T*Witches: The Power of Two

by Randi Reisfeld

  "About liking me?"

  Beth cocked her head. "Not in so many words. But he's given enough hints."

  "Hints like he knows what kind of pizza we always order?" Cam asked skeptically.

  Beth drew Alex into the convo. "Are you the same as her? I mean, being clueless when some guy really likes you?"

  Without meaning to, Alex conjured up a face. Evan's.

  And Cam saw it. "He's cute," she said aloud. "I'm not a huge fan of dreads, though, gotta say."

  Alex's jaw dropped. "How did you—?"

  "Who are you talking about?" Beth asked, perplexed, looking from one of them to the other. Then a light bulb went on. "Oh, you mean that guy who was on the Ferris wheel with Alex?"

  "Evan," Cam said, relieved. "We met him in the park. At Big Sky."

  "He's not my boyfriend," Alex protested. "Just a friend. A really, really good friend."

  "Who you miss a whole lot, I bet." This time it was Beth who finished the thought.

  But it was Cam who understood that talking about Evan was off-limits. Private for Alex. Her world, her friends, her home: She wasn't ready to share them, to open her heart fully to anyone right now. So Cam took the heat off her, switching the subject again. "So the PITS waiter's a senior? Like Tonya. Think he knows her?"

  "I doubt it," Beth said. "Tonya the loner doesn't know anyone, really. She's on our soccer team, but do we actually know her? Nuh-uh."

  Alex picked up a twig and plopped herself down on the damp beach. Grateful to Cam for changing the topic, she cleared away a patch of pebbles and began making little drawings in the sand. Evan's face. And Luce's. And her mom's.

  She tuned in and out of Cam and Beth's discussion. They'd returned to the kidnapping scenario.

  So what if Cam "knew" Marleigh had been snatched, Alex brooded. Knowing hadn't stopped it from happening. Knowing didn't get anyone closer to finding Marleigh. Just like Alex's own gifts, her powers, that healing-art thing Doc had talked about—it hadn't helped her save Sara. So what good was any of it?

  Please make this all go away. I'm sorry.

  Alex looked up to see who'd spoken. The voice hadn't sounded like Cam or Beth.

  She strained to hear—what? Something else, someone else... But now the message was garbled, staticky, like a radio station caught between signals. Had Cam heard it, too, she wondered, scanning the shadowy beach.

  This was not supposed to happen.

  Facing away from Beth and Cam, she heard it more clearly—a fear-choked voice, a girl's. She squinted into the darkness, but the comma of pebbly sand was empty save for the three of them.

  Oh, please. I need help. What am I gonna do?

  This time, Alex cleared her throat, trying to get Cam's attention. But Cam was hyper-involved with Beth. If she'd heard the desperate voice, she'd clearly chosen not to react to it.

  For Alex, that was not an option. As it always had, the cry of someone in need, a heartfelt plea for help, drew her absolutely. She bounded to her feet, announcing, "I'm gonna take a walk."

  Cam looked at her at last. "You want company?"

  "No," Alex assured her. "I'm just gonna stretch. Be back soon."

  Walking at the water's edge, she concentrated, listening attentively. But now all she heard was the sound of crunching sand pebbles under her feet and the gentle lapping of the bay. She'd walked practically to the opposite end of the beach before she heard it again.

  I don't know what to do.

  It was coming from the other side of the seawall. Alex dashed toward it.

  Please, someone, help me.

  She hoisted herself up and over the rocky parapet. Here, there was no beach. Just a wide dirt field, dotted with patches of weeds. No reason for someone to be on this side of the cove, especially at night—unless that someone didn't want to be spotted.

  The girl was sitting with her back pressed against the seawall, her head bowed, tangled hair falling over her arms as she hugged her knees. She sobbed softly, barely audibly.

  Alex could almost taste her agitated grief,could smell it—piercing and bitter like burnt almonds. "Can I help?" she asked very quietly, hoping not to startle her.

  "Huh?" The girl's head jerked up. Panic flooded her round face. "Who's there?"

  "I... couldn't help hearing—" Alex began.

  "Cam? Camryn?" Through her tears, the girl looked up. Squinting, sniffling, she stared at Alex, then unexpectedly giggled. "What happened to you? Did your hair have some unfortunate encounter with a can of blue spray paint?"

  Alex sighed, and ran her fingers through her streaked locks. She sat down next to the girl and looked into her eyes, red-rimmed and puffy. And though they'd never met, though the only light available came from moonbeams shafting through the clouds, she got it.

  So this was Tonya Gladstone.

  Chapter 26 — Testing Tonya

  "It's... Tonya, right?"

  Tonya sniffed, using the sleeve of her pullover to wipe her eyes, "Did someone dare you to do that to your hair? And why are you wearing that hanging skull thing, and that... uh... getup? Where'd you get them—at the Salvation Army?"

  Alex took a deep breath. Funny. She didn't feel mocked at all—she felt too sorry for the girl.

  Before she could find out why Tonya had been crying inconsolably, she'd have to explain herself. "I'm actually not Cam," she started.

  Tonya blew her nose. "And I'm actually not Alice. And this is not actually Wonderland."

