The Secret Six

by Evie Del Mar

  The feet stopped moving next to Mom’s window and scooted back, making room for a pair of knees. I couldn’t see the person’s face, but they began talking.

  “Don’t worry, we’ll find the key and finish what we started. I’ll take good care of her,” the deep voice said. It was a male. He stopped talking and reached inside the car towards Mom. I couldn’t see clearly what he was doing, but something shiny sparkled against the moonlight. Just as quickly, he brought his arm back, stood back up, and walked away.

  “Melody, wake up!”

  I jolted straight up, gasping for air. Sweat formed across my forehead and dripped down my back. I crossed my arms over my stomach and rocked back and forth, trying to calm my racing heart.

  It’s all my fault. It’s all my fault. I repeated to myself. Would I ever find peace or would these nightmares haunt me forever? And who did that voice belong to?

  “Melody,” someone whispered next to me. “Are you ok?” I lifted my head, remembering I was on the jet, but it was dark now. Next to me was a little ball of fire, used as a nightlight.

  Drake looked at me, worry etched on his face. I stared at him as tears streamed down my face. I was unable to take the guilt any longer. It felt like a heavy weight was crushing my chest. I opened my mouth to answer him, but he put a finger to his mouth, shushing me, and pointed behind me. I turned around and saw Blair lying next to me, snoring softly.

  Drake tapped me on the shoulder and motioned for me to follow him. Careful not to disturb Blair, I slowly got out of bed. I noticed Lily lying on the floor at the foot of the bed, peacefully sleeping with a smile on her face. We walked toward the front of the jet, sneaking past Cole and Blake, who were stretched out across each of the couches. One of Cole’s arms rested across his face, the other one brushing the floor. The steady rise and fall of his chest helped calm my racing heart as I tried to match his breathing.

  Drake led us to a set of chairs and reached up, turning on the little overhead light. He put out his fire nightlight and stared at me. I looked down at my hands, unable to face him.

  I knew what he was going to ask, and if he did, I knew I would have to tell him what happened with my parents. I only told the girls a little of the story, not wanting to dive into my guilt with them, yet. What if he thought it was my fault they were dead, too? What if he looked at me differently? I had tried so hard to tuck the guilty feelings away, especially after hearing everyone’s stories about how their parents died. None of them were responsible for what happened. They all seemed like freak accidents.

  He took his fingers under my chin and lifted, wanting to study my face. “Melody,” he whispered. “Are you ok? What happened?”

  After my recent nightmare, I couldn’t take it anymore. I covered my face with my hands and sobbed. Drake didn’t say anything as he wrapped his arms around me, soothing my back. Not expecting him to do that, I stiffened, thinking of Cole.

  Drake didn’t make my heart race, or give me “giddy” feelings like Cole did. I didn’t get lost in Drake’s eyes and my breath didn’t catch when he said my name. I turned my head to the side where I still saw Cole, sound asleep. A small smile tugged at my lips.

  Sensing me stiffen, Drake chuckled and leaned back. “Don’t worry, I’m just a friend.” He placed his hands up, in innocence. “I know Cole’s feelings for you, and I have no intention of breaking the ‘bro-code’.”

  “You do?” I sniffled.

  “Anyone with two eyes can see it. I’ve known him for a while now, and I love that guy like a brother. I’ve never seen him act like he does when he’s around you,” he said smiling. “Now that we’ve gotten that out of the way, do you want to talk about what happened?”

  “It’s all my fault.”

  “What is?”

  “My parents’ deaths,” I choked out, and then I told Drake everything. “So, if I hadn’t snuck out of the house to go to the party, then my parents wouldn’t have come looking for me in their car, and we wouldn’t have crashed,” I finished, out of breath. I hadn’t realized I was rambling. When I started telling the story, everything came spilling out. Like word vomit, they all mushed together.

  “That was in no way your fault. You had no control over the weather, or even the slick road.”

  I sighed. “You wouldn’t understand.”

