A Touch of Water (Touch of Magic Book 1)

by C. K. Johnson

  Coach groaned and glanced toward a group of guys sitting on the first row of the bleachers. They didn’t look like they’d been dosed with a shot of liquid grief, but I could guess why they were third string. One of them looked like the water boy.

  “Okay everyone, into the locker room,” the coached ordered. Skull and his companions didn’t move, but everyone else trudged behind Hudson like a sad game of follow the leader.

  I took Jacob’s hand the moment he was out of the game and pulled him over. “Jacob, this is bad. We need to talk, now.” I tugged him toward the girls’ locker room and hoped no one else was in there.

  “Don’t you think I know that?” he growled, yanking his hand from mine. He seemed to be moving through the stages of grieving very fast. The emotion must have locked on and loved what its new host had to offer.

  “I can help. I just need a few minutes. I’ll be done before halftime is over with.” I made myself grab his hand again. This time, I started to drag without looking back. He couldn’t protest if I gave him nothing to protest about. Okay, maybe my kidnapping, but he seemed more annoyed with that than anything.

  I pulled out the water bottle out of my jacket pocket and shoved him around the corner. He lifted an eyebrow as we walked in but said nothing else.

  “This might feel weird.” The words reminded me of Tyler.

  “That’s okay.” Jacob leaned closer, puckering his lips. I leaned back.

  “Not that. You want a good luck kiss, try your girlfriend.” I shook my head and grabbed his wrist. The monstrous sorrow had latched onto Jacob’s fears and hurts and begun rewiring his whole personality with each passing second. Not that Jacob didn’t have aggression before this, but he’d kept most of it to the field and Melissa. I cringed—and Melissa had wanted him back.

  I didn’t care to be gentle anymore. I yanked it out like a weed, from the base, pulling out as many of the roots that I could, then shoved it into my bottle. If possible, Jacob paled ever more, then sighed when it popped out.

  “Lilly, what just happened?” Though he whispered, it caught on the empty walls and seemed to echo around us.

  “Did it help?” I screwed the top back on the bottle.

  “Yeah, that was crazy.” He reached for my hand again.

  “No. Now go outside and get me some more of your teammates. We’ve got to get everyone. You got it?”

  “But, what hap—” he began, but I cut him off.

  “I’ll explain later. We’ve got to hurry before the other guys turn aggressive too.” I tried to paste a smile on my face to give him some confidence, but just fixing him had drained me. The idea of pulling it out of the rest of them, well, I questioned whether I could do it.

  “Tell me later.” He jogged off.

  Eight players later, I could barely stand. We were long past halftime. I plopped down on a bench before I fell to the floor and started crying, myself. There was no way I could get through everyone tonight. I thought about calling my mom to help but didn’t know if she could or if this was my problem, so I had to finish it.

  Jacob walked in with Garrett and gestured for him sit down beside me. “You gonna make it?” He eyed me.

  “I can’t do them all. But I can get the worst. Maybe if you could keep them together, I can do the rest tomorrow.”

  “I could have a guy’s night at my house. That might help. Coach thinks we all did drugs or something.”

  “If only it were just that easy.” I rested my hand on his friend’s shoulder and dragged the emotion out. I felt water drip on my arms and figured it was the perspiration dripping off my forehead. I’d need to see if I could get a towel or something after I finished with this guy.

  “Lilly, you okay?” Jacob asked again, moving closer to me.

  “I’ll be fine.” I gave a final yank and shoved the emotion into the water.

  He left for a moment and came back, handing me a tissue. “Your nose is bleeding.”

  I touched the tissue to my nose, and it came back red. Not gushing, but it was coming out steadily. “Jacob, I need more tissues.” I waved Jacob away and smiled at Garrett. “Grab another one of your teammates.” His figure blurred the further he got away from me until he walked into blackness. Weird, I thought as the heavyweight of exhaustion pressed down on me. I rubbed my temples and tried to focus. When I opened my eyes, the bench looked fuzzy. I reached out to touch it. Maybe playing with too much emotion had melded reality. Nope, still there, I thought as my finger brushed it. The fuzzy quality turned into black spots, and then I was out.

