Zellie Wells Trilogy (Glimpse, Glimmer, Glow)

by Stacey Wallace Benefiel

  We all groaned when passing the school.

  “I went there too, you know,” Grandma said. “It hasn’t changed at all.”

  “Sad, isn’t it?” Melody quipped.

  Grandma turned onto our street. Everyone took a deep breath. She pulled into the driveway and parked. We all got out. “You can get your bags later girls, I don’t know about you, but I’m anxious to get this over with.”

  Melody went up the front steps first and opened the door.

  Mom was sitting in her overstuffed green chair. Avery and Dad sat on opposite ends of the couch. Dad rushed to meet us as soon as Melody entered the room. He grabbed Melody and I and even Claire into a bear hug.

  “I’m so glad you’re back! I’ve missed you girls so much. I don’t think we’ve ever been away from each other for this long.” He held me at arms length to look at my face and then wrapped me in his arms again.

  My heart felt like it was going to explode with happiness. My daddy loved me again! Maybe things were gonna go okay after all.

  “We missed you too, Dad,” Melody said, grabbing Grandma and pushing her towards him. “This is Grandma Rachel.”

  That settled him down. He shook her hand quickly and then gestured for her to go over to Mom. “I’m sure you two have a lot to catch up on.”

  Mom rose from her chair, tears visible in her eyes. Grandma reached out to her, cupping her face in her hands. “Hi, Gracie.”

  “Hi.” Mom took her mother’s hands from her face and held them in her own. The tears were coming at full force now. “I don’t know if I can do this!” She ran from the room, Grandma hurried after her.

  I looked away from them to Avery. He must be really uncomfortable witnessing all of this. But he wasn’t. He was looking at me, a wistful smile on his face. My heart jumped a little. Okay, a lot.

  Dad spoke up. “Zellie, how do you want to do this? You’ve got the room. I want to hear whatever you have to say, I think Avery does too.”

  I chewed at my bottom lip, deciding. “Um, why don’t we sit down and I’ll talk for a little bit. I know you guys have questions and I do have more answers for you than the last time we were all together.” I checked with Avery, he seemed receptive. “I know you heard a lot of this from Claire, Avery, so stop me if I’m being redundant.”

  He nodded.

  “Hopefully, whatever I can’t clear up for you, Grandma can when she’s done talking to Mom.” I turned to Dad. “Thanks for bringing everyone together.”

  “It wasn’t me honey, Avery got your mom to show up.” He returned to his seat on the couch.

  Claire and Melody leaned against the kitchen wall.

  So far so good, pretty much as Grandma had seen it. I started in on the explaining. “Okay, here’s the short version. Grandma is a seer and she belongs to a group of female seers called The Society. They’re all over the world and there are thousands of them.”

  Avery nodded his head knowingly and Dad just sat there staring at me. I kept on. “The abilities are hereditary, obviously. Grandma is the first seer in our family as far as she knows. There are different abilities, not all of us seers are the same. Grandma is a Retroact and so am I-that means she can do that rewinding thing that I did.”

  It was quieter than church in here! I couldn’t have felt more awkward. “So, Mom doesn’t rewind, but she does have the ability to communicate--”

  “I know, Zel," Avery said, “I’ve talked to my dad. It’s...good?” He grinned.

  “Oh! Great, got that out of the way.” I glared at Claire. Would have been nice to know that. Here I’d been worried about keeping all of these secrets, but I was starting to get the feeling that all of the cats were already out of all of their damn bags. “Well, the last major thing is that I can’t do harm with my abilities.” I looked to Dad, surprised that he seemed shocked. I smiled great big. “I didn’t hurt Mr. Adams.”

  He clapped his hands together. “Oh! That’s wonderful. That is the best news I’ve had in a long time.” He jumped to his feet and pulled me into another bear hug.

  “So, what you’re saying Zel is that you saved us all, some of us from death, and then we all treated you like crap?” Avery stated.

  I teared up. Frickity frack Claire! She better never hold back from me again. “Yeah, that sounds right.”

