by J. Meyers
Her eyes flicked back to Luke’s face and narrowed. “What are you—”
“Doing up? I could ask you the same thing.”
She closed her mouth, a small movement, and just looked at him for a moment. He was waiting up for her when he should be sleeping. As if he knew she would be back at this time. As if he knew what she’d been doing.
He’d always been like this. Even when they were little. And it used to drive her crazy because he always knew ahead of time, and not only from the visions. He just had this sense of what was to come. He’d warn her, sometimes, but she wouldn’t always believe him. Why? She didn’t know. It certainly would have saved her from hurt or disappointment many times. And it would have stopped her from showing their grandmother what she could do.
They’d been six years old and visiting their father’s mother. Sera had found an injured butterfly under the sky-high pine trees one morning outside her grandmother’s small, yellow house. She’d very gently touched one delicate white wing, and was watching it glow to health when her grandmother wandered over.
“What have you found, Seraphina?” She bent over to see what Sera was doing.
“A butterfly. It’s hurt, and I’m making it better.”
“What?” Her grandmother chuckled, straightening back up. “Oh, I see. You’re just pretending. Are you going to be an animal doctor when you grow up?”
But Sera looked up, very serious. “No, Grandma, I’m not pretending. I’m really making it better.”
“You can’t make things better, honey. The butterfly is hurt, and it will probably die. No one can fix it. That’s the way things happen.”
“But I can. When I touch it, it glows. See? It’s glowing right now.” Sera looked back down at the butterfly. Her grandmother did too, a quizzical look on her face. “It’s getting better. Look, its wings are moving again.” The butterfly crawled away from Sera’s outstretched fingers, folded and unfolded its wings, then took off into the air. “It’s beautiful.”
“Oh! You were pretending,” her grandmother said again as the butterfly fluttered away. “It wasn’t really hurt.”
“Yes, it was. But I made it better, like I told you.”
Disapproval dragged down her grandmother’s face. “Do not lie to your grandmother, Seraphina.”
Sera didn’t know what to say, didn’t know what she’d done wrong. Her mouth quivered, tears spilled over. “But I didn’t lie. I helped it.” She went running across the yard and threw herself into her mother’s arms. Her mom looked over at her mother-in-law with a questioning look, but the old woman strode back into the house without a word.
During lunch, Luke had looked up from his sandwich suddenly and said, “Grandma? When you get your headache later, can we watch a movie?”
Their grandmother was bemused, put her cup down. “Luke, honey, I don’t get a headache every day.”
“I know.”
She watched Luke eat for several minutes before continuing her own meal. Though she maintained her part of the conversation with their parents, her eyes occasionally flicked over to Luke throughout the rest of the meal.
A couple of hours later, their dad sat down on the couch next to their mom. “Mother has a migraine starting,” he whispered. They both glanced over at Luke, eyebrows raised. “The kids need to keep quiet and away from her room.”
Their parents turned on the television, volume low, and started flipping through channels to find something for them to watch. They paused on a news show and became momentarily engrossed. Sera got up quietly and inched toward the hallway. As soon as she’d made it out of the room, Luke was there, too.
“Sera, don’t go in there,” he said.
“Where?”
“Grandma’s room.”
“But I can help Grandma.”
Luke looked at her for a moment, thinking. “She won’t like it.”
“But I can make her better. Everyone likes to feel better.”
“She’s gonna get mad. Really, really mad.”
“I want to show her.” If their grandmother only understood what Sera meant, what Sera could do, then she’d realize Sera hadn’t been lying earlier. And her grandmother would be happy with her again.
She walked soundlessly to their grandmother’s room, and knocked quietly on the door, Luke behind her. There was no response, so she opened it and peered in. Their grandmother lay on top of her yellow flowered comforter with an arm thrown over her eyes. White curtains were drawn across the windows, still letting in too much light. Her body was rigid, face pinched.
Sera tiptoed over to the bed as Luke silently closed the door behind him. She lay a gentle hand on her grandmother’s arm. Her grandmother moved slightly to see who was there, and sighed.
“Seraphina.” Her voice was whisper thin. “I cannot play right now, honey. Grandma doesn’t feel well.”
“I know, Grandma,” Sera said softly. “I’m here to make you better.” She reached up with her other hand, touched her necklace, then watched as her grandmother started to glow.
Sera could see her grandmother’s body relax as the pain lessened in her head. Her breathing calmed, her muscles unclenched, her face smoothed as the pain left her body. She sighed again, this time in relief. “Oh, my goodness,” she said.
“See? I can make you better, too.” Sera smiled over at Luke. It was okay.
But her grandmother suddenly snatched her arm away from Sera’s touch. “What are you doing?” she said. “What are you?” She scrambled backwards to get as far away as she could in the tiny bedroom.
Sera didn’t understand. She’d helped her. Her headache was gone. It didn’t make sense, the way her grandmother was reacting to being healed. Eyes wide, Sera backed up toward Luke at the door.
Their grandmother crossed herself, her hand flying through the motions. “Don’t you ever touch me again, devil girl. And you,” she turned on Luke, “there is something wrong with you, too. My son never should have—” She broke off. In her eyes was a horror that Sera and Luke couldn’t understand. “Get out of here!”
