by Jayme Morse
Lexi stared at herself in the mirror for a few moments before she noticed the light that radiated above her head. She turned around and that’s when she saw the white, elegant, and somewhat-translucent body floating above her.
“Mom?” Lexi squealed. No matter how long it had been between her mother’s visits, she always had the hardest time containing her excitement. Even though it was getting easier to go on without her mother, it somehow made her feel better to know that her mom probably wasn’t out of her life for good. They might go long periods of time without seeing each other, but her mom always seemed to make her way back to her sometime.
“Hi, Lexi,” her mom said, softly, wrapping her arms around her.
It was the first time Lexi’s mom had ever tried to hug her while she was in ghost form, and it felt strange—but good strange, not bad strange. It felt like Lexi was being enveloped by a cold, misty cloud-like substance.
“I miss you, Mom,” Lexi said. “But, then, I always miss you.”
“I know, Lexi. I miss you, too, but just remember that I’m always watching you, even when you don’t realize I’m there. I want you to know how proud I am of you. You did the right thing by drinking the immortality potion.”
Lexi nodded. “I know I did the right thing, but . . . it worries me sometimes.”
“Why does it worry you?” her mom asked, pulling back to stare at her. Even though her mom’s eyes were more translucent now, they still had the same twinkle that they’d had when she was alive.
“Because if I’m here forever, it means I’ll never be able to join you,” Lexi blurted. It was the first time she had mentioned that this worried her out loud to anyone. Even though she had been worrying about it for weeks, she hadn’t even mentioned it to Dan yet because admitting it made her worries seem all the more real.
“Lexi, I don’t want you to think that way. You have to do what’s best for you . . . and for Dan. I’m happy you’ve found someone who loves you so much. Don’t take him for granted,” her mom said. “I’ll visit you for as long as I can and even if there ever comes a time when I’m no longer stuck in this in-between state, I will always be watching you. I can promise you that.”
“I know, but it won’t be the same,” Lexi said, and a tear trickled down her cheek. She wiped it away with her wrist.
“No, but sometimes, change happens and there’s nothing we can do about it but accept it.” Her mom stared at her for a long time before saying, “I can’t stay for long, as usual, but there’s something I need to tell you before I go.”
Lexi nodded. She’d been expecting her mom to say that she had something to tell her. It always seemed like every time her mom came along, it was to offer her some sort of advice.
“There’s going to come a time when someone tells you that you need to do something the way they want, but you need to go with your own best judgment. You need to be brave enough to do things the way you want to, even if it means you break a promise.”
“How I will know if I’m using my best judgment?” Lexi questioned. She hadn’t always made the best choices in the past. It made her afraid of doing the wrong thing now.
“Listen to your heart and do what it tells you to do. If it feels right, then it is.”
“I wish you could tell me what the right thing is,” Lexi said with a sigh. “I wish you could tell me what I have to break this promise about and what I should do to make everything right.”
Her mom laughed. “You don’t know how much I wish I could offer you more guidance. Unfortunately—”
“It’s against the rules,” Lexi said, finishing her mom’s sentence with an eye roll.
Her mom gave her a small smile. “Yes, it is. I should be going now. I wish I could stay longer, but I have other duties to attend to.”
Lexi raised her eyebrows. “What type of duties?”
“I wish I could tell you,” her mom replied, sadly. “Maybe I’ll be able to someday.” Her mom’s appearance began to look more transparent. “I love you, Lexi.”
“I love you, too, Mom,” Lexi replied, but before she even finished saying the words, her mom had already vanished into thin air, leaving nothing behind but a glittery residue that drifted to the tiled floor.
Sighing, Lexi began to peel off the rest of her clothes, tossing them to the bathroom floor along with the hoodie she’d already removed.
Once she was undressed, she climbed into the shower, which was surprisingly clean considering the condition of the rest of the motel room. Closing the flowing, ivory-colored shower curtain behind her, Lexi twisted the faucet to turn the water on.
