(untitled continued)

Chapter 4 Mind Games
Alex didn’t ride to school with me. Instead, he stayed at my house to try and figure things out with the witch and his parents. I assumed that being in my room he’d be safe. Though I was more than happy to allow him to stay where he was safe, I wondered what he’d snoop through and hunt down. I didn’t have many things in my room that would make him wonder much, but a girl’s stuff is a girl’s stuff. I decided to trust him not to do anything stupid.
Yes, please trust me. I’m not like the rest of the pigs you know, Alex’s thoughts reached me as I pulled into the school parking lot.
We can communicate this far away? I was astonished at the distance. I lived some ten minutes from Rockwell High, so our distance was pretty good.
Yeah, this will be a very handy feature. I could almost see him smiling as he spoke to me. I tried not to think those silly thoughts about him, the ones that could tell him I liked him more than I should. When you have a spare minute today, I want you to tell me. There’s a lot I need to ask you and find out.
So this is going to be a 20 questions sort of thing?
I guess you can call it that, Alex stopped communicating with me and I assumed he was reading something. He was good at not thinking too much out loud to where I could hear him. I had to practice that.
Our conversation had lasted me until I walked into my first class. I didn’t have any classes with Shawn or Olivia, so I was pretty much free for the whole day to chat with Alex. Amazing, I thought, to have a hot guy in your mind all day, and to be in his mind all day. It’s empowering.
You’re hilarious.
I jumped at the sound of Alex’s voice. I’d already forgotten to hide my thoughts from him. Darn it.
You’ve got to stop invading my mind like that, I snapped. I chose a seat in the back of the room for the day, and pretended I was sick so the teacher wouldn’t call on me for anything. Easy.
You should stop thinking such thoughts. I need you, Ava. And I need to know some things.
Like what? I questioned. I’ve got 90 minutes of nothing but thinking time. Question away.
Have you ever heard someone’s thoughts before? Like, before you heard me at the party, can you recall ever feeling like you heard someone speaking, but never saw them speak?
I thought for a moment. I knew his question had meaning and the answer would choose his next question, so I thought hard. I came up with nothing. No. You’re the only one I’ve ever heard.
Okay, that’s good, I think. It means you’ve never come in contact with a powerful person, so absolutely nobody knows that you exist. I’m the lucky one that found you.
Now you’re the one being funny, I said, smiling.
Actually, it means that I’m pretty much going to kick this witch’s ass. But I’ve just got to figure out how. You’re a new witch, so—
I’m NOT a witch! I yelled, almost making it oral.
Okay, what shall I call you? A fairy? His tone was light.
You can call me Ava, because the only odd thing about me is that I can talk to you this way. Don’t label me.
Fine, Ava. He put much emphasis on my name. Are you sure reading my mind is all you can do? You’ve never had anything weird happen to you before that would stick out in this situation?
I again thought for a moment. How does someone think about things like this? No one actually thinks they could be a… an Ava, until someone like Alex pops up and says “Hello, I’m Alex” without saying a word. I thought through all of my childhood, and nothing came up. Alex, I don’t think I’m that powerful. Nothing has ever happened that—
I suddenly had a vision appear in my mind. I was seven years old, and, being the tomboy I was, I was out catching lizards and bugs and playing like I was Steve Irwin. I came across one lizard who didn’t try to run away like I thought he would. When I got a closer look, I saw that he had two broken legs, and was near death. I was sure that our cat, Felix, had gotten a hold on to him and left him to die. I started crying for the lizard, and prepared to make a burial for him. I looked down and saw that I’d drenched him with my tears, and suddenly he ran away, as healthy as a new spring chicken. When he turned around, his black beady little eyes squinted, and then he was gone.
When the vision stopped, I looked around to see if anyone was staring at me. I was still in the clear.
Alex, did I make that happen? I really wanted him to say no, but I wasn’t expecting him to. I closed my eyes and concentrated, trying to tell him I wanted him to say that it was natural for a lizard to miraculously heal and scamper away, and then turn around and thank you with his eyes. It’s normal.
Yes, you did.
But it was just a lizard, so why is it such a big deal?
Do you ever remember getting ill as a child? Or when you fell and scraped your knees, did they last as long as the other kids?
I didn’t answer.
You’re a healer. I’m sure now you can do much more with it, but for a seven year old girl, a lizard is pretty good.
But, I don’t want to be a healer. I want to be a normal girl who talks to the weird guy with her mind and saves him from the evil witch. Besides, it’s not like it was someone who’d been shot or stabbed. It was a little lizard with probably a small sprain. He was just playing possum to get me to leave him alone.
