Joss the Seven Read online

  “Now,” he said, nodding toward the handlebars. “I want to see it again.”

  “Okay,” I said, “but I’m telling the truth. You saw—”

  “Shut up. The handlebars. Now.”

  I shut up and concentrated. It felt easier this time, like I knew it would work. I thought about the ghost finger, and held the image in my mind. I reached out and passed my finger through his handlebars. Then I reached under the seat and inserted my finger up through it so the fingertip stuck out on top. I wiggled it, and pulled it out.

  “That’s as far as I’ve gotten,” I said. “I haven’t even read the other six tests. You saw it, right? I’m not crazy?”

  I looked up at him. Thomas looked pale and swayed back and forth. I punched him on the shoulder.

  “Thomas! I’m not crazy, right? You saw it?”

  He spoke, but it was too quiet to hear.

  “What?”

  “I saw it.” Thomas shook his head and flared his eyes open for a moment. “This is insane.”

  “I know.”

  “What’s the rest of the letter say?”

  “I told you,” I said, “I haven’t read it yet. I got that far and thought I was losing my mind.”

  “Yeah. I get that. So what are you thinking?”

  “I think we read the rest of the letter. And then we meet Mara.”

  Chapter 4

  MEETING MARA

  “WHAT ARE YOU getting me into?” Thomas asked.

  I had no answer. We went back to the merry-go-round and sat down. As I reached for the letter in my back pocket, the faint sound of a car door closing caught my ear. I looked up and saw a woman walking toward us from the elementary school parking lot across the street. As she got closer, I realized she was coming right for us. Thomas and I sat up straight at the same time.

  “Guessing that’s Mara,” Thomas said out of the corner of his mouth. “Way early.”

  She walked right up to us, though it wasn’t just walking. She seemed to flow across the ground. I guessed she was in her twenties. Tall, with dark, wavy hair just past her shoulders. Jeans tucked into black boots and a dark T-shirt that said BOYS ARE BETTER THAN IN BOOKS. She was beautiful.

  Mara smiled.

  “Hey Joss,” she said. “I’m Mara. Mah-rah”

  The second time she said her name slowly, like we needed help saying it right. Which we did. I’d been pronouncing it May-rah.

  “And you must be Thomas,” she said.

  “Yeah,” I said, “that’s us. So. Little freaky that you know all about me.”

  Mara smiled. “Oh, I doubt that’s the freakiest thing that’s happened if you actually did the tests I gave you.”

  “Good point,” Thomas said.

  “Joss, does Thomas know?”

  “That I can stick my finger into solid steel?” I said. “Yeah, he knows.”

  Her breath caught when I spoke, and her eyes tightened up. She looked away for a moment, her mouth pulled into a line.

  The moment passed. She looked back at me and smiled.

  “Test one? You passed test one?”

  “I guess.”

  “And the others?” she asked.

  “I haven’t even read them yet,” I said.

  “You didn’t read the whole letter?”

  I shook my head. “Stopped after test one. It was all so weird.”

  “Okay, I can work with that,” she said. “But you need to read it. I’m not going to explain it all now, but you’re in danger, and we don’t have a lot of time. That’s why I’m here. Now, Thomas, what do we do with you?”

  She cocked her head to one side and folded her arms together, looking at him. Thomas stood and struck a tough-guy pose. He was eye to eye with her, even with the couple of inches of heel on her boots. Mara didn’t seem to notice.

  “What does that mean?” he asked.

  She ignored him and kept thinking. Seconds tripped by.

  “This is for the best,” she said at last. “We’ll need a class anyway. Thomas, you can help. You can be our inside man.”

  Thomas’ eyebrows scrunched together in confusion. “Your inside man?”

  She ignored him and turned to me. “Have your parents ever mentioned the Guild of Sevens?”

  That wasn’t what I’d expected. Had I expected anything? Thomas looked at me, his eyebrows still scrunched up.

  “Uh, not really,” I said.

  “Nothing?” Mara asked. “No Guild? The Guild? The Guild of Sevens? The Sevens?”

