by M. H. Soars
“It doesn’t matter, though. His coach might have been able to sweet talk Ethan out of suspension, but after what happened this afternoon Ethan will be lucky if he doesn’t get expelled altogether,” Zach continued.
Mia sighed in defeat. “Poor Ethan. It’s not like he comes from a wealthy family that can make a huge donation to the school in order to keep him from being expelled.”
Zach patted Mia’s lap in a comforting gesture but removed his hand quickly once he caught me watching.
“I wish we had inherited the power of compulsion from our parents,” Mia said wistfully. “It would make our lives so much easier if at least one of the Prodigy had the power to get people out of trouble.”
“Isn’t it odd that none of us have it?” Melanie asked.
“What do you mean?” Sean asked.
“Well, isn’t compulsion a common trait among Arcadians? How come none of us have it, not even a little bit?”
That was just one more question mark in the ever-growing mystery surrounding our existence.
CHAPTER 25
Alexia
Whoever said that you can’t die of a broken heart was utterly wrong. After the rage subsided, all I had was this painful hole inside my chest where my heart used to be. It was like Ethan had torn it out when he betrayed me and forced me to live without it.
I was barely aware of the passage of time. Nothing mattered anymore. I didn’t want to crawl out from under my covers, so I didn’t. No matter how insistent my family was, I couldn’t bring myself to start to live again. They tried everything — kindness, humor, coercion, anger — but nothing could turn around my apathy. I did realize that I wouldn’t be able to pull this act for long. I knew that I was in the throes of a deep depression, and soon my family would force me to see a therapist. But I didn’t care. All I wanted was to be swallowed whole by my misery.
I wasn’t surprised when Julian came to see me. Despite his weird behavior at school, he was my friend. He sat on the edge of my bed and stared at me for a while without saying anything. Then he removed his shoes and lay next to me on top of the covers. He reached out and delicately pushed my tangled curls away from my face.
“I’m sorry,” he said. I blinked a couple of times, trying to understand what was he sorry for. “I’m sorry you had to suffer so.”
He kept patting my hair in a soothing manner but didn’t take his eyes from mine. I always thought Julian’s eyes were the clearest, brightest blue eyes I had ever seen, but I had never had the nerve before to stare at them so unabashedly.
“Listen to me, Alexia: You’re going to get out of this bed, get into the shower, and pull it together.”
I could feel the resolution to drown in my sadness dissolve as I listened to Julian’s words, and I fought hard against it. I closed my eyes and tried to push him away.
“Go away, Julian.”
He sighed heavily. “You give me no choice, then.”
I felt the mattress bounce slightly as Julian got up from my bed, and unexpectedly the covers were pushed aside.
“What are you doing?” I tried to kick him when he picked me up. “Julian, put me down!”
Mia and Sam barged into my room, and I pleaded with them for help. Julian didn’t spare them a glance. He walked straight to the bathroom and dumped me unceremoniously in the bathtub. I tried to get up, but Julian held me down as freezing water poured over me.
“What the hell, Julian! The water is freezing. I hate you!”
“Good. At least that proves you're not dead yet,” he joked, even though in my efforts to fight his hold on me I had gotten him quite drenched, too.
“I wish we'd thought of doing that,” Sam said behind Julian.
“For fuck’s sake! I’m wearing clothes,” I whined, but stopped fighting him. The shock of the cold water against my skin and the rage of being manhandled finally lifted the fog that had borne down on me for so long.
“Would you have preferred it if I had stripped you naked?” Julian reached for the bottle of shampoo.
“Give me that!” I grabbed for it and pushed him away. “I can clean myself without assistance.”
Julian eyed me doubtfully but conceded. As he got up from his crouching position, he took stock of the state of his clothes. I was clear-headed enough to notice Mia and Sam trying to swallow their laughter.
Mia finally chuckled at Julian’s disarray. “Let me get you a towel and some dry clothes.”
