Return To Pandora: Book 1 in The Pandora Series (14 page)

“I don’t know, but maybe it has something to do with you. Yours are glowing as well, your bright green eyes look to be illuminated by the glow that you are currently giving off.”

“What? Let me see that?” I said and took the mirror from him. I looked into it to find what he had said was true. They were glowing, but I didn’t know how either.

“You don’t have to be terrified of me,” he said, pulling my gaze and attention from my glowing eyes back to his glowing eyes. “I will never hurt you. If what they say is true, we can never hurt one another without it hurting ourselves in the process.”

He lifted my head to keep me looking at him in the eye and I had to fight the urge to look away.

“We are only sixteen, how do you know we are truly soul mates? Can I seriously count on us not hurting the other the rest of our apparently long lives?” I asked.

“I can count on us,” he said taking my hand in his and kissing the top of it.

Even though I didn’t know what the future held, I knew his words to be true.

“What if something happened to you? Who would help me pick up the pieces if you are not there? You are the only one who always helps me pick up the pieces of myself. If something happened to you and I had out lived you there is no way that I would be as strong as my mother and be able to hold on to myself when everything in me wants to let go.”

He knew what I said was the truth, but still, he continued. “I will never leave you here alone. I am yours always.”

He pulled my face to his, kissing me passionately, effectively telling me that the conversation was over. His hands roamed up my back beneath my shirt and I let out a slight moan as his touch sent shivers of delight through my body. I ran my fingers through his hair and tugged on his curls, earning me a moan from him in return.

He deepened the kiss, taking me into him in a way I have never experienced. I knew if I didn’t stop him things were going to go too far, but something in me was telling me that he deserved me, he was my soul mate, why not let him have all of me. I let myself go into him and I was kissing him back with as much passion as I received from him.

That was when the knock at the door startled me. Thankfully it cleared my head and allowed me to realize that even though I want him to have all of me, I am just not ready.

I quickly got off of him and straightened my shirt and hair. When I felt I was presentable enough I opened the door and to say I was surprised was an understatement. Standing in front of my bedroom was Shanieza and Elizabeth.

“HI,” I said opening the door wider, allowing them to walk in.

Elizabeth took the chair at my desk and Shanieza sat on my bed. Zack took a protective stance near the window, probably because he wasn’t so sure they weren’t going to harm me.

“What are you doing here?” I asked them as I took my seat beside Shanieza.

“We heard you were sick and since you haven’t been to training for two days we figured we would come and see how you were doing. Your aunt told us you were awake so we wanted to see if you needed anything,” Shanieza said, surprising me.

I didn’t expect that to come from her, Elizabeth yes, but not Shanieza.

“I’m fine. I had a high fever that kept me in bed knocked out for most of the time. When I woke up today I felt better and wanted to go train, but my mom wouldn’t let me. She said one more day of rest wouldn’t hurt.”

I knew I was lying to them, but I didn’t need them to know I was unconscious because my powers were killing me every time I used them. I didn’t want them to fear for my life as they fought for theirs.

“Well you sound better I hope that means we will be seeing you tomorrow.” Elizabeth said and I smiled at her.

“Most definitely, I cannot afford to take another sick day. I want to be as strong and as quick as possible before we have to face Christina.” I said to them as I got up and walked to the door. “I’m famished, anyone want to eat?” I asked eyeing them all.

“Sure, I could eat. Do you have any hot chocolate?” Shanieza asked getting up off of my bed and walking towards the door.

“Sure do, I love me some hot chocolate,” I said making the girls laugh and Zack roll his eyes.

Elizabeth got up and walked to the door saying, “I’m not hungry, but I could use some hot chocolate as well.”

We left Zack to come with me and the girls whether he wanted to or not.

As weird as it felt to have them in my house again it felt just as good. I missed them for so long before I finally gave up on them that I didn’t realize how good it felt to be around them again, even if it was just to train our powers and strength to get us ready for the big battle ahead of us.

We sat around the island in the kitchen while I made hot chocolates for everyone and Zack made us all, except Liz, a salami and cheese sandwich. I love salami, it is my favorite lunch meat.

