Lexi (Clarissa Lovett Book 1)

by Jamie Gray

  Lanie promptly nodded and turned to look back out the windshield, but then whipped her head back to Lexi, as something had caught her eye. Her hair was completely white again. It was as though the turquoise strand had never been there to begin with. "Hey, your strand of colour is gone."

  "What? Really?" she gasped, easing off the pedal as she looked down at the ends of her hair. They were white, just as they usually were.

  "Yeah. I guess you can run out of juice.”

  Lexi nodded, taking in a deep breath. "Well, that's good to know.” She looked back at the road as she tried to relax, but her mind kept jumping back to the idea that she wanted to learn more about Lanie, now in the light of knowing she could potentially possess a direct duplicate of her abilities in the future. "Speaking of, what other abilities do you have?" she asked curiously, trying not to be overly obvious with her intentions. She didn’t want to intimidate her, only learn more about her different powers, and if it made good small talk, then that was simply a bonus.

  Lanie shrugged. She didn’t appear entirely sure how to answer, as she touched her knuckle on her chin. "Um… well, I can't do much, but my Father can do quite a lot.”

  "Yeah? Like what?"

  Lanie wandered her eyes to the horizon ahead of them. The tree line ran on one side of the dirt road, while the tall grass ran down the other, both of them leading into nothingness once they touched the horizon ahead. She smiled, appearing to have forgotten the pain crippling her arm as her gaze slipped along the skyline. "Like controlling gravity, creating portals, and even teleportation!"

  "Wait, what?" Lexi beamed. "Teleporting? You can do that?"

  Lanies expression slumped as she leaned back against the seat, crossing her legs in front of her lap. As she looked to the floor under the dash board, she sadly shook her head. "No, my Father can do that. I'm nowhere near that level."

  Lexi pursed her lips and turned back to the road. "I still think you’re pretty cool."

  ∞∞∞

  As they pulled up over to the side of the dirt road, in front of the giant towering fence. The sky had nearly gone pitch black as the clouds dimmed the light of the mood, and concealed the stars. Lexi and Lanie stepped out of the car but knew they still had a long way to walk before they would reach the warehouse, and they would need to do it fast. The darker it was, the more power their advisory would have… and the worse off they’d

  ∞∞∞

  One would have guessed the warehouse was empty; it was so quiet. Adrian had run out of tears to cry, and Daymian had fully patched up Kadences eye before she’d woken up again. He’d removed their jewelry around their wrists, revealing their Nutos. It was widely known in Arespea that any form of concealment when it came to Nutos, was strictly illegal. He figured they had nothing left to hide. Adrian and Kadence still sat bolted down in place, back to back in their chairs. Kadence hadn’t said a word since she had woken up, only occasionally shifted her gaze from the wall in front of her, to her lap. Her neglect to speak wasn’t shocking by any means, in fact it would be surprising if she still had the willpower, and the drive to speak after losing something so vital in such a traumatic way.

  He stood broodingly against the wall in front of them. He had been tasked with watching them, but after enough hours, one could only hold their composure so long.

  "You know, Lexi will never forgive you after this," Adrian snapped at him, speaking to him with a deep seeded hatred that appeared to burn through him like million volts of electricity. “Do you even care about what your sister did? Don’t you see that it was wrong!” he screamed, pulling relentlessly at his restraints.

  Despite Adrians shouts, he kept most of his composure, speaking in a stern tone. “And what, standing idly by while an entire race of Elements was discriminated against and banished to be outsiders for simply existing, wasn’t wrong?”

  “Your kind is a revolting, toxic excuse for an Element,” Adrian spat.

  Daymian crossed his arms. He’d heard it all before. He wasn’t the first person to insult him, or Mara when regarding their Element. Only he and his sister dealt with such matters in very different ways. “What have we done to prove that to be true?” he asked, tilting his head. “Name one thing.”

  Adrian scoffed. “Oh, I could name a million. How about the fact that you raided Lumen, the Light Element Kingdom, nearly comitting genocide to their entire Element.”