The three left the bathroom but didn’t quite close the door, so I could still hear what they were saying. Mia went to retrieve something for Julian to wear, which left Sam and Julian alone in my room.
“Thanks a lot for what you did,” I heard Sam say. “You didn’t have to.”
“I wanted to help. Alexia is my friend.”
Silence followed, and I wondered what they were doing. “So,” Julian continued. “This is awkward,” they both said at the same time, and laughed nervously.
“It doesn’t have to be, though,” Julian said.
“Oh?” was Sam’s only reply.
“I acted strange after we ended things, and for that I apologize. But I promise you, no more weirdness from now on.”
I held my breath, waiting for Sam’s reply. The weirdness had originated from her side, and I wondered if she was going to accept the olive branch Julian was offering. Sam must have finally shown some sign of approval because Julian asked her, “Friends, then?”
Samantha
“I can’t believe I let you convince me to do this,” Alexia complained for the thousandth time.
I snorted. “Like you had a choice in the matter. You were mistaken, lady, if you thought for one second that I would allow Julian’s efforts go to waste and let you crawl back into bed. We are going out to have some fun tonight.”
Alexia made a disgruntled sound as she sat subdued in front of my vanity table, and let me fix her hair. She always complained about her wild curls, but I thought they suited her. She looked like a precious doll, with golden curls, and big doe eyes with lashes that went on for miles. She was still pale and had dark circles under her eyes, but with sufficient makeup I could make her look like her old self again.
Mia and Melanie were fluttering around my room like a couple of excited birds as they got ready for the night out. I was excited as well, despite everything. It had been a while since we’d allowed ourselves to have a good time like normal teenagers. Mia had called Rachel, who called all of the Leopoldetes. She was also the one who suggested the perfect venue for our girls-only night out. There was a brand new club downtown that seemed to be the “It” place to see and be seen. And it turned out that it belonged to one Rachel’s dad’s clients.
When we arrived, we found a huge line that went around the block, but thanks to Rachel’s connections we were ushered in immediately. Alexia had been concerned about her fake ID but I assured her it would be fine. It was the first time she had to use it. We weren’t carded at the door, and we wouldn’t be carded at the bar either, thanks to the VIP bracelets we were given. Besides, Sean was the one who had procured our IDs when we started high school, and it was no secret that everyone at LJM Prep had state of the art fake IDs. There was no way all those privileged kids would stay away from the most popular places because they were under aged.
The club didn’t disappoint. It was massive, with several areas on different levels. Each area had its own bar, but the main bar near the dance floor would make an alcoholic weep with joy. The entire back wall was a huge mirror, and there were rows upon rows of shelves with every alcoholic beverage known to man. There were lights under those shelves which made those colorful bottles even more appealing. They all seem to say, Drink me, drink me.
The dance floor was on the lowest level of the main floor, sort of like a pit, and it was already pretty full. The DJ had a privileged view of it from his second level balcony.
The decor was dark, sleek and modern. The VIP area where we had a table reserved had big, comfortable purple couches with
black satin pillows. It offered us an excellent view of the dance floor.
Alexia had been reluctant to go out, but once she set foot in the club she was game for a good time. She even downed a couple of shots before she ventured onto the dance floor with her friends. I followed, keeping a protective eye on her, but trying to enjoy myself. Unfortunately, Alexia’s bliss didn’t last long. She soon spotted a group of cheerleaders from school dancing with a bunch of guys from the football team. I could see her terrified gaze dart around the club, probably searching for Ethan and Chloe. Damn. I hoped neither of them was here.
I saw Julian just at the edge of the dance floor, and fought my way through the wave of moving bodies to reach him. He greeted me with a smile. I grabbed his arm and pulled him closer so I could shout in his ear, “What are you doing here?”
He frowned at me before he leaned closer. “I didn’t realize this was a private event,” he shouted back, his lips almost brushing my ear, raising the hairs on my nape.
