“Ok, thanks Gram!” I call back, snatching up a chocolate chip cookie, and handing one to Mer too.
We head outside, and I glance at our outdoor thermometer and groan. “I can’t believe how hot it is here. I mean, it’s October 16th and it’s eighty-two degrees!”
Mer glances at me, surprised. “How hot is it in October in Virginia?”
“Low seventies, high sixties.”
Her eyes widen in shock. “Really?”
I take a bite of my cookie and nod. I swallow. “Really.”
We cross the yard, and Mer looks over at me. “So do your mom and grandma know about your training?”
I shake my head. “They have no idea. I mean, I think they may be suspicious, but if they are they don’t know that I know so much.”
We reach the back gate, and I unlatch it. We walk down the path, and enter the cemetery. “Who exactly said you could bring your little friend?”
I roll my eyes and glance up at Breanna, hovering in front of me, her arms crossed. “I did. Isn’t that enough?”
Mer grabs my arm, her eyes wide. “Is there a ghost there?”
“You can’t see her?”
“Oh, there is! Really? That is so cool! What’s it’s name? Where is it?”
Breanna snorts. “I am not an it!”
Mer gasps, and her eyes widen even more- if that’s possible. Assuming Mer can see Breanna now, I say “That’s Breanna, the one I was telling you about.”
“Oooh, you were talking about me? I’m flattered.”
“Breanna, where’s Lukas?”
She rolls her eyes. “He’s coming. See.” She points at the entrance. “Here he is.”
Lukas strides in, his eyebrows raised. “Liv, do you want to tell me why you brought little Miss Voodoo Queen?”
“Luke, she just wants to watch, and she’s a Voodoo Queen. You said so yourself. Doesn’t that have some power?”
Breanna crosses her arms and grins. “Luke, as much as it pains me to admit it, she’s right. This Esmeralda girl does have some power if she knows voodoo. Maybe she should learn some stuff. Give her a briefing packet.” He glances at her suspiciously, and I get the feeling she’s only supporting me to annoy Lukas.
“Fine.” He mutters.
“How come I didn’t get a briefing packet?”
No one answers my question, but Lukas produces a stapled packet from his bag, and hands it to Mer. She tucks it in her bag, then straightens up and meets our startled gazes.
“What? I’m not going to look at it now, not when I have a lesson to watch.” She crosses her arms and leans against the memorial wall expectantly.
“You’ll just get in the way.”
Mer glares at Lukas. “No, I won’t. From what I’ve heard, it’s Breanna who does all the teaching. You haven’t even started to teach her to fight, so maybe you’re the one who will be in the way.”
Breanna gives a short laugh. “Actually Lukas, Voodoo’s right. She won’t get in the way, because now is a perfect time to teach Olivia to pass through objects with other people.”
“Not a good idea Bree.”
“Oh come on Lukas, I have to learn eventually!” I whine, moving to stand next to Mer. Breanna follows.
Lukas looks at the three of us, standing there with our arms crossed, and rolls his eyes. “Fine. I know when I’m not needed.” He turns and strides away, only to stop and lean against one of the statues guarding the gate.
Breanna rolls her eyes and turns away from him. “Ok Olivia, you know how to pass through objects by yourself, and it’s not all that different when you bring someone along. It does take more concentration, and you have to be careful to imagine both of you as weightless, but otherwise not that different. It helps when the person you’re bringing along is imagining themselves as weightless with you. Why don’t you try it?”
“Ok. Mer, do you get what you’re supposed to do?”
“I just imagine that I’m weightless. I’m nothing. Like a ghost.”
“Hey!” Breanna interjects. We ignore her. “I said weightless not nothing!”
“Yeah, and don’t let that feeling go. You ready?”
“Yeah.” She says firmly.
I grab her hand and we both close our eyes. I conjure up the feeling, and latch onto it. I open my eyes and glance at Mer. He eyes are squeezed tightly shut, but they open when she feels me looking her.
I put the feeling in a cage so it doesn’t slip away, then ask her “Do you have it?”
She nods tightly, clearly concentrating on keeping the feeling. I guide her forward, to the memorial wall, and we both take a deep breath, close our eyes, then step through.
