The Zeuorian Awakening Read online

  “Nice place.” He glanced around the living room lit by a small table lamp. “Um, where’s the bathroom?”

  “Upstairs next to the guest room,” she said, motioning toward the stairs.

  He helped her up the stairs and through the bathroom doorway. Then she sat on the edge of the bathtub while Everett rummaged in the medicine cabinet. She took a second to muster her courage to ask him the only coherent thought on her mind. “Why were you still on the beach?”

  He pulled a box from the medicine cabinet and took his time before answering. “I was looking for you. Angie told me you were going to the party with Tyler. But after I overheard Neal spouting off that Tyler was hooking up with you back at his house, I thought I should warn you before something bad happened.”

  “You risked your life to find me?”

  “Uh-huh.” Everett placed a bandage on her head. “So why weren’t you wearing a jacket? You must be free—” He stared at her white underwear exposed by the open zipper of her jeans. Blood speckled the ripped fabric. Every muscle in his face tensed. “Did Tyler hurt you?”

  She fidgeted with her hands, unsure what to tell him. Actually, she wasn’t even sure herself what had happened, but whatever the case, she couldn’t risk exposing herself by telling him the truth. She gave him the simple answer. “It isn’t what you’re thinking.”

  “Are you sure? I swear, if that jerk did anything to hurt you I’ll—”

  “I’m fine.” She put her finger on his lips. “I left my hoodie back at his place.” Which wasn’t a lie. “And,” she zipped up her pants, “my zipper must’ve opened on me. I really need to get rid of these jeans.”

  “Your jeans unzipped on you.” Everett pressed on her zipper and it wouldn’t budge. He stared at her with wide eyes and a desperate look on his face. “Are you dating him?”

  She wanted to shout, “No,” but she settled for saying, “I’m not.” And never will. He wasn’t her Watcher and only wanted to be with her. The only boy she wanted to be with was Everett. His heroic act of risking his life to find her made her realize that.

  “I’m glad.” He smiled. “I would’ve hated to lose you to that jerk.”

  And by his emphasis on the words, “lose you,” she could tell he meant more than losing her as a class partner or a friend. Just maybe he was telling her he liked her, too.

  “Do me a favor,” he said. “When you tell Tyler its over between you two, do it somewhere I can be close by to make sure nothing happens to you.”

  How sweet. He wanted to protect her from being hurt by Tyler. If only he could protect her from the half-breeds discovering what she had done. Since she was sure once the nine o’clock news reported the massive storm and noted with bright red letters on the screen and catchy wording how a storm that size never hits Brookings, the half-breeds would suspect she caused it and come looking for her, especially if they read about the other accidents she caused during the week.

  Her hands trembled as she thought about the half-breeds coming to town to kill her.

  “Everything will be okay.” Everett wrapped his arms around her and rested his chin on her head. “I’m not going to let anyone hurt you.”

  “I wish that was true.” But no one could protect her from the half-breeds, except her real Watcher.

  “Relax,” Everett lifted her chin. “You’ll be fine once you tell Tyler you’re not interested in him. Then you won’t have to worry about him hurting you or pushing you to the point you hurt yourself.”

  Wait. What did he say?

  She pulled away from Everett and stared at him. How could he have known Tyler was pushing her to the point she would get hurt? He would’ve only known about him possibly hurting her unless Everett was her Watcher? That would explain why he risked his life to find her. How he tracked her down on the beach and how he knew where she lived.

  17 AFTERMATH

  Lexi wanted to ask Everett if he was her Watcher, but she decided to question him about his comment first before assuming he could be him. “What did you mean about Tyler pushing me to the point I’ll hurt myself?”

  “Like scaring you into running along the rocks to get away from him during a severe storm,” Everett said, ”and ending up falling and hurting your legs.” He pointed to her bloody jeans.

  Dammit. She hoped Everett meant Tyler pushing her into losing control. Although she had a feeling, he wasn’t being completely honest with her. “So you weren’t trying to tell me something else?”