When we were all set we went out in the back yard and joined the adults around the fire pit. Hot chocolate and food around the fire with friends, what more could I ask for?

We walked into a good part of their conversation because my mother’s face was beet red from how much she was laughing. My aunt Olivia looked to be pretty red too. She was sitting next to Derek and I was surprised and happy to see that they were holding hands. I set my drink and sandwich down on the little brick wall the surrounded the yard and went to grab a few more chairs.

Zack came and helped me. I wasn’t surprised because mom always had him helping me out around the house growing up so my chores became his and we finished them so much faster. Which allowed us more time to have our adventures. 

We took four chairs over towards the fire and I sat beside my mother and Zack as the girls took the last two seats between Zack and Derek. Isabel and John were here too, in between my mother and Olivia. Wow we have a party going on and no one invited us. I noticed that the guys had beers in their hands and the women had glasses of pink wine. Maybe we did come out at a good time. Mom doesn’t drink much and I expect her urge to drink is to celebrate that I am no longer lying on my death bed.

My group and I turned into a circle behind the fire so we could talk without having to yell over the drunk adults. My mom looked so happy with them I didn’t want to interrupt their little party.

We sat there the rest of the night just talking and telling stories about how we grew up and all the trouble we used to get into. Like when we went camping and after the adults went to sleep we snuck out with the intention of swimming in the lake at night. But our plan got ruined when Liz fell into a hole big enough to fit a full grown bear. Leah fell into it too, after attempting to help Liz out, leaving Zack and Josh to help both girls out while Shanieza and I snuck back to camp to grab more flashlights. When we were done getting the girls out of the hole we were all so spooked and worn out that we ended up going back to camp and going to bed.

Shanieza laughed really hard at the memory and I couldn’t blame her, I was laughing too, but we weren’t the ones stuck in a giant hole. Liz was laughing too, but she looked a little embarrassed as well.

“We were ten and man did we fail at trying to break the rules,” Liz piped in after everyone quieted their laughing.

It became especially hard when they started talking about feeling forced to be around me and wanting time away to think. Liz came out and told me she did it because everyone else did and she felt horrible but never knew how to go about saying it, so she just stayed away.

I told them the past was the past, as long as they didn’t feel forced now, then I’m cool. It still bothered me, but we were moving in the right direction and that is all I wanted.

When it was way past time for me to be in bed with an early start to my day tomorrow I said goodbye to them and all of the adults and went up to my room. Zack went home too after me yelling at him because all I wanted to do was sleep and if he was here I wouldn’t get any sleep.

He said he would be back early in the morning so I had better be ready. Great, I thought as I walked up the stairs to my room. I showered since I hadn’t in apparently two days and I felt it was time to wash the grime off of my body. When I came out I fell on my bed and passed out.

Morning came much too quickly for me and I was annoyed that Zack used his thoughts to wake me up.

“Good morning beautiful!”
He said into my head, not to loud, but loud enough for me to know that he was here and probably standing right in front of my bed.

I chanced a glace and sure enough he was there staring down at me like some creeper. I grabbed my pillow and held it over my head as I yelled at him, “get out of my room, it’s too early.”

“Actually it is five. I let you sleep an extra hour. The girls are here too, they are down stairs waiting for you. Olivia and Derek are at the field with my mom and dad. I told them you had a long night and you would be there soon. So get up, get dressed and eat because we are leaving in thirty minutes.”

“The girls are here? Why?” I asked dragging myself out of bed and going to grab my clothes from my dresser for today.

“They said they wanted to make sure you didn’t look bad being the last one to show up. They know you were sick and missed two days already, but they figured if you showed up late with them, it wouldn’t look like you wanted to sleep in.”

“Really?” I asked. “That’s odd, but ok I’ll take it.”

He laughed as I closed the door to the bathroom and quickly changed, brushed my teeth and did my hair. I threw it up in a bun and walked out.

Now that I was ready to go I gave him a quick kiss and he wasn’t happy.

“That’s all I get after waiting up here all alone for you?” He asked, feigning hurt.

