The Zeuorian Awakening (11 page)

Lexi glanced over at Tyler and then the clouds darkening and threatening to spit out lightning. “Yeah, I did.” She wasn’t going to talk to him if there could be a slight chance she had anything to do with the weather.

Several bright flashes of light lit up the room followed by a loud boom of thunder right above the building, shaking the walls and the light fixtures. “I swear.” Everett stood next to the buffing machine on the counter. “If this keeps up there’s not going to be a beach party tomorrow night.”

She smiled. She didn’t have to spend Saturday night at the party worrying about hurting anyone or revealing herself if by chance another ability came to light. “Finally something good is happening to me.”

He turned and faced her. “You’re not going to the beach party?”

“Oh, I’m going.” She slowly exhaled. “Angie’s determined to make me go out and have fun.” And put her in a situation where she couldn’t avoid Tyler.

“It won’t be that bad.” He bumped her shoulder with his. “If you like, why don’t you hang out with me? Then I don’t have to listen to Robert ramble on and on about how much he’s in love with Angie.”

A large grin spread across her face. Everett actually asked her out on a date. Well sort of a date, if hanging out at a party counts as one. Maybe it was a sign he liked her more than a friend.

They had their moments in the past where he seemed interested in her, but then he would pull away and go back to acting like a friend. Even though she knew it was risky to date a boy, a part of her wanted to go to the beach party with him.

She didn’t see any possible danger, if they were only going to hang out together. “Okay, I’ll go with you,” she said, closing her eyes when a flash of light lit up the room, temporarily blinding her for a few seconds.

“Wow that was close.” Everett pointed to a spot where a bolt of lightning had struck a few feet from the shop door. “It seems the lightning is only hitting around the shop. I wonder if all the metal has something to do with it?”

Or it had something to do with her.
Oh, please don’t be because of me
, Lexi chanted in her mind.

“Anyways.” Everett turned back around. “Do you need a ride—oh, no, watch out!” He yanked her away from the counter into his arms. The socket exploded and shot out sparks into the air. He glanced down at her, clinging to his body. “Did you get hit?”

Before she could respond her hair lifted into the air just as lightning streaked across the room and struck an exposed power cord along the wall close to her. Every appliance exploded one by one and catapulted metal shards throughout the room.

“Get down,” Everett said, pulling her to the ground and sheltering her from the debris falling down around them.

The thunder rumbled from above and shook the building. Lexi covered her ears from the deafening noise that seemed to go on and on. Until all of a sudden everything stopped and the room went dark. Not a single sound could be heard, except Everett’s erratic breathing and his heart beating.

“I think it’s over,” Lexi said, standing up and glancing around the dimly lit room filled with smoke in the air.

The wall beside her had a large charred black spot from where the lightning struck it. The plastic light socket on the other wall had melted into an odd shape. It seemed the lightning had struck close to her and nowhere else. Could it be possible the lightning had been attracted to her?

Suddenly her hair lifted into the air again. A sure sign lightning was about to strike. Damn, the storm was attracted to her. She jumped to her feet and rushed toward the door.

Everett grabbed her arm. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing, I just need a breath of fresh air, that’s all.”

She shoved his arm away and ran out of the room and down the hall. The electricity in the air seemed to follow her, causing sparks of light when the metal tip of her hiking boots hit the tile.

After reaching the girl’s restroom, she ran inside to the sinks lined up along the wall. A loud thunder rumbled above. She gripped a sink to prepare for the lightning striking. A spark of electricity shocked her from touching one of the metal sink fixtures. It sent her flying to the ground, hitting the tile and knocking the wind right out of her.

A lightning bolt struck outside the bathroom window, causing it to explode. Glass shards flew into the room while spraying her on the ground.

Make it stop, oh, please, make it stop
, she chanted, covering her face with her arms.

A few minutes later the room lit up and the sun shined through the broken window onto her. The pain in her head and the electricity in the air had disappeared. Not a single hair on her body appeared to be standing on end.

The storm had passed. Thank heavens.

