Picking up the Pieces

David's algebra homework simply would not cooperate. The numbers kept swimming in his head and mixing with the arcane symbols and codes he'd been studying lately. On top of that, his thoughts kept turning back to the events of yesterday, and to his sister.

David knew they had to talk about things. There was just too much that had happened, and he wasn't sure how much of it Madison even remembered. Somewhere in the back of his mind he knew that someday he would have to talk to his dad about it, too, but he wasn't ready for that yet. Not by a long shot. So instead he sighed and left his room, walking across the hall to knock on Madison's door.

Madison had been trying - mostly without success - to do her reading for history, so the knock on the door was a welcome interruption. "Come in," she said, assuming it was likely David - their father would be more likely to just yell if he wanted her for something.

David opened the door and poked his head in.

"Heya Butterbean. You got a minute?"

Madison rolled her eyes at the old nickname, but nodded. "Yeah, I wasn't getting any homework done. What did you want?"

David laughed somewhat half-heartedly.

"Yeah, me neither."

He stepped in and looked around. He always felt weird being in his sister's room. There was a sort of concentrated girl vibe that threw him off. He carefully closed the door behind him.

"I uhhh... I kinda wanted to talk about yesterday. We never really got to discuss what happened."

Madison grimaced slightly. "I guess we should... What specific part of yesterday? Because there were a lot of things going on there."

David scratched his head nervously and sat down on Madison's bed.

"Yeah, I guess that's true. How much do you actually remember, to start with?"

"After you were there, I remember everything... before that, it's all kind of a blur. Or.. things seemed clear then, but now I can't remember. I was seeing things, hearing things, that I don't know if they were real... I remember feeling angry and upset, but not really understanding why. I tried to block it out, but I couldn't. I just wanted to get away from it, all of it, and ... I guess I knew where to go, but I don't know how I knew." She slowed, taking a deep breath. "She's our grandmother, though. I remember that."

David nodded, hands folded in his lap. It had crossed his mind that the woman might have been lying, or possibly just insane. But deep down he knew that she had been telling the truth. There was enough of his mother in her face and enough of her face in Madison's that he knew that she was blood.

Still. Blood wasn't the only thing that made a family. For seventeen years she'd never come to see them. She was less than twenty miles away the entire time and she'd never even tried. He might even have passed her on the street before and he would never have known.

"Yeah. She is." David sighed.

"I mean this whole time... she was right there. What are we supposed to do with that?"

"I don't know," Madison sighed. "I really have no idea whose fault that is. I mean... we already know Dad and Grandpa didn't get along and we barely saw him even though he was only a little way away... maybe it's the same sort of thing with her."

"Maybe..." David said, although he seemed unconvinced, "I just get the feeling there's a lot more going on that we don't know. First Grandpa and now this..."

He shook his head, but decided not to press the issue. Whatever he felt about his "Grandmother", he felt that Maddie deserved to make up her own mind about the situation, without him pressuring her. Besides, there were other, more pressing issues right now.

"Do you remember... when mom was there?"

Madison's brow furrowed with the effort of trying to remember. "I remember.. I guess it must have been Wednesday, maybe Thursday too, feeling like she was really close, like she was with me... I didn't want it to stop at first. After that is when it gets fuzzy for me."

David nodded.

"Towards the end... in the house in Medford... I talked to her. Through you. I mean, you were still you... but it was her I was talking to. I don't know how I know, but..."

David exhaled and rubbed his hands together, trying not to get too emotional in front of his sister.

"...it was her."

"I wish I could have been there," Madison said, before realizing how odd it sounded. "But it's scary too... like, where was I? Is it going to happen again? Am I going crazy?"

"You're not going crazy," David said firmly, "And I don't think it's going to happen again. Not without the necklace at least. I think it's some kind of... conduit. Like an electrical wire, only for spiritual energy instead of current. But I don't think it would work for just anyone. All those dreams you've been having... I think you have some kind of gift. Some special sensitivity that lets you use it. I think either one alone is like... I guess like licking a nine-volt battery. Just a tiny jolt. But put them together and suddenly you're dealing with high voltage."

David shrugged.

"That's all just guesses, though, from what I've read and what our grandma said. If you want, we could try talking to Mr. Winters about it. He might know more, or at least where to look."

"But... it was Mom's necklace. I can remember her wearing it. So was it magic then?"

David shrugged.

"I don't know. But it's a possibility. One of the things Mr Winters has been talking to us about is magical amulets and wards. I suppose it could have been one. On the other hand it could just be some kind of psychic imprint left on it when she was alive. Or it could be something else entirely. I have no idea."

Madison looked confused by all of the possibilities. "Dad couldn't have known... when he gave it to me... what it would do. Right? I mean, he couldn't have..."

"I doubt it," David said, trying to smile reassuringly, "He doesn't seem like the magic type. He probably just thought it was something to remember her by."

He sighed.

"It's still yours," he continued, "When you want it. Maybe someday you'll be able to handle it. Maybe..."

...maybe we can finally say goodbye to mom, he thought. But he didn't say it out loud.

"...maybe I should hold onto it until then, though. I can try to help if you want. The stuff we're learning from Mr. Withers... maybe it can help. If you want."

"I don't know," Madison said, looking slightly alarmed. "I don't want to learn more about it if it means things like that might happen again. Celia said I could come to the ... whatever, magic lessons, if I wanted, but I don't want to make things worse. I just want to go back to normal."

David nodded. H

"Yeah, I know. Maybe after all this... We've certainly had more than our share of weirdness. Maybe it's all over for now."

For his sister's sake, David hoped that it was, but in his heart he secretly hoped to whatever gods would listen that it wasn't. Madison was a product of this world. She was popular, a cheerleader, she had everything going for her. Of course she wanted things back to normal.

But for David, the last few weeks had been a welcome change. Even if it had almost gotten him eaten alive, at least things were happening. For the first time ever he felt really alive. He'd finally found something that he was good at, something he cared about. If all of that stopped...

"...anyway," he said, shaking his head, "I guess I just wanted to make sure that you're okay. You know you can always come talk to me, right?"

Madison nodded. "Yeah. And you can talk to me too... I mean, if there's anything bothering you, apart from the usual stuff."

David laughed.

"Actually, right now, I think Miss Vogel is bothering me more than any of the supernatural stuff."

Madison's face screwed up in an expression of disgust. "I know! It's not just me, that's weird and creepy, right?"

"It's definitely weird," David said, "She's gotta be closer to our age than she is to his. I mean, what do they possibly have in common? Other than, apparently both being shitty cooks."