Visions of Mockingbird Point

VISIONS OF MOCKINGBIRD POINT

Kelly Hashway

Copyright © 2016 Kelly Hashway

All rights reserved.

This is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to actual places or people, living or dead, is entirely coincidental. No part of this book may be reproduced, copied, or recorded without written permission from the author.

The author acknowledges the trademark status and trademark ownership of all trademarks mentioned in this book. Trademarks are not sponsored or endorsed by the trademark owners.

Cover design by True Poison

Dedication

To Ayla with love.

Table Of Contents

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Sixteen

Chapter Seventeen

Chapter Eighteen

Chapter Nineteen

About the Author

Visions of Mockingbird Point

Chapter One

After suffering from a curse that was trying to kill me and my family, being grounded for a month should have been no sweat. Except my house arrest was keeping me from finding the rest of the stolen Granville fortune and saving my family and two others from dying at the hands of this curse.

Thirty days of house arrest never seemed so long, and I had spent every moment of it trying to figure out how I was going to convince my parents to let me spend a week at my grandparents’ house—and bring Noelle along. Considering Noelle was also on house arrest, that wasn’t going to be easy. And then there was the problem of smuggling Edward from his hiding place in my shed along for the ride.

Holly walked into my room and slumped onto my bed. One more day. Then we can finally get out of this place. She leaned her head back and draped her arm over it. Being cooped up hadn’t cured her of being a drama queen. If anything, it had made it worse.

Why are you so eager to get out of here? Megan won’t be back from her vacation for a few more days.

Holly narrowed her eyes at me. I do have other friends, you know. Unlike you, I don’t attach myself to just two people.

The dig would have hurt more if it were true. Holly was exactly like me in that sense. She had a few close friends, and that was it. I’d been careful about who I hung out with since I couldn’t let anyone else find out about my visions. Only Noelle and Edward understood how awful they were, because they suffered from them, too.

Holly picked at a loose string on my comforter. I bet you’re dying to see Noelle. She never missed an opportunity to make fun of my crush. She loved to humiliate me, and she didn’t like Noelle.

I already told you I’m not talking about her or anything else curse-related with you. I got up and walked to my window. I could see the shed from here. Edward was probably busy thinking up ways to hurt me since I hadn’t brought him anything to eat since lunch yesterday.

You’re no better than Mom and Dad. Holly stormed out in a huff, and I didn’t try to stop her. She didn’t get it. She was better off not being part of the search for the rest of the Granville fortune. It was dangerous, and dangerous and Holly together were explosive. I’d rather her be mad at me than at the pointy end of Morgan Grimault’s knife.

Morgan must have been plotting revenge on us after we got away with Sebastian Granville’s part of the fortune. I wasn’t naïve enough to believe the Coast Guard caught Morgan or Trent and Garret. Grimaults didn’t get caught. They’d proven that over and over again. But we had to figure out how to catch them if we ever wanted to get Aristede Grimault’s part of the fortune and not have to look over our shoulders for the rest of our lives.

Knock, knock, Mom said, standing in my doorway. I turned toward her, expecting to see the laundry basket in her hand. She’d come up with a list of daily chores for Holly and me to keep us busy. But her hands were empty today. Your father wants you to clean out the shed.

I stifled my smile. Sure. I cleared my throat to cover up the eagerness in my voice. Last day of punishment, I said, hoping that would explain why I sounded so excited to clean.

I hope you learned something from all of this. She walked over to my bed and fixed the sheets. With your father gone so much—she didn’t say looking for Morgan since that name isn’t allowed in our house and she and Dad never talked about the curse—I can’t have you or your sister running off like you did a month ago. You have no idea how worried I was.

Sure I did. Because she’d told us every day of our punishment. I could recite her speech word for word, but instead I stood there silently as she launched into it again.

"First I find out that you ran off, and then your sister. Neither of you answered your cell phones, your father couldn’t be reached, and I was about to call the police. Then you come home without your bikes, completely wet, and your leg is sewn up like Frankenstein. She stopped fixing my bed and put her hands on her hips. If you ever pull something like that again, you’ll be on house arrest until you’re thirty. Do you understand, Jack Beaumonte?"

I nodded, like I always did at the end of her speech.

Good. Then go clean the shed. Your sister is on laundry duty. She turned and started for the door, but then stopped. She sighed, wrapped me in a hug, and walked out.

I felt terrible for making her worry every time I tried to break this stupid curse, but what else was I supposed to do? Cecile Granville gave me the gift of sight. Not her. This was my destiny or whatever they called it. I didn’t exactly get a say in the matter.

Wonderful, Holly said, walking into my room. You get to hang out with Edward while I wash your underwear. This is torture, you know.

I couldn’t help smiling as I handed her my dirty laundry, which was piled in the corner of my room next to my dresser. Don’t forget the fabric softener.