  “Only because we knew they would eventually do it to us,” Daymian urged, not willing to accept that as a liable answer. There was so much more to that statement that Adrian simply couldn’t understand. “They didn’t want us around. We were a threat to them. That’s why they banished us in the first place, because they knew they could get the rest of the world on their side with us out of their way.” His expression had turned noticeably darker, and more aggravated, as Adrian claimed to know the inner workings of his Element and their history with the rest of the world. When in truth, he, along with many others in Arespea, only know one side of the story. The part that they were brainwashed into thinking was the one and only truth.

  “Right, like you were trying to expose them for something.” He practically laughed out loud, it sounded so outrageous to him.

  “They were hypocrites.”

  “They believed in freedom. The Light Elements were heros.”

  Daymian took a deep breath in and out, trying to calm himself as he tried to keep hold of his poise. He would not stoop down to Adrians wildly raging level in lack of control. “They repressed Dark Elements into submission. Kept us locked behind a border guarded by soldiers that should have instead been utilized to protect and abate by their own kingdom and citizens' needs. Not killing any Dark Element who dared to cross the border.” He paused, leaning his back off the wall as he took a few steps towards Adrian. “You call them heroes, but from our perspective they are everything but. The rest of the world turned their backs on us, simply because the great godly Light Elements told them to,” His speech was quickening as his heart started to race faster. “Their leaders were negligent. They believed in freedom yes, but to what extent does this become nothing more than laziness. Their kingdom was in ruin before we took it over. Their people were dying of hunger and illness because their King and Queen never enforced laws to make sure such resources were delivered and shipped to their citizens. But of course no one ever knew this, because their citizens, along with the rest of Arespea were brainwashed. The Light Elements held pride in painting themselves as believers of freewill and enlightenment. They could never admit to the world that their methods were ‘impure’. And then they died, marders of their egotistical ways.”

  “Right, because you guys felt the need to ‘Liberate’ them!” Adrian roared. “And not only that, but you’ve continued to ‘Liberate’ Arespea, one Kingdom at a time. I hope you're proud!”

  Daymian took another long breath, this time closing his eyes as he caught himself before he lit up with anger. When he opened his eyes, his voice had quieted, but sounded noticeably more strained than he had wanted. “I take no part in such raids and attacks, but you must understand that my people only do that because we have no choice. With the Light Elements influence-”

  “If you hate Light Elements so much, then why are you clinging onto Lexi?”

  Daymian shifted his gaze to the corner as he mumbled, “Lexi is different.”

  Adrian scoffed, rolling his eyes.

  “No, I’m serious,” he barked, darting his gaze back to Adrian as their raged expressions met. “Lexi has nothing to do with that history. She didn’t even know about Arespea. She doesn’t deserve to die.” He was telling the truth. It wasn’t fair to hold Lexi responsible for something she had no involvement in. He would be lying if he said he didn’t care for her. By his own logic, such an exception could be made, but such beliefs were not shared amongst many other Dark Elements. And with his status, he could never afford to leave such a humiliating stain on his family's name. Though, even with such a reputation to uphold, he di
dn’t want to see Lexi dead.

  Adrian shook his head bafflingly. "Do you honestly expect us to see you any differently than as the murderous psychopaths who attacked and forced us to abandon our home?" he barked, staring him down like a hostile advisory. He continuously tugged at his restraints as if trying to get his hand free so he could finally land a proper punch on him. “Is this little confession supposed to make us feel bad for you? See you in some better light? Because I’m sorry to be the one to tell you this, bud, but your royal status means nothing around her.”

  Daymian merely shook his head at him. "Are you really so ignorant, and brainwashed that you never even thought that perhaps there could be more to it, than what you see on the surface?" he asked, sounding almost desperate. He wanted to show Adrian and Kadence the error in their ways. That what they had been told wasn’t necessarily the truth. If he could convince them to change their mindset, then perhaps there was hope to be had that others in Arespea would. “You presume to know me and my species, and yet you accuse us of making prejudiced assumptions and judgments of others.”

