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

by Barbara Hartzler

  Ten minutes passed as I waited, checked my cell, and waited some more. Not a word from anyone, Will, Bryan, or Shanda. A vortex of nothing.

  I paced back and forth until I reached the last aisle, racking my brain for some kind of plan.

  That’s when the lights shut off, an announcement blaring over the loudspeaker. The words sounded like a Charlie Brown cartoon, but one word stuck out, closed.

  Where was Will? Had he abandoned me, or worse, what if Jake had gotten ahold of him?

  I tiptoed to the back door, pressing my face against the glass. Nothing but darkness and more darkness outside. If I didn’t leave now, I’d be stuck in the library.

  Maybe I could sneak into the woods and skirt the edges of the brush back to my dorm. It was worth a shot. I opened the back door just wide enough to slip out sideways.

  Cold air whipped around me, still smelling like snow. I had to make it back to my dorm, fast—without getting caught.

  I hugged the bricks with my back and darted across the darkest part of the open lawn until I reached the woods. I made it! I almost jumped for joy. I crunched into the dry grass, staying in the shadows of the treeline.

  A familiar melody sang through the night air, Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds, like a siren. A stalker siren.

  Behind me, footsteps rustled in the underbrush. Was he waiting for me in the woods? I couldn’t let him sneak up behind me, so I raced back to the library and banged on the doors. They rattled, but wouldn’t open. Why did they have to lock everything?

  I spun back around. And there he was, dead ahead, face shadowed in the lamppost light. The ex I’d moved a thousand miles to escape was staring me in the face. So who was crunching through the woods behind me?

  Chapter 29

  I stared at Jake coming toward me across the dead lawn, not knowing what to feel first. All those memories swirled inside me, the shock and horror of watching him kiss Becca, the sheer hatred seething inside me when they spread those rumors.

  I tried so hard to let it go, to move on, but it had happened all over again with someone I really cared about. It was all Jake’s fault, and I couldn’t let it go this time.

  “What are you doing here?” I narrowed my eyes and jutted out my chin, balling up my fists, fight face on. I wouldn’t slink back into the shadows this time.

  Nebulous specters hovered near him, their murky tendrils hovering over his sandy head. “It’s good to see you, Lucy. I just want to talk.”

  He took two steps toward me, I took two steps back.

  “No.” I locked my gaze on his, shaking my head so hard my neck cracked. “You know, Jake, I’ve had enough of you just showing up and demanding things from me. I don’t want to talk to you. What I said at Thanksgiving is still true. I don’t ever want to see you again. Why can’t you get that through your head?”

  Adrenaline coursed through my veins. It felt good to finally stand up to him.

  “I just wanted you to hear my side of the story, Luce.” His voice came out gruff, especially when he said Luce—way more creepy than sweet. “If you just listen to what I have to say, maybe you’ll come back with me. I really miss you.”

  He flashed me that almost-innocent smolder he’d used on me so many times before. Now he looked more like a snake charmer. He lunged forward, his hand grabbing mine.

  All of my emotions surged with adrenaline, congealing in a power I’d never felt before.

  “Don’t call me Luce.” I shook off his grip, stepping back again. “What’s your side of the story? You cheated on me with my best friend, turned the whole school against me, made my sophomore year hell, and for what?”

  In the light of the lamppost his eyes were different, changed somehow. He looked haunted, not like himself. “That was all Becca. She was always jealous of you. I don’t know what I was thinking. She wasn’t right for me, but you are.”

  Smoke practically fumed from my nostrils. “Yeah, right, what really happened with Becca? She probably dumped you when she got into Princeton.”

  His face fell and I had my answer.

  “This isn’t about Becca. Will you just listen to what I have to say? I’ve changed, really I have. I miss you.” He turned those ghostly eyes on me, edging closer.

  “Save it.” Couldn’t he take a hint? I backed up again, my shoulders jamming into something solid.

  Rough tree bark snagged my hair. It was the same tree, the tree that marked the start of my new life at Montrose. Funny, now it might see the end of it.

