My Name Is Not Alexa Pearce

by Kerri McLoone

  “Good,” I say putting the tennis balls back in the bag.

  “That’s it?” Matt asks me. I can tell he’s a little disappointed.

  “No, I just want to put The Book on its shelf so that it’s safe.”

  Cali frowns and asks, “Wouldn’t it be safer to put it with our bags behind the last cube?”

  “I’m not sure, but I don’t think so. It’s been here for so long and Darius hasn’t found it so there must be a reason right? Maybe it’s safer to keep it camouflaged with the rest of the books.”

  I gently replace The Book back to its spot and making sure I have my keycard, I take the bag of tennis balls and leave the cube. Matt and Cali follow me without my having to ask them to. The minute my feet are outside the cube, Milo is in his place at my knee.

  I face my best friend and boyfriend and tell them what I’m going to do next as I take big steps backward in the direction of the entrance to the sub-basement.

  “I’m going to throw the balls at you now, and I want you to deflect them. If you can, send them right back at me or to either side. Imagine when the ball comes at you that it suddenly goes the opposite direction. Then channel it like before.”

  I show them how by putting my arm out straight in front of me, palm forward and perpendicular to the floor. I look as if I’m telling a car to stop.

  “Ready?”

  “Yes,” Cali answers. Matt just nods.

  I tell Milo to stay before I throw the first ball in Cali’s direction, more a light toss than anything. She puts her hand up to deflect and... nothing happens. The ball lands behind her and bounces away. She turns to run after it.

  “No, leave it Squirrel. Okay, Milo, go get it!” My dog takes off in a mad dash after the tennis ball. He pounces on it and trots it back, tail wagging happily.

  “Thank you, pup,” I say taking the ball from him. “Stay.”

  I throw the ball now to Matt. Same as Cali, his arm comes up to deflect. The ball stops and reverses its trajectory, but instead of coming straight back to me, it travels about eight feet then falls to the ground bouncing the rest of the way back.

  Cali scoffs at her place next to him and grumbles, “Teacher’s pet.”

  He smirks at her and taunts, “Beat that, Squirrel.”

  “I will! Come on, Royal. Give me your best shot.”

  Cali gets in the ready position: feet spread, knees and elbows bent. I throw the ball at her, harder than before. Palm out, her arm straightens. The little neon sphere deflects but veers off to the right and lands on top of the first cube.

  “Well, that’s umm, better I guess.” I shrug and flick my wrist so the ball comes off the glass ceiling. I catch it, ready to throw at Matt again.

  “In your face, Moose,” I hear Cali mumble without any glory.

  Just like inside CCR3 before, it only takes a few more tries before both Matt and Cali have the hang of things. I make my throws harder and harder until eventually I’m using my power to fling the tennis ball. The learning curve steepens at that point but quickly smooths out.

  Milo is behaving so well, staying put as tennis balls fly through the air. But I can tell he’s getting wound up because, while he’s staying seated next to me, his front paws are stomping lightly. I can also tell that Cali and Matt could use a break, so I ruffle the fur by his collar and tell him to get ready.

  I toss a tennis ball in the air a couple of times. When it lands in my hand the second time, I squeeze it making the thing squeak loudly. The high-pitched noise echos throughout the room. I use my power to hurl the ball to the opposite end.

  Milo takes off in an instant, disappearing down the giant room. Having been down here so much recently, I’ve forgotten how big the place actually is. The jingle of Milo’s tags fades out the further he runs.

  It’s silent for a full five seconds as Milo searches for the ball. I feel myself get nervous that maybe someone snuck in without us aware and that someone’s got him. I let out a huge sigh of relief as I hear him coming back. The squeaker in the tennis ball is going nuts as Milo repeatedly bites down while he trots back to me.

  He drops the ball in front of me and puts his chest on the ground ready to go again. I pick it up and throw it this time, so he doesn’t have to go as far away from me.

  I toss another ball to Matt, an idea blooming. “How many times do you think you guys can go back and forth without dropping it?”

  “More times than him!” Cali immediately yells.

  “In your dreams, Squirrel!” Matt fires back.

  I’ve easily goaded them into a competition, but it’s for a good reason. I need them as prepared as possible.

  Cali and Matt are yelling and taunting each other as the tennis ball zooms back and forth between them. I have my arm cocked ready to throw the ball for Milo for the sixth time when the light mood is abruptly interrupted as the alarm on my phone goes off.

  Has it really been ninety minutes already? I look at my friends, my Extensios and think, Are they ready? Am I?

  My roommate catches instead of deflects the tennis ball. I look at the time on my phone, it’s 12:45 A.M. Darius could be here any minute.

  “So,” she says. “What’s the plan now?”

  I have no idea what to say to her or Matt. So I don’t say anything.

