The Zeuorian Awakening Page 21

  When Stephan rubbed his eyes temporarily blinded by the flash of light, Tyler nudged her shoulder and motioned for her to move. They crawled across the tile to the teacher’s desk a few feet from Stephan.

  She caught sight of the knife in Stephan’s hand and covered her mouth before she screamed. The length of the blade had to be longer than the depth of her chest. Long enough he would have no problem cutting out her heart. He really was determined to kill her.

  The small hope harboring deep in the recess of her mind that maybe she could eventually convince the half-breeds to accept her faded away. If they were anything like him, no way would she ever be able to convince them not to kill her.

  “I know you two are in here. I saw you through the window,” Stephan said, his voice cold and hard. When they didn’t respond, he continued to speak. “I‘m not interested in the stupid jock. I’m only interested in the girl. If the jock leaves now, I promise I won’t hurt him.”

  He waited a few seconds for a response before speaking again. This time his voice took on a more threatening tone. “Not very smart are you? Well, I got rid of Everett. I have no problem getting rid of a dumb jock too.”

  Tyler pushed Lexi toward the door. “Get out of here,” he whispered. “I’ll buy you some time.” He waited until she reached for the door knob before saying with a loud voice, “I think you’re the one who’s not that bright.”

  “Oh, yeah.” Stephan stopped and spun on his heels in the direction of Tyler. “I’m not the one who gave up my hiding place.”

  Lexi tore open the door and ran into the dark hall. She heard the sound of desks being knocked over as Tyler and Stephan fought. When she passed an empty classroom door, a loud thud echoed through the hall. She glanced back at an outline of a figure struggling to stand while another came running toward her with something in his hand.

  No. No. No. Stephan was coming for her. A loud boom exploded above the hall and shook the lockers as she sprinted past the trophy case.

  Before she could reach the school entrance, Stephan yanked her back and threw her onto the ground. She held up her hand and prepared to use her telekinesis against him.

  “Don’t make me hurt you,” she said.

  Stephan hesitated briefly, his face cast in shadow. All she saw was the faint outline of his mouth forming into a sadistic grin. “I’m all for a game of chicken.”

  “I don’t think so,” Everett said, tackling Stephan.

  They rolled along the tile, fighting over the knife. Stephan pinned Everett to the ground and clutched the knife in his hand. The world seemed to slow as the knife rushed toward Everett’s chest. She couldn’t let Everett die for her. She definitely couldn’t handle losing another person she cared about.

  With a flick of her wrist, the knife flew out of Stephan’s hand and slid across the room as Everett slammed his fist into Stephan’s gut and jumped to his feet.

  Stephan slowly stood and kept his eyes on Lexi, balling his fist. “She won’t be able to protect you when I tell the others I found her. She’ll be too busy protecting herself from them hunting her.”

  “You’re not going to be calling anyone,” Everett said, swinging his fist at Stephan’s face.

  Lexi lifted her hand and gave his arm and added telekinetic kick. When his fist struck Stephan’s jaw, he flew back and slammed hard against a locker. His limp body crumpled to the ground.

  “What are we going to do with him?” Lexi asked, as thoughts of locking Stephan up or shipping him overseas in a box crossed her mind.

  “I have an idea. It’s a long shot, but it may work.” Everett rushed over to Stephan and bent beside him. “Help me push a thought into his mind. I think we could do it, if we combine our powers.”

  “But I don’t have the power to control minds.”

  “Yes you do. You’re able to block my power to push a thought into your mind. If you could do that, you can also control minds.”

  She had a hard time believing she could control minds, but at the moment, she was willing to try anything to keep Stephan from telling the others about her.

  She bent down next to Stephan, opposite of Everett. He took her hand in his and squeezed it tight. “Now I want you to focus on making Stephan believe he followed me to Brookings, but I lost him,” Everett said. “He decided to stay in town and see if anyone could point him in the direction I went. He found a boy from the high school who saw me at a gas station and overheard me saying I was headed toward Seattle. He was leaving the school now to chase after me.”

  “Okay. I’m ready.”

  “Wait until he starts to wake. Then stare into his eyes.”

