by M. H. Soars
“Mia!” Zach screamed, appalled, which caused Sean to mimic him in a mocking tone.
She finally looked up. “What?”
Zach pointed at the pillow floating in the middle of the room with an exasperated hand gesture.
“Oh, crap!” she said before she let it drop. “I didn’t even realize what I was doing. It felt so natural, like breathing.”
Sean stopped laughing. “Yeah, no shit. Now you know how I feel. Reining in our abilities is not normal.”
“It might not be normal, but it’s a necessity. Besides, we all know that most of the time you use your abilities deliberately,” Zach chided his brother.
Mia looked stricken, and I wasn’t surprised. She was one of the most sensible amongst us, and for her to use her abilities needlessly was unheard of. Luckily, Alexia was no longer around.
Thinking about Alexia brought back the uneasy feeling I had gotten when she first met Ethan. I had never seen her so taken with anyone. I had never expected to see her react like that to someone who wasn’t her Promised One. That in itself was puzzling. I was sick and tired of not having any straight answers. It wasn’t the first time that I felt like the Prodigy were nothing but pawns to the Arcadian Council.
CHAPTER 13
Matthew
According to my calculations, I had been in Arcadia for about a week. It was hard to tell when there no celestial bodies to distinguish the difference between night and day. Thanks to the Dome, the Arcadian sky was always a constant mauve color which made glancing up the “sky” quite unnerving.
The Arcadian Council resided in the Argamanx Royal Castle, which used to house the government of Argor, but now represented the last standing force of Arcadia. The castle was something out of a fairy tale. It stood on the top of a tower as tall as the Empire State Building. Its expansive grounds spread like the petals of a flower, protruding from the top of the tower like gravity was there to be defied. The body of the tower was made out of translucent bricks that pulsed like they were alive. Weird looking vines with leaves the color of peacock feathers covered almost the entire structure.
The tower sat on an island in the middle of Serenity Lake, which had crystalline water the color of turquoise. Despite its beauty, the lake was deadly. Anyone foolish enough to swim in its gorgeous water succumbed to a deep sleep and drowned. There were only two ways to reach the tower: through the main bridge or by boat. Both ways were patrolled by the Argamanx Royal Guard; only Arcadians with permission could go up to the castle.
We never had to take either of those routes, though. The beam that transported us from Earth to Arcadia opened up inside the castle’s grounds. I had always wanted to see the deadly lake up close, or to explore Argamania, the city that surrounded the lake. But we had never been allowed to go down below. The most we had been permitted to do was to explore the Royal Gardens, but only with a proper escort of guards in tow.
The castle itself was magnificent with its towering white turrets, upward-pointing lines, and delicate embellishments. But despite its luxury and grandeur, I always felt trapped here, and couldn’t wait to return to Earth.
Unfortunately, training had been terribly slow. It didn’t help that my instructor was Durgin himself. No one could blame me for not trusting the guy. Who would trust someone who could manipulate your thoughts?
Despite my best efforts to talk to Melanie, I hadn’t seen her since my arrival. It seemed to me that the Arcadian Council was keeping us apart on purpose. So I was surprised to find her eating alone at the mess hall one morning.
The mess hall was one of the few places in the castle where opulence wasn’t present. The walls were white and devoid of any decorations, the long tables and benches were of a simple, dark wood and there were huge windows everywhere. It wasn’t a place where the Council members ate or congregated, and therefore I preferred it. The food was all right, not as alien as one would think. It was no secret that the Arcadian supply of food came from Earth, and with that came the way to prepare them as well. Arcadians only consumed the healthiest products. I don’t think they even knew about junk food.
My original impulse when I saw my sister was to shout her name, but not wanting to draw unnecessary attention to us, I grabbed my breakfast and sat down next to her like it was routine for us to be alone in the same room.
“Hi, Mel.” Melanie was so distracted playing with her food that she didn’t notice me until I greeted her.
