by M. H. Soars
As Melanie predicted, we couldn’t find a shred of evidence that Henry was not the Promised boy. He had six older siblings, and his father was also a seventh son. How come Alexia didn’t feel the magnetic pull toward him?
I touched the rose pendant that Alexia had given me and tried to find strength in it. I hoped that the power of the Prodigy would be enough to protect her from the Council and its madness.
When I got downstairs and found Matthew wearing his tux, it took all of my willpower to keep a safe distance from him. He looked breathtaking, and my heart hammered madly in my chest. The warmth in his gaze told me that he was experiencing something similar, and I gave him a shy smile before I turned to look at everyone else.
Melanie was wearing a quirky, knee-length, corseted black dress with a full skirt, black fishnet tights and black Doc Martens. She was very punk. Mia had also opted for a black number, but her dress was a long one, like mine, with a halter top and a big slit on the side. She looked gorgeous in it, and Zach and Sean were having a hard time not looking at her in open admiration.
“Where’s Alexia?” I asked.
“We don’t know. We thought she was getting ready with you,” Sean replied.
I got confused.
“No, and I passed by her room and she wasn’t there.”
Something was definitely wrong. Then, as if Alexia had overheard us talking about her, I received a text message from her.
“Shit!” I exclaimed.
“What?” Matthew and Melanie asked at the same time.
“Alexia is at Rachel’s. She said Rachel had a meltdown over her dress, and she went there to help. She says not to worry and that Lucas will pick her up from there.”
“You gotta be fucking kidding me!” Matthew shouted in frustration. “How come we didn’t see her leaving the house?”
We had all been busy getting ready, and we were pretty sure we had convinced Alexia to ride with us. Nobody had thought to check on Alexia to make sure she hadn’t vanished. I felt that it was mostly my fault. I was always the one to help Alexia get ready for any event or party we had to attend, but today I had wanted to pamper myself alone so I could look extra pretty for Matthew. Once again, my feelings for him were putting the mission in jeopardy.
Matthew and Melanie wanted to go to Rachel’s house, but Mia pointed out that she lived on the other side of town. They would never make it before Lucas picked her up. Then we heard the doorbell, and we were all surprised when Gary came into the living room with Henry in tow.
“What’s he doing here?” Melanie asked, not bothering to hide the disdain in her voice.
Gary frowned but ignored her outburst. “I thought it would be more practical if Henry rode with you.” He looked around. “Where’s Alexia?”
The fact that Gary expected Alexia to be at the house spoke volumes to me. It meant that he wasn’t aware that one of Durgin’s operatives had taken an interest in one of the Promised Ones.
“She's not riding with us. She's at her friend’s house. Lucas will pick her up from there,” I replied.
Gary looked troubled. “Lucas? Who in the world is Lucas?”
We all exchanged concerned looks. So Durgin and Lucas definitely had hidden agendas.
“We thought you knew,” Melanie answered, shooting daggers at him and at Henry, who remained silent.
Gary shook his head, confused. “Don’t tell me this Lucas is another…” Gary paused, like he was trying to regain his thoughts. “Never mind. Henry is here, and he’s aware of his role tonight.”
“What do you mean he’s aware? You told him about the Prophecy?” Melanie squeaked.
“He’s known for a while now,” Gary confessed. I wasn’t sure about the rest, but I wasn’t expecting that confession. Why hadn’t Gary told us that Henry knew about the Prophecy? And why hadn’t he told Alexia the truth?
“You know that’s messed up, right Gary?” Melanie seemed ready to explode or take a swing at Gary.
“It wasn’t my decision. With Alexia’s obvious depression, the Council didn’t want to risk telling her the truth.” Gary tried to defend his actions by blaming the Council. I was sick and tired of his half-baked excuses. I couldn’t recognize the man who had been a father figure to me all these years. Maybe we didn’t really know him at all, because we had grown up with the more carefree side of his personality. However, since Alexia had moved to California, he seemed to act like we weren’t people but chess pieces.
