Joss the Seven

by J. Philip Horne

  “Why wait? Tell me now.”

  “I want you to hear it from him first. That way you don’t have to lie or anything if he asks us questions. You won’t know anything, see? But after that, I’ll tell you.”

  Janey started tapping her chin with a finger. Good. She was thinking about it. “What if he doesn’t tell us anything?”

  “Then I’ll tell you anyway, but not until we’re supposed to be in bed, okay?”

  She went back to tapping her chin. She had to take my offer. I needed to keep everyone from talking things through until tomorrow. After tomorrow, everything would be better.

  Her hand dropped to her side. “All right,” Janey said. “You tell me what’s going on tonight. After we head upstairs.”

  “Shake on it?” I stuck my hand out.

  Janey shook my hand, but didn’t let go when we were done. “Joss, you’re gonna keep your promise, or I’ll come right back down here and tell Mom and Dad everything, even if I have to wake them up. Understand?”

  “I get it,” I said. Janey released my hand and opened her book again. “Janey. I wasn’t kidding the other day. I really am trying to protect you. After we talk tonight, you’re going to have trouble sleeping. You can still let this go.”

  She shook her head. “Not a chance.”

  Dinner was quiet. Mom and Dad kept giving each other looks. Yeah, they were planning to talk to us. I just had to keep everyone off me until tomorrow. After eating, we cleaned up together, and Dad gave the inevitable clearing of the throat.

  “Joss, Janey, your mother and I would like to talk to you. Let’s go sit in the family room.”

  Janey looked at me, and I gave her a tiny nod. We all went to the family room and sat, Mom and Dad on their recliners, and Janey and I on the couch. Everyone looked back and forth at each other for a moment.

  Dad broke the silence. “Janey, Joss and I had an odd experience this past Sunday. Well, I had the experience, but Joss was in the house when it happened. I asked him to keep quiet while Mom and I sorted some things out before we talked to both of you together.”

  “Okay,” Janey said. Her face was blank. No expression. I hadn’t realized Janey could play it so well.

  “Janey,” Mom said, and then paused. Wow. This was serious. Mom and Dad were tag-teaming us. “Janey, Dad already spoke to Joss about a couple things based on what happened Sunday, so we thought it would be best to bring you up to speed.”

  They took turns talking, but everything Dad and I had talked about came out. The Seven who stuck his hand through the table. House Sharif and the butterfly birthmark. The Guild. And great-great-grandmother fighting werewolves. The whole thing.

  Dad sounded more confident this time around, like he believed it all now. Mom didn’t, but she wasn’t denying it either. Janey just sat there, stock still, and listened.

  “So that’s what we discussed on Sunday,” Dad said.

  Janey looked from Dad to me, and then back to Dad. “You saw a man just…” She made a motion like she was sticking her hand into the coffee table in front of us.

  Dad nodded.

  “What your father saw,” Mom said, “is hard to believe. I struggled with it. But we’ve been making calls. Tracking down information. There are a lot of older people in our extended family who seem to believe in the Guild, Sevens, and all of it.”

  “And my great-great-grandmother?” Janey asked.

  “Turns out,” Mom said, “that your father’s grandfather wasn’t the only person who believed she died fighting werewolves.”

  “Now,” Dad said, “the question that’s been weighing on us, ah, your mother and I, well…” He looked at me. Mom looked at me. Janey’s eyes swung around to me.

  “Your birthmark,” Janey said. “You have the butterfly birthmark. Can you stick your hand through stuff?”

  I tried to laugh it off, but all three of them kept looking at me.

  “That was the question on our mind,” Mom said.

  Dad nodded. “Joss, we have to figure out what to do, but we feel like we’ve ignored something that demands attention. Can you do, uh, stuff?”

  All I had to do was lie, but I couldn’t. “I… yes.”

  They kept looking at me, and Janey’s eyes slowly narrowed. “Is this a big joke? Are you messing with us? If you are, I’m…”

  She was going to rat me out in spite of our agreement. I had to stop her. In desperation, I ghosted my hand through the coffee table.

