Double Dare

by Tia Mowry

  “Fascinating!” The old woman sat back, staring up at the ceiling for a moment.

  I tapped my fingers on the table. “But anyway, you were talking about our dad and the visions . . . ,” I prompted.

  “Oh, yes.” She blinked and sat up. “After that first vision, the Sight visited him sporadically for a while. Of course, by then his uncle had already taken him under his wing, prepared him for what was to come . . .” She paused to glare briefly at Mom. “So he was ready when the visions became more frequent and intense.”

  That didn’t sound good. “Frequent?” I said.

  “Intense?” Caitlyn blurted out at the same time.

  “Yes. Typically, the twelfth birthday and the months thereafter can be a bit—er—chaotic.”

  Great. Just great. So the visions might get even worse?

  I was about to ask, but Grandmother Lockwood had more memories of Dad to share, and I didn’t want to interrupt. She told us how he’d used the visions to help prevent a house fire, then switched gears to some stories about his school friends and stuff. Some of them involved visions, but most of them didn’t—they were just regular stories about a kid who sounded pretty cool. Our dad.

  Mom kept quiet through all this, her eyes mostly on her food, but I was pretty sure I saw her smile a few times. Caitlyn had forgotten about her food entirely; she’d dropped her fork on her plate and was leaning forward, eating up every word our grandmother said.

  I was pretty spellbound by the stories myself. I wanted to change the subject back to the Sight, but I also didn’t. We hadn’t known much of anything about our dad until now, including his rather large Lockwood family.

  That reminded me . . . “Why aren’t we Lockwoods?” I blurted out when Grandmother Lockwood paused to take a bite of her food. “I mean, our last name.”

  She glanced at Mom. “You were at first,” she said. “But after what happened to John, well, your mother got nervous.”

  Mom finally looked up from her brunch. “Can you blame me?” Her tone was challenging.

  “What happened to him?” I asked.

  “You might not have grown up with the Lockwood name,” Grandmother Lockwood went on without answering my question. “But you’re Lockwoods, and that means we have work to do. You need to get control of your powers.”

  “Great!” Cait exclaimed. “We’ve been hoping—”

  “Wait.” Mom pointed her fork at our grandmother. “I thought we were going to hold off on that, Verity.”

  “I said we’d discuss it.” Grandmother Lockwood dabbed her mouth with her napkin. “That’s what I’m doing now.”

  Mom gritted her teeth. “Not with the girls, we’re not.”

  “Sorry, Deidre, but there’s no time to waste.” Grandmother Lockwood glanced at her watch. “Speaking of which, I’m afraid I must go.”

  “What?” I exclaimed. “But we have so many questions! You’ve hardly told us anything!”

  “All in due time.” I was getting pretty tired of that phrase already. “Right now, I have business to attend to. I’ll contact you tomorrow.”

  “Tomorrow is Monday.” Mom sounded kind of aggressive. “They have school. And I’m working tomorrow night and have to leave at four. Whatever you want to talk to them about, I need to be there.”

  Grandmother Lockwood was already gesturing for the server to bring the check. “Tomorrow,” she said again. “I’ll be in touch after school.” With a glance at Mom, she added, “And before four o’clock.”

  4

  CAITLYN

  IT’S NOT EVERY day you find out you have a whole family you didn’t know existed. By the time Cassie and I got to school the next morning, I still couldn’t quite wrap my mind around it.

  “Do you think she’ll come over this afternoon?” I asked as we entered. “Grandmother Lockwood, I mean.”

  “She said so, right?” Cassie elbowed me. “Chill. We’ll talk about this later.”

  Several of our fellow sixth graders were barreling toward us. “Twins!” cried a girl I barely knew from Cassie’s homeroom. “Your party was awesome!”

  Right behind her were Cassie’s friends Megan March and Lavender Adams. “Yeah, everyone’s still talking about it.” Lavender sounded smug, probably because the party had been her idea. Then again, she always kind of sounds that way.

  “Thanks again for hosting it,” Cass told Megan.

  “Yeah, ditto,” I added. Lavender wasn’t my favorite person in town, but Megan actually seemed pretty nice. Her mom was the mayor of Aura, and her uncle was the chief of police. In other words, Aura royalty.

