by M. H. Soars
The final ‘perk’ of the Phoenix was linked directly to its legend. The Phoenix will always rise from the ashes. It meant that in theory I couldn’t be killed. Well, I could be killed, but I would always come back. This particular trait scared me the most, and I wasn’t too keen to find out how the whole thing worked.
Durgin had been my only instructor during my time in Arcadia. I didn’t know if that had anything to do with the scene he’d witnessed prior to me coming here or if it was because my powers were similar to his. I still resented him for what he had done to us when we were kids. Compelling us to lie to Alexia still felt wrong and without a purpose. But I had grown to respect the guy after my training. Durgin didn’t seem as stiff and distrustful as the rest of the Council, and for some weird reason, I felt that he was the only who had our backs. Nonetheless, I intended to ignore his orders to stay away from Sam. Just because I understood his motives didn’t mean I had to agree with him.
Melanie looked eager to return, but I also noticed that she was paler than usual. She had gone through several instructors during her time in Arcadia, and I just hoped they hadn’t pushed her too far. At least she would have a week to recover before school started.
Gary, who was waiting by the portal to take us home, clasped his hands together. “Are you guys ready?”
We nodded, and I turned to shake Durgin’s hand. Melanie barely spared a glance in his direction. She just followed Gary to the beam of light waiting for us. It connected Arcadia to Earth. There were thousands of them spread throughout Earth, but only a handful of Arcadians knew the exact string of words that would ignite them as portals. Earthlings couldn’t see them.
Gary stepped inside the beam and disappeared, followed by Melanie and me. Once inside, everything glowed. I saw Gary’s lips move, but no sound came out of his mouth; at least I couldn’t hear anything. As soon as he finished reciting the “magic” words, I felt a hum of energy surround me, and my skin started to tingle. The light started to spin. It felt like we were trapped inside a vortex. I closed my eyes to avoid feeling dizzy. The entire experience lasted only a few seconds. When I opened my eyes again, the beam of light was gone, and I saw the blue sky of Santa Barbara.
Samantha
Well, the cat was out of the bag. Not the big fat cat, the other one. Alexia was still clueless regarding her role in the Prophecy. I was talking about the lie about Melanie and cheer camp. I’d known it was a bad idea from the start, but nobody listened to me, as usual. So what did Larry do? Told her another lie. This time, the reason for Melanie’s absence was that she was in rehab. Rehab. Poor Melanie! Oh, and Matthew spent the summer near her for “moral support.” What a joke.
What I really wanted to know was how Gary planned to fix the mess he’d created for us at school. Because Alexia had gone to cheer camp, all of those weak-willed blow-up dolls thought that Melanie had invented the whole thing. She would be teased no end.
That wasn’t the only problem. Alexia had become friends with Julian, of all people. I knew there was nothing going on between them. Alexia still pined over Ethan, and she kept trying to convince me to give Julian another chance. I didn’t know why all of a sudden Alexia had turned into Julian’s champion. Just because he had helped her discover the cheer camp deception didn’t warrant them becoming BFFs overnight. At least not in my book. Julian even knew about her secret ballet lessons. Not that they were really secret since the entire gang knew about them. But for all intents and purposes, I was the only one supposed to know. The only reason I wasn’t completely freaking out about their suspicious friendship was that we were taking turns following Alexia per Gary’s orders. If Julian was up to no good, we would find out soon enough.
We had never been involved in Alexia’s strict protection protocol before, but because some of us had completed the training, the Council had decided to let us fulfill our roles. Not that I believed for one second that they weren’t monitoring us.
My mind wandered back to Julian. I remembered our last night together. I would be lying if I said that I only obsessed about the last bit of the evening when everything turned strange. I remembered vividly the hot kisses, the urgent, uncontrollable desire that had taken hold of me. And I wanted to experience that again with him, even though I was in love with Matthew. What was wrong with me?
I got up from bed suddenly, feeling anxious and confused about my contradictory feelings. I had to stop fixating on Julian. He was bad news, and not the solution to my problems with Matthew. It wasn’t only the fact that I had almost gone all the way with him that worried me, it was also his bipolar behavior.
