Trefoil (14 page)

Chapter
17…

Meckenzie’s sleep was anything but restful.  She had dreamt of people trying to get her from the shadows.  She had dreamt of Ty trying to kill her with a silver knife.  Meckenzie had not dreamt of Jeff sweeping her off her feet and rescuing her.  A morning run was what she needed, so she headed down to the gym to get one in before school.  As Meckenzie reached the gym she heard Kellan’s music playing.  Kellan was lifting weights and didn’t even acknowledge Meckenzie as she boarded the treadmill and put in her earphones for her iPod. 

For the first mile, Meckenzie was having problems finding a rhythm.  She had so much on her mind that she was easily distracted and wasn’t allowing herself to feel the endorphins that were being produced.  As Meckenzie headed into the second mile, one of her favorite Foster the People songs came on her iPod.  She got so caught up in singing the song that she blocked out everything in her mind and the surrounding gym.  The burn in her legs was spreading throughout her body and she felt a rejuvenation happening.  Meckenzie lost herself in the music and the run and by the end of the fifth mile she was ready for her day.

As Meckenzie headed upstairs to shower, she grabbed an apple and a granola bar from the kitchen.  Isabel was there preparing breakfast for whoever would take time to eat it.  She was humming to herself, as she often did, and was surprised when Meckenzie spoke.

“Good morning”

“My goodness girl, you are quiet this morning.  You nearly made me drop the eggs.  How was your conversation with the Morrigan?”  Isabel said as she started scrambling some eggs.

“It was okay.  Taggart took
notes,
it seems I talk out loud as I am talking to Morgan.  So he was able to record my side of the conversation.  I thought we would talk about it after school.  I need to get a shower and get ready.”

“Sure.  I’ll meet you in the gym after school.  I want to teach you a couple of last minute spells for your date tonight.”

Meckenzie groaned.  “I was trying not to think about that.”

“Well, you are going to see the boy in an hour.  I think you have to think about it at some point.”  Isabel said laughing at Meckenzie.

“Not for another hour.”  Meckenzie said as she ran for the stairs.  She had every intention of getting in the shower with her workout high.  No date was going to affect her mood this morning, at least not until first period. 

She was still in an exceptional mood when she stepped out the front door to head to school.  Her mood was only made better by the presence of Jeff waiting for her on the front steps.

“Good morning.”  Meckenzie said with a smile.  “How are you today?”

“You are in a great mood.  Looking forward to your date I suppose?”  Jeff said in a questioning manner.  He didn’t seem happy, though he had smiled a little bit when Meckenzie had first come out of the door.  Meckenzie thought she might have imagined it.  It would be totally like her to inflict her feelings for this guy into his emotions. 

“Not really, I just had a great workout.  I feel good about the day.  Positive thinking is what I’m going for.”  As Meckenzie finished her sentence, she caught the grin on Jeff’s face.  He had definitely smiled that time.

The walk into school was too quick for Meckenzie.  She really enjoyed the peace of mind that just being in Jeff’s presence afforded her.  She also knew that within minutes, there would be a classroom full of kids and Ty. 

“Well, thank you for the escort into school.”  Meckenzie smiled.

“Anytime milady.”
  Jeff bowed to her which Meckenzie found very odd and yet very flattering.  She giggled and ran up the steps so she would make it to class on time.

Just as the bell was ringing she slid into her seat between Ty and Taggart.  Kellan was her ever so sullen self at the other end of the table.  Meckenzie carried her attitude into class, and was determined to make the most of this day. 

“Good morning Ty.  Good morning Taggart.  Good morning Kellan.”  Meckenzie smiled at everyone as she said her good mornings.  “It is a beautiful day outside, it sucks that we have to be in this classroom.”

“I could remedy that for you.”  Ty said as he leaned closer to Meckenzie.  She realized at that moment that the buzzing that so often flooded her head when he was around was mysteriously absent.  “We could always skip out and go have an adventure.”

