The C I N Series Bundled

by Christina Leigh Pritchard

  “If he goes then so do I,” Lisa said, tugging at the corners of my book. “Is that what you want?” I touched a strand of her black hair. It was soft and silky, just like her flesh.

  “Sometimes I’d like to be able to breathe.” I held back a grin. Really, I would. She was always around.

  “In that case, Rat and I will be going.” She snatched her Himalayan cat and headed for the door. I grabbed her around the waist.

  “I changed my mind,” I whispered in her ear. She giggled, falling backwards.

  “Alex, this is getting too intense. I think we need some space.”

  “Oh, do you, now?”

  “Don’t you think that would help us out?” Her fingers intertwined with mine. “A little down time might give you a break from my newfound neediness.”

  “I can barely breathe without you.” She couldn’t get away from me even if she tried.

  She caressed my arm with her fingertips. “I hate when you say things like that.”

  “Why?”

  It was almost easy to forget her faults when she pouted. Her bottom lip shook and her dark eyes filled with passion. She was alluring.

  “Don’t play dumb.”

  I cradled her in my arms. Rat hissed, wriggling free. He flicked his tail and disappeared from sight.

  She was warm and I liked that she still trembled whenever I touched her. She laughed, tossing her head back. “This is the smallest room on campus. It barely holds a bed.”

  “I like it like this. Then there’s only one place for you to sit.”

  “What, in your lap?” She rolled her eyes, resisting me. “Sometimes you make me mad.”

  “Good, I like it when you’re feisty.” I bit her on the neck. She squealed, bending forward. I kissed her shoulder. She smelled like vanilla and I wanted to taste her. “Why can’t we close the door?”

  “Because I don’t trust you. I’m not like the groupies.”

  I pulled away.

  “Sorry, but I’m not.”

  “I never said you were.” Too bad you aren’t though…

  “Listen, Alex.” She placed her hand on my heart. Her thoughts invaded my mind. She loved me. I was hers. “Don’t you understand?”

  I hated when she pushed her thoughts into my mind. It was one thing when I wanted to know what she thought—it was another when I didn’t.

  I didn’t want to admit it, but I made a mistake. My emotions got the better of me when I changed Lisa. Why didn’t I let her go? I imprisoned her here at C I N. Her life was fragile and any hope for her survival—

  “Alex.” My sister, Ally, banged her fist on the open door. “It’s time to go.”

  Ally’s hair used to be red, but now it was long and blonde, nearly white. Her eyes were about as pale as mine these days, too. Rarely did I enjoy being interrupted to help Ally. But, today, I wanted nothing more than to get as far away from Lisa as possible.

  “What are you guys going to do?”

  “We’re going to sift through some old boxes,” Ally said. “Is that the same shirt you wore yesterday?” She rolled her eyes. “That’s gross. There’re a million blouses in our room. You could change your clothes every once in a while.”

  “You act like I can stink.” Lisa laughed. She loved the fact that when she was hit by lightning her sweat glands no longer emitted an odor.

  “It’s about proper hygiene. Do you think Alex wants to see you in the same thing every day? Do you even change your undergarments?”

  “Of course I do! What’s your problem anyway?”

  “I don’t have a problem. Alex, let’s go.”

  “Let me get my shoes.” Lisa dug under the bed. “I’ll be ready in just a minute.”

  “Please don’t tell me you invited her to help us.”

  I shook my head. “Lisa doesn’t want to come with us. She told me she was going to hang with Donna today.”

  Maybe she’d get the hint.

  “I want to be with you.” Her hands trembled, finally realizing she wasn’t included. “Don’t you want me to come?”

  She touched my arm, and my thoughts invaded her mind. No. I don’t want you to come. Can’t you take a hint?

  She jerked back. “Fine, that’s all you had to say.” She brushed past us and stood at the stairwell. “I can’t believe you lately. You’re acting weird.”

  “Lisa’s getting annoying, almost worse than Donna,” Ally whispered. “If she’s this annoying now what will she be like in ten years—or a hundred?”

