by Tia Mowry
I glanced around just in time to see Gabe Campbell shoot me a poisonous glare as he stomped past, his battered cowboy boots clomping on the floor.
“Oops, looks like someone’s still mad at you,” Megan commented.
I just nodded. Gabe’s uncle was the reason Mom had a job here in Aura. Sort of. Chuck Campbell had been on the force for years—and he’d been embezzling money from the town almost as long. After he was fired, he’d held a grudge against Mom for taking his job—and Gabe seemed to be holding a grudge against Cassie and me for the same reason.
Megan and I continued down the hall to her locker, still trailed by the minions. Lavender Adams was already there, leaning against the wall, picking at her fingernails.
She looked up when she heard us coming. “Hey,” she said to Megan.
Okay, technically she said it to all of us. But her hazel eyes barely registered me before settling on Megan and the minions. I tried not to let it bother me. Lavender hadn’t accepted me into the group as quickly as Megan and the others had. Sometimes she almost felt like a friend, and other times? Well, not so much. But I wasn’t too worried. Most people liked me once they got to know me, and I was sure Lavender was no exception.
“We were just talking about weekend plans,” I told her with a friendly smile.
“Way to plan ahead, Cassie.” Lavender shrugged. “It’s only Thursday; we still have a whole ’nother day of school to survive first.”
Megan laughed. “All the more reason to think about something fun, right?” She clicked open her locker and checked her reflection in the mirror she’d stuck on the door. “Unfortunately I don’t think I can do anything on Saturday. Mom’s having some kind of dinner party for a bunch of boring town businesspeople, and I’m supposed to help her get ready.”
“Bummer,” I said. “I hope your mom doesn’t have you scheduled for anything next Saturday, though. Because it’s my birthday, and you’re all invited to help me celebrate.”
“Your birthday? Really?” Megan glanced at me. “I didn’t know that was coming up.”
I shrugged, not bothering to remind her that up until a week or so ago, she wouldn’t have cared. “Yeah,” I said. “With the move and all, I haven’t had a chance to make any plans.”
“I can fix that.” Lavender suddenly looked a lot friendlier. “Party time!”
I laughed and high-fived her. “Pretty much what I was thinking.”
“What kind of party are you having, Cassie?” one of the minions asked.
“I haven’t thought about it yet. Any ideas?”
“Sure,” Lavender said immediately. “Boy-girl party, cool DJ. Finger food.”
“Dancing?” a minion said.
“Naturally,” Lavender replied.
Megan smiled. “Sounds like the perfect place to wear that cute new dress I got when we were shopping last week.”
“Totally,” Lavender agreed. She glanced at me. “Make sure to tell the DJ there should be lots of slow songs, right?”
The second minion giggled. “Perfect!”
Before I could say anything, Lavender suddenly frowned.
“Wait,” she said. “Don’t you live over on Granite Street?” She wrinkled her nose. “Maybe you should have the party somewhere else.”
Okay, obnoxious. But she had a point. Our new place in Aura was so tiny that Caitlyn and I had to share a bedroom, something we hadn’t done since we were six. At first we’d both been horrified. I’m kind of type A when it comes to cleaning and organizing, while Cait’s more like type P, for pigsty. But so far it had actually been okay. At least mostly.
“My cousin had her Sweet Sixteen at that big hotel in Six Oaks,” one of the minions said. “The ballroom there is really swank!”
Megan nodded, looking interested. “Did she get it catered?”
Yikes. This was getting out of control.
“Hang on,” I said. “Don’t forget, it’s my sister’s birthday, too.”
“Your sister?” Lavender’s nose wrinkled even more dramatically. I wanted to warn her that her face might freeze that way, but it didn’t seem like the right moment.
“Yes, my twin sister, remember?” I shrugged. “Whatever we do, I have to run it by her.”
And call me crazy, but I had the feeling Caitlyn wasn’t going to go for Lav’s idea of a swanky slow-dance party. Not that it mattered. I definitely didn’t have the funds to throw a party like that, and I doubted I’d be able to talk Mom into it either.
