Warden Fall Read online

  Maya shifted on the uncomfortable chair in Mrs. Blakeley’s classroom and slipped her pencil into her backpack. Sad her tutoring session was already over, she closed the trigonometry book and handed it to Eric. “It’s really not all that hard, is it?”

  “Not when you do it the way you showed me. Why doesn’t she teach that way in class? This everyday math crap they’re selling is killing me.” His smile widened. “Hey, listen, thanks. I mean, really.”

  “Save it. You didn’t pass your trig test yet.”

  His head tilted just slightly to the side. His bangs shifted across his forehead. “Yeah, I was kind of hoping you’d work with me again on Tuesday so it’ll be fresh on Wednesday morning.”

  Maya’s heart fluttered. Other than struggling with books at their lockers, she’d never been so close to Eric, and definitely not for this long. He was just as nice as she’d always dreamed, nothing like the egomaniacs he’d been hanging with lately. She could sit with him like this forever. And with Eric learning at the same time, who could cry foul?

  She smiled. “Sure. Let’s plan on it.”

  His eyes softened. “You know, you should have gotten contacts earlier. You really have pretty eyes.”

  Her fluttering heart pulled into a ball and tried to bounce into her throat. “I-I do?”

  “Have you thought about going to the game with me?”

  The blood rushed out of every vein in her body, weakening her. Any other day, his words would have been a thrill. Today, their emptiness crushed her. For the past three years, all she’d dreamed of was Eric. Now here he was, making the offer she’d dreamed of, but knowing his feelings were fabricated left her feeling lost and disgusted with herself. This was wrong, and she needed to make it right.

  “What about Kelli?”

  His eyes widened. “Kelli? Oh, we broke up yesterday.”

  Yesterday? When had Maya’s powers started showing up? Could she have wished for Eric yesterday? Had she even thought of him? Stupid. When hadn’t she been thinking of him over the past few years?

  That was probably the first thing she’d made happen, she just wasn’t there to see them break up. But what about their locker suck fest? “You two looked pretty chummy this morning.”

  Eric pursed his lips and shook his head. “She’s being ridiculous. She freaking ambushed me this morning. I had to push her off.”

  Maya folded her arms, unconvinced.

  “Really! I dragged her to Mr. Johnson’s classroom to avoid a scene. I told her she had to leave me alone. And then she has the stones to show up again at lunch.”

  Kelli’s arrival during lunch had sparked an instant fight. If she and Eric really were broken up, then going to the game with him, even if it was all smoke and mirrors, wouldn’t be all that bad. No one would get hurt, so why not? Maya deserved to be on the winning end of something for once.

  “You know what? I’ve been meaning to learn about football anyway.”

  Eric’s smile lit up the room. “Awesome!” He grabbed his book bag. “Listen, I need to catch the late bus, but I’ll see you tomorrow, okay?”

  “Yep. Locker talk. You got it.”

  He opened the door, and a gentle breeze shifted his layered hair. Eric winked and offered that million dollar smile before he slipped through.

  Maya allowed a cleansing breath to fill her lungs and chase away the doubts building in her mind. Being a warden meant things would go right for her from now on, and she needed to get used to that. The time for paying her dues was over.

  She grabbed her bag and opened the door, but a mass of blonde curls blocked her vision as a shove to the chest pushed her back into the class room. The door banged shut, and Kelli’s glazed, red eyes seared into Maya.

  “What game are you playing, freak?” the cheerleader asked.

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Maya pushed down a flash of heat running through her.

  “Yes, you do. Eric, you idiot.” Kelli pointed to herself. “My boyfriend.”

  “We were just studying.”

  “Studying, my ass.” She grabbed Maya by the collar.

  The scent of smoke on Kelli’s breath sent a ball of bile into Maya’s throat.

  The cheerleader’s nose flared. “You keep away from him.”

  She pushed Maya away and headed for the door, clipping the side of a desk in her haste. Kelli cried out and grabbed her hip as Maya chuckled.

