Waking up from my shallow slumber, I opened my eyes to a room full of sunlight. I yawned and sat up in my sleeping bag. I saw Autumn still asleep on the couch, but Sakura's sleeping bag was vacant.
I pushed my covers back and stood up. Stretching my arms up wide over my head, I walked into the kitchen to see Sakura sitting at the kitchen table. She had a cup of what appeared to be coffee in between her hands, about half full. Her eyes were tired and stared straight ahead. I didn't think she'd heard me come in. I slid into next to her, maintaining my silence.
"Whatcha thinking about?" I asked, breaking the silence like a morning fog thinning.
Sakura jumped, startled. "I didn't know you were awake."
"I just woke up," I answered, lowering my voice.
"How'd you sleep?"
I shrugged. "Not very well. You?"
"Same."
Then, I asked, "How do you think Autumn's doing with everything?"
"How well do you expect her to be? She just found out she's supernatural, and so are you and Shawn. All at once." Sakura paused, making sure Autumn was still asleep. "I think she's in denial."
I nodded. "Could be. I've never been told something that big before. I'm always the one telling it."
Sakura laughed.
I turned back to seriousness. "But now that Autumn is also a supernatural, it begs the question, who else is?"
Sakura nodded. "I could be for all I know. But if I was a shapeshifter, I think I would've noticed by now, since both you and Shawn are both shifting."
"So maybe you're not at shapeshifter. Autumn isn't."
"What do you think she is?" She looked back over to coach, and Autumn was still motionless.
"I… have a guess," I started.
"Well? You're not gonna leave me hanging, are you?"
I laughed. "I've heard of this supernatural that can communicate with the dead."
"As in, ghosts?"
"Autumn kept saying she felt a 'presence'. What if it was a ghost pulling at her hair and plucking at her clothes? We couldn't see it, but she could. We couldn't feel it, but she did."
"It sort of makes sense. But seriously?" Sakura questioned, raising her eyebrows. "Ghosts?"
"You don't believe in ghosts, but in supernaturals?"
"I also thought supernaturals were stuff of legend before a week ago. Cut me some slack."
"You know, I still kind of think your entire town could be supernatural, and maybe it starts appearing when you're around our age." I darted my eyes around the room. "So we should watch out for any other signs of supernatural behavior at school."
Sakura gave me a serious nod. "Do you remember what they were called? The supernatural type?"
I shook my head. "But I think I'll know it when I see it."
Then we heard Autumn yawn and saw her stretch on the couch. We walked back over to her and sat next to her on each side when she sat up.
"How did you sleep?" I asked her.
"Fine, I guess." She sighed. "But I'm still so confused."
"It's okay. I know it's crazy, but trust me, you're not alone, no matter how much you feel that way."
She nodded. "Thanks guys." Then she turned to me. "And thanks for trusting me. I won't tell." She smirked. "And you'd probably do the same thing to me, so, why would I?"
I smiled.
"Breakfast anyone?" Sakura asked.
We both nodded. Then two sets of footsteps were heard coming down the stairs. All three of us turned our heads and saw both of Sakura's step siblings coming down the staircase.
"Did someone say breakfast?" Sakura's step brother, Jack, asked as he crossed the family room to the kitchen. He had a lazy grin on his face and messy light brown hair, but had enough energy in his walk to stifle the room with electricity.
Sakura's step sister, Kari, trailed after her brother, saying good morning to each of us and asking how the sleepover went.
I said it was good, and introduced myself. Autumn did the same thing. Then all three of us joined the kitchen and sorted out the breakfast menu.
After we talked about it, we all had our jobs. Sakura and I had egg duty. I was making scrambled eggs while Sakura fried the other half. Autumn set the table, Jack was making toast, and Kari was making sausage links.
After a little while, the room started to smell like cooking meat and eggs. Then, everything was done, and we all filled up our plates and sat at the table. Then we dug into our breakfast.
The eggs were good, and tasted great with toast and sausage. But after that, both Jack and Kari had to get dressed and head to work. They both worked at the mall a thirty minute drive from here. Kari was a cashier at Aéropostale, while Jack worked at the food court. They headed upstairs while we cleaned up breakfast, and when we were done, Jack and Kari came back downstairs and headed out to work, taking Kari's jeep.
