by Jamie Gray
"Yes," he exhaled. "What have they even told you of their past?"
She opened her mouth to respond but quickly shut it. She found her mind unable to recall any instance where Kadence or Adrian told her even the smallest sliver of information regarding their past beyond freshman year. Nothing about an old relationship, or stories from the orphanage. They were orphans. That was something. But it probably wouldn't help her side of the argument. "Okay, I admit they're reserved, but I think they would've told me if they were magical beings from another world.”
His gaze grew heavy, a hint of pity in his eyes as they sank into hers. "Sounds to me, you don't really know your friends at all."
"What, and you do?"
"I know that Adrian can survive being shocked by one billion volts of electricity and that Kadence can telepathically connect with anyone's unsuspecting mind," he stated plainly.
Her shoulders sunk as her expression grew wide. It was impossible to find a part of her that could actually process the words that continued to escape his mouth. How could one ever hope to wrap their head around such nonsense? Her mind was beginning to grow sore, as she thought. She couldn't help but fear that it was because there, indeed, wasn't another plausible answer, nor an acceptable explanation for her to pull. Could all that Daymian claimed, be true? she wondered. He was so dedicated. Who would go to such lengths to convince someone of something, that wasn’t true. No! she told herself, trying to force herself to see reason in all of this.
He turned his head to look back at Kadence, Adrian, and Brooke still sitting at a booth across the cafe from them, but to his surprise, they were all staring straight back at him. Kadence didn't waste a moment as she stood from the booth, whispering to Adrian with a reddening face. He turned back to Lexi. "Well, it seems you'll have your chance to question them yourself," he remarked bluntly, nodding his head to her. She peeked around him to see Kadence, Adrian and Brooke talking indecisively. Kadence looked eager to storm over, but Adrian and Brooke looked to be more reluctant, holding her back. "We seem to have attracted their attention."
"Wait-" she blurted, whipping her head back up to meet Daymian's gaze, suddenly longing for more in this moment of desperation. She shut her mouth. Was she really about to ask him to stay? Something had come over her in that single instance, but now her head was back on straight. Her gaze fell to her lap, and then down at his black leather boots. "I don't even know you," she mumbled under her breath. She could feel her cheeks turning pink.
"Please. Just give me a chance," he pleaded one last time, exhaling as he spoke. He was beginning to sound more and more exhausted with every sentence he spoke.
She looked past him again, watching as her friends and sister began rushing around tables and over chairs. With their focus clearly set on her and Daymian, Kadence and Adrian came closer with every quickened step as Brooke stumbled behind them.
Finding herself short for time, she firmly nodded as she raised her head and met his grey eyes. "Fine. Meet me at the old abandoned amusement park off Hill Street. It's easy enough to get into," she told him, her voice refuelled with undeniable certainty.
"Are you serious?"
"You wanted to get to know me."
Chapter 6
Kadence, Adrian and Brooke reached Lexi as Daymian stepped around her and walked out the door, sounding the bell before he disappeared around the corner of the cafe. She sat there, forcing a smile across her face, as her friends and sister looked at her with wide expressions. She could feel the panic resonating off of Adrian and Kadence as she saw them leaning to look around the corner after Daymian. She tried to shield her worry behind her smile, but she’d be lying if she said she wasn’t nervous to talk to them.
"So, did he have your necklace?" Brooke eagerly asked.
Lexi’s felt her heart melt. Although Brooke was only a year younger than her and her friends, she couldn’t help but see her as her little sister. Her little sister who didn’t deserve to have these problems thrown on her. She cleared her throat. “Um… no, he didn’t.” She had completely forgotten that that was the reason for her going over to Daymian in the first place. “Actually, I think we should head home. Would you mind going to grab the car?”
Brooke shook her head, baffled. “What? I don’t really have my license yet. Why can’t we all just go?”
“I just need to talk with Kadence and Adrian alone for a second,” she softly explained, crossing her arms as she glanced at Brooke guiltily. She wasn’t saying anything, as if waiting for Lexi to reveal that it was only a joke. After a moment of waiting, Brooke pursed her lips and nodded, turning on her heels as she slipped past her and slowly dragged her feet out the door, causing the bright sounding bell above the door to ding.
Lexi watched as Brooke rounded the corner towards the location where they parked their parents' car. Once her sister was out of sight, she shifted her attention back to Kadence and Adrian, pressing her lips together as she stuffed her hands in her skirt pockets.
Kadence was the first to speak. “What happened? Did that guy do something? Did he hurt you?”
“No, I think he might have actually helped me.” She took a deep breath in, looking both of them in the eye as she tried to prepare herself to ask them the big question. “But he did mention something about you guys.” She tailed off, shrugging her shoulders to her ears as her skin ran cold.
“I’m sorry?” Kadence asked, leaning in closer as if she wanted it repeated.
“What did he say?” Adrian interrupted, looking as though he was more interested in what Daymian said about HIM.
Lexi hated every moment of this. She had no idea how this conversation was going to go. There were so many ways this interaction could transpire, and she wanted to experience none of the possible options. But nonetheless, she would never forgive herself if she didn’t ask the big question. “Um… well… okay.” She took another deep breath, assessing herself and locking eyes with both of them before continuing on to ask, “Does the name Arespea mean anything to you?”
