Half way there—I felt it.
It washed over me like anesthesia, numbing the bad, and smoothing out the tangles of my mind. My heart slowed and my breathing normalized. My shoulders relaxed. And I would swear that the oxygen level in the air about doubled. I took a deep breath, and like a starving man to food, I followed the scent.
The battered mailbox said, Jones.
The only light inside was the intermittent flicker of a TV in the front room. The house was quiet. I crept up the lawn, under the maple, keeping low. Lying back on the lush grass, I stretched out with my hands behind my head. And for the first time in a long while, I relaxed completely.
The tree itself was strong. I sensed its power in the roots buried deep beneath me. But the steady flow of calm came from somewhere in back. At that moment, I didn’t care where it came from. I didn’t question it. I just wanted to bathe in the energy and forget about my life for a while. I lay there soaking it up for over an hour, no music needed. Then I fell into the most peaceful sleep I’d had since the accident.
“A.J., you okay?’ Lex asked, grabbing my pack and tossing it aside. She pulled me up off the floor and settled me on the sofa.
“I’m fine, boring trip, nothing happened,” I answered, shaking off the dizziness.
“Well, the return wasn’t boring, at least not for us,” said Ipod. “Guess what—”
“Ehhh! I said give her a minute.” Lex scowled at Ipod and handed me a glass of water.
Ipod sat ramrod straight, his face electric, as if he’d just hacked something monumental or hit level nine in Portal 2. He fiddled with his glasses and beamed at me expectantly. Something was up.
“What’s with him?” I asked Lex.
“Jeez, Louise…what are you, five?” she asked Ipod. “You can’t wait two minutes? Okay, tell her already.”
“A.J., we saw you,” he blurted. “We saw you do it this time. It was so freaking tight—off the hinges! You just, well, materialized—a total beam-me-up-Scotty. We were waiting, tracking down info on the new guy, and we heard this shooshing sound—”
“Like a whoosh,” Lex interrupted, waving her hands trying to reproduce it. “Soft—”
”Yeah, really soft,” said Ipod, “if we’d had the TV on, we’d have missed it.”
“And it just whooshed…”
“Yeah, and so we turned around…”
“We turned around, and the air was all shimmery and…and you just—”
“You just freaking appeared out of nowhere,” Ipod finished. Then he bounced on the sofa into a standing position. “My mind is officially blown.”
I didn’t know what to think. I’d never morphed in in front of them before. It’s as if something senses if someone’s there. If they were home, I usually returned outside by the trunk. “This is big,” I said.
“Yeah, right?” agreed Ipod. He looked at Lex, who nodded. Then he bit his lip and looked right at me. “Okay…wait for it. We got it on my phone.”
It took me a minute. “Shut. Up. Seriously?”
“Seriously,” Lex said, elbowing Ipod. “Hellooo…the phone?”
“Oh, right, right,” Ipod said, pulling it out of his pocket. “Luckily, I was holding it and…okay, there’s the corner you woke up in…empty…see? Okay…wait for it.”
He held it up and pressed play. The air in the corner seemed to shimmer. Then I just faded in slowly, curled up on the floor around my pack, looking like I was asleep. How surreal.
“I’ve been living this my entire life,” I said. “You’d think it wouldn’t be shocking. But it kinda is—you know—seeing it on video.”
“Exactly,” Lex said. “Ipod flipped out.”
“I did not. I was just—” Ipod began.
“You practically peed your pants,” Lex said, laughing.
“Yeah, right,” he said, dropping down on the sofa. “Just because some of us believe in science and are a little blown away when something defies it. I wonder why it never happened before, I mean in front of us. Something’s changed.”
“No duh,” I said, “I don’t mind you seeing. But the change is disconcerting.” Suddenly, I didn’t want to talk about it anymore. The danger of popping in and out in front of people was my biggest fear. I didn’t mind Lex and Ipod. But if I disappeared in front of the wrong people, life as I knew it would be over.
