“This has to be a mistake,” I said, shaking my head feverishly.
“He doesn’t make mistakes,” Liam replied gravely. “Believe me, Annie was meant to get this.”
“BUT IT’S NOT POSSIBLE!”I bellowed.
Liam jumped back at my sudden outburst. He stood there for a moment staring at me, looking concerned. He then turned and headed back towards the lit sidewalks next to the Pit, which I barely noticed had appeared to our left.
“Calm down,” he urged. “Just relax for a minute. Why isn’t it possible?”
I had to take a few deep breaths to calm down before I answered. “From what Professor Woodward told me about links, it’s not possible for someone like me to have a link,” I paused.
Liam’s eyebrows raised in anticipation.
“Yet,” I finished.
I felt the blood rush to my cheeks in an instant. Even under such dire circumstances, talking about my sexual relationships to Liam made to feel faint. He knew exactly what my comment meant, but continued to walk next to me in silence, looking deep in thought. I’d never seen him so tense.
After another second, he stopped suddenly.
“That only means one thing then,” he finally said. “Annie’s not your link.”
Without responding, I turned and started walking away from him. The one thing I wouldn’t accept was hearing Annie wasn’t mine to protect. I didn’t care what everyone thought they knew about the system, it wasn’t right.
“Where are you going?” Liam yelled after me, ignoring his earlier fear of being overheard.
“I’m done talking about this,” I said, not stopping.
“Will you wait a sec?” he asked, grabbing my elbow from behind. He spun me around and had both hands on my waist.
“What?” I snapped, unable to push myself away.
On normal occasions, I would have been fighting to get away. But at that moment, under the dim street lamp that lit up the sidewalk, I found myself inexplicably drawn to his energy.
“Talk to me,” he said softly. “What’s the problem? Shouldn’t you be happy that it’s not you he’s targeting?”
“You just don’t get it do you?” I shot back. “I don’t care what you, Simi, Professor Woodward or anyone else thinks you know about Common Ground. Angels, demons and links mean nothing to me, you got it? Annie is my link, I know it. We have something that you couldn’t possibly understand, and to imply that I’m not supposed to be responsible for her safety shows how dense you really are.”
Instead of looking angry, he stared back at me with empathy in his eyes. The anger that had exploded out of me was repressed the moment our glances interlocked. My legs got weak and my stomach began to tingle. Then, without warning, he pulled me close and pressed his smooth and cool lips against mine.
All of my repressed frustrations and confusion from everything that had happened to me since I got to school boiled over in that instant. For a moment, I returned his embrace passionately and any thoughts of medallions and death faded away. It wasn’t until Annie’s picture flashed in my mind when I pushed him away.
“What’s the matter?” he huffed.
“This was a mistake,” I panted. “I can’t do this to Annie.”
“You have no idea how long I’ve waited for this,” he said, stepping towards me. “Believe me; it was bound to happen eventually.”
“Liam, stop it,” I said, stepping back. “Annie’s in danger. We should be figuring out how to protect her, keep her safe.”
Something I said got through to him because he stopped dead in his tracks. His chin dropped into his chest and he stared at the ground. The entire situation had gotten out of control and Liam’s odd behavior wasn’t helping.
“What’s wrong?” I asked, feeling agitated.
Without answering, he walked directly past me, away from the safety of the lights, into the dark field of grass that ran along Spartan Stream. I turned and looked for him but before I could see what happened, he was gone. I ran into the grass and looked in all directions with no luck. I was alone again.
“Liam!” I shouted. “You can’t just leave me like this!”
But again, there was no answer. He was gone and I was left alone to my racing thoughts. We had been walking for so long that I had lost track of time.
