She stopped shuffling through the numerous jars she had stored in a cabinet and turned to me. Then she reached out and took hold of my arm to lift it into my view.
“
You are in
this
kind of danger, one that you cannot prevent and will not be able to foresee.” She released my arm before delivering the bluntest part of her message. “This, Jocelyn, is just the beginning.”
“
Of what?” I said, startling myself at my ferocity. “I don’t understand.”
“
I will leave that for your family to explain.”
Her head was tucked back in the cabinet again so her voice was slightly muffled.
“
What family?” I asked, bewildered.
My family consisted of my mother and she had never visited unless it was a school-sanctioned holiday. When she did, it was only for that allotted amount of time in which she would have airline tickets ready for travel to various locales. Those were the happiest, most memorable days of my life, and if I were really forced to pack for a move to New Orleans the only real possessions of value I’d bring were the photographs taken during our trips together. I’d never been introduced to any other member of my family, my free time having been carefully constructed by my mother to avoid such interactions.
“
Your aunt will be meeting you at the airport. She’s flying in as we speak.”
Only then did I get a sense of just how serious this scar had become. Since it materialized, I was going to leave the only home I’d ever known to live with relatives I’d never met.
“
How do you know my mother will approve of this?” I inquired, still defiant.
Nurse Carol swung around toward a row of file cabinets, withdrew a piece of paper and handed it to me before returning to the medicine cabinet. In far fewer words than those written on the piece of paper by my mother Nurse Carol explained, “Under very detailed instructions, at the first sign of an unexplainable ailment, you are to be released and sent to live with your family in New Orleans.”
Stunned, I stood there, holding the evidence of her proclamation and yet I couldn’t seem to speak, to affirm that I believed her. It made no sense. My mother had gracefully evaded any attempts I’d ever made to ask questions about them, much less meet them.
Then the paper was gone from my fingers and the jar Nurse Carol had been searching for was placed in my palm.
“
Use this every hour covering every part of the scar until it diminishes.” Her head dipped then, peering at me from beneath her lashes. She must have noticed my surreal state because she urged, “Do you understand?”
I nodded, my expression still frozen in disagreement.
“
Good, I’ve secured the campus for you. Now go. You have less than ten minutes to pack. Meet me at the front entrance. I’ll drive you.”
While I didn’t understand what she meant by “secured the campus,” or bother to leave her office as quickly as I knew she’d like, I wasn’t concerned with either of those realizations. My feet gradually carried me through the few students trickling toward their next class. I knew each of them by name, but I didn’t know them well enough to say goodbye. Even if I did, I’m not sure I could have conjured the words. The rest of the students were already seated, including my best friends, so when I reached my dormitory room it was expectedly empty.
In the five minutes I had left, I wrote a note to reassure them I’d call, grabbed my cherished photo album from beneath my pillow, and then stopped at the door for one final look around.
I did a scan of Alisa’s science posters and Elizabeth’s beloved row of plants on the windowsill. Then, still bewildered as to why I needed to leave this life I’d created here so quickly, I mindlessly took a keepsake from my bedpost-a black top hat worn during one of the academy’s pageants in which we’d taken first place.
Then I was out the door and buckled in next to Nurse Carol as she sped down the tree-lined road and through the academy’s main gate. In the rearview mirror, I watched the massive red and white brick building shrink until we turned onto the main roadway, my heart sinking as quickly as the distance between us grew.
I knew that most of the faculty and some of the students would be overjoyed at my departure. I’d caused enough havoc within those walls to stir up controversy regularly. If it hadn’t been for my family’s money, I’d have been sent to public school years ago. But I’d stayed in place and it had become my home…and I would miss it.
Nurse Carol’s simple two-door sedan expertly carved its way through the traffic, or maybe she just knew how to drive it, so that we reached the airport in record time.
She’d dodged every question I asked so that when I stepped out of her car, I had given up. At some point, you begin to feel foolish pestering someone for information when they have repeatedly refused to offer any. She did, however, guide me to the ticket counter where I thought she’d leave me on my own. I was wrong.
Instead, she stopped in front of a petite woman with frizzy red hair, a wide smile, and a smattering of freckles across the bridge of her nose.
“
Lizzy,” said Nurse Carol wrapping her arms around the woman’s shoulders as one does with a very old friend.
Then the name triggered my memory. Lizzy was my mother’s sister-which made her my aunt. I took a closer look at her and could see the resemblance. My mother was taller, the same gene I’d been given, but the two shared the same upturned nose and bright eyes.
Nurse Carol and Lizzy were still hugging when something occurred to me. How could a nurse at my school know my aunt before I did?
The recognition of it caused me to suck in a quick breath, drawing their attention.
They turned to me and caught sight of my bewilderment.
While Nurse Carol seemed poised to perform a proper introduction, Aunt Lizzy ended that possibility with a squeal of delight and a swing of her arms around my shoulders. Then my body was flopping back and forth as Aunt Lizzy swung me from side to side, her tiny frame somehow effortlessly summoning the strength.
She was laughing heartily when my feet finally found the floor again.
“
You have no idea how much I’ve anticipated this day,” she said.
I smiled back, though I’m sure it was a shaky one. “I’ve wanted to meet you, too.”
She giggled at me and leaned in to whisper. “I meant you coming to live with us, dear.”
Again, I was taken aback. It was the second time today that someone seemed to have known I would be shipped off to live with my family in New Orleans well before I had any clue of it. Giving my reaction no notice, she threw down a wad of cash in front of the airline ticket representative and said, “Two tickets to New Orleans on the next flight out.”
“
Two?” I asked, perplexed. “But how did you get here?” I’d assumed she’d simply disembarked to meet me before re-boarding.