They ran out of the room. For the second time that day, Sera didn’t know what she’d done wrong, but this time she knew it was terrible. It had made their grandmother scared of her. Of them. She wondered if there really was something wrong with them.
Their grandmother had said they were evil.
And maybe they were. She’d never thought about it. She’d thought that everyone could do what they did. Healing was like breathing to her. Seeing was like that to Luke. It was normal. At least, they’d thought it was.
From that point on, their grandmother wouldn’t speak to either of them. She’d barely even look at them, and when she did it was a glare of such force that Sera’s eyes would fill with tears and Luke would scowl back while putting a protective arm around her.
Their mother took great offense.
Their father made excuses.
They didn’t go back to visit their grandmother again. Sera heard her parents’ whispered arguments about it. She knew it was why her dad eventually left. She knew it was why they got divorced.
It was all her fault.
Their grandmother had been the first person she’d told. And the last.
At least she had Luke. They had each other. Always had. Always would.
And here he was, looking at her. The one person who could really see her. Tonight there was an intensity in his eyes. He looked genuinely relieved to see her. He had been worried, she realized, really worried. She could see it in his face, feel it in the room.
“You’re upset,” she said.
He looked away for a moment, sighed. Something was up. Her eyes got caught on his necklace, visible in the unbuttoned gap at the top of his shirt. Like hers, the silver pendant was shaped like a hand, but his had an eye etched into the palm. Similar, but different. Just like the two of them. And just like her, he always wore it.
“Sera? Where were you?”
“What’s wrong?”
“Wh
ere were you?”
“Out saving the world,” she said. “My cape is drying on the porch right now.”
Luke pressed his lips together in mild frustration. She wasn’t answering his question. He looked away from her, rested his head in his hands, and wondered how he was going to keep her alive if she wouldn’t tell him what was going on. If she snuck off by herself.
She’d probably been healing someone. Somewhere she shouldn’t have been. At least that was the feeling he was getting. And she did that sort of thing. Often. Part of him felt like he needed to get her to stop doing that and stay home where it was safe. Where no maniacal monster-lady roamed, waiting to kill her.
It just didn’t seem possible, his vision. And yet he knew it was. In fact, it wasn’t just possible, it was inevitable.
Focus. One thing at a time.
“You were healing,” Luke said into his hands.
“Of course. What else would I be out doing in the middle of the night?”
“Could you just tell me when you’re going to do that from now on?” He looked up at her.
Sera narrowed her eyes at him. “What’s going on?”
“I just need to know that you’re okay. That you’re safe.” And he wasn’t going to tell her any more than that. Not tonight.
“Luke.” Her voice was low, serious.
“Sera.”
“Okay. Yes, I will tell you.” She paused. “Now you tell me.”
“What?”
“What’s going on? You’re upset about something. Tell me.”
“It’s…noth—I just got worried. That’s all.”
She studied him, silent, like she was trying to figure out what he hadn’t said. He needed to distract her before she started asking questions. He wouldn’t lie to her, not outright. But he would withhold the truth if he needed to. And right now he needed to, so he could figure things out first.
He tilted his head to the side, indicating the brilliantly colored wall next to his chair. “You painted today.” Sera used one wall of her bedroom as a continually changing canvas. She’d paint and repaint, the design varying with her mood. There was a splattered tarp rolled up next to the chair he sat in and a shelf of painting supplies above it. The faint smell of acrylics still clung to the wall. He’d spent the last half hour pacing her floor and staring at the latest adjustments to her ever-changing mural.
“Uh-huh.” Suspicion lingered on her face, but she got up off the bed to take a closer look at her wall.
Luke got up, too, moved over to stand next to her. The vanilla scent of her room no longer grated him—not now that she was safely home. It smelled like comfort again. “Who’s this?” He pointed to a lone dark figure new to the composition, a silhouette of a man.
“I don’t know.” Sera shrugged. “Just an image that came to mind.”
“Like a vision?”
“I don’t know. Maybe.”
“You have visions, too?” He turned to face her, surprise splashed all over his face.
“No. Nothing like that.” She thought for a moment. “Not like a ‘vision’ vision. It’s just an image that came to me. Not like I’m seeing the future or anything.” She looked him in the eye. “I don’t have visions.” She glanced back over at the dark figure. “You do.”
“Okay.”
She was studying the figure, touched a finger to it to see if the paint was dry.
“Oh, I know,” said Luke, nodding his head.
“What?” She turned to look at him again.
“Your new boyfriend. A tall dark stranger.”
“Yeah, right.” Sera nudged him in the ribs and laughed. A slight blush colored her cheeks.
Luke suddenly felt exhaustion weighing down his whole body. It was late. And they had to get up for school in the morning. He sighed.
“Okay, good night, Wolf,” he said.
“Night, Little Pig.”
He hugged her, glad that she was okay. She had to be okay. He didn’t want to think about what he would do without her. His other half.
Shall she be the first to die, Seer?
Now he just had to figure out how he was going to save her.