  Kelli’s eyes flared. “You think this is funny, freak?”

  A few days earlier, Maya would have been terrified, but knowing that all she needed to do was wish Kelli gone… well, she wouldn’t do that, but the thought satisfied her immensely.

  “I don’t want to see you anywhere near him again. You hear?” Kelli grunted and slipped out the door.

  The chuckle finally freed itself. Kelli Jorganson was jealous of her, a little freak.

  Well, little freaks don’t always sit in the back of class. Little freaks don’t always get pushed around. Okay, well, maybe they do, but no more. This little freak was going to change things.

  Maya caught her reflection in the mirror and stood taller. Her hair had thickened, spreading in shimmering, dark cascades around her shoulders. Kelli was afraid of losing what she had to the likes of Maya.

  Satisfaction flowed through Maya’s veins. Kelli should be afraid. Maya the freak was gone, and Maya the warden knew exactly what she wanted.

  * * * *

  The sun shimmered across Maya’s cheeks, warming her skin to match her mood. As she approached her house, a buzz sounded from her right before a nasty black fly bumped her on the forehead. A wave of her hand failed to shoo it away, and the relentless bug continued to bash into her head and tangle within her hair.

  “Stop it, you stinking…”

  The annoying buzz stopped, and the fly fell to the sidewalk at her feet. She stared at the small black dot on the concrete, puzzling over the suddenly lifeless bug. Had she wished it dead? She didn’t think so, but there it lay. She shrugged. One less fly in the world was a good thing, no matter how it happened.

  Maya continued into her house, allowing the cool caress of air conditioning to welcome her home. This is what she needed: normalcy, anything to make her forget the lunacy of this day. She shifted her backpack from her shoulder and dropped her books on the kitchen table. Part of her wanted to discount everything that had happened as a ridiculous daydream, but it wasn’t. As crazy as it sounded, Maya was a warden.

  Did Mom have any idea? Did she just pick out a cute baby that happened to be a warden, or did they tell her that Maya was special? Had mom volunteered, knowing what her daughter would become? How had she kept this for Maya all these years?

  She shook her head. Mom had no idea. There’s no way she’d leave Maya home alone so much if she knew her daughter would one day sprout uncontrollable supernatural abilities.

  The mound of texts loomed before her. Even magical powers didn’t get Maya out of a dull afternoon of history and essays. Unless…

  She pulled the trigonometry book from the pile. “I wish all my homework was done. Except for trig.”

  The books and papers blurred and quickly came back into focus. Maya opened her notebooks and gasped, finding her own handwriting on the pages. That’s a timesaver.

  Setting her trigonometry book to the side for a moment, she reached for the refrigerator and closed her eyes, dreaming of a slice of flan. Not just any flan, but the thick and creamy flan from the hole-in-the-wall restaurant her family stumbled on in Virginia last summer. Yes, that was exactly what she wanted.

  She opened the door and smiled. A white foam leftover carton lay centered on the top shelf where the eggs had been that morning. She licked her lips in anticipation, grabbing the carton and popping it open. A huge round yellow mound of custard lay nestled in a dark brown caramel sauce.

  Maya scooped a spoonful, dipping it into the caramel, and let the syrupy goodness roll over her tongue. She giggled
as her cheeks flushed with the rush of sugar, just as she remembered. This had turned into the most perfect day ever.

  Well, almost.

  Her gaze wavered between her trig book and the television. How long had it been since she had a lazy afternoon, doing absolutely nothing? Unable to remember, she pushed the book to the side. “I want all the math homework done, too.”

  She opened her skill book and smiled as penned-in numbers wrote themselves across the page. Exhilaration fluttered her heart. “Finish it all for the rest of the year.”

  The pages flipped before her eyes, filling with her own handwriting before settling on the last blank page.

  So much for homework. Maya stuffed the notebooks into her backpack and settled on the couch with her flan. The dessert’s sweetness began to turn her stomach, and she set it aside. The sight of her book bag on the table gnawed at her gut. She should have done her homework. Just because she could do it with her powers didn’t mean that she should do it that way.