After a brief, knowing glance in Nurse Carol’s direction, she replied to me in an offhanded manner before hurrying to change the subject.
“
I have my own form of transportation, dear. I
just
couldn’t bear the wait. Your cousins will be thrilled too.
Just thrilled
. I haven’t told them yet. They’re still at camp.” She paused briefly and lowered her voice to a whisper. “That’s code for the sabbat festival, Mabon. But, of course, you know nothing of that.” She patted my cheek as one would to soothe a lost child. “We’ll fix that right quick though. Right quick.”
I had no idea what she was referring to and was almost thankful when Nurse Carol cleared her throat. She smiled kindly at Aunt Lizzy while interrupting, telling me that she wasn’t offended for having been ignored. On the contrary, it seemed she already knew to be patient with Aunt Lizzy. “I’m heading back now.”
“
Oh, yes, of course, dear,” said Aunt Lizzy, not bothering to hide her disappointment, which again struck me as odd behavior toward a school nurse. Still, she took Nurse Carol’s hands before continuing. “Thank you for everything you’ve done for Jocelyn.”
Finally, the curiosity became overwhelming and I asked, “Do you two know each other?”
The women grinned knowingly at each other, in reaction to a joke I clearly wasn’t privy to.
“
We’ll cover that, and more, shortly,” said Aunt Lizzy before the airline representative drew her attention to finish the ticketing process.
I said my goodbye to Nurse Carol, with whom I’d never exchanged words until today, and still I saw the beginning of tears in the corner of her eyes as she turned away.
Her final words to me were simple and indicative of a nurse. “Be safe.” Even then, I felt as if she were conveying a deeper meaning, a warning of what was to come but I never got the chance to inquire. Instead, I followed Aunt Lizzy through the airport, her pitched voice carrying the entire conversation by herself. By the time I was seated on the airplane, Aunt Lizzy had given me a complete profile on each of my cousins, though her rapid pace didn't allow me to digest any of the information. Instead, I listened quietly stunned that I was heading toward a new, mysterious life when I should have been eating birthday cake, sitting Indian-style, in the middle of my dorm room surrounded by friends.
I drew in a breath as much to calm myself as to vicariously take one for Aunt Lizzy, who continued to talk non-stop, merging one sentence with the next, and without ever taking a breath.
As I tried to keep up, my awareness absentmindedly drifted and I noticed, oddly enough, that every row before us was filled with passengers from the front toward the middle. This left the entire last half of the plane to us, allowing for an incredible amount of privacy. Once I acknowledged this, my patience ran out.
"I'm sorry, Aunt Lizzy, but I’ve been told that I am in danger and, given the size of this thing on my arm, I'm actually leaning toward believing it. You and Nurse Carol seem to know more about what's going on with me than I do so can you please explain this all to me?"
I was clearly exasperated, so much that she couldn’t ignore it any longer.
Then, before my eyes, she transformed in to a completely different person, someone calmer and more thoughtful. She suddenly took on the appearance of someone who had seen too much in her life causing me a flicker of guilt for having brought this out in her. When she spoke her voice softened nearly to a whisper. "Jocelyn, have you ever noticed anything...peculiar about yourself? In other words, have you ever been able to do something that others couldn't?”
I thought back, trying to recall something that would satisfy her. "No," I finally said. "Not really."
Her lips pinched upward as she considered how to continue. "Think along the lines of something…" She paused to search for the most appropriate word before summing up her intended thought in a way I never would have expected, “…mystical."
One of my eyebrows lifted in suspicion.
"Everyone has a little magic in them,” she argued, slightly annoyed with me. “Some have a little more than others. You, I imagine, have quite a bit."
I laughed through my nose in disbelief. Playing along, I countered, "Why me?"
Without a flinch or the bat of an eyelash, she replied solemnly, "Because you hail from a line of distinguished witches."
Before I knew it was coming, I sniggered. Then I waited for her to break in to a grin, chuckle, or show any sign she was joking with me. Doing none of these, she opted to stare at me blankly.
“
You don’t expect me to believe that, do you?” I asked, still grinning.
“
You can believe what you want, Jocelyn,” she said and turned to gaze out the window.
Only then did my smile fade.
“
All right, so you are telling me that my family practices Wicca?” I asked, slightly unnerved by the idea.
Aunt Lizzy held back a grin at my question but she did look my way. “Not necessarily. All types are practiced, not just those in the mainstream.” To my perplexed expression, she elaborated, “Witchcraft has been around for centuries and has evolved to fit different personalities and lifestyles. We have evolved with it.”
I bit my lip to keep from laughing again and turned to face the front of the plane.
“
Think about it, Jocelyn,” she urged quietly. “You already know the truth. You are part of that evolution. You only have to accept it and then I can explain everything.”
Her carefree demeanor had been completely erased. It was clear from her tone and the fact that she faced the window again that she didn’t intend to continue this conversation until I’d come to terms with what she’d told me.
“
All right,” I replied simply to appease her.
She pivoted her head toward me again, her lips pinched in dissatisfaction. I knew from her expression that she didn’t believe me. “All right, what?”
I hesitated then. I knew she was asking for evidence, validation that I believed her, and I could have played along convincingly. Something stopped me though. Not only was she astute enough to see through it but if I were honest with myself, there were memories that singled me out as different…possibly mystical in nature. The first was when I’d touched Elizabeth’s plants and brought them back from the dead, sprouting regenerated leaves in only a day. I also recalled the time when Alisa had been unable to overcome a stubborn cold; it was only after she had accidentally taken my water bottle and drank from it overnight that she had completely recovered. Then it was as if a floodgate had opened and memories inundated me. I had to literally shake my head before the thoughts would clear.