Paranormal Realities Box Set (24 page)

“Kathleen Elizabeth Taylor,” my father
said. “I know it's you.”

Well, that took care of that plan.

“Dad.” I twisted out of Rom’s arms,
forcing a smile. The smile went from fake to genuine when I saw the man who’d
always been my hero growing up and not the crazy loon version of the person.
However, his furious expression was one I hadn’t seen often.

“Who the hell is this?” Dad glared at
Rom.

“Rom Calixo, sir.” Rom offered a hand,
which my dad didn’t take. After a few seconds Rom dropped it.

“That’s just a name. Who are you to be kissing
my daughter like that?” Dad got up in Rom’s face with his hands clenched in
angry fists. The two were the same height so they ended up nose to nose.

“He’s my friend.” Boyfriend wouldn’t be a
good term to use in front of either Rom or my dad but for different reasons.

“No one hurts my girl and gets away with
it,” Dad said to Rom. “Is he abusing you?” Dad spoke over his shoulder to me
before directing his intense glare on Rom again.

“Of course not.” I searched my improv
bank. “We’re in a drama class together today at school and we were just
rehearsing a scene.”

“A scene?” Dad turned to me and
scrutinized my face while I tried to make my expression as blank as possible by
thinking of math equations.

“I’m going to be having a conversation
with the principal,” he finally continued. “A scene that includes something
like that is too sophisticated for a fifteen year old.”

Nodding in agreement, I suppressed a
smile. My poker face had definitely improved. But I was getting lots of
practice these days.

Dad fingered my shoulder length curls.
“You’re not straightening it anymore?”

“Not today,” I said.

“It looks good, honey.” He kissed my
forehead.

Biting my lips, I choked down tears.
“Thanks.”

“But you should wear your uniform to
school or you’ll get in trouble.”

“You’re right.” I wrapped him in an
impulsive hug. Should I say something about avoiding bridges? Warn against a
random angel-demon? Beg him not to try to kill me in a month?

“Gotta go. See ya, Dad.” Stepping back I
pivoted and walked away.

* * * * *

After asking Rom to wait outside, I
climbed up the tree in front of my house and peered into my bedroom through the
window. Fortunately, I wasn’t in there so I lifted the sash and crawled
through. Juliette wasn’t in the bathroom or her room. She must have left
already.

I quickly threw on my school uniform and
tossed a change of clothes into a canvas messenger bag. After twisting my hair
back in a ponytail, so the curls weren’t so obvious, I went downstairs to find
my mom doing dishes in the kitchen.

“Hi Kizzy,” Mom said. “I thought you left
for school a few minutes ago. You’re gonna be late.”

“I forgot something.”

A pterodactyl toy sat alone on the island
counter.

Not being able to help myself I asked,
“Where’s Adam?”

“Mrs. Larson took him to pre-school.” Mom
rinsed a frying pan under the faucet and then placed it in the drying rack on
the counter.

“I could have taken him for you,” I said
over more lumps in my throat than there were in Mom’s terrible Thanksgiving
gravy.

“He likes to go with her son, Peter.” She
placed a newly cleaned fork in the rack.

“Mom.” I touched the plastic pterodactyl
and ran my finger over its rough surface. “Can I talk to you about something
serious?”

Squeezing the faucet off, she wiped her
hands on a towel and turned to face me.

“Of course.” She took my hand and drew me
to the kitchen table. We sat down.

“This is going to sound weird but just go
with it,” I said.

She nodded.

“I don’t want you to let us—me and
Adam—go for visitation with Dad on June 21st.”

 
“Honey, you have to go on visitation." Mom’s expression
was sympathetic but she shook her head. "We’ve discussed this before.”

“No, Mom. Something bad is going to
happen that weekend. Don’t let us go.”

“I know you want to go to that solstice
festival with Petra but—”

“That’s not it,” I shouted. “We could die
that weekend.”

Mom's sympathy vanished and her
expression transformed from kindly to pissed. "Kizzy, you're being
ridiculously dramatic." She clasped my hands on top of the table. "I
know you're angry with your Dad for the divorce, but I've tried to explain,
he's not to blame. Two people make a marriage and when it breaks
down—"

"Really." Pulling away from
her, I interrupted. "This is serious. Dad is going to go crazy and try to
kill us."

"Kathleen Elizabeth, you are not to
say such a disrespectful thing about your father." Her lips compressed in
an angry line and she stood, pushing the chair violently back.

"Mom."

"No," she said, holding up a
hand. "I won't stand for this kind of behavior. Do you want to be grounded?"

"Just remember what I said." I
stood and walked into the hall.

As I went out the door, she called my
name but didn't turn back.

* * * * *

Not running into myself in school was
going to be tricky
, I
thought as Rom and I lurked under a nearby tree watching the entrance.

“Juliette is probably already inside,” I
said. “What if you go in and take the lead in trying to find her. I’ll just
hang back and try to stay out of my own way.”

Rom nodded and we moved forward. Just
when I thought we would make it through the door without being seen by anyone I
knew, Petra appeared from nowhere.

“Kizzy,” she called.

I stopped with a groan.

“Keep going,” I whispered to Rom. “I’ll
catch up.” Spinning I smiled hoping it wasn’t as strained as it felt.

“Hi Petra. Bye Petra.” I attempted to
follow after Rom who by now was about ten feet away. “I’m late for my first
class.”

“You are not,” Petra said. “Your first
class is with me and you still have a half hour. Are you pissed at me or
something?”

“No. Of course not.” I stopped again.

“Just because I went out with Chase last
night instead of to that movie with you.” She pushed the hair out of her eyes
and adopting a martyred expression. “You’ve already found me guilty of being a
bad friend. I might as well be living in Salem during the witches. They
couldn’t get a fair trial either.”

