The 13th: Destiny Awaits (5 page)

Kate padded down the stairs and into the kitchen, braiding her hair as she went. She took the elastic from her mouth and tied the braid, before she mumbled a good morning to the man sitting on a bar stool beside the counter, drinking his coffee.

“Good morning,” her father greeted her.

She slid onto the stool beside him. Her father still being at home before she went to school didn’t happen often, usually only when he was getting ready for a new business trip, which occurred too often for her taste and meant that he spent only a few days a month at home. “How long will you be gone this time?”

“A week and a half.” He pushed an empty bowl, a box of cereal and a carton of milk toward her. “I already told Nan.”

She already ate almost all of her meals at Tyler’s. Maybe he should start to tell them when he intended to be home, instead of when he would be gone. She told him about the loss of her part-time job, which, as she had expected, he welcomed, saying that she should use the free time for studies and maybe to find herself a hobby.

“You know what the psychiatrist recommended,” he added.

“Lots of things.” She emptied some cereal into the bowl and poured milk over it.

“And you are not doing any of them,” her father said. “They called me and told me that they found salt and charms again. You have to stop humouring her. You have to promise me.”

She had warned her mother to use the salt lightly, why hadn’t she listened? “I can't.”

“You are not helping her by taking her charms and things. You are making it worse.”

She pushed the bowl away. “You don't understand.” How could he? He never saw
them
like she and her mother did. He didn't even know that they could see them. All he saw were the charms and the fear. It was a wonder she had managed, two months ago, to wiggle out of her twice-weekly sessions with a psychiatrist.

“Listen to me, Catherine, your mother needs to face reality, not cling to the things that drove her crazy.”

“She's not crazy.”

“She tried to kill you!”

Kate jumped up. “She...” Her fingers curled around the obsidian that hung around her neck. He didn't understand, and he wouldn't understand even if she told him. That was why she had to hide it from him, afraid, always afraid, that someday he would see that she was like her mother. That someday he would gaze at her with the same expression on his face, judging, cold, and detached, as he had at her mother when the men in white took her. She swallowed and slumped back onto the stool. “She didn't know what she was doing,” she whispered.

“I know.” Her father's hand wrapped around hers. “I know.”

“She loves me,” Kate whispered, her voice wavering in doubt.

“Yes, she does.” He squeezed her hand in reassuring manner. “And she always will. But she is not well and the way things are going, she might never be.”

“At the last visit... she looked better.”

Father shook his head and a tired sigh left his throat as he patted her hand. He stood up. “You should eat your breakfast quickly or you are going to miss school.”

He didn't believe that her mother would ever get out of that hospital. But she would. Her mother would get better and Kate would help her with that as soon as Ethan showed her how to get rid of the colours.

She decided to ask him to prolong their lessons from two hours to three. That should make him happy. She thought that she would see him somewhere between the school's parking lot and her locker as usual, but surprisingly he was nowhere to be seen.

With the way her day had begun, it shouldn't be surprising that when she needed him he wasn't around.

She opened the locker. The thud of metal against metal cut through the air.

Kate flinched and, with a scowl on her face, glanced at the source of the sound.

Sandra, a frown on her face, had stopped in front of her and, with her fist against the beige door of the locker, leaned over her.

Great,
Kate thought as she turned back to her books, clenching her teeth while she took the one she needed off the shelf. After her dinner with Ethan, she knew she would stumble over Sandra and her girls and that she would be subjected to their taunts sooner or later. She had hoped for later. Did Sandra really have to bother her right now? She really wasn't in the mood for it.

“Hey.”

Yes, here it comes. What would it be this time? References to her mother's insanity? Or was she going to hear all about her own faults, from her mental disabilities to her physical flaws?

“Who is he?”

“Huh?” Kate faced Sandra, noticing that the blonde was alone. That never happened. Sandra only worked in a group and expressed her contempt in company, where it could be fully appreciated.

“Who is he? And why is he hanging out with you? Doesn't he know who you are?” Sandra crossed her arms, the dark blue sparkling nail polish stark against the soft pink of the frilly dress she wore over black skinny jeans.

Kate furrowed her brows, not quite understanding why Sandra was asking her this. Did she really expect her to answer?

“Who is he?” Sandra repeated, shoving her fist against the door of Kate's locker. The door slammed against the frame.

Kate withdrew her fingers just before the door would have pinched them. Sandra never missed an opportunity to insult her, but she had never attempted bodily harm before. Kate took a deep breath. As her now deceased great-aunt liked to say, “Troubles come in droves.”

“If you don't tell me, Ervin is going to start bothering you more often.”

Ervin? Who was Ervin?
Kate asked herself. Oh, yeah, that was the name of that guy who enjoyed bumping into her. But what did he have to do with Sandra? Was there a connection between him being Sandra's admirer and his bullying her? It seemed so.

“Did you hear me?”

Kate didn't want to give Sandra the impression that the girl had managed to frighten her, because that wouldn't be true. The only thing Sandra had managed to do was to disturb her, irritate her and upset her, which posed the question: Was keeping Ethan’s identity to herself worth Sandra's harassment? And what would happen to Ethan after Sandra learned who he was? Maybe she was going to stalk him like she did Tyler before they started dating. That would probably annoy Ethan. At that thought, Kate's lips wanted to curve upwards, and the colourful smears at the corners of her eyes that had been threatening to spread instead withdrew. “He's Mandy Hill's brother.”

She gave a sigh at the stupid expression on Sandra's face. “The one with the thick, dorky glasses. He always wears hoodies, even in class if the teachers let him.” At Sandra's blank face, Kate continued. “The one you insulted just yesterday in the hallway -- what did you call him?”

