Return To Pandora: Book 1 in The Pandora Series (13 page)

Still he didn’t stop. “Stop! Ok, I love you too!” I screamed out and he stopped.

“See, I told you,” he said and his lips found mine.

Once his tongue got past my lips I was lost to him. He pulled me tighter to him and I relished the feel of his hard body pressed against mine. I don’t know how, but somehow I was underneath him, our lips never parting.  With my legs wrapped around his waist I could feel every hard inch of him and I moaned with pleasure. I put my hands under his shirt and rubbed them all over his hard muscles. I never noticed how much muscle he gained since his birthday. I moved my hands to the front of his body feeling his abs under my hands as they glided all over him.

Something in me told me to stop, while another part of me was yelling at that part saying no don’t stop! But I listened to the first voice and I reluctantly pulled away. Gasping for air as he flopped down beside me I said, “I love you, too,” meaning every word of it. 

He took his hand and caressed my cheek. “I love you, Jackie. From the first grade, when all the other girls had cooties, you were the only one that didn’t. I knew I loved you before I knew what love was. You were always the girl of my dreams and I was happy to find out that I was the boy of your dreams.”

I couldn’t say anything to that. I mean what was I supposed to say? Yes Zack you were always the boy for me, but I was too scared to show it and now that we have finally come to terms with that I’ll just pour my heart out to you? No, not going to happen. I rested my head on his shoulder and slowly fell asleep.

When I woke up I was surprised that I had a night with no dreams. I rolled over and found Zack not there. I felt a pang of sadness, but it faded as soon as I saw him come out of the bathroom. He was dripping wet with nothing but a towel on. I don’t know what came over me but I sounded like a little girl when I tried to talk to him.

“Good, morning. I’m glad you didn’t leave me last night.”

I mentally slapped myself in the face. Glad you didn’t leave me last night? What the heck Jackie, get it together.

All he did was smile as he reached for a bag I hadn’t even noticed he had with him. Maybe he did leave me last night, but he came back.

“I wouldn’t have left unless you wanted me too,” he said.

He pulled his White t-shirt over his head and I was surprised to see that it was the shirt I had gotten him for his birthday. He loved skulls and all that weird looking stuff on his clothes, so when I found that shirt with three skulls on it, looking like they were intertwined with each other, I knew it was perfect for him.

“So let’s talk about Leah. Last night was a little crazy and everything she said to us didn’t sit well with me last night. It felt forced. Not the part about you and her, the part about her being scared. You see after you fell asleep I couldn’t get to sleep. I kept thinking about her and how something didn’t feel right, I think we need to pay close attention to her, she is hiding something and I don’t like it.”

He was pulling his pants on with the towel still in place, must be an expert with that since sharing showers in gym class.

“So, what you’re saying is that she has already turned against us?” I asked after a moment.

“Maybe, maybe not. We won’t know anything until after she comes to us, or we go to her to see what new information she has for us.”

He bent down and was tying his black combat boots. They aren’t ideal for running, but they are good in the dirt and mud and today it was raining.

“I feel like a spy in one of those corny shows you watch.” I said as I got up and made my way to the bathroom.

“They are not corny, he said as I closed the door behind me.

I was in the middle of the shower when I realized I didn’t take anything into the bathroom with me. I never have to worry about this, it’s my room. I walk around half naked in there more often than not.

“Zack,” I called out, even though I know it is hard to hear anything in there with this door closed and the water on.

I heard a knock on my door.

“I’m going down to make breakfast. Don’t take too long we are already later than usual.”

“Ok,” I said relieved even though I wasn’t sure he heard me. That solved one problem.

My next problem was hoping he didn’t walk in as I was trying to find clothes. I turned off the water and grabbed the only towel left in there to dry off with. I brushed my teeth and brushed out my curls. I put my hair up in a bun today. Since it’s raining it will be pointless to use hair products to keep it tamed. The bun was my safest bet.

When I was satisfied I opened the door and peaked out. The room was empty. I quickly grabbed a clean bra and underwear, threw them on and took out my black yoga pants with a black spaghetti strap tank top. I love tank tops and yoga pants. I wonder what I will be forced to wear in Pandora. Probably something uncomfortable and puffy, like my dress from my party.

When I was done I headed down stairs with my own bag and Zack’s bag in my hands and set them down near the door. I made my way into the kitchen and found just eggs and bacon. Wow must be crunch time if he didn’t go all out on breakfast like he usually does. I smelled the coffee before I realized he had made me a cup already, looks like he made it correctly too. Six sugars and two spoons of creamer. I took a sip and was glad to taste my very own mixture the way I love it. I gave him a small smile and chugged the coffee down before I even touched my food. After I was done eating I had a glass of orange juice to wash it down. When we were done cleaning up we left.

