by West, Shay
If he gets away, Alex, he’s only going to keep trying to change time. Sooner or later, he’ll succeed in killing you. Alex mentally punched Gavin’s voice.
I can’t say the spell anyway, in front of all these people! She didn’t know what to do.
Let the soldiers kill him! His spirit will be trapped in the void forever and this whole mess will be done for good! Alex was a little scared of the glee in that voice. It would be so easy to let the three men take care of her problem. But she couldn’t do that any more than she could let Cyrano kill him.
Suddenly, Marcus gave a triumphant shout. Someone had come from the street behind him carrying a torch. Alex swore she could see an ethereal substance float out of Marcus’ body and into the mirror. Marcus fell to the ground. The soldiers glanced at one another, unease evident in their posture. They obviously hadn’t expected the fight to end so...undramatically.
As Alex moved to get a closer look at Marcus, she got the sudden urge to walk back to Arachidamia’s rooms. She tried to force her feet to take a single step closer to Marcus’ prostrate body but instead, they turned around and walked toward the palace.
Dang it!
The closer she got, the more incoherent her thoughts became. It felt as though the clouds had come to take residence in her skull. She walked past inquisitive household staff and guards, ignoring their questions and exclamations of surprise to see her walking around in the nude, covered in blood.
As soon as she was back in Arachidamia’s room, Alex walked to the polished bronze mirror. Her own familiar face stared back at her, as did Jennifer’s worried face staring into Arachidamia’s eyes.
Still in a trance-like state, Alex raised her arm to touch the mirror, the familiar pain accompanied by blackness.
CHAPTER 28
“OH, ALEX! Thank God!”
Alex grabbed the side of the granite counter top, trying to clear the fogginess from her mind and keep her feet. “How long was I gone?”
“Just a few minutes. You’re lucky no one came in!” Jennifer was as breathless as Alex
Both girls jumped when the door opened. An employee entered and gave both girls a strange look. “If you two are in here doing drugs or something, I’ll have to tell the manager and have you kicked out,” she said with an air of superiority.
“We’re not doing drugs! She’s not feeling well so we came in here to get her looking good for our dates,” Jennifer snapped.
The girl looked at Alex. “She does look like crap.” She disappeared into a stall.
Alex stuck her tongue out at the snotty girl and turned her attention back to the mirror. She’s right. I do look like crap.
“Just put this on and you’ll look good enough.” Jennifer expertly laid some eye shadow and lipgloss on the counter. Alex grabbed it and freshened up, looking more like her old self as the minutes passed.
“We better get back out there. The boys’ll think we ran away,” Jennifer said.
Alex sighed. Her hair was flat and unruly and her eyes looked tired. But the shadow and her glossy lips helped her to not look like a dead thing. Anger flared. Why the hell did this have to happen on the night of my date?
They arrived back at their table, expecting snarky comments from the boys, but they didn’t even seem to notice the girls had been gone a little longer than usual. They were watching the game on TV and arguing about why the referee had called a penalty.
Alex giggled as Jennifer rolled her eyes. She sat down, trying to act nonchalant. Her mind tangled with fear of the Traveler and uncertainty about her feelings for Drake. It was difficult to meet his eyes. The last thing she wanted was for him to know what she was thinking.
She didn’t know how she got through dinner. There was laughter, some good-natured ribbing, and some shouting at the television during a particularly bad play. Alex laughed when it seemed appropriate and kept quiet for the better part of dinner. Jennifer filled the moments of silence with inane chatter. The boys didn’t seem to notice Alex’s subdued demeanor.
Later that night, Alex talked with Jennifer about her experience as the Spartan princess. She came close to telling Jennifer about Cyrano, but this was still something she wanted to keep just for her. Alex thought it would be weird explaining the connection between herself and the different men she had met in the past. It was something special, and she wasn’t ready to share yet.
