by C C Daniels
“And tell them what? That I found a sparkling healing skull and I think bad people want to steal it?”
Amaya’s grimace said it all.
“We’ll handle this, as a tribe,” Kanaan said.
Math was my first class of the day. I took my seat and concentrated on the homework I hadn’t done the night before—I'd been distracted by everything that had happened. I leaned down to unzip my pack.
“That's understandable, Wray.” Mr. Stephens, the math teacher, was at his desk marking papers. He glanced up for a second or two, then back at the stack of student work in front of him. What? Just like earlier with Amaya, I felt that one-word thought go out.
The bell rang.
“I’m sure it was a traumatic event,” he said putting his work aside as more students filed into his classroom. “I've got a little experience in trauma.” He winked and pushed up from his chair to stand on a below-the-knee prosthetic leg. He wore a running foot version that day, one I’d seen him run mountain trails with. A soldier before becoming a teacher, Mr. Stephens had lost his leg in Iraq.
I shoved the thought of the healing bones away—locked it in a part of my mind not to be accessed at school ever again.
“I'll give you until the end of the week to turn in your work.”
“Thank you,” I mumbled out loud.
I tried not to panic. I focused and kept my eyes glued to Mr. Stephens writing equations on the board. The same with the next class and the class after that.
It was so much harder than the day before, because I literally felt my thoughts, like a sixth sense. And it was a struggle, a downright fight against myself to keep a barrier up between my mind and the rest of the world.
By lunchtime I was exhausted. The first to get to our usual table in the cafeteria, I scooted my tray aside, closed my eyes, and rested a cheek on the cool surface of the tabletop. Oh, it felt good.
“Hey.” Amaya voice came from across the table. “What’s wrong?”
I opened one eye to look at her. “Just really tired.”
I heard shuffling on the other side of me.
“I thought you had passed out from the neon-glow mac-and-cheese,” Kanaan said.
I turned my head to rest my other cheek on the table and looked at his food. It really did look neon orange.
“Ewww.”
Amaya nodded her agreement, and then turned to me. “So, about this talent you've got—”
I raised my head to give her a firm look. “I’m not going to talk or think about it at school.” I slid my salad closer and began to eat.
“Okay.” Amaya’s feelings were hurt.
“I’m sorry,” I started.
“No, you’re not,” Kanaan butted in. “Wray is trying to control her thoughts,” he explained to Amaya.
She smiled. “I get it. I’m the one who’s sorry. Let’s change the subject. What are you wearing for the Founders Day parade?”
I swallowed a bite of salad and smiled back at her. “My old skins—if they still fit. We’re making a travois for MawMaw to ride in.”
“Oh, that’ll be fun!”
“Travois dragging is tricky. It’s got to be mounted properly to the horse.” Kanaan went on to explain the technical aspects.
I was grateful to both Amaya and Kanaan as they kept to the neutral topic of Founders Day. For the rest of the afternoon, I continued to keep my mind on benign stuff. At the end of the school day, I had the worst headache I ever had in my life. But I felt successful, because no one else seemed to hear my thoughts.
“Followers?” Amaya asked Kanaan on our way down the hill.
“Nope,” Kanaan said.
“Are you sure you’re all right?” Amaya turned to me. “You look paler than usual.”
I wrinkled my nose at her. “Gee, thanks.”
I had always been self-conscious of my paleness. That increased when I moved back to Manitou to live with MawMaw—the woman with the beautiful hued skin.
Kanaan nodded. “Yeah, you normally look like high-fired porcelain.” He took my hand and lifted my arm for a better view. “This looks like cheap stoneware.”
I smirked at him and tried to pull my hand away. He wouldn’t let me.
“Well now she’s blushing,” said Amaya. “Good job, Kanaan.”
“I do what I can.”
“Actually, my head hurts. Can we just not talk?” I asked.
They both nodded, and we walked in silence to the corner where we usually parted ways.