  "Look, I know you're gonna find this really, really, hard to believe..."

  In the end, words weren't enough. Alex had to practically drag Tonya over the seawall, back to Cam and Beth. Tonya kept looking from Cam to Alex in shock and disbelief.

  Which was why it struck Alex as odd that the distraught girl's astonishment dissolved completely the minute Beth let her in on the music store computer news. That sent shock waves through Tonya.

  "I don't believe it!" she exclaimed. "They can't trace where an e-mail came from. That's impossible! No way!"

  "It takes a while," Beth explained, "but these e-detectives or whatever they call them, can track down the server and from there, find the actual computer the e-mail was sent from.

  "Lucky for Marleigh," Cam said.

  "Lucky? Only if it's not too late," Beth reminded them.

  Tonya shivered and drew her sleeve up to blot her face. "It's all my fault. I feel so responsible," she whimpered. "If it wasn't for me, Marleigh wouldn't have come here. Now it's like I led her to her... I don't know what!"

  Cam touched Tonya's hand. "It's not your fault. You couldn't have known what would happen."

  "Unless, of course," Beth probed, "you told someone at Music &..."

  "Did not!" Tonya's tone was suddenly defensive.

  "Down, girl. No one said you did. She was just wondering," Alex said.

  Tonya turned contrite. "Sorry. It's just that it was supposed to be a surprise. I wanted to do something cool for the team, for our championship game. And Marleigh was such a good sport! She wanted to be this good-luck charm, as a favor to me. And now this happened."

  As a favor to Tonya, Cam thought. But why? There were lots of regional fan club presidents; surely Marleigh didn't hop on a plane every time one beckoned. Again, Cam remembered the "it's so tragic" remark Marleigh had made about Tonya. Was there some kind of connection?

  Beth suddenly thought of something. "Hey, Tonya, isn't there some guy you're friends with at Music & More? That guy with the..."She suddenly flipped around, pointed at Alex's necklace, and made a face. "Dangling earring. A skull—like that."

  A memory of the scared little girl from the playground flashed across Alex's inner radar. Unconsciously, she covered the necklace with her hand.

  Tonya's eyes hardened. "If you're talking about the clerk at Music & More, I think his name tag says Kevin. Which is all I know about him."

  "Think he sent the e-mails?" Beth asked.

  "Puh-leeze. That nitwit couldn't figure out how to turn on a computer, let alone c
ompose an e-mail," Tonya snapped. "He's a lowlife. How could he appreciate someone like Marleigh?"

  "Hey, it's okay if you accidentally let it slip that she was coming to town," Cam tried to reassure the agitated girl. "No one's holding you responsible."

  "I didn't let it slip!" Tonya exploded. "I told you—I never said a word to anyone. I just tried to do something good. And now you're all acting like I'm a criminal or something..."She broke down sobbing. Instantly, Cam rushed to her side, Alex took her hand.

  "Hey," Cam asked when Tonya ran out of tears, "how 'bout if we take you home? I'll call my dad for a ride now."

  Back in Cam's room later, Alex kicked off her sandals and stretched out on the spare bed. It was hers, she guessed, temporarily, anyway. She turned her head toward the window; the glow of the moon seemed to pull at her. It was hard to believe it was the same moon that shone over Crow Creek, which seemed worlds away. Where everyone was so different from the people she'd met here... Take Tonya, for instance. The unhappy girl was obviously rich. They'd dropped her off in front of a sprawling mansion that sat up on a hill, behind huge iron gates.

  "I guess sad-sack Gladstone is really loaded, huh?" Alex mused idly.

  Cam was sitting in her swivel chair, booting up her laptop. Checking her e-mail before she went to bed was a nightly ritual. Her back to Alex, she shrugged. "I guess."

  "But her crib," Alex noted, "I've seen hotels smaller."

  There were three emails from Dylan. Unsurprisingly, her kid brother had been blindsided by the double dose of news—about her being adopted, and about Alex. He wanted to come home, but their parents had insisted he stick it out the one more week of camp. Now, he was full of Alex questions.

  Cam hit REPLY, and started to answer. To Alex, she absently said, "Tonya's family probably has more than your average millionaire. But it's not like money buys happiness. Obviously."

  "Yeah, obviously. Maybe all it buys you is better medical care."

  Cam's fingers froze on the keyboard. She swiveled around in her chair. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean anything."

  "I know you didn't," Alex admitted, propping herself up on her elbows. "It's cool, forget it."

  Cam drew her knees up on the chair. "You know, not everyone around here is as weird as Tonya. There are some kids you'd probably get along with—"

  "Members of the Slick Pack, I presume. Don't sweat it. Besides"—Alex turned away from Cam—"it's not like I'm staying. No matter what the DNA results show."

  Surprised at how bruised she felt, Cam turned back to her mac. A moment later, she swiveled around to face Alex. "You didn't just stumble on Tonya when you took that walk, right? Even though that's what you made it seem like."

  "I heard Tonya crying... I guess you didn't?"

  "No," Cam admitted through gritted teeth. "I guess I'm just not as sensitive as you."