Alex didn’t respond for a few seconds. I waited, impatiently, wanting to hear his voice again. But it could potentially turn into something like that. I bet you can do much better when it’s magic you’re dealing with. I bet you and the witch could have one tasty duel with each other.
I got out a piece of paper and a pen and began drawing. When I finished my piece, I looked at the image and thought really hard about it. I heard Alex laugh.
That’s not really that funny, but I love your artistic ability.
I’d drawn a picture of an ugly witch casting a spell on me, and I was redirecting the spell to Alex, telling him that I wasn’t a witch, that it was his fault I was so weird all of a sudden.
Does my hair really look like that?
I ignored him, because a thought just jumped into my head. Hey, I said, a new tone in my voice, er, mind. How’d you fix the wall before Natalie got downstairs?
A true magician never reveals his tricks, I heard the grin in his words, and couldn’t help but grin back.
Okay, fine. But you owe me that one later. What else are you wanting to know?
He was quiet for a moment, and I could hear what I thought sounded like radio static. He’s thinking, I thought.
Why are you with that meat head, Shawn?
I waited for him to laugh and ask something else. Actually, I prayed that he’d ask something else. I didn’t want to get personal with Alex. Not this early in the game.
Are you going to speak? This is the first time your mind has ever been silent.
I sighed, then poured my heart into my mind. Alex, I know this has nothing to do with what we’re working on, but I’ll tell you anyway. Shawn and I have been together for almost three years. Three years of a committed relationship says a lot, you know? This guy is, uhm, was everything I could ever imagine.
He’s not anymore? Alex sounded more interested in my love life than in things that could free his family.
Well, lately things have happened, and I feel like Shawn is just another dead end road. I’m not going to marry him, so why put myself through the torture of being with him?
You girls do that a lot.
Us girls? Besides me, what girls do you talk to? And mythical creatures and witches do not count.
I could feel his laughter. You’d be surprised. All I can say is this; You girls put yourselves in weird positions because you think it’s necessary. I think it’s all the movies and romance books you chicks fall in love with. Those things don’t actually happen.
I’m not in this to make a good story. Let’s just say things have gotten a little… boring, I guess you could say. Shawn isn’t the person I remember three years ago, and I’m over the person he’s become. Don’t group me like that.
Our conversation stopped for a while. I got out another piece of paper and started drawing. This time, I drew a guy handcuffed to a girl who was scared and miserable, and another guy on a horse dressed like a punk rock singer, holding a key. I tried not to think about the picture, because I didn’t want Alex to see that he held the key to my freedom.
Alex? I asked, waiting to hear his warming voice.
I’m here, Ava. I’m reading. These magazines you girls read are really interesting.
Why us?
What do you mean? I saw the vision of the magazine vanish, and now my mind was blank. The view I saw when Alex and I were speaking was like a chat window, and now the cursor was blinking on my side, waiting for my response.
How is it you managed to find me, the answer to your prayers, and it just so happens that we are both teenagers living in complicated worlds? It’s like, we were drawn together.
I’m the one that needs you, Ava. I’m nothing but a nuisance to you right now.
Actually, I began, you’ve answered my prayers, too.
And how’s that? I could feel the warmth in his smile, the light in his eyes that someone needed him or desired him the way I did.
I’ve just wanted someone to want to be around me, to want to listen to me, to hear what I say. You’ve done all of that in one night, when everyone has had years to do that for me and never have.
I’m touched, honestly, darling. He’d put on a very cheesy voice, and I knew he was trying to joke around what I was trying to tell him. I decided to play along. No sense in getting too involved. I couldn’t even touch the boy, so how would a relationship work out with him?
For the rest of the day I forced Alex to stay out of my thoughts. At the end of the day, where I once again met up with Shawn, I could feel Alex’s hatred in my head.
“Hey baby, what’s wrong? You look like you’re in pain,” Shawn said as he grabbed my hand. I hadn’t noticed I’d been limping. My legs had grown really sore from sitting in classrooms all day, and now I was feeling the aching from the glass still lodged into my skin.
“Oh, I’m fine. I just did some running this morning before school, and I guess it’s catching up with me.”
Would you like eggs with that ham? Alex entered my head. Everyone knows you can’t run in high heels.
Shut up, I hissed.
“Oh, okay. Well you don’t need to run, babe. Look how gorgeous you are already!” He motioned at my body, and I smiled and shrugged it off. Take that Alex, I thought.
