“GOT YOUR TEXT,” I said as I burst out of the stadium and found Cassie waiting for me by the concession stand. “Where’s Gabe?”
“Gone.” Cassie’s face looked as stormy as the sky. “But you’ll never guess what he said before he took off.”
She filled me in, and my stomach sank. “Oh, no,” I said. “It sounds like our visions really are connected somehow.”
“Which means things are probably going down today,” Cass agreed grimly, glancing up at the sky.
“We have to warn Mom!” I exclaimed.
Cassie hesitated. “Are you sure? What are we going to say, exactly?”
I’d already turned to hurry back inside, but now I stopped, realizing she had a point. “I don’t know,” I said. “But we have to tell her something. We can’t just let this happen!”
“Whatever this is,” Cass said. “We still don’t know what’s going on.”
“But we know how it ends. Mom getting fired.” I shook my head, tears coming to my eyes. “We have to stop it.”
“I know. But how?” she said. “If we tell Mom we saw it happen in some freaky-deaky vision, she’ll have us committed.”
“So we don’t tell her that part.” I tugged on her sleeve. “Come on, there might not be much time.”
“But . . . ,” Cassie began.
Just then cheers erupted inside. The game was still going on, but it was almost halftime.
“I have a plan,” I lied. “Just follow along.”
I started moving a little faster, and by the time Cassie caught up with me, Mom had eyed us from her spot near the scoreboard. She said something to her fellow cops and came forward to meet us.
“Hi, girls,” she said cheerfully. “Having fun?”
“Sure,” I blurted out. “But listen, we think you need to, um, go back to the precinct.” I wasn’t quite sure why I said it, but somehow it made sense. After all, it was where both visions had taken place.
“Huh? Why?” Mom looked startled.
I was out of ideas. When I shot Cassie a desperate look, she flashed me an annoyed one. But then she turned to Mom.
“We heard whispering in the stands. Something about some trouble,” Cass said.
Mom furrowed her brow, studying each of us in turn. “What’s this really about, you two?”
“Can’t you just run over there?” I begged, feeling frantic as I saw the giant timer ticking down nearby. “It’ll only take a minute. It’s probably nothing, but . . .”
“But it could be something,” Cass said firmly. “We’re worried.”
“You are?” Mom still looked confused. “Both of you? What did you hear, exactly? It doesn’t sound like much to go on.”
“I know,” I said. “We just have a feeling about it, that’s all.”
“Yeah.” Cassie glanced at me. “Call it twintuition.”
Mom didn’t respond for a second as her eyes bored straight into my head. Then she turned and did the same to Cass. I held my breath, certain she was going to tell us to stop wasting her time.
But finally she shook her head. “I could use a few minutes away from this din anyway,” she said. “Wouldn’t hurt to check on the place—just in case. Let me tell the others where I’m going.”
None of us said much on the short ride through Aura’s deserted streets. The place was like a ghost town. Every single person seemed to be at the game. As we turned the corner onto the street where the precinct was located, I saw Cassie clutching the armrest in the front seat.
A second later Mom finally spoke. “Who’s that?” she muttered.
I leaned forward from the backseat, looking at the station ahead, its brick exterior dull beneath the cloudy sky. Not a single car was parked in the small lot, but a man in a blue shirt—just like the one in my vision—was opening the front door.
“Uncle Chuck!” Cassie blurted out.
Mom barely seemed to hear her. “That door is supposed to be locked!” she exclaimed. “Girls, stay right here.”
She grabbed the dashboard radio and barked out an order for backup. Then she swung out of the car, her hand on her pistol.
“Stop right there!” she shouted, rushing toward the man.
Cassie and I traded a wide-eyed look. “Whoa,” I said. “Go, Officer Mom! Go!”
Cassie opened the car door. “Come on,” she said.
“We can’t!” I said. “Mom said to stay here.”
She ignored me, sprinting after Mom. I hesitated only for a second, then followed.
When we caught up, Mom was facing off against Uncle Chuck. “What are you doing here?” she demanded. “You don’t work here anymore as far as I’m aware. And the precinct’s closed.”
“Doesn’t look like it to me.” Uncle Chuck jerked his chin toward the open door. “Looks to me like someone was careless. Weren’t you the one who was supposed to lock up?”
