Zoe secured her eyes with goggles from the incinerating sun. Very quick steps saw her inside the dinner in seconds. The joint was mildly populated. On Sundays most people remembered their weeklong abandoned families and homes, which resulted to either dry attendances or a family full house. She searched around for a good spot and suddenly thought her eyes were betraying her. Is that really Liz? She saw a blond befitting Liz’s features only that it was the back she was seeing. Knowing that she was in no hurry, she walked toward the table to find out.
“Liz?” she asked disbelievingly, pulling her goggles to her forehead.
She looked down on her scanning a fashion magazine. Liz looked up at her but there was no hint of surprise on her face-at all. It was as if she was expecting her.
Liz glimpsed Zoe and veered her eyes back on the magazine. “Ah. You came to mark my homework teacher?
Zoe glided on the seat opposite Liz and watched her take no notice on her presence.
“You lied to me again?” she muttered.
“Oh yes I did. Kinda hurts huh! Besides am getting tutored by the best liar in town” Liz said without putting effort to restrain her voice.
“I’m not taking this anymore Liz.” Zoe bluffed.
“Great move teacher” Liz clapped and a fake smile stretched on her lips. “It recently crossed my mind that you’d make such a remarkable cast in pretty little liars.”
“I don’t wanna fight Liz.” she said seriously.
“Of course you don’t.” Liz gnarled “Because you call the shots in our little realm.”
Zoe felt the anger in her voice, she didn’t like it. But it was time they moved on from this.
“Don’t …” Zoe begged.
“But you DO!…” Liz shot back, looking as hurt as she had been when she first told her the secret “You DO not tell me stuff that you think I can’t handle, you DO as you please not caring about what people who care for you think, you Do not get to tell me what I shouldn’t DO!”
“Will you stop being such hard cookie Liz.”
“Because you can jinx me to one?” Liz grumbled.
Zoe realized it was anger that brought out the reply. But thinking of turning Liz into a cookie was exceptionably humorous.
Zoe broke down with bubbles of laughter. Funny enough Liz joined.
When the natural pressure suppressant died, Liz cleared her throat them raised her brows at her.
“Can you seriously turn me into a real cookie?”
They both resorted back to cracking their ribs.
“We can always experiment.” Zoe offered.
Liz eased up on her seat and shook her head “Nope not on me, I have no intensions of being somebody’s midnight snack!”
Zoe giggled “I missed laughing with you, now get off your high horse and forgive me already.” Zoe said smiling at her.
“I already forgave you. I just wanted to enjoy giving you a hard time.”
“Jeez, you’re mean!” Zoe said.
“Speaking of which, It’s about time you live up to your words. I wanna know EVERY little detail about.” Liz bent towards her and whispered “the witch stuff.”
“I had no plans of leaving out anything.” Zoe assured her.
“Okay…am all ears.”
“Liz just being cautious…what am about to tell you is deep, scary and every bit real but that’s the price you pay for being in my world. Oops forgot important detail…it is very secretive. Do you have a good stomach?” she asked Liz, who looked like she was holding popcorns in a movie theatre.
“Get on with it already…I didn’t throw up when I was midair… I don’t think I would now.”
“Okay…here goes…and don’t interrupt me.”
Zoe’s eyes wavered around the position of their table for discretion purposes and was satisfied enough to talk. They were situated in a corner and the tables near them were unoccupied. The only person able to hear her is a mind reader or someone with extra special hearing abilities.
Liz listened attentively as Zoe traveled her through the three week mind blowing adventurous journey. Through the course of her tale, Liz had made a lot of stirring, shifting positions, fanning herself with the magazine, once in a while she made Zoe stop, so that she could shove water down her throat or simply breathe.
“Should I stop?” Zoe asked, truly concerned.
“No don’t .I…I’m handling it.” she mumbled as she fanned herself with the magazine.
