Chaos

by Katie Holland

“Why are you looking at me like that?” he asked them.

  “Well,” Shay said, “you’re a seventeen-year-old guy just like Logan, so … that means you’d be the one here that would have the best idea of what he would like.”

  “Exactly what she said,” Alix added.

  Ben just smiled at them. “In that case, if I was Logan, I’d be missing my video games and I didn’t notice any there.”

  “Okay,” Alix said. “So maybe we can find a way to make that happen. I’ll call Gordon and see if he can help us out.”

  They spent the next couple of hours shopping then it was time to get the decorations. Alix was having a blast in the store. It was a good thing they had a big SUV with them because she filled the back with all sorts of things including a tree.

  When they got back home it took several trips to get everything in. Alix brought the last bag in and told everyone to be ready to start decorating in the morning.

  Shay was spending the night, so she could help as well. They had pizza for dinner then Alix, Ben, and Shay went to Ben’s room and watched a movie. When it was over the girls went downstairs and grabbed a bunch of junk food from the kitchen. They went back to Alix’s room and had a junk food fest and painted their nails red, green and white. Eventually, they got tired and went to bed.

  * * *

  Alix and her mom made a big breakfast for everyone the next morning, then it was time for decorating. Ben, Rick, and her dad were in charge of the outside while the ladies took the inside. By mid-afternoon, they were almost done. The only thing they had left to do was decorate the tree. Alix had left that until last because she wanted everyone to help. They drank hot apple cider and listened to Christmas music while they decorated. By the time they were done everyone was exhausted but happy. It had been a big place to decorate.

  After dinner, they took Shay home and Alix went to her room to finish her essay for English. She was close to finishing it when someone knocked on her door.

  “Come in,” she called.

  It was her mom. “Hey honey, just thought I’d check on you. We haven’t had much time to talk lately,” she said sitting on Alix’s bed.

  “I know. Everything kind of happened fast after we got back from London. I’m okay. At first, it was hard to move here, deal with what happened with the Grynn, and go back to school but I’m fine now. I actually had a talk with Karin on Friday about it. Even after everything that’s happened since my birthday, I still sometimes forget that I don’t have to do this on my own.”

  “You’ve always been a rather independent person, even as a little girl,” her mom said smiling.

  “I think you mean stubborn, mom,” Alix said with a smile of her own.

  “Yes, that too, but it’s just part of who you are and every part of you is needed, even the stubborn part. I know it’s hard for you to go back and forth between the Chosen One and Alix the high school senior. But I also know that no one else would be able to handle it as well as you can. Oh, Alix, you have no idea how worried I was when I woke up in Fox Hollow and they told me that you’d been taken by the Grynn. I was terrified that I’d never see you again. After the initial shock wore off, I started thinking about you as a little girl and then as the young woman you’ve become. I realized that if anyone could get themselves out of that situation it would be you. Honey, I’m so proud of you and I know that Sharon and Sean would be as well.”

  “Thanks, mom. I still think I have the greatest parents in the world you know,” Alix said hugging her.

  “And we have the greatest daughter anyone could ask for.”

  “Thanks, mom. I love you.”

  “I love you too honey,” her mom told her. “Are you doing homework?” she asked as she looked around.

  “Yep, I have an English essay that needs to be handed in tomorrow.”

  “How’s it going?”

  “Pretty good. I’m almost finished, but I expect Ben to ask for help tonight. He was struggling with his on Friday.”

  “That’s nice that you can help each other. Are you really okay living here?”

  “Yes, I really am. And besides, we can’t go back home now, at least for a while. I forgot to tell you that I heard from Sara on Friday and she was able to get into the Culinary Arts program at the University in Bozeman. She’s going to be coming here after Christmas and staying at our house.”

  “That’s wonderful. I’m really happy for her. But what happens if we plan to move back home?” her mom asked.

  “Then she can live here. She could have lived here anyway, but I think she wants to see if she can make it on her own.”

