Velocity (The Gravity Series) Read online

  I shut my eyes and let the music carry me away.

  I dreamed of the burning tree again, glowing against a dark, unforgiving sky. The crisp leaves curled as the fire consumed them. At the base of the tree was a gaping hole.

  I felt someone shaking me awake. My face was mushed against the window glass.

  “We’re almost there,” Hugh said. It was dark, but outside the window I could make out lush greenery dusted lightly with snow. Vines snaked up trees that I couldn’t make out the tops of. “Does he live in the middle of the forest?”

  “Must be,” Lucy said, watching the GPS on the dash. “As long as Noah’s given us the right address.”

  “I double-checked it before I left,” Hugh said, but he didn’t sound too sure, either.

  Icy rain was plunking on the windshield. We drove down a series of dirt roads almost too narrow for more than one car. There was a clearing and the Golem’s brother’s house came into view.

  It was a small brick cottage, the exterior coated with dead ivy leaves, and a thin layer of white snow on the roof. It reminded me of the pig who built the brick house to keep out the wolf. The grass was tall and bushy, growing over the stone path. Swooping hills and valleys stretched out behind the house. A long porch wrapped around the front, held up by sagging posts. It looked like controlled chaos.

  “Maybe you should text Noah,” Lucy suggested, peering out of the windshield. “I can’t tell if anyone is even living here.”

  “There are lights on. And the car’s in the garage behind the house,” Hugh pointed out. “He said his brother was expecting us.”

  The four of us walked up the steps to the porch, not saying a word. Even though it was a little place, it was somehow intimidating. Standing beneath the little porch roof, we huddled together. Hugh pressed the bell and we heard it intone deep inside. I shifted around, feeling like a trespasser. Then we heard footsteps draw close, and the door creaked open on rusty hinges.

  A man appeared, looking like an older version of my Mr. Golem, with a longer, more lined face and salt and pepper hair. He had a priest’s uniform on, a square of white at the collar. The uniform struck me as surprising, and apparently it did to Hugh.

  “Are you Luke?” he asked. The priest appeared hesitant for a moment, like he was about to start something he didn’t want to.

  Finally, he nodded. “You’re Hugh. We met once, but it was a long time ago, during school.” The two men shook hands, and he turned his attention to Lucy, outstretching his hand. “And you’re Lucy Vore? A friend of ours?”

  Ours? I didn’t miss the friendly term.

  Hugh nodded. “And these are our daughters, Ariel and Theo.”

  “Welcome.” Luke smiled, still with the same hesitant, careful demeanor. “Please, come inside. Don’t want to catch your death of cold.” He stepped back so we could enter his house. He smiled directly at me as I passed, and there was something knowing in his eyes, like he could see right through me.

  CHAPTER 4

  “TO BE HONEST, I didn’t expect a priest,” Hugh said as Luke shut us into his warm house. “I didn’t even know you were Catholic.” The house smelled pleasantly of cinnamon and spices. Heavy shutters covered all the windows I could see, and although the house was cluttered it was tidy and inviting. The same tamed chaos as in the garden.

  Luke chuckled quietly. “We grew up Catholic, but my brother renounced the faith after our…experiences. I drew closer to God and found my faith a source of comfort and clarity.”

  He led us down the hall, lined with shelves full of antiques. Different clocks sat on every surface, all ticking away in perfect harmony. We entered a living room with rose-patterned, overstuffed couches. A fire was burning in the cozy stone fireplace, and there were more clocks on the mantle. I wondered how he got them so evenly set.

  Each of us took a seat on the couches. Paintings of flowered meadows and log cabins decorated the walls. There was no TV or electronics of any kind visible, like we’d stepped into the last century. A fine layer of dust had settled on most of the objects displayed.

  “Would any of you like something to drink?” Luke asked, still standing and appearing nervous again as he folded his hands. “I apologize, I don’t have much. I haven’t been to the grocery store yet this week, but I can brew some tea.”

  “Tea would be lovely,” Lucy said, speaking for us. None of the rest of us knew where to start. Luke used the request to dash out of the room.

