3

by Shera Eitel-Casey

  We walked into Sheila's through the back door and she and her daughter were waiting there with their arms crossed. “I had a feeling you were up to something.” Sheila said looking directly at me.

  “Well, we need answers and I have a feeling you have them and we need to know everything you know about Jett’s condition.”

  “I already told you, your friend was poisoned, I wasn't lying about that.”

  “Yes, but how? By who? And what kind of poison was it? I think the relatives you are watching may have something to do with it.” I said making air quotes.

  Her daughter dropped her arms and looked at her mother with concern. Jett must have gotten his feathers ruffled because he asked “What the hell is going on here? Is Rae getting her fortune told or what?”

  Everyone replied “No.”

  “Who's been poisoned?” Jett asked.

  “You!” Everyone said in unison, like he should have been clued in to our plan by now.

  I looked at Sheila and with my most sympathetic look I told her “We need to know the whole story and who's behind Jett's poisoning so we can help him.”

  It worked, because Shelia told us that after her great grandmother passed away, her and her uncle took over tracking the people on their list. The people that were on the list were the offspring of people that had been experimented on by Rewtnic, the ones that weren't destroyed. 'Things' had begun to stir with her uncle in Arizona while tracking them. She said it wasn't hard to track most of them, however, they believed if two of the people on the original list had procreated, they found that their children were very athletic and a couple of them actually showed to be gifted and exceptional in sports, almost defying the odds and limitations that a normal person should. One of them was even in the Olympics.

  She stopped, closed her eyes tight… “Addie! Knock it off! Stop pulling that on me!” Sheila exclaimed.

  “What? I'm not doing anything.” I said holding my hands in the air.

  “Honey, don't play dumb with me. You know you have compelling powers.”

  “Compelling what?” I looked at Nic and the others; I felt all the blood rush out of my face. I’m a bigger freak than they already know. Maybe Jett isn't the only one with something wrong with him. “What are you talking about?” My friends looked as dumbfounded as I felt.

  Her daughter Cat translated. “You have powers of persuasion, you compel people to talk to you and they tell you things.” She looked at her mom, “I don't think she knows she's doing it.” She asked me “Have you ever noticed that everyone talks to you and they tell you things they wouldn't normally?”

  “This is crazy, but you're right my dad never talks to any of my friends but he talked to Addie.” Jett pitched in.

  I shook my head, and Declan crooned “Oh yeah, she had Mr. McGaven talking forever.” Jett chuckled. “And he doesn't talk to anyone.”

  Nic interjected “Everyone always seems to have no problems talking to you and confessing things, like all the time.” She froze and sat upright, looked like she wanted to leave urgently.

  “What? You guys are crazy, I'm just a likable person!” I said. I pushed the ends of my hair up pretending to fluff it up like I was adorable, trying not to show any frustration on my part. “We're here for Jett, can't we talk about Jett?” He gave me a look, it seemed he was happy when the focus was one me.

  “You’re right we’re here for Jett and I don’t need this to get any weirder.” Declan said, then took a deep breath and turned his attention to Sheila and Cat “Who are you tracking and could they be the ones who poisoned Jett?”

  “We are tracking, not that this is any of your business, Dr. Cassandra Westman. Her grandfather, Dr. Thomas Westman who has passed on, worked at the Dunning Hospital in Chicago and had taken care of Sal Rewtnic the 3rd, the doctor’s son, and Neil Royce the doctor’s nephew. They are the only two living relatives of Dr. Sal Rewtnic the 2nd. Cassandra's grandfather removed them from the mental institution a few years after Dr. Rewtnic was killed, quit his job, moved them to Michigan and home schooled them. Rumors were that the boys were crazy, or monsters, because no one ever saw them leave the house. We will to talk to them if we can track them down.”

