The Zeuorian Awakening (5 page)

Maybe if she thought about landing on the ground, she could make it happen. It seemed to work on making her float. It was worth a shot. She sucked in a deep breath and imagined landing in the valley below.

Her body dropped like a rock. She let out a scream.

The wind whipped her skin, stinging it. She tried to recall how she made herself float and only one thought came to her mind, focus as hard as possible on floating.

Another shooting pain radiated along her temple and made her head ache. Her body shook and muscles clenched as if she were struggling to fight the force of her falling. A few seconds passed and her body stopped midair.

Oh, thank heaven. She let out her breath. So she needed to focus on slowly landing on the ground this time to avoid free falling toward it.

She closed her eyes and cleared her mind of anything other than floating. Her head ached and body trembled as a gentle breeze blew her hair in the air while she slowly descended toward the valley below.

A few minutes later, her feet pressed against the tall grass next to the side of the mountain. She dropped to the ground and kissed it. She’d never loved the feeling of grass touching her skin as much as she did at the moment.

A loud thud caught her attention and sent several birds scattering into the air from a group of trees close to her.

Had the boy behind the bush caught up to her?

She rose to her knees and surveyed the area. There were several evergreen trees butted up against the mountain, a bush about the size of a small box and a tree stump, but there were no place for him to hide.

Perhaps something fell off the mountain? She scanned the area one more time. A few feet away, nestled in the tall grass she spotted a cell phone. Could that be his phone he dropped while watching her from on top of the mountain?

She proceeded toward the phone, scanning the area for anyone close by, but no one appeared, even when she bent down and picked up the phone. Miraculously the phone had remained intact. The screen had been cracked, but she could power it up.

Whoever owned the phone hadn’t bothered to customize it. For that matter, there were no phone numbers, history or any other information entered into the phone except for the incoming text message from an SMS messaging site.

“So it has started. Her powers are growing stronger than we imagined. Keep watching her 24/7. If you think she’s dangerous call me, father.”

The phone had to be the boys. She read over the message a second time and shivered. He was working with his father to keep an eye on her and knew her abilities were growing stronger. But why did he care? Better yet, why had he tried to carry her away on the beach after she’d transformed or broke into her house the next morning? Did he want to take her somewhere or did he want to do something far worse?

Well, she wasn’t going to stick around and find out firsthand why. She dropped the phone and sprinted across the meadow toward her Chevelle.

A couple of hours later, Lexi slid her knit tank top over her wet hair and kept her back to the window, just in case the boy was watching her.

The doorbell rang and she ran down the stairs to the front door and opened it. Angie strolled inside, wearing a green T-shirt with her father’s company logo on it.

“Okay,” Angie said. “I came over as fast as possible. I hope this has something to do with you deciding to stop avoiding Tyler and go out with him.”

“This has nothing to do with him.” Lexi scanned the street, eyeing every spot where someone could be watching her, before closing the door. “Come on, I’ll tell you in my room.”

Lexi walked up the narrow stairs to the small landing, hooked a quick left and entered the first door. Angie followed and sat on her queen-size bed.

“Give me a second,” Lexi said, sliding the television out of the way and climbing on top of the oak dresser. The entire time, she could hear Angie’s curious thoughts, but she didn’t say a word. It would be better if Angie saw it for herself.

She closed her eyes and focused on levitating. P
lease let this work. I don’t want to fall on my butt in front of Angie
. She lifted her foot and stepped off the dresser.

“Oh, my God, you’re floating now.” Angie squeezed her hands together. “How is that possible?”

“I don’t know.” Lexi landed on the plush-carpeted floor. “Something is changing about me again. I have a bad feeling this is only the beginning.”

She recalled the message on the cell phone, “It has started.
”
He must’ve meant she’d continue to develop more abilities and change, but into what?

Scenes from alien science fiction movies flashed through her mind with various characters experiencing something similar to what was happening to her. All of the characters eventually transformed into hideous monsters. “I sure hope I’m not becoming a monster.” She cringed at the thought.

“You’re not turning into a monster.” Angie scoffed. “There has to be a logical reason for you changing.”