  “He doesn’t really seem like he’s happy we’re here, does he?” Hugh whispered to us.

  Lucy shrugged, not one to be impolite.

  “Maybe he’s not crazy about getting involved,” Theo whispered back. We sat in awkward silence, trying not to stare at each other.

  A kettle started to whistle. Luke returned minutes later carrying a tray with a teapot and some blue china cups.

  “So, let’s get started,” Hugh said, avoiding further pleasantries. “Noah said that you had some information that would help us against our enemies.”

  Luke sipped at his own tea. “Did my brother tell you why we left Hell after high school?”

  Hugh shook his head. “I remember that you moved pretty abruptly. But he came back to teach when Hawthorne was renovated. We never really spoke about it. I figured hometown pride brought him back.”

  “You probably didn’t know about our younger sister, Marnie. She was in middle school when Noah was a junior.”

  Hugh appeared to wrack his own brain. “I don’t really remember,” he apologized. “I’m sorry, so much has happened.”

  “That’s okay,” Luke said with a wave of one hand. “Your paths wouldn’t have crossed and neither my brother nor I like talking about it.”

  He took a deep breath and set down his tea cup. “Marnie was a quiet girl who always had her head in the clouds or a book. She tried not to stick out, but the children at school picked on her and called her a witch because of the dark dresses she wore. On several occasions, they even threw rocks at her. She drew away from us more as she got older, and we didn’t understand why. Finally, she revealed to us that she saw the spirits of dead people all the time. She had horrible dreams. It was all too much for her and she thought she was going insane. Soon after that, she jumped off of the Mason Bridge and killed herself. It was what I’d later come to understand is called the Sight.”

  He took a photo housed in a round, braided silver frame down from the mantle. It showed a girl with a shy smile and her hair parted down the middle. “This is Marnie, taken that last year before she died.”

  I shivered, picturing the young girl with mournful eyes giving up and jumping to her death.

  “I’m so sorry,” Lucy murmured.

  Luke’s eyes clouded over, but then it passed as he drew himself together. “That was before you and my brother stopped Phillip Rhodes’s ritual plot. But we had all sensed the evil lurking in Hell. Our family moved away soon after.”

  “Why did Mr. Golem―Noah, sorry―why did he come back?” I asked, riveted.

  “My brother felt called back a few years ago. And even as far away as I am, I can feel the evil radiating from that town.”

  We listened to the clocks ticking in the gloomy room.

  “Do you think you have the Sight, like your sister?” I asked. “Did your mother?”

  Golem shook his head. “Not to my knowledge. Mom never said anything about it, but she was a homebody before she passed. Occasionally an item would go missing and she’d blame it on a dead relative, but that was it. We didn’t tell her about Marnie’s visions.”

  Hugh cleared his throat. “From what I’ve read on the matter, siblings of those affected with Sight have residual effects,” he said. “The ability to sense things—feelings, hunches.”

  “Like Aunt Corinne? She told me she didn’t inherit Eleanor’s gift, but she did say that she sensed spirits. I’ve always thought she was full of hot air, but maybe she really does feel spirits nearby?”

  “Yeah, she didn’t seem to happ
y that you could see ghosts and she couldn’t,” Theo said, rubbing her elbow.

  My father nodded and looked back at Luke, who was refilling the teacups.

  “So, what do you have to help us?” Hugh asked. “Just information? I don’t mean to be rude, but we could have spoken over the phone…”

  “Wait here,” Luke said, as he stood and retreated from the room. He came back moments later with a basket containing a cloth bundle.

  “Your daughter is the one, correct?” Luke asked Hugh. He nodded. I felt a weird sense of anticipation and nerves as Luke brought the basket over to me.

  “How did you know?” I asked him, tilting my head.

  “You’re very warm,” Luke said. “When I shook your hand, I noticed it.”

  He took the cloth off of the object and held it in his hand. I was momentarily disappointed, though I don’t know what fancy thing I had been expecting. It was a medium-sized black rock with thin, white veins running through it. He handed it to me.

  “Why are you giving me a Pet Rock?” I asked, raising my eyebrow.

