I almost fell
over. My capabilities? So he knew about Amethysts. There was a pause, so I
peeked around the shrink wrapped cans and found I had a partial view. Jason was
shaking his head and banging his fist into his hand.
“Not to
mention,” he continued, “Jessica has been so excited about finding
Lexi
,
I didn’t want to burst her bubble.” He smacked his forehead with the palm of
his hand. “I should have realized…I should have known Lexi and Alex were the
same person. The odds of finding two of them at the same time are near
impossible.”
Now my interest
was piqued. Why had he been keeping me a secret? Did he think he’d found
another Amethyst, and now, as it turned out, I was the same person? This
complicated mess was almost comical.
“I can’t believe
it,” Madison said, suddenly hysterical. With her arms crossed, she drummed her
fingers against her designer purse and clicked one heel pointedly against the
floor. With deep malice she said, “You…you have a thing for her, don’t you?
That’s what this is really about. You’ve got to be kidding me!
She
is
why you’ve been acting so strangely lately. Now this makes more sense. This
doesn’t even have anything to do with her being an Amethyst, does it?”
Ah ha! I was
right after all. Apparently, he was in on the Nelson family secrets. But if he
knew about Amethysts, what did that say about him? There was so much more going
on here, and I was the one in the dark.
Madison dug into
him again. “You’ve been so preoccupied…so distant, and I couldn’t figure out
why. Tell me you weren’t actually thinking you could have some kind of
relationship with her.” She laughed. “Not like that would be possible anyways.”
Sounding satisfied with her own answer, she drilled him again. “What could you
possibly see in her? Other than she appears to have strong Essence…”
My ears strained
to get his answer to that question.
“
Appears
to?
Don’t kid yourself Madison. Her Essence is
extraordinary
.”
“Whatever,”
Madison snapped. “You’re the one who’s been acting
extraordinarily
strange. You still haven’t told me what your deal is with her.”
He growled. His
face was stone cold and humorless. “I have not been acting
strange
. And
how I feel about someone has nothing to do with you. Just so you know, I don’t
have any kind of relationship with her. And even if I did, it wouldn’t be any
of your business.” He slammed one fist onto the table and silverware jingled.
“This is beyond
belief,” she hissed. “You can fool yourself, but you can’t fool me. She’s the
reason you’re blocking me out. She’s why you didn’t respond right away when I
needed you.”
What the heck
was she talking about now?
She smacked the
table just as forcefully and pointed at him accusingly. “I think it
is
my business to know about any and all of your relationships. This affects all
of us, especially me. And with the recent killings in B.C., we need to be on
our guard – one hundred percent focused and ready. Which you obviously are not.
Not to mention, we’re probably gonna need her when the time comes. But if
you’ve got her all lovesick over you, then she’s not going to be able to… ”
“Madison, this
discussion is over. We both need to cool off and talk about this when you have
your emotions under control.”
There he went
again; the voice of reason. I was totally confused. I knew four people had been
murdered in B.C. the week before. Two of the bodies were a total mess and the
other two had been virtually untouched. They’d died of unknown causes. But what
did that have to do with Madison and Jason? Obviously, they needed me because
of my Essence, but for what?
She wasn’t about
to let the conversation end on his terms. Pushing him further, she said with
disgust, “This little…little
nobody
is why you’re suddenly reading
Pride
and Prejudice.
”
My heart leapt.
Was he really reading my favorite novel? I smiled to myself, despite the heated
and baffling discussion only a few feet away, the butterflies were back in my
stomach.
Through clenched
teeth he said, “You are way out of line. First of all, I am more than aware of
what we’re facing, and I am always on guard. Secondly, what I do with my
personal life is mine to decide. I do not need your input. Nor would I consider
asking for your opinion, let alone your permission. You and I might be
connected; we work together as a team, but beyond that my life is my own. We
are no more than that, so stop parading around in public, acting like we’re a
couple. We’re not, and I don’t appreciate it. You need to back off, or we
aren’t gonna be able to work together anymore.” His body was quivering. He
stepped back, pulled out a chair, and collapsed into it.