  Everett eyebrows lifted and he shot her questionable look. “What do you think I wanted to tell you?”

  “Oh, I don’t know.” She gave him a playful smile. “Maybe I don’t have to worry about Tyler pushing me into causing an accident that would attract enough attention the occult I had escaped would find me and take me back.”

  “How would I know an occult was searching for you?” he said, with a slight chuckle to his voice.

  “Because you were one of them, but you left the occult after I escaped. You wanted to find me so we could be together.”

  A wry smile formed on his lips. She could tell he was about to reveal something important to her, like being her Watcher she hoped. But before he could say a word, she heard buzzing.

  “Sorry I have to take this.” He pulled out his cell phone and pressed it to his ear. After a few seconds he said, “I’m on my way home and will call you back.”

  Lexi jumped to her feet and blocked Everett from leaving. “Do you have to go so early?”

  Everett grinned at her like Cheshire cat. “I have to take care of something before nine.” He bent down and kissed her forehead, lingering for a moment. “We’ll finish our conversation later, I promise.”

  Her cell phone rang and she removed it from her pocket. She couldn’t believe it still worked after it got soaked in the ocean. However, she didn’t want to answer it. Not while she still had a chance to question Everett.

  “Are sure you can’t stay a few minutes longer?” she asked, with a hint of desperation to her voice.

  “I wish I can.” Everett motioned toward her cell phone when it started to ring again. “Go on and talk to them. I’ll let myself out.”

  She waited until the front door closed before answering her cell phone. “Sorry Ang.” She walked into her bedroom. “You’re not going to believe what had happened.”

  “Tyler’s your Watcher?” Angie asked, with a hopeful tone to her voice. “You two hooked up and that’s why the weather went all wonky.”

  “Close.” Lexi collapsed on her bed and turned on the television. “But he’s not my Watcher. I wouldn’t have made out with him or almost destroyed Brookings, if it hadn’t been for this strange feeling making me want too.”

  “What do you mean a strange feeling?”

  “I can’t explain it, except I felt as if something or someone had placed me under a spell and pushed me into almost sleeping with him.”

  “Really?”

  “Yeah. I‘m just glad the water flooded his kitchen when it did. It broke the spell and gave me a chance to run away.”

  “You just took off and left him without—“

  “Wait a second. The nine o’clock news just came on.”

  Lexi turned up the volume on the TV and leaned forward, eager to hear what the news reported about the storm. The reporter cleared his throat and discussed the upcoming mayoral election. She muted the volume.

  “So what did the news say?” Angie’s voice squeaked through the cell phone speaker.

  “Nothing about the storm yet.” The phone beeped in Lexi’s ear. “Hold on, someone is trying to call me on the other line.” She pulled the phone away from her head to view the caller ID and read the number. She pressed the phone back to her ear. “It’s Tyler.”

  “He probably wants to make sure you made it home alive,” Angie said with disappointed tone to her voice.

  Lexi traced her finger along the floral pattern on her blue comforter. It was cruel of her to let Tyler wonder if she was alive, but she
had too. “It’s better we break it off clean. I don’t want another repeat of tonight. You saw the destruction I caused.”

  “Yeah, I did.” Angie’s voice took on a graver tone. “And I’m sorry I pushed you to go over to his house. I never thought you would cause so much damage with the weather by kissing him, but you shouldn’t hold the bad weather against him. I’m sure if he knew you were under a spell, he would’ve stopped. Just give him a break and call him.”

  “No, I made up my mind and—” Lexi paused when she heard footsteps in the hall and Irene talking.

  “Oh, hi, Tyler,” Irene said. “I remember you. Ah, yes she’s home. I think she’s fine. Why would . . . I don’t know. Let me see if she’s awake.”

  The door opened and the light from the hallway flooded Lexi’s darkly lit bedroom and cast Irene’s slender body in a silhouette. “Sweetie, are you awake? Tyler’s on the phone and wants to talk to you.”