  “I understand that. Well, the more people here that love you the happier I’ll be. I’ll let you get back to your essay. See you in the morning kiddo.”

  “Okay, mom.”

  Her mom opened the door to leave and gave a yelp of surprise. “Ben, you scared me half to death,” she told him.

  “Sorry Heather,” Ben said. “I was coming to see if Alix could help me with my English essay.”

  Alix heard her mom laugh a little and say, “Go on in, I think she’s been waiting for you.”

  Ben walked in with his laptop and the novel. “Help me please,” he begged. “I just can’t make this work.”

  Alix laughed at him a little, but agreed to help him.

  “Give me your laptop and I’ll read what you have so far. You read mine and maybe that will help too.”

  They exchanged laptops and read each other’s essays. Alix was able to see where Ben was struggling and helped him make the changes. By 8:00 they were finished.

  “Thanks, Alix, I don’t think I’d have done very well on this without you. You’re a lifesaver,” he said with a smile that made Alix blush.

  “Don’t worry about it. You do the same for me in Biology.”

  Alix was willing her blush to go away. Over the last month she started to blush less around Ben but obviously, it hadn’t gone away completely. He just grinned at her and she was sure that made her blush harder.

  “Good night Alix. See you in the morning,” he said still grinning.

  “Good night.”

  Ben left, and Alix cleaned up her homework and ran a bath. She needed to think about things and relax. After her bath, she got out her journal. She had way too many things in her head and needed to get them out.

  Dec 4

  Wow! It’s been almost a month since I’ve written in here and a lot has happened in that time. I figured out that Logan was being influenced by the Grynn and that he was controlling Shay. I had a vision dream that Shay was in trouble and had Ben wake everyone up and meet by the fireplace. Just like in my vision of Stonehenge I channeled everyone’s energy and created a barrier around the castle, so Logan couldn’t escape. That was an interesting experience. The amount of energy that flowed through me was incredible. And it was good to know that I could actually do it. Anyway, after I created the barrier we went in search of Shay. I used my magic to locate her and found her in a dungeon, locked in a box. I was able to free her then Ben and I confronted Logan. Instead of surrendering he tried to jump off the top of the castle, but my barrier prevented that, and he was knocked unconscious. I bound him then went back to Shay. I released her from the Sleep of Death and told her what happened. Luckily, she didn’t have any memory of it. The next morning, we dealt with Logan. I did a magical search of him and found the Grynn essence that was making him act that way. It took the energy of James, Ruth, Shelley, and Gordon flowing into me in order to remove it. I couldn’t destroy it, so we locked it in a box sealed with magic and it was going in the vault. When Logan came to, he was really confused since the last memory he had was when his uncle Jack was still missing. He’d lost six weeks of his life. He was devastated when I told him what he’d done. I knew from that he wasn’t a bad guy and asked everyone to give him a chance.