“Of course you’re going to say that, Shawny Bear.” I leaned up and kiss him.
“Ava, honey, I’ve been meaning to talk to you about something.” He looked serious, and I prayed that it wasn’t anything major. I didn’t need another worry in my life right now.
“Okay, I’m listening.” And Alex, you stay out of this.
Yes m’am.
“Baby, it’s been three years. And, you’re gorgeous, and I’m, well, me,” he said and motioned for himself. “I was just thinking… you know, when can I finally be with you the way we talked about we would? You said you needed time, and babe, three years is a long time for me.” He wanted to have sex. After our talk about my wanting to wait until I was married, Shawn was asking me to sleep with him.
I stepped away from him and snatched my hand out of his grasp. “Shawn, this is enough. All you care about is getting into bed with me and partying. You don’t give a shit about how I feel or what my parents think, do you?” I stepped back over to him and got up in his face. The shock in his eyes pleased me, and I continued. “I’m tired of wasting my time, waiting for you to come around and be the guy I fell in love with. You’re not the person I met three years ago. Not by a long shot.” I knew this was all the locked up emotion I was feeling for Alex. After what I’d told him today, anger had risen in me way past my boiling point. I added my final word, “I’m sick of this. I want out!” and I took off the promise ring he’d given me a year ago and threw it at him.
“So what? You’re calling it off now? After three years?” I wasn’t listening. As he yelled, I walked. When he realized I wasn’t going to stop, I heard the worry in his voice. “Ava? Ava!”
I didn’t look back. As soon as I got inside my car, I snatched the rearview mirror out of its place and threw it in the passenger seat. Shawn came to my window and tried to talk to me through the glass. Muffled bullshit.
I yanked the car into reverse and sped out of my parking spot, narrowly missing a new Jeep driving behind me. After I was safely away from Shawn’s sight, I sat back in the seat and eased off of the gas. I was waiting for Alex to chime in with a smart remark. When he didn’t say so much as hello, I started getting angry.
What? No comments? I snapped, expecting to hear him say something to piss me off even more.
No response.

Chapter 5 The Touch
When I first arrived at my house, I didn’t see Alex. I didn’t know where he was, and at that moment, I wasn’t too concerned. I just wanted to be alone. I’d broken up with my boyfriend of three years, and all I wanted was a pillow and soft music. I ran up to my room without greeting my dad who was sitting in the living room watching television.
I shut my bedroom door behind me and flopped onto the bed, pillow in my arms. I’d had a good cry when I felt someone sit down on the bed. I wanted to tell Alex that now wasn’t the time, but when someone rubbed my leg, I turned quickly and saw Natalie sitting on the corner of my bed, concern written on her face.
“I didn’t mean to scare you,” she said, pulling her hand away. “What happened, Ava?” she asked.
“Shawn and I are finished. We’re done,” I said through choked up sobs.
Natalie’s face turned back to normal. “You mean again?”
I sat up to look her square in the eye. “No, you don’t get it.” I held up my left hand to show her the promise ring was missing. “I’m done with him, Natalie. I want nothing else to do with him. We’re over.”
She didn’t respond when she saw that the ring was gone. She looked at my hand, gawked at it was more like it, and then looked back up at me. I imagined my face looked pretty rough. I hadn’t worn any waterproof eye makeup, so I pictured the mascara running down my face, making me look like a corpse.
Then she said, “Does this have anything to do with that Alex guy?”
When I stopped crying, stopped making any noise at all, and looked at her, I wanted to scream at her. Then I quietly collected myself, and said, “No, Natalie. Alex is a friend I’m helping out. There’s nothing but friendship. It’s impossible for us to be together anyways.” I thought back to that morning when we’d touched just our fingertips together and were both sent flying from the electric shock. I couldn’t bear to think of the consequences for any further contact.
Natalie gave a small, sweet smile, and it made her look very pretty. I admired her for being comfortable in her own skin, something I was not. Especially not now, now that Shawn and I had broken up. I wondered what school would be like the following day. Maybe I shouldn’t even go, I thought. Maybe it’d be best if I skipped tomorrow and Friday and let things die down some. I knew talk would be crazy and the girls would be practically stripping in the halls for Shawn.
Well, don’t worry about him right now. I need you. You’re the one that can find my parents. Alex’s voice was surprisingly welcome at this time. I jumped slightly when I heard him and didn’t see him, but I remained calm while Natalie was still around.