  “Stop it,” I said, motioning for her to leave. “I think I’m going to move back home. I need more space.”

  “Does this ‘space’ have a name?” Ally teased, racing ahead. “Why don’t you call it what it is?”

  I ignored her. There was nothing I could do now. This was my fault.

  “I used to like Lisa, but that was before she started transforming.” Ally led me out the front entrance of the C I N boarding school. We headed around the lake towards our shack. We needed to hide some very crucial evidence of our past from a very meddlesome girl. She never stopped. It was an invasion of Lisa all the time. She was in your thoughts, in your stuff, in your heart, in…

  “Stop picking on her, She’s been nothing but a good friend to you.”

  “Why, because she’s the only person you can touch without being in excruciating pain?”

  I froze. “Don’t make this a bad thing. That’s not the only reason I like Lisa.”

  “You don’t love her. You should’ve let Michael have this one. Why are you doing this to yourself?”

  “I do care for her; a lot.”

  “But, not the way you did for—”

  “Shut up! Why do you have to bring up the past?”

  “It’s the truth.” Ally shrugged. “Isn’t that why we’re doing this?”

  “Doing what?”

  Ally and I turned around. Lisa stood behind us. Tears brimmed in her eyes.

  “Who do you really love, Alex?” Lisa’s bottom lip trembled. “I thought you couldn’t touch anyone besides me? I thought you never felt the way you feel about me before? I don’t understand. You said there was never anyone else. Who or what are you hiding from me? You think I’m annoying now?”

  “Lisa.” I tried to speak. Words had never been my thing. It wasn’t that I didn’t care about her. I knew I desired her, but was I in love? Plus, which question did she want me to answer?

  “Answer me, Alex.” Lisa wiped away a stray tear.

  “And say what? Go back to school and leave us alone!”

  Lightning crackled in the sky above. Donna and Big Al sat on a bench by the school’s entrance. They raced inside. From the other side of the lake I could hear the door slam shut.

  Dark clouds covered the skies. Lisa glanced at them. Before she would’ve raced away, frightened at what I could do. Instead, today, she stepped forward, ready to fight. “Why are you threatening me?”

  “I want you to go home.”

  “This isn’t my home! I’m your stupid prisoner, remember? A girl you thought you liked but now are getting tired of. Besides, that lightning crap won’t work. You can’t tell me to ‘hurry on home’ anymore.”

  “Stop acting like a twelve year old,” Ally said. “He’s not tired of you. I’m not tired of you, either. Sometimes you’re just a bit clingy and nosy. Give us a break already. We went from having no one ,to you, who happens to be in our face all the time.”

  “I thought you said you wanted me to know all about you?” Her eyes set on mine.

  I lowered my head and stared at the ground. Little red ants climbed over my bare feet. If they were biting me I couldn’t tell. I just wanted her to shut up and leave. Everything she said started to sound like garbled static.

  “Alex!” Lisa yelled. Her fingers twitched; sparks generated then electrical currents shot from her fingertips, disintegrating the tiny anthill between us. I frowned at the pile of ash.

  “That was mean.” I turned my back to her. “Go home before you lo
se control and kill something else.”

  “What’s the big deal if I do?” She wouldn’t budge. This wasn’t normal. Had she already begun transforming? Panic spread through my nervous system like a disease. It usually took over a hundred years to transform. If she kept changing at this rate there was no telling whether she’d survive.

  “Do you want to kill someone?” Ally asked, invading Lisa’s personal space.

  “Ally, leave her alone.”

  “No, Lisa wants to know the truth. I think it’s time she got to see what happens to her when she loses it.”

  “Stop, we don’t know how much she can handle yet.”

  Lisa’s hair rose and so did Ally’s. Sparks flew from their fingertips and the sky rumbled above us. The grass below them blackened, turning to smut.

  “I can’t control her, Ally.”

  Ally’s eyes danced. “So what? I know what’ll happen in the end to her.”

