Maverick (Maverick Academy Series)

by Layman, Tate

  Then finally, during English, the class went to the library to work on research papers. Whit saw Seth sit at a table and quickly made her way over to him. When she sat down her stuff and started to tell him about her dream again, though, Debbie, Seth’s girlfriend, skipped over and scooted a chair right next to his. They whispered to each other for a moment before turning their eyes back to her.

  “So tell me about this dream of yours,” he said curiously. “It must have been freaky since you mentioned it to me twice today,” he said with a laugh. Debbie looked at Whit oddly and waited for her to respond. But Whit knew that if she said anything now, it’d be a disaster. They’d think she was crazy. It was going to be hard enough to tell Seth, and telling him in front of someone else made her feel sick. The only way she could tell Seth was if he was alone. That was the only way she would risk it.

  She shrugged. “Oh, never mind. I’ll let you and Debbie talk. I can tell you about it later. See you guys around.” She went to a computer terminal to research her paper, hating the situation. It seemed that fate had been working against her all day, almost like she wasn’t meant to tell Seth. That made her wonder if her dreams were something good or evil. Whit didn’t like to think of demons or evil spirits, but she recognized that all her visions had been sad or horrible events. Not one of her dreams had been a happy vision. Maybe she was possessed or an evil spirit was speaking to her through her dreams. Maybe that was why she hadn’t had a chance to talk to Seth about the dream.

  Regardless of what was causing them, she needed to talk to Mona about getting some help. She couldn’t continue seeing these visions and living with the consequences of holding them in. It was tearing her apart inside. This was why she had to warn Seth.

  After all her attempts to talk to him, she finally got to tell him the whole story on the bus ride going to the cross country meet. She knew it was dangerous to tell anyone about her dreams, but she couldn’t live with herself if anything happened to Seth when she could have stopped it.

  At least he’d made it easy to tell him. “Okay, are you finally going to tell me about this amazing dream of yours?” he asked with a smirk, sinking into the seat next to her.

  “Yeah, but you have to promise to listen without interrupting.” When Seth nodded, Whit continued. “Okay, during homeroom this morning when I dozed off, I had a dream about you. You were running in a meet and there was this other guy. He was wearing a red uniform, so I’m assuming he was from Bentley High. You were both running up a hill when the guy from Bentley pushed you off the trail over an embankment.” She knew he would just say it was a dream and tell her not to worry, but she had to find a way to get him to take her seriously. How could she get him to believe her? If someone had said something like this to her a few months ago, she would’ve laughed it off. She looked at Seth and waited for him to react.

  He just stared at her for a second before shaking his head and rolling his eyes. “Whit, it was just a dream. You’ve got to calm down. Nothing’s going to happen to me today,” he said pointedly.

  “Seth, you don’t understand. I’ve been having these dreams for a couple of weeks now and they always come true. You’re the first person I’ve mentioned them to. I just want you to be really careful today, especially on the up hills. Will you just tell me you’ll remember my dream when you’re running today and be careful? Please!” Whit begged. She knew it was a risk to tell him about the visions, but if it would get him to listen it would be worth it.

  He shook his head. “Fine, if it’s that important to you. Although I think you’re completely overreacting. It was just a dream, but I’ll be extra careful on the inclines and around runners in red uniforms.” He winked, making fun of her, and she narrowed her eyes. What was the point of telling him if he wasn’t going to take her seriously?

  “Seth, please take me seriously. I know it sounds crazy, but you have to believe that I know something’s going to happen today,” she pleaded.

  Instead of answering, though, he started asking questions of his own. “So you’ve had these dreams a couple of weeks? And things you dream about are always coming true?” he asked with a doubting look. Whit knew Seth was thinking that she was nuts, but she felt better now that she had at least put the dream in his head. Maybe now he would be safe.

  “It’s okay if you don’t believe me, just keep the dream in mind,” Whit replied nervously as the bus pulled into the parking lot at Bentley High.

  Seth stared at her for a few seconds longer before grabbing his stuff and getting up. Before moving toward the door of the bus, he nodded. “I’ll be careful today, Whit.” He grinned at her before moving out of the bus. Whit still felt nervous and couldn’t wait until this meet was over and Seth was safely back on the bus.

  She began to stretch and warm up, keeping her eye on Seth the whole time. Whit knew he thought she was acting crazy, but she needed to take some action. With the other dreams, she hadn’t been able to help those people. But with Seth, she could.

  The team had walked the course before the race and Whit immediately recognized the hill from her dream. Once she knew where it was, she told Seth, who rolled his eyes before continuing his warm up. She knew he didn’t believe her, but at least this way he’d know about possible trouble. Whit was always nervous before a race but today was a hundred times more nerve-wrecking.

  She paced anxiously until the boys’ race started and continued to walk around until the girls were called to the starting line. Since both the boys and girls were on the course at the same time, Whit had to wait until after she finished running to see if Seth was okay. While she ran, she worried and fretted about Seth and the possibility of an accident. Once she was through the finish line, Whit glanced around, looking for Seth. She saw him standing by the cooler eating an apple and drinking from a water bottle. When he saw her, he darted over and grabbed her arm.