“I haven’t found one yet,” Lexi said. “I spent the past half-hour surfing the web and I wasn’t able to find anything about what I’m going through online except in fictional stories or comic books.” She walked to her desk and grabbed a stack of paper. “The only real information I found discussed the theory behind paranormal abilities. See.”

Lexi handed Angie a stack of paper.

Angie scanned the first page and then the next. “Wow, that’s a lot of abilities.”

“Yeah, I know.”

There were hundreds of them. Most of them belonged to comic-book characters, but an actual scientist mentioned a number of others. Those were the ones she focused on.

“If you flip back to the first page, you’ll notice I placed asterisks by the ones I already have.”

“Telekinesis?” Angie glanced at her. “So you can move objects with your mind.”

“Well,” Lexi pushed her toe into the carpet, “not exactly. I can stop objects from falling and lower them to the ground.”

“Oh, so did you find any other helpful information?”

Lexi shook her head. “But I was going to probe Irene when she came home from work. I’m sure she has to know why I’m changing.”

The front door opened and Irene shouted from downstairs, “I’m home.”

“Ang, do you mind leaving?” Lexi whispered. “I haven’t told Irene, you know, what I can do.”

“Sure,” Angie said, rushing out of the room.

A few minutes later, Irene entered her bedroom, yawning. She lifted her glasses and rubbed her eyes. “You wanted to discuss something with me.”

“Yes I did.” Lexi stared at the wood door frame and debated what to say. There was no easy way to tell Irene what she’d been going through. She just had to spit it out. “Take a look for yourself.” She flipped on a lamp and lifted her head so Irene had a clear view of her.

“What happened to you?” Irene rushed to Lexi and touched her cheek.

“That’s not all,” Lexi pushed Irene’s hand away. “I can levitate now.”

Irene stuttered, “A-and y-you went to school looking like that? Did anyone notice you changed?”

“Relax.” Lexi squeezed Irene’s hand. “Everyone thought I changed over the summer.”

“Oh, what a relief.” Irene collapsed onto Lexi’s bed. “But you should’ve stayed at home instead of going to school.”

Well that had been the original plan before the guy broke into their house, but she should wait and mention it to Irene after she had a chance to probe her. She sucked in a deep breath and slowly let it out before asking, “So why am I transforming? Did Mom and Dad ever drop me in nuclear waste or let a scientist perform tests on me?”

Irene laughed. “Your imagination never ceases to amaze me and I’m positive you didn’t fall into nuclear waste or been tested on by a scientist.”

Okay, that left one other option she could think of asking. “So, was my mom abducted by an alien and impregnated?”

“Absolutely not,” Irene said curtly.

“Then why am I changing?”

Irene hesitated and stared at the picture of her parents on the night stand. “I guess it’s time I told you the truth. Give me a second.”

Irene stood and walked out of the room. Within a few minutes she returned carrying a leather bag with intricate designs etched into the hide like something Lexi had seen in her world-history class. Irene poured the bag contents onto the bed. “This was your birth mother’s belongings,” Irene said.

“My birth mother?” Lexi sat down on the bed and rummaged through the bag contents. She pushed aside a gold-plated brush and noticed a picture of a couple with pale complexions underneath. They both had the same strange green eyes like hers. The man’s black hair was thick and cut short. He had long eyelashes and a smile that lit up his face, identical to hers. The woman’s hair was the same auburn color as hers. “I don’t understand.”

“You were adopted. Cheryl and Brian weren’t your biological parents. The people in the picture were your birth parents.”

Lexi stared at the picture of the couple. There was no way they could be her parents. “I don’t believe you. I saw my birth certificate. It said my parents were Cheryl and Brian.”

“I know, sweetie.” Irene took her hands. “I forged it to hide you were adopted.”

“You lied to me all this time.” Lexi jerked her hands from Irene’s. “How could you lie to me?”