I need Amaya to check on Kai again. I felt it leave my head as I thought it. But I couldn't help it, didn't have the strength to stop it. I hung my head in frustration.
“You didn’t say that out loud, did you?”
“No.” I was frustrated, but also curious. “You couldn’t tell the difference?”
Amaya shook her head no. “It sounded like you spoke out loud.”
“Did you think something to Amaya?” Kanaan asked.
We both nodded yes to him.
“I didn’t hear it,” he said.
“Weirdness,” she said.
Weirdness was the story of my life.
With a see-you-later wave, Amaya turned left at her street.
Once again, I tried to take my hand back thinking Kanaan would want to turn toward his house too. He held on, though, and walked with me.
“Is your headache from trying to control your thoughts?” he asked.
“I think so. I hope so!”
“Practice on me,” Kanaan offered.
You’re the last person I want to hear my thoughts, I thought.
“Why?” he said.
Wipe it. In a panic, I brought Founders Day to the front of my mind.
Kanaan laughed at me, tongue literally in cheek.
When we got to MawMaw’s, I did take my hand back. I opened the barn door and set my pack just inside. Kanaan leaned in the doorway and studied me. I focused all I had on Ella and maintaining that barrier in my mind.
“Come on, Wray. I’m offering myself as your guinea pig for your mind-speaking practice,” he said.
I could sense that he was genuinely trying to help. Then, I caught the phrase trust me from him.
“I do trust you, Kanaan. It’s me that I don’t have confidence in.”
“Oh, I see. Not only are you projecting your thoughts, but you really are hearing others too.”
Oh boy. I breathed hard. This quirk is the worse.
“I like quirky.” He set his pack down next to mine and slowly walked to me.
What would you do if I kissed you? I heard him, clear as a bell.
The thought made me breathless. Cheesy as one of my mom’s romance novels, I couldn’t stop my heart from racing or picturing his lips on mine.
He put his hands on my waist and gently turned me to face him.
That’s what I thought.
I didn’t want to look at him, afraid of what else he’d hear. He lifted my chin, encouraging me to meet his gray eyes. When I did, he slowly lowered his lips, just brushing against mine.
Soft.
Wonderful.
He kissed me so sweetly and all my thoughts were gone, replaced by wonderfully pure emotion.
I want to touch your butt for real this time.
“No.” I pushed him away, laughing.
He grinned back at me, his eyes looking just like raw charcoal.
“Okay.” He caught his breath. “I better get out of here before you hear what else I want to do.” He picked up his pack and slung it on his shoulder.
Pig, I thought, with an inward laugh.
I’m a teenage boy. We’re all pigs. Just wait until you hear all of us.
That sounded like a living hell and my face must have said so, because Kanaan was back in front of me in an instant cradling my head.
“It’ll be okay.” He smoothed my hair. “You’ll get a handle on it. I meant it when I said that you can practice on me.”
I nodded, not agreeing that I'd ever get the hang of that par
ticular quirk, but that I understood his generous offer.
After a moment, he pulled away, backed out the door, and was gone.
Of all the things I was feeling—warmth, fear, happiness, and dread—I decided to concentrate on the warmth. Ella nudged me to pay attention to her, which I did for a few peaceful minutes. Then I closed the barn door and walked to the house as two deputies changed shifts.
I didn’t even get the back door completely closed before MawMaw noticed my smile.
“You’re happy!” It was woo-woo MawMaw at the stove making her late-afternoon tea.
Oh, the ceiling got painted, I thought.
“Your Uncle Junius did it this morning,” MawMaw said. My bubble of warmth popped.
“And now your happiness is gone.” She turned from the stove to cock her head at me. “What’s wrong?”
“I’m freaking out about something right now,” I answered honestly.
“Do you want some tea?”
I nodded. “Blueberry, please.”
She turned her back to me to prep the mugs and pour the steaming water.
“You’re maturing, Wray. It’s normal to freak out. Everyone does during puberty.”