  Stephan moaned. His eyes fluttered open as his hand lifted and rubbed his chin. Everett gripped his shoulders and pinned him to the ground as Lexi grabbed his jaw and held it so she could stare directly into his eyes.

  She focused on making him forget everything that had happened since he came to Brookings from witnessing Everett rescuing her from drowning to attacking her in the hall.

  A minute passed and Everett lifted Stephan to his feet. He seemed to be in a trance, unaware they were standing next to him. “I think it worked,” Everett said, telepathically. “We should hide before he regains consciousness.”

  She did as he said and hid between two lockers with Everett on her side. Stephan waivered side to side as his body threatened to tip over. Then his eyes opened wide as he woke up from his trance. He walked down the hall toward the exit on a mission to chase after Everett.

  Lexi and Everett quietly followed him, listening to his thoughts. A smile spread across Everett’s lips cracked from where Stephan had struck him. “Our mind push worked, but—” Lexi’s heart sunk into the pit of her stomach hearing the dreaded word, but. “You should go to the mountains and hide until I can make sure he didn’t call anyone at The Community and told them about finding you.”

  She nodded and ran toward the exit. All the while a nagging voice in the back of her head kept saying, he already told someone in The Community about finding you.

  32 GOOD NEWS

  Struggling to zip up her hoodie with trembling fingers, Lexi attempted to get warm after a cool breeze blew past her. She glanced at her wristwatch. The clock read four-fifteen. Fifteen minutes after the time Everett said for them to meet on top of the mountain.

  He’ll be here soon.

  She stepped on the edge of the cliff and searched the valley below. Even though they managed to make Stephan forget he ever found her, she couldn’t shake the feeling he’d already contacted a half-breed and told them she lived in town. If he had told someone about her and The Community descended on Brooking to hunt her down, she was torn about what to do.

  She didn’t like the idea of leaving Irene without any protection while the half-breeds could torture and kill her. She also didn’t relish the idea of staying in town and facing hundreds of half-breeds eager to cut out her heart.

  Hopefully, he hadn’t told anyone. Then she wouldn’t have to make a decision whether to sacrifice Irene or herself.

  She closed her eyes for the umpteenth time and listened with her telepathy for anyone close by, but she heard nothing until her cell phone buzzed. She removed it from her back pocket and glanced at the screen. It was Irene.

  She answered the phone. Irene didn’t wait for her to say a word and blurted out, “I heard about the storm centered over the school this afternoon. Did you have anything to do with it?”

  That was a loaded question. She couldn’t tell Irene the truth without mentioning Everett. Even if she could tell Irene the truth, would she want too? She could only imagine how Irene would take learning she almost died. “No, I didn’t have anything to do with the storm,” Lexi lied.

  “Oh, what a relief,” Irene let out her breath, causing the speaker to whistle in Lexi’s ear. “I couldn’t stop thinking something bad happened to you.”

  “You had nothing to worry about. I’m fine.” Lexi reassured Irene. “Anyway, I have to go.”

  Lexi hung
up and slid her cell phone back in her pocket. Then she glanced over the edge one more time, searching for any half-breeds who might be lurking in the woods. Still no sign of one. But she could sense one standing behind her—Everett to be exact.

  She spun around and threw her arms around him, soaking in the warmth of his body. “I was starting to get worried something happened and you weren’t going to show.”

  “Nothing would keep me from seeing you,” he drew her closer to him, “especially with you on my side.”

  He gave her a brief, but powerful kiss to show his appreciation for her saving him from Stephan. The sky lit up as lightning danced along the clouds. He slowly pulled away gazing into her face.

  She gazed back into his gray eyes, reluctant to break their connection and ruin the moment by asking the dreaded question burning on her mind. But she had to know. She couldn’t take the suspense any longer.

  “Did Stephan tell anyone about me?” she said.

  “No.” Everett kissed her forehead. “None of the half-breeds know you’re living in Brookings. And,” a smile spread across his face, “my father is sending one of my uncle’s to Seattle. He’s going to pretend to be me and lead Stephan back to Colorado. Then my father plans to make sure he never comes looking for me again.”

