Amethyst (17 page)

I unhooked the
clasp and inspected what I thought might be a sewing box but blew my lips in
disappointment at turning up nada. Not even a needle or safety pin lay wedged
in the corner. Upon closer examination, I realized the lower section of the box
was actually a drawer, which was wedged shut. Nothing I couldn’t solve, though.
After grabbing a table knife, I gently pried the edges of the drawer loose and
gasped in surprise when two thin diaries appeared.

They were both
covered with a brownish cloth. I opened the one on the top and found in
elegant, cursive writing the words:

This Diary belongs
to Rose Mary Campbell 1924 – 1925

I thought back
to what I could remember about my mother’s side of the family. Her mom was
Grace, and her grandmother had been Lucy. And that’s right, she’d never met her
great-grandmother Rose.

How incredible
was this? In my hands I held the diary of my great-great-grandmother Rose.
Goose bumps materialized on my arms. Not sure if I was chilled from the breeze
seeping through my screens or a little freaked out from holding someone else’s
private thoughts in the palm of my hands, I rummaged through my dresser and
found my old gray hoodie.

Nestling into
the hoard of pillows on my bed, I held the old journal up to my nose and
inhaled the musty scent. Running my hand along the spine, I prepared myself for
an escape into the world of an ancestor who’d lived in the mid 1920’s. After
reading several pages, I discovered that for the most part, Grandma Rose was
concise and to the point, often writing only two or three sentences. All the
entries started with the date and were written in elegant penmanship. Mostly,
she described things like the weather, chores, school, birthdays and deaths, or
short trips to town.

Yawning through
numerous entries, I finally found one that formed a whole paragraph.

October 3
^rd
,
1924

The weather is
changing. The winds are strong and the days are cold. Worried about my
birthday. Almost 19 and Mama is very upset that I haven’t settled down and
started a family yet. I know she thinks I’m a burden even though she hasn’t
said as much. She says I should be nicer to Stewart. She thinks he might
propose, and he’d be a good husband. I’m sure he would, but I don’t love him.
Besides, I can’t focus on him right now. The visions won’t stop. They come all
the time. I don’t know what to do or who to tell. Why am I so different from
everyone else? It scares me. I always thought eventually they would go away,
but they’re coming more frequently. I think I’m going crazy!

My jaw dropped
and my heart stopped when I read the word
visions.
Sitting straight up,
I gripped the edges of the diary. This was incredible! She’d had premonitions
too? I’d been lost at sea in a turbulent storm my whole life, and for the first
time the beacon shone brightly from the lighthouse.

Hungrily, I
turned page after page but found nothing useful. Reading about ironing and
mending just wasn’t cutting it any more. Occasionally, she’d refer to an
incident in which she’d been lucky enough to be in the right place at the right
time and had saved someone. Lucky? Ha! I knew exactly how that felt, and there
was no luck involved whatsoever. For the next 45 minutes I scanned the whole
diary, and much to my chagrin, found nothing useful.

Sirens sounded
in the distance, interrupting my thoughts. Soon, they wailed right outside the
house, and red lights reflected across my walls. I wondered what was happening
and why my premonitions hadn’t triggered for this emergency. So many questions
but never any answers.

“Please, please,
please,” I whispered to myself as I grabbed the second diary along with my
water bottle. I curled up in the sphere chair I’d crammed into corner of my
room. The first page read:

This Diary belongs
to Rose Mary Campbell 1925

 “Come on
Grandma Rose; give me something good.”

Perusing the
first several pages, I found nothing helpful; although, she did mention meeting
a boy named Gilbert. As I read on, I found that she was dedicating more and
more of her time to Gilbert – sounded like she was falling in love. With
exasperation, I flipped through a third of the whole journal until I came
across a really long entry. My heart beat accelerated, and I smacked my lips
together. I knew this was the one I’d been looking for. Grabbing my football
pillow off the floor, I hugged it between me and the diary.

April 26, 1925

I am overwhelmed
beyond belief. Gilbert is definitely the one for me. Yesterday he took me to
the drive-in to see “The Lost World” and we had such a nice time together. But
tonight he started talking about premonitions and saving people. I was so
surprised that I accidentally spilled soda all over the place. We went down to
the lake and talked for hours while the sun set.