A good swim would help me clear my head, so I quickly changed and went outside. The sun was out in full force, and the water in the swimming pool was cold and crisp. We only had one week left of summer vacation, and I intended to enjoy every second of it. That was easier said than done. With Matthew returning from Arcadia today, I didn’t know how his presence was going to affect the little peace of mind I had left. This had been the longest I had gone without seeing him, and I wondered how I would react.
I lost track of time while I was in the pool. No one showed up to end my monopoly on it, so I’d stayed longer than I realized. I had almost reached the end of a lap when I noticed a shadow looming overhead. I couldn’t tell who it was until I lifted my head from the water.
“Matt!” I exclaimed when I saw him standing there like a vision.
He seemed taller than I remembered, but the lovely face I adored was still the same. My heart pounded so fast I was afraid it would come out of my chest. Suddenly, the sun emerged from behind a cloud and I could no longer see his face.
“Hello, Sam. Miss me?” He tried to sound casual, but there was a new quality to his voice that I couldn’t discern. The sun was shining behind him, preventing me from reading his facial expression.
“Help me out of the pool and I'll show you how much I’ve missed you,” I teased. I couldn’t believe I said that, but I offered my hand to him.
I had to remind myself that Matthew knew I had feelings for him. Too late now. The damage was already done, and I had no choice but to pretend my teasing didn’t mean a thing. So when he took my hand, I grabbed his arm with my other and yanked him hard into the pool.
I caught him by surprise, and I couldn’t help but laugh. He went down like a sack of potatoes. He emerged from the bottom of the pool shaking his head from side to side like a model in a TV commercial. My amusement was replaced by pure longing, and it was impossible to hide my reaction from him. I had to get out of there, pronto. I turned around and braced my hands against the edge of the pool. But before I could lift myself out of it, Matthew's hands grabbed me by the waist and pulled me toward him.
“Where do you think you're going?” he whispered near my ear, giving me goose bumps. I closed my eyes and fought the urge to turn around and kiss him. He let go of my waist, put his hands on my shoulders and pushed me down hard. I should have known that was coming. He held me underwater for a few seconds before letting me go.
“Jerk!” I screamed as soon as I surfaced, and splashed water at him. He guffawed before he retaliated. His laughter twisted my insides into knots. I wanted to get out of there but found it impossible to do so.
We played that game for a while, taking turns splashing and swimming away from each other. Although I found myself laughing, it was a bitter sweet enjoyment. Would it always be like that with Matthew? Would the pain ever go away?
He took me by surprise when he grabbed my leg and pulled me underwater. I fought him, but this time he held me under with him. He let go of my leg and quickly grabbed my arms. We stayed like that, staring at each other at the bottom of the pool, for I didn’t know how long. I finally broke the stare and, with one determined push, freed myself from his hold. I swam toward the pool ladder, Matthew following me.
“Sam, wait.”
I ignored him. I knew what he was going to say, and honestly I didn’t have the stomach to hear it from him. It had been hard eno
ugh hearing it from Zach.
Once I was out of the pool I dared to turn and look at him. He seemed upset and I couldn’t understand why. I was the one who had the right to be hurt because he didn’t reciprocate my feelings, not the other way around.
“What do you want from me, Matthew?” I asked, voicing all my frustration. Before he could answer I heard someone screaming my name.
I turned around and saw Melanie on the other side of the pool, grinning happily. We ran toward each other, then hugged and jumped at the same time, like two little girls. Oh, how I had missed my crazy “cousin.”
“I’m so glad to be back, Sam! I've got a gazillion things to tell everybody. You’re not going to believe the stuff I discovered inside the Arcadian Royal Library,” Melanie exclaimed.
“Hold your horses there, cousin. Have you seen Alexia yet?” I held her at arm’s length. Melanie looked so pale. She seemed to have lost weight, too.