  Each word was spoken like a proper name. Each word meant nothing to me. Wait.

  “Yeah, I’ve heard something like that.”

  “Good,” Mara said. “What have you heard?”

  I frowned. So now I was supposed to tell her about my family? “Not much. Something about a guild.”

  “Hey, you don’t have to tell me anything. But I know you’ve got questions after passing that test, so you’ll have to work with me a little if you want help wrapping your head around what’s going on.”

  I did want to know. I wanted to know why she had given me the letter. How she’d known about my birthmark. What she meant when she said I was in danger. All of it.

  “Well,” I said, “It was like three years ago, and we were visiting my aunt and uncle for Christmas. I might have been up reading a bit later than my parents realized. Anyway, I got hungry, and headed toward the kitchen for a snack, only I heard all the adults talking. My parents, my aunt and uncle, and everyone sounded intense. My uncle said something like, he’s got to get tested, I saw the birthmark, and the guild doesn’t let sevens slip through the cracks. And then Dad got even more intense and said that wasn’t going to happen.”

  “Idiot,” Thomas said. “You heard that three years ago and never figured out your birthmark was important?”

  I stood up and glared at him.

  “Like I should have assumed it meant I had superpowers?”

  “It’s cute watching you two argue.” Mara waved a hand between us. “However, this is serious business. Settle down.”

  “So who are you?” I asked, turning my irritation and fear on her. “How do you know all about me?”

  “I’m a Seven,” she said, “Like you. I know all that stuff because I work with the Guild, and we keep tabs on our Sevens. And we need you. We can’t afford right now to have your parents keep you out of the action.”

  Again, not what I’d expected.

  “I’m not gonna lie,” Thomas said. “That sounded so cool, and made so little sense.”

  “I told you in the letter,” she continued, “the butterfly is the symbol of Sharif, your family line.”

  “Sharif?” I said. “I’m so confused. My last name is Morgan.”

  “I know. The family names go back to the beginning. But names change through marriage and other shifts. Usually, there’s only one Seven from each family at any time, born with the birthmark.”

  “Sharif,” I said. “Sevens. The Guild. Does the crazy ever slow down?”

  “You’ll get there.”

  “And you’re a Seven?” Thomas asked.

  “Yes,” Mara said.

  “You can stick your finger into stuff?” he asked.

  “Nope,” she said. “I have other talents.”

  “What does that mean?” I asked. “Do you have a birthmark?”

  “Sure. The owl. Goes with the Montuhotep family. But I don’t show it to boys.” Mara pulled a closed knife out of a pocket. “Now, as for my talent. Watch.”

  I took a quick step back at the sight of the knife, hit the merry-go-round with my calf, and sat down hard. Thomas stood his ground, but shifted between his feet, his hands balled in fists. Mara twitched her forefinger and the knife flicked open. She gritted her teeth and slashed the knife across the back of her forearm up near the elbow. A deep red line immediately started weeping blood.

  I was shocked. Thomas sat down hard beside me.

  “Just watch,” Mara said. “I’m not a psycho. Just showing my
talent.”

  She held up her arm across her body so we could see the blood drip to the ground. Then it stopped. The wound just closed up like a zipper, leaving blood smeared on her arm. She put the knife up, produced a tissue, and wiped away the blood.

  There was nothing. No wound. No scar. Nothing. After a few seconds, I remembered to start breathing again.

  “There are seven talents,” Mara said, “but most of us only have two or three of them. That’s one of mine. Look, I’ve got to get back to the dojo… the, uh, martial arts training center. Here’s what I’d like you guys to do.” While she spoke, she pulled a folded piece of paper out of her back pocket. She handed it to me.

  “Grab some lunch if you want, then come by our facility. It’s called a dojo. It’s close to here. I can answer your questions and we can figure out what comes next. We need to get you trained, Joss. Things are moving quickly. Read the rest of the letter, but you might as well wait to do the tests with me.”

  I unfolded the paper. It was a hand-drawn map. At the top was a squarish area labeled “Beckler Park.” A set of arrows led from the park to a location marked with an X several blocks away near the railroad tracks.

