Did the strange devices have no end? I told him what I remembered happening and then he walked me back to Stevens. “All done?” Stevens asked.
“Yeah, you guys can head on out,” the man said.
“She’s staying with me if you need any follow-up questions,” Stevens told him.
The man handed me a square piece of paper. “If you remember anything, you can call me at this number.”
I looked at the paper with markings on it. “Why is he giving me money?” I asked Stevens softly.
Two of the other men laughed and Stevens said, “That’s his business card. It has his name and ways to contact him on it.”
I handed it to Stevens and said, “I don’t understand how those symbols translate to instructions on contacting him.”
“You’ve got to be kidding me. She can’t read?” the middle jerk said.
“No, I can’t,” I said and blushed.
“Maybe someone hid her out in the sticks and only taught her to speak,” one of the men said.
“That’s possible, but how did she get here? She would have had to travel pretty far,” the other man said.
“Come on, let’s get your stuff and go home,” Stevens said.
I followed him and picked up some of the bags while he picked up the others. We walked by a group of cops and they stared at me openly. “Why does everyone have to stare? Will they stop staring eventually?” I asked.
“I think men will always stare at you.”
“Why?” I asked.
“Well, um, because you’re pretty.”
“Why does that mean they’re going to stare at me?” I asked in confusion.
“Men like to look at pretty women.”
“That’s dumb,” I whispered. “Why not talk to the woman instead of staring at her?”
He laughed. “You act like it’s so easy. It’s not that easy to approach a woman.”
“So, if you hadn’t met me at the hospital and just saw me on the street, would you talk to me?”
He exhaled loudly. “I know I would definitely want to, but I’m not sure if I would be confident enough to actually do it.”
“That’s silly. You’re very confident. You went right into action when the bangs happened.”
“Gunshots,” he said.
“What?”
“The bangs were gunshots. He shot the gun he had.”
“Oh.”
“And yes, but I’ve been trained to do that.”
“You’re not trained to talk to women?”
“You spend most of your life trying to figure that all out, but it’s still hard most of the time.”
“Well then, I would have had to talk to you first if you wouldn’t talk to me,” I told him adamantly.
He smiled at me and said, “Is that so?”
I nodded my head. “Yes.”
“If a man doesn’t have the courage to even speak to you then you shouldn’t give him your attention,” a man said behind us.
I turned around and stared at the man. He looked…familiar. “Do I know you?” I asked him softly.
“Come on, Alys,” Stevens said.
I stared at the man and his piercing silver eyes and I felt drawn to them, but I broke free and obeyed Stevens, walking towards the car.
“I’ll see you soon, Alys,” the man said.
I wasn’t sure what he meant, but Stevens turned and said, “You stay away from her.”
The man smiled and asked, “You think you could stop me, mortal?”
Mortal? What was he talking about?
“I mean it. Stay away from her.”
Stevens pushed me forward and we walked faster towards the car, but I couldn’t help glancing back one last time at the man with silver eyes. When I looked at him he looked sad. Who was he? Was he just some crazy guy? Or did he know me?
We got into the car and I asked, “What if he knows me?”
“He doesn’t,” Stevens said adamantly, “That guy is just a nut job.”
“But what if…”
“If he does know you, he will go down to the police station and tell them. Then they’ll research his claim. We’re not going to let some random guy come and take you if we don’t have proof that he knows you. Everyone knows your name, so just because he said it doesn’t mean anything. He could be a murderer or rapist who thinks you’re an easy target because you’re an unknown person right now. If he took you, he could kill you.”
I didn’t think that man would kill me. I wasn’t sure why I thought that, but I was pretty certain. “I understand,” I told him. Because I did. I understood that some crazy people could claim to know me and then just hurt me.
We didn’t talk the entire drive back to his house or when we climbed up the stairs and put all the clothes in my room.
“Stevens,” I whispered.
“Hm?” he asked as he began helping me take the tags off of the clothes.
“I’m sorry. I know you can’t just let me go with someone who acts like they know me. I didn’t mean to make you upset. And I’m sorry that because of me you had to kill that man…”
“You didn’t make me kill him,” he said in shock, putting the shirt down he had been holding.
“If you hadn’t taken me to get clothes, you wouldn’t have been there.” I was crying because I felt sad for almost getting him killed. I was crying because I felt so lost and so confused.
He stood up and hugged me. “It’s not your fault at all. If I hadn’t been there, Markston might have been shot and who knows who else. You didn’t have anything to do with that guy’s actions.”
“I swear I’m not lying,” I told him and tried to put as much of my honesty into that statement as I could so he would know.
“I know, Alys. Those guys are just idiots. I know you’re not lying about not knowing who you were before or where you’re from.” He rubbed my back and it began to calm me.
I realized that his gun wasn’t on his back where I was hugging him. “Where’s your gun?” I asked him and wiped at my eyes.
“They took it for testing and evidence.”
“But now you don’t have a gun…”
He put a finger on my lips and said, “It’s fine. I don’t need it until I go back to work.” His finger was warm against my lips. He pulled it back and stared at me in shock. “Why don’t we finish putting your clothes away?” he asked in a deep voice.
