Miraculous: Tales of the Unknown (15 page)

“Seems hard to believe,
yes? But it is true, Jacob. I have no idea how to make you believe
that the words I speak are true but they are. I have been watching
over you since the day you were born and I knew you were going to
be special, that you would share the gift I spent my whole life
trying to fight against and hide from everyone around me.
“

Jacob listened, trying not
to show the disbelief on his face.

“You see, son, my time was
very different. People did not believe the impossible could really
exist. People like us were marked as heretics. In an earlier time,
they were branded as witches and burned on stakes.”

“Witches?” Jacob asked,
startled by the word.

“Don’t misunderstand. We
aren’t witches, exactly. We are probably closer to…well, do they
still show those Psychic Hotline commercials on TV late at
night?”

“Y-yes.”

“Okay, well we are closer
to that than witches, although some bits from both descriptions are
probably fitting. You have to wonder how you have always seemed to
know things before they have happened. There is an
explanation.”

“O-okay. I d-don’t
understand.”

“We are descended from a
long line of men who have been able to see what was going to happen
in the world around them. I’m sure you have noticed a sense of déjà
vu in some situations, a feeling that you know what is happening
and have to do something about it?”

“I-I, I th-think
so.”

“That is a part of it,
Jakey.”

Jacob went pale. The only
person who ever called him Jakey was his grandmother. And she was
gone. She had died when he was only 8 years old. As a matter of
fact, now that he thought back, that was the first of the
dreams.

*****

He had woken to his mother
crying. He wandered out into the living room in his Scooby Doo
pajamas, his untidy brown hair smashed to his head and sticking out
in every direction. Rubbing his eyes, he saw his mother sitting by
the phone with a look of shock on her face.

After a long moment,
Leeanne looked up from the phone to see her quiet little boy
standing staring at her.

“Oh, Jacob, honey!” She
scooped him up in her arms and the boy stiffened in her
grip.

“There’s been an accident,
sweetie, and Grammy is hurt really bad. We have to get dressed and
get down to the hospital as soon as we can.”

The morning was a blur.
His mother got him dressed, his teeth brushed, and his unruly hair
combed in such a rush that it almost seemed rote. It almost seemed
like he was watching it all happen from the sidelines. A strange
sense of …familiarity tugged at him. He couldn’t shake the strange
feeling that he had been here before.

Jacob was always
“different” from other children. His development followed its own
path, never quite “in sync” with his peers.

But little did anyone know
what was locked in Jacob's mind! Although being diagnosed at age 5
with autism explained some of his "uniqueness," nothing ever
explained the "Dreams."

When they got to the
hospital, Grammy lay in a bed with tubes and wires hooked
everywhere. They saw her for a brief moment before the doctor took
them into a small room with a table, some chairs, and a small box
of toys in the corner.

“Here, Jake, look! There
is a dinosaur. Why don’t you play over here while Mommy talks with
the Doctor, okay?”

Jacob picked up the green
T-rex and tried to occupy himself. He couldn’t help but hear the
conversation occurring at the other side of the room.

“It’s not good news, I am
afraid, Mrs. Baxter. Your mother was hit head on and we are not
seeing any signs of waking. She is not responding to anything at
all, so far,” the doctor said in a hushed whisper.

“But, I don’t understand.
Why was she on the old County Road at 5 in the morning to begin
with?”

“I cannot answer that
question, Ma’am. The only one who can may never be able to. That is
what I am trying to tell you, Mrs. Baxter. It is not hopeful and I
do not think your mother will be coming back to us.”

By this time, Jacob had
wandered back down to the room where his grandmother lay on a
hospital bed, looking nothing but broken and frail. For the first
time he could remember, she looked old and fragile.

A nagging memory tugged at
him. Something felt odd, familiar, and frightening all at the same
time.

In his mind, he saw his
grandmother driving down the road, racing to reach … something, he
was not sure what. But she seemed driven, like she had a sense of
purpose, something that she had to do before it was too late. But
in a flash, an animal darted into the road and she swerved. Another
car was barreling too fast down the road then with the squealing of
brakes and the smell of burnt rubber, that car was not able to stop
in time.

Loud noises boomed around
Jacob bringing him back to the present. A lot of beeping noises
from the machines that surrounded him, in rushed the doctor that
had been in the room with he and his mother just moments before,
followed by his mother.

Jacob had always been
smaller than most boys his age, so it wasn't a surprise that he had
snuck out of the family room unnoticed.

“Jacob, what happened?
What are you doing in here?”

“Doctor, there is no
pulse,” said a nurse who was obviously trying to remain calm for
the family standing by.

They started CPR but,
soon, they gave up. Leeanne Baxter fell to her knees, cradling her
small boy in her arms, and sobbing loudly.

“I am very sorry, Ma’am,”
the doctor placed his hand on her shoulder. “But there is nothing
more we can do. She’s gone.”

Leanne wiped the tears
from her eyes. She had to be strong for her son. She didn’t want to
scare him and knew he couldn’t understand what was
happening.

****

“You were remembering your
grandmother, weren’t you Jakey?” Joseph asked in a calm
voice.

Jacob nodded, unable to
speak, still so surprised that this man who was a complete stranger
to him understood so well.

“How did you
know?”

“Because I was, too. I saw
her through your eyes. I could see what you saw, my boy, and feel
the emotion you were never able to express. I cannot even begin to
imagine what it must be like to not be able to tell those you care
about how you feel, not understand the love in a mother’s embrace,
or not find yourself lost in the eyes of a …well, never mind.
Perhaps you can still have that moment. Amazing things can and do
happen, Jakey, amazing things.”

