Mayhem in Jinx Cove

by Savannah Mae

  I rolled my eyes, frustrated by the repetitive questions. “No. I felt fine. I didn’t faint. I don’t know how to explain what it was, but I was conscious for the whole thing.”

  “Were you?” Dr. Jensen asked, his eyes growing wide. “How do you know?”

  His tone bothered me. What was he insinuating? That I’d imagined the whole thing?

  “I know because I was there. It happened to me,” I challenged him, narrowing my eyes at him.

  He looked back at me with a sneer on his face, as if he thought I had no idea what I was talking about.

  “Are you mocking me?” I asked, surprising myself because challenging people wasn’t my usual modus operandi.

  My father interjected, “She knows what she felt. If you can’t find a medical reason, why did it happen?”

  The doctor stammered to answer. “I… I don’t… I can’t say for sure. If I were to guess, it probably won’t happen again.”

  Probably? What does that mean? Will it, or won’t it?

  “I’m sorry, but that’s not reassuring at all. How do you know what will or won’t happen? That’s not the first time that’s happened. Well, all the other times, I didn’t feel as sick afterward. I was never frozen in place.”

  Dr. Jensen’s eyebrows quirked up sharply. “Frozen in place? Is that what it felt like? Did your limbs go stiff?”

  Worry spread across my parents’ faces.

  “I… Yes. I couldn’t move. They were locked in place. When I tried to move, my legs wouldn’t cooperate. I could hear everything going on around me. I mean, Zephyr’s words were in my head.” I stopped short, knowing I sounded out of my mind. The last thing I needed was to be labeled with a diagnosis I didn’t have.

  The doctor wrote notes down on a piece of paper he had on the clipboard.

  Ben knelt next to me, fidgeting with cords that were running from the wall to a monitor.

  I whispered, “Do I sound crazy?”

  He whispered back, “Not any more than you usually do.”

  Well, that was helpful. Not!

  “I don’t know how to explain what happened, Dr. Jensen. Maybe I imagined it,” I said, trying to redeem myself.

  The doctor didn’t acknowledge my words. He continued to write on the clipboard.

  I looked at my parents.

  They grinned but didn’t offer any words to console me.

  Great! Way to go, Melanie!

  Mumbling, the doctor stepped beyond the curtains.

  “Where’s he going?” I asked.

  My mother tried to reassure me. “Oh, he probably went to check something. He’ll be back. You know how busy emergency room doctors can be.”

  “Yeah, right! The last I checked, I’m the only patient they have right now. Did you see any other patients?” I asked.

  My father smirked. “Yes, I think I saw one or two.”

  Having grown up in this small town, I thought I had a good handle on what was going on and when. Things moved slowly here. Nice and easy. If someone fell ill, everyone in town heard about it right away. If someone died, we all mourned. It was the way things worked around here. We stuck together.

  We chatted nervously for a few minutes, waiting for the doctor to return. I was sure he’d come back with devastating news. The way he left, without a word, told me that all was not well in Melanie Abney world and, I had to admit, he’d be right if he came to that conclusion.

  Let’s see, no job, no place to live, a bunch of witches following me around, and last but certainly not least, I could suddenly read minds. Yeah, I’d call that a whole lot of crazy mixed with a giant cup of absurd, if you asked me.

  A nurse returned, holding several papers in her hand.

  “Okay, Melanie, the doctor is going to send you home. I have some paperwork for you to sign. Your discharge orders are on the first one. I’m going to run through them with you,” the nurse said, smiling coyly at Ben.

  He straightened his back and smoothed his hand over his shirt as he addressed her. “Hi, Julie. How have you been?”

  Her cheeks flushed.

  Oh, interesting! Ben has yet another admirer. Funny, I’ve never seen her around here before.

  I cleared my throat. “Hi! What’s your name?” I asked her.

  Ben looked at me. “Uh, Julie.”

  “Right. You just said that, didn’t you? I must have missed it because I was paying so much attention to your tongue hanging out of your mouth,” I said.

