Anna DeStefano - Dark Legacy

Gone.

Her father was gone. Dead. And Maddie Temple had felt every second of it.

Shed been across town studying with Keifer. Prepping for SATsin the backseat of his VW Beetle. His hands in her bra, hers in his pantssweet desperation and discovery and confusion, with just enough fear to make the bite of it sweeter. To make sure she was feeling her own need as much as his. Wanting him. Trusting him. Opening her mind and letting the world flood in, and her heart fill, and reason release.

No more barriers.

No more safe.

No more careful.

Shed been so close to finally knowing. To feeling normal, like other girls.

Then her mind had exploded.

Shed started to scream, and shed kept screaming. Shed run from the car. From the shock on Keifers face that confirmed she was a freak and she always would be. Shed raced through the rain and the dark, misty woods. Weaving, blind, toward nothing. Toward the sister whose unnatural link with Maddie was consuming everything.

Pain. Their fathers pain. His shock and acceptance, both brutal and unfair. Every emotion hed felt had rushed first through Sarahs mind, then Maddies. Flashes of panic and denial. Silent screams that shed heard from miles away. Overwhelming and obliterating and terrifying and endless. Then one final moment of blinding agony.

It had stopped so suddenly Maddie had stumbled to her knees, wind-shredded pines shifting overhead. Shed lost the drive-in burger Keifer had sprung for on their way to the mountain-rimmed lake that was a local favorite for parking. Emptiness had churned inside her. Shed been totally alone for the first time in her life. It had been excruciating.

It still was. After her mothers hysterical cell call, telling Maddie to get to the hospital any way she could. After Maddies twenty-minute walk through the rain. After hours of waiting.

Shed been so sure tonight was the night. Shed been tired of hiding. Tired of being afraid of what would happen if someone saw herreally saw her. Her sisters mind had unraveled, but Maddie had been so sure she was free of it. She was finishing high school next fall, then heading for premed. She was going to have a life of her own. But it turned out all shed really been was blind. Desperate, at sixteen, to feel something real. Something besides careful and cautious.

Now her father was dead, and her family was destroyed.

He didnt suffer Maddies mother sat beside her in the ER waiting room. Her postureunnaturally straightwas denial personified.

Phyllis Temples broken arm was in a cast. The gash in her forehead had required fifteen stitches. Her mild concussion was a concern, but shed been thrown clear of the crash same as Sarah. Separated from the family car that had been pulverized, leaving Gerald Temple crushed within, to face the fire and the explosion alone.

They said Phyllis swallowed. Her hand fussed with the bandage covering her sutures. Shed never been able to face lifes shadows and failures. Every intrusion into the happy world she clung to was an assault on her mind. The rescue crew said it was instantaneous. That he wouldnt have felt

I know exactly what he felt! Maddie shot to her feet. She paced across the too-bright waiting room. She clenched her fingers into fists. Rubbed her arms. Tried not to fall into the emptiness in her mind. Tried not to hate her mother and Sarah for being so weak, while Maddie had so far found a way to keep it together. HeheDaddy felt

Dont, Maddie, her mother hissed. You know I dont want to hear

the truth?

Maddie

The truth is, Sarahs insane, and I

Youre fine!

Fine? Maddie swallowed the memory of puking away panic and fear that hadnt been hers. Protect the secret at all costs Isnt that what you told us when we were kids? Hide what youre feeling. No matter what. Its the only way Now Daddys dead, and Sarahs somewhere in thereMaddie motioned toward the doors leading to the trauma areaunconscious, or worse. Out of her mind, after causing all thisAnd its fine?

I never told you to hide anything. The guilt in Phylliss expression said she knew she was lying.

Theyd only been six, Maddie and Sarah, when theyd found the crinkling, decaying piece of paper in the attic. And with it, a hand-drawn portrait of a woman, a relative, no one had ever talked about. A woman dressed in black with a scarf of some kind over her head, whod stared at them from the picture. The writing on the paper had been hers, Maddie and Sarah had somehow known. A prophecy? A curse? Something about magical powers to be hidden until a pair of twins were born. Until a legacy could be released. A warning that both light and darkness would follow.

Thered been more. But Maddie and Sarah hadnt really understood what they were reading. Any more than theyd understood the strange things that seemed to always happen around them. Their mother had found them reading the paper. The picture and the prophecy were snatched away, disappearing forever. Within the week Phyllis had had her first full-on breakdown. When shed recovered, shed made Maddie and Sarah promise to keep what theyd found, everything they were feeling, a secret. No matter what.

The lies had snowballed from there.

When is it going to stop, Mom? What else has to happen, before

Tonight was an accident. Phyllis rushed to Maddies side, grabbed her by the shoulder with her good arm, and shook Maddie with surprising strength. Her dark eyes flashed, crazed and dangerouseerily like Sarahs. Then they cooled. It has nothing to do with

How long did it take? Maddie pulled away. How many years, until you could believe that all the other times were just accidents, too? Sarah, knowing what went on in the neighbors houses. Both of us thinking we were crazy when we dreamed about the futuregood things, bad thingsand then watched our dreams come true. Sarah, changing other peoples feelings. Weaseling out of one screwup after another because she could make people forget. Make them not care. Were not normal, Mom. Stop pretending we are! That anything is going to be okay. SarahWe

Youre not Sarah. Phylliss face was streaked with tears and blood. Youre not! Youre fine. Sarah was always dangerous. Nothing seemed to help. Your father and I wanted to believe she would get better. The doctors gave us hope. Only there was nothing anyone could do to help her. But youre fine. It doesnt have to come true for you, too

What doesnt have to come true? What are you so afraid of you wouldnt tell any of us, not even Daddy?