Maverick (Maverick Academy Series) (3 page)

When the bus pulled into the parking lot,
she thought she had an idea of what to do. She got off the bus and headed toward her bike. Looking up, she noticed Seth waiting next to the bike rack in his truck.

“Hey Whit,
need a ride home?” he asked. “It’s the least I can do after you saved my butt today.”

“A r
ide would be great,” Whit said as she grabbed her bike and threw it into the back. She hopped in Seth’s truck.

“I still can’t believe what happened today
. What other dreams have you had that came true?” he asked, still sounding far too excited about the whole thing.

Whit didn’t know what to say. She couldn’t tell
him about the man on the ledge or any of the other horrible visions she’d had. To let someone else know how useless she was to stop those terrible events. She didn’t even want to talk about them, but there was one dream she felt okay with revealing. “I dreamed about Sarah in homeroom. She was crying, but I don’t know why.”

“What do you mean you don’t know?” he asked intrigued.

“I only saw her running down the hall crying,” she explained. “That’s it.”

Whit waited for Seth to ask another question, but when he didn’t she broke the silence.
“What are you thinking?”

“I don’t know.
I don’t know what to think to be honest. It’s all a bit crazy, you know?”

“Yeah, I know.
But you won’t tell anyone about this, right?” she asked worriedly.

“No, I won’t tell,” he said glancing at her puzzled, “but I don’t get it.
How can you dream things that become real? How’s that possible?”

“I don’t know,” she shrugged. “I wish I understood.”

Whit glanced around as Seth pulled in the driveway and knew he was going to ask her more questions about the dreams. Questions she couldn’t answer. Questions she had been asking herself. She just couldn’t handle it, so she hurried to leave.

“Thanks for the ride,”
she said, jumping out of the truck.

Seth got out and rounded the truck to unload her bike. Whit tried to avoid eye contact because she didn’t feel like talking about the dreams anymore.
She started to push her bike up the driveway, when Seth stepped into her path, blocking her escape. He must have realized from the look on her face that she didn’t want to talk anymore because he stood there frowning.

“Okay.
Guess I’ll see you tomorrow at school,” he said, then got back into his truck.

With one last wave in Seth’s direction, she walked up the driveway and into the garage.
After hanging up her bike, she slowly made her way into the house. Whit knew that Seth would want to talk about it some more at school tomorrow, and the thought made her feel sick. Why had she told him about the other dreams? She should have lied, she realized. Even better, though, would be escaping the dreams themselves.

Mona was standing at the stove making soup when Whit walked into the kitchen.
She hung up her jacket and placed her backpack in its usual position next to the door, telling herself that a shower would clear her head and make the upcoming conversation more rational. She knew she was putting off the inevitable, but she did it anyway. After quickly saying hello, she escaped upstairs.

The shower felt heavenly to her exhausted muscles
, and as warm water pounded on her head, it seemed to clear a bit. When she got out, she decided to go with her favorite pajamas, hoping they would offer her comfort and courage. Then, taking a deep, bracing breath, she headed back downstairs. It was time to get this over with.

As she slipped
silently into the kitchen, she watched her Aunt Mona reading the newspaper with a completely relaxed posture. Whit knew that she was about to destroy her Aunt’s mood, and felt miserable about it, but there were no alternatives. She had to tell someone before the dreams got worse.

“He
y Mona, can we talk for a minute?” Whit asked so quietly Mona had to strain to hear.

“Are you okay sweetie? Did something happen at school today?
You look a little pale.” Mona hurried over to where she was leaning on the counter and placed her hand on Whit’s forehead. Whit knew Mona was worried that she was getting sick or maybe had a temperature, but it was so much worse than that. The flu or a virus would go away in a few days. Craziness was forever.

“Mona, I need to tell you something,” Whit said
. She continued quickly, before Mona could respond. “It’s going to sound crazy, but please believe me. I’ve been having dreams, and they’re not normal dreams. These dreams come true, and in most of them bad things happen. Actually, so far they’ve all been horrible. I think I need to see a doctor. I’m just really scared. Please make them stop.” She began to tremble and cry before she could finish explaining, covering her face with her hands to hide from Mona’s expression. She knew if she looked, Mona would be looking at her as if she was insane.

“Whit, when did you start having these dreams?”
Mona asked softly.

“Last month.
I think I’m going crazy, Mona. Please help me. I can’t take this anymore,” Whit said with a whimper as tears continued to run down her face.

“Whit, you’
re not going crazy. This same thing happened to me when I was your age. Your mother too,” Mona explained calmly.

“What?
How’s that possible?”

“Just calm down honey.
Everything’s going to be okay. I promise you,” Mona assured her, putting an arm around her shoulders.

“Why didn’t someone warn me?
Why didn’t you warn me?” Whit was becoming hysterical. She felt so confused and lost, and now Mona said this was normal. This was not normal. Whit thought back to conversations with her mom, hoping she had mentioned something that would make sense now. But she couldn’t think of anything. Why hadn’t her mother told her about this? Why had she kept it a secret?

Whit recalled
only one conversation she’d had with her mom about a dream. Thinking back, she remembered her mom telling her about a dream she’d had where Whit took a trip to see Mona. The rest of the dream’s details were blurry but she did recall her mother saying that Whit would be happy and safe. Looking back now, knowing what she did about the dreams or visions, had her mother known Whit was going to come live with Mona? Had her mother known she was going to die in that accident? Whit felt sad thinking her mother had known what was going to happen to her and hoped she was wrong. But it still didn’t answer the question of why didn’t her mother tell her? Why didn’t Mona? Looking at her aunt, Whit wanted the answer to that question.