  "Don't stress," Alex counseled, reading her mind. "If you weren't so deep into it with Beth, babbling about boys, you would've heard her, too. Probably."

  Cam said defensively, "I asked if you wanted company." She jumped off her chair and walked over to the window.

  "Hey, it's no big." Alex swung her legs over the side of the bed. "Beth is your best friend. And this"—she swept her arm around the room—"is your life. Even if," Alex anticipated Cam's comeback, "you always thought you were Dave and Emily's biological child. Now you find out you're adopted. You know what? Nothing's really gonna change for you. You'll forgive them, you'll go back to your regularly scheduled world, starring soccer mom, good-lawyer dad, tousle-headed little brother. Me, I'm just passing through."

  "Great!" Cam hollered, stung. "Maybe before you cut out, you could tell me what Tonya was saying. What exactly did you hear that made you want to go find her?"

  Alex was taken aback. She hadn't meant to hurt Cam, could hardly believe that she even could. And now Little Miss Sunshine was snapping on her. Alex sighed, "Tonya was going, 'I'm sorry, I never meant for this to happen.' She was incredibly sad."

  "With good reason. Marleigh. She's..."Cam paused. "I know you're gonna say, another 'poor little rich girl.' But it's not like that. At least, it didn't seem that way when I talked to her. She was really sweet."

  Alex didn't respond right away.

  But Cam knew what she was thinking. "I know you don't care all that much about the whole Marleigh thing. But right now? It is kinda easier than talking about... you know... us."

  "Bull's-eye," Alex agreed. She sighed, "I know you told the police everything you remember about the fateful day, but rewind the tape. Who knows, maybe..."She trailed off.

  Cam picked up the thread. "Between the two of us, we can figure something out? You're kidding, right?"

  Alex shrugged. "Humor me. Tell me exactly what you saw."

  So Cam reviewed the day of the soccer disaster, about how Tonya had sprung this incredible surprise by bringing Marleigh Cooper to the game. About how Tonya then pretended she and Cam were friends, and insisted on a photo op. They got to talk to the singer, who actually seemed like a genuinely nice person.

  Sarcastically, Alex said, "So did you and your glitzy new best friend exchange cell phone numbers? Make plans to hang at her Hollywood mansion?"

  Cam folded her arms. "Very funny. Right after the photo was taken, Marleigh went back into the stands with Tonya."

  Alex finished, "The very stands from which she'd soon vanish."

  Cam nodded and continued, "As Tonya told the police, Marleigh needed to make a call and couldn't get reception from her seat, so she went down to the parking lot."

  Alex tilted her head and pursed her lips.

  "What?" Cam asked.

  "Glub, glub..."

  "Glub?" Cam repeated. "In our language, please."

  Alex laughed, "Something sounds fishy. That's what my homeys do when we don't believe something. Anyway, go on. What happened on the field?"

  Although it still bummed her to repeat the story, Cam told Alex about how Lindsay had cried foul and accused Cam of blinding her. And about how she'd choked and never made the goal to keep her team alive.

  "Why'd you choke?" Alex asked gently.

  "Because something made me look up in the stands—right that second."

  "Where you saw?" Alex prodded.

  "It was this kid, this child—well, no more than a flash of curly red hair—scampering down the bleachers." Cam stopped abruptly. She hadn't told the police about that—because she'd forgotten it. Somehow, talking to Alex made her remember things she hadn't before.

  Alex searched Cam's eyes. "A kid running made you choke? What else did you see up there, Cam?"

  A man, the crinkly-faced man from my dreams. And suddenly there he was in the stands, telling me not to leave. To stay because Marleigh needed me. Well, I thought he meant Marleigh, but he could have meant you—Alex—too.

  Cam never actually said those words out loud. She didn't have to. Alex had read her mind.

  "This decrepit dude, what kind of hair did he have," Alex asked. "Was itpure white but kind of wild, like windblown cotton?"

  Cam nodded.

  "Was he funny-looking? Skinny, but strong in a way?"

  "Well, he wasn't exactly ha-ha funny-looking. And who's Doc?"

  Now it was Alex's turn to have her mind read. "I was thinking it was Doc—I didn't say it was."

  "Tell me who Doc is."

  "The weird old guy who brought me here." Alex gulped suddenly.

  "Did you ever see him at night?" Cam was almost afraid to ask, "I mean, you know, in a dream?"

  What came flooding back to Alex filled her face with grief. Doc. Why hadn't she put it together before? Wasn't he one and the same as the pasty-faced old guy with the raspy voice, who'd warned her to stay close to Sara? If she'd listened to him...

  The pain on her look-alike's face stopped Cam from continuing to read Alex's mind. Whatever was hurting the motherless girl was too much to bear. Instead, Cam whispered, "You know, I thought I was losing my mind when I saw him in the stands."
<
br />   "You weren't," Alex assured her. Then, because she just couldn't help herself, added, "All you were losing was the game!"

  Cam tried to grimace, but broke out laughing instead. "Way to add a little levity." And the truth was, for the first time in a long time, Cam felt like a weight had been lifted. Just being able to tell Alex everything—all the things Beth and her parents would not believe—allowed Cam to feel free somehow.