Bittersweet Sixteen (A Dodie Jenks Novel) (4 page)

Chapter Eight

All the way to Dover the next morning I kept thinking this was going to be it. Grandma had found the loophole that was going to save my life. I wouldn’t go down in history as another Doherty relation that had perished by the curse. But this wouldn’t be just for me, but for all generations to come if we were able to break the curse.

Grandma was waiting for us in the visitor parking lot at the university. Professor Simons had arranged for us to meet in the small conference room of her department. We got out of the SUV and I saw Ambrielle walking towards us. What was she doing here?

I walked toward her not sure I wanted my mom to hear what she had to say and boy was I glad I did.

“Dodie, don’t do it,” Ambrielle said. “Don’t go in there. Don’t let that soothsayer meddle in this. It can come of no good.”

“Are you certain? Professor Simons says that what you see can change with different decisions.”

The woman reached out and took my hand. “I see a worse fate than death for you if you go through with this, but it is ultimately your choice.”

I pulled my hand away not sure what to do. Did I listen to her and ask mom to take me back home? Or did I go into the building and meet whomever Professor Simons had contacted?

“Dodie,” my mom called.

I glanced over my shoulder, saw her walk up the steps to where Grandma waited for us, before looking back to Ambrielle. “I’ve got to go.”

The woman nodded, but looked defeated, which left me feeling even more conflicted as to what I should do. What if I made the wrong decision and it sealed my fate bringing about the bad Ambrielle saw when she touched me? But wasn’t that what I was doing if I ignored her warning?

The very thought made me feel numb as I turned away from her and walked toward the building where mom and Grandma waited. It was difficult making my legs move to climb the four steps, but I made it up them. My breathing once again was labored and I felt as if I were choking. What was happening to me?

“Are you okay?” Grandma asked, stepping toward me. “What did she want?”

I gasped for air, before finding my voice to speak. “To tell me the same as she did the other day.”

“We’ll see about that. Come along,” Grandma urged, but I couldn’t move my legs. It was if I were planted in the sidewalk.

Beads of sweat prickled along my forehead and I swallowed several times. Maybe if I stood here for a few more seconds whatever I was experiencing would pass. “What if she’s right?”

“What if who is right?” Mom inquired. “What’s going on? Who was that woman you were talking to?”

“Ambrielle. The lady we went to see on Saturday.”

“But I thought you said she couldn’t help you.”

“That’s right.” Grandma wrapped her arm around my back.

“Then why did she come here? Is there something you aren’t telling me?”

“She doesn’t think we’ll have success,” I blurted before Grandma could stop me. “And…and I’m not sure what to do. She was pretty emphatic that we’ll fail.”

“We’ll never know for sure if we don’t try. We’re here. Professor Simons is waiting.” Grandma pursed her lips together and she had a determined look in her eye trying to get me to move along, but my legs still would not budge. “I think we should at least meet this person.”

“Dodie, why aren’t you walking?” Mom asked.

“I can’t move my legs. I think it’s just anxiety. I’ve been having little spells ever since Saturday. I don’t think I can handle much more. I wish I had been kept in the dark like great aunt Portia.” My vision blurred and I began to tremble as I gave in to the fear of what was happening to me. “I don’t want to die.”

“You’re scared, honey,” mom soothed, supporting me so my legs didn’t buckle while rubbing my cheek with her hand. “I think your grandmother is right. We need to at least meet with this person and then we can make a decision on what to do.”

Grandma nodded and leaned over, whispering something in my ear like she had during the sermon on Sunday. I couldn’t make out the words they were spoken so softly, but whatever it was helped me to feel relaxed enough so that my legs were no longer stiff and I could walk again on my own.

Once inside the three-story brick building we took the elevator up to the top floor. Professor Simons met us. She was a tall woman with red hair and bright blue eyes fringed with thick lashes. Her skin was an alabaster color and she wore red lipstick, enhancing the blue of her eyes.

