by J. J. Melvin
“Ahhh, thanks. You know Erika, all the exercise you’re going to be doing here will put muscle on you too, and help you be more defined.”
“Hopefully. I can use all the help I can get,” I answered.
“You don’t look bad, you look cute Erika.”
Great, I’m the cute little pixie standing next to a supermodel.
We wrapped ourselves in towels and took the elevator down to the pool. Jayson was in the pool while Liam sat in the steaming Jacuzzi. Liam looked at me, and I immediately regretted my decision to come. Sofia threw her towel on a chair and walked over to the pool and dove right in. I kept my towel on, sitting at the edge of the spa, dangling my feet in the water.
“Are you still really sore, Erika?” Liam asked.
“Yeah, a little bit, how could you tell? Was it the whimpers I made as I sat down?”
“That may have given it away. You should hop in.”
“I will, I’m just getting used to the water. It’s too hot.”
“That’s why you need to jump in here first,” Jason yelled as he swam in the pool.
“Californians do not like cold water, Jayson,” I shouted back.
“It’s not cold, it’s heated to like eighty degrees,” Jayson rebutted.
“Eighty degrees is cold,” I shouted back.
The spa was definitely more for me. The temperature read 104, and the first moment that no one was looking I threw my towel off and slipped in. Sofia joined Liam and me.
“Oh my gosh, it feels so good in here. Hey Liam, can you get out and turn the jets on?” Sofia pleaded.
Liam jumped out of the spa. He was thin, but built. Water radiated off of his amazing chiseled body. He had a well-defined chest and a six-pack stomach. He shook his brown hair and his blue eyes glistened as the water ran down his face. He had never looked more gorgeous. I looked away, embarrassed. Oh my God, was I just completely staring at him? How long was I gawking at him? I hoped no one had noticed. But of course Sofia had, she smiled in my direction. Liam walked back over to the spa slowly dipping his body back into the water, Jayson followed.
“The cooking of the Diamonds,” Jayson said as he sat down. “I don’t know how you guys can handle this, it is way too hot in here. Five minutes and I am going back into the pool.”
“I wonder when Mr. Blithe is going to have us make the diamond?” Liam was sitting against one of the jets, his voice vibrating as he spoke.
“Make the diamond? What do you mean?” I asked.
“You were the missing link, the fourth. We couldn’t make the diamond without you.” Sofia was playing with the water, gently caressing the surface, making the bubbles flicker through her fingers.
“The diamond is what traps the Collectors. You stand facing west, Jayson east, Sofia south, and me north. We recite the spell, and whatever is inside the diamond we create is trapped.” I was trying to listen, but it was hard to take Liam seriously with his voice vibrating.
“Sounds… well, really weird. Do you think it will work?” I asked.
“Well, I guess we won’t know until we try,” Jayson said.
“Let’s try it in here, let’s make a mini diamond. Let’s just hold hands and see what happens,” Liam suggested.
“Uhhhmm, I don’t know if we should without the Watchers. We don’t know what will happen.” Sofia was the goody-two-shoes of the group.
“What’s the worst that could happen? Let’s do it,” retorted Liam as Jayson nodded in agreement.
We got in our correct positions: Liam north, Sofia south, Jayson east, and I west. We all held hands. Jayson recited the spell:
Never Ever Shall We Wander
Never Ever Shall We Hail
Never Ever Shall We Be Tempted
Never Ever Shall We Fail
We send you back to where your greed has taken you, back to where you belong, back to your eternal darkness, back to where your powers are gone.
As soon as Jayson finished his last sentence, a huge blue light lit up the pool room. The water from the spa rose into the air in the shape of a diamond. We all smiled in amazement, but the moment we let go of each other’s hands the diamond made out of water fell back into the spa, splashing us all in the face.
“That was soooooo cool!” Jayson yelled. We all laughed in agreement.