  It was our job to track them but we're a little behind as my great grandmother lost touch when she became senile and let things go a bit and our family hadn't realized how important this was until we found out Sal changed his name and we’ve been unable to track him. Recently we found out he goes by the name Stew C. Neila, we think it's an anagram of his real name. Same with Neil Royce he now goes by the name Ben O’Riley. There is another note we don’t understand yet, there is a key a celestial healer that has purified blood and we are thinking they can possibly heal your friend.” She said gesturing her hand toward Jett.

  She took a deep breath, “That's all I know. Except... Addie you need to look out for someone in your future that will leave a huge wake of betrayal in his path. He has an uncommon name that begins with the letter ‘B’ maybe ‘C’ it’s a letter at the beginning of the alphabet.” There was a long pause no one spoke. “That message has been screaming at me since you walked in the door. Good night.” Sheila said.

  We walked out of the building and everyone's eyes were on me.... So I wiggled my hands at Nic and said “Tell me everything you know,” and started laughing and they all joined in.

  As we were walking back toward my house Nic dropped back and so did I she looked at me like she was trying to tell me something with her eyes. I asked “what?”

  “The tree, we have to check out the tree!”

  “What tree?” I stopped and remembered Harriet’s treasure story, everyone else eventually stopped too and looked at us. I started walking and stated “I think Sheila told us everything she knew, but I also think she and her uncle are panicked because those guys they are tracking changed their names must up to something, they’re just starting to piece it all together but until then I’m not sure the info she gave us helped or will eventually help Jett…. Maybe the healer part but how do we find that person. ” I gave Nic a diabolical smile and shook my head, giving her the okay to plan another one of her perilous adventures.

  We got to my house and Jett seemed to be in denial that he has something more wrong with him, more than he knows. So when he disappeared for a bathroom break, Declan, Rae, Nic and I decided that we needed to take pictures of Jett in his state for proof. Rae was taking photography classes and had a super-fast camera that we could use to catch him on film. So we just had to make a plan to catch him in the act. When Jett walked into the room, it was awkwardly quiet. So I asked “Who's hungry? And he didn't suspect a thing.

  When we got to the kitchen Rae asked “What should we do tonight?”

  Jett replied “I thought we were going out to dinner right after Rae's reading.”

  “Dude,” Declan said “We were obviously lying.”

  Nic interrupted, “We could have a bonfire back by my company barn.”

  “I think that's an awesome idea. Her parents won't bother us out there so we could have some privacy.” I arched an eyebrow at Rae and Declan to see if they were in agreement and get there approval.

  “Can we cook out too?” Declan asked. Jett gave me a squeeze. Declan and Rae said they would bring drinks and they were going home real quick but they'd meet us back at Nic's at 7 or so. Nic said she'd bring chips and dip and asked Declan for a ride home. I volunteered to bring hot dogs and marshmallows as they were all walking out the door. I fixed Jett and me salami sandwiches and we headed back downstairs. Jett complained that the salami smelled and tasted really strong but I thought it was fine.

  We ate on the floor by our huge old oak dining room table, my mom couldn’t bear to throw it out so she had it converted into a coffee table by cutting down the legs. I took a sip of soda and Jett pulled me on top of him. He stared at me a bit and said “What else can you do, besides have dreams that come true and compel people?

  “Well, we aren't sure I can compel people, bu
t I can hold my breath a really long time.... Plus, you and Declan told me I have quick hands and I run fast....”

  “You are fast... Make me tell you something.”

  I smiled, “Oh right, like that's going to work.”

  “You won't know 'til you try.”

  “How will I know you're telling me the truth?”

  “Hmmm, well let's think of something I wouldn't want to tell you...but we could verify if it’s true.” I interrupted him. “I know, you refuse to tell me your middle name! I can ask you that....”

  “Ugh, fine we'll know if it really works then because I've never told anyone my middle name and neither have my brothers.”

  He was lying on his back, legs up and I was sitting on him. I gave him a quick peck on the lips. I looked him in the eyes and said “Now what?”

  “Well, ask me my middle name, but try and concentrate on me telling you the truth.”

