by Tia Mowry
“Who said anything about giving up?” I interrupted. “But I do think it’s time to give the spooky stuff a rest and do this the old-fashioned way. Wait here.”
I strode off without giving her a chance to argue. Gabe hadn’t gone far—he’d stopped to watch a bunch of middle-aged men who were singing the Aura High fight song at the tops of their lungs. They’d painted their faces and chests green and gold, and one of them even had a pumped-up armadillo painted across his stomach.
But I ignored all that, zeroing in on Gabe. “Hey, why’d you run off like that?” I said, trying to sound friendly. “I was hoping we could talk more.”
“Why?” he said, his tone halfway between belligerent and perplexed.
I giggled, hoping I sounded carefree rather than desperate and exasperated. We were seriously running out of time, and Mom’s whole career could be at stake. “Because,” I said, “you seem, you know, cooler than most of the guys at this school.”
“Hmph.” He still looked suspicious, but this time he didn’t pull his arm away when I touched it.
Just then the PA system blared to life, calling everyone into the stadium for the pep rally. I waited until the cheers died away and people started pouring toward the entrance.
“Cool, it’s starting,” I said to Gabe. “Want to sit together?”
He only hesitated for a second, then shrugged. “Sure, I guess, whatever.”
We passed Cait on the way in, and she fell into step behind us. Gabe barely seemed to notice her. He had his hands in his pockets again and was walking fast, nodding to people once in a while but not saying a word.
Soon we were inside. I spotted Mom standing with several other uniformed officers way down by the goalpost at the far end of the field. She was chatting and smiling, looking perfectly relaxed, and my stomach clenched as I flashed to the way she’d looked in my vision.
I glanced up. The clouds were scudding across the sky faster now, and it was getting dark.
“There’s some seats,” Gabe said, clambering up over the first few rows of bleachers without bothering to see if I was following.
I took my place beside Gabe, and Cait sat down on my other side. He shot her a suspicious look. “Is she sitting here, too?” he said.
“She doesn’t have anyone else to sit with.” I waited until Cait was looking the other way, then rolled my eyes, mouthing the word nerd at Gabe. Okay, I felt kind of bad about that, but it worked. Gabe snorted but looked amused.
Just then an older kid down on the sideline called his name, and Gabe turned away to shout back at him. Cait leaned closer. “Are you sure this is going to work?” she whispered.
“Ssh.” I didn’t want to make Gabe any more suspicious. If I could get him talking, maybe I’d be able to tell if he was up to anything. Or maybe I’d just mention Uncle Chuck and see how he reacted. I’d have to play it by ear.
The pep rally seemed to take forever. It was so loud that I couldn’t get his attention, figuring things would quiet down a little once the game started. But with each second that ticked away on the big clock on the scoreboard, my anxiety ticked up another notch or ten. Every time I checked, the sky looked a little gloomier, the clouds a bit more threatening. Was it as dark as it had been in my vision?
Finally the cheerleaders bounced off to the sidelines, and the home team ran in to a roar of approval from the crowd. As the players gathered on the sidelines, I saw Brayden hobbling out behind the rest on his crutches, his letterman jacket slung over his shoulders despite the warm, humid air.
Ugh. My heart sank. Seeing him made me feel even more freaked-out. That vision had come true and so would the one about Mom—unless Cait and I found a way to stop it.
As the game started, I tried talking to Gabe, but it was still so loud. How was I going to find out if he was involved in all this if we couldn’t even hear each other? Finally I’d had enough. I told Cait to sit tight and leaned over to Gabe.
“Want to go get a soda? It may be quieter down there,” I shouted into Gabe’s ear.
He shot me a surprised look, as if wondering whether he’d heard me right. But then he nodded. Standing up, he shoved the girl in front of us in the shoulder.
“Coming through,” he yelled, almost stepping on her hand as he went by.
“Sorry,” I told the girl as I followed. “Excuse me.”
A few minutes later Gabe and I were waiting in line for the concession stand. We could still hear the noise from the game, but it was muffled by yards of concrete.
