Zellie Wells Trilogy

by Stacey Wallace Benefiel

  She jumped up from the bed, rushing through her dad. “What? What are you talking about? Maybe you’re confused.”

  “No, honey, I’ve been with her since I died. She can’t see me like you can, but she knows I’m there. Now we can all be together again. I’ve been waiting so long.”

  Mom slid down the wall and slumped to the floor. She looked up at her dad. “She’s in Portland? Where? With Aunt Hazel?”

  “Yes, she’s with Hazel and--”

  “That’s how Claire knew about all of this? Mom is with the girls?” She crawled to the dresser and picked up the phone.

  I could hear the dial tone, like I was the one on the phone. This would be so cool if I could do it on purpose, instead of being forced to see things I didn’t want to. Mom dialed.

  “Hello?” Aunt Hazel answered.

  “Hey, it’s Grace. How are you? I’m doing great. Just sitting here with Dad and Mike Adams, havin’ a chat. Can I talk to my mom? I hear she’s not dead.”

  “Oh, dear.” Aunt Hazel set the phone down with a thud.

  Someone picked up the phone. Me and Mom could hear them breathing into it. “Mom? If it’s you, if you’re there, just...what the hell, Mom?”

  “Grace, I can’t begin to explain...” Grandma said, “Why can no one...Avery wasn’t supposed to say anything until I could see you face to face.”

  “Avery didn’t tell me, Dad did.”

  “Your father’s there with you? Ugh! He wasn’t supposed to say anything either. The last time I saw him--”

  “So, you guys see each other from time to time?” She shot a look at her dad. He bowed his head.

  “Yes, a few of the other seers I know can do what you can, so we talk when we get the chance.”

  Mom’s face flushed. “Were you ever going to tell me, come see me?”

  Grandma sighed. “Monday, honey. We’re all coming back to Rosedell on Monday. We’ll sort it out. Zellie has a rewind to do tomorrow, and then we’ll tie up some loose ends and be on our way. Can you please wait until then?”

  Mom hung up the phone. She shut her eyes tight. When she opened them again, transparent Grandpa was gone.

  Mr. Adams went to her, his arms outstretched. “It’s going to be okay. There were bound to be difficult moments and you’ve had most of them within the last twenty-four hours. Come here.” He put his arms around her, pushing his chest into her face. “Get a little static.”

  “My mom is going to be here on Monday.”

  “We’ll deal with it then.” He backed away from her. She shivered. “Hey, you want to go to the cabin for the weekend?”

  “What about Avery?” Mom said.

  “He’ll be fine for a few days. Probably enjoy the alone time. C’mon, Zellie’s not in town. We’ll leave him a note.” He winked at her.

  She winked back.

  My eyes jolted open and I fought the urge to barf, then the phone rang. I heard Aunt Hazel answer it in her bedroom and say, “Oh, dear.”

  Melody put the phone on speaker so that we could both talk to Dad. The answering machine picked up. “You’ve reached the Wells family!” he said in a sing song voice. Then we all said our names individually. “Paul. Grace. Zellie. And Melody! Leave a massage at the beep!” Melody cringed at the massage part. I giggled remembering she’d thought that was really funny at the time. Beeeeeeeep. “Uh, hey Dad,” Melody said, “Please call us at Aunt Hazel’s as soon as you get this. We really need to talk to you. Love you, Daddy.”

  “Love you, Dad,” I chimed in before I realized that he probably didn’t want to hear from me.

  Mel hung up the phone and flopped down on the couch next to Claire. I sat on the other side. We listened as Aunt Hazel and Grandma argued in hushed tones in the bedroom.

  Claire scooted down into the couch until her butt was almost off the edge. She put a throw pillow over her face. “Smother me, Zel. Your grandma is going to put some sort of voodoo curse on me. Please have mercy on my soul.”

  I took the pillow and tossed it on the floor. “She’s not going to curse you. I don’t even think that’s one of our abilities. She’s just mad, but whatever, it’s not like she hasn’t majorly screwed things up. My mom would have freaked out anyway.”