  I wouldn’t have gotten a stronger reaction if I’d danced naked in front of them. For all of Mom’s talk, it was pretty clear she hadn’t truly believed that the Sevens were real. She leapt to her feet and gasped, and then sat back down hard.

  Dad’s eyes popped open wide, and he did a little repeat of Sunday’s performance. He jumped to his feet and staggered toward me, then knelt and looked at my hand coming out the bottom of the table top.

  Janey just stared at my arm, and then made a grab for me. She went for my arm just above where it entered the table. The part of my arm that I was ghosting. Her hands passed through me, and I felt the jolt. Two times in one day.

  I felt that “essence of Janey” along with part of her confusion and shock. I had expected the sensation, but it was still startling. Janey hadn’t known it was coming. I’m not sure what my essence felt like, but she yelped and leapt back so hard that she tumbled over the arm of the sofa and disappeared from sight.

  I pulled my hand out of the table and sat back on the couch. My family slowly pulled themselves together. Janey popped up and sat back down on the couch, though I noticed she had scrunched over as far as possible away from me. Dad got up and went back to his recliner, and Mom sat forward on hers, staring at me.

  “So, this is awkward,” I said.

  “You’re a… one of those…” Dad said.

  “A Seven. Pretty much, I guess.”

  “A Seven.” Dad’s eyebrows pulled together. “Why didn’t you tell me? We talked. It was just this Sunday. Why’d you keep this a secret?”

  “I didn’t think you were very happy about the Guild,” I said. “I didn’t know what you’d think. I guess I panicked and kept my mouth shut.”

  “All this time,” Dad said, “we’ve thought we were protecting you kids from some crazy organization, when, really, they may have been able to help.”

  “I don’t know, Dad,” I said. “If those two guys on Sunday are what the Guild is about, I’m not sure it’s for me.”

  I glanced at Janey, worried she might think this was the right moment to break our agreement and tell Mom and Dad what happened with Luc. Sure enough, she was just opening her mouth to speak. I gave her a hard look, and she snapped it shut.

  “Oh, Joss,” Mom said. “Does it hurt to do that? How long have you kept this a secret?”

  Questions. Once they got going, they weren’t going to stop, and eventually they’d go somewhere that might mess up the plan for tomorrow. I needed to get myself out of there.

  “No, Mom,” I said, “it doesn’t hurt. And I found out I could do this at the start of summer break.” I could see another question forming on my Mom’s lips. I talked right over it. “Can we talk about this some other time? I know we need to figure out some stuff, but right now I just want to go to bed. It’s been a long day.”

  Mom and Dad looked at each other. Dad frowned, but Mom gave him a small nod. His frown deepened for a moment and was gone. He turned to me. “We have a lot to talk about, but, yeah, we understand. You can go to bed.”

  I stood and headed for the stairs. “Thanks, Mom, Dad.”

  “All right, Joss,” Dad said. “We’ll talk more tomorrow, understand?”

  Before leaving the room, I turned and said, “Hey, Janey beat me at sparring today.”

  As I left the room, I heard Mom say, “Really? You beat him? I think I’d like to hear about something normal. You want to tell us about it?” It sounded forced, but Mom obviously wanted to think about something other than her son sticking his hand in a table.<
br />
  I headed up the stairs as Janey started to describe my humiliation in great detail. For the next hour and a half, I heard faint noises through my bedroom door of my parents downstairs, and at one point Janey stomped up the stairs and must have gone to her bedroom. Finally, it quieted down.

  A few minutes later, there was a faint knock on the door, and Janey slipped in. I still had my bedside light on, so I could see how she looked at me. It was like I was a dangerous animal. She stopped at the foot of my bed.

  “So you’re some kind of superhero,” Janey said.

  “I don’t know about that, but, yeah, I can do some stuff that’s not normal.”

  “And you wear a mask. At night.”

  “Right. About the mask. Something happened today. I’m going to tell you what I can, but I need to wait until tomorrow or the next day to tell you the rest.”

  Janey took a step closer and balled her hands into fists. “Are you going back on your word?”

