The Nexis Secret: YA Fantasy Romance (The Nexis Angel Series Book 1)

by Barbara Hartzler

  “Yeah, thanks for rubbing it in my face.” I swiped it away like a cat. “Monica and Colleen’s revenge, I guess.”

  Her laughter died a silent death.

  “They sent it out to everyone we know, the whole school. It’s gone viral. That’s cyber-bullying.” Laura’s pale cheeks whitened a few shades. “I’m not surprised Colleen’s behind this, but Monica, too? Are you sure it was Monica with her, and not Felicia trying to get back at us?”

  I shook my head. “Not unless Felicia suddenly dyed her hair blonde and stole Monica’s red dress.”

  She gasped. “How could she do something like this? I thought she was so nice.”

  Shanda slipped out of her heels, pitching them in her closet. “That’s exactly what she wants you to think. I’m going down there to give those dumb blondes a piece of my mind.”

  She met my gaze, and I pursed my lips at her, nodding my thanks. A sliver of hope swelled up in my heart with that determined look in her eyes.

  Bryan nodded. “Take Lenny with you. Maybe he can work his hacker magic and erase it from her phone or computer, or both.”

  “So devious.” Shanda narrowed her gaze at him. “I didn’t know you had it in you.”

  His jaw stiffened back to marble as he matched her glare. “Only when necessary.”

  “I’m on it. Let’s do this.” Lenny shot us two thumbs up. “You distract them with a cat fight and I’ll sneak in. Got it?”

  “C’mon, Laura. You can play the peacekeeper and turn the sweetness right back on her.” Shanda stomped down the hall, claws bared, the twins on her heels. Her shouts drifted down the hall, mixed with muffled voices.

  What if Bryan’s brilliant plan didn’t work? I crumpled into a ball in the chair, head in my hands. “How did this night get so twisted? I don’t even understand what’s going on.”

  Brooke scooted a chair up next to me, shooting Bryan a sidelong glare. “Okay if I tell her?”

  He barely glanced up from his phone. “Be my guest.”

  “This wasn’t just some practical joke or even cyber-bullying.” Her clammy hands clutched mine, forcing me to look at her. “This must mean they know what happened at St. Lucy’s. Maybe even planned it with the Watchers as some kind of retaliation.”

  “No way.” Slowly, my head bobbed sideways, like a robot. “Wait, retaliation for what?”

  Bryan’s fingers stilled. “For Felicia being banished from the Guardians.”

  “You banished her?” The horrible word reverbed in my ears, a dissonant chord. “Because of me?”

  I glanced from Bryan back to Brooke, who dipped her head at him.

  That marble jaw was firm. “It wasn’t my decision. Harlixton and the other teachers made the final call. But your evidence, along with Tony’s trap, put the last nails in the coffin. She didn’t take it well.”

  “So she sent her father to brand me? How sick.” I traced the faint outline of the surface burn on my wrist. “What do these people want from me, to finish what they started?”

  “It’s obviously a threat.” Brooke’s voice trembled. She squeezed my hand. “If you don’t join them, they’ll just keep doing horrible things like this to you.”

  “Like I’d have anything to do with the Watchers, or Nexis after this.” A chill crept up my legs. “Do they really think torturing me is going to make me join them? That’s seriously twisted.”

  “You said it.” His words came out staccato, rough with electric fury.

  His fury seeped into me, burning away all questions but one. “How can you be mad at me? You never told me any of this, and now you expect me to figure it all out? It doesn’t work that way.”

  “Hold it.” Suddenly he closed the gap between us, his hands wrapping around mine. “I’m not mad at you. I’m mad at Felicia, at how she could betray us so easily. Being a Watcher is one thing, but working with Nexis is another. I can’t believe they’d resort to such intimidation.”

  “Oh.” My cheeks cooled, and I met his gaze colored with soft washes of blue.

  “I’m just worried.” He squeezed my hands. “What if they’re planning something else? We should figure out some way to go on the offensive again.”

  Brooke rubbed her palms together with a fiery gleam that stoked her pupils. “I’ve been waiting for this. We can’t let that stupid church incident keep us from playing the game.”

