by Peiri Ann
“I need Tracey to call Nathan to find Scott.” Doesn’t she just come right out and tell it.
“How does Nathan know Scott?” my dad asks, interested.
“Or—how do you know Nathan?” Glen asks my dad, inquisitively.
My dad raises an eyebrow. “I don’t know him yet, however I am aware of him. Why does Tracey need him to find Scott for you?”
This conversation is getting confusing. Nathan, I think to him, since he said I can reach him anywhere. I let Glen and Dad go back and forth. He doesn’t respond. NATHAN! I say to myself with more emphasis. It’s weird yelling to him in my head. NATH–!
Yes, Tracey?
Hearing his voice comforts me. Hi.
Hey.
Umm, sorry to bother you. Glen is at my house looking for Scott and needs me to call you, but I don’t have your number—which I realize is weird. She wants to know if you know where Scott is. That was a lot to think.
It is a lot, and yes, Scott is with me. And you are never a bother. Scott will call Glen when he’s on his way back to her house—later tonight. How was your day?
It was nice. I enjoyed the time with my parents.
I could tell. I’ll be there later. And I’ll give you my number when I get there. But for now, just pick up your phone and pretend we’re talking. We are in the middle of something. Love you.
Love you.
See you in a few hours. Wait up for me.
Always.
Fingers snap in front of my face. I’m kooky-smiling, not realizing it. I shake it off, focusing. “Tracey, can you call him?” Glen is frustrated. Scott really needs to get his shit together.
I pick up my phone, pretending to call Nathan. This is so lame. I talk to myself—as if Nathan is on the other line. I don’t understand why Scott can’t just tell her about him, so maybe she can reach him when she needs to. I pretend to end the call.
“They are together, but they’re busy. Scott said he will call you when he is on his way to your house later.”
She lets out a disturbed breath. “Okay, thank you. What were you about to do?”
“Sit back with my dad and catch up. He’s been gone a while.” I look over to him. He’s still looking at Glen like she’s off her rocker. “I’ll see you later. Maybe we can all do something Saturday.”
“That’s a good idea. I’ll see you later. Call me if their plans change. Or, the next time you talk to Nathan, have him tell Scott to call me.” She walks away.
Her car is parked in front. “Okay, Glen.” How did I miss it as we were pulling up?
My dad and I walk through the front door. “You mother still doesn’t lock this door?”
“No, never have and never will,” my mom states, peeking out from the kitchen.
“What happens if someone tried to come in here on us?” he asks jokingly.
“They won’t, but if they do, they’ll have to answer to the man upstairs. So what was all that about with Glen?”
Uninterested, I say, “She needed me to call Nathan to find Scott.”
“Why couldn’t she call Scott?”
“Apparently, he wasn’t answering his phone.”
“Why not?”
“Mom, I don’t know. Scott and Glen is one relationship I care not to get involved with. I ask no questions and care for no answers.”
I follow my dad to the family room. “So Nathan and Scott are cousins?” I guess Glen told him that part.
“Yes.”
“Well, that’s nice for you and Glen.”
“I don’t know if I would say that it’s nice. I mean, yes, Glen and I are best friends. But sometimes Glen and Scott can get…overbearing, when Nathan and I are just trying to spend time together.”
We sit down on the same couch. “I can see that. When Glen was talking to you, you sort of zoned out. What happened there?”
I don’t know how to explain that, so I do the best I can. “Sometimes I do it to irritate Glen. She’s always bothering me with Scott stories or Scott problems. So I give her the ‘I’m not here’ face and she leaves me alone.”
He chuckles. “Guess that didn’t work today.”
I join his laugh. “Guess not.”
“The next time you talk to Nathan, let him know I would like to meet him tomorrow. I head back out on Monday and I promised your mother I would take her out this weekend.”
“Okay, Dad, no problem.” He turns on the TV. I’m worn out and can’t stop twiddling my thumbs. I lay my head back on the pillow of the couch, dozing off.