  Chapter Fourteen

  “Hey, she’s coming around,” someone said off to my side. I flinched and covered my ears, trying to keep out the sound. My head pounded like I had a conga line going on in my head.

  “Hey honey, how are you feeling?” My mom’s words slipped past the drums in my head and soothed me.

  “I don’t feel very good.” I wished my voice weren’t cracking like a bubble wrap being popped.

  “Jacob said you weren’t feeling well, so he took you into the locker room to sit down, and you passed out. He couldn’t wake you up, so he found your phone and called us. Your dad picked you up,” my mom added. I forced an eye open. I was in my room, and my dad stood a little behind my mom, arms folded, watching me.

  “There isn’t anything you want to tell me?” His word came out clipped, tense. I frowned and looked at Mom, hoping she’d give me a hint. Did my father know too?

  “You father is concerned that we weren’t able to wake you up until now. Parents have been calling around tonight. They’re bringing the whole football team for drug testing tomorrow. Apparently, the game got pretty interesting.”

  “We weren’t doing any drugs. It was just a bad game.” So they were bringing the whole team in for drug testing—ouch.

  What my father didn’t know was what he really should be worrying about. Confiding in my mom had been the smartest move I’d made so far. If I hadn’t, this conversation would be going in a different direction.

  “Your friend had to leave to get tested too. He said he’d call later to make sure you were okay. So are you okay?” My dad walked to the other side of the bed and rested his hand on my head.

  “Yeah, I’ll be fine. I got dizzy. Forgot to eat before the big game. Go, Bulldogs!”

  “Well, let us know if you feel any worse. If it’s anything like the rumors I’ve heard, whatever happened to those kids is bad. Good thing your friend Tyler wasn’t part of the team before that happened. If they find drugs on any of those boys, that won’t look good to any college scouts.”

  “Good thing,” I said. Dad mentioning Tyler made my heart clench. I looked around until my eyes rested on my coat. “Hey Mom, can you get my cell phone? I should probably let him know I’m okay.” Maybe he got over whatever snit he had been in this morning and had forgiven me for interrupting Beth, not that I should have to worry about being forgiven in the first place.

  Mom grabbed my phone and tossed it over. No new calls, no new texts. My life was starting to look pathetic. I was going through friends and boyfriends like tissue paper.

  “Cheer up, honey. It will feel better tomorrow,” my mom said. She gently pushed my dad toward the door and clicked off the light behind her. It had to get better. Hopefully, with fewer guys, it wouldn’t be so bad then.

  .o0o.

  The phone ringing woke me up again. I needed to start putting my phone on silent. I reached over, about to hit dismiss, when I saw Tyler’s name.

  “Hey,” I slurred in my half-asleep state.

  “What happened to the football team?” He cut straight to the point.

  “What?”

  “My dad came in and asked if I was doing drugs. Then he told me the starting football players were in the hospital. What happened?”

  “Drugs,” I said lamely, knowing that wasn’t really what he’d been asking. He wanted to know if I was behind this and in a way, I had been, but it was unintentional. My pounding head made trying to explain it
all seem like too much right now.

  “You know what I mean. We need to talk. I’ll find you on Monday at school.” The phone clicked off and I stared at it a moment before lying back down. I could hear the anger in his voice, and it stung. Did he think I had just been messing around when I did this to him? That was it. We were done.

  The phone rang again, just as I was starting to drift off. I waffled back and forth on whether to even look at it. Maybe he’s calling to apologize. That thought finally won me over and I looked at the screen, then punched my pillow.

  “Melissa, you okay?” I tried to sound calm. The small amount of logic I could pull together told me if she’d been grabbed by the government, they would have grabbed me, too. My pounding head and too little sleep did nothing to soothe my frazzled nerves.

  “It’s happening again. You said Caitlyn didn’t do anything.” Melissa’s voice sounded forlorn, like I had just told her her puppy was dead.