Defeated, but not tired, I headed home. The walk seemed to last a lifetime. No matter what Liam said, or did, I knew that Annie was my link and both our lives were in danger. The worst part was that I had no idea how to stop it. For a moment, all I wanted to do was scoop Annie up and fly away from all of the new problems that had sprouted, to get away from the insanity. Between the overwhelming information intake Professor Woodward and Liam had given me, I felt completely and utterly lost. To make matters worse, the tender kiss we shared made things even more complicated. The last thing I needed was for Annie to find out what had happened. If she did, there was no telling how much longer she’d survive.
Annie’s innocent body was sleeping peacefully in bed when I arrived back home. She was cuddled up to a pillow and her mouth was slightly agape, sleeping soundly. I sat down in her desk chair and watched her sleep. While the hours ticked away, my mind became more and more troubled. Even with Liam’s new and helpful explanations, the secret world of Common Ground was still hard to believe. My mind had accepted there was something different about me, but my heart just couldn’t accept being a part of such a powerful and different world. While I continued to sit there and watch her sleep, the emotional rollercoaster of our vacation started to catch up to me. I leaned my arm on her desk and softly rested my head on top of it. Slowly but surely, the comforting sound of Annie’s light snores filled the room which in turn helped my eyes start to close.
A crystal clear day was painted overhead when my eyes opened again. I gazed around and realized where I was standing. Seattle was scattered all around far below and I could see the rest of the Puget Sound area extend far off into the distance. There were a lot of people standing on the same platform as me, but they were all dressed in overcoats and scarves, not shorts and a tank top.
It took another minute of looking around before I finally saw them and it was exactly as I remembered. The younger me was standing at the edge of the platform, gripping a protective steel wired fence. She was gazing out in awe at the beautiful scenery while a gust of wind blew her long hair all about in the air.
“Annie! You have to come and see this!” young Zoe squealed, turning around to find her best friend.
I glanced over and saw young, teenage Annie, blond curls and all, standing as far away from the ledge as possible.
“I can see it all from here,” she said, her voice cracking nervously.
“Oh come on,” young Zoe pleaded. “It’s beautiful!”
“I’ve been up the Space Needle before Zoe. It’s not that big of a deal.”
“You’re crazy. There’s nothing like being up here with the fresh air,” young Zoe said, pushing away from the ledge and walking over to Annie.
I followed her and stood just feet away while the two of them found a bench and stared out at the perfect winter morning. Annie was bouncing her feet nervously and gripped the bench tightly through her fuzzy, cream colored mittens. Young Zoe sat next to her, looking cool, calm and collected.
“I don’t get you,” Annie said. “How can you not like the water but have no problem with heights?”
“I dunno,” she shrugged back. “My parents and I have traveled a lot so I’ve gone on a lot of airplanes. I guess I just like thrill of being up high.”
“You’re nuts,” Annie replied.
“I’m crazy, I know,” young Zoe replied, smiling. “Where did our parents go?”
“They’re around here somewhere,” Annie said, turning her head around.
I followed her lead and looked around too. At first, I didn’t see anything. There were a lot of people clumped together on top of the Space Needle and it was hard to differentiate between people. Then, I saw my father’s lan
ky frame towering above everyone around him. There they stood, my four parent figures all at once. Giving one final glance at my younger self and Annie, I headed over to the adults.
When I approached, I noticed something odd. The four of them weren’t talking cheerfully and loudly, but instead appeared to be having a secret meeting. They were standing closer towards the ledge of the Space Needle, huddled together. Their faint voices were almost impossible to hear, but the closer I got, the stronger they became.
“So, you’re still being watched?” Marie said to my mother. “Is it him?”
“It’s hard to say,” my mother replied. “We don’t think it’s him specifically. But he’s got spies everywhere. It could be anyone.”
“And you guys think they’re watching us now too?” Mark chimed in, looking around at the other people on top of the Space Needle.
“I’m sorry to say, but yes,” my father said calmly.
“Is Annie in danger too?” Marie asked nervously. “Do you guys think they’re connected?”
“It’s too early to know,” my mother said sternly. “Zoe doesn’t even know anything about this yet. Until Zoe gets exposed to our world, you won’t see any changes in her. But, it’s very possible that Annie may very well end up being her link someday.”
