Velocity (8 page)

I looked down at the cards. The star and the devil were the only ones out. And on the star card there was an angel, golden wings spread out in flight.

“I am almost sure of it,” she said, never breaking my gaze.

I jumped away from the table. “This is absolutely messed up.” I felt like I was suddenly having a panic attack. Everything looked too bright and my pulse was pounding in my ears.

“That’s why it carries so strongly down the blood line,” Hugh said, as though it made perfect sense. “My Sight was more or less a fluke, but your mother, your grandmother. And she was adopted, so who knows what came before her.”

“What does that mean?” I asked, blood throbbing at my temples.

“It means you are the one who has to stand against the evil. You alone.”

“I can tell that you once saw the spirits,” the woman said to him. “But you are correct; her Sight descends from the blood on the mother’s side.”

Suddenly, Hugh thought it was less exciting. “But I don’t want to put her in danger,” Hugh protested.

“She is already in danger,” the woman exclaimed. “You are all in danger if you do not cut the evil at its root.”

“You guys are really going to believe this?” I asked, my voice high and strained.

Hugh jumped up from his seat and held me by the arms, forcing me to look at him. “You wanted to know the truth. So did I. I know it’s a lot to take in, but don’t run away from it now. We have to face it.”

“It’s okay, Ari,” Theo said, suddenly at my side, hugging my arm. I wanted to cry and scream at the same time.

I already believed so many things I would have at one time thought were impossible. Why was this any more so? I felt like I had a sudden weight dropped on me―like now all the responsibility was mine, instead of just a fraction of it. It would have been one thing to suddenly find out I was magic or special, but this felt more like being burdened with fixing everything.

“How can we use this to our advantage against Thornhill?” Hugh asked.

“There is a power that a mortal can possibly wield.” She indicated the star with one gnarled finger. “It is the holy light. It comes to you at your time of greatest need.”

Theo helped me sit back down in my seat, and I stared at the star. I pictured a glowing, golden light, springing from my fingertips, and shut my eyes.
Impossible.

“So, you are the one that has to stop him,” Hugh said, looking at me. Everyone was staring at me in shocked awe, and I had no idea what to do. “We just have to figure out how.”

CHAPTER 7

THE DRIVE BACK
to Michigan seemed even longer than the drive there. I just wanted to sleep or relax, but it was impossible to even get comfortable.

“So, who wants Burger King? I hear you can have it your way,” Hugh said, trying to defuse the tension in the air.

“Please, don’t, with the corny jokes. I just found out that I’m possibly part biblical being. That’s not something that I can just swallow like a dry pill,” I said testily.

“Speaking of pills, I have Xanax,” Lucy piped up. “Would you like one?”

I briefly considered it, but since pills stopped me from seeing ghosts, I didn’t want to mess with it right now, and declined politely.

“That woman was a loon,” Theo said reassuringly, sketching a caricature of the store owner in question. “Which probably doesn’t make you feel much better.”

“Not really,” I said. There was a pause. “Did you even learn her name?”

“It was Serafina,” Hugh said, looking at me in the rear view. “She gave me her business card.”

That made everyone in the car chuckle a little. I couldn’t help but let a nervous giggle out. Lucy and Hugh went back to talking quietly.

“Do you think she was telling the truth?” Theo asked me, folding the cover closed on her book.

“Unfortunately, I think she was,” I said. “I always wanted to have superpowers when I was little. Like, when I could go invisible using the necklace, I thought that was really cool. But this is…different.”

“It’s still kind of cool,” Theo said softly. “Maybe you’ll grow wings or something.”

“Wings would be a bonus. But I just feel like all it means is that I’m the only one who can go up against some great big evil, and that’s scary. I don’t mind dealing with supernatural creatures, but I don’t want to be one.”

There was a pause as we both sat in silence, listening to faint country songs coming out of the radio.

“I’m really sorry about your mom, Ariel,” she said, biting her lip, her large green eyes widening further.

