Double Trouble (9 page)

THE PARTY HAD
been in full swing for almost an hour before Bianca finally showed up. I was relieved when she stepped out through the French doors.

“You made it!” I cried, hurrying to greet her.

She handed me a small, brightly wrapped gift. “Happy birthday, Caitlyn. Thanks for inviting me. This looks like quite a party.” She shaded her eyes and glanced toward the pool.

There had to be at least thirty kids there. Some were lounging on the teak chaises, some were picking
at the food, a few were dancing to the loud pop music pouring out of the fancy speakers attached to Megan's smartphone. Lots more were in the pool splashing around.

I'd been in and out of the pool a few times myself. Liam had arrived only moments after the B Boys, and I'd stuck close to him ever since. He was so excited he couldn't seem to settle on one activity.

Glancing over my shoulder, I saw that he was hanging out by the food table gorging on Mom's homemade cookies. The B Boys were all in the pool except for Brayden, who was watching his friends from nearby with his cast propped up on a chair. As I watched, Buzz hoisted himself out, then turned around and cannonballed right back in, almost landing on a laughing Biff. Cassie was floating nearby, smiling at the guys' antics.

“Sorry I'm late.” When Bianca turned to face me again, I couldn't help noticing that her eyes were red and puffy.

“Are you okay?” I blurted out. “You look like you've been crying.”

Okay, maybe not the most tactful question. What can I say? I was worried about her.

“I was. But it's okay.” Her smile widened. “You haven't known me that long, but I never cry when I'm upset—only when I'm really, really happy.”

“Really?” I was a little confused but relieved. “What are you happy about?”

“I just came from the hospital. My dad had heart surgery yesterday.”

I gasped. “He did?” That explained why she hadn't been at school. “What happened? Is he okay?”

“He's good. Great, actually.” She beamed. “His doctors said the surgery went perfectly, and he'll be a lot healthier now.”

“Oh, Bianca, that's amazing!” I grabbed her in a big hug.

She hugged me back, laughing. “Anyway, sorry if I've been a little quiet lately. I was just worried about him, you know?”

I didn't bother to point out that she was always quiet. All that mattered was that her dad was okay.

Wait. Maybe that wasn't all that mattered.

“Go grab some snacks before Liam eats everything,” I urged. “I'll join you in a sec. I just have to find my sister first.”

As she nodded and hurried off, I headed toward Cassie, who was now sitting on the edge of the pool near Brayden's chair, grinning as Biff and Buzz tried to dunk a laughing, struggling Brent nearby.

When I got closer, I shot her a meaningful look. “Can I talk to you for a minute?”

She stood up immediately. “Be right back,” she told Brayden.

I led the way to a quiet spot behind the waterfall. “Guess what?” I said as soon as we were alone. “Bianca's dad had heart trouble!”

She looked startled. “And this makes you happy why?”

“Sorry!” I laughed. “Let me start over.” I filled her in on what I'd found out. “So I'm guessing your vision was Bianca going to the hospital before surgery yesterday. You said she looked worried, right? And mine showed her crying with happiness after she found out he was going to be okay.”

“Yeah. Go figure. Turns out my vision is the negative one and yours is all happy happy joy joy. Again.”

“Oh. Right.” I shrugged. “But this is great news for both of us! Now that we don't have to worry about Bianca anymore, we can finally relax and enjoy our party!”

“Not exactly,” she pointed out. “What about Liam? And the thing I saw with Lav and the girls crying. Neither of those visions have happened yet, and they both definitely took place right here at this pool.”

My heart dropped. I'd been so distracted by the whole Bianca thing that I'd almost forgotten about Liam. Where was he now?

I peered out around the waterfall. The last time I'd seen him, Liam had been at the food table. He wasn't there now, though.

Then I heard a shout. Turning my head, I gasped as I saw Liam over near the deep end with the B Boys. They were all laughing, including Liam. But for how long? My heart thudded, and I took a step forward.