A sudden hush fell over all three of them as Lexi awaited her answer.
Kadence and Adrian looked to each other, but then abruptly whipped their heads back to face her.
“No. We don’t know what you’re talking about,” Kadence replied bluntly, her and Adrian almost shaking their heads in sync with each other.
Lexi felt a sense of relief wash over her, relaxing her shoulders as she tried to shake off her nerves. “Oh thank god,” she chuckled, feeling as though she got worked up over nothing. Of course, a part of her wanted to believe Daymian, and a part of her certainly did believe him, but knowing that her friends weren’t a part of it, gave her a long needed sense of comfort. The past day had left her shaken and scared, but knowing that her friends were still the same, gave her an anchor to reality and the norms of her life.
Kadence cleared her throat. “So, who was that guy, did he tell you his name or anything?” she inquired, stepping to the side of Lexi so that she could now face both her and Adrian. She softly touched Lexi’s shoulder as she waited for a response.
Lexi shook her head. “No, but he said that you can basically get struck by lightning and feel nothing, and that you can apparently read minds.” She paused to let out her laughs. “And get this, he said that I’m some kind of ‘Light Element’. Stupid right.” Her amusement quickly dropped, stopping when she realized Kadence and Adrian weren’t laughing.
Kadence and Adrian shared a knowing stare as if they were having their own psychic conversation that she had no part in.
Lexi felt her heart drop as all the hope she once had, drained away in that instance. “No,” she whined, her eyes falling as her shoulders fell limb and she hunched.
“What?” Adrian asked.
“No, no, no. You’re doing that stare thing that you guys always do!”
“What do you mean?” Kadence queried, squeezing Lexi’s shoulder.
She couldn’t believe it. After over three years of friendship, one can real
ly start to pick up on when that person is lying to you. “You always look at each other like that when you know something I don’t,” she exclaimed, shoving Kadences hand off her shoulder as she stepped away. “Is it all real? Was that guy telling the truth? Have you guys really been keeping this from me?” she cried, completely forgetting that they were in a public place.
“Of course not, Lexi. We-”
“Well, maybe we-” Adrian froze, cutting himself off with his mouth open wide as Kadence whipped her head back at him.
Tears began to flow down Lexi’s face as she began to breathe heavily. Her eyes were burning as they darted back and forth between Kadence and Adrian. “Were you seriously just about to lie to my face?” she shouted at Kadence, her stare burning through the back of Kadences skull. Neither of them gave a response. “How many times have you done this?” she yelled again, her face turning red as her blue veins bulged aggressively from her neck.
Adrian and Kadence shared another stair before Kadence turned back around, saying, “Lexi-”
“No. Stop lying to me!” she demanded, having seen her friends’ deceit coming that time. She had had enough. She deserved the truth from them, and she intended on getting it. “Is what Daymian said true?”
“Daymian?” Kadence repeated, glancing away as she thought.
“Is what he said true?” she asked again.
Kadence looked at her, but she appeared to be in her own world, hardly acknowledging her loud reaction. “Possibly, but I need to know what he told you.”
Lexi’s core blew into flames of rage as her face turned bright red. “Possibly. Possibly!” she roared as spit launched from her mouth. “Why don’t you just read my mind and find out. Or have you been mind controlling me my whole life? Have I made even a single decision for myself, or has it just been you controlling me like your own personal puppet this whole time?” Her heart was pounding like it never had before. Her mind had gone blank of any rational thought as all she saw before her were traitors. People who she once called and valued as friends. She had thought that Kadence and Adrian had seen her in the same light, but she had suddenly come to understand that that was not the case. She felt her heart being ripped apart and torn to pieces before her. She felt as though she had been stabbed in the stomach with every word Kadence or Adrian said to her.
Neither Kadence or Adrian answered.
Lexi’s heart sank as her limbs felt heavy and weak. After a moment of silence between them, she calmed her tone. She figured that it couldn’t hurt to explain further. She exhaled loudly, trying to calm herself before speaking again. "I bumped into him last night, on my way back from the warehouse, and we both felt this weird shock of pain. That's when he told me everything. I honestly thought he was just some oddly creative druggy, telling me about this other world that I was from. That I'm some Elemental superhero with magical powers,” she explained with a harsh voice, but in a noticeably lower volume, gesturing with her hands as she went on. “I thought it was all bogus, but then today he told me you two were involved with this too. That you've known this whole time." She paused, raising her eyebrows as she looked between the two of them. "Am I wrong?"
Kadence and Adrian glanced at each other, making eye contact for a short moment before they set their attention back on Lexi, their expressions relaying worry and trepidation towards the entire situation.
Kadence held her hands out as if trying to approach a raging animal. "No, you're not, but Lexi, this guy… he's bad news. Did he tell you how he fits into all of this?”
“Well, no,” she replied, darting her gaze down to the floor. She hadn’t thought to ask him. She assumed that he was from this Asrespea place too, but in truth she didn’t really know much about him beyond the fact that he was the first person to tell her about it all.