I had this scary, reoccurring worry of being locked up in a government laboratory and experimented on by freako scientists. It haunted me whenever anything out of the ordinary happened with my strangeness. It really creeped me out. I walked out to the porch, trying to shake it from my mind.
And the moment I stepped out the door, I felt calmer almost instantly. The scary thought just faded away. It was as though there was something new in the night air, as if I was touching the energy I’d picked up at school. Not the intense hit, just the smooth, warm feeling. It shimmered over me. I sighed.
“You okay, A.J.?” Lex asked, following me out to the porch.
“Strangely so,” I said. “A minute ago, I was kinda freaked…you know about what happened. But the minute I came outside, my freak faded.” Maybe it was temporary, but at that moment I just wanted to chill and look at the stars.
“Hungry?” she asked, putting her hand on my shoulder.
“Starved,” I said.
“Cereal?”
“Perfect.”
She went inside and rifled in the cupboard. She came back and handed me a bowl. “Oh shit, I forgot the spoon.” She stuck her head back in the door. “Ipod, bring the notes and a spoon.” She turned to me and grinned. “We have info on the new guy.”
“Did you talk to him?” I asked.
“I went back to class after you left, but I didn’t speak to him or anything. I wanted to wait until we got info first. But I got another look at him. He’s totally hot.” She raised her eyebrows at me suggestively.
“Oh, yeah?” I said, “Elaborate.”
She grinned at my use of her word. “Buffed, but not a no-neck muscle jock, black hair, strong features, and these arched eyebrows. All the girls in class were whispering. He didn’t even notice.”
Before I could really process that, Ipod turned on the porch light and walked out with his laptop. He handed me a spoon. “His name is Constantine Evan DeMille,” he said, enunciating each syllable. “He’s seventeen and a senior. His family moved here from Seattle when his dad got a job at the National Center for Atmospheric Research. He’s really interesting. I have lots of info on him, his resume…”
“Could care less about the dad,” said Lex, rolling her finger at Ipod.
“All right…give me a minute.” He scrolled down a few pages. “I was able to get his transcripts—”
“What did it cost you?” I asked.
“Two one-hour tutoring sessions before the physics test on Friday.”
“I appreciate it,” I said.
“No big,” he said, grinning. “You’ve saved my butt so many times. I’m just happy I can do something for you for a change.” He sat down on the arm of my deck chair. “He has high test scores and descent grades all through high school except for chemistry. He has a couple of AP classes and he scored an A in physics. I like that. Anyway, there wasn’t much in his file, but this was interesting. He was in a fight in ninth grade. I downloaded the report. It’s short. I’ll just read it. The names of the other boys are blacked out.
“Blacked out and Blacked out had been beating up on Blacked out and Blacked out, who were half their sizes, as part of an ongoing money shakedown. DeMille stepped in and took on both boys at the same time, after pulling the smaller boys out of the way. The fight was witnessed by twenty-four classmates, all who testified to DeMille’s version of events. He has no previous record of trouble.
“Apparently, this made him some kind of local hero,” Ipod continued. “There was a story about it in the school blog. There’d been massive complaints about the bullies, but admin could never catch them in the act. The bullies were expelled, a
nd Constantine got detention for a week—mandatory for fighting. Although it states very clearly that he was just protecting the younger students.”
“Brownie points for that,” I said. Whatever was up with this guy, he didn’t seem mean.
Ipod scrolled down his laptop. “Seattle driver’s license, one ticket—forty-six in a thirty-five. Six foot, one, 175 lbs. Tall. He was on the track team at school, apparently, the star.”
In spite of my loathing of P.E., I didn’t mind running. Running could be useful. I’d always thought it would be really exhilarating to just full out run like a wild stallion. “At least it’s not football,” I said.
“Really,” agreed Ipod, who didn’t like P.E. either. “Most of his online stuff is really generic and sparse…doesn’t seem like he’s into the ‘friend collecting’ thing. His online profile is heavily oriented towards snowboarding and music. He plays bass and maybe keyboards.”
“That’s cool,” Lex said.
