Double Trouble

by Tia Mowry

  “Yeah. Speaking of which, what vision did you get from Mom before?”

  I’d almost forgotten about the image that had hit me when I’d put my arm around Mom a few minutes earlier.

  “Actually,” I said. “It showed Mom holding hands with a—a guy.”

  “What guy?”

  I shrugged. “He looked sort of like our dad, actually,” I told her. “At least as much as I can remember about that wedding picture. He was a nice-looking white guy with light brown hair and a square chin.”

  “Huh,” Cassie said. “I thought these visions were supposed to show the future, not the past. Or are you branching out now?”

  “I don’t think it was the past. Mom looked pretty much like she does now, and the guy was around her age. It’s probably just someone who looks a little like our dad.”

  “Guess this means Mom is finally going to start dating again,” Cassie said. “And apparently she’s got a type.”

  “Yeah.” Something about the vision bothered me. Was it the idea of my mother going out on a date? She hadn’t really done that much, especially in the last few years. “Do you think it’s—you know, unhealthy? Her dating someone who looks so much like her dead husband, I mean.”

  “Probably not a big deal.” Cassie shrugged. “I mean, you only see good stuff, right?”

  “But the package . . .”

  “Think about it, girl,” Cassie said. “The package really did turn out to be good and bad, right? It’s good that it came, because now we know there’s someone out there who knows what’s happening to us.”

  “But it’s bad that Mom saw it and took it away.”

  “Yeah.” Cassie paused, shooting me a sidelong glance. “Anyway, good or not, it’s weird to think about Mom dating someone new. Did she look happy in the vision?”

  “Yes,” I said. “Yes, she did. She was smiling. Oh! And I forgot to say there was a Christmas tree in the background. I couldn’t really see much else, though.”

  “Christmas? Really? Okay, that’s ages away. Let’s not stress over it yet.” Cassie touched the necklace, a determined glint in her eye. “Right now, we have more urgent things to deal with—starting with how we’re going to get our stuff back.”

  4

  CASSIE

  FRIDAYS WERE ALWAYS rough. The weekend was right there, so close you could practically taste it, but our teachers expected us to sit through hours and hours of superboring classes before we could escape. Wretched!

  This particular Friday was more awful than usual. I couldn’t focus in my first two classes. All I could think about was that mysterious package—and the way Mom had gone nuts about it.

  The worst part? She was still refusing to tell us why. It was like our dad all over again. For years, she’d put off our questions by saying she’d tell us someday. But “someday” hadn’t come yet, and she was still keeping mum.

  Now here we were, with our first hint in forever about that side of the family. And once again, Mom was stonewalling us. Talk about unfair! I mean, she’d always been strict, running our household like some kind of military camp, at least in some ways. When she said jump, Cait and I were supposed to jump. No questions asked. Not even, “How high?”

  But that had never seemed like a big deal. Because I’d always trusted her before. Always been sure she had our best interests at heart, even if she sometimes had a funny way of showing it.

  Now? I wasn’t so sure. Was it possible she’d known all along that Cait and I would end up with these freaky visions? Was it possible she knew—and hadn’t even bothered to warn us? That she’d just sat back, letting us think we were going psycho, when all along she could have helped us understand?

  Those sorts of questions kept swirling around in my head all morning. Things weren’t any better by the time I headed to the library for study hall.

  Megan fell into step beside me. “Want to look at magazines, or do you have to finish the social studies homework?” she asked as we pushed through the library’s glass doors. “Abs and Ems are frantic because they both forgot that geography worksheet is due today.”

  “Huh?” I blinked at her.

  “Magazines,” Megan said again, “or homework. What’s it going to be?”

  “Um, magazines,” I said, trying to sound normal. “I’m caught up in social studies.”

  I’d done all my homework while waiting up for Mom to get home from work the night before. When she came in, she muttered a quick “It’s late; get to bed” in my direction before heading down the hall.