Madison’s face
looked crushed. Actually, she looked like she’d just had her heart ripped out.
I knew without a doubt, that at that moment, I’d just become her mortal enemy.
She inhaled slowly, drew her shoulders up, and said with chilly satisfaction,
“Fine. So, you have some sort of silly infatuation. But you know it will never
work between the two of you. It’s impossible. And it wouldn’t be fair to her,
or the rest of us, to even consider it. But more importantly, you better not
get side-tracked…” She kept talking but started drifting towards the door as
she spoke.
I knew it was
time to make my escape before she stormed out of the break room and caught me.
Quickly, I snuck back around the pallets and headed to the front end. I found
Ally in the check stand sliding her debit card through the payment machine, so
I grabbed her grocery bag and bolted for the door.
“Geez, what’s
going on now?” she asked, following me out.
“I’ll fill you in
on the way home.”
The brief
eavesdropping stint left me with more questions than answers. During our walk
home from the store, I followed Ally’s suggestion and called Jessica but got
her voice mail. I left a message about my awkward run-in with Madison and Jason
and asked her to call me back ASAP.
“We knew Jessica
had more to tell you, but who would have guessed she knew Jason or that it
would involve him? Apparently, there’s a whole lot more going on than we ever
imagined,” Ally said. “Come to think of it, it’s pretty obvious there’s a lot
more to
all
of them. I keep thinking about how fast and proficient Max,
Madison, and Laci were at that apartment fire.”
“I know, right?”
I said, switching the heavy grocery bag to my other hand. “They were so fast,
too.” I pondered for a moment. “Maybe Jessica doesn’t think I can handle the
whole truth. All this business about how I need to find my own Essence before
she can give me any more information seems absurd. Then again, maybe she just
doesn’t completely trust me yet.”
A convertible
red Corvette sped past blaring a rap song. Ally covered her ears and shook her
head. She looked at me and laughed. “Dang! That guy’s gonna need hearing aids.
I think that was Ludacris.”
“Yeah, my
eardrums are shot.”
“No, silly. I
mean I think the artist was Ludacris.”
“Oh.” I laughed
and bumped into her. “What scares me is that you even know that.”
“I’m just an
incredible wealth of knowledge,” she joked.
A short time
later we made it home. The small yard surrounding our yellow house was abloom
with white and yellow daisies. A few minutes later as we stepped onto our oval
splotch of front lawn, which Ben kept neatly trimmed, only because Ally
insisted, she stopped and looked at me nervously.
“Okay, what’s bugging
you?” I asked.
Ally dipped her
head. “I know we can’t talk about this when we go inside, because Ben is home.
I know how private you are about your personal stuff, especially the
premonitions, and I get that. I’ve never shared anything with Ben, but I know
he suspects something.” I nodded, and she bit her lower lip. “I mean how many
times have we been in the right place at the right time and saved people from
some accidental death?”
“Too many to
count,” I said quietly.
Her hand moved
to the gold chain at her throat, and she began twisting it. “Well, Ben has
commented several times that he doesn’t believe in coincidence, especially
perpetual coincidences. I don’t know, but I guess I was hoping you’d consider
telling him about your premonitions.” She sighed deeply. “Oh Lex, I’m going to
marry the man, and I feel so deceptive – always lying to him…” She dropped her
hand and groaned.
Guilt impeded my
airways. Finally, I said, “I hear what you’re saying, Ally. Asking you to keep
so many secrets from him hasn’t been very fair of me. I’ve been thinking about
this too, and you’re right, we should tell him. We could use his support.” I
reached out and caught her hand. Her face perked up and her eyes brightened.
“Give me a week or two. I’ll see if I can get some more information out of
Jessica, and then you and I can sit down with Ben, and we’ll tell him
everything – swearing him to secrecy, of course.”
She smiled,
relief sweeping over her features as she hugged me. “Thanks, Lex. You know I
love ya. And you know you can trust him. Besides,” her eyes sparkled, “watching
the expression on his face once we’ve completely blown his mind away –
priceless!” She laughed as we walked into the house.
