I frowned. “Where are you coming from?”
“Out and about.”
“Out and about?”
“Yeah.”
“Kay, it’s time to eat.” Mimi came around the corner, stopping when she saw both of us. “Oh, Nia. I didn’t realize you were here.”
Nia huffed. “Do I have to announce everywhere I go?”
Mimi looked taken aback. “No. Well...we are in hiding dear. Is everything OK?” I narrowed my eyes. “Where were you coming from, A’Nia?”
“I went to see the Senior Council.”
“You what?!” Kris thundered. I yelped. Where the heck had he come from?
Nia stood her ground. “That’s right. I went to go see my old mentor and he asked a few of his mentors to meet with me. I wanted to see what they knew.”
I let out a shaky breath. “Nia, did you tell them where we were located?”
“Of course not.”
“You could have compromised our entire operation,” Kris snarled, advancing closer to Nia. I jumped in front of her and held up my hands.
“Kris, please.” I turned back to my sister, who was glaring at all of us. “Nia, why didn’t you tell us what you were up to?”
“Because she knew that we would have stopped her,” Mimi said. Even she sounded angry. Rena, Jala, Sterrey, and Nahime came out to see what all the commotion was about. I didn’t realize everyone had come back to camp.
I took a deep breath to try and calm myself. “Nia, explain.”
“I don’t have to explain to any of you,” she said, her arms still folded tightly across her chest. “But if you must know, I feel very strongly that the Council could be our allies. And I trust my gut. So I went to see if I could suss out some information.”
“And did you find any?” Rena asked.
“Not really,” Nia said, shaking her head. “I still don’t think that it was a mistake, though. At the very least, it shows we’re still around and playing nice. Even if that’s not the case.”
“Sis, you could have been detained,” I said gently. “You’re lucky they let you walk away.”
“I don’t believe that.”
“They’ve probably bugged you,” Kris growled. He turned to Nahime, who nodded before Kris could say anything and walked back into the house. “Nahime will have to sweep you for bugs. And we might have to change locations again.”
I turned to Kris. Since when had he become in charge? “Look, she made a mistake.”
Kris and Nia both spoke at the same time.
“It wasn’t a mistake,” she said.
“She is not remorseful,” said Kris.
I held up my hands. “Nia is entitled to follow through on her hunches, just like any of us. You guys aren’t the only super spies, you know. It’s our lives at stake, and we have the right to do what we think is best for us.”
Nia grunted, but I ignored her. I was furious with her, but she was my sister.
Family came first. “Let’s all get some rest and we can deal with this in the morning,” I suggested.
Kris looked like he was about to explode, but instead he stormed off into the woods, disappearing into the night. I resisted the urge to run after him and was annoyed to find that Rena looked like she felt the same way. One by one, everyone slowly walked back into the cabin.
I stopped Nia. “You can’t be rogue, Nia.”
“I’m not trying to be.”
“That’s exactly what you’re trying to be, and it won’t work. We’re a team. We have to trust each other.”
Nia shrugged and marched back into the house as well. I sighed and plopped down on the ground. I had a feeling my sister was going to need to be wrangled in. And I was going to have to be the one to do it.
Chapter 26
I plopped down in the diner chair and fell face-forward onto the table, allowing my head to hit with a dull thud. My bookbag slid off my shoulder onto the floor.
Abby eyed me. “Are you going to make it, Kathleena?”
“Kay.”
“What?”
“My friends call me ‘Kay.’”
She sighed. “Okay...are you going to make it, Kay?”
I sat up and looked around the table. Jacob was sitting next to Abby, one arm casually slung across the back of her chair. To my right was Nathan, drawing circles of various sizes on the inside cover of his English textbook.
I slumped back in my chair. They were all waiting for me to quit my whining. The spoon was a small teaspoon from my grandmother’s kitchen. I figured she had so many that she wouldn’t miss the one I’d stolen.