  Now for London. We got private tours of Buckingham Palace and the Tower of London. We got to go on the London Eye at sunset, Trafalgar Square and got to do m
ore shopping. I got my wish of visiting the Natural History Museum and finally, we went to Madame Tussauds Wax Museum. That’s where everything went wrong, and I mean really wrong. The Grynn kidnapped everyone but Ben, Shay and me. When we noticed that everyone was gone, we called Gordon. He got us back to Fox Hollow and we went to the Map room, which just happens to be at the end of the secret passage behind the fireplace. Super cool. We found the correct number of red and yellow dots mixed with blue ones (red for Nykara, blue for Grynn and yellow for mom, dad and Shay). We discovered that they were in a warehouse in the heart of London. We mounted a rescue operation and left for London. We met up with some Warriors and attacked the Grynn guarding the building. We got in and found the others. Unfortunately, Ben and I got caught in one of their barriers and we had to face the Grynn alone. When we found them, they used energy balls on us and Ben was knocked out. I started to fight back but then they started to hurt Ben and threatened my other friends and family. They said if I went with them, they would let everyone go. I agreed and made sure they got out of there safe. One problem was that the Grynn didn’t know that my parents weren’t Nykara and used the Sleep of Death on them. It’s not meant to be used on humans and they didn’t wake up like everyone else, but I was confident in Shelley and Mike’s ability to be able to heal them. Once they were all safely out of the room the Grynn female put me to sleep. I woke up three days later in a Grynn holding cell. I learned that I was in Paris and that the man questioning me was Victor’s father. Turns out he was super angry with me because Victor was missing. I played dumb and ended up getting slapped in the face. I really didn’t like that but there was no way I was telling François anything. He threatened to not give me food or water for two days, but I didn’t plan on sticking around that long. I was weak from not eating or drinking, but I was able to gather some energy into me to help me escape. I managed to unlock the door and cloak myself. I waited until guard change and followed two guards into what looked like an office. It was filled with Grynn. Just as I was planning how to get out of the building unseen François discovered I was missing. It was complete chaos after that, Grynn were running around everywhere. I was being as careful as I could be, but one of them bumped into me and sent me crashing into a chair and coffee table. François noticed and knew it was me. The Grynn started firing energy balls at me and I quickly hid behind a couch. There was no way I was going to be able to hold them off, so I threw an energy ball at the glass wall behind me and shattered it. I ran as fast as I could and once I was far enough away, I took all my energy and destroyed the building with huge energy balls. It looked like a bomb had gone off. I didn’t stick around to see if they would come after me, I just ran. I searched for the closest Nykara and ended up in a shop. Then I collapsed. I woke up a day later and met Marie, it was her shop that I ran to. She’d had a friend heal me, but I guess I needed sleep because I slept for almost twenty-four hours. I got in touch with Gordon. He told me someone would be there soon to take me to the Paris safe house. He also said that Ben, Shay and my parents were already in France and they’d meet me there. I’d never been happier to see them then when I woke up to Shay jumping on me. I’d been as worried about them as they had me. They told me that as they were leaving the warehouse in London, they were attacked by Grynn. The Warriors stepped up and saved everyone. Let’s just say that I really, really don’t want a repeat of that whole situation.

  When we got home from London we moved into Ben’s house. I know it’s not actually his but a Nykara safe house, but I still think of it as his house. It was hard dealing with being the Chosen One then going back to just regular old Alix. I had the same problem after we saved the hikers, but this time it was much harder because of the seriousness of the Paris situation. Maybe it’ll get easier the more I have to do it and I know there are going to be more Grynn incidents. Since I destroyed the building in Paris it’s been quiet on that front, but I know it’s coming. I haven’t told anyone, but I’ve been having dreams. Not vision dreams, but I know they’re about the Grynn. I can’t really remember most of them, but I see lots of destruction and people getting hurt. I know what I’ve seen and been through is just the tip of the iceberg and it’s going to get worse. I just hope I can be what the world needs me to be and that I can live a normal life and still be the Kaelneth. Sounds like an impossible task some days.

  On a good note … Sara will be moving here after Christmas to go to school. I’m really happy she’s going to be close. And today we decorated the house for Christmas. I had so much fun and I think everyone had a good time. I’m really looking forward to Christmas Day and it’ll be great to spend it with Ben, Natalie, and Rick. Speaking of Ben, he made me blush again. It’s been a while since he did, but he has this smile that does it to me every time. I think he knows and does it just to get to me. I thought it would be a lot more awkward to live with him, but thankfully every room has its own bathroom so there haven’t been any morning run-ins with my hair messy and in my pj’s. It’s been pretty good living here. We take turns making dinner and it’s been fun showing them some of our traditions like movie night. My room has a desk and a TV with a DVD player, so I can have privacy if I want. It’s great when Shay stays over because we don’t have to watch movies on my laptop anymore.

  Alix looked at the time. It was after 10:00. She didn’t realize she’d been writing for that long. She quickly finished her entry.