What we talked about
was even more fascinating. He already knew I was having premonitions, even
though I’d never told him so. More importantly, he said there were others like
me, and he is one of them. They call themselves Guardians. They see future
accidents or deaths, and they are able to change fate and save people. They
live their lives like everyone else as far as working and raising children, but
they use their gifted sight to protect people from unnecessary death.

Gilbert said I am
not a Guardian yet. He called me a Seer. He said I am nearing the time in my
life when my body will stop changing – it will reach the end of adolescence and
the beginning of adulthood. That is why my premonitions are so frequent. It’s
part of the progression, and soon I’ll need to become a Guardian.

Now this is where
it gets confusing. He said that at some point a Seer reaches the point where
the visions flow continuously, almost out of control. The visions drain the
person of their energy and good judgment is thrown to the wayside. The Seer
will start hallucinating and can sometimes even die. This is the crucial time
when the person must “link” with a Guardian in order to have the support and
strength needed as they transition from being a Seer to a Guardian. If the Seer
doesn’t link, death quite often follows.

I had so many
questions for him. Like, what is linking and how do you do it? And, who are the
other Guardians? Or, why me? But it was late, and he’d promised Mama and Papa
to have me home. He said I’d learned enough for one night, and he’d explain the
rest in due time. I don’t have a lot of patience, so I hope he plans on giving
me more information right away. For now, I feel so happy I’ve found someone
like me. Even though it all sounds so unbelievable, I’ve lived with the visions,
so I know what he says must be true.

My hands were
shaking badly, and I inadvertently dropped the diary in my lap. Why did I feel
like I was leaving the real world and entering the twilight zone? I reached for
my water bottle and took a long sip. The cold water trickled down my throat and
helped ground me to this world. This was crazier than crazy. My Grandma Rose
was a Seer, soon to be a Guardian.

So…was I a Seer?

I grabbed the
journal, found the page I’d just read, and flipped impatiently to the next passage.

April 27, 1925

Life is amazing. I
insisted Gilbert explain things more thoroughly today. He finally agreed and
told me all about linking and becoming a Guardian. This is all rather
secretive, so I’m keeping it to myself. Besides, with my luck, one of the twins
will find my diary and start reading it aloud to Mama.

“Oh crap!” I
swore aloud. “You’ve got to be kidding me. Just when it’s getting good.” I kept
on reading.

I will be linking
with Gilbert eventually. Linking sounds so intimidating, but he said it will be
remarkable and that I will gain other special abilities too. Those abilities
sound unbelievable, but he assured me they are real. They are what separate the
Seers from the Guardians. Once I’m a Guardian, I will be fully committed to saving
lives for the rest of my life. Using my visions and abilities will become a
priority – more like a need, but thankfully, he will be with me every step of
the way.

April 29, 1925

I’m getting
married! Gilbert proposed and Mama and Papa approved. We don’t want to wait.
With my visions becoming increasingly incessant, Gilbert said we will probably
need to link within the next couple months. He said he loves me and wants me to
be his wife. So it just makes sense to get married and then link. The ceremony
is set for June 26
^th
. I know Papa thinks it is too soon, but Mama is
overjoyed.

May 2, 1925

I’ve decided to
wear Mama’s wedding dress. We are working together to create a new, silk tulle
headdress, which will look delightful with my new bobbed haircut, styled just
like Louise Brooks. I’m excited about marrying Gilbert. My nerves get the
better of me when I think about linking with him. Other than clasping hands, he
said linking is less physical and more mental – we’ll be using our subconscious
– whatever that means.

May 28, 1925

I’m very worried.
I don’t know what is going on. Gilbert said he will be gone for a couple weeks.
He told me to stay close to home and not go wandering around town by myself. He
was very anxious. I’m not sure who the Ray-pacs are, but he said they are very
dangerous enemies of the Guardians. Apparently, there is much for me to learn,
and he promised to share more when he comes back. For now, I will focus on the
wedding and pray for his safe return.