By the time Zoe was winding up her true story with the humeleons, Liz had consumed three bottle of water and got rid of the blazer she had been wearing. She went on to exhale so heavily but with such restrain it was sad to watch.
“Zoe,” she said with a very small tone “are you sure your still not dreaming?”
“Are you dreaming?” Zoe whispered back at her.
“OK, that stupid…so right now are you wearing the chain?”
She shook her head “No, it’s in the car…in my bag.”
Zoe watched Liz, from the table between them she could see how much she was shaken.
She truly didn’t want her living in fear or paranoia but lying any further was out of the question.
“Oh my God! Oh my God…Holy shit that is…horrifically deep.” Liz murmured as she stared absentmindedly at her desk.
She then threw a curious eye at Zoe “Does Carol know?”
“NO.” she sighed “I don’t know how to tell her.”
“You have to Zoe, you have to tell her. What if… Uhm…dark..Darkeel targets her to get to you?”
“God forbid, but not now Liz. She’s been talking about visiting Aunt Rosalinda this holiday. It’s due in less than 10 days. If I tell her, she won’t go. And I’d rather not tell her so that she could go and be safe from all this madness.”
“What about Zack?” Liz asked.
“They are going together.” she said.
“Ok, that’s good. So nobody has seen the other humeleon?”
“No. Chris was trying to locate him with no luck. It’s possible he’s in some country doing what he does best.”
“Holy Crap!” Liz shivered “I’ll have nightmares today. You said Chris will come get your keys and he will be with the other…”
“No, he’ll take the keys and go pick’em up.”
“Oh thank God! I don’t wanna see them.” Liz said panicking “I don’t even wanna know them.”
Zoe held her hand and leveled their eyes “This is a small town. You can’t escape them. I won’t let them hurt you or anybody else. I’ll do anything in my power to safeguard your protection.”
“Don’t get all martyr with me! What about your safety?” Liz said fearfully.
Zoe smirked then removed her hand “I have the best bossy team in town, three humeleons and a protective witch.”
Liz pulled her brows at her. “I’m serious Zoe.”
“I know.” She said softly “And so am I. I can at least fend for myself.”
“Is it enough?” Liz looked weary.
Zoe closed her eyes briefly contemplating on how to ease Liz’s fears. There was no way out and no shortcuts whatsoever to go about her fate.
“Liz, I’m involved in this ordeal head to toe. It’s a matter of life and death. There is no easy way out of any of it. All I have to do is learn to survive and help keep Doomsberg safe.
“Please take care. I can’t lose you to those monsters.” Liz’s voice was a definite plea, soft and sad.
“I will.” Zoe smiled sadly then crossed over their barrier for a best friend hug.
Zoe murmured in her ear “Liz…about the ball. Please cover for me?”
She chuckled then nodded once, breaking free “Sure thing. I’m also waiting for George, his off duty today so it’ll also give me some back up story.
Zoe giggled and at the same time her phone rang.
She hunched to get to it. It was Josh, before she could answer; she glanced outside and saw his car.
“Hey, be there in a second.” she said to th
e phone.
“My date is here so, see you tomorrow!” Zoe said standing.
“You are not leaving this place without introducing me?” Liz said grabbing her arm playfully.
She ushered Liz to follow behind.
When Josh saw Zoe coming out with Liz, he got out of the car and stood smiling at them.
Zoe went to him and wrapped her arms around him, she then turned swiftly to introduce Liz, who was shamelessly staring up at him. Zoe jabbed a waky-waky finger on her shoulder.
“This is Liz, Liz… Josh.”
“Hello Liz” he said, taking her hand to his lips and then kissed the back of her palm. Zoe could see Liz flying.
“Haah…hi” she replied in an incredible small voice. “It’s good to meet you.” she said raising her voice a bit, when he let go of her hand.
“I’m mostly pleased.” he threw her the million dollar smile. The kind that beautifies his posters and make girls like Liz go dumb.