Jennifer probed her for every detail. Alex patiently explained everything from the moment she arrived to the moment she left. By the time she finished, Alex felt like her fingers were going to fall off. Jennifer insisted on excruciating detail for her journal so the amount of typing she had to do in the Facebook chatbox was a lot more than what she was used to.
After agreeing to meet in the library first thing Monday morning, Alex signed off, eager to curl up in her comfortable bed and sleep for a whole month.
CHAPTER 29
ALEX LAY on the soft grass, enjoying the warm caress of the sun on her face. Winter had seemed interminably long and she had often wondered if spring would ever arrive. And yet, here it was, and the school year was coming to an end.
“I can’t believe this year’s almost over! Next year, we’ll be juniors. The second from the top.”
Alex glanced up at Amy. Her friend sounded both excited and terrified. “I wonder where it went. Seems like yesterday we were trying to find our classes.” Alex sat up, feeling a little light-headed from too much sun.
“I know, right? Must be all the stuff we’ve had going on. I mean, seriously, four plays? Mr. Reardon really worked us hard this year. At least we don’t have anything this summer,” Amy said.
“I am kinda sad about that. Still, it’s cool that Mr. Reardon gets to go to London to study full body theater.”
“How can you be sad about a summer of freedom, Alex?”
“Freedom for you maybe. My summer will be spent in my aunt’s stores. Theater would have given me an excuse to have a little time to myself.”
“Geez, your aunt sure has you hopping. Money’s good though, right?”
Alex shrugged. She was growing tired of working every weekend in either Uptown Girl or Downtown Boy. She had tried to say no a few times but her mom insisted on Alex helping whenever her aunt asked.
“She’s done an awful lot for us, young lady. It’s not going to kill you to help out,” her mother had said.
While the money was nice, it was awfully hard to spend it when she was cooped up in the store all the time. When she wasn’t up till all hours doing homework, she was working. To make matters worse, she had to listen to all the fun things her friends were up to: games, hiking, Christmas parties, even a spring dance.
When Drake had asked her to Spring Fling, she had been ecstatic. Everyone assumed she and Drake would go together but until he officially asked her, Alex harbored a tiny bit of doubt. Jennifer and Amy had screamed and jumped around like idiots, while Simon and Paul looked on like all three of them had gone quite mad.
Her mother had refused to let her go. When Alex thought about that night, she wanted to pack her things and run away. She had been planning a shopping trip with the girls, glad for the first time in months about having plenty of spending money. Her heart had been soaring above the clouds when she pranced through the front door, she had given her mother a kiss, barely able to get the fabulous news past her smiling lips.
When the words “no” met her request, Alex had been sure she hadn’t heard correctly. It took a few horrible minutes for the denial to impact her. She had raged, cried, screamed, pleaded but nothing worked. Even the silent treatment failed to change her mother’s mind.
Drake had been crushed by the news. If he breaks up with me, I’m running away! He hadn’t broken up with her but his anger and annoyance were obvious. He hadn’t asked her out for quite some time, using some excuse or another, but Jennifer had confided in her that it was because Drake couldn’t stand to be in the same room with her mom.
“He’s pissed, Alex. Can’t say I blame
him. I mean, seriously, it’s just a dance. I can’t see why she would let you go on dates alone with the guy but refuse to let you go to a chaperoned dance at school. It’s totally lame.”
“It’s like her rule about me getting my license. She says no dances until senior year.”
Alex looked at the pictures of her friends in their beautiful dresses and tuxedos and raged at the unfairness of it all. I’m sixteen! If I want to go to a dance I should be able to go. Tears and anger were her constant companions. Even now, months later, her mother’s refusal pierced her heart and filled her with anger.
As the group made their way back into the building after lunch, Alex got the feeling Jennifer wanted to speak with her alone so she slowed her steps until the others were far enough ahead so they couldn’t overhear.
“So still nothing on the mirror front?”
Alex sighed. “Not a thing. It’s got me on edge. Weird huh? I should be happy, but I just feel anxious and tense. Doesn’t make things any easier with mom either.”