Where are you? I asked as Natalie and I hugged one another, a sisterly thing we rarely ever did.
Your closet.
I jerked my head over to my closed closet door. I was annoyed that he’d listened to the private conversation my little sister and I had just shared, but at the same time, I was glad he was close. Alex wasn’t exactly my idea of a knight in shining armor, but in one day he’d managed to trip me all over myself, head over heels.
When Natalie left my room, Alex casually came out of my closet.
Aren’t you a bit old to hide in a girl’s closet? I teased him. I knew I had probably hurt his feelings a little, and I wanted to be sure that I was still on his side, that I was still in this game with him.
He never looked up, but he did smile. I sighed with relief. My Alex is still here, I thought. When he looked up at me abruptly, my face turned red and I looked away.
Damned mind reader, I said.
Learn to block your wild fantasies involving me, then. He came and sat beside me on my bed. He looked at my face with disappointment. Again, the witch does not allow me to do what I’d normally do, and wipe your tears with my hand. When I finally see her, I’m definitely calling her a bitch. To her face, well, that is, if she has a face.
You don’t know if this witch has a face? Are you kidding me? I pursed my lips and scrunched my eyebrows. A lady with no face? Ew.
He shook his head. I don’t really know what she is. I know she has a woman’s voice, because the night my parents were taken I heard her speaking to them.
So how are you not closer to finding them? Haven’t you been at this for…? I suddenly realized that I didn’t know how long Alex’s parents had been kidnapped. I looked at him in question.
It’s only been two and a half months, but it’s felt like forever. I’ve only been able to relax since I met you. I smiled up at him. Now I can really focus on finding them, because I have the cheat.
My smile faded. I was just his cheat. I tried to block my thoughts from him, tried not to let him see what I was feeling. Never mind the fact that Shawn and I were broken up; now, Alex was at the top of my priorities, but I didn’t want him to know that.
Okay, so about me finding them? How do I go about accomplishing that?
We’ve got to figure out exactly what you can do. Tomorrow, we’re going to visit a friend of mine. She can help us determine how strong you are—
Strong as in powers, right? I asked.
Yes. If I wanted to know how much weight you could bear, I’d throw stuff at you. We both laughed a little.
I wanted to focus on what Alex was saying, but I couldn’t. I was still thinking about the happenings of that day, the things I’d said to Shawn, and what I was feeling now, with Alex. He was unlike anyone I’d ever met, and it wasn’t because he was a witch’s target and the spawn of a powerful sorcerer. He was a person someone could easily overlook at first glance, but once you took that second look at him, you couldn’t turn away. His beauty seemed to radiate once you took the second glance. His eyes, more than anything, were what captivated a heart. Next, his strong, tanned body that seemed endlessly flawless. The necklaces he wore did nothing but exaggerate the perfection of his skin. By the way, there were five necklaces.
I became aware that Alex was looking at me, almost as intently as I was him. Was he doing the same thing I was? I asked myself, but in such a hushed thought that I didn’t feel as though he’d heard me. I’d now conquered keeping my thoughts to myself, again. Who would have ever thought that thinking would be such a dangerous act?
Alex’s look didn’t change. He just stared at me. Not a glare, not a beam. He just looked at me, like he wanted to…
“Alex?” I said aloud, hoping to grab his attention.
“Yes?” he responded, however it didn’t break his concentration on me.
“What are you thinking about?” As I spoke, he leaned closer.
“Bad things,” he said. “Really bad things.” He continued to move closer to me. He braced himself on his arm behind me, and I could almost feel his skin on me. I wanted to, honestly.
“Alex,” I said. “Do you not remember the Coke? The window?” I was trying to distract him. “The wall you collided with? From our fingertips.” I held up my hand, nearly touching his chin as I did. I pointed to my fingertips, the three middle ones that…
“Oh my god,” I exclaimed. I looked at my fingertips for the first time since that morning. Or, maybe I’d just noticed it because it’d developed during the day. Alex finally turned his attention away from my face, and to my fingers.
“Ava, that’s not the hand that…” he gulped. “That’s not the hand that I touched this morning, is it?” He took his hand and traced over my hand in the air, barely enough air between them to keep the shock from happening again.
“Yes. What does it mean?” I ran my hand over my damaged fingertips. They weren’t burned or scarred, but silvery, and glistening. They looked like three drops of twinkling mercury dangling from my hand. When I touched the ends of my fingers, they were cold and hard. “Am I turning to stone?”