  Lavender linked her arm through Cassie’s. “I took a bunch of pictures at the party and uploaded them,” she said. “We should decide which ones turned out the best.”

  I tuned out as the three of them started chattering about angles and fashion and stuff. Meanwhile more kids were crowding around wanting to talk about the party. And behind the others, I noticed Gabe Campbell skulking around.

  He met my eye with a smirk, and I shivered. Last week, Cassie and I had ducked into an empty classroom to talk about our visions. When we came out, Gabe was lurking just outside. We still weren’t sure whether he’d heard anything.

  I really hoped not. Because Gabe was about the last person I wanted to know our secret. See, the reason we moved to Aura in the first place was because Mom got offered a job on the town police force. The reason? Gabe’s uncle had just been fired for embezzling. And somehow Gabe blamed Mom, and hated us by association.

  Okay, I know that doesn’t make much sense. But Gabe’s the kind of guy who always seems to be looking for any excuse to get offended and cranky.

  Right now he didn’t look that cranky, though. In fact, he looked pleased with himself. I wasn’t sure what that was about, and it worried me a little. But there wasn’t much I could do about it.

  Just then I heard shouts. Four guys were bounding toward us—Brayden Diaz and his friends Biff, Buzz, and Brent. They were on the football team together, and everyone called them the B Boys. Actually, only three of them were bounding. Brayden had broken his leg in a football game recently, so he was hobbling behind them.

  “Hey, guys,” Lavender called to them. “Great party the other day, huh?”

  “What?” Biff blinked at her, then glanced at Cassie and me. “Oh yeah, right. Awesome.”

  “But listen, big news,” Brent put in. “Did you guys hear about the Truth or Dare thing?”

  “What Truth or Dare thing?” Megan asked.

  “It’s this huge craze over at the high school,” Brayden said. “It started with just a few people, but now everyone’s daring each other to do all kinds of crazy stuff!”

  Biff nodded. “My brother told me about it.” He grinned, flicking back his dark hair. “He wasn’t going to let me play, but then he dared me to do his chores last night. Total drag, but at least it got me in the game, right? That means it’s my turn to pick someone.”

  Lavender wrinkled her nose. “I don’t get it.”

  “Truth or Dare,” Buzz told her. “You know, you pick someone, say ‘truth or dare,’ and—”

  “I know what Truth or Dare is, you dolt,” Lavender snapped. “But why is everyone at the high school playing?”

  “Nobody can turn down a cool dare, I guess.” Biff shrugged, then tapped his finger on his chin. “Now, who should I pick?”

  Before he could decide, Principal Zale came into the lobby. He spotted us gathered there and strode over.

  “Homerooms, people,” he said briskly. “The bell’s about to ring.”

  “Okay, okay,” Biff said. “Guess I’ll have to pick someone at lunch.” With a wink, he turned away.

  The entire sixth grade is divided into two sections, which means only two homerooms. So the group pretty much split into two big blobs and headed in opposite directions.

  I waved good-bye to Cassie, who was in the other section with Megan and Brayden. Then I followed Lavender and the other B Boys toward our homeroom. Gabe wa
s in my section, too, but he’d disappeared.

  Halfway down the hall, I spotted Liam and our friend Bianca Ramos at Bianca’s locker. “Hi, Cassie,” Liam said in his usual cheerful way. “We were just talking about the class trip.”

  Bianca nodded, closing her locker door. “I can’t believe it’s coming up so soon.”

  “Right.” I’d almost forgotten about it; my head was still too full of everything I’d learned yesterday. I wished I knew for sure that Grandmother Lockwood was coming over later. She’d said something about having to take care of some business. What if she couldn’t make it after all?

  Liam grinned. “It must be weird for you,” he said.

  I was startled, thinking for a second that he was talking about the whole surprise-grandmother-visit thing. “Wh-what?” I stammered.

  “Going to San Antonio?” Liam waggled his reddish eyebrows. “I mean, that’s your old hometown, right?”

  “Oh. Right.” Next Thursday, the entire grade was going to San Antonio for the day. It would be kind of weird being there again, now that he mentioned it. But I couldn’t seem to focus on that.