“Okay.” Zoe said bringing Liz back to face reality “Josh I’ll be right back and Liiiz” Zoe beckoned her as she walked to her car.
As Zoe dug into her bag, Liz was still hitched “Zoe if I were you, I would totally jinx him to fall in love with me.” Liz said shifting from Josh to what Zoe was doing.
“You are out of your mind.” she said carelessly emptying her bag on the car seat.
“You are such a drag.” Liz said frowning.
“Okay take these.” she handed Liz her car keys.
Liz looked curious “why aren’t you going with your bag?”
“We are going to the NorthHill hike area. We are exploring each other’s alone time places.”
“You guys are a boring bunch, but anyway whatever that leads to! you go girl!” Liz said with a seductive face.
Zoe rolled her eyes and nestled them on her mess. She pulled back into her bag whatever she could reach and decided to live the rest to Chris.
The best friends said their peck-full goodbyes, and Liz urged her to text back every romantic detail.
“Liz get it in your mind we are Just friends.”
“How can you be just friends with that?” Liz asked glancing at Josh then groaned her way back to the dinner in a daze.
Zoe wore her invisible necklace and sprinted towards Josh who was already waiting in the car.
NorthHill hike area was a good three to four kilometers away. That distance made time for lots of schmooze, music and maybe plain lucid silence. After her overwhelming resolution chat with Liz she would probably favor talk and music. Thinking might get her despondent.
Josh was a keen driver, very mature and careful. Given his profile you’d expect him to be irresponsibly carefree and rough on the road but just like his character he was nothing near predictable.
Eventually they got to the area of destination with lots of music, internet and less talk. She was in luck Josh’s oldies playlist was something she could coup with and in more than one occasion sing to. It occurred to her that he was sort of distracted throughout the ride. She didn’t know him well enough to know if he was just always quiet or there was something working his mind.
They had walked a short mile in silence and she knew that she had to start the conversation, Josh was definitely not Liz. They couldn’t even talk about school because he had no memory any of it.
“You were terribly quiet, is something bothering you.” Zoe asked, eyeing him with interest. He glanced at her and kept walking forward.
“Am sorry about that, am terrible company.”
“I kinda suck too, so don’t apologize. This place is truly beautiful.” she admired, looking around the trees and big rocks on the narrow pathway.
“You ever been here before?” he asked with a hint of curiosity and interest in his tone.
She nodded “Yeah. Long time though. Something like four years ago.”
“That’s long!”
“Yep! Took lots of cool pictures, don’t know why I never came back.” she said try to figure out the reason for staying away. It was the kinda place that would suit her mood swing getaways.
“I come up here nearly every Sunday when am in town. I like the privacy, freshness and tranquility.” he said then inhaled a large amount of air into his nature loving lungs.
“You’re a private person huh” she asked, betting on her intuition.
“I think because my life is not as private, I tend to grab on any private opportunities I get.” He said smiling briefly.
“Is that why you suggested we leave our phones in the car, coz I really wanna take pictures this minute.”
She couldn’t hold her urge any longer; every beautiful day deserved a memory. Josh stopped walking and frowned at her face.
“No phones Zoey.” He ordered and it was the first time he said her name. It was like he added y in the end “Please don’t spoil the moment in expense of your whims. Phones are distractive and you will not be able to concentrate on the incredible nature that surrounds you.” he insisted by showing her what she already saw.
She didn’t share the same point of view but she accepted to let it go so as not to scare him away. Zoe grimaced at the indication of her thoughts; does she want him to stay?!
“Tell me about the best town you’ve been to.” she said shifting her thinking gears.
“Do you travel?” he asked curiously.
“Huh” she said in between a cut short simper. “If you count Miami and Austin then I have, which was a smooth six years ago!”
“Damn.”
“That’s right, so you understand that I’d be glad to travel all the lovely towns through your eyes” she smiled playfully.