  ● 60 ●

  I motion for the two of them to follow me, and I walk the length of the room to where we’ve left our bags behind the very last glass cube. I rummage through the large duffle bag that Cali filled with supplies until I find three protein bars.

  The water bottles with the filter straws were left empty to keep the bag as light as possible, so there is nothing for us to drink. I could risk running up the stairs and through the library to the vending machine in the employee lounge, but it would leave all of us vulnerable.

  I’m battling internally if I should run upstairs, transport there, or use my projection power and make three bottles of water appear. Milo’s heavy panting beside me makes the decision for me.

  “Wait here,” I say moving a few feet away. Milo comes with me but I tell him no.

  “Where are you going?” Matt asks me.

  “To get something for us to drink.”

  I picture the employee lounge in my head, the vending machine specifically. The only other time I did this, all I did was think of a beach and say, “Florida.” This time I’m recreating as much detail as possible so I go exactly where I want.

  I close my eyes and say, “Upstairs.”

  I feel my body get lighter for a second. It’s similar to when an elevator initially starts to descend. The sensation is gone in less than a second.

  When I open my eyes, I’m standing in front of the vending machines. The room is dark, only lit by the internal light from the snack machine. There are no motion sensors in here for lights, so the room stays dark. I’m exactly where I want to be. I can’t help the pride I feel and the satisfied smile that spreads across my face.

  I reach into my pocket and take out the change from the cab ride earlier. I put the singles into the machine and get three bottles of water. It occurs to me that I could just use my powers instead, but that would be taking advantage and it’s not my style.

  I peek my head out of the door to make sure all is still quiet up here. The lights are still off, meaning no one has moved around up here for at least fifteen minutes.

  I quietly close the door and picture the sub-basement. I see Cali and Matt and Milo at the back of the room where I left them. I close my eyes again trying to paint as much detail as possible into the snapshot.

  “Milo,” I say knowing I will be taken to wherever my pup is. After I feel that elevator sensation and I open my eyes again, I’m standing in front of Cali and Matt who have giant smiles on their faces.

  “That was so fucking cool!!” Cali exclaims “It’s one thing to be told you have magical powers, but it is so much cooler when you actually see it!”.

  I don’t say anything but toss a water bottle to each of them wit
h a grin. I pick up Milo’s collapsable bowl, pop it into shape, and pour half of my bottle in. My dog dives in lapping up the cold water.

  “So which power was that? Transporting?” Matt asks. I frown at him confused. I don’t remember telling him just what my powers are. “Squirrel told me when you disappeared into thin air.”

  “He looked a little panicked, so I had to calm him down,” Cali says after a long drink.

  “Did not,” Matt pouts.

  “Did too,” she shoots back.

  I sit down on the floor next to Milo, across from Cali and Matt. My back is up against the cool glass of CCR6.

  “What do we do now?” Matt asks.

  “We wait, I guess,” I say unsurely. “I don’t know when he’ll be here, but I’ve left him enough bread crumbs for him to know this is where I am.”

  “Bread crumbs?”

  “He can track her,” Cali explains. “Remember? Every time she uses her powers, he gets like a radar blip or something. But now that you’re using your powers shouldn’t you get your own blip when he does something?”

  “In theory,” I shrug. “I’m still getting the hang of all of this.”

  I eat my bar to be able to have a moment to myself. Cali already knows we’re more likely than not going to have to leave here. But does Matt know? I could read his mind, but that’s an invasion of privacy I don’t want to be a part of.

  It’s quiet for a moment before Cali asks, “Where do we go from here?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Like, Darius is coming here, right? And the reason you made us Extensios and taught us how to use the power that comes with it is to protect ourselves and to help you. But how are we getting out of here? And where do we go?”

  “There was an inscription at the back of The Book. If we have to, we’ll go where it said to.”

  “What do we do when Darius gets here?”

  “We fight. He’s going to throw something a lot more dangerous than tennis balls. All you have to do is deflect them. Just not at each other, or me and Milo.

  “He has two Victus with him, and they have the same power you do. So watch out that they don’t redirect your deflections.”

  “What are you going to do?” Matt looks at me nervously.

  “I’m going to protect you both, and give him a taste of his own medicine.”

  I leave it vague intentionally. Because I have no idea what the hell I’m going to do. I sit there quietly while Matt and Cali continue talking.

  “Uhh, Moose? Maybe you should write a letter or something to Mom. Explain all of this in a way that... I don’t know, explains all of this?”

  “I will,” he says. “When the three of us get out of here, I will.”

  “Good,” Cali says softly.

  “Okay, I sort of have a plan,” I tell them. “There is only one way in or out of here. I don’t think Darius will know we’re down here, just that we’re in the library somewhere. Milo will know when they get here, he’ll be able to sense it. I will too.”

