Unaltered #2_A Diamond in my Heart (6 page)

Tomorrow night was the season’s first
game and I planned to be there.

When I got home, I checked my email
and found Beth had sent me a letter:

Hey Calli, how are you doing? Still have
powers? Things around here are so-so. A couple new members arrived
the other day; a boy and girl about age thirteen. They’re twins.
Imagine that, twins! What are the odds of that happening?

There is a bit of unrest between the clans
these days. The amulets have eliminated the need to have
representatives from the other clans remain with us and with that
change comes distance. We no longer have the same relationship we
used to have with the other clans. Mrs. Winter wears the amulet for
our clan, which is just fine with me, but a division in our own
clan is forming because of it. Some feel the fastest should wear
the amulet, others feel Clara should keep it, while the rest
believe one of the other adults should wear it; not the leader of
the clan or the fastest. Personally, I’m happy with Clara wearing
it.

I have to imagine the other clans are having
the same type of problems. This change wasn’t necessarily a good
one and no one can find the witch, Maetha, to ask for help. Do you
know where she is?

Speaking of Maetha, she’s not very high on
anyone’s list these days. Well, I’ll talk to you later,

-Beth.

I typed a quick message in
reply.

Beth, I’m not surprised to hear the diamond
shards are causing unrest. I saw one on the leader of the Readers a
while ago. Twins, huh? I read recently that twins were on the
increase across the nation so I’m guessing this will happen more
often. As for Maetha, I don’t know where she is or how to contact
her. The next time I see her I’ll let her know you’re looking for
her. Later, -Calli.

My first football game was cold and
wet. It rained the whole game! I listened to the spectators around
me as they critiqued Brand’s quarterback skills. I didn’t really
know I was watching anything spectacular because I’d never watched
football before but Brand was completing every pass he threw and
the game was wrapping up quickly. The spectators all commented on
how brilliant Brand was as an athlete to have such accuracy on a
muddy, slippery field.

I guess they had a point.

When the game ended, the players all
filed inside the door at the end of the stadium that led to the
locker room. I was watching to see if Brand ever ventured outside
of the artificial light, but so far, there was no need to. I left
the stands and sat in my car, dripping wet from the rain. I was
near Brand’s car, which was near the exit of the locker room. The
parking lot lighting was sufficient to keep the Demons at bay so I
knew he wouldn’t have a problem with that.

Brand exited the door and walked
quickly to his car. A couple of other teammates hollered to him
that they were going to a local diner to celebrate but Brand told
them he had a headache and was just going to go home. A headache,
yeah right, probably from all those times he didn’t get
sacked.

I followed Brand home and watched from
a distance as he entered his lighted garage. He still hadn’t exited
his car yet as the door closed and I lost sight of him. It was
obvious to me that he understood the dangers lurking in the
dark.

I went to the next few football games
both home and away. I studied Brand’s behavior and very rarely did
he ever fail to complete a pass and he was never sacked. He’d
caught the eye of several university athletic scouts and the local
news had him plastered all over the nightly news.

The following day I sat in the
cafeteria at my normal empty table staring across the room at Brand
and his endless fan club of girls, contemplating everything I knew
of him at this point. All I knew was I didn’t know much.

Brand’s gaze met mine and locked on
me. A warm smile crept over his face. I averted my eyes down to my
lunch for a few moments. When I looked up, he was gone. Class was
going to begin soon, so I cleared my tray and walked to my
locker.

I pulled the next two classes' books
from my locker and jammed them in my backpack so I wouldn’t have to
return in between hours, and slammed the door shut. Brand was
hiding behind my locker door and startled me with his sudden
presence.

“Hey Calli,” he said
smoothly.

“Are you talking to me,
Brand?”

“There’s no one else in this school
named Calli, so yes.” He plastered his best sardonic smile on his
face.

“What do you want?”

“You.”

“Is
this
how you land all your girls?
Wow, they must be stupider than I thought.”

Brand's whole demeanor changed to the
polar opposite. “Calli, why doesn’t it work with you?” He was
almost whining now.

I rolled my eyes and went to class.
What a jerk! But what can you expect from a jock?

The next day in English class, Brand
had moved from his normal preferred position to the vacant desk
next to me.

“Hi Calli.”

In a synchronized movement, all the
female heads in the room turned to me and shot nasty glances my
way.

“Calli, let’s go out sometime; you
know you want to.”

“Really?
Brand, you’re not my ‘brand’ of guy. I go for a
much higher quality.”

“Calli, I don’t get you.”

“What’s not to get?”

“You! I can’t get
you
.”

“So what? So I break your stride a
bit, you’ll get over it.” Sheez, this guy had serious anger
management issues.

This type of behavior went on for a
couple of weeks. All I can say is I’m glad I only have him in one
class. If he’d taken my rejection and moved on I’d have respected
him a bit more, but he didn’t. He followed me like a lost puppy
trying with all his might to land a date with me. I’d had enough,
so I did what any normal girl would do; I accepted, but on my own
terms. I told I’d meet him in the park Friday night at
eleven.

I thought he’d pass out.
“Eleven at
night?
” he asked.

“I’ll see you then.” I stood to leave
and he grabbed my arm.

“Let’s meet at my house, and… and then
I’ll drive us to the park.”

Yeah, right.
“No, I’ll meet you at the park or no
date.”

“Calli, why are you so
persistent?!”