Matthew reached his sister’s side and touched her arm, trying to calm her down. I could sense that she was on the verge of spilling the beans and letting Gary know that we didn’t believe Henry was our guy. If we had any hope of preventing the ritual from taking place tonight, we had to pretend we would follow through with the Council’s orders.
“Doesn’t matter,” Matthew said. “Where are we taking the Promised Ones?”
Gary seemed relieved that he didn’t have to deal with a pissed-off Melanie anymore. “To a place called the Kissing Grove. I understand it's a very popular spot among the students in your school, but it will be empty of unwanted witnesses tonight.”
“What time?” Matthew asked again, wearing his all-business façade.
“Be there at midnight,” Gary responded.
I couldn’t help but think, how typical.
CHAPTER 28
Alexia
In all honesty, I didn’t know what I was doing. I had no desire to go to any stupid dance, especially a Homecoming Dance. At school, I just went through the motions. I paid attention to all of my classes, I practiced dance routines with the Leopoldetes, I tried to be interested in whatever the girls were saying. But I felt completely hollow inside. Even Mrs. Winterborne had noticed my lack of motivation.
After a month, Ethan had finally given up on trying to talk to me. Now he just picked fights with everyone. I didn’t understand him. Why go through the trouble of cheating on me with Chloe and not get back together with her? What was the point? In fact, they seemed to hate each other even more now.
The fact remained that I had accepted Lucas' invitation to the dance, and I didn’t even know why. Besides, the day he came to introduce himself, I had barely talked to him at school. Then one day, out of the blue, he asked me if I wanted to go to the Homecoming Dance with him. I just said yes without thinking. No hesitation. I berated myself for it later, but found that for some reason I couldn't bring myself to bail on him.
I was glad, though, when Rachel called me for help. I was sick and tired of the concerned looks my cousins kept giving me. The last thing I wanted was them questioning my motives for going to the dance with Lucas. I knew there was no love lost between them.
I was so unmotivated about this dance that I was wearing the same dress I had worn to junior prom. Putting it on brought up a myriad of bittersweet emotions and made me miss the easy relationship I’d had with Thomas. I truly hoped that I hadn’t hurt him the way I was hurting now.
I was surprised when Lucas arrived at Rachel’s house in a limo. I thought it was overkill for just the two of us, and it made me feel uncomfortable. I even tried to convince Rachel to join us with her date, but she said she didn’t want to ruin whatever Lucas had planned for the evening. I wanted to be mad at her for bailing on me, but I knew she had good intentions. She just wanted to see me move on, already.
I’d never really paid much attention to the way Lucas looked. I had only had eyes for Ethan, after all. But I couldn’t deny that Lucas was an attractive guy. He looked like a movie star wearing a tux. Despite that, I didn’t get butterflies from the prospect of going on a date with him. He greeted me politely and said I looked nice before he opened the door of the limo for me and followed me inside.
He sat opposite me and asked if I wanted something to drink. When I refused, we started to talk about random things, but nothing personal. He didn’t flirt, and although I was relieved that he didn’t, I still thought it was odd. If he wasn’t interested in me, why had he invited me to the dance? When he
told me he needed to make a quick stop before going to school, I almost asked him to take me home. But I didn’t.
He got out of the limo, and I stared out the darkened window. I couldn’t see much outside, so I had no idea where we were. He returned after a few minutes.
“Alexia?”
I turned, recognizing the voice immediately. “Ethan?” I was stunned. Why was Ethan sitting there opposite me? Where was Lucas? Then the realization hit me. Lucas had invited me to the dance so Ethan could corner me inside a moving vehicle.
I wanted to get out of the car immediately. The only thing that prevented me from doing so was the surprised look on Ethan’s face. Did that mean he hadn’t planned this after all?
Lucas joined us inside and closed the door. We both turned to stare at him. “What is going on?" I asked.
