The Secret Six

by Evie Del Mar

  Copyright © 2020 Evie Del Mar

  All rights reserved

  The characters and events portrayed in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author.

  No part of this book may be reproduced, or stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without express written permission of the publisher.

  Cover design by: www.trifbookdesign.com

  Contents

  Copyright

  Dedication

  Epigraph

  CHAPTER ONE

  CHAPTER TWO

  CHAPTER THREE

  CHAPTER FOUR

  CHAPTER FIVE

  CHAPTER SIX

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  CHAPTER NINE

  CHAPTER TEN

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  CHAPTER NINETEEN

  TWENTY

  TWENTY-ONE

  TWENTY-TWO

  TWENTY-THREE

  TWENTY-FOUR

  EPILOGUE

  Acknowledgements

  About the Author

  A Note From the Author

  To my best friend and mer-twin. You gave me the courage to write my first book, bounced countless ideas with me, provided raw feedback and edits, and gave me your honest and raw opinions. Norma-Jean, thank you so much for everything you’ve done to help me create Melody and her story.

  “If there’s a book that you want to read, but it hasn’t been written yet, then you must write it.”

  Toni Morrison

  CHAPTER ONE

  I slouched in the backseat and stared at the rain sliding down the window. All I wanted to do was go to an indoor pool party to socialize, but, of course, my parents said no. They always said no! I mean, what was the harm in going to someone’s house to try and make some friends? It wasn’t like I was going to actually go in the pool. I didn’t even know how to swim!

  I found an invitation to a graduation party in the hallway at school and was determined to break the old habit of people only knowing me as the outcast with overprotective parents. It was the end of my senior year. Worrying about finals and grades seemed trivial because you saw the light at the end of your school tunnel: graduation. As much as I wanted that to matter to me, it didn’t because senior year had felt like any other monotonous year. I had no friends, no boyfriend (not by lack of trying on my part), and no exciting high school memories to carry with me after graduating.

  Of course, my plan backfired. Once my parents realized that I had snuck out without their permission, they humiliated me by showing up at the party to take me back home, my father shouting my name as soon as our family Suburban pulled up to the curb.

  At that moment, I wished more than anything for the ground to open and swallow me whole. There was no way I was ever going to be able to live this down and hoped no one would remember. I had never been more upset with my parents than I was on this night.

  Whenever my mother scolded me, she always felt the need to do it softly, thinking it would lessen the blow. “Melody, sweetie,” she said gently. “You know the rules and how we feel about pool parties.”

  “Mom, everyone already thinks I’m weird and y’all just proved their point by coming to pick me up tonight. I have no friends because I’m not allowed to do anything or go anywhere. What other eighteen year old has to stay home with their parents every weekend? I’m technically an adult!”

  Dad looked back at me through the rearview mirror. “Don’t you think you’re being a little overdramatic, Mels?” Dad said using my nickname, thinking it would make me feel better; it didn’t. “Most kids would love to have parents who care about their well-being.”

  “There’s a difference between caring and smothering,” I said as I rolled my eyes. “Caring is when your parents text you to make sure you’re ok. They do not show up, unannounced, and start yelling your name, demanding that you get in the car.”

  I started fiddling with my seashell necklace, which had always comforted me. I asked my parents if we could go to the Dallas Aquarium for my tenth birthday. I was the only kid in my class who hadn’t seen any marine life up close. You would’ve thought I told them I was getting a tattoo with how sternly they had said no.

  The following year, Mom gave me a seashell necklace, saying that it was a precious family heirloom, but wouldn’t tell me anything more. “Now, promise you will never take this off,” she warned. “This is extremely important to me, and I want you to have it.” It has always been my favorite possession. For reasons unknown, it brought me peace whenever life got to be too much, almost like a security blanket.

  Back in the present, Mom pointed ahead. “Max look, something is blocking the road.” We came to a complete stop, noticing other cars backing up and driving in the opposite direction.

  I turned away from the window and stared at where Mom pointed. I squinted my eyes to see through the rain. It looked like a tree had fallen, blocking the whole street.

  “Come on, you’ve got to be kidding me! We were just on this road!” Dad yelled at no one in particular.

  I shrugged my shoulders in the backseat. “The storm must’ve knocked it down.”

  “We’ll have to go around and take Parker Street home,” Mom said as Dad put the car in reverse and headed in the other direction.

  Just when I thought the lecture was over, Dad looked back at me through the rearview mirror again. “Mels, try to reason with us. We won’t be around forever, so we have to enjoy what time we have together while we have it.”

  I didn’t say anything. I’d never understand my parents’ strict rules. I’d heard the whispers that went around school from the other students, saying how lame it was that my parents hardly let me go anywhere. When I was in elementary school, we went on a field trip to a pumpkin patch. My mother insisted that she had to tag along as a chaperone.