“Then how do you know he has your best intentions in mind?” Kadence asked, crossing her arms.
“I know because he told me the truth,” she replied, wanting to smack Kadence upside the head for still not receiving that concept. Lexi knew her argument wasn’t necessarily concrete, but to her there was nothing stronger. Kadence and Adrian lied to her, meaning they had something to hide. Daymian on the other hand told her the truth within their first meeting.
“A murderer can tell you the truth, Lexi, and still want to murder you,” Adrian explained, speaking as though understanding such a concept it was awfully basic.
Lexi's heart spiked. “Daymian is not a murderer.”
“Are you sure about that? Because it was his people who forced Adrian and I to abandon our home and seek refuge here in the first place. And simply based off his appearance-”
“Is this some kind of racist thing you two have against him?” Lexi blurted, scowling at her friends, as she never would have thought some form of racism or drascrimination could be among the underlying factors for why they had such profound distrust towards Daymian.
Kadence hesitated. “No.” She paused. “I don’t know.” She sighed as she shook her head, blinking rapidly. “This is all a lot more complicated than you think.”
“This is a whole other world that Kadence and I grew up in before coming here,” Adrian chimed in, speaking softly. “You just don’t understand.”
Lexi's expression turned dark and furious as she whipped her gaze back and forth between them. “Oh, so I just don’t understand, right. It would be impossible for me to understand, because you never gave me the chance to! You kept me in the dark for years, never telling me even a sliver of the truth!”
“Lexi-”
“No. I’m not your puppet anymore!” she shouted, beginning to back away from them both. The young family at the back of the cafe looked distraught, as both parents were covering their children's ears, while the trio of boys in the corner were trying not to snicker. “And without my pendant, I’m unhinged!” she roared, knowing it would only strike further fear into them both. Fear that she firmly believed they deserved, as it was their fault she knew nothing of her pendants importance before she lost it. “I can do whatever I want,” she declared for all in the cafe to hear, giving one final nod to both of them, as she backed up against the front entrance.
“Lexi, please. We were just trying to protect you,” Kadence exclaimed, reaching out with her hand, to which Lexi slapped away like a piece of trash.
"Just leave me alone!" she barked, turning as she swung the door open and stormed out of the cafe as if she was about to embark on the most important mission of her life.
Chapter 7
Lexi stood before a tall metal entangled fence, on the other side of it was the abandoned amusement park where she had asked Daymian to meet her at. The entire park was like a square with main paths that formed an X. On the other side of the fence stood two facing rows of old run down game stands. She'd been there often enough to pull each of them apart, and knew that there was nothing of value in any of them. Mostly beer cans, cigarettes, dead leaves, all under a blanket of spiderwebs. The stands themselves had their tops ripped off, and only stood now with four metal posts and a closed-off wooden base. Everything was broken and destroyed.
She looked up, allowing her bright eyes to wander all around, taking in the horrid smells, the soft, fresh winds, and the dark rusted over structures. It was like she was standing inside a long-forgotten painting masterpiece. A smile pulled at her plump lips. This was one of the only places where she could feel free. To Lexi, abandoned places are only empty shells left behind by people who think they're above maintaining it, that can be explored and morphed into something new. Each abandoned space has a story, and she intended on finding out what it was.
The cooling air-kissed all along her exposed arms and legs as the sky had begun to turn grey with thin rays of sun peaking through. A couple of the bigger roller coasters could be seen in the near distance above the stands, deeper into the park, but they weren't all that much fun without a way to work them. She refocused her gaze on the metal fence that stood between her and the amusement park. Somehow this
fense now represented so much to her. And crossing it would mean putting her full trust in Daymian. She didn’t want to abandon her friends, but she didn’t know who to believe. Everything had come to a head at that moment. A moment where she would be forced to take all that she had learned and make a decision. Her expression narrowed as she pulled an elastic band out of her pocket and whipped her hair back into a high ponytail, and slipped her fingers and the toes of her shoes in between the holes of the fence. She could still feel her heart aching from her argument with Kadence and Adrian, but she never wanted to return to her old life. That life was filled with deceit and manipulation in which she remained ignorant to for seventeen years. So confident in what she grew up knowing, only to learn that none of it was really true at all. Her entire life had been a lie. Daymian was the first person to free her of that tretery and show her the truth that had been kept from her. She knew that he deserved at least a chance.
It took minimal effort for her to climb to the top and slide her legs over to the other side before she dropped down to the ground. Once back on her feet, she turned to look back across the fence, seeing the empty dirt road she walked down for a straight half an hour to get there, with the thick green forest on the other side of it. Surely Daymian would get there soon.
"Lexi-"
She stiffened as she whirled around towards the voice, but relaxed once her eyes fell upon Daymian, who stood a mere inches away from her. If she took one step towards him, their noses surely would have touched. Her heart was racing again as her chest tightened and cheeks grew hot. She took a moment to find her missing breath as she looked up to meet his gaze.
“How did things go with your friends?” he asked collectively, appearing unfazed by her jerking reaction.