A group of six guys coming towards them stopped their conversation. They didn’t look like hikers, fans or didn’t have a friendly vibe either. From the distance between them she could feel the ruthless smell of danger. In a matter of seconds she was appalled by Josh who had tied her strength with a manacle. Her hands were restrained behind her back. She was cornered because she couldn’t generate her strength without using her hands.
Zoe’s heart began throbbing angrily, her breathing was uneven and her blue eyes blazed with a fire so sheer. Zoe glowered at Josh with overwhelming emotions. She was afraid to think if there was any possibility that…The intimidation, suspicion, questions, apprehension and pain all at once kicked aggressively into her system.
“What are you?” Zoe uttered breathlessly, her voice was shaky with the purest of anger.
She wanted to believe that she still knew who he was, he was Josh. He had to be Josh! But was he a black magic witch. No way. He cannot be. She still found herself having the room to hope. One of the guys from the crew that had already besieged them was holding her tight by the arm.
“Josh, what the fuck are you?” she shouted coldly. As she watched his poker face, she fiercely wished her hands were untied.
“I can answer that.” Zoe couldn’t believe the voice she heard, Lonard’s lazy husky tone.
The group turned and so did she. They faced her bossy team, three humeleons, Chris and Gigi. Zoe felt herself smiling and her confidence fled back into her pond of mixed feelings.
“Pablo Rodriguez, It’s so good to see you again. That Caucasian body has proved again to be your deceit hero. It always suit you greatly buddy!” Lonard said with a wicked grin.
Zoe could feel her heart throb so hard she had to hold her breath not to fall. The atmosphere was getting too intoxicating. Her eyes waved and her lips trembled with anguish. What she heard had to be a mistake, how was it possible. Chris had told him that humeleons changed to their original form in two hours. She had stayed with him for more than two hours and his skin had never altered. It had to be a mistake, a terrible mistake.
“What! You? You cannot be the forth humeleon, there has to be a mistake.” her voice was a crispy whisper.
Pablo needn’t answer. He boldly demonstrated. His skin turned darker, his hair black, short lean nose, thick lips and his eyes brown but his height remained the
same.
Zoe could feel the world spinning a little faster than it should. Fudging from the irascible reality before her, she slewed her eyes to Chris who was strongly held back by Gigi. He looked like if given the chance he would be too happy to jump on Pablo. His fists were clenched and his eyes spicy with hate.
“Two centuries of imprisonment haven’t done you bad either brother. It’s good to see that you traitors managed all these years without slaying one another.”
“That’s old news buddy, what I need now is that pretty girl and we will discuss the rest privately.”
“I like private, but the pretty girl has to give me something before I give her back.
They talked of her like she wasn’t there, irritating her further. She wiggled her hand from the man but he tightened his grip.
“You treacherous bastard! How dare you, what did you do to Josh.” Zoe yelled, throwing her toughest kick to Pablo’s ribs.
It was a useless move, he barely felt a thing.
“Whoa easy honey, we go way back you and me, remember! No need to get feisty.” he said. She could feel her veins burst with a renewed anger. The concept of him being a humeleon explained his constant body warmth. Whenever they’d hug she would notice his body’s temperature abnormally high. She had never considered it relevant until now. It was until she referred to feeling the same warmth with the other shifters.
At the memorial park, was it also him? The way he had fought the gang that attacked her!
How long had he known she was the Channeler? How much more has he lied to her. As if to answer her thoughts, Pablo supplied her confusion with answers.
“A day after I saw you at the beach I was informed that you were declared Channeler. It was one helluva Bingo for me, so I had to do everything to get your attention again. It wasn’t hard after playing hero in that staged fight with my man.” Pablo explained carelessly veering to the black magic witch who had punched her in the group, Zoe gasped with terror, she hadn’t recognized him because he had a cap on.
“Err about Josh, well he is dead, unfortunately. My sincere condolences” Pablo broke it down like he was giving her news of a lost pen, while glowering back at him Zoe felt nauseous.
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