“You woke me up! How do expect more than that?” I said trying to make it sound as if I was mad at him.

“Please, you love it when I whisper sweet nothings into your head like that,” he said as he pulled me to him and gave me another longer kiss.

When he pulled away he was smiling as if he just a won a trophy or something. I punched him in the arm and took off down the stairs before he could catch me. I came into the kitchen laughing like a school girl and the girls looked at me with envy? What could they be envious of? I ignored it and kept going towards the coffee pot and poured myself a cup of coffee, grabbed my already full plate of food, sat down and ate it all. I had chugged my coffee before I could even get a hello from the girls.

“Hungry?” Shanieza asked me as I finished off my coffee.

“Yes and Zack threatened me that we would leave without me eating if I wasn’t done. I wouldn’t be able to train if I didn’t finish eating, so I ate it as fast as I could. Look we have ten minutes before we are to leave,” I said picking up my plate and cup and putting them into the sink.

Zack already washed all of the other dishes so one plate and cup won’t be that big of a deal.

Laughing at me Liz said, “I see why you ate like you haven’t eaten in a week.”

“Yup it’s that or I starve. Now you see what I have to deal with?” I grabbed my bag and called out to everyone. “You guys ready?”

We walked there rather quickly and I was surprised when no one gave us any crap for being an hour late. I guess they were right to come. I could get used to them being around.

Weakness

After training, which felt like forever mind you, I stayed behind with Olivia and Zack to work one on one with my powers. I called on the wind and sent it spinning around us and then called on the water and used it to make a mini twister on the side of us. With my mind focused on two different objects at once I felt the strain on my body, it was light, but it was there.

So being daring, I called on the dirt that surrounded the whole field. I brought it up and used it as a sort of sand storm that was just waiting for direction on where I needed it to go. That is when the strain started to get stronger. I didn’t let go because I knew I hadn’t reached my limit yet, instead I slowly collided them into one, almost like I had it the other day. I took the twister and collided it with the water and it made the water twist faster. When I knew they were mixed well I sent the sand storm into the mix. Watching the sand twirl around in the twister only made me think of the last one I created. Using them together like this tells me that I don’t have enough strength in my body to add another element, which is what almost killed me. I didn’t listen to my body’s warning and I could have died.

Now, as Olivia and Zack observe me using what elements I could use, they realized in my face that I was using too much.

”Jackie, let it go, you’re hurting yourself,” Olivia said, sounding seriously concerned.

So I let the dirt go and waited until it fell to release the water. When I couldn’t see the water anymore I let go of the air. I fell to my knees after being totally sucked of my physical strength.

“So we need to work on getting more than one element in there at a time. We start with two and my suggestion would be the two that hurt you the most, fire and earth. I’m not sure if you are weaker against the earth since that was the last one you used, but it definitely had its toll on you.” Walking beside me to help me up she said, “We will work on that tomorrow, today you rest. Tomorrow you also have your carbon copy battle, you have ‘won’ the first battle, but you ‘died’ yourself, so it doesn’t count.”

“Way to kick a girl while she’s down,” I said dryly.

She shook her head at me and continued to help me to my feet. I held on a little too tight as I caught my balance and Zack stepped in and helped me where she couldn’t. He’s taller than her, so he could handle me using him as a crutch.

She held onto me and Zack and said, “Hang on tight and please don’t let go. This may cause you to feel sick but hold it in until the end of the ride,” and we were gone.

Everything seemed to be zipping by in a blur, almost as if we were speeding our way through the town. When it stopped I did feel a little sick and I held my stomach and Zack’s arm at the same time. I almost lost what was left of my lunch until I felt Zack’s hand gliding gently down my back. When I stood up right again I noticed we were in the front of my house.

“Wow that was awesome, is that how you travel all the time?” I asked Olivia who gave me a wink as an answer. “Does it drain you the more people you carry?”

“Not at all, except I couldn’t carry more than four other people with me. I’ve tried and even been practicing it, nothing helps. My limit was and always will be four plus me.” She didn’t sound upset, I wouldn’t be upset if I had that power either.