  It’s late and I need to go to bed. Note to self … don’t wait so long between entries again, write something more often even if it’s not an emergency!

  Alix crawled into bed and closed her eyes. Her last thought before falling asleep was the smile that Ben had given her.

  Chapter 3

  When Alix got home from school Monday there was a surprise waiting for her in her room. Someone had set up and decorated a small Christmas tree for her. She squealed when she saw it. She immediately clasped her hands over her mouth and laughed at herself. She’d always wanted her very own tree.

  “Do you like it?” Ben said from her door.

  She jumped and turned around. Ben laughed at her.

  “Sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you,” he said.

  “You did this?” she asked pointing at the tree.

  “Yes. I had mom put it up today. I hope that was okay.”

  Alix ran over to him and gave him a big hug. “I love it,” she told him. “I’ve always wanted my very own tree in my room, but I never had enough space. It’s perfect. Thank you so much. How did you know?”

  Ben looked surprised by Alix’s hug attack. “Um, I just kind of guessed. I mean you kinda went crazy in the rest of the house, so I figured you’d might like one in here.”

  “I do. You have no idea how much I love it. Thanks again.”

  Ben almost looked embarrassed. “You’re welcome Alix,” he said and left her room.

  Alix immediately took a picture and sent it to Shay.

  Alix: Look what I came home to!

  Shay: Cool, where did it come from?

  Alix: It was Ben’s idea and he had Natalie do it today while we were at school

  Shay: Aww, that was sweet.

  Alix: I know. I attacked him with a hug and I think I might have embarrassed him. Lol!

  Shay: Lol! Good for you.

  Alix: I didn’t mean to I was just so excited.

  Shay: I think it’s funny.

  Alix: I guess it was. Are you doing homework?

  Shay: Changing the subject?

  Alix: No

  Shay: I think you are, but I’ll let it go … this time. Yes, I’m doing homework. You?

  Alix: Not yet, I was too busy looking at my tree. But I have biology I have to do.

  Shay: Fun. Text me later if you’re bored.

  Alix worked on her homework for a while. When she was done, she knocked on Ben’s door.

  “Hey,” he said when she opened it. “What’s up?”

  “I was wondering if you finished our Biology homework.”

  “Yeah, a l
ittle while ago.”

  “Do you think we can compare ours, so I know if I did it right?”

  “Sure, come in.”

  They looked over their homework until it was time for dinner. By the time they got downstairs, Natalie was just putting the finishing touches on the meal. They set the table, and everyone sat down to eat. After dinner, Alix and Ben volunteered to clean up. When they were done, they went to the den to see what was on TV. Alix had forgotten about watching the news, so she wondered if anything had happened yet. She knew it was just a matter of time before the Grynn did something that was sure to harm humans. She spent the rest of the night watching TV until it was time for bed.

  * * *

  The next couple of days went by in much the same manner. It wasn’t until Thursday morning that she’d gotten the news she’d been dreading. She was in English when her phone went off. She wasn’t supposed to have it, but she’d been keeping it with her in case she heard anything from the Council. She looked at her phone, it was James, the Council member from Florida that had been keeping an eye on Victor.

  James: Call as soon as you can. It’s about Victor.

  Alix went to Miss Fay and showed her the text. “I think I should call him,” she whispered to her.”

  “Yes, Alix. We need to know what’s going on,” Miss Fay told her. “Go in the hall and call him.”

  Alix went out of the classroom and called James.

  “James here,” he said when he answered.

  “It’s Alix. What’s going on?” she asked.

  “The Grynn have finally found Victor. He made it out of the Everglades and got to a phone. They picked him up and took him to the airport. We were able to see that his flight was going to Paris. We’ve contacted our associates there and they’ll do their best to keep an eye on him.”

  “Okay. Is there anything I should be doing?” she asked.

  “No, I don’t think so. We’ll keep you updated.”