Jake just stared at the
man. The words he was saying seemed so strange. Jake was not even
sure if he knew what “emotion” was, other than seeing people cry at
funerals and similar things but he never really understood
it.

“I d-don’t
understand.”

“I know, Jacob, I know
this must all seem very strange and scary to you right now. I am
going to try to explain it as best I can. I know that what I am
telling you seems very odd, even to you, who has experienced some
of what I am talking about. I imagine, though, that when you wake
you really do not remember much of it at all, do you?”

“Only sometimes, sometimes
I go through the day like I have been there before. Everything
seems familiar.”

Jacob stopped. He noticed
that when he was talking about his dreams and his feelings about
them, his stutter was completely gone. His voice was almost strong.
All of this just seemed very strange to a boy who never spoke.
Stranger still to hear confidence in his own voice when the whole
world always seemed so at odds to him.

“Strange to you, isn’t it?
To be able to speak here when you cannot while you are
awake?”

“Yeah. Why is
that?”

“Because here, anything is
possible! How else would I be here, talking to you right now? I
passed on before you were ever born, kiddo. So even that by itself
should seem strange to you and yet here I am! I am right in front
of you, breathing, speaking, and being my usual charming self. And
trying to impart to you some understanding about our family, about
the legacy you will have to live up to. My only hope is that you do
not make the same mistakes of those who have come before you.
Because that would be a tragedy. You have a beautiful, wonderful
soul and this world needs more people just like you.”

“Um, “Jacob had no idea
how to respond to that at all.

Inside his mind, Jacob was
reeling. So much information had come at him in such a short amount
of time and he still really hadn’t gotten to the meat of it yet. He
found himself wondering how long he had to find out more before he
woke up.

“There is plenty of time
yet Jakey. You won’t wake up before you’ve gotten the whole story.
I can assure you of that, even if nothing else I say to you tonight
is any comfort at all.”

How the heck does he keep
doing that!

“Sorry, Jacob, I am sure
this is very overwhelming for you. I wish there was an easier way
to do this than bombard you with everything at once. But you are 15
years old. Things are liable to start happening soon, if they
haven’t already and I need you to understand. I need you to know
that you are not crazy and this all has a purpose however strange
it may all seem. “

“I still don’t understand,
“Jacob said

"Okay, let me start at the
beginning. Have a seat. It is a long story, “Joseph
began.

Jacob settled down in the
grass tentatively, still cautious, still afraid that he was losing
his grip on reality. Let's face it. Reality was not Jacob's strong
suit, after all. The world he withdrew into was anything but
ordinary. He imagined castles, knights, dragons, and faeries. In
his universe all of these things were real. Fantasy and reality
blurred. How strange that now, he was coming to find out the lines
really were not as clear as the rest of the world thought they
were.

*************

"It was not always like it
is now, “Joseph began, "and it is a bit hard to pinpoint where it
really started. However, I am pretty certain that my grandfather
was the first, based on the stories he told me. You see, that is
how it is supposed to be, passed down through the generations,
explained when a boy is about to turn 15 so there are no surprises
and it does not just happen leaving you all scared and
confused."

"Sounds like the wolves
in
Twilight
,"
Jacob mused.

"In a way, yes; but
infinitely less complex and yet more all at the same time. You see,
one night when he was a young man, maybe 14 or 15 years old, my
grandfather, Jackson, had a very strange dream. In his dream a
beautiful woman came to him and told him that it was time he
fulfilled his purpose. That his ancestors had called in a lot of
favors and now it was time to repay the debt."

"Wait, a wh-"

"Jacob, please, let me
finish and I will try to answer all your questions when I am
through but this is very complicated and hard for me to tell. I
need to do it without interruption."

And so, Joseph launched on
a monologue that left Jacob confused and awed, all at the same
time.

"The beautiful woman was a
faery. The reality is faeries are very different than the stories
we read to our children would have us believe. They don't all have
glowing skin and glistening wings. The reality is they look very
much like the rest of us, with one notable exception. They are
always, always exquisitely beautiful and inspiring. When you meet
one, you will know because you will not be able to look away. You
will feel drawn to her as though by a force of magnetism. There is
an unending compulsion to follow wherever they lead, to get lost in
their beauty, and do whatever it is they ask of you.

But sometimes, that is a
dangerous thing and that is precisely where this story really
begins. Apparently, long ago, our ancestors made a deal with a very
powerful faery in order to assure their wealth and prosperity. Back
then, these things were measured by how many children you had and
how much land you owned. If your farm land was small and produced
very little, if you had few children, or only girls you were judged
to be unlucky and of poor standing.

So somewhere down the
line, one of our ancestors crossed paths with a faery and bargained
with her. I believe it was Jonas. Jonas had 4 children, however all
were girls. He had no son to carry on the family name, help with
the work in the fields, or pass on the skills and histories of the
family to. You see, back then, these were things reserved
exclusively for the young men of the family. A girl could not carry
the family name as they would take the name of their husband when
they married. And that was their responsibility. To marry and begin
a new family, a new line.

But Jonas desperately
ached for a son. So, not knowing the dangers of doing so, he
bargained with the faery. He asked her to help him to have a son to
carry on his line and be prosperous. The faery said she would do so
but that there would be a favor that would be called in. . He would
have to fulfill the request without question. Jonas agreed. He was
nearing his later years and did not know how much more time he had.
Knowing he was running out of options, he agreed to the terms the
faery had set out. He really should not have done so but he was
naïve, selfish, and greedy." Joseph's eyes held a fire Jacob had
never seen before. You could almost feel the anger rolling off of
him.