  “Why don’t we just leave when he gets here? Grab The Book and go,” Matt suggests.

  “He’ll follow us,” I say. “At least here we have the upper hand. It’s better to fight and wound him or something so we can get away safe.”

  The hair on the back of my neck stands on end just as Milo starts to growl. I feel my eyes begin to cloud, but I shake it off. I don’t need to see the scene to know Darius just used magic of some kind.

  “Listen, we’ll hide behind the cubes. He’s going to try and draw us out, maybe with some big show of power or taunts.”

  Milo starts to pace, becoming more and more agitated. He’s alternating whining and growling.

  “If you have to move, do it quickly and stay low.” I’m speaking as fast as I can.“If Milo brushes against you, go with him. Keep your head moving and don’t turn your back on anyone. Okay?”

  Cali and Matt nod. I can see on their faces that things just got very real for them.

  “Stay together. Where one goes, you both go. Got it?

  They both nod at me in understanding. They look terrified, they’ve both started to sweat, and they are pale from fear. But neither of them have wavered, not even for a minute, on staying here with me.

  I know right now at this second that everything that has happened the last five years has been leading me to this moment, leading me to Matt and Cali. And I swear to myself that I will do everything I can to win this for them. I will exhaust every single one of my powers if it means all of us coming out alive from this.

  “Okay. Get into position.”

  “Now?” Cali asks.

  “Now,” I say, my eyes drifting up to look at the ceiling. “He’s here.”

  ● 61 ●

  Darius

  Darius’s leg is bouncing impatiently as Flight 156 makes its final approach into Seattle-Tacoma Airport. Each time the girl has used her powers over the last one hundred or so minutes, he’s become more and more agitated. If it weren’t such an unnecessary risk to his future plans, he would’ve transported mid-flight. But it wouldn’t be smart to attract that kind of attention when he’s so close to finally getting his way.

  The plane bounces a few times as the wheels make contact with the runway. The announcement is made with the time and temperature, and to wait until the aircraft has reached the terminal before unbuckling seat belts and turning on phones.

  Damon and Julius ignore the voice over the speaker system and stand up to remove their overnight bags from the overhead bin. Darius swallows the last of his whiskey before standing also. He takes down his own bag and adjusts his tailored suit jacket.

  The plane docks with the airway and the door is opened. Julius exits first, followed quickly by Damon. Neither responds to the well wishes or goodbyes from the flight attendants. Darius asks where the closest men’s room is as he makes his way off the plane.

  “There will be one directly to the right once you enter the terminal,” the male flight attendant answer.

  “Good,” Darius replies. As he walks away, he doesn’t see the male and female flight attendants share a relieved look at finally being rid of the three rude, demanding, and creepy men.

  The demon’s long strides allow him to quickly catch up with Damon and Julius, and to take the lead. The Victus follow him into the nearest bathroom which is exactly where the flight attendant said. It’s just about 1:30 in the morning, so the airport is all but deserted.

  The three of them head for the last stall in the bathroom, making sure the rest are empty as they go. Each of them takes out one of the two potions from their bags and open it. Darius keeps the two “just in case” extras in his outer right jacket pocket.

  Damon clears his throat before asking, “How exactly does this work?”

  “We drink the potion, I touch each of you, and I say where we have to go.”

  “Simple enough,” Damon shrugs. He’s learned quickly to just agree with whatever he’s told.

  “Should be as long as it was made right,” Darius growls. He turns to Julius and asks, “What’s the name of this place again?”

  Julius removes a piece of paper from his pocket and reads off, “Multnomah County Central Library, Portland, Oregon.”

  “That’s a goddamn mouthful,” the demon says annoyed.

  He picks up his bag and throws it across his shoulder, his Victus mirror his actions. Each of them bring the small vials to their mouths and drain it of the black liquid inside. Darius grabs onto the shoulder of each man and grips firmly. He closes his eyes and takes a deep breath.

  “Multnomah County Central Library, Portland, Oregon.”

  All three men feel a sudden strong tug on their bodies, similar to the initial burst of speed on the straight vertical of a roller coaster. The pull gets more and more intense until finally, it feels like they’ll all be split in two when suddenly it stops.

  Darius lets go of Damon and Julius. He spins in a slow circle taking in his surroundings. They are on the firs
t floor of the library, near the main entrance. Their arrival triggered the motion sensors, and the large room is bathed in bright, fluorescent light. The demon takes another look around. As he scans the room, he sees an elevator to one side, a staircase to the other, and a door marked Employees Only.

  This is the right location, he can tell from all the blips she sent out, but it doesn’t look anything like what he saw. He sucks in a breath to think for a minute. When he lets it out, it sounds like half sigh and half growl.