  This morning? No better. She’d puttered around in her bedroom “getting ready” until we’d left for school. I’d tried to talk Caitlyn into busting in there with me and confronting her, but as usual, my sister didn’t want to make waves. So instead we’d sat in the kitchen, just the two of us, eating our cereal and wondering what exactly to do about the situation.

  At least that was what I was wondering. Cait? Who knew?

  Soon Megan and I were ensconced at a little round table in the corner, the latest issues of Vogue, Seventeen, and various other fashion mags spread out in front of us. Well, the latest issues available in the sleepy little Aura Middle School library, anyway. Which meant most of them were about six months old.

  Normally that would have annoyed me. Today? I barely noticed. I sat there flipping past pictures of models and makeup and who knew what else, still focused on my problems.

  After a while, I became vaguely aware that Megan was talking to me. Mostly because she started poking me in the arm. Hard.

  “Ow.” I pushed her hand away. “What?”

  “Have you heard a single word I’ve said in the past ten minutes?” she demanded, looking peeved.

  I bit back a sarcastic response. “Sorry,” I said instead. “Guess I’m a little distracted today.”

  “Oh.” Her expression immediately switched from annoyed to worried. “Everything okay?”

  “Sure,” I responded automatically.

  “Really? You’ve been acting kind of—I don’t know. Just not yourself. I noticed earlier, too.”

  I was touched that she seemed so concerned. Not sure what to say, I toyed with the key-shaped necklace, which I hadn’t taken off since it had arrived.

  Megan’s gaze followed my hand. “Ooh, cool pendant!” she said. “Where’d you get it?”

  I hesitated, wanting to tell her the truth. Maybe not the whole truth—I had no interest in spending my twelfth birthday in the loony bin. But that didn’t mean I couldn’t tell her the non-loony parts, right?

  “Actually, it’s a long story.” I glanced around to make sure nobody was close enough to hear us. “But you have to swear not to tell anyone, okay? Like, not even Lav or the others.”

  “Cross my heart,” she said, tracing a manicured finger in a big X across the front of her cute pastel-striped shirt.

  I took a deep breath. “It’s about my—my dad.”

  “Your dad?” Megan looked confused.

  “He died when I was a baby,” I said. “I don’t remember him at all.”

  She leaned forward, looking stricken. “Oh, Cass! I had no idea. I’m sorry.”

  “Thanks.” I shrugged. “The thing is, my mom is really weird about him. She won’t tell us anything, and Cait and I have always wanted to know more.”

  “Of course you do!” She nodded emphatically. “You must be dying of curiosity. Why won’t she talk about him?”

  “I don’t know. And I can’t really even ask.” I grimaced, picking at a peeling bit of paint on the edge of the table. “If you knew my mom, you’d know she gets mad if you ask too many questions. And trust me, you don’t want to get her mad if you can help it.”

  “Oh.” Megan looked thoughtful for a second. “Do you have any other relatives you could ask?”

  “Not really.” I shrugged. “I mean, I’ve got plenty of family on my mom’s side. But they won’t cross her. Plus I’m not sure how much any of them even know, since Mom got married when she was stationed overseas
.” I took a deep breath. “But actually, the reason I’m thinking about all this now is because our grandmother—my dad’s mom—sent Cait and me a package with this necklace and a letter, too. It came yesterday. Until then, we didn’t even know she existed.”

  “Really?” Megan exclaimed. “What’d the letter say?”

  “Good question.” I slumped in my seat. “Mom grabbed it before we could read more than, like, the first few lines.”

  “Whoa.” Megan fell silent for a moment. “I don’t know what to say. I mean, it’s hard for me to imagine not knowing everything about my family.” Her mouth twisted into a half smile. “Sometimes it feels like it’s basically Aura’s town history!”

  I chuckled. “Yeah, I can see how that could be a problem, too.”

  She smiled. “So I don’t know how much help I can be. But still, I’m here for you, Cassie, if you need to talk or whatever.”

  “Thanks.” Megan was being so cool that I was half tempted to share the rest of my family secret.

  But only half. She might be understanding, but it was asking a lot to expect her to believe I could predict the future. I hardly believed it myself.