She lifted herself up and wondered what type of ability could make lighting be attracted to her. In the list of paranormal abilities she came across on the web not one power mentioned lightning or electricity being attracted to a person. Although, she recalled one power called atomkinesis where a person could control the weather.

Perhaps the lightning wasn’t attracted to her; rather she caused it to act up. That would explain the lightning stopping when she wished it would. So all she had to do was focus on sunny skies and warm weather. Everything would be alright. At least she hoped it would be alright.

She walked out of the restroom with her head held high while focusing on perfect weather. She felt confident the worse of the day had passed until she saw Tyler exiting the class room.

Every ounce of confidence she had a few seconds ago faded away into terror as he blocked her from going inside the class. He moved forward and pushed her up against the wall.

“I was hoping to find you out here.” Tyler rested his hand against the wall and caged her in place. “We need to talk.”

She looked away from his perfect cut chest exposed from him wearing his overalls hanging down on his hips and no T-shirt. “Can we talk another time?” she asked.

As much as she wanted to question him, now wasn’t a good time. It would only take one stroke of his finger and she’ll lose control of the weather.

“What I have to ask, won’t take long,” Tyler said.

Damn. He wasn’t going to let her go. She might as well talk to him so she could go back into class. She motioned for him to continue.

“Why are you avoiding me?” he asked.

That was a loaded question. She couldn’t tell him the truth. She had been avoiding talking to him because he may make her lose control of her telekinesis and now the weather. Instead she said, “I wanted to talk after I remembered my parents were murdered.” She stumbled over the last word. “But I couldn’t bring myself to talk to you about it.”

“You remembered?” he said with a shaky voice. “Did it have anything to do with what I said about my father working with the DA?“

Oh, did it ever. “I can’t believe you lied to me and said they died in a car accident when you could see it was tearing me up inside not being able to remember what really happened to them.”

“I didn’t want to drop that bomb on you in the middle of the cafeteria when you obviously couldn’t handle it.”

She took deep breaths to calm down before the storm acted up again. He’d lied to protect her from getting hurt or to keep her from remembering he had been her boyfriend and a half-breed.

Tyler wiped a bead of sweat off her cheek. “So, there was no other reason you were avoiding me, like Everett saying I violated you?”

How had Tyler known what Everett said to her unless he can hear Everett’s thoughts?

“You said we hung out together the summer before I started high school. How close were we?” she asked, attempting to determine if they had been boyfriend and girlfriend.

“Very,” he said, tracing his finger along the side of her face and making her skin tingle as the ends of her hair stood on end from the growing static electricity in the room.

She unraveled herself from his hold and backed away from him to avoid starting another round of lightning while continuing to question him. “Is that part of the secret you’re keeping from me? That we used to date?”

“What do you think?”

Damn. Was he trying to be vague on purpose or cute to prolong her staying in the hall alone with him? Whichever the case may be he wasn’t going to be answering her questions anytime soon.

She should wait to question him when she didn’t have to worry about the weather getting worse and they can go somewhere more private. Just in case he was avoiding answering her since they were in public.

“Would you rather go to an empty room and finish our conversation in there?” He intertwined their fingers and nudged his head toward the door.

Her mouth dropped open. Had he just read her mind?

“Well.” He tugged at her hand.

Should she go with him, but what if he was hitting on her and hadn’t read her mind? No. She should stay in the hall where he seemed to be restraining himself and keeping everything PG-13.

“Maybe another time,” she said.

“We can talk at the beach party tomorrow night.” He offered. “I’ll pick you up at seven.”

The entire senior class planned to be at the party and it would be easy for them to disappear somewhere alone on the beach. If he was just hitting on her, she could easily escape and go back to the party. “Okay, but I’ll meet you there. I already agreed to go with Angie and Everett.”

“I rather take you to the beach.” He traced his thumb along the side of her neck, making her skin tingle as thunder exploded above them. “So we can go back to your house after the party and talk for a while.”

