Blue Violet (9 page)

Alex stood
back and re-crossed his arms over his muscled chest. The look he gave her
indicated he was waiting for a real answer. Ellie knew that expression from
their morning runs. She was being too vague for him again.

She gave an
exaggerated huff, pretending to be annoyed. “This is for an English paper. But,
yes, I do like Jane Austen. As a rule I prefer British classical authors over
American. Although there are a few exceptions.”

“See? That
wasn’t so hard to share, now was it?” he teased.

She just
looked at him with a bland expression, but he still caught the slight twitch to
her lips and his smile widened. Ellie tried her darndest to ignore what that
grin did to her equilibrium.

“Ready for
pizza? They sent me to get you.”

The change in
topic came so suddenly, it took her a moment to catch up. “Oh!  Are the others
ready to leave?” She peeked at her watch. Sure enough, it was well past the
time they’d agreed to stop studying and head to dinner. She was a little
shocked. The evenings and nights often dragged for her, but the time here with
her friends had flown by. Maybe that’s what she’d been missing. Griffin was
wonderful, and they were very close, but she needed more companionship than
just him.

Alex nodded.
“They’re waiting for you.”

“Are you
joining us?” She gathered her research results holding it all against her chest
in a defensive posture.

“If you don’t
mind.”

Ellie just shrugged.
“Why should I?”

“I’ve taken
about as much legal research as I can for one night.” He rolled his shoulders,
easing some tension out of the bunched muscles. Her hands itched to smooth the
knots out for him. She clenched them around her books instead, irritated by her
completely irrational responses to this boy. “And I’m driving everyone back
after dinner, so it makes sense,” he continued, thankfully unaware of her
internal struggles.

“If you don’t
like legal research, why are you studying to be a lawyer?”

“Did I say I
didn’t like it?” It was Alex’s turn to be evasive.

Ellie tilted
her head. “You didn’t have to.”

They stood
there staring at each other for what was probably seconds but felt like a long
while to Ellie. She didn’t need Griffin’s mind reading ability to know that she
and Alex were thinking the same thing… that they seemed to be very in tune with
each other. Even from the small amount of interaction they’d had, it was clear
that they just got one another, saw things about one another that other people
seemed to miss.

Sensing a
dangerous connection being made, Ellie forced herself to execute a little
half-turn to head down the aisle. Glancing back at Alex, she gave her head a
little jerk. “Come on,” she said, “Let’s go get some pizza.”

After taking a
moment to gather all their school gear, all five of them headed across the
street and towards the downtown area. The pizza place was situated along the
river walk. The area was gorgeous. Lots of quaint little shops that edged a
rushing river. The mountain directly across the water was protected land and
untouched, and currently covered in snow. Ellie couldn’t wait for early summer
when everything would be green again and the wildflowers would come out.

As they neared
the restaurant, she suddenly heard Griffin in her head. “
Ellie
?”

“I’m with
the Jenners right now, Griff, can’t talk
,” she thought back.

“You need
to find an excuse to get out of there
.”

Ellie noticed
Adelaide giving her another of her odd looks and immediately smoothed her
frown.

“What’s up
?”
she thought at Griffin, as she attempted to keep her expression neutral and
carefree.

“I saw a
small pack of wolves… possibly Vyusher. Three at most. I think we should try to
follow them.”
The urgency of the situation came through loud and clear.

“We’re
about to eat pizza, Griff. What on Earth should I say? Where are you anyway
?”
            “
I’m just down the street. It seemed like a good idea for us to
do this together
.”  That sounded like her prudent brother.

“Okay
…”
Ellie’s mind raced. “
Stay out of sight until we’re in the pizza place. Then
call my cell phone. Make it sound urgent. I’ll meet you outside
.”

“Alright,”
came
his quiet reply. Just like Griffin to not make a fuss or ask questions.

They were just
sitting down inside the restaurant when Ellie’s phone rang. She made a bit of a
show about checking the caller ID, frowning a little, and then answering it
like she wasn’t sure what he would want. “Hi, Griffin.”  She put a questioning
lilt in her voice.