  With the most serious look I had ever seen on him, Drake locked eyes with me. “I understand more than you know.”

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  Drake’s words completely stunned me. I found it super hard to believe that carefree “Mr. Flirt” knew what I was talking about. I was so used to him always cracking jokes and making everyone smile, that I didn’t take him seriously at first, but when all traces of his usual sarcastic smirk disappeared, my blood ran cold.

  “What do you mean you understand?”

  “You’ve heard everyone else’s story about how their parents died,” he started. “Well, I think it’s time you hear mine. See, I wasn’t always so loving and charming. I know, hard to believe, right?” he said, winking at me.

  I gave him a small chuckle and let him continue.

  “I was actually what you would call a ‘rebel’ and a ‘player’. I had a few guys I would call friends and made my way through a lot of girls, not really caring about them. I just wanted something to put my arm around and brag about to the guys.

  “One night, my parents were away at some office dinner party. I was actually supposed to go with them, but who the hell wants to go be around a bunch of adults making small talk about work? So, I told them that I was going to stay home. As a way to get me to go with them, they had tried to bribe me into seeing a movie with them afterwards. It didn't work.

  “No one was allowed to be at the house while my parents were gone, but I knew they would be away at least a couple of hours, so naturally, I called a girl over; I don’t even remember her name now. Anyway, we sat on the couch and watched a movie, when things started to get a little heated. I wasn’t paying any attention to the time, and the next thing I knew, my parents came through the front door and found us both shirtless on the couch, me lying on top of her. My father was furious.

  “‘What the hell do you think you’re doing, son?’ he yelled at me. I told him that he needed to calm down because nothing happened. Of course the best thing to say when you’re in trouble is to tell your parents to calm down,” Drake said sarcastically, rolling his eyes. “My mother told the girl that she needed to put her shirt back on and head home. I became so embarrassed that they were treating me like a ten year old, that I lashed out at my dad.

  “‘I’m eighteen years old! Quit treating me like a child!’

  “‘As long as you live under my roof, you’ll abide by my rules!’ my dad yelled. I had never seen him so upset, but I didn’t care at that moment.

  “‘Then, I won’t live under your roof anymore! I bet you would like that, anyway.’ I put my shirt back on and led the girl outside to walk her home, slamming the door closed on my way out.

  “After I walked the girl to her front door, I didn’t even have it in me to kiss her goodnight. I just told her that I’d call her later, and walked away.

  “My head was fuming so bad that I couldn’t even see straight. My dad had always called me a ‘hot-head’. I guess he didn’t realize how true that statement really was.” Drake became quiet, his eyes getting a little teary as he chuckled to himself. He cleared his throat and continued.

  “As I was trying to cool off, I heard this explosion a couple of blocks away. I raced back home and found my house engulfed in flames. All thoughts of anger left my mind, as I ran to the front door and ‘separated’ the flames, allowing me to walk inside. I was able to keep the flames from hurting me, like a bubble of protection that followed me everywhere I walked.

  “Our mantle was covered with old pictures of us, from me as a baby and toddler, to family vacations we took to Disney World. Whenever my dad and I got into a fight, I would always catch him staring at those photos. I found
him lying on the living room floor, underneath the mantle, severely burned and lifeless.

  “I called out to my mother, hoping and praying that she was somehow still alive. I searched the entire downstairs area and found her on the floor in the kitchen, barely alive. I ran to her, my bubble separating the flames around the both of us. I knelt down beside her and grabbed her hand, sobbing, telling her how sorry I was for my attitude and that I should’ve been there. She slowly reached up, cupped my face, and smiled.

  “‘I love you, so much, my darling. I’m so proud of you. Be safe.’ I watched her hand fall away from my face and her life disappear from her eyes. I picked her up and cradled her to my chest, still sobbing. I knew that if I had been there, then I would’ve been able to use my powers to save them from the flames. The roof was starting to cave in, so, I knew that I had to get out of there soon. Reluctantly, I laid my mother back down on the floor and ran out the door, not stopping until I was several streets away.

