“Duh. It’s school work. Do you want me to throw up?”
There was no reasoning with this kid.
She put down the scissors and the cutout, grabbed her sweater, and slipped it on over her pajamas.
“What are you doing?” I pushed back the blankets.
“I’m just going for a walk.” Nadia opened the door and slipped into the hall.
She was so going to get us in trouble. Not that I doubt Howard would mind, but I really wasn’t in the mood to meet our guests. Nadia’s low-grade fever was the perfect excuse I needed to stay in the room. Otherwise, I would’ve put on some clothes and made myself more presentable. Assuming, we had some clothes. Connie made sure we had plenty of pajamas but forgot real clothes might come in handy, too.
Nadia crept down the hall to the top of the staircase. She crouched down before realizing she needed to get down on her belly to see the festivities happening between the kitchen and the dining room. I sat down beside her, leaned over just enough to hear and see everything going on.
There were five or six people down there, including Howard and Connie. All of them looked like college-age kids, though it was hard to tell which years. There was some food on the table, but everyone seemed to be walking around and talking while having a drink in hand. It was more like a social gathering than anything else.
“That’s crazy.” Grinning, Howard wandered into the living room shaking his head. He sat down in his recliner with a beer in one hand and a chewed up fajita in the other. “You’re talking about something that’s psychosomatic. I said this has nothing to do with internal struggles. Now, yes, I believe stress can lead to things happening, but we’re talking about an entire family here.”
“Then mass hypnosis or simple hysteria.” The young blonde followed him into the room carrying a glass of burgundy wine. “All it takes is one strong voice to convince others that things are happening around them that might not be. Talk about it enough and it no longer becomes fiction, but a fact in their minds.”
“You might also be ruling out environmental factors, too.” This came from a guy with light brown hair who needed more meat on his bones. “High amounts of carbon monoxide in older houses have been known to cause hallucinations.”
“This was not a hallucination,” Howard said. “I’m just trying to figure out if telekinesis were to truly exist, how would one go about controlling it? From an engineering perspective, I’ll go back to the basics. For every action, there’s an equal and opposite reaction. So what’s the action that causes the reaction for any kinesis like that to work? There isn’t one because it’s all controlled by the mind. So, how would the mind manipulate energy like that?”
“You need a stronger drink.” Laughing, the blonde sat down on the sofa and sipped her wine. Others joined in the fun.
“But seriously.” The black guy wandered into the room and leaned against the mantel. He also had a beer in hand that looked like it was almost finished. “We could be going about it wrong, too.”
“How so?” Howard asked, looking genuinely intrigued.
“Leave the person factor out of the equation. For anything to be able to move on its own, it has to have an energy source. If I wanted to move let’s say that magazine without touching it, wind would be the only thing that would work. Unless you’re able to change its chemical nature to get it to move on its one. Say like manifesting legs or wheels out of what was already there.”
“Oh boy.” Howard sighed. “Let’s leave the irrational out of it and try to stick with the somewhat plausible, okay?”
“This whole conversation is moot then.” The blonde chuckled.
“One of the first things I would do is an MRI,” the lanky guy said. “See which parts of the brain are active while this so-called phenomenon is happening. Then you’d have to figure out a way to either stop or bring those areas of the brain back to baseline. But you have to realize in doing that it’s possible to affect other parts of the brain that control other senses like seeing and hearing. Let’s not forget breathing and metabolism.”
I knew what Howard was trying to do. He wanted to brainstorm ways of possibly getting rid of my psychokinesis. Not that I blamed him. But even if there was a way to mute it out, we would still have schizophrenia to deal with when it came to mom.
“Snooping?” A voice said.
Nadia and I screamed and jumped away from the banister. My heart pounded against my chest. Something was coming. I knew it, I could feel it. If I didn’t wrangle in my anxiety...
