by Lora Palmer
I stopped my brother upstairs in the hallway when we were both dressed and ready to go. "Do you think something might happen at the church today? I mean, it is the anniversary. There was all that weirdness last night. And now, two strangers have moved into our neighborhood. What if history repeats itself?"
David ruffled my hair, and I batted his hand away. "Wow, Kara’s crazy ideas about ghosts and aliens are messing with your head. No, nothing’s going to happen. I won’t let it."
* * *
After church, David and I got ready for the beach. The tension in my shoulders, back, and stomach ebbed once church ended without the Drakes making an appearance. While Mom's chocolate chip cookies baked and a pan of ziti cooled on the counter, I called Jenny.
"Hey, Jen! Sorry we didn't get much of a chance to talk at church. So, how are you?"
"The doctor said there’s no concussion, so Mom has stopped freaking out — for the most part."
We both laughed.
"That's good," I said, stretching out on my bed. "Has she stopped freaking out enough to let you come to the beach with us? David has to go to the Wharf for a bit, but he'll meet us there later."
"Hmm...I'm not sure, but I can test the waters. No guarantees, though. You and Kara might have to come over and plead my case."
"Crossing my fingers for you."
"Thanks. I may need all the luck I can get."
Jenny set down the phone. While listening to the sounds of a muffled conversation, I kept my fingers crossed in the hopes that luck would be on our side. Soon, a cheer of "Yes! Thanks, Mom!" carried to my ears. Then Jenny picked up the phone again.
"She said you can go?"
"You heard? Yes, I'll be there. What time are we leaving?"
"How about in half an hour? Once David and I bring over a care package for the new neighbors, we'll head down to the beach."
"Perfect. See you then."
* * *
I stood with David on our neighbor's doorstep, care package in hand. David knocked on the door, which opened moments later to reveal a boy with dark, close-cropped hair and gorgeous ice-blue eyes. His gaze lingered on me as our eyes met and locked. Right away, I knew this was Brian — the boy from my vision.
Today he wore a black graphic T-shirt and khaki cargo shorts — an outfit good for blending in anywhere. I couldn't break away from his gaze, a gaze I could easily get lost in. A nudge from David jerked me out of my reverie. To my eternal gratitude, he didn’t say, 'Earth to Leah,' though he probably thought it.
"Hi." I finally managed to find my voice as the spell broke. "I'm Leah, and this is my brother David. We live next door. Mom sent us over with a welcome-to-the-neighborhood gift." Great. Way to sound stupid. As if staring at him for way too long wasn’t bad enough. I bit my lip and tucked a strand of hair behind my ear, forcing myself to glance down.
"We also wanted to see if you'd like to hang out with us at the beach," David added, rescuing me from my mortification. "Leah's heading over now, along with our friend Kevin and a couple of the girls. I have to stop off at the job first, but I'll meet everyone there afterward."
"I'm Brian. It's nice to meet you both." Brian shook hands with David. His gaze returned once again to linger on me as he accepted the care package. "Sure, I'd love to hit the beach. Dad and I have moved around a lot, but this is the first time we've lived anywhere close to the ocean."
His full lips curved into an enticing smile, crinkling the skin around his eyes. Sneaking another glance at him, I wondered what it would be like to kiss those lips. My heart skipped a beat, and my cheeks flushed warm at the thought.
Stop. Just stop. This is dangerous. Who cares how hot he is if he gets you killed like Janice and Lisa Stanford?
Mr. Drake came to the door, raising one eyebrow as he glanced between me and Brian. "Good of you to stop by."
"They brought us a care package." Brian showed his father the gift basket, which Mr. Drake accepted from him.
"Thank your mother for me, will you? I take it this is her handiwork. Please, come in." His gaze narrowed at Brian, as though to chide for lack of manners, but then he focused his attention on me again.
"I’ll tell her, sir. Unfortunately, I have to get going to work," David replied.
"Leah, what about you?"