  My father and Lucy laughed, but seemed equally perplexed. A grin appeared in the corner of Luke’s lined mouth. “This rock is called a grounding stone. My sister entrusted it to me, before she died. She bought it from the owner of an occult store called the Blue Moon. She used it to step into moments from the past.”

  I turned the stone over in my hands. It was only a couple of inches wide, and flat on both sides. It looked like a stone I could pick up on the side of the road.

  “I watched her use it several times. It works,” Luke said softly, sensing my disbelief.

  I was intrigued, nonetheless. “How is that possible, though? How can a person actually see the past?”

  “My sister said it was like stepping back in time. She described it as like falling backwards. Her body stayed in place but her spirit was able to walk around.”

  “So, I can actually see events that have already happened? Do they have to be my own memories?”

  “No.”

  “How does it work?” Hugh interjected.

  “I only know how Marnie was taught,” Luke warned. “She used to lie down on the floor and place the stone over her heart. You envision the time of which you desire to visit, and then shut your eyes. You hold a clear idea of the time in your mind’s eye― the scenery, the people who were there. It took Marnie months of practice, but she got there eventually.”

  “We don’t have months,” Hugh said.

  “I want to try it,” I said. I started to take off my jacket. “Let’s do this thing.”

  Hugh held up his hand. “Wait.” He turned his attention back to Luke. “What are you not telling us? Is it dangerous? Did it contribute to Marnie’s decline?”

  The priest’s eyes looked guarded and sharp at the same time. “Whatever she saw made her unhappy. But she used it to spy on the people who were picking on her, to confirm all of her worst fears. I don’t know if it’s dangerous. I do know that it puts the body in a kind of sleep state.”

  “Dad, I want to do it,” I insisted. “We could spy on Thornhill’s activities, on their past. There are so many possibilities.”

  “Ariel.” His eyes were hard.

  “I want to at least try,” I pleaded. “I probably won’t even be able to do it, if it took Marnie months. But I have to give it a chance. We’ve got to know what Thornhill’s plans are and what we’re up against. It’s too risky to send a spy in.”

  Hugh couldn’t really protest against me. “But what if you’re tempted to look at things you shouldn’t?”

  A quick rush of temptations went through my mind. I could go and spy on Lainey and Henry’s old relationship. I could go back and see Jenna, alive. But the new voice inside of me, which was gaining strength, firmly told me. No. Do not open that door.

  “I’m not going to do that.”

  “You can try it. But only for a few minutes,” Hugh relented.

  Luke cleared off one of the couches of pillows and instructed me to lay flat. I did as I was told, making myself comfortable.

  “How exactly do I do this?” I asked Luke, who was kneeling beside me.

  “Marnie always held a picture in her mind, a vague image of where she wanted to go. Sometimes she’d spy on people from school from events that she’d heard they went to. Like I said, it doesn’t have to be your own memory, but it would be helpful to use one as a starting point.”

  I settled down and lay the stone over my heart against my skin. It didn’t feel hot, or tingly, or anything, really. I couldn’t help but be skeptical. Statues on the mantle stared at me with tortured eyes.

  “That’s roughly where my heart is, right?” I asked Theo. She nodded, pursing her lips and tilting her hand back and forth.

  “I think I remember that from health class,” Theo said.

  “You look like a corpse,” Hugh said without a drop of humor. We were both thinking of another recently dead body―one wearing a bad wig and far too much makeup to cover the brutalized side of her face.

  “Hold a steady, clear thought,” Luke repeated. “As much detail as you can imagine. And picture yourself there. Marnie said it felt like falling. Just don’t expect miracles―so to speak― the first time. You are basically catching a moment out of the ether like a slippery fish in a fast stream.”

  They all clustered around and watched me as I lay there. No one so much as breathed. As I lay there with my eyes closed, the silence grew deafening.

  “Uh, guys?” I cracked one eye open. “All of you watching me is weirding me out. Can you at least pretend to talk about something else?”

  Sitting back, they began to mumble quietly about the weather. My thoughts drifted to different topics. I thought about how long it had been since I watched TV. I wondered if I would miss any tests in school.