  He narrowed his eyes at me. “Knock it off, Melanie.”

  “You knock it off!” I shot back.

  Ben’s eyes narrowed again. “What? Who are you talking to?”

  My mother said to my father. “There she goes again. Did you hear that, Ned?”

  The nurse grinned at me, her eye twitching. “Who were you talking to?”

  I looked at Ben, wondering what they were talking about.

  “Psych consult. Why didn’t Jensen order a psych evaluation? This one is talking to people no one else can see,” I heard the nurse say.

  I shot back at her. “I don’t need a psych consult. I was talking to you.”

  She dropped the papers.

  My parents gasped.

  “What? What is wrong with everyone?” I asked. “Why are you acting like that?”

  The nurse rushed out of the room, leaving her papers on the floor.

  “Oh, man, she really can read people’s minds,” I heard Ben say, but because I was staring right at him, I knew he hadn’t said it aloud.

  “I… Ben, I… What’s happening to me?” Emotion welled in my throat.

  My mother took my hand. “It’s going to be okay, honey. Everything is going to be fine.”

  My father responded in anger, saying, “This is enough! I knew this was going to happen. I told you that one day this would happen.” He stormed out of the room, leaving my mother shaking nervously.

  “Mom, what’s going on? What’s Dad talking about?” I asked.

  My father returned, jerking the draw curtain back. The Jinx sisters filed in behind him.

  “Dad?” I asked.

  He glared at each of the Jinx sisters.

  Lyra stepped forward, offering a smile. “We’ve waited a long time for this.”

  I was irritated. I didn’t want to hear her speech. “Yeah, you told me this already. Why are you still here? I told you I don’t want any of you here. Leave. Just leave.”

  My father put his hand up, halting any potential argument. “No, stay,” he ordered.

  “Good,” Lyra answered with a satisfied grin. “I think we should wait until after the doctor releases her.”

  “What if he wants to run other tests?” my mother asked, wringing her hands in frustration.

  One of the twins answered. I believe it was Calliope, but who could tell? “No, he won’t. We’ve already taken care of that.” She smiled. “He’ll send the nurse back. She’ll give you your orders. Nothing unusual. Call your doctor, return to the emergency room if you have any more spells, and get plenty of rest.”

  Lyra and the other twin snickered.

  “What did you do?” I asked. “What do you mean, you took care of it?” I asked, unwilling to let the Jinx sisters decide my fate.

  As if on cue, the nurse returned, retrieved the papers she’d discarded and read me the orders, exactly as Calliope had said.

  “The doctor is sending you home, Miss Abney. I’ll read your discharge orders with you. Call your doctor for a follow-up appointment. If you have any more… um… spells, return to the emergency room. Oh, and this is important, make sure you’re getting plenty of rest. Sometimes, sleep deprivation can make the mind do-” The nurse was interrupted by the sound of Lyra coughing.

  Lyra cleared her throat. “Sorry, did I interrupt you, Julie?” She locked eyes with the nurse.

  “Um, no, of course not.” Clutching her clipboard secure to her chest, Julie left the room without saying another word.

  “Bye,” I said as she rushed through the opening i
n the curtain.

  “There, that takes care of that,” Lyra said. Turning to my parents, she said, “We’ll meet you at your place in thirty minutes. We’re going to stop by the house first to pick up some items we might need.”

  My father nodded. “Good. Let’s get this over with as soon as possible.”

  My mother’s voice was nervous. “So, this is really happening?”

  I groaned. “What is really happening? Will someone please fill me in on the mystery?”

  Ben chimed in. “Yeah, why is everyone acting so secretive? What are we missing?”

  Lyra smirked at him. “Bring him along. We might need him.”

  Ben gulped.

  I thought, Now, they’ve all gone nuts! Someone needs to say something before my head explodes.

  Lyra’s voice was in my head. “Your head won’t explode. No one has that kind of power. At least, not with us around. Relax. It will all make sense soon.”