The thought of being stuck here all alone sent me into an absolute panic. I glanced over at my brother for help in getting out of this situation. I'd much rather spend time with Brian away from his dad — on the beach, where I would be surrounded by my friends, where I would be safe.
Just in time to rescue me, Kara, Jenny, and Kevin arrived. Introductions were made all around while Mr. Drake excused himself to put the package in the kitchen. Jenny stood with her arms crossed, quiet and withdrawn. Kara, on the other hand, checked out Brian discreetly and gave me an encouraging wink. In response, I glared before returning my attention to the conversation.
"I need to do some unpacking and help out around the house first, but I’ll meet you later," Brian said.
"Good." David had an intense expression on his face, staring at Brian with one eyebrow raised.
Inwardly I groaned, knowing my brother would be giving him a hard time later. David made his goodbyes, heading off to the village in his car.
"We'll see you there," I said, reaching out to shake Brian's hand. A jolt of electricity passed between us as he took my hand and kissed it. My whole body tingled.
Where did he pick up an old-fashioned gesture like that — his father, another time, another world?
"Bye," I whispered, giving his hand a delicate squeeze before reluctantly letting go. My pulse quickened, and I flashed him a wide smile. For a moment, I had forgotten all about Mr. Drake and my eagerness to leave before he returned from the kitchen.
"Bye," he replied, smiling back and finally letting my hand go with equal reluctance.
Kara took me by the arm and dragged me away. As we headed toward the beach, I turned back just in time to see Brian close the door, his gaze still on me.
Chapter 6
"You've got it bad, girl!" Kara laughed, linking arms with me as we made our way down the sandy slope to Stanford Square.
"I do not!" I protested with a chuckle. The sea breeze blew my hair in my face, and I tamed my loose locks with a side braid to stop it from bothering me. I could feel it coming; Kara was going to tease me mercilessly just because a guy had shown some interest. But why? She had never shown this much excitement when the police chief’s son, Jason, had basically stalked me all last year, and Brian was far more dangerous. Jason’s main problem was his inability to take no for an answer.
"Yes, you do. You had the whole starry-eyed-I-can't-take-my-eyes-off-you thing going, and you couldn't tear your hand away from him. Face it. You were drawn to him like a magnet. And it was just as hard to pry the two of you apart!"
Heat warmed my cheeks, and I must’ve flushed crimson. "Lay off, okay? I’m not getting involved."
"Why not? You were totally into him. And he was obviously into you, too."
"Remember that vision I had last night, Kara? He was in it," I whispered, not wanting the others to hear. Her eyes got huge, but she let the subject drop.
"You think? Nobody does the hand-kiss thing with that much intensity unless they are," Kevin cut in.
Jenny nodded. "Yeah, he did seem like kind of an intense guy, and there's something mysterious about him."
"Exactly! Mysterious is the word for it. I think he's got an...interesting past." I turned to look back at Jenny, and we shared a smile as our eyes met.
"That wouldn’t surprise me," Jenny said. "I mean, moving around so much and all that." By this point, we were nearing the boardwalk shops, and I asked, "So, what do you guys want to do first?"
"I'm going to go check my schedule for the week at the main lifeguard house. See you guys on the beach in a few," Kevin said.
"Hey, let's go to the Spirit Shoppe," Kara suggested as soon as Kevin disappeared from view. "I’d like you all
to meet Madame Helena, my boss.”
* * *
A tinkling chime sounded as Kara led the way inside, where air-conditioning chilled and refreshed my skin after our walk in the midday sun. The shop was bright and spacious, with pale grey-blue walls. Front display tables showcased odds and ends such as scented candles, pendants, and bookmarks. Some sort of spicy fragrance, a mix of cinnamon and ginger incense, permeated the air. One corner of the shop housed a small cafe and lounge, called the Zen Nook, complete with a fountain and Zen garden. I smiled, feeling right at home in the serenity of this place.
