by Jamie Gray
Lanie smiled back, as she stepped closer to her. "Thanks."
Both girls leapt apart as Kadence and Adrian walked onto the sidewalk, asking to talk to Lanie.
Lexi was quick to werl around and walked back across the street as she pulled the car keys from her skirt pocket and unlocked the car, having assumed Kadence and Adrian locked it before walking over. Upon reaching the car, she paused. Something felt off. She felt as though a pair of eyes had centred on her, watching her. Her skin crawled at the thought, but she turned around regardless of her fears. At the end of the street stood Daymian. He wore his regular black leather jacket over top of his typical black attire. She knew that she should've been relieved to see that it was only him, but seeing him made her heart rate spike. After everything that had happened, everything she’d seen the other night. And then after everything Kadence and Adrian told her. His presents made her body numb, causing her keys to slip from her hands. Her shoulders jerked upon hearing the metal cling against the concrete, but she didn't dare look away from him. They had connected, and Lexi once again felt herself lose all grip of her own consciousness, slipping into the ghostly grey sea of his eyes. Even at such a distance, she felt the world around her fade into an echoing shapeless background.
"Lexi!" The sound of Adrian calling to her from across the street made her entire body jolt as she was shocked back into reality. Lexi whipped her head around to see him, Kadence and Lanie sprint up to her as Brooke trailed behind. "We need to talk," Adrian whispered, breathing heavily as his face had turned red with panic.
Lexi threw her head back to see if Daymian was still there, but he was gone. Like a fleeting shadow, he had disappeared. She wondered if it had all been her imagination. Perhaps it was her mind playing tricks on her.
With a tired sigh, she turned her attention back to the group. She wasn’t sure if she could do this again, but regardless, she turned to Lanie, hoping for some clarification in her expression. She looked just as worried as Kadence and Adrian. Something was definitely wrong. She feared the worst. She had no idea if she’d be able to handle any more bad news or troubling information. It had all become too much. Although, as Brooke burst into the circle, asking what they were talking about, she couldn’t bear to have her sister listen. "Brooke, can you wait in the car?" she softly asked, pointing back to the car.
"What?" Brooke replied, shaking her head as if she hadn’t taken Lexi's request seriously.
"Get in the car now, Brooke!" she snapped.
Brooke looked around to each of them, searching for support, but no one said a word. She pressed her lips together as she slowly stepped out of the circle and walked around the front of the car. She gave one last disappointed glance to Lanie before opening the car door and slipping inside.
When the car door closed, Lexi guided everyone to stand behind the rear of the car to ensure that there was no way Brooke would be able to overhear. She hated to yell at her sister, but her head was pulsing and still hadn’t processed the first Arespea centric conversation she’d had that day, nor was she even close to prepared to be a part of this second one.
"You didn't have to be so mean to her," Lanie mumbled, she looked down at her feet, her black hat still upon her head.
Lexi let out a quiet groan. "She's my sister. I'm allowed to be mean to her sometimes. Besides, there is no way I'm letting her get involved in all of this." She crossed her arms as she looked down at Lanie with fixated focus. "What happened?"
"Apparently, Lanie here knows more than she's been letting on," Kadence revealed, her voice tainted with bitterness.
Everyone's attention shifted onto Lanie, waiting for her to explain herself. She sighed. "I swear I'm not a creeper… or-or a stalker. But I used to watch Kadence and Adrian back in Arespea," she cautiously began, speaking at a slow pace. "I'm sorry. I know it's an invasion of your privacy, but I've never been the best at talking to others. Not really the best people person. I can never seem to keep my mouth shut."
"And…" Adrian pushed, knowing that there was more for her to go over.
Lanie sighed again, swallowing before she spoke. "And, I work for Daymian Void."
"You work for him?" Lexi exclaimed.
"Well, not me specifically. My parents work for him. Or rather they work for his family," Lanie quickly clarified. "A lot of people work for the royal family."
"The royal what now?" Lexi blurted, suddenly feeling breathless.
"Daymians a prince of the Umbien royal household."