“Oh that sounds lovely, but I would hate to get into trouble and miss our date tonight.”  Meckenzie was really pouring it on thick.  Taggart gently kicked her under the table trying to get her attention.  Meckenzie decided to ignore him for a moment and continue her new found acting abilities.

“I can’t wait.”  Ty said as he reached out and touched the back of Meckenzie’s hand.  Just as he touched her, the buzzing started in the back of her head.  She was starting to understand that his proximity was important, but his touch was even more important to the intensity of the buzz.  Ty took his hand away and the buzzing stopped completely.  Maybe the good mood, endorphins, and her mental wall that she had started constructing every morning were working together to make the buzzing stop.

Just then Mr. Humphries started class.  Meckenzie could feel Taggart staring at her so she finally made eye contact with him.  He seemed to be trying to tell her something, but her mental wall was so well constructed that not even Taggart could get through.

What is it Taggart?
  It was quite fun to be able to speak with her mind.  She could easily focus on Taggart and make sure he was the only one hearing her. 

What has gotten into you?  You are freaking me out.

I’m just doing my part.  I feel good today.  There is no buzzing.  I think the work out helped this morning.  Not to mention I think I’m getting better at focusing my powers. I think if I wanted to I might be able to directly focus on someone and hear what they are thinking. 

Don’t you think that would be letting them have access to your thoughts too?
  Taggart seemed really upset by Meckenzie’s new attitude.

I think the key is to lock up my thoughts and focus on gleaning thoughts from their head.  I don’t know why, but I feel like that is what I should do.
  Meckenzie was starting to think that she was going crazy.  She seemed to feel a confidence and knowledge about everything that hadn’t been there last night.

Taggart focused back on the front of the class.  Meckenzie decided she would try to pick thoughts out of people’s brains.  She first focused on a girl who was sitting near the front of the class looking out the window.  The girl seemed to be anywhere but here.  Meckenzie focused her thoughts and imagined she was opening a window into the girls mind.  At first it didn’t make sense, it was random words that didn’t really go together.  Meckenzie realized she was picking up other people’s thoughts as well, so she made her focus into a tunnel.

With a little concentration, the girls mind opened up to Meckenzie.  She was thinking about her boyfriend who was in college.  She was thinking about their date last night and how much she had enjoyed the Italian food that they had had.  She was sad that she didn’t eat more of it, but she also knew she didn’t want him to think she was a pig.  Meckenzie decided to try someone else’s mind.

For her next target, Meckenzie chose the boy that Kellan and her basketball teammate had almost come to blows over.   Jake Cummings was sitting one row in front of Meckenzie and one table to the left.  He was focused on Mr. Humphries, but as soon as Meckenzie entered his mind she knew that his thoughts were on Kellan.  He was devising a plan to be alone with her.  Meckenzie actually laughed out loud that this boy had no idea what he was getting himself into.  Unfortunately the laugh attracted some attention from other members of the class, so Meckenzie ducked her head and began focusing on her text book.  She hadn’t broken the connection to Jake’s brain though and he was wondering what Kellan’s strange sister was laughing about.  If only he knew how strange she was, how strange Kellan was for that matter. 

Meckenzie decided that she would discontinue her experiment.  She really wanted to pry into Ty’s thoughts, but something about him said he would know if she were in there.  Class time seemed to drag on today.  Meckenzie couldn’t concentrate on the lesson and was only thinking about working out, practicing her magic, and talking to Isabel about her ability to focus her powers.  To her dismay the rest of the day went the same way.  She hid from Ty at lunch and was able to finish all of her homework during study hall. 

So when Meckenzie left school that day, her weekend was completely hers.  She had no school work to take care of and that meant Meckenzie could focus her energy into her Fairy endeavors.

Jeff walked Meckenzie home, but stayed two steps behind her the whole time.  Meckenzie couldn’t figure out what had changed about their relationship since this morning.  She wasn’t going to let this get her down though.  She had managed to be in a good mood all day long even though the day seemed longer than normal. 