Even though we were running late we still managed to get there before everyone else. My boots left marks in the mud in the field as Zack used his powers on me, sending me backwards, but not lifting me off the ground, so I skidded back until I used my powers to counteract his.

Today was very windy too. That meant I could use my elements power today and no one would know a thing. I sent a gust of wind towards Zack and he used his hands and closed them in front of himself like a makeshift shield. That sent my wind up and over him as if missing him completely.

“Hey no cheating!” I cried as I walked over to see how he managed to do that. “I want to know how you knew to do that,” I said as I reached him.

“I think it only works on the elements, but I watched it in a movie last night after you fell asleep, I told you I couldn’t get to bed. Any way I haven’t tried it on regular powers and I wasn’t sure it would work for that. I just wanted to try it on your wind.”

“So let’s try it on my regular powers.”

I didn’t give him much time to set up his shield before I used my arm and whipped it out at him.

The shield stopped some of the force, but he still went flying backwards, thankfully not as far as I intended.

“No one knows about that either,” I said as the rest of the gang started to make their way into the muddy field.

Leah came up to me and her eyes told me everything. She said she wanted to learn and that turned her into a vessel before she could say she didn’t want to. She didn’t say anything just looked at me and I wondered what she was thinking or wanted to say to me. Josh came up behind her and put his hand on her shoulder.

“Good morning, what are we going to learn in the rain?” He asked and I felt a shiver going down my spine.

“We are going to train like we normally do, the rain is a great help and we can use it to help make us more aware of what is going on around us. If we get to Pandora and it is raining we would be at a disadvantage. The people we will be fighting will know how to hold a sword and swing it in the rain without dropping it. We will be learning the same. After the first half of training we will switch to using our powers,” John said as he walked up beside Zack.

Leah nudged Joshua’s hand off of her shoulder and I moved to face them completely. She definitely looks different compared to last night.

“So, same groups of two then?” Josh asked as he took Leah’s hand and started towards his spot.

“Yes, take these,” John said handing them both a sword I hadn’t even noticed he was carrying.

He handed out all of the swords and I was paired up with Olivia and Zack was with his dad. We fought all day long with the swords. When it was time to switch to my powers, I told Olivia I wanted to hold off on using my powers. I would try them later when we use the carbon copy of the Queen so we can monitor my extra abilities. She agreed with me and we continued to fight with the swords.

Swinging this way and that way, I almost lost control of my sword a few times but I held tight and kept giving her all I had. I had a feeling that she was holding back on me and I didn’t like it. Later I would have a real fight and confront her about it too.

I took a break the last five minutes of training and realized everyone else was taking a break too. Obviously the rain was harder to work in than what we were used to. I looked around and noticed everyone was soaked. Their clothes sticking to their bodies and the boys had taken their shirts off.

I wish I could do that. I pulled on my shirt and it created a bubble in the middle of the belly. Zack came walking over to me looking all hot and seductive with no shirt on and the rain dripping down his hard abs. I smiled and was grateful for the heat of my battle for covering up my reddened cheeks.

He kissed me on the cheek and asked me “You ready?”

“Born ready,” I said into his ear and he chuckled next to me.

He grabbed my hand and led me home. The walk home felt longer and I wondered if it was because I was dreading my upcoming battle with the Evil Queen.

“Might as well stay in these wet clothes, no use changing if I’m just going to get soaked again. Are you going to train with me?” I asked as we entered my back yard.

“Sure. I could use the help too.”

The First Test

I didn’t even get to put my bag down when I felt that familiar cool breeze that came with the presence of the Evil Queen. I was already on my guard and Zack was too. When I saw her she was wearing a black dress with a long train. Her lips were a bright red and her long auburn hair was up in a weird looking bun at the top of her head. Her black eyes never left mine as she came at me swinging a sword, my sword, aiming for my neck. I pushed my arms out from my chest towards her and she went flying back.

I was already calling on my power to manipulate the elements around me using the rain against her. I forced it to turn into a twister, making it spin faster and faster. The closer it got to her the more I felt her trying to push it away. If that was her power she probably could have intercepted my call, but it was my own and no one else could use my power against me.

I watched as she was all of a sudden standing on the opposite side of the twister that I was still forcing towards the spot that she longer occupied. I heard Zack’s,
“What the Hell?”
in my head as I swung my right arm out towards her. She barely nudged.

I looked to Zack and Whispered in my mind,
“What are we going to do?”
He just shrugged his shoulders.
“Thanks for the help!”
I said not too nicely as I called on all of the elements. Bad mistake I forgot that my hands erupt into fire and I had no choice but to throw it at her. I sent it flying at her and she stopped it midair right before it would have hit her.