Her head snapped up. It took her a few seconds to process my presence. When she did, she pulled me into a tight hug.
“Matt, what are you doing here?”
“What do you mean?” I asked, still hugging her.
She leaned back. “Did you come to visit me?”
I frowned. “No. I’ve been in Arcadia for the past week, training. I thought you knew that.”
Her forehead creased and she pursed her lips. “They don’t tell me anything here. I only have contact with my instructors and even then, it’s strictly business. It’s like they don’t completely trust me.”
It was true that people here weren’t very friendly toward us, as if because we lived on Earth, we carried potentially deadly viruses or something. I had learned to accept it, but Melanie sounded troubled by it, so I tried my best to cheer her up.
“They’re no fools, these Arcadians.” I said in a mocking tone.
“What’s that supposed to mean?” She placed her hands on her waist.
“I don’t trust you either, and you’re my twin sister.” I shoved a piece of cake in my mouth.
Melanie retaliated by pinching my arm hard. “Ow!” I exclaimed as rubbed the sore spot.
“Oh, shush. It didn’t even hurt.”
“Hello, I would know if it hurt or not, it’s my arm –“I didn’t get to finish the sentence. We heard a throat clearing and looked up to find a woman with a scowl on her face.
“Prodigy Melanie, you are late for your lesson.”
Melanie glanced at the clock on the far wall of the mess hall, then addressed the pissed off lady. “No, I’m not. I still have half an hour.”
“Don’t argue with me, young lady.” Sour puss said in an aggravated tone. If she was one of Melanie’s instructors, I was glad I had Durgin.
“I’ll argue with you as much as I want,” Melanie replied with as much impertinence as she could muster. It didn’t surprise me. She didn’t care much for authority figures.
The lady’s face contorted in tremendous rage, and I thought she was going to have a seizure.
“The Council will hear about this insolence,” she finally said in a clipped tone before she left in a huff.
“Mel, you shouldn’t antagonize your instructors.”
“She’s not my instructor. She’s just a nosy old lady who likes to boss people around. And I’m not really late for my lesson. She just wanted me to leave with her because I’m here chatting with you. They’re terrified we’ll join forces and plot against them. Bunch of idiots.” Melanie ate a piece of her bread before she added, “Tell me again why we’re trying to save them?”
Alexia
Three weeks had passed, and Matt was still gone. Uncle Gary told me that Matt had decided to visit a friend who lived near Melanie’s cheer camp. I thought it was extremely selfish that he had gone away for so long when he knew we only had the summer together. I tried calling him several times, but my calls went straight to voice mail.
Ethan had not returned, either. We talked to each other every day over the phone, but that wasn’t nearly enough to dissipate the pain that his absence was causing me. It was so odd. I barely knew him, but it broke my heart to be apart from him nonetheless.
Maybe it was karma getting back at me for hurting Thomas. The only good thing I had going on in my life right now was ballet lessons. I still wanted to keep them a secret from everybody, and it had been fairly easy to do so, especially with Sam’s help. My cousins were all so distracted lately that no one seemed to notice I was gone for a few hours every afternoon. The
teacher was amazing, and I could already feel myself improving. I really thought I had a shot at getting into Juilliard. But that also brought me some angst. I would have to return to Santa Fe for my senior year, and then, if I got in, I would head to New York City. I had no idea what Ethan’s college plans were.
I felt needy and pathetic, but I couldn’t imagine my life without Ethan. How could I have fallen so hard and so fast for him? I had always laughed at the people who believed in love at first sight, but now the joke was on me.
Things between Sam and me had returned to normal. She apologized for ditching me to spend time with Julian, and I also learned that she had broken up with him. When I asked her why, she told me she had gotten bored. She was lying, because she got a funny look on her face when she told me. I was a bit miffed that she hadn’t wanted to confide in me, especially since I didn’t keep anything from her, but I didn't push it. We’re all entitled to keep some secrets.
