Lie to Me (A Touched Trilogy) (11 page)

“I’m so glad you’re okay, but I don’t get it. What’s wrong
with me?” she asked as she looked up at me.

“Nothing’s wrong with you, Chloe. You saw an accident and
there was an accident.”

“I didn’t just see an accident. I saw
you
in an
accident. Something’s wrong. I’m not working right.” She shuddered and I felt a
tear splash on my arm.

“Welcome to the club.” Once sarcasm would have dripped from
those words, but now they were said with sympathy and fear. If Chloe’s gift,
one that had worked without fail for seventeen years, wasn’t working then what
hope did I have of every knowing how to use mine?

Chapter 6

A tap at the door woke me the next morning. I rolled over
and gave Chloe a shove. We’d spent the night talking about little things,
avoiding anything to do with our gifts, until we’d finally given in to our
weariness. It was kind of nice having a reminder that Chloe didn’t annoy me all
the time. I shuffled across my room, opened the door, and saw Dad.

 “Morning,” I said.

“Are you coming up to say good-bye? Nanna’s taking the twins
home and I think she’d like you to be there when they leave.” His expectant
look suggested I didn’t really have an option.

“Yeah, sure.” I suppressed the groan threatening to erupt.
Saying bye to the twins and Nanna wasn’t the issue. It was the talk I knew
Nanna would insist on giving me first. Every visit was the same. I gave up
trying to avoid it years ago. Now I just let it go in one ear and out the
other.

“I saw Chloe’s car outside, did she come home with you?”

“I’m here, Dad.” Chloe came up beside me. “Phoebe and I
decided to have some sister time.”

“Oookay.” His surprise was probably a mirror of what mine
would have been yesterday if Chloe had said the same thing. “Well, hurry up.”

He headed back upstairs and I began searching for my
slippers. I could have sworn they’d been in my room a few days ago, but I’d
worn them since then. I sank to my knees and began pulling junk out from under
the bed.

“Are you going to talk to Nanna?” Chloe asked.

I shoved my head under the bed. Maybe she’d give up if I
pretended I couldn’t hear her. “What?”

“You do this every time, you know. You stall and stall,
hoping she’ll run out of time and she never does. Why don’t you just go talk to
her? And for once in your life actually listen.” She grabbed my arm and pulled
me up from the floor.

“Maybe because I don’t want to listen to lies.” I yanked free
and started searching in a pile under my desk.

“Are they really lies? Until a few weeks ago, your gift
didn’t even work. So test it out on her. See if she’s lying.”

“Well, why don’t you just tell me where I’m going to find my
stinking slippers and then I won’t have an excuse?”

Chloe walked over to the closet, opened the door, and
gestured to the fluffy pink slippers hanging neatly on the shoe rack Dad had
put up last summer.

I glowered at her and snatched the stupid things off the
rack. “Who put those there?”

“I did when I found them on
my
bed. If you want to
leave your room a mess fine, but keep it out of mine.” She walked out to the
hall and pointed to the stairs. “Now go.”

I pursed my lips and brushed past her, barely making it
without giving her a shove just because.

“Fee-Fee! We leaving.” Ella charged at me with Emma close
behind. I gripped the doorframe to steady myself to avoid crashing back down
the stairs. A tempting idea since I’d take Chloe down with me.

“I know, girlies. That’s why I came up. I need to give some
raspberries.” Despite the cries of no, they lifted their shirts for the juicy
belly kisses, before giggling and shoving my head away.

“Girls, why don’t you go and check that you have all of your
toys packed up. Nanna wants to say good-bye to Phoebe,” Nanna said, giving
Chloe a sideways nod over their heads.

“I’ll help,” Chloe said and grabbed the girls’ hands.
“Besides I give much better raspberries than Phoebe.”

“How come?” I heard Emma say as they left the kitchen.

“Oh, because I’m nicer.”

I didn’t hear a response to that, but figured they were much
better judges of character than Chloe.

“I thought you two were getting along?” Dad commented,
eyebrows raised.

“Yeah well, you know us.”

Dad shook his head and left Nanna and me alone. I wandered
over to the table and sat in a chair. It seemed like every serious conversation
Nanna and I had took place at that table.

