“And Alex is the only name I know her by. Since she’s never corrected me, I assume that is also her name.” Dark gazes abruptly shifted my direction.
Madison advanced. “Would you care to enlighten us?”
I felt like I was being cross-examined on a witness stand for a crime I didn’t commit.
Ally all but dropped her grocery basket and sighed loudly. “Oh for heaven’s sake! It’s not a big deal. You see,” she pointed at me, “Lexi’s friends usually call her Lexi, but some of the people closest to her call her Alex. They are both short for Alexandria. Simple nicknames.” She proceeded to brush something off her arm, indicating there was nothing else to add. I nodded with appreciation. Of course, Ally also knew the only person who really called me Alex was my dad. I silently thanked her for not sharing that little tidbit.
Jason stood looking at me with a crazed expression, while Madison turned and faced me. “Well, I’ve never heard anyone call you that. Not even my sister who you’re supposedly such good friends with,” she complained.
Heat flushed my cheeks, but this time with anger. Before I could respond Jason said sharply, “Give it a rest Madison. You’re embarrassing yourself.”
That shut her up, and the only sound that came out of her mouth was a “Humph.” After readjusting her stance, she placed one hand on her hip and stood with renewed confidence. “Well whatever, I suppose it’s not important what name you use.” She grabbed her sunglasses and shook out her hair. “I’m just surprised you already know each other. Jason’s heard so much about the famous Lexi from Jessica. Yet, he’s never even mentioned you before.”
“Excuse me,” a gruff voice interrupted our conversation and was followed with a series of beeps. We all stepped aside, allowing an older man in an electric shopping cart to roll past us.
Madison flicked her hand my way and paused dramatically before proceeding. “I came to surprise Jason on his lunch break.” She flashed him a wide smile and said, “So, when I ran into Ally and learned that Lexi was here too, I knew it was the perfect opportunity to introduce you both to my boyfriend.”
At the word “boyfriend” my world came crashing down. The realization that they were a couple made me feel sick and insanely jealous. I looked over at him for reassurance – a sign they weren’t really together. But his gaze was directed solely at Madison, and it was filled with cold animosity. She was smiling demurely back at him, and they appeared to be having some kind of mental battle. Unfortunately, at that moment, she was kicking his butt.
Unable to help myself, I said incredulously, “Jason is your boyfriend?”
Madison slowly raised one brow and smiled. Giving me that, he’s mine and I’ll kill you if you so much as glance at him look, she replied smoothly, “Well, of course. We even…”
Jason cut her off and countered in a chilly tone, “Madison.”
She shrugged off his warning and lifted her chin but didn’t utter a word. His tone held daggers, and I don’t think she wanted them unleashed, because they would have been thrown directly at her heart. I knew for a fact that he had good aim.
He turned towards me, and when our eyes locked he said in a desperate voice, “Alex, there’s more to this, and what Madison said is not entirely accurate. There is so much more you need to understand first. I told you my life is complicated, and this is part of it.” Madison snorted loudly, and he shot her a look that promised violence. She lost some of her stature and her lips trembled slightly, but she held her shoulders high.
Ally intervened and brought the whole uncomfortable exchange to a close. “We really need to finish shopping and get home. Besides, it sounds like you two have some serious issues to resolve. Might be a good idea if you do that.” She feigned a smile and seized my arm. I shouldn’t have been surprised by her blatant advice, but I was. She bid them farewell and propelled me out of the produce department before I could say good-bye.
Once we were out of earshot, I said, “What is going on with those two?”
She shrugged. “No idea, but you didn’t look so good, so I decided it was time for us to split. Are you okay?”
“I think so,” I said, concentrating on her face.
“Should we grab the last couple items on my list or get out of here?”
“I’m fine,” I assured her. “Let’s get your stuff.”
