Glimmer (6 page)

“We,” Dad huffed, “are here to make risotto Milanese.”

“What?” Avery asked, looking confused, but ready to defend his mom’s honor.

“Paul is teaching me to cook. He has been since I got home.”

“Oh.” Avery’s expression softened.  “I wondered what was up with your cooking.  It’s way better than it used to be.”

“Thanks.” Mrs. Adams smiled at Dad, who nodded back at us.  Her smile faded. “I think we’re getting off track.  Why don’t we sit and try and talk things out calmly?”

“Fine,” Avery and I both said, sitting back down on the couch.

Mrs. Adams sat on the loveseat across from us.  Dad hesitated, but then sat down next to her, a united front.

“Okay,” Mrs. Adams began, “let’s start with why you’re not at school.”

Avery launched into the whole story, omitting the trip to mom’s cabin completely, but did confess to the “napping” we’d planned on doing.  Dad flared his nostrils at that part, but managed to keep his cool.

“Zellie’s eyes don’t look bloodshot to me,” Mrs. Adams questioned.

I glanced at Avery, were they really back to normal?

“I don’t know what happened there,” Avery said, “Um, I think it might have something to do with making ou...making the best use of our time.”  Awesome deflection again, honeybear. I squeezed his hand.

Dad glared at us. “Making the best use of your time? Is that what you were doing when we interrupted you?”

You pretty much could have heard the idea of a pin drop.  We were almost back to where we started.  Maybe we weren’t in as much trouble for not being at school, but there wasn’t anything to say about the scene in the truck.  We’d been on the verge of losing our virginity, and both of our parents knew it.

Mrs. Adams stood. “All right, Paul and I are going to go call Gracie and Mike.” Dad looked at her like he in no way wanted to go call “Gracie and Mike,” but relented. “I think it’s important for all of your parents to weigh in on the situation.”  They walked into the kitchen.

“We are so busted,” I whispered. “Mom’s going to tell them that we were there earlier today.” I leaned into Avery, resting my forehead on his shoulder.  “What do you think? Grounded for at least two months?  I’m for sure not getting my driver’s license now.”

He kissed my forehead and wrapped his arms around me. “Totally worth it.”

“Yeah, I know.” I snuggled deeper into his embrace. “It was pretty great, wasn’t it?”

“Great enough to keep me going for the next couple of lonely months.” I felt him smile into my hair.

“Next time,” I mused, “I want a room with a bed and a lock on the door.”

“Definitely.”

“Definitely.”

As nonchalant as we were being about getting caught, I knew we were in an epic amount of trouble.  We’d defied our parents’ wishes and stayed together, thinking there wasn’t anything they could really do about it. We’d lied to ourselves and pretended that they didn’t understand, but Mom and Mr. Adams understood our situation exactly and when they found out what we’d been doing in the truck...I’d be lucky if I didn’t get shipped off to Portland with Aunt Hazel again.  There was no chance of their keeping Avery safe from me and my dangerous visions once we got physically involved, the bond would be too strong. We’d do anything to be together.

I took Avery by the shoulders and kissed him as hard as I could.  He kissed me back, just as hard, framing my face with his hands.

Dad cleared his throat as he and Mrs. Adams walked back into the room and resumed their places on the loveseat.  Avery and I reluctantly parted, preparing for our punishment.

“Here’s the deal.” Dad scrubbed at his face with his hands. He looked tired. “This thing between the two of you, it can’t continue.”

“Dad-”

“Let me finish, Zellie, or so help me God we will leave this house and you’ll never see Avery again.”

That shut me right up. Crap, this was gonna be way worse than two months grounding or exile in Portland.

“I know that you think you’re in love with each other and maybe you really are.  All the same, your relationship is dangerous for...so many reasons.”  He exhaled. “If, when you both turn eighteen, you still think you are in love, you can get married.”

Dad looked pointedly at Avery.  “Zellie’s been taught to save herself for marriage and I didn’t think I would have to enforce that value, but apparently I do.”

“Fine,” I said. I couldn’t believe that my dad was being all 1800’s about everything, but I guess it was his right. I had majorly disappointed him. Avery and I could wait, it would suck beyond suckitude, but I knew we could hold out. “We’re fine with that.” I looked at Avery and he nodded.