“How did you know that?” For a second Mom looked confused. Then her face cleared. “Wait a minute. Just as we were leaving, I got called back in for a phone call. But when I picked up, nobody was there.”
“It was him!” I blurted out. “Uncle Chuck. He probably called so you’d be the last one out!”
“Huh?” Uncle Chuck glanced at me. “What’d you call me, young lady? I ain’t your uncle.”
“We know your nephew,” Cassie told him. “He helped you with this whole plan, didn’t he?”
Mom looked confused again. “Girls,” she said sharply. “I thought I told you two to stay in the car.”
“Yeah, you girls should listen to your mama.” Uncle Chuck’s glare was poisonous. “If you were mine, I’d teach you a lesson.”
“That’s enough,” Mom snapped. “Now why don’t you tell me what you’re doing here, Mr. Campbell?”
“We can tell you, Mom,” Cassie spoke up again. “He’s trying to get you fired.”
“Yeah,” I said, my mind already working the angles. “I bet he was going to go in, maybe steal something or just mess stuff up. Then when everyone got back after the game later, you’d get blamed for forgetting to lock up on your way out.”
Was I imagining things, or did Mom look impressed?
Actually, Cassie looked kind of impressed, too.
“Cait’s right,” she said. “That’s exactly what he was planning. And his nephew Gabe was in on it, too.”
“What?” Uncle Chuck shook his head quickly. “That’s crazy. Leave my nephew out of it. He’s got nothing to do with any of this.”
I bit my lip, thinking again of my vision of Gabe and Uncle Chuck outside the station. The vision that Cass had seen come true yesterday. I still had a strong feeling it was all connected to this, but how?
“So does that mean you’re admitting the rest?” Mom asked Uncle Chuck sharply.
He glared at her, and then, slowly, he turned to us. “I ain’t admitting nothing,” he muttered. “Far as anyone knows, I was just wandering by and noticed the door was open.”
I was standing a little to one side and saw that Uncle Chuck was fiddling with something behind his back. The glint of metal caught a weak ray of sunlight peeking through the clouds. Could that be . . . ?
I thought fast. “Hey, look out!” I yelped suddenly. “Is that a rattlesnake?”
All three of them jumped, startled. “Where?” Uncle Chuck said.
I heard a soft clink as something hit the ground. Uncle Chuck dived for what he’d dropped, but I was faster.
“Hey, look what you dropped,” I said, holding it up. “A key! What do you wanna bet it fits the lock right here on the station door?”
“How did you get that?” Mom asked. “Only current employees—”
“I’m not saying nothing!” Uncle Chuck yelled, his face going bright red. “I’m a lifelong officer of the law—I know my rights!”
Mom rolled her eyes. Then she stepped toward me to take the key, keeping one eye on Uncle Chuck. “How did you girls figure out what he was up to?” She glanced at him. “Allegedly, that is, of course.” Her eyes flicked back to us. “Come to think of it, how’d you know I should head back here right now?”
Cass and I traded a look as I heard the sound of a siren coming fast. “Oh, it was nothing,” I said. “Just a bit of twintuition.”
THE NEXT FEW minutes passed in a whirl of confusion. Cassie and I stood back and watched as the police chief arrived, along with several other officers.
“He looks just like he did in my vision,” Cass whispered as the chief strode over to confront Uncle Chuck.
Just then Mom noticed we were still there. “You two—back to the game,” she ordered. “I’ll take you.”
The chief overheard her and looked our way. “No, you stay, Waters,” he called. “One of the boys will drive them.”
Despite our protests, we were herded into a car, and a tall, skinny young officer climbed into the driver’s seat. “I feel like a prisoner,” Cassie complained, leaning forward to peer at him. “You didn’t even read me my rights!”
The young cop grinned. “You have the right to remain silent,” he said. “But I got a couple girl cousins your age—and I know that ain’t likely to happen.”
I couldn’t help laughing. “Can you blame us?” I said. “We just helped stop, like, a totally dramatic crime.”
“Yeah.” The young officer’s smile faded, and he looked troubled. “Who’da thought Chuck would go all breaking-and-entering like that? Wonder what he was up to?”
“I guess we’ll find out,” I said, glancing at Cass.
When we arrived at the game, the fourth quarter had just started. Lavender was waiting for us right outside the bleachers.