“Thank you,” I said. There was so much I wanted to say, so many feelings I wanted to express. “I’m sorry about…everything.”

“It’s okay,” Theo insisted. “I know I overreacted when I found out about you and Henry…”

“You didn’t overreact. I totally get why you reacted. Everyone saw him treat me like garbage. I’m still not totally fine with how he handled the situation, if I’m going to be perfectly honest, even if I understand why he did it.”

“Why did he do it?” Theo asked. “Not to pry, but I’ve always been curious.”

“Phillip threatened him. He was abusing him for a while on a regular basis. Like not just pushing him around; Henry had actual bruises and scars. Phillip has this whole plan for Henry’s life, but he’s not on board.” I grasped her hand, squeezing it firmly. “I really do want you to know how much you mean to me.”

She smiled, blushing, and pushed up her glasses.

“You mean a lot to me, too. I had a lot of time to think on my trip, and I didn’t realize what a huge, huge deal Thornhill is. How dangerous this all was. I can see why you and Henry would want to keep it a secret. I just don’t understand why you would still want to be with him.”

“So, we’re okay?” I asked hopefully.

She smiled at me. “Yeah, we’re okay. But don’t keep secrets again.”

“Never. I’m done with secrets.”

She let out a deep breath, looking me over. “Don’t blame yourself for being overwhelmed. This is like a fantasy come to life.”

“Being psychic, I could deal with. But this…” I stared out of the window at the rushing road. “I don’t know how to do this. I guess I just thought we could pull the plug on Thornhill no problem. It’s like just when I think we’ve reached the bottom, there’s farther to go down the rabbit hole.”

“Was it weird to see your mom?” Theo asked.

I thought about it before answering. “Weird and sad. I definitely want to stay away from any painful memories. The temptation is pretty strong.”

We continued talking the rest of the way through Tennessee, making up for our lost time. They’d spent Christmas at a really bad motel that played Elvis tunes.

“I kind of missed Alex,” Theo confessed after a minute. “I ended up quitting Dollar Daze and I know I’ll have too much time on my hands.”

“Do you want to get back together with him?”

She rubbed her hand on the seat. “I don’t know. Maybe. Maybe not. I don’t know if I want a serious relationship right now.”

“You should talk to him when we get back,” I said.

“You think?” she asked.

“Yeah. Talking isn’t a commitment. And obviously he misses you.”

###

Outside of Tennessee, we stopped at a motel. I still hadn’t had a real text from Henry, and I kept thinking about Roger’s creepy picture that I had since deleted. I didn’t like the silence, and I was worried about him. He was recovering well from his injury, but who knows what had happened while we were gone. And I wanted to update him. I hoped he hadn’t lost his phone for good.

The room Theo and I shared was tacky, with paint peeling from the walls, but comfortable. I nodded off finally, although I kept waking up every five minutes, my muscles knotted up and visions of glorious, destructive angels in my head.

Finally, I fell deep into sleep. I walked up to the burning tree, its leaves starting to break up and fall to the ground. A girl sat at the base, digging in the soft ground with a spade, a box at her side. I glanced up, and behind her I saw the familiar building of Bernhardt Asylum, where Eleanor had been a patient. The girl turned, and I saw that it was indeed Eleanor, it’s just her hair was slightly longer than I was used to seeing. She threw dirt over the box.

When I woke up, I could see slivers of sunlight coming through the blinds. The smell of coffee and donuts made me realize that I was starving. Hugh and Lucy had been to the gas station. I scarfed two glazed donuts and a cup of black coffee while the cheerful morning news played.

When everyone was getting ready to leave, I pulled Hugh aside.

“Are we in a huge hurry to get home?” I asked. It was the second week of January, and we’d only been gone three days. I knew I was missing school, but I’d be hard pressed to concentrate, anyway.