I wake up feeling lighter. It’s dark and my dad had left me in the family room. That’s not like him. He’d usually carry me to my room or wake me up. My right hand is burning. I rub it, getting up to turn on the lights.
Looking at my hand, my palm is dark-red, turning completely black. I watch it as black, thin vines travel from my palm up my arm. They grow, curving up the muscle of my forearm to my shoulder. It stops at my shoulder, and what seem like thorns, dig into my skin.
The pain increases, surging up my neck, burning my ear. I turn on the light-switch and stare at myself in the mirror on the wall. Nothing shows on my neck, but my ear is red with vines covering it.
The pain circles my head, penetrating my forehead. Touching my head with my right hand, it is hot as fire. I jerk it away quickly, leaving my forehead red with a burnt handprint on it. I rub over it with my left hand. Staring in the mirror, I watch my irises turn black and spread out to the white of my eyes.
What the hell?! I widen my eyes, watching them turn to black. What the hell is happening to me?
“Tracey, I will come for you, even if I have to start from the inside and work my way out. I will destroy you and my son! Tracey, do you hear me?!” Nathan’s dad’s face appears in the mirror before me. “Do you hear me, Tracey? TRACEY, DO YOU HEAR ME!?” he shouts, making me jump away from the mirror. I land on the couch.
“Tracey!” I jolt up from the couch, panting, unable to catch my breath. “Tracey, look at me.” I see nothing. The voice sounds like my dad’s, but I’m not sure. “Tracey, can you hear me?” His panic is increasing my own panic. “Tracey!” He shakes me.
“Excuse me, sir, can I see her? Maybe I can help.” It sounds like Nathan.
“I don’t see how, but come on over.”
Seconds later, warm hands touch me, calm fills me; the panic feeling is being taken away. I can breathe better. “Tracey,” Nathan says, too calmly. “Focus. It’s okay. Calm down.”
Opening my eye, I’m calm. They focus, seeing him, and I grab him roughly around the neck—entirely too quickly. He hugs me back with just as much force. “It’s okay, Tracey.” I bury my face in his neck, breathing him in.
“Ladybug, what happened? Are you okay?” Dad places his hand on my shoulder, massaging it lightly.
I can’t let Nathan go yet. I don’t want to. If I do, everything will come back—the pain, the disturbing feeling I had before he touched me. “It’s okay, Tracey.” Nathan rubs my back firmly, not pushing me away.
“I—I am.” I don’t want to talk, just hold and be held.
When you’re ready, baby, no rush. Although…your dad is looking at us a little weird.
I chuckle, pulling back. “I’m sorry.”
“It’s fine, ladybug. Is everything okay?”
I don’t know how to answer him. I take a minute to breathe and work through my feelings. “Yes, I just had a bad dream.”
Nathan wraps my right arm inside his as my dad sits on my left side. “You’re sure you are feeling okay?” His voice sounds uncertain.
Before I can answer him, my dad says, “You scared me. You were panting in your sleep and cringing like you were in pain.” Worry is in his voice.
“I’m fine, Dad. I’m sorry I scared you. Have you ever had a dream that felt so real? That’s something like how it felt. It scared me.”
“Does this happen often?”
“No.” I try to move my right hand, in an attempt to push my hair back that’s sti
cking to my forehead, but Nathan won’t let me. So I do it with the left and he looks at me. “Is everything okay?”
His face is calm. “Yes, just worried about you is all.”
“That makes two of us,” my dad mutters. I look back at him and he’s staring at me.
“Really, Dad, I’m fine. I’m sorry I scared you both.”
My dad looks at Nathan. “Well, I’m going to assume you’re Nathan.”
“That’s right, sir. Sorry to have barged in like I did.”
My dad stands, straightening in a way that tells Nathan to stand. I look at him.
Nathan smiles at me. Don’t move from this position. I’ll explain later. He stands up, reaching his hand out to my dad. “Nice to meet you, Mr. Warren.”
My dad completes the hand shake. “I take it Tracey has told you about me?”
Not really. “Yes, sir she has.”
