A Glimpse of the Dream (2 page)

“Do you have a favorite?”

“Yeah, we went to Hawaii once.”

“Close your eyes and think about that vacation.”

I didn’t want to, but I closed my eyes anyway. “Can you see them?” he asked.

I could. They appeared so clearly, my throat hurt from the tears that wanted to fall. “Yes.”

“In your memories, your parents are there. See with your heart and you’ll always see them.”

“Is that what you do with your mom?”

“Yeah.” He sounded really sad, and I couldn’t blame him.

It was the most natural thing for me to rest my head on his shoulder. In any other situation, with any other boy, I would never have even thought to do it, but with Kane it felt so perfectly right. I whispered, “Thank you for that.”

“Try to sleep. I won’t leave you alone.”

“Why are you being so nice to me?”

“Because I remember what it feels like to be scared and alone, but we don’t have to be scared and alone because now we’ve got each other. Sleep. You’ll feel better in the morning.”

And with him at my side, I did sleep all through the night. In the morning when I woke, Kane wasn’t there, but sitting on the table just in front of the sofa was a large glass of chocolate milk with whipped cream. I liked chocolate milk and whipped cream, but it was the meaning behind the offer—Kane’s attempt to comfort me, knowing how I must have felt waking up for the first time in a home that wasn’t my own, a place where my parents weren’t and never would be—that had my heart beating funny.

He understood and sought to help ease me through that difficult first morning. Hearing voices, I took my milk and followed them into the kitchen. Mrs. Marks was there, as were Mr. Clancy and Kane. There was another woman there, heavy with white hair.

“Teagan. How are you, honey?” Mrs. Marks asked, joining me by the door but hesitating to touch me.

“Okay.”

“You’ve met Mr. Clancy and Kane, and this is Mrs. Terry, the housekeeper. She also does the cooking.”

Nervousness sent my eyes drifting toward the floor. My underarms were sweating. I felt someone right next to me and, from the corner of my eye, I saw Kane. He reached for my fingers, not holding my hand, but touching me, comforting me. And it worked. Lifting my head, I gave Mrs. Terry a shaky smile.

“Hi.”

She didn’t force me to talk. She seemed to understand.

Mrs. Marks spoke up. “We have a few rules in this house. Everyone helps with the cleaning, because my ancestor was crazy when he built this massive place and it can be rather taxing, especially to clean. If you ever need anything, you ask. Don’t go without because you’re afraid to speak. And lastly, we eat cake for breakfast most mornings.”

I think my jaw might have dropped at that last rule. She winked at me. “So, Mrs. T, what cake is it this morning?”

“Kane’s favorite, triple chocolate.”

Grabbing my hand, Kane dropped me into a chair at the table before he went for the plates and forks. Sitting down next to me, pushing his chair closer so that our legs brushed, he held up his fork. “I get two slices.”

And in that moment, I knew I was going to be okay.

The Early Years

Teagan

My palms began to sweat as the car pulled up in front of a stone building; it wasn’t very big, but it was intimidating. A new school.

Mrs. Marks turned from her spot next to the driver, whose name I learned was Sam. “You’ll be fine, Teagan. I know it’s scary, but you’ll adjust and maybe you’ll even make a friend or two.”

My throat worked as I attempted to keep myself from bursting into tears. I hated this, every bit of it.

“Come on, Teagan,” Kane called as he climbed from the car. Starting fourth grade in a different school midyear was not going to be fun. At least Kane was in the same school as me, even if he was a sixth grader.

His head poked back through the open door. “Come on.”

“Bye,” I said to Mrs. Marks and Sam.

“See you after school,” Mrs. Marks said, her voice kind, her smile encouraging. Dragging myself across the seat, I climbed out, but my feet refused to move me any farther. Kane grabbed my hand and started pulling me toward the building.

“You’ll be fine, don’t worry,” Kane said.

Easy for him to say. The smell of chalk and disinfectant filled my nose as soon as I stepped through the front doors. My stomach was already churning with nerves, and the added scents didn’t help. Continuing down the hall, we stopped just outside one of the classrooms.

“Mrs. Texler is very nice, so relax. When the day is over, they’ll call for car riders first—that’s us. I’ll meet you out front. You’ll be fine. And after school, I’ll take you out for something to eat. Mrs. Marks gave me money and cleared it with the office that we’ll be walking into town after school.”