The weight of the spoon balanced on my index fingertip as I bent down to squint at it. All of my friends were bent over the table as well. I’m sure we looked like lunatics all staring at a spoon, but who was I to point that out? Besides, I was supposed to be proving that the human mind was capable of change so strong, it could affect physical things. The irony that I was, in fact, an Awakener on another planet did not escape me.
I nodded at Abby, who was holding her phone open to keep track of the time. “OK,” I said, “Professor Gallagher said that if we concentrate hard enough, it is theoretically possible to make changes to the physical world around us. So what we’re going to do is try three times, in five-minute intervals, to attempt to bend the spoon.”
“And by us, you mean you,” Jacob quipped.
I rolled my eyes. “Abby, are you ready?”
“Let’s just get this over with,” she said. “I have cheer practice in an hour.”
Nathan popped his gum. “Yeah, princess. We know. We all have lives to get back to.” He leaned back in his chair, tilting back on one chair leg. “I’ve always said that this project was a waste of time.”
“Shh!” I closed my eyelids, took a deep breath, and reopened my eyes to focus on the spoon. My meditation training on Turgor allowed me to slip into a deeper consciousness almost instantly. The noises around us faded into the background. My focus was solely on the spoon.
I stared at it. Seconds ticked by, followed by minutes. Nothing was happening. Finally, Abby shifted in her seat and tapped her phone. “Time’s up.”
I sat back and rolled my neck, easing the tension that had built up from leaning forward. “I’m ready when you are.”
Nathan noted the time and result (“This is stupid; nothing happened.”) before I started to focus again.
And for the second trial, again there was no bending of the spoon.
“Do not try and bend the spoon,” said Jacob. “That’s impossible. Instead only try to realize the truth.”
I broke my concentration and grinned at Jacob’s quote from The Matrix.
“What truth?” I asked, playing along.
He grinned back. “There is no spoon.” We all burst into laughter. The table of students next to us glared until we settled down before returning to their own studying.
“OK, last time,” I said. “Ready?”
Abby started the timer on her phone. I leaned over and stared at the spoon again.
My concentration was so intense, sweat began to bead on my forehead. I remembered what Kris had said and slowed my breathing, willing myself to remain calm. Focus on the spoon, I chanted to myself silently. Focus on the spoon. Focus on the stupid spoon.
Tingles began to run up my arms. Against my better judgement, I became slightly excited. What if Lucy Gallagher was onto something? Would it work?
I narrowed my eyes. Focus on the spoon.
A few more minutes passed, but the spoon remained an eating utensil.
Leaning back in my chair, I sighed again. Oh, well. It was probably for the best. I liked Earth and all things Earthian remaining like they had always been. I had enough surprises on Turgor.
Jacob stood up and stretched. “So what now?”
Abby stood too, slinging her designer purse over her shoulder. “Like I said, I have cheer practice.” She turned to Jacob. “Give me a lift?”
He slung his arm around her shoulder. “Y
eah, babe. Let’s go.”
Nathan and I watched them walk away in silence. He yawned and looked at his watch before looking over at me. “You want to hang?”
I blushed. “Like, hang? Like—”
He chucked, shaking his head. “Relax. I meant hang out. I’m not asking you to marry me.”
I gave my own nervous laugh. “Sure. What did you have in mind?”
“Let’s check out the rink.”
The old skating rink was right along the bus route home. Its sign, which boasted the legendary Nellie’s name, was rusted, with the ’s missing. Still, after thirty years, Nellie’s was still a booming hotspot for my peers, just like it had been for our parents. The only difference was that we probably did less skating and more talking than the older generations. Nathan and I walked in, immediately accosted by the musty smell of the rink and feet.
I wrinkled my nose, following Nathan to an empty table near the food counter. “You want something to drink?” he asked, gesturing to the line of people waiting for snacks.
I shook my head. “Want to skate instead?”
“Uh, Nathan doesn’t skate.”
“Well then, Nathan should know better than to bring his friends to the rink.
He grimaced at my smirk.