Mona shrugged.
“I guess with the accident, it just slipped my mind. Your mom was planning on talking to you right before your birthday. We had discussed the best way to tell you. I can’t believe I forgot it was your sixteenth birthday,” Mona said with tears running down her face. “Honey, life is about to get a little tougher, as if that were possible. But I swear to you that everything will be okay. I’ll help you get through this.”

Whit continued to stare at Mona wit
h wide and fearful eyes. “What’s going on with me exactly?” she asked in a weak voice.

“
You’re not going crazy. You’re becoming psychic.” Mona must have noticed that Whit was about to interrupt, because she hurried on before Whit had the chance. “In our family, this particular gift stays hidden until the sixteenth year, and then it first shows up in dreams. Then the visions start. You’ll learn to control it. It’ll take work and dedication, but you’ll learn.”

“Why is this
happening to me?” Whit cried out. Mona was talking about this like it was completely normal, but she couldn’t accept that. How could turning psychic on her sixteenth birthday be
normal?

“It’
s genetic. This gift is passed down from mother to daughter in our family. When I turned sixteen, my mother explained that for generations the women in our family were psychics. It doesn’t skip generations; all daughters have this ability. I remember I was scared to death the first time I had a dream come true. I’m so sorry you went into this blind. I should’ve told you.” Mona covered her face with her palms.

“So I can control this?
How? Can I make it go away?” Whit asked quickly.

“No, you can’t get rid of it, but you can learn to focus your visions and control when you have them.
Eventually, the dreams will grow less frequent. They’ll never completely stop. They happen when you’re asleep because that’s when your mind is the most relaxed and vulnerable.”

“Will you teach me to control them? I don’t think I can handle
them much longer,” Whit asked, her mind moving quickly through the possibilities. If she could make these dreams stop …

“There’
s a special school called Maverick that can help you. It’s about three hours away from here in the mountains. I went to this school when I turned sixteen and it helped develop my gift and taught me to control it.” She paused. “It’s a boarding school, Whit.”

“A boarding school? You mean I have to move away for you and Luke?” Whit laid her head on the table and
wept for the parents that she lost, and the new home that she would have to give up. “Can’t you just teach me here?” she begged.

“I don’t know how, Whit.
The school is away from distractions and only allows certain types of students to enroll. There are other types of gifts and people who attend. Many of the gifts you’ve probably heard of but thought were impossible are represented there. I hate to say it, but the sooner we enroll you, the sooner the dreams will start to improve. It will be the best thing for you. I’ll call them first thing in the morning,” Mona said.

Whit continued to sit with her head on the table in silence.
She felt Mona rub her neck, obviously trying to offer some sort of comfort. Replaying the conversation, Whit began to wonder what types of people actually attended this school. What gifts had she heard of but thought were impossible? Wizards like in
Harry Potter
or Vampires like in
Twilight
? What was this school some sort of monster high? Were they going to send her away to go to school with the creatures of her nightmares?

Chapter 3

Whit felt exhausted when she finally lay down and burrowed into the covers. She closed her eyes and tried to free herself from the past few hours, but her brain wouldn’t stop working. She glanced at the clock on her nightstand to see that it was 11:09. She thought about trying to read or study, but those things felt so ridiculous at a time like this. Instead, she closed her eyes and wished with all her might that her parents were close by. After a few minutes of thinking about them, she started to remember all the times they had tucked her into bed and kissed her good night. Soon the thoughts of her parents allowed her to relax enough to drift off to sleep.

The curves of the road were extremely steep. The road cut through some woods
, which seemed to be in a pretty isolated area. There was a huge iron fence running along one side of the road. There didn’t appear to be any buildings anywhere, even on the other side of the fence. The car began to slow down and finally came to a stop in front of a gate. There was a guardhouse on one side, with men in uniforms. The men started walking toward the driver side window. Mona was sitting there smiling and talking. Her mouth was moving, but the words were silenced. The guards nodded and the gate started swinging open. Mona was talking again, but there was no sound. The car pulled through the gate slowly, and was soon speeding on another curvy road.

Whit blinked awake.
That dream seemed so real, except for the lack of sound. Her stomach was a little twitchy, like she had motion sickness. Was it possible to get carsick from a dream? Whit peeked at her alarm clock. Only 2:30. She flopped back onto the mattress, pulling the sheet over her head, and was back asleep within a minute.

The hallway was painted a light brown color
– more comforting than ugly. She was walking toward something, she could feel it. She just didn’t know what it was. There were many doors on both sides of the hall. Most were closed. A fleeting look told her that there were others inside the rooms. Two girls passed by her, and again she saw their lips moving but heard nothing. A quick look to the side showed a guy around her age walking beside her. He had blondish hair and seemed to be talking to her. He was very animated in his actions, and used his hands when he spoke. He appeared to be happy and friendly. He smiled in her direction and she felt herself smiling back.

Whit’s alarm clock was ringing
, and she slapped it quickly. She rubbed her eyes and looked around her room. That dream had been very different. For some reason, Whit felt hopeful; maybe it was that smile at the end. Smiling meant happiness. Maybe that dream was a vision of her being happy again. Or maybe that was just wishful thinking. It could have been just a dream. Whit rolled her eyes, realizing how stupid she was for even thinking that she could understand what the dream meant.

After glancing at her clock, she realized she had been woolgathering for
nearly thirty minutes. She jumped out of bed and dashed to the shower, where she quickly rinsed off the sleep that seemed to linger even though she was awake. As she was pulling her favorite yellow t-shirt over her head, she heard Mona knocking on her door.