“What happened?” she demanded. “Everyone’s saying you guys just busted Chuck Campbell while he was trying to burn down the police station.”
Cassie and I traded a look. “Not exactly,” Cass said. “But Chuck’s in big trouble anyway.”
“No surprise there,” Lavender muttered with a grimace.
“What do you mean?” I asked. “Do you know him?”
She shrugged. “Everyone in Aura knows him. The Campbells are always strutting around like they own this town.”
She sounded annoyed. Remembering what I’d heard about Lavender’s family, I guessed there might be some kind of competition between the Campbells and the Adamses. At least in Lavender’s mind.
“Okay,” Cassie was saying. “But I thought he was a cop.”
Lavender pursed her lips and glanced around. “I shouldn’t be telling you this. Can I trust you?” Her cool gaze rested on me.
“Cross our hearts,” Cassie said. “Spill it!”
Lavender leaned closer. “Most everyone in town thinks Chuck left the force on his own,” she said. “But Megan’s uncle is the chief of police and her mom is the mayor, and—”
“Really?” I broke in. “Wow!”
“Yeah.” Lavender shot me a look that told me exactly what she thought of being interrupted. “Anyway, Megan told me the real reason Chuck left is he got caught embezzling.”
I gasped. “Embezzling?” I said. “You mean, like, stealing money from the town?”
“I guess. So since he came from such a good family and all”—Lavender paused just long enough to roll her eyes—“the chief kept it all hush-hush. Didn’t want a scandal.”
Lavender looked disappointed. I guessed she was the type of person who loved a scandal. “Wow,” Cass said. “That’s heavy. I wonder—”
“Hey!” an angry voice interrupted.
Uh-oh. It was Gabe. He was barreling toward us, looking ready to explode.
“Yikes,” Cassie said. “Um, maybe we should go inside? You know—where there are some witnesses around?”
Cassie, Lavender, and I ducked into the stadium. Gabe caught up with us there.
“What did you do?” he shouted, giving Cassie a shove on the shoulder that sent her staggering back.
“Calm down,” I told him, glancing at the nearest set of bleachers. Several people were looking our way, attracted by the shouting. “We’re not the ones who did anything. All we did was—”
“Shut up!” He whirled on me, his eyes so angry it was scary. “Just shut up, okay? Nobody wants you here anyway, so why don’t you go back where you came from?”
“Speak for yourself, loser,” Lavender said loudly. “I’d rather have Cassie here than your sorry behind.” Suddenly remembering me, she shot me a glance. “Uh, and her sister, too.”
Gabe ignored her, glaring at Cassie again. “Was this why you were following me around earlier?” he demanded. “I shoulda known. You big-city girls are always trouble.” He reached out as if to shove her again.
Cassie jumped back. A second later I heard the squeak of crutches over the sounds of the game. It was Brayden Diaz, hobbling toward us on his one good leg.
“Yo, Campbell!” Brayden’s voice was deeper and sterner than usual. “What are you doing? Get away from her—uh, them.”
“Who’s gonna make me?” Gabe’s chin jutted out, and he clenched his fists.
By now more people were watching us from the stands. “Fight! Fight!” a few guys chanted.
“Whack him with your crutch, Diaz!” a girl shouted with a laugh.
The ruckus caught the attention of the high school principal, who was sitting nearby. He hurried toward us. “Break it up!” he said sternly. “What’s going on over here, young men?”
I stepped closer to Cassie. “Whoa,” I murmured. “Knight in shining armor much? Is there something you need to tell me about you and Brayden?”
“Grow up,” she said. “Can’t a guy just be a gentleman without you getting all weird about it?”
Her voice sounded cool. But I knew her pretty well. Was that a hint of a blush creeping over her cheeks? Interesting . . .
The principal sent the boys back to their seats, watching to make sure nothing happened.
“Come on.” Lavender poked Cassie on the arm. “You guys already made me miss, like, half the game. Let’s go watch the rest.”
“I STILL CAN’T believe nobody told Mom until now what really happened to the guy she replaced.” That night Cassie leaned back on her pillow, hands tucked behind her head. “Didn’t they think she might want to know that he got fired for embezzling?”
Yeah, Lavender’s gossip turned out to be true. Mom had confirmed it over dinner.