“Yes, I’ve just spent half an hour talking to her. She only let me go because she was late for yoga class?” The questioning tone she used proved that Melanie hadn’t changed a bit. She could smell a lie from a thousand miles away. She held her chin with her hand, assuming her favorite Sherlock Holmes-style pensive position. “Come to think of it, she sounded really odd to me. She was treating me like I was about to break, like she pitied me. What was that all about?”
Oh boy. As usual, Gary had left the part about telling Melanie the rehab story to us. Alexia’s father had convinced Alexia to keep pretending she thought Melanie had been at cheer camp. Hence the unusual behavior on Alexia’s part toward Melanie. I swore that sometimes it seemed I lived in a daytime soap opera with all the lies and schemes.
Melanie crossed her arms in front of her chest. “Well, I’m waiting for an explanation.”
“What’s going on?” Matthew asked behind me. He had gotten out of the pool, and I was still there. Damn! So much for running away. At least now I had Melanie as buffer. When he circled around me to stand next to his sister, I tried my best to keep my eyes on Melanie only.
“Alexia found out that you were not at cheer camp all this time,” I said carefully.
“She did?” Melanie screamed, making me wince. And people said I was a drama queen. “How? When? Damn it, Gary!”
I had no doubt Gary would hear an ear full. Melanie had no qualms about expressing exactly how she felt to anyone.
“If you stop freaking out I’ll tell you when and how.” Now it was my turn to cross my arms in front of my chest. I quickly glanced at Matthew and saw him staring at me with a curious look. He was probably wondering what else had happened during his absence. If he only knew.
She stopped fuming, and I continued: “To make a long story short, Alexia got bored without you and Matthew around. Everyone else was occupied elsewhere, so she decided to go visit you. Of course, none of us would tell her where the cheer camp was, but an opportunity was presented to her, so she paid a visit to the camp and found out that you had never been there.”
Melanie opened her mouth to ask another question, but Matthew beat her to the punch. His body was tense. “Wait a second. What do you mean everyone else was occupied? I understand that Sean, Zach, and Mia wouldn’t be much company to Alexia, but what about you? You’re her best friend for crying out loud. What was so important that it made you abandon her?”
His self-righteous tone pissed me off, more so because he was right. I had been selfish, letting Julian take up all of my time, just because I couldn’t get over Matthew on my own. And that was the reason I owed him the truth. “Well, I was seeing Julian for a while.” Like one brief week, but I didn’t tell him that.
Matthew clenched his jaw and curled his hand into fists. His eyes glowed for a brief second, but after he took a deep breath they returned to normal. Why was he reacting like that? I did say for a while. It meant I wasn’t anymore. Did he hate Julian that much?
“Julian? You were dating Julian Mackenzie?” Melanie asked, baffled. “Wow. Things have indeed changed here.”
“Whatever! The guy is sin incarnate, he was available, and I was bored. Sounded like a good idea at the time,” I waved my hand dismissively.
“Yeah, it was clearly an excellent idea,” Matthew replied sarcastically.
“Don’t go putting all the blame on me. I’m not the only one responsible for Alexia. Sean, Zach, and Mia were also around, and she evaded all of them.”
“There's no need to get all defensive. We all know it wasn't entirely your fault. Right, Matt?” Melanie turned to look at her brother. He just stared back at her. She turned to me again and continued, “So, how did she evade all of you?”
I bit my lower lip because the answer was going to sound really bad, and I was afraid of Matthew’s reaction. “Julian took her.”
I must have shocked them both because they just stood there, speechless. Matthew’s lips pressed into a thin line, and his eyes narrowed.
“Julian, the guy you were dating, took Alexia? Is she dating him now? What is this? A CW TV show?” Melanie asked, only half-joking.
I was glad that at least someone found the situation entertaining. I waited for another outburst from Matthew, but he just turned on his heels and left Melanie and me staring at his retreating back.
Ignoring her brother’s reaction, Melanie returned her attention to me, “So is she dating him now?” she repeated the question.
Only when Matthew had disappeared inside the house could I bring myself to look at Melanie again. I just hoped I hadn’t been staring at him with puppy-love eyes. “No. Alexia is infatuated with Ethan Lancaster, but Ethan had to go out of town due to a family emergency. Alexia and Julian are just friends. Apparently he wants another chance with me, and he’s using Alexia as his own personal cupid.”