  “No, Janey, I’m not.” I sat up on my bed and put my back to the wall. “Look. I told you I was trying to keep you safe. I wasn’t lying. But it’s bigger than that now. It’s about Mara.”

  That caught her off guard. Janey’s hands relaxed, and she sat on the foot of my bed. “What about Mara?”

  “She has a sister, okay? I didn’t know this before today. Her sister’s in trouble. It turns out my, uh, talents may be needed. I may be able to help. But if I’m going to help, it all goes down tomorrow.”

  “And you don’t want to fill me in ahead of time?”

  I shook my head. “It’s not about you. I don’t want to fill anyone in.”

  “So no one knows what you’re up to?”

  “Thomas does. Heck, he helped me come up with it.”

  Janey sat back further on my bed and frowned in concentration. She looked away for a few moments, and turned back to me. “How do you know all of this? What’s going on?”

  “That’s the part I can’t tell you quite yet.”

  “Okay,” Janey said. “Then why didn’t you want me to tell Mom and Dad about those two guys that tried to grab us?”

  “Because I thought they were bad guys. Really bad. And I was scared that if Mom and Dad freaked out about it and went after them, or got the cops involved or something, it would get dangerous. But I was wrong. I don’t think they are good guys, but they weren’t who I thought they were. Feel free to tell Mom and Dad whatever you want tomorrow.”

  That caught her off guard. She slowly nodded. “Okay, I’ll play along.”

  “Thanks, Janey. Seriously. I’ve been so scared, and I thought if you told Mom and Dad…” I didn’t have words for my worry. For how scared I was that things were out of control.

  Janey nodded, and didn’t push. I’d been sure she’d blow up my plans.

  “There’s a small price for my silence.”

  Huh? That couldn’t be good. “What’s that?” I asked.

  “Show me the hand thing again.”

  My heart came back down out of my throat. That was a price I could pay. I ghosted my arm into the wall alongside my bed. “Like this?”

  Janey stared at my arm where it met the wall, and her hand slowly reached up toward it, but then jerked back down to her side. “Does it feel as weird as it looks?” she asked.

  “Not anymore. Hey, listen, about the thing I have to do tomorrow. I’m not going to Battlehoop in the morning. Thomas is going to cover for me. Play along, okay? And watch out for Jordan. I don’t think he’s who he pretends to be. He’s, like, a bad guy or something. But act normal.”

  I pulled my arm out of the wall while Janey slowly shook her head. “Act normal. Cover for you. Watch out for Jordan. This is the, oh yeah, I forgot to mention something thing you say to me?”

  I shrugged. “Sorry?”

  Janey shook her head, but she had a small smile pulling on the corners of her mouth. She stood and headed for the door.

  “Janey,” I said. I had this sudden, crazy urge to tell her everything. But more than that, I felt a strange rush of affection for her. She turned back toward me at the door. “Listen, tomorrow is, uh, scary. I’m scared. No, I’m terrified. Pray for me, okay? I’m trying to do the right thing.”

  “Shouldn’t you be saying this to Mom and Dad?”

  “Yeah, but I don’t think they’d let me do it. I’ve got to see it through, Janey.”

  “I got your back, Joss. We’re family.”

  Janey turned and left, closing the door behind her. I turned my light off and experimented with insomnia for about ten minutes before sleep overwhelmed me.

  Chapter 20

  BACK TO THE BEGINNING

  THE NEXT MORNING, Janey and I set out together on our bikes toward Battlehoop. I broke off from her at the first turn and headed to Beckler Park. My black work clothes were in my backpack. The first big question mark in the plan was about to be settled. Would the text message from Thomas get Mara to come to the park before Battlehoop?

  The park and school parking lot came into view as I rode down Milken Street. There it was. Mara’s little silver car. I could see her sitting in the driver’s seat. I pulled over to the side of the school and leaned my bike against the brick wall. Hopefully it would still be there when all this was over.

  Mara got out of the car and walked over to me. She seemed tense and kept glancing around. “What’s this about, Joss?”

  “Oh, hey Mara,” I said. “Good to see you.”

