The Zeuorian Awakening (8 page)

“
We really shouldn’t be talking,”
he said,
“especially in a crowded room like this.”

“
No, wait.”
She was determined to find out something—anything—about the people searching for her. She bombarded him with questions:
“Why are they looking for me? Is it because they think I’m dangerous? Do they want to use me or kill me? How do they even know I exist?”

Before he could respond, Dillon approached her with a smile from ear to ear. He enveloped her in his enormous arms and kissed her on the cheek. “Hey gorgeous,” he said.

A row of locker doors flew open and slammed against metal in unison, causing one loud ear piercing bang. She couldn’t even go two seconds without making something else happen.

She unraveled herself from his arms. “Dillon, I told you to stop hanging all over me and keep your distance. I’m bad luck.”

Actually, she was terrified that something worse than the locker doors opening would happen if he kept hugging her like that.

Dillon gave her a sympathetic look. “You’re not bad luck. The pileup was an accident. See.” He handed her the local newspaper. “I bought this just for you as proof not even the news believes you had anything to do with the accident.”

She wondered why Dillon would be so concerned about showing her no one thought she had anything to do with the accident. Could he be her Watcher?

After listening to his mind, she knew he couldn’t be her Watcher. Nothing in his present thoughts indicated he had any idea she could read his mind or move objects. He wanted to use the newspaper to convince her to talk to him. Nothing else.

Lexi quickly read the article. “A sudden gust of high winds hit a car traveling on highway 101 Wednesday evening. The driver had slammed on her brakes to avoid hitting another car in front of her when the wind flipped her car over. Several other cars crashed trying to avoid hitting her. It’s the worse pileup reported in Brookings with over thirty cars involved and fifteen minor injuries.”

Lexi chewed on her lower lip. Nothing in the story suggested that anything out of the ordinary had caused the accident, unless a gust of wind causing a car to flip would be counted as unusual. Nah. She shook her head. Brookings had at least two or three stories about large diesel trucks being flipped over from the high winds.

At least now she didn’t have to worry about anyone figuring out she caused the accident, especially Irene.

She hadn’t told Irene about the accident or her Watcher helping her. If she had, Irene would’ve made her stay at home and stop talking to him. That was the last thing she wanted to do since he could tell her who the people were looking for her and why. And he may also be able to explain why she was changing. But she won’t be able to question him if Dillon continued to hang all over her.

She shoved the newspaper back into his hands. “It doesn’t matter what they think. I know what I did and I say I’m bad luck.”

“I don’t care if you are.” He hugged her again. “I’m not going to stay away from you.”

Damn, there went her excuse to keep him away. She let her arms drop to her side as he gave her a long kiss on the cheek.

“Hey dude.” Neal stood next to Dillon. ”I need your help. I locked my keys in my car and I left my homework inside.”

“You don’t ever do your homework,” Dillon said with a suspicious tone to his voice.

He glanced down the hall and Lexi turned to see what he was looking at or rather who. Tyler stood by a row of lockers with a group of football players. His eyes were locked onto her, watching her every move same as he had done for the past day since the accident.

Actually, now that she thought about it, he’d been watching her ever since she started high school her sophomore year.

“Tell your master, nice try,” Dillon said and turned his back to Neal while facing Lexi.

“What’s that about?” she asked.

“Tyler is up to his usual.” Dillon shot Tyler at dirty look. “He’s doing everything possible to keep me away from you since he knows better not to fight me.”

“So it’s true, Tyler told every boy in school to stay away from me or he’ll beat them up?”

“Yeah, it’s true.” Dillon’s expression took on a graver appearance. “I have to warn you Tyler isn’t what he appears. He’s a spoiled rich kid, who has grown accustomed to getting whatever he wants in life. Frankly, some way or another, he generally does get what he wants no matter what. It’s almost uncanny how he does. However, on a rare occasion he won’t and when that happens, he becomes determined and almost obsessed trying to get it.”

Her eyebrows lifted up. “So, what are you trying to tell me? Is he some kind of obsessed psycho who’ll force me to go out with him?”