  “It’s not a game.” I snapped my head toward her. Had Bryan’s younger sister really just relished something dangerous? Sounded more like something Shanda would say, not Brooke. “What did you mean ‘planning something else’? What’re they going to do, gouge out my eyes?”

  Bryan stamped his shoe into the rug with a bang. “No way, not if I can help it.”

  Questions hammered my tongue, about Nexis, about us, but my voice box was frozen. Silent.

  Footsteps pattered down the hall as Lenny raced in, hoisting up a thumb drive like a victory flag. “Got it. There shouldn’t be any more copies of it on the net either. I zapped them with my mad hacker skills.”

  “Way to go.” Laura high-fived her brother. “Score one for the good guys.”

  “What did I miss?” He stole a bottle of water from the fridge and chugged it. After five gulps he crumpled it up and tossed it in the trash can next to me.

  “We’re going to find a way to get the upper hand.” Bryan stood up fast, leaving a wake of cold. “This time I want to get one step ahead of them. Once we figure out their plan, we can beat them at their own game.”

  “Just what we need, a little diabolical thinking.” Lenny fist-bumped him. “Does that mean we’re going to watch the Watchers’ Tunnel?”

  “Drastic times call for drastic measures, but not that drastic.” Bryan lowered his tone, hunkering down over my chair. The others crowded around me in a Guardian huddle. “It’s too dangerous right now, especially with them hunting for that tunnel. They could use it against us, and then we’d be right back where we started. No, I’m talking about beating them at their own game.”

  He crouched down next to me as a foreign expression washed over his face. Those eyes drilled into me with a focus I recognized, but not from him, from Will. The specimen-under-a-magnifying-glass stare. “Don’t breathe a word of this to anyone. Got it?”

  All heads bobbed, all except mine. “I couldn’t tell anyone if I wanted to.” Because I didn’t know what was going on, but I bit those words back.

  “That’s the spirit.” Laura pumped her tiny fist into the air. Sometimes she had so much of her brother in her.

  “Wait, not even Shanda?”

  He shook his head, gaze set on me. “Not even Shanda.”

  I narrowed my eyes at that smug stare, as if he could control me so easily. How could he be so tender one minute, so cold the next? This push-pull tug of war was starting to wear me thin.

  More footsteps clamored down the hall, and I dropped his icy gaze. The huddle broke apart as quickly as it had congealed, leaving me on my own again.

  Shanda flung herself through the doorway. Only she could stomp so loudly in bare feet. “That felt really good. Did we get it?”

  “We got it.” Lenny waved the evidence above his head. “This calls for a celebration.”

  “How about a Shanda scoot?” I watched as she turned to her closet, a huge, triumphant smile on her face. If only I could tell her everything, but of course, Bryan was right. The less she knew, the better.

  Chapter 25

  The overcast November day circled me, filling me with its cold, damp sorrow. Even the low clouds taunted me with random droplets as I crossed the quad, ready to open the floodgates on me. I double-timed it up the concrete steps to Trenton Hall.

  As soon as I got inside, every eye stared my way, mouths whispering, giggling, murmuring. “Crazy girl. What is she, possessed or something?”

  “Here comes the weirdo.”

  “Was she having a psychotic break or what?”

  “Someone needs to lock her up.”

  How could I be rel
iving this nightmare again? Different state, different school, same rumors. I had stupidly wanted to make my mark. This wasn’t what I had in mind.

  I curled deeper into my suede jacket, focused on each stomp of my brown boots on the marble tile. Stares burned into my neck no matter how hard I wanted to stamp them out. Practically everyone saw Monica and Colleen’s social media stunt calling me the Screaming Psycho, a label that circulated like gangbusters. Gossip always spread like wildfire, no matter how far away from home I got. The rumors followed me with only a slight variation this time. But they hurt the same. And I couldn’t let them see that.

  Bryan’s dark head bobbed above the crowd. “There’s my favorite brown-eyed girl. Can we talk for a sec?” He led me away from the crowd and up the first flight of stairs. We ducked into the second-floor bio lab. “How are you holding up?”

