“Are you ok?” Ian’s rough voice was suddenly warm and soft, as he placed a hand on Tracy’s shoulder and looked at her face with genuine concern.

“Yeah… thank you.” She had tears streaking down her face again, just like she had when I pulled her free of the truck over the weekend. She cocked her head to the side to look around Ian at Nick who was struggling to get back up.

“Don’t worry about him,” Ian said and turned to look down at Nick. He walked over to Nick’s head and crouched down, grabbing his shirt and yanking his shoulders off the ground. Getting real close to his face, Ian said, “I’m taking Tracy home from now on. If I ever see you anywhere near her, I’ll beat the shit out of you again.” He didn’t bother to ask if he understood. Ian simply stood up and held his hand out to Tracy with a smile and she took it in her own and followed him away from Nick.

I turned to Jodi, who was already smiling broadly. Saturday had worked out more quickly than we would’ve ever dared ask for. We took a collective breath and Steven and Jodi started back toward my locker to get the things we’d dropped. I took one more moment before I followed, looking back over my shoulder to where Nick was finally standing, dusting the gravel off of his jeans with one hand, red faced and angry. I chuckled quietly and turned to follow Steven and Jodi, but I stopped short, my stomach knotting up against my spine. Jensen stood at the edge of the sidewalk staring directly at me, one perfect eyebrow raised, arms crossed over his chest. He looked down at my feet, where the asphalt was newly cracked in a spider web of damage. Then he looked back up to my face and nodded ever so slightly. He smirked a little and turned to walk away.

 

I found Steven and Jodi at my locker. Steven was just standing back up from scooping up the last few papers from the ground. Jodi had my backpack by the straps in her right hand while she shut my locker with her left. Neither had noticed my approach.

“Whoa!” Steven yelled as he saw me seemingly appear out of nowhere.

“Sorry,” I said quietly.

“Hey, what’s the matter?” Steven furrowed his brow at me and Jodi turned to look at me, worry etched in her face.

“You look like you’ve seen a ghost or something,” she said, searching my face.

“Well, not exactly,” I stepped over to the lockers and leaned my forehead against the cold metal and closed my eyes.

“What then?” Steven urged.

“Jensen was in the parking lot just now,” I muttered into the locker.

“So?” Jodi asked.

“He saw what I did.” My voice was failing me; it sounded like a distant echo.

“What!” They both cried. I squeezed my eyes shut against the noise.

“Well… at least… I think so.”

“Be more specific!” Jodi said sternly, grabbing me by the shoulders and turning me around roughly. I leaned back, my shoulders braced against the still cool wall of lockers.

“I don’t know!” I threw my hands up in the air before crossing my arms over my chest. “I stopped to watch and make sure that Nick wasn’t going to go after Tracy. When I turned back around to follow you I saw him standing there on the sidewalk. He looked down at my feet and then back up at me and then he kinda nodded and smirked and walked off.”

“He looked at your feet?” Steven asked, clearly confused.

“Yeah, I, well we, cracked the asphalt under my feet.”

“So?” Jodi continued to press. “Asphalt cracks all the time. This is Southern California after all.”

“Yeah, but it wasn’t just a crack under my feet. It kinda looked like a really heavy boulder landed there and left a circle of cracks that my feet fit into perfectly.” I shook my head slowly, opening my eyes to the overcast sky. “I can’t believe I was so careless!”

“Look,” Steven began, “Hey! Look!” He grabbed me by the shoulders and pulled me straight to stare into his eyes. “Just because he thinks he saw something doesn’t mean anything, you get me?” He was speaking very sternly, sounding more masculine than I had ever heard from him in two and a half years. He looked at Jodi to make sure she was listening too and then back to me before continuing. “We just don’t give credit to anything he thinks or tries to say, ok? We act normal and people will think he’s crazy, remember, he’s the new kid.”

“That’s right!” Jodi said excitedly, grabbing hold of the alibi. “He is the new kid, people love us. If he tries to say crazy things about us or you causing cracks in the asphalt where you stood like The Incredible Hulk or something, he’ll be the laughing stock of the whole school.”

“Yeah, I guess so,” I consented, knowing that much was true, but also knowing that he and I both knew what he saw and I had no idea what he was planning on doing with that information. After all, he didn’t look scared or surprised. The more I thought about the look on his face the more I came to think that it was like he had just seen something to confirm something he already suspected of me.

 

We made it to my house about ten minutes later. When I pulled into the driveway, I saw a huge red bow on the garage door and my parents were waiting for us in the front yard, both smiling broadly. I put the van into park and sat there for a moment just staring at the bow, all thoughts of Jensen’s knowing smirk suddenly erased from my mind. This had to be some sort of sick joke. That was the only thing that made sense.

“Oh. My. God. Dude.” Jodi hit me on the shoulder, bringing me back to myself, blinking away the shock. I still stared at the bow in confusion.

“No,” I said, the corners of my mouth turning down and my brows knitting together as I shook my head. “Not possible.” My voice wasn’t stunned, just matter of fact. My dad had to come over and open the driver’s door to get me to get out. My mom was all smiles holding a small present in her hand.