Lavender looked unimpressed. “Anyway,” she said, “what do you guys think about our chances against the Tigers tomorrow? You know, with Brayden out of commission . . .”
We were still talking about the football team a few minutes later when we headed for the exit. Lavender pushed open the heavy front door, letting a blast of AC out with a whoosh.
“Ugh,” I said as the late afternoon heat smacked me in the face. “Remind me to move to Alaska soon, okay?”
Megan laughed. “Funny, Cass.”
“I’m not joking,” I said, smirking to show that I was. At least sort of. “This kind of weather makes my hair go all kinky. It would only be tolerable if I had a pool.”
Lavender shrugged. “Megan has one.”
I wasn’t surprised. Megan was totally the type of person whose house would have a pool. Probably a fancy one with a waterfall and a slide.
“Yeah.” Megan dug her lip gloss out of her purse. “Normally my parents would have shut it down for the winter by now. But my dad keeps saying they’ll wait until it gets cold.”
“Hey, there’s your sister, Cassie,” one of the minions said. “Maybe we should go talk to her about your party.”
“No,” I said quickly. I could only imagine how Cait would react to my friends bombarding her with their ideas. “I just remembered my mom wants us home early today. But don’t worry, I’ll talk to her. See you!”
I rushed off toward Caitlyn, who was waiting for me near the flagpole. I’d barely seen her all day. Aura Middle School was so small that the entire sixth grade was divided into only two sections—green and gold, named after the school colors. Megan, Emily, Abby, and I were in the gold section. So was Brayden. Cait was in green with her dorky friends, along with Lavender and the other three B Boys.
“Hi,” I said when I reached my sister. “Where’s the nerd patrol?”
She frowned slightly. “If you mean Liam and Bianca, they already left.”
Oops. So much for starting our birthday party discussion on the right foot. Still, with only a little over a week to make plans, I couldn’t wait for a better moment. Besides, Cait wasn’t the type to hold a grudge.
“I’ve been thinking about our birthday,” I said as we started walking.
She brightened. “Me, too. Liam told me there’s a new minigolf place in Six Oaks. Should we go there? We could each invite a few friends, maybe get pizza after.”
“Minigolf and pizza?” I shrugged. “That’d be perfect if we were turning eight, not twelve. We only have one more year until we’re officially teenagers, right? It’s time to stop with the baby parties and do something fun. Maybe at night, with dancing. My friends are totally willing to help us plan it.”
“Are you kidding?” Caitlyn said. “Mom isn’t going to let us have some teenagery dance party. I mean, have you met her?”
I frowned. “She owes us one. She made us move here, remember? I’m sure she’ll be reasonable.”
Cait was starting to get a stubborn expression that I didn’t like. “Well, I don’t want that kind of party,” she said. “We’re not teenagers yet. Why rush it?”
I rolled my eyes. Why hadn’t I predicted this? Oh, wait—I had. Caitlyn and I used to have a ton in common, but over the past few years she’d turned into someone I barely recognized. Even those stupid visions we’d both started having showed how different we’ve become—all of Cait’s seemed to show good stuff happening to people, while mine showed bad or horrible or unpleasant stuff. Totally unfair, right?
&n
bsp; “Whatever,” I said. “It’s way too hot to argue about it. We’ll deal with it later.”
“Fine,” she replied.
We trudged the rest of the way home in silence. As she opened the front door, Caitlyn glanced at me.
“It’s not that I don’t want to have a party,” she said. “I just think we need to talk about the details a little more.”
“Okay.” This was a little more promising. I could work with this. “Maybe we can compromise. The first thing is to figure out where to have the party.” My eyes swept the place as I stepped inside. The house was so small that I could hear the squeak of the shower turning off down the hall. “Definitely not here.”
“Why not?” Cait looked around, too. “It’s not like we’re inviting the whole school, right? I’m okay with keeping the guest list small.”
