Legacy (6 page)

Feeling dazed,
Mercy sat for a few minutes contemplating all that had happened that afternoon. She had talked to a cat who certainly knew a lot more than he was saying.
Her conversation with
Alistair had
been strangely comforting, though she had learned very little about her grandmother’s
mysterious
departure.

But her disagreement with Darynda had been disheartening. She felt as though she was totally lost
like a paper boat tossing about on a stormy sea. She had no idea which direction she was heading
, nor her final destination.

She walked out to the mailbox on the off chance that something had been delivered and found a large manila envelope with her name on it. The return address just said WTC
but there were no stamps on it
. Mercy carried it inside and tore the paper off. A pale green manual slid out onto the table. It was thick and appeared to be crammed with information.
She sighed and turned her back on it, feeling a little guilty.
Then
,
as if giant hands grabbed her shoulders and spun her around
, she turned back
.
"Okay!" she said a
l
oud.
She flipped through the pages and read the lesson on divining.
S
he
tried to
recall some of
Darynda’s
televised class
.

Mercy
had missed most of it, but she gathered she should try to practice in case there was a test. She looked around
for an appropriate object
and saw Gran’s big floppy garden hat. A wave of
loneliness
washed through
her
. She
lift
ed the hat in both hands
and clutched it to her chest. A waft of her grandmother’s lavender fragrance floated in the air. On impulse, she
crammed
the hat on her head, fe
eling at once silly and futile.

The other girl had held the object and tried to divine something from it.
What was it Darynda said?
A
re there magic words or something?

Mercy pulled down the sides of the floppy hat.
Help me, Gran. I need you
.
She jumped when an electric tingle slithered down her spine. She could see Gran plain as day. She was surrounded by the oddest creatures. There was a
peculiar
colored horse
. A purplish color she had never seen before. A
nd
there was
a
strange small creature that looked like a tiny man
. A
n
even tinier winged
creature flew in
circle
s
around her head.
Gran
looked happy.

Gran look
s
happy. How c
an
she be so happy when
I’m so
miserable?

Mercy tore the hat from her head and tossed it back where she’d found it.
Divining indeed! It’s all a bunch of nonsense anyway.

She got ready for bed and stood in front of the old antique mirror hanging over her grandmother’s bureau. The mirror had darkened with age and the
reflective backing
had crackled. But it was something Gran loved. Mercy recalled
the
many times she had seen her grandmother polis
hing the ornate mahogany frame.

She stroked her h
airbrush through her long hair.

There! Out of the corner of her eye, she saw some movement reflected in the mirror. She turned quickly, but there was nothing. Her heart raced as her eyes flicked around the room. The only movement was the very tip of
Alistair
’s tail as he rhythmically flipped it back and forth.

Mercy blew out a breath.
Whew! I’m imagining things
.
Her heart felt like a giant butterfly
was
trying to escape her ribcage. Her hands
shook
as she turned back to the mirror and tried to resume the hair
brushing routine.
Her
pulse
rate had almost returned to normal when a glimmer of movement caught her eye. She froze and pretended not to notice, but her gaze locked on the pulsing
manifestation
on the other side of the glass. The aura moved across the
reflection
in an erratic manner, flitting first one pla
ce and then darting to another.

Mercy realized she had stopped breathing. She moved slowly, placing the brush on the bureau and reaching toward the moving figure. Her fingertips smacked into the glass, reminding her that she was on this side and whatever it was on the o
ther side lay beyond her reach.

I must be imagining things.
..or going nuts.

And yet she remained, watching the image until the light outside was gone and she could no longer see. She sighed and turned on a l
amp
, before closing the curtains. She gathered
Alistair
and curled up in a wing chair to sort out her thoughts. Nothing made sense to her at all.

She went to bed and lay in the dark,
clutching
Alistair
. She couldn’t fall asleep
right away
for
all the
questions r
ag
ing through her head.

~*~

C
HAPTER
T
HREE

The next day could almost be described as normal, except that her grandmother had disappeared off the planet
, a cat talked to her, she was taking witch lessons via television
and suddenly the boy she had liked since kindergarten d
ecided to pay attention to her.

Just another normal day.

Greg walked between her and
Felicity
when they
arrived at school
. He grinned and waved
when
he headed for his class. “See ya later.” That sounded normal.