“Crap,” I said out loud. “How can I beat someone stronger than me?” I asked myself not realizing it was out loud

I still had full control over my surrounding elements and I gave her the best I had, sending the wind mixing with rain and the dirt that managed to get into my trap towards her. I let fire go from my hand using my mind to mix it with the mixture of elements that I conjured and it made it look somewhat beautiful. The fire illuminated the water and brought on an orange red glow. I felt powerful and I hoped it was enough to disarm her.

“I’m going to use this on her, you get the blade out of her hands,”
I said to Zack through my mind, not taking my eyes off of the eerily looking storm I had brewing before me.

“Got it,”
he said back to me getting his hands ready to go before I sent my storm towards the Queen.

Then it was gone. Twisting and turning, picking things up with it as it grew stronger the further it went. The shocked look on her face was more than enough for me to believe that we took her off guard. Using my right hand I held it as if I had a cup in it and was turning it around to look it. That is how I controlled how much it would turn and how fast it would go. I felt the wind picking up around me and I knew then that it was strong enough to take her out.

I sent it to complete its mission, by letting go of the imaginary cup I was holding and throwing it forward. It got to her right as Zack was able to grab the sword from her hands. I heard her screams and as I wiped blood from my dripping nose I released my hold on the elements and everything returned to normal. Except me, I fell to the ground in a heap at Zack’s feet shaking uncontrollably. I could tell by the frantic look in his eyes, he was not expecting this to happen, but I was frozen in my current state and I couldn’t console him, or make it any better. I shook until it made me pass out.

When I woke up I was in my bed with a worried looking mother and aunt sitting around me. They weren’t looking at me, so I was able to pretend I was asleep a little longer trying to get any information from them as I could. Too bad that lasted all of two minutes, because I am not one to lie quietly in my bed all day.

I coughed and felt the tension from my mother leave her, even though it wasn’t much, she was relieved that I was finally coming to. I felt them both grab my hands and wait for me to open my eyes. I blinked them open as if I was seeing a bright light and the, “Oh thank God,” that they both said in unison, was a relief to both of them.

“How long was I out?” I asked as I stretched my sore muscles.

“Two days honey,” my mother said as I sat up completely shocked that I had been lying there two flipping days!

“What do you mean two days? I felt like I was just outside with that carbon copy of Christina. Where is Zack? Does he know I am awake?” I asked panicked that something may have happened to him in my absence.

“He is right down stairs. I have to admit he is a little distraught about you almost dying on him during your surprise training. He is making lunch and hot chocolates for us. Do you want something? I’ll head down and have him make you some too,” Olivia said as she got up to go down stairs.

“Um, sure I guess. I don’t feel very hungry, but I bet when I smell it I will be.”

I wanted to tell her to hurry, because I have an ache in me that won’t rest until I see him, but I don’t know how they would feel about me confessing that much to them. So I left it at that and waited as patiently as I could for their return.

“He loves you,” my mother said taking me away from my thoughts of him.

“What?” I asked her as I tried to hide my blushing cheeks.

“Jacquelyn please, I am your mother. I know when you’re trying to hide something from me and I can tell when the boy you spent half of your life pining for has the same look in his eyes that you have in yours. You two were meant to be together. I have seen it, I watched it play out in one of my dreams, but I never seen how it happens. I knew bringing you two up together would mean that you would have feelings for him, but I never thought they would come this far. I’m not upset, don’t look at me as if I’m contradicting myself, I am just stating the facts,” she said looking at me in a way I hadn’t seen since I was a little girl.

“Momma? Why did you want to give me away to Derek?” I asked before I could stop myself.

She looked lost in thought before she responded and I wasn’t expecting what came out of her mouth.

“He was a solider, much like your father, but lacking the added abilities. He was going to be a permanent guard to our family, but he quickly became family. I didn’t want to see you suffer and I didn’t want him to have to live a life of misery without love and happiness. I never knew I would have such a powerful and dominate daughter as I have, so when I made the deal with him, that if I had a girl, he could be her husband and protector, I did it to protect you. I didn’t want anything to happen to you and I just wanted us all to be happy and together. When I thought that he betrayed me and your father, I knew I had made a big mistake. Who was I to say what you do and do not deserve. I thought he only wanted you to become a future king. That one day, if he hadn’t gotten to your father first, he would have gotten to both of us and ended up being the king I knew he wanted to be. So I vowed to never try and force you into something you didn’t want to do. Not that you knew back then, but I knew and I would never forgive and forget what had happened.”

“I know you wanted me to be protected and I’m not mad at you for that, but what if I wasn’t happy with him? I would have had to stay with him forever right? Isn’t that something that is irreversible? Even if I didn’t grow up with Zack, I feel as if I would have met him and fallen for him all the same way. I feel this pull, like we are two magnetic pieces and we fit perfectly together. I feel him deep in my soul and I can’t describe how much I hurt knowing that I could have never seen him again.”