This isn’t normal even for adolescence, I thought.
“Well.” She put the kettle down and took both my hands in hers. “You’re not a normal teenager.” She turned my hands palms up to trace the triangles. “You’re special. I’ve told you that over and over and over again.”
I sighed. “Yes, you have, MawMaw.”
“But you don’t believe it.”
I shook my head. I wasn't special. I was a freak.
MawMaw turned to pull milk and a lemon wedge—my fixings for tea—from the fridge. She put them in my hands then went to her easy chair.
After prepping my tea, I followed her with our mugs and helped her get set up with her knitting bag. She took a sip of tea before she picked up her needles. The lacy sweater completed, she was back to making socks. Huge brown socks with a wide instep, they must be meant for Uncle Jun.
“You never believe me,” she whispered like someone with a secret. “But you’re beginning to see it for yourself, aren’t you?”
“You’re biased,” I joked and kissed her forehead before I turned to leave her.
“You must breathe properly. That’s the secret to your present dilemma.”
That caught me off guard. “What dilemma?”
“Oh, you know.” She stitched rhythmically and giggled. “The special communication talents you’re developing.”
I slowly lowered myself to the ottoman. “What do you know about that MawMaw?”
She smiled and patiently repeated herself. “You just have to breathe.”
“I am breathing.”
She shook her head. “Deeper. You must breathe deeper.”
“How?” I asked. But she only slipped deeper into her trance. “MawMaw?” I tried again, but she was gone.
Astonished at what she just said, I watched her for a moment longer, hopeful that she’d say more. When it was apparent she wouldn’t, I got up and went to my room. I started on my homework but concentrating on anything was impossible.
MawMaw’s proclamations about me were always strange, but they were never remotely related to what was actually happening in my life. That time though, her words eerily correlated, because regimental breathing did work, when I remembered to do it.
Even crazy is right once in a while, isn’t that how that old saying went? Still, woo-woo MawMaw’s words continually crept into my thoughts. Even though I was alone with no danger of leaking thoughts to others, I found myself paying attention to my breathing, inhaling deeper than I usually did. And it helped tremendously. It calmed my nerves and let me control my mind.
The headache even went away. Stranger still, an hour later, I caught myself doing it on autopilot while working on homework. When the work was finally done, I wandered downstairs to the kitchen to make a simple salad as a late dinner for MawMaw and myself. I was crumbling leftover bacon over the top of the salad when woo-woo MawMaw came to sit at the table.
“That looks scrumptious,” she said.
“Want some?”
She nodded and I put half of the salad in a bowl for her.
We ate in complete silence for most of the meal. Woo-woo MawMaw smiled sideways at me a few times.
“What?” I asked.
She grinned wide. “You’re breathing the right way, the deep way. It’s helping, isn’t it?”
Rocked that she somehow knew how to coach me through a developing special communication talents, as she called it, I rested my loaded fork on the edge of the bowl. She had even noticed my breathing when I wasn’t consciously thinking about it.
“It is helping, MawMaw. How did you know it would?” I watched closely for her reaction and waited through the quiet for an answer. She simply ate. “MawMaw? How did you know I was having a problem?”
“I could see it in your eyes.” Gently, she settled her fork inside her empty bowl, pushed her chair back, and rose to leave.
“How? What did you see in my eyes?”
“What else but your exquisite light, my darling.” She started up the stairs to her bedroom.
“My problem is a light in my eyes?” That was a bit out there even for woo-woo MawMaw.
“It isn’t a problem, Wray. I told you. You’re developing into an adult,” she called back. “Goodnight, dear.” I heard her bedroom door creak close, leaving me alone with my confusion.
Chapter 17
Uncle Jun pulled up with a truckload of wooden poles just as I finished loading the dishwasher. The deputy and Uncle Jun greeted each other with curt nods.
I went out to help him unload and tuck Ella in for the night. “Hey, Uncle Jun.”