No water came out.
She tried the faucet again, this time twisting it in the opposite direction. Still, there was nothing.
Lexi groaned, realizing the motel didn’t have water—even though there had been water last night to brush their teeth with.
An idea occurred to her. She could do a spell to create her own flow of water. All she needed was something to make water.
Lexi climbed out of the shower stall and opened the door. “Dan? Can you get me some ice?”
Chapter 21
Anna extended her hand to knock on the door of Dan and Lexi’s motel room, but before her hand could even hit against the wood, the door was opened.
“Oh, perfect timing!” Dan said with a grin. “Would you mind filling this ice bucket for Lexi? I don’t want to miss the rest of the Game of Thrones episode I’m watching.”
Anna raised her eyebrows. “They actually have good TV stations at this place?”
Dan shook his head. “Nah, I’m watching it on my laptop. It was right at the good part when I paused it, though.”
Anna rolled her eyes and laughed at him. “Alright, I’ll go get the ice. I’ll be right back.”
Dan closed the motel room door as Anna headed down the sidewalk that led to the vending machines. She thought about the morning she’d had with Austin. He had been abnormally quiet before saying that he was going to take her car for a drive. Anna asked where he was going, and he hadn’t been able to answer her. It felt like he was really distant and as though he really wanted to talk to her about something, but she couldn’t figure out what it was about or why.
Sighing, Anna held the cup underneath the ice dispenser. As the cubes clunked to the bottom of the cup, a trail of goose bumps ran down her arms and a chill shivered its way down her spine.
Anna got the feeling that someone was watching at her, staring at the back of her head.
Who could be watching her, though? They were at a motel that was all but abandoned aside from her, her friends, and the annoying motel manager (or whatever he was). Even so, she couldn’t seem to shake the feeling, so she slowly turned around.
When she turned back around, her heart dropped to her stomach. Someone was staring at her, watching her intently, but it wasn’t who Anna expected to see.
“Oh, Anna, Anna, Anna.” Rhonda giggled, tossing her copper hair over her shoulder. “Didn’t you listen to Headmaster Morton? You’re not supposed to go off on your own. You’re supposed to stick with others so you don’t get hurt.” A sinister smile was plastered on her face as she said the words.
“What are you doing here?” Anna questioned. A thousand thoughts were running through her mind. Even though Rhonda had never done anything to her personally, Anna knew what she was capable of. And it sort of worried Anna that Rhonda had managed to get her all alone in the empty motel hallway; it felt like she was trying to corner her for some reason, but why?
“I’m here to take you for a little ride.” Rhonda smiled. “You do want to go for a ride with me, don’t you, Anna?” When Rhonda stared at her, there was a look of focus in her eyes; it was the same look Anna had seen Rhonda use when she controlled Gabe to do whatever she wanted.
No, Anna thought to herself. You can’t let her get away with this. You have to try to fight it.
She tried to remember what she had learned about mind-control in class. Anna was pretty sure that ther
e was only one thing that supposed to help—and that was to look away from the vampire who was trying to control your mind. As long as you didn’t stare into their eyes, you might be okay.
Anna darted her eyes away from Rhonda and back to the ice that she held in her hands. “No, I don’t want to go for a ride with you.”
“Oh, of course you do. Come on, don’t rain on my parade. We’re going to go somewhere fun. I have a party planned for you and everything,” Rhonda insisted.
Even though Anna didn’t look up at Rhonda, she could hear the sinister smile and the evil look she knew she held in her eyes.
“You shouldn’t have told Headmaster Morton the truth about me, Anna,” Rhonda went on. “It wasn’t a nice thing to for you to do. I thought we were supposed to be friends.”
Anna felt her heart drop to her stomach. So, that’s what this was all about. Rhonda had somehow found out that she’d told Chris Morton that she had been using mind-control over Gabe, and now she was out to get her revenge.
