Extraordinary Lies

by Jennifer Alsever

I pinched my cheeks with two red fingernails. Hard. So hard it stung. “Act normal and get home,” I whispered to myself.

  In the hallway, I craned my neck to peer into Katerina’s bedroom, looking for the girl in the blue dress. She had disappeared again. I walked back to the living room, pushing some strands of hair out of my face, expecting her to be sitting with the others. She wasn’t. “So, the girl in the other room must be your sister?”

  Katerina stopped mid-sentence, and everyone looked at me. “Who?”

  “The young woman in the blue dress.”

  “Uh-oh,” Charley sang. “Again?”

  “She was back in your bedroom,” I said, pointing.

  Katerina’s smile faltered for a moment and her soft brow crinkled like a pillow case. “Um, no one here but us.”

  “She must be…,” I said, willing myself not to be crazy. I pointed to the hallway.

  All of them stood and went down the hallway of the small apartment. Katerina opened all the doors, revealing no one. She even opened the door to an empty closet. She shrugged.

  Charley squeezed my shoulder like a big sister. “It’s okay. Just an imaginary friend.”

  “Ha,” Samuel said.

  I looked at him, my cheeks feeling hot.

  Charley led the way down the hall. “Or a ghost that just likes her. It’s cool city.”

  They laughed and turned to go back into the living room. The comment sounded a bell inside me. Carol was dead.

  Minnie called to me, hesitant. “Are y’all a medium, Julia? Can y’all communicate with the dead?”

  I didn’t answer.

  Ghosts. Did I see Aunt Sabrina’s ghost, just like Minnie saw Carol’s? I stood there, my heart pounding, dizziness smothering me. Or maybe I had imagined all this. Hallucinated. I’m not crazy. I gazed at the bed. The lone dresser. The closet full of clothes. No feet. No one. Quickly, I climbed down onto hands and knees and peeked beneath the bed. Nothing. I wanted to scream and hit the floor. But if I did that, I might make it happen again.

  I tugged my hair so hard it hurt. A loud laugh from the living room broke the silence, and I spun around and walked over to the others. Henry’s gaze felt as if he wanted to eat me. I shivered.

  A chalkboard on an easel had been rolled into the room while I was away. Cord held a piece of chalk and gazed at Charley, brimming with excitement. He held up flat palms and asked, “What you want me to draw?”

  “Anything. Write down anything,” Katerina said, placing her thin hands on hips.

  “Anything?” Cord asked, standing up slowly.

  “Anything.” She turned around, putting her back to him, covering her eyes with her hands.

  He turned and began drawing lines on the board. After a moment, the circles and squiggles unrolled into the shape of a dog.

  “Done,” he said.

  “Okay.” The word dripped out of Katerina slowly. “I cover my eyes, but I see something. Round. Something round.”

  Cord turned and smiled at Charley. Katerina was a magician. I didn’t really see why she was being tested for being psychic. Samuel and Minnie had to have wondered the same.

  “Yes. There are eyes. And I do very see something else.” Katerina’s accent sounded thicker, as if she were drunk almost. “Yes. I think you drew a dog.”

  Cord let out a holler followed by a long, “Yeah!”

  Charley and Minnie clapped, and I watched silently. She was probably a fraud, just like everyone else in the world. I gazed at Cord, with his confident charm, and Charley, with her obnoxious pride—the sort of sweet that makes you sick after a few bites. Minnie, an intelligent curiosity wrapped in a chubby body. Samuel, a sulky and distrustful brain. Fake. They’re all fakes. Henry? He was off somehow too.

  Katerina turned around and hugged Cord and Charley, congratulating herself with phony self-deprecating comments like, “I do not know how I do it. I do not know. I just see. That is all I can say.”

  I felt sick. I wasn’t supposed to be there. If I stayed, I’d vanish, be sucked into some vacant void in which suddenly I no longer existed in Cavanaugh memory. The way Father had brushed me off on the phone, it was clear my existence was already being erased.

  I glanced over my shoulder once more, anxious I’d see my ghost again. Maybe I didn’t deserve to be here because I wasn’t really psychic. Maybe I was just losing my mind.