“No.” Sandra's eyes widened.

“Yes.” Kate nodded and closed the locker, locking it. She gave Sandra a lift of her brow and a small shake of her head, before she strolled into her next class, feeling rather smug. Her day had just become a little brighter.

She had thought that Sandra would have started hunting Ethan at lunch, but he perched behind the desk across from her, chatting with Tyler and looking quite undisturbed. It seemed that Sandra wouldn’t pursue him now that she had learned about his school day disguise. Of course, Sandra was all about popularity. It was a shame, really.

Kate leaned her back against the chair and hooked her arms over the back, her gaze sliding over the shelves of books. And here she was, looking forward to seeing Ethan flustered. If he could even get flustered. He always looked so calm and unaffected by anything.

She peeked at the girl who was browsing through a textbook beside her and poked her with her finger.

“Hey,” Mandy gave her a smile.

“Those two --” Kate tilted her head in the boys’ direction “-- get along quite well, don't they?”

Mandy leaned closer and whispered, “Too well, if you ask me.”

“What are you two whispering about?” Ethan asked.

“Nothing. Nothing.” Mandy waved her hand before her face. Another one of the gestures she had brought from Japan. Kate found it cute, just like when Mandy pointed at her nose to say ‘you mean me?’ instead of at her chest.

“Kate.” Ethan rested his elbows on the table. “I hope you’re not complaining about us keeping you company again?”

“I wasn’t complaining, I just asked why you are all here.”

“So you don't feel neglected,” Ethan said. “I would hate for you to feel neglected.”

Mandy touched Kate's shoulder. “You don't mind me here, do you?”

“No, of course not.” Kate wrapped her hand around Mandy's. How could she mind Mandy's quiet presence?

“You know, after that time, I would have never thought we would be sitting together like this,” Mandy said.

“What time?” Ethan propped his arm on the table.

“I wanted to introduce you. I always thought since you are so alike you would get along well. But she said she wasn’t interested in making new friends,” Mandy answered.

Alike?
In Kate's opinion, aside from their special abilities, they didn't have anything in common. She opened her mouth to tell that to Mandy.

“It would be weird if she was, with the way she is keeping her old friend at arm’s length,” Tyler said, cutting Kate off.

“I was only concerned about you and --”

“And my position. I know. But if you haven't noticed, my position was never threatened because I hung out with you.”

Yes, it had been. “Yeah, right. Have you forgotten Sandra?” Kate asked. “Just remember what happened when she started those rumours about us. Even some of your teammates left the table when you sat down in the cafeteria.”

“It only lasted a week and it was their girlfriends that made them do that.”

He didn't know it, but during that week when she had visited him, she had found him crying into the pillow. The incident had not been that innocent, not for him, no matter how hard he pretended otherwise. “Yes, but what if it had escalated?”

“What if, what if,” Tyler almost spat out.

“Aren't you the basketball team's star player?” Ethan spoke up. “You guys are never picked on.”

“Nor are the prettiest boys in school.” Kate glanced sideways at Ethan. “I heard that your popularity is on the rise.”

“What are you talking about?” Ethan's brows lifted.

“I heard the girls talking about your after-school secret identity. They have been admiring you. And this, now, when Mandy doesn’t want to be popular anymore.”

Ethan didn’t give the sarcastic retort Kate had expected; instead his hand slid over the table, over the books and textbooks. He wrapped his fingers around Mandy's. “I have always been a bad brother, haven’t I, Mandy?”

Mandy squeezed his hand. “Don't be silly.”

Kate stared at their hands, then she lifted her eyes and glanced over the faces behind the table. She knew about Mandy being bullied while they lived in Japan, and she knew about Tyler's mishap with Sandra. Burdens, they all had their burdens, some heavy, some light, and no matter what their weight, they all left scars. Her gaze stopped on Ethan's profile. Where were his scars? Did he even have any?

#

Kate's fingers touched the black stone hanging from its silver chain, absently gazing through the living room window. Ethan had just demanded she get rid of the gift her mother had given her for her fifteenth birthday, a few days before she... Splashes of colours started to dance before the window, their features sharper than the ones she had seen a few days before.

She swallowed and rubbed her temples. There was something wrong with her. Despite the techniques Ethan taught her to calm herself down quickly, these last two days she had become agitated at the smallest incidents. Just last night, when she was watching Animal Planet, she found herself crying over an abandoned doggy, a little thing with a disproportionate body and slightly grotesque face, who, after being tossed into the garbage, had found a new home. His story reminded her of the Ugly Duckling, who wandered around until he found his place. Sometimes she too felt like an ugly duckling -- minus the wandering.

“The pendant, please.” Ethan stretched out his hand.

Kate's hand wrapped tighter around the stone.

“I will give it back to you, I promise.”

Her mother had warned her to never take it off.

“Trust me, please.”

Could she? Kate's fingers loosened around the stone. She did want the ghosts to stop bothering her, and with what she had learned from Ethan, she didn't need the comfort of her closet anymore or the help of the charms to keep them at bay. Well, most of the time. But there was a price to pay: the loss of the charms and going against her mother's wishes. Nothing in this world was free, was it? She unclasped the chain and, together with the pendant, lowered it onto Ethan's palm.

“Thank you.” Ethan pocketed it. He moved back and sat down. He crossed his legs, straightened his spine, and rested his hands on his knees with the palms up. “Let's start now.”

Kate mirrored Ethan's posture. She closed her eyes, relaxed her body with deep breathing, and dove into the darkness behind her eyelids.