  “Tell him I’m asleep,” Lexi said.

  Irene removed her hand covering the cell phone and said, “Tyler, she’s asleep. Can I take a message and give it to her when she wakes tomorrow. Okay, I’ll tell her to call you.” She hung up the phone and turned toward Lexi. “Why was he checking on you? Did something happen today?”

  Lexi lifted her finger and motioned for her to wait. “Ang, I have to go. Irene came home early and wants to talk to me.” She closed her cell phone and placed it on her nightstand. “Nothing happened. I went to a beach party with Angie and I got separated from everyone when the weather turned bad.”

  “I told you not to go out while that boy is following you?”

  Lexi wanted to tell Irene everything that had happened the past couple of days while she had been working double shifts—the school fire and the storm. But if she admitted to causing the school fire and the storm, then Irene would want to discuss it.

  Right now, all she could think about was how many people had she hurt or killed because of her reckless act questioning Tyler alone when she knew it would end with him kissing her.

  She’ll tell Irene later after listening to the news. “I was safe,” Lexi said, attempting to end the conversation. “I made sure to stay close to everyone so he couldn’t do anything to me.”

  Then she unmuted the television and focused her attention on a local car dealer’s commercial. She flipped the channel to a horror movie and raised the volume, ignoring Irene staring at her the entire time with her mouth gaping open.

  “Okay, I can take a hint, but we’re going to talk about this later,” Irene said, walking out of the room.

  Once the door closed, she flipped the channel back to the news as the reporter came on the television. “The unexplained storm took many local residents by surprise in Brookings tonight. It managed to destroy over sixty homes along the coast and damaged an additional twenty-two stores. It cut power for several communities and injured fifty-six people.”

  Her body tensed when the reporter pointed to a picture of her high school and she listened to him say, “There seems to be a pattern surrounding the strange weather here in Brookings. A group of scientist from Oregon University will be conducting an investigation to determine the cause.”

  “Investigation,” Lexi choked out. She figured the news would make a big deal out of the weather, calling it the storm of the century, but never had she ever imagined they would investigate.

  Would the scientist find some evidence that would point to the weather being caused by her and then post their findings on the web for the world to read? That could be enough information to alert the half-breeds to her location.

  “One of them already suspects you’re here, but he doesn’t know who you are,” her Watcher said telepathically.

  Her hands trembled and she bit her lower lip. “What do you mean one of them already suspects I’m here?”

  “A guy followed me to town and I’ve been trying to convince him you’re not here and to leave, but it didn’t work. Now he saw the storm and suspects you caused it. He’s not going to leave until he can prove you’re here.”

  She already assumed half-breeds could be close by since her Watcher refused to meet, but she didn’t expect one could be tailing him and inadvertently her since her Watcher was following her.

  “Why didn’t you tell me this earlier?” she demanded.

  “I didn’t want to scare you and push you into doing something drastic where it would tip him off you’re here.”

  Lexi gritted her teeth. The storm would’ve never happened if he hadn’t been for him. “You should’ve warned me about that guy and Tyler not being you instead of letting me go out with him and cause the storm?”

  “I-I couldn’t warn you. After we discussed the school fire, something blocked me from speaking to you telepathically.”

  “Even so, you had to have known I suspected Tyler as you. You could’ve prevented me from causing the earthquake, the lightning and the storm if you told me from the beginning who you were,—”

  Lexi bit her tongue before calling him Everett. She wanted to avoid giving the half-breed following him clues how to find her, if he happened to be listening in on their conversation.

  But what if he already suspected her to be the Zeuorian and her Watcher kept that information from her as well? Maybe she should run and hide, despite her Watcher’s warning.

  But what if the guy discovered she was the Zeuorian after running and questioned Irene? Would he torture and force Irene into revealing her whereabouts like in the movies? Or use Irene as bait to lure her out of hiding before killing her.

