Paranormal Twins: The New Beginning

“How did this happen?” I asked for the third time in a row. Tadashi ran his fingers through his hair and looked to the kitchen, where Andrew was making coffee, then to Corey, who was in the recliner with Sage in his lap. Sage’s tail never stopped moving, indicating she was worried. Tadashi looked back at me.

“We were eating at Applebee’s.” He started again. “Jakki went to the bathroom. Not even five minutes later I heard a crash coming from that way. Nobody seemed to notice except for me, since we were already sitting so close to the bathroom, so I got up and snuck in. The mirror was smashed to pieces on the ground and I could sense magic had been used. And Jakki wasn’t in there at all.”

“How do you know it was Rogues?” Sage asked.

Tadashi jumped off the couch and started pacing in annoyance. “Well, I don’t know what else it could have been!” He exclaimed, throwing his arms up and hitting the coffee mugs in Andrew’s hands. Hot coffee spilled onto his hands and he dropped one of the mugs. It shattered across the floor and everyone froze, staring at the broken pieces.

Tadashi bit his lip and looked up at Andrew, who had his finger in his mouth to soothe what must have been a burn the coffee gave him. Tadashi sighed, looked down, and snapped his fingers. The shattered pieces of the coffee mug started fixing themselves and moved back together. The mug moved up to the table where Andrew put the rest of the coffee, unbroken and filled to the top.

“How did you...?” I asked out loud.

“I’m a Wizard. I can do magic.” He looked at Andrew and touched his hand. Andrew looked at his finger and the red mark from the coffee burn was gone.

“Thanks, Dashi,” he said and sat down on the arm of the sofa. Tadashi sat on the couch next to him, sighed, and took his glasses off his face to clean them.

“Are we just going to sit here or are we going to actually do something?” I asked, trying to not let my annoyance show in my voice. Tadashi put his glasses back on his face and rested his elbows on his knees.

“Jay… I think you need to calm down.” Corey said quietly. “We’ll tell the Leaders and they can figure it out. This isn’t the first time someone has gotten kidnapped.”

“No!” Tadashi exclaimed, though without jumping up this time. Everyone looked at him in shock.

“Tadashi, you know we have to inform the Leaders. You’re the Advisor. What’s gotten into you?” Corey said, unbelief at what Tadashi was saying written all over his face.

“We’re not telling the Leaders anything. They will put me on Suspension and I won’t be able to do anything. No, we’re doing this by ourselves.”

Sage, with a bewildered look on her face, shook her head. “Tadashi, you know we can’t do that. If we got caught we’d all get in trouble. None of us are Hunters, or Spies, or Researchers. We can’t do this. We need to tell the Leaders. Or at least Rain and Ryan.”

Andrew, who stayed quiet so far, bit his lip and looked down. “I agree with Tadashi.” He looked up at all of us. “Everything we say in this room stays in this room. We don’t tell anyone. We do it all ourselves. Got it?”

I shook my head and interrupted them. “Okay, guys, this is getting ridiculous. I don’t care how we find Jakki. Telling the Leaders, not telling the Leaders, none of that matters. I just want her found.”

Tadashi looked at me sadly. “I’m sorry about this. If I knew this was going to happen I never would have let it. We’ll find your sister. I promise.”

Sage bit her lip and asked the question she’s probably been wondering for a while. “What do you mean by that, anyway? I’ve known him since we were five when I was assigned to him. Jay doesn’t have a sister.”

I looked down and sighed. “When we came here yesterday, when the Leaders… Well, Mae…” I sighed and started over. “Mae talked to us and told us we were twins. I didn’t believe it. I couldn’t believe it. I’m an only child. Always have been. But...” I hesitated and clutched at my shirt, over my heart. “There’s this feeling… Deep inside… Clutching at me… Ever since I saw her, well… I didn’t want to listen to it, but...” I felt tears pricking at my eyes and I wiped at my face.

Sage got off the chair and hugged me. I hugged her back tightly. After a few moments she went back to Corey and sat back down with him. Tadashi looked like he was going to say something, but thought better of it closed his mouth. Instead he said something else. “So, we need a plan.”

I closed my eyes and sighed. All of a sudden an image of a black truck flashed through my head. I scrunched up my eyebrows and concentrated on the car. It was driving down a road quickly, like it was trying to get away from something. Or it had something that they shouldn’t have.

The truck reached an old mansion surrounded by trees. It looked like it hasn’t been used for years. It was breaking apart and rotting. I saw a man and a woman climb out of the car. The woman looked like a rich supermodel, but the man looked like he was some guy she picked up off the side of the road. The man went to the back of the truck and pulled what looked like an unconscious girl out into his arms.

I willed the image to move closer and I realized it was Jakki. Whoever they were, they had Jakki! I watched the man follow the woman inside the house, carrying Jakki. I watched them, and tried to see the numbers on the side of the house. 843-

“Jay!” I heard someone yell in my ear. I opened my eyes and pushed Sage out of my face.

“Jay? What happened?” Tadashi asked. I bit my lip.

“Well… I think I know where Jakki is…” I told them what I saw in my head and Tadashi clapped his hands.

“Brilliant.” He looked at Andrew and Corey. “You two, look on the computers and find anything you can about an abandoned mansion.” Corey nodded.

Andrew looked at me, confused. “How did you see that?”

I bit my lip. “I… Sometimes I can see things after they happened… Things that I wasn’t there for… Like, I figured out that an opposing baseball team cheated after the game ended, because I saw them scuffing the ball so it was harder for our team to hit the ball. I could see my mom fighting off men in my house, but when I was home she had already… Well, the fight happened at least an hour beforehand.” I looked down. “It’s always been this way. For as long as I can remember.”

Tadashi looked at me strangely. “That sounds like… But that’s not possible… You’re already...”

Sage interrupted him. “We’re supposed to find Jakki. So Corey, Andrew, look up that house. Jay, go home and get some sleep.” She hesitated. “Actually, we all need sleep. We can start fresh tomorrow.” Everyone looked around and nodded. Sleep sounded good.