“Okay, but let me know if you change your mind,” she said as she pulled her crinkled grocery list out of the basket. While searching the spices for Savory, I began feeling sick to my stomach and made a mad dash for the bathrooms. Upon finding the public restroom occupied, I made my way up the stairwell in the backroom to the ‘Employees Only’ restroom. Being an older store, the bathroom had yet to be remodeled, but it was clean and smelled fruity. I splashed some cold water on my face and took a drink from the faucet.
How was it possible that Jason was involved with none other than Miss Ice Queen herself? Madison might look like the Goddess of Beauty on the outside, but on the inside she was none other than Narnia’s evil White Witch. Any hope of a relationship with him was diminishing fast; although…he had made it sound like he and Madison weren’t really together. Well, they were either together or they weren’t. If he was with Madison, who probably utilized a ball and chain rather than a leash, what did that say about his taste in women?
Maybe he was right. Maybe I should keep my distance. I stood with the back of my head pressed against the cold, pink-tiled wall and closed my eyes. Under the florescent lights, I listened to the water running through pipes in the wall and waited for my bout of nausea to pass. After several minutes, I headed back down the stairs but heard raised voices coming from the break room. Voices I recognized.
“Just when were you planning on telling the rest of us about Alex? Is she some little secret you thought you could keep from everyone?” Madison’s voice echoed loudly.
Jason responded in a restrained but cold tone, “Please keep your voice down Madison. Anyone walking through the back room could hear you.”
“I don’t care who hears me right now. I’m so pissed off, and I want answers from you.”
Not usually prone to eavesdropping, I quickly decided there was no way I going to forgo this heated exchange, especially when I was the main topic of discussion. Maybe I’d learn what was going on between them. Of course, I’d ask Jessica for inside information later, but with Madison being her older sister, I didn’t know how forthcoming she’d be. Besides, I didn’t want to place her in an awkward situation. Tip-toeing, I eased my way along the back stock and sunk into a crouching position behind a pallet of canned vegetables.
“I was not keeping Alex a secret,” Jason said in a calm voice. “I was just biding time until I had more information about her. This is a big deal. Her life will change forever once she finds out about her capabilities and learns about us. Except of course she already has, since she’s Jessica’s Lexi.”
I almost fell over. My capabilities? So he knew about Amethysts. There was a pause, so I peeked around the shrink wrapped cans and found I had a partial view. Jason was shaking his head and banging his fist into his hand.
“Not to mention,” he continued, “Jessica has been so excited about finding Lexi, I didn’t want to burst her bubble.” He smacked his forehead with the palm of his hand. “I should have realized…I should have known Lexi and Alex were the same person. The odds of finding two of them at the same time are near impossible.”
Now my interest was piqued. Why had he been keeping me a secret? Did he think he’d found another Amethyst, and now, as it turned out I was the same person? This complicated mess was almost comical.
“I can’t believe it,” Madison said, suddenly hysterical. With her arms crossed, she drummed her fingers against her designer purse and clicked one heel pointedly against the floor. With deep malice she said, “You…you have a thing for her, don’t you? That’s what this is really about. You’ve got to be kidding me! She is why you’ve been acting so strangely lately. Now this makes more sense
. This doesn’t even have anything to do with her being an Amethyst, does it?”
Ah ha! I was right after all. Apparently, he was in on the Nelson family secrets. But if he knew about Amethysts, what did that say about him? There was so much more going on here, and I was the one in the dark.
Madison dug into him again. “You’ve been so preoccupied…so distant, and I couldn’t figure out why. Tell me you weren’t actually thinking you could have some kind of relationship with her.” She laughed. “Not like that would be possible anyways.” Sounding satisfied with her own answer, she drilled him again. “What could you possibly see in her? Other than she appears to have strong Essence…”
My ears strained to get his answer to that question.
“Appears to? Don’t kid yourself Madison. Her Essence is extraordinary.”
“Whatever,” Madison snapped. “You’re the one who’s been acting extraordinarily strange. You still haven’t told me what your deal is with her.”
He growled. His face was stone cold and humorless. “I have not been acting strange. And how I feel about someone has nothing to do with you. Just so you know, I don’t have any kind of relationship with her. Even if I did, it wouldn’t be any of your business.” He slammed one fist onto the table and silverware jingled.