“Anyway,” continued Ipod, “he has a sister, Claire—ten years old, not enrolled in school locally. There’s a brother, Devon, fifteen. The brother had a bad accident about six months ago, fell off a roof, smack onto a fence, and broke his back. He’s paralyzed—he’ll never walk again. There were a couple of articles about it in the school blog—one when it happened and one when he got out of the hospital almost six months later. He isn’t enrolled in school here, probably still recovering.”
“That’s sad,” I said.
“No doubt,” Lex said. “His home life has got to suck with something like that going on.”
We all knew about sucky home lives.
“What else, Ipod?” I asked.
“They owned their previous home since before he was born. His mother, Rebecca, taught at the Art Institute of Seattle up until his brother’s accident.” Ipod frowned. “I couldn’t find her listed in Boulder County. She must stay home and look after the brother. That’s all I could find.” He set his laptop on the floor and relaxed back into the hammock.
“He really seems to be just a kid,” Lex said, standing up and stretching. “I don’t doubt that something happened to you in Spanish, A.J., but there doesn’t seem to be anything out of the ordinary about this guy.”
“I agree,” said Ipod. “The more likely explanation for what happened is that it had to do with you, and his being there was just a coincidence.”
“Maybe,” I said, not really convinced.
“Still, we need to keep our eyes open and stay in control of this,” Lex said. She sat down on the arm of my chair. “Playing devil’s advocate, records can be faked. He still could be some kind of…”
“What?” asked Ipod.
“I don’t know,” Lex said, “shape shifting, alien, psycho-killer, cyborg from the future. I’m just saying we need to keep an eye on him until we’re sure.”
“I agree,” said Ipod, “but not for the reason’s you just listed, Lex. Wasn’t he just sitting there, doing nothing when you walked in? I can’t say for sure that the energy you felt didn’t have anything to do with him, A.J. But I feel pretty confident that even if he’s different in some way, he’s at least living his life as a high school kid. There’s way too much of a paper trail.”
“If you say so,” I said to them. But inside my own head, I was having a way different conversation. It did have something to do with him. I knew it did.
I don’t know how I knew—I just did.
The night-of-the-living-dead screeched in my ear, yanking me out of a deep sleep. My eyes flew open. My arms thrashed to protect my face, as I struggled to figure out what was attacking me and where the heck I was.
In the soft, blue light of early morning, an old man loomed over me like a blimp, belly hanging out from under a faded camo jacket. He reeked of cigarettes and had one hanging from the corner of his mouth. What was left of his gray hair stuck out in patches, and he was holding the leash of a stupid, little yap-dog that was having a spaz-attack two inches from my head. The neighborhood watch…great.
I scrambled up; afraid the alarm-clock-from-hell might rip my face off. The old dude glared suspiciously, phone in one hand, finger poised for 911.
I stretched, trying to look innocent. “Really hard run,” I said smiling. I glanced at my phone. 6:08. Damn. I did not intend for that to happen.
The old dude just stared.
I needed to handle him carefully. The last thing I wanted was a scene in front of her house. “I’m a…um…Jim. I live over on Spruce Street.” I pointed south. “Early morning run, took a break, guess I fell asleep,” I continued. “Probably should get back. My mom will have breakfast ready.” That wasn’t true, but I was going for normal.
The yap-dog yapped on, teeth bared, just waiting for the go signal.
“This is not a public park,” the old dude growled, frowning.
“Yeah, I know, sorry,” I said, shrugging my shoulders and backing away slowly. “I’m outta here. Gotta run, don’t want to be late for school.”
“Let’s go, Viper.” He pulled the dog to his side and stuck the phone in his pocket, obviously disappointed there’d been no reason to use it. When Viper wouldn’t shut up, he picked him up and walked across the street, turning periodically to glare at me.
As I walked away, I caught a quick look at her house. It looked sad in the early, morning light…badly in need of a paint job. A broken window was patched with duct tape, and an ancient Subaru rusted in the driveway. Strangely, the vegetation appeared incredibly healthy. It was amazingly lush for early spring. The grass was the greenest on the block, which was a weird juxtaposition with the beat up house and car. But I couldn’t hang around long enough to make sense of it. I certainly didn’t want to be seen.