Just then Mom emerged from the bathroom in a cloud of steam, one towel wrapped around her body and another around her head. “What are you girls talking about?” she asked.
“Our birthday,” Cait said.
“Coming up next weekend, or did you forget?” I added, “That doesn’t give us much time to plan the party, but—”
“Are you sure you want a party this year?” Mom interrupted. She fiddled with the edge of her towel, not really looking at either of us. “I was thinking the three of us could go out for a nice dinner. Or maybe cook something here at home. We haven’t had brisket in a while.”
I shook my head. “No way! You only turn twelve once, right?”
“I can’t believe you two are almost twelve already. It seems like just yesterday you were learning to walk.” Mom shook her head, looking kind of wistful, which so wasn’t like her. She’s hardly the sappy, sentimental type. She’s not the twitchy type either, though she was acting a little that way right now.
Caitlyn stepped over and put an arm around her shoulders. “Oh, Mom, we . . .”
Her voice trailed off. Suddenly she sort of stiffened, and her eyes went all weird and distant. Uh-oh. I instantly guessed what that meant. She was having a vision!
“C’mon, Cait, leave her alone,” I said, yanking her away from Mom.
As soon as they weren’t touching anymore, Cait’s face cleared. She still looked a little confused, though.
Luckily Mom didn’t seem to notice as she checked her watch. “We’ll have to talk more about your birthday later. I need to get dressed for work or I’ll be late.”
She disappeared back down the hallway, toward her room. I stared at Caitlyn. “Let me guess,” I said. “Vision?”
“Uh-huh.” Cait blinked a few times, then took a deep breath. “Caught me by surprise. Tell you in a sec.”
I knew how she felt. It always took a few seconds to go back to normal again after a vision. If you could call someone who saw the future normal.
“I was really hoping this would stop,” I muttered. “Preferably before our birthday.”
“Doubtful.” Caitlyn collapsed onto the sofa. “Remember that website I found? An article on there said there’s some family in England where each member starts getting visions around the time they turn twelve.”
Caitlyn had been intrigued by the whole vision thing from the start. She’d done a bunch of research online and even posted a question on some wackadoodle paranormal message board. Me? I didn’t want to learn anything about our visions; I just wanted them to go away. If her research helped us figure out how to make that happen, I was all for it.
“That reminds me. Did you ever hear anything back from that crazy website?” I asked.
“I didn’t tell you?” Cait sat up and stared at me. “When I checked the site again, the whole thread had been removed.”
“Removed? What do you mean?”
Before she could answer, the doorbell rang. “Could you get that?” Mom’s muffled voice rang out from the back of the house.
“Got it!” I hollered, already heading for the door.
When I swung it open, a delivery guy was standing there. “Package for Waters?” he said, holding out a large, flat box covered in colorful foreign stamps.
I didn’t answer for a second. I couldn’t.
Because this wasn’t the first time I’d seen that exact same package.
3
CAITLYN
“WHO IS IT?” I asked when Cassie didn’t reappear right away.
I stepped onto the front stoop, glancing from my sister to the deliveryman. Then I gasped when I saw the package he was holding. My mind flashed to a vision I’d had last week—one we’d both had. It had showed Cass and me standing right here on our front step, holding a package. Holding this package.
“Is that for us?” I said, grabbing it from the guy. “Thanks.”
“Sure.” He tipped his hat, then hurried back toward his truck.
I grabbed Cass and yanked her inside. “Oh my gosh!” I hissed.
“I know, right?” Her eyes were wide and freaked out.
I glanced at the package. It was addressed in tidy, formal handwriting to Misses Caitlyn and Cassandra Waters. The stamps were from a mish-mash of foreign places—Germany, the UK, France, even one from Singapore.
“There’s no return address,” I said. “I wonder who it’s from.”
“One way to find out.” She grabbed it from me and clawed at the tape.
“Wait!” I suddenly remembered something. “This could be important. Up until now, everything I’ve seen in my visions has showed something good happening to someone, and everything you’ve seen has been, you know . . .”
“Bad,” Cassie finished with a slight frown.
