Glimpse (14 page)

Three weeks into our stay, we’d developed a sort of routine.  We woke every morning at eight, showered, dressed, ate a piece of toast and walked from Aunt Hazel’s apartment to the MAX train.  So far we’d been to the zoo, downtown, and out to the airport for some people watching. But mostly we just went to Lloyd Center.

I welcomed the routine. The normality of being a sixteen-year-old girl who hangs out at the mall buying bulk candy and riding escalators all day long felt good. 

I wasn’t getting a ton of answers from my great-aunt about the visions, but I was starting to welcome that too.  Our dinner conversations were more about Aunt Hazel regaling us with stories of all the people Grandma had saved with her abilities, than answers.

Melody crammed her fiftieth sour gummy worm of the day into her mouth as we boarded the MAX.  She had changed a lot for the better.  For one, she was moderately nice to me.  For another, it seemed like being popular was the furthest thing from her mind anymore.

“You know we’re having dinner in half an hour, Mel,” I said, “Aunt Hazel’s going to be pissed if you don’t eat any of her fabulous cuisine.”  I giggled, reaching into Melody’s bag of candy.

Claire took a chocolate bar from her slouchy green handbag.  “Yeah, it’s Tuna Tuesday, what are you thinking?”

Melody snagged the only open seat in the compartment, holding her stomach.  “I’m thinking I can either barf from all of the candy or barf from the tuna casserole and I’m going with the candy.”

The business man seated next to her got up from his seat and went to stand by the door.

“Good call,” Claire said, taking the man’s seat.

We got off the MAX two stops later and climbed the hill to Aunt Hazel’s.  She lived on Burnside in the top floor apartment of a yellow house.  There were two apartments downstairs occupied by ladies even older than her.  Claire had taken to calling it the “Happy Haven Retirement Home.”

“Hey, whose Beemer is that parked in front of the Haven?” Claire said as we came to the top of the hill.

“Hmm, I don’t know.  Maybe one of the other residents has a rich son visiting,” I said.

We rounded the corner and faced the house.

Melody pointed to Aunt Hazel’s apartment. “No, I don’t think so. Look, there’s a lady standing at the window staring at us.”

We all looked up at her.  Claire waved and the lady waved back.  “Cool, a dinner guest.” 

Aunt Hazel met us at the top of the stairs.  She nervously tucked a lock of her bobbed grey hair behind her ear.  “Hi, girls, I hope you had a good day.  I’ve…we’ve got a guest for dinner tonight. Actually, she’s going to be staying with us for a while.”  She ushered us through the door into the apartment.

A tall red headed woman turned from the kitchen window and smiled. 

Claire gasped.  “Hey, I…you’re the lady from the dressing room in Bend when we went to get dresses for Zellie’s party!”

“Yes, Claire, that was me.” She stepped toward us, her hand extended. “Hello, Zellie.  Hello, Melody. It’s nice to meet you.” She took my hand and a thousand images from my family’s life flashed in my mind. “I’m Rachel Loughlin, your dead grandmother.”

Melody turned to me and slugged me on the arm.  “You really can’t see stuff like this coming?  Your powers suck.”

Tears welled in my eyes.  “Melody, how many times do I have to tell you?  This isn’t the kind of future I can see!”

Grandma put her hand on my shoulder, her eyes bright, “Let’s see if we can’t do something about that.”

The three of us girls sat huddled on Aunt Hazel’s orange floral couch while the two older women sat opposite us on vinyl kitchen chairs.

“You’re definitely our grandma?” Melody asked.

“Yes.” Grandma thought for a moment. “If you need proof, I believe you have a letter on green paper that I wrote to your mother? Explaining why I killed myself?”

“Uh huh, and what exactly happened there?” Mel was not going to let Grandma off easy.  I was grateful that she could pull herself together enough to get some answers, I sure as hell couldn’t.

“Hazel and I faked my death,” she said matter-of-factly. “Your great-aunt was the one who gave your mom the letter.” Grandma sighed. “I thought that your mother would have a better chance at a normal life if I wasn’t around. People in Rosedell were starting to become very suspicious of me and your mother bore the brunt of that.”

I was so familiar with the look Grandma had on her face.  It said, “Please just believe me, I’m not sure of anything and I pretty much end up ruining everyone’s life.”