Melanie put a hand over her mouth, trying to prevent her laughter from escaping.
“It does sound like a CW show,” I said.
“Ethan Lancaster, huh? I can’t picture Alexia and him together. Isn’t he in a wheelchair? How did they meet? I thought he had become a recluse after the accident.”
I rolled my eyes and put my hand on Melanie’s shoulder. “Come inside, my friend. That’s a long story.”
CHAPTER 15
Alexia
Melanie looked a little bit paler and thinner, but she seemed to be in good spirits. For that, I was glad. Dad made me promise not to reveal that I knew about rehab, and I complied like the good girl I was. I wouldn’t be breaking any more rules any time soon. It didn’t matter, anyway. What mattered was that she was better and back with us.
I wished I could have stayed longer to chat with her, but I couldn’t afford to miss any ballet lessons. We were practicing my audition routine, and every lesson counted. Mrs. Winterborne, my ballet teacher, was in her fifties. She had been a prima ballerina with the American Ballet Company when she was younger. She had attended Juilliard as well, which made her experience all the more valuable to me. After I finished the final combination of my dance routine, which consisted of thirty fouettés, Mrs. Winterborne clapped her hands vigorously.
“Excellent, my dear. Excellent! That last piece was perfection,” she exclaimed happily.
“Thank you,” I replied, a little bit out of breath. The fouettés were one of the hardest ballet movements, and it was difficult to execute them perfectly. So the fact that Mrs. Winterborne was happy with my performance made me elated.
I walked to the front of the room, sat down on the bench next to my duffel bag, and started to remove my pointe shoes. Mrs. Winterborne sat next to me.
“I’m really proud of you, Alexia. When you first came to me, you were merely a tiny bud waiting to be nurtured. Now you have truly blossomed into a beautiful flower. I knew you had the talent, naturally. Otherwise I would never have agreed to tutor you.” She looked at me with kindness in her eyes.
“Thank you, Mrs. Winterborne. It means a lot to me coming from you. Do you think I have a chance to get into Juilliard?”
Mrs.
Winterborne's demeanor turned serious then, and my heart tightened. “If it depended solely on your talent, absolutely. Unfortunately, there are hundreds of other talented young kids applying to such an elite school. You will need to bring something extra to the plate. Do you know what I mean?”
“Do you think I should change my dance routine?” I asked, feeling a little bit panicked.
“No, no. Your dance routine is perfect as it is. I’m talking about extracurricular activities. Were you involved in any at your former school in Santa Fe?”
I sighed, defeated, and looked at my bare feet. “Not really. We didn’t have a dance group at my old school, and cheerleading wasn’t my cup of tea.”
“Well, dear. Aren’t you enrolled now at that nice private school your cousins attend? I’m pretty sure they have a dance group, so you wouldn’t need to subject yourself to the cheerleading squad,” Mrs. Winterborne said with an air of disdain. I had to bite the inside of my cheek to keep myself from snickering. “There’s still time for you to join them,” she continued. “It also wouldn’t hurt for you to do some volunteer work, too.”
I looked at her hopefully. If getting accepted to Juilliard depended on me joining the dance group, so be it. And volunteering for social work wasn’t a problem either. I just hoped that the dancers at my new school were nicer than the cheerleaders.
After the lesson, I headed to the café right around the corner from the ballet studio. Julian was waiting for me there, as usual. It had become our “thing” to meet after my lessons. The café was small and cute, with a blackboard outside where the specials of the day were listed. It was very Parisian.
The weather was warm, but not too warm, so Julian had picked a table outside. I usually preferred to sit inside because I was afraid to be seen with him. My cousins knew that Julian and I were friends, but anyone else would probably think he was my boyfriend, and I didn’t want those types of rumors reaching Ethan’s ears. Sam thought my friendship with Julian was weird. She was sure he was using me to get information on her. I might have thought the same before, but after our road trip, I didn’t believe that anymore. I couldn’t explain the connection Julian and I had made on that day, and Sam resented me for it.