“This is beyond belief,” she hissed. “You can fool yourself, but you can’t fool me. She’s the reason you’re blocking me out. She’s why you didn’t respond right away when I needed you.”
What the heck was she talking about now?
She smacked the table just as forcefully and pointed at him accusingly. “I think it is my business to know about any and all of your relationships. This affects all of us, especially me. And with the recent killings in B.C., we need to be on our guard – one hundred percent focused and ready. Which you obviously are not. Not to mention, we’re probably gonna need her when the time comes. But if you’ve got her all lovesick over you, then she’s not going to be able to… ”
“Madison, this discussion is over. We both need to cool off and talk about this when you have your emotions under control.”
There he went again; the voice of reason. I was totally confused. I knew four people had been murdered in B.C. the week before. Two of the bodies were a total mess and the other two had been virtually untouched. They’d died of unknown causes. But what did that have to do with Madison and Jason? Obviously, they needed me because of my Essence, but for what?
She wasn’t about to let the conversation end on his terms. Pushing him further, she said with disgust, “This little…little nobody is why you’re suddenly reading Pride and Prejudice.”
My heart leapt. Was he really reading my favorite novel? I smiled to myself, despite the heated and baffling discussion only a few feet away, the butterflies were back in my stomach.
Through clenched teeth he said, “You are way out of line. First of all, I am more than aware of what we’re facing, and I am always on guard.Secondly, what I do with my personal life is mine to decide. I do not need your input. Nor would I consider asking for your opinion, let alone your permission. You and I might be connected; we work together as a team, but beyond that my life is my own. We are no more than that, so stop parading around in public acting as if we’re a couple. We’re not, and I don’t appreciate it. You need to back off, or we aren’t gonna be able to work together anymore.” His body was quivering. He stepped back, pulled out a chair, and collapsed into it.
Madison’s face looked crushed. Actually, she looked like she’d just had her heart ripped out. I knew without a doubt, that at that moment, I’d just become her mortal enemy. She inhaled slowly, drew her shoulders up, and said with chilly satisfaction, “Fine. So, you have some sort of silly infatuation. But you know it will never work between the two of you. It’s impossible. And it wouldn’t be fair to her, or the rest of us, to even consider it. But more importantly, you better not get side-tracked…” she kept talking but started drifting towards the door as she spoke.
I knew it was time to make my escape before she stormed out of the break room and caught me. Quickly, I snuck back around the pallets and headed to the front end. I found Ally in the check stand sliding her debit card through the payment machine, so I grabbed her grocery bag and bolted for the door.
“Geez, what’s going on now?” she asked, following me out.
“I’ll fill you in on the way home.”
CHAPTER 12 – OR HOPELESS?
The brief eavesdropping stint left me with more questions than answers. During our walk home from the store, I followed Ally’s suggestion and called Jessica but got her voice mail. I left a message about my awkward run in with Madison and Jason and asked her to call me back ASAP.
“We knew Jessica had more to tell you, but who would have guessed she knew Jason or that it would involve him? Apparently, there’s a whole lot more going on than we ever imagined,” Ally said. “Come to think of it, it’s pretty obvious there’s a lot more to all of them. I keep thinking about how fast and proficient Max, Madison, and Laci were at that apartment fire.”
“I know, right?” I said, switching the heavy grocery bag to my other hand. “They were so fast, too.” I pondered for a moment. “Maybe Jessica doesn’t think I can handle the whole truth. All this business about how I need to find my own Essence before she can give me any more information seems absurd. Then again, maybe she just doesn’t know if she can completely trust me yet.”
A convertible red Corvette sped past blaring a rap song. Ally covered her ears and shook her head. She looked at me and laughed. “Dang! That guy’s gonna need hearing aids. I think that was Ludacris.”
“Yeah, my eardrums are shot.”
“No, silly. I mean I think the artist was Ludacris.”
“Oh.” I laughed and bumped into her. “What scares me is that you even know that.”