“But that’s not important right now,” my father added. “All we care about is getting Zoe set up for when we’re gone. It could come at any time, and we need to know that she’ll be taken care of. That’s why we’re asking you this now, because Reyna’s travels have started to show signs that it’s coming soon.”
“Well there’s no question we’d take Zoe in,” Mark said shortly. “We’ll take care of her like our own daughter. But, she’s already 15, isn’t there a slight chance that maybe he’s forgotten about you guys?”
My parents both exchanged grave looks. “That’s not possible,” my mother said. “Zoe is too important for him to just forget. He’ll be watching her always. Our best hope is for her to go to school and find…”
At that moment, young Zoe and Annie interrupted the adults’ secret talk. Before I could react or even move closer, everything started to get blurry. The final image of both families reuniting on the top of the Space Needle became engrained in my mind until I found myself being shaken awake back in our apartment.
“Zoe, it’s time to get up!” Annie said distantly.
“Huh?” I stuttered, adjusting back to her room.
“You’ve got class in 20 minutes. You’re going to be late if you don’t get up!”
Shaking my head, I stood up and stammered towards the door. My most recent dream and inability to fully travel back again started to build my frustration to dangerous levels. I then headed into my room, wondering how much of a role the Johnsons’ had to play in Common Ground.
**************************************
Finals week came faster than a gust of wind. After going weeks without Annie but having the company of Hope and Steph, the lead up to finals was the exact opposite. Hope and Steph were practically invisible, while Annie was constantly around, an arrangement I wouldn’t have given up for the world.
“I really hate you sometimes,” Annie said the morning before the last day of finals. We were both using the bathroom mirror to get ready for the day.
“Why?” I laughed. “What’d I do this time?”
She stood there and shook her head. “You just don’t even have to try, do you?”
“I have no idea what you are talking about!” I said, grabbing a hair band and tying it into a perfect ponytail.
“You’re hot! And you don’t even need to wear makeup or anything!” she whined. Her mascara bottle smacked the counter extremely hard while she said it. “It’s not fair!”
“Please,” I sighed. “I’m not doing this again. I hate makeup; you should know that by now.”
“Whatever, maybe someday you’ll share your secret with me,” Annie joked, zipping up her makeup bag and storming out in a huff.
My relationship with Annie was back and better than ever. Liam’s betrayal of Annie, although horrible and disgusting, was the best thing that could have happened to us. Even though I’d learned a lot more about Common Ground, and Annie’s life was in danger, I felt it best to keep Annie in the dark on it all. My mind was prepared to deal with it, but if Annie knew, she’d probably lock herself away forever. Instead, the medallion never came up and I felt perfectly fine with having Liam hold onto it. It was better for her to assume it was from Liam and ignore it than to wonder why it was sent. She seemed to have been moving on from Liam in her own way as she hadn’t mentioned him once since the day we got back to school. To my pleasure, Annie had spent her entire time going to class and studying.
“Are you ready?” Annie asked somewhat nervously while we headed towards campus.
“I think so,” I replied. “The question is, are you?”
“Yeah, I’m definitely ready. I swear, if I don’t pass this Econ test, I’m going to drop out,” she over-dramatized. “I studied ‘til like four in the morning! My brain feels like mush.”
I secretly knew how late Annie had been up. Although my body needed sleep and felt tired, sleep had become an infrequent occasion. Some nights I wouldn’t need to sleep at all and would feel fully energized during the day. The nights leading up to finals were sleepless nights, which actually made me extremely bored. A part of me felt pity because I knew Annie was driving herself crazy night after night studying while I sat thinking more and more about Common Ground.
“We should get some grub,” Annie yawned. “My stomach is screaming at me.”
We changed course and walked towards the Pit, where we found Steph and Hope grabbing some pre-finals breakfast.
“Annie!” Steph gleefully yelled as we entered.
