Dark Before Dawn

by Stacy Juba

  Jamie gasped and raised her mug to her lips. Candace regarded Dawn with cold speculation.

  "I'm just making an observation," Serina said. "Your mother lets your stepfather control her. He's where her loyalty lies."

  "She’s not controlled," Dawn said. "They're happy together. Jeff and Ken would never hurt me and I know my mother loves me. I do have a family."

  Serina's jaw clenched. The foreboding that overwhelmed Dawn the first day she drove by the cottage raced back. None of them had ever crossed Serina.

  "Of course your mother loves you, but does she understand you? Does she help you try to understand yourself?" Serina's forehead smoothed, the harsh lines receding.

  "What do you mean?"

  "Have you ever asked yourself why the third eye is so ingrained in you?"

  Dawn found herself nodding. "Of course."

  "Most people of your skill level have inherited it. Some have the talent in their genes, while others receive it as a gift from a loved one who has passed on."

  "No one in my family has it," Candace said.

  "I'll bet some distant relative did, maybe a great-grandfather you never met," Serina said. "Perhaps you're the only one in the last couple of generations to inherit it. I got it the other way, from my Aunt Serina, who died of cancer."

  Jamie almost knocked over her cider. She steadied the mug, her hands shaking. "You mean she passed it on to you after she died? How?"

  "I won't fully understand until I cross to the other side myself," Serina said. "But my aunt knew she was dying and promised me her gift. Her daughter was already a powerful psychic and didn’t need it. A few days after her funeral, I realized my aunt had been successful in bestowing her gift."

  "You never told me that," Candace said. "You must have been named after her."

  "I was eight when she died, but when I got older, I trained with her friends. Dawn, you should investigate where your gifts came from. Your mother may know more than you think."

  "She wouldn't keep it a secret," Dawn said, but she wondered. Her mother had proven she harbored secrets. What was one more?

  Serina. Dawn had never met anyone who would say the helpful and the hurtful to reach the truth. Sometimes, she found it refreshing, while other times it felt uncomfortable.

  "If your mother does know where you got your abilities, I'm sure she has good reason for hiding it," Serina said.

  "I wish ESP ran in my family," Jamie said with a sigh. "That would make things a lot easier."

  "It can be hard without natural talent, although it is possible," Serina replied. "Very possible, in fact. What would you do if you had the gift?"

  Jamie’s chin jutted up. "I’d find out what the kids at school are thinking and make myself more popular."

  "After how they've humiliated you?" Serina asked. "You don't need people like that as friends."

  "What else should I do?"

  "Get even," Serina said.

  "How?"

  "You could use their darkest thoughts against them. That's only the beginning."

  Dawn frowned and reached for her jacket on the floor. Goosebumps prickled on her arms. She longed to go home and read her English assignment at the kitchen table as her mother or Jeff cooked dinner. Suddenly, Dawn wanted nothing more than to forget her psychic training and retreat to the safety of her house.

  For the next few minutes, Serina talked about how while in a meditative state, Jamie should mentally picture herself as she wanted to look and imagine other people treating her with respect. It didn’t sound like frightening advice, and there was no more mention of dark thoughts, but Dawn still couldn’t wait to leave.

  After the lesson ended, Serina placed a firm hand on Dawn’s arm. "Stay. I need to talk to you."

  Dawn's pulse beat harder as Serina led her over to the corner table.

  "We’ll wait for you outside," Candace said with an odd smile. "Come on, Jamie."

  Reluctantly, Dawn sank onto a chair.

  "Sorry if I upset you," Serina said, sitting across from her. "Your skills impress me, and I want you to realize how special you are. You're ready to try something more advanced."

  "Advanced?"

  "Mind control, the highest plane to which you can take your talent. The ability to make someone act at your will. I know this will seem frightening, but there are so many positive benefits. You can do good in the world by mastering this power."

  Dawn rubbed a tightening knot in her forehead as exhaustion seesawed over her. She must need a nap. Serina’s words made no sense. "Did you say, make someone act at your will?"

  "That’s right."

  "That’s not possible."

  "Anything is possible, Dawn."

  "But why would you want to do that? You'd be stealing away people's freedom."