Lucas raised his hand. “Before you both yell at me, let me explain. First, I would like to apologize for all the suffering I caused both of you. I didn’t realize that my actions would do this.” He waved his hand between Ethan and me.
“Lucas, what the hell are you talking about?” Ethan asked, sounding aggravated.
Lucas ignored Ethan and focused on me. “Alexia, the pictures Rachel showed you of Ethan and Chloe together were fake.”
“What?” I shouted.
Ethan leaned back against the car seat and rubbed his eyes. “Don’t bother, Lucas. I’ve tried to tell Alexia the same thing, but she didn’t believe me.”
I turned to glare at Ethan. “Because they would be impossible to fake!”
“Not impossible. Difficult, but not impossible. I know, because I was the one who made them.”
Ethan and I turned toward Lucas. “Why?” I asked.
“Because Chloe paid me to do it,” Lucas answered matter-of-factly.
“That bitch!” Ethan exclaimed. “I knew she was behind it.”
That couldn’t be true. Rachel and Brianna had those pictures because they had taken them themselves. I pointed that out to Lucas and waited for an explanation.
“Rachel didn’t take those pictures. Ask her. By the time she arrived at the supposed rendezvous place, there was nobody there. I sent her those pictures.”
My mind was spinning. All this time, Ethan had been innocent. I looked at him, and my eyes started to overflow with unshed tears. His jaw was tense, and his hands were curled up into fists. I was surprised he hadn’t jumped Lucas yet.
“Why come clean now?” Ethan asked with barely contained indignation.
Lucas shrugged. “You can call it guilty conscience, I guess. Now that you know the truth, it’s up to you. The limo is paid for until midnight. Go to the dance together, drive around town, do whatever. My job here is done.”
Lucas opened the door and exited the vehicle, leaving Ethan and me shell-shocked. I didn’t know what to say to him. I felt absolutely awful. He had sworn to me that he didn’t know anything about those damn pictures, but I didn't believe him. How could he ever forgive me for not trusting him?
I wanted to tuck into a corner and cry. I hid my face between my hands and let out a loud, anguished sob. I couldn’t even bring myself to look at Ethan.
I heard him move, and in a moment his arm was around my shoulder. He pulled me to him. “Shhh, Lexi. Don’t cry. Everything will be all right now.” I buried my face in his chest and cried some more. Why was he being nice to me? I didn’t deserve it. I was a terrible person.
I finally stopped crying and leaned away from him. I probably looked awful, with mascara running down my face and a red nose. I wiped my cheeks with the back of my hand.
“How can you be so kind to me after everything I did to you?”
“You did nothing to me. We were both victims of a despicable person.” He touched my face and rubbed the mascara smear away.
“Chloe might have faked those pictures, but in the end it was me who didn’t believe in your innocence. How can you ever forgive me for that?”
He held my face in his hands and stared into my eyes. “Listen to me. It was not your fault. I’ve seen those pictures. If I hadn’t known I didn’t do those things, I would have believed them, too. They looked real.”
There was so much love in his eyes that my heart broke all over again. He might have forgiven me, but I still couldn’t forgive myself for hurting him so much. Tears spilled down my face again.
“I won’t have you start that nonsense again. I can’t stand to see you cry.” Ethan pulled me closer to him and kissed my forehead, then my cheeks, my nose, and finally my mouth. At first, it was just a soft brush of his lips, tentative. Then he pried my lips open with his tongue to deepen the kiss and I felt complete again. Electricity burst through my veins with enough power to keep Las Vegas lit for a year. My heart swelled and overflowed with happiness.
He stopped the kiss, pulling away gently, and rested his forehead against mine. “I love you, Alexia. So much.”
I closed my eyes, savoring those words, and let out a long sigh before I replied. “I love you, Ethan.”
One of his hands moved to the back of my head, tangling with my hair as the other caressed my cheek, my lips, my neck, then finally descended onto my waist. He brought his face down for another kiss as I clutched at his clothes, trying to get closer to him.