He laughed slightly. It was a worried laugh. “Not exactly,” he said, and touched my fingertips.
“Alex!” I almost screamed. I was afraid we’d blow the wall out of my room. When nothing happened, I looked at him in question.
“She can see you now,” he said under his breath, almost to the point of silence, and jumped up and ran to the bathroom.
“She what?” I grabbed my hand and pulled it to my chest, trying to hide it from the creepy woman that was after Alex.
“She can see you! The Touch! I should have known! It’s not meant to kill either one of us! When she told me I couldn’t touch you, I though it meant we’d die! Oh, for the love of all things Christly in this world!” He was spitting out awful things that had no immediate connection to me. He came back in with a washcloth and a bottle of fingernail polish remover. He poured the remover on the washcloth and wrapped my fingers in it, very careful to not make skin-to-skin contact.
“Is this like Touch-Be-Gone, or something?” I joked. When he didn’t even move, I hushed my humor and became very aware of the severity of the situation. “Please explain to me, Alex, what’s going on. I know I’ve asked you that a lot in the past twenty-four hours, but I’m really clueless to this world.”
By touching you, I’ve allowed the witch to see you. Now she knows where we are, and, I’m not positive on this, but I think she might be able to see who you actually are. He was frantically pouring more remover on the rag as it lay on my fingers. I wrapped it up tighter to keep the remover from running off onto my bed.
“The faceless demon can see me now?”
“So much for not pissing her off too much,” he said, removing the rag to take a peek at my silvery fingertips. They were dulling, and he sighed with relief. “It’s gone. This stuff has some kind of over powering… er, power to it. I learned it a few weeks ago.” He seemed pleased with himself.
Do I want to know how you discovered this?
Probably not, he said, laughing.
I touched my hand, remembering the once glistening silver at the ends. I suddenly looked up at Alex’s relieved face, remembering moments before we noticed my hand, and asked, “Were you going to try to kiss me, you idiot?”
He shot a look up at me, taken aback by my question. “No,” he finally said defensively. He got up and walked to the other side of the room and put his hand on the door to the bathroom, leaning his forehead against the back of it.
I smiled. “Sure you weren’t.”
I wondered what would have happened if we had kissed. Would it have shocked us more powerfully? If I already had received The Touch, as Alex called it, would it have affected us any? Alex was obviously very confused by the situation. I wondered if he had ever had a girlfriend before, and I wondered if he’d ever gotten so close to a girl. When he cut his eyes at me from his hand, I hushed my thoughts.
“You’re not a Christian,” I stated after a few seconds.
“What?” he asked.
“When you were spitting out crazy things after you saw my hand, you said ‘all things Christly.’”
“It’s just a saying I picked up from my dad. He used weird things like that”
“But you’re not a Christian.” When he looked confused, I explained how I knew. “That necklace on your neck signifies that you’re not a believer in any religion at all.” I pointed to his five necklaces.
Alex looked down at his neck, grabbed the necklace I was talking about, and held it up in question. When I nodded, he looked back down at it and stroked it with his hand. “My mother gave me this when I was ten. It’s not a religious symbol, it’s just an awkward looking piece of metal she tied on a string and gave me. I think it has a meaning, but I haven’t figured it out yet.” He dropped the necklace and looked back up at me. “The necklace doesn’t tell you about my religious preferences, does it?” I didn’t answer, just pursed my lips and rolled my eyes around a little, like a kid would do when he’s asked a question he doesn’t want to answer. He put his hand on his hip and shifted his weight, and asked, “So how do you know that?”

Chapter 6 A Twist
When I’d told Alex that I knew he wasn’t a Christian, he’d been overwhelmingly shocked. I was sure that his necklace, the one that was oddly shaped like a jagged “A” with lightening swarming it, stated that he was atheist. But when he told me the story about his mom giving it to him as a child, and that it had no meaning, I didn’t speak. I knew that the symbol meant atheism. I knew it.
We went to bed shortly after that, expecting to wake up early in the morning and leave. We were going to visit a friend of his way back in the middle of nowhere. I was, of course, nervous about meeting another one of Alex. I wasn’t sure what to call him, other than a blessing, or an angel. The only problem with calling him an angel was he didn’t believe in them. Alex had no religion at all, and it struck me as funny, because I’d based my life on my religion, and he was a guy I was beginning to go crazy over, and he didn’t believe in any of it. I decided that I wasn’t going to directly try to change his beliefs. A person’s beliefs are their biggest no-touching zone. Well, except for in my and Alex’s case; everything was no-touch.
