Inherited Magic (3 page)

She relaxed and finally was able to
go to sleep for the third time. When she began to dream, she was back in the
unfamiliar house. Miss Tucker was sleeping on a plush couch; it looked as if
she had fallen asleep while grading papers. A man kicked the front door open
and entered, followed by several other men. One of the men was recognizable
from her earlier dream. His features were too distinct to forget. He had white
hair though he did not appear to be older than 35. He had bright blue eyes and
a deep scar down his face.

Miss Tucker opened her eyes in time
to register what was happening before one of the men stabbed a blade into her
neck. While the blood flowed, the man pulled out a small glass container and
collected her blood. Allison felt her heart in her throat. She tried to yell,
to stop them, but they did not even look her way. She could only watch,
helpless. Useless. Before leaving, one of the men lit a cigarette and threw it
on her chest. The cigarette caught her shirt on fire, which spread to the
fleece throw around her legs, and engulfed the couch. Soon the entire place
would be on fire. As the men turned to walk out of the house, Allison got
another look at the man with the scar. It felt like he knew she was watching,
and he did not like it. She did not dream anything else the rest of the night.

Allison woke up to the buzzing of
her alarm clock. She was drenched in sweat and the taste of iron was on her
tongue. She did not have to look at her pillowcase to realize she’d had a
nosebleed during the night. She was not even surprised; her nose bled every
other day now. Whenever she would have a realistic dream or a long vision, her
nose would bleed. Even though she needed to clean herself up, she was in no
hurry to move from the bed. She remained under the covers for several minutes,
trying to push the images of her latest nightmare out of her mind. Eventually,
she had to face the day. She threw the covers back and got to her feet. She
stretched and began her morning ritual.

After Allison, Vinnie and Ruby were
all dressed for the day, they sat at the table eating oatmeal and wheat toast.
Allison tried to keep up with the conversation, but she could not stop thinking
of her nightmares. She could not stop seeing Miss Tucker’s look of horror, the
bloody scene that unfolded or that evil, strange-looking man. His face was
there every time she closed her eyelids.

“Are you excited for your first day
back?” Ruby asked Allison.

“This early in the morning, there’s
nothing I could be excited for, especially school.”

“You might not be excited but at
least you look good,” Vinnie said, “Someone did a great job buying that outfit
for your birthday.”

“I know. Whoever it was has amazing
taste.”

Vinnie laughed, “Definitely.”

“We should probably start moving
before traffic gets heavy,” Ruby said.

“You’re right. I would hate to get
stuck in a traffic jam,” Allison said.

“It does get congested when the
other twelve cars in this town are on the road,” Vinnie added.

“Very funny. Let’s get this comedy
routine on the move,” Ruby said. 

They live in Mason Springs, a town
in Kentucky. It is small and feels safe, the type of town parents love to raise
children in. It is also the type of place most children grow up and leave
because there are no jobs and nothing ever happens.

When they reached the outside,
Allison glanced over at her new car. She could not wait to be able to drive
herself to school.

“We could take my car,” Allison
said.

“I think I would rather drive mine,
there’s more room and I’m used to it.”

They all entered Ruby’s dark blue
Buick and began the trip to school. Sooner than Allison would have preferred,
they were in front of Mason Springs High School.

“Have a great day and learn
something,” Ruby said.

“We will,” Vinnie said while
Allison nodded.

“And Allison, please don’t get into
any trouble.” 

“I won’t. Have a good day at work.”

Ruby drove off, headed to the
hospital where she had worked the front desk for the last twelve years.

Allison and Vinnie entered the old
stone building, which now housed Mason Springs High School. It had been built
in the 20’s and as far as Allison knew, had never had any renovations. There
were rumors that it was once used as a psychiatric ward, where staff abused and
neglected patients. Allison was not sure how much of this was true, but being
inside those walls did make her feel like a crazy person.

Allison and Vinnie did not make it
to their lockers before Jane approached them. She hurried down the hallway
looking furious. Allison and Vinnie exchanged looks.

“Try not to laugh,” Allison said.