  Leaving the flan on the end table, she returned to the kitchen. “All right. Undo all the trig and open to today’s assignments.”

  The notebooks flew from her backpack. The pages flipped, and the books moved into position, but her writing still scrolled across the pages.

  “No undo, huh?” Chewing the inside of her cheek didn’t provide any fresh ideas. “Okay, then. How about I wish that the ink never got on the paper?” The clock on the wall ticked behind her, but the pages remained the same. “Interesting.”

  She tapped her eraser against her lips, considering her options. What would she have done yesterday, when she was plain old Maya?

  Just do it. That’s what.

  She ripped a page out of her notebook and scrolled the problems across the sheet the old-fashioned way: in pencil. The simple satisfaction of engaging with the numbers and the scratching of a good old pencil on the lined paper brought her a quirky amount of joy. Numbers she understood. Numbers she could trust.

  But the flan whispered to her from the end table, reminding her of everything she didn’t have, that she could gain with nothing more than a thought. Maya struggled against the pull, focusing back on her numbers. But the flan and everything it represented continued to whisper to her until she shoved earphones into her ears and lost herself in music and homework, as if it were any other day.

  Chapter Four

  The next morning, Maya rolled over and scowled at the sunshine peeking through her bedroom blinds. Slapping the alarm clock, she yawned, wishing she was already downstairs, dressed and ready for school.

  Her stomach lurched, and everything became a blur. She fell out of bed and shrieked as her feet landed on the floor in the downstairs foyer.

  Adrenaline pulsed through her veins, and the wall provided little comfort to her trembling hands. Slow, calculated breaths eased her terror only slightly. She ran her hands over the jeans and T-shirt that had replaced the flannel pajamas she wore a moment ago. She settled onto the couch, rubbing her damp palms on her jeans.

  The clock on the wall ticked in rhythm with her heartbeat. Seventeen ticks for seventeen beats. Maya shuddered. She really could make anything happen— even what she really didn’t want to happen. She didn’t want to be fully dressed and teleported across the house.

  Or did she?

  Maya closed her eyes and concentrated on the quiet and the ticking of the clock. Why did they have a ticking clock anyway? No one used old-fashioned clocks anymore.

  Silence loomed around her, and her eyes sprang open. Maya pushed up from her seat and slowly approached the clock. The second hand remained stationary. Why had it stopped? She swished aside the curtain. A few feet from the window, a sparrow hung in the air, wings raised in flight, but frozen in the space between two trees. Had she stopped time? Was that even possible?

  She blinked, and the bird continued flying to the branch. The clock ticked beside her. How had time restarted? She hadn’t wished anything. At least she didn’t think she had.

  Maya rubbed her shoulder, warding off a chill that hadn’t come from the air conditioning. If she didn’t find a way to control her stray thoughts, she didn’t even want to think of what might happen.

  The clock chimed the half-hour: time for school. She needed to force herself to be normal. She needed to focus on reality, on keeping things as they were.

  Maya reached for her book bag, and it flew into her hand. She turned to the door, and it opened before she’d even neared it. Focus, Maya. Stop making stuff happen.

  Throwing her bag over her shoulder, she treaded down the street. She should try to contact Darius. But how would she even find him? If he was supposed to be her guide, why hadn’t he told her how to control her power?

  A cat jumped out of a bush and hissed.

  Maya jumped back, gasping as the animal scampered toward the street. “Stupid cat! I hope you get hit by a bus!”

  The screeching of tires sent a chill spiraling through her spine. She turned in time to see the animal’s tail disappear under a car’s wheels. Maya’s jaw fell as her gaze found the license plate. MOM-BUS.

  She backed away. “Oh, God!”

  She sprinted toward school, forgetting about making it to the bus stop. Darius! Darius can you hear me? I need help!

  The cat shouldn’t be dead. She said the words, but she didn’t mean them. Shouldn’t her thoughts know the difference?

  She turned onto Jarvis road and called into the air, “Darius? Where are you?”