  “I’m sorry. I didn’t think Caitlyn could do something like this. I already fixed Jacob and a few of the other ones, and I’ll keep working on it until I get them all done. I promise.” I wished my words could fix everything.

  “I’m not talking about the football players, Lilly. I’m talking about me. We drank the water, too.” Her voice broke as she started sobbing.

  “Why didn’t you tell me before?”

  “Because I thought she’d seen you and stopped. I don’t know. I was trying to give her the benefit of the doubt.”

  I could barely make out Melissa’s words at this point through her ragged breath. “Do you want me to come now?”

  “Yes,” she sobbed. I swallowed and took a deep breath.

  “I’ll be there as soon as I can.” I slipped on some flip-flops and tiptoed toward the front door.

  My mom’s “Where are you going?” made me jump so hard, I almost screamed.

  “Melissa just told me some of the cheerleaders drank the water. She’s pretty bad. I feel responsible. I didn’t think Caitlyn would do this. How could she forget how horrible she felt and do that to someone else?”

  “Because you took it away so she can’t remember, honey.”

  “Then this is my fault. I have to fix this.”

  “You can’t drive. And I shouldn’t let you out of the house right now after you passed out earlier. Do you feel there is no other way?”

  “Yeah, I don’t think she can wait until morning. She’s already been through this before, and it was bad.”

  “Give me a minute and I’ll drive you over,” she said before she tiptoed down the hall and into the laundry room. A few minutes later, she came out, holding a bottle of bleach.

  I raised an eyebrow but unlocked the door.

  “Jacob brought home the water bottle. I figured if I put it in this, there was no chance of anyone drinking it. And your father never does the laundry, so it’s not like he would touch it.”

  I shook my head. My mom was more devious than I gave her credit for. We drove over to Melissa’s in silence. I wasn’t sure, even with my brief rest, if I could do this. Maybe my mom could help. Maybe this wouldn’t be as bad as I thought it would be.

  We pulled up to the gated community again, and I watched my mom’s expression to see if she was as awed as I was. She smiled and winked at me, then rolled down the window.

  “Good evening, or should I say early morning, ma’am? Are you here to visit Tyler?”

  “Actually, I am here for my friend Melissa. She’s not feeling well, and I said I would run by and check on her.” I flashed what I hope was a sincere smile. He nodded and I texted Melissa. Behind him, the phone rang in the booth. Soon the gates slid open and I directed Mom to Melissa’s house.

  She was sitting on the front porch and got into our car the moment it was parked. Her puffy eyes made my guilt sink a little deeper. “Sorry,” she sighed as she took in my mom in the driver’s seat.

  “No problem. I can’t believe this happened to you again. Not that it should have happened again, but to you. It sucks. I can’t drive right now, so Mom helped out.” I got out of the front seat and climbed in the back.

  Down the street, I heard another car door open and close. I glanced around, wondering why anyone would be up at two in the morning, but couldn’t see a light on anywhere. Now I was imaging things.

  “You ready?” My mom handed me the bleach bottle. Melissa looked at it, then me, then my mom. “I’ll explain later.” I took her hand and dipped my fingers into the bottle. I had a brief moment of worry when the scent of bleachfilled my nostrils, but it was just plain old water that met my fingers.

  My head pounded as I pulled on the sadness. It didn’t even twitch at my touch. I focused harder, zeroing in on the sorrow I saw there and trying to dig my claws in, but it was as if my ability swiped through it.

  “What’s wrong?” Melissa asked, her voice wavering. That alone spurred me to try again.

  I sunk deeper into her thoughts. Melissa couldn’t be older than five. A tiny Pomeranian dog ran around in circles on the front lawn. So much joy. I felt bubbly and light her dog Mitzy came up and licked Melissa’s hand. A nanny scolded her for letting the dog lick, but she didn’t care. Mitzy scampered across the yard, barking at a neighbor across the street. Each bark propelled her small body into the air.

  The neighbor turned and smiled. Mitzy took that as an invitation and ran into the street.

  “No!” I yanked myself out of Melissa, unwilling to watch further.