Now the three of us were free to talk without being overheard. We all seem to have the same thought, so we all turned to each other simultaneously, sitting at the kitchen table, all clustered in the farthest corner.
"So what should we do?" Autumn asked.
Sakura shrugged.
Autumn hit her land down on the table. "Guys! We can't leave it like this! I need answers."
"How do we get them?" Sakura questioned.
They both noticed that I haven't said a word since we started our conversation. "What are you thinking, Vera?" Sakura asked me point-blank.
"What?"
Autumn crossed her arms. "We both know your 'I have an idea' face. Plus, you're not a very good liar."
I laughed. "You're right, I'm not." I leaned in closer. "I think that it's a big coincidence that both Shawn and I are shapeshifters and ended up growing up in the same town together. It's and even bigger coincidence when Autumn appears to be some type of supernatural too." I stared at both of them. "I don't believe in coincidences. I think all our junior class are possibly supernatural, and that our parents know what we are too, and have just been keeping it a secret."
Both Autumn and Sakura sat back.
I continued on. "First of all, I hate secrets, as I've told Sakura plenty of times, and I plan to do something about this. Right now we're running around like chickens with their heads cut off. We're running blind and have no idea what the bigger picture is."
My words sunk in. I saw their faces change. On Autumn, I saw confusion and fear turn into determination. And on Sakura, I saw uncertainty change into belief.
"So what should we do about it?" Sakura asked.
"I… have an idea." I said, but regretted it. It wasn't thought through, and if we were caught, I had no idea what we would say.
"Well? What's your idea?" Autumn asked.
"You won't like it."
"Shocker. Come on, just let us hear it."
Sakura nodded along with her.
I sighed. "Fine. We could sneak into Autumn's house and see if her parents are hiding anything from her about her supernatural heritage."
"Break into my house?" Autumn asked.
"We wouldn't be breaking in. You have a key."
"That's not the point."
"I told you that you wouldn't like it."
"It's sort of a good idea. I don't think I'm a supernatural or that my parents know anything, and Vera and her dad aren't really talking, so your parents are our best bet."
Autumn sighed. "Okay."
After that, Sakura and I changed out of our sleepwear and into clean clothes. Sakura went upstairs to her room while I changed in the downstairs bathroom. I slipped on a pair of colored black jeans and a long-sleeved lavender shirt. Then I shrugged on my brown leather jacket, with quarter sleeves and a high collar. It had rained last night and it was still drizzling.
After I changed, I ran a brush through my hair, and I pulled my hair up into a high ponytail. My hair was frizzy from the humidity and needed a shower.
I stepped out of the bathroom to find Autumn still sitting at the kitchen table, Sakura still upstairs. Sitting down next to her, I took a deep breath. "Are you okay?"
She nodded. "It's just, a lot. And I'm kinda hoping all wake up tomorrow and this was all a dream."
I sighed. "You and me both."
Then Sakura came tromping down the stairs. Her hair was twisted onto a french braid trailing down her back, with a dark green sweater on over black leggings. She had a pair of black ankle boots strapped to her feet.
"Are you guys ready?" Sakura asked.
I nodded, getting out of my seat.
"I just need to borrow a jacket," Autumn added, standing up from the table after me.
"Follow me," Sakura answered, leading Autumn to the coat closet. She plucked a denim one from a hanger and held it up to herself. "This one?"
Autumn took it and shrugged it on. "It fits."
"Good."
Then we set out, slipping our shoes on and heading out the back door. I let it swing shut behind us. We stepped down and I flipped my hood up over my hair. The others did the same, dashing down the sidewalk, running through puddles, splashing water up our legs as we did so.
The sky was a light gray, clouds covering the entire surface. It drizzled down from the sky, filling the air with a heavy mist. The ground was covered in puddles, splashing up water at every step. Water droplets clung to our jackets, dripping down into our faces and soaking into our hair.
I stepped forward and more water splashed up from the ground. It soaked my boots and caused a ripple effect across the sidewalk. My hair was plastered to my neck, shoulders, and back from the rain.