  “Whit, I couldn’t believe it, but on that hill a guy tried to push me. I was ready for it because of you. I didn’t believe you when you told me, but it was in the back of my mind the whole time I was running. Then he came at me, and my body was ready for it. I just reacted. I’m still in shock that you had a dream about me and it came true,” he said, stunned.

  She snorted. “You think you’re shocked? Just think about how it makes me feel. It’s been happening to me for weeks. You don’t think I’m crazy, do you?”

  Seth skipped the question, too caught up in his own story. “I told coach about the Bentley runner and he said he would report the incident. No one should get away with doing that during a meet. I mean, who does that? I’m not going to lie, it freaked me out a little at first. I mean, your dreams come true! That is so cool,” he beamed.

  “It might sound cool, but it’s not. It’s scary. You’re not going to tell anyone, are you?”

  “No, I won’t tell anyone. I don’t even know what I’d say anyway. I still feel a little crazy myself, just knowing that it really happened.”

  Whit hoped he would keep her secret. She worried and replayed his reaction in her head throughout the meet’s award ceremony and the ride home. Although the whole time, she kept an eye on Seth, waiting for him to announce to everyone what a freak she was. Surprisingly, he’d actually thought it was cool that her dreams came true. He didn’t realize that it meant nightmares too. Mostly nightmares, actually. He didn’t realize that she saw bad things, and that they were actually happening to people. He didn’t understand the guilt that came with not being able to help.

  As the bus got closer to her school, Whit decided again that she needed help. She couldn’t keep living with these horrible visions. She tried to practice how she was going to tell Mona about the dreams without sounding batty. She went over the upcoming conversation in her head and tried to think of responses to the questions she knew her aunt would ask.

  When the bus pulled into the parking lot, she thought she had an idea of what to do. She got off the bus and headed toward her bike. Looking up, she noticed Seth waiting next to the bik
e rack in his truck.

  “Hey Whit, need a ride home?” he asked. “It’s the least I can do after you saved my butt today.”

  “A ride would be great,” Whit said as she grabbed her bike and threw it into the back. She hopped in Seth’s truck.

  “I still can’t believe what happened today. What other dreams have you had that came true?” he asked, still sounding far too excited about the whole thing.

  Whit didn’t know what to say. She couldn’t tell him about the man on the ledge or any of the other horrible visions she’d had. To let someone else know how useless she was to stop those terrible events. She didn’t even want to talk about them, but there was one dream she felt okay with revealing. “I dreamed about Sarah in homeroom. She was crying, but I don’t know why.”

  “What do you mean you don’t know?” he asked intrigued.

  “I only saw her running down the hall crying,” she explained. “That’s it.”

  Whit waited for Seth to ask another question, but when he didn’t she broke the silence. “What are you thinking?”

  “I don’t know. I don’t know what to think to be honest. It’s all a bit crazy, you know?”

  “Yeah, I know. But you won’t tell anyone about this, right?” she asked worriedly.

  “No, I won’t tell,” he said glancing at her puzzled, “but I don’t get it. How can you dream things that become real? How’s that possible?”

  “I don’t know,” she shrugged. “I wish I understood.”

  Whit glanced around as Seth pulled in the driveway and knew he was going to ask her more questions about the dreams. Questions she couldn’t answer. Questions she had been asking herself. She just couldn’t handle it, so she hurried to leave.

  “Thanks for the ride,” she said, jumping out of the truck.

  Seth got out and rounded the truck to unload her bike. Whit tried to avoid eye contact because she didn’t feel like talking about the dreams anymore. She started to push her bike up the driveway, when Seth stepped into her path, blocking her escape. He must have realized from the look on her face that she didn’t want to talk anymore because he stood there frowning.

  “Okay. Guess I’ll see you tomorrow at school,” he said, then got back into his truck.

  With one last wave in Seth’s direction, she walked up the driveway and into the garage. After hanging up her bike, she slowly made her way into the house. Whit knew that Seth would want to talk about it some more at school tomorrow, and the thought made her feel sick. Why had she told him about the other dreams? She should have lied, she realized. Even better, though, would be escaping the dreams themselves.

  Mona was standing at the stove making soup when Whit walked into the kitchen. She hung up her jacket and placed her backpack in its usual position next to the door, telling herself that a shower would clear her head and make the upcoming conversation more rational. She knew she was putting off the inevitable, but she did it anyway. After quickly saying hello, she escaped upstairs.

  The shower felt heavenly to her exhausted muscles, and as warm water pounded on her head, it seemed to clear a bit. When she got out, she decided to go with her favorite pajamas, hoping they would offer her comfort and courage. Then, taking a deep, bracing breath, she headed back downstairs. It was time to get this over with.

  As she slipped silently into the kitchen, she watched her Aunt Mona reading the newspaper with a completely relaxed posture. Whit knew that she was about to destroy her Aunt’s mood, and felt miserable about it, but there were no alternatives. She had to tell someone before the dreams got worse.

  “Hey Mona, can we talk for a minute?” Whit asked so quietly Mona had to strain to hear.