“Geronimo!” Buzz shouted, racing toward the water. When he reached the edge of the pool, he leaped up and forward, grabbing his knees and landing with a loud splash.

“Hey!” Emily and Abby shrieked as the wave from Buzz's cannonball washed over them.

“I'm next!” Liam cried with a wild laugh.

He took off, running the same way Buzz just had. But someone had left a towel lying on the ground, and Liam's foot snagged it. He tripped and went flying, his skinny arms and legs windmilling helplessly.

“Aaaah—ow!” he yelped as he hit the ground stomach first, the momentum carrying him forward over the rough concrete.

“Liam!” I yelled.

“Dude!” one or two of the B Boys exclaimed at the same time.

Liam finally stopped just short of the pool's edge, rolling over with a moan. His chest and stomach were scraped and bleeding, the blood mixing with the water dripping from his hair and body.

“That hurt,” he announced, staring up at the sky.

“We've got you, bro!” Biff and Brent had reached him by now, while Buzz was climbing out of the pool.

“We've got to . . .” I began, stepping forward.

Then I stopped, blinking in amazement as the scene from my vision formed in front of my eyes. Biff pulled Liam to his feet, while Brent slung one of Liam's skinny arms over his own broad shoulder. With Buzz tailing along, the guys dragged the blood-streaked Liam toward the nearest lounge chair.

Lavender was sitting there drinking a soda. Her eyes widened when she saw the boys coming.

“Ew!” she exclaimed, leaping out of the way. “Don't bleed on me!”

“Sorry.” Liam grinned at her. “I'm afraid I don't have control over my bleeding. See, it's what's called an involuntary reflex, which I believe is controlled by the central nervous system—or is it the peripheral nervous system . . . ?”

As he babbled on, I went limp with relief. Yeah, he might look like an ax murderer had taken a swing
at him, but I had a feeling he was going to be okay.

I glanced over at Cassie, who looked confused. “I don't get it,” she said. “Your vision . . .”

“Right.” I let out a breath quickly. “I saw Liam bleeding and those guys dragging him along. I thought it meant they'd, you know, caused the bleeding. But I guess not.”

“Yeah. It was Liam's own spazziness that did that.” She wandered off. “Come on, we should probably check on him. He's going to need a whole box of Band-Aids.”

By the time we reached Liam, most of the party had gathered around. Megan ran for her mother. Mrs. March took one look at Liam, clucked with concern, then went into commanding-general mode.

“Megan, honey, run out and grab me the Adams General bag from the front seat of my car, okay?” she said. “I noticed we ran out of Band-Aids the other day, and I picked some up in town this morning. On your way back, swing through the orchard and fetch me some aloe from the big clay pot.”

She disappeared into the house with Liam in
tow. Megan bolted after them. The B Boys tagged along, still looking concerned.

“Wow,” Lavender said, wandering toward us. “Drama much? Your friends sure know how to keep things interesting, Caitlyn.”

“Yeah.” I barely heard her. I headed for the house, wanting to check on Liam.

Cassie followed. As soon as we were inside, she yanked me into the powder room near the French doors.

“What?” I said, distracted. “I want to make sure Liam's okay.”

“He's fine,” Cassie said. “I mean, I'm sure he's hurting after that pavement dive he took. But Megan's mom used to be a nurse—she'll get him fixed up.”

“Good.” That actually did make me feel better. Still, I wanted to see for myself. “I'll go check on him and let you know, okay? You might as well go enjoy the party now that everything's happened.”

“But it hasn't. What about Lavender?”

“What about her?”

“I saw her crying. Right here at the pool.” She bit
her lip. “Wearing the same swimsuit she's wearing today.”

“Whatever.” I shrugged. “She's probably heartbroken because she smudged her lip gloss or something. Or maybe Liam did manage to drip some blood on her fancy swimsuit and it's the biggest tragedy of her life.”