“Well, that makes two of us. I’ve heard a share about you as well. You’re dating my daughter?”
Nathan smiles slightly. “Yes, sir.”
“I take it you treat her well, considering the way she reached for you when she woke up from her nightmare.”
“I do treat her well, sir, and I will continue to.”
“Very good.” My dad takes a step back. “Well, if you’re okay, ladybug, I’m going to meet your mother upstairs and turn in for the night. Nathan, I trust that I can leave you and her down here alone and you will be gone by eleven?” It’s actually a statement, rather than a question.
“Yes, sir. You have my word.” Yeah right. Not likely. My dad leaves the room and Nathan sits back down beside me. “Why don’t you turn on a movie for us to watch?”
I flip through the channels, not really caring what I turn on. “What’s going on?”
“Wait.”
“Wait for what?” I’m frustrated. He needs to tell me something.
He gives me a serious look that makes me sit back and relax. I do, becoming impatient. “Just wait,” he says sternly.
I wait, turning to the HBO channel. I watch him as he watches the TV not saying anything. I grow even more impatient, but reluctantly stay calm. I really wish he would tell me what’s going on.
“Don’t panic, Tracey,” he says, forty-five minutes later, grabbing my hand. He turns it over for me to see.
My palm is black, like in the dream. The thorn vines go all the way up to my inner-elbow. Panic rises in me. Nathan moves to my other side, grabbing my regular hand. I touch my ear, remembering it too had vines.
“Does my ear have it too?” I ask quickly. “Do you think my dad saw it?”
“No, he would have said something. But, with him being on your left, he couldn’t see that side. And yes, your ear has the vines too.” He’s sitting straight forward.
“What is it?”
“I’m not sure yet.”
“Why did it happen?” I follow quickly.
“I’m not sure yet,” he repeats.
“How do we take it off?”
“Baby, I’m not sure yet,” he says, keeping his irritation contained.
“Well, what are you sure of?”
“Tracey.” He squeezes my hand. “Calm down. We will figure this out. Can you tell me what happened in your dream?”
“My hand burned then turned black, and the ugly vines grew up to my shoulder, the side of my neck, and my ear. I watched it grow in the mirror. The pain it brought shot through my head and my eyes. Oh my gosh, are my eyes black?”
“No, they are the same beautiful, light-colored brown they’ve always been.” He’s still calm. “Continue with the dream.” He rubs his thumb over the back of my hands, calming me down.
“I watched my eyes turn black, and your dad started talking to me, saying something like he is going to get me, even from the inside out, and he was going to destroy us both. He showed me himself—in the mirror.” I point to the mirror on the wall. “And started yelling my name.” I look back at my black hand. “It was the worst.”
Nathan pulls me to him and lifts my hand, so we can both see it. Raising it to his mouth, he lets out an extremely slow breath through his kiss. It’s freezing cold, and I start to shiver.
Moments later, he removes it, and we stare as the black fades away slowly, very slowly. The vines don’t fade completely, but they become faint. I run to the mirror. My ear isn’t as dark either, but I still notice it.
“You notice it, because you are aware that it’s there. Although, no one else will be able to.”
“What is it?”
“You’re gaining abilities, I’m assuming, and one of them may be to burn things with your touch. Or, maybe you can eject fire or heat. It’s not really clear, but we can ask my mom the next time you come over.” He stands behind me in the mirror.
He kisses my vined ear. “So is this something you can do?”
“No, I don’t possess fire. However, I can turn someone into ash. Maybe your ability came from that. Again, Tracey, this isn’t my specialty—abilities and understanding them. I just possess them and know how to use mine. I also know some of the ones that my siblings and parents have, but that’s the most of it. For most, their abilities show on their skin, like yours.”
I’m calmer. I really don’t care what it is; I just don’t want it to show. “Okay, so when can I expect for it to not show all the time?”
“Once you learn how to control it, you will be fine. And, considering I’ve been hearing myself say that too often, I think it’s time we start trying to control things.”