Chapter 13
Lexi, Brooke, Kadence, Adrian, and Lanie all sat in silence as the soft rumble of the car tires turning against the concrete road was the only audible noise that could be heard. Lexi held control of the vehicle in the driver's seat, while Brooke sat in the passenger seat beside her, both their gazes pointed forward at the oncoming road. Lanie sat in the middle seat in the back, with Kadence and Adrian seated on either side of her. Luckily they hadn’t taken Adrian's car, or Lanie would be sitting on a sticky juice stain. The street was quiet as Lexi pulled into her and Brookes driveway. The sun had passed its dawn point in the sky and had begun its slow ascend beyond the horizon. Their house lights shined through the unblocked windows, as they could see their parents walking in and out of rooms going about their evening routine.
Lexi could hardly believe the things Kadence, Adrian, and Lanie had told her about Daymian and his sister, Mara. Being caught up to speed was not an experience like she had expected. She actually felt worse, now that she knew everything.
The instant she put the car into park, Brooke burst from the car, slamming the door shut behind her as she stomped into the house.
Lexi felt terrible as she dropped her head down on the steering wheel. She knew she would need to make things right with Brooke. “I should go talk to her,” she groaned, slowly opening her car door.
“Lexi, wait. What about Mara?” Kadence asked, catching her before she stepped completely out of the car.
She looked back, glancing across the back seat as she replied, “I’ll be back. Just stay here while I go talk to Brooke.” She wanted to make this a quick talk, so that she could get back to business with her friends, but in all honesty she had no idea what she planned to say. She didn’t want to make things worse, and she definitely did not want to lose Brooke, but Lexi didn’t know if that meant telling her sister the truth or not.
As she opened the front door she smelt the warm smell of lasagna cooking in the oven, as she saw her parents walking in and out of the kitchen. Lexi’s mom had popped her head around the corner and she asked if Brooke was okay, probably having heard her stomp inside. Lexi shrugged and sprinted up the stairs as she was sure Brooke had gone up to their room. As she approached her room, the door was shut, but muffled weeps could be heard from inside. She couldn’t have felt worse. This was her fault. She was the one who continued to push her away. As her hand hovered above the door handle, she knew that this was it. Once she opened that door she would explain everything. She had to. She gripped the door handle, turning it as she pushed the door open, and slowly stepped inside. She could hear Brooke crying from the top bunk of the bed as she climbed up the latter. Her heart ached as she saw Brooke lying sideways on the top bunk, her face red and soaked with tears. This was it. She had to make everything right again. Lexi took a deep breath as she crawled onto the foot of the bed, sitting softly on her heels. “Hey, Brooke, I’m really sorry about everything,” she apologized, speaking in a gentile voice.
Brooke's lips began to quiver as she quietly asked, “Why are you acting this way?”
Lexi found herself at a loss for words. How did she begin? There was so much. “Well, um…” She trailed off, wishing she had thought up some kind of script to follow beforehand. She had no idea how to tell Brooke. What order she should do it in. If she should just unload it all on her at once. She was beginning to understand why it might have been so hard for people to tell her.
“Was it something I did?”
“No. No, Brooke-
”
“Because I really like Lanie, and I don’t want to screw things up with her.” Brooke sat up and crossed her legs, pausing as she glanced down. Lexi didn’t have the heart to interrupt her, only waited to hear more of how she felt. “I was even hoping to take her to the spring dance, but now I don’t know if it’s such a good idea anymore.” Brooke's red face turned brighter as a fresh wave of tears flowed down her face like waterfalls. “I feel like I’m always living in your shadow. I’m always trying to be like you, going on these scary explorations, trying to do all the crazy stunts you do, I even have the same friends as you. I haven’t made a single choice for myself, done what I wanted simply because it was something I wanted to pursue. I’ve gone my entire life without making a single friend on my own, do you realize how sad that is?”
Lexi couldn’t will herself to reply, frozen in shock and surprise. She hadn’t realized Brooke felt this way. She had always thought Brooke just looked up to her, and never actually wanted to go and find her own path. She thought her sister enjoyed doing these things with her, and enjoyed spending time with her and her friends.