I started to answer when someone bumped me from behind, shoving me against Julian. Because of the way we were positioned, that was enough for our faces to come inches apart and our bodies to press together in an intimate embrace. Julian’s arms encircled my waist as he tried to steady me, and my open palms rested on his sculpted chest. Our eyes locked. When my heart started to beat uncontrollably, I attributed it to crazy hormones and alcohol. Julian pulled away from me, breaking the connection. Remembering why I had approached him in the first place, I leaned closer to his ear again, but this time I was all too conscious of our proximity. “Is Ethan here?”
Julian shook his head. “I don’t know where he is. I haven’t heard from him since Thursday.”
My body relaxed. No Ethan. And no Chloe, either. The night wasn’t going to turn into a total disaster after all. I turned to face the dance floor one more time, to find Matthew glowering at me from the other side. I didn’t know how long he had been there, but I could tell he was none too happy about me talking to Julian. I tried to send him a reassuring thought, but I couldn’t concentrate well enough to reach him. Alcohol probably impaired our psychic abilities as well as body coordination. Well, he wasn’t supposed to be here, anyway. We had told the boys that the evening was for us girls only.
I’d made up my mind to rejoin the girls on the dance floor below when out of nowhere Vanessa materialized in front of Matthew and pulled him to the pit. The club might have been dark, but there were enough lights flashing on the dance floor for me to see Matthew give me a challenging look. He wanted war, huh? I could give him that. I turned to my side, where Julian had been, but he was gone. Just as well. I didn’t need Julian to make Matthew jealous. I was sure I could find someone much better in no time.
I made my way to the main bar and found Alexia there, drinking one shot of tequila after another.
“Easy there, girl. The point is to drown your sorrows, not die of alcohol poisoning.”
“They're not here,” Alexia whined.
“Who's not here?” I asked as I looked back to the dance floor to see if Matthew and Vanessa were still dancing together. I couldn’t see them anymore so hopefully he had gotten rid of her.
“Ethan and Chloe,” Alexia replied fatalistically.
I turned to look at her again with a frown on my face. “Well, I take that as a good sign, right? The last thing you want is to have their presence ruin the night.”
Alexia leaned forward and pressed her head against the cool surface of the bar counter. “It means they're probably out on a date.”
”That's crazy!”
Her head snapped up. “Is it? All of Chloe’s minions are here, but she isn’t. Most of the football players are here, too, but Ethan isn’t. Don’t you think it's a terrible coincidence that they’re both missing?”
If I hadn’t known the truth about their breakup, I could believe Alexia’s theory. But I knew it wasn’t so. Ethan and Chloe’s absence was just a very bad coincidence. But Alexia was beyond listening to explanations.
“You know what? Fuck them!” she exclaimed. I winced at hearing Alexia swear. She had been doing that a lot lately. “I came here to forget Ethan ever existed, and that is exactly what I intend to do.” She grabbed my hand and led me back to the dance floor.
Alexia spent the next hour dancing with every single guy that approached her. I mean every single guy we let approach her. No way would we let any weirdos take advantage of an incoherent Alexia. We also agreed to curb her drinking. She had enough alcohol in her system to fuel a rocket ship. But even in her alcohol-induced oblivion, when Henry tried to dance with her she had the sense to push him away. That only furthered our belief that he was a fraud. I wondered briefly about Henry’s presence at the club, but it seemed that the entire school was here so I didn’t dwell too much on it.
Now and then I spotted Matthew talking to random people, but he never came over to talk to me. He was probably still pissed that he had caught me talking to Julian before. Tough shit. Just because we were together didn’t mean he owned me.
Melanie and I decided to take a break from all the dancing. My feet were killing me. Melanie’s face was flushed, and she seemed relaxed as she sipped her drink. I hadn’t seen her like that in a long time, and it made me happy. But my happiness was replaced by wariness when I spotted Lucas and pointed him out to her. She groaned.
“It seems the entire school decided to come here tonight,” she complained.