It was Saturday, and I decided to sleep in. When I woke up the house was deserted, but I didn’t mind. I wanted to be alone today. I had it in my head that I should go visit Melanie at cheer camp. If Matt could, why couldn’t I?
But my uncle thought differently. When I asked him, he straight out denied me. I was so caught off-guard by his refusal that I didn’t even think to question his motives. The anger came later, when I had time to process his unusual behavior. But I didn’t have it in me to go back and fight his decision. So I tried to get my cousins to help me, which was an epic fail. Not even Sean was willing to disobey his father.
Now that I was alone in the house, I was going to look for the location of the stupid camp and go there by myself. I was all for following rules if they made sense, but in this case they didn’t. My earlier Google searches hadn’t yielded any results, so I was hoping I could find the information I needed somewhere in the house. I was going to start with Melanie’s bedroom.
I was mid-search when the doorbell rang and almost gave me a heart attack. I was so not cut out to be a spy. I closed the drawer that I was perusing and went to see who it was. To my surprise, I found Julian at the doorstep.
“Hi, Alexia. Sorry to show up unexpectedly, but can I come in?” he asked. Julian looked gorgeous, as always. He was wearing a faded pair of jeans with dressy sneakers and a polo shirt, the poster child for the casual preppy look. His dark curly hair was styled impeccably.
“Sure, of course.” I stepped aside to let him in. I was still baffled about his visit. Was he looking for Sam?
He walked in, looking around. Then he turned to me and smiled shyly. I bet that the entire female body of LJM Prep would pay big bucks to trade places with me right now.
“Uh, if you're looking for Sam, she's out,” I told him.
“I know. I saw her jogging on the beach. I’m actually here to see you,” he explained.
“Oh.”
“I thought that maybe you would like to pay your cousin Melanie a visit at cheer camp.”
“You know where the camp is?” I asked, unable to hide the excitement in my voice.
How did he know that I was dying to go there? Was it possible that Julian was a psychic? On second thought, the most probable explanation was that he must have heard Sean making a comment about it. Despite the fact that his relationship with Sam hadn’t worked out, his friendship with Sean remained intact.
“Of course I know where it is. I’m on the football team, remember?” Julian offered me a bemused smile. “I’m going there right now. Would you like to come?”
“Right now?” I looked at my watch. It was 11 a.m. and I didn’t have any classes on the weekends. I didn’t know why I got so apprehensive. Just a few minutes ago I was going through Melanie’s stuff to find the location of the camp. But now that I had the chance to get what I wanted, I felt guilt creep in. Breaking the rules wasn’t so easy for me after all, even if they were moronic.
I looked at Julian. He was bouncing on his toes and that made up my mind. I was bored and I wanted to see Melanie. I wasn’t doing anything wrong. I pushed the guilt aside.
“How far is the camp?” I asked.
“A couple of hours from here.”
That wasn’t too bad. I could probably go and come back without anyone being the wiser. But I couldn’t take a ride with Julian, because then I would have to explain where I went without a car. I would have to follow him.
“Give me five minutes to put on something decent,” I said, looking at my frumpy sweat pants.
“No problem, we’ve got time.” Julian sat down on one of the couches in the living room.
As I quickly ran upstairs, I started to think about Julian’s motives. Why was he here offering to take me to cheer camp? The logical conclusion was that he still had feelings for Sam. But if he was trying to get on my good side so I would help him with her, he would be sorely disappointed. If she didn’t want to date him anymore, who was I to tell her otherwise?
I left a message on the fridge explaining that I had gone shopping and should be back by the end of the day. Once I explained to Julian that I needed to cover my tracks so no one would find out that I had gone to the cheer camp with him, we were off to his house to drop off Matt’s car. However, as I was driving to Julian’s place, I wondered how Matt had gotten to the camp without his car. I hadn’t even thought about that little detail until then. Something wasn’t right here. I hoped I would get answers soon enough.