Cassie grimaced. “Maybe,” she admitted. “I don't know, though. Everyone in the vision looked upset, not just Lav. Especially Megan.”

She had a point. But what else could possibly happen today? Especially something that could upset everyone so much?

I scanned back over all the visions I'd had lately, but came up with nothing. They'd all come true except the ones about Mom and the gray-haired lady. And obviously those didn't have anything to do with today's party.

So why hadn't Cassie's crying vision happened yet? Had we prevented it somehow without even realizing it? But how? There had to be a clue somewhere . . .

“Wait,” I blurted out. “You had a vision about Megan, right?”

She frowned impatiently. “Aren't you listening? I just said she was in the background of my Lavender vision.”

“No, another one,” I said. “With a dog.”

Cassie's eyes widened. “You're right!” she cried, leaping for the door. “Hurry, we have to get out there—I think I know what's going to happen!”

CAITLYN FOLLOWED AS
I raced outside and around the corner. She'd reminded me of that vision of Megan and Amigo in the orchard, and now I was pretty sure I knew what it meant. I'd seen Megan coming in through the front gate, the one leading out to the driveway—and the busy street just beyond.

There was just one question: Was I too late to save Amigo?

I shoved through the back gate into the orchard. Megan was on the far side, holding a plastic bag and
bending down to rub Amigo's ears as he leaped happily around her. The gate behind her was standing ajar.

“Megan!” I hollered. “The gate!”

“Huh?” She straightened up and peered at me.

Caitlyn gasped. “Oh, no—he's escaping!”

Amigo had just spotted the open gate and was charging toward it. “Amigo!” I cried. “Stop!”

He ignored me, his wagging tail disappearing through the gate. Megan spun around.

“No!” she cried. “Oh, no! Amigo!”

She dropped the bag and leaped back through the gate. I sprinted across the orchard with Cait on my heels. We emerged just in time to see Amigo playing keepaway with Megan. Namely, he was keeping himself just out of arm's reach, his little tail wagging nonstop.

I glanced toward the road just in time to see a huge delivery truck rumble past. Yikes. If the dog headed that direction . . .

“Go that way,” I ordered Caitlyn. “I'll circle around and try to cut him off.”

Cait nodded and took off to Megan's right, while I headed left. Meanwhile Megan kept grabbing frantically at Amigo, and he kept leaping away at the last second. What if he took off after a squirrel or something?

No. I wouldn't let that happen. Banishing the image of Lav's tear-streaked face, I slowed down, creeping up behind the dog. He was distracted by Megan pleading with him to stop. If I could just get a tiny bit closer . . .

“Gotcha!” I yelled as I grabbed the little dog.

Amigo whined with surprise. But as I hugged him to me, he started wiggling and wagging his tail again, and his tongue lolled out and then slurped me right across the face.

Gross. But, okay, kind of sweet.

A breathless Megan rushed over. “Amigo, you naughty thing!” she exclaimed. “Thanks for helping me catch him, Cassie. I was in such a hurry to get Mom the stuff she needs, I forgot to check that the gate was shut. If Amigo had gotten into the road . . .” She shuddered.

I sank to my knees, still hugging Amigo. Closing my eyes, I once again pictured Lavender's distraught, tear-streaked face from my vision. The face of a dog-loving girl whose best furry friend had just been hit by a car.

“I'd better get the aloe and get inside,” Megan said. Her moment of distress had passed. She didn't know how close she'd really come to ruining Lavender's life and destroying their friendship.

I stood and followed her back into the orchard, still holding Amigo. Caitlyn came, too. We both watched Megan pluck a stem off a weird-looking plant, then push through the gate into the pool area.

Cait patted Amigo as I set him down—after double-checking the front gate. “So that's what you saw,” she said. “Megan accidentally letting the dog out in the road.”