“Whew!” I said, trying to hide my impatience. I had to get him talking—and fast. “That’s better. Thanks for being such a, you know, gentleman.”
“Yeah, sure.” Gabe shrugged. “You’re just lucky I’m not obsessed with football like most of the meatheads at this school.”
I forced a smile. “You’re definitely not like most guys, Gabe. You’re much cooler.”
“Glad you noticed.” He took a step closer. “You’re kind of cool, too.”
He grabbed my hand and squeezed it. His palm was clammy and cold, and I immediately yanked my arm away.
“Ew!” I squealed, wiping my hand on my shirt.
His expression immediately turned into a scowl. “Well, excu-u-u-use me, Princess Snotface!” he snapped.
“I never said you could touch me,” I shot back before I could stop myself.
“Whatever,” he snarled. “I was starting to feel sorry for you, but forget it. I’m glad you won’t be around much longer. Just wait until Uncle Chuck gets through teaching your mama a lesson.”
My whole body went cold. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
He didn’t respond, spinning on the heel of his cowboy boot and storming off without another word.
16
CAITLYN
“GOT YOUR TEXT,” I said as I burst out of the stadium and found Cassie waiting for me by the concession stand. “Where’s Gabe?”
“Gone.” Cassie’s face looked as stormy as the sky. “But you’ll never guess what he said before he took off.”
She filled me in, and my stomach sank. “Oh, no,” I said. “It sounds like our visions really are connected somehow.”
“Which means things are probably going down today,” Cass agreed grimly, glancing up at the sky.
“We have to warn Mom!” I exclaimed.
Cassie hesitated. “Are you sure? What are we going to say, exactly?”
I’d already turned to hurry back inside, but now I stopped, realizing she had a point. “I don’t know,” I said. “But we have to tell her something. We can’t just let this happen!”
“Whatever this is,” Cass said. “We still don’t know what’s going on.”
“But we know how it ends. Mom getting fired.” I shook my head, tears coming to my eyes. “We have to stop it.”
“I know. But how?” she said. “If we tell Mom we saw it happen in some freaky-deaky vision, she’ll have us committed.”
“So we don’t tell her that part.” I tugged on her sleeve. “Come on, there might not be much time.”
“But . . . ,” Cassie began.
Just then cheers erupted inside. The game was still going on, but it was almost halftime.
“I have a plan,” I lied. “Just follow along.”
I started moving a little faster, and by the time Cassie caught up with me, Mom had eyed us from her spot near the scoreboard. She said something to her fellow cops and came forward to meet us.
“Hi, girls,” she said cheerfully. “Having fun?”
“Sure,” I blurted out. “But listen, we think you need to, um, go back to the precinct.” I wasn’t quite sure why I said it, but somehow it made sense. After all, it was where both visions had taken place.
“Huh? Why?” Mom looked startled.
I was out of ideas. When I shot Cassie a desperate look, she flashed me an annoyed one. But then she turned to Mom.
“We heard whispering in the stands. Something about some trouble,” Cass said.
Mo
m furrowed her brow, studying each of us in turn. “What’s this really about, you two?”
“Can’t you just run over there?” I begged, feeling frantic as I saw the giant timer ticking down nearby. “It’ll only take a minute. It’s probably nothing, but . . .”
“But it could be something,” Cass said firmly. “We’re worried.”
“You are?” Mom still looked confused. “Both of you? What did you hear, exactly? It doesn’t sound like much to go on.”
“I know,” I said. “We just have a feeling about it, that’s all.”
“Yeah.” Cassie glanced at me. “Call it twintuition.”
Mom didn’t respond for a second as her eyes bored straight into my head. Then she turned and did the same to Cass. I held my breath, certain she was going to tell us to stop wasting her time.
But finally she shook her head. “I could use a few minutes away from this din anyway,” she said. “Wouldn’t hurt to check on the place—just in case. Let me tell the others where I’m going.”
None of us said much on the short ride through Aura’s deserted streets. The place was like a ghost town. Every single person seemed to be at the game. As we turned the corner onto the street where the precinct was located, I saw Cassie clutching the armrest in the front seat.