“Cherie, it’s so good to see you again,” she said. “And who do you have with you today?”

“This is my daughter-in-law, Glynis Jenks and her daughter, Dodie.”

“I’m so glad to meet you. I’m Professor Lydia Simons,” she greeted, shaking our hands. “Please follow me to the conference room where Mr. Leopold is waiting.”

“What can you tell us about him? What are his credentials?” Mom asked.

Professor Simons stopped walking and laced her fingers together in front of her. Her dark brows knitted together as she thought for a moment. “Credentials? I don’t believe he has any.” Her voice lowered a level and she leaned toward us. “They don’t actually have a degree in witchcraft at the university. What I can tell you is that he’s Celtic and he comes from a long line of witches. Also his ancestors, like the Doherty family, resided in New England around the same time period. He has knowledge about the curse, which is to our good fortune.”

She began walking again and we followed her down the corridor. “Once Cherie shared more information about what was going on I knew Mr. Leopold was the one to call.”

“How exactly does this all fit in with the study of languages?” I asked.

“It doesn’t really, but at the same time the two can connect. It helps that I also have Celtic ancestry so I have connections.”

“Are you a witch?” I asked.

Professor Simons laughed. “No. I don’t even possess any supernatural powers. I just have a deep interest in the paranormal.”

She opened the conference room door and I saw a rather tall, slender man with jet black hair wearing a black suit standing in the corner staring at a map on the wall. He turned as we entered and I was awestruck. If he was what a warlock looked like, then I was ready to cross over to the other realm and be his minion. I stopped halfway in the doorway and I couldn’t make my legs move a muscle, but this was totally different than before. All I could do was stare at his boyish features and his cat like green eyes. He couldn’t be more than twenty-two if he was a day over twenty.

“Dodie, go on it,” mom urged, pushing on my back. “There’s nothing to be afraid of.”

I wasn’t afraid. In fact, for the first time since Saturday I was one hundred percent on board with whatever he was going to tell us.

“Hello, Dodie. I’m Leopold.” He came forward and took my hand, leading me over to the table so mom and Grandma could enter the room. “I think we’re going to be good friends.”

“Yes.” I agreed, feeling as if he had hypnotized me by looking into my eyes. He pulled out a chair for me and I sat. He took the chair at the end of the table, facing me.

“So you are the victim of Bernadette’s curse. I am so sorry for you, but I’m glad we have met because I am going to help you.”

“You are?”

“Yes.”

“I was told only someone who possessed the greatest power could break this curse. You look too young to be so powerful.”

“Ah…well…you see…power doesn’t come with age, it comes from ability. It also helps to have a strong bloodline. Which my family has always had.”

I nodded, hanging onto his every word. I had a good feeling about his sincerity in wanting to help me. Perhaps Ambrielle was wrong in what she saw. Couldn’t she have sensed my vulnerability, my fear, and taken that to mean going forward with our quest was wrong?

“Leopold, this is Glynis Jenks, Dodie’s mother, and Cherie Jenks her grandmother,” Professor Simons explained.

“Hello,” Leopold said, but didn’t look at them. He only stared deeper into my eyes. It made me feel like I was the most important person to him at the moment. A warm, fuzzy feeling formed in the pit of my stomach and I sighed with contentment.

He arched a dark brow, quirking a grin that made him even more breathtaking to look at. If he were an actor, he’d have females of all ages lining up for miles to see him on the big screen and I’d be the president of his fan club.

“So tell me, Dodie, when will you turn sixteen?”

“In twenty-seven days.” I glanced at my watch. “Fourteen hours and twenty minutes.”

He let my hand go and grasped his chin between his thumb and index finger as if he contemplated this information.  “Twenty-seven days. That doesn’t give us much time, but I’ve worked with less.”

Standing, he turned to my mother. “I will need to spend as much time with her as possible between now and the big day. I do not want to disrupt your lives, but I will need access to her as I do my observation in the initial phase.”