I felt good. It was the first time in my life I felt I was where I should be. I finally felt a part of this team of four. I felt accepted. I felt I belonged. But along with this feeling I still harbored a nervousness inside me, and no matter how much I tried to ignore it, the feeling would not dissolve.
Chapter 18
WHERE I BELONG
That night as I laid there in my room alone waiting for time to pass until my brother got home from school, I couldn’t help but feel immense guilt. I tried to fight the feelings that were intent on taking over my happy mood. I felt guilty for being here in England, having fun. I felt guilty that I was not home to help my family, to protect them.
My thoughts wandered back to eighth grade.
I had just gotten off the bus with my friend Shannon, who lived a couple of houses down. In front of my house were three cop cars. I stared at the flashing lights as anxiety gripped my body. I quickly told Shannon goodbye, knowing immediately why the cops were there. I just hoped everyone was okay. I ran down the sidewalk, my backpack flopping hard against the bones of my spine. Outside my house stood a police officer speaking to my mom. I looked from afar at her tear-stained bruised and bloodied face. As I came closer I turned to see Alyssa running towards me, frantically crying.
“Where were you, Erika? Where were you?” she demanded.
“I stayed after school to work on a project,” I replied.
“I was all alone. Craig kept hitting mom. I couldn’t get him to stop. You should’ve been here to help me.” Her voice was shaking through her sobs.
Craig was another one of my mom’s boyfriends, and apparently that day he’d beat my mom. That was the last time I ever stayed after school.
After emerging from my daydream, I called home. Alyssa was excited to tell me all about her senior year. I tried to steady my voice, but for some reason I wanted to cry. I missed my mom, my sister, my brother. Nothing could elicit feelings from me more than my family. I had always been strong and unfeeling, but one thought of any of them could make me cry like a baby.
Next I talked to my mom. They were all doing well. My mom had quit her job and was planning on opening a restaurant, but for now she was house hunting and spending a lot of time with Kai and Alyssa, which my sister had just complained about. My mom was proud of me as I told her about my classes— of course, I kept out the ones she didn’t need to know about. My little brother made me the saddest. I missed him, but at least I was happy that playing Minecraft with him made him happy. It was weird. When I had been in Riverton with my family we’d barely spoken, but now that I was thousands of miles away we somehow felt closer.
The next day everyone excitedly told Mr. Blithe about our spa experiment. Mr. Blithe scolded us and told us magic was not to be played with until we understood more about it. However, he did agree that the connection of the Four needed to be explored.
“I do think that we have to kick your training into high gear. I am afraid that the time is coming for the Collectors to attack. They have been unable to find a Diamond for some time; they have to be getting weak and desperate. We have to be on alert at all times.”
We all looked at each other. We’d known this day would come, but the unknowing and the uncertainty of when and where was terrifying. The next few days we trained hard. Another class was added to our schedule, making our day conclude at six pm instead of five. Our new class was diamond practice, conjuring the diamond force field. We were taught to create the force field without holding hands. It had been easy when we held hands, but the diamond we’d made in the spa was too small. We had to learn to make the diamond larger. We would repeat the spells as a Watcher, usually one of our teachers, stood inside t
he diamond shape we made. We perfected making the force field strong so that anything within the diamond could not get out.
It was funny watching Mr. Vijack run full speed and smash into an invisible wall of air. But one thing we learned was that we had to concentrate to hold the force field; the moment any one of us lost our concentration it came down. Each day we tried to move farther and farther, making the force field grow to our destinations.
Finally, Friday came. We had worked hard all week. I couldn’t wait for the weekend so I could have time to rest. However, Mr. Schwartz wanted me to continue my telekinesis training on Saturday and Sunday, I still couldn’t move the damn pencil. Dreading my telepathy class, I walked down the back steps towards our so-called PE classes when I saw Liam running towards me.
“Hey Erika, do you want to go on a picnic with me tomorrow?”
“I have telekinesis class, but I can after. I think Sofia may be going out with some guy named Tyler tomorrow. We might have to do it another day.”