  I probed my fingers into the bark, my arms stretching as far as they could. Nothing within reach, not even a branch to swing at him. Fear pricked at my newfound courage, but if I didn’t lay into this guy now, I might never have another chance.

  “I don’t care what you have to say. If you really wanted to tell me your stupid side of the story, why didn’t you write me a letter, or call me on the phone? You haven’t changed. You’ve only gotten worse. You’ve turned into a stalker now.” And then it hit me. It was true, he was a stalker now—and I was his prey.

  “If I wrote you a letter, you would’ve torn it up. I texted, but you wouldn’t answer.” He edged closer now, like he knew he almost had me.

  I glanced around the quad, not a soul in sight. What ever happened to Will. Had that been him in the woods? Whatever I heard in the brush didn’t show itself.

  I was trapped like a caged animal with only one thing left to do, claw my way out. “Why don’t you get it? I don’t want to hear what you have to say, because it won’t change my mind. If you hadn’t cheated on me I would’ve broken up with you anyway. You’re a controlling, selfish, overbearing jerk. If you were a good guy, someone I actually wanted to be with, you would’ve figured that out by now. Instead you go around stalking me in the city and now on campus—”

  “You know what? I’m getting really tired of you insulting me and calling me a stalker.” He inched close enough to me that I could smell his disgusting aftershave. Strong fingers clamped around my arm. The once hovering wraiths swirled around him now, picking up speed.

  “Ouch, let me go.” I tore at his hand, digging my nails into him, but he grabbed my other wrist. I squirmed against his iron fists.

  He tightened his grip, shadowy tentacles snaking from his fingers up my forearms. Unless campus security showed up out of nowhere, I didn’t have a prayer.

  Maybe that was all I had left. Why didn’t I think of that sooner? God help me, please. If I’m really the Seer, just send your angel or something, please.

  A pillar of light shot straight down through the black sky. Wraiths screaming in its wake, rearing back.

  A sonic boom erupted from the light, followed by a flash of strobe light. Tendrils of lightning shot out on all sides—sending the shadows screeching away.

  The lightning materialized in a vaguely human shape, unsheathing a sword of equally brilliant light, poised for battle. An impossible peace bloomed in my chest.

  “Don’t you see how much I need you?” Jake’s low voice sent a shiver down my spine. He was completely oblivious to the supernatural battle going on around us.

  “I do see. It’s clearer than ever now.” I stared at the angel with my mouth hanging open and my pulse pounding in my ears. I formed the words with my lips, but the sound didn’t come out. I am the Seer, aren’t I?

  My angel nodded with his blinding halo of light, raising his sword toward Jake.

  Finally, I knew the truth. But it only brought on more questions. If I really was the Seer, did it also mean I could command my angel?

  “If you won’t listen to me, I’ll make you listen.” He pinned my fists against the tree. The back of my head smacked into the bark as his breath steamed my face, his eyes glowing with anger.

  A shadow man morphed into being beside him, a pillar of dark mist taunting the lightning man who stood still as an ivory chess piece, sword lifted to the sky.

  I blinked and blinked, but the scenery didn’t change. Angel, demon, and Jake. I could only stare in shock for
a few heartbeats.

  I’d never seen Jake like this. It must be the demon-wraith. I had to get away, but he held me too tight.

  “Please, do something.” I whispered to the angel.

  He nodded once, and those eyes blazed, golden and warm as the sun. He punched his lightning sword heavenward. A bright bolt crackled over my head.

  I snapped my neck straight up to see purple electricity split open the sky above me. With a zap, it struck the great tree at my back. I whirled around as the huge trunk quivered.

  The little hairs on my arms stood straight up, the static tingling as I put some space between me and the tree.

  Shadows swirled and shrieked as a jagged line sliced straight down the middle of the giant oak. A rush of air and debris propelled me past Jake, into the empty expanse of lawn.

  Freedom, at last.

  I turned back to the angel.

  Somehow his golden eyes twinkled at me as if he knew exactly what I was thinking. The slate was wiped clean, the past split in two. Like that dead tree, all my regrets and the high-school drama lay disintegrated behind me now.

