by Pia Philip
“Here you go again, always taking the blame,” she said, “seriously you need to stop it. It was my fault, and it was clear as day I should’ve called for you when I first saw the kid but I wanted answers, and you know how I am.”
“Yes, a stubborn little mule,” he laughed as he sat down, pulling her with him.
They sat in peaceful silence for a few minutes, each of them, thinking through the events of the day.
“This has been the craziest day of my life,” she said laughing slightly, “I mean, this is well enough excitement to last me the rest of my life.”
“Yeah,” Sam laughed, “But I think there’s still more to come.”
“Oh, that reminds me,” she said as she tried to think up a way of bringing up the conversation she had heard earlier, “I don’t really think we should trust many people anymore.”
“Yeah, “Sam agreed, “You don’t know who’s who anymore. We just have to rely on each other and Martha, and although I hate to say this Max too.”
Alex began to fidget, it seemed like she was going to have to say this outright, but it felt like their conversation was getting listened too by someone. She didn’t know who, but she felt it. She stood up, grabbed a blanket and Sam’s hand and dragged him outside.
“You could feel it too?” he asked, “Like we were being watched and our conversations listened too, like a zoo expedition.”
“Yeah,” she said, “I don’t think we can trust Martha and Max.”
“Really why?” he asked, “It can’t be because of the constant observation, they probably just want to know if you tell me anything you didn’t tell them, though that’s unlikely.”
“I already said I’m sorry, are you really going to keep going on about that,” Alex asked. She was getting really pissed off at his reminders of her incapability to keep her promises.
“Yes, until you actually decide to keep your promise and tell me things,” he said as he crossed his arms.
“Fine then!” she cried out as she stomped down the front path and out the gate, wrapping the blanket around her tightly as the night air whipped at her face.
“Hey! I’m sorry!” Sam cried as he grabbed her arm. “Sheesh, can’t you take a tiny bit of criticism?”
“Not at a time like this!” she cried. “Sam, there keeping something from us. Something important. I have a right to know, but the ‘Council’ won’t let them talk.”
“What’s the council? How do you know all of this?” he asked bewildered.
“I heard them arguing over it when I first came around, I couldn’t hear the rest because Max figured out I was coming around,” she said sheepishly.
“Well, it seems like we’ve lost the only reliable source of Information we have.” Sam muttered.
“No, they’ll still tell us something, just not the whole picture,” Alex said trying to think on the bright side, “Plus we’ve got the book. That seems to be a really big part of this whole mess. But first of all I need to interrogate my mum.”
“You’re not really going to ask her, are you?” Sam asked shocked at her profound idiocy. The term ignorant can only go so far.
“Yes, because, my… you know what, said that it was my mum that made him leave. He suggested they did it out of love, so I want to know if I was a horrible memory or not,” Alex said. she couldn’t say father because although he was technically related to me, he had not shown his face in over 15 years so there’s no way he’s getting the honor of being called ‘Dad’.
“I guess that makes sense,” Sam said gently, “Plus, it could probably help solve your sight in romance, you know, not everyone’s like that you know?”
“We’ll put it this way, almost all the women in my life have had some sort of assault by males,” she said as she shook her head, “Nope, I’m staying, single, free and a strong feminist for the rest of my life.”
“You say that, but you say your body was shaking when you saw your father and I can almost bet my life that it was because that you had never seen him before and you wanted him back in your life.” Sam said, “It’s only natural.”
“Don’t be daft,” she said quietly, “I don’t have a father.”
The wind began to pick up, but Alex wasn’t ready to go back in yet.
“You can go in if you want, I’m going to stay out for a bit longer” she said.
“No way, I’m staying with you this time,” he objected, “I’m going to be with you 24/7 until we get this sorted out.”
“But-“she began to protest.
“No Buts,” he said firmly, “my word is final.
Alex knew she had no right to protest or promise anything especially after her track record, so she kept her mouth shut.
“What do you think will happen to me?” she asked, “Because from what I’ve gathered, I’m the mutation or the Key, as that kid calls me.”
“Yeah, but I don’t get what so important about the book anyway,” Sam muttered as he scratched his hair. There was a gust of wind that swept the blanket out of her grasp and into Sam’s face. It starting raining almost straight afterwards, so she grabbed the blanket and covered both of them before they ran inside.
‘I really want to read it but I’m scared of what they might do if they catch us,” she sighed as she collapsed in the sofa.
“I think you should just read it already, anyway, who ever said you can’t,” Sam said as he flopped next to her feet.
“No, Sam, no, I’ll ask to read it tomorrow, no more deception, we won’t be like them,” Alex said firmly as she lay her head on the armrest.
“That’ll be hard to do,” she heard Sam mutter quietly as he rested in the sofa across from hers.
“Drop it already,” she growled before she turned around and closed her eyes.
Chapter 6
The next morning she woke up to talking and the sound of scraping chairs.
“What’s all these racket about?” she asked as she rolled of the chair.