“Yeah.” I wiped dog drool off my chin and stood up. “As soon as you mentioned my vision, I suddenly got it. It was the only thing that made sense. Lav adores this dog. She'd be devastated if anything happened to him.”

That also explained why Megan had been behind the other girls in my vision, crying by herself. Lavender had probably blamed her for what had happened to Amigo.

What had
almost
happened to Amigo, that is. Glancing down at the lively little dog, I smiled with relief.

“So we did it,” I said. “We changed the future. Again.”

Caitlyn nodded. “And something else happened again,” she said. “A vision you thought was good turned out to be bad. I mean, here you thought it was just a nice vision of Megan petting Amigo, right?”

“Gee, thanks for pointing that out, sis.” I rolled my eyes. “I love being reminded of what a downer my visions are.”

“No, but listen,” she said. “It's a good thing you see bad stuff, right? Because that gives us a chance to stop it!”

I thought about that for a second. Maybe she had a point. Maybe my bad visions were actually more
important than her good ones. Not that I was about to admit it.

“Okay,” I said. “Anyway, like you said, we don't know for sure that I only see bad stuff and you only see good stuff. What about your Liam vision?”

“But that didn't turn out so bad, did it?” Cait said. “I mean, yeah, those scrapes couldn't have felt good. But the main thing my vision focused on was the B Boys, remember? The good thing was the way they all rushed to help Liam.” She smiled. “Which is great, right? It shows that they're good guys, even if they do mess with people sometimes.”

“If you say so.” Just then a shout of laughter drifted in from the direction of the pool. “But let's not waste time with philosophy or whatever, okay? Now that we've saved the day, let's get in there and enjoy our birthday party!”

HOURS LATER, THE
party was winding down. Some people had left already, though the B Boys were still there. Brayden was on a lounge chair chatting with a bandaged-up but cheerful—and slightly
sunburned—Liam, while the other three played keepaway with a beach ball in the pool.

I wandered over to the food table, where Megan was tidying up. “Thanks again for all this,” I said.

“You're welcome.” She smiled at me. “Happy birthday, Cassie.”

“Thanks.” I grabbed a leftover cookie. “You sure know how to throw one seriously epic party! I bet it's the talk of the school on Monday.”

She laughed, then frowned slightly. “That reminds me,” she said slowly. “Did you say anything about the party to Gabe Campbell?”

“Ew, no.” I made a face. “He's about the last person I'd want to invite. Why?”

“Because I ran into him on the way out of school yesterday.” Megan wiped some crumbs off the table. “He was asking all kinds of questions about you and your birthday and stuff like that.” She shrugged. “Probably no biggie. He's always been kind of strange, you know?”

“Yeah.” But I couldn't help feeling uneasy as I
remembered coming out of that classroom to find him watching us the other day. “No biggie.”

Before I could say anything else, Brayden was coming toward us, swinging along on his crutches. “Hey,” he said. “Thanks for everything, Megan. And happy birthday, Cassie. Thanks for inviting me.”

“No problem.” I tried to sound casual. “I'm glad you came. You know—all you guys. I hope you had fun.”

“We did.” He glanced over his shoulder at his friends. Brent was clapping Liam on the shoulder, while the other two gathered up their towels and stuff. “It was kind of cool hanging with Liam. He's a smart kid, you know?”

I flashed back to Cait's vision, and her theory about why it had actually been a good one. Was it just Cheerful Cait putting her happy spin on things as usual? Or was I really destined to see only doom and gloom in my visions?

Whatever. I could worry about that later. Because right now, I was way too aware that Megan
was sort of giggling and sidling away, leaving me with Brayden. Obvious much? I just hoped he didn't notice.

But I also felt a flash of gratitude to her for doing it. It was nice to have friends.

WE WERE ALL
pretty quiet on the ride home. Mom was in a good mood, which I guessed meant she and Mrs. March had hit it off. It was definitely a good thing that she was making friends, too; maybe it would help her chill out about stuff.

