I

Tall pine trees swept past Odette’s line of vision in massive green blurs. In between them were bits of the greying sky. A storm was approaching—she could feel the electricity.

It seemed that the car ride would never end, and that she would die on this long stretch of road, which honestly could happen. Odette didn’t mention this because her mother, Pamela Sinclair, didn’t like self-deprecating jokes. Especially nowadays.

Odette tore her eyes away from the trees and closed her eyes. She was in desperate need of rest, despite the fact that all she ever did was rest. Her back ached from not having moved since the last rest stop about three-and-a-half hours ago in a small town near the border of New Hampshire and Maine.

Her mother caught sight of this and, instantly, her eyebrows knit together in concern. “Honey, are you okay? Do we need to stop?”

The girl opened her eyes and looked into her mother’s through the mirror. “I’m fine, just trying to find a way to pass the time.”

The woman nodded and muttered a near inaudible “okay” and returned to her driving. Still, she snuck a few more glances through her mirrors at her daughter.

“We’re almost there. Maybe about forty minutes or so.”

The girl rolled her lips and said nothing. She jammed a finger under the band of her “special bracelet,” hoping to cool the sweaty skin underneath.

The trees suddenly broke open and a city entered her eyesight. There were tall towers of glittering glass, apartments, stores, random art pieces, homes, and, most importantly, the hospital.

The reason they were moving in the first place.

Giant billboards advertised fishing and soda; a few advertised the children’s hospital. She shuddered to think of all the extra tests that she might have to be put through in the future. All the extra needles.

The drive continued through the city and the Sinclairs passed many more opulent buildings, one was a private school—but it was a Saturday in the beginning of June, so they had already let out—a museum, and a mall, but her mother didn’t stop. She only made a comment here and there about a building’s exterior design or about pulling over to allow Odette to climb up front with her, which Odette refused politely. In fact, they drove straight through the bustling city and out until they were back into the woods.

Odette sighed, sinking back into her chair. Now all there was to look at were a few rundown houses. Depressing. She almost wished she had driven up with her father, but it would have been just as depressing if not more. But, she thought, at least he laughs at my jokes … sometimes.

The trees did break again and revealed a small town of log cabins and more shabby houses. There was a giant water tower with the name “Sunwick Grove” painted in large, black letters. Only two miles later did the welcome sign greet her eyes.

“Welcome to Sunwick Grove, Maine, where anything is possible.”

It would have been cute if the overhanging trees and ruggedness of the sign hadn’t given it an ominous undertone.

“This place seems … interesting.” Odette craned her neck to see how far behind her father was.

“I think that it’s charming! Oh look, Det!” her mother cried, pointing to a large billboard. On it were a boy and a girl dressed similarly to each other with similar features. “Those are the magic twins I had told you about.”

“Come and see the Mages Twins in the Tent of Mystery. They’re expecting you.”

“Why, that’s not vaguely terrifying at all, Mom.”

Pamela chuckled and shook her head. “It does kind of sound like that, doesn’t it? If you’re feeling well enough on Monday, my work gave me two tickets to see the show.”

Odette’s eyes lit up, “Really?”

“I wouldn’t offer if I didn’t mean it. I know that these past two years have been rough and you’ve had to give up a lot of stuff you loved. If I can make you happy by taking you to see some kids pull a rabbit out of a hat, I will.” Her mother winked at her through the mirror, like it was some big secret.

Many more billboards flew passed them, some of them advertising things like restaurants or local attractions, but most of them seemed to veer towards the Tent of Mystery and those magic twins. Odette stopped paying attention to them after they passed the fourth one as it had become a little annoying.

The car came to a stop and Odette realized that they had finally arrived. Even though every fiber of her wanted to jump out of the car and run around, she knew her mother would stop her. Something about her being too fragile.

Odette unbuckled herself and stepped out of the car gently. The air was muggy and thick and her hair had already begun to stick to the back of her neck but she smiled all the same.

She recognized the house from when her parents showed it to her in pictures. It was a smallish colonial style home, not very large but larger than the one they lived in back in Oregon. The nearest neighbor was nowhere in sight, which was kind of odd considering the smallness of the town.

Her mother handed her the keys and she gladly rushed up the porch to open the door.

The first thing that hit her was how it smelled. It was musty from being empty and it just didn’t feel like a home yet. A cloud of dust plumed out and caught the light in a pretty, mystical way. It was completely void of furniture with wooden floors and arched entries and exits. The walls were a pale blue with white trim. It was hotter inside than it was outside but a breeze started to blow in from the opened door, chilling her sweaty skin.

Cautiously, Odette entered the home, her footsteps kicking up more dust.

How long has this place been empty? Odette wondered to herself.

It looked like the type of place that would have been used as a horror movie set, and she couldn’t help but conjure up a strange-looking monster peeking at her through the window. As soon as she did, Odette squeezed her eyes shut and shivered, pushing that out of her mind as fast as she could.