“So the princess finally awakens,” Max smirked as he walked in with a plate of eggs and bacon in his hands and a glass of juice before jumping on the sofa without spilling a single drop of juice which was a quiet a feat considering the glass was filled almost to the top. Alex was impressed but obviously she wouldn’t tell him that so she growled at him instead.
“Shut up,” she muttered, “where’s Martha?”
“Are you sure you should be talking to your hosts like that,” He smirked as she got off the floor and stomped into the kitchen where she guessed Martha was. She was sure pretty boy Max wouldn’t be able to make something like bacon and eggs without burning the place down. Something about him gave me the vibe of ‘uselessness at everything but looking good’.
“Martha?” She asked as she closed the door behind her to stop any interfering from Max. Sam was already in the room.
“Do you think I could read the book again?” she asked hopefully as she crossed her fingers and held her breath. She wanted more than anything to read the book because she was certain that that was the biggest clue to solving this mystery and being able to go back to her normal dull life.
“I don’t know…” Martha said as she bit her lip in uncertainty.
“Oh please, I just want to be able to understand my ancestry, I mean I don’t know anything about anything,” Alex said as she tried to come up with something decent. Sam looked over at her clearly impressed at her quickly improving deceiving skills. She wasn’t sure if that was a good thing.
“Oh fine then, I guess you could read it, besides it’ll take you a while anyway so I could help you when I come back from shopping, mind you I think you should tell your mum that you might have to stay overnight again, let’s just say there’s been a change in the plans, “Martha said as she thought about it, balancing things out, “although I’m guessing you want to interrogate her?”
“Yes,” she said truthfully, “I want to know why she kept this from me; I mean seriously, this is some life changing chizz.”
Mar
tha chuckled at her choice of words before heading upstairs. Alex grabbed the book and sat down at the kitchen table where Sam sat.
“You’re getting better at lying, careful it doesn’t change you,” he muttered as he budged over so that she could sit down next to him. She thought about this and her recent lie and smiled to herself.
“I wasn’t lying,” I smiled, “I really do want to know about my ancestry cause I’m sure my mum won’t tell me much and neither will Martha with Max and the council about.”
Alex opened the book onto the first page and focused on the symbols for about five minutes before grabbing a crumbled piece of paper and a pen from her pocket and writing down the Crolonian alphabet, soon she had a page full of weird symbols and their letter. It took her a full hour and half before she was able to decipher the first page, she could tell it was going to take time. A lot of time, before she reached the final chapters but she didn’t want to miss any pages in case she missed anything.
“You shouldn’t have written down the alphabet, whoever has that can read the book,” Sam warned as he eyed the paper up warily.
“Yeah, I guess you’re right,” Alex said as she ripped the piece of paper up and binned it.by now she had pretty much memorized the alphabet so the translating got a little easier. She read out loud to Sam what she had deciphered and was just finishing the first chapter when Max walked in.
“What are you dimwits doing,” He asked as he opened the fridge and pulled out a cold beer.
“What are you doing? You can’t, drink its illegal!” Alex cried alarmed as he raised the beer to his lips.
“So, I’m sixteen,” He shrugged as he gulped down the beer. She sighed in disgust before turning back to the Crolonian.
“Hey what does “life and death must never collide” mean?” she asked as she turned to face Max who was moving onto his second beer, “You shouldn’t drink that, especially in the morning.”
“I don’t know,” Max mumbled as he swung from his beer again.
“Stop with the beer already!” she cried, “Just tell me what it means you idiot!”
“How am I supposed to know, I’m just an idiot,” He smirked as he walked out the kitchen leaving the fridge door wide open. She growled in frustration as she slammed the fridge door shut.
“You had that coming,” Sam began but shut his mouth as she gave him a death glare. She pulled out her phone and speed dialed her mum. She picked up on the second ring.
“Hi dear,” She said in her usual happy manor, “Where are you, are you on your way back already?”
“No mum, I’m going to stay over here again,” she said, she was trying to think of a way on how to bring up the subject, “But I was wondering if you could come to Paddington today?”
“Why of course, I finish work in about ten minutes so I’ll see you at the train station in an hour okay?” she said excitement obvious in her voice, “Bye!”
“Bye,” she muttered before letting her head drop , “I hate the fact that I’m going to have to interrogate her about this, I mean, she’s already been through so much already, I don’t want to bring the subject of HIM up and cause her distress.”
Alex banged her head several times on the table before Sam put his arms over her shoulders.
“What am I to do?” she pouted as she tilted her head to the side so that she could face him. She loves watching him think, he always made funny faces.
“Don’t bring him up then,” he said, “Just ask her about the Angels and that don’t bring up your dad, let the subject come up naturally by asking a lot of questions.”
“Like what?” she asked confused.
“You’ll come up with something,” he reassured me, “if there’s one thing your good at doing, its asking questions.”
They both laughed at the bad joke just to lighten the mood.
“Come on, we need to get ready, we’re leaving in half an hour,” Alex said as she straightened herself.
“Where are you going dear?” Martha asked as she popped her head through the door.
“Where going to collect my mum from the station, she’s coming over so that we can… discuss some important matters.” she said, trying to describe what they were planning in the simplest forms but Martha just smiled.