  We’d all heard Grandma talking on the phone to Mom that morning, it was kinda hard not to. Aunt Hazel had stormed into the kitchen leaving her bedroom door open and muttering to herself, “this is what happens when Retro’s try to do a Lookout’s job.” Caught off guard for once, Grandma had her back to the door and didn’t know we were listening in.

  When Aunt Hazel came into the family room carrying a pot of tea and mugs, I realized she was going to try and be comforting, so I took pity on her. I told her and Mel and Claire everything I’d seen and heard in my glimpse, but was vague about the way Mom and Mr. Adams had acted with each other. I had no idea what I was going to do with that information, if I should tell Dad or force Mom to or wait and see what happened. Which, thanks to my inability to master my abilities, it wasn’t likely that I would be able to see what would happen until about a minute before it did. Super helpful.

  After I’d spilled my news, Aunt Hazel seemed even more mad at Grandma, who, when she had eventually figured out we’d heard her talking to Mom, had shut the bedroom door and not come out.

  Determined to have all the facts, Aunt Hazel had gone in to confront Grandma almost an hour ago. An hour of hushed arguing between them and one of anticipatory torture for Claire.

  “What are they talking about in there?” Claire slid all the way to the floor and beat herself over the head with the pillow. “I just wanted everything with you and Avery to be okay.”

  I sank to the floor and lay next to her. “I know. What all did you tell him anyway?” I was not going to allow myself even a sliver of hope. Yet. I simply wanted to check what she said against the list Mom had read in my glimpse. Yeah right.

  “Not that much, nothing about your grandma, just that you didn’t kill his dad.”

  I gave her a knowing look.

  “That’s all, I swear!” Claire thought for a second, “Well, okay, and also the dream thing and the glimpse thing.”

  Melody reached over and threw the pillow down the hall. “Hey! You’ve got a nickname after all, how about The Meddler?”

  “Shut up.” I kicked her in the shin. Claire was just being Claire and she couldn’t help when things turned out Claire-y.

  “Whatever!” Melody said.

  “He was okay with all of these things? He didn’t freak out? Because the Avery I left behind should have definitely freaked out.” The Avery I left behind should have hung up on Claire the second he heard her voice.

  “I finessed him a little. I may have mentioned his virginity,” she said.

  I threw my arms over my eyes. Not that again. “You didn’t.”

  Grandma and Aunt Hazel came out into the family room. Aunt Hazel spoke. “Well girls, apparently your grandma has had a glimpse that she forgot to mention to us, so it looks like we’re all going to Rosedell on Monday.”

  She glared at Grandma. “Although, we usually need more than two days to wrap up a case after a rewind, especially when it involves a new Retroact, but Rachel thinks it will all be fine, because she’s seen it. Well, bully for her!” Aunt Hazel went into the kitchen and put the kettle on to boil, again.

  “Have you called your father?” Grandma asked, attempting to look like she wasn’t in trouble.

  “Yeah, he wasn’t there,” Melody said. “I left a message.”

  “Okay. Keep trying.” She handed Melody her cell phone. “I’d like to set up a meeting with everyone at your house.”

  “Yeah, we know.” Melody said, giving Grandma her best disappointed Aunt Hazel look. She was learning from the master.

  “Zellie, could you come here please?” I got up off the floor and went to her. “I’m sorry I kept this from you. I was only trying to keep you focused on your rewind.” Grandma grasped my hand, transferring the glimpse.

&
nbsp; Everyone was at our house. Dad and Avery sat on the couch, both smiling at me, reassuring. Mom was in her chair. She didn’t look so good, like maybe she was sick to her stomach. The rest of the glimpse played out.

  I looked at Grandma. “I hope it really goes like that. I wish it was one hundred percent.”

  She hugged me. “Let’s get in gear for tomorrow. We’ll worry about Monday on Monday.” She nodded toward the door. “Let’s go to Voodoo Doughnut and get some breakfast, give your old Aunt Hazel some time to herself.”

  As we headed out the door, Aunt Hazel called from the kitchen, “Bring me a Cap’n Crunch if they have any.”

  Grandma grinned. “Sure, Sis.”

