The Zeuorian Awakening (26 page)

Her hands trembled. He knew the girl next to Tyler had to be the full-breed, but from what she could tell from his thoughts, he couldn’t get a good look at her. Tyler blocked his view.

He still didn’t know she was the full-breed.

She frantically scanned the area for an escape and there were none without him seeing her. That left her only one option—use her atomkinesis.

With a lift of her hand, the wind gust and blew Stephan on to the ground. He rolled across the quad until he caught hold of a cement bench. Then she grabbed Tyler’s hand. “Let’s get out of here.”

She pulled him toward the parking lot. She had to take him with her or Stephan would read his past memories and discover her identity.

Lexi ran into the school entrance, pulling Tyler behind her as Stephan chased after them. Tyler glanced over his shoulder and back toward her, “What’s going on? I thought we were going over to my house?” he asked with a confused look on his face.

“Change of plans,” Lexi said, waving her hand in the air and sending several lightning bolts toward the school.

One lightning bolt hit near the front of the building, lighting up the hall. Another struck the roof. The last one hit the generator and the lights flipped off. The hall darkened. She could barely see the lockers or Tyler from a dim light shining through the classroom door.

Perfect, now Stephan wouldn’t be able to see them clearly unless he came right up on them or used a flashlight.

Lexi spotted a girl wearing a cheerleading outfit and grabbed her arm. She pulled her in between two lockers. “Trade clothes with me.”

The girl opened her mouth and Tyler cut her off. “Do as she says.” He turned his back and blocked anyone from touching them as they tried to make way through the dark hall. “So do you want to explain why we’re running from that guy?” he asked Lexi, glancing over his shoulder and admiring what he could see of her half-naked body.

“I’ll tell you later.” She shot him a dirty look. “Now turn around.”

She yanked the tight sweater over her chest, stretching the woven wool until a few threads broke. Then she stepped into the tiny skirt and zipped it up as far as it could go. The girl zipped up her jeans.

“I’ll keep the hoodie,” Lexi said to the girl, stuffing her hoodie in her backpack. She didn’t want Stephan mistaking the girl as her and trying to read her memories.

“We better go, the guy almost caught up to us.” Tyler pulled her down the hall. Once they rounded a corner and rushed into an empty classroom barely lit, he turned to Lexi, only an outline of him was visible to her. “Now tell me what’s going on?”

“Give me a second.” Then she said telepathically to Everett,
“Stephan saw me talking to Tyler and now he’s following me. I’m trapped in Chem lab. I need your help.”

“
Stay hidden,”
Everett said
. “I’ll be there as soon as I can.”

She stood on the tip of her toes and peeked out the door window into the dark hall. Several students were using their cell phones to help guide their way. But there was no sign of Stephan. Thank heaven. She turned back toward Tyler.

“Now are you ready to tell me what’s going on,” Tyler said.

She had no choice, but to tell him the abbreviated truth. “That guy is after me. He doesn’t know who I am. Just what I am and can do.” She hinted to her abilities. “He figured out you must know who I am since he saw you fighting Everett.”

“How did he figure that out? We never mentioned anything about you having powers.”

“It’s a long story, but that guy knows Everett is helping me. Now that he saw us together while I made the weather act up, he knows I’m the one he’s after, but he hasn’t been able to get a clear view of my face. I’m hoping if I hide until school lets out, I can keep him from seeing me.” She glared into Tyler’s dimly lit face. “If my plan works, you can’t come near me until he leaves town. You got that?”

“Okay. I’ll help you, but I’m only going to stay away from you in public. We can still see each other in private.”

Before Lexi could debate the issue with Tyler, she noticed Stephan a few feet from the room, touching a girls arm. “He’s here,” she said.

“Get away from the window.” Tyler yanked her into the dark room. “You don’t want him to see you.”

She listened to Stephan’s thoughts to check if he saw her. A sick feeling swept over her. He saw her staring out the window.

Her stomach twisted into a knot as the classroom door opened and a faint light flooded the room. A second later Stephan slowly entered inside. His eyes roamed the small area like a hunter would do while searching for his prey.

Lexi ducked behind a couple of desks with Tyler. She held her breath and focused on controlling the weather, trying to keep the lightning from striking and revealing her location to Stephan.

But as the sound of Stephan’s squeaking shoes moved closer and closer to her the harder it became to keep the weather under control. When he stopped right next to the desk she was crouched behind, a blinding flash of light filled the room.

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
.

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.