I release the feeling and feel my foot hit solid ground. I open my eyes, and breath a sigh of relief. We are standing on the other side of the memorial wall. I look over at Mer; Her face is ashen, and she looks shaky. She meets my gaze and breaks out into a huge grin, giving me an even huger hug.
“We did it!” She squeals, grabbing my shoulders and jumping up and down. “We actually did it! I can’t believe it!”
I grab her shoulders and join in the bounce, and squealing. “I know!” I feel like a little kid again, but this is amazing! I really can’t believe it worked. Honestly. I mean, who can just walk through solid stone!?
Breanna floats through the wall, and Mer stops bouncing and glares at her. “You make it seem so effortless!’
“It is for me.”
“That was one of the hardest things I’ve ever done!”
“That’s because you’re not made to do it. Olivia is, and I’m a ghost. It’s what we do. Now, try it again.”
We do it three more times before Breanna instructs us to try without Mer focusing. This is in case I ever need to carry someone unconscious, or badly injured. It’s hard. I have to imagine that both of us weigh nothing and I can’t let that feeling drop, at all, not even a little bit. If I do one of us will end up still partially stuck inside whatever we’re passing through. We managed it twice, although, the first time my concentration slipped a little and Mer’s hand stayed stuck inside the memorial wall.
We are attempting it a third time when One Direction’s “One Thing” starts playing. “Ick!” I try to jump back and fall to the ground, my ankle trapped in the wall. Again. Although this time, Mer’s ankle is trapped to, as we were both about to step through the wall.
“I've tried playing it cool
But girl, when I'm looking at you
I can't ever be brave
'Cause you make my heart race
Shot me out of the sky
You're my kryptonite
You keep making me weak
Yeah, frozen and can't breathe-
“Make it stooooop!!!” I wail, clapping my hands over my ears.
Breanna also has her hands over her ears when she shouts. “I think it might be a poltergeist!”
“It’s not a poltergeist!” I shout back. “It’s Mer’s phone!”
“What’s a phone!?”
“What’s a poltergeist!?”
Lukas who has been leaning on the statue, watching our lessons the whole time, rummages through Mer’s messenger bag and pulls out her iPhone 5s. He slides his finger across the screen, mercifully cutting off the music, and holds it up to his ear. “Hello?”
I grab Mer’s hand and concentrate on our ankles, then pull back, freeing us as this could get dramatic fast. Lukas is in no condition to handle Mer’s mother.
Lukas pauses. “Um….yeah she’s here. Yes, maybe twenty feet away. Of course you can talk to her! No, I didn’t kidnap her! Then why do I have her phone? Because her backpack was near me. Ok, ok, here she is.” He jumps up and tosses her phone through the air toward Mer, like he can't get rid of it fast enough.
“Lukas! Don’t throw my phone!” She shrieks. “It’s breakable.”
I jump forward and catch it. As I fall toward the ground I see the corner of a gravestone out of my peripheral vision, and know I’m going to land on it. I don’t mean
to conjure up the feeling, I don’t even try to, it just happens. It washes over me and I hold on to it as I pass through the stone, then let it go when I hit the ground on the other side.
Mer sighs in relief. Lukas stares at me with something that looks like pride in his gaze. Breanna pumps her fist and shouts “My teaching is paying off! Maybe this isn’t a hopeless case after all!”
“Yeah, love you too.” I grumble.
“What is goin’ on!?” A high pitched womans voice with a southern accent shrieks. “Where is my daughter?” I look at Mer’s phone, still clutched in my hand.
“Oh yeah.” I hold it up to my ear. “Hey, Mrs. Arlington.”
“Olivia, what is goin’ on? Where is my daughter?”
“She here with me.”
“And where are you exactly?”
“We’re at my house.”
“It is six o’clock! Dinner time!”
“Yeah, sorry. We didn’t realize it had gotten so late.”
“Well put her on the phone!”
“Yeah ok, here she is.” I hold it up to her and she takes it.
“Hi, mom.” She says.
“Want want want.” Comes Mrs. Arlingtons muffled voice, sounding like the adults in Charlie Brown.
“Homework.”
“Want want want?”