We had to walk all the way to my neighborhood, since Autumn and I were only a few blocks apart. Although I lived deeper in our neighborhood, so it was a shorter walk to go to her house than mine. Soon we were turning into our neighborhood and crossing the street to her house a couple houses down.
We stopped in front of her house. It was a tall, narrow house, with two main stories and an attic. The windows were also tall and narrow, always covered with curtains, like they were keeping a secret. Maybe they are. The driveway was only big enough to hold two cars parked side by side, and led up to the dark wooden house, with stone below all the windows.
We went around the side of the house without the driveway, the soaked grass squelching under our feet. We created splashes and the rain picked up, hitting us in the face as we jogged around the house and to the back entrance.
Autumn opened the door and led us inside. We dried off our wet shoes and jackets and, once they were dry, we continued on. We were in the family room, where the lights were dim and the wooden floors creaked as we walked along it.
"Where should we start looking?" I asked.
"Maybe my father's office. Or my parents bedroom."
"Let's try their bedroom first," Sakura suggested, her voice a hushed whisper.
I nodded. We headed up the stairs on quiet feet. Autumn had said that both her parents and her younger sister were out of the house, but we were quiet anyway. They had a straight and steep staircase, and her parents' room was the first door in the only upstairs hallway.
Autumn turned the doorknob slowly, easing the door open. We stepped into their room, with their bed in between two windows and bedside tables, neatly made, with an Armour and walk-in closet on the wall opposite of the master bathroom. The floor was carpet, the walls a soft blue, with two expensive-looking paintings on two walls.
We spread out into the room. Sakura and I headed for the Armour and opened it up while Autumn headed to each bedside table, rifling through drawers. Sakura and I sifted our hands through clothes, and didn't find anything. Then we opened the bottom and found a bin of papers.
"What are we looking for exactly?" Sakura asked.
I shrugged. "Papers. Information on supernaturals. A detailed description on what Autumn is would be good, explaining everything."
"Yeah, and that's likely."
I shrugged. "You never know."
"You're pretty optimistic, aren't you?"
"Sometimes. Other times I immediately think of the worst possible outcome and become as dramatic as an actor."
Sakura laughed.
I resumed my search and took the bin out and put in on my lap, looking through it. They were mostly bills and a couple of important letters, which didn't make a lot of sense to me. I shoved them back in the bin and stuck it back in the wooden cabinet.
I looked over to see if Sakura found anything. She met my gaze and shook her head. Then we craned our necks and looked back at Autumn. She had moved on to the other bedside table, but was closing the last drawer, empty-handed.
All three of our eyes met and Autumn shook her head.
"Maybe we should check the closet," I suggested. "Maybe there are a few skeletons in there."
Sakura smiled and we headed over and I eased the door open, as not to make any noise. We fanned out and started our search again. And again, we found nothing. No hidden papers. No secret evidence or whatever.
We headed back down the stairs and Autumn led us to her father's office. It was the first door by the front door. It was closed when we got there.
Autumn reached her hand out and grasped the handle. She turned it and it didn't twist. Locked. She tried her house key, and it clicked. She turned it again, and it opened.
The office wasn't as organized at their room. Papers floated around the room, drifting on the desk, on the shelf, or just on the floor, wrinkled from being mindlessly stepped on.
We searched again. Autumn and Sakura attacked the desk, while I searched the shelves on the far wall. There were a couple papers laying by themselves on the top of the books and files on the shelves, but most of them weren't important. I've learned that most things people didn't want found were in hard-to-reach places.
I rifled through all the files, but most of them were about Mr. Walker's job. He was a lawyer. Most of this files were of his most recent cases. I'm sure he kept the rest at his law office, which was in a different town, closer to the rest of the world.
Nothing was important to us in his files. Then I scanned the rest of the shelf. I felt along the top and bottom of it, incase anything was stuck to it or hidden up top. But nothing was there.
I stood back up, feeling defeated. I knew that we might not find something, but I still wanted to. I felt a little cheated. Like we were supposed to find something. Meant to.
Then I looked up and saw matching expressions on Autumn and Sakura. They hadn't found anything either.
"Maybe we should give up?" Autumn questioned.
I shook my head. "We started this."
"We should at least finish it," Sakura added.
Autumn nodded.