She stepped forward, but instead of sitting, she stopped
behind me and placed a hand on either side of my face, then kissed the top of
my head. Once done, she dropped her hands and shifted so I could see her.

“You’re just like your mother,” she said, a half smile
curving her lips. My own pursed in a sour response.

“Can’t we skip this and get to what you really want to say?”

“And what might that be, dear?” Her smile dimmed, her brow
creased and eyes squinted.

“That I need to accept my gift. I need to be just like Mom.
I need to go see her grave. Blah, blah, blah.” It poured from my mouth, without
a single thought to how horrible it sounded until after the words had already
spewed forth.

“That’s not what I was going to say.”

“Liar.” The word burst forth at the same moment it rang
through my head. “It’s what you always say.”

Nanna sucked in a harsh breath, then pulled out a chair and
sat heavily. “Alright, I want you to go see her, but I don’t want you to be
just like her.”

My fingers dug into the delicate lace tablecloth. I waited
for the voice, but it didn’t come. My heart squeezed tightly in my chest. It
didn’t matter if it didn’t come. I knew she was lying. She had to be.

“Zoe was a beautiful person. She had a gift that helped many
people, and once she knew how to use it, she never looked for ways to get out
of it,” Nanna said. “I see that same selflessness in Lily. But Zoe was also scared
of what it would do to her, how it might control her. Chloe’s been having that
same fear. Yes, you have her eyes, her face, and Lord help me, you have her
mouthiness. All of you remind me of her, so get off your high horse, because
it’s not all about you.”

She placed both hands on the table and pushed up, leaning in
close to me. My eyes widened as I took in her suddenly fiery expression. She
didn’t look like a pushover anymore.

“I have asked you to go to your mother’s grave enough times,
but no more. I’m tired. Tired of having an ungrateful granddaughter who won’t
listen to the stories I want to tell about her mother. Tired of a snotty
granddaughter who is repeatedly disrespectful to the memory of her mother. And
I’m tired of the pouty granddaughter who isn’t willing to accept the God-given
gift she’s been graced with and is too selfish to figure out how to use it to
help anyone.”

She backed away, and her features softened into the familiar
Nanna face. “Now, I’m dropping the girls off and going home. Chloe said I’ll
see you in a couple weeks.” She paused in the doorway. “I love you, Phoebe, but
sometimes you can be a donkey.”

I almost smiled at her refusal to cuss, but the fact she was
right made my lips curl into what was anything but a smile. I somehow made it
through the goodbyes with the girls and then back down to my room. The instant
I hit my bed, the tears welled up.

It was stupid to be upset. Nanna had finally admitted
defeat. She wouldn’t be pestering me about seeing Mom’s grave. She didn’t
understand; nobody did. Going to the cemetery to stare at Mom’s grave wasn’t
going to help me accept my gift, or make me feel closer to her.

Until I was twelve, going to the cemetery hadn’t bothered
me, mainly because I’d thought I wasn’t alone in my lack of memories. Then on
one trip for what would have been Mom’s fortieth birthday, Chloe said she could
remember images of her from before she died, while she was carrying us. Chloe
had seen every action our mother was going to take, had even seen her last
breath. Lily had chimed in that she could remember the feel of her, the love,
the warmth, and comfort. Not distinct memories, but enough that she’d smiled as
she softly admitted that visiting Mom’s grave helped her remember that feeling.

Knowing they remembered while I had nothing but a nauseous
ache, made it an even emptier pit inside of me.

With Nanna and the girls gone, I spent the rest of the day
watching television and avoiding Chloe’s looks of disappointment. I stayed up
long past my usual bedtime, randomly flipping through the channels, trying to
block out the expression that had been on Nanna’s face.

The next morning, the beep of my alarm was exceedingly
annoying. I’d already pushed the snooze button twice and was tempted into
hitting it a third time. Topping my list of least favorite days had to be the
day after Winter Break ended. New classes always meant a whole crap load of
homework. I rolled over, trying to get back into the warm comfy spot that would
lull me back to sleep for another five minutes. My eyes had just drifted closed
when my door banged open, bouncing off the wall.

“Get your butt moving,” Chloe said as she marched over to my
closet and rummaged through the clothes hanging there.