  “I found out later in the newspaper that the cause of the fire was from a gas leak. No one seemed to care about me because I was already eighteen, legally an adult, so I went off on my own. Tony and Cole found me shortly after and told me about the academy.”

  I was quiet the whole time Drake told me his story, trying to process everything. My heart ached for him.

  “But the accident was caused by a gas leak. You couldn’t have controlled that, let alone have known when it was going to go off,” I told him.

  “Now you see what we have in common. If I had gone to the stupid dinner party, then we would’ve been at the movies when the gas leak exploded.”

  I nodded my head, finally understanding what Drake meant, and how much pain he had been carrying. “How did you manage to get past the grief?”

  “Time,” he said. “No amount of guilt can solve the past and no amount of anxiety can change the future. You can’t waste your time thinking about what you could’ve done differently, so you learn and try to make the best of the future.”

  “I had no idea you were so wise,” I teased. I couldn’t imagine a version of Drake with a bad attitude. Sure, he could be a ladies’ man, but he never looked at women like they were trophies.

  “So what did you learn to help with your future?”

  Drake gave me a warm smile. “My mother’s dying words were that she was proud of me. I want to be the man she would be proud of, so I changed my attitude and became a better person.”

  It was a super sweet ending to such a tragic story. I looked over at Cole, who had shifted on the couch and was now facing us, his eyes still closed but his brows were furrowed, like he was upset about something he was dreaming. I wanted to walk over and brush his hair back, hoping my touch would ease the tension in his face, but I remained seated.

  “Feeling any better now?” Drake asked me.

  I breathed a sigh of relief, glad I was finally able to talk to someone about my parents’ death and feeling like I could truly start moving on. I now realized nothing came from shutting out my grief and hoping it would just go away on its own. “Much. Thank you for sharing that with me, Drake. It really means a lot. I was afraid I was going to be blaming myself for a long time.”

  “No problem. Like I said, time will help, and you’ve got all of us right by your side.” He gestured to our sleeping friends. “Well, I’m going to try and get some shut eye. I have no clue what Hawaii has in store for me, so I need to be prepared. Goodnight, Melody.”

  I gave him a reassuring smile. “Goodnight, Drake.”

  I watched Drake head back to his makeshift pallet on the floor and fall asleep. I turned to the window and stared out into the night sky, too wired to fall asleep. Everything Drake said swirled around in my head. I was not able to change what happened to my parents, but I knew they wouldn’t want me to wallow in self-pity.

  I sat up straight as a horrible thought creeped into my head. All of our parents died in cruel accidents, Cole being the only lucky one to still have a parent alive. Could fate really be that vicious, or was it purely coincidence? Why did we all have to experience death in some sort of way to become connected to each other? Did every generation of The Secret Six experience this when it was time to come together? I had a lot of questions that demanded answers.

  Those thoughts kept running through my head for hours. I hadn’t noticed it was morning until Colin’s voice came through the intercom.

  “Wakey, wakey, everyone! We’re landing in Hawaii.”

  Yawns and groans filled the plane as everyone was waking up. I trudged my way back to where I slept and gathered my things, careful not to trip over Lily who was still on the floor.

  Once the wheels touched ground, we all grabbed our luggage and headed off the plane, where two Range Rovers, one black and the other one silver, waited for us. We were all anxious to get to where we would be staying, which, according to Cole, was about forty minutes away.

  I quickened my pace to match Cole’s, who was heading toward the black Rover. “Morning,” I said, smiling at him. “How did you sleep?”

  “Oh, hey,” he mumbled, giving me a sideways glance. “I slept fine.” He opened the trunk of the car, and loaded his stuff inside and closed it without another word to me.

  Well, that was weird.

  Thinking he was still exhausted, I left him alone and headed to the other car. The girls and I shared the silver one, Blair wanting to be the driver, and we headed to our next destination.

  We arrived at a little house, with a wrap around porch and a stone walkway. The house was surrounded by different kinds of trees, and I was left breathless by the beauty. We didn’t have a lot of greenery in Dallas, so it was beautiful to see different shades of green.