"Where else can we look?" Sakura asked.
Autumn thought for a minute.
But a sudden noise interrupted it. A skidding noise sounded from down the hall. Maybe from the kitchen.
I hid behind the file shelf while Sakura crouched behind the desk, pulling Autumn down with her.
I poked my head around the corner, but I didn't see anything yet. But to be safe, I pulled my head back, cranning my ears for any other noise. I heard the skidding noise again, this time closer than before, Then again, even closer. Then it was right outside the door.
The noise was now in the room. I looked out again. I laughed. "Guys. we were scared by a cat."
Sakura and Autumn stood up and saw Autumn's cat, Stormy, sitting there, licking its gray paw.
But when both Autumn and Sakura started laughed, Stormy got spooked and decided it was time to go. The last thing I saw before she left was her gray tail, swinging behind her.
"I got it!" Autumn said suddenly.
"What?" I asked.
"I know where we can look next."
"Where?" Sakura asked, matching my expectant expression.
"The library."
"You have a library?"
Sakura laughed. "Yes, a very big one."
Autumn led us to the library. It was past the family room and was the biggest room in the house.
The entrance was wide, with two glass doors, and every free space on the walls were lined with bookshelves. The far wall had two tall and narrow windows on it, bookshelves filling up the wall space in between, above, and below the windows. The room had a high ceiling with a crystal chandelier on the ceiling. There was a step-down from the doors, the floor a dark wood, shiny and glossy, with a large, antique-looking carpet in the middle of the room over a table and comfy reading chairs. They were leather and plushy, the table a shiny wood, with two desk lamps on the table.
Everything looked expensive and fancy. I snorted as I stepped down into the room. "Fancy."
Autumn laughed. "Yeah, pretty much."
"Let's start searching," Sakura declared.
"Make sure you put everything back the way you found it," Autumn advised.
"Got it." I started my search. I ran my fingers along the wooden shelves, their smooth surfaces sliding against my fingertips. I pulled out books at random, scanning the book and the shelf behind it for anything out of place. Unfortunately, the answer didn't fall out of the sky. The universe was making us work for it. Or it was just screwing with us. Maybe there weren't even answers to be found. I tried not to think about that as I continued my search.
Maybe an hour passed, judging from the position of the sun coming from the back windows. The sun had peaked out from behind the gray clouds, shooting glowing rays of light onto the floor.
And in that hour, we had scanned every shelf on two of the four walls, and checked all the drawers in the middle table. Nothing. There were some papers in there, but most looked like legal documents, old grocery lists, and unimportant things like that.
I was tired after tirelessly searching Autumn's house all day. I sighed and pitched myself onto one of the plushy chairs. Slumping in the chair, I let my eyes close for a few minutes of solace before diving back into harsh reality.
"Nothing's here," I whispered.
"We don't know that for sure," Sakura said in a soothing voice.
I shook my head, a cruel smile on my face. "I should've known this wouldn't work. Most normal people don't keep things like this hidden in their homes. I've seen enough movies to know that most people burn the evidence."
"I'm sorry," Autumn started. "I was against the idea at first, but I was hoping to find something." She looked down at the carpet.
"Maybe we should just go." Sakura stated.
"Yeah, maybe," I agreed softly, standing up.
Autumn started to lead us out, but then something crashed behind our backs. We whirled around and saw a book lying on the ground. It had fallen from the window walls bookshelves, a long stretch away from us.
We made our way over to it, walking the long expanse of the wooden room, and saw the title, shimmering in the chandelier light. The Secrets of Necromancy. I shivered, recognition hitting me in between the eyes.
Autumn crouched down and picked it up. She flipped open the first page and a yellowed piece of paper fell out onto the floor. Autumn passed the book to me and reached down, picking up the aged paper. Her eyes scanned the paper as she read, while started flipping through the book.
The book was heavy, with a black hardcover, The Secrets of Necromancy written in silver, inscribed in cursive handwriting. I flipped through the pages and found another piece of folded paper, as old and yellowed as the one Autumn read now.