Kara dragged Jenny over to the bookshelves, but I didn’t go with them. I wanted to check out the glass cases that housed ancient books, the kind bound with leather and inscribed with gold. Inside one case rested an ornately carved wooden box with a dark, polished finish. The symbols carved into that box were like nothing I’d ever seen before, but they reminded me of hieroglyphics. Mesmerized and unable to tear my gaze away, I trailed my fingers along the glass covering the box. How I wished I could reach inside. For a second, I could have sworn the symbols on the box glowed green. Then the glow disappeared, leaving me uncertain whether I’d actually seen it, or if it had been a trick of light playing through the stained glass window.
That got Kara’s attention, and she came over with Jenny in tow, a stack of books in her arms and her eyes wide. "Did that box just glow? It did, didn’t it?"
"So, the box proves as unique as I’ve always believed. It has never reacted that way to anyone else."
I snatched my hand back from the glass and turned to face the speaker, a tall, willowy woman who had come up behind the counter on my left. Madame Helena dressed in a flowing white maxi dress. Her long, dark hair was swept up into a casual bun. She had a kind face and warm brown eyes.
"You must let me speak with you," Madame Helena said after Kara introduced her to me and Jenny. Her voice held a slight European accent that was lovely, but I couldn't identify it. She unlocked the case and lifted out the box with deft, graceful hands. "Come, let’s take this conversation to the sitting area, where we will have a little more privacy."
Jenny and I shared equal looks of confusion. "All right," I agreed, my gaze shifting back to Madame Helena as we followed her to the far corner of the store.
"Yeah, sure," Jenny added. Then, she whispered in my ear, "This should be interesting." I wondered just how much sarcasm laced this comment.
In reply, I gave a slight nod, just enough to let Jenny know I’d heard. I had to admit, I was curious about what the shop owner wanted to tell us, especially if it involved the Drakes or last night’s mysterious events. Kara had once said that Madame Helena had the gift of prophecy, so maybe she’d received an exciting — or terrifying — revelation about the future. My stomach clenched. Did her revelation herald a repeat of what happened to Janice and Lisa Stanford? From the expression of wonder on Kara's face and her blue eyes lit with anticipation and worry, it looked like she was thinking the same thing.
When everyone sat in a semicircle around one of the low coffee tables, Madame Helena glanced around the small group and took a deep breath.
"Before telling you something of this magnitude, I had hoped to know you, Leah and Jenny, a bit better, much like I have come to know Kara in recent months. It will probably come as a shock to hear, but I sense that it can't wait. Kara may have told you that I sometimes have visions of the future. Each time it happened, what I saw came to pass. When I first touched this box, I was shown a vision of a great many natural disasters unleashed. They caused so many deaths, so much pain and suffering. It was a vision of what could be if it is not prevented. From what I can tell, it has begun, but I believe there is still time."
"Do you mean, with all these major hurricanes, earthquakes, and volcanic eruptions that have been way on the increase this year?" Kara asked, leaning toward her.
"There does seem to be an intensification of natural disasters here on Earth as well. But, I am not talking about Earth alone," Madame Helena replied, also leaning forward.
"Wait...what?" I couldn't help but ask, trying to wrap my mind around this news. "What do you mean you’re not talking about Earth 'alone'?"
Jenny and I shared equally stunned looks as we turned to each other, our knees inclined inward.
I swallowed hard. "You're talking about seeing something catastrophic happening on another planet? But even if that’s true...how can we warn them, much less prevent it?"
My heart went out to the inhabitants of this mystery planet, wherever in the universe it might be, if it even existed. Somehow, inexplicably, I felt a deep emotional connection to this unknown world. It was as though a powerful memory were beginning to surface within me.
Jenny sat back in her chair and crossed her arms, a challenge in her gaze. "How could you possibly know that?" she asked, seeming less surprised about the information than about the fact that Madame Helena knew it.
The seer calmly arched an eyebrow at Jenny. "I'm sure that I saw this for a reason: so that it could be prevented. There must be a way. I am also just as certain that the three of you are in some way connected to it, and that you will be the key to stopping it. You see, these catastrophes are not natural. They are man-made. And, as such, there is a duty to stop it."
Jenny was still giving Madame Helena a calculating, thoughtful look.