Afraid of what Rhonda might do next, Anna glanced around for some sort of weapon. But she had left her matches back in the motel room and she didn’t have a stake on hand. There was nothing around that she could even use in the form of a stake to pierce Rhonda’s heart if she needed to; the only thing that she had was the bucket of ice that she held in her hands.
“Aren’t you going to explain your behavior to me?” Rhonda questioned. It sounded like she was starting to get annoyed by the fact that Anna wasn’t looking at or even speaking to her.
“I don’t have to explain anything to you,” Anna replied. “I would appreciate it if you would just leave me alone. I have nothing to say to you.”
Rhonda scoffed. “I don’t think so, bitch.”
Anna heard the sound of Rhonda’s shoes hitting against the sidewalk as she walked over to her. Anna tried to think of a way to escape, but the vending machine was wedged into a little nook in the motel strip.
Before she could figure out what to do, Rhonda was already next to her, forcing Anna to look into her eyes. “Anna, you’re coming with me,” Rhonda said, but Anna wasn’t actually sure if Rhonda had said the words aloud or not.
All she knew was that she suddenly had an urge to go with Rhonda. As Rhonda turned to the parking lot, Anna followed her—feeling, the whole entire way, like someone was dragging her by her shoelaces, like she was a puppet on strings. But there was nothing Anna could do to try to stop it; she knew that she had no choice but to go with Rhonda.
Rhonda opened one of the back doors and glanced over at Anna. “Get in.”
Anna nodded and climbed into the backseat of the car. At first she wondered why she had to sit in the backseat when Rhonda was all alone, but then Gabe turned around.
“Hey, Anna,” he mumbled quietly. Gabe stared at her for a long moment. Anna wasn’t positive, but she thought he mouthed, “I’m sorry,” to her.
When Rhonda climbed into the front seat, Gabe quickly turned around and faced the front of the car.
“Where should we do this, Gabe?” Rhonda wondered aloud.
Gabe shrugged. “I don’t know. I’ve never been to Boston before.”
“We’re going to Boston?” Anna wondered aloud.
“No, we’re already in Boston,” Gabe replied, glancing over his shoulder at her and giving her a strange a look.
“Um, no, we’re not. We’re in Ohio,” Anna replied, narrowing her eyes at him. She quickly realized what was going on. For some reason, Rhonda had tricked Gabe into believing they were in Boston.
“No, we’re not in Ohio,” Rhonda said, turning around to glance over at Anna. “We’re in Boston.”
“We’re in Boston,” Anna mumbled, her mind becoming a confused jumble. As she stared out the windshield ahead of her as Rhonda pulled out of the parking a lot, she thought about what she’d just said.
The words didn’t feel quite right . . . so why had she said them at all?
Chapter 22
Gabe was confused. He couldn’t figure out why Anna was in the car with him and Rhonda, when she really should have been back at Huntington. What confused him even more was why Anna seemed to think they were in Ohio when he knew they were in Boston.
At least, he’d thought they were in Boston. He had been surprised at how unpopulated the city was; it hadn’t been at all what he expected. Maybe they were just in a part of Boston that wasn’t that popular, though.
“Where are we going?” Anna asked from the backseat.
“We’re going to a party,” Gabe said, the words flowing from his mouth, even though he wasn’t exactly sure why he thought them. He turned to Rhonda. “We’re going to a party?”
“Yes, that’s right Gabe,” Rhonda replied, her lips twisting into a sexy smile. “We’re going to a party. It’s going to be loads of fun.” She glanced in the rearview mirror. “Anna is going to be our guest of honor.”
“I’m going to a party,” Anna said aloud, “and I’m going to be the guest of honor.”
Gabe frowned. Something about Anna’s voice didn’t sound quite right. She sounded sort of monotone, like she were a robot. He wondered why she wasn’t excited to be a guest of honor at this party they were going to.
“Are there going to be other vampires at the party?” Gabe asked, turning to Rhonda.