  Even with his knowledge so enclosed and limited, Adrian still claimed to know him. With this conversation now becoming about their own separate species and upbringings, he couldn't help but feel he had an obligation to defend himself, and his people.

  Adrian let out an arrogant chuckle. "What? The murderer has layers?"

  "I am not a murderer!" he yelled. He refrained from screaming at him. "I could never bear to end another person's life as my siblings have."

  Adrian chuckled again, appearing to only see the humour from his explanation and frustration towards him. "What? You squeamish around blood or something?" He paused to listen, but when Daymian didn’t answer, he went on to ask another question, clearly trying to egg him on. “Oh come on,” he groaned, rolling his head back. "Isn't it practically a requirement of your house to be a murderer.”

  Daymian paused, looking up as he thought for a moment, actually taking a moment to consider the question. His family never spoke very openly about their more violent acts, but as he really considered it, he realized that it, in a way, was a requirement. It was at least expected within his family. It was daunting to think about, but he was no murderer. He had never killed in his life, and he never planned to. He didn’t want to fight with Adrian, but he by no means desired any kind of friendship with him. He simply wanted to be civil. "Murderer is a strong word… It's more of a family business," he replied openly, focusing his attention back on Adrian once he had found the correct words.

  “So you’re an assassin,” Adrian replied with a sarcastic nod.

  "No, I’m not… You make it sound worse than it is."

  “Oh, so sorry. I should have referred to you as a murderous assassin… who’s also civilized. My bad,” Adrian sneered.

  He didn’t know how to respond. He was supposed to be working as an assassin, and most people believed he had killed people before, but it was all a front. He knew he needed to earn respect, but he could never bear to kill anyone for it. He just didn’t have it in him with all his intensified emotions built up inside, and so he would fake it, pull unaccounted for corpses from their mission sights, and claim them as his own kills. Most people didn’t pay any mind to him, considering he was the youngest and often faded into the background, but that made it much easier to get by without question. Whether he liked it or not, he wasn’t a murderer, and he would be forced to continue living a lie until he was eventually discovered. Unfortunately, now he had a new secret that needed to be hidden from discovery, and he feared it would inevitably lead him to his undoing. All he wanted was to leave. Every moment he stayed there, on Earth, the closer he found himself growing to Lexi, the more he wanted to protect her. Not to mention, every moment he stayed there led Mara closer and closer to learning about his feelings of betrayal. He couldn’t lose his sister. She was all he had. "I know you will never trust me, but believe me when I say that I wish I never came here, never restarted this war. There's nothing I regret more in my life," he admitted with certainty. His head hung low, but he kept eye contact with Adrian.

  As the room fell quiet, his gaze darted to Kadence as she slowly began turning her head to face him. Her single eye stared daggers into him as if she was silently saying, 'that's not the only thing you'll regret.' He swallowed, frozen as Kadence spoke in a hushed raspy voice. "You're a terrible person, Daymian, and I can only pray that Lexi is smart enough to realize that sooner rather than later."

  He let out a long sigh, dropping his shoulders as he shoved his hands into his jacket pockets. "Now that we can agree on."

  The sound of a door sliding shut was like a blow horn in that vacant building, echoing off every wall as the bang spread across every room and floor. The second floor was nothing more than one large room. There was nowhere to hide, besides the shadows that lingered in every corner.

  "No, no." Daymian's heart rate had spiked as his head darted to the staircase door.

  Kadence and Adrian both had their heads perked up like a pair of dogs. Neither of them could be sure who it was.

