I shake my head no. I check my phone and see a text from Caleb. ‘Hey beautiful, I miss you already.’
I type out a reply, ‘I miss you 2’. It was true, I do miss him. Forty eight hours ago I was in sucky North Carolina, now I’m hoping never to leave.
‘Was your mom mad?’
‘No, but I got a speech about what you would tell people.’
‘That I’m the luckiest guy on earth?’ I laughed out loud when I read it.
‘Riiiiight. LOL. I’m talking to g-ma BBS’
‘Ok, muah’ he replied. No matter how hard I try, I can’t wipe the dumb grin off of my face.
Grandma brought the pitcher of tea to refresh our glasses. “That grin on your face, it’s another clue that you’re bonded. Where was I with the story?”
“You were about to tell me about the gossip.” I take my napkin and wipe the sweat off of my tea glass.
She shook her head up and down. “Oh yeah, gossip. In New Bern, North Carolina late sixties, gossip was in two places. One was the Piggly Wiggly deli and the other was at Sassy Susan’s Hairstyles. No doubt about it, those were some gossiping women I tell you. We didn’t have a Wal-Marts yet or a Harris Teeter for that matter. Piggly Wiggly…now that was a wild crowd on a Saturday morning. We heard rumors about us and why we had our lights so bright. Since daddy was a professor at East Carolina University, the rumor was he was conducting an experiment. It wasn’t true of course and
Light Tamers
weren’t out of the closet yet. We found some though and we started having meetings to share information about the
Dark Ones
.”
“What happened to Uncle Tom? I don’t think I’ve ever met him. Mom hasn’t ever talked about him either. I only knew that you had a brother named Tom.”
Grandma set her glass down and looked at me with tears in her eyes. “We couldn’t save him. He became a Dark One and moved away so we wouldn’t have to see his demise. I was seventeen the last time I ever saw Tom. That isn’t going to happen to you or Caleb though. Now that you two have one another, you have the ability to fight them together. I’ll do what I can to make sure your mom doesn’t take you out of town, but I can’t do it alone. The
Dark Ones
walk in the shadows Jessie, you have to be careful.”
“How can I avoid them? When do they quit chasing you? What can I do with my light? I have so many questions; will I end up running from them my entire life?”
Grandma leaned forward and took my hand in hers. “Little love, you have a gift. The light is very special and you will have a chance to share it with so many people. I knew when you almost drowned that Caleb and you bonded. If you’d seen that boys face, and saw the way he looked at you. He knew in his heart that something miraculous had happened. After you went back to New York he’d pestered his parents about you. His mama would call me and tell me how love sick he was that you were gone. I wouldn’t be surprised if he doesn’t have a shrine dedicated to you,” she laughed at the thought.
“That’s kinda creepy. The
Dark Ones
must have targeted your brother. I mean, think about it, he was young to be taken away with both parents around.” I sat back in my chair; my head racing with thoughts about everything. “Grandma, oh, I’m sorry. Ms. Gayle, what makes me special? What is so good about the light?”
Gayle scooted her chair so she is sitting right next to me. “Don’t get me to lyin’ but I’ve heard of special abilities. I hear that the
Light Tamers
can heal, not just sickness either. I hear that they can heal the broken and sickly. I don’t know if you remember or not, but Caleb didn’t always look like he does now. He was always a little pale and sickly lookin’.”
“I remember! He always looked so frail to me. I remember thinking he needed a doctor because he was so pale. Yeah, that is odd; he’s really far from sickly now.”