A force snatched me by my ankles and dragged me back down the length of the hall. Nadia screamed again and started after me. A Chinese guy who stood behind her took off after me, too, his face marred with disbelief. He overtook Nadia and dove for my hands just as the force yanked me into the bedroom and slammed the door. I flew across the rug and stopped under the bed.
I closed my eyes and calmed my breathing. I had to stop anything else from happening. Nobody else could get hurt because of me. I had to calm down.
The door creaked open. A pair of legs were standing there wearing jeans and sneakers.
“Hello?” he asked.
Oh no. Not that guy from the hall. I pressed my hands over my mouth to keep from saying anything as panic began to rise inside me. So much for trying to stay tranquil.
The bed flew about halfway into the air and slammed down on top of me. A board holding the box mattress smacked me on the top of the head. I grabbed the sore spot and bit back a yelp. Dust kicked up around me. Disheveled linens fell halfway to the floor.
“Ohmygod,” the guy said. “Y-y-you okay under there?” He dropped down to his belly and reached for me under the bed. “Give me your hand before that thing falls on you again.”
“Phae?” Howard must have arrived at the door along with several more pairs of legs.
“Come on.” The Chinese guy—probably Sean—smiled but still stared at the bed with his eyes darting from side to side, expecting anything to happen. “I won’t bite. I swear.”
Howard dropped down beside him and glanced under the bed. “Are you okay?”
I nodded though still rubbing the tender spot on my head. When he offered me his hand, too, I began scooting forward and crawling out from underneath the bed. Both helped me to my feet.
“I think I drank too much,” Sean said, half-smiling though still somewhat nervous.
“You didn’t.” Howard sighed as he planted his hands on his hips. He glanced around the room. “At least this bedroom is still standing. I only have five, you know, and that other one is still out of commission.”
“Phae.” Nadia squirmed away from Connie and headed straight for me, hugging me around the waist. “I’m sorry. If I hadn’t—”
“It’s not your fault,” I said before she could say anything else. “Things like this happen. You know that as much as I do.”
“They do?” Sean asked.
“Okay.” Connie held up her hands. “Everyone back downstairs. The party’s over..”
There were rumbles of disbelief and questions about what happened, but she refused to answer them. She continued to corral everyone down the hall and away from us.
#
I felt bad for ruining Howard’s party. This was something he obviously liked doing for college kids. Nadia and I stayed in the bedroom for the rest of the night. I didn’t want to show my face to anyone.
Someone knocked on the door. Connie opened it and carried in a tray of appetizers from the party.
“Someone has to eat these.” Smiling, she placed it on the nightstand. “You guys haven’t had anything to eat other than soup, crackers, and some fruit. Maybe you’re ready for something that might stick to your bones for a change?”
“Is grandpa mad at us?” Nadia asked.
“Of course not, sweetheart.” Her smile broadened as delight leaked into her eyes. “I think nothing would make it up to him better than for him to hear you call him grandpa.”
Nadia lowered her gaze. “It feels
weird, but I like it. Phae still calls him Howard, you know.”
“Thanks for ratting me out, twerp.” I smiled and shook my head.
“Well, I think you guys can call him whatever makes you feel comfortable. He’s a good man, you know. In fact, one of the best I know. Well, other than someone else I know. You can come in if you want.”
Sean poked his head around the corner and waved.
I gulped.
The fajita exploded, spraying mostly Nadia with chicken, cheese and salsa.
“Oh my god.” Nadia glanced at me and smiled, despite some grease dripping from her nose. “You like him, don’t you? That’s why you—”
“Stop.” I glared at her. If she kept talking, there was no telling how the nervousness in my stomach would force my powers to react.
“Come on.” Connie offered Nadia her hand and guided her from the bed. “Let’s get you cleaned up, okay?”
As they were leaving, Nadia waved at Sean.
“You can stop embarrassing me now,” I shouted after them. I closed my eyes and focused on breathing inward through my nose and out through my mouth.
“I only see that kind of explosion inside a microwave.” Smiling, Sean remained standing in the doorway.