  She wasn’t going to watch another parent buried in the ground. She was going to stay and deal with the guy on her own terms. No more hiding, No more risking others’ lives. “I’m going to face him tonight and make him leave me alone.”

  “No don’t do it,” her Watcher said. “Just give me a day to fix this and make sure you and your aunt are safe from the guy.”

  “Until I cause another accident.”

  Lexi lifted her cellphone and dialed nine-one-one. A recorded confession of her causing the storm would probably be the best way to point the guy to her location. She waited for someone to pick up the line, but the line went dead and a message displayed on her cell phone screen. “Out of network.”

  How could that be? She checked the bars on her phone. There were none. She walked over to the window. Maybe she could get a better reception over there. Still no bars.

  Dammit. Her Watcher must’ve figured out a way to block her cell phone reception. “You can’t stop me from going to the most public spot downtown and making everything levitate.”

  “Oh, yes I can,” he replied. “Take a look outside at your car.”

  She glanced out the window in the direction of her driveway. Her car hood had been lifted and from what she could see he removed the distributor cap and the rotor.

  “I also disabled your aunt’s SUV. Don’t even think about walking downtown, I’ll find a way to keep you from reaching there and lock you inside the school.”

  He gave her no other choice, but to do something completely crazy. She cracked her parent’s frame on the nightstand and glass shards fell to the ground. She picked up a piece of glass and placed the serrated edge to her wrist.

  “Unblock my phone or I’m going to kill myself.”

  “You wouldn’t dare do that.”

  “I already did.” She gripped the glass and ran it across her wrist. She wasn’t sure if cutting across her wrist had been the correct way to kill herself nor did she care. She wanted to make a point to her Watcher. “Now unblock my cell phone reception or it won’t be long before I die.”

  18 EYE OPENER

  A loud crash echoed through Lexi’s room. Her head jerked toward the bedroom door when the sound of heavy footsteps moved toward her.

  Dammit, she couldn’t let Irene see her arm. She quickly scanned the room for something to cover the cut and grabbed a T-shirt lying on the floor. The door flew open and the light turned on. Lexi jumped onto her bed
and pulled the covers over her body.

  “What was that noise?” Irene stormed into the room and glanced around. “It sounded like glass breaking.”

  Lexi turned toward the window. The glass had a large indentation about the size of a quarter. Several cracks extended from it to the edges of the window. “I think a bird hit my window and cracked it.”

  “What a relief. I thought something—” Irene turned toward Lexi. “Oh, my God, what have you done?” She grabbed Lexi’s wrist and made a tourniquet with her T-shirt to stop the bleeding. “You tried to commit suicide. At least you didn’t cut any tendons or need stitches. But you’ll have a nasty scar when it heals.”

  “It’s not what you’re thinking.” Lexi yanked her arm from Irene’s hand. “I caused the bad weather with my powers and now one of the half-breeds suspects I’m here because of it, but he doesn’t know I’m the one he’s looking for.”

  “How do you know that?” Irene eyes narrowed. “Did that boy tell you?”

  Lexi glance away from Irene’s glare. “Yes.”

  Irene shook her head. “Just because you may have dated him when you were fourteen, it doesn’t mean you can trust what he has to say. For all you know he could be the one who killed your parents. Now he’s trying to play it off he’s helping you so he can lure you into a trap.”

  “He didn’t kill my parents.” Lexi’s shot up as a bolt of lightning lit up the small window. “The man who killed them had been a lot older than the boy I dated in Colorado. I’m also positive he’s not trying to lure me into a trap either, because he broke the window so you would stop me from bleeding to death.”

  “That doesn’t mean he isn’t trying to set you up. He may need you alive for whatever he plans to do to you, but I don’t understand why you would you try to kill yourself in the first place?”

  “I wasn’t trying to kill myself.” Lexi hesitated. She didn’t want to admit the real reason for cutting her wrist since Irene already didn’t trust her Watcher so she settled on saying, “After I learned the half-breed suspected I was in town, I decided to face him. Cutting myself was the only way to lead him to me.”