The Descendants Series Vol. 1

Chapter 17

Chapter 17

“How is this even possible?  I still don’t get it,” Remy said.

“Well, every four generations, twins are born with special abilities in our family.  They’re sort of like psychic abilities, only much stronger.  It has happened ever since our family began back in sixteenth century Italy,” Cora said.

“So it isn’t just some random thing we can do?  It just runs in the family?” I asked.

“Yes.  Once the twins are born, it takes a while for the abilities to show, but it usually happens when something tragic is about to take place.”

“Like the jet crashing,” I said.

“Exactly.  That’s why you started having the dreams.”

“So the reason that you had to disguise yourself as a shadow was to let us guess who you were because you couldn’t tell us?” Remy asked.  “Why do you have to do that?”

“You have to be able to trust yourself.  I just help you get through the beginning and until you figure everything out.”

Remy was quiet for a moment, obviously thinking about something else.  She looked like she was trying to figure out a complicated math problem in her head.  I could tell when she had come up with the right question to ask.

“If it only happens every four generations and you’re our great-grandmother, shouldn’t you be a twin, too?” she asked.

Cora was silent for a moment, her face taking on a sad expression.  “I was.  Her name was Anna.”

I noticed how she had used the past tense and I had to know why.  “What happened?” I asked.

“She died.”

“How?” Remy asked.

“We were about your age, maybe a little older.  She started having dreams about fire and she was becoming really scared.  Every time she would see smoke, even coming out of the chimney, she would start crying.”  Cora paused, hesitating to go on.  “In the winter of 1937, we had made a fire to keep warm.  Our parents had gone out and we were home alone.  There was no one else to do it.

“We both fell asleep and, that time, we had both had dreamed about fire.  I could see why she was so scared.  The fire seemed like it was everywhere around her.  But unlike all of the other dreams she’d had, there was a shadow in the fire.  It told me that I needed to save her, but I didn’t understand what it had meant.  Not until we woke up and the house was engulfed in flames.  There was smoke everywhere so I couldn’t see her, but I could hear her screaming.”  There was a hitch in her voice.  “I tried to find her, but the smoke was so thick.  I started coughing, and then I couldn’t see anything.”

“That’s horrible,” Remy whispered.  Tears were in her eyes.

Cora nodded.  “I woke up in the hospital a week later.  I only had minor burns, but Anna didn’t make it.  I had missed the funeral so I never really got to say goodbye.”

“That’s why you wanted me to go back,” I said.

She nodded, looking between me and Remy.  “Yes.  When she had died, it felt like a part of me died with her.  I felt lost.  But as I grew older, I started having dreams, over and over, about things that would happen.  Everyone said I was crazy when I told them what I saw happening.  But when they actually did happen, they started to believe me.”

“What kinds of things did you see?” Remy asked.

“Well, right after the accident, I saw the when the Depression would end.  And then I saw things about World War II and that sort of thing.  Basically I saw every major event that would happen to the United States.”