  11

  Charley

  “So, Fort Point has been here since 1853. The Gold Rush,” Henry said, leading us down the dirt road to the waterfront. “And I guess movies have been filmed here—and all these guys are surfing out here lately.”

  We had been ready to head back to the dorms when Henry suggested he show us the spot that he’d been reading about in the newspapers. A rocky point in front of an old army fort situated directly below the Golden Gate Bridge.

  Katerina said she needed sleep, but I jumped up with an enthusiastic, “Hell, yes!”

  Samuel, Julia, Minnie, and Cord followed me and Henry, and together, the six of us walked from Katerina’s house in the moonlight toward the bay, and then, down the road to the fort, nestled by the water.

  To our right, the hazy San Francisco skyline smoldered, like fingers reaching into the night sky. The gray water in the bay was flat like a lake, and a haze wrapped around the point.

  “If it wasn’t so hazy, I wonder if you could see that old prison from here,” I said.

  “Alcatraz.” Julia swatted her hand at the water.

  “Yeah.”

  She looked at me sideways. “It’s supposed to open up to the public soon.”

  Walking through a creepy prison? Cool city. “I’m definitely gonna check it out.”

  “Not me.”

  “Why?”

  “Too spooky.”

  “The water looks so calm,” Cord said.

  “You should be used to spooky, Julia,” I said.

  She looked at me.

  “I mean, since you see dead people.”

  She kept walking, gazing at her feet. I shouldn’t have messed with her, because it really was nice to hear her talk. She had barely said a word until then.

  The tall red-brick fort loomed at the end of the road. Small square and rectangular windows dotted the top of it like strung Christmas lights. The bridge’s crisscrossing steel beams looked like some kind of web over the top of the building.

  “This is crazy,” I said, exhaling.

  “Bet people don’t know this is down here,” Cord said.

  “I knew,” Samuel said.

  “It’s a hidden gem. People get so distracted by the big picture that they never even notice what’s happening beneath,” Henry said. The two of us strode side by side ahead of the others. He was a shiny race car, and I was dying to go for a ride.

  “I’m a-wonderin’ if we can get ourselves a little tour,” Minnie said.

  With that, Henry and I raced down the hill like schoolchildren, laughing and jostling to be first to reach the fort. Over the past few months, my life had been a steady roll of Cindy, diner, and readings. I’d sprinkle in Ruby now and then and a bit of bad-choice boys for good measure. This was invigorating.

  When we got to the door, a man in a gray uniform was just locking up.

  “Hey!” I said. “Can you give us a tour?”

  His gray button-down shirt fought to keep his bulging gut from breaking free. “Nope, closing up.”

  “Please?” I asked, taking a step toward him and giving him a coy, flirtatious look.

  “My wife has supper…”

  I batted my eyes.

  “And the cash register is closed,” he said.

  “Well, ain’t that too bad,” said Minnie, and the others grumbled and started to turn back up the hill.

  Henry stayed next to me, smelling of leather, his warm hand on my shoulder. My knees trembled and an electric rush swarmed me, leaving me lightheaded, as if I was floating outside my body.

  Something overcame me, and I reached out to take the guard’s hand.r />
  The man’s energy came in a thunderous wave. He tried to tug his hand away, but I wouldn’t let go. Spontaneously, I tried to make my voyeuristic prying more sensual. “I’m sorry. I just had to… touch you. Beautiful…”

  He stopped moving and let me touch him. I traced my fingertips on his palm and looked up at him, coy and flirtatious. Colors and images of his story flooded me—a failed real-estate business. Issues with a controlling brother. A car slamming into him on his bike at age nine. I focused on what I wanted to know. The combination to the lock.

  In my mind’s eye, I saw him opening the lock tomorrow, spinning the dial one way to land on a number, spinning it back the other way. I had to concentrate: 9-15-45-6.

  Bingo.

  I let go of his hand and smiled. “Thank you,” I said, my voice like syrup—not at all like me. The guard, who I’d learned went by the name Harvey, cleared his throat and he stared uncomfortably at his hand.

  “I’m sure glad you, uh, liked my hands.” He let out an uncomfortable chuckle and rubbed his hand.