  “Cut it out. What’s going on?”

  “So you figured it out? The text? Pretty cool, huh?”

  Mara pulled her phone out of the tiny brown leather purse she was carrying and read the text to me. “Go back to the beginning before Battlehoop. It’s clever. Easy to miss, but I’d told you to be cryptic. Here we are, back at the beginning. Where we met before Battlehoop, and it’s right before Battlehoop starts today.”

  I smiled. “Yeah, that’s just so cool.”

  “If you’re done gloating, why are we here?”

  “Because that’s not the only smart thing I worked up with Thomas. We are going to pull the ultimate prank today.”

  I broke it down for her. She listened, and about twenty seconds into it started nodding her head as I spoke.

  “That could work, Joss.” Mara looked away into the distance and tapped her front teeth with a fingernail for about half a minute before continuing. “It’s pretty simple, really. No way I could pull that off on my own.”

  “That’s why I’m here.”

  “Joss, if we did this, we… I can’t control things.” Mara’s lips tightened into a line. “I mean, It’s a good plan. It’s simple. To the point. But it pretty much assumes we can fight our way through a bunch of killers. You understand? These guys have been trained by Jordan to manage Sevens. And they know about you. They know your talents.”

  “But together, we could do it, right?”

  “Maybe. I mean, even if we got through, I’ll probably be busted for child endangerment. But that’s not what I’m worried about.”

  “I get it,” I said. “I’m young. It’s dangerous. My parents will probably freak out when it’s all said and done. I’ll get restricted for just about forever. Oh yeah, maybe I’ll die. But I guess all that was true when you first dragged me into this, right?”

  Her eyes dropped to her feet. “Yeah, I guess so.”

  “I mean, you knew Jordan was evil when you lied to me and suckered me into working for him.”

  Mara looked back up. Her eyes glistened with moisture, but I wasn’t done. “Yeah, so don’t suddenly start acting like my welfare was your top priority, cause that’s bunk. But here I am. Ready to help.”

  A tear broke free and traced down her cheek. I looked away and grimaced. I didn’t want her to start crying. Sure, I’d felt a burning anger ever since she’d told me what was going on, but I also understood. Her sister had been in real danger. I looked back, searching for a way to change topics. She was wearing a T-shirt that said KEEP CALM AND… OH, THAT’S A
PROBLEM.

  “So where do you get all these T-shirts?” It was a lame question, but I was under pressure.

  She wiped her face as she pulled her hands away and glanced down at her T-shirt. “A website.”

  “Great. A T-shirt website. Oh, hey, that reminds me. Let’s go rescue your sister so we can take down Jordan.”

  Mara looked at me for a moment, and nodded. She looked caught between anger and resolve. Anything was better than crying.

  “Phase one,” I said. “Ditch your car. You think its bugged, right? We looked it up yesterday. There’s a rental agency nearby. Here.” I held out my phone with a map centered on a rental car place. “In case Jordan’s tapped into your phone.”

  Mara took a deep breath and closed her eyes. She slowly exhaled. Her eyes opened and gave me a firm nod. “Game on.”

  She took my phone and we headed to her car. We got in and she turned the key. The little engine revved to life. She drove with the speedometer pegged on the speed limit. It made sense. The last thing we needed right then was to be stopped by a cop.

  We pulled into the parking lot of a store across the street from the rental car place about five minutes later. Mara shifted to a female head that I hadn’t seen before. Another one of her ‘game faces.’ I had blended as we pulled in, and thrashed around invisibly in the front seat to put on my work clothes while Mara went across the street and got a rental car. Ten minutes later, Mara pulled into the parking lot in a little red four-door car. I ghosted out of her car and into the passenger seat of the rental.

  “You’re in here, right?” she asked.

  “Here,” I said.

  “And you’re sure about this, right? From here on out, there’s no turning back.”

  “I’m sure. Let’s do this.”

  Mara nodded and cranked the car. Once we were out of the parking lot, I let go of my blend. We drove for what felt like a long time. I’d only been there once, so I didn’t remember the way, but I didn’t recognize any of the streets we were on.