  “Okay, okay.” I settled my eyes on his, leaned forward and put my hands on his pecks to balance myself and said “What is ...” I smiled because all I could feel was his muscular chest under my hands...”your middle name?” and I laughed.

  He rolled me over and told me I was supposed to be serious. I just laughed some more. “You really think I can get you to tell me stuff? Even if I can, I'm not sure I want to.”

  He planted a kiss on me and kept kissing me 'til my giggles were gone. I looked at him, I felt myself get real serious and focused and asked “What's your middle name?”

  He replied “Agnew.” He sat up, shocked he just said it. He looked at me mouth open and I asked “Do you love me?” and he said “Absolutely.” He bent down and kissed me, I whispered back “I love you too.”

  And then it hit me, “Your middle name is Agnew!” I started laughing so hard my eyes began to tear. He covered my mouth, “You aren't supposed to laugh, that's just mean.” I stopped and asked him how he got that name. Jett told me it was the name of the first Vice President for Nixon or something, his mom picked it out.

  I told him “Hey, at least it's your middle name.” I thought for a minute “Your initials spell JAM, I can always call you that.”

  “If you tell anyone, Addie Gellar, there will be hell to pay.”

  “I'm just teasing you, I won't, I promise.....So you're not mad about my second question?”

  He shrugged his shoulders “No I'm not, because I do love you.”

  CHAPTER 25

  I got to Nic's with the hot dogs, buns and a couple other things. Declan and Rae were already there. We got the fire started before we decided how to get Jett mad when he showed up with Storm.

  From across the fire Declan and I were eyeballing each other thinking of something to get him worked up when a couple of other guys showed up with a twelve pack and before you knew a few more people showed and then some more.

  By the end of two hours there had to be at least fifty people there. When Nic and I went back to the house to grab a sweatshirt, she met with a few other newcomers and showed them the way back. I went ahead to the house and grabbed the sweatshirts for us. On my way back out to the fire I ran into one of our wrestlers, Kevin, on Nic's driveway. So we started chatting and walking back to the company barn. When we were in the shadows and out of the direct light from the house he grabbed my arm and pulled me off to the side and kissed me. “Baby I can rock your world.” he said in my ear and planted another one on me. He had a tight hold on both my arms, and when I squirmed to get out of his hold, his grip tightened.

  “I... don't.... thi..nk... soooo. Damn it Kevin, Jett is here you know.”

  “What he doesn't know won't hurt him – I can give you what he can’t.”

  “Let go of me right now or I'll scream!” I said with my teeth gritted he was backing me up and not toward the tree line, nor toward the house.

  “All I need is an hour of your time baby. You know you want it.”

  “Please stop!” I pleaded.

  My head was spinning and my arms and wrists both stung as I was twisting them trying to get out of his grip and he was re-gripping them when I got loose. It was harder to walk as the grass came up to our knees, I almost tripped twice. We had veered off the path Nic mowed to her company barn, when you own 150 acres of land you just don't cut it all.

  “Kevin, let go!” I demanded. I can't believe he thinks he's going to take advantage of me when Jett is a little more than a hundred yards off. Or better yet, that he thinks I would want to. Maybe he's all hopped up on some kind of drugs.

  “Owe” He had backed me up to the big tractor Nic cuts the grass with, the ones that the tires are as tall as I am. I got my wrist free and I said very sternly “If you don't back off now I’m going to yell for Jett and his friends and then we'll see where we end up. How would you like that?” I shoved him with my forearms, he let go.

  Out of nowhere Storm appeared “Yeah Addie, I think you should yell for Jett and see what he'd think of all this.”

  I let out a deep sigh of relief and walked over by Storm and mumbled “Thank God you showed up.” Kevin quickly started apologizing profusely, begging me not to tell Jett.

  “You need to apologize to Addie and mean it.” Storm said his voice deeper than I remembered. He did, he apologized then pleaded for us not to tell Jett over and over again. I started to feel sorry for him, not sure why, look what he did to me when no one was around.