“Why are you so sensitive?” I let him
continue to hold onto my arm as it made a stronger connection into
his body. However, it didn’t help my powers at all; I still
couldn’t find anything different about him. “You know, I’m
beginning to think you’re afraid of the dark.” I teased
lightly.

He dropped his hold on me and said,
“No I’m not, it’s just that the park is dangerous after
dark.”

“Since when? There hasn’t been any
crime in the park since I can’t remember when.”

“But why invite it?”

“You know what, just forget
it.”

I followed Brand many different times
over the next several months hoping to witness some sort of
revelatory happening that would help me better understand his
power. He appears to be able to see the future, he acts as though
he can read minds, he’s demonstrated his athletic abilities through
football, even though the team lost early on in the state playoffs;
it only proves a team is made up of more than just one
superstar.

The holidays came and went with Brand
attending the winter dance with a sophomore. Apparently he’d
exhausted the senior and junior girls. Now he was moving on to
jailbait. Suz was even more upset to hear it.

With spring came track. I was not
planning on running this year and it was hard to get Coach Simms
off my back but I couldn’t risk accidentally displaying my
abilities. I was tempted to make up a lie of some kind; instead I
just told him ‘no’. It felt better anyway to be honest with
myself.

College applications were mailed,
acceptance letters received and scholarships awarded. They all
meant nothing to me. I could already heal anyone I want to, why
would I want to go learn the human way of doing things? I know it’s
egotistical but it’s a fact. I don’t see the point in attending
college. Naturally, my parents have worried incessantly about my
lack of excitement even to the point of recommending I go on an
antidepressant.

The only way I could get them off my
back was to accept one of the university offers and begin planning
for the fall. College life would seriously interfere with my
life.

Suz was also accepted at the same
university and we planned to room together.

Chapter 5 - Do
Over

The month of May was chock full of
activities and adventures for the senior class. One particular trip
was to Cedar Point Amusement Park in Sandusky. We left the school
early in the morning and most everyone slept on the bus-ride there
until about an hour out. As each individual awoke the level of
excited chatter picked up.

Suz sat next to me and once she
awakened she turned to me with a concerned look. “Calli, will it be
alright with you if I hang out with my other friends for some of
the day?”

“Why wouldn’t it be?”

“Well, you know, I don’t want to leave
you all alone.”

“I can take care of myself, Suz. I
don’t care who you hang out with.”

That’s all it took for her to cheer
up; my permission to abandon me. I really don’t like looking for
Suz’s future and I certainly don’t make a habit of it, but I took a
peek to see if she’d hang out with me at all. Through her eyes, I
saw myself from a distance hugging Brand and I felt her anger at my
betrayal. She would not be hanging out with me today. In fact, this
day would mark the end of our friendship!

This is why I don’t like looking into
her future.

Why would I be hugging Brand? Was he
going to deliver a pickup line that finally melts my stone-cold
heart and have me falling into his arms? Not a chance. Was he going
to have an emotional breakdown in which I would feel sorry for him
and give a ‘there, there’ hug? I could try to look into Brand’s
mind and find out, but I decided not to. I’d rather be caught off
guard by the spontaneity of life, like the fact that my only friend
was about to dump me before the day was done.

Cedar Point was located on an island
in Lake Erie and was breathtaking to behold. Rollercoaster heaven!
This was going to be fun. We exited the bus with the instructions
of being back on the bus at six o’clock sharp for the return trip
home. Other buses were already parked with their seniors in line to
enter the park. The girls behind me squealed with delight at the
sight of fresh meat. I just rolled my eyes.

Inside the park and already abandoned
by Suz, I searched out the location of the nearest restroom. It was
quite a long walk away; good thing I hadn’t been struggling to hold
my bladder for the last two hours. Alright, so I shouldn’t have
drank so much soda on the way here. Now I’d be doing the
scissor-walk the whole way to the bathroom. A thought occurred to
me that perhaps I could use my healing ability to ease my
discomfort a bit. Sometimes I forget just what I can do.

As I exited the restroom, I saw a
large board with a map of the amusement park and the ‘you are here’
red star. Wow, this place was huge!

“What are you going to ride first?” I
heard a voice behind me and I turned to find Maetha.

“Maetha, you startled me. You should
get a cell phone or something and let me know when you’re going to
pop into my life.”

“When you’ve been alive as long as me,
you’re not quick to jump on the latest gadget
bandwagon.”

“Cell phones aren’t something that’s
going to go away, Maetha.”

“Are you so sure about that? At some
point, people will return to their quiet lives tossing away the
conveniences that both bind them to society and allows society to
keep tabs on them. Cell phones are still rather new and the novelty
is still fun. It will get old when the wrong people overstep their
bounds causing the general population to scramble ‘off
grid’.”

“You sound like one of those talk
radio alarmists. Did you look into the future for that
one?”

“No, it’s the nature of the beast.
Anyway, I apologize for my delay in getting back with you. We’ve
been busy with a new development that has us perplexed. A new power
has emerged; one not contained in the Sanguine Diamond. Three of us
have been investigating two individuals trying to figure out what
the power is. I wanted to come here and let you know that I’ll be
bringing Beth with me after school is finished to teach you how to
see auras.”

“That will be fun. Tell me about this
new power, Maetha.”

“Let’s get some refreshment first. I
would love one of your lemonades but we’ll have to suffice with an
artificial one.”

We walked to the nearest food vendor
and ordered lemon Icys and found a shaded area to sit. Maetha
didn’t seem impressed at all with the frozen lemonade.