“I wasn’t lying to you. I was trying to protect you.” Irene sighed. “When you were barely a few weeks old, your birth mother showed up on your parent’s doorstep badly injured. Cheryl called me and insisted I drive to her house immediately to help your mother. She refused to be taken to a hospital. She was afraid the man chasing her would find you. By the time I arrived, she’d already passed away, but not before she told Cheryl you were special and others were looking for you. We should keep you hidden at all cost.”

Irene removed her glasses and chewed on one of the ends before continuing. “Honestly, we didn’t know what to believe and assumed it was just better to hide you were adopted and your mother’s death. I mean this is something straight out of a movie, not real life.” Irene laughed nervously. “But when you were able to read our thoughts at two, we started to believe her story and wonder if the government or the military could be the people looking for you. Your parents took extra precautions to make sure they couldn’t find you. They also made sure you wouldn’t accidentally reveal your power of telepathy to anyone either.”

“So there are others looking for me?” Lexi bit her lower lip. She had always been afraid of what people would do if they found out about her, but it had never dawned on her that others already knew what she could do and were looking for her. She wondered if the boy following her could be one of them.

Irene’s eyes narrowed. “What aren’t you telling me?”

Lexi shifted her weight and stared at the carpet. “Someone broke into our house this morning and followed me to school. He dropped his cell phone while watching me levitate after school and he had a text message from his father.” Her head jerked up and she stared into Irene’s eyes. “They know everything about me and what I can do. He’s watching me all the time.”

“Do you think he’s watching you right now?” Irene asked, eyeing the room as if he could be inside.

“Probably.” Lexi turned toward the small window above her desk. “From what I read in the message, he can watch me at school, after school and even at home.”

“Do you know who he could be?”

Lexi slumped and contemplated it, but with all the boys gawking at her, it would be difficult to pinpoint who he was. “No,” she replied. “But I know he goes to school with me.”

“Well, until we figure out who he is, I’d feel better if you avoid going anywhere alone where he could do something to you.”

“Trust me, I don’t plan on it.” Not when he had an advantage over her and she didn’t know what his real motives were for watching her or trying to carry her away on the beach.

Tuesday evening, a loud scream bellowed from the television set. Lexi turned her head from her bedroom window to watch a scene of a deranged killer stabbing a woman in a horror movie. She turned back to the window and glanced down the street again. There were no strange cars or people outside. Everything appeared the same as it did every other day in her neighborhood.

She knew that her Watcher, as she called him, had to be somewhere close to keep an eye on her, but where? She pondered the question and sat down on her bed as Irene entered the room.

“I have to go to work,” Irene said. “Stay home and make sure the doors are locked.”

“I already checked them.” Lexi lowered the TV. “Angie should be here soon so I don’t have to spend the night alone.”

Irene eyebrows furrowed. “I don’t feel comfortable leaving you here with that boy watching you. He already broke into our house once trying to get you.”

“You mean he
may have
broken into our house,” Lexi corrected Irene. “I only assumed he had been inside.”

“If you felt someone was inside the house, then someone had to be inside. Your premonitions are never wrong, even if you question them. I don’t.”

The last place Lexi wanted to spend the evening was at the hospital. “I’ll be fine. Angie’s father is down the street if we need help.”

“I suppose you can stay at home, but if you get a single premonition something is wrong,” Irene slipped on a leather bomber jacket over her doctors uniform, “get out of the house and come to the hospital.”

Lexi nodded and turned back to the TV as Irene left her bedroom.

A few minutes later Angie strolled into her room with a cell phone pressed to her ear. “I’m not sure if we can go Robert, but I’ll ask Lexi and call you back,” she said, flipping the light on.

“Turn it off.” Lexi shielded her eyes. “I don’t want my Watcher to see inside my room.”

Angie turned the light off with a sigh. “Robert’s at Sam’s Games and Billiards and wanted to know if we’d meet him there. He said Joel will be there, too and frankly it’ll be safer going to Sam’s than staying in your empty house with only me to protect you from your Watcher. Now come with me, please.” Angie batted her eyelashes, mimicking a puppy dog begging for food. “I can’t handle sitting in the dark while watching girls being hacked up when there’s a boy outside possibly plotting to do the same to you.”