“He’s Olivia’s grandma’s gardener, Lukas.”
“Want want want!”
“Yeah, yeah. I’ll be home in ten minutes.” She hangs up and frowns.
“I’ve got to go guys. This was really cool, though! I can’t believe I actually walked through something! See you tomorrow Liv. Later Breanna. Later Lukas.”
“Bye Mer!” She leaves the cemetery and sets off down the path, back to the house.
“Um, well it’s almost dinner time for Lukas and I too.” I tell Breanna. “See you tomorrow for lessons?”
“Yeah.”
I start to walk away, then turn back and look at Breanna, sitting in front of the gravestone I first saw her at. “Thanks.”
“Yeah.” She crosses her arms over her chest, mummy style, and sinks into the ground.
“Come on Luke.” I say. “Gram will be pissed if we’re late for dinner.” We turn and head down the path, Lukas glancing at me as we go.
“What?” I ask.
“You used your powers at school!” He says accusingly.
I frown. “You have no proof of that!”
He raises an eyebrow. “I’m not stupid, Liv. I heard you talking to Mer, and I can see through her lame excuses.”
I grin sheepishly. “Fine. I did. But no one saw.”
He shakes his head. “This time. Just be careful, alright. Because you can’t be seen, you do know that, don’t you? What could happen if-”
I roll my eyes. “Yes, Luke. I do. I was careful, and I’ll always be. Trust me, ok?”
He frowns, but doesn’t respond. I sigh. “Come on. Let’s go eat.” I walk across the yard with him trailing reluctantly behind.
Chapter Ten
My bare feet slap the forest floor, twigs and rocks slicing open my soles as I sprint. I drag a girl along behind me, when I glance back to check on her; terror is plain on her face. She stumbles, tripping over a tree root, and turning her ankle. She collapses to the forest floor with a cry and looks up at me.
“Go. You have to find the others.”
I reach down and heave her to her feet. “Not without you Princess.”
“I can’t! My ankle-”
I take a deep breath and try to act brave, even though absolute terror is coursing through me. “Your Highness. We are going to use our powers, and we are going to make it out of here alive. Now get ready to run.” She nods numbly.
I take off again, pulling her behind me. I can hear our pursuers hot on our trail. We burst out of the bushes and onto a wide open expanse leading to a cliff. I hear them crash through the line of bushes behind us, and I swallow back my fear. My heart beats wildly as I lead us to the edge of the cliff. I look across the gully to the other side of the chasm. Behind that cliff face is our only hope for survival. By now I can feel their hot breath on the back of my neck. It’s now or never.
We leap off the edge of the cliff and I will the wind to catch us. We’re flying. But I can’t keep it up for long, already exhaustion slows our progress. I look down at the girl I pull behind me. “Now!”
Her face screws up in concentration, and suddenly we are directly in front of the cliff face, falling towards it. I conjure up the feeling and immerse us both. I only hope I’m strong enough for this to work. We hit the cliff face.
I jerk awake with a gasp, and realize I am plummeting through midair. “Aaa-” I clap my hands over my mouth, cutting off my scream, and will myself to turn solid. To let the feeling go. I slam into Grams caramel leather couches with a bump and gasp for air.
I have no idea how I Phased in my sleep but I did. I passed through my bed and my floor without even waking up. I didn’t even know that was possible. Strands of my nightmare still cling like cobwebs in my mind. It doesn’t make sense. It felt so real.
I scoot backward and draw my knees up to my chest. “Ow.” I whisper, reminding myself to be quiet. The soles of my feet sting so bad. Even worse than the time I cut them open on some sharp rocks in the river behind my old house…. and I’d thought that was unbearable.
Gingerly I grasp my foot and turn it over, dreading what I know I’ll see. Sure enough blood wells up out of the various cuts and scrapes that decorate the bottom of my foot. I swing around so my feet aren’t resting on the couch any more. Luckily no blood got on the couch, just on the floor. I pull a bloody piece of rock out of my foot, and drop it on the floor. I work quickly and remove all the pieces of stones and twigs from my feet. I know the cuts are bad, and dirty, and my mother is a doctor, but I don’t want her or anyone suspecting anything.
