The Keeper: Alexa LeGardien (6 page)

“Miss LeGardien, there’s one more thing.”

Alexa left Matt’s side and approached Leeman. “What is it?”

He pulled out an antique watch from his pocket. A very beautiful stopwatch. “Has that been in your pocket all along?” she asked jokingly.

She could have sworn she heard him snicker behind his hardened exterior. “This one’s for you. It’s been passed on from Keeper to Keeper.”

Wait, from keeper to keeper? Did that mean that—

Leeman nodded very slowly as if answering her unasked question. “Your mother had it, and the keeper before her.”

“What is it? What does it do?”

“Now, those are questions for you to answer. It’s an aid. That’s all I can say.”

“So, till then, whenever
then
is, I just use it to tell time?”

He left her question unanswered. “So, Italy. What do you think about that?”

“I say: Italy,
qui veniamo
.” She spread out her arms in pretend celebration. “Wait up, I’m going to need to get changed.”

L
EEMAN
walked Alexa and Matt to the ground level elevators. He waved a man in a black suit over. He was dressed exactly like the doorman Alexa had previously encountered. The man had a slight scar on the side of his face and it took Alexa a while to notice it. She doubted he was going to introduce himself anytime soon. She couldn’t help but notice how well kept his hair was.

“Interesting, it seems like most of the staff here is living an upper class life. Who did you say sponsors this?” Alexa asked out of curiosity.

“I didn’t. We are very important people. You being the most important, of course.”

“Of course,” Alexa said, not believing a word that came out of Leeman’s mouth. She still had a lot more questions to ask but hadn’t found the right time.

“He will show to your room, and to yours Mr. Coleton.”

“Just Matt is fine.” He whispered to no one in general.

Alexa and Matt stepped into the elevator with the tall man in the suit. She watched him push the button for the third floor. There were five floors in total. How many possible safety deposit boxes did this building hold? Alexa baldly wanted to know the answer to that but stayed silent.

“So, what’s up?” Alexa tried breaking the awkward silence but miserably failed when she eliciting no response from the suited man. “Nice scar,” she stated it more like a response.

The man just looked at her and said nothing.

The elevator opened at the fourth floor and they got out of it with the suited man taking the lead. He stood between the entrances of two opposing rooms.

He waved a key at the door on the left. “For you, Miss LeGardien.” He waved another key to the right. “For you, Mr. Coleton.”

Alexa snatched her keys before they had a chance to disappear. It still felt like a weird dream to her.

Just imagine all it took for me to get here was a few messed up foster homes and a correctional centre, not to be confused with juvie
. She unlocked her room and held her breath for a very unhealthy amount of time. It was the most beautiful thing she’d ever seen. The wall furnishings were amazing and the bed. The king size bed looked quite comfy. There was a beige theme going on, not exactly her thing. She was more of a rock-posters-everywhere kind of gal. But she couldn’t complain. This place was breathless. She pushed open the closet doors. Scratch that, it was too big to be a closet. The walk in closet was big enough to act as another bedroom in the mansion.

Clothes were already placed in it and by the looks of all the hanging tags, they were all brand new. But fashion wasn’t her thing. Alexa was the kind of girl who was pretty contempt with a simple graphic tee and a pair of skinny jeans.

She flopped her tired body on the very comfortable looking bed. It felt even better than it looked. The way things were going, she wasn’t going to have a problem living there.

The word, Italy, floated around in her head. Her first mission, time to see this up close and personal in order to have a full perspective of what Leeman said they did for a living. Magical artefacts. Could he actually be right? A knock on the door brought her mind back to the room. Alexa got up from the bed lazily and opened the door.

There was no one on the other side. She looked at a white parcel that had been placed in front of her room. Another parcel had been placed in front of Matt’s bedroom door. The only thing it was missing was a giant red bow.

Matt walked out of his room shirtless with his hair all messed up and missing it usual lazy gel.

“Any idea what’s in it?” he asked Alexa.

She shrugged in response. She picked up her parcel suspiciously and propped it open. It was stuffed with wrapping paper. She threw it all out and felt something beneath, something silky. She pulled it out.

