The Secret Six
Page 13
“Kim, what time do the lights come on?” I asked.
She looked at her watch, her eyes growing large. “Oh my gosh, in one minute! We need to hurry up and get out of here!”
With an idea in mind, I casually walked to Drake, bumping his shoulder to get his attention. “Blair needs to check out the sky beam when it comes on, so you need to find a way to get ‘Little Miss Flirt’, downstairs and out of the way.”
Drake winked and clicked his tongue. “Kim,” he teased. “You are absolutely right.” He draped an arm over her shoulder and guided her back to the ladder. “I want to thank you for giving us a tour. Ladies first.” She was so smitten by him that she didn’t realize we weren’t following them down the ladder.
I glanced at my watch. “Ok, we won’t have much time when they turn on because it’ll start to heat up.” The anticipation in the room grew, the second crystal piece almost in our grasps. “They should be coming on in 5…4…3…2…and, now!”
On cue, the light bulbs became extremely bright and angled themselves together, creating the beam that shined straight up into the sky. I had to put my hand above my eyes to shield some of the light. Kim also wasn’t kidding about the room getting hot. I could already feel sweat dripping down my back.
Blair walked over to the beam and placed her hands around it, cupping the light. She gasped in surprise. Blake jumped next to her, ready to protect her, if necessary. “I’ve never experienced anything like this,” she said in awe. “It’s exceptionally powerful.” She began moving her hands up and down the beam and suddenly stopped.
“Do you feel it?” Blake asked worriedly.
“I think so, but can’t quite get to it.” She expanded her hands, and the beam grew larger, and so did the brightness.
“Um, Blair, is it supposed to get brighter?” Blake asked nervously.
Blair didn’t answer, her focus remaining on the beam. Sweat dripped down her face as she grunted, using all of her strength to hold the beam up and enlarge it. She started to whimper in pain.
“Blair,” Blake yelled out. “Stop!”
The beam kept growing larger and brighter until shielding our eyes wasn’t enough. I crouched down onto my toes and covered my eyes. A pair of knees touched mine while protective arms wrapped around me. I didn’t need to open my eyes to know it was Cole. My body just knew and immediately reacted. I put my head into his neck, hoping his broad shoulders would shield some more light from my eyes. I could still hear Blair, but her whimpers were now growing into screams. My heart ached that I couldn’t go and help her.
“BLAIR!” I heard Blake scream.
Suddenly, the lights shut off. I cautiously opened my eyes, afraid of what I was going to see, and had to blink a few times to help them adjust from the lack of light. Cole and I looked at each other, checking to make sure the other was ok, and slowly stood up. Blake immediately stood to catch his sister as she swayed and collapsed in his arms. Blair was drenched in sweat and panting, like she had just run a marathon.
“Hey,” Blake soothed, moving her hair away from her face. “Are you ok?” It was so sweet watching him take such good care of his sister. He was always worried that people would perceive him as a dark person, due to his powers, but he was so far from that.
Blair nodded her head, wincing from the motion. “Yeah,” she muttered. “It was a lot more powerful than I anticipated.” She opened her palm, revealing her crystal piece. “Guess we all couldn’t have easy access to our crystals, like Lily,” she joked.
I could faintly hear the words, “Oh, my God! Oh, my God! Oh, my God!” as the ladder rattled with the quick pace of Drake and Kim climbing back up.
“Oh, my God!” Kim shrieked. “I am so fired! What happened? I heard screaming.”
Drake’s face was just as surprised as Kim’s, but turned to concern as he looked at Blair. As if answering his thoughts, Blair gave him a smile and gradually tried to stand on her own feet, quickly hiding her crystal in her pocket. She wobbled a bit, but Blake threw his arm around her.
“I’m so sorry, Kim. I guess I just got a small case of vertigo after seeing the view,” Blair said sheepishly, pointing to the open window.
“What the heck happened to the lights? I swear at one point, they shined brighter than normal!”