  A euphoria flooded me. “Yeah,” I said, before turning around to look at Julia and the others. “Let’s stay here, guys, and hang out by the water.”

  The guard tipped his ranger-like hat to me, climbed in his car, and left.

  Henry’s hand dropped from my shoulder, leaving a cold spot on my skin. I noticed the feel of my feet inside my shoes.

  Henry tilted his head and looked at me. “What’d you do?”

  “I found a way in.” I glowed. Really glowed. I’d never considered using my psychic gifts for much of anything other than earning cash in the tin can. Or maybe, once, I did tell my friend that she was going to get into Cornell a week before she did. But really, I just didn’t see much use for it otherwise. Obviously, with that damn billboard, Mom disagreed.

  That night, standing there in front of the fort, I needed some relief from all that built-up pressure. I needed to play.

  I walked up to the door, spun the combination lock, feeling Henry’s gaze on me from behind. I loved it. A spotlight.

  9-15-45-6. The lock popped opened, and I grinned.

  “Come on in, guys!” I shouted.

  “We don’t got permission, though,” Cord said.

  “I asked with my mind! Let’s go explore.”

  They looked at each other, hesitant. “I reckon we might come back in the mornin’,” Minnie said.

  Julia didn’t move. She sat on a jagged rock and gazed at the glassy water, which mirrored her melancholy vibe.

  Cord shoved his hands into his pocket and looked at his shoes. “My dad would kill me if I blow a chance.”

  “A chance?” I said.

  “To make good for my family,” Cord said.

  “Oh, come on,” I said. “We’re going to be locked up in that concrete lab for days. We might as well have some fun. Just a little lookie-loo.”

  He shook his head. “I mess up plenty with my buddy Sweater.”

  “Sweater?” I laughed, walking toward him, holding out my hands, ready to pull him inside the fort with me. “What kind of a name is Sweater?”

  He chuckled. “Nickname. He got a real hairy back and chest. Redhead.”

  We all laughed, and Julia loosened up a bit, kicking a stone in front of her. Henry and I went to round everyone up.

  Henry lifted Julia by the arm. “Come on, babe, let’s go check this out,” he said. Julia’s face went sour and she stiffened.

  The air shifted, as if someone had opened a window, yet we were outside. A low hissing sound filled the air, like steam being released from a pipe. I looked for the source of the sound, half expecting a puff of fog to emerge from the water. What the…?

  The front door to the fort rattled, and a chill went up my spine.

  “Is that a … ghost?” I asked.

  “What the—” Cord said.

  Minnie shook her head. “Y’all, I catch an eyeful of ghosts all the time. But never that plat-eye.” Her voice dropped low when she talked about the plat-eye, whatever that was. “I’m-a gonna tell you, there ain’t nothin’ here.”

  “Elemental telekinesis—” Samuel said.

  I shrugged and motioned with my arm. “Let’s check it out!”

  Everyone followed, but Julia looked at me, stunned. Her arms dangled loose by her sides.

  I trotted back to her. “Hey, you coming or what?”

  Julia blinked several times. “Yeah.”

  Inside, the others let out the kinds of whoops and hollers that only come from maneuvering in an old freaky building in the dark—and from being somewhere you’re not supposed to be.

  I slowed to walk with Julia. “So, that’s your thing?” I asked her. “Really? Seeing ghosts?”

  She looked at me, confused.

  “The girl you keep seeing, in the blue dress. It’s gotta be a ghost, right?”

  She shook her head.

  When we got to the entrance, she ran her fingers over the doorjamb, finding a spot where the frame was busted. I wondered if that was the weird hissing sound we heard.

  “Did you do that? Bust the frame?” I asked.

  She looked at me blankly.

  I stuttered and raised my hands. “Because that wasn’t me. Promise. I just unlocked it with the code.”

  She blinked.

  “Just a little emotional manipulation. No destruction.”

  As we stepped through the threshold, I got a glimpse of her lips puckered up in judgment. Of course, she would disapprove of me using my gifts to unlock the door.

  “Oh, come on, Julia. You know the fact that I got the code to unlock the door was unbelievable.”