  Chapter Fourteen

  At 12:30 on Friday afternoon Melody, Aunt Hazel, Grandma and I got into the Beemer. Claire had orders to stay in the apartment and wait for Dad to call.

  Once we were within four blocks of the Unitarian church, Grandma parked the car. Aunt Hazel took a couple of ball caps out of a Goodwill bag and handed them to me and Grandma. “These might make you look less conspicuous.”

  “Thanks.” I threaded my ponytail through the back of my hat.

  Grandma offered hers to Melody. “I’ll look more conspicuous with this on than not. You can wear it if you like.”

  “You sure? Your hair’s pretty noticeable with the gray stripes.” Melody checked with Aunt Hazel and then put the hat on backwards and to the right. “Let’s roll.”

  We walked the four blocks to the church and then went around to the side where a line was forming. I kept my head tilted down, scoping out the group as best I could. There was no sign of David or his attacker yet.

  Up near the front of the line I noticed a blonde boy about my age, maybe a little older, with a man that was probably his dad. The boy had a pleasant expression on his face, but the circles under his eyes were dark.

  I wondered where he slept. Maybe at a shelter? Most likely in a park. It was too bad he was going through such hard times. I considered all the people in the line and felt awful that they were there, that there even needed to be a soup kitchen. But this guy, I don’t know, he was good looking. Way too good looking. He was out of place. I was getting such a weird vibe from him that I didn’t even feel guilty about noticing his hotness. Not that I didn’t have free reign to check out other guys or anything, but, well, I might be letting myself have a glimmer of hope after what Grandma saw.

  I smelled David before I saw him. A few people behind me, he reeked of whiskey and pine. I tried to keep it together. No need for a vision right now. My mission was clear. I made eye contact with my family. They all nodded in recognition.

  From the front of the line, I felt another set of eyes on me. The blonde boy. Was he checking me out? I dared a glance in his direction. Hmm, it seemed more like he was trying to figure me out. He smiled. I leaned toward Mel and whispered, “Hottie at twelve o’clock.”

  Melody pretended to stretch her neck, twisting it from side to side. “Yum. Someone’s pretty hot for a homeless dude,” she whispered back through her teeth.

  “Girls,” Grandma hissed. “Zellie, I believe you need to be thinking about Avery. Melody...just stop.”

  The doors to the church opened and the line moved forward. “Here we go,” Aunt Hazel said.

  We entered the gymnasium from the side. To our left were cafeteria tables laid out in six rows seven tables deep. The food tables were set up underneath the basketball hoop at the far end.

  Volunteers wearing hairnets and white aprons dished chicken and noodles out onto paper plates. There were also green salads in Styrofoam bowls and a large plastic bin of apples. The last table held two industrial size orange thermoses full of iced tea and lemonade. The line wound through the door, down the length of the basketball court.

  As we neared the food, Grandma looked around and then slipped a twenty into the donation box at the beginning of the line. I’d put her up to it, I didn’t think it was cool to take food away from people that really needed it. She’d kind of complained and blathered on about how we were supposed to be undercover saving lives, but whatevs, it appeared that she had listened to me anyway.

  Each of us took a plate of noodles and a bowl of salad and then they all followed me to a table two rows in. We sat down, heads bowed, picking at our food. “If I’m right,” I said, “David should sit three tables down.”

  He walked past us and sat three tables down. The pine burned my nose. Grandma grabbed my hand. “Hold on. Take a deep breath. I can go get you some tea.”

  “I’m okay.” I looked around the room, studied the line. “I don’t see the other guy yet, do you?”

  Grandma scanned the room guardedly. “He just walked in. Get ready everyone. This is going to happen fast.”

  I counted to ten and then stood up from the table, my plate of food in hand. I paced myself, not wanting to get to David before anything happened. The plan was to drop my plate near him and conduct the rewind from the floor. It would be more discreet that way.

  I noticed the blonde boy stand up and start walking toward me. This was not a good time to chat me up dude! Who was I kidding, he was at least three levels hotter than I was, and he was probably going to get some lemonade.

  I concentrated on thoughts of Avery. He leaned in. I’m going to kiss you now. Electricity. My hands in his hair. I was a table length and a half away.

