The Prophecy (21 page)

“He
told me that I have a brother. A half-brother. Did you know anything about
that?”

Meg’s
eyes widened as she shook her head. “No, but I guess that doesn’t surprise me.
He’s entitled to his own life, too.” She turned and began slicing a tomato into
wedges.

“There’s
more,” I said. “It turns out my half-brother is Caleb.”

The
knife clattered to the cutting board as Meg spun to face me. “Caleb. Caleb
Moon
?
Charley’s son?”

I
nodded. “The one and only.”

Meg
slumped against the counter with her hand against her chest, as though she was
afraid her heart would burst through her ribs. “I certainly didn’t see that one
coming.”

“There’s
a lot of stuff I didn’t see coming,” I said.

We
stood in silence for a few minutes before Meg asked if I’d spoken to anyone
else about this. I shook my head. “I told Priscilla about Sebastian, but that
was before I knew who he actually was.”

“But
you haven’t talked to Imogene or anyone else?”

“It’s such
a convoluted mess, Meg. I don’t even know where to begin.”

“I
think we need to call a meeting,” she said decisively.

“Don’t
you think I should talk to Caleb first?”

Meg studied
me for a moment before nodding. “Do you want me to talk to him with you?”

I
thought about it for a moment. This was something I just didn’t know how to do.
I would need all the support I could get. “Yeah. I think that’s probably best.”

She
handed me the phone. “Then invite him for dinner. He won’t say no. Teenage boys
are always hungry.”

NINETEEN

“Why
are you looking at me like that?” Caleb said as he not-so-subtly inched to the
right.

“Sorry,”
I said, realizing I had been staring at him. “I just wanted to make sure that
you’re okay. You know, after your—”

“I’m
fine.”

Imogene
often told me how much I looked like my mother, but did Caleb look like our
father? The more closely I stared, the more I realized how very little of
Charley was actually in him. He
had
to look like our father.

As if
my hand had a mind of its own, I reached out to touch his face. He jerked back
and swatted it away.  

“Dude,
what are you doing?” 

I shook
my head and bit the inside of my bottom lip to hide the sudden urge to smile.
Caleb was my brother.

I had a
brother!

Linking
my arm through his, which only seemed to annoy him more, I said, “Come on.
Dinner’s almost ready.”

Meg and
David were just finishing setting the table. Meg seemed flustered. Her hand holding
the water pitcher shook as she poured out the drinks. David’s eyes kept traveling
between Caleb and me, as though he couldn’t believe we were actually related. I
could hardly believe it myself.

“Uh, thanks
for inviting me over,” Caleb said when Meg gestured for him to take a seat.

She smiled
as she placed a napkin in her lap. “Well, I know that you and Sarah have been
working hard on some school project together.”

Caleb
looked at me from the corner of his eye. That’s the story I had fed David and
Meg so they wouldn’t wonder why I kept sneaking off to be with him.

“We
thought it was time to get to know you a little better.” Meg raised her glass
and took a sip, never once taking her eyes off him.

David
rested his elbows on the table and steepled his fingers. “Let’s cut to the
chase.” 

Caleb’s
mouth twitched as he divided a glance between Meg and David, probably sensing
then that this wasn’t your average weeknight dinner. “Did I do something
wrong?” 

I
almost laughed, seeing the normally self-assured Caleb acting nervous. I took a
deep breath and dove right in. No sense in beating around the proverbial bush.

“Caleb,
have you ever heard of a man named Sebastian?”

He
shrugged, the corners of his mouth turning down in a frown. “No. Should I have?”

My
heart pounded as I took another deep breath. “Does the name Lucas ring a bell?”

This
time I saw a dim flicker of recognition in his eyes. “Maybe. I don’t know.”

“Think,”
I said.

 He
looked at me like I was out of my mind. But after a moment he said, “Awhile
back my mom took me somewhere. It was a reservation. When you said Lucas . . .
I don’t know. I immediately thought of that place.”

“Did
you meet someone by that name while you were there?” Meg said, watching him
intently.

Caleb
shook his head. “I don’t know. I saw my mom talking to someone, but only from a
distance. I can’t say for sure, but I think she might have been arguing with
him.” He looked around the table. “Why? Who is this Lucas guy?”

“My
father,” I said.

“Your
father
?”
Caleb’s eyes widened. “But that means . . . Victor’s wife . . . and . . . why would
my mother be talking to him?”

I took
a deep breath and steeled myself. “Because he’s your father, too.”

Caleb
paced the floor, hands covering his ears as though he refused to hear what I
was telling him. “No!” he said, shaking his head. “I don’t believe you.
My
father walked out on us.”

“Why
did he leave so suddenly?” I prodded.

“How
the hell should I know?” Caleb raged. “Because he’s a jerk! But that doesn’t
change the fact that
he
is my father and not this Lucas guy.”

I
grabbed his arm, forcing him to stop and look at me. “Nathan Moon left because
he witnessed what you could do. And then when he confronted Charley, she must
have told him the truth. Think about it, Caleb.”

“What do
you mean, what he can do?” David said. 

Caleb
turned to me. “You haven’t told them?” I couldn’t tell if he was surprised,
angry, or relieved.

“It’s
not my secret to tell,” I said with a twinge of guilt, seeing as how I’d
already confided to Priscilla.  

Caleb
flicked his fingers at the unlit candle sitting in the middle of the table. Meg
gasped as the flame flickered to life and then suddenly went out again.

David
cleared his throat. “That was unexpected.”

“How
did you do that?” Meg said more pointedly.