  Henry stood inside waiting for us.

  I let out a squeal and tugged on his arm. “Let’s go check this baby out!”

  12

  Julia

  The fort was spacious inside, an open plaza surrounded by three stories of arched alcoves. “This must span something like a thousand feet,” Henry said.

  The interlocking beams of the bridge towered above the west side, forming a partial open-air roof. I wandered into a dark alcove and then climbed up a series of brick-clad stairs that wound around in a dizzying circle. In the pitch black, I dragged my hands along the wall. On the walkway of the second floor, a sliver of moonlight rained in through a small window, streaking the brick walls with thin dashes.

  I tromped up the last set of stairs to the rooftop. Fog rolled in over the bay, carrying a cool breeze. Through gaps in the mist far below, the water looked like black tar.

  “It’s at least several hundred feet to the water from here.” Henry’s voice was like bats flying out of a cave. Instinctively I took a step away from the railing.

  I already felt uncertain of myself after what had happened outside a few minutes earlier. I hadn’t been angry. I hadn’t felt any emotion whatsoever, yet I think I was the one who had caused that breeze to kick up and the doorjamb to break. I felt it in my bones, but I didn’t understand why I made it happen or how.

  You were with a bunch of other psychics, Julia. Of course, it was someone else’s power. I sucked in a breath, spit it out, putting the worry to rest. Either that, or you’re a witch just like Aunt Sabrina. A witch that deserves to be destroyed.

  I rounded the corner, moving away from the others, needing to digest my thoughts alone. I gazed at the city’s skyline, outlined amid the gray haze. It was beautiful, and I was glad to be there.

  For some reason, maybe it was the shape of the walls or the calm water, I could clearly hear the low conversation between Henry, Cord, and Samuel. They must’ve been fifty yards away, but it sounded as if they were standing next to me.

  “You get to check out the city yet?” Henry asked.

  “Never been no place but this,” Cord said.

  “Ahh, man,” Henry said. “You wouldn’t believe. Girls here always want to get laid.”

  “Is that so,” Samuel said.

  “Me and my girlfriend back home. Stella. I’m probably gonna marry
her.” Cord’s voice didn’t sound certain.

  “You proposed?”

  “Not yet. I haven’t gotten it done yet. We’ve been going steady since seventh grade.”

  Someone made a loud exhale sound. “Missing out, man.” Henry. That was certainly Henry. “The chicks here pick you up at the frozen food aisle at Safeway on Wednesdays. It’s like clockwork. Nothing you’ve ever seen before. Serious making bacon.”

  “Making bacon?”

  “You know, getting’ some booty. Of course, getting some from Julia and Charley would be excellent. Did you see Charley’s ass? I’m definitely going to jump her bones.” That, no doubt, was Henry. “She’s got easy written all over her.”

  My mouth tasted sour. What a pig. Plus, if he wanted Charley, then why was he glued to me?

  The others didn’t say anything.

  High-pitched shouts echoed through the building. Laughter bounced off walls and the girls appeared on the roof, giddy and breathless.

  “I almost got lost in this maze,” Charley said.

  “Dead ends everywhere!” Minnie said.

  “Hidden halls. Did you see those hidden halls?” Charley asked. She exhaled. “Thanks for bringing us here, Henry! This is ah-mazing.”

  “You’re the fab girl who got us in!” Henry grinned. He wants to jump her bones. Gross.

  “Look at that hillside across the bay!” Charley sounded wired.

  I came around the corner to join them. She was a silhouette in the dark, and her shoulder-length hair and white chiffon peasant top blew in the breeze. She looked like a ghost herself.

  The breeze fluttered my hair, and the hillside did look picturesque. A dark Monet painting of black hills and gray haze. “Takes my breath away,” I said, feeling suddenly glad I came.

  “Me too,” Cord said. He took his eyes off Charley and gazed at the black water.

  Henry turned to look at Cord with the smirk that verified he was a complete jerk. “Really? Surprising.”

  “Why?” Cord asked.

  “Well, Charley just found out the code to get in here with her mind. That impresses me more than some view from an old building.”