I swooshed through air—sucked upward by a giant vacuum. Static buzzed loudly in my ears and wisps of other souls flashed by in a kaleidoscope of colors.
With a slamming force, I smacked into something solid. Gravity smothered me like a mountain of heavy blankets. I was back in my bed, trapped in a suffocating body. Gasping for breath, I bolted upright and grabbed a handful of my hair. Long and blond. Not red. I was in my own lavender room with a braided rug over the wood floor, a glowing night-light, and shades of lavender, not green and blue reflections of another personality.
Even when things started to make sense, I could hardly believe it.
I’d astral traveled over one hundred miles. But instead of finding Opal or Agnes, I’d found my half-sister, Jade.
And I’d spied on her.
Again.
Nona slept even later than I did, so I didn’t see her before I left for school. I didn’t mind because avoiding any talk about last night made it easier to pretend it hadn’t happened. School was recess from my weird life.
Josh met me at my locker and everything seemed okay between us. His dark eyes lit up when he saw me. Then he pulled me close for a “good morning” kiss. It felt comfortable being with him. He was so uncomplicated—things were either good-bad or right-wrong to him. It was tempting to lean against his dependable shoulders and pour out all my worries. But that would just complicate things.
So when he asked how I was doing, I lied. Everything was fine—never better. When he wanted to know what I’d done last night, I shut out the memory of the “Die Witches” threat. I shrugged like my life was boring.
“I played cards with Nona and some of her friends,” I said.
“Your grandmother seems cool,” Josh said with an approving look. “It’s great how you hang out with her like a girlfriend.”
“Nona doesn’t seem old to me,” I said with a wry smile.
Josh smiled back. “I know what you mean. When I’m at senior centers, I get to talking to the residents and sometimes forget the age difference, they’re so interesting. Like this one woman told me all about driving alone to Alaska in an old jalopy before there were modern freeways.”
I listened without saying much as I spun my locker combination. Josh always had something going on. It was cool how he could multitask so many activities: homework, school council, apprentice-magician meetings, and volunteer work.
Today he was excited about a new project.
“You know how I like to help kids?” he asked.
I nodded, pulling two textbooks from my locker. When Josh was young, his older brother was in an accident, and Josh spent a lot of time in hospital waiting rooms. His only happy moments had been when the Amazing Arturo—a stage magician who volunteered regularly at hospitals—taught him magic tricks. When Josh’s brother died, Arturo took him on as an apprentice, inviting him into a secret society of professional magicians. Josh coped with his grief by performing some of these tricks at hospitals. Instead of wallowing in his loss, he used his new skills to help others—one of the many things I admired about him.
“I just found out about a program where disadvantaged kids are paired with teen mentors on a weekend horseback riding campout,” Josh explained. “It’s called Hoof Beats in Moonlight.”
“Very cool! Are you going to be a mentor?”
“Yeah. It’ll be great to help with homeless and foster kids who have never ridden a horse or gone camping. Some live in terrible conditions and are lucky to get fed regularly. A weekend outdoors will give them a different outlook on life.”
“When are you leaving?”
“A week and a half.”
“Isn’t that Thanksgiving?”
“Only on Thursday—and most of these kids will be celebrating in a shelter anyway. The campout is from Friday to Sunday. This will be an adventure the kids will never forget,” he added with shining eyes.
When he was like this—idealistic and passionate—it
With a slamming force, I smacked into something solid. Gravity smothered me like a mountain of heavy blankets. I was back in my bed, trapped in a suffocating body. Gasping for breath, I bolted upright and grabbed a handful of my hair. Long and blond. Not red. I was in my own lavender room with a braided rug over the wood floor, a glowing night-light, and shades of lavender, not green and blue reflections of another personality.
Even when things started to make sense, I could hardly believe it.
I’d astral traveled over one hundred miles. But instead of finding Opal or Agnes, I’d found my half-sister, Jade.
And I’d spied on her.
Again.
Nona slept even later than I did, so I didn’t see her before I left for school. I didn’t mind because avoiding any talk about last night made it easier to pretend it hadn’t happened. School was recess from my weird life.
Josh met me at my locker and everything seemed okay between us. His dark eyes lit up when he saw me. Then he pulled me close for a “good morning” kiss. It felt comfortable being with him. He was so uncomplicated—things were either good-bad or right-wrong to him. It was tempting to lean against his dependable shoulders and pour out all my worries. But that would just complicate things.
So when he asked how I was doing, I lied. Everything was fine—never better. When he wanted to know what I’d done last night, I shut out the memory of the “Die Witches” threat. I shrugged like my life was boring.
“I played cards with Nona and some of her friends,” I said.
“Your grandmother seems cool,” Josh said with an approving look. “It’s great how you hang out with her like a girlfriend.”
“Nona doesn’t seem old to me,” I said with a wry smile.
Josh smiled back. “I know what you mean. When I’m at senior centers, I get to talking to the residents and sometimes forget the age difference, they’re so interesting. Like this one woman told me all about driving alone to Alaska in an old jalopy before there were modern freeways.”
I listened without saying much as I spun my locker combination. Josh always had something going on. It was cool how he could multitask so many activities: homework, school council, apprentice-magician meetings, and volunteer work.
Today he was excited about a new project.
“You know how I like to help kids?” he asked.
I nodded, pulling two textbooks from my locker. When Josh was young, his older brother was in an accident, and Josh spent a lot of time in hospital waiting rooms. His only happy moments had been when the Amazing Arturo—a stage magician who volunteered regularly at hospitals—taught him magic tricks. When Josh’s brother died, Arturo took him on as an apprentice, inviting him into a secret society of professional magicians. Josh coped with his grief by performing some of these tricks at hospitals. Instead of wallowing in his loss, he used his new skills to help others—one of the many things I admired about him.
“I just found out about a program where disadvantaged kids are paired with teen mentors on a weekend horseback riding campout,” Josh explained. “It’s called Hoof Beats in Moonlight.”
“Very cool! Are you going to be a mentor?”
“Yeah. It’ll be great to help with homeless and foster kids who have never ridden a horse or gone camping. Some live in terrible conditions and are lucky to get fed regularly. A weekend outdoors will give them a different outlook on life.”
“When are you leaving?”
“A week and a half.”
“Isn’t that Thanksgiving?”
“Only on Thursday—and most of these kids will be celebrating in a shelter anyway. The campout is from Friday to Sunday. This will be an adventure the kids will never forget,” he added with shining eyes.
When he was like this—idealistic and passionate—it
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