It took a few trips to bring in all the empty containers and leftover food from the car. But finally Cait and I dropped the last couple of loads on the counter, and Mom shooed us off.

“I'll put everything away,” she said. “Happy birthday, girls.”

“Thanks, Mom,” Cait said, and I nodded.

Back in our room, Cait flopped onto her bed. “That was fun, right?” she said.

“Beyond fun.” I flashed to Brayden and smiled.
“But without our visions, maybe it wouldn't have gone so well.”

She sat up immediately. “Wait. Are you actually accepting that our visions might be, you know, not horrible?”

“No,” I responded quickly. Then I paused. “Maybe. I don't know. I mean, a lot of our visions seem pretty pointless, you know? Like the one I had about Ms. Xavier, or the random ones we sometimes get from people we don't even know. It's annoying not knowing which ones are superimportant and which ones we can ignore.”

“I know what you mean. Like, it would've been easy to ignore a vision of Megan playing with Amigo, right? Definitely random.”

“Only not.” I tried not to think about what could have happened. “And we could have ignored the Bianca ones, since they didn't have anything to do with us.”

“Only not,” Cait echoed. “Those visions were important even if they weren't what we thought.”

“I guess.” I wandered over and stared at myself in the mirror over the dresser. “Important or not, though—how are we supposed to know the difference?”

“I don't know. And I think the only way we can figure that out is with help from our grandmother. We need to try to find her somehow.”

“I agree. Let's get on that—tomorrow, okay? I'm worn out.” I dug into my purse for my favorite lip balm, but it wasn't there. “Oops,” I said, vaguely remembering that I'd used it on the way home. “I'll be right back—I think I left something in the car.”

I hurried for the front door. As I passed the kitchen, I could hear Mom humming as she cleaned up. She was in such a good mood today. Should Cait and I take advantage of that, maybe try talking to her right now? Or would that ruin what was supposed to be a happy day?

As I pondered that, I opened the door and stepped outside. A car was pulling up to the curb in front of our house. No, not a car—a taxi.

Huh? I hadn't seen a yellow cab since leaving San
Antonio. This particular taxi had the name of an Austin cab service printed on the side. What was it doing way out here in Aura?

The door swung open, and a woman climbed out. She was tall and angular, impeccably dressed in an expensive-looking burgundy suit. Her steel-gray hair was pulled back in a sleek bun, and her face wore an expression only slightly less haughty than you might expect from the Queen of England.

I squinted at her, trying to figure out why she looked so familiar. Just then Mom appeared in the doorway with Caitlyn right behind her.

“Cassie, I was telling Cait we should—” Mom cut herself off with a loud gasp.

The gray-haired woman heard her and turned to peer at us. Mom took a deep breath and pushed past me.

“Verity?” she called out, her voice shaking slightly. “Is that really you? Long time no see.”

The woman came toward us. “Hello, Deidre,” she said icily. “Yes, it has been some time, hasn't it?” Speaking of the Queen of England, the woman
kind of sounded like her, too, with a distinct British accent of the upper-crust variety.

I gulped, suddenly realizing why she looked familiar. I'd seen her in my vision. And I was starting to get an inkling of who she might be and what this might mean. . . .

“Hello, girls,” the woman went on, turning her clear blue eyes on Cait and me. “Happy birthday. I did get the day correct, didn't I?”

“Y-yes?” Caitlyn said uncertainly. “But who . . .”

The woman came closer, peering at us curiously. “Oh, my, you really are nearly identical, aren't you? So which of you is Caitlyn and which is Cassandra?”

“Girls,” Mom broke in grimly before we could respond. “I suppose I should introduce you to Mrs. Verity Lockwood. Your grandmother.”

My mouth fell open. “Grandmother?”

“Lockwood?”
Cait squeaked out.

We traded a stunned look.
Wow!
And just when we thought our birthday couldn't get any more interesting!