  My most embarrassing memory was when Troy Bell the cutest boy in the eighth grade, took a chance on me and asked me to the spring dance. It was the first time a boy had even talked to me, let alone asked me to a dance. I had rushed home in excitement. I couldn’t wait to tell my parents that I was going on my first date. I didn’t even get to finish telling them about Troy when they had told me that I couldn’t go to the dance. Standing in front of them, they made me call Troy and apologize, saying that I wouldn’t be able to go to the dance. I had later found out the only reason he had asked me was because he felt sorry for me, and not that he actually liked me.

  While I was taking my miserable trip down memory lane, Mom’s cry broke the silence, bringing me back to reality. “Max, look out!”

  Dad quickly swerved to the right, but skidded off the road. Our car started rolling down a ditch and crashed into a tree.

  The last thing I remembered before falling unconscious was the feeling of my stomach doing somersaults.

  ◆◆◆

  “Dad, I think I found her!”

  “Are you sure it’s her?”

  “Yes, look at the rain!”

  I didn’t recognize the voices. I attempted to open my eyes against the heaviness of sleep that kept them shut. I tried yelling out for Mom or Dad but I couldn’t even get my mouth to cooperate.

  I tried to open my eyes again and found a pair of bright, crystal-blue eyes staring back at me.

  “You’re going to be ok,” a sweet, velvet voice whispered to me.

  I should’ve been scared because I didn’t recognize
the set of eyes but when I heard his voice, something within me relaxed, my instincts telling me to trust this person. I needed to see his face, but I could feel my eyes begin to close again. I was fighting a losing battle by trying to stay awake. I was so tired… I shut my eyes again and darkness overtook me, once more.

  ◆◆◆

  Beep Beep Beep

  Ugh…my whole body hurts.

  Beep Beep Beep

  Can someone please turn that beeping off?

  I sluggishly turned my head toward the noise and winced at the increase of pressure building at my temples. I tried to lift my arm to my head but a small tug on top of my hand kept me from raising it any further. I pried my eyes open but shut them back as bright fluorescent lights blinded me. I fluttered my eyes to get used to the light. I opened them once more and moved them around the room. Railings were attached to the uncomfortable bed I laid in. The bare, white walls surrounding me were almost as blinding as the lights, and the steady drip drip drip of liquid sat on my right.

  Oh my gosh…

  “Miss Jackson?”

  I jumped at the sound of a voice and turned to see a man standing by my bed, a doctor. I was in a hospital room.

  I looked at the doctor and saw on his coat Medical City Dallas Hospital and right below that Dr. Eric White. I started to panic because I’d never been in a hospital before. I quickly scanned around the room in search of my parents, but noticed they weren’t here.

  The doctor seemed to sense my panic because he came a little closer and put his hands on my shoulders. “Miss Jackson, you’re ok. You’re in a hospital.”

  His soothing words were doing absolutely nothing to calm me down, as if they went in one ear and out of the other.

  “Where are my parents?” I asked, peeking around him, hoping that maybe they were right outside the door, not knowing that I was awake now.

  The doctor lowered himself and met me at eye level, forcing me to look at him. “Miss Jackson, there’s been an accident.” He closed his eyes, afraid to speak the next words. “Your parents’ car tumbled into a ditch and hit a tree. You’ve suffered a major concussion and some bumps and bruises. Your parents, on the other hand…” His somber voice trailed off.

  I saw his lips move but couldn’t quite understand the words that were coming out of his mouth. It was like someone was holding a blanket over his mouth and he was trying to talk through it.

  “Wait…what did you say?” I asked, shaking my head thinking it would help clear out the muffled sound.

  “I’m sorry, Miss Jackson, but your parents passed away during the crash.”

  I couldn’t find my voice to reply back, so I just stared at him. I refused to believe what I was hearing.

  My parents are dead?

  No, there’s no way. I closed my eyes, trying to remember what happened.

  I remembered Dad talking to me, then Mom yelling out a warning. I recalled hitting my head on something and then blackness.

  I opened my eyes and felt like I just got hit with a 100-pound weight that was crushing my chest. I couldn’t breathe, and bile started making its way up my throat.

  Oh God, they’re gone…they’re really gone.

  I looked back at the doctor who was patiently waiting, probably for me to have a nervous breakdown.

  “How long was I asleep?” I managed to ask.

  He looked down at his clipboard and flipped a page. “About three days,” he said, looking back up at me.

  My eyes grew huge, “I’ve been out almost three days?! How did I get here?”

  Dr. White gave me a small, warm smile. “A good samaritan and his father happened to walk by where your car crashed. They managed to pull you out and the son rushed you here.”

  Something tickled in the back of my mind, like trying to remember a dream, but it slipped away as quickly as it came. “Do you know who they were or what they looked like?” I asked hoping maybe they’d be able to help me with some answers.

  Dr. White just shrugged his shoulders and shook his head. “No, he didn’t leave his name. He just came into the hospital, carrying you, saying that you had been involved in an accident. He was tall, black hair, and blue eyes. He seemed to care a lot about you, maybe you know him?”

  At the mention of blue eyes, my heart rate picked up its pace. I vaguely remembered seeing a pair of blue eyes that went along with the strange voices I heard. He brought me here? Why didn’t he wait for me to wake up? Will I ever see him again to thank him for saving my life? I had to find him.