“I just can’t. I can’t be you, Lexi!” she wept. “And now that I have Lanie, I feel like you're trying to take her away from me.”
Lexi shook her head again, her face turning bright red. How could Brooke think she was trying to take anything away from her. “Brooke, no. That’s not what I’m trying to do.”
“I have dreams too, you know. I want to go places, travel the world… in a safe way. Look.” Lexi watched as Brooke reached under her mattress and pulled out a little brown notebook. As she opened it she showed her pages upon pages of drawings, and photographs of places she would like to travel too. Places like Paris, London, Rome, Barcelona, Istanbul, New York, Australia, The Grand Canyon, and on each page she had written reasons for why she wanted to go there, and different landmarks she wanted to see when she went. She’d clearly put so much time and effort on this, that Lexi couldn’t help but smile. Every part of it was breathtaking, and her heart melted when she saw that on the last page was a beautifully lifelike drawing of her, Brooke, Kadence, and Adrian standing together, with Lanie clearly having been drawn in recently.
Lexi didn’t know what to say. Everything about this journal her sister had created was astonishing, and she couldn’t believe she didn’t know about any of it sooner.
“Those are my friends too, Lexi. And you yelling at me, and telling me to wait in the car isn’t fair to me.”
Lexi had no idea how to talk to her. She hadn’t seen Brooke like this very often, and she had never had to deal with a conversation this heavy, one on one, before. All she could think to say was, “I know, I know.” She could feel her heart breaking. Had she really screwed up Brookes life and self esteem so much. Had she really kept her from achieving her dreams and aspirations. She never wanted Brooke to feel this way. How could she have been so oblivious? How had she been such a bad big sister? It was her job to help Brooke through the hardships in life, and instead she was the cause of them.
“Then what’s been going on!”
Lexi paused. She had to tell her now. It was either now or never. She swallowed hard, opening her mouth to speak as a loud bang sounded from outside, shaking the entire house. Everything fell silent as the bang echoed. It sounded like it had come from a few blocks down, the part of the town that was being torn down.
“What the hell was that?” Brooke shouted, turning towards the sound as her tears stopped running.
A chilling wave rushed through Lexi as she knew something had to be wrong. No way the workers were still there with the darkening sky, and with Daymian and Mara out there, she didn’t want to take any chances. “Um… um… I’ll be right back,” she nodded as she leaped off the top bunk to the wood panel floor.
“What?” Brooke called back, leaning her torso off the bed. “You’re not looking for whatever that was, are you,” she asked in a distrusting tone, as if she could read Lexi's mind.
“Just stay here, Brooke,” she insisted with a firm finger, whilst she began to back up towards the door.
“No, I’m coming with,” she protested, shifting to hang her feet over the bed as both girls looked at each other.
They maintained eye contact as they both held frozen, as if waiting to see who would move first. Lexi couldn’t wait any longer, she needed to get out of there without Brooke following. She grabbed the door handle, throwing the door open and closed as she sprinted into the hallway with Brooke following just off her heels. She needed to lose her, stay ahead. And so, she slid down the stair railing and lept towards the front door. As she threw the front door open, she saw that all the doors to the car she had driven were all wide open. No one sat inside the car, nore could anyone be seen around the car. Kadence, Adrian, and Lanie were gone. She knew for sure something was wrong now. They wouldn’t get out and leave after she told them to wait for her.
Another bang sounded, louder this time as she saw it visibly shake the car. She could hear the thunderous footsteps of Brooke running down the stairs, prompting her to run down the driveway, and hop into the car without bothering to close the doors. As Brooke rushed out the door and hopped off the porch, Lexi pulled out of the driveway and sped down the street towards the source of the bangs. She felt terrible for abandoning Brooke at the house, especially after she was so close to telling her the truth, but there was no way she was letting her little sister tag along when Daymian and Mara may be involved.