“Try not to hit her,” Vinnie
replied.

 “If it isn’t juvie hall and the
sidekick,” Jane said once she reached them.

“Just to be clear, which one am I?”
Allison asked.

“Sarcasm, funny.”

“A three syllable word,
impressive,” Allison said. 

“So, are you missing some toilet
paper?” Jane asked.

Allison’s satisfied smile answered
her question, “What are you talking about?”

“You know exactly what I’m talking
about! Aren’t you too poor to be wasting toilet paper, or did everyone in The
Dir-” she stopped herself from finishing the phrase, “or did everyone in the
trailer park donate to the cause?”

“Everyone in the trailer park
doesn’t need to donate to me kicking your ass,” Allison said.

Jane backed up, knowing that
Allison could and would do it again.

“If you ever touch me, I will press
charges for assault on a minor,” Jane said in what was supposed to be a
threatening voice.

Allison and Vinnie both laughed.

“You’re lucky you’re rich and
pretty because you are not smart,” Vinnie said.

“What is that supposed to mean?”

“It means I’m a minor too, and in
fact, you’re older than me. You can charge me with assault, but not assault on
a minor.”

Allison and Vinnie walked away from
Jane, leaving her looking confused. Allison found it shocking that someone
could be that dense. They stopped in front of a classroom door.

“Have fun in Media Arts,” Allison
said.

“Always.”

Media Arts was Vinnie’s favorite
class. He performed well in front of the camera. Allison attributed that to the
fact that he was handsome, articulate and likeable. He had dreams of being a
talk show host someday, preferably on OWN. Oprah was one of Vinnie’s biggest heroes.
To Allison, it seemed like an odd choice of idol for a fifteen-year-old boy,
but that was Vinnie. He liked what he liked, without caring about the norm.  

“See you in third period,” Allison
said.

She walked up the stairs to her
first class. When she entered Mr. Bunch’s classroom, the seats near the back
were already taken. She sat in an empty chair near Wes Young. He was smart,
quiet and one of the few people Allison liked. The bell rang but there was no
Mr. Bunch. Students began to talk while they waited, and a few minutes after
the bell, he arrived. Mr. Bunch never looked happy, but today he looked more
unhappy than usual.

“Students, gather you belongings.
The principal has called an assembly,” Mr. Bunch said.

Wes raised his hand. “Shouldn’t we
turn in our homework first?”

“Shouldn’t you stop being a geek?”
Siler asked.

Wes looked down at his desk,
embarrassed but too smart to say anything back.

People like Siler and Jane were the
reason Allison could not stand this place. It seemed as if the more cruel and
hateful someone was, the more popular that person would be. It just did not
make any sense. Allison had no use for people like them, and had no problems
making sure everyone knew it.

“I’d rather be a geek who’s going
to graduate than a moron who probably won’t,” Allison said.

Siler’s laughter stopped. A few
students laughed at her comment, and he looked around, taking a mental note of
everyone who found her remark funny.

“Enough,” Mr. Bunch intervened. “We
will worry about the homework tomorrow. Everyone go to the auditorium.”

There was a low murmur while
students began to grab their belongings and exit the classroom.

“You need to watch that mouth,”
Siler warned when he passed by Allison’s desk.

She rolled her eyes but let it go
without responding. When she was in the hallway, Wes caught up with her.

“Thanks for saying that to Siler.”

“No problem. He can’t even pass his
classes and then he’s going to make fun of someone for being smart?”

“I’m glad you’re back.”

“That makes one of us.”

“Anyway, I was wondering if maybe
you wanted to go with me to the school dance this Friday night.”

Allison was quiet for a minute.
This was tricky. Beside the fact that she had no romantic interest in Wes, she
knew her friend Sam did, even if she was too shy to admit it.

“Thanks for the invitation, but I
don’t come to the school unless I’m forced by law. You know, truancy and
whatnot. Besides, I’m a horrible dancer.”

“Oh. Maybe some other time.”

“Maybe, but you know who can dance
and is free on Friday?”

“Who?” he asked, his voice full of
skepticism.