Regardless of what Nadia said, she was right in some ways. Sean was nicely built, though not enough to say he was in love with having a perfect body. He must have stood about five-eleven with amazing broad shoulders in between. His head seemed a little small, but it didn’t matter when it came to his friendly face and a beam in his eyes. He was certainly Chinese but had no signs of an accent.
“Uh.” After refocusing my thoughts, I opened my eyes and pulled my robe around me more. “I’m Phaedra Thorne, by the way.”
“Yeah, I know. My mom told me about you guys. Plus, I was here when your grandfather brought you guys home. You guys were pretty out of it at the time, but it’s good to see you’re well. Better. Good. Whatever. ” He chuckled, his cheeks flushing a tad pink.
Whoa. Was he checking me out? Did he like me? OMG. I swallowed and took my attention off him for a minute to regain my senses. He was older for sure. Probably not into high school girls anyway. Not like I was into him like that because that would be gross. Never mind that I was turning eighteen soon either.
“Your mom said you were going to be a vet.” I needed something else to break the silence.
“I’m—uh—was accepted into the veterinary school here at Ohio State, so I’ll be starting there in the fall.” He leaned against the door frame and shoved his hands in his jean pockets. “I hear you’ve gotten early acceptance into college in North Carolina. Biochemistry major, right?”
“Yeah. I’ve already started going, in fact. Been taking language classes there since January. I might minor in linguistics since I’m really good at it.”
“That’s right. I heard you were studying Chinese. My mom might love you more than she loves me. She thinks if I don’t use it, I’ll lose it. Wǒ de zhōngwén hái kěyǐ, dàn wǒ bù huì liúlì. Dànshì nǐ kěnéng bù zhīdào wǒ zài shuō shénme. No pressure, by the way, if you don’t know what I just said. That was me using it.”
I shrugged. “Nǐ de zhōngwén bǐ wǒ de zhōngwén hǎo, dàn wǒ zhīdào nǐ zài shuō shénme.”
“Oh my god.” His face beamed as he inched a little more into the room, hands still in his pockets. “You’re really a prodigy. Three months into it and you’re able to know what I’m saying and respond back perfectly.”
“I hear it and for some reason, the words just click and I remember them. It’s faster for me if I see people acting out a scenario like shopping at a store or walking through a park though. That’s how I learn.”
“I might have to find some videos for you then.” He came all the way into the room and stopped. The exploding fajita's remains caught his attention. “How long are you and your sister planning to stick around?”
“Why? Should we leave?”
"No, no, no. I just don’t want you to hurt me or anything.” He crossed his arms, then uncrossed them, then crossed them again. “I...I was wondering if you’d like to get out of this house at some point? Not on a date or anything because I know you’re still a high school senior and you probably have a boyfriend back home. But maybe get a better taste of what college kids do on the weekends. No drinking though. You’re underage and your grandfather would string me up on the front porch as a warning to all.”
I lowered my head and half-smiled. It sucked that he was hung up on the age difference, but he had a nice rebound at the end. All sorts of things ran through my brain, but I knew what my answer was even before it came out of my mouth.
I nodded. “Sure. Is-Is tomorrow too forward or something?” I gulped, hoping I didn’t sound like an idiot. “I mean—I don’t know when we’re leaving, but as soon as we’re doing better, we’ll probably go back.”
Images of those thugs chasing us through the mall crossed my mind. Supposed they were out there waiting for me? Would I be safe with Sean and his friends? Do I have an exit plan just in case they come after us?
Damn. I hated having my world revolve around people trying to kidnap me. I just wanted a normal life and that’s what Sean was offering. I hardly ever hung out with anyone my age because I was scared to death that my powers might frighten them away. I didn’t want them to do the same with Sean. Another outburst and he might run away screaming and never come back. There was no way I could ruin it. I couldn’t.
The comforter slipped to the foot of the bed as though some invisible force had pulled it down there.