A second later Mom finally spoke. “Who’s that?” she muttered.
I leaned forward from the backseat, looking at the station ahead, its brick exterior dull beneath the cloudy sky. Not a single car was parked in the small lot, but a man in a blue shirt—just like the one in my vision—was opening the front door.
“Uncle Chuck!” Cassie blurted out.
Mom barely seemed to hear her. “That door is supposed to be locked!” she exclaimed. “Girls, stay right here.”
She grabbed the dashboard radio and barked out an order for backup. Then she swung out of the car, her hand on her pistol.
“Stop right there!” she shouted, rushing toward the man.
Cassie and I traded a wide-eyed look. “Whoa,” I said. “Go, Officer Mom! Go!”
Cassie opened the car door. “Come on,” she said.
“We can’t!” I said. “Mom said to stay here.”
She ignored me, sprinting after Mom. I hesitated only for a second, then followed.
When we caught up, Mom was facing off against Uncle Chuck. “What are you doing here?” she demanded. “You don’t work here anymore as far as I’m aware. And the precinct’s closed.”
“Doesn’t look like it to me.” Uncle Chuck jerked his chin toward the open door. “Looks to me like someone was careless. Weren’t you the one who was supposed to lock up?”
“How did you know that?” For a second Mom looked confused. Then her face cleared. “Wait a minute. Just as we were leaving, I got called back in for a phone call. But when I picked up, nobody was there.”
“It was him!” I blurted out. “Uncle Chuck. He probably called so you’d be the last one out!”
“Huh?” Uncle Chuck glanced at me. “What’d you call me, young lady? I ain’t your uncle.”
“We know your nephew,” Cassie told him. “He helped you with this whole plan, didn’t he?”
Mom looked confused again. “Girls,” she said sharply. “I thought I told you two to stay in the car.”
“Yeah, you girls should listen to your mama.” Uncle Chuck’s glare was poisonous. “If you were mine, I’d teach you a lesson.”
“That’s enough,” Mom snapped. “Now why don’t you tell me what you’re doing here, Mr. Campbell?”
“We can tell you, Mom,” Cassie spoke up again. “He’s trying to get you fired.”
“Yeah,” I said, my mind already working the angles. “I bet he was going to go in, maybe steal something or just mess stuff up. Then when everyone got back after the game later, you’d get blamed for forgetting to lock up on your way out.”
Was I imagining things, or did Mom look impressed?
Actually, Cassie looked kind of impressed, too.
“Cait’s right,” she said. “That’s exactly what he was planning. And his nephew Gabe was in on it, too.”
“What?” Uncle Chuck shook his head quickly. “That’s crazy. Leave my nephew out of it. He’s got nothing to do with any of this.”
I bit my lip, thinking again of my vision of Gabe and Uncle Chuck outside the station. The vision that Cass had seen come true yesterday. I still had a strong feeling it was all connected to this, but how?
“So does that mean you’re admitting the rest?” Mom asked Uncle Chuck sharply.
He glared at her, and then, slowly, he turned to us. “I ain’t admitting nothing,” he muttered. “Far as anyone knows, I was just wandering by and noticed the door was open.”
I was standing a little to one side and saw that Uncle Chuck was fiddling with something behind his back. The glint of metal caught a weak ray of sunlight peeking through the clouds. Could that be . . . ?
I thought fast. “Hey, look out!” I yelped suddenly. “Is that a rattlesnake?”
All three of them jumped, startled. “Where?” Uncle Chuck said.
I heard a soft clink as something hit the ground. Uncle Chuck dived for what he’d dropped, but I was faster.
“Hey, look what you dropped,” I said, holding it up. “A key! What do you wanna bet it fits the lock right here on the station door?”
“How did you get that?” Mom asked. “Only current employees—”
“I’m not saying nothing!” Uncle Chuck yelled, his face going bright red. “I’m a lifelong officer of the law—I know my rights!”