But w
hat if it was some kind of horrible prank? What if Greg
really
had lost a bet and
had been forced
to take her to the dance as a result? She thought about sharing her concerns with
Felicity
and
Kelli
, but didn’t think
even her best friend
s
would understand
why she had agreed to the date if she had doubts
. And she certainly couldn’t tell
t
he
m
that Gran was missing. No, she had to keep it all bottled up inside and hope everything would turn out okay.

At lunchtime, she went through th
e cafeteria
line and made her selections
.
S
he carried her tray to the table where she usually sat with
Felicity
and
Kelli
.
She looked around
,
but didn’t see either of them
in the vast cavern of the cafeteria
.
The noise of
voices raised in laughter r
ebounded off the hard surfaces and echoed in her head. 
She hesitated, unwilling to
occupy
the empty table by herself, but she took a deep breath.
Kelli and Felicity
will come along soon. I’ll just take a seat and wait for them.
She
placed
her tray on the polished surface, standing for a moment to
gaze a
round the cafeteria. She didn’t see
Felicity
anywhere, nor did she spy
Kelli
’s bright
copper-
colored hair. Reluctantly, she slid onto the seat and opened her milk carton. She hated to eat alone and wondered where her two friends were.
Don’t tell me they’re going to disappear too
.

And then, as though things couldn’t get worse,
Lindy
, Amy and Becca were coming toward her. It was the nasty s
neer
on
Lindy
’s face that gave Mercy a chill. It was as though
Lindy
had something
unpleasant
on her mind. Just as
Lindy
drew close to the table, a tray plunked down next to hers with a bang. Mercy jumped at least a foot and let out a little s
queak
.

“Sorry, Mercy.
Didn't mean to scare you.
” It was Greg and he was smiling. “Is it okay if I sit with you?”

She drew a breath and let it out heavily. “Sure
…
I don’t know where
Felicity
and
Kelli
are.” Her voice trailed off uncertainly.

“I think they got stuck in Art class. It looked like the whole class was cleaning clay off the tables when I walked past the room.”

A
huge
weight seemed to lift off her chest. Her friends hadn’t disappeared after all.
She
wasn’t
completely
alone in the universe. 
Greg sat down beside her and she didn’t feel all alone one single bit.
Especially when he stared at her with his big brown eyes looking all puppy-like.

When Mercy glanced up, she saw
Lindy
glaring at her.
Lindy
lifted her nose in the air and
slammed
her tray
down
on the next table
over
, her
charm
bracelet jangling. She
sat so that she was facing Mercy and Greg. Becca and Amy flanked her so there were three sets of
snarly faces glowering at her.

Mercy tried to swallow…Couldn’t. She felt frozen in place, as though some evil force had paralyzed her. She heard a giggle.

“And then Mr. Allen called on me and I forgot why I had raised my hand…”
Felicity
put her tray down in front of Mercy
, blocking her view of snarly face. She
pulled out the chair
,
but
loo
ked at Greg and hesitated.

Mercy gave her a nod and flicked her eyes down at the table.
Please sit down and be normal. I need normal.

Kelli
smiled and arranged herself in the chair opposite Greg.
Between the two of them, they blocked
all
the
hateful
snarly faces.
“I hope you two weren’t having a private conversation, because
, if so
, we’re
here to give you a hard time.” She flashed her wide grin, causing the fluorescent cafeteria lights to glint off her metal braces.

“Private conversation? No, we were just…”

“I just sat down, Kel.” Greg reached for his straw and poked it in his chocolate milk
carton
.

“Oh, puh-leeze! You two have liked each other since grade school.”
Kelli
pushed her glasses up on her short nose. “It’s about time you started acting like it.” She tore off the corner of a plastic packet and squirted mustard on her hot dog.

Greg turned to Mercy, not in the least bit uncomfortable. He gave her a wink.

She felt herself turning red.
“Well, I…uh…”

Greg grinned. “Yeah, she’s crazy about me.”

Mercy thought she would pass out right in the cafeteria. “I am not!”

He opened his eyes wide and gave her a comic look. “You’re not?”

Kelli
and
Felicity
giggled
.

Mercy closed her eyes tight and then opened them. “Well, yeah.
I kinda do like you…a little.”

“Sure you
do
. Everyone knows it.”
Kelli
picked up her hot dog and bit the end off. “But he’s crazy about you too.”

Mercy’s breath caught in her throat. “He is?” She glanced at Greg, but he w
as studying his chocolate milk.

“He is,” he said.

She tried to control h
er face, but it grinned anyway.

“Hooray,”
Felicity
said. “It’s official. Now are we going to get together to study for the
h
istory
test
or what?”