Ana Awakens: A YA Paranormal Murder Mystery Novel (The Clermont Coven Trilogy Book 1) Read online

  “Mom never really talked that much about what happened. I always wanted to know more, but asking seemed wrong.”

  “Being here, you’ll learn about what it means to be a Conway, obviously for the first time.” When he looked back at me again, there was something in his eyes that I almost took for amusement, but I could easily have been misreading him. “I would suggest you take care too. There was an…unfortunate tragedy a week ago, and that’s the reason we even have a place for you here. You don’t want to be making any choices that might lead to your mom being hurt all over again.” I opened my mouth to ask something more, but then he gestured at a door beside us. “This is where I leave you, Miss Price. Enjoy your time at Clermont High School.”

  He’d opened the door before I had a chance to say anything, and then we were stepping into the classroom. Everyone inevitably turned to stare at me because I was new, and being new meant I was interesting. At least I would be, for a few days. People would want to know about me, and then they’d realize I wasn’t like them, which would lead to them giving up on me entirely. At least, that was how it had happened all the times before. I had no reason to think anything would be different in Clermont, even with what Principal Woods had said about my family. It seemed so unlikely that anyone would want to get to know me purely because they knew who my grandparents were.

  “Good morning, everyone.” The principal smiled, and there was something about it that made my skin crawl, but I tried not to show my reaction. I didn’t need him to notice my dislike of him. “This is Ana Price, our new student. Ana, this is English, and your teacher is Mrs. Hutton.”

  Mrs. Hutton gave me a smile. “It’s great to have you in my class, Ana. Take a seat anywhere in the room.”

  Surprisingly, there were more spaces than I expected. People must be out ill. The principal handed me a sheet of paper, which I knew without looking, held the rest of my schedule, and then left the room. Once he was gone, it felt like an oppressive weight had been lifted off my shoulders, though I didn’t doubt for a moment there would be more talking to do.

  Doing my best to seem as nonchalant as possible, I took one of the seats closest to the window. All I could do was hope I hadn’t taken anyone else’s seat, as I pulled a notebook and pen out of my bag, telling myself everything was going to work out. I had to believe that. Maybe, for the first time, we would actually be settling down, and I’d be able to find myself a place somewhere.

  “Okay, Ana, how about you introduce yourself to the class.”

  Blinking, I stared at her. I would never understand why teachers were so determined to have us make fools of ourselves on the first day. Nibbling on my lip, I tried to work out what to say that wasn’t going to make me seem like the odd one out, but then I gave up, because there was no reason to think people were going to like me. “I’m Ana, and I moved here with my parents. They used to live here about twenty years ago.” Mrs. Hutton’s eyes widened then, which told me the principal was probably right about people knowing who my parents were. That was never not going to be weird. “I don’t own a phone, and we’ve never owned a TV.” I got looks then, but that wasn’t a surprise, although I was certain most of them probably streamed their favorite shows on their laptops or computers. “I prefer to spend my time reading, and I like to go camping sometimes.”

  “Thank you.” Mrs. Hutton smiled at me again, and her eyes were back to normal. “We do have a very nice place for camping in the local park, but it’s not something I’d suggest you do at the moment.” I thought about asking why, but then, instead of bringing up something I was certain she wouldn’t want to talk about, I simply nodded and hoped we’d move on. “Okay, so, back to work. This semester we’re reading To Kill A Mockingbird, Ana.” She stepped over to my desk, a copy of the book in her hands, and handed it to me. “I’m looking forward to hearing your views.”

  With that, she walked back up to the front of the classroom, and I looked down at the book. At least it was something I knew. I picked up my pen, only half listening to what Mrs. Hutton was saying, as I doodled little pictures on the front of my notebook. There was a part of me that did want to speak up when she asked questions, but drawing attention to myself was something that didn’t always work out the way I hoped it would. Ever so often, I’d feel eyes on me. Making a fool of myself was the last thing I wanted to do, but I always did. I wasn’t good at fitting in, and maybe I just needed to give up on the possibility. Things would probably be much easier if I simply accepted that I was the weird one, the one people didn’t quite get.

  I raised my hand when Mrs. Hutton asked her next question. “Boo Radley sees how dark people can be, and that’s why he made the decision: he didn’t want to be a part of that, but Scout and Jem are innocents. They’re still learning what it means to be human, so he steps in at a time when he’s needed to help them to save that innocence. In some ways, he’s the true hero of the book, but it’s easy to see why others view them the way they do, especially considering some of the choices he made, because they can’t understand those choices. They’ve never been in the same position as Boo. They hadn’t lived with an abusive family, and, in general, people aren’t very good at empathizing with those who are different. You see it with Tom Robinson in a different way, as he’s feared for having a different color skin. Sometimes, that really is just how people are, unfortunately, but with Jem and Scout, it shows how people can learn from what they see happening around them, so they don’t want the same paths as those people around them, into prejudice, that then causes fear, that then becomes anger, hatred, and the belief that those who are different need to be eradicated.” I shrugged. “Unfortunately, there are far too few people who’ve learned the lessons of the book.”