  Avery rose from the couch and put a tentative hand to my face. “I’m so sorry Zellie...all of those horrible things I said to you.” He brushed the tears from my cheek with his thumb. “Please forgive me. I’m a complete idiot. I mean, if you want to go out to the driveway, push me down and grind gravel into my eye sockets...I totally deserve it.”

  If I hadn’t felt like I was taking a shower in Pine-Sol, I might have been worried by his public display of affection. “Forgiven,” was all I could say before the vision overtook me.

  I blinked hard and came to, not that surprised to find I was sitting on the couch. “Thanks, Avery,” I smiled at him and took his hand.

  Dad cleared his throat, eyeing our clasped hands. “This is all going to take a lot for me to get used to. My first concern is for you, Zellie.” He took on his “I’m responsible for keeping your soul from burning in hell” tone. “I’m not sure that I want you acting on your visions or being in this society organization or rushing back into things with Avery.”

  I felt Avery’s palms break out into a sweat. Mine weren’t far behind.

  “I have nothing against you son, but you broke my kid’s heart. I’d like everyone to proceed with caution, okay?” Dad put a hand on my shoulder.

  I let go of Avery’s hand.

  Mom and Grandma came back into the room. Mom’s eyes were puffy and red, but she had a faint smile on her face. She extended her arms out to me. “Come here my sweet girl. I’m so sorry for how I treated you.”

  I got up from the couch and walked into her waiting arms. Love struck liar, or not, she was still my mom.

  Melody harrumphed. “Does anyone have anything they wanna say to me? Anybody feel like giving me a hug?”

  Mom and Dad and I descended on her, smothering her with hugs and kisses. Claire was caught in the crossfire, but did nothing to stop it.

  “Grandma? Avery? Get your butts on over here!” I waved them into the group.

  I put my arm around Avery’s waist, tears finding their way down my face once again. The electricity of our bond was still there despite our separation. I hoped we never had to endure being apart ever again.

  On my other side, Dad leaned in and kissed the top of my head. I felt better knowing that he was scared for me and not scared of me anymore.

  Mom hugged Melody and held onto Grandma’s hand, smiling more than she had in years. Claire and Avery shared a conspiratorial look and then broke out laughing.

  Grandma hadn’t seen this part, this dysfunctional family group hug and I was glad. We were all happy in this moment. Yes, it was cheesy, and yes we all had so many things to work out and to get through, but in that moment I didn’t care about the future. I couldn’t see anything but the present, and that was just fine.

  Chapter Sixteen

  It was a week after we returned from Portland before Mom invited me and Melody over to the Adams’ house for dinner. She sent Avery to Jason’s for the night. I was bummed watching him leave. My contact with him at that point was nonexistent. I’d been doing nothing besides teaching VBS and hanging out with Dad, which was great, but come on, Avery and I had a lot of relationship mending to do.

  Mom made spaghetti and meatballs for dinner. The three of us sat around the unfamiliar dining room table slurping up saucy noodles in awkward silence.

  Finally, Mom put her fork down and took a long drink of water. “So, I don’t know if your dad has said anything to you girls, but we’re sort of separated and have been since you left for Portland.” She took a deep breath in and then exhaled slowly. “Also, I’m going to have Mike’s baby. I’m pregnant.”

  Melody glared at me. “Damn it! Could you please get your visions tuned into t
he right frequency or whatever? I’m getting really sick of these crappy surprises!” She stormed down the hall, but then it dawned on her that she wasn’t at our house and couldn’t escape into our room. She stood in the hallway seething for a moment before running out the front door, slamming it behind her.

  I got up to follow her, but Mom put her hand on my forearm. “Let her go. She’s going to the park to blow off steam.”

  I sat back down, defeated. “You’ve seen this already?” She was so much better at glimpsing than I was. Mom nodded her head.

  “Well, what’s my reaction?” I huffed.

  “You’re mad. You knew about the baby already and are wondering why I waited so long to tell Melody. You think I’m a hypocrite for keeping you away from Avery while I was sneaking around with Mike, which I wasn’t, by the way. It was a one time thing the day he died.”

  I so did not need to know the deets. “Okay, but are you going to patch things up with Dad? Or what? Get a divorce?” I tore little pieces from my napkin, arranging them into a neat pile.