“I’m just an incredible wealth of knowledge,” she joked.
A short time later we made it home. The small yard surrounding our yellow house was abloom with white and yellow daisies. A few minutes later as we stepped onto our oval splotch of front lawn, which Ben kept neatly trimmed, only because Ally insisted, she stopped and looked at me nervously.
“Okay, what’s bugging you?” I asked.
Ally dipped her head. “I know we can’t talk about this when we go inside, because Ben is home. I know how private you are about your personal stuff, especially the premonitions, and I get that. I’ve never shared anything with Ben, but I know he suspects something.” I nodded, and she bit her lower lip. “I mean how many times have we been in the right place at the right time and saved people from some accidental death?”
“Too many to count,” I said quietly.
Her hand moved to the gold chain at her throat, and she began twisting it. “Well, Ben has commented several times that he doesn’t believe in coincidence, especially perpetual coincidences. I don’t know, but I guess I was hoping you’d consider telling him about your premonitions.” She sighed deeply. “Oh Lex, I’m going to marry the man, and I feel so deceptive – always lying to him…” She dropped her hand and groaned.
Guilt impeded my airways. Finally, I said, “I hear what you’re saying Ally. Asking you to keep so many secrets from him hasn’t been very fair of me. I’ve been thinking about this too, and you’re right, we should tell him. We could use his support.” I reached out and caught her hand. Her face perked up and her eyes brightened. “Give me a week or two. I’ll see if I can get some more information out of Jessica, and then you and I can sit down with Ben, and we’ll tell him everything – swearing him to secrecy, of course.”
She smiled, relief sweeping over her features as she hugged me. “Thanks Lex, you know I love ya. And you know you can trust him. Besides,” her eyes sparkled, “watching the expression on his face once we’ve completely blown his mind away – priceless!” She laughed as we walked into the house.
We only had a few hours before the three of us were off to watch Ash and Kai at band practi
ce. I needed something to take my mind off Jason and Madison, so I busied myself checking e-mail. According to Aunt Frances, no other books had been found in her attic. Next, I searched the web for articles pertaining to the recent killings in B.C., and that’s when Jessica called me back. She sounded completely unlike herself and said she’d practically had her head ripped off while listening to Madison’s version of the whole story. She told me not to worry about Madison though, because all she needed was time to cool down.
“Listen Lexi, the relationship between Jason and Madison is complicated.” Her voice echoed through my cell.
“That’s what everyone keeps saying,” I said with exasperation. “I think there’s a lot more going on here. More than just Amethysts…something else that has to do with all of you. Am I right?” I said into the phone and leaned back in my chair.
“Yes,” she said quietly.
“And those four people killed in B.C., they’re connected somehow, too?”
I was greeted with dead silence, and then she finally said, “Listen, I’m making plans to straighten this all out. Can you wait a week, and I’ll explain everything?”
“Why so long?”
“I just got out to the island. We’re having that huge family reunion of sorts, and we won’t be back until next weekend. But I promise I’ll tell you everything then. In fact, I’ll need to have Max, Madison, Jason, and Laci help me, because what I need to explain, I can’t do alone. Anyways, it’s gonna take all of us for it to make sense. Not to mention, we’ll need privacy, so I’ll come up with a good place we can meet.”
I drummed a pencil against the armrest. I’d completely forgotten about her being out of town. “Jessica, you’re making no sense here.” I was way past frustrated and didn’t want to wait another minute, but I couldn’t really demand she leave the reunion – the one her family was hosting on their very own private island in the San Juan’s.
She cleared her throat. “And just so you know, you’re right; being an Amethyst is much more involved. I’d really hoped to wait and talk through everything after you’d discovered your own Essence.” She paused and sighed deeply. “But in light of everything that’s happened, it can’t wait any longer. After we’ve given you the full story, the whole truth, then you’ll have to decide how involved you want to become and if you want to support our cause or not. We’re facing something awful…”
Amethyst - Book One of the Guardian Series Page 15