  “Nicely answered.” Mrs. Hutton nodded. “Maybe if the rest of you spend more of your time reading the book, rather than watching TV, you’d be able to see the same things Ana does.”

  Some of my fellow students looked back at me. One of the girls close by shook her head. “Obviously, they can’t afford to buy a TV.” She gestured at my clothes, which were really not all that much different than hers, apart from a couple of patches I’d sewn on in order to keep my favorite pair of trousers. “You know you can just buy new trousers, right?”

  Responses to her words came to mind, all of them nastier than I wanted them to be, so I just looked back down at my notebook. I nibbled on my bottom lip as I focused on my doodles. For too long, all I wanted was to be able to fit in somewhere easily, but the more I tried, the more obvious it became I just wasn’t like other people. I didn’t make the same choices they did, and that was the reason they couldn’t see me as one of them, even though I was.

  “Jessica, you know better.” Mrs. Hutton, surprisingly, stepped in to defend me. “This is the exact thing To Kill A Mockingbird is trying to teach you not to do. Neither Boo Radley nor Tom Robinson are like most other people in town, and so they get judged for it. By almost everyone. Atticus, on the other hand, is able to see people for who they are, rather than paying too much attention to what’s on the outside. You should be able to see some similarities between the judgement you just made of one of your fellow students and the people who judge Tom Robinson for having darker skin than them.”

  Chapter Three

  Stepping out of the classroom, a little after everyone else, so I didn’t have to deal with any more digs at how I looked, I almost immediately walked into someone. That someone, a girl who looked to be around the same age as me, gave me a smile. “Hey, I was told there was going to be someone new in my math class today, and I thought it would be nice if I made sure you actually managed to get there. Being in a new school can’t be easy.”

  I shrugged. “I’ve done it enough times, it should really be easier. But getting to know a new building every couple of years isn’t the most enjoyable experience.”

  Nodding, she linked her arm through mine, the way I’d seen other girls do in the past. I didn’t say anything, but I did glance at her. “Don’
t you go giving me that look.” She shook her head. “Clermont is the same as all other high schools. We have people who are less than kind to those who are new, and then we have people like me, who step in to help, because we’re actually nice people. I can imagine you’ve already dealt with some of those unkind people.”

  “Unfortunately, but it’s not as though it’s new. I’ve been through this too many times.”

  “How come you moved so much?”

  “Mom wanted to, and Dad would do anything Mom wanted.” I sighed. “That’s not a bad thing, exactly, but it’s not been easy for me. Going from one place to the next all the time…I’d get to the point where I’d just started to make friends, and then we’d be moving again, because Mom needed to be somewhere else.”

  “Your mom’s Delilah Conway, right?”

  Raising an eyebrow, I looked at my new companion. “Yeah, she is.”

  “My mom was in the same class as Delilah for a while. I think the two of them were even friends, at least until Delilah left, and she always said the reason she thought your mom left was because Clermont didn’t feel like home for her without her family here. We used to talk about her occasionally, when we went up to visit my grandmother’s grave. She died around the same time as your mom’s parents.”

  “This seems like a very small town.”

  “Honestly, I’m not sure I’d say that. I’d just say the Conways were important to Clermont, in a way I can’t quite describe, and that’s why people still remember them now. Some say the town wouldn’t still be here if it wasn’t for your grandparents, and maybe they’re right about that.” She shook her head. “I’m terrible at this. I haven’t even introduced myself. I’m Sabrina.”

  “Ana.”

  “Pleasure to meet you, Ana.” We stopped outside a door. “This is our math class.”

  From math, I went to chemistry, another class I was alone in. At least being alone gave me a chance to think about some of the things I’d learned, because it had never once crossed my mind that people would remember my grandparents the way they did. It was something I was going to have to get used to. Of course, there were plenty around who didn’t care who I was. I was just another new student, taking the place of one who’d died in an unfortunate tragedy, and those words were enough to send a shiver down my spine. What kind of tragedy was the principal talking about? I’d probably be able to get some answers from Sabrina about that, but it did mean asking questions I wasn’t entirely certain I wanted to know the answers to. I had this nagging feeling in the back of my mind that I needed the answers. That was new to me, but I remembered Dad once joking about Mom’s spider senses, and how it seemed like she always knew when something was going to happen.

  With that thought, I found myself going back to the times we’d moved before. Mom and Dad had been so certain it was a necessity, and I didn’t know why they thought that, but I accepted that they knew more than I did. Maybe the reason we’d been moving was Mom’s spider senses. She knew something bad was coming, so we moved away. The only way I’d be able to find out was if I checked out the local newspapers from all the places we’d left, but even then, I had no way of knowing if our move had somehow stopped that horrible thing from happening. Anything was possible.

  Silently, I raked a hand through my hair, not wanting anyone to know I wasn’t concentrating on class.

  Being in Clermont was going to change everything. That was something I was certain of, though I had no idea why. Running my tongue over my dry lips, I tried to understand that feeling and see if my spider senses were going to tell me anything more than they already had. I didn’t understand why I had them, what I was supposed to be able to do with them, and how, exactly, they were going to affect the rest of my life. With Mom, it was something she might have come to use to keep us safe, and if I had it, maybe that meant we weren’t safe in Clermont. Like that discomfort I felt around the principal that I attributed purely to being around someone new who happened to be in charge, but there was a chance it was something more than that. If it was, I needed to work out why he was making me so uncomfortable.