  “Okay, I guess.” Understatement of the year. I rubbed my rubber sole into the linoleum until it squeaked. “The moron who invented the Internet really sucks.”

  “I know.” With his finger he traced circles into my palm. My knees quivered. “Bullies are ruthless, especially when they’re Nexis puppets.”

  “Let’s not talk about them. What are we doing in here, anyway?” The air reeked of bleach and sulfur, a potent combination. I bumped my hip on the black tabletop full of Bunsen burners, rattling the beakers poised above each station. Not the ideal place for a heart-to-heart.

  “Just wanted to find somewhere quiet where no one would bother us.” Heat surged from his palm up my arm, straight to my cheeks. Suddenly he dropped my hand, fishing a spiral notebook and pen out of his backpack. “Time to do a little research on you.”

  “What do you mean?” His eyes bored into me with microscopic focus. Not this again. My cheeks cooled. “Should I be sitting down?”

  “Probably.” He clicked his pen, like he hadn’t heard the blatant sarcasm in my question. The click echoed in the empty room. “It’s time we dig deeper into those visions of yours.”

  “Is it safe here?” I clanked down on the metal stool, staring at him. Morning light streamed in from the window, the sun finally deciding to break through the clouds. His tall shadow washed over me, shielding my eyes from the light. “Shouldn’t we go to the chapel or the school shrink’s office?”

  “We don’t have time for that. Besides, even the chapel could be compromised after the Felicia debacle.” This wasn’t Bryan any more. Not the same Bryan who calmed my tantrum at the bonfire and rescued me from the branding iron. This guy was completely different, staring at me with his ice-cold eyes. Almost a stranger. “Tell me more about the first vision you had on campus, the Noah vision.”

  “Fine, have it your way.” I gulped. “It was right in the middle of class. A man kneeling before a bright light, a booming voice. The words covenant and blameless stuck out to me. Didn’t you already see this one?”

  “Yes, but I want to know your side of the story, what you felt.” Somehow, his tone rang hollow, void of its usual warmth.

  “So now we’re on different sides? I really should be lying down for this, then. Shouldn’t you charge a therapist’s fee?” The words spewed out of my mouth in a breath of venom. I slipped off the stool and clawed his t-shirt, yanking those aqua down to my level. “Who are you, anyway?”

  A blank expression washed over his face. He didn’t waiver for a second. “I’m the same person I’ve always been.”

  “No, you’re not.” I sizzled him with my best evil-eye, but nada, not even a flinch. “At least not the same Bryan you’ve always been. You’re acting like a robot, weirdly calm about everything. What’s up with that?”

  He just stared at me, with that unwavering expression. I reached out and pinched his flesh between my nails.

  “Ow.” He recoiled, rising to his full height. For a second, his face shifted from the strange calm into a normal emotion, like shock. “What was that for?”

  My lips curved. “Just checking to see if you’re for real.”

  “This isn’t a joke. I’m certainly for real.” He crossed his biceps over his chest, squinting at me with those icy eyes. “And so is Nexis. They’re hurling everything they’ve got at us.”

  “No kidding, like I haven’t already felt their wrath.” I folded my arms across my body, mimicking his condescending expression. “It’s not the first time I’ve been attacked by bullies. These guys should really sit under Becca’s tutelage. They could learn a thing or two.”

  He actually rolled his eyes at me, like a five-year-old. “It’s more than a little cyber-bullying. They’re testing the boundaries of the peace treaty with stupid pranks.”

  “So all this is about some stupid peace treaty, huh?” I curled my fists, as if my tiny little hands could ever hurt Mr. Perfect. “You think that makes it okay to test me like a lab rat? That’s not gonna help either one of us.”

  “Maybe it won’t, but I have to try something. Anything.” He threw up his arms with a force that blasted my hair off my shoulders. “They won’t be satisfied until they get their hands on the prize. If that prize wasn’t you, I’d say go ahead, take it. But they want you. That’s all they want. And I for one won’t let them have you.” He stooped down until his face was inches from mine.

  His nostrils flared with each breath, as if he had so much more to say to me.

  Let’s see if he could fight it now. “Why not?” I met his gaze, eyes locked on him, daring him to move.