Getting Sakura's attention, I unfolded the paper I held and saw it was an information sheet on Necromancers, which is what Autumn was. With Sakura and I both scanning the page, it read:
Ghosts(veiled matter) with a strong presence can touch and poke and prod Necromancers, but not other beings, and can choose whether or not to be seen, but strong Necromancers can push them through and make them visible, or even when they are trying to be invisible, can see flickers or shimmers of them peeking through into the physical plane.
Summoning works by concentrating on a certain ghost or spirit or veiled matter, and can be accomplished easily by all Necromancers, no matter how strong, as it's their main power. They can see all ghosts and spirits who are on the physical plane, but have to summon spirits who aren't, and are in the ghost realm.
By getting rid of a spirit is mentally sending them back to their own realm. This is a little harder to do then summoning, and may take a more experienced Necromancer. And when Necromancers are sending ghosts away, objects on the physical plane can shake, rattle, or move, responding the Necromancers mental "shoving". Some spirits are harder to send as some might be dead supernaturals, and can use their powers against Necromancers. Other ghosts might get angry and lash out.
Rituals for bringing ghosts back to their corpses or sending them back requires a special chant in a dead language, which only Necromancers understand, and sometimes only communicate in that language to keep conversations secret. All Necromancers can hear the language and understand it without ever studying it, and speak it just as well. The language is known as Keritia.
I put the paper down and took in all the information on the page. I turned at looked at Sakura, standing behind me. We met each other's gazes with matched expressions of complete and utter shock.
Then, I remembered Autumn had a piece of the paper too. I saw Autumn's face had gone pale. She held the paper tightly with one hand, while the other had dropped to her side, deadweight.
"What did it say?" I asked, speaking quietly.
She wordlessly passed it to me, and leaned against the bookcase. Sakura and I read it.
Dear Autumn,
I'm sorry we could never tell you this in person. I'm sorry we've had to keep this from you your whole life. And whether you're reading when we're alive or dead, just know we wish to make this up to you.
You are a Necromancer. You can see and talk to the dead. Ghosts. You can also bring them back to their dead bodies, but you really should never do that unless you have to. But, anyway, you have been seeing things all these years. We couldn't tell you, so we had to send you to a physiatrist and make it seem like you were imagining it all, but we had to. We had to.
When you were born, we had a coven of witches cast a spell on you and a couple other children who were also supernatural. The spell was created to hide your supernatural abilities. Apparently they didn't work very well with you, because you are such a strong Necromancer. We didn't know you would turn out this way.
We are so sorry, but all we wanted you to know in this letter is that we love you, and if we were never able to tell you ourselves, we wanted a way for you to know why we did what we did.
There are bigger things out there, bigger than you could ever imagine, and we wanted you and your sister to be safe. She isn't a necromancer, but you must protect her all the same.
All we wanted was to protect you. You and your sister are all we ever cared about. Please understand.
Love, Mom and Dad
I lowered the letter, and felt another wave of shock wash over me. This was big. Huge. Sakura and I both turned our heads and studied Autumn again, clutching at the bookshelf for support.
Sakura propped her upright, set a firm hand on her shoulder, and asked if she was okay.
"Did you read it?" Her voice held pain. Pain and sorrow.
We nodded.
"Why didn't they tell me earlier?" Now her voice held anger. A lot of it. "They made me think I was losing my mind for my entire life! How could they do this to me?"
"They thought they were protecting you," Sakura murmured.
I nodded.
Autumn flashed us an annoyed glare.
I held up my hands. "There were much better ways of handling it, agreed, but what are you really angry about? The lies, or about being a supernatural?"
Autumn was silent for a minute. Then, she finally answered, "Both."
Then we heard the front door open and slam shut. We all perked up and found hiding places. But before I did, I shoved the pages back into the book and then slid the book back into the bookcase. Then, Autumn and I hid together behind a large chair, while Sakura crouched behind one not that far from us.
The heavy and multiple footfalls made me think it was more than one person, and most likely an adult, and not her thirteen-year-old sister, who weighed next to nothing.
"What do you want to do?" I whispered to Autumn.
"I… I don't want to see my parents right now."
I nodded, understanding, going through the same thing myself. Except I didn't find a letter. I still didn't have an answer to whether or not my father knew I was supernatural.
I shook myself out my own thoughts and returned to the present. How were we going to get out of this mess?