  Serina drummed her fingers on the table, never taking her gaze off Dawn. "What if a car was speeding toward a young child? Or to an innocent motorist like your father? Wouldn't you want to direct the driver in another direction? What if you're walking late at night and hear footsteps? Don't you want to protect yourself? But before you can rely on your skill in times of need, you have to practice with every day actions."

  Dawn's heart fluttered. She felt guilty enough when her abilities warned her about a pop quiz. Controlling people’s minds, sounded morally wrong. Or was it? If she could use the technique to help people, how could it be wrong?

  "Don’t let fear hold you back," Serina said. "Isn’t it scarier to be vulnerable and at other people’s mercy?"

  "Are you sure I can do it?"

  The dim light and Serina's dark red lipstick made her smile strangely twisted, a cross between a wise old lady and a mischievous child. "We'll just have to find out, won't we?"

  Chapter Eleven

  Dawn couldn’t find anything on the Internet about mind control, barring references to sci-fi movies and government conspiracies, but she discovered an interesting web site about crystals. She squinted at her computer screen and reread a couple lines: "It is possible to program a vibration into a crystal. Those who possess one that has been in other hands should take the time to cleanse it as the vibration trapped inside can be undesirable."

  That sounded corny. How could a gem be bad for you? Dawn started to read about cleansing the crystals in sea salt, but a rap at the door interrupted her thoughts. She brought up a Word document of her English term paper.

  Her mother strolled into the room in a pair of pink satin pajamas and tousled Dawn's bangs, her own hair slightly damp and smelling of flowery shampoo. "Are your friends coming Sunday?"

  "Yup."

  Unfortunately. Dawn tried to stop worrying. The evening would go fine. Candace and Jamie weren’t like most girls their age, but they could handle a simple dinner. She hoped.

  "I know you got off to a rocky start, but you seem happier lately," her mother said. "I was sure this move would be good for you if you could relax and open yourself up to friendship. That’s all I wanted for you, not to be lonely."

  As if a simple move could make her life easier. A question turned over and over in Dawn’s mind. Where had she gotten her psychic abilities? She didn’t bother asking. Her mother would just answer, "What does it matter? I thought you were putting all that stuff behind you."

  "I have to finish my homework, Mom," she said.

  Her mother kissed her cheek. "I’m proud of you, honey. You’re adjusting so well."

  If her mother only knew the reason why. Dawn pushed aside a feeling of guilt.

  ***

  Dawn stepped up to the plate Friday morning, mentally cursing whoever had invented gym. Tim sniggered from the pitcher's mound.

  "Look who's here," he said. "This inning will be over in a flash."

  "Come on, dude, strike her out!" someone called.

  Dawn yearned to blast the ball out to the woods, but that wouldn’t happen. Maybe there was another way to look good.

  If she was as capable as Serina had promised, Dawn could make her classmates screw up, too
. They'd see how it felt to have everyone laugh at their failings.

  Dawn took a few deep breaths to center herself. She focused on the orange and brown tingeing the trees, allowing nature to calm her and open her mind. Dawn imagined herself sitting in her telepathy room, sliding a headset over her ears. She visualized Tim drawing back his arm and hurling the ball over the tall chain link fence past the catcher. As Dawn murmured her instructions under her breath, a warm buzz electrified in her scalp and forehead as if her upper chakras were waking up.

  Throw a wild pitch.

  Tim aimed the ball over the backstop into the woods, his face a vacant mask.

  It had worked! Dawn stayed guarded, even though she wanted to leap up and down like a cheerleader.

  "Hey, Travers, a little wild, aren't you?" a teammate yelled.

  Blinking as if confused, Tim caught another ball and stretched out his arm. Dawn concentrated again. Throw another wild pitch.

  His eyes went glassy as he tossed the second ball into the woods.

  Dawn saw Candace move in a few steps from right field. After two more wild pitches, Mrs. Welch ordered another pitcher to the mound. Tim walked to the sidelines, bewildered, and Dawn jogged to first base.

  As one of Tim's friends bunted to third, Dawn pictured him tripping over the bag.