I held out my hand. “Come on. It’ll be fun.” I thought I heard him mutter, “For you, maybe,” but I ignored him and led him to the skate rental counter. After lacing up, we gingerly made our way to the skating floor, careful to hold on to the sides. No teenager ever wanted to wipe out in front of other teenagers. And by the way Nathan was gripping the sides, I’d say he was in agreement.
I giggled and quickly spun around to face him. His face was as white as a ghost. I stuck my tongue out and made a move like I was going to tap his arm.
“Don’t do that!” he snapped, rocking back and forth on his skates.
I laughed in a mock-evil way and spun back around, emboldened by the fact that I hadn’t fallen yet. We slowly made our way around the rink, waving at a few classmates we recognized. A few hours later, I waved goodbye to Nathan before heading home. He waved back and we split our ways. I reflected on the afternoon. It was so fun having normal interactions with other teens. Once again, I felt a pang in my chest as I thought about my time on Turgor. Just as I was getting used to being magical and attending classes, the stupid prophecy had to get in the way.
I walked into our house, immediately making note of how quiet it was. Grandma must have been at Mrs. Matley’s house across the street. There was a note on the refrigerator letting me know meatloaf was available in the oven for dinner, but I wasn’t too hungry, so I headed up to my room. Upon hearing my footsteps, Nia popped her head out.
“Hey,” she said.
“Hi.”
“Where have you been?”
I rolled my eyes. Nia was always taking her big sister title too seriously. “I was out with friends. We went to Nellie’s.”
“Oh, cool.”
We both just stood in the hallway, nodding at each other like a couple of idiots. Things were so awkward since we had discovered Nia consulting with the Senior Council. I felt like I couldn’t trust her anymore, and I didn’t like that feeling.
Nia cleared her throat. “So...what are you going to do now?”
I shrugged. “I’m not hungry; figured I’d take a nap. Check on things back on Turgor.”
“Sounds like a plan.”
We stood in silence for a few more seconds before I moved on to my bedroom, closing the door behind me with a sigh. How long would we keep up this cold war? Despite all of my sister’s faults, we worked best as a team. Not as enemies. Besides, with our parents dead and Grandpa in a coma on Earth, family was very important to both of us.
I pushed my worries aside and kicked off my shoes before plopping face-first on my bed. The chirping of cicadas in the distance soothed me. I shifted onto my side and faced the window, watching the leaves on the nearby tree blow gently in the wind. The coolness of my sheets calmed me even further. There was something magical in its own right about being in your own bed at home. It would always be my safe place.
I turned over to my other side and glanced at the clock. Ten minutes had passed. Why wasn’t I asleep yet? Fighting the urge to panic (because panicking wouldn’t get me to sleep any faster), I reached over to my phone and hit my white noise app. The calming sounds of the ocean flooded my room. I took a cleansing breath and switched to lying on my back, counting the spackled spots on my bedroom’s ceiling.
Minutes passed by, but even with my mind relatively at ease, sleep wouldn’t come.
I blew out a frustrated breath. What was going on with me? My bookbag, abandoned since I came home from school the other day, was perched on the back of my computer chair beckoned me, so I rolled over to sit up and grab it. Might as well get some studying in for my upcoming math test. If anything could put me to sleep, it was homework.
As I was pulling out my computer, my grandmother’s little spoon fell onto my lap. Thoughts of hanging out with Nathan at the skating rink made me smile. I picked up the spoon and wiggled my nose at it, just like Samantha in Bewitched. I set the spoon down and pulled out my notebook, flipping to Lucy Gallagher’s section. Our notes from her interview were really well done. I read over them before picking up the spoon again.
“So I can influence things around me with my mind, huh?” I teased the spoon. “Well, if that’s the case, why aren’t you an ice cream cone?” I poked my tongue out at it and gave it a little shake. “Well, come on. Be ice cream.”
Two little blacked dots appeared on the spoon’s oval bowl, squinting before focusing on me. My mouth hung open, my heart thudding. Before I could make a noise, it winked at me.
