The Zeuorian Awakening (9 page)

Her finger trembled as she clicked the left mouse button. A large image of the Trees of Mystery and police cars parked close to the fifty-foot Paul Bunyan statute appeared on the screen. Quickly she scanned over the article. It had nothing to do with her parent’s murder.

Letting out a heavy sigh, she lifted a frame from her desk lit by the sunlight streaming through the window. The photo had a picture of her father with broad shoulders and brown hair hugging her mother, a slender, olive-toned woman. They both had gigantic smiles on their faces.

Give me a sign, anything, to help me remember what had happened that day. As always, nothing came to her mind. It was as if the summer had been erased from her thoughts. The only memories she had were photos like the one in the frame taken two days before her fifteenth birthday.

An idea crossed her mind. Would any of the other photos give her a clue as to what had happened?

She pulled out a stack of old photos hidden in the bottom drawer of her nightstand and sat on her bed. The photos were pictures her mother had taken the summer they died. She looked at them many times before and no memories ever came to her. Maybe they would this time.

An hour passed and Lexi rubbed her tired eyes. The only picture in the stack that seemed to jog her memory, a little, was a picture of her mother and father sitting on a black leather couch at their house in the redwoods. Her birthday cake sat on the red oak coffee table in front of them.

She recalled taking the picture since her mother rarely appeared in any of their photos. She’d wanted a picture with her mother in it and snapped one while she had been distracted.

She vaguely remembered when the flash went off, her eyes closed and her father called out with his deep resonating voice, “Lexi.”

And then—oh, wow, it was coming back to her. Her eyes cracked open and the Angel’s baseball cap her father wore came into view. Followed by his creased face riddled with concern for her and . . .

“Are you feeling all right?” Her father stood up and took three long strides across the wood floor before he reached her. “You should sit down.”

“I’m fine.” Lexi stumbled back from him and looked at her mother, sitting on the couch with a worried expression on her face. “I just had a strange feeling sweep over me.”

“One of your premonitions,” her mother asked, clutching her fist to her chest.

“Maybe.” Lexi stared at her hand. It seemed detached from her for some reason. “Or maybe it’s something else. I’m not sure.”

“Come on.” Her father pushed her down in the leather recliner. “You should rest. It’s been a long drive home from Colorado.”

“That’s not it.” She shot straight up and stared out the window. “It feels like some outside force is trying to touch my mind and take control of me, but it’s gone now or maybe it was my imagination?” She scratched her head, unsure which it could be. “So why did we leave Colorado in such a hurry?”

“We’ll tell you after you open your birthday present.” Her mother stood up with a neatly wrapped box in her hand and held it out to Lexi. “Your father picked it out personally for you.”

“Good avoidance tactic, Mom.” A grin spread across Lexi’s face, eager to see what was inside the box. “I guess I can wait a little longer for your explanation.”

She ripped the box from her mother’s hand and tore off the wrapping; pieces of shredded paper fell to the ground. She opened the box and pulled out a five-inch model of her father’s Chevelle with a silver key.

“Are you giving me Black Beauty?” she asked, excitement edging her voice. “But I don’t have a license yet?”

Her father stood next to her and lifted the model in his hand. “You wanted to take over my business after graduating from MIT. You’ll have to learn how to design high-performance engines. Black Beauty will be perfect for you to practice on. You can modify the engine. After you’re done you can drive it.”

She didn’t know what to say. Black Beauty was her father’s baby. He’d spent her entire life searching for authentic parts and restoring the car to its glory. Just this year, he’d finally managed to complete the engine and take the car on the road.

She smiled, remembering when he stopped in the middle of the empty highway and let the engine rumble. He turned his head to the right and then to the left. When he didn’t notice anyone on the road, he stomped on the gas and took off flying.

She fell in love with Black Beauty that day and couldn’t stop talking about it. Obviously, her father remembered.

“I love it.” She gave her father a quick hug. “Now it’s your turn to explain why we left Colorado and you wouldn’t let me even say good-bye to my boyfriend.”