  “Anyway, I heard we’ll be going to the Alamo, and then . . . ,” Liam began.

  I kind of stopped listening, my mind wandering back to yesterday. Grandmother Lockwood hadn’t really told us much, but it was more than we’d known before. Cassie and I hadn’t been able to stop talking about it after brunch. I just wished Mom hadn’t rushed off to the precinct the second we got home. Had she really just remembered she had to take care of some paperwork, or was she trying to avoid our questions? Either way, she hadn’t returned until dinnertime, and by then Cassie and I had agreed not to discuss it in front of her. Actually, Cassie was the one who’d decided that, and I’d agreed to go along with it to keep the peace. If only for the moment anyway.

  At least we know our dad’s real name now, I thought, and that he had the same kind of visions we’re having.

  I shivered, feeling closer to him than ever before. I hoped today Grandmother Lockwood would tell us more stories about him—maybe even bring some pictures! The only photo I’d ever seen of my dad was a wedding photo of him and Mom. Cassie and I had sneaked into her room years ago and found it. Only once, though. The next time we’d looked for it, it was gone.

  Closing my eyes as I walked, I brought up the memory of that faded old photo. Our father had had a kind, handsome face and sandy hair. He’d had his arm around Mom, and both of them had looked amazingly happy. Adorable, even. But it was sad, too, considering how little time they’d had together. Not to mention Cass and me not getting to know him at all . . .

  “Ow!” Bianca squawked.

  My eyes flew open as I realized I’d walked right into her. She and Liam had stopped near our homeroom door to let someone else go past.

  “Sorry,” I mumbled.

  But my friends were already hurrying into the room. I followed.

  “Caitlyn Waters!” a voice rang out.

  It was my homeroom teacher, Ms. Xavier. She rushed toward me, boho skirt swinging and multiple bracelets clanking. Her expression was always pretty happy, but right now she looked as if she’d just won the lottery.

  Then again, if that was the case I doubted she’d show up for school. Lottery or not, I was a little surprised to see her there already. Usually she breezed in right before the bell, which was still almost five minutes away.

  “Um, hi.” The weekend had been so crazy that I’d almost forgotten about the research project. In addition to being my homeroom teacher, Ms. X taught social studies. We were supposed to come up with a topic involving some aspect of US history, society, or culture and do a paper and oral report. And for some reason, Ms. X had decided that Cassie and I should team up to do our project about being twins. Or famous twins in history. Or something like that. To be honest, I hadn’t paid that much attention. I’d had other stuff on my mind.

  “Excuse me,” the teacher told my friends. “I need to borrow Caitlyn for a moment.”

  She grabbed my arm and dragged me toward the corner of the room. At least I think that’s what she was doing. Because another vision hit me like a hurricane.

  Ms. Xavier faded out, and a new Ms. Xavier took her place. She was in a dark, spooky room. I mean seriously spooky. The talisman was still around my neck, so things were incredibly vivid and I could see every creepy detail—black walls, drapey dark curtains, shelves full of weird skulls and dried-up stuff and glowing candles.

  But I didn’t focus much on that. The vision version of Ms. Xavier was lying on a huge stone table in the middle of the room. Her curly reddish-brown hair was spread out around her head like a cloud, and her eyes were closed. Someone in a long, black cloak was bending over her, though I couldn’t see his or her face . . .

  I gasped with relief as Ms. Xavier finally dropped my arm and the vision disappeared as quickly as it had come. The teacher was glancing around the room so she didn’t notice my reaction.

  By the time she turned to face me, I’d managed to get ahold of myself. Mostly, anyway.

  “Caitlyn,” Ms. Xavier said with a big smile. “Are you and your sister doing anything after school?”

  “Um . . .” My mind flashed to Grandmother Lockwood.

  “Good, good.” Ms. Xavier seemed to take that as a no. “Because I have something very important to discuss with the two of you. Please meet me here right after the final bell.”

  “Is this about the project?” I managed to ask, trying not to guess what that cloaked figure was about to do to her in that vision.

  She smiled and put her finger to her lips. “After school,” she said. “We’ll talk then.” She winked and hurried over to her desk as she called the class to order.