  Dr. White must have noticed my heart rate change because he rushed to the machine, checking my vitals. “Are you ok, Miss Jackson?” he asked curiously.

  I felt the heat rushing to my cheeks, the intense feelings over this mysterious boy making my heart flutter. I looked at the doctor and just nodded my head. At that moment, Dr. White’s phone beeped. He hastily patted his coat pockets, searching for where he placed his phone. He pulled it out and sighed.

  “I have an emergency I need to attend to,” he said, placing his phone back into his pocket. “I’ll tell your nurses that you’re awake. Feel free to let them know if you need anything; food, water, or some help with the TV.” He walked out of the room, quietly shutting the door behind him and leaving me alone with my thoughts.

  Several nurses came in every hour to check my vitals and make sure I was comfortable. They tried offering me food, but I couldn’t find the energy to eat. Besides, just the thought of food made my stomach clench. One nurse even tried starting a conversation, but I couldn’t form any words. I was numb, disconnected from the world. This couldn’t be real.

  After the third time the nurses left me, someone knocked on the door. Dr. White and a woman in a pantsuit walked in with an unnaturally skinny, elderly man trudging right behind them. Her arm was around a bulky, paper filled folder. She and the elderly man stood on either side of my bed. The woman had a small smile on her face as she studied me. I was hoping it wasn’t a mercy smile because I was in no mood for a pity party. The elderly man next to her had the complete opposite reaction. He looked like he’d rather be anywhere but in here with me.

  Dr. White introduced the visitors. “Miss Jackson, this is Mrs. Shelley Wood, and Mr. Scott Marshall.”

  “Please, call me Shelley, dear,” the woman said, as she extended her arm out toward me. I hesitantly shook it and gave her a small smile.

  I looked over at Mr. Marshall, thinking he was going to offer his hand as well. He just stared at me and cleared his throat, signaling to Shelley to hurry this little “meeting” along.

  Shelley put a hand on my shoulder. “Miss Jackson, I am truly sorry for your loss. Bless your heart.” I internally rolled my eyes; definitely a pity party.

  Shelley grabbed the folder she had stuffed under her arm and opened it up at my feet. “Now, sweetie, this is your parents’ will. It stated that if anything were to happen to them, you were to go into the care of Mr. Tony Miller.”

  I simply stared at Shelley. Why would my parents ship me off to some man that I’d never even heard of? Surely, he had to be a family member. Whenever I asked my parents about any other family members, like grandparents or cousins, they just played it off, saying they lived too far away and that was the reason we always spent the holidays by ourselves.

  Mr. Marshall dug into his jacket pocket and pulled out an envelope. He handed it to me without saying a word. I tore open the seal and pulled out what looked like a plane ticket, departing in three days.

  “South Carolina?” I asked, confused.

  Shelley gave me a smile. “Yes, ma’am. That’s where Mr. Miller resides with his son.”

  Son? I instantly felt a little better knowing that I wouldn’t be by myself, in South Carolina, with a stranger.

  “Once you’re released from the hospital,” Shelley continued, “you’ll be taken home to pack all of your belongings. I will pick you up personally, in three days, and take you to the airport. Mr. Marshall will be waiting in South Carolina to take you to
Mr. Miller’s. He was here completing some paperwork and I thought you two could meet in person now, rather than at the airport.”

  Dr. White seemed to notice my growing distress, and cleared his throat. “If everyone could please follow me out, so that Miss Jackson can get some rest.” He looked over at me with sincere eyes. “If you need anything, please don’t hesitate to press the call button.” All I could do was nod my head in return. Everyone exited the room without saying another word.

  Now that I was alone, I felt like my emotions were becoming too overwhelming. I was scared of being shipped off to some stranger in another state when I’d never even left Dallas. Mom always said that Dallas had everything anyone needed, and that there was no need to travel.

  I felt like I’d been lied to my whole life. My parents never told me we knew someone in South Carolina, especially someone they would trust with my life.

  I still couldn’t wrap my head around the fact that my parents were dead…and it was entirely my fault. If I hadn’t been so adamant about going to some stupid party, my parents wouldn’t have been out driving, and we wouldn’t have wrecked the car. The guilt was eating me up from the inside, making it hard to breathe. I could feel a sob trying to break its way through.

  I turned onto my side and stared out the window at the sky. It was such a gorgeous day outside. The sun shined so brightly through the cloudless sky that it tore down the wall I kept up. It shouldn’t be so beautiful outside, considering how depressed I felt on the inside. The last thing I remembered before falling asleep were the tears running down my cheek, making my pillow wet.

  CHAPTER TWO

  I sat in a window seat, hoping to imprint the Dallas skyline one final time, fighting back countless tears as we ascended and the city began to shrink from view. Watching Reunion Tower brought back memories of when my parents took me to the restaurant Cloud Nine, which sat at the top of the ball. While you ate, you had a revolving view of the whole Dallas metroplex.