She couldn’t take it any longer not knowing why they woke a day earlier and told her to pack with no explanation, cutting their summer vacation short. Then they drove the entire day non-stop. The only breaks they took on the road were when they filled up for gas. If that wasn’t bad enough, they wouldn’t even let her call or text her boyfriend.

“Why don’t we look under the hood of the car first,” her father suggested.

“No more delays.” Lexi stomped her foot on the ground. “Just spit it out, whatever you’re blocking from me hearing in your minds.”

“Brian, I think it’s time we told her,” her mother said. “She needs to know the danger she’s in. We almost lost her twice now because she didn’t know the truth and I’m afraid they’re going to bump up their efforts since she’s getting closer to age of her awakening.”

Lexi glanced at her mother and then her father. The smiles on their faces were gone, replaced by furrowed brows. “What are you talking about?”

“The reason we left Colorado.” Her father lifted his cap and raked his fingers through his hair. “I noticed a man snooping around our cabin. We believe he’s one of the people after you.”

Lexi gasped out, “You think he discovered I’m special like the man in the woods?”

“You’re more than special.” Her father squeezed her shoulder. “You’re an alien from another planet. Your real parents died bringing you to earth.”

Her mother leaned forward, as the stuffing in the couch cushions shifted with her weight. “Apparently, a queen was after them and one of her guards killed your father before reaching earth. But your mother managed to escape with you after fighting the queen and killing her.” Her mother chewed on her lower lip. “And she supposedly closed a door or something like it so no one else could come after you.”

A door? If she came from another world, it had to be . . . “Oh, I know,” Lexi said. “She closed a portal used as a gateway to her world like in the horror movie with the man who had spikes sticking out of his head.”

“Yeah, but this isn’t a movie,” her father said. “This is for real and there are half-aliens living on Earth who want you dead. The man who tried to kill you in the woods is one of them.”

“I know this isn’t a movie.” Lexi twisted the key with her fingers. “I’ve known for a while I’m an alien. My boyfriend told me. I should’ve said something earlier about it, but he didn’t want me to. Humans aren’t supposed to know about our kind.”

“I knew it.” Her father clapped his hands together. “He could read my thoughts. No boy is that perfect.”

Her mother sat up straight. “Were there anyone else in town like him?”

“Everyone, but,” Lexi jerked her head up and stared directly at her mother, “they don’t all want me dead.”

“Oh, honey.” Her mother walked to her and gave her a hug. “I’m sure it’s easy to believe they don’t all want you dead since the boy befriended you, but after what I read in your biological mother’s journal, I have a hard time believing any of them would let you live.”

“My mother wrote a journal?” Lexi said, glancing back and forth between her mother and father.

“Yes, she did,” her father said. “I have the book upstairs. You can take a look for yourself.”

Lexi didn’t want to wait that long. “Just tell me what the book said.”

“Well the journal had been written in a strange language, but I found a key to translating it in your mother’s belongings,” her mother said. “My translation is a tad rough, but what I could translate was that you’re a Zeuorian, a magical being with multiple abilities from the planet Valos.”

“Actually it’s pronounced, Zoo-ori-en,” Lexi corrected her mother after she pronounced it Zoreen.

Her mother’s mouth dropped open. “What else did that boy tell you?”

“Well.” Lexi thought for a second and reviewed over everything her boyfriend told her. “They’re half-breeds, half Zeuorian and half Neozeuorian, rather human. They don’t have as many powers as I will have.”

“Oh, that’s good to know,” her father said with a sigh of relief in his voice. “I couldn’t believe all the powers your mother suspected you would develop. Three-quarters of the journal had been illustrations and instructions on how to use each of your powers.

“Really?” Lexi now wanted to look at the journal. “Can you—“

Her mother motioned for her to be quiet. “I think someone’s outside.”

“Dammit. They must’ve followed us.” Her father ran to his briefcase by the kitchen table and pulled out a gun. “Lexi, go upstairs and hide. Don’t come out no matter what you hear.”