  I watched her go, feeling troubled. Oh, not because of the project—Cassie and I would just have to deal with that. We’d already told her we didn’t want to do the twins thing, but Ms. Xavier didn’t seem to be getting the message. Maybe it was time to get blunt. Cassie was good at that.

  In the meantime, though, I was worried about that vision. Ms. Xavier was into some wacky stuff, but whatever was going on there was downright scary. My friends had told me she was originally from New Orleans, and had tried to teach a unit on voodoo once before the school board had put a stop to it.

  Was that what she was doing in my vision? Some kind of voodoo demonstration for our class? No, I was pretty sure that spooky room wasn’t anywhere in Aura Middle School. So what was going on?

  The PA system crackled to life, startling me. I hurried over and slid into my seat between Liam and Bianca as the morning announcements started.

  The first one was about the sixth-grade trip. “Sign-up sheets will be in the office beginning at lunchtime today,” the school secretary said. “Please sign up with a partner as soon as possible. Anyone who hasn’t paired off by the end of day on Friday will be assigned a partner by the office.”

  “A partner?” I whispered to my friends.

  Bianca nodded. “This school loves the buddy system.”

  “Yeah.” Liam leaned closer. “I wonder if they’d let us sign up as a threesome instead of a duo.” He laughed softly. “We could petition the administration and see.”

  Bianca gave me a sidelong glance. “Sure,” she said. “But Caitlyn might want to pair up with her sister.”

  “Oh, yeah, I didn’t think of that.” Liam smiled at me. “What do you think, Caitlyn?”

  I’d barely heard what they’d said. I was watching Ms. Xavier, who was perched on the edge of her desk just a few feet away.

  At that moment I caught her eye, and she gave me a big wink. I gulped and looked away quickly. She was acting weirder than usual. Given how weird the rest of my life was at the moment, I didn’t like it.

  “Earth to Cait!” Liam poked me in the shoulder.

  “Huh?” I blinked at him. “What? Sorry, spaced out.”

  He chuckled. “Class trip?” he said. “You and your twin?”

  I didn’t know what he w
as talking about, though his mention of twins made me shoot another look at Ms. Xavier. Luckily the announcements ended at that moment, and a second later homeroom was over.

  Saved by the bell, I thought as my friends gathered up their stuff. With one last troubled glance at Ms. Xavier, I followed them out of the room.

  5

  CASSIE

  “DID YOU HEAR about Sakiko Star?” Lavender said as she dropped her lunch tray on our usual table.

  I sat down across from her and poked at the mystery meat on my own tray. Totally gross, as usual. “What about her?”

  “Hold on, Megs will want to hear this, too.” Lav glanced toward the lunch line.

  Megan was heading our way, flanked by two more of our friends. My secret nickname for Abby and Emily was the Minions, mostly because they seemed to worship the ground Megan walked on. Nice enough girls, just not really strong personality types, if you know what I mean.

  “Oh my gosh,” Abby exclaimed, throwing herself into the seat next to Lavender. “Did you guys hear the latest about Sakiko?”

  Lavender frowned at her. “I was about to tell y’all about that,” she said sharply.

  I almost rolled my eyes. I’d only been friends with these guys a short time, but I already knew that Lavender Adams hates getting scooped. Hates it like poison. Whatever gossip she’d heard about everyone’s favorite pop star, she wanted to be the one to share it first.

  “Oh!” Abby’s eyes widened. “Sorry, Lav. Go ahead.”

  Lavender shrugged, still looking sort of disgruntled. “It’s no biggie, actually,” she said. “She’s feuding with that wacky neighbor of hers again.”

  Megan laughed as she unwrapped her straw. “So what else is new? Ever since Sakiko bought that place in LA it’s been one problem after another with that guy.”

  “I know.” Emily slurped her applesauce loudly. “But the latest pictures are hilarious. She dumped trash all over his yard!”

  I laughed along with the others, though I couldn’t work up much excitement over celebrity gossip at the moment. Yeah, Sakiko Star was probably my favorite singer of all time. And yeah, the kooky old guy who lived next to her mansion was always doing something crazy, like calling the cops about her gardener weeding too close to the property line or letting his pet parrot squawk outside her window all night. But right now, whatever was going on with them couldn’t even hold a candle to my own crazy life.