“I wouldn’t call him a psycho.” Dillon laughed. “A sneaky, manipulative bastard that will lie, cheat and steal to get what he wants, but not a psycho.”

She couldn’t help wondering if Dillon was trying to make Tyler out to be some sort of jerk so he could have a chance with her, but then threatening every boy in school to stay away from her was a manipulative maneuver or was it?

Tyler had been watching her for the past two years, but never pushing her to go out with him until she transformed. Now he was trying to keep boys away from her. Why? So he could have her to himself or prevent them from discovering what she could do and exposing herself to the others looking for her.

Could Tyler be her Watcher?

But if Tyler was him, he wouldn’t talk to her in public or do anything that would tip off the others he was protecting her? Then again, pretending he liked her would provide a good excuse to get close to her while keep everyone away as she developed her abilities since girls and sex rate high on teenage boys favorite past time.

The crowd of football players surrounding Tyler walked away and he smiled at her. This would be the best time to determine if he could be her Watcher.

“Dillon, do you mind talking later?” she asked, hoping to get rid of him. “I have to go study for a test.”

“No, not at all.”

He gave her a peck on the cheek and headed down the hall. Once he turned the corner, she waved to Tyler and motioned for him to join her. A cat-ate-a-canary grin spread across his face as he strolled over toward her.

“You wanted to see me,” he asked with a seductive voice, oozing with sex as he slid his arm along her lower back.

The trophy case glass cracked and large pieces of glass shards fell to the ground. She jumped away from Tyler as her heart pounded against her chest. Oh, she hoped this was a good idea.

Tyler pointed to the boy standing next to the trophy case. “You better run before the principal sees what you did.”

He thought the boy had broken the glass. She glanced at the other students standing in the hall. It seemed everyone else assumed the same as him. Oh, thank heaven. Lexi wiped a bead of sweat from her neck. No one realized she had done it.

“So what did you want to talk about?” Tyler turned back toward her. “Are you reconsidering your dating policy?”

Lexi rolled her eyes after listening to his thoughts. She better question him where it would be hard for him to hit on her just in case she was wrong about him being her Watcher. “I’ll tell you after we eat lunch. I’m starved.”

Without waiting for him to respond, she rushed toward the cafeteria, flung open the large double doors and headed toward a line waiting to order. Tyler grabbed her wrist and stopped her from moving any farther.

“Why are we stopping?” she asked, a hint of concern in her voice.

“I wanted to wait until the line dies down.” Tyler motioned toward a group of students holding trays in their hands. “Come on, let’s stand over here.”

He escorted her to the far side of the room away from everyone and pressed her back against the brick wall. She wiped the sweat off her forehead as the large window a few feet from her shook.

Oh, this wasn’t going as she hoped. She needed to question him before her telekinesis got out of hand, but what should she ask him? She pondered over possible questions and settled on the one he couldn’t avoid answering that would quickly prove whether or not he could be her Watcher.

“Why do you always watch me?” she asked. “You’ve been watching me ever since I started school here.”

Tyler took a step closer to her and gazed into her eyes. “’Cause I like you and have since the summer before you started school.”

“How could you have liked me before then? I was living in California and homeschooled. My parents didn’t let me talk to anyone. So I don’t see how we could’ve possibly met before I started school.”

“You don’t remember hanging out with me during the summer while my father prepared your parents legal documents?”

She shook her head. She couldn’t recall ever meeting him before starting Brookings high, but apparently they knew each other the summer her parents had died. That meant he also knew her parents.

Could he be her Watcher? Only her Watcher would’ve known her parents since they wouldn’t let her talk to anyone except for Irene.

“So you don’t remember sitting with me while my father helped the DA with your parents’ case?” Tyler asked.

She started to shake her head and stopped. Wait a second. What did he say? He said his father helped the DA, like in the district attorney? Her jaw tightened and every table in the room shook. “My parents didn’t die in a car accident?”

One of his eyebrows lifted. “A car accident?”

“Irene told me they died in a car accident.” Her body trembled. “Are you saying they died of something else?”