I took a few deep breaths as Kane yanked the door open for me. He seemed to know I needed reassurance, so he smiled. “Ice cream after school.”

Nodding, since words would not come, I stepped into the classroom and every eye turned to me. Mrs. Texler rose from her seat at her desk and walked around to join me. Her hand on my shoulder felt surprisingly comforting, her smile reassuring.

“Class, this is Teagan Harper, she will be joining us for the rest of the year. Please make her feel welcome.”

And they did. I think the other students knew what had happened to my parents, because everyone in class stopped by my desk to say hi. And even though I still had butterflies in my belly, I wasn’t as terrified.

When the bell sounded for the end of the day and the lady over the speaker called for car riders, I didn’t run from the room like I thought I would that morning. For a first day, it had been pretty okay. Stepping outside, I looked around for Kane. When I saw him, something moved through me, an emotion I’d never felt before. He was talking to a girl with long brown hair and big blue eyes. She was older—his grade, I was sure. Kane leaned against a tree, laughing at whatever she’d just said.

I supposed I should have realized that he had a life, friends outside of Raven’s Peak. Now that school was back in session, he’d probably start playing with his friends and forget about me. That hurt, though he
was
two years older than me. Why would he want to hang with a little kid? My feet moved a little slower at the thought, because I wanted him all to myself. He was my only friend so far. Selfish, that’s what my mom would say. I was being selfish. And just thinking of her sent tendrils of pain through my chest, squeezing so hard my eyes burned.

Turning from Kane and his friend, I started down the path toward home. He should take his
friend
into town for ice cream. Yet I hadn’t gotten very far when I heard Kane calling my name. He appeared at my side, breathing hard from running after me.

“Where are you going?”

“Back to the house.”

“I thought we were going to get ice cream.”

“You don’t have to.”

“I know I don’t. I want to.”

“But what about the girl you were just talking to?” I said.

Absently, he glanced behind him. “Camille? What about her?”

“Don’t you want to go with her?”

“No.” He said it as if it were obvious. The feeling in my belly eased. “The parlor makes the best sundaes. We’ll get one and share.”

“Okay.” I sounded almost giddy—I was happy he wanted to get ice cream with me.

His eyes found mine and he flashed me a smile. “And then you can tell me all about your first day of school.”

“Let’s go. Murder waits for no one.” Mrs. Marks was in rare form that evening. We were all heading to the library, because it was time to play our monthly game of Clue. She was Miss Scarlet, of course, dressed in a red gown, her hair up like it usually was. She was carrying one of those cigarette holders, minus the cigarette, because smoking was a “dreadful habit.” Her first name was Veronica, but she never let anyone call her that. I often wondered why, because she wasn’t stuffy or overly formal. It felt odd that she preferred Mrs. Marks, especially since I didn’t think there was ever a Mr. Marks. I had asked Kane if he knew the reason, but he didn’t know either.

Mr. Clancy was Colonel Mustard; Mrs. T was Mr. Green, dressed in an eighties leisure suit. I was Mrs. Peabody. Mrs. Marks found me the ugliest tweed suit with old lady shoes to wear, and not even Mrs. Marks wore pumps like the ones she forced on me. Kane was Professor Plum in an ascot and khakis and a corduroy jacket with patches on the elbows. He was not happy. In the months since I had come to live at Raven’s Peak, he and I had become inseparable. Mrs. Marks and the others often teased us; if you saw one, the other was surely close behind. Despite how close we had become, I grinned at his discomfort, because he looked ridiculous.

“I hate that I have to wear an ascot. Only Fred from
Scooby
-
Doo
can pull that off. I look like a dork.”

“You are a dork, Kane. Deal.”

His head snapped in my direction. “Careful, Teagan.”

“Or what? You’ll lecture me to death?” Having recently turned ten, I’d just learned the word “lecture” and, since he was Professor Plum, I thought I was being very clever.

He started for me, but Mrs. Marks stopped him. “There will be no bloodshed until the game begins. Now, everyone must assume their positions. Once the lights go off, it’s action. Does everyone remember their parts?”

Mrs. Marks loved this, loved mysteries and whodunits. I enjoyed watching her enthusiasm for the game. It created lightness in the sad circumstances.