“I think one of them just got overheated and busted, causing the blackout.” Blake, hauling Blair next to him, shoved Kim to the side, anxious to get down the ladder and out of this room.
Still frantic, Kim rolled her eyes and threw her hands in the air. “Whatever happened up here, we need to leave immediately. Someone is going to notice that the beam isn’t on, when it’s supposed to be, and is going to come and investigate.” She gestured to the ladder. “We cannot be here when that happens.”
Blair slowly let go of Blake and made her descent down the ladder, followed by her brother, and everyone else. The elevator was extremely quiet as we rode back down to the floor our rooms were on. The doors opened, and we all got off, but not before Kim caught Drake’s arm.
“Wait! I get off in a few hours.” She gave him a smile and twirled her hair again. “Can I call you?”
Drake placed a strand of loose hair behind her ear. “Sure, babe.” He smiled and walked away.
As the doors closed, Kim shouted, “Wait! You didn’t give me your number!” but Drake was already rounding the corner, out of reach.
On the way to our room, the hair on the back of my neck rose. I was filled with uneasy suspicion, similar to what I felt when the man bumped into me in California; like we were being watched. I leaned over the railing that overlooked the lobby, but being on the thirtieth floor, everyone was too small.
“Is everything ok?” Cole leaned over the railing, too.
“I’m not sure, yet. I’ve been getting a weird feeling that we’re being followed, or that someone has been watching us.” I rubbed my hands over my arm, hoping to warm them back up. “I got the same feeling back in California after Lily found her piece.”
“No one is paying any attention to our group. They’re too focused on the slot machines.”
“Yeah, you might be right.” I didn’t want to argue with him or seem paranoid, so I pulled away from the railing and followed him to the guys’ room, shutting the door behind me. Blair was already sitting on one of the beds, barely holding her own head up from exhaustion. Blake sat beside her, her head on his shoulders.
“Ok, so what happened when Kim and I left?” Drake demanded.
Blair slowly lifted her head and sat up straight. “Melody had the idea that I should check out the beam itself, so when all the lights came on, I went over and investigated it. While I was ‘feeling’ around inside the beam, I came across something odd that I knew shouldn’t have been there. It almost felt like glass.” She took a deep breath, and continued.
“I found out that they were reflectors, hidden inside the light beam. I tried to open them, and that’s why the light started getting brighter, and then the pain started.” She winced at the memory. “I couldn’t stop once I started. It was almost like I was meant to find the reflectors, and I had to open them. I just didn’t realize it would drain my energy in the process. After I got my piece out of the reflectors, the lights went out.” As if telling the story exhausted her, Blair laid her head back on her brother’s shoulder.
“You scared the shit out of me,” he whispered, hugging her close.
Cole grabbed for the lock case under his bed and opened it, handing it to Blair. She gently laid her piece in the slot and closed it.
“Two down,” Blair sighed, looking up at her brother, “…four more to go. Are you ready to go get yours?”
“The experience better go as smoothly as Lily’s did,” he scoffed.
“I’ll go and update my father.” Cole got up and headed to the corner of the room.
“Are you sure you’re ok?” Blake asked his sister, concern written all over his face.
“I just need some sleep to regain my strength.”
“Yes, we’ll all be needing lots of sleep,” Cole interrupted, hanging up his phone. “The flight to Alaska is about ten hours. Dad is extremely pleased with how quickly everything is going. He’s calling Colin to meet us here in the morning.”
The girls and I told the guys goodnight and headed to our room next door. Once inside, we helped Blair onto her bed. She gave a relaxing sigh as she laid her head onto her pillow, closing her eyes. I sat next to her on the bed.
“Why?” I whispered to her.
She opened her eyes. “Why, what?”
My vision began to blur as tears formed. “Why risk your life for some stupid crystal?” I had grown so close to this group in the few short weeks since arriving, and even closer to these two girls, that I couldn’t imagine anything happening to them.