“It’s a red dress. Yeah, there’s no way I’m wearing this.”

Matt pulled out a tie from his parcel. “You’re going to have to because I think I’m going to need something to match my tie.” He held out the red tie from his box.”

“Wait, I have a card. ‘Not for New York, for Italy – Leeman’.” She caught something peeking from Matt’s parcel. “Is that a suit?”

“Yup.”

“I wonder just what it is we are retrieving from Italy.”

“Me and you both.”

—             —             —

“L
EEMAN,”
Alexa called from a lounge area that she’d found accidently in the building. “What time’s the flight?” she had changed her clothes and was now wearing a plaid long sleeve shirt unbuttoned over a white tank and a pair of ash skinny jeans.

She picked up the tablet that he gave to her earlier and studied the item she was supposed to retrieve.

“It’s time when I say it’s time, Miss LeGardien.”

She nodded her head very slightly. “I’m asking again just to be extra sure. This isn’t dangerous, right?”

“Basic defence is all you need to ensure your safety.”

“And why are you so sure that I have basic self-defence skills.”

“No offence but your history does.”

Alexa laid a palm on her forehead, “Gee thanks. You do know that I didn’t just wake up one day and decide to be taken from foster home to foster home to correctional centre right?”

Leeman’s facial expression turned apologetic. Before he said what was on his mind, he was interrupted by Matt.

“As much as I love this place, what’s going to happen to my apartment?”

“That’s already been taken care of,” Leeman informed them both.

“Wait, what? What if we said no?”

“Well then it’s a good thing you didn’t, Matthew.”

Matt looked like he was about to say something but held back.

“Whatever, Matt. Your place blows compared to this. We have awesome rooms and silent butlers. What more could we ask for?” Alexa asked, urging him with her stare to calm down.

“They aren’t your butlers,” Leeman interjected.

Alexa shrugged. “Could have fooled me.” She plopped her legs up on the table in front of her and grabbed Leeman’s tablet from her side. “So what does this magical artefact do exactly?” she asked, still fully sceptical about anything magical.

“I’m glad you asked.” He took the tablet from Alexa’s grip. “This very simple pendant is made of sapphire and possesses the power to bring out one’s inner desires.”

“Uh-huh,” Alexa said with her mind set on her phone. She was trying to beat her high score on Two Dots. “So what happens when we touch it?”

“Only the Keeper can touch it without getting affected. Think of yourself as immune. The artefact is in the possession of very powerful people. People powerful enough not to touch it themselves. They hired expert thieves. It was stolen five years ago and now we finally have its location.”

Alexa had a weary look on her face.
Expert thieves, powerful people, getting affected?

“This artefact isn’t one to fear. It’s why it’s been given to you for your first mission,” Leeman said, noting her concerned look.

“Okay, then. If it isn’t harmful, why don’t you guys just do it yourselves? I’m sure you’ve been doing alright on your own.” She was starting to second guess what she’d gotten herself into.

“We are Guardians or keepers as some say, but you Miss. LeGardien, are
The
Keeper.”

Great
. She nodded, accepting that she had to go through with whatever
this
was. She had to know just what it was that made her parents so damn important. Because it was also the reason she never got to know them.

“By the way, how is your Italian?” Leeman asked.

“It’s borderline non-existent,” she answered. “I know a few phrases and that’s all.”

He shook his head and raised an eyebrow. “Well, you’re going to have to brush up on it before you go.”

“How the hell am I supposed to brush up on an entire language within a few hours?”

“You’re The Keeper,” Leeman stated, as though that was nought to give her the answers she craved.

Alexa leaned on a counter. “Thanks for reminding me,” she mumbled under her breath. “Tell us more about the artefact. We know what it looks like, and that it’s not dangerous, but what exactly does it do?”

“It toys with one’s emotions,” Leeman replied. “As long as you’re holding it, you have nothing to worry about. Nothing at all.”