“Well, I was thinking just you and I could go.” Liam pushed his fingers through his sunlit hair, smiling at me with his lopsided grin.
I was silent for a moment as the realization that Liam was asking me on a date set in.
“Oh,” I said, compelling my mind to come up with something else to say. “Hey I think we’re late, let’s hurry.” I was about to run when Liam grabbed my arm.
“Erika, why are you always trying to avoid being alone with me? I have been trying to ask you out on a date since we met, but you keep pushing me away.”
“Don’t take it personally Liam, I push everyone away,” I said, as if I didn’t care that he had just asked me out.
“Well that makes for a really lonely world, doesn’t it, Erika?”
“I guess it does.” I walked away from Liam grimacing to myself.
I liked Liam and I didn’t know why I kept pushing him away, but I couldn’t seem to make myself stop.
The diamond PE classes were awkward. Liam ignored me the whole time. I stopped trying to interact with him after the third time I asked him a question and he acted as if I were invisible.
Our dispute affected everybody. We couldn’t keep the diamond force field up, and everyone felt the tension in the air.
“Seriously, you guys are acting like you’re two years old,” Sofia said.
“I agree. Can you guys just kiss and make up already? Jeez!” Jayson added.
Liam’s voice and tone were condescending as he finally addressed me. “I don’t know what you guys are talking about. Everything’s fine, right Erika?”
“Oh, you’re talking to me now?”
“Okay, you guys, that’s it. That’s enough for today!” Mr. Blithe announced. “Let’s take a break and pick up on Monday.”
“Thank God,” Sofia said following the others as they distanced themselves from me and Liam.
Liam started walking away again, but this time I grabbed his arm.
“What’s your problem, Liam?” I yelled.
“I don’t have a problem. Why are you yelling?”
“Why are you so mad at me?”
“I’m not.”
“Then why are you ignoring me?”
“What are you talking about Erika? I’m just treating you the way you treat me. You don’t answer me when I ask you questions, why would I answer you?” Liam turned again to walk away from me.
Standing there alone with only myself to answer to and blame, I knew Liam was right. I came here to be a different person and here I was again falling into a pattern of a person I didn’t want to be. “Liam, I would like to go on a picnic with you tomorrow,” I shouted after him.
“No thanks, don’t do me any favors,” he shouted in return, his back still facing me, his arm waved in the air.
Liam wasn’t at lunch that day, and he chose to eat dinner in his room. Later that night laying in my room, I knew I blew it. I am totally head over heels for this guy and now he hates me. I held my pillow over my face. I wanted to scream, I was so stupid.
My phone pinged, a text from Liam. “Hello.”
I didn’t immediately reply— “Erika,” the second text read, “I’m sorry I was acting like a baby today. I guess it’s hard to take rejection. I just wanted to tell you that I won’t pester you about going out with me again. You made it clear that you’re not interested, and that’s okay. We can still be friends, right?”
I stared at the words illuminated on the screen. Feeling my stomach turn, anxiety coursed through every inch of my body. My fingers, head, heart— numb. “Right,” I typed my reply.
Holding the phone in my hand, the cold hard black steel shivered signaling its message. “Good night, Erika.”
“Good night, Liam.” I returned a message that appeared as frigid as the phone I held.
Placing my hand over my face, trying to hide from my own stupidity. I knew what I had just done. Uncovering my face my fingers rubbed hard against my forehead possibly in an effort to get through to my brain. I didn’t want to be friends with Liam, I wanted to be more… why couldn’t I just say that? What was wrong with me? I picked up the phone, then hung it back up. What was I supposed to say, I’m sorry, I have serious issues with showing emotion? He would just think I was crazy. Should I tell him I’ve never been on a date, never really talked to boys, and that I was scared? What, what do I say?
I picked up the phone and dialed. It rang once and then Liam answered, “Hello.”
“Liam.”
“Yeah, Erika.”
“I don’t want to be friends.”