Blair sat up and scooted back on her bed, leaning her shoulders against the headboard. “Because I felt like I didn’t have a choice. I know how important it is to find all the pieces and get them home, before The Brotherhood comes after us. It’s in our blood to protect the key at all cost.”
I had no idea what she meant. Was I really ready to risk my life for some stupid piece of crystal? I knew my mother was ready to die for the cause when she was captured. Heck, her whole group got slaughtered because they were trying to protect it. Everyone else had known about the Secret Six, The Brotherhood, and their destiny to protect some crystal key a lot longer than I had. Did they just jump right into it, no questions asked? Was there something missing in my blood that was causing this doubt and anxiety? No one else seemed as worried as I was.
“I’m going to go jump in the shower,” I said, shooting off of the bed before they could say anything else. I walked into the bathroom and turned on the shower, just going through the motions in hopes of calming my racing mind. I took off my clothes and stepped inside, barely noticing how hot the water was.
I never would’ve thought this mission was going to be dangerous. I had silently prayed we wouldn’t run into The Brotherhood because I was nowhere near ready to fight and defend myself. I honestly figured I would be road tripping across the United States to get all the pieces. I felt instantly relieved when Lily obtained hers with no problem, thinking getting all of ours was going to be a piece of cake. I slid down the shower wall and sat down on the floor, hugging my knees to my chest as panic started creeping into my thoughts.
My mother never would’ve sent me on a suicide mission. Would she? I finally understood why she kept me away from it all. I knew our life was pretty mundane growing up, but I wasn’t constantly looking over my shoulder, thinking someone was watching me, or that there was a group of evil men who wanted to murder me because of my powers and destiny to protect a crystal key. Would I have the same problem as Blair when it was my turn to get my piece? I wasn’t used to handling a lot of pain. I couldn’t even get a shot in my arm without wincing like a baby.
Oh, my God.
What about Cole? Would he suffer too? My mind painted a picture of him on his knees, crying out in pain. Tears ran down his beautiful face as his features twisted in agony.
“Ah! Melody help!” he shouted. I was frozen in fear, with no clue how to help him. The thought tore my heart to shreds. I covered my face with my hands, hoping to drown out the scene, and bawled. My tears mixed with the water that dripped down my arms. The hot water did nothing to ease the terror that ripped through my body.
There was one thing I’d come to realize since learning about The Secret Six: they picked the wrong person to control water because I was definitely not a protector.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
The following morning, the girls and I packed our bags in silence, the strain from yesterday still tangible. I continued yawning every minute as I gathered my suitcase together. I tossed and turned so much last night, I hardly slept a wink. Nightmares of everyone screaming out in pain consumed my every thought. We trudged out of our room and down the elevator, where the guys were waiting near the receptionist’s desk. I yawned again.
“Didn’t sleep well, huh?” Drake nudged my shoulder.
“Not really.” I quickly changed the subject so he didn’t ask for the reason. “Are you ready to head to Alaska?”
“Ugh, no!” He shivered involuntarily. “I’ll never understand how the temperature could be forty-five degrees in the middle of July!”
“Hey, it could be worse. Plus, at least it’ll be sunny. Can you imagine us trying to find a small crystal piece in the dark?”
Cole came back from the desk, saying the limo we used before was waiting to take us to the airport. He looked like he didn’t get much sleep, either. Dark circles surrounded his eyes, creating purple and blue bruises.
We climbed in the limo, but no one was as excited as when we first entered it yesterday. Everyone sat a few inches from each other, shoulders tensed. Some were playing with their fingers in their laps, while others bounced their knees, unable to sit still. It was an eerily silent ride. Was everyone thinking about what happened yesterday with Blair? That maybe this “road-trip” wasn’t going to be all fun and games?
As expected, Colin was standing near his jet, waiting for us to board. Cole greeted his uncle first. I smiled and nodded at Colin while starting to make my way inside the jet. Colin put on a pair of sunglasses that stopped me in my tracks.