“You do understand the concept of privacy, don’t you?” I
reluctantly sat up, swinging my legs over the edge of the bed. “What are you
looking for?”

“I know you borrowed my black cardigan.” She yanked out a
pink top, along with a few more shirts and threw them over her arm. “I should
have known you were the one taking all of my clothes.”

“Hey! That’s not yours,” I said as she added a dark blue
blouse to her collection.

“No, but it’s Lily’s and she’s going to wear it this
weekend.”

“Do you honestly think you’re going to find the sweater in
there?” My closet was notoriously bare.

“You’re right,” she said and walked over to a pile of
laundry I’d yet to put away.

I watched her dig through for a moment before dragging
myself out of bed. There was no avoiding it. The aroma of freshly brewed coffee
drifted into my room. Dad was awake, and any chance I had of ditching school
was out the window.

“Can I ask you something?” I glanced back at her as she made
her way to the door, the clothes dangling from her arm.

“Go ahead,” she said, turning around.

“Do you think it’s strange that Tonya lied to me about
Trevor?”

She seemed to consider it for a moment. “No.”

“Care to elaborate?”

“Phoebs, you’re not really the best person to discuss
relationships with.”

“What does that mean?”

“Come on. You and Nathan have been flirting for almost two years
and, until the other night, neither of you did anything about it. And even
then, you couldn’t keep your smart mouth closed.”

“Gee, I always knew you loved me.” I brushed past her and
stomped out of the room.

“Phoebe,” Chloe said, following me down the hall. “Tonya has
a reason for lying about it.”

That stopped me. I swirled around to face her. “Did you see
something?”

“No, well...not really. I saw the two of you at the
hospital. That was it, but I know it’s connected somehow.”

I wanted to ask for specifics, but knew she wouldn’t say
anything else. For the longest time Chloe had basked in the joy of telling us
everything that was going to happen, but over the past year or so, she’d
chilled on sharing the more serious stuff. Maybe she’d realized how frustrating
it was for us to know and not be able to change it.

“You’re going to be late,” she said, brushing past me to
head upstairs. “Mr. Arnold’s gonna be pissed.”

“Thanks for the warning,” I grumbled at her departing back.
It would have been nice to be able to do something about it, but there was no
way I’d be showered, dressed and at school on time. What good was a sister who
could see the future if she didn’t wake you up on time?

Forty minutes later, I wandered down the hall to Mr.
Arnold’s class, refusing to run when I was already late. I neared his door and
wondered about Chloe’s warning. Mr. Arnold was a pretty cool teacher, even if
he was almost forty. I’d been late lots of times when I had him for chemistry
during sophomore year and he’d simply seemed glad I’d shown up at all.

“Bitch.”

I spun around at the snarled word. Vivian stood a few feet
away. So not what I needed. I turned back around, intent on getting to class.

“Don’t walk away from me!” she yelled.

Her heels clicked behind me, closing the distance. Crap. I
felt her hand on my shoulder, and then, with a shove, she sent me flying
forward. My books scattered across the hall and I slammed into Mr. Arnold’s
door, bracing myself with my hands.

I wasn’t a fighter. Sure I mouthed off a lot, but somewhere
inside of me hid a chicken that had managed to avoid anything resembling a
catfight. But she’d attacked me first. I pushed away from the door and faced
her. I didn’t even have time to think of what I was going to say. She came at
me like some crazed ghetto girl, arms flying, and she got in a few whacks
before I clued in enough to raise my arms in defense.

I grabbed a chunk of her hair and yanked. She screamed and
her fist hit my eye. Letting her hair go, I placed both hands on her chest and
pushed as hard as I could. She fell back, landing on her ass just as people
poured out from the surrounding classrooms.

“Phoebe, what is going on?” Mr. Arnold asked. I didn’t need
to see his face to know that Chloe had been right. He was pissed. And what’s
worse was that I knew I looked guilty.

“She started it!” I pointed to Vivian who was still on the
floor trying her best to look innocent.

“Everyone back to class,” he said, waving his hand around at
the mass of people who had gathered in hopes of a brawl, and then waited for
them to clear the hall. “Ladies, you know we have a zero tolerance policy for
fighting here on campus. Would either of you like to tell me what you were
arguing about?”