“Hi honey!” She beamed and joined my dad at his side. “We thought we’d give you an early birthday present!” She held out the present to me. If she were any more excited, she’d be dancing in place. Jodi and Steven ran around the van to stand behind me in order to watch over my shoulders as I stared dumbly at the little box in my hands.

“Duuuude!” Jodi whined, shaking me by the shoulder. I lifted the lid off the box. Nestled inside was the automatic garage door opener. Again I just stared at it. This had to be some cruel joke, like when you wrap a tiny gift in a huge box under thousands of Styrofoam peanuts. Steven grabbed me by the shoulders and turned me to face the garage and Jodi grabbed my right hand in hers and formed it into a point and pressed the button on the remote.

The garage door shuttered momentarily and then lifted smoothly away from the ground, the lights inside spilling out onto the driveway. I watched, eyes growing round as the hidden present was revealed inch by excruciating inch. The weak light glinted off the polished, rounded fenders, sliding down the streamlined body of the pure black 1969 Chevy Camaro. I was vaguely aware of Jodi and Steven’s cries of joy and jumping up and down next to me, occasionally reigning down blows on me.

“What… I don’t… but you said… What…” I stuttered lamely. I knew this car well, having drooled over it for weeks as it sat in a parking lot with a “For Sale” sign in its window. I had convinced my dad to go see it with me with the owner actually present to let us take a test drive once. It handled like a dream. It was loud and beautiful and faster than anything I had ever ridden in. The owner turned out to be some spoiled, rich, seventeen-year-old boy who was selling it simply because his mom had bought him a new jeep that he had put monster wheels on that were as tall as me. He was only asking three thousand dollars for it, and while that was a very reasonable price, my parents didn’t have that kind of cash to drop.

“Happy birthday, baby!” My mom wrapped her arms around my limp shoulders and kissed my cheek, followed by my dad who kissed the top of my head, smiling more with his eyes than anything else.

“I don’t understand…” I regained some ability to speak. “Dad… you said you couldn’t afford it?” Bewildered, that was a good word.

“I know, honey, but your mom and I did well at the casino on Saturday, just like we told you, and we decided you deserved it.” He squeezed my shoulder and rocked back on his heels, looking very proud of himself.

“But… really?!”

“Yes, really! Go, look!” My mom pushed me towards the garage. Jodi and Steven were already inside in the car, waiting for me. My dad hurried over to the minivan and backed out of the driveway to park it on the street. “Go ahead and take her for a spin, honey!” My mom called to me as I finally slid into the driver’s seat to find the keys waiting for me in the ignition.

“Oh my god…” I whispered, staring wide-eyed at everything, including the new stereo they had obviously installed before they brought the car home, complete with a CD player. I was afraid to speak above a whisper, for fear that any loud sound would cause this dream to come crashing down like an avalanche.

“Let’s go!” Jodi nearly yelled in my ear, bouncing in her seat against the strain of the seatbelt. I reached out and wrapped my hand around the keys, savoring the cold bite of metal against my fingers and turned the key eagerly. The engine roared to life instantly, Jodi and Steven were cheering happily. No more minivan for us; the minivan was dead to us.

I backed out of the driveway, revving the engine a little more than necessary, and barely heard my mom call out to me not to be too late before I threw it into gear and sped down the road.

 

I drove Jodi home first, Steven hopping out to switch to the front seat when Jodi got out. She turned and leaned into the car, "Hey, remember, Band's going to that thing tomorrow to play at the Government Center, so you don't need to pick me up. We're gonna be gone all day."

Jodi pulled her backpack onto her back and walked up to her front door. Since it was dark out, I idled by the curb, Steven and I watching to make sure she made it into the house before we pulled away.

"You know, I think I need a mental health day tomorrow," Steven said casually, his breath fogging over the passenger window as he watched Jodi close her front door behind her. I revved the engine and tore away from the curb just for the hell of it, a grin spreading across my face.

"A mental health day? Is one day really gonna help?" I teased as I shifted quickly from second to third with another growl of the engine.

"So witty tonight." Steven replied acidly.

"Really, though, you're gonna leave me alone all day?" It was rare that two of us missed the same day; it always sucked for the third. We all had more friends than just us, but none we were free to talk casually with. Awkward questions like "What did you do over the weekend?" always come up and I rarely had an easy answer for that.

"You’ll be ok," Steven said in a mock sympathetic voice, patting me on my shoulder. I rolled my eyes at him as I came to a smooth stop in front of his house, idling loudly. "Besides," Steven began as he got out, taking his bag with him, "then you can roll up tomorrow in your new car all by yourself and Jodi and I won’t be there to steal any of the spot light!"

"Oh gee, that's just what I wanted, more attention!" I said in mock delight.

"Might as well get used to it!" He stood up, ready to walk away.

"Hey," I called before he could shut the door. Steven leaned down to look at me. "Don't forget, water from the first rain. I think it'll be sometime tomorrow. Looks like late afternoon, early evening at this point." Steven furrowed his brow at me and started to open his mouth like he was going to ask me how I knew that but seemed to think better of it. He closed his mouth and shut his eyes tightly and shook his head.

"Dude... you are so much more than Jodi and I will ever be." Steven shut the door too quickly for me to ask him what that was supposed to mean and made his way to his front door.