I got a weird sense of déjà vu. Had I seen those sunglasses before? No. Everyone wore sunglasses, some even wearing the same brand as others. But, there was something about the way they sat on his square face that puzzled me. I shook my head, clearing the feeling, and continued inside the jet.
I picked a seat near the window and let my mind get lost in the calm, clear blue sky, easing some of the stress that was consuming my brain. I sent a silent prayer, hoping the rest of the trip would go smoothly with no one else getting hurt.
“Is this seat taken?” Cole asked, breaking me from my thoughts. He gave me a small smile, not quite reaching the corners of his exhausted eyes.
“Of course. Someone has to calm you down for takeoff.” I joked, hoping it made him feel better.
It worked. “You think you’re funny, don’t you?” he chuckled.
“Actually, yes. Would you rather me go get Drake to help calm you down?”
His eyes got big. “God, no! If he found out I didn’t like flying in planes, I would never hear the end of it.”
Ten minutes after the jet took off, Cole let go of my hand to turn around and face everyone. “How’s everyone doing?” He looked around, but no one would look him in the eyes. Silence filled the jet's cabin.
“Come on, guys,” he tried again. “I know yesterday was a little scary. We all care for Blair, but we shouldn’t let what happened make us scared for the rest of the trip.” The way Cole carried himself as a leader warmed my heart. He was definitely born to lead. There was no way he would be a coward like me, always looking over his shoulder.
Blair stood up. “Cole’s right. It was a little scary, but I’m fine now. Actually, I’m better than ever and ready to help the rest of you find your pieces.” She put her hands on her hips. “Who knows, maybe the rest of yours won’t be as draining.”
“Speak for yourself,” Drake scoffed. “Mine is in a damn volcano.”
“We knew from the start what kind of lifestyle this was going to be,” Lily stated. “Tony taught us to always be on our guard; eyes and ears open.”
Blake cleared his throat. “Maybe we should talk about a battle plan, in case we run into any members of The Brotherhood?”
Fear gripped me again as I thought about last night’s nightmares. “You really think we’ll run into The Brotherhood?”
“You just never know,” Cole answered. “They could be waiting for us to get all of the pieces before interfering, but I do agree with Blake. We all need to be on our toes in case anything happens.”
; Drake leaned back in his chair. “It would be stupid to attack us before we have all the pieces. The collection wouldn’t be worth stealing unless they were all there. Right?”
I turned back to the window, drowning out the rest of the conversation. Everyone seemed so sure we would be able to fend for ourselves if we ever came across The Brotherhood. When we practiced our abilities back at the academy, it seemed more like playing than actual fighting, but everything seemed so real now. I hadn’t been able to control water since the day I almost drowned. Would I be able to control the water when my friends needed me most? I hated feeling like I was a liability to everyone.
Thinking about the ocean again made my body buzz and brought a sense of longing, to feel the splash of the waves on my skin and the smell of salt through my nose. It relaxed some of the tension that had been building.
◆◆◆
The remainder of the flight went a lot smoother after Cole’s “pick me up” speech. The tension on the jet seemed to evaporate as everyone was back to their old selves, joking and smiling with each other. We finally landed in the small town of Barrow, Alaska. One by one, we exited the plane, the sudden difference in temperature outside was palpable compared to the warmth inside the jet; not too cold but enough to put a light jacket on.
I got a good look at the building in front of us, not able to miss the big blue Alaska Airlines on the front. I chuckled to myself as I compared the tiny airport to the one back home in Dallas. This building could easily fit, possibly twice, inside the Dallas Fort-Worth Airport.
On one side of the runway was hardly anything, whereas on the other side was the town of Barrow. Behind the airport were houses and buildings. In the distance, I saw a church and a high school. I smiled as I took in the quaint, little town. Everything you needed seemed to be within walking distance. People stopped and stared, probably not used to seeing a fancy jet in their town.
“So much for being inconspicuous,” Drake scoffed. ”Is it just me or is anyone else freezing?” He pulled out a beanie, gloves, a hooded sweatshirt, and a large coat.