Mom rolled her eyes. Then she stepped toward me to take the key, keeping one eye on Uncle Chuck. “How did you girls figure out what he was up to?” She glanced at him. “Allegedly, that is, of course.” Her eyes flicked back to us. “Come to think of it, how’d you know I should head back here right now?”
Cass and I traded a look as I heard the sound of a siren coming fast. “Oh, it was nothing,” I said. “Just a bit of twintuition.”
THE NEXT FEW minutes passed in a whirl of confusion. Cassie and I stood back and watched as the police chief arrived, along with several other officers.
“He looks just like he did in my vision,” Cass whispered as the chief strode over to confront Uncle Chuck.
Just then Mom noticed we were still there. “You two—back to the game,” she ordered. “I’ll take you.”
The chief overheard her and looked our way. “No, you stay, Waters,” he called. “One of the boys will drive them.”
Despite our protests, we were herded into a car, and a tall, skinny young officer climbed into the driver’s seat. “I feel like a prisoner,” Cassie complained, leaning forward to peer at him. “You didn’t even read me my rights!”
The young cop grinned. “You have the right to remain silent,” he said. “But I got a couple girl cousins your age—and I know that ain’t likely to happen.”
I couldn’t help laughing. “Can you blame us?” I said. “We just helped stop, like, a totally dramatic crime.”
“Yeah.” The young officer’s smile faded, and he looked troubled. “Who’da thought Chuck would go all breaking-and-entering like that? Wonder what he was up to?”
“I guess we’ll find out,” I said, glancing at Cass.
When we arrived at the game, the fourth quarter had just started. Lavender was waiting for us right outside the bleachers.
“What happened?” she demanded. “Everyone’s saying you guys just busted Chuck Campbell while he was trying to burn down the police station.”
Cassie and I traded a look. “Not exactly,” Cass said. “But Chuck’s in big trouble anyway.”
“No surprise there,” Lavender muttered with a grimace.
“What do you mean?” I asked. “Do you know him?”
She shrugged. “Everyone in Aura knows him. The Campbells are always strutting around like they own this town.”
She sounded annoyed. Remembering what I’d heard about Lavender’s family, I g
uessed there might be some kind of competition between the Campbells and the Adamses. At least in Lavender’s mind.
“Okay,” Cassie was saying. “But I thought he was a cop.”
Lavender pursed her lips and glanced around. “I shouldn’t be telling you this. Can I trust you?” Her cool gaze rested on me.
“Cross our hearts,” Cassie said. “Spill it!”
Lavender leaned closer. “Most everyone in town thinks Chuck left the force on his own,” she said. “But Megan’s uncle is the chief of police and her mom is the mayor, and—”
“Really?” I broke in. “Wow!”
“Yeah.” Lavender shot me a look that told me exactly what she thought of being interrupted. “Anyway, Megan told me the real reason Chuck left is he got caught embezzling.”
I gasped. “Embezzling?” I said. “You mean, like, stealing money from the town?”
“I guess. So since he came from such a good family and all”—Lavender paused just long enough to roll her eyes—“the chief kept it all hush-hush. Didn’t want a scandal.”
Lavender looked disappointed. I guessed she was the type of person who loved a scandal. “Wow,” Cass said. “That’s heavy. I wonder—”
“Hey!” an angry voice interrupted.
Uh-oh. It was Gabe. He was barreling toward us, looking ready to explode.
“Yikes,” Cassie said. “Um, maybe we should go inside? You know—where there are some witnesses around?”
Cassie, Lavender, and I ducked into the stadium. Gabe caught up with us there.
“What did you do?” he shouted, giving Cassie a shove on the shoulder that sent her staggering back.
“Calm down,” I told him, glancing at the nearest set of bleachers. Several people were looking our way, attracted by the shouting. “We’re not the ones who did anything. All we did was—”
“Shut up!” He whirled on me, his eyes so angry it was scary. “Just shut up, okay? Nobody wants you here anyway, so why don’t you go back where you came from?”
“Speak for yourself, loser,” Lavender said loudly. “I’d rather have Cassie here than your sorry behind.” Suddenly remembering me, she shot me a glance. “Uh, and her sister, too.”