Wander Dust

by Michelle Warren

  Chapter 19: First Time

  I take in the faces of my new friends, registering their trepidation. The room darkens. That’s when a strong hand clenches my shoulder. I pinch it up to my ear and look up, squinting through one eye. Terease towers over me, smiling. I cringe.

  “Sera, do you remember Sam?” She jerks the girl into view. Sam stumbles over her feet.

  “Uh—yeah.” I fling Terease’s hand from my shoulder. The table of students gasps. Instantly, I realize that may have been a poor move on my part.

  Terease’s eyes narrow, but instead of burning me into cinders, she turns to Sam. “Sam,” she says sternly. Then she points between Macey and me. “Sit!”

  With her arms crossed, Sam shoves her way between us, making a place for herself.

  Terease only smiles her evil smile and saunters away. She struts down the aisle. Her arrogance makes me dislike her even more.

  “What are you, a dog? You sit on command?” Agnes tries to joke with Sam.

  Sam tenses. “Yes, very funny,” she replies formally.

  Macey’s eyes meet mine, and then she goes in for more questioning. “So, Sam,” she says nonchalantly, twirling a curl around her finger, “what’s with Medusa?”

  “I don’t know what you mean,” Sam says evasively. She grabs a menu, opens it, and engrosses herself in the choices.

  “I know she’s the Harvester and all, but is she also a Seer, like you?” I ask.

  “Ah, no. An incorrect assumption on your part. How surprising.” She looks back at her menu but continues to talk. “She’s special, in a category all her own.” It seems she only answers because she can’t believe my stupidity.

  Macey and I look at each other and shrug. We grab our own menus and let the subject drop. It’s easy to see that Sam isn’t going to talk.

  Maybe Terease wants teams to sit together. At the thought, I scan the room for Bishop. He isn’t anywhere to be found. I sigh, knowing if he were here, he’d probably be sitting with Goldilocks. I look over at her again. She’s still staring at me with her cold, steel-blue eyes.

  Averting my attention, I ignore her and focus on my entrée choices.

  In the dining room, they serve food restaurant style. The choices are unlimited from home-style cooking to sushi. I choose dessert for dinner. My nerves are still unsettled from all the excitement, robbing me of my appetite. Blowing some calories on chocolate cake seems like a comforting idea.

  Our group lingers, talking after our meals are finished. Even Sam lets down her guard, slightly, to chat here and there.

  I learn that Scarlett is a Wanderer and Agnes is her Seer, but they don’t have their Protector yet. They seem to be drawn to a boy at the west school. They feel he will be their Protector, but won’t be completely sure until Terease harvests him.

  I guess that’s how Bishop knew to help me along. He and Sam must have seen me, felt a connection, and known that I would be joining them before I did. They knew before me. This fact annoys me because all this time I believed I was crazy.

  Then there’s Stu. He also has the gift of wandering. His group includes Jessica, his Seer, and Perpetua, his Protector. Perpetua is the steely-eyed blonde with the attitude. And according to Macey, she dates Bishop. This also annoys me.

  We take our small party to Macey’s apartment, two doors down from mine. I had unknowingly peeked into it earlier. The main living room, similar to my own, has a large sectional sofa that surrounds a wall-sized TV.

  “When was your first time?” Macey asks Xavier as she plops down on the sofa. I realize that if you hear the question out of context, you might not know she’s asking about his first time wandering.

  “Actually, it’s kind of funny. I was at home, running down a hall into the kitchen. I ran to answer the house phone while I had scissors in my hand.” He laughs. “Get it? I was running with scissors!” He snorts another laugh at his joke.

  “Yeah, we get it.” Macey rolls her eyes. “Then what?”

  “Then, out of nowhere, I was tumbling through a huge, colorful wormhole—with scissors,” he reminds us, acting out the tumbling as he rolls himself across the sofa next to Macey. “Then, I ended up at my Grandma’s house about a year before.”

  “Why?” I ask.

  “I suppose I was thinking of her at the moment I ran down the hall. Those thoughts acted as the keyword in my mind, sending me to her. It was kinda an overwhelming surprise to see her because she had just passed away. The scissors were hers and had migrated to our house with a lot of her stuff.

  “The best thing was,” he continues, “she wasn’t shocked to see me. She was a Wanderer herself. She sat me down and explained everything, and then she sent me back home. She said I could visit whenever I wanted!” Xavier exclaims.