Lexi noticed Everett leaning against the doorjamb as he watched her. The corners of his mouth were slightly angled down and his shoulders slumped forward. Her heart beat faster. She felt the urge to tell him nothing was going on between Tyler and her.

Tyler shot Everett a smug look. “I guess you couldn’t keep her away from me after all. She’s coming with me to the beach party.” Tyler pulled her closer to him. “Isn’t that so baby?”

Everett turned to her with a concerned expression on his face. “Is that true?”

“No.” She winced when a flash of light lit up the hall. “Sorry Tyler. I know you wanted to take me to the party, but I already agreed to go with Everett. I promise we can talk later.”

Everett smiled and winked at her.

Tyler glared at him before saying to her, “We’ll talk at my house when you’re done hanging out with your girlfriends,” he said, making it sound as if Everett would only be a friend to her and nothing more. “Maybe then I can convince you to be my girlfriend and dump your loser friends.”

“Have you ever consider, she rather be with me than an arrogant jerk like you,” Everett said, a hint of wry smile dancing on his lips. “And she’s only being polite to you and has no intention of meeting you after the party, since you don’t seem to get the hint and leave her alone.”

“Oh, you don’t think she interested in me?” Tyler took a step closer to Everett so they were only an inch apart. “Do you want to bet taking Lexi to the party Saturday night if I can prove she’s interested in me?”

Lexi whispered to Everett, “No, let’s go into class.”

He mouthed to her, “Don’t worry, I got this.” Then he turned to Tyler. “What the hell. It’s a sucker bet, but you’re on. Now ask Lexi what she thinks of you.”

“You better call for pizza. ‘Cause you’re staying in Saturday night,” Tyler said as a devious smile danced on his lips and he faced Lexi. He opened his mouth as if to ask her what she thought of him, but he had no intention of asking her anything. He intended to show Everett how she felt toward him.

Oh, no. She turned to run, but he pulled her into his arms. A bright light flashed near the windows as Tyler pressed his lips to hers.

What little control she had of the weather, faltered and sparks of electricity shot out of the light fixtures, igniting the drywall. Boys and girls ran out of the class rooms and into the hall to escape the flames spreading across the ceiling and along the walls in the rooms.

She couldn’t believe it—she set the school on fire!

The fire alarm went off and the sprinklers turned on. Everett grabbed her hand. “Follow me,” he said.

“I don’t think so. She’s safer with me.” Tyler shoved Everett into a locker and knocked him on to the ground. Then he gripped her wrist. “Come on.”

He dragged her through the crowded hall and away from Everett. She struggled to break free of his tight grip, but Tyler refused to let go of her and continued pulling her outside and on to the field.

The clouds swirled above and loud explosions in the sky shook the earth below. Several girls screamed as lightning bolt after lightning bolt struck near Lexi. Each bolt of lightning exploded like live grenades and catapulted grass, dirt and kids into the air.

“Go to the gym,” the Principal yelled and motioned toward the building.

Another lightning bolt struck close to Lexi and threw a kid several feet away. “We have to get out of here,” Lexi screamed.

“I know where to go.”

Tyler gripped her wrist and dragged her back toward the school. The lightning followed closely behind them as more kids were thrown in the air. Lexi dug her feet in the ground and stood still.

“It’s not safe here.” Tyler tugged at her wrist. “We have to take cover.”

But Lexi wouldn’t budge. It was her making this happen. It was her fault they were in danger. She glanced up at a bolt of lightning headed toward Tyler and her. It twisted in the air like a rope blowing in the breeze.

“Watch out,” she screamed and threw Tyler with her telekinesis into the brick wall. Then she jumped out of the way right before the lightning struck where she stood.

All the kids in the area scrambled toward the school. She turned toward the open field and knew exactly what to do. She ran into the field and the lightning followed.

“
No don’t go out there.”
Her Watcher’s voice bellowed in her head.
“You can die.”

She continued to run despite his warning.

A loud crackling noise echoed from the sky and lightning struck the metal fence a few feet from her. She cupped her ears when thunder roared and several lightning bolts were about to connect with her.