It was some time later when we finally managed to break apart.
“You look beautiful, by the way,” Ethan said as his gaze took in my dress.
“I probably look like a mess now. My makeup is ruined.”
“You look beautiful to me no matter what.” Ethan reached up to brush a loose strand of hair off my face, and then traced my hairline down to my lips. I closed my eyes and shivered.
“So, what should we do?” I asked, opening my eyes again to look at him. I still couldn’t believe we were together.
“It would be a pity if we missed the Homecoming Dance. It is our senior year after all,” Ethan replied with a cheeky smile.
I finally took the time to pay attention to what he was wearing. “Why are you in a tux?” I narrowed my eyes at him. “Were you planning to take someone else to the dance?”
Ethan eyes widened. “I didn’t want to go to the dance. But I’m on the football team. I don't have a choice.”
It was his turn to frown at me as he crossed his arms. “You, on the other hand, were going to the dance with somebody else.”
I turned my gaze down to my folded hands on my lap. “Well, yeah, I didn’t know what I was thinking when Lucas asked me and I said yes.” I looked up again. “Just to be clear, I didn’t want to go.”
Ethan shook his head and chuckled. “It’s okay. I’m just giving you a hard time. I’m actually glad that you said yes.” He picked up my hands and brought them to his lips, kissing one, then the other.
“So what do you say? Shall we shock the hell out of everyone by arriving at the dance together?”
I didn’t care about shocking people or making a point to anyone at school. But looking at Ethan’s eager, happy face, I couldn’t deny him.
“Why not? But first I must fix this.” I pointed to my face. “You might think I’m beautiful no matter what, but we don’t want people thinking that you manhandled me to attend the dance with you, right?”
Ethan laughed. “No, we wouldn’t want that.”
Samantha
The tension inside the limo was so thick you could make sushi with it. Melanie kept eyeing Henry like she wanted to torture him until he confessed he was a fraud. We made sure they were sitting on opposite sides. Henry sat between Sean and Zach. That meant Matthew was sitting between Mia and me.
I wished things were different and that indeed we were just going to a dance, without ulterior motives. Mostly, I wished that Matthew was my date, that he had given me a corsage, and that we had taken silly pictures in front of the fireplace before the limo arrived.
As soon as the limo parked in front of the school gymnasium, I got out. I needed fresh air. I was so upset about not having the simple things I wanted, and also
about my major screw up with Alexia, that I only noticed Julian when I was upon him and his date, and couldn’t avoid saying hello to him.
His eyes widened slightly as he did a quick glance over and I felt myself blush. There was no mistaking his appreciation. His date, Vanessa, of all people, also noticed his interest and quickly grabbed his arm and started to touch his chest in a vain effort to stake her claim. I forced myself not to roll my eyes at her. Like I cared who Julian dated. He was free to do whatever he wanted, as long as he didn’t pursue me. I just wished he had chosen his next conquest better.
I felt Matthew’s presence behind me and was glad when he greeted Julian and Vanessa politely prior to putting his hand on my back in a protective gesture. After that awkward encounter, we moved on towards the gymnasium. I couldn’t help but to feel a bit excited to be there. The Homecoming Committee had done a wonderful job decorating the place, as usual. They had gone with an underwater wonderland theme that gave us an impressive cardboard print wide sunken ship accented with tulle, fishnet, hemp rope, shred and string lights. Near the ship speakers blasted the sound of the ocean. I looked up to Matthew with a tiny grin on my face, but the clench of his jaw made me cold inside.
”What’s wrong?”
“Nothing,” he replied without glancing my direction.
What was the matter with him? He couldn’t possibly be jealous that I had said hello to Julian. I grabbed his arm and forced him to turn around.
“Hey, talk to me.”
“What do you want me to say, Sam? You want me to tell you that it didn’t bother me to see Julian undressing my girlfriend with his eyes?”