We only had a
few hours before the three of us were off to watch Ash and Kai at band
practice. I needed something to take my mind off Jason and Madison, so I busied
myself checking e-mail. According to Aunt Frances, no other books had been
found in her attic. Next, I searched the web for articles pertaining to the
recent killings in B.C., and that’s when Jessica called me back. She sounded
completely unlike herself and said she’d practically had her head ripped off
while listening to Madison’s version of the whole story. She told me not to
worry about Madison though, because all she needed was time to cool down.
“Listen, Lexi,
the relationship between Jason and Madison is complicated.” Her voice echoed
through my cell.
“That’s what
everyone keeps saying,” I said with exasperation. “I think there’s a lot more
going on here. More than just Amethysts…something else that has to do with all
of you. Am I right?” I said into the phone and leaned back in my chair.
“Yes,” she said
quietly.
“And those four
people killed in B.C., they’re connected somehow, too?”
I was greeted
with dead silence, and then she finally said, “Listen, I’m making plans to
straighten this all out. Can you wait a week, and I’ll explain everything?”
“Why so long?”
“I just got out
to the island. We’re having that huge family reunion of sorts, and we won’t be
back until next weekend. But I promise I’ll tell you everything then. In fact,
I’ll need to have Max, Madison, Jason, and Laci help me, because what I need to
explain, I can’t do alone. Anyways, it’s gonna take all of us for it to make
sense. Not to mention, we’ll need privacy, so I’ll come up with a good place we
can meet.”
I drummed a
pencil against the armrest. I’d completely forgotten about her being out of
town. “Jessica, you’re making no sense here.” I was way past frustrated and
didn’t want to wait another minute, but I couldn’t really demand she leave the
reunion – the one her family was hosting on their very own private island in
the San Juan’s.
She cleared her
throat. “And just so you know, you’re right; being an Amethyst is much more involved.
I’d really hoped to wait and talk through everything after you’d discovered
your own Essence.” She paused and sighed deeply. “But in light of everything
that’s happened, it can’t wait any longer. After we’ve given you the full
story, the whole truth, then you’ll have to decide how involved you want to
become and if you want to support our cause or not. We’re facing something
awful…”
“Like the
murders across the border?”
“Something like
that, but it’s sooo much more involved. I don’t want you to worry right now.
Everything’s fine; I promise. Soon enough, you’ll know everything there is to
know.” I was quiet for a long time, and she said, “Lexi? Are you still there?”
“Yeah, I’m
here,” I muttered. “Just confused and honestly, a little pissed off.”
“I know. I’m
sorry,” she said. “Can you wait this out?”
“It’s not like
you’ve given me a lot of options here,” I said with exasperation. “And I will
expect the whole truth, no sugar-coating or leaving out details.”
“Of course, and
I promise it will be worth the wait and you’ll want to join us,” she said.
After our
conversation, I felt completely drained. A big part of me dreaded finding out
their secrets, while another part of me couldn’t wait to be part of it. While
I’d been talking with Jessica, I’d received a text from Ash: Lexi – I’m
expecting U at band practice 2nite. B here!
That was the
first I’d heard from him since our trip to Blanchard Mountain. Unbelievable! He
was so imperious! I shook my head. Despite any negative thoughts I might have
about him, at least Ash was the one person I’d met in Bellingham whom I could
count on to be normal. Just the fact that I considered Ash normal seemed
hysterical. Watching his band practice was just the deterrent I needed.
A couple hours
later, Ally, Ben, and I found ourselves standing in front of an old Victorian
house on Holly Street. The house was painted in accordance with tradition,
decorated in three different colors to embellish the architectural details;
deep purple, light lavender, and stark white. The house’s structural design was
beautiful, with high pointed peaks and shingles arranged in a decorative
pattern. Cutaway bay windows and columns added to its charm, but the paint was
chipping, and boards were hanging loose – a dead giveaway it was a college rental.