Turning the
pages rapidly, I was greeted with nothing but emptiness. I’d finally found
someone I could relate with, only she was dead, and I was out of entries. I
slammed the journal against my leg. Did Guardians still exist? If so, it
sounded like I needed to find one soon. What would happen if I didn’t link?
Then it dawned on me – maybe that’s why I’d had visions of my own death,
because I would never find someone to link with and was doomed to die.

Dread coiled
tightly around my throat, almost suffocating me. Every fiber of my being stretched
tight, ready to snap. I’d finally come to terms with, and was eager about,
dedicating my life to saving others and becoming an Amethyst – well…if I could
survive the mountain lions. But this…this was too much. Now I had to find a
Guardian to link with, as well. How was that possible? I could feel defeat
mutating in my body, trying to overtake my healthy cells, like a new strain of
invasive cancer.

Unable to sit
still, I wrote an e-mail to Aunt Louise and asked if the roofers had discovered
any more books in the attic. I wasn’t about to mention the diaries. No one else
in my family had ever talked about premonitions. In fact, besides Ally, my mom
was the only one who knew I occasionally had a vision of some impending
accident. She just didn’t know the full extent to which they occurred. Just as
I pushed “send,” I heard Ally and Ben come in the front door.

Not more than a
minute passed before Ally rushed into my room without knocking. She took one
look at the books scattered about and said, “Ohhh do tell, what did you find?”
Glancing up at my face, her eyes widened, and she said, “Wow! This is gonna be
good. Really good.”

Nodding slowly,
I walked over to the bed and plopped down, trying to suppress the worry lines creasing
my forehead. A swarm of dust balls swirled around me, and I flashed the brown
covered journals before her eyes. She still didn’t know about the mountain
lions, so I didn’t want her to realize how scared I was about not finding a
Guardian in time. I’d have to tread carefully and keep my emotions in check.
Too many secrets. Swallowing hard, and trying to sound upbeat, I said,
“Apparently, my Great Grandma Rose also had
premonitions
…”

Ally’s eyes
became saucers. A burst of buttery theatre popcorn accompanied her as she took
a step closer. Rubbing her hands together, she yelled out to Ben, “Honey, I’m
gonna talk girl stuff with Lexi for awhile.” She turned and winked then shouted
again, “A really long while, so you might as well play your PS3.” Without
waiting for a response she slammed the door shut with her foot and said, “Tell
me everything! And tell me now.”

The summer days
of late July faded quickly along with some magnificent, crimson sunsets. I
spent most of my time trying to become aware of my Essence, even giving yoga a
shot, which didn’t help a bit. Other times, I worked diligently with Jessica.
In the afternoons, we’d amble through Whatcom Falls Park or hike the trails of
Sehome Hill. While we walked she was in teacher mode, persistent and
supportive. Still, I wasn’t sensing a thing and was beginning to fear it might
never happen.

I scoured the
internet for information on premonitions and Guardians but got no hits on the
latter, so I shifted all my attention back on becoming an Amethyst. I figured
Grandma Rose hadn’t linked until she was 19 or 20, so I probably had some time
before finding a Guardian was my top priority. I wished like crazy I could tell
Jessica about my premonitions, but I was still experiencing unexplained bouts
of anxiety about it, and that always stopped me short.

One afternoon,
without warning, Ash appeared at the store about five minutes before my shift
was over. Looking temptingly good in tight jeans and a t-shirt, he pointed at
me and said, “You, me, and a little adventure. I’ll see ya out front in ten,
babe.”

“What? Hey,
wait. Where we goin? Maybe I have plans already. Did you ever think of that?” I
yelled out.

Ignoring my
string of objections, he called over his shoulder, “Watch out, a feisty woman
in uniform always gets my blood racing.”

Ten minutes
later, I found myself unable to resist his bombastic charm and climbed onto the
back of his bike. We took a ride up to Blanchard Mountain where some of his
buddies were paragliding off the Samish Overlook. Watching them run and jump
off the cliff was heart stopping. Ash said they could fly in the air for hours,
even reaching altitudes of more than 10,000 feet. He promised that next time
I’d be watching him hit the skies, and the time after that…well, he hoped to
persuade me into giving the sport a shot.