Why had his voice changed? I nodded my head and went back to taking the tags off like he had shown me. We worked in silence and soon finished taking the tags off. Then he showed me how to fold them and put them in the drawers.
“Tomorrow I will show you how to use the washing machine,” he told me.
“Aren’t you working tomorrow?”
“No, I have some time off the next week or so,” he said with a smile.
“Oh, okay,” I said happily. I was glad that he would be here to teach me things.
“Want to watch a movie?” he asked. I nodded. He started picking up the tags that hadn’t made it into the bag and I bent down to help, but that put my face really close to his.
We looked up at the same time and were so close that our breaths mingled together. He looked at my lips and then up at my face and then stood up quickly and walked out of the room. “I’ll go pick out a movie.”
I put my fingers against my lips and sat on the bed. I had wanted to kiss him, but I hadn’t done it. What if he didn’t like me like that? He was helping me, but that was just because he was nice. And even if he did think I was beautiful he said he didn’t think he could have come to talk to me if we hadn’t met already. Had I kissed someone before? Was there another man I had kissed?
I changed into the clothes Gabriella had called pajamas and walked down the stairs to sit on the couch.
“I’m making popcorn,” he informed me and then something started making a weird popping noise.
“Is that the popcorn?” I asked fearfully.
“Yes.”
“Did you decide on a movie?”
/>
The noise stopped and he sat on the couch beside me with a bowl of weird pieces of food. “I have two I’m debating between. Since you haven’t seen movies.” I watched him eat a piece of the popcorn and then copied him.
It had a weird texture, but was salty and good.
He took a few more bites, walked to a shelf and took something off of it. I guessed it was the movie, but wasn’t sure. He sat down and used a different controller to make the movie start on the game console.
“Is it scary?” I asked him.
“No. I think we’ve had enough scary for today.”
At least we agreed on that. I pictured the silver-eyed man again and felt something in me stir. I wondered if I would ever see him again.
We leaned back against the couch and he put the bowl of popcorn between us on the couch. He had chosen one of the drawn cartoon movies and as soon as it started, I couldn’t look away. I laughed. I cried. I cheered. And the whole time, Stevens watched me.
When it ended, I sighed. “That was incredible. That poor lion prince had to endure so much.” And parts of it were scary, although not much compared to today’s events.
“But it worked out in the end,” he reminded me.
“I liked that his girlfriend could pin him,” I said with a laugh.
“Most women do.”
“I don’t think I could pin you,” I commented. Stevens looked pretty strong and I didn’t.
“I don’t think so either,” he said with a smirk. “Do you want to watch another?”
I nodded my head enthusiastically. “Yes, please.”
“I think you might like this one,” he said as he changed the movies.
“I don’t know if it will be better than the first one.”
“Give it a chance.”
I did and I found myself just as mesmerized. “Wow,” I said at the end.
“Liked it?”
“I loved it!”
“That’s my favorite cartoon.”
“What’s it called?”
“Aladdin.”
“He lucked out with that princess.”
“Yes, he did.”
“Do you have princesses here?”
He shook his head. “We don’t have kings or anything like that here. In other countries they do.”
“I don’t think you would make a good leader just because you were born from the same family.”
“That’s very true.” I yawned and he asked, “Do you want to go to bed?”
I shook my head. “Can we watch some TV?”
He used the remote to change it and a show about funny movies came on. We watched short videos of people falling and doing dumb things, which made me laugh. I wasn’t sure how it happened, but I ended up falling asleep and Stevens carried me up to my room.
“Stevens,” I whispered.
“Troy,” he said.
“Huh?”
“My name is Troy.”
“I thought it was Stevens.”
“Stevens is my last name. My full name is Troy Stevens.”
“So I should have a last name?”
“Yes, but it’s okay that you don’t remember.”
“Troy, thank you for helping me.”
He pulled a blanket up to cover me and warm me up and said, “You’re welcome. I’m glad that I can help you. Sleep well.”
6
When I woke up the next day the smell of food filled the house. I changed clothes and used the bathroom without screaming when I flushed the weird toilet thing, an accomplishment for me.
“Good morning,” I said cheerfully to Troy.
“Good morning, Alys. Did you sleep well?”
I nodded my head. “Did you?”
He smiled and said, “I did.”
“What are you making?” I asked him as I watched him mixing a strange liquid like substance.
“Waffles.”
I remembered that name from somewhere. “I think I’ve had those before.” My head started to hurt again, so I rubbed at the sides of it.
“Does your head hurt?” he asked me and wiped his hands off on a towel before coming around the stove to put the back of his hand to my forehead.
“Yes.”
“No fever. You might just have a headache. I have some medicine for that.”
He left the room and I tried to control my heart as it thumped against my chest. I liked him touching me way more than I should have. Even if I didn’t have anyone here, I shouldn’t be so focused on Troy.
“Swallow these pills with this water,” he instructed me, holding out a glass of water and two white ovals.