Holly rolled her eyes, took the clothes, and stormed out. So far, today was turning out to be the best day of my summer, and it was only going to get better since Edward and I would actually get to plan our next attempt to locate Jean Beaumonte’s part of the fortune.

I headed downstairs, going through the kitchen. Mom wasn’t around, which meant I was able to sneak some food from the fridge—something I’d blame on Holly’s late-night eating binges when Mom asked—and bring it to Edward. I couldn’t exactly carry the entire container of leftover chicken and rice, so I had to dump some into a wad of paper towels. Edward was going to love that.

I wrapped it up and ran to the shed. It was locked up tight, like it had been for the past month. I had tried to keep it unlocked so Edward could get out, but Mom kept catching me and I’d gotten in trouble for that, too. The second I opened the shed door, Edward lunged for the food in my hands.

I’m starving. He brought the paper towel to his mouth and ate right out of it. Rice stuck to his face, but he kept eating like a dog.

Sorry it’s cold.

Don’t care, he said through a mouth full of food.

I’m free tomorrow, so we need to figure out how we’re going to do this.

Edward sat down on an overturned spackle bucket and finished his food. Did you bring me any water?

I pounded my fist against my leg. I forgot. I had to get out of there in a hurry. Hang on. I ran to the hose on the side of the house and filled the bucket we kept by it for washing the cars. Hopefully there wasn’t any soap lingering in it from when Mom had me scrub her car last weekend. I brought the bucket back to the shed, and Edward glared at it.

You’re kidding, right?

I shrugged. Do you want me to risk going back inside the house and Holly following me out here?

No. Edward was pretty tolerant of Holly, but even he knew we were better off without her. He crumpled up the paper towels and tossed them into the garbage can next to the window. We hadn’t gotten the glass fixed after Edward broke it to escape a month ago. With Dad spending all his time with Sam Granville—Noelle’s father—searching for Morgan, he hadn’t worked a case as a private investigator. That meant absolutely no money coming in. And Mom hadn’t had any luck finding even a part-time job. So the window was now a piece of plexiglass taped along the edges so it stayed in place. The weird thing was, the tape looked new. Like someone had replaced it.

Did you do something to the window? I asked.

Edward lowered his head. I have a confession. I had a vision about two weeks ago. It was about Noelle’s necklace. The one she always wears.

Cecile’s necklace. I hated that Noelle wore it. It was creepy that she wanted anything that had belonged to the woman who’d cursed us.

Edward’s shoulders bobbed. I sort of snuck out and went to see her a few times. After a while, the tape wouldn’t stick anymore, so I had to replace it.

I clenched my fists at my sides. That was why Edward wasn’t mad at me for leaving him alone for so long and not bringing him food. He was feeling guilty for keeping this from me. He’d been sneaking out to see Noelle behind my back.

Edward stood up and held his hands out, which was odd since he could easily take me in a fight and we both knew it. I know you like her, and I thought if I told you what I was doing, you’d get really mad and throw me out. I have no where else to go.

Does she—I swallowed the giant lump in my throat—like you?

Edward shook his head. It’s not like that. She thinks of me like her brother.

She probably thought about me that way, too. Why did you go to her instead of me?

Because that necklace is more than just a piece of jewelry.

Yeah, it was also a key that we used in the weird octopus-shaped locks inside Majestic Cave. I know that.

No. He started pacing and his boots crunched on what sounded like broken glass.

What was that? I asked, moving around the workbench to see what Edward had stepped on. Mom’s favorite ceramic pot was in a million pieces on the ground.

It happened—

When you had the vision. I nodded. They’ve been awful lately.

That’s another reason why I went to Noelle. I had to see if she was okay. We haven’t had any contact with her, and I needed to make sure the visions weren’t driving her crazy.

I would have done the same thing if I could have. I swallowed my jealousy and said, So what else is the necklace besides a key?

I’m not sure, but I saw Cecile hold it up to her forehead, right between her eyes. He pointed to the spot on his own head. I thought maybe it would trigger a vision, so Noelle tried the same thing, but nothing happened. Edward’s face reddened, and he turned away. My mom used to talk about something called a third eye. I never really understood it all, but it has to do with visions and seeing things other people can’t.

So you thought the necklace was tied to Cecile’s power of sight. It made sense, especially since in the first vision we’d had, Cecile’s necklace glowed with a bright white light after she cursed the three boys. But I think the necklace’s power is gone. It left the necklace and went into Aristede, Jean, and Sebastien.

You’re right. It was stupid. He started pacing again.

No, you were right to go to Noelle. I didn’t know when it had happened, but Edward and I were starting to trust each other. We need to figure out a way to smuggle you to my grandparents’ house tomorrow.

Did you convince your mom? he asked.

Don’t need to.