  “That’s the dojo,” Mara said and leaned forward to tap a finger on the X. “Come by this afternoon, okay? Joss? I’m serious.”

  “Yeah.” I licked my lips. My mouth was parched. “The dojo-thing. Got it.”

  “See you then,” Mara said.

  With that, she glided back toward Franklin Elementary School. She went straight to the parking lot, got in a little silver Toyota, and zipped out of sight moments later.

  “I think,” Thomas said after a moment, “we may be in over our heads. What’s our play?”

  “Start with the letter, I guess.”

  I pulled the folded up envelope out of my pocket again and retrieved the letter. I read out loud starting with test two.

  2. Relax your mind and body. Concentrate on your index finger (either hand). Concentrate hard. Pretend it is hard as rock. Pretend it is steel. Hold this image in your mind for a full minute. Then tap on something solid with that finger.

  3. Relax your mind and body. Take a pin and prick your finger so it bleeds a little bit. Concentrate on the blood, the skin, the tiny hole. Imagine the hole closing up. See the skin knit back together. Feel it become whole.

  “That’s Mara,” Thomas interjected. “It was unreal how the cut just disappeared.”

  I nodded in agreement and kept reading.

  4. Relax your mind and body. Sit at a table, and put a small, familiar object on the table in front of you. Use a pencil or a pen. Think about the object and nothing else. Imagine it rotating around on the table. Concentrate hard, and SEE it rotating.

  “That’s like telekineptics, or, uh, telekinitis,” Thomas said. “Tele-move-stuff-around!”

  “Telekinesis,” I said, “Like Jean Grey in the X-Men.”

  “Yes! That’s the one. Joss, if this stuff is real… can you imagine?”

  “You still think I was faking my finger going through metal?” I asked. “You think I faked sticking it through your bike seat? You think Mara faked that cut?”

  “No,” he said, “but it’s a lot to process.”

  Yes, it was. I continued.

  5. Relax your mind and body. Stand near a plant. Hold your hand near the leaves and concentrate on your hand. Pretend your hand is transparent, and you can see the leaves through it. Hold this image in your mind for a full minute.

  “So, like, invisibility?” Thomas asked. “Or chameleon powers? Dude! I’m not saying you would do anything bad if you could do that, but imagine being able to sneak around without being seen!”

  At that moment, I realized that I had been building up toward a complete panic all morning. It had been like the tide coming in, slow but relentless. Right then, I felt like my stomach was full of ice cubes. My chest felt tight. But Thomas was right. Why was I feeling so intense about this? It was incredible. I had superpowers. My panic ignored me and kept on panicking.

  “Hey, settle down.” Thomas elbowed me. “You’re breathing fast.”

  I nodded, took a long, slow breath, and continued with the letter.

  6. Relax your mind and body. Sit at a table with a sheet of paper and a pen. Draw 60 dots spread out on the paper in a grid. Tap each dot with your finger. See how fast you can do it. Now close your eyes and pretend you are touching all the dots four times as fast. Picture your hand moving with incredible speed. Open your eyes and see how fast you can touch the dots.

  7. Relax your mind and body. Sit with a picture of a cat or dog in front of a mirror. Stare at the animal’s ears. Concentrate on them fully. Now close your eyes and imagine your ears look the same. Hold this image firmly in mind for a minute, then open your eyes and look at yourself in the mirror.

  END OF DIAGNOSTIC TESTS

  Thomas gave long, low whistle. “That last one was super weird, but the implications. Wow.”

  “Yeah,” I said, “but I’m still not seeing the danger part.”

  P.S. In case you still don’t want to talk tomorrow in the park, you need to know that there is a Mocker setting up shop in town. Mockers are sort of like the mob, but they use Sevens. VERY BAD. He’s looking for the person with the butterfly birthmark. You and your family are in grave danger.

  “And there it is,” Thomas said. “So, we’ve got Sevens, the Guild, and now the Mockers? Joss, this is crazy. What are you going to do? Are you going to do the tests?”