For some reason, Cassie seemed to take it personally that she’d been seeing bad stuff so far. “But listen, this proves that was all just a coincidence, right? Because this time we both saw the same thing, and how can getting this package be good and bad?”
“Maybe someone sent you a birthday present and forgot to put mine in, too,” Cassie joked. “Anyway, it’s addressed to us, so let’s open it already!”
She opened the package and slid out a flat, smaller wooden box. Lifting the lid, she revealed a small leather-bound book, its cover soft and worn with age. Beside it was a cream-colored, expensive-looking envelope and a tarnished silver pendant on a long chain.
“Cool necklace.” Cassie picked up the pendant and dangled it for a better look. It was shaped like a fancy key, with an eye-shaped handle that had a star where the pupil should be.
Meanwhile I opened the envelope and pulled out what was inside. I glanced at Cassie just in time to see her slide the pendant on over her head.
“What?” she said at my look. “I’m sure this is for me. Is that a card?”
“More like a letter.” I skimmed the first few lines and gasped. “You’re not going to believe this! Listen.”
I started to read:
“‘Dear Caitlyn and Cassandra, I hope it is not a complete surprise to hear from me, your grandmother, though I have not seen you since soon after your birth. I have, however, thought of you too many times since your dear father left us, and have often wished you could be here with me. However, I have honored your mother’s wishes to remain apart from you—until now. With your twelfth birthday approaching rapidly, I know at least one of you must be experiencing the beginning stages of the Sight. That is why I have made the effort to locate you and send you this package. I am sure you must have questions about the family legacy, and the enclosed volume will answer many of them. This is very important, for without learning to manage your powers, you could—’”
“What’s that?” Mom’s voice interrupted in midsentence.
I spun around. She was standing right behind me, dressed in her police uniform. Before I knew what was happening, she grabbed the letter out of my hand. As she read the beginning, her expression darkened.
“I see,” she said. “I’ll take this, too.” She snatched the leather-bound book out of Cassie’s hand.
“Hey!” Cass protested. “That was sent to us—Cait and me. Our names ar
e on the box and everything.”
“Yes,” I said, still trying to take in what I’d just read. “It’s from our—our grandmother.”
Cassie nodded. “And it sure didn’t sound like Maw Maw Jean either,” she added. “It’s got to be from our father’s mom, right?”
“That’s enough,” Mom said. “This is a mistake, and that’s the end of it.”
She’d slipped into what we called her scarymama voice—the tone that brooked no argument. But why? We hadn’t done anything wrong.
“But—” I began.
“That letter—” Cassie said at the same time.
Mom swept past us, her face twisted into an expression I couldn’t quite figure out. She looked angry, yes—but also really freaked out. And that freaked me out. Mom was about the coolest cucumber on the planet.
“Hey, where are you going?” Cassie cried. Mom charged toward the door, pausing just long enough to grab her purse from the bench. She stuffed the book and letter inside.
“To work,” Mom replied in a clipped voice without turning around.
I winced as the door slammed behind her hard enough to shake the house. “What was that all about?” I exclaimed. “I can’t believe she took our stuff and left!”
“Not all of it.” Cassie touched the necklace, which she was still wearing. “Guess she didn’t notice this.”
“I can’t believe we have a grandmother we never knew about,” I said. “And she seemed to know about our visions, too. At least I bet that’s what she meant by ‘the Sight.’”
“Yeah.” Cassie frowned, fiddling with the key-shaped pendant. “Mom seemed to know who it was from, though. And she didn’t like it.”
“The letter said our grandmother was honoring Mom’s wishes to stay away from us,” I recalled.
Cassie bit her lip, staring at me with troubled brown eyes. “So does that mean Mom knew about this weirdo twin superpower thing all along? And didn’t tell us?”
“We don’t know that for sure,” I said quickly. “Anyway, at least we know we’re not going crazy, right? Sounds like this Sight thing is something that’s passed down in our dad’s family or something. Sort of like those Lockwood people I read about on that website.”