  “Are you okay sweetie? Did something happen at school today? You look a little pale.” Mona hurried over to where she was leaning on the counter and placed her hand on Whit’s forehead. Whit knew Mona was worried that she was getting sick or maybe had a temperature, but it was so much worse than that. The flu or a virus would go away in a few days. Craziness was forever.

  “Mona, I need to tell you something,” Whit said. She continued quickly, before Mona could respond. “It’s going to sound crazy, but please believe me. I’ve been having dreams, and they’re not normal dreams. These dreams come true, and in most of them bad things happen. Actually, so far they’ve all been horrible. I think I need to see a doctor. I’m just really scared. Please make them stop.” She began to tremble and cry before she could finish explaining, covering her face with her hands to hide from Mona’s expression. She knew if she looked, Mona would be looking at her as if she was insane.

  “Whit, when did you start having these dreams?” Mona asked softly.

  “Last month. I think I’m going crazy, Mona. Please help me. I can’t take this anymore,” Whit said with a whimper as tears continued to run down her face.

  “Whit, you’re not going crazy. This same thing happened to me when I was your age. Your mother too,” Mona explained calmly.

  “What? How’s that possible?”

  “Just calm down honey. Everything’s going to be okay. I promise you,” Mona assured her, putting an arm around her shoulders.

  “Why didn’t someone warn me? Why didn’t you warn me?” Whit was becoming hysterical. She felt so confused and lost, and now Mona said this was normal. This was not normal. Whit thought back to conversations with her mom, hoping she had mentioned something that would make sense now. But she couldn’t think of anything. Why hadn’t her mother told her about this? Why had she kept it a secret?

  Whit recalled only one conversation she’d had with her mom about a dream. Thinking back, she remembered her mom telling her about a dream she’d had where Whit took a trip to see Mona. The rest of the dream’s details were blurry but she did recall her mother saying that Whit would be happy and safe. Looking back now, knowing what she did about the dreams or visions, had her mother known Whit was going to come live with Mona? Had her mother known she was going to die in that accident? Whit felt sad thinking her mother had known what was going to happen to her and hoped she was wrong. But it still didn’t answer the question of why didn’t her mother tell her? Why didn’t Mona? Looking at her aunt, Whit wanted the answer to that question.

  Mona shrugged. “I guess with the accident, it just slipped my mind. Your mom was planning on talking to you right before your birthday. We had discussed the best way to tell you. I can’t believe I forgot it was your sixteenth birthday,” Mona said with tears running down her face. “Honey, life is about to get a little tougher, as if that were possible. But I swear to you that everything will be okay. I’ll help you get through this.”

  Whit continued to stare at Mona with wide and fearful eyes. “What’s going on with me exactly?” she asked in a weak voice.

  “You’re not going crazy. You’re becoming psychic.” Mona must have noticed that Whit was about to interrupt, because she hurried on before Whit had the chance. “In our family, this particular gift stays hidden until the sixteenth year, and then it first shows up in dreams. Then the visions start. You’ll learn to control it. It’ll take work and dedication, but you’ll learn.”

  “Why is this happening to me?” Whit cried out. Mona was talking about this like it was completely normal, but she couldn’t accept that. How could turning psychic on her sixteenth birthday be normal?

  “It’s genetic. This gift is passed down from mother to daughter in our family. When I turned sixteen, my mother explained that for generations the women in our family were psychics. It doesn’t skip generations; all daughters have this ability. I remember I was scared to death the first time I had a dream come true. I’m so sorry you went into this blind. I should’ve told you.” Mona covered her face with her palms.

  “So I can control this? How? Can I make it go away?” Whit asked quickly.

  “No, you can’t get rid of it, but you can learn to focus your visions and control when you have them. Eventually, the dreams will grow less frequent. They’ll never completely stop. They happen
when you’re asleep because that’s when your mind is the most relaxed and vulnerable.”

  “Will you teach me to control them? I don’t think I can handle them much longer,” Whit asked, her mind moving quickly through the possibilities. If she could make these dreams stop …

  “There’s a special school called Maverick that can help you. It’s about three hours away from here in the mountains. I went to this school when I turned sixteen and it helped develop my gift and taught me to control it.” She paused. “It’s a boarding school, Whit.”

  “A boarding school? You mean I have to move away for you and Luke?” Whit laid her head on the table and wept for the parents that she lost, and the new home that she would have to give up. “Can’t you just teach me here?” she begged.

  “I don’t know how, Whit. The school is away from distractions and only allows certain types of students to enroll. There are other types of gifts and people who attend. Many of the gifts you’ve probably heard of but thought were impossible are represented there. I hate to say it, but the sooner we enroll you, the sooner the dreams will start to improve. It will be the best thing for you. I’ll call them first thing in the morning,” Mona said.

  Whit continued to sit with her head on the table in silence. She felt Mona rub her neck, obviously trying to offer some sort of comfort. Replaying the conversation, Whit began to wonder what types of people actually attended this school. What gifts had she heard of but thought were impossible? Wizards like in Harry Potter or Vampires like in Twilight? What was this school some sort of monster high? Were they going to send her away to go to school with the creatures of her nightmares?