“Alright, who is cooking me dinner? I’m starved and I am in need of a big juicy steak with mashed potatoes. Oh yeah don’t forget…”

“Hot chocolate,” Olivia and Zack said in unison.

“Wow you guys really do know me so well.” I said with the sweetest voice I could possibly have.

“Yes we do, but you don’t make it very hard, you have that with everything you eat except breakfast,” Zack said helping me into the house.

He brought me into the kitchen with him and plopped me on the stool at the island. I sat and watched as he and Olivia set to work on the dinner I was currently craving. I got up when I felt better and went to grab a drink. I pulled a glass out of the cabinet and poured myself a glass of orange juice. Maybe it will help with the dizziness. I sat back down and continued to watch as they prepared the feast. I was feeling better already and I wanted to shower before I ate.

“I will be right back. Don’t eat without me,” I said to them as I walked away and went to my room.

I quickly showered and changed into my favorite pajamas. They were super comfy and I didn’t care who was here. When I came back down my mother had joined them and it smelt as if it was done. Steak was my favorite meat. I could eat it every day and still not get sick of it.

“Hi honey,” mom said as I took my seat at the table.

Zack had the plates set up and put the meat on the table and then the potatoes. He grabbed glasses for everyone, set them up and took over the piping hot pan of milk with the bag of hot chocolate mix. He set it right in front of me. I would drink it all, he shouldn’t tempt me, I thought as I reached for the pan and started pouring me a glass of hot milk.

“I will never tempt you with such things. I will only tempt you with me,”
he said to me and I almost blew my drink out of my nose as I held in the laughter.

“That has been a temptation forever. Don’t tell me you haven’t noticed?”
I said trying to be seductive.

Now it was his turn to not blow out his drink through his nose. My mom and Olivia looked back and forth between us before my mom said, “did we miss something?”

I looked to her and realized I couldn’t hide it anymore, I had to tell them. It’s not like I was trying to keep it from them for this long. I mean I did almost kill myself and it does have the ability to make things slip your mind. Besides I was knocked out cold for two days. Two days!

“Zack and I can uh, we can um. We talk to each other in our heads, using our ability to read each other’s thoughts.”

There I said it and it sounds crazy and silly to even be speaking those words out loud, but they are the truth nonetheless.

Their jaws hung open as if I just said I had a tail. “When did this happen? How come you never told me?” They asked at the same time.

“The day I ran out of the house I could hear everyone as I ran around the block. I thought someone was talking to me until I realized that I was just hearing strange peoples thoughts inside of my head and I couldn’t even see them. That is when Zack found me and freaked me out even more. He’s been teaching me what he did to help him and now I can block out everyone without much of a hassle.”

“Ok, so why didn’t you tell us?” My mother asked with that you better tell me now look.

“Because, it was one more ability to add to the freakishly long list of abilities that no one else seems to have. Zack doesn’t look at me as if I am the savior, he looks at me in understanding and I felt compelled to share it with him. This is something we have in common and I didn’t want you to look at me as if it was just another benefit to help me kill Christina.” I kind of felt a need to defend myself and I didn’t know why.

She stared at me for a moment before saying anything to that. “I hadn’t realized that I was doing that to you. If I was, I’m sorry. I will try harder not to make you feel that way, but if I come off as pushy then you know that it’s in your best interest. I don’t want to lose my daughter. I will be fighting beside you and I want us both to come out of there unscathed.”

My jaw hung open. She was coming into battle with me? Why hadn’t she said anything about this before? I always thought she was going to be sending all of us sixteen year old kids into battle alone. I never considered that she would be coming with us, although I guess I should have. I closed my mouth and composed myself before asking my question to the room.

“Are all of you going to be going with us?” I know I wanted to know if Zack’s parents were going too, but they are not here yet and I expected my mother to answer for everyone.

“Derek and I will be assisting you guys as well as the others who stayed behind to help you all train. As for the others I don’t know, but then again I’m not the Queen,” Olivia said, shooting my mother a look that I couldn’t quite understand. So I turned my head towards her.

“Isabel and John will be fighting, but I don’t know about the other kids families. We have brought it up, but they successfully averted my question. I will try and get everyone we can back in Pandora to help us as well. Those that do will be forever in my debt.”