“Oh, I’m not done by a long shot.”  Dad patted Mrs. Adams on the knee.  What was up with them?  Surely it had to be more than just cooking?

“For Avery’s mother’s sake, before you can get married, if you still want to in two years, you have to be able to prove that being together will not lead to Avery’s death.”

“How? That is so not fair!” Okay, he could play the pastor card and make me wait, but he didn’t know anything about my abilities.  Or, maybe he did and realized that it was going to be impossible for me to ever prove that Avery would be completely safe with me.

Dad stared me down. “I think it’s more than fair. We’re giving you two years to find a loophole.”

“Fine,” I said again through gritted teeth.

“Now the last provision is the first thing your mother and I have agreed on in a long time.” He studied me, trying to determine if I understood what he was saying or if I was actively ignoring him.

“Just get it over with, sir,” Avery said, resigned.

“You two can’t be trusted to be left alone together.  You’ve been given the benefit of the doubt in the past but that ends today.” Dad raised his eyebrow at me, reminding me that there was a time when he’d trusted me to make good choices. “As of now, you’re broken up.  You can see each other at church. Zellie’s mother is going to home-school her again-”

“You can’t be serious!” I jumped up from the couch.

“Zellie!” Dad yelled, standing up, getting in my face.  He was one of the few people I knew that was tall enough to tower over me. “I’m very serious about this.” Avery and his mom pulled us away from each other.

Mrs. Adams spoke succinctly, looking at me. “If we catch you alone together again before you’re eighteen, before you can prove to me that Avery won’t be harmed by being with you, you will be sent to live with your grandma Rachel in L.A. permanently.”

“Mom, Zellie’s not gonna hurt me,” Avery pleaded.

Mrs. Adams’ gaze stayed on me.

The glimpse from earlier sprang into my mind.  Of course.  Now I knew why Mom and Mr. Adams had been so lenient with Avery and me, because Mom had glimpsed our future and it wasn’t this.  We’d been older, that’s what she’d said.  She’d also said that she would go along with the plan, that she “owed” whoever she was talking to.  Well, if Mom owed anyone it was Mrs. Adams that was for sure.

I grasped Avery’s hand, willing that contact to be enough to strengthen our bond. “Forget it. Your mom’s had a lot of time to think about this and we finally gave her a reason to put her plan into effect. And as for the rest of them,” I turned to my dad, “you’re angry enough about my stupid virginity and afraid enough of me to agree to anything.  And Mom and Mr. Adams, they feel guilty about...well, everything.”  I took Avery’s other hand in mine and looked into his eyes. “I’ll find their loophole, don’t you worry.”

He moved his face towards mine, going in for one last kiss but Dad grabbed my arm and pulled me away, pushing me out the front door.

As soon as Dad parked in the driveway I leapt from the car and ran into the house, seething with anger and reeling in shock.  I wanted to slam every door in the house so hard they fell off their hinges.  Wanted to kick size 10 holes in the walls, and punch my fists into the family pictures that lined the hallway.  Instead I grabbed the cordless phone from the kitchen and ran into my bedroom. I shut the door and sat down, leaning against it, barricading myself in and keeping Dad out.  I dialed Claire’s cell.

She answered, laughing into the phone.  “Hey, Zel, what’s up?”

“I...” the words stuck in my throat, replaced by a wretched, choking sob.

“Shit. What’s wrong?” Claire asked, her voice low.  She waited for me to answer. I couldn’t. “What happened? Are you hurt?” I listened as she moved away from the rest of the laughing people in the room and shut a door so she could speak more freely. “Zellie, answer me please, you’re scaring the crap out of me.”

I inhaled as fully as I could, trying to stop the stutters in my breathing. “Dad and Mrs. Adams caught Avery and I...you have to promise not--”

“This is between you and me, I won’t tell a soul,” she said before I could even get the request out. It wasn’t that I didn’t want her to tell anyone, I just couldn’t bear the idea of Ben knowing before I was prepared to deal with his witticisms on the matter.

I managed to get through the retelling of events without breaking down into sobby spasms again.  How, I don’t know.  I’d held it together when I’d had Avery next to me.  But when I heard Claire’s voice, when I didn’t have to be brave or obstinate, fear, insecurity, and hopelessness had crept in.

There wasn’t a loophole for me to find.  If there was one, every Retroact ever born would have used it.  The triggers all died. If a Retro tried to stay with their trigger, the triggers died the way we saw them die. That’s what Grandma had said.