  “I’m...we’re not sure yet. I can’t apologize more than I already have to him. He really did not deserve this, but I’ve got to think of this baby and try to be happy. Do you understand?” Mom laid her hand on mine, quieting the napkin shredding.

  “Are you happy?” I blurted out. “With everything else that’s going on with Melody and me? I don’t think we deserved this either!” I wanted to run and scream and kick something! I didn’t. I stayed in my chair.

  “Zel, take how you feel about Avery and multiply it by a hundred. Imagine if the separation you two went through this past month lasted for years. Followed by more years of polite hellos and church functions and then he was gone. Wouldn’t you do anything to have him back? In any way possible?”

  She wiped tears from her cheek with the back of her hand. “I can talk to Mike and see him and laugh with him whenever I want. I know I’m hurting all of you. Despite that, I am happy. Don’t get me wrong. I wasn’t miserable with your dad. He is a good man, a good father to you girls. But I’ve been on autopilot for twenty years and I’m done.”

  Now I could leave. “I’m gonna go find Melody.” I stood up, leaned over and hugged her. “I’m glad you finally said something. I won’t shut you out. I just need time.”

  Mom hugged me tight. “That’s fair.” She brushed my hair back from my forehead. “I love you Hazel Grace.”

  That night Melody and I lay in our beds not sleeping, not talking, just staring at the ceiling.

  After we’d come home from dinner with Mom, I’d told Dad that we knew about the baby. He’d looked devastated. “I’m going to turn in for the night,” was all he’d said and then went into his bedroom and shut the door.

  There was a light tapping on the window. We both sat up in bed to see what it was.

  Avery waved and then motioned for me to come outside. I checked with Melody.

  “Do whatever you want. I guess the Adams men are too irresistible to the redheads in this family.” Melody rolled over, turning her back to me. She was reminding me more and more of Aunt Hazel every day. She was going to be an excellent Lookout.

  As quietly as I could, I yanked on a pair of shorts underneath my beloved Minnie Mouse nightshirt. Since Dad had removed the desk from our room while we were in Portland to discourage the exact kind of behavior I was about to display, I took out the stepstool I’d stashed under my bed. Barefoot, I climbed up it and slid effortlessly out the window.

  Avery grabbed me, pinning me against the side of the house and whispered in my ear, “Are you opposed to rushing back into things?”

  “No, rushing’s good,” I said, nearly breathless.

  He kissed me. Finally. A good, long, electricity sparking, sirens blaring, lip numbing sort of kiss. But that wasn’t what let me know that all was forgiven between us.

  “You know that nightshirt makes me totally hot,” he said.

  That was.

  I giggled and pushed him off of me. “C’mon, let’s get away from the house.”

  We walked hand in hand to the park across the street. Avery’s truck was in the parking lot. “We can go sit in the truck if you want,” he laughed, “it’s a little more private than the park bench.”

  I took his arm and put it around my shoulders. “Pervert.”

  He brought me to him, kissing the top of my head. “Whatever. You love me.”

  “I do love you. How is it that you love me though? I thought you were going to hate me forever and then you were so quick to forgive.” We got in the truck.

  Avery put his hand on my inner thigh and pulled me closer. His touch sent a shockwave right through me. How I had missed him! He let his hand rest on my knee. “I talked to Claire every day. I know that’s more than you knew went on...we weren’t trying to be sneaky, we both just didn’t want to do any more harm to you than I’d already done.”

  I nodded. “I’m glad you were careful, I was really messed up.”

  He squeezed my knee. “From the day after you met your grandma until the day you came home, she told me everything your grandma told you. What she was teaching you to do. How you weren’t responsible for my dad’s death.” He squeezed my knee again. “She told me what happens in the vision you have of me and that you have it every night. That’s pretty intense, Zel.”

  I cringed, thinking about my gigantic pregnant belly. The Adams men really were an addiction. “Which part is intense?” Did Claire have to share everything?

  He laughed. “All of it. The wreck, the blood, we’re old...you’re pregnant!”