  My feet stood frozen in place. Lisa was more powerful than Ally and I combined. She petrified me. Electrical currents beyond anything Reginald ever measured in Ally or me were alive in Lisa. It was as if she weren’t human anymore. Each day she changed more and more. Her powers were going to overtake her soon. The last person who lost control ended up killing—

  “Calm down!” I stood between them. Pig growled, tugging on Ally’s pant leg. Lisa grinned, picking her Boston terrier up. He kissed her face and narrowed his bug eyes at Ally.

  “Why didn’t you just let me go away with my mom? Why’d you have to trap me? I thought you guys wanted me around. Now I’ve got to stay here with people who hate me!” She raced through the tall grass around the lake towards C I N. She didn’t look back.

  My heart pounded and every fiber in my being yearned for her touch.

  I kicked the pile of ash (that was once an anthill) and called out, “I hate you!”

  “A little dramatic, don’t you think?” Ally grumbled. “She’s not that bad.”

  “I don’t hate Lisa.”

  Ally’s eyes widened. “You don’t mean—”

  I took off, running as fast as I could. I needed to get away from my sister, from Lisa, from everyone. This is why I liked living alone; too much drama, too much talking, too much of everything.

  “Alex!” My sister chased after me. Lightning crackled above us. “Don’t push me away again!” Her words stung. “What are you running from? It wasn’t your fault. You’re not the one who is to blame!”

  What was I running from? How about the fact that I’d fallen into the same trap again? This time, though, I was falling for someone even worse than Amie. And, what did Ally know? It was my fault; all of it was.

  REMEMBER…

  Millie Brown stood on my front porch. She stared at the multicolored siding with blank eyes. Maybe healing the cancer in her body had been wrong. I used to feel good about myself whenever I saved someone’s life. I figured if I had the ability to help people then it would be irresponsible not to use my gifts to cure them. Humph. This wasn’t a gift…more like a curse. Why had I ever thought it was something good? Lisa’s actions lately reminded me why I’d forgotten. Some things were too painful to remember. Lisa was like a scab being re-punctured.

  “You said you needed my help?” Millie didn’t face me. She never did. It was as if she only stayed next door out of obligation. Did she feel like a prisoner, too?

  “Yes, we need you to hide some boxes from your niece. Can you take them into town and place them in a depository box at the bank?”

  “One that is out of the Lynn district, I assume?”

  I couldn’t help noticing that she’d dyed her hair red again. The color stuck to the edges of her scalp. She even had some on her yellow polo shirt. She always dressed this way. Millie was supposed to be the dean of our fake school. She thought it best to be in character at all times.

  “Yes, and only you will know where. I don’t ever want access,” I said. “It’s time I buried the past.”

  “Just burn it, then.” Ally rolled her eyes. “It’s not like there’s some spell on her stuff. It’s tangible, Alex, really it is.”

  “I’m not burning her things.” Wind shot from my hands, blasting Ally backwards. “Go get the boxes so we can dig through them.”

  “When I get out of the dirt,” Ally said, brushing off her shins. “You’re a lot edgier than normal.”

  “I’m more like you?” I sneered, pointing to the house. “Get the evidence already. I have to go and try to make Lisa happy again.”

  Ally laughed. “She’s not going to talk to you for a while. Haven’t you learned anything about her yet?”

  “Stop being you and go get the boxes.”

  “I’m just honest, Alex Moody. You should be happy that someone in this place is.”

  “Millie is honest.”

  “No, she’s just obligated.” She disappeared inside our home. The porch swing creaked in the wind. I remembered sitting there watching Lisa walk past me with Michael several years ago. He’d tried taking her to a bonfire party. Jealousy had surged through me that night. I could still feel the frustration right now. Was she inside talking to him about me? That’s how it went lately. I screw up. Lisa finds Michael and sobs to him. My fingers trembled. Why did things have to change? Why did I mess everything up? Why did it hurt to touch Lisa again? She wasn’t hurting, only me. Still, I wanted her, most of the time. Time…