We walk back to the couch. “Why did you make me wait so long before you showed me?”
“I was waiting for your parents to fall asleep, so they couldn’t hear us talk.” He sits me across him. “Your speed has picked up. I don’t know if you noticed it.”
“I did see that. I thought I just needed you bad.”
“Maybe.” He looks at me. “Can I kiss you?”
“You don’t have to ask.” I lean into him and he kisses the worry away that lay upon his eyebrows. His hand rubs up my neck and pushes through my hair. My body shivers, never feeling his touch there before. I deepen the kiss, knowing I need to pull away. He matches it, and I let out a quiet moan.
He pulls away, giving me the ‘not cool’ look with low eyes. I laugh.
“You scared me. I felt something happening to you.” He looks me over.
“Yeah, you came early. What happened today?”
“You don’t want to know.” He looks away from me to the TV.
“Nathan.”
“What did I tell you was going to happen?” I pull his face, by his chin, to look at me. He rolls his eyes. “Tracey, everything happened that I told you would, with the exception of the extended conversation with my father. I cut it short because he pissed me off.”
“I’m not asking because I want to remind you of it; although, I know that it will. I’m asking because I want you to talk to me and let me know what’s going on with you. What happened to you? I would really prefer for you to give me all the details, but I know you won’t. And I’m not going to stop asking, so get used to it.” I kiss the side of his mouth and turn his face back to the TV.
He looks back at me, with a face that asks if I really just did that. I laugh, laying my head against his shoulder. “I love what you to do me, Tracey.”
“And what’s that?”
“You make me happy. I haven’t been happy for a long time.” He rubs my shoulder.
A few minutes pass. “So how am I going to control this stuff?”
“We’ll work on that later.”
“Oh, I forgot to mention…we are supposedly hanging out with Glen and Scott on Saturday.”
“How did that happen?”
“My dad was standing with Glen and me when she asked me to call you. After I had zoned out while talking to you, I had to throw the attention off of me.”
“Um, hum.” He scoots forward—to position himself more comfortably.
I listen as he lets out a s
low breath. I look up at him, and his eyes are closed. “Are you tired?”
“Yes,” he says, with closed eyes.
“Well, leave so we can go to sleep.”
“You’re tired?”
“Not really.” That dream freaked me out.
“You comfortable, sitting here?” It’s a two-part question.
“Yes, I’m fine.”
“Well, I’ll sit here with you until you’re ready to lie down.” His eyes are still closed.
“But you—”
“Tracey, shh.” He wraps one of his arms all the way around me and puts the other behind his head.
I turn back to the TV, smiling from him. I watch the movie ‘Fright Night.’ That ends and X-Men comes on. It’s now going on eleven and my dad will have his alarm set to check in on us. I sit up, looking at Nathan.
He’s looking back at me through the slits of his eyes. “What’s wrong?”
“It’s almost eleven.”
He stretches. “Okay.”
I move from across him, standing up. He stands and stretches—his body getting taller than what it already is, shoulders broader than what they really are. I can tell he’s tired because of the lowness of his eyelids. He looks at me staring at him.
“You had a busy day, huh?” I ask, still staring.
“Yeah, I was up early and didn’t stop until I came over here.”
“Did I take you from something?”
“No, never. Whatever you have going on is more important than anything I was doing. But I was about done anyway. I left the cleanup to Scott.” He looks in the direction of the stairs. “I have to go. You going to show me out?”
“Yeah.” My dad must be around.
We walk to my front door. Nathan pulls me into a hug. “Tell your dad I’m sorry again for barging in like I did. That’s not like me.”
“I will.” I look to him for a kiss. He shakes his head slightly and kisses my forehead. Yep, my dad is definitely around. Damn Dad.
I open the door for him. “I’ll see you later, Tracey.”
“Bye.” I don’t like the feeling I get watching him walk away. I remind myself he’s coming right back as I watch him get in his truck. I close the door, watching him pull off. “I know you’re there, Dad.”
I turn around and watch him descend the remaining stairs. “It’s not eleven yet.”