“Oh man.” I reached for it and pulled it back. I kept my head low, unable to look at him. “Sorry about that. I don’t know… I don’t…” I gulped. My trepidation went all the way down to my fingers clutching the edge of the comforter.
“Hey.” He knelt down. “That wasn’t so bad, you know. As long as we can keep the fajitas from imploding or people being dragged down halls, I think the evening will go fine.”
I tentatively looked at him. “Are you sure? Because I don’t want to terrify anyone. I don’t want to be a freak anymore. That’s why I’m studying biochemistry. I want to find a way to stop this without having to remove part of my brain.”
“You know what I think? I think what you do is really scary, but in some ways, pretty cool. If I could do what you do, I wouldn’t be afraid of it. I’d accept it, respect it, but I’d live my life the way I want to. Not let my powers dictate it. Otherwise, you’re going to miss out on the good stuff that’s going on around you.”
I half-smiled.
“What?” He asked. “Did I say something funny?”
“No, it’s not that. I think my grandfather was trying to tell me the same thing earlier, but somehow I missed the point.”
“Older people are always trying to sound poignant and philosophical. I usually ignore them.” He chuckled but looked away when he did. “Anyway, tomorrow night works for me.”
“Me, too.”
Chapter Twenty-one
The black jeans looked great, especially on my butt. I couldn’t say much for the dusty rose bohemian top, though. I felt like it was missing something.
“I got it.” Connie hung a fitted white shirt and a metallic teal down jacket over the door. “I think you need more color with the shirt, but I like the jacket. Heaven knows you need one.”
“Thanks.” I took them both from her and put them on. She was right. The jacket looked great with the pants and looked much better than Howard’s oversized fleece jacket he loaned me. “What about that striped sweater we saw on the way in?”
“I’ll see what I can find.”
We were in crunch time. When Howard found out about the not-a-date date, he went a little ballistic. But then I had to remind him not only was he dating Sean’s mother but he even said I had the best boy deterrent ever. Connie took the whole thing in stride. She thought it was awesome that I was going on a not-a-date and what better person to go with than her son? She knew he
was going to be on the straight because she didn’t raise him any other way. There was also the fact that his head might get snapped off his shoulders if he tried anything with me.
Come morning, Howard wasn’t worried so much about Sean, but rather, I was going to be with his older friends. Again, the best boy deterrent ever. It became somewhat of a motto for me until he left the house to go to work. Connie was more excited about getting him out of the house than I was.
As for Nadia, she was thrilled until she found out that she couldn’t go with me. It was weird being separated from her, but this was something I had to do. For me. Howard and Connie promised to keep her occupied with movies, games, and popcorn while I was gone. Besides, she still had some leftover congestion and a mucus cough, so it was best she stayed out of the cold.
None of that stopped us from going on a little shopping spree at the mall though. Howard gave us a limit on his credit card, but as Connie said, it can’t hurt to go a little over if we needed it. So, we each took our share of two-hundred-fifty dollars and turned it into something more like three-hundred a piece and had some fun. Besides, we needed real clothes that fit. I also got the maximum amount of minutes added to my new phone, which was in addition to our allowance. Howard didn’t want me to be without a phone regardless of who I was with and where I was going.
When we finally took a break at the foot court, I glanced around and had flashbacks of what happened in the mall in Indianapolis. Then another flashback of my mom and Kurt in the fire. Another flashback of searching the cemetery with Jayden trying to find her and the birds coming after us.
“You look like you’re lost in another world.” Connie had a food tray in hand and her head slightly tilted. “You okay?”
I shook my head and half-smiled. “Just thinking about my mom and where she might be. I feel like I’m betraying her or something by having fun while she’s out there doing who knows what.”
“Well…” She sat the tray on the table and started passing around our drinks. “I don’t know your mom, but if I were her, I would be very happy for you. When was the last time you did something for yourself? You’re doing things that teenage girls your age should be doing.”
Silent Scream (Bittersweet Series, Book 2) Page 17