“I found some old poles in my barn that are just right for the travois.” He opened the tailgate.
When we finished stacking the poles alongside the barn, I reached for the barn door. The top hinge sagged again, which made it heavy to open. It was my fault for flinging it like I always did.
“Here, let me help you.” Uncle Jun lifted the door. “We gotta replace it with a whole new doorframe this time.”
He pointed to a big split in the wood at the top where the hinge attaches.
“I’ll tell MawMaw.”
“How is she?” he asked petting Ella as I filled her water trough.
“Probably asleep by now. She went pretty deep tonight.”
Uncle Jun shook his head and sighed in concern. “I’ll come back to put the travois together over the next few days.”
While we wrestled with the door again to get it closed, the deputy got into his cruiser and started the engine.
“Hey!” Uncle Jun shouted and waved his arms at him. The deputy, already backed out of the drive, stopped and rolled down his window.
“Where do you think you’re going?” Uncle Jun demanded.
“Called in for an emergency,” the deputy said. He put the cruiser in gear and turned on his lights.
Uncle Jun sighed deeply, put his hands on his hips, and watched the car go down the street. “Guess I’m staying the night.”
“No, Uncle Jun, no. You go home.”
“I’m under strict instructions not to leave you alone.”
“I’m not alone. MawMaw’s here.”
An image of MawMaw’s bed flashed in my mind. But it wasn’t my thought. It was Uncle Jun’s. It was then that I decided to take Amaya’s advice and embrace this quirk—just to see how far I could take it.
“Then again, if you stayed, we could talk more about what it is that you and MawMaw are keeping from me.”
His body tensed and his nervousness radiated instantly. I felt the same vibration from him that I got in the hospital elevator. All he thought about, though, was the bed. Not the bone, just the bed.
Uncle Jun took off his hat and scratched his head with the same hand. “You know, you’re right.” He slid his hat back on and made a beeline for his t
ruck. “MawMaw’s here. Call me if you need anything.” He left almost as quickly as the deputy did. Uncle Jun hated confrontation. Just hated it.
I went inside, locked up and, after brushing my teeth in the bathroom, headed for my room. My phone chimed. It was a text from Amaya.
Kai is fine, it said.
K, I sent back.
I was glad for Kai, really glad he wasn’t experiencing the odd things that I was. The sparkly dust from the skull would have been a handy explanation for what was happening to me.
Staring up at my tiny lacy non-dreamcatcher, my breathing automatically became deep and regular. I fell asleep almost instantly, dreaming of my parents and a woman who looked like me.
A huge ruckus outside woke me before dawn the next morning. It was Ella in the barn causing all the noise. MawMaw was already up.
“She is not happy this morning.” In PhD mode, she was at the kitchen table setting aside a newspaper she’d been reading.
“How long has she been doing that?” I asked, sitting to put on my boots.
“Only a few minutes. Did you remember to feed her last night?” She started to get up.
“Of course. I'll take care of it, MawMaw. Sit.”
She nodded and went back to her paper.
I grabbed a jacket and braced myself for the chilly air. The days were getting shorter and colder. No officer stationed outside the door to greet, I hurried to the barn.
Even though it was nothing like the frenetic fear she had experienced when we found the skull, Ella was making a ton of noise. She was definitely spooked by something. I wondered if a snake had gotten inside. The first clue that something was amiss was the partly opened barn door, even though Uncle Jun and I had made sure it was securely closed the night before. I slowed down and approached quietly.
My brain picked up thoughts that were louder than Ella’s commotion. Don’t ask me how I knew that the thoughts came from inside the barn. I just did.
C’mon, where did that little girl hide it?
That time, I wasn’t as freaked out that someone else’s thoughts were in my head. Angry that someone was in our barn with my horse, I looked around for a weapon and saw the travois poles. Perfect.
I sneaked past the door and grabbed the thinnest one. I choked up on it like a baseball bat, just like Dad taught me.