  Except Jake still lunged at me, his hand gripping my wrist, eyes wide. “What was that? There wasn’t even a storm. Did you do that?”

  “Sort of.” A grin curled up my lips.

  His other hand clamped around my free arm.

  Desperately I combed the dark sky for the golden-eyed angel.

  A clap of thunder rumbled from his light. Suddenly, as if the idea came with the thunder, I remembered the self defense lesson from Miss Congeniality, S.I.N.G.

  Shackled by Jake’s iron grip, I couldn’t elbow him in the solar-plexus, but my feet were free. I lifted my boot and slammed my heel down on his instep as hard as I could. His grip loosened.

  I wriggled free and started to run away from the library.

  A dark specter screeched to a halt in front of me as Jake lunged for my foot. I smacked into the sidewalk, first my knee, then my cheek scraping the pavement. Warm stickiness pooled on my face, on the sidewalk. I couldn’t think about that now. I had to get up.

  Gingerly, I rolled onto my back and kick-boxed his wrist with a vengeance until he let go of my ankle.

  Above me the angel thrust his sword into the shadow. It split in two, just like the tree, sparking and screeching into a high-pitched inferno. With a low scream of wind and air, the flames sizzled and morphed back into one wraith-like form, tentacles hovering behind Jake.

  The angel planted his fury behind me.

  I scrambled to my feet, racing to the open lawn as fast as I could, footsteps pounding behind me. I picked up the pace, shifting into a new gear as I sprinted across the quad, lungs heaving.

  Something yanked my right wrist, pulling me back so hard my shoulder cracked.

  Pain ripped through my shoulder like a scalpel, and I screamed in complete agony. I blinked as stars clouded my vision, matching the ripples of pain that shockwaved from my shoulder blade.

  He spun me around to face him, clutching my other arm in his iron grip.

  “Don’t you see how much I love you?” His eyes said anything but love, more like a cocktail of anger and jealousy, with a dash of something darker. Something twisted, so twisted the shadows paled into innocence.

  “You don’t love me.” I hissed through the blinding pain, my shoulder throbbing with its own piercing heartbeat. “You just want to control me.”

  “Don’t say things like that.” He shook me like a rag doll. The pain was so unbearable that I couldn’t do a thing to stop him. “I do love you.”

  His lips puckered as he leaned in for a kiss. I turned my head, and he slobbered on my cheek.

  “Please, don’t.” My voice trembled, knees about ready to crumple to the ground. “Someone will come for me soon.”

  “That’s why I’m going to have to take you somewhere else.” His white teeth flashed, and then before I could blink he was dragging me down the path. “We’ve got to hurry, or someone might see us.”

  “I’m not going anywhere with you.” With my good shoulder I crashed my whole body weight against him, thrashing and kicking like a wild dog. I couldn’t let him take me somewhere, but it didn’t do any good. “Someone, help!” I wailed as loud as I could.

  He slapped his hand over my mouth. I twisted my head around the quad for a glimpse of my lightning angel.

  Behind me, I gasped at the biggest light show I’d ever seen.

  The sky flashed purple and white as lightning sparked across the darkness, shadows lashing at the lightning man with orange sparks. He swung his sword and cut straight through one wraith. It exploded in a puff of smoke.

  He lanced the blade to his left, twisting it into a large swirl of shadow. It burst into flames, fireballs screeching from the epicenter in every direction like fireworks.

  The angel swung his sword in a wide arc of silvery white across the sky. Then he pointed the tip at me and bobbed his head once. In an instant the searing pain in my shoulder eased, enough for me to at least see straight.

  “What do you think you’re doing?” Jake snarled, craning his neck to see behind me.

  With a renewed burst of energy, I wriggled against his hold and screamed for dear life, only to be stifled by his hand.

  “We’ve got to get out of here.” He forced me down the path. With his hand over my mouth and me fighting him every step, we didn’t get far.

  Streaks of purple and silver lightning crackled above my head as my angel followed me.

  A surge of hope welled up in my gut.