She continued trying to explain herself. “People said I was a witch, that I was possessed, nonsense like that. I knew that I wouldn’t and didn’t want to stop acting on my visions. Around that time I was contacted by the head of the West Coast branch of The Society.  They had seen what I was doing in Rosedell and recruited me to work for them. So, I moved to Los Angeles. There, I am more anonymous, and therefore able to help a greater number of people.”

“What’s The Society?” Claire asked.

“It’s an organization of women like me, like Zellie and Grace, that has been around for hundreds of years.”

“Why are we only meeting you now?” Melody was full of questions.  I couldn’t seem to make my mouth work.

“I check up on you periodically.  Hazel keeps up with you in the normal fashion. I concentrate on your mother when she dreams at night. Then I can see what she sees.”

After all that she had heard, Melody still seemed skeptical.  I didn’t blame her; she hadn’t been caught up in my scary-ass rewind like everyone else.  The reality of my powers hadn’t slammed into her full force.

Grandma tried speaking to me now. “For instance, the night of your birthday,” she smiled, “I assume that was the first time you had the Avery vision?”

“Uh, yeah,” I said, my stomach flip-flopping at the mention of his name.

“That night I concentrated on what your mother was dreaming and she’d seen the vision and so I, in turn, saw it too.”

“That doesn’t really explain why we’re meeting you now.” Melody eyed her, suspicious.

Grandma grinned, turning to Aunt Hazel. “She is such a Lookout!”

“I know.” Aunt Hazel actually started clapping with excitement. “I think she’s going to be great!”

“I’m a what?” Melody leaned forward.

“A Lookout,” Aunt Hazel explained. “The older sister is almost always the seer, while the younger sister, like you and me Melody, we’re what’s known as the Lookout.  We aid and to a certain extent, protect the seer.”

“What about me?” Claire asked, “Do I get a cool name too?”

Grandma grinned again.  “I believe your title would be BFF.”

“Of course I don’t get a cool name,” Claire muttered.

I finally got my words to catch up with my thoughts. “I’m a seer? There’s a name for it? I have visions about when people are going to die.”

“Among other things,” Grandma interjected.

“Among other things…that I haven’t learned how to do yet?” I asked. There was more to this? I wasn’t even sure that I wanted the abilities I knew about, let alone new ones.

“Precisely,” Grandma said.

“But you’re going to teach me how to use them, uh, do them? Whatever them?”

“Yes.  That’s what I’m here for. Actually, Zellie, you’re more appropriately called a Retroact.  I’m one also.  That’s what we call someone who can stop and reverse time.”

I might as well come clean with her now, she probably knew about Avery’s dad anyway. “I still ended up killing Mr. Adams,” I confessed.

“No, you didn’t.” She shook her head. “That’s a misconception.  Mike died of a heart attack.  We can’t use our abilities to harm.”

“So…I didn’t do anything to him? But I touched his chest, I felt his heart surge.  I plain as day told him it was his day to die!” 

Grandma shook her head “no.”

I felt a wave of relief wash over me. “I’ve got to call Mom right now.  She has to know.” I got up, totally flustered and downright ecstatic. “Avery. He’ll forgive me now.”

Grandma stood, putting her hand up to stop me from going to the phone. “I don’t think that’s a good idea yet.  They both need more time to grieve.  When they’re ready,

I hope to clear up that problem for you.” We both sat back down, only now I was all hyper and on the edge of my seat.

Melody was skeptical. “And how are you gonna do that?”

“Your mother doesn’t have the exact abilities as your sister and I.” Grandma turned to me. “That’s why her visions started later, because she’s not a Retroact.  There are several different types of seers and I’m willing to bet, although her powers are fairly latent, that she is capable of communicating with spirits.”

“And what’s the cool name for that?”  Claire retorted.

“There isn’t one.” Grandma shrugged.

“You’re going to somehow help Mom talk to Mr. Adams and he’s going to, what, explain everything?” I asked. I did not think that was going to work worth a damn.

“Essentially.” Her gaze softened. “One of the things I’m going to teach you to do is to control your visions so that you can get a glimpse of the future.  It’s not one hundred percent accurate, especially when you’re new. However, I’ve been doing this awhile and I have a pretty good track record. I’ve seen your mother talking to Mike.  I think she just needs to know that the possibility exists and then she’ll be a quick study.”