I was right about Julian’s motives. He was still not over Sam. He didn’t get into the specifics of why they had broken up after only a week, but when he asked me about her there was a wistfulness in his voice that gave his feelings away. He must have sensed my discomfort because he soon changed the subject.
Initial weirdness aside, the ride to the camp was pleasant enough. And despite the fact that Julian was a freaking legacy at his school, I discovered that he was charming without an ounce of snobbery. He told me stories about LJM Prep that had me laughing out loud, and also made me realize that private schools weren’t so different from public schools after all. Yeah, the majority of the student body was beyond wealthy, and they would never have to do a car wash to collect money for a field trip, but the drama was still the same. We also talked about Ethan and his accident, and I could see that Julian truly cared about him.
“So, Alexia, I feel like we have a special bond now, being partners in crime and all,” he suddenly said. He didn’t look at me, but I saw the corner of his mouth twitch.
“Is that so?” I squinted my eyes.
“Yep. So let’s play a game.”
“What kind of game?” I narrowed my eyes at him.
“I’ll tell you something that I’ve never told anyone before, and you’ll do same.”
I laughed at that. Right. Like I was going to tell him my deepest secrets.
“Don’t laugh. I’m serious,” he continued.
“Okay, buddy. You go first then,” I was pretty sure he was going to come up with an unbelievable story and swear it was the truth, Sean style.
“No, no, ladies first,” he replied.
I was going to open my mouth to protest, but he turned to look at me, his clear blue eyes more intense than usual. I found myself agreeing to it.
“Fine. A secret that nobody knows, hmmm, let me think,” I said jokingly, but then found myself actually contemplating telling Julian something that was true and meaningful. It was like I felt compelled to be honest with him. I could tell him about Thomas, but then again, Sam and Mia knew about it. I also didn’t want him mentioning it to Ethan. Guys gossiped, too. Finally, I confessed something that I hadn’t allowed myself to dwell too much on until that moment.
“Sometimes, I feel like I don’t belong to my family.”
Julian frowned. “How come?”
I looked out at the window, trying to organize my thoughts. I wanted to explain it in a way that wouldn’t make me sound like an attention seeker. “I don’t know, it’s just a feeling I get sometimes, like I’m a stray they took in, or an alien.”
At my last comment, Julian started to laugh. “An alien? What made you use that word to describe yourself?”
I smiled wryly at him. “Have you seen the size of my eyes? They’re abnormally large. According to Steven Spielberg, I must be an alien.”
Julian shook his head. “You have beautiful eyes, Alexia. Nothing extra-terrestrial about them.”
I blushed at his comment.
“I would have said you look more like an anime character come to life.” Julian continued after a brief moment.
“An anime character? Oh that’s great! I look like a cartoon,” I said, exasperated.
“Yeah, an anime character, all cute with big eyes, that adorable button nose, and curly hair. You’re like, the real live version of Candy Candy.” Julian said trying to suppress a smile.
“Who the hell is Candy Candy? That sounds like a stripper’s name.”
Julian chuckled before he continued. “Google it, you’ll see I’m right.”
I did just that. I didn’t know how Julian had turned my serious confession into an Alexia mock fest. Maybe he hadn’t meant for me to reveal something so depressing and was trying to keep the mood of the trip light. I found the information fast enough and couldn’t help but to gawk at him.
“Julian, Candy Candy is an anime series from the seventies. How in the world do you even know about it?”
“My mother collects anything related to it, not only anime but the mangas too. Candy Candy was my first crush.”
“You had a crush on a cartoon character?” I was almost unable to contain my laughter.
“Yeah, look at her. Isn’t she adorable?” He gave me a sheepish smile, and when he saw the look on my face he continued, “I was freaking eight, Alexia.”
“Thank God. I was beginning to fear for you.” We both laughed at that, and I was glad that Julian had moved the conversation to something fluffier.