  “You’re not supposed to wander until you’ve been trained,” Sam grumbles. I look over at her, surprised that she’s stuck around. She acts as though it’s torture to hang out with us.

  “Yeah, I know. That’s why I can’t wait to start school. She made me promise that I wouldn’t visit again until I was better at it.”

  “Did you tell her that she died?” Agnes asks.

  “Nah,” Xavier responds, acting cool. “It didn’t seem right to ruin the moment, ya know?”

  “And it would have been illegal,” Sam quickly reminds him, citing a specific code from the Society of Wanderers handbook. I bet she has the entire thing memorized. I haven’t even seen one yet.

  I’m a little jealous of Xavier, knowing he’s been to see someone he loves, someone who’s gone. I try to think positively, letting his story give me hope for what may lie ahead for myself.

  Perpetua and Jessica strut through the open door of the apartment. “Stewie,” Perpetua says in a sappy, baby voice. “We’ve been looking for you.” They smile and drop down on the floor.

  I exchange a look with Macey. Everyone seems shocked that the pair decided to grace us with their presence because there’s an instant awkwardness, and the conversation ceases.

  Stu rolls his eyes in annoyance and leans into me. “What about you, Sera?” he continues, breaking the silence. “When was your first time?”

  He’s asking the same question, but this time there are sexual undertones. So I smack him on the knee. He recoils. “God, Sera, you know what I meant!”

  “Well,” I say, “I wandered here, to the Academy, about twenty years ago or something.” I play with my shoelace.

  “Twenty years? No way!” Stu says.

  “Yeah, as far as I can tell from my surroundings.”

  “I mean, it’s unheard of to wander that far back when you’re new." He tugs out his notebook and begins scribbling, apparently, finding the idea noteworthy.

  “Well, whatever. That’s what happened.”

  “How in the world did you end up here?” Macey seems intrigued.

  “My Aunt Mona sent me a bracelet that belonged to my mother. I was running to class while trying to put it on and—wham! I landed out front, in the Academy courtyard,” I explain.

  “So, your mother was there?” Perpetua asks tartly.

  “Yeah—I mean, she went to school here also. She was a Wanderer.”

  “You saw her?” Perpetua crosses her arms as though she doesn’t believe me.

  “Well, no. I just assume that’s why. I was thinking about her when I fell through the wormhole, and I was wearing her bracelet.” I’m getting angry. Why would I lie, and why does she even care? I’ve never even talked to the girl!

  “Did you ever ask her if she saw you that day? Or go back to see her?” She puts on an evil smirk.

  “No, I didn’t. I mean—I couldn’t. I lost the bracelet after that, and she’s been dead for a long time.”

  There. I’ve said it out loud. Now everyone knows. I’ve had to talk about Mom’s death twice now in just two days to people I’ve never met before. A knot forms in my throat. I’m fighting my emotions, hoping they aren’t plastered across my face, but I know they are.


  When I look at Perpetua, she’s smiling, nodding her head, insinuating that she knew all along, but asked regardless. Somehow she knew it would hurt me to think about my mom, to admit out loud that she’s gone.

  When this registers, I stare at Perpetua with the same look she’s been giving me for the last two days—stone cold witch.

  Perpetua ignores me and stands up. Somehow, although I don’t know how, she’s won some kind of game against me. A game I didn’t know I was playing. Without saying a single word, she spins, whipping her blonde hair behind her, leaves the apartment, and slams the front door.

  “What was that about?” Macey asks. Everyone studies me, surely wanting to know the same thing.

  I shrug, attempting to act indifferent.

  After everyone returns to their video games and chatting, I slip out of the group. I’m still too upset by the confrontation. I need to be stronger. She’s nobody to me. Why are people so mean?

  I know if I try to go to sleep now, upset, I’ll just toss for hours. So I stroll to the main atrium.

  Gas lamps flicker orange hues on the marble walls. I drift in front of several colossal murals, finally letting go of what happened. I wish I’d listened to Gabe earlier when he explained the paintings’ meanings. They appear to be Baroque and Italian, from what I learned while living in Italy. Some remind me of the artist Caravaggio, but without a label, I can’t be certain.

  I find myself lost in the expressions of the painted figures. My gaze slips toward the stairs. I jump back, startled by a human shadow leaning against a nearby wall, watching me.