“Erika, I apologized. I had a crush on you, but it shouldn’t make you not want to be my friend— I know I can get over it…”
“No, no that’s not it. You don’t understand— I don’t want you to get over it. I have a crush on you, too,” I said awkwardly. I slapped my free hand against my face in utter embarrassment.
Taking my hand off my face, I placed it over the phone while mouthing a scream. I can’t believe I just said that! How stupid did that sound? What am I, eleven years old?
“Erika, you have a funny way of showing it.”
“Yeah, like I told you before, I have a tendency to push people away. I don’t try to do it, I just do.”
“Okay, well I guess now I know when you’re mean to me, you like me.” Liam’s laugh made me smile.
“Hey, I’ve never been mean to you.”
“Well, that’s your interpretation, but…. when a guy puts his heart on the line, asks a girl out, and she walks away ignoring his question, some may say that’s pretty mean.”
“Yeah, I guess I didn’t think of it that way. Okay, okay, so I’m mean, I’m evil…”
“And I am crazy for liking you. Okay, so we are on for our picnic tomorrow, right?”
“Yes.”
“Then, meet me in the front of the castle at eleven am. Goodnight, my sweet Erika.”
I hung up the phone and placed my head face down on my pillow, wanting to scream for a whole different reason now.
Chapter 19
FIRST DATE
I woke up early the next day and had breakfast brought up to my room. I was glad Mr. Schwartz agreed telekinesis class would be at the castle. After class I ran back to my room as fast as I could, a smile plastered on my face the whole way there. This gave me more time to decide on an outfit to wear. I wished my sister were here. Even though Sofia and I had become close, I was not the type to ask for help.
I met Liam in front of the castle at precisely eleven am, and to my surprise he stood there holding the reins of two beautiful horses. It was a good thing that I’d worn pants.
“This is Snow White, she is yours today, and this is my horse, Mr. Smithers.”
“Liam, I think you forgot to ask if I know how to ride. I have never been on a horse before.”
“That’s okay, you’ll be fine. All you have to do is hold on, Snow White will do the rest.”
Liam helped me get on Snow White’s back and then he jumped on Mr
. Smithers. Horse riding seemed easy— Snow White did all the work. It was true, all I had to do was hold on. The beautiful snow colored horse effortlessly wound down the drive and through the curvy hills of England. Liam and I rode side by side. We talked about our lives, mine in California, and his in New York then England.
“Liam, can I ask you about what happened to your brother?”
“Remember Erika, I told you everything comes with a price.”
“You’ve said that before. What does it mean?”
“Well, I guess I mean if I’d never won the lottery, my brother would probably still be alive and my parents would probably still be married. Our wealth brought about a bevy of young girls flocking my father’s way. I never understood why he couldn’t see they were just using him. He left my mom for a girl half his age. My mom became really depressed and stayed in bed a lot. Neither of them noticed that my brother had started using drugs. I can see the future, but it can always change. I didn’t see my brother die until he decided to put that needle in his arm. I was here in England at the time. I was hoping it was just a bad nightmare. I called my mom, frantic. I told her to wake Patrick, she took the phone with her to his room. When I heard her screams, I knew it wasn’t a nightmare; it was real. I witnessed my brother’s death.”
“But none of that is your fault, Liam.”
“Maybe not, maybe so. But what if, just what if I hadn’t used my powers to win all this money? Would things be different? Would my family still be together? Would my brother still be alive?”
I didn’t know what to say. I was silent. I knew it was selfish of me to think of my family at that moment, but I did. Would the money we’d been given change our futures for better or for worse?
“It’s beautiful around here, don’t you think?” Liam asked, changing the subject.
“It really is, I’ve never seen a place so green and peaceful. Do any cars come up here?”
“No, not really, it’s pretty much our own little country. Most people stay in the city limits of Oxford, experiencing the bustling metropolitan life. People don’t enjoy or even know about their surroundings, they are so consumed with the day-to-day.”