Meckenzie paused at the top of the steps for a moment.  She had an idea; she would try to read Jeff’s thoughts.  She turned around as if to say something.  He had turned his back to her and was facing the park, not really aware that Meckenzie was looking at him.  She reached out with her mind and tried to find her way to his thoughts. 

Meckenzie was surprised when the first thing she was able to understand was her name.  Jeff was thinking about her.  She got excited for a moment, then realized that of course he was thinking about her, he had just walked her home.  Then she started to make out more of his thoughts.  He was conflicted.  He felt an attraction to her, but her age was causing him problems.  Meckenzie wasn’t yet eighteen.  Then she got something that she never expected to find there.  Her mother’s name jumped out of his mind.  Jeff knew her mother.

“You know my mother?”  Meckenzie questioned him without thinking that this would indicate that she had been in his mind.

He spun around.  The look on his face was disbelief.  He couldn’t for the life of himself figure out how she had figured it out.  Meckenzie was still standing there staring at him, and he had yet to answer.  She still had access to his mind though.  He was cycling through a half a dozen responses when Meckenzie decided she would handle this on her own.

“Come inside.  We should talk to Isabel.”

Jeff followed Meckenzie obediently.  His mind still was racing around trying to figure out how he was going to fix this.  He knew he hadn’t said anything out loud, but somehow she knew.  Jeff knew the triplets had some powers, though he had been told her power was visions.  Could it be that Meckenzie read his mind?  Meckenzie hearing this thought laughed as she headed downstairs where she assumed Isabel would be.

Meckenzie thought she might want to warn Isabel, so she projected a thought out to her.

Isabel, I think you should tell me who Jeff really is.  I am bringing him downstairs.

As they entered the gym, Isabel was sitting down on the mat they used for training.  She didn’t even look up.  Isabel had settled in for the conversation she suspected they were about to have. 

“So the secret is out.”  Isabel patted the mat
beside
her indicating that Meckenzie should take a seat.  “You weren’t too hard on Jeff were you?  I mean it really isn’t his fault that your mother sent him as soon as she realized someone might be following you.  When your father decided to hire someone for security, I convinced him that it was better to hire someone who understood more about what was going on.  Jeff has contacts around the city that have been established since your great grandmother’s time.  He can get information from them.  Plus, he has been here before on other business so he knows the city.  It just made since to have a Fairy guarding you.  So how did you get him to tell you?”

“Jeff didn’t tell me, I read it in his mind.”  Meckenzie stated.  It never occurred to her that this wasn’t part of her ability to transmit and receive messages through telepathic means.

“So it seems your gifts are far greater than we expected.  I imagine that your brother and sister are similarly
blessed,
they just don’t realize it yet.  It makes sense that the powers that had been bound for all those years would come back greater than before.  The only thing I fear is that the enemy is experiencing a similar surge in powers.”

Jeff still stood quietly waiting for the reprimand that he thought he deserved.

“You don’t deserve to get into trouble.”  Meckenzie responded to his thoughts.  “It’s not your fault I read your mind.  I can’t seem to get out of your mind right now.  I’m sorry.  It was an invasion of your privacy and I shouldn’t have done it.”

“What were you looking for anyways?”  Jeff asked.

Meckenzie blushed.  She had been looking for a reason why Jeff was giving her the cold shoulder.  It had been a purely selfish reason for her to pry into his thoughts.  Meckenzie was even more embarrassed by the fact that Isabel knew exactly why she was had done it.

“I don’t think it’s important why she was there, we just need to make sure that Meckenzie stays out of thoughts that are not meant to be gone through. 
Right Meckenzie?
  I think you shouldn’t be probing anyone that you feel you can.”  Isabel was rushing in to save Meckenzie and reprimanding her at the same time.  Meckenzie would take the reprimand as long as she didn’t have to explain what she had been doing picking Jeff’s thoughts.