“No. I’m sure Phillip knows we’re gone now, but he’s going to see the truth sooner or later and we’ll have to face the consequences,” Hugh said. He snapped up our luggage and we started to walk to the car. “Why do you ask?”

“I want to go back to Bernhardt Asylum,” I said. “Theo and I visited there once when I was looking for more information. There was a nurse there who had worked there for a really long time.”

“When did all of this happen?” Hugh asked with a slightly suspicious frown.

I blushed warmly. “Uh, the summer before junior year. Theo and I went on a little day trip.”

“To an asylum?” Hugh shook his head. “You are definitely my kid.”

I turned to Theo. “Do you remember that nurse that worked there, the one you talked to?”

“The one with the braid, Diane? The lady I kept off your back?” Theo asked. “Why do you want to see her again?”

“Because I keep having these dreams about a flaming tree and a box,” I said. We were standing outside of the car while they packed the trunk. “I don’t even know if she was old enough to be there when Eleanor was there, but she might know some information. I want to see if she knows anything about grandma’s life there. I don’t even know why I didn’t ask her directly in the first place. But maybe she’d know something.”

“If you’re dreaming about it, that means it’s important,” Hugh said, slamming the trunk shut. “Let’s change course.”

###

St. Joseph’s had finished their renovation of the hospital. Although it was the same creepy, bat-shaped building from the outside, weeping willows sagging to protect it, there was a brand new parking lot and a lot of bustling activity. The inside was pristine and gleaming—nothing like the dank relic Theo and I had visited before. Signs pointed to a huge, state-of-the-art cancer wing. People rushed by in lab coats. I didn’t even know where to start. For all I knew, the nurse might have retired.

“They put hundreds of millions into this renovation,” Lucy was telling us. “One of the teachers at school had to bring her husband here for chemo.”

“That way is the psychiatric wing,” Theo said, pointing to a sign. “She might still be helping out mentally ill patients.”

We followed tracks of rainbow lights in the ceiling, using the signs as a guide, and entered the psychiatric check-in. Behind the desk was a guy not much older than Theo and I, with a name tag hanging around his neck.

“Does Diane still work here?” I asked him.

“That dinosaur? Yeah, sure, she’s still here,” the guy said. He pointed to a woman at the opposite end of the check-in room. Her long gray braid gave her away. Diane, wearing bright purple and green scrubs, smiled as she spoke calmly with a woman who couldn’t sit still.

“Wait here,” I told Hugh and Lucy. I had a hunch that things would go better if just Theo and I talked to her.

The twitchy patient had been escorted away through a set of double doors. Diane was busy straightening a pile of magazines.

“Hi,” I began.

She looked up with a confused smile. “Do I know you girls?”

Theo and I exchanged a glance. “We just chatted with you one time when we were here,” Theo said. “It was a while ago.”

“You look familiar,” Diane agreed. “I’ve been here for many years. Never forget a face, though. It’s a grunt job, but I’m grateful to still be in the place I know. When I die they’ll probably bury me here. What were your names, again?”

“I’m Ariel, and this is Theo,” I said quickly. “I had a question for you, if you’re not too busy.”

“I’m on my break, actually,” she said, checking her watch. She pushed through the doors into the hall and we followed. I gave a thumbs up to Hugh as he and Lucy sat down in the waiting room. “What can I do for you?”

“I remember you saying you’d worked here for thirty years, but I was wondering if you knew anything about a patient prior to that?” I began.

Diane stopped, adjusted her glasses, and peered at me with the start of a frown. “Say, you wouldn’t happen to be the two girls from the school paper? Came here a few years back?”

I gulped.

“I thought your names were Tonya and Shakira?” She didn’t seem amused now. Crap, I had forgotten about the fake names. I’d never thought she’d remember. “I knew my warning bells were going off. You went in and messed with the old patient files. Danny said he caught you outside the records room. I don’t know what dirt you’re snooping for, girlie, but you’ve crossed the wrong woman.”