I did as he asked and nearly gagged as the pills went down my throat. “Thank you.” He returned to cooking and a few minutes later someone knocked on his door. “Are you expecting someone?”
He sighed. “No, but that doesn’t mean that someone isn’t here.” He opened the door, but not far enough that I could see the person. “What’s up?” he asked whoever was at the door.
“Came to have breakfast,” a new man’s voice said.
“I’m busy.”
“Oh, do you have a girl in there?!” the man asked with excitement.
Troy pushed against the door and then stepped back to reveal a big man with very dark skin. He smiled at me with shockingly white teeth. “Hello.”
“Hi.”
He walked in past Troy and held out his hand to me. “I’m Drake.”
I stared at the hand and looked at Troy. “It’s called shaking hands. When you meet someone you do this…” he grabbed Drake’s hand and they moved their hands up and down a couple times and then let go of each other. “It’s a greeting.”
“Dude, she really doesn’t know anything.”
I held out my hand and Drake shook it. “Nice to meet you, Drake.”
“Nice to meet you too, Alys.”
“Does everyone know my name?” I asked Troy.
Drake laughed. “Of course! You’re the biggest mystery we have had in a long time. A mysterious, beautiful girl who doesn’t remember anything about herself other than her name and age appears in a field.”
“Am I supposed to talk to him?” I asked Troy.
He smiled. “Yeah, Drake’s my best friend.”
“You told her she shouldn’t talk to people?”
“No, but he got mad when I was talking to Markston,” I explained. “I just didn’t want to make him mad again.”
Drake’s eyes widened and he pushed Troy. “You dog.”
“He’s not a dog,” I said in confusion.
“He’s just teasing me. You can ignore him,” Troy informed me, returning to the kitchen to continue making the waffles.
I sat down at the table and Drake sat in a chair next to me. “So, how are you liking life so far?”
“It’s interesting,” I whispered. “I did like watching the two cartoons last night. I didn’t like the shooting guns or the rude people at the mall.”
“Who was rude to you at the mall?” Drake asked. I wasn’t really sure that was the part of the story he should be focused on, but I didn’t really understand people at all.
“One of those people in the outfits like Troy wears. He said he thinks I’m lying about not knowing who I am.”
“It was Barn,” Troy informed Drake.
“Oh, well Barn is just jealous.”
“Why would he be jealous?” I asked him, seriously confused. “He was mad at me and rude. He didn’t seem jealous.”
“He only acted like that because he is jealous that Troy is the one who is able to help you.”
“So, Barn wanted to help me? He didn’t seem like he did.”
“He doesn’t want to help her. He wants to…” Troy stopped talking and walked to the cold rectangle thing…fridge!
“Troy’s the best guy I know. He’s the perfect person to help you,” Drake said.
“He’s been very nice,” I agreed.
“Do you want to go to a lake?” Drake asked me.
“That’s
the big area of water that people swim in, right?” I asked him.
He nodded his head with a big smile. “Yes.”
I looked at Troy who was still looking inside the fridge. “Will Troy come?”
“Oh yeah, Troy will come.”
“Okay,” I said with a smile. “I’ll go then.”
“You hear that, Troy? She’ll go if you go.”
Troy nodded his head, but didn’t talk. He seemed mad again. Was it me? Was I making him mad about something? I had asked if it was okay to talk to Drake. “Maybe we shouldn’t go. Troy doesn’t seem like he wants to,” I whispered to Drake.
“No, I do. Really,” Troy said and smiled at me. The smile seemed forced, but I wasn’t going to argue with him. Plus, how had he heard me?
“Perfect!” Drake said loudly. “The lake is my favorite place to go. Sometimes we go fishing, or just sit in inner tubes and float around, or go swimming.”
I didn’t know how to swim. Hopefully it wasn’t mandatory to swim. Drake poured white liquid into three glasses and set them down on the table and then put a plate piled high with waffles on it.
“Do you want some eggs?” Troy asked me.
“Uh, sure,” I said without really knowing what he was asking me.
Troy looked at Drake and then said, “I already know you want some.”
“Scrambled this time,” Drake said, “You broke the yoke the last three times and that completely ruins it, so you might as well scramble them.”
“You could make your own food,” Troy told him.
“So, what’s your favorite food so far?” Drake asked me, completely ignoring Troy’s comment.
“I think burgers, but I haven’t had too many types yet.”
“We should go to sushi,” Drake told Troy.
“I think sushi should be something she experiences a bit later in her dining life,” Troy said with a smirk.
“Sushi is the raw fish food, right?” I asked. I wasn’t completely sure what it was, but that sounded right.
“Sort of,” Drake said, “But it’s delicious.”
“I like trying new things,” I told them. It was fun to learn about all of this stuff.
Troy finished cooking the eggs and set them on the table in a bowl. They were yellow and mushy looking. Troy and Drake each grabbed a waffle, put it on their plates, and put butter and syrup on it. I copied them and ate a bite. It was super sugary and good. I spooned some eggs onto my plate and took a tentative bite. They were okay, but…
Magic and Shadows: A Collection of YA Fantasy and Paranormal Romances Page 134