  The attacker shouted from the food line, “Hey! David! David?” I watched him duck his head down. Avery brushing his cheek against mine. Tucking my hair behind my ear.

  “Hey. David. You going to pretend you don’t know me?” He stumbled towards David, dragging his left foot.

  David turned away from his plate and looked over his shoulder.

  I glared at the attacker and ran right into the blonde boy coming up the aisle. We both dropped our plates and stooped down to feign cleaning them up.

  The attacker pulled the knife from his jeans pocket. I shot my right hand out in front of me, over the blonde boy’s left shoulder, my fingers spread. I was going to have to worry about what to tell him later. Or not. He cocked his wrist backwards over his right shoulder, spreading his fingers wide.

  As the attacker moved forward, sticking the tip of the knife in David’s neck, he froze. I didn’t know if I was freezing him or if...who was this guy? We backed the attacker away, holding the knife in between him and David for a split second. Blondie apparently found the whole thing amusing. He winked at me.

  “I got this,” he said.

  I put my hand down, shocked. The nerve of him! Talk about majorly stealing my thunder! He was doing the rewind without even looking.

  He twirled the knife around with one hand, making it do figure eights, while he held the attacker suspended with the other.

  “Benjamin.” Blondie’s father said from behind him. “That’s enough. The cops are walking in the door.”

  Faltering for a moment at the sound of his name, Benjamin recovered, swiftly returning the knife to the attacker’s hand. The whole thing only lasted about twenty seconds. He winked at me again and swiped two fingers under his eyes, smudging the dark circles. “I’m method,” he joked. Then he stood up and followed his father out the door that led to the sanctuary.

  Four police officers rushed into the gym from the street.

  On cue, Melody screamed, “He’s got a knife!”

  Everyone backed away, except me; I remained stooped over in a daze. What the hell just happened? Grandma grabbed me under the arm and pulled me up out of the way, just as the police got to the scene. Melody stepped forward, pointing to the attacker, who was now just a very stunned man.

  Grandma walked me from the church to the car. We were to wait there while Melody made a statement to the police. Aunt Hazel was supervising her.

  I ripped my hat from my head the second I climbed into the backseat of the Beemer. I was sweating buckets, my heart racing. “Who were those men? I thought all the Retroacts you knew were women?”

  Grandma s
hook her head in disbelief. “They are.” She turned to me. “I have absolutely no knowledge of any male Retroacts. Some seers, but they’re few and far between. There are no men in The Society. We’ve never had a call for them.” She rummaged around in her purse until she found her cell phone. She dialed. “Hello? Candace? It’s Rachel. You would not believe what just happened to my granddaughter.”

  She listened.

  “So you glimpsed it? What’d you see? Yes, her first intentional rewind and it was hijacked by a male Retroact. A boy! Have you ever encountered such a thing?”

  She listened again.

  “Benjamin. He was with his father I’m guessing. I’ll send Hazel down at once. I’ve got a prior engagement here. No, it can’t wait. I’ll come right after. Tuesday, Wednesday at the latest. Bye. See you then.” She flipped the phone shut and threw it in her purse.

  We sat in the car waiting in silence. Grandma was super pissed off. I sunk down in the back seat and drank two bottles of water out of the six-pack Melody had brought for me.

  Aunt Hazel appeared at the passenger side window and flung open the door. “I’m to go straight to Los Angeles, I assume?”

  Grandma put the key in the ignition. “You are.”

  Melody hopped into the backseat and yanked her seatbelt on. “Well, your part sucked, but I totally rocked it again.”

  I did not respond. I stared out the window, searching for Benjamin among the crowds on the sidewalk. I’m method. What the hell did that mean? The way he’d twirled that knife. Cocky, like he’d been rewinding for years. Was he going to be there every time? Had he had the vision himself or just seen it in my head? In my head.

  No one spoke until we were crossing the Burnside Bridge. Aunt Hazel turned to me. “Were you two rewinding in tandem?”

  I shrugged. “It seemed easier than before, so maybe he was doing all the work, but I’m still really dehydrated and hot like I’ve been rewinding.”

  “Hmm, and you were thinking about Avery?”