I didn’t go to sleep right off like I should have. I was too busy thinking about my angel. Yes, my Alex, I said to myself. I was betting on Alex already being asleep. He was in the floor behind my catty-cornered dresser, in case any was to walk in during the night. I could see him completely, though. I watched his rhythmic breathing, the up and down of his black button-up shirt. He hadn’t taken his shoes off, or anything for that matter. He slept as he spent his days; fully dressed, ready to take whatever was thrown at him. I admired him for that.
I should have been thinking about Shawn, but I wasn’t. Shawn had been everything to me for nearly three years, and all of a sudden, here comes Alex bounding into my life like a wild rabbit and stealing my heart. Shawn no longer mattered to me, and it didn’t hurt me to say that because I obviously didn’t matter much to him anymore, either. We’d grown apart too much in the last couple of months, and these last few days made it concrete that we were not to be together anymore. Alex was sent to me for many reasons. One, I was supposed to help him and his family, and defeat this evil faceless witch that was out to do him harm. Two, he was sent to save me from making bad choices with bad people. And three, he was sent to me to fall in love with him. In the famous words of my sister’s favorite band, Fall Out Boy, two out of three ain’t bad, ain’t bad.
~~~~~~~~~~*~~~~~~~~~~
I woke up to the sound of my alarm clock at six a.m. When I awoke, I saw that Alex was standing over me, waiting for me to wake up. I rubbed the sleep from my eyes and pushed my hair back.
We need to leave soon, he said. Okay, dress in comfortably, and tie your hair up tight so it’s not in the way. Do that war paint you girls love to do with lipstick if it satisfies you. He grinned and walked over to my closet to peep at my clothes.
Get out of there! I’ll find something suiting. I jumped up and ran to my closet, snatching the door out of his hand. He looked at me like he wanted to push me, then simply smiled.
You’re cute when you get bossy, he said as he smiled down at me. I blushed.
If you’d stop distracting me, we could get a lot more done, you know. I shot back playfully. I could feel his attraction coming from his eyes. I instantly felt warmth from his gaze, and wondered if it was just me being a girl crushing, or if it was my power shining through. I didn’t bother asking Alex.
I rummaged through my closet for a one piece black jumpsuit I’d gotten in New York last summer and a thin black head band. I walked into the bathroom and changed clothes. The jumpsuit was a little tight in places, but as I looked at myself in the mirror, I smiled. I put my hair up as I was told, and put the head band on to hold the strays in place. I put on heavy black eyeliner, making my blue eyes pop like glitter. Once I was pleased with how I looked, I brushed my teeth and came out of the bathroom.
Alex was waiting on my bed, and when he saw me, I could have sworn I saw his jaw drop for just a second.
You look great, he said, standing up and walking towards me.
I shifted my weight to one side and put my hands on my hips. I tossed my head to one side like a fashion model, making Alex laugh nervously. I enjoyed being a girl and being able to do girly things. It gave us our own power, and not the magical kind. The kind that can stop a man in his tracks with a single look. It’s a good feeling.
Once our flirtation was done for the moment, I straightened up. I’ll set Natalie’s alarm and send her a text saying I had to leave early.
I crept into Natalie’s room and set her alarm. Without making her stir, I snuck back out and shut the door gently behind me. I motioned with my head for Alex to come on, and we left the house.
As I drove my red Infiniti through the neighborhood I waited for Alex to make conversation. For the first hour of the drive, the only words spoken in the car were when Alex told me to take rights or lefts or go straight. After an hour of this, I finally broke the quiet.
“Have you ever had a girlfriend before?” It had been on my mind ever since the night before when I thought he was about to kiss me. I wondered if I would have been the first girl he kissed.
When he didn’t answer, I looked over at him. He was staring straight ahead.
After a few seconds, he spoke. “Once,” he said, turning his head to me. “Just one.”
“Tell me about her,” I said.
“Why the sudden interest in my love life?”
“I just want to know. You already know all this stuff about me and my relationships, well, lack of. I’d just like to know some personal things about you. It makes us closer, wouldn’t you think?”
“I guess,” he said slowly.
I cut my eyes at him and flirtatiously winked at him. He smiled, looked down, and began.