  My breath hitched. “How are you doing that?” I asked aloud.

  She slipped out to the other side of the curtains, her sisters following behind her. In my head, I could hear what they were thinking.

  “We should have told her a long time ago,” one of the twins said.

  “I agree. Lyra, it was a bad idea to wait,” the other twin said.

  “She’ll know now. It was better to wait. She wasn’t ready. Were you, Melanie?” I heard Lyra ask.

  I grabbed my head. “Stop it! Stop doing that!”

  Those still in the room with me looked at me with terror in their eyes.

  “Wait until she finds out how much power she has,” I heard Lyra say before the sound of my screaming drowned out her voice.

  Chapter Fifteen

  They’d explained it three times and I still couldn’t wrap my mind around it. I’d spent my whole life trying to discredit the notion that the Jinx sisters were witches. A part of me was fascinated with the stories surrounding them and their family history. Another part of me hoped everything I’d heard had no truth in it. I don’t know why. What did I have to do with any of it anyway? Why had it troubled me so?

  My father sat with his arms folded over him the whole time the sisters were talking to me. Their words came at me fast, too fast for me to understand.

  “Are you okay? Do you have any questions?” he asked.

  I tried to quell my anger, not wanting to sound disrespectful. “Yes, I have questions. Tons of questions. Why am I just learning all of this now?”

  After having spent the last couple of hours listening to the wild stories the sisters shared, I’d finally learned how to tell the difference between Calypso and Calliope, however subtle it was. Calypso was exactly an inch shorter than her twin sister, but that wasn’t what helped me tell the difference between the two. Nope, what distinguished one from the other for me was their eyes. Calliope’s gray eyes were clearer. When she looked at me, it was as if she could see right through to my soul. Calypso, on the other hand, had darker gray eyes, wide and curious about the world around her.

  Calliope moved to touch my arm as she answered my questions. I instantly retreated from her. Every time she was anywhere near me, strange sensations rippled through me. Her voice would echo through my head, my thoughts.

  “I understand how difficult this must be for you, but your parents only did what they thought was right. Please, don’t be upset with them,” she pleaded.

  None of what I’d learned explained how it was these women were my aunts. I didn’t ask and they didn’t offer. The truth was, I feared what their answer would be. It made it all too real for me. However, it was we were connected, it meant that I came from a family of witches. That was unsettling enough for me, I didn’t need to know anything more.

  “How can you possibly know what I’m feeling? Have you been in my shoes? You can’t tell me you have any idea what I feel. I doubt you spent twenty-five years of your life, not caring about anything other than what the wonderful people who were there for you every single moment of your life were thinking, because you feared they’d want to send you back or think you were some kind of dud.” I spoke through gritted teeth, wishing this conversation had never taken place.

  Calliope’s grin disappeared from her face. Her eyes darkened, but not from anger. I thought I saw sympathy and I didn’t like it. I didn’t want someone to feel sorry for me.

  “I’m sorry. We’re all sorry. Of course, I don’t know what you’re going through, but I do know -- we all know -- how difficult it must have been not to know a part of yourself, a part of your history, your family history. We had a sense of loss too,” Calliope said.

  Calypso chimed in. “Our hearts were broken for so long. In fact, the loss still stings, especially when you come into the cafe. Every time we see you, we’re reminded of your mother.”

  My heart leaped into my throat. We hadn’t spoken about my birth mother yet. I didn’t want to hear it, but at the same time, I wanted to hear everything and soak up all the information I could.

  Ben had remained quiet, since we’d left the hospital. He’d offered to leave and let us have this conversation without him present, but I didn’t want him to leave. Allowing him to leave didn’t feel right. I wanted him to stay because he was a part of me, like the brother I never had - at least, I thought I didn’t have. Who knew by this point? I could very well have a brother or several brothers and sisters running around in the world.

  “Can you please not do that? Don’t say that.” I didn’t want to hear any mention of my birth mother, especially in front of my parents.