With tears in her eyes she said ever so quietly that I barely heard her, “That is your father and I. We would always talk about how it felt to be separated from each other and I had to fight myself day and night to keep the ache out of my chest just so I could raise you. After the first few years the ache dulled to an annoying pain that just wouldn’t go away. It was a constant reminder that I had lost my soul mate. I don’t want that for you. You have found your soul mate at such a young age and I hope you two never have to endure what your father and I have endured. It is not a fate I would wish upon any one.”

She looked so torn between the reality of knowing her husband was alive and the pain it causes her to be apart from him.

Just as I was about to say something to her, my soul mate walked into my room. He had the biggest smile across his face as he saw me sitting up in bed and ready to get out. I didn’t even have to say it, he knew just by looking at me that I wanted out of my bed.

“Don’t you even dare!” He said aloud and in my head at the same time.

How the heck did he do that? Talk about trying to give me a migraine. The pain I was feeling in my chest subsided the moment he was within my eye sight. How could that be possible?

“What?” I said as I went to take the covers off of my legs and dragged my legs over the side of the bed so I could sit upright correctly.

“That!” He said pointing to my legs that were about to be used to carry me out of my bed. “Get your little butt back in the bed and rest!” He said trying to sound as if he had the authority.

I heard my mom and aunt trying to disguise their laughs and I turned and shot an evil looking expression their way and it only made them laugh harder.

“GET OUT!” I said to them pointing towards the door and they got up and left without hesitation. When they left my room and closed the door I attacked him.

“How could you do that to me? Do you think that you are my boss? You embarrassed me in front of my mother and my aunt. They are going to think I’m some love sick puppy who does whatever you ask me to do! How the heck did you get your voice into my head and out loud together at the same time?” 

“First of all, I would never make you do something you didn’t want to do. Second, love sick puppy? You? Never in a million years. And last, you had me scared half to death that I was never going to see you again. Or hear that sass that I love so much come out of your mouth. I thought I had lost you,” he said as he put the tray of food down on my desk and walked over to me.

He pulled me into his embrace and I relaxed almost instantly. Soul mate? I agree. Because if it isn’t that I am definitely doomed if this relationship ends badly. “Practice,” he said and I didn’t get what he meant.

“What?” I asked as I looked up into his eyes.

Rubbing his right hand over my cheek he said it again. “Practice. I practiced my powers all day and all night while you were stuck in that coma like state. I didn’t know what I was going to do without you, so I did the only thing I knew I could do. I practiced all of my powers, day in and day out waiting for you to wake up just so I could yell at you for being so stupid. You took her out, but at what cost? You could have died. You almost did, if I wasn’t there with you, you would have. If your mother wasn’t in the kitchen and heard me yelling for her then we may have lost you.”

He sounded a little angry, but it was mixed with another emotion, one that I couldn’t quite place. But then before I could say anything else he was kissing me fiercely.

I gave into his kiss and let him take me in the only way he knew how. He was hurting and I had caused him pain. It wasn’t my intention, but I wanted to kill that bitch before she could hurt us. I knew it was just a drill, a practice run but I couldn’t let it be just a practice run, I had to see what I was capable of and that was awesome, whether it almost killed me or not, I am one powerful Pandorian.

His kiss slowed down as he no doubt caught wind of my thoughts. “How could you be thinking about that while I am kissing you?” He asked tapping my nose with his finger.

Laughing I said the only thing I could say, “Because if I let your kisses take me away, what almost happened the other night might not stop.”

Those words caused a wicked gleam in his eye as he took me into his arms and picked me up. I wrapped my legs around him and he pulled me down to the floor with him. This time he held back the kiss that I know he so badly wanted to give me.

“Is it true?” He asked me.

I had the, “is what true,” look on my face because he continued.

“That we are soul mates?” His question took me off guard and I didn’t know how to answer that. I couldn’t lie to him, especially after my mother and I had shared so much about what it felt like.

“Do you feel it?” I asked instead of answering him. “Did you feel it while I was unconscious? That pull and the ache that was building in your chest like it was never going to let go?”

“Like a magnet? Pulling me closer to you as if I was your life line? Yes. I didn’t feel an ache, maybe it’s because I watched you sleeping while you couldn’t see me at all.”

“Maybe, but it’s terrifying,” I said as I tried to look at anything but into his eyes. I looked down at his shirt. It was a chilly day for it being early Fall. He wore a black hoodie that said
I love books
across his chest. I remember getting that for him as a gag gift because he really did like to read, but he didn’t announce it to the world. I played with the string as I continued to fight the pull that was trying to force my eyes to meet his.

When I finally relented and forced my gaze to meet his, those blue eyes looked like they were glowing.

“How do you do that?” I asked as I studied his glowing blue eyes.

“Do what?” He asked and he sounded serious.

“Make your eyes glow like that,” I said reaching above my head and to the right to get my little mirror from off of my dresser. I handed it to him and showed him what they looked like and he shrugged.