Caleb
slumped into his chair and put his face in his hands. “I don’t know,” he said
miserably. “I just know that I can.”

Meg laid
a hand on his shoulder. “What does the Council have to say about it?” 

“The Council
doesn’t know. No one knows except my mom. And Jasmine.”

“Why?”
David questioned.

Caleb
lifted his face. “Because my mother told me never to tell anyone.” He laughed,
as though something had suddenly struck him as funny. “She would flip if she
knew the three of you had found out.”

“But why
wouldn’t she want anyone to know?” I wondered.

“Look where
it got Shyla,” he said. “I guess she was trying to save me the grief of people
knowing I was different. And anyway, I wasn’t real thrilled about showing
others what a freak I am.”

“Is
that how you see me?” I said. “As some sort of freak?”

“There
is a lot here we don’t understand,” Meg said, before Caleb could answer. She
sat down in her chair and pinched the bridge of her nose, as though warding off
a headache. “And I feel like there is something important we’re missing here.”

She
uncovered her face then and said, with a decisive nod of her head, “We have to
talk to Imogene.”

I had
expected Caleb to protest, but he didn’t. He sat back in his chair. “Fine. I’m
tired of carrying this secret around. But leave my mom and Jasmine out of it
for now.”

Meg rose.
“I’ll call Imogene.”

“I
don’t know what to say,” Imogene said, laying her hand against her heart.

Caleb
had just given her a demonstration of his powers by placing a hand on her brown
and sickly fern and restoring it back to good health, if only temporarily. Shyla
sat in a corner chair, stunned and silent and looking hurt.

“We’ve got
a few things to discuss,” Meg said, “the most obvious of which is Caleb’s abilities.
Imogene, have you ever heard . . .”

I got
up and left the room, the sound of Meg’s and Imogene’s voices growing dimmer. I
pulled on my hoodie and stepped outside. I should have stayed to talk things
through with them, but I desperately needed air.

I
leaned my elbows on the rail and drew in a deep, cleansing breath. My head was
swimming, flooded with too much information. Exhausted, I felt like I was on
the verge of a nervous breakdown. This had been a very long day.

A few
minutes later, Adrian pulled into the driveway. Without speaking, I watched as
he got out of the car and walked toward me, all the while keeping his head
down. He came to stand beside me, back against the rail. Neither of us said
anything.

“Why
were you avoiding me at school today?” I said, finally working up the courage
to ask.

“I
wasn’t avoiding you.”

I
rolled my eyes, even though he couldn’t see my face. “At least have the decency
to tell me the truth.”

“I
could say the same for you,” he said, his voice hard.

I
gritted my teeth and kept my own voice as even as possible. I was so tired of
fighting with him. “I’ve told you the truth. I’ve been
telling
you the
truth all along. There is nothing going on between Caleb and me. And if you
only knew . . .”

“If I only
knew what?”

“Maybe
you should go inside and ask Caleb yourself.”

“Or
maybe you could just tell me. You’ve gotten really good at keeping secrets
lately. You and Caleb both.”

I
looked at him. “Caleb can . . . do things like I can.”

His
eyes widened. “Magic, you mean. How do you know?”

“Because
he showed me. Weeks ago, while on the reservation.”

Adrian’s
mouth fell open in disbelief. He turned and began pacing the front porch,
running his hand through his hair in agitation and muttering under his breath.

“Don’t
be mad, Adrian,” I said, reaching a tentative hand toward him.

He
turned on me. “Why shouldn’t I be mad? Caleb and I are best friends, and yet he
kept the biggest secret of his life from me, even though he told
you
!”

“Yes,
he told me! Because we are alike! And I know how he feels!” I clenched my fists
at my sides. Where the heck did he get off being mad at me?

“Today
at school I asked you where you were last night,” I said, “and you told me
nowhere.”

“That’s
the truth,” he said, his words clipped.

“You
can’t be
nowhere
, Adrian. Your grandmother said you were out, and I know
for a fact you weren’t with Caleb—”

“Because
you were?”

“And
you didn’t answer your cell when I called,” I said, refusing to take the bait.

“Oh,
I’m sorry,” he said sarcastically. “I didn’t know I was required to answer
every time you called. Sometimes I have better things to do than talk to you.”

I gasped
and stood staring at him, emotionally bruised. “Adrian, we can’t keep doing
this.”

His
shoulders slumped and he exhaled through his nose, eyes closed. “I know.”

I trudged
over to the porch swing and sat down, patting the space next to me. “Sit down,
Adrian. We need to talk.”

He took
a deep breath, hung his head, and slowly made his way to me. “You’re going to
break up with me, aren’t you?” he said, without sitting down.

I
stared at him for a moment, my mouth agape, before breaking out in laughter. “Not
at all! I actually thought you wanted to break up with me.”

He
laughed, too, seemingly in relief, and then collapsed on the swing next to me.
“Why would you think that?”

“Why
wouldn’t
I think that? We’ve been going around in circles for weeks now, fighting with
each other. We just can’t seem to get back on track.”

“That
doesn’t mean I want to break up with you,” Adrian said. “All it means is that
we have some problems that need ironing out.”

“You’re
right. We do.”

He
patted my thigh, his hand traveling down to my knee where he kept it. “So what
did you want to talk to me about?”

“Well,
I have something to tell you, and it’s sort of major.”

Adrian
took a deep breath. “Even more major than learning Caleb is a human
flame-thrower?”

I
laughed. “He’s actually not very good at controlling that element, but yeah.
Even more major than that.”

“Okay.
So what is it?”