  Daymian knew it was Lexi. His entire body felt like it was on fire. He was sweating all over, drenching his clothes and face. He knew he had the power to stop this, as Mara had instructed him to do if someone tried to interfere, but he had never felt so nervous in his life. No, he was self-conscious. He didn't want her to see him like this. He knew she would never look at him the same way. That Kadence and Adrian would surely tell her everything that went down, tell her about how terrible a person he was, make her see him as this monster. He couldn't stand to see her reaction to seeing him. The hatred and disgust that would fill her eyes. No. He would rather live never seeing her again, then bear witness to her viewing him as a murderous monster, a picture her friends would inevitably paint him to be. With his head hung low and his hands in his pockets, he stepped back into the casted shadow he had first emerged from. He pulled his knife from his pocket and allowed it to drop at his feet with a clinking bang. He pretended not to notice. In the blink of an eye, he had disappeared into the shadows, leaving Kadence and Adrian to be found by Lexi once she reached the second floor.

  ∞∞∞

  As Lexi and Lanie burst through the staircase door, their heads whipped around the room, searching for any unwanted advisories.

  "They're gone!" Adrian called.

  Lexi and Lanie rushed over, gasping at the sight of Adrian being covered in bandages and stained blood. Neither of them had noticed Kadence yet, as she had her face turned from view. As Lanie ran to Adrian, Lexi sprinted to Kadence, peeking down at her face as it was clear something was wrong. She kneeled down before Kadence lightly touched her head to pull the left side of her face into view. She gasped as she dropped back onto her butt, her expression bug-eyed as the bandages and gauze wrapped around Kadences eye came into her line of sight. Lexi could barely breath as she stared skakenly at Kadences covered eye. She didn’t want to imagine what might have happened. She was speechless, unable to speak a word as she felt her heart had stopped. She hadn’t noticed Lanie had wandered over to see what the fuss was about, until she too gasped at the sight of Kadences eye.

  “What happened?” Lanie asked, pressing her hands over her mouth in shock.

  Kadence hesitated, glancing back at Adrian sadly before answering, “Mara.”

  Lexi could hardly breathe. This was her fault. She should have gotten there sooner, made a guess of where they were and gone for it. She surely could have stopped this from happening, but now, because of her, Mara tortured Kadence and Adrian, going so far as to take Kadences eye. She could never get that back, and Lexi couldn’t have felt more responsible.

  Lanie cleared her throat. “Let’s get you guys out of here.” She gripped her fingers around the edges of the metal bands, leaning her weight back as she tried to pry them off, but they had been bolted down to the chairs. There was no way she was going to get them out with sheer arm strength.

  Lexi hadn’t realize
d her gaze had begun to wander until she caught sight of a glimmer from within one of the shadowy corners. A small object with a reflective surface laid within the shadow, silently calling her name. As she slowly crawled over to it, not even thinking it would be more efficient to get to her feet and walk, she realized it was a dagger. Upon picking it up she found it to be much heavier and more cumbersome than expected.

  The handle had silver scales and twisted like the body of a snake. The top of the hilt was of the snake's head, it's razor-sharp fangs extending into the dagger's blade. But the knife wasn't silver like the hilt. It looked like a dark hole that had been morphed and carved into the shape of a knife. It felt strange in Lexi's hands. It felt alive. Like the blade was moving even as her handheld still.

  With her new discovery in hand, Lexi got to her feet and turned back to her friends. As she slowly reapproached, she presented what she had found. "Maybe I could try cutting the metal with this?"

  Each of their expressions dropped as they all fell speechless.

  Lexi stood still, shifting her gaze between them all as she didn’t understand their reaction. Each of them stared gawkingly. She walked up to them regardless of their shocked expressions. All she wanted was to leave. The longer they stayed there, the more they risked being caught by Mara and Daymian again, and that was the last thing she wanted. She had a knife, Kadence and Adrian needed to get out of the bonds. It couldn't hurt to at least try to use it. Before anyone could say anything to stop her, she pressed the dagger down the metal restraint around Adrian's chest and shoulders. She was sure to cut at the edge of the chair to avoid accidentally cutting him. The blade cut through the metal like butter. Lexi gasped and pulled the knife away for a moment, shocked that it actually worked with such minimal effort. She couldn’t believe it. Once she had a chance to revel in her excitement, she did the same to all the other metal bars holding him in place, then stepped over to Kadences’ side and did the same. Now that they were both free, they and Lanie stood before her, their focus locked on the dagger in her hand.