  Fall in front of the first baseman, she mentally ordered.

  Safely on second, she glanced back. The guy lay sprawled on his stomach, staring up placidly, as his opponents tagged him out.

  Dawn was doing it. She was actually doing it! The tingling sensation floated over her sixth and seventh chakras like warm bubbles in a bathtub.

  In the next inning, Renee rushed to catch a fly ball. She screamed as it smacked the side of her arm. Dawn hadn’t interfered. She assumed it was coincidence, until Dawn noticed Candace's wide grin.

  Candace sent her a thought: I got the batter to aim at the snob. You’re not the only one who can play this game.

  Dawn jumped at the voice in her head. Are you in, too?

  You’d better believe it, sister.

  Whoa! Over the next several minutes, Dawn and Candace took turns making their perplexed classmates fumble. Candace grabbed the bat and no one made fun of her. Dawn closed her eyes, envisioning her friend hitting a homerun.

  The ball soared through the sky, past the outfield. Candace whooped. She rounded the bases, but her teammates didn't congratulate her.

  Mrs. Welch cleared her throat. "Nice hit. Let’s call that a game."

  They headed to the locker room a few minutes early, hardly anyone speaking as they crossed the parking lot. Dawn and Candace lingered behind their subdued classmates.

  "That was cool," Dawn whispered. "I can't believe we did that!"

  Candace skipped forward, as exuberant as a first grader playing hopscotch. "Did you see how surprised everyone was when I got a homerun? Thanks, by the way."

  "When Serina said I could control people's actions, I thought she had to be wrong. But it was easy."

  Candace pulled open the side door which led directly into the gym. "No kidding. Serina taught me a few months ago."

  "How come you never mentioned it?" Dawn asked.

  "We didn't want to scare you. Serina thinks you're ready now."

  Questions whirled in Dawn’s brain. How broad was the scope of mind control? Could everyone be controlled with the same ease? When couldn’t mind control be used? She couldn’t wait to try out her questions on Serina, but until then maybe Candace could fill in some gaps.

  "When I was doing it, I had this hot buzzing feeling in my head," Dawn said. "It felt good, but strange. Is that normal?"

  "Sure, that’s the energy juicing up," Candace said. "That’s what gives you the power. It’s like an exchange, you send the other person your energy and feel theirs moving around at the same time."

  That made sense. Well, as much sense as any of this did. Dawn opened the locker room door and murmured, "When you asked Tim to the dance, why didn’t you make him say yes? Why not make him your boyfriend? I mean, can you force someone to fall in love with you? How long do the effects last?"

  Candace motioned her over to an empty corner near the supply closet, far from the benches and lockers. "The effects can be long-lasting if you phrase your orders that way, but your hold might wear off after awhile, especially if someone would’ve been strongly opposed to whatever you’re telling them to do. If you notice signs of their own will breaking through, you’d need to give them a reinforcing order to keep it going."

  "Why haven’t you tried it?"

  Candace blushed the shade of a cherry Popsicle. "I thought about it. I even bought the dress and jewelry, remember? Then I decided it was a lame idea. If he started showing disgust and I had to keep reinforcing it, that would have stunk."

  Dawn nodded, understanding the meaning behind Candace’s words. Being reminded that your boyfriend would never love you in his normal state of mind would hurt. "Yeah, I guess I see what you mean."

  She glanced at her watch and sighed. Dawn couldn’t wait to tell Serina of their success and ask questions, but she still had half the school day ahead of her.

  On the way to her next class, after she and Candace split up, Dawn spotted Jamie fishing around in her locker.

  "Guess what!" Dawn whispered the gym class story in Jamie’s ear, her friend’s eyes bulging wider and wider.

  "Serina never told me about mind control," Jamie said. "She must have known it would be too hard for me."

  "I’m sure you’ll be ready for it soon," Dawn lied.

  "I don’t know if I want to learn it. It sounds sort of mean."

  "I felt a little guilty, but they’re all such jerks. Now maybe they’ll think before they make fun of people in gym. That’s a nice color on you." Dawn admired the turquoise top skimming the band of Jamie's jeans.

  Jamie’s lips curled up into a smile. "Really? I borrowed the shirt out of my mother's closet."

