The Zeuorian Awakening (15 page)

“That doesn’t mean he isn’t trying to set you up. He may need you alive for whatever he plans to do to you, but I don’t understand why you would you try to kill yourself in the first place?”

“I wasn’t trying to kill myself.” Lexi hesitated. She didn’t want to admit the real reason for cutting her wrist since Irene already didn’t trust her Watcher so she settled on saying, “After I learned the half-breed suspected I was in town, I decided to face him. Cutting myself was the only way to lead him to me.”

“Why would you want do something like that?”

“It’s the only way to keep him from killing you like the other half-breed had killed my parents trying to get to me.”

“Oh, sweetie.” Irene hugged Lexi. “I know you blame yourself for their deaths and would do anything to keep me from suffering their same fate, but like your parents, I’m willing to sacrifice myself to keep you alive, because I love you. I’m not going to let you hand yourself over to that guy to be slaughtered. I already lost my sister over this and I’m not losing you too.”

Lexi felt an ache in her stomach. In her rush to save Irene from being tortured and killed like her parents, she hadn’t considered the possibility of dying when facing the guy and how it would hurt Irene. She would be putting her through the same thing she wanted to avoid herself: the loss of the only family she had left.

“You win,” Lexi said. “I’ll continue to hide from that guy.”

Irene’s cell phone rang. “I’d better grab this call. It could be the hospital.” She flipped her phone open. “This is Dr. Parker. . . . You need me at the hospital when?” She sighed. “All right, I’ll be there.” She closed her phone. “They want me to go in early tomorrow morning, so I’d better head off to bed, but I want you to come with me to the hospital tomorrow. I don’t feel comfortable with you being alone now that guy suspects you’re in town. I also like to discuss how we should handle him.” She kissed Lexi’s forehead. “Don’t stay up too late.”

“I’ll try not to.”

But now that she planned to hide from the half-breed instead of facing him, she needed to know his identity and the others after her in order to make sure none of them could find her. She would ask her Watcher, but she doubted he would tell her since he hadn’t bothered to tell her about the guy following him the past week. For that matter, she wondered if he would prevent her from learning the truth and let her chase false leads as he had with her suspecting Tyler as him.

No. She couldn’t rely on him to help her. She had to figure it out on her own.

Her breath caught when her premonition perked up and warned her someone was near. She turned toward Irene and motioned for her to wait. She leaped from her bed and stood by the door, raising her hand and preparing to use her telekinesis.

She ran into the hall and scanned every spot someone could be hiding. Not a single hint of a person could be seen, but her premonition warned her they were still there.

Irene mouthed to her, “Is someone inside the house?”

Lexi nodded and pointed toward the stairs when she heard the wood creak. He must be waiting and listening to her thoughts, anticipating her next move, she assumed.

She blocked her thoughts and tipped toed down the hall, making sure to be quiet. Once she reached the end of the hall, close to the staircase, she peeked around the corner at the stairs.

The lights were off downstairs, casting the room in darkness. Until a flash of lightning lit up the room and she saw a figure of man standing on the stairs looking up at her.

Oddly, her premonition seemed to be on mute. Scratch that. It was working, but she never got a premonition like this before.

Her heart pounded hard against her chest and she knew exactly who was standing there. Her Watcher.
“What do you want?”
she asked telepathically.

“
I wanted to make sure you’re alright and let you know you can rely on me,”
he said.
“You don’t have to deal with the half-breed alone. I’ll help keep him from figuring out who you are as best as I can.”

“
Prove it. Let me see who you are. So I know you’re helping me and not pretending to be as my aunt suggested.”

Before he could say or do anything, Irene pushed her aside, holding a .38 pistol in her hand. “I got a gun and I’m not afraid to use it,” she said with a loud voice.

“No, don’t.” Lexi grabbed Irene’s hand holding the gun. “It’s him.”

It was too late. The front door flew open and she saw a dark figure run outside. She ran down the stairs and chased after him. By the time she reached the sidewalk, a shadow of a figure disappeared around the end of the block.

Dammit. She kicked the grass growing onto the sidewalk. If Irene waited one minute, she would’ve known her Watcher’s identity or would she? He never agreed to show himself to her.