  Silence greeted her before a blue sedan passed. She crossed into the school parking lot, passing the fields littered with glistening solar panels. Do not think. Do not think. The rectangular sentries lined the grounds like dominoes about to fall, ruining any natural beauty that once grew there. Crap like that was an eyesore. She wished…

  No! She didn’t wish anything! Do not think. Do not think.

  Maya hunched her shoulders to avoid any chance of conversation in the school hallway. No! Don’t talk to me. Do not think. She spun her combination and grabbed only the necessities from her locker. Worried that she might have a stray thought, she didn’t pause like she normally did to give Eric more time to get to his locker. She kept her head down, counting the tiles on the floor as she strode to homeroom and sat down, fumbling in her book bag for her English Lit book.

  Clutching the cover, she sat back. The pages of Dante’s Inferno beckoned to be read, but she couldn’t focus. The letters meant nothing, but she continued to concentrate on every word to center her mind and make sure nothing else happened. Where are you, Darius? Why aren’t you coming to help me?

  A tone sounding over the PA system startled her, and she concentrated on the morning announcements for the first time that school year.

  “The pep rally to support our own Timber Creek Chargers in tonight’s Divisional Championship game will be immediately after homeroom. Blocks one and two classes have been canceled for the rally.”

  Woots and cheers filled the room and echoed from the neighboring classrooms. Some kids might not be in to football, but everyone could get behind two classes being canceled in exchange for a big party. Maya sighed. It was probably for the best. A pep rally would keep her attention and stop her thoughts from straying.

  The hallways filled, and students funneled through the double doors that lead to the main gymnasium. Maya took a seat five rows up in the bleachers and frantically searched through the incoming throng in hopes of finding someone she knew so she wouldn’t feel so alone and geeky.

  “Maya!” Eric waved and ran up the steps. He high-fived a few guys from the track team before plopping down beside her. “I missed you at our lockers this morning. I thought maybe you were out sick or something.”

  Wow, he’d never come looking for her before.

  But wait. She’d been sitting here, searching for company. And then Eric just happens to come looking for her? Eric had hardly even looked at her outside of locker talk in weeks. Who was she kidding to think
that this was anything more than her magic mojo running on overtime?

  She shifted in her seat. “You don’t have to sit by me.”

  “I know I don’t. I want to.”

  Maya’s heart sank. His alluring blue eyes sparkled as his gaze fell on her. This was the kind of attention she’d always dreamed of. She should be happy, but instead a knot formed in her chest, squeezing her heart. “You never sat by me before.”

  “So, what? I want to sit with you now.” He slipped his hand into hers. The warmth of his touch sent a tingly thrill through her fingers.

  “Aren’t you afraid of someone seeing us together?”

  His eyes saddened. “Why would I care about that?”

  Maya mustered all her strength to pull her hand free. Losing his touch chilled her more deeply than she expected. “I don’t want you affected by this. Any of it. I want you to be who you always were.”

  His brow crinkled. “What are you talking about?”

  A small grunt sounded in his throat, and he rubbed his forehead. There it was: a confirmation of her powers messing with his brain and giving him a headache. She had to stop this. If only she knew how!

  Maya crossed her arms, hugging herself for comfort. Eric deserved better than her. He should make his own choices, not hers. Releasing him was the right thing to do. She took a deep breath, wished him free of her spell, and pushed with all her mental might.

  “Go-o-o-o-o, Chargers!” The cheerleaders sprang to the center of the gymnasium floor as loud rock music blasted over the speakers. The football team ran in through the four entrances, circling the waving pompoms before taking their places in the first two rows of bleachers below.

  The cheers continued for half an hour. The student body screamed, clapped, and stomped their feet, but it all seemed far away. Ethereal.

  Eric hooted and applauded his friends below. His presence, his Eric-ness, hung like a mist around them, tickling Maya’s cheeks with regret of what could have been. Why did he have to stay next to her? Why couldn’t he just get up and leave like every other guy on the planet?