  When I felt comfortable, I searched around in my head for a memory I wanted to revisit. I stared at the blackness behind my lids, waiting for a spark of inspiration to light it up like a planetarium.

  Randomly, I thought about my seventh birthday party. I don’t know why it popped into my head. I’d told myself I wouldn’t look at anything too personal, but it was the strongest thought I could muster.

  I pictured Claire and I both standing at the kitchen counter in front of my birthday cake, covered in candles. There was a picture of it on the wall at home, our mouths perfect circles, ready to make a wish and blow out the flames. I tried to imagine it as clearly as I could in my head.

  Then I felt myself falling backward, my stomach dropping, and I knew I was leaving my body. I tumbled down and through myself.

  CHAPTER 5

  SUDDENLY, I WAS standing in my house. Only it didn’t look the same. I recognized the old tea colored wallpaper in the living room from when I was a child. The decor was distinctly early nineties. I could hear Claire’s voice, younger and sweeter, coming from the kitchen, and my breath caught in my mouth as it froze open.

  I went on careful footsteps toward her voice. Little seven year old me was standing on a step stool next to my mother as my party guests watched nearby. The pink cake was decorated with seven hot pink candles and a frosted pony with candy eyes. Claire and kid-Ariel blew out the candles and everyone clapped.

  “Did you make a wish?” Claire asked.

  “Yep. I’m not telling you what it is, though. I want it to come true,” I’d said. Claire smiled at her daughter and my heart ached inside my chest.

  The adults all looked so much younger―my father with his goofy, long grunge hair and my Aunt Corinne’s eternally scowling face. Jenna was there with other little girls, wearing party dresses, and so was Mr. Warwick, standing off to the side with a beer in his hand.

  For a second, a chill of fear hit me. Would he see me? Would any of them? But I was close and they looked right through me. None of them knew I was there.

  “Because I’m not,” I whispered to myself. “I’m not here.”

  I walked around and looked at my mom. She was y
oung and carefree and beautiful in a red party dress. She stared at the birthday girl lovingly, and then cut a slice of cake and put it on a pink plate. The love in her eyes was unmistakable, and tears sprung into my own. What had happened to make her give up on me? To make her simply toss me aside for Thornhill?

  “Can I open the big present first?” kid-Ariel asked.

  Claire kissed the top of her dark hair. “Sure, honey.”

  I wiped the tears from my cheeks. I couldn’t stay here. It was so much more intense and vivid than I had imagined.

  I could see why Marnie had been driven mad.

  I tried to focus back on where I’d come from, the ticking clocks of Luke’s house. The bright flames of the candles began to dim, and I felt myself catapulting back up to the surface.

  I knew I could easily go all the way up and open my eyes. I could feel the smooth weight of the stone on my chest again, and hear the faint ticking of the clocks. I could probably twitch my hands and feet. But I felt a rush from succeeding―I hadn’t thought it would be that easy. Instead, I decided to try a less personal memory.

  I pictured the photo in my parents’ senior yearbook, of the prayer group that the Thornhill people had been a part of. I tried to remember how everyone had looked, including Phillip and my mother, as teenagers. They had been standing around a flagpole holding hands, their heads bowed. I tried to remember the details.

  Phillip Rhodes was all teeth…

  Blackness gave way to gray. Then the swishing, stomach-drop feeling returned and I was free-falling into space.

  When I opened my eyes, I was standing in front of the flagpole. Phillip Rhodes and his entourage were clustered around it. I was standing off to the side on the grass. Behind them was the old Hawthorne building, built with ugly orange brick, and much smaller than the one I was currently attending. The flag flapped in the strong breeze, although the blue sky was sunny.

  “Wild,” I muttered to myself, but of course no one could hear me.

  A photographer was standing by, clad in black jeans and a long, ill-fitted suit jacket with a t-shirt beneath it. One side of his hair was cut shorter than the other, and his face was oily and acne-pitted. In his hands he clutched a gigantic camera with a strap that looped around his neck, and a cigarette rested behind each of his ears.