She found the stairs and glanced behind herself to see if her mother would reprimand her for such a “dangerous” task but she was busy with her father. She took the moment to quietly run up the stairs and into the hall that it led to. At the end of it was a window seat, the only furnishing she had seen so far. The cushion was faded from being exposed to the sun but, other than that, it was in a good condition.

Odette turned to the first door she saw and opened it. There was a large window that made the room more spacious and a small closet that was on the opposite side. The walls were a dove grey, which she didn’t mind at all. She smiled, walking the length of the room to get a feel of it. Her fingertips ran along the dust-coated walls, looking up and out and around to soak in all the details of it.

“Odette? Odette, where are you?” Her mother yelled from down below.

There was the pounding sound of feet on floor and her mother’s head popped into the room that Odette currently occupied.

“Why are you up here? Your heart could have acted up and you could have fallen down those stairs. Please, next time, be careful!” Her mother exclaimed, her sandy brown hair falling out of the bun she had clipped it in.

The girl sighed, leaning against the window. “Today’s a good day, Mom. I’m fine.”

“But it can change in just a split second, honey, you know that. Just, please, tell me before you do anything like that again,” her mother pleaded, walking into the room to hug her daughter.

Odette hugged her mother back but was secretly fuming in her mind. “Sorry.” She wasn’t sorry at all.

“The moving van won’t be here until tomorrow, but we have sleeping bags and pillows and a change of clothes for the morning!” she pepped up, rubbing her daughter’s arm for comfort. If it was for Odette or herself, she didn’t know.

Odette timidly looked up into her mother’s hazel eyes. “I think I like this room; can I have it?”

There were so many reasons why her mother would say no, starting with the fact that it wasn’t on the ground floor. She searched her mother’s face for a sign.

Nothing.

Not a single hint as to what was going on in her head. Then, Pamela frowned and rubbed her forehead, thinking it through.

Odette studied her mom’s face. It had seemed to age immensely over the past two years, but she was still a beauty. She had frown lines around her mouth and her forehead was starting to crease deeply from always being knitted so close together. Her face barely had any color left in it but it was still way more than what Odette had.

She had become a shut-in of sorts, never went outside or to many events at all. For a while, the only activity she had was being able to go to and from school, but, eventually, that stopped as well. Odette, now very sensitive to the sunlight, couldn’t spend very long in it at all and always had to wear sunglasses to protect herself from oncoming migraine.

“Well …” her mother began. “I suppose. The master bedroom is downstairs and your father has already started putting our boxes in there. Or we could just move into one of the bedrooms up here to make sure you’ll be okay ….” She continually drew out her words, making them sound unsure of what she was even saying.

Odette shook her head. “No, no, I’ll be fine up here. I saw a bathroom across the hall, so if I get weak, I can just crawl to it. Besides, I need to be able to have my space and so do you guys.”

Her mother scoffed and crossed her arms, her mood changing instantly to suspicion. “Why do you need your own space? Are you hiding something?”

“What? How did you even get that from what I was saying?” Odette could feel her face turning red. She had nothing to hide because she rarely went out. Besides, she didn’t even know anyone in Sunwick Grove, aside from the Mages Twins and she hadn’t even met them.

“You can hardly take care of yourself, Odette. I want you to be able to but I just don’t think you’re at that stage yet.” Pamela was giving her daughter her mother-knows-best look, doe eyes and stern eyebrows and all.

Odette could feel her frustration bubbling over a manageable level. “Mom please!”

Her father’s head poked through the open door and smiled at the two women but they didn’t smile back.

“Hey, pumpkin. Nice room. You pick this one?” He asked, completely clueless to the argument the two women were about to get into.

Odette glanced at her mother and then to her father. “Yes … please?”

He shrugged his shoulders. “Fine with me. You just sit tight while your mom and I bring your stuff up. We don’t need you wearing yourself out.” He gave her a wink and vanished at once.

Her mother gaped at and rushed after her father. “Jonah, I don’t think–” her voice became more muffled as she went further and further through the house.

Odette smiled again, a sense of victory washed over her and she looked out her window again. There were trees; a particular one was close enough to her window that, should she want to, she could make a daring escape.

There was a flash of something in the foliage that made Odette jump. Her head whipped to the source of it but whatever it was had already vanished. She frowned, pressing her nose up against the glass. Whatever it was, it was about the size of her torso and had a silvery-blue sheen. Other than that, she wasn’t able to discern what it was.

Odette snorted, backing up from the window. It was probably a ghost or a demon or something like that. The freaky monster that she had created in her mind popped up again when she closed her eyes and she dug her nails into her arms. The pain would help bring her back to reality. When she turned away from the window and walked out of the bedroom, she couldn’t help but feel like she was being watched.