“Her name was Keela. My parents and I were on a private cruise to the Mediterranean to research on…” he trailed off, trying to word something difficult into something I would understand. “Just, things we like to research. Well, Keela and her older cousin, Angie, were doing the same thing. My parents and Angie spent hours under the water looking for clues and whatnot. Keela and I went with them a few times, but mostly we goofed around under the water, so they made us stop going with them. We ended up strolling beaches of uncharted islands rather than helping our families find out information. Keela lived in Germany at the time, exiled from the states by the Leutenideas—”
“The what?” I asked, not understanding the word he’d just used.
“The Leutenideas. He’s kind of like our president, only he’ll never be replaced. He’s been around for around six thousand years, and I don’t think he plans on stepping down any time soon.”
“Talk about your greedy kings,” I said, making Alex laugh some. “Tell me more about Keela.”
“Well, I ended up staying with her in Germany until we found out how to sneak her back into the states, then she lived with us for a few months. Keela was amazing. She had these awesome green eyes that would melt your insides. She was short and petite, like you, but she was rough around the edges. I really thought she and I were something. Then…” he stopped talking and looked out the window.
“What happened to her?” I asked, expecting to hear that she was killed or kidnapped or something.
“She gained power and left us. She’d used us to get back overseas and now she’s using her power for money. I’ve got to admit, she’s a damn good sorceress now.” He was hiding his pain I knew he was feeling. Chills rose up on my right arm from the pain he was leaking.
“Were you in love with her?” I didn’t want to ask that question, because I wasn’t sure I would like the answer.
Alex thought for a moment. I couldn’t hear anything, because he’d blocked his thoughts from leaving his mind. “I’ll put it this way,” he began, “I’d be lying if I said yes, but if I said no, then I wouldn’t be telling the truth.”
I thought his words over for a few minutes. Did that mean that he loved her, but wasn’t in love with her? Or did it mean he was fond of her, and thought he could love her, but didn’t? I was confused, needless to say.
Alex smiled and looked over at me, his head leaned back on the headrest. “I will say this though, Ava. Being with you makes Keela only a memory.” I knew he was only saying that to make me feel better. Alex could feel that I cared about him. Well, he could see it too. I cursed my mood cloud for giving too much away.
“Thanks, Alex. So have you heard much out of her lately? Or is she too busy being a greedy bitch?” I was angry at this girl for hurting Alex and his family.
“Actually, she’s not as greedy anymore. She’s toned down a lot over the last couple of months, and she’s even using her powers for good.”
“Well that’s good, I guess. Has she apologized to you?”
“Oh, many times. She’s tried to be with me again. But she’s too much for me. I couldn’t stand having a girlfriend like her again.”
“Am I like her?” I stared straight ahead.
“In some ways, yes,” he said.
I dropped one hand from the steering wheel and placed it on my lap. I lowered my other hand to the bottom of the wheel. I was comfort driving.
“What ways?” I asked.
“You’re beautiful, for one thing,” he said, his voice gentle.
“Well, did Keela have to try as hard as me to become beautiful every day?”
“Actually, yeah. She didn’t wear much makeup, but after she learned how to use her power, she hexed herself into becoming one of the most beautiful people in the world. But it’s not attractive to me, because she’s not naturally that way. She had to use magic to become what you are on your own.”
“Wow,” I said. It was all I could say. His words trapped my breath.
“Yeah,” he said, turning to look out the window. I could feel the embarrassment seeping from his skin. It wasn’t a bad embarrassment. More like a I-Can’t-Believe-I-Just-Said-That- embarrassment.
Silence blanketed the car for another hour, all except for Alex’s directions. We’d been driving for close to three hours now, and my stomach was starting to growl.
“Do you want to stop and eat somewhere?” I asked.
“Sure.”
I pulled into a McDonald’s parking lot and put the car in park. Alex took off his seatbelt and was reaching for the handle when he looked over and saw me still sitting with my hands on the wheel.
“Are you going to get out?” he asked.
“How old are you?” I was guessing around the same age as I was, but I wasn’t sure.
“I’m nineteen,” he said, and I looked over at him with my head hung.
“Nineteen,” I repeated, not really as a question or a statement. Just repeated.
“Yeah, is that okay?” He wasn’t asking seriously. He was grinning, stepping out of the car.
“I just didn’t know you were that old. I figured maybe seventeen or eighteen.”
“What’s a few more years?” he said. He shut his door and came around to open mine. I undid my seatbelt and stepped out when he opened it.
“It’s just strange I guess. Mom is not going to like my being with an older man,” I joked. He laughed. I sighed. We walked.
We ordered our food and took a seat at a booth in the back. I was still thinking about Alex and this Keela girl and all that I’d just learned about him. Alex apparently had noticed my absent-mindedness and threw a piece of a hash-brown at me. I jumped.