  “About that--”

  Avery put his hand up to stop me talking. “Yeah, I can see where you’re going with this. Don’t freak. I know I’m your trigger, that we have a strong physical connection.” He cleared his throat. “Claire seemed really interested in that part.”

  “God!” I huffed, “I wish she’d get her own strong physical connection and leave mine alone!”

  “Really?” Avery laughed again. “‘Cause I’m pretty sure that Jason would help her out with that.”

  “Seriously?”

  Avery shrugged.

  I took his hand from my knee, intertwining our fingers. “Is it okay if I’m not ready to...you know? I mean, I’m kind of ready, but not ready, ready.”

  He gazed into my eyes. “I’m not ready, ready either.” He put my hand on his heart, right over the spot I’d pulled the bullet from. “I love you, Zellie Wells. We may have an expiration date, but we’ve got time.”

  I rewound the last bit, just to hear it again.

  The End

  Glimmer

  Chapter One

  I ran from my house out into the frozen December air, my breath visible. Avery, my boyfriend of almost eight months, was waiting for me in his dad’s red pickup. Okay, technically he’s my boyfriend of six months since we were broken up in June and July because he thought I killed his dad with my psychic powers, which, P.S. I totally didn’t, but I try not to dwell on that.

  A blast of heat hit me as I opened the passenger side door. “Morning!” I said, flinging my backpack on the floor and hopping up into the seat.

  He brushed a strand of my long red hair away from the corner of my mouth and gave me a quick kiss. “Hey. Where’s Mel? She’s not coming with us to school?”

  “Nah. Aunt Hazel got into town last night. There’s a lead on Benjamin and she wants Melody to help her.” I put my seatbelt on over my teal puffy down jacket. “Dad dropped her off at the lodge before he went to the church this morning.”

  “Really?” He raised his eyebrow at me. “I thought your sister had her Lookout status revoked for the school year?”

  “As it turns out, Aunt Hazel is also very good at playing the annoying little sister role and between her and Melody, Dad didn’t stand a chance. When he was on the phone with Aunt Hazel, I could hear him saying, ‘but, yes, but...’ until he finally just agreed to let Melody go with her for the day.”

  Aunt Hazel was Gran
dma Rachel’s Lookout, like Melody was mine. Every Retroact, someone that can rewind time, needs a Lookout to aid them in their rewinds. They also protect the outside world from having knowledge of The Society: a group of women with magical abilities that has been around for centuries. The main problem with Benjamin, a supposed Retroact that butted in on my first solo rewind, is that he’s male. The Society had never heard of the existence of a male Retroact until him.

  “What’s our favorite rogue Retroact up to these days?” Avery asked, backing down the gravel driveway in front of my house.

  “Wreaking havoc in Sacramento and Los Osos from what I hear. He hijacked two rewinds from way better Retroacts than me. Allegedly, he’s in Bend lying low. That’s where Melody and Aunt Hazel are going to go look for him at least.”

  “Excellent. More alone time.” Avery grinned at me, a mischievous glint in his deep brown eyes, and put his hand on my inner thigh.

  I scooted towards the door. “Not while you’re driving! Keep your eyes on the road and your hands on the wheel. According to the Oregon driver’s manual--”

  “Stupid fricken’ driver’s manual,” he muttered under his breath.

  “Whatever. It’s my knowledge of the driver’s manual that’s going to get me a 98 out of 100 on the test.”

  “Why 98 out of 100?”

  “I can’t see the two questions I miss.” I stuck my tongue out at him. I was going to be done with Driver’s Ed in a couple of weeks and would be able to get my license in January. I couldn’t wait.

  I had been signed up to take Driver’s Ed last summer, but after my big psychic meltdown, my parents shipped Melody, my best friend Claire, and I off to live with Aunt Hazel in Portland for the summer.

  Of course, that turned out to be fortuitous because I got to meet Grandma Rachel. Mom’s mom was supposedly dead, but really she was alive and kicking some major butt as a Retroact in Los Angeles. She cleared up a ton of confusing questions I had about my abilities, especially the part about me not actually killing Avery’s dad, but I still had a lot to learn.