“Hey,” Annie said, reciprocating the joyful hug Steph had clamped on her.
“Where have you been?” Steph demanded. Even though Annie was back, she had been so secretive that even our downstairs neighbors hadn’t seen her since Thanksgiving. Annie just gave a half smile and walked into the common area.
“Just been dealing with some stuff,” she said.
“Like what?” Steph asked, putting a caring arm around Annie’s shoulders.
“Just random things. My grades have slumped a little, so I’ve kinda had to lock myself away for a few weeks,” she said. Even though she was lying, you wouldn’t have been able to tell. Her face looked tired still and she slumped down a little while she walked.
“Oh, well, do you think you’ll be able to come on the camping trip tomorrow?” she asked hopefully, looking back and forth between Annie and me. “Zoe told you about that, right?”
“What?” Annie replied distantly. “Oh, yeah, we’re going to come, but it’ll just be the two of us.”
“Why? What about Liam?” she asked, stopping suddenly and grabbing Annie’s arm.
“Oh, we broke up,” Annie mumbled. Steph’s mouth dropped open in shock.
“What happened?” she whispered. “You were going so strong…”
Annie just shrugged her shoulders and continued shopping around for some breakfast, stopping at the smoothie bar. She ordered a strawberry, banana smoothie then looked at me. “Want one?”
I nodded and kept looking between her and Steph, waiting to see if Annie would respond. It took another minute before Steph spoke again.
“What happened?” she said louder, laughing uncomfortably.
“Oh Steph stop!” she snapped. “I don’t want to talk about it, can’t you see that? If you want to know, why don’t you go ask your boyfriend?”
It was time for my mouth to drop in shock. It was the exact opposite reaction that I had been expecting. Annie’s voice sounded like it was unleashing every bad thought, every tear from Liam into Steph. Even though I felt bad for her, Steph had been pressing and should have known that sometimes you just need to leave a girl alone.
Steph sat there stunned for a moment, staring painfully at Anni
e. It was the first time I had ever seen the slightest bit of disagreement between the two of them.
“Fine,” Steph said, her voice cracking. It looked like she was about to cry but had restrained. “Good luck with finals.” And with that, she turned on the spot and stormed off. Hope and I were both standing there silently, watching the madness unfold.
“Give me a sec,” I whispered to Hope, who nodded silently and slouched off towards the cereal bar, leaving Annie and me alone.
“Wow,” I said quietly to her. “Where did that come from?”
“I don’t know,” Annie mumbled. “I guess I’m just not ready to talk about it yet.”
Her face had shifted from fire and anger to weariness and depression in a matter of moments. Any rage left from Steph’s innocent questioning had faded, only to be replaced by absolute sadness.
“You know whenever you need me, I’m here for you right?” I said with a reassuring rub of her back.
She just smiled and nodded. “You and Hope better get going, you’ll be late.”
Steph and Annie’s mini-blowup had taken a little more time out of the morning than what was planned. The clock on the wall told me that the Philosophy final started in five minutes. Feeling rushed, I grabbed my smoothie, gave a quick goodbye to Annie and pulled Hope by the arm on our way out of the Pit.
“What was that all about?” Hope asked while we left the Pit.
“Annie’s real stressed about finals, and Steph was her scapegoat I guess,” I shrugged. “She’s barely spoken to me the last few days, so I don’t think it was anything personal.”
“I’ve never seen that side of her before,” Hope mumbled. “It was kinda scary.”
“Everything will be fine,” I reassured her. “Once finals are over and we’re all up in the mountains, this will all be a thing of the past.”
Hope gave a weak smile and continued on. Truth was, I wasn’t so sure of Annie’s ability to forgive. There was no proof that Annie was ready to be surrounded by other people with boyfriends. On top of that, one of the guys would be her ex’s best friend. While my thoughts continued to race around Annie’s most recent blowup, I entered Philosophy and buckled down for my first final.
Common Ground (The Common Ground Trilogy Book 1) Page 29