  Lexi wanted to jump up and down and scream at the top of her lungs. She was safe. Well, until another half-breed tracked her down. Hopefully, none of them will be able to find her for a while, but a small voice in her head kept saying, they will find you and soon.

  “So.” She wrapped her arms around Everett’s neck. “Now that Stephan’s gone are we going to continue with the plan to convince the half-breeds I’m no longer dangerous?”

  “Definitely.” He slid his hands along her waist. “And I’ll continue to help you to learn to control your abilities.”

  “What about going to MIT this fall?”

  “We can’t go there.” Everett let out a heavy sigh. “Stephan hadn’t told anyone about finding you, but he did tell his brother, Ian, he suspected I knew where you were. My father got a vision Ian got on a flight to Seattle to meet up with his brother while two of his friends went to MIT.”

  She couldn’t help feeling bad for ruining their chance of attending MIT. “Are you disappointed you not able to go back to college?”

  “Not in the least bit.” Everett shot her wide grin. “I’m exactly where I want to be.” He leaned in to kiss her and said, “With you.”

  Before their lips met, her cell phone buzzed. She reluctantly checked to see if Irene had called her back. Nope. It was Tyler. “He just doesn’t seem to understand I don’t want to be with him.”

  “Relax. I’ll take care of him.” Everett hinted he planned to use his mind push on Tyler. “But I’m going to wait when his defenses are down so it’ll work this time. In the meantime, if he traps you like he did today, push him with your telekinesis and run.”

  “But—“

  “No one is going to notice unless you slam him up against a wall. ’Cause the last thing you need is that jerk pushing you into making something happen and exposing your location to the half-breeds searching for you. I can’t go through losing you again. You’re everything to me. I—“ He cleared his throat. “I’ll be lost without you.”

  Lexi’s heart ached. She had an idea what he really meant to say—he loved her. Despite barely knowing him, she was falling madly and deeply in love with him. She hadn’t realized it until Stephan almost killed him.

  A part of her wondered if almost losing Everett triggered a memory that resurfaced her old feelings toward him that would explain why she kept picturing him in her future. Or could it be they were destined to be together as Everett had claimed. Whichever the case, she couldn’t handle losing him either.

  “I’ll be lost without you too,” she said, gazing up at him. “You’re everything to me. You’re my boyfriend, my teacher, my protector.”

  “Hopefully, I’ll also be your savior and convince the half-breeds to accept you so we can be together.”

  “I hope so too.”

  He kissed her hard on the lips and the sky darkened from the clouds gathering. A lightning bolt streaked across the sky and struck a tree in the valley below. Everett pulled away and glanced up at the clouds. “Perfect. Now you can practice controlling the weather. I don’t want you going back to school or anywhere near Tyler until you mastered your atomkinesis. I’m afraid one more strange weather incident is going to make the half-breeds suspicious.”

  He had a point. A few strange weather incidents could easily be discarded as anomalies. Several strange weather incidents on the other hand would make everyone suspicious something odd caused the strange weather.

  After the electrical storm, the typhoon, the earthquake and the recent lightning storm she caused, she couldn’t help wondering if she already bypassed anomaly and reached the point where everyone suspected something or rather someone had been behind the bad weather.

  Whichever the case may be, she better prepare for the worse. “Alright I’ll practice,” she said, “but it may take me several days.”

  “Too bad. I was hoping it would take a lot longer.” Everett shot her a wry smile. “Then I would have more time to test your progress afterwards.” He hinted to them kissing. “Which reminds me,” he yanked his cell phone from his front jean pocket and threw it to her, “put our cell phones across the valley so I don’t have to worry about them exploding.”

  She lifted her hand and placed the cell phones on a rock far away from them. Then she turned toward Everett. “What do you want me to practice first?”

  ###

  To be continued . . .

  Follow The Zeuorian series at http://www.thezeuorian.com/

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  Cindy Zablockis grew up in Southern California a few miles from Hollywood and dreamed of writing the next Oscar winning movie. So she spent her days dreaming up intricate stories, mostly thrillers or fantasies while listening to music. It wasn’t until she worked at Harcourt Publishing helping to design and edit young adult reader books, did she decide to write her first YA novel.

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