“I’m waiting
outside.”

“I’m at that
little pizza place downtown. You know along the river…” She made a little show
of acting like he’d cut her off and widened her eyes. “Oh!” she injected with
surprise. “You are?”  She turned to look out the window and saw him standing
there.  She waved.

In her mind
she told him, “
Turn around and pretend like you’re talking some more,”
and watched as her twin did just that.

She pretended
to listen carefully. “Okay. Hold on, I’ll come out. Just a sec.”

She turned her
attention back to the table to encounter four pairs of very curious eyes. She
scrunched her face apologetically. “Sorry. I’ll be right back.”  Getting up to
leave she added, “Order me a Coke, please?”  With that she hurried outside to
her brother.

“Okay, Griff,
they’re watching. They have no idea who you are or what you want with me. I’ll
go back in after we talk for a second and tell them that I have to go home.
Hopefully I can move fast enough that they won’t have time to ask questions. So
make it look urgent.”

Griffin gave
her a pointed look.

“Well,” Ellie
amended, “As urgent as it really is, I guess.”

“There’re
three of them,” Griffin started. “They were within about five miles of the
Jenner and Pierce houses but headed that direction, so I’m guessing they’re
much closer by now. I think they’re just checking things out. It seemed like a
good idea to follow them together in case something does happen and we need to
intervene.”

Ellie nodded
gravely. “Good thinking. Let me go get my things and make an excuse to them.
I’ll be right back.”

Griffin waited
outside while Ellie ran back in.

“I’m so
sorry,” she began, avoiding Alex’s intense gaze.  “I’ve got to go home.”

“Who’s that?” 
Adelaide asked staring out the window.

Ellie glanced
over her shoulder. “Oh, that’s just Griffin,” she dismissed airily, pretending
not to see the confusion on Alex’s face. She hadn’t mentioned Griffin to him
yet. Glancing around at her friends, something about the look on Adelaide’s
face made Ellie debate whether or not the other girl could see the real
relationship between Ellie and her brother. But she couldn’t deal with that
right at the moment.

“Is anything
wrong?” Lila asked, concerned.

“Umm… I don’t
think so,” Ellie said, “Just a bit of a minor emergency it sounds like.” She
swung her backpack onto her shoulder and grabbed her purse off the back of her
chair.

She circled
the table and gave Adelaide and Lila both hugs. “I had a lot of fun tonight,
even if it was just homework…” She grinned. “We definitely have to do this
again. Maybe next time I’ll actually get to eat.”

As she started
to move away, Alex stood and caught her elbow. Bending down he murmured in her
ear, “You’re being vague again, Elle. Everything really okay?”

Ellie could
see true concern in his silvery eyes, and her heart warmed a little bit more
toward him. “Everything’s fine,” she lied. “Still on for our run in the
morning?” The worry didn’t ease from his eyes, but he let go and nodded.

“See you at
school tomorrow,” she said to the rest of her friends, giving them a little
wave. And then she headed for the door.

*****

“Do you know
that guy?” Alex asked after Ellie left. He felt irritated with himself for the
absurd twinge of jealousy he’d felt watching her talk to the golden-haired boy
outside.  Sheesh. He’d only just been dealing with those same feelings with the
boy at the library. Twice in one night was borderline ridiculous. He couldn’t
seriously act this way with every boy that talked to Ellie. He wouldn’t allow
himself to be that insecure.

“Alex? What
the heck? You run with her?” Nate’s voice broke into his thoughts. He’d
forgotten for a second that his family didn’t know about his daily jogs with
Ellie.

Alex sighed
and then proceeded to bring them up to speed.

“You know you
can’t keep seeing her, Alex,” Lila said. 

He ran a
frustrated hand through his hair. “I know,” he agreed quietly. He’d known all
along that pursuing that relationship would be a colossal mistake.

Adelaide was
still looking at where Griffin and Ellie had been talking. She had a slightly
perplexed expression on her face.

“What did you
see?” Alex prompted.

She turned a
reproachful look on her brother. “You know I’m not going to tell you. But it’s
nothing dangerous, just… interesting.”