“But it’s not one hundred percent?” I said.

“The future is always changing, Zellie, in the smallest ways.  The visions are accurate enough to, at the very least, get a broad picture of events and outcomes. Don’t be so distressed.  You’ll learn to trust the visions, I promise.”

“Wait.  I think I’ve done this glimpse thing already.  You’re saying I can do it on purpose?”

She smiled. “You’ll be able to use all of your abilities on purpose when I’m done teaching you.”

“So, everything is going to end up okay?  What about Dad?” I asked.  When we left Rosedell, Dad had been crying like I’d never seen him cry before.  He’d given me a hug and told me that he loved me, but probably because he had to, not because he wanted to.

“You’re father’s going to be a bit of a holdout, which, frankly, amuses me to no end.” Grandma smirked.  “If a man can believe in a God he doesn’t see, then how hard is it to accept that he has magically gifted female relatives?”

Melody lashed out. “If you’re so great and know how everything’s going to turn out, then why didn’t you come sooner? We could’ve avoided this whole horrible mess.”

The smirk dropped from Grandma’s face. “I got too wrapped up in the last case I was on. I just didn’t think to see if you needed my help as often as I should have.”

Now I was starting to get pissed off. She could be kind of a selfish old lady. “Grandma, I think I can safely say that Mom could have used your help.  We all could have used your help.”

She cringed. “I know that now. I was naïve in thinking that my leaving your mom was for the best. But I left her in good hands. There has been little to worry about all these years.  Even after I met others of our kind in The Society, and learned the rules and guidelines, I still really believed that your mother had done enough to prevent Mike’s death.”

She folded her hands in her lap and lowered her voice. “I became a little unsure that all was well after I saw your vision through Grace’s eyes. But when I eavesdropped on your conversation in Bend—”

“Yeah, what was up with that?” Claire asked. “If you can see the future and watch people’s dreams, then why go old school and eavesdrop?”

Grandma stood and began pacing around the room. “The closer I am the easier it is for me to get an accurate reading.” She smiled at Claire. “You girls were so funny. I enjoyed listening to you and didn’t get a bad feeling about Zellie’s future with Avery at all.” She shrugged her shoulders. “After she started having visions I knew that I needed to be here to guide her because Grace wasn’t capable.” She ran her fingers through her hair. “I thought I was going to have more time to plot my return and ease you all into this.”

Well, okay, I could understand thinking you had more time to deal than you actually did.

Melody’s stomach growled.

“Perhaps we should eat dinner?  It’s Tuna Tuesday!” Aunt Hazel said.

“Wait. One more question.” For some reason I raised my hand like I was in school. “Why did the visions start with Avery?” If Grandma hadn’t had a bad feeling…maybe there was a chance to salvage my relationship with him after all.

Grandma stopped and looked at Aunt Hazel, a strange expression on her face. “Hmm, that’s a bit of a delicate subject and another reason I thought I had more time.”

Oh God.  It was something awful. “Just tell me,” I said, bracing myself for the Apocalypse.

Grandma started pacing again. “I used to believe that the visions were triggered by the first person you fell in love with.  That would be true for me and while your mother loves your father now, Mike was the first man she loved.”

She avoided making eye contact with me.  “However, on speaking with other seers in The Society, the consensus is that the trigger person is actually…the individual you have a strong physical connection to, not necessarily the first person you love.”

Claire and Melody turned to look at me so fast I could hear their necks crack.

I was beyond mortified.  “What?”

“Dude, did you and Avery…?” Claire said.

“No!” I turned seven different shades of red.

Claire’s eyes got wide.  “But it was only a matter of time?”

I didn’t answer.  I was not going there with my mind-reading grandma and super nosy aunt in the room.

Melody intervened. “Well, there’s no way that anything is going to happen now, not after he called her a stupid freak.” She snorted. “He’s such a buttwipe.”

Grandma went into the kitchen.  She started spooning casserole into bowls.

Mel put her arm around my shoulders. “So, let’s hear some more about this Lookout thing.”

Aunt Hazel also seemed eager to move away from the discussion of my chastity. “The Lookout creates cover stories, asks questions, and brings attention to herself.  For example, in January, we had a case in San Francisco—”

“San Francisco? You work in California too, Aunt Hazel?” Melody was impressed.