“Sounds …important,” she said before going back upstairs.
“I have no idea which side she’s on,” Alex muttered.
“Like the dinosaurs…she’s a mystery,” Sam whispered in her ear. She turned round and gave him a peculiar look.
“Dinosaurs? Really?” she asked unimpressed at his lack of imagination.
“What, too much?” he asked as she walked out the door and up the stairs, “Huh?”
Forty-five minutes later they reached the station with Sam still going on about dinosaurs.
“Shut up Sam!” she cried, it finally getting to me. She didn’t think she could stay sane any longer if he kept going on about it.
“Yes, no one cares about the history or the mystery of the dinosaurs, because in case you haven’t noticed, we’re teenagers, living teenagers, not walking corpses like the old hags that actually care about this kind of crap!” Max cried, he had been forced into coming with them, because Martha needed to make cookies and dinner for everyone and she insisted that Max would just get in the way. she wasn’t very happy when she learned about this but right then and there she was ever so grateful he was there so that he could say exactly what she was thinking but to kind to say to her best friend.
“Jeez, I get a hint, you should’ve just told me earlier,” Sam scowled.
“We did!” Alex and Max growled in unison.
“Alex!” Alex’s mum’s voice carried over to her. She turned around to see her come off the train and running towards them. She barely had time to take a breath before being engulfed in her arms, the strong scent of her mother’s perfume tickling her nose. She’s never met any women who could run faster on heels than her mum.
“Hi mum,” she laughed as she finally let her go so that she could smother Sam. “And this is Max.”
Her mum eyed Max up and down warily, she could spot trouble a mile away.
“Anyway, let’s go to where we were staying last night because Alex has a lot to say,” Sam interrupted as he put his hands on the hollow of her mums back and guided her towards the door, “A lot.”
The walk to Martha’s place was long and awkward with tensions running high. Alex’s mum kept giving Max wary glares, Max kept scowling at her mum, and you could tell he was biting his tongue, the same as Alex. There was a lot of things she would have liked to ask then and there but she knew that it would go all wrong. Instead she kept fidgeting with her hands, they were sweating like crazy. Sam put an arm round her waist and gave her a squeeze of reassurance. She smiled a thank you before opening the gate into the garden. Martha instantly opened the door wide and beamed at them. The smell of home baking wafting towards them.
“Your back just in time,” she more or less sang as she urged them in. she placed a big tray of brownies on the table in the sitting room before sitting down.
“You must be Alexis’s mother, I’m Martha, Max’s mother,” Martha beamed as she shook Alex’s mums hand rigorously. Her mum beamed back engulfed in Martha’s enthusiasm.
“So what was it you wanted to talk to me about, dear?” her mum asked a smile plastered on her face. Everyone’s eyes turned to face Alex.
“I’ll be right back,” she whispered before bolting out the door and into the kitchen. She was beginning to panic, and started pacing the floor, trying to think up a way to bring up the topic of Angels without stressing her mum out.
“You okay there?” Sam asked from behind her. Alex didn’t look at him; in the end she grabbed the Crolonian and Sam’s hand and marched into the sitting room. She slammed the Crolonian down on the wooden table with such force, the table vibrated.
“Alexis!” her mum cried.
“Careful with that!” Max growled, “Have some respect for history
you dimwit!”
“Well don’t expect anything from her,” her mum chuckled, “She doesn’t like anything to do with the past.”
Alex stared at her mum, wondering if she knew what it was, she didn’t show any signs of recognition. She didn’t know if this was a good thing or a bad thing but she felt a twang of disappointment.
“Mum, do you know what that is?” Alex asked as she turned the book round so that she could read the title.
“Lets…” she began but stopped mid-way when she saw the ruins. Her face visibly drained of its color and her eyes darkened. She took a sharp breath
“We need to talk,” Alex stammered.
“How do you know about this?” she whispered. It was so low it was barely audible. She looked from Alex to the book, then to Martha and Max.
“How dare you!” she exploded, “You had no right to tell her anything! She didn’t need to know any of this. She lost the right to know any of this when I resigned my post and left that world forever!”
“What do you mean I have no right!” Alex growled, “I have every right to know!”
“No, you really don’t,” She argued, “There’s something’s that you should never know, things you don’t know anything about.”
“Well, I know enough to know that I’m in danger,” Alex cried, “I have been hunted for the past week and like yesterday I saw my DAD!”
Her mother’s eyes widened in sudden fear and she staggered to steady herself. So much for not stressing her mum out.
“You saw your dad?’ she whispered, “Oh god this is BAD.”
“Why?” she asked, “You have to tell me. I can’t avoid them forever you know. They told me some really weird things that keep confusing me but I’m certain that it is a big piece of the puzzle.”
“Tell me what you know and I’ll clarify them for you,” She sighed.
So Alex told her. She told her every single thing she could remember that he said and her mother sat there and listened. Alex didn’t even care that everyone was listening, she just wanted to get answers and now that her mum was here, she knew that her mother was the best chance she had if she wanted to get to the bottom of the mystery that had become her life, or even survive through it.