“That was the guy following you?” Irene stood next to Lexi and opened her cell phone. “I should call the police.”

“Please don’t.” Lexi grabbed Irene’s cell phone. “He’s a friend. He only wanted to make sure I was alright after I cut my wrist.”

“I still don’t trust him. If he was a friend, he wouldn’t have kept his identity a secret.”

“Unless he can’t reveal his identity to me since the other guy is watching him and listening to his thoughts as well as everyone he’s around. It could jeopardize exposing me to the guy. I do frequently slip up and forget to block my thoughts.”

“I want to believe you,” Irene said. “But if that guy is watching him as closely as you claim, he wouldn’t have broken into our house and risked leading the guy to you.”

Lexi hadn’t thought about that. “I’m sure he made sure the guy hadn’t seen him before coming over.”

Irene rubbed her forehead. “I know you think he’s good, but I don’t. I’m not letting you get hurt by placing your trust in the wrong person. So keep your distance from him. No more talking to him telepathically. If he sneaks into our house again I’m going to shoot him.”

“But—”

“But nothing. Now go upstairs and make sure the windows in our rooms are locked up tight.”

Lexi sighed and went inside her house. When she reached the upstairs hallway, her cell phone buzzed. She rushed into her bedroom and picked it up from the nightstand. There were two text messages.

The most current one was from Tyler. “Call me when your aunt isn’t around. So we can talk.” She deleted it.

The second message had been sent earlier from an unknown sender. She read the message, “You don’t have to worry about the guy or the others discovering you’re here. I figured away to convince him you didn’t cause the storm. Now put away your knives and get some rest.”

Irene shouted from downstairs. “Are the windows locked?”

“I’m checking them right now,” Lexi said, walking toward her bedroom window.

When she passed her bed, she noticed a photo sitting on her pillow. Had her Watcher placed the photo there, but how did he get back into her room after he ran out of her house?

She walked toward the bathroom. The window had been left wide open and just outside of it she saw the large Oregon myrtle tree. He must’ve climbed a tree limb to get inside the house. Why? Maybe the photo would give her a clue.

She walked back into her room and lifted the photo of her. She had to be fourteen at the time. There were mountains in the background and a boy stood behind her with his arms wrapped around her waist. His head had been turned toward her and only a quarter of his face was visible, but something about him seemed familiar.

Maybe the way he smiled made him seem familiar or how his eyes squinted in the sunlight or what he’d said right before leaving. Oh, wow—she remembered what he’d said, “I wish we were going to MIT now and we didn’t have to hide we’re dating.”

“Me too,” she’d said, sliding her arms over his broad shoulders.

“I better go.” He drew her closer to him. “My father will get suspicious if I’m late to work again.”

He cupped her face in his smooth hands and traced his thumb along her cheek. His eyes locked onto hers as he bent forward to kiss her. The fluttering in her stomach grew stronger the closer his face came to hers. Her entire body came to life when he pressed his lips to hers.

She laughed; amazed the memory had come to her. He had to be the boyfriend she mentioned in the dream and her Watcher.

Three things she knew about her Watcher: He cared enough to track her to Brookings. He wanted to protect her from the half-breeds and he wanted her to know his true identity, but he couldn’t tell her for some reason.

She had a clue who he could be and planned to question him on Monday at school where it wouldn’t be suspicious to the half-breed following him.

Monday morning, only a handful of cars were scattered throughout the school parking lot as Lexi stood by the curb reviewing over the latest news articles about the storm. None of them pointed to her starting the weather, rather global warming. She could kiss her Watcher for saving her butt one more time.

“So, why did you want me to meet you at 7:30?” Angie asked, standing next to Lexi and rubbing her tired eyes.

“I’m going to confront my Watcher before class,” Lexi said. “And I want you to block Tyler if he shows up. He’s determined to see me and I don’t want him keeping me from talking to my Watcher.”

“How do you know who your Watcher is?” Angie asked, her voice squeaking with excitement.

“He gave me a picture of us when we were younger.”

Lexi lifted her cell phone and searched for the photo in her album. She traced her finger over the boy’s image hoping for another memory of him, but nothing came to her. Then she pressed the green button on her cell phone and sent Angie the photo.