  My stomach lurched like I was on a roller coaster. Too much to process. “Not right now. We need to figure out if we’re going to the dojo.”

  “We’ve got to, right?” Thomas asked.

  “But we don’t really know who Mara is! She could be waiting there to, I don’t know, kidnap us! We don’t know what she wants. She could be making all this up.”

  “I don’t think so,” Thomas said. “She knew tons about you. If this Guild was trying to snatch you, would they talk to you first? Let you know they’re on to you? Or would they just grab you?”

  “Yeah, that sort of makes sense.”

  “And your parents did know about it, right?”

  “I guess,” I said. “But I don’t think they like it.”

  “But it didn’t sound like your uncle thought it was evil, right?”

  “Probably not,” I said, struggling to remember the words, the tone. “Alright. We go to the dojo.”

  “After I run home and grab some lunch,” Thomas said. “I’m starved.”

  “Didn’t I text you we should hit up Taco Bell?”

  Thomas checked the messages on his phone.

  “Yep,” he said. “Totally forgot. I need to grab some cash and let my mom know. Hey, that’s a great cover. Isn’t Taco Bell close to where the map said the dojo was?”

  I pictured the map in my mind. “Yeah, it would be. Okay, I forgot to get money anyway. Meet me at the corner by my house in five minutes?”

  “Sure thing. And Joss, I know this probably isn’t the case, but if you’re playing me… if this whole thing is an elaborate prank, I will kill you and hide the body. Just sayin’.”

  Chapter 5

  THE DOJO

  “YOU WANT FIVE dollars?” Mom crossed her arms. “I told you I was fine if you ate there, but I didn’t think I was signing up to pay for it.”

  “Mom, is it really a celebration of school being over if I have to pay?” I asked. “I’ll bring back the change.”

  Mom gave me a flat look. I kept my face blank. I knew that if I appeared upset, she’d think I was acting entitled and shut it down.

  She turned toward her purse. “Oh, you know what, sure. It’s the first day of summer. My treat. But don’t expect to do this every day.”

  A couple minutes later, I was sitting on my bike at the corner of Appleton and Chickadee Place. My house was at the end of the cul-de-sac, 3713 Chickadee Place. A cool five dollars rode along in the front pocket of my shorts, courtesy of Mom. I loved Taco Bell. Lun
ch was going to be epic.

  In reality, though, I had trouble thinking about anything other than my finger sinking into a metal pole, and butterfly birthmarks, and Guilds, and Sevens. Even an upcoming lunch at Taco Bell couldn’t distract me. I was going to have to figure things out, or go crazy. A couple minutes later, Thomas came into sight, riding his little bike.

  He pulled up next to me. “You’re breathing fast again.”

  “Right.” I tried to take a normal breath. “This whole thing’s got me freaked out.”

  “You’re scared, aren’t you?”

  “What if I am? Wouldn’t you be if you’d just found out you could, you know, do weird things?”

  Thomas tilted his head. “I don’t know. When I watch a superhero movie, I want to be the hero. Don’t you?”

  “Yeah, sure. Everyone wants to be a hero. But it’s not the same.”

  “Maybe. Either way, I’m still hungry. Let’s go eat.”

  Taco Bell wasn’t a disappointment. Chalupas were incapable of disappointing me. But I still felt panicked, and the food sat heavy in my stomach.

  “You’re dawdling,” Thomas said. “You think we shouldn’t do this?”

  I looked up from extracting each and every one of the tiny bits of leftovers in my chalupa papers. Dawdling? What was he talking about?

  “Oh yeah,” I said. “I’m good. Just making sure I don’t waste anything.”

  “I guess,” he said. “But I still say you’re putting it off.”

  I grimaced and crumpled up my trash.

  We cleaned up the table and headed out to our bikes. They were strapped together and locked to a parking sign using Thomas’ super-long bike lock cable. He unlocked it and stashed it on his bike by winding it about thirty times around his seat stem. I pulled out the map and we looked it over one last time before heading out. It was a quick five-minute ride. We stopped at the corner of the last turn. The dojo was the third building on the left.