She looked lost in thought as she thought about other people from Pandora helping us defeat Christina. I just hope that the ones that do help us don’t die in the process, because I can’t handle the loss of people who are trying to help me.

“You’re the Queen, can’t you force them to help you? To help us?” I asked her and she shook her head.

“I cannot demand them to do anything. I can ask them, but we do not force people to fight like this against their will. Most people volunteer, but others will need time to think. This is their lives they are putting on the line and most of them are already single parents, it wouldn’t be right to make them fight when they are all their kids have left.”

“Ok, but when we get there are we going to meet at someone’s house? Because we don’t have much of a plan, just train until the day we leave. That’s fine, but what happens when we get there?”

“We will be staying at Olivia’s house. It is hidden in the woods and people rarely go there, they know she likes to be left alone. So it is the perfect place to hide our band of misfits,” Derek said looking around at Zack and me, then towards my mother and finally landing on Olivia.

I could see how much he really cared for her and I was happy that he realized he held these feeling for her and pursued her.

My mother nodded her head agreeing with Derek and I leaned back in my chair satisfied that we had some form of a plan brewing.

“What do we do about Josh and Leah?” Zack asked and I mentally slapped myself for not thinking about that sooner.

My mother asked, “what do you mean what do we do with them?”

I shook my head at her ignorance to this whole scenario.

“Well Josh and Leah are definitely under the influence of Christina,” Zack said continuing his conversation with my mother.

“She didn’t look under the influence of her the night she came here,” she said sounding a little defensive of two people she barely knows.

“She wasn’t, but something happened from the time she left us here and went back to Josh. I don’t know if it was all part a plan that they concocted, but she definitely has the same evil look in her eyes that Josh has. I will not Risk the Princess’s or anyone else’s life to have them staying with us. We need another place for them to stay, even if we have to lie and say we are all splitting up and no one knows the locations of everyone else except for the Queen and Princess. I will not let them know where we are staying.”

He was protecting me and everyone else in our group. I couldn’t have been more proud of him than I was in this moment. Olivia and Derek seemed to agree with Zack, which forced my mother to agree with him too.

She nodded her head at him and said, “You have very valid points and I will take them all into consideration. The pair will be housed separately. As for where, we will have to come to an agreement with the people there once we get there. Maybe we can put them into an abandoned house.”

Zack seemed happy that things went his way and I was happy that he stood up for all of us. From there we continued to talk about our plans on how we would get there and what we would do once we arrived. I was starting to believe that this may work. My only concern was my powers. We had two months left and I needed to learn how to handle all of them, especially if I was to defeat Christina and survive.

After we were done discussing our plans we all went out back and they forced me to practice my powers in front of them. I was tired, but I obeyed. If I didn’t try to use them, I would never be ready. Two months. That was all we had left.

Since my strength went quickly as soon as I added fire into the mix, I started with the fire. I concentrated on conjuring the fire from my hands. My mother hadn’t seen me use my powers, especially these ones. Her sharp intake of air as fire grew into the palms of my hands was more than enough of a confirmation that she hadn’t realized the extent of my abilities. I slowly opened my palm allowing the fire to swirl out of my hand and into the air awaiting my command on where to go next.

I felt weaker already and I had to force myself not to show the weakness I felt. I called on the water next. When it came out of the ground it swirled around me, protecting me from any oncoming powers that clearly weren’t there. The awed looks of the people surrounding me gave me that extra push to call on the wind. I combined it with the water, creating a stronger shield than the water alone. I took the fire and forced it to swirl around with the water and air creating an impenetrable shield from anyone. I didn’t call on the earth because I was confident this was strong enough without it.

“Go ahead try to take me on,” I yelled over the roar of the elements that were swirling around me.

Keeping my mind on the shield I threw my arms out and pushed them all up against the trees. My mother was the first to react. She flung her arms out and up then let them fall to her sides and I felt the shield shake as something landed on top of it. I smiled when I saw the tree branch being sent back towards them. Zack took his arms and flung the branch over to the right away from the rest of us.