“What?” I asked, picking up the food and slinging it back at him. He ducked easily out of the way.
“You look lost.”
“I’m just thinking,” I said.
“You’re good then, because I can’t hear anything.” He sipped his drink and picked up his chicken biscuit.
“Keela was the only girlfriend you had?” I asked.
“The only one I would consider a ‘girlfriend.’ The others were just crushes. Week- and month-long relationships.”
“How many of those?”
“Do you really want me to sit here and count them all?”
“I have to do a background check,” I said, smiling at him. Oh, he’s hot, I thought.
“Okay, I heard that one,” he said.
“Maybe I wanted you to hear it,” I teased.
He didn’t respond. He smirked and went back to eating. When I felt that the conversation was terminated, I resumed eating also.
“Twelve,” he said.
“What?”
“Twelve. That’s how many crushes I’ve actually ‘dated.’” He looked up and showed his fingers where he’d been counting. “There were only like three that lasted for over a month. The others were simple flings.”
“Did any of them know about your special powers and such?”
“A few of them were young sorceresses, so they asked.”
I paused for a moment, then asked, “Twelve girls, Alex? Does that make you a player?” I was joking, but I was still shocked at the number. Other than Shawn, I could think of only two other guys that I’d been in a relationship with.
“Not really. You’ve got to understand that I’m three years older than you, too. Girls took more interest in me after I hit seventeen.”
“I bet you were an ugly kid, right?”
“Well, not really. I was a pretty cute kid,” he said. He smiled so big I thought his eyes were going to fall inside his head. “Can’t you see it?”
I tried to act grossed out, but couldn’t hold it. I busted out laughing. “Yes, I can see it. I bet you were a fat kid though, am I right?”
“Okay, so I was a little chunky. But I turned out okay.”
We were laughing and having a good time when I heard something coming from Alex’s direction. He reached his hand in his pocket, pulled out a very high tech looking cell phone, and answered it.
“Yeah…Uh-huh…Okay, we’re coming…Yes, I’ve got her with me…What are you thinking? On our way now.” Alex hung up the phone and put it back in his pocket.
“We need to go,” he said, grabbing his drink and tray of trash. We headed out to the car.
We drove for about forty-five more minutes, turned onto an old abandoned dirt road, and stopped in front of one of the most beautiful houses I’d ever seen. It was a two story, white house with four huge columns supporting a balcony on the roof. The front porch was made of beautiful red bricks, and the lawn was perfect green, with a fountain in front of the house. My jaw simply dropped.
Alex laughed at me. “I know, it’s amazing.”
“Do all of your friends live this way?”
“Well, no. Actually, this is the only one,” he said. “And Ava?”
“Yeah?” I turned to him because I heard the seriousness in his voice when he asked my name.
“Be nice to her, okay?”
“I was planning on it, Alex. Why would you say that?”
“Just making sure.” He left it at that.
I looked around, kind of hurt at Alex’s request. Be nice to her? What did he think I was? A total bitch? No.
As I got out of the car, I made sure I let Alex know that his comment had offended me. I got out and slammed the door before he could remove his seatbelt. We walked up to the door, and Alex rang the doorbell. The doorbell was abnormally loud and annoying, a constantly twank-kong-beem-boom-dong sound that I couldn’t place in any category of sounds I’d ever heard or ever would hear again in my life. I shrank from the noise the tiny button had caused. Damn you, button of Satin, I thought. Alex lost his straight face and when the door opened, he tried to get it back.
“Alex! I’ve been waiting for you all day!” The girl that answered the door jumped into Alex’s arms and wrapped her arms around his neck.
Alex nearly fell back, startled. He looked over at me and waved his hands innocently.
When the girl dropped from her grasp, I forced a smile as she turned to me. “Is she it?” Her tone was rude, and my smile vanished. “She doesn’t look like much. Definitely not one you’ll go for, huh?” She elbowed Alex playfully.
I stepped towards her, wanting to scratch her eyeballs out, but thought again about what Alex had asked me to do in the car. Be nice. I planted my feet in front of her, but didn’t smile at her. “Who are you to judge?” I asked.
“Ava, honey,” Alex said nervously before she could speak, trying to stop me from grabbing at her hair with my teeth and ripping it out of her skull. I looked at him over the girl’s shoulder. Once he was convinced that he’d gathered my attention, he faked an innocent smile, raised his hands up apologetically, and said, “Meet Keela.”