She ran up the wood stairs, skipping every other step and reaching the hall in less than thirty seconds. The lights went out and a gentle breeze lifted a few strands of her hair. The smell of redwood filled the air.

The front door had been opened. Did someone come inside? She held her breath as the sound of gunshots erupted and her father shouted, “Get Lexi out of here!”

There was a loud crash followed by her mother’s piercing scream and then silence. The silence scared her more than the shouting since it meant her parents weren’t able to make a noise.

She refused to hide under her bed and wait until they found her. Her parents could be hurt or dying. She had to go downstairs and save them.

Taking a deep breath, she slowly descended the stairs and scanned the dark living room for anyone waiting to attack. The room appeared empty until her eyes settled on a body sprawled on the floor—her father. He had a stab wound to his stomach and his throat had been slashed open.

She covered her mouth to muffle the cry bubbling inside her. Her eyes filled with tears as she realized he was gone for the rest of her life, but what about her mother? She called out telepathically to her,
“Mom, are you alive?”

“
Lexi,”
she heard her mother’s thoughts.

“
Stay where you are. I’m calling the police.”
Lexi rushed to her father’s body. “I’m sorry, Dad,” she whispered and yanked the cell phone from his back pocket. She pressed nine-one-one and waited for the line to pick up.

It took a whole minute before the police operator answered. Not waiting to be asked any questions, she whispered into the receiver, “Someone broke into my house and killed my father. I think my mother is injured and they’re still inside our house. We’re the only house on Redwood Lane. Please come right away.”

She dropped the phone on the floor and rushed into the darkness to find her mother.
“The police are on their way. I’m coming to help you,”
she said telepathically and continued to tiptoe through the maze of living-room furniture.
“Where are you?”

“
I’m in the kitchen,”
her mother thought.

Lexi ran into the kitchen and found her mother lying on the floor next to the sink. One of her hands grasped her stomach, cut open like her father’s. Lexi sat next to her and whispered, “Can you walk?”

Her mother shoved Lexi away. “Run, get out of here now.”

Lexi glanced over her shoulder and saw a dark silhouette of a man a few feet from her. The only distinct features she could make out in the dark room were his blue eyes.

He lunged at her and slammed her to the ground. He pulled out a knife and aimed it at her heart.

She closed her eyes and prepared for the deadly blow, but she heard a grunting noise and the knife hitting the ground.

“Lexi, grab his knife,” her mother said.

The man glared at her mother. She clutched a kitchen knife with one hand and held her stomach with the other. He said in a deep voice, “I want you to slice open your throat and make sure your brat sees you do it.”

Her mother turned toward Lexi and lifted the knife to her throat just as he’d ordered. A tear ran down her cheek. “I can’t make myself stop,” she said. “Something is controlling me. Please leave me and save yourself. I love you, Lexi.”

What the hell? Lexi threw the picture on the floor, wanting to erase the memory of her mother killing herself. No wonder she’d blocked out that night and the summer hanging out with the people who’d killed her parents.

But who were the half-breeds? Why do they want her dead? Could they be convinced to leave her alone?

She reviewed over what her mother said in the dream, “I’m sure it’s easy to believe they don’t all want you dead since the boy befriended you, but after what I read in your biological mother’s journal, I have a hard time believing any of them would let you live.”

She had to find the journal. If it was with her birth mother’s belongings, it had to be somewhere with the other stuff packed in the bag.

She went to her closet, opened the bag and scanned its contents. No sign of a book or journal inside. Maybe her mother had hidden it? Where? At their house or somewhere that no one would think of?

Her eyes settled on the leather bag. Her mother must’ve hidden it behind the fabric, the way she used the ripped lining in her purse to hide money and credit cards while they traveled.

She felt the outside of the bag and stopped when her hand touched something hard behind the etched letters “Αλεξις.” That had to be the journal. She traced her finger along the fabric for any ripped or opened seam. Her fingers slipped between the fabric and inside a hidden pocket. But it was empty.

The only other person who may know where the journal could be was Irene. No, scratch that. Irene would’ve known that half-breeds wanted to kill her and wouldn’t have sent her to high school.