She thought there was some hope for seers like Mom. She knew of a few examples of lucky ladies and their triggers waiting out the vision until it changed, until it wasn’t fatal anymore.  Then they got to be together.  A few.  In hundreds and hundreds of years.  Grandma suggested that maybe it had something to do with Mom’s kind being unable to physically change things. That they didn’t upset the balance between life and death like Retroacts did. Nobody knew for certain.

There were zero examples of Retros who’d stayed with their triggers and successfully waited out the vision. If you were a Retroact, any hope of a fulfilling love life was pretty much a huge fail.

What I did know, what Grandma had told me and Mom and probably Dad and the Adamses too, was that the survival rate of a trigger that is permanently separated from their seer is 99.9%.  Not almost 100% that they won’t die, just that they won’t die the way we see them dying.

Avery and I had accepted that refusing to be apart from each other meant he would die the death I’d predicted for him.  We knew we wouldn’t be together forever, that we had maybe fifteen years at the most, but it was more than my mom and his dad had gotten and we were grateful for that.

He knew.  He knew there wasn’t a loophole either.  The two years wasn’t a peace offering, it was meant to get us used to the idea of not being together.  They threatened marriage because it was supposed to scare and embarrass us.  The loophole clause was designed to keep us in check. If that didn’t work, I’m sure they hoped it would do what it was doing to me now. Devastate us.

“What can I do?” Claire asked, pulling me from the numbed state I was dangerously close to slipping all the way into.

“Nothing.”

“Maybe Ben...or Frank?  They know things The Society doesn’t.”

“Maybe.” I swiped the back of my hand across my runny nose.  “They might be my only option.  Grandma and Aunt Hazel won’t see the point in my wanting to be with Avery, they’ve sacrificed everything to be in The Society and they think I should too.”

“Do you want to talk to them now?  I can go get B--”

“No. I need a little time to think about what I’m going to ask Ben and Frank.  We all froze in their presence this morning and it frustrated the crap out of me.”

Claire chuckled. “That’s my girl.  A frustrated Zellie is a proactive Zellie. Are you still going to meet us at the diner at four?”

There was nothing in the parental decree that said I wasn’t allowed to learn about my magical heritage while enjoying chili fries, especially if Mom was going to be there.

“Definitely. But first I’m going to have a good therapeutic cry and a long, hot shower.”

“Excellent.  My supernatural entourage and I will see you then.”

 I could almost hear her smirking through the phone. “I’ll see you at four, Claire, thanks for listening.”

“Anytime, Zel, you know that’s what I’m here for.”

Mom drove up at 3:30 to escort me to the diner. In her advancing state of waddle she didn’t even bother getting out of the car and coming to the door.  She honked her car horn twice.

After I’d gotten off the phone with Claire, Dad had informed me that he wasn’t a prison warden and that I was still free to see my family and friends. I suppose he thought he was being cool, calm, and collected letting me go with Mom.  Whatever.

I checked my reflection in my bedroom mirror, erasing all trace of my earlier sulking expression.  I was not going to give either of my parents the satisfaction of thinking they had broken me.

Dad waved goodbye to me from the kitchen. I ignored his gesture and walked out the front door.

“Hey, honey,” Mom said as soon as I slid into the passenger seat.

“Hey.” I stared straight ahead.  All I wanted was to get to the See-Saw, talk to Claire and Melody, and get what information I could from Ben and Frank.  I did not want to listen to my mom’s eleventy billion excuses for why she went along with Mrs. Adams’ plan.

Surprisingly, she didn’t speak again until we were almost to the diner.

“I ordered your home-schooling materials this afternoon.” I glared at her, but she pretended not to notice. “We won’t get them until next week, so it looks like you’ll have a few days off, maybe you can spend some time with Ben? Learn from him?  I’m sure Frank has great insight into what it means to be a Retroact too, what with all the years he’s been a Lookout.” Now she did notice my expression and it colored hers. “This doesn’t have to be such a hard time, Zellie.  There are some advantages--”

“I want to get my GED.”  I’d thought up that gem in the shower.  If I didn’t have school to study for there would be more time. Time for me to become a better Retroact, to figure out what the deal was with the lack of rewinds, and time to get to the bottom of the fiery painful vision Ben and I’d had.