Rhonda laughed. “You’ll see once we get there. But it’s going to be an experience that none of us will ever forget, I can promise you that.”
Gabe slumped down in his seat and watched out the window as they passed a strip mall and then a diner. “I think I like Boston.”
“I like Boston, too,” Rhonda replied, turning to smile at him. “It almost makes me wish we could stay here.”
“Maybe we can,” Gabe mumbled in response, even though, once again, it felt like the words were flowing out all on their own. “It doesn’t really matter, though. As long as you and me are together.”
Rhonda glanced over at him and smiled. She touched his hand.
They drove in silence for a few minutes longer. Finally, Rhonda said, “Here. This is where the party is being held.” She pulled into a tiny dirt road that was lined with trees.
“Is there a house back here somewhere?” Gabe questioned.
“Yeah, somewhere,” Rhonda replied. Once she had driven about a quarter of a mile further down the road, she stopped the car and turned off the ignition. “Get out.”
Gabe didn’t even question her; he did exactly as she said, although it didn’t seem like he could have stopped it even if he wanted to.
Anna climbed out of the backseat and slammed her car door behind her. Gabe noticed that she looked nervous for some reason, as she twirled a piece of her pink highlighted hair around her finger and tapped her foot anxiously against the dirt road.
“Come on,” Rhonda instructed them. Gabe fell into place behind her, while Anna stood frozen in place behind them. Rhonda glanced over her shoulder and said, more loudly, “Come on, Anna.”
“Okay.” Anna began to follow them, this time looking more eager about it. “I’m excited for this party. It’s going to be so much fun,” she said, again in that robot-like voice.
“You should be excited about the party,” Rhonda replied, nodding. “It’s going to be the most important day of your life.”
Gabe followed Rhonda as she led them deeper into the forest, climbing over the logs and brush on the forest floor and skirting in between trees.
Finally, when they got to a tiny clearing, she turned to Anna. “Kiss Gabe,” she instructed.
“But I love Austin,” Anna mumbled.
Rhonda gave her a look that even Gabe knew said do-what-I-say-or-someone’s-going-to-get-hurt, and Anna took a step closer to him. She stood up on her tiptoes and pressed her lips against his mouth.
It felt weird for Anna to kiss him. Her lips felt unfamiliar to him, and he didn’t feel any spark when he touched her skin—which didn’t even have the same delicious smell that most humans did. He knew that was because vampires g
enerally didn’t find humans who they weren’t attracted to all that alluring. Lexi and, at one point, Caroline had only smelled so good to him because he was in love with them. He didn’t feel anything for Anna.
But, then his feelings towards her seemed to change. As she took a step back from him, he suddenly wanted to kiss her more—and he wanted to drink her blood like he had done that one time in the past when she’d saved him after he’d had one of his dangerous visions. Even though her blood hadn’t tasted as good as Lexi or Mary-Kate’s because they’d had Hunter blood, there was something about it that made him long for it right now.
“Yes, that’s right, Gabe. Drink from Anna,” Rhonda said, seeming to notice the sudden urge that he had to taste Anna’s blood.
Gabe latched onto Anna’s neck and listened as she sighed into his shoulder. The savory taste of her blood filled his mouth and, even as he drank, his hunger intensified. He wanted more.
He began to pull away from her, but a magnetic force seemed to pull him back to her. He wasn’t sure if he heard Rhonda say the words aloud or in his mind, but her soft voice whispered to him. Kill her.
Chapter 23
“Dan? Did you get the ice?” Lexi called impatiently from the bathroom, where she’d been standing, completely naked, waiting for him to come back with the ice bucket so she could try to make her own shower.
“Oh, crap,” Dan said, coming to stand in front of the bathroom door. “I asked Anna to get it, but it’s been ten minutes. She should have been back by now.”
“Well, do you think you can go get it instead, then?” Lexi asked impatiently.
“Sure, I’ll be right back. Sorry about that,” he apologized.