Observation?
That made me sound like a lab rat. I didn’t know if I wanted to be scrutinized. I was a pubescent teenager. And even on my best days I still had my awkward moments. I did not want Leopold to see me this way.

Mom crossed her arms over her chest and looked pensive for a few moments. “Her father and I would like her to continue with her studies. It is a crucial time in her education. If she survives this then we do not want any disruption that could hamper her chances on a good scholarship to college. What do you have in mind?”

Oh my word! My parents still did not get it! I was facing death square in the face and they were worried about my education. Can we say D-E-N-I-A-L? No wonder they thought they could ignore Grandma all those years ago.

“Like I said I do not want to alter your lives with my presence, but if I am going to make my best attempt at breaking this curse and saving Dodie, then I will need to spend as much time with her as possible.”

“Perhaps, Glynis, she should come and stay with me during this time,” my grandmother suggested. “I could arrange for a private tutor so she will not fall behind in her studies. Mr. Leopold could stay at the house as well so he can observe her.”

Mom pursed her lips together and tilted her head to the side the way she did when trying to make a decision. “I suppose that would work, but I’d need to run this by Robert first.”

“Naturally.” Grandma winked at me.

“Thank you, Mrs. Jenks for opening up your home to me.” Leopold half-bowed toward Grandma.

Mom dug in her purse and found her phone. “Excuse me. I’ll just step out into the hallway and call my husband.”

I sat in the chair and waited, watching while Leopold and Grandma talked. He had the cutest dimple in his left cheek when he grinned like he was doing right now to something she said. He also had a tendency to periodically look over his shoulder at me which made me feel giddy.

My reaction to him and his good looks was a little strange. I didn’t normally go gaga over boys…well, in his case men.  I wondered just how old he was anyway.

As if reading my thoughts he turned and smiled. “I’m eighteen.”

“Eighteen,” Grandma repeated. “My, but I would have thought you’d be older.”

“Yes. Most do.”

I smiled, content to just sit and watch and not worry for a change. It felt good and I couldn’t be happier to know I was going to be spending the next three weeks with Grandma in Franklin.

Mom finally returned to the room and her eyes and the tip of her nose was red. She’d been crying. “Dodie, your father reluctantly agreed, but you can go to Cherie’s for the observation. Mr. Leopold, we are putting our trust in you to save our little girl. Do not let us down.”

He walked over to her and clasped both her hands in his. “Mrs. Jenks, I will do my very best to restore your daughter to you.”

Chapter Nine

The drive from Dover had been quiet. Mom drove to the house for me to get my back pack and then we went straight to the high school where we met with the principal about my leaving school. She explained how I was going to be staying with my grandmother for a while and would be enrolling in school there. Once I cleaned out my locker and turned in all my textbooks and homework assignments, we left.

I didn’t even get to see my friends Callie and Lisa to tell them goodbye, but what could I really say to their face that would have been any different than sending them an email or a text? I’d be back in a few weeks and everything would go back to normal. Right?  I had to think positive.

When we got home I went to my room and gathered my laundry, then I packed a bag of things I couldn’t live without to take to Grandma’s. I hung out with Brody in the family room until dad got home with pizza and then we ate.

“So tell me again why Dodie is going to be living with Grandma,” Brody said as dad drove us back to Franklin. “I just don’t get that Grandma needs her there. Why not me? At least I can drive a car.”

I rolled my eyes. He was going to hold the fact that I didn’t get into driver’s education this semester over my head forever.

“I’ll be able to drive too once she teaches me.”

“Yeah, right.” Brody laughed.

“She’s going to. She told me so on Saturday.”

“Aren’t you special.”

Mom turned around in her seat and glared at us. “Stop bickering. Dodie is going to your Grandmother’s because she asked her to come. End of story.”