  Renee passed with her entourage and stopped with her hands on her hips. Her sleek black pantsuit made her look five years older; it must be one of her mourning outfits. "If it isn't the witch."

  "I’m not the one dressed in black," Dawn retorted.

  Renee sniffed to her friends. "Did you hear that? My boyfriend, who was practically my fiancé, is dead and she has the nerve to insult me?"

  "Come on, let's go," Jamie muttered, closing her locker door and nudging Dawn.

  "Look at the weirdo she's hanging around with. Your makeup doesn't cover up your zits, Pan Fry. I'll bet you never get bored. You can always play Connect the Dots on your face."

  "Why don’t you just shut up," Jamie said, tears welling in her eyes.

  "I’m only trying to help." Renee shrugged in mock innocence. "You need to find some kind of use for all those zits."

  Dawn glared at Renee's fake tan and perfect blonde hair. It wasn't fair that she could treat people that way and be popular. So her mother had committed suicide. That was awful, but Dawn’s dad had been killed in a car accident and Ken’s mother died of melanoma. Where did Renee get off making Jamie’s life hell?

  Dawn fastened her gaze on a black pen sticking out of Renee's backpack. Why not use mind control to teach Renee a lesson? She visualized Renee lifting the pen and drawing a mustache and goatee on her face. Tingling swirled in her sixth and seventh chakras like a gentle undercurrent.

  Go ahead, Renee. Play Connect the Dots.

  This time, Dawn didn’t need to envision her telepathy room. It all came naturally. Renee’s expression morphed from smug to hollow as she pressed the tip under her nose. She created a handlebar mustache and a dark goatee under her chin.

  Now draw big circles on your cheeks, Dawn ordered.

  "Renee! What are you doing?" Gasping, a friend reached out to stop her, but Renee shoved her back in stiff determination.

  Tim Travers and Vicky were coming down the hall with his football teammates. They froze upon seeing Renee.

  "What the..." Tim said.

>   Within seconds, the football team's guffaws thundered down the corridor. "Looking good, Renee!" someone shouted.

  Dawn withdrew from Renee’s mind. She’d accomplished her goal of embarrassing the other girl. Enough was enough. Well, almost. Dawn whipped out her cell phone and clicked a picture of Renee.

  She held up the frozen image. "If you ever make fun of my friend again, this is going all over the Internet."

  Renee’s baffled eyes riveted on the digital photograph. "What happened? Who ... who did this to me? I don’t understand."

  Apparently, Dawn’s threat hadn’t registered. Vicky leveled her chin a notch and stared at Dawn.

  She knows. Dawn pushed the thought out of her mind. Of course Vicky couldn't know. She was letting Jamie's guilt treatment get to her.

  "What happened?" Renee cried, tears trickling down her cheeks. "I've got to get it off. Help me get it off. Someone help me, please."

  No one moved. The laughter died down. Everyone avoided looking at her, glancing down the hall and jamming their hands in their pockets. They must figure Scott’s death had pushed her over the edge.

  Vicky hesitated, gathered Renee’s belongings off the floor and stepped forward to assist her enemy. "Come on, it's okay."

  She steered Renee toward the nearest bathroom. Jamie tugged Dawn's arm and dragged her down the corridor. "You made her do that, didn't you?" Jamie hissed.

  "You heard how she was talking to you. She had it coming." Dawn struggled to sound convincing. Renee had looked shell-shocked. What did it feel like to become a prisoner in your own brain? To find everyone laughing at something you had no memory of doing? Maybe Dawn had gone too far.

  "I hate Renee, too, but you can't play with her mind," Jamie said. "That’s not right."

  "But Serina said I need to practice for emergencies, and Renee’s been mean to us. Isn’t it better to practice on obnoxious people?" Dawn held her breath, hoping Jamie agreed, that her friend’s understanding would diminish her own guilt.

  The bell rang as the corridor emptied around them. When Jamie didn’t respond, Dawn pushed the button on her phone to discard Renee’s image. "Okay, I probably shouldn’t have taken the picture. But, do you really think the other part was that bad? After the way she’s treated us?"