  It didn’t take long for all of us to find a room and set our stuff down.

  “The National Park isn’t too far from here, less than two miles,” Blake mentioned, coming out of his room. “We can head that way and see if Drake feels anything.”

  “Do you guys hear that?” Drake asked.

  We all looked at each other, confused.

  “Hear what?”

  Drake cocked his head to the side, trying to listen harder. “I swear, I heard…never mind,” he whispered, shaking his head. “Wait, I thought we had to wait for it to be dark?”

  “It doesn’t hurt to go look,” Lily said. “We won’t be able to see much in the dark, so we can go take a look now, while it’s still light, and see what we’ll be working with.”

  “All right, let’s go,” Cole added, his tone darker than normal. Something about his face seemed all wrong. The once perfect, chiseled features were now set in hard anger. He grabbed the keys and headed outside.

  I looked at Blair, hoping she might know what was wrong with Cole, but she looked just as confused as I did. Without another word, we all piled back into the cars.

  “Is Cole ok?” Lily asked me when we started driving.

  I shook my head. “I’m not sure. He seemed fine when we first got onto the jet. I don’t know what happened.” An unsettling feeling erupted in my stomach where butterflies used to flutter whenever I thought of Cole.

  When we arrived at the park, Blake suggested the idea that we sign up for one of the hikes to blend in. We snuck beside a group that was making their way to the crater, led by a gentleman who introduced himself as Ranger Rick.

  The damaged landscape made the hike a bit of a challenge, as we carefully watched where we had to place our footing, not wanting to trip on any cracks or plants that poked through the fractures of the rocks.

  “This right here,” Ranger Rick pointed behind him, “is the summit of Kīlauea, one of the most active volcanoes in the world.” We all came up to a railing and saw the enormous crater in the distance, surrounded by dried molten lava.

  “The summit of Kīlauea is home to the goddess of fire and volcanoes, Pele,” Ranger Rick continued. “Locals say she has wiped out small towns and even some forests with her unpredictable and erratic temper.”

  �
��Sounds like your kind of woman, huh?” I joked with Drake, elbowing him in the ribs. He didn’t say anything as he stared at the crater, emotionless. “Drake? Are you ok?” I waved my hand in front of his face.

  “Go out there?” he murmured. “And why would I do that?”

  I stared at him, confused. “Drake, who are you talking to?”

  “Ugh, if you say so,” he scoffed. He lowered himself in between the railings and jumped down onto the rocks.

  “What the hell are you doing?” I called out to him. I quickly turned around to see if anyone else saw him, but Ranger Rick was already leading the group further down the trail.

  “Blair! Blake! Guys, stop!” I yelled out. All I could do was point in Drake’s direction, as they all turned around to face me. Wide-eyed and mouths agape, everyone rushed back.

  “What is he doing?” Lily shrieked.

  I started panicking as all the words rushed out of my mouth. “I don’t know! One minute it was like he was talking to himself, and the next he jumped down onto the rocks.”

  “Maybe it’s his crystal piece,” Blake said. “Let’s follow him and make sure.” We all looked behind us, making sure the coast was clear, and then jumped onto the rocks.

  The crater was about a hundred yards away as we all rushed to catch up with Drake. He stopped at the edge of the crater, and began pacing.

  We were still 50 yards away! What is he doing? As I got closer, I could hear his upset tone.

  “You want me to do what?!” He lifted his arms up, agitated. “Listen to the crazy lady, I guess.” Before any of us realized what he was doing, he jumped into the crater.

  We all yelled in unison, pumping our arms and legs faster. “Drake!”

  We came to the edge of the cliff, skidding to a stop before falling in, and peered over the edge for any sign of Drake. I breathed a huge sigh of relief when I saw him standing on a ledge that was sticking out from the crater’s side, still talking to himself.

  “Haha, I’m not dead,” Drake exclaimed hysterically. “Ok, now what?”