She knew it. They couldn’t have died from a stupid car accident. Her father was an excellent driver. He drove for NASCAR before starting his engineering firm that specialized in designing high performance racing cars, but could it be possible they had been murdered?

Tyler stared out the large picturesque window as the glass bowed in toward them. She heard him debate whether to tell her the truth before he turned back toward her with a serious look on his face. This was it. He was going to finally admit to being her Watcher.

“So,” she urged him to speak.

“Um.” His eyes shifted down and avoided eye contact with her. “They did die in a car accident. The DA ruled it as an accident after the investigation.”

Her eyes narrowed and the light fixtures swayed and the tables shook. “I don’t believe you. I wouldn’t forget them and the entire summer if they died from a stupid car accident? You’re hiding something from me. Why?“ she screamed, causing the floor to rumble beneath her.

Tyler glanced at the floor and then at her. “We should move.”

“Not until you tell me the truth.” She shoved him hard against the brick wall with an added telekinetic kick. “Now tell me.”

Everett stood in front of Lexi, wedging himself between Tyler and her. “What’s going on? Is he upsetting you?”

Oh. Tyler was definitely upsetting her by keeping whatever secret he knew locked up inside the recess of his mind that even her telepathy couldn’t reach. She glared at Tyler as the floor shook harder, tables flipped over and the light fixtures swung back and forth, slamming against the ceiling and dropping glass on the floor.

Tyler stood his ground staring back at her as if he were silently commanding her to back down, but she refused to obey him and took a step closer, pushing Everett aside.

“Lexi, wake up.” Everett demanded, turning her to face him. “You can discuss whatever you two are fighting about later. We have to go before the place falls apart.”

When she didn’t respond, Tyler leaned in close to her, shoving Everett out of his way. ”You’re right I am hiding something from you. I think you know what it is. Now let’s get out of here.”

Did he just admit he was her Watcher? She opened her mouth about to ask Tyler if he was her Watcher, but Everett spun her toward him.

“We have to go now,” he said. “Can’t you see what’s happening?”

He pointed toward the floor as the tile exploded and the ground split apart, leaving a large crater in the center of the cafeteria.

She blinked three times as if waking from a trance into a war zone and couldn’t believe what she saw. Boys and girls were running for their lives and covered with blood all because of her.

She hurt them selfishly trying to question Tyler about being her Watcher when she knew the damage she could cause by getting upset. But she kept hounding him and refused to walk away.

“Come on.” Everett said, pulling her toward the exit. “I’m getting you out of here before you get hurt.”

Reluctantly she followed Everett out of the cafeteria to a tree across the field. She took deep breaths and focused on calming her telekinesis as a fire truck, an ambulance and a news van arrived.

Her stomach twisted into a knot as the news crew setup their equipment on the lawn close to the cafeteria.

No matter what her Watcher says, she was a danger to everyone, even to herself. Now that she might’ve revealed her whereabouts to the ones looking for her.

Lexi threw her backpack on the ground and sat on her computer desk chair. She turned on her laptop and waited for it to boot up. Her conversation with Tyler resurfaced in her mind for the hundredth time since lunch. Had her parents been murdered?

Irene said they were throwing her a birthday party and went to get her a present. Why did they leave her at home alone? They never left her alone unless someone watched after her, but Irene found her in the back of the Chevelle by herself.

Irene claimed she hid in the car after the police informed her they were dead, but could it be possible she got into the car before the police arrived, hiding from whoever murdered them?

No matter what Tyler or Irene said, her parents didn’t die in a car accident. They had to have been murdered and possibly by the people looking for her. If Tyler’s father had helped the DA, there would be some news about her parent’s death.

When the picture of her Chevelle appeared on the computer screen, she clicked on the web browser icon and typed in the search engine, “Crescent City California deaths”.

Several listing appeared on the screen, but only one seemed like a possible article about her parents,
Death in the Redwoods
. She debated clicking on the link, unsure if she could handle reading about her parent’s deaths, but she needed to know the truth.