"Do you think some of them are here, seeking help from our government, or maybe some of Earth’s resources? That would be amazing." Kara said.
How did Kara manage to believe in all things sci-fi and paranormal so easily? Some of her curiosity about this stuff had rubbed off on me, but I still had a healthy dose of skepticism.
"That would be amazing," I agreed, bending closer to Kara and Madame Helena. "I just don’t know what we could do to help. The government isn't going to tell the masses anything about it. We'd have to find them ourselves somehow."
"The answer is closer to you than you think," Madame Helena assured us. She glanced around the group, carefully assessing each one in turn. Then, she handed the box to me. I’d been unable to keep my eyes off that box the whole time, trying to read the symbols carved into it. I gave her a quizzical but delighted glance, and we shared a smile as I reverently accepted the box.
"Now, since the box responded to you, Leah, why don’t you try to open it?"
The box glowed again and snapped open with a sharp click at my touch. I let out a gasp. Woah! Madame Helena was right about it responding to me. Slowly, I slid off the lid to reveal a lightning bolt-shaped pendant, a gold ring with a black square stone — possibly onyx — in the setting, and a piece of parchment with what appeared to be a poem written in that same symbolic language.
"I found this box out in the forest by the cemetery thirteen years ago," Madame Helena explained. "It was right after you arrived here, Leah, and all those strange events started happening at this time each year. When I touched the box, I glimpsed flashes of where it came from and how it came to be here. The ones who brought this box to this world unleashed the disasters I mentioned, helped by magic, to end what they considered a terrible oppression on their homeworld. They were pursued, caught, and banished for their crimes. This box was the one thing they brought with them to Earth. Here, they planned to meet the lost First Daughter, the MirrorMaster of the prophecy. She would return to their world in a time of great need, to stop the disasters and save life from being wiped out planetwide."
"Nobody from that planet ever found them here, did they? Maybe those two strangers who caused Janice and Lisa Stanford's deaths were after them, too, and somehow ended up in the wrong time?" Kara asked.
"No one knows for sure what happened, but I'm positive the strangers were from that other world. They had technology beyond what we have today," said Madame Helena.
While I pondered this, my thoughts drifted to another explanation. "The Prophecy! Maybe the strangers thought either Janice or Lisa was the girl in the prophecy."
Madame Helena nodded. "I believe
that as well. Obviously they were wrong, but they are still out there, searching for the lost MirrorMaster."
Jenny’s eyebrows raised in surprise.
"And you think one of us is?" Kara said, glancing sidelong at me.
"I believe so. After all, Leah was able to open the box when no one else has. That must mean it is time to find the MirrorMaster and reveal the Prophecy."
"Wow!" Kara whispered.
"What does the prophecy say?" I asked, glancing up from the box I still held on my lap. It took a great effort to break away from peering at the delicate contents inside.
"I’ve shared as much as I know now. Perhaps the ring will help you. One phrase that keeps repeating in my mind these past few minutes says that the ring will be your guide. This is all yours now, Leah. It's up to you. I will be here for any help you need. "
Madame Helena gave me a farewell kiss on the cheek. "Oh, Leah, now that this has happened, you may want some answers about your own past," she said, clasping my hands in hers. “My friend Melinda works at the social services agency that handled your adoption. I was in training there under her supervision at the time of your adoption and assisted with the paperwork. You should go there some time to review your file with her if you’d like. Think about it."
Finally, she hugged Kara and merely nodded at Jenny with a slight smile before excusing herself to tend to her shop.
"Thank you!" I called as Madame Helena left. Barely registering the sounds of the door chime as customers entered and left the shop, I was captivated by the alien artifacts that had been left to me.
"'The ring will be your guide'? What does that mean?" Jenny asked.
I shrugged. "I have no idea."
"We'll figure it out," Kara said, flashing a confident smile.
My head reeled with questions. Why was I so drawn to this story and to these items? Who was the lost MirrorMaster? How would we find her and get all of this to her? Should I meet with someone at the social services agency and learn what I could about my past?