Alexa gave up pondering about the artefact. She had to believe that this man whom she’d never met before would not put her life in danger. She just had to. “
Okay
, not very helpful. Her expression turned serious. When I come back, we are going to have a talk about my parents. A real one. Everything from how you knew them to what they took for breakfast.”

He lit up his pipe again but he didn’t reject the idea.

She saw Leeman fiddle with two pieces of paper and requested, “What is that?”

“Tickets,” he answered.

“Wait, no private jet?” she jokingly asked. She knew he had sad no before, but Leeman was the strangest person she’d ever met.

“Business class tickets to Italy.” He held them out to her. “Hold on to these and your passports.” He sent a stare to both Alexa and Matt. “Don’t lose them.”

“Don’t worry, we won’t,” Matt said.

—             —             —

“S
O,
we check in, head to Italy, and then what?” Matt asked as he leaned into Alexa’s ear.

She shrugged. “He said someone would meet us there and let us know what our next steps are.”

“I can’t believe we are actually doing this.”

“That makes two of us,” she said as their check-in queue got shorter.

“This is still pretty crazy to me.”

“Yeah.” She fumbled for her ticket, her fingers couldn’t stay still. For some odd reason, she was a little nervous.

Matt clamped his hand around her fidgeting one. “First time on a plane. That’s got to be nerve wrecking, right?”

She sighed, trying to force herself to remain relaxed. “Um . . . let’s just get this over with.”

After hours of waiting in line before finally being able to board, Alexa’s nerves were finally under control. But she remembered the plane was going to take off soon. All she could think about was being suspended in the sire for several hours with no way down.

“Don’t forget to breathe.” Matt said to her as they took their seats.

Alexa looked around once more before levelling her breathing. Business class couldn’t be a bad way to fly. “I won’t.”

“S
O . . .”
He nudged her shoulder in mid-flight.

“So what?” her voice was low. Nervous was not close to describing what she felt. She’d been in a correctional centre, so her life had obviously not been easy. She’d gotten into so many physical fights and won most of them—proudly if she could add. Before the correctional centre, she had hopped from foster home to foster home, each one worse than the last. So, it was odd to her that the one thing that almost made her heart lift off of her chest was a simple airplane ride. She exhaled slowly, trying to push down the thing she felt rising in her throat.

“So, it’s nothing life threatening.”

“I know that, it’s just . . . nerves, I guess.”

He winked at her and nudged her shoulder before putting on his headphones. “You’ll be just fine. I promise.”

Just like that, she let go of the nervousness that surrounded her. He tended to do that to her—make her feel comfortable. He was, after all, the only person she considered a friend.
Just sit back and enjoy the ride, Alexa.

—             —             —

“W
HAT
are you doing?” she asked Matt when her eyes fluttered open again. They had been on the air for a few hours now, and she was still a little uneasy about it. While she had dozed off, Matt had taken to a different activity.

He pulled his eyes from his tablet and looked at her with an arched eyebrow.

“What are you doing?” she repeated in a stern hushed tone.

“Taking a good look at the artefact,” he said matter-of-factly.

“I can see that, but you really think it’s a good idea to do that here, where any passer-by can see it?”

“Then it’s a good thing there are no passers-by. Don’t worry about it, I was careful.”

She was about to retort with something heavily sarcastic when a certain tingling in her throat rushed her to the washroom. After unloading the contents of her stomach, she felt a tad better.

As she caught her reflection in the mirror, she shook her head. She had only been on this plane for a couple of hours and she looked like a mess. After rinsing her mouth and attempting to make her hair look less like a wild forest, and more like... hair, she felt a little less sick and made her way back to her seat.

“I look terrible. Why didn’t you say anything?” she whispered as she grabbed a random magazine.

“You look fine to me.” He turned to face her. “Well, now you look terrible. Are you okay?”

“I’m better now.” She slumped on her seat, suddenly glad that there was a lack of crying babies in Business class.

After trying and failing to find an interesting movie, her mind kept thinking about the upcoming task, and her attention kept sliding on to Matt’s tablet. “Fine, what’s so interesting about it?”