I made it home with enough time to get in and out before anyone else entered the picture. I grabbed the hide-a-key and quietly opened the back door. I took my shoes off. No way did I want to wake anyone up. Mornings were scary around my house, and I avoided them whenever possible.
Luckily, the house was still in mausoleum mode. That’s where everyone but me is tranqed-out, and it’s so quiet you can hear yourself blink. The curtains are closed, the shades are drawn, and sometimes you forget if it’s day or night. Night and day, my house cycled between mausoleum mode and warzone. I tried to time my comings and goings during mausoleum mode. It was creepy. But warzone…don’t get me started.
I downed some OJ, in the dark, in front of the fridge. Then I snuck into my room and hit the shower. I nuked a breakfast burrito and made it safely out the door. On the way to school, I thumbed through my playlist for something mellow. I was stressed that I’d blown it before I could even meet the kid, much less present my case and ask for help.
I needed to relax. I settled on a classic by The Clash, but no dice. The little Shadow was my ticket back to normal.
But I wouldn’t relax until I’d sealed the deal.
I heard them arguing softly. “Ipod, let her sleep. We didn’t crash till almost two. You know it wipes her out to visit Oz.”
“I disagree,” he countered. “She needs to see if it happens again. At the very least, she should get another look at the guy—get a feel for him.”
“I’ll feel him out,” Lex said.
Ipod snorted.
Lex snickered softly. “Out, not up. You know what I mean. We don’t need to rush this. We’re keeping her away from him till we’re sure he’s safe.”
“He’s not going to suck her blood, or zap her brain right there in Spanish,” Ipod argued. “She should—”
“Guys, I’m awake,” I said, sleepily, rolling over in my bunk.
“Stay here today, A.J.,” Lex ordered. “Out, Ipod.” She pushed him towards the bunkroom door.
“I only—”
“Out!”
“All right, already,” he said, grabbing a stack of clothes. “I’m hitting the shower. I’ll meet you out front in fifteen, Lex. Later, A.J.”
“Sweetie, go back to sleep,” Lex said. “You have a free pass
from yesterday. I’ll leave a note for Sam to call and I’ll text you your assignments.”
“I don’t know,” I murmured, sitting up. “I have to face him eventually.”
“Yeah, but not today,” she said firmly, pushing me back down. “Sleep. I’ll check him out.”
It didn’t take much to convince me. The euphoric feeling I’d had last night was gone, and I was exhausted. I closed my eyes and was out in minutes. I didn’t even hear Lex leave for school.
When I woke up, it was almost noon. I headed for the big house. There’s a bridge rigged from the tree house porch to the deck off my old bedroom. It allows us easy access to a bathroom—the only necessity our home lacks. We left the slider unlocked, and Sam was used to us going in and out 24/7. I think it reassured him to hear us rumbling around. I walked thru the slider and listened. The TV was on softly. He was up.
I hopped into the shower, and as often happened there, my thoughts drifted to my mother. It was getting harder and harder to see her face as the years went by. Sam packed all the pictures away one night when he and the bottle were having a fight. I knew they were stuck somewhere, but I didn’t want to ask. The only one I had left was the Life Magazine photo. She looks like a kid and I was just a baby. It doesn’t seem like us at all.
I closed my hand around the antique key that I wore around my neck. The key was my touchstone to my mother. It opened the door to the tree house. She gave it to me shortly before she checked out, telling me she trusted me to keep it safe. She must have known then that she was going to leave me.
At that thought, the cold, dark emptiness began to build in my chest. I wrapped my arms around myself and took a deep breath to keep it from getting too big. I rubbed my key again. Then I shut off the shower and tackled the tangles in my hair. The emptiness dissipated somewhat and I stuffed what was left down deep. That worked okay, I guess. I had a lot of practice at dealing with it.
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