  So instead, I grabbed her hand and squeezed it. But as soon as I touched her, my vision went all fuzzy, and Megan’s sympathetic face faded into the background.

  Overlaid on top of it was a much brighter, more vivid Megan. But this Megan wasn’t sitting in the library. She was pushing open a big wooden gate into a grassy yard dotted with trees, carrying a small bag with the logo of the Adams General Store stamped on it. An adorable little brown-and-white dog leaped up to greet her, almost knocking her over. Vision-Megan laughed, grabbing the dog and cuddling him before setting him down and hurrying off across the yard.

  I gulped, wanting to break the connection. But for some reason, I couldn’t move. It was as if I was locked into the vision, which was so bright it was practically blinding me.

  Luckily the minions rushed over right then. One grabbed Megan’s shoulder and kind of shook her. That jostled her hand out of mine, and I fell back, the vision blinking away.

  “Oh my gosh, you guys,” Emily exclaimed, looking frantic. “We are so dead!”

  “Settle down, ladies,” Megan said, rolling her eyes at the minions. “What’s wrong?”

  They started babbling about something, but I wasn’t listening. I just sat there, taking deep breaths and feeling grateful that the other girls had interrupted at just the right moment. Lucky, I thought, touching my necklace again. Then again, I might not have needed luck if Mom hadn’t snatched away the only thing that might help me make sense of all this.

  I DIDN’T SEE Caitlyn until right before lunch. She looked startled when I grabbed her arm and yanked her out of the hallway and into an empty classroom.

  “What are you doing?” she complained. “I want to get to the caf before they run out of dessert.”

  “I had a vision,” I hissed, not really in the mood for small talk.

  Her eyes widened. “You did? Who—when—what?”

  “Megan.” I quickly filled her in on the gist of what I’d seen.

  By the time I finished, she was nodding. “Hey, that’s great!” she exclaimed. “Don’t you see what this means? I was right!”

  I glared, not in the mood for cryptic optimism. “Right about what?”

  “About how maybe it was just a coincidence that most of the stuff I was seeing was good and most of your stuff was—”

  “Not good,” I finished. Then I blinked. “Hey. You know, you have a point.”

  “I know, right?” She grinned. “I mean, what could be bad about Megan playing with an adorable puppy, right?”

  “Yeah.” For some reason, that made me feel a little better about having had another vision. “I just wish we still had that letter,” I said with a frown. “Because it sounded like our grandmother wanted to help us deal with this crazy Sight thing.”

  “I know, right?” Cait said. “It’s one thing to randomly start having visions of the future. It’s another thing to find out it runs in your family!”

  I nodded. “Too bad we don’t even know our grandmother’s name. We have to get that letter back!”

  “We can try.” Caitlyn looked dubious. “Anyway, let’s talk about it later. I’m starving.”

  “Okay.” I followed her out of the room. She immediately spotted the dork patrol heading for the caf and rushed off to catch up to them.

  I glanced around for my own friends. My gaze caught on Gabe Campbell leaning against the wall nearby. He was staring at me with narrowed eyes.

  Uh-oh. Was he just hating on me in general, as usual? Or was there a chance he’d heard what Caitlyn and I were saying? He was awfully close to that classroom door . . .

  I shook off the thought as I saw Megan and Lavender coming toward me. Good old Greasy Gabe didn’t need a reason to look suspicious, right? And I had enough to worry about right now without adding him to the mix. I was just being paranoid.

  “Guys!” I called to my friends, turning away from Gabe. “Over here!”

  5

  CAITLYN

  “SO DID YOU decide what we’re doing for your birthday?” Liam asked as we left the lunch line and wandered toward our table, where Bianca was saving us seats.

  I shook my head. “Cassie and I haven’t had much time to discuss it yet.”

  “Did you tell her about my monster-movie idea?” he asked eagerly.

  Before I could answer, Gabe Campbell stomped past us. “Out of the way, freaks,” he said, purposely bumping Liam hard with one shoulder. He paused just long enough to glare at me. “Especially you, superfreak!”