“Is it possible he didn’t make it back to his body? Or maybe he’s decided to give up!” Jennifer whispered excitedly.
“Could be. Or he’s been holding back for something really bad. It’s the not knowing that’s killing me. I feel like I’m on the edge of a cliff and just sort of waiting for the shove to knock me off.”
“I wish I could help. The only thing I’m good for is keeping tabs on your adventures. I’m seriously going to write them down someday. Maybe get them published. I’ll share the money with you, of course.”
Alex laughed. “You could be the next Stephenie Meyer or JK Rowling. And I would get to say ‘I knew her in high school’. Maybe I should start taking pictures of you in compromising positions so I can sell them on eBay.”
“You wouldn’t dare!”
As Alex got ready for bed that night, she stared hard at her reflection, hoping it would change. At least I’d know. When her face stayed the same, she sighed. As she climbed into bed, she wrestled with the idea of going to visit Sean and Gavin. Maybe they can help me figure out if this guy’s done messing with time.
The realization of how much “help” they had been when she visited Scotland made up her mind. After spending a few minutes online, she shut off the computer. Even a fascinating book about the history of medicine couldn’t hold her interest. Alex tossed the book on the floor in irritation.
All of the sleepless nights were taking their toll. If it wasn’t late nights working for her aunt, it was doing homework until the wee hours of the morning. She knew she needed sleep, but her mind wouldn’t shut down long enough for her to fall asleep. And if she managed to drift off, nightmares woke her up and she couldn’t sleep again for the rest of the night.
Her mother had begun to notice the changes in Alex. She didn’t seem to care about her appearance, she barely ate. Alex insisted she was fine, that there wasn’t anything wrong, but she knew that excuse was wearing thin.
Alex frowned as she heard her mother’s raised voice. Curiosity got the better of her. She crept across the floor and put her ear to the door.
“...she’s going through something...not sure...worried...drugs?”
It didn’t take Alex long to figure out her mom was talking about her. Her face flushed in anger. Does she think I’m on drugs? Who the hell is she talking to? Alex wanted to barge into the living room and demand to know why she was speaking about her behind her back.
Caution won over the bold desire. Alex quietly opened her door just a crack but she couldn’t hear any better than she could with the door closed. She bit her lip, trying to decide if she wanted to listen to the angel or devil sitting on her shoulder.
“...really think it could be drugs?”
Alex blinked back tears. She had a lot on her mind and she looked a little less hot than she normally tried to look, but that wasn’t any reason to assume drugs were involved. Maybe I should tell her the truth. She harrumphed. Yeah right, then she’ll toss me in the looney bin.
The idea that her mom actually thought she was a druggie got her moving. Alex crept down the hallway and stopped just short of walking into the living room. She could see the back of her mom’s head and the purple color of her cell phone held against her ear.
“Karen, I don’t know if I can do that.” A pause. “Of course I love her!” Another pause and a resigned sigh. “I know, you’re right. It’s the only thing that makes sense.” Long pause. Shaky sigh. “I’ll talk to her tomorrow.” Pause. “She’s asleep right now. I’m not going to wake her up and accuse her of taking drugs! I’ll take her to the doctor under some pretense and have them run a drug test.”
Alex gasped in indignation. Her mother turned and dropped the phone, face red, guilt evident in her posture and unwillingness to meet Alex’s eyes.
“I can’t believe you honestly think I’m doing drugs, Mom!”
“Alex...you weren’t supposed to hear...”
“That much is obvious.”
“Honey, listen...”
“No, you listen!” Alex’s voice shook with rage. “You weren’t even going to tell me about the testing? Gee, thanks. How about treating me like an adult and asking me if I’m on something?”
“And if you were, would you tell me?”
“I’m not on drugs!”
“Then what’s going on, Lexi? It’s obvious something is wrong. Your behavior is so different. I got a call from the school last week saying you missed some classes. It’s not like you.”