“It’s a very popular place. At least Alexia seems to be having a good time, and that was the point.”
“Yes, but she’ll be wishing she was dead tomorrow when she’s suffering from a massive hangover,” Melanie pointed out. Well, there was nothing for it. We would probably all be suffering from the effects of tonight’s outing. C’est la vie.
I was brought back from my thoughts when Melanie dumped her glass on the table with a loud bang. Alarmed, the first thing I did was search for Alexia. I found her immediately. She was doing a dance number with Rachel and Brianna.
“What’s wrong, Mel?”
“Those guys there.”
I turned around and saw a group of four guys in a corner giving money to a shady character in exchange for a clear vial with a dark liquid in it.
The sale of drugs was not uncommon in clubs like this, and I wouldn’t have worried much about it if I hadn’t caught Lucas observing the operation with rapt attention. If Lucas was interested, it meant we should be, too. Melanie had noticed Lucas as well, and was already getting up from her seat, ready to follow the guys as they disappeared through a door that said ‘Employees only.’
“Come on, let’s go after them,” she said urgently.
I got up and followed her. I glanced back to see if Lucas was headed our direction, but he had vanished. The door opened to a narrow, dimly lit corridor. The walls were painted a dark purple, and the floor was black. Music from the club still enveloped us, as the door separating the dark hallway and the club wasn’t thick enough to muffle the noise. Several doors lined the corridor, but we ignored them as we followed the sound of male voices ahead of us. We stopped in front of a door that said ‘Storage.’ Even with the club music still reverberating through the walls, we could hear our suspects talking inside.
“Man, are you sure this shit owns?” asked one voice.
“It better, because it cost me my entire allowance,” said another.
“Trust me. This will be the best trip of your lives,” a third guy replied.
Melanie glanced at me. “I can get in without being seen, but what about you?”
There was no way to know how big the storage room was, or whether the guys would notice someone opening the door. Melanie would have to turn invisible and go in alone.
“I'll go find the others. We can’t let those guys back in the club hopped up on whatever they bought. We saw the damage one person did the last time.” I shivered, remembering Johnny under the influence of the mysterious drug.
Melanie nodded. “Okay.”
I placed my hand on her arm before she disappeared. “Be careful.”
I made my way back to the club and went in search of the guys, since I needed Mia to keep an eye on Alexia. I knew Sean and Zach had come along with Matthew, as I had spotted them earlier. But now they were nowhere to be seen.
The club was more packed than before. It would be impossible to find anyone on the dance floor unless I found a vantage point. The entire second level of the club had a pretty good view of the floor below, so that was where I headed. It took longer than I expected to reach the landing and push my way through the myriad of people to the edge of the balcony railing. From there, it didn’t take long to find Matthew. He was taller than most of the guys in the club, and it was like his presence was a beacon calling for my attention.
I held onto the railing like my life depended on it, my knuckles turning white from the strain. Matthew was dancing with Vanessa again. No, not dancing. It looked more like foreplay by the way they were grinding their hips together to the beat. Vanessa had her arms around Matthew’s neck, and his hands were on her waist.
In that moment, all thoughts of finding help vanished. I felt my skin getting warm, and my body hummed with constrained energy. My heart was beating so fast it felt like it was going to burst out of my chest. I was vaguely aware when the lights in the club started to flicker, but I didn’t care. When Vanessa suddenly pulled Matthew’s head down and kissed him, it was like a volcano erupted deep inside of me. I felt energy burst out with a vengeance from my legs, arms, and head. I heard a loud explosion, followed by a shower of sparks and lots of screaming, before the music stopped and the club went completely dark.
People bumped into me as they tried to escape, but I held on. The buzzing in my ears had subsided, but my legs could barely hold me upright. When it seemed I wouldn’t be able to hold onto the railing anymore, I felt strong arms embrace me from behind. Then I lost consciousness.
I came to my senses later, lying on one of the VIP’s couches. The first thing I saw was Julian’s concerned face looking down at me.