  Ben spoke quietly. “Why not? Don’t you want to know? What will it hurt?”

  Whoa! Whose side was he on?

  “I can’t do this now. It’s just not right,” I said.

  Lyra clapped her hands loudly, startling each of us. “Then, that’s it. We don’t have to discuss any of it now. Besides, there are more important things we must deal with. Things have already gone too far. First, we’ll deal with Zephyr Willis. After that, if Melanie is ready, we can discuss the other things.”

  Finally, someone agreed with me. There were more important things to deal with. After learning from the sisters that my visions and dreams were part of the process, a sign I had Jinx blood, I’d been even more on edge, but now I could focus on something else.

  “Thanks. What are we going to do about Zephyr? We don’t have any money. All we have is the house and he’s already taking that away from us.” I was desperate for answers.

  Calliope spoke. “It’s not money he’s after.” She looked at me, her eyes boring into mine. “It’s you he wants.”

  “Me? Why?”

  “Because of who you are. Because of who your birth mother was,” Calliope said.

  “Why does that matter? What does that have to do with anything?” I asked.

  Lyra spoke in a hushed tone, forcing us to lean in closer. “It has everything to do with it. You’ll find out. We agreed not to discuss it now, but the time will come and it will all make sense. I promise.”

  I wondered how much time I’d get in prison if I wrapped my hands around her tiny throat. I’d had enough of this eerie they’re-coming-to-get-you nonsense.

  “Enough already! No one is buying your nonsense,” I looked at my parents, pleading with them. “How do you know these freaks aren’t working with Zephyr? How do you know they are on the up and up? I don’t understand what happened here. It’s like I moved away and everyone forgot how to use common sense. Why are you so trusting of everyone?”

  “Freaks?” Lyra’s voice screeched. “Did she just call us freaks? Well, if we’re freaks, what does that make her?”

  Calliope tried to be the voice of reason. “Let’s not get excited. Imagine if you’d lived your life in fear you’d be rejected and then found this out. You can’t blame her for being taken aback. I can hardly wrap my mind around it myself. Who would have thought that this is where things would have come to! I know I never expected this, I thought one day she’d come to us with
questions because she’d figured it out. I never imagined we’d have to reveal the truth like this.”

  “The truth? You’re calling this my truth? The fact that my parents are about to leave their home?” Tears sprung from my eyes. No matter how much I tried, I couldn’t help but feel like my entire world had fallen apart.

  “Excuse me, but what do you have to do with any of this? Why does what you think matter? I may not be family, but I love this family as much as I love my own and all I see here is pain. I don’t think what’s happening is any of your business.” Ben mirrored my frustration.

  My father loved Ben like a son, so he treated him like one. “Benjamin, there’s no reason to raise your voice. The fact of the matter is these women are family too. They are Melanie’s family and, like it or not, we should invite them into our lives. And, as crazy as it seems, I think they are the only ones who could help us keep our house.”

  “What? How? Are they going to give you money? What exactly are they going to do?” I couldn’t believe my ears. How could my parents honestly be entertaining this nonsense?

  “Ned,” my mother said, tugging his arm. “Ned, look outside.” She pointed out the window to the driveway.

  A black car with tinted windows sat behind all the other cars in the driveway.

  “Who is that?” I asked.

  Calliope mumbled under her breath. “What is he up to now?”

  My father touched his hand to my mother’s face, whispering, “It will be okay. Take Melanie upstairs.”

  “Take me upstairs? Why?” I asked.

  Things were moving too quickly. One moment I was in a hospital bed, hoping I wouldn’t get a fatal diagnosis. The next moment, I was in a shouting match with the Jinx sisters. Now, the one who started all the trouble is sitting in my driveway and my parents want to keep me hidden from his view.

  Calliope gave her own directions. “Calypso, take the girl upstairs and stay there until I call you.”

  Whoa. What?

  A sudden burst of energy soared through me. I used it to my advantage. No one was going to tell me to hide in a room.