FIVE
“They have a right to know, David.” His mother’s voice rang out from the kitchen, full of frustration, and Luke stopped short in the hallway. They were fighting again, his mom and dad. As they did most of the time.
“I think it’s time. It was time a long time ago,” she said.
He didn’t want to go in there in the middle of their fight. And he didn’t want to just stand here listening to his mother’s side of the phone conversation. But it was Monday morning and he and Sera needed to get breakfast before they headed off for school.
As if on cue, Sera slipped out of her room and headed for the kitchen. When she saw Luke standing there in the hall, she paused.
“Breakfast?” She nodded toward the kitchen.
“Parental discord.”
“Again?”
Luke just shrugged. “But we gotta eat, right?”
“Do we?” She looked at him. “Yeah, okay. We do. Let’s go.”
Luke waved his arm toward the door. “Ladies, first.”
“Chicken.”
“Gentleman.” Luke pointed at himself and grinned. “You always get those two confused.”
Sera stuck out her tongue and swept into the kitchen, minus her usual “Good morning, Mom.” Luke sauntered in after her and went to turn on the burner under the tea kettle.
Their mom’s face froze when she saw them, then she turned away and spoke quietly into the phone. “I can’t have this conversation right now.” There was a slight pause and then she said, “Yes, they’re here. They live here.” She took a deep breath and Luke could almost see her counting to ten in her head, trying her best to keep her temper under control. “I’ve got to go, David. We’ll finish this conversation later.”
She slammed the receiver back into its base, and mumbled something under her breath. Luke met Sera’s eyes. He hated this—the tension between his parents. He had a feeling it was never going to get better, and he was always right about things like that. It was part of his gift. But it sucked because here were two people he loved that could barely be in the same room together, let alone have a conversation without at least one of them ending up stressed and pissed off. Usually his mom. All because she still loved their dad. And for whatever reason, they just couldn’t get along anymore.
It was strangely quiet in the kitchen as his mom straightened her dark grey suit jacket, and turned to face Luke and Sera. Dark hair was streaked silver at her temples and she had intelligent blue eyes. Her sleek black leather briefcase bag stood open on the counter, the strap hanging down over the edge, and after looking back and forth between Luke and Sera for a moment without saying a word, she began to slide file folders back into it. She’d been up late last night, working. As usual.
Luke met Sera’s eyes, glanced at their mom, then very slightly shook his head. Sera shrugged.
Luke and Sera moved around the bright kitchen in their usual breakfast routine. He took two cereal bowls out of the cupboard, while she walked over to the pantry to get the cereal. On the way back, Sera rolled a drawer open and retrieved two spoons. She slid by Luke on his way to the refrigerator to get the milk and butter, and deposited her things on the table.
He headed for the table, and Sera ducked under his arms to get back into the kitchen. She plopped two pieces of bread into the toaster, then opened a cupboard to pick out two mugs. Luke lifted a knife out of the silverware drawer, picked up the little container of cinnamon-sugar mixture and walked over to grab the toast.
As he went back to the table, Sera filled one mug with coffee, then dropped a tea bag into the other one and poured hot water into it. Luke was pouring cereal into their bowls as she brought the two steaming mugs over. She gave him his and he took a brief moment to inhale the strong roasted-nut aroma before he took a sip.
Okay, the day could start.
; Sera waited until their mom left the kitchen, then said to Luke, “So, how was Dad last night?”
“At the Food Shelf? Fine. He’s always fine with me.” Luke nodded to where their mom had disappeared down the hall. “Just not with her.”
“Sometimes it’s hard to believe they loved each other, you know?”
“They still do, Sera,” he said. “You know that.”
“They don’t show it very well.”
“Nope, they don’t.” Luke picked up his toast. “What do you think that was about, this morning?”
“No idea.”
Their mom walked back into the kitchen, went straight to her briefcase and rustled around inside of it. She lay her coat on the counter after almost dropping it several times, then placed her purse up there as well and searched through its numerous pockets. She’d misplaced her keys again, Luke thought, and focused for a moment on her keys. The image of her lime green coat came into his mind. That’s where they were.
Their mom looked over at Luke and Sera, and studied them. He held up his coffee and raised his eyebrows at her. After a moment of silent deliberation, she dropped her bags, picked up her dark red coffee mug again, and went over to the table to sit down.
“Everything okay?” Luke said to her.
“Everything’s fine. Dandy. Copacetic. I’m just taking a moment to be with my favorite people.” She took a drink of her coffee and smiled at them.
Luke didn’t want to upset his mom, but he was curious to find out what she’d been arguing about with his dad. What it was, exactly, that he and Sera had a right to know.
“That phone call…Dad…you sounded upset,” he said.
“Like you were not exactly in agreement,” Sera added.
“In other words, a normal conversation between me and Dad, right?” Their mom smiled, her lips tight. “Not for you to worry about, my loves. Just for me.” She took another sip of coffee, and Sera reached over to touch her arm. She placed her hand over Sera’s, rubbed it gently with her thumb. “Let’s talk about something else. Like how Sera has the warmest hands. They’re like heating pads. You always have, did you know that? Even as a baby.”