“After his mother died, they moved back to North Carolina. Parents don’t always know that their children are
Light Tamers
. Like your mama, she doesn’t have a clue. We have a data base of the Tamers and
Dark Ones
in the area. Parca Academy is a school set up to help the tamers we’ve identified. When Caleb came to town we made sure he went to the school. His dad took a little encouraging, but realized it was beneficial since there was only one parent to protect him. The school’s counselor is a tamer and a great healer. Thankfully she was able to heal some of Caleb’s pain of losing his mother and I think that healed whatever it was that made him sickly looking. We didn’t want all of his pain to go away of course, you can’t learn to deal with grief if you don’t experience it. His dad Gabe doesn’t know it, but he was healed too. You have to know, those two were in a lot of emotional pain, and it was hard to watch.” Gayle picked up her tea glass and drained it in one long gulp.
“Why couldn’t his mom be healed? Wouldn’t that have been better than taking away their pain?”
“True, yet there are several things that happened to stop it. When people are stricken with cancer, it is a horrible beast to cure at times, even for a
Light Tamer
. Second problem was, we didn’t know she was sick, you have to remember they moved to Virginia. Ellie, Caleb’s mom, she didn’t tell me she was sick until a week before she died,” Gayle shook her head back and forth as she talked. “That is one of the problems of not telling people about the Tamers. You have to understand though, that telling the world about tamers may save some people but it won’t save everyone. What if we didn’t have doctors and scientists? Who would find the cures and the medicines that are needed? Not only that, but if you give away your light and not recharge, you run a risk of slipping to the other side. I know it seems like there are a lot of tamers out there, but honestly there isn’t. Ya’ll are in clusters, around the world. Your new school is pretty rich in Tamers. It isn’t as magical as that school Harry Potsticker goes to.”
“Who is Harry Potsticker?”
“You know, that boy that has the lightening scar and goes to school with that girl Hermykneecap.”
I choke as I take a drink. “Harry Potter? Grandma, her name is Hermione, not Hermykneecap,” I laugh at her silliness. “The school they went to was Hogwarts. Do the kids at Parca know they are
Light Tamers
?”
“Sadly they do. One more thing little Miss. Smartypants, you’re getting too comfortable with that grandma word. I thought we had a deal. You might be fifteen and cute as a button, but that means I’m even older than I admit to, and that could be a problem.”
My mind starts reeling with thoughts about the benefits of such a school. “Oh my Miss. Sensitiveaboutmyage, you can pass for forty, so stop sweatin’ it sweetie,” I say in my best southern drawl.
“On that note, I’m going to bed; I have a lot to get done tomorrow. You should go to bed too. I increased your usage on the cell phone to unlimited texts, I figured you might need it. ”
I stand up and give her a hug and a kiss and whisper in her ear. “Thank you, I’m really glad we’re here, it makes my dad being gone a little easier.” She pats me and whispered back that everything will be okay.
~~~~~~~~~~
“I’ve got it!” I yell out as the doorbell rings at six on the dot. I’d been out with Caleb every night this week, except Wednesday. Mom said that I can only go out one night this weekend; she said nothing about having company. Caleb and I picked Saturday night as date night, so Friday night is here at the house. The giant wooden front door is heavy as I pull it open. I can’t help but smile as Caleb stands there in a pair of khaki shorts and navy polo. I take in a deep breath, his cologne makes me weak in the knees.
“Hi beautiful,” he says and hands me a peach rose he had hidden behind his back.
I’ve never been given any type of flower from anyone in my entire life. My tummy flipped and flopped around with giddiness. Taking the rose, I hold it to my nose and smell it. “Thank you, I’ve never been given a rose before,” I gush.
“Oh holy hell, gag me. What a disgusting display of teen hormones,” Amber says as she walked into sight from the car. “No wonder adults hate teenagers so much.”
Caleb turns to her and laughs. “Little Miss. Sunshine here wanted to hang out with us tonight. I sent you a text to
warn
you,” he said.
Amber rolls her eyes and popped her gum. “It’s seventeen hundred degrees out here, so if you’re done with this lovey dovey crap, let’s go inside.”
“Oh right, yeah, come in. You can meet my grandma and my mom should be here any minute. Did you stop and get some movies from Redbox? I just ordered the pizza. I hope you like pepperoni and veggie supreme Amber, I can see if I can change it if you want,” I said.