  Time flew for us. Three years had already passed but still, we weren’t progressing. I didn’t want to be away from her but sometimes she drove me nuts. I thought she’d stop asking so many questions, but instead she was like a reporter on a mission seeking answers to things she didn’t need to know. The truth would only break her heart. Then, for the rest of our lives we’d be stuck with pain and disappointment. She’d look at me whenever we passed each other in the halls and know horrible things. How uncomfortable would that make life? It’s not like we could get away from each other, especially in the showers or while we were eating. So, do you date someone you don’t really love just to keep things from being painful? Was this just a rut in the relationship? With Amie, I never lost the butterflies I felt for her. She never annoyed me. I didn’t feel crowded or overwhelmed. At least not until she started to transform. How was it possible that Lisa was transforming this soon? She needed years to develop mind blocks and to train her mind against the black thoughts.

  “Alex,” Millie whispered. “I’m going to take a walk first.” Her eyes followed the setting sun. “Tomorrow, first thing, I’ll go to the bank.”

  Millie was useless at sunset. She disappeared for hours at a time and no one except me and Rat knew where and why. Lisa still tried to pry the truth out of Rat. That was one secret my cat would never tell her. I smiled. At least he had a little loyalty in him still. Millie deserved her own secret. We had ours.

  Ally lugged a box outside. “Here’s one. I’ll go get another.” She shook her head. “You’re the man of house.”

  “And?”

  “You should be lifting these things.”

  “I can’t go in that room. It was hers, remember?” I closed my eyes. Images of Amie flooded my mind. Her thick lips and the way her flesh felt when it grazed mine… Then, there were the things she loved that always got me. Like her obsession with the lake and the wheat fields. There weren’t any more local wheat fields these days. I wondered what she thought when she watched the last field become an apartment complex a little over ten years ago. I bet she flipped out. I’m glad I wasn’t there to see her face.

  I never forgot the day I first saw Amie. It was 1713 and I had decided to build my house right across the lake. It was the closest I could get without speaking to her.

  “What am I looking for, Alex?” Ally dropped a small box on the porch. Pictures tumbled out. A black and white photo landed at my feet. I swallowed. “What’s wrong?”

  I couldn’t look. I hadn’t seen Amie that beautiful in years. “Pick it up, Ally.”

  “Stop being so bossy.” Sh
e leaned over, accidentally brushing her hair against me. Sharp pains shot through my body. I doubled over from my sister’s thoughts. She blamed me.

  “You do think it was my fault.” I shook uncontrollably. “Why do you walk around telling me how honest you are when really you’ve been lying to me all these years about how you truly feel?”

  “Alex.” She took deep breaths, pointing to a large box. “Read these and you’ll understand why.”

  “I don’t want to look in there.”

  She rolled her eyes. “Oh, for crying out loud, grow up. It’s time you learned the truth for yourself. Before it’s too late and we lose Lisa, too.”

  “Are you saying—?”

  “Yes, there’s a pattern.” Her eyes darted from side to side. She leaned in close. “Only, Lisa is transforming much faster, a hundred times faster, than Amie. If you want to save Lisa you better read these, and fast.”

  I didn’t want to remember Amie. The more I thought about her, the harder it was for me to move on. Soon, I’d push Lisa too far and she’d end up in Michael’s arms. They fell for each other once—it could happen a second time.

  “Sit down and read these.” She motioned for me to sit on the porch swing. I sat and she placed six old journals next to me. They smelled of mildew and the writing was barely legible. “They’re in order and numbered. This box is filled with these things.”

  “Okay, I’ll read them.” I shot her my most hateful look.

  “I take it you want to read them alone?”

  “That would be great, thanks.”

  She stomped down the three porch steps. “I’ll go check on your precious angel of death.”

  “I don’t think Lisa would like it if she heard you call her that.” I grinned.

  Ally froze with her back to me. “She’d probably do her best to show you just how angelic she could be.”

  “Don’t start.”

  “This place needs a little fun.”

  I shook my head. People are not toys.”

  She faced me, narrowing her eyes. “I’m not two.”