  Storm pointed to the tree line, “We aren't going to tell him you are.” Storm had such a serious look on his face you knew he wasn't kidding. Kevin started walking toward the party and we followed shortly after. I picked up both our sweatshirts on the way back to the path...”Storm” I said very quietly and then stalled....

  Storm waited then said “Yeah.”

  ”Thank you but I ah, don't know if I want Jett to know.”

  He looked at me, put his hands in his pockets and gave me a confused look “Why?”

  “Well, I think I attract trouble or ‘cause it all by myself.”

  He processed what I said and replied “So what did you say to Kevin to make him all over you, even though you were telling him to stop?”

  “How much did you hear?”

  “A lot, I wanted to make sure you needed help before I jumped in.”

  “Well thanks a lot for waiting 'til the last minute.”

  “So what did you do?”

  “To who?” I snapped.

  “Who do you think?” Storm replied sarcastically, and put his hands in the air while he said it. His down swing hit my wrists.

  “Owwwww” I said more exaggerated than needed, it hurt but not that bad.

  Storm grabbed my right hand I just shifted my weight to one leg huffed a little and looked toward the sky while he examined my wrists.

  “Baby!” he retorted and tossed my hand back down by my side and started walking away.

  I just laughed and he joined in. I pushed Nic's sweatshirt into his chest. “Hold this” I said and I put mine on....my favorite zip up, not in good shape but it was nice and worn.

  I started to explain to Storm “I was on my way back out to the company barn when I ran into Kevin. And then he just grabbed me and pushed me off the path and planted one on me. So I didn't start it, but I was nice to him because I was in a good mood.” I said the last part kind of full of pep trying to lighten the subject.

  “Kevin's just an ass and I'm sure you didn't provoke him...I think he’s high or something.”

  “Sooooo, are we telling Jett?”

  “I told Kevin he had to and if he's high he might just do it.”

  We had the company barn and Jett in view; Jett started walking toward us, Kevin veered off to the right and neither Storm nor I said anything at all about our post problem.

  “What took you so long?” Jett asked me but gave Storm the dirty look. Storm gave me the cool guy nod and walked over to the bonfire.

  Jett looked me up and down. “I remember that sweatshirt. Are you wearing the same thing underneath as before?” He said with his soft s
exy voice and bent down to kiss my neck.

  “I'm sorry, I’m hospital ready today.”

  “What?” he said with laughter.

  “Hasn't your mother ever told you every time you leave the house you should have clean underwear on in case you end up in the hospital or something like that?”

  He laughed again “Something like that.”

  “Well I have on clean undies and a clean… well you know what I mean, hospital ready.”

  “Too bad,” he said. He put his arm around me and we headed over to the bonfire and stood next to Storm, Storm handed Jett a beer. Storm grilled “So Addie, what kind of trouble have you been getting into lately,” and gave me ‘a look.’ I froze, stopped smiling and made my eyes into slits and returned a callous look back at him....Jett squeezed his arm that was around my neck, laughed and said “No kidding this girl sure does attract trouble, what did you do this time?”

  “See Storm! I told you I’m a beacon for trouble so just shut up....” my teeth were gritted. I was steaming mad, I thought steam may have actually come out of my ears I was so pissed. I know he said it just to spite me too, but then again we were here to get Jett upset.

  “Jeez, Addie I was just joking.”

  “Ugh. You know this is way too much drama for me, I'm going to look for Nic.” I ripped the sweatshirt out of Storm's hands and gave him the stink eye and walked off saying “You tell him......oh, and don't forget to tell him the poor guy is all drugged up...”

  I scrambled into the company barn where Declan and Rae were making out....”Ewww guys get a room....” I waited, when they came up for air I started again “I think Jett's about to get mad.” That got their attention, they let go of each other and Rae grabbed her camera off the counter.

  Declan asked me “What did you do Addie?”

  I said “Nothing!” and crossed my arms “It wasn't me I just happened to be a person of, of circumstance!” I stuttered.