  “Ow,” Liam muttered, rubbing his arm as Gabe took off. “What was that all about?”

  “Who knows?” I stared after Gabe. He was always calling me names—Cassie, too—but “superfreak” was a new one.

  Bianca glanced up from her book as Liam and I sat down. “Hey, Caitlyn,” she said. “Ms. Xavier was just here looking for you.”

  “She was?” I glanced around. “Why?”

  “Don’t know,” Bianca replied. “But here she comes again.”

  Sure enough, the teacher was barreling toward us with a big smile on her face and her patchwork peasant skirt swishing around her legs. “Caitlyn!” she exclaimed breathlessly. “You rushed out of class so fast that I didn’t get a chance to touch base with you. Have you given any thought to my idea?”

  “Your idea?” I’d nearly forgotten our conversation the day before. “You mean about the project?”

  “Yes, of course.” She leaned on the table, almost putting her hand down on Bianca’s sandwich. “I mentioned it to your twin, too, but she said she’d have to speak to you about it. So what do you say? Are you two in?”

  Out of the corner of my eye, I could see my friends trading perplexed looks. “I’ve been so busy I haven’t had a chance to think about it yet. Can I get back to you?”

  “Of course. No pressure!” She laughed loudly, then patted me on the arm. “I just really think it could be . . . enlightening. Hmm? But yes, let me know what you decide after you’ve discussed it with Cassie.”

  “Okay.”

  “What was that all about?” Bianca asked once the teacher had gone.

  I sighed. “Nothing. Just some idea she had about Cassie and me working together on the social studies project.” I filled them in on what Ms. Xavier had said. “What’s the deal with her, anyway?” I added. “She seems almost obsessed with the whole twin thing.”

  “She’s interested in all kinds of weird stuff.” Liam shot me an apologetic look. “Not that being twins is weird.”

  “It’s okay; I know what you mean.” I smiled at him. “So what else is she into?”

  He shrugged. “Lots of things. Like last year she decided everyone would learn more if she hung crystals all over the room. Oh, and she was into aromatherapy for a while. She made the whole school smell like lavender for months.”

  “The principal stopped her from
teaching a unit on voodoo, though,” Bianca put in. “That was too much for Aura.”

  “She’s not from here,” Liam added. “She married into Aura. Her husband’s family has been here forever, but she lived in New Orleans before.”

  I was already losing interest in Ms. Xavier. Whatever her obsession with twins, it was a little odd, but no biggie. Kind of cute, actually.

  “I’ll have to let her down easy on the twin project idea,” I said.

  Liam took a sip of his water. “So you’re not going to do it?”

  “No way. It’s been hard enough to get Cassie to work with me on our birthday party—doing a social studies project with her would be a disaster!” I laughed. “Anyway, speaking of the party, Cass and I are supposed to figure out a plan tomorrow.” Suddenly I had a great idea. “Hey, why don’t you both come over? You can help us brainstorm.”

  “Sure, that sounds fun,” Liam agreed immediately.

  “Cool! Bianca? What about you?” Neither of my friends had been to my house yet, and I was looking forward to hanging out with them more outside of school.

  “Can I let you know in the morning?” Bianca said slowly. “I’m not sure if I can make it or not.”

  “Sure, no problem.” I smiled at her, waiting for an explanation. But Bianca was staring down at her food, her brow furrowed. She looked sad again—like she had yesterday. I couldn’t help feeling a flash of worry. What was going on with her?

  “Liam! Dude!” A large boy with spiky brown hair rushed toward us. Right behind him was a smaller kid with lots of freckles and a crooked smile.

  Liam grinned at them. “Josh, Goober,” he said. “What’s up?”

  The three boys started jabbering about some science fiction movie they’d seen on TV, and Bianca added a few sarcastic comments, that brief sadness no longer evident on her face.

  Like Mom says, don’t borrow trouble, I told myself.

  “LIGHTS OUT, GIRLS.” Mom stuck her head into our room just long enough to flick the switch off.

  “Good night,” I said, but she was already gone.