“You never told me you dated a boy before.” Angie stared at the photo on her cell phone. “And you two were in love.”

“Do you really think the boy in the photo loved me?”

“Absolutely.” Angie winked at her. “And by the smile on your face, you were in love with him, too.”

Lexi’s eyes dropped to the photo of her and the boy. It might as well have been a photo she pulled out of a store bought frame since she couldn’t remember anything about their feelings for each other, but Angie did have a point. They seemed happy and perhaps in love.

“So who is he?” Angie said. “It’s hard to tell from the photo. The boy’s face is turned away from the camera and his hair is bleached blond.”

Lexi grinned. “Everett.”

Angie studied the photo and shook her head. “It can’t be him. The boy’s eyes are blue and Everett’s are gray.”

“It’s him. I’m sure of it. He has a car fast enough to follow me. He can watch me throughout the day since he’s in all my classes. And I didn’t tell you earlier, Everett had rescued me on the beach after I washed ashore. He took me home when I never gave him my address. He knew about Tyler pushing me and placing me in jeopardy.”

She glanced around the parking lot, expecting him to be watching her, but she didn’t see him. So she continued speaking. “I also remembered talking to the boy and we discussed going to MIT. Everett made a point on the first day of school he planned to attend there.”

“I don’t know.” Angie shifted her weight from one leg to the other. “It all sounds too convenient to me. Your Watcher went out of his way to keep his identity from you.”

“But he gave me the photo as a way to find him.”

“Or he threw you a bone showing goodwill. All the while he secretly knew you’d never figure out his identity from the photo.” Angie lifted her phone and studied the photo one more time. “I still don’t think Everett’s your Watcher. The boy actually reminds me of Tyler with bleached hair.”

“No way. It’s not him.” Lexi huffed. “And my Watcher would never push me to the point where I’d make something happen and reveal myself to the world like Tyler did this weekend.”

“Perhaps he’s your Watcher, but what happened this weekend had been a mistake. He could’ve gotten swept up in the heat of the moment like you were. Honestly, what man could resist you?”

“I seriously doubt it.”

Tyler was far from innocent. Even if she didn’t count what had happened the night of the beach party, all week he’d pushed her to be with him to the point she committed one slip-up after another.

If he’d been her Watcher, he would’ve figured out right away he had been making her lose control and stopped. Whereas Tyler, he kept pushing even harder for her to reciprocate his affections.

“Whatever. You can find out for yourself if Tyler’s the boy watching you.” Angie pointed toward Tyler walking across the parking lot. “He’s coming over here right now.”

Oh, no. He was going to ruin questioning Everett. “Distract him,” Lexi said, running toward the school entrance as the wind picked up and clouds blocked the sunlight. A bolt of lightning streaked across the sky when a hand grabbed hers and stopped her from moving any further. Damn, he was fast.

“I brought your hoodie.” Tyler handed it to her with a scowl as Angie walked past them, giving Lexi a sign to meet up afterwards. He waited until Angie entered the school before saying, “So why didn’t you call me this weekend?”

Lexi chewed on her lower lip while mulling over what to say. She couldn’t tell him she rather be with Everett. She would only stir up more problems for herself. Avoidance sounded like a good option. “We should talk about this later. I need to discuss my English paper with Mrs. Miller before class.”

“Not so fast.” Tyler gripped her hand and another bolt of lightning streaked across the sky. “Mrs. Miller never arrives before the second bell.” When she opened her mouth to argue the point with him, he motioned for her to listen. “Why are you avoiding me? I thought we had a great date.”

It seemed she had no choice, but to tell him the truth before the weather got worse. She cleared her throat and prepared to give him the bad news. “I don’t want to see you anymore.”

He blinked a couple of times as if she’d told him the Earth had exploded. “Why would you break up with me?” he said with an air of arrogance. “Does it have anything to do with Everett leaving your house Saturday night?“

Damn, he saw Everett, but she wasn’t going to drag Everett into the middle of this, even though he would probably enjoy telling Tyler off. She backed up a few feet. “It has nothing to do with Everett. It has to do with you pushing me to, um, I mean making me, uh, how we almost . . .” She didn’t know what excuse to use and settled on saying, “Oh, whatever. It’s over between us.”