  I bit into Jake’s palm as hard as I could. He flinched and let go for an instant, all I needed.

  I bolted as fast as I could across the lawn, then hit sidewalk. Fingertips tugged my hair, but my legs found a new speed. I turned around to see how far back he was. My cheek smashed into something firm, the muscle of a guy’s chest.

  I lifted my face, expecting to see the angel man. The eyes I stared into weren’t golden—they were blue.

  “Bryan!” I wrapped one arm around his neck. The other hung limp and sore at my side. He didn’t look at me, just stared straight ahead and shoved me behind his back.

  The streaks of lightning descended into a pillar beside him. I was right all along. He one of the good guys.

  “Just what do you think you’re doing?” He clenched his jaw, fists balling up tight. I arched on tiptoes, peeking between his shoulder and the solid wall of light next to him.

  “This is between me and Lucy.” Jake sneered, drawing back his arm back. “I don’t want to hurt you.”

  Bryan inhaled jagged breaths, cocking his arm for an uppercut. The angel tapped his shoulder with a finger of light, and his uppercut sagged. “Like you hurt Lucy? I saw what you did to her.”

  “What is she, your girlfriend?” He cackled out a crazy laugh, one I’d never heard before. Bryan said nothing, his body rigid. “That’s what I thought. She’s mine, and you can’t have her. There’s nothing you can do about it.”

  “Yes, there is.” Sirens blared in the distance. “I’ve already called campus security. They’ll be here any minute. There’s nowhere you can run.”

  “Uh-oh, not campus security. I’m real scared.” He rolled his eyes. “What are they going to do to me?”

  “They’re going to take you to jail.” Bryan’s tone boomed with a deep note of strength.

  “For what?” Jake raised his hands like he was innocent, such a dog.

  “For assault. See for yourself. Just look at what you did to Lucy.” His rough hand grasped mine, squeezing softly. He turned to me, those aqua eyes full of pain, and nudged my good shoulder.

  I inched forward, resting my one smooth cheek on his chest. The other cheek throbbed, probably still bleeding. I dabbed at the scrape with my fingertips and they came back sticky. My drooping arm started throbbing again, pain racking through my shoulder. I winced as tears stung my eyes, burying my forehead into Bryan’s bomber jacket.

  His hand stroked my hair, lips pressed against my
temple. “How could you do that to her. Don’t you care about her at all?”

  Blue and red lights flashed like strobe rays in the blackness. Footsteps clomped on the sidewalk behind us. I shuddered at the sound, and he wrapped his arms around me.

  The angel extended his lightning hand, waving at me, his golden eyes closing. With a great rush of wind, his pillar of pure white shot up to the stars, sparkling like glitter in the sky until I lost his light-trail among the constellations. The pain in my shoulder turned blinding again, until I just wanted to skyrocket into the heavens right along with him.

  The footsteps pounded closer, splitting in two. Campus security guards surrounded Jake.

  I inhaled a full breath. “I know it now. I am the Seer,” I whispered into Bryan’s neck.

  “You’re going to be okay, honey.” His hand grazed my hair, bumping against my scar. He didn’t flinch. Instead he pressed me in closer. “It’s your destiny, and I’ll protect you as long as you’ll let me.”

  Chapter 30

  Jake stared at me, his dark eyes wide, shock etched into his freckled face. “I’m sorry, Luce. I don’t know what I was thinking.”

  The bigger guy yelled at him. “Down on the ground.”

  He swiveled from the guy to the female security guard, both in full uniform. Each had some kind of weapon trained on him, a taser, maybe. He shook his head in slow motion.

  “Down on the ground. Now.” The guard repeated, louder this time.

  He lifted up his hands and slid to his knees. The officer planted a foot on his back, smushing his face into the dead grass.

  “Put your hands behind you.” Red and blue lights reflected off the silver cuffs as the guard snapped them around his wrists. He yanked him up by his biceps, shoving him forward. As he dragged Jake to the car, the female officer turned to Bryan.

  “We’re driving him to the police station in town. Take her to the security office so we can get her statement, then we can charge him. Know where it is?”