“Petra.” I stamped down my impatience.
Breathing in a deep calming breath, I exhaled slowly. “Okay. How about this?
You do something for me and you’re completely forgiven.”

“What?”

“In about a month, on June 21st.” Our
eyes met and I tried to inject every bit of seriousness I could muster. “Don’t
let me or Adam go on visitation with my Dad no matter what you have to do to
stop us.”

“Wow. And I thought I was a drama queen,”
she said. “Visiting your dad can’t be that bad. I don’t like spending time with
my dad either but—”

“No. Really.” I took her hand and giving
it a shake. “Just promise me, Petra. If you’re my friend, you’ll do it.”

“Okay, okay. I promise.”

“I gotta go.” I turned on my heel and
strode off. “Later.”

When I got inside the door, Rom hovered
near a bank of lockers a few feet away. Our eyes met and he inclined his head
to the right. Following his indication, I spotted Juliette disappearing into
the women’s room. After I pushed through the door after her, I saw Juliette
standing in front of the mirror over the sinks as she applied lip-gloss.

“Juliette.” I approached her.

“Hey Kizzy.” She glanced at me in the
mirror before returning to applying make-up.

“Umm,” I started, not knowing how to
begin. “We haven’t had the best of relationships as stepsisters.” She began to
speak and I interrupted holding up a hand. “My fault. Not yours,” I continued.

She stopped applying make-up and stared
at me via the mirror.

“Let me try to change that.” I took a
star shaped gold locket on a chain from my pocket. Holding it out to her by the
chain I continued. “This is a family heirloom.” I didn’t say which family. “It
would mean everything to me if you would take it and wear it always.” At least for
the next four months.

“It’s lovely. I don’t know what to say.”
Juliette turned and took it from my hand.

“You don’t have to say anything. Just
wear it.”

“Okay.” She turned back to the mirror and
secured the chain around her neck. “Thank you. I can’t tell you how much this
means to me.”

“To me too.” I offered a sincere smile.
Juliette had the tracker around her neck. Thank heavens something had finally
gone right.

As new comrades in arms —er
sisters—we left the woman’s room together only to find Billy outside
arguing with Rom.

“Shut up, jerk.” Billy waved a fist. “I
saw you. Don’t bother to deny it.”

“I haven’t understanding of what you wish
no denial for,” Rom said.

“You’re stalking my girl,” Billy yelled.
“I saw you watching Juliette.”

“Billy.” Juliette's lips widened into a
pleased grin. “I didn’t realize you even liked me.”

“Course I do,” he said with his
recognizable Billy bluster. “You’re the most beautiful girl in this school.”

Juliette giggled sidling up to him. “And you’re
the most handsome guy.” She simpered with a pretty blush that made me want to
gag.

“Hey. What’s that?” Billy fingered the
locket. “You weren’t wearing that earlier.”

“No. It was a gift—" Juliette
began before she was cut off.

“You don’t need gifts from anyone but
me.” Billy grasped the star and tore the chain off her neck. "Certainly
not from this guy.” Billy pointed to Rom.

“It was from—" I began. Before
I could finish the sentence with “me.” Billy threw the locket down. Rom made a
grab for it but Billy stomped on the star and flattened it, almost getting
Rom’s hand in the bargain.

“Are you kidding me, you a-hole,” I
yelled. “The locket was from me.”

“Sorry, Kizzy, but he was jealous.”
Juliette glanced from me to Billy with an appeasing smile while still
simpering.

“I’m gonna ignore the insult since you’re
Juliette’s sister,” Billy said.

“You are just the tool of the universe
aren’t you?” I wanted to strangle him.

Rom straightened and the red rage I’d
seen earlier returned to his face.

“You shall pay for your action." Rom
said.

He drew his arm back and then punched
forward with the palm of his hand flat, fingers scrunched back. The butt of the
palm struck a blow that hit Billy in the stomach blasting the air out of him
and knocking him off his feet. Billy flew back about two feet before landing.
Juliette screamed and rushed to his side, crouching down to coo at him.

Before the bully could get his wind, I
tugged at Rom’s arm.

“Come on, Bruce Lee,’ I said. “Let’s get
out of here. It’s over.”

Rom, stumbling, allowed me to lead him
away.

Without a car it was going to be
difficult for us to get to Zen’s house.

“Let’s run over to my dad’s house,” I
suggested, glancing over my shoulder to see if any authorities from the school
were following us down the front walk. “He’ll be asleep by now and since he
works tonight he’ll sleep all day. We can borrow his car and go over to Zen’s
to see if he has another tracker.”

 
“Only one and one half hours remain of the four Zen
allotted.” Rom still seemed to be struggling with his anger.

“Do you have a better idea?”

Rom shook his head.

* * * * *

The spare key to Dad’s house was hidden,
just as I’d expected, under the garden gnome in the row of hedges along the
wrap around porch. Lifting it, I tossed it up in the air and caught it again as
I skipped up the steps two at a time to the front door.

“Wait here,” I said to Rom. “I’ll get my
dad’s car keys and we'll be off.”

Rom’s face was still a ruddy and angry
red, but he held in his temper. As I unlocked the door, he paced away to a
bench on the porch and sank down on it hard before resting his head in his
hands.

Pushing the front door open slowly, I
tested the noise it would generate and found just a minor squeak so I tiptoed forward.
The car keys would probably be tucked in Dad’s abandoned pants from the day
before. Softly padding along the wood floor of the entrance hall, I made my way
to the back of the house, toward the master bedroom. Once there, I nudged the
door open carefully. As it swung wide, a figure came into view crouched on the
bed.