“Sam.”

“Sam? Oh!” He said with relief.

“Who did you think I was going to
say?”

“Never mind. So, she can dance?”

“Yeah she loves it. You should ask
her out.”

“She’s pretty, but she never talks
to me. Do you think she’d say yes?”

“Sam is just shy, that’s why she
never talks, but I think she would say yes.”

They arrived at the auditorium
where Wes spotted his group of friends and they parted ways.

“Thanks, Allison. I’m going to ask
her.”

“Good,” Allison said.

She turned away from Wes and began
looking for her own friends. She spotted Vinnie, Josh and Sam. They were all
together in the very back row. Allison squeezed in next to Sam and got right to
the point.

“Can you dance?” Allison asked her.

“Um, kind of, I guess.”

“Good. I told Wes that you can, and
he’s probably going to ask you to the dance on Friday night.”

“Wes Young?”

“Yeah.”

“I don’t have anything to wear. If
I go with him, I won’t know what to say. I’ve never gone out with anyone
before.”

“Relax. Allison and I will help you
find the perfect outfit. We’ll come over and help with your hair, your make up,
whatever,” Vinnie said.

Sam breathed a little easier. “So
he really likes me?” she asked.

“Why else would he ask you out?”

“My little Samantha is growing up
so fast,” Josh said, “But seriously, he better not get all touchy feely while
you two are dancing.”

Sam blushed at the thought. Josh
acted more like he was her older brother than her cousin. 

“It’s a school event, I’m sure it
will be PG-13,” Allison assured Josh.

“You should come with me just to
help keep an eye on these kids.”

Allison did not respond, but gave a
nervous chuckle. She looked at Josh; this was the first time she had been
around him since her talk with Vinnie. He really was a good person. Most high
school boys were not good looking, funny and nice. A girl would be lucky to get
two out of three. Josh realized Allison was looking at him longer than usual.

“What? Do I have something on me?”
he asked, rubbing his nose in a self-conscious manner.

Allison shook her head but did not
say anything because Mr. Napier had approached the auditorium stage. The
balding red-faced man wore a grim expression. Unease washed over Allison,
though she was not sure why. Once he approached the microphone, most of the
chatter ceased; everyone was curious about this surprise assembly.

He spoke into the microphone, “Can
I have everyone’s attention, please?” He then waited for silence. The student
body hushed.

He took a deep breath. “Today is a
sad day for Mason Springs. Early this morning Miss Janet Tucker’s house caught
fire and her body was found inside the residence.”

There was a collective gasp of
disbelief.

Allison had no breath; she felt as
if she had been punched in the stomach. The need to throw up was overwhelming
and she struggled against the lump in her throat.

“It was real,” she muttered. She
stared at the back of the seat in front of her. “It was real.”

The auditorium became hot and
constricting. Mr. Napier was still at the microphone talking, but Allison could
not comprehend his words. He was saying something about tragedy and grief
counselors when she got up and left. In the hallway, she paced. She tried to
calm her breathing and heartbeat.

“How could it happen? It was a
dream. I was asleep. Maybe I was sleepwalking.” A wave of nausea hit her again.

She looked up to see Vinnie exiting
the auditorium; his eyes were teary.

“Are you okay?” he asked.

“Just shocked, I guess,” Allison
said.

The rest of the day went by in a
haze. Allison could not be bothered to focus in class or pay attention to her
friends’ conversations. All she could think about was Miss Tucker and her
dream. She was not sure what to think anymore. She considered going to the
authorities and telling them that she suspected foul play, but they would want
to know why she had such suspicions. What was she supposed to say, that she had
a dream about it? What if they conducted an autopsy and found she had died in
the exact manner Allison told them? Wouldn’t that make her a suspect? She could
not allow herself to think that such a thing had happened. It had to be
coincidence.

She and Vinnie had art together for
their final period. When Mrs. Caudwell started the class, she looked like many
of the other teachers who had puffy eyes and splotchy faces. It was easy to
forget that teachers were human too, and they had just lost a colleague and
friend.