  “No what?” Melissa and my mom were looking at me funny.

  I folded my arms tight to myself and wanted to ask my mom for a hug. The only upside of that ghosting adventure was that it didn’t seem Melissa was reliving it.

  “I wish I could do more. I think I’m just too tired. The football team must have worn me out. I promise I’ll come back first thing tomorrow.” I wrapped her in a hug, wishing I could comfort her five-year-old self. Tell her everything would be alright.

  “You can’t do it.” She sobbed against my shoulder. “What if, what if I’m stuck like this?”

  “You won’t be. I don’t care what I have to do. I’ll find a way.” I hugged her tighter.

  My mom looked back at me and met my eyes. I saw sympathy and understanding there, and though it did little to ease my worry, it did help to know she was in my corner. “It’s late, both of you. Melissa, are we okay to leave you at home? Or do you want to come back with us?”

  “Can I go with you?” Her voice wobbled.

  “Go check with your parents. If they say it’s fine, I’m okay with it too.” My mom reached back and squeezed Melissa’s shoulder.

  “My parents aren’t home. They went away for a few days. I’ll let Rosa know. Just give me a minute to grab my stuff,” she said so fast, it felt like a weird juxtaposition to the bawling girl I had been hugging just a moment ago. I shrugged and got out of the car, following her into her wide foyer.

  “I’ll be right down.” She ran up the stairs and down a hall where I soon lost sight of her.

  I shivered, turned to shut the door, and jumped when for the second time tonight, a dark figure stood there. Tyler took a step forward into the light, and I was this close to smacking him for not saying anything. He put a finger to his lips and shut the door carefully behind himself.

  “What are you doing here?” he hissed. He surveyed the foyer as if there were an enemy lurking nearby.

  “I’m here for Melissa. She just told me the cheerleaders drank from the cooler too.” I turned away from him and watched the last spot I’d seen Melissa in.

  “Quiet.” He stepped in front of me. “Those people that came to check me out, they haven’t left. Dad had to use a lawyer to get me home, and even then it was still kind of stop and go there for a bit. They tried to tell him I might be dying. When I asked exactly how, they fumbled a bit. Thankfully Dad’s not the public hospital type, so he got me out, but they’ve been following me ever since.”

  “Why didn’t you say something in the hallway?”r />
  “I said they’ve been following me and I didn’t want them to tie you to anything. The only way I could think to distance you is to pretend I didn’t like you so they wouldn’t put together you being on the hike when I fell. Besides, I promised not to tell about the—” he stopped as Melissa came down the stairs dragging a large suitcase behind her. It thunked on every step she descended. “Water bottle,” he finished.

  “Thank you.” I wanted to hug him. He was going through spy novel stuff for me, and he was still keeping me safe.

  “I’m going to kill Caitlyn,” Melissa said as she reached the bottom step. She was still hugging her middle with the hand that wasn’t dragging her suitcase.

  “Caitlyn can do this?” Tyler asked, no longer bothering to be quiet.

  “No, there was an incident, and she got her hands on some stored leftovers. She stole it and drugged the football team to get revenge. It just so happened a few of the cheerleaders drank it as well.”

  “So all the football players at the hospital getting drug tested are on the stuff you gave me?” He shook his head.

  “What I did to you gave you strength. What they have is sorrow or it used to be. It’s gotten worse now. It’s been through three people and the more people it goes through, the harder it is to take it out. I came to help Melissa, but I think working on so many football players drained me, so I’m going to try again tomorrow.”

  “What can I do?” He wrapped his arm around me and pulled me closer.

  “We need to figure out how to get the football players I haven’t helped out of the hospital. We’ve got to do it without giving us away to those people that are interested in you. I think they’re already going to know something is up once the drug tests come back. Whatever we can do to draw attention away from this would be helpful.”

  “I’ll try to think of something.” He leaned in and dropped a light kiss on my lips. He was done before I could even respond. “I’ll call Melissa tomorrow if I have anything. You can do this, Lilly. I know it.” And with that, he was out the front door again.