Breanna moved on from teaching me how to Phase after she taught me how to hold the feeling inside me, so I can always reach it when I need it. Now we’ve been working on invisibility, but I can’t do it for long. I decide I’ll only do it when I absolutely need too. When referring to tonight that is.
I crawl forward and open the door. I push it a little too hard and it bangs against the doorframe. I wince. A few seconds later I hear my father call from the family room “Liv? Nate? Max? Everyone ok?”
I hear footsteps, then the door separating the family room from the living room starts to open. No time to crawl. No time to turn invisible. I could Phase, but what if I made a noise landing below? The door opens wider. I forget my whole internal struggle and jump to my feet. I beeline to kitchen and push the door as quickly and quietly as can shut, then I duck behind the counter, holding my breath and waiting for Dad to see the blood.
I sit there, waiting for a while before what just happened sinks into my mind. I walked on bloody and cut feet, and now I’m sitting on them. I grab my left ankle and turn my foot over.
Nothing. No blood, no cuts, no scrapes, no dirt, no stones and no twigs. There aren’t even any scars. I check my right foot too. Same thing, nothing. They look exactly as they did before.
I scramble to my feet, and risk taking a peek into the living room. Dad is gone. I open the door, and slip quietly back into the living room. The blood on the floor is gone. Not a trace. No smears. Nothing. Maybe I imagined it? Yet the pain, I couldn’t have imagined the pain. Could I have? I shake myself out of it. I’ll just ask Lukas in the morning. Maybe it’s some sort of Halfling problem. Right now I need to focus on the problem at hand. How to get upstairs without Mom, Dad, and Gram noticing, because noticing leads to questions. How did I get downstairs without them seeing or hearing me? What was I doing downstairs? Questions that could potentially lead to them guessing about my gifts.
I slip out of the kitchen and around to the main room. I’m standing in front of the library and I can’t help it. I go in. I pick a book I had been looking at earlier off the shelf and turn invisible just before I leave the library. I’ll
just slip up the stairs and back to my bedroom. Simple plan right? Only problem is: I don’t know how to turn objects that I carry invisible yet. So now my father is standing in front of me, staring in bewilderment at a floating book. Yikes.
“Uh…...Sophie? You might want to come look at this!”
Oh no. I think.
I drop the book, and make a break for the stairs just as my mother and grandmother come into the room. “What is it honey?” My mom asks.
My dad is staring in puzzlement at the book on the floor. “I swear I saw that book floating!” I know he expects Mom and Gram to scoff at him, but they don’t, they just look at each other in concern.
“Maybe it was one of the boys pranks?” Suggests Gram.
“You believe me?” My dad sounds utterly shocked.
“Of course we believe you.” Mom says. I try to contain a derisive snort.
You didn’t believe me when I talked about flying gardeners and ghost parties, yet you believe him when he tells you about floating books? I think. But of course you already knew I was right, you just didn’t want me to know.
By now the three of them have migrated over to the front of the stairs and are blocking me from getting on. I walk around the side, where the stairs start to spiral up, and jump, grabbing ahold of the banister. I swing forward and my knees bang against the stairs. I bite my lip to hold in a yelp, but everyone heard the thump my knees made against the wood. I had meant to Phase but I’m feeling a bit too panicky at the moment, I suppose.
Mom and Gram exchange a look. “Maybe we should go check to see if the kids are all still in their beds.” Mom says, and starts up the stairs. Gram follows close behind.
Oh no. No!
It would have been fine, except for the fact that they can’t find my bed empty, but Grams hand grips the banister, and she’s nearing me. I release the feeling from the little cage I keep it in, so I can reach it easily, and swing through the banister and onto the stairs, all the while trying to maintain my invisibility.
It almost doesn’t work. When I hit the stairs- silently, I might add- my invisibility wavers, and I watch my hands flicker partially into a existence, looking like some sort of hologram. Luckily I get control and turn fully invisible again, before they turn the corner. I jog silently up the stairs, gripping the banister to keep from slipping, and dash into my room. I jump onto my bed, wiggle under the covers, and slow my breathing to a moderate pace.
Seventh (The Hafling Chronicles Book 1) Page 6