Lexi drove madly down street after street until she reached the unfinished area. Houses were bare and skeletal, and had piles of dirt for lawns instead of grass. She could’ve sworn that this was where the bangs were coming from. The weather had turned incredibly windy, rocking her car back and forth as she drove slower down the road. She darted her head all around, trying to find any sign of a person. No one appeared to be around, and the evening sky certainly wasn’t helping her sight. She looked back out her windshield. She knew something was here. She could feel it. In the blink of an eye a dark tornado appeared on the road as Lanie came flying out of it, her back slamming against the windshield. Lexi slammed her foot on the breaks as she screamed, causing Lanie to roll off the front of the car and onto the pavement. She gripped the steering wheel as if it would break beneath her grasp, her focus locked on the action before her as she sat frozen in shock. With wide eyes she saw the tornado of whirling darkness grow to be at least fifty feet tall, breaking and picking up pieces of wood and mats from the half built houses. Every hair on her body raised as orange coloured lightning erupted from within the tornado, striking homes and causing the wood to blow up in raging flames. Electricity Element. It has to be Adrian, she thought as she tried to see inside the tornado. Her heart dropped as she spotted Kadence and Adrian's lavender and orange hair inside the darkness, and with them a shadow. A Dark Element. She began to shake and shiver despite her steaming car. She couldn’t tell if it was Mara or Daymian, and in all honesty she wasn’t sure which one she’d prefer. Within the dark tornado she couldn’t see much other than Kadence standing still with her hands pressed against her head, while Adrian was running around in a physical fight with the shadow. Adrian’s lightning was fast, as it looked to burst from the tips of his fingers. However, the shadow moved faster, slashing pieces of the whiling darkness at his face and chest as sharp cutting knives. The shadow then wrapped it’s silver sharp whip around his wrist and finally threw him over its shoulder and onto the pavement with a spine chilling bang.
Lexi knew she needed to do something. Lanie was down, Adrian wasn’t moving on the pavement, and the shadow was now moving towards Kadence. She whipped her head around to see that the sun was still emitting light, as it hadn’t fully vanished beyond the horizon yet. Daymian said all she needed was a light source, and her only light source was nearly gone. She threw her car door open as the wind tried to carry her off her feet.
She looked back into the dark swirling cloud, holding her hands out as she opened herself up to
the Light of the sun, letting it fuel her only enough to do what she needed to do.
A bright light emanated from Lexis hands, shooting into the tornado and erupping as the dark smoke of chaos swept together and dispersed. The street fell into an echo of what once was, leaving nothing on the street but Lexi and her car. She stood frozen. Kadence, Adrian, and the shadow were gone. The wind had died down, and all she could hear was the faint crackling of small fires below the thunderous sounds of her own deep breathing, and rapidly pounding heartbeat. They were gone. They were all gone. “No,” she pleaded. “No, please god no,” she cried. She couldn’t believe it. She was trying to save them, but what if she had just made things worse. Her entire body was shaking. Were they okay? Had that person just killed Adrian? Were they going to kill them?
A groan sounded from the hood of her car, as Lanie cried out in pain. Lexi rushed to the trunk, throwing it open as she scanned for the blanket that her parents always left in there for camping trips. She spotted the thick grey fabric, and grabbed it, running back around the car to see Lanie lying on her back with her shoulder slashed and gushing with blood as she cried and shrieked from the pain. The blood had completely soaked her green shirt as it flooded onto the pavement, creating a small puddle beneath her. The bright red blood had made Lexi freeze in shock as it flowed endlessly, but she was able to drop to her knees and throw the blanket down onto Lanies shoulder as she applied pressure. The blood began seeping through, soaking the blanket to turn black as Lexi’s hands stained with red blood. Her hands shook wildly as she wrapped the blanket round and round Lanies wound, her face so red and hot that she hadn’t realized she’d been crying as tears began dropping from her cheeks. Once Lanies wound was covered and the blood shielded from sight, Lexi finally dropped back onto her butt as she tried to remember how to breathe.
Chapter 14
The world spun as Lexi forced herself to breathe in and out. Warm blood drenched her hands and her entire body shook wildly. "What happened?" she breathed out, her chest raising up and down dramatically.