“So because I skip a few classes, you automatically think the worst of me. Again with the ‘thanks’.” Her anger made it hard to form complete sentences. The rage turned everything a hazy shade of red.
“I’m still your mother, young lady...”
“Yeah, I know,” Alex said, rolling her eyes.
Patricia stood to face Alex. “I have a right to know what’s going on with you. And I also have a right to speak to my sister about this. I’m sorry you overheard, but that doesn’t excuse your behavior. Unless you want to add being grounded to being tested for drugs, I suggest you start talking.”
“You really want to know what’s going on? Huh? Oh let’s see, how about the fact that you never let me do anything except go to work and school. And how about refusing to let me go to that dance or letting me get my driver’s permit? Do you know how humiliating it is having all my friends think my mom’s lame? And what about how Karen has me working all the time? I have no time for homework and no time to hang out with my friends. It’s getting to the point where they go off and do stuff and never even bother to invite me anymore! And let’s not forget moving me here to begin with. I bet things would have been just fine if you and dad had stayed together.” Alex couldn’t believe the words coming out of her mouth. They weren’t what she meant to say at all. And yet they poured from her mouth like vomit. Every slight, every hurt was laid at her mom’s feet.
“I think you’ve said enough, young lady.” Patricia’s cheeks were red, her face white as a sheet.
Alex could see her mom shaking like a leaf. The guilt she felt didn’t stand a chance against the anger at what her mom said, and the unfairness of her life. As she thought about all she had suffered in the last two years, her anger had multiplied until she actually believed it was her mom’s fault for every unpleasant thing that had happened to her. Deep down—very deep down— she knew it wasn’t truly her mother’s fault, but she had to blame someone.
“Truth hurts, doesn’t it? You want to know why I’ve been moody, pissed off, well, take a look in the mirror. Maybe if you’d let me do things everyone else gets to do, I’d be happier.” She stalked off to her room and slammed the door. Alex had to fight the urge to throw something through her window. She couldn’t remember ever feeling such anger, not even when she had come home from school and had seen her mother selling their stuff on the front lawn of their tiny house in Longmont.
It’s not fair! Alex paced her room, trying to find somewhere to channel the rage flowing throu
gh her body. She couldn’t believe her mother thought she was actually on something. Like I would ever do something like that! It was actually kind of strange, this feeling of righteous indignation. Most of the time, her punishments were well-deserved. It wasn’t easy to admit that, of course, but it was true all the same. Being accused of something she knew she hadn’t done was too much to swallow.
I’m saving the freaking world and no one even knows it! Alex felt the burden like an anvil sitting right in the middle of her head. The constant worrying, the thought of having to possibly kill someone to save the timeline, wondering why her mirror hadn’t changed for most of that year, having to do all of it alone…it was too much. Alex was jealous that Sean had a Master and she didn’t. It would have been great to have someone to talk to, someone who knew about her gift and what it all meant, someone who may be able to help her stop the crazy man from trying to kill her.
At least Jennifer knows. The thought was somewhat comforting, but not nearly enough to quiet the tempest of emotions swirling around in her mind. The guilt was beginning to rear its ugly head, bringing on a fresh bout of tears. She hadn’t truly meant to say those things. The hurt in her mother’s eyes had almost been enough to cause Alex to confess her secret, even if her mom didn’t believe her. Or she could have made something up, conjured some fight with one of her friends, or perhaps a huge blow-out with Drake would have been enough to explain her behavior and her mom would have given up on the notion of having Alex tested for drug use.
Alex knew it was too late to go to her mom with that story; she’d never believe her. She knew she had been a little off lately; she just never imagined her family would come to such an awful conclusion. Or that they would conspire behind her back to have her tested. All they had to do was ask me!
Her face was red and puffy from crying, and her eyes looked like something that would be more at home on a zombie than a sixteen year-old girl. Alex washed her face, breath still hitching in her chest and fresh tears falling despite her certain belief that she had cried out every last drop of moisture in her body.