The spoon had winked at me.
I dropped the spoon onto the bed and rushed out of the room to Nia’s. She was on her own computer, Skyping with friends.
“Nia! The spoon! It winked!”
She stared at me for a moment before giving an apologetic smile to her friends. “Hey, guys, let me call you back. My sister is being a spaz.”
Giggles came from her computer before she snapped it shut.
“What on Earth are you talking about?”
“Lucy Gallagher said that we can control things on this planet with our minds and my group decided to make an experiment out of her research to disprove it for Mrs. Temely’s class and I took one of Grandma’s spoons,” I shouted, taking a second to breathe. “It didn’t work in the library with my group, but just now I was talking to the spoon and it winked at me!”
Nia nodded her head slowly, looking slightly alarmed. “You were talking to one of Grandma’s spoons?”
“Yes!”
“And it winked at you?”
“Will you just come to my room and see, please?!”
She made a funny face that looked like she wanted to hit me upside the head and burst into laughter at the same time. I turned on my heel and slowly crept back to my room, poking my head in to see if the spoon had morphed into a giant utensil with a craving for human flesh.
“Uh, what are you doing?”
I yelped and spun around to come nose-to-nose with my sister. “Don’t do that!”
She sighed and pushed past me to walk into the room. The small spoon was lying on my bed, just where I’d left it. Nia picked it up and inspected it before turning back to me. “This spoon is just a spoon, Kay.”
“It winked at me, Nia. I saw it.”
“Then you’re imagining things.” She tossed the spoon back on to the bed. “Things don’t come to life here on Earth. That’s why being on Turgor is so special.”
I took a shaky breath, running my hands through my thick, curly hair. “Are you sure you don’t see anything?”
“Not a thing.”
A nervous laugh escaped me. “OK, well. Maybe I’m just so wrapped up in Awakening stuff on Turgor, I imagined it.”
“I one hundred percent support that theory.”
I blew out a
breath and cautiously grabbed the spoon from her. She was right; it looked exactly like the other spoons in our kitchen. Nothing out of the ordinary. I gave a small smile. “OK, well, sorry to bother you.”
She shrugged. “It’s fine. We all have our moments, right? Maybe you should take a nap. Or do yoga or something.”
“Heh. Yeah. Yoga.”
Nia patted me on the shoulder and started moving out of my room. “OK, well, I’m going to call the girls back. You need anything else?”
“What? Uh, no.” I stared at the spoon. The feeling of dread that had welled up in my stomach hadn’t simmered down yet. “No. Go ahead. I’m fine.”
“Riiight,” Nia sang, heading back to her room. “Glad to know you’re still a weirdo.”
I closed my door and sat down on the bed. My heart felt like it was going to beat right out of my chest. I thought about what Nia had said. She was right. I couldn’t Awaken things on this planet. Because Earth was not magical. Human beings were not magical on Earth. I stared at the spoon again. If that were true, why didn’t it sound right? Was Lucy Gallagher onto something after all? I hoped not. I couldn’t handle being magical on two planets. I’d never graduate high school and Grandma would kill me.
I put the spoon in my desk drawer and lay back down. This time, sleep came easily. And for that, I was grateful.
Chapter 27
The next day was Saturday and I was spending my day catching up on homework in between my chores. Later that night, I blockaded myself in my room immediately after dinner. Currently, the spoon was sitting son my desk upright, propped against a stack of textbooks.
“OK, spoon,” I whispered, leaning in so my sister and grandmother wouldn’t be able to hear me. “Here’s the deal. You reveal yourself, and I don’t put you in the garbage disposal.”
Two tiny, black dots appeared immediately on the bowl of the spoon.
“Yeah, that’s what I thought.” This time around, I wasn’t so panicked. Something was obviously going on with my powers, but it was a spoon, not Godzilla. I could handle this. I was an Akearman Star, right? The prophecy didn’t mention anything about me being killed by a killer spoon, did it?
Transference (The Two Worlds, #2) Page 14