“I guess the chief was trying to protect him,” I said. “At least that’s what Mom said. The Campbells have been in Aura for, like, generations.”
“That won’t help Chuck now.” Cassie sounded satisfied. “Mom said the chief is going public with what happened, and Chuck might end up in jail.”
“Or at least pay a big fine or something,” I added.
“I hope it’s jail,” Cassie said. “If he’s free, he might try to cause more trouble for Mom.”
“I doubt it.” I rolled over and stared up at the shadows dancing on the ceiling. “The other officers know he was trying to make Mom look bad to get her fired. He won’t be able to get away with anything, no matter what he does.”
“Guess you’re right. Besides, everyone would automatically suspect him if there’s any more trouble.”
Luckily, Uncle Chuck hadn’t put up a fight when Mom arrested him for breaking into the locked precinct. It turned out that Uncle Chuck had had a copy of a key made. But nobody knew how he’d gotten his hands on a key to make the copy—nobody except me and Cassie. I’d remembered that visit from Gabe, the way his hand had felt sticky when I’d touched it. And she’d remembered that grayish brick of something or other she’d seen him pass to his uncle—and realized it looked a lot like the modeling clay from art class. He must have used it to make an impression of Mom’s key when I had gone to get Mom from the backyard.
“Gabe was lucky Mom’s keys were sitting right there when he stopped in,” I mused aloud. “I mean, what was he planning to do otherwise?”
Cassie’s snort echoed in the dark room. “I’m sure he would’ve come up with something,” she said. “Asked for a glass of water to get her out of the room, maybe. He’s sneaky, that one. Even Lavender says so.”
I supposed she was right. “I just wish there was a way we could prove Gabe was involved.”
“We can’t,” Cass responded immediately. “And we can’t even try—not without making ourselves sound like mental cases.”
Cassie was right—nobody would believe how we knew about Gabe’s involvement, even if we told them. It was still kind of hard to believe it myself.
“Speaking of our visions . . . ,” I began.
Cass sighed. “Do we have to?” But there was no force behind her words this time.
“No, listen,” I insisted. “This proves it can be done. We can change what we see! Isn’t that kind of cool?”
I rolled over and peered through the darkness, but I couldn’t see her face well enough to read it.
“It is cool,” she said quietly after a moment. “But scary, too. You know?”
“Yeah. But that’s even more reason to figure out what’s happening to us.” I thought about the parapsychology website and that deleted thread. Finding out more might not be easy, but that wasn’t going to stop me. Especially with our twelfth birthday coming up so soon.
Cassie seemed to read my mind—just like old times. “I know you’re going to do it no matter what I say, so I might as well go along with it.” She sighed loudly.
I smiled in the darkness. I realized I hadn’t told Cass about the website stuff, but that could wait until tomorrow. “True. It’ll definitely be more fun arguing with you about it than going at it alone.”
She laughed. “Face it—you love arguing with me!”
“I do,” I admitted. “And Cass?”
“Yeah?”
“This has been fun. Working together, I mean. Like old times. Maybe moving to Aura hasn’t been all bad, you know?”
“Yeah.” There was a rustling across the room, and a moment later she jumped onto my bed, embracing me in a big hug. “It definitely hasn’t been all bad.”
I hugged her back, squeezing hard. As I did, my head filled with buzzing. The darkness cleared, and I saw a vivid vision of Cassie standing on the front porch. I was there with her. Both of us were looking at a package that Cass was holding. It was covered in foreign stamps and addressed to the two of us, but I couldn’t quite make out the return address.
Cassie pulled back sharply, gasping. “Whoa,” she said. “I just had a vision—about you!”
“I had one about you, too,” I said as the buzzing faded away. “What did you see?”
“The two of us were out front looking at a package.”
I gasped. “With airmail stickers and stuff on it?”
Her face was only inches away, and her widened eyes caught the dim moonlight coming in through the windows. “You saw the same thing?” she exclaimed.
“Sounds like it.” My eyes met hers, a mirror image of confusion. “But how’s that even possible if I’ve been seeing positive stuff and you’ve been seeing negative stuff? It can’t be good and bad at the same time, can it?”
“I don’t know.” She sounded a little nervous. “But when it does happen, good or bad, we’ll have to deal with it.”
“Right. We’ll deal with it.” I smiled and leaned in for another hug. “Together.”