“For some reason I don’t buy that.” Brody slouched against the door on his side of the car. “Grandma asks and you just pull Dodie out of school and send her to live with the same Grandma we haven’t seen in twelve years.”

“That’s enough, Brody,” Dad barked, getting on the interstate.

I put my ear buds in so I didn’t have to listen to him rant. I’m sure if he knew the real reason I was going he wouldn’t be making such a stink. He wouldn’t like leaving his friends behind, or Sasha. Maybe I should just tell him I’m going to die and see if that will shut him up?

Instead, I turned up the volume on my iPod and listened to the playlist that I’d downloaded earlier. I closed my eyes, leaning my head back against the car seat and let my mind drift until I visualized myself landing on cloud Leopold. I don’t think I’ve ever met a guy so perfect in looks. I had to get a picture of him to send to Callie and Lisa because they would never believe me about him if I told them.

“Knock it off, Squirt.” Brody nudged me in the arm.

I sat up straight, startled out of my thoughts. I turned toward him and removed my ear buds. “What?”

“Stop humming. It’s annoying.”

“Sorry.” I replaced the ear buds and turned the volume down before once again closing my eyes and trying to return to my daydream. Leopold is there instantly, his green eyes shining and the smile on his face tell me he’s happy that I’ve returned.

“Dodie,” he called, reaching out his hand to me. I took it and he pulled me into his arms, holding me close. “I will protect you. Put your trust in me.”

“I do trust you, Leopold,” I murmured against his chest, where I laid my head.

“Get off me.” Brody’s voice broke into my thoughts again and my eyes fluttered open as he pushed me back toward my side of the SUV.

I rubbed my eyes with my hands trying to wake up. I hadn’t realized I had fallen asleep. “Sorry.”

Dad took the exit to Franklin and before too long; we were driving through town, past the Canaan Episcopal Church and the novelty store. Businesses soon disappeared and houses began to pop up along the way until we finally came to Grandma’s estate.

Lights were on upstairs and down and the house glowed from within, making me feel I was home at last. I gathered my backpack, which contained my laptop and other electronics, from the floorboard, ready to get out of the car when dad pulled to a stop. The black cat jumped from the stoop and scurried toward the woods. And I wondered if that was its way of letting me know I wasn’t welcome.

The front door opened and Grandma came out to greet us as we all piled out of the SUV.

“Brody, get your sister’s suitcase from the back and take it into the house,” dad ordered.

My brother did as he was told without making a wise crack as he had in the car. Mom wrapped her arm around my waist and pulled me to her, kissing my cheek.

“Just because you are here doesn’t mean you can’t call us every night and you can call me during the day too. If you need me for anything, I’ll be here as fast as I can.”

“Okay. I love you,” I said, wrapping my arms around her.

When she released me my dad pulled me to him. He didn’t say anything, but he hummed a tune I recalled from when I was a toddler. He’d held me in his arms and we’d danced around the room to it often. “I love you, baby girl.”

“I love you too, dad.”

“I’ll take good care of her, Robert.” I heard Grandma’s voice, but couldn’t see her because dad still held me in his arms.

“You’d better.” He stepped back, tousling my hair which I’d left unbraided again today.

Brody came out of the house, running. “Who’s the strange dude in the suit that’s in the living room?”

“That’s Leopold,” Grandma told him.

“He’s here already?” I asked.

“He arrived about an hour ago. Would you like to meet him, Robert?” Grandma inquired.

“No. Let’s go folks. We’ve got a drive ahead of us.”

“See you this weekend, Squirt,” Brody said.

“Are you all coming down?” I asked.

“No, just Brody.” My father looked grim and he toyed with the key to the SUV.

“Oh. Okay. Well, see you then.”

“Bye, dear.” My mom slowly turned toward the car. Dad opened her door for her and she got in.

Grandma and I waved as they turned and headed down the driveway. “So are you ready for this adventure to begin?”

“I think I am.”

“Want some ice cream?  I have rocky road.”

I nodded and we went into the house.