Alex shrugged
and gave up. Adelaide was his sweet, quiet sister, but she could be darn
stubborn when she wanted to be.

*****

Adelaide
contemplated what she’d just experienced. She had the ability to see
relationships between people… past, present, and future. She saw them as
various colored bands of energy connecting individuals. Different colors and
thicknesses meant different things.

And she was
very confused by what she’d seen between Ellie and Griffin. She wondered why
Ellie appeared to be lying to them.

Now that
Adelaide thought about it, Ellie didn’t really talk about her family, and any
references she’d made to them were pretty ambiguous. She realized Ellie was
elusive when it came to saying
anything
about herself. This fact didn’t
really worry Adelaide, because of the developing strand of relationship she saw
between Ellie and various people in Adelaide’s own family. But what
did
confuse
her was Griffin. He and Ellie appeared to have the same relationship as she and
Lila did. Relatives, definitely. Siblings, also definite. Twins, most likely.
But if that was the case, Adelaide had a ton of questions. Like why wouldn’t
Ellie have told them about him?  Why was she being so secretive about something
that should be so innocuous? And why wasn’t he in school?

Adelaide decided
she’d talk with Lila about it later and see if she’d picked up on anything odd.
Lila’s gift was the ability to see if people were being truthful or not, and they
would often compare their combined observances. She and Lila had no secrets
from each other. Based on the future relationships she could see between Ellie
and Griffin and herself, as well as with the other members of her family,
Adelaide knew she’d find out in time. For now, she’d give Ellie the benefit of
the doubt that she had a good reason for not saying anything. And while she
waited on Ellie, maybe she and Lila would be able to figure it out and help
move things along.

*****

Ellie only
breathed a sigh of relief when she and Griffin made it all the way back to the
library without incident. They hopped in her car and drove it home, just in
case they were being watched. It would be pretty awkward if one of the Jenners
or Pierces saw her car still parked there later.

Once they were
safely at the house, Ellie and Griffin rushed inside and opened the window in
her bedroom. It provided the most privacy and would allow them to enter and
exit relatively undetected – hopefully. Griffin tapped into Ellie’s power and
together brother and sister each morphed into the peregrine falcon form, one
inky black and one golden. Then they took flight.

The falcons
made a striking pair as they wheeled in unison and headed to where Griffin had
spotted the wolves. They scouted from the air, flying in ever-widening circles,
and still had no visual sighting of the pack.

“Let’s try
their tracks
,” Griffin’s voice sounded in Ellie’s mind.

Together they
swooped into a great dive, flaring their wings at the last second and
shimmering back into human form as they landed. They immediately found the
tracks. Ellie quickly morphed into the form of a great, midnight black jaguar.

As a jaguar, she
used her hunting instincts to try to find the wolves. But the ominous clouds
that had been circling above now rolled in over the mountains. A light snow
began to fall, making tracking extremely difficult. Finally, the scent and the lead
abruptly ended. As if they’d disappeared midstride.

She morphed
back into a human. Having followed her thoughts, Griffin did the same.

“Well, either
someone in their group is a teleporter who is strong enough to transport others
with them, or they can all morph like you do and they took flight,” Griffin
said.

Ellie shook
her head, grim. “We’ve never known of anyone else with multiple forms. We’re
only about a mile from the Jenner and Pierce houses. They’re getting awfully
close.” She wrapped her arms around her body in a feeble attempt to ward off
the biting cold.

Griffin
furrowed his brow. Leaning down he traced one paw print with the tip of his
finger. “You think they’re testing the situation? Seeing how close they can get
with no one noticing?”

Ellie bit her
lip and nodded. “That’s what it seems like.  But if the wolves you saw are
Vyusher, wouldn’t they already know everyone’s powers in those houses? Why
would they need to test anything?”

“I’m not
sure,” he replied, standing back up. “When I saw them earlier, I tried to
listen in…but as wolves, the pack mind really takes over. I had difficulty
making sense of any of it. That’s the closest I could come to any kind of
explanation. It was…” Griffin searched for a word. “Recon… of some sort.”