  Sabrina was already sitting at a table when I stepped into the cafeteria, along with someone else. I stayed by the door for a moment, watching the two of them, and it quickly became obvious to me the two of them were a couple. Great. Playing third wheel sounded like so much fun, but Sabrina was the only person I knew.

  Breathing in deeply, telling myself it was going to be fine, I pushed myself to move, even though there was a part of me that wanted to go hide in the library. Knowing Sabrina, she’d probably come looking for me. It wasn’t as though she hadn’t made me promise to meet her for lunch. When I reached the table, she looked at me with a smile.

  “Hey, Ana. Glad you made it.” She gestured to the boy beside her, and being closer meant I was able to see he wasn’t English. The slight slanting of the eyes told me he was Eastern, but I had no idea where from, and I wasn’t going to be stupid enough to try to guess. “This is my boyfriend, James. James, this is Ana, the girl I was telling you about.”

  “Nice to meet you, Ana.” He gestured with a hand, and then there was a flower in it, that I stared at dubiously. That made James laugh. “I know a few magic tricks. Just the basics, from my cousin.” He waved his hand, and the flower disappeared. “Sit down. Join the party.”

  “Party?” I laughed. “Very small party.” I took a seat opposite Sabrina and took my sandwich out of my bag. At least I had that to look forward to. “It’s nice to meet you too, James.”

  “You bring lunch?” Sabrina smiled at me. “I always get something here, although…” She poked with her fork at the food in front of her. “Apparently, according to what I was told, this is meant to be a tuna salad.”

  “Looks…sad.” I shook my head. “I probably shouldn’t have said that.”

  “Say whatever you think. It looks sad to me, too. Unfortunately for me, it was the best option up there, and it’s not as though we ever actually have anything at home that I could bring for lunch.”

  “Mom’s normally not the one to make lunch for me. She’s too busy with work, so she leaves it up to Dad to do those kinds of things. For the first time in months, this is actually a Mom-made sandwich.”

  For a few seconds, Sabrina studied it. “Mayo and something.”

  “Cucumber.”

  Blinking, she looked up at me. “Cucumber and mayo. Nothing else?”

  Grinning, I nodded. That was the kind of reaction I often got to my sandwiches. “I like it, and on days like today, some kind of comfort food is a necessity. I didn’t think it was possible I’d actually meet someone who wanted to be friends with me on the first day.”

  Half of the sad tuna salad was left in the bowl as we made our way outside. Sabrina hadn’t been able to force herself to eat any more, and when she’d offered it to James, he hadn’t been interested. I would have reacted the same way, but, fortunately, she hadn’t offered it to me. Once we stepped through the door, I felt as a breeze swept over my face, seeming like it was blowing the cobwebs of the day away. Just what I needed after the morning I’d had. I glanced at Sabrina, knowing I needed to ask her about the tragedy, but right then, I couldn’t bring myself to do it. I really wasn’t sure I wanted to know the answers to the questions I had.

  Slowly, none of us saying anything, we make our way down one of the paths by the field, and to one side were three boys. Two were throwing a pudding cup between them, while the third, obviously at the mercy of the other two, tried desperately to get it back. Looking at him was enough to tell me why they’d chosen to pick on him - he was fat. I shook my head, wanting to do something, but I knew there was nothing I could do. At least, not without making myself a target.

  “Dante and Wayde,” Sabrina said. “Most people keep their distance from the two of them. I do my best to do the same, but it’s not unusual for them to pick on anyone they view as being a little different, and I’m included in that.”

  “Due to her choice to date
me.” James sighed. “They don’t like me because I’m part Japanese. Normally they go for easier targets like Mark, but it’s not unheard of for them to bully someone like me. I’m not weak, so I give back as good as I get, and they really don’t like that because it shows that they aren’t anywhere near as strong as they want to believe they are.”

  “That probably makes me a target too. I’m the new girl.” I glanced at the two bullies, trying to remember exactly what they looked like, in the hope that I’d be able to avoid them as much as possible. As we kept moving, I found myself glancing at a dark-haired boy sitting under a tree, a book in his hand. That made me smile. I didn’t think I was going to come across many other readers. Looking away from him, I made the decision I had to ask the question. “Sabrina, what happened before I came here? The principal mentioned an unexpected tragedy.”

  As I expected, silence followed my question. Neither Sabrina nor James said anything as we put more distance between us and the two bullies. Finally, Sabrina sighed. “I’m surprised he didn’t give you more details.” She shook her head. “A couple of weeks ago, one of my classmates went missing. Lucas was someone who’d never run away, so everyone went out looking for him. The cops asked about the possibility of him being taken, but that didn’t make any sense. Not in Clermont. Things like that don’t happen, or at least they haven’t in a very long time. Those who were around then don’t like to talk about it. Mom especially doesn’t like it when I ask her about what happened twenty years ago.”

  “He was found?”