  He flinched, but didn’t step back. Instead, he toyed with a tendril of my hair. “You don’t know what they’re capable of. Who knows what they’ll do?” His fingers trickled down my hair to cup my cheek.

  Electric shivers shot up my spine. “I’m not asking what they’d do to me. Believe me, I hope I never have to find out. I’m asking why you care so much.”

  I held my breath, searching his face, willing him to make the first move. Silence fizzled in the space between us. His eyes softened, his lips parted, but he didn’t budge. Still as a marble statue.

  Was he scared of me or for me? Or both? Had I imagined everything I thought he felt for me? The stupid questions of a silly schoolgirl who couldn’t let go of the one thing she couldn’t have—the guy standing right in front of her.

  The silence stretched on forever until I couldn’t take it any more.

  I sucked in the last remnants of oxygen left between us. “Ever since the elevator, the only way I can get your attention these days involves Will or some Nexis prank. Why is that?”

  “Are you saying that you’re doing these things on purpose, just to get my attention?” He didn’t move an inch, but his expression crumpled.

  “Are you kidding me, how desperate do you think I am?” I reared back, right into the stool. The metal contraption tipped, clanging to the linoleum.

  “I’m sorry.” His hand wrapped around mine, forcing me close to him again. “I didn’t mean that.”

  His touch burned up all my stupid questions like kindling, leaving a void of tangled emotions. How he kissed me in the elevator, saved me from the fire, yet said we couldn’t be together.

  “For someone who isn’t supposed to be with me for some stupid, made-up reason you sure find a lot of ways to be around me.” I squeezed his hand, as hard as I could. So he could feel the pain I struggled with. “Like studying my weird visions in a science lab. Who does that?”

  “Believe me, Lucy, the reason is real.” He squeezed back with his strong, painless grip until I relaxed my hold. “Your visions aren’t weird. They’re important tools that can be used for great good. Or great evil. Don’t you see why we need to know more about them, how they operate, so we can figure them out? Maybe then we could get a leg up on Nexis.”

  I ground my teeth together. One emotion finally won out and it boiled deep down, tensing every muscle. “Did you ever think my visions weren’t meant to be shared? Maybe they’re meant just for me, and I shouldn’t have to tell you anything.”

  “You didn’t tell me about them.” He dropped my hand an
d crossed his arms again. “You didn’t trust me, remember? Instead I had to find out by kissing you.”

  Now I really wanted to pound on him.

  Instead, I slapped my thighs and huffed out a hot breath. “You make it sound like a big mistake, like you never should’ve kissed me at all.”

  “That’s not what I meant.” He edged toward me. “You should’ve told me. That’s all.”

  “Right now, you’re not inspiring me to tell you all my secrets.” As soon as I had the full weight of his iceberg eyes, I let him have it. “In fact, this little stunt makes me wonder if I should go to Nexis willingly. At least then they wouldn’t keep torturing me like you are.”

  With that I turned on my heel and sprinted for the door, out of the lab.

  His deep voice called after me, higher and louder each time, but I couldn’t let myself look back. The tears sliced down my face, running into my nose, my mouth. I swiped at them with my leather-jacket sleeve, but more saltwater replaced them in seconds. I couldn’t let him see me like this.

  I punched open the lobby door, jogging down the steps, then across the quad. No way could I face any classes today. Score one for Montrose, zero for Lucy. And I certainly felt like a zero.

  * * *

  A string of endless gray November days followed our fight—unending torture. Wind howled against the glass as I perched on my favorite windowsill, my Western Civ book open. Black and white type jumbled together in a blur of nothingness, my mind seesawing back and forth between Bryan and the drama awaiting me at home.

  I couldn’t face him, especially if he just wanted to study me. So I avoided him, skipping chapel meetings, ignoring him at lunch, between classes. My own brand of punishment, as if some time apart would make him admit his real feelings for me. It worked real well, especially on me, until the one question I couldn’t answer blared through my mind like a foghorn. Why couldn’t we be a real couple?

  To him, I was no ordinary girl. According to the Guardians I had a destiny, to save the world from Nexis. That was all that mattered.