“I have just polished the candlesticks, so if one of them is the murder weapon, I would appreciate that whoever uses it cleans it,” Mr. Clancy said. He was trying to sound serious, but I saw the way his lips turned up on the one side. They really were the strangest group of people, and yet Kane had been right: they were a lot of fun.

“Well, we’ll have cake when this is all done. Nothing works up an appetite like murder,” Mrs. T suggested.

“You can say that again,” Kane agreed, but he was looking at me, and I had a terrible feeling he was the murderer and I was the victim. The look he was throwing at me was sinister.

“All right. Remember, only the murderer knows who the victim will be. As soon as the lights are out, make yourself scarce, because even if you’re the target and you’re about to die, your murderer should have to work for it. If you’re the victim, be sure to scream loudly, so we can find your body, and then the game begins.” The lights went out. “Action!” Mrs. Marks called.

I took off, almost running, but I felt Kane behind me gaining with every step. I reached the kitchen before he caught me, his arms coming around me and pulling me back against him.

“Sorry, Teagan.” But he didn’t sound sorry at all.

I laughed through my entire death scene because Kane’s method for killing me was to tickle me to death.

Walking down the sloping backyard of Raven’s Peak, I glanced back at the huge house—although, “house” didn’t even seem to be the right word. The place was just that big. Grass and trees wrapped around the property, and then it just dropped off as the ocean met the land. It wasn’t a long drop, but even still, it was scary. A set of stairs, with railings on both sides, led down to the beach below. Raven’s Peak sat on a point; a walkway had been carved into the cliffside, curving around the point as another way for people to get to the beach. Taking the walkway, I started down. The sound of the waves crashing against the rocks was music to my ears. White sand, that I bet felt wonderfully warm in the summer, met the cliff, but only for a small stretch. In the distance, the water crashed up against the cliffs, the sight violent but pretty.

Walking along the beach, I held my coat closed tightly around me. Though spring was coming, it was still cold. I looked out at the island that sat just off the beach. It wasn’t very big, maybe the size of a couple football fields, oddly shaped, and about a half mile from where I stood. There were trees—I could see them even from my distance. I wondered how it had formed there, so close to the mainland and yet off on its own. It seemed like it would sink if anyone ever stepped on it.

“Nice, isn’t it?” I hadn’t heard Kane approach, so I jumped a few feet in the air when he spoke.

“Kane!” I smacked him on the arm.

“Sorry, I thought you heard me coming.” He turned his face to the sea. “Mrs. Marks owns that.”

“Really?”

“I’m going to swim out to it when I’m older. When I’m a strong enough swimmer.”

My eyes went wide. “You’re going to swim out there?”

“Yep.” His focus turned to me. “You can come.”

“I can’t swim.”

I couldn’t lie. I wanted to swim out there with him, but I was afraid of the water. “When you’re ready, I’ll teach you to swim. Deal?”

I could do that, when I was ready. “Deal.”

“Dinner’s ready.”

We started back to the stairs. “Did Mrs. Marks have the steps and walkway added?”

“The steps. The walkway was done when the house was built back in the day. Pretty neat the way they carved it right into the stone. I like taking the steps, they’re scarier.”

“I like the walkway.”

“Then we’ll take the walkway. Mrs. T is making potpie for dinner. I love her potpies.”

Since I hadn’t yet had one of Mrs. T’s potpies, I couldn’t comment, but since everything else she made was the best I’d ever tasted, I couldn’t wait. I wondered if Kane’s obsession with food started after he’d come to Mrs. Marks’s to live. I could understand that if it were the case. “You and food. Do you ever think of anything else?”

His smile was just a bit wicked. “Sometimes.”

“You’re not going to share what else in your world could possibly compete with your love of food?”

“I shouldn’t need to share it, I think it’s pretty obvious,” he replied.

In response, my body turned warm all over and my heart rolled in my chest. Could he possibly be talking about me?

He answered my unasked question. “On the Kane’s scale of likes, you are neck and neck with food.”

It didn’t sound like a compliment, but knowing Kane as I did, it was the highest compliment he could give. He looked a bit uncomfortable, and I knew he was feeling it too when he changed the subject. “You doing okay?” His question surprised me. As did his steady stare. Maybe studying me was a better word, since he looked like Mrs. T looked when she was reading through a problem in my math book.