“I’m good with any kind of pizza. We don’t get delivery with us living outside of town. I doubt a delivery guy would feel safe driving on our dirt road, he’d probably think we’d go all ‘Strangers’ on him.”
“Strangers?” I asked.
“She’s talking about a horror movie,” Caleb leans in and kisses me on the cheek.
My heart rate sped up for a brief moment as warm electricity shot through me.
I wonder if he knows how much I love it when he kisses me.
I take his hand and lead them to the family room. Last summer, grandma and I painted the room sage green. I’d never been as sore in my life as I was after painting. We picked out new furniture and a massive flat screen to mount on the wall. Amber tossed her ‘Mean People Suck’ backpack onto the sectional.
“Dude, that’s a fuggin massive-assed t.v.” Amber announced.
“That’s what I told the salesman when I bought it, I need a fuggin massive-ass t.v.” grandma said as she entered the room. “You must be the delightful Amber Griffith.”
Caleb and I stifle a giggle as we watch Amber squirm and grandma’s obvious amusement. “Amber, this is my…ah this is Ms. Gayle, my mother’s mother,” I stammer.
Amber stood there, eyes wide and frozen to the spot. “I’m sorry Ms. Gayle, I didn’t realize you were in the room.”
“Good to know. Jessie, I’m going to meet your mom at Spunky’s for dinner, so feel free to eat as much pizza as you want. I left the money and a tip by the front door. If the pizza is cold, don’t give him the entire tip. We’ll be back by eight, so don’t party too hard while I’m gone. If you do, hide the evidence,” grandma said as she shook her keys in her hand around.
“Oh gra…Ms. Gayle, we won’t start the party without you,” I tease.
After dinner, we set the movie to play. Amber sprawled out on one side of the sectional; I noticed that her toenails were each painted a different color.
I wish I could be as confident as her,
I thought. Caleb sat in the corner seat and I sat next to him, nervous about being too close when the parental units came back.
“What does it feel like?” Amber asked out of the blue.
“What does what feel like?” I asked and hit pause on the t.v.
“I dunno, that bond thing. I know I keep asking, but I’m really curious. When you two are close together, the air feels electrified. I noticed it a little at my house when you came over. The vibe from you both is pretty cool. I think Mr. and Mrs. Johnson at school are bonded, but they are never together when I’m around.”
Caleb took my hand in his and laced our fingers together; taking my hand to his mouth he kissed the back of it. It took every ounce of self control not to throw myself on top of him and make-out. We’d kissed every night when he dropped me off at the house, we did nothing more than hold hands in public.
He took a sip of his Coke and cleared his throat. “I can’t explain what it’s like. The best description I can give is, well it’s like I’m home. That is a strange description, but when my mom died last year, I felt empty. The void of her in my life was unimaginable; it was like part of me died. I asked why every night before bed, in the moments of being alone, when my dad was in his room. Those moments were the loneliest moments of my life. Last week, when Jessie came over, it was as if I was whole again the minute she walked in the house. The pain was gone, the fear was gone, my life meant something again,” Caleb said with a softness to every word. I’d never had anyone die before, but I understood what he meant. I feel whole too.
“No offence Jessie but Caleb, didn’t you go out with Brooke? What was that all about?” Amber asked.
Brooke, who’s Brooke? He hasn’t said anything about another girl. Stop being jealous, it isn’t like he knew that I’d be back. He went out with her before you came around, stop…shut-up brain!
“Thanks Amber, that was appropriate timing,” Caleb said as he shot Amber a dirty look.
“Get over it. I’m sure Jessie has gone out with another guy.”
Caleb turned to look at me as if he were waiting for me to freak out. “I went out with her two times. Twice Amber, twice. I wouldn’t consider that dating, and I sure wouldn’t consider her a girlfriend, so keep your pie-hole shut.”
Amber held her hands up. “Defensive much?”