The Transformed Box Set: Books 1, 2, 3, 3.5

by Stacy Claflin

  "We can either go to the Delphic Cove mall or we can go to the outlet mall. There's supposed to be a hu-uge sale on Coach shoes."

  "Let's check out the shoes!"

  Her face lit up. "Yes! Thank you!" She hugged me. "You must know how bad I need some."

  "You've mentioned it a time or two," I said, looking through my hats.

  She shoved my shoulder. "I know, I know. I've talked about them nonstop. I can't help it. My dad's fiancé has an entire closet of shoes. I'm so jealous."

  "So are we going Christmas shopping or personal shopping?"

  "What's wrong with a little of both?"

  I laughed. "Nothing. Just checking."

  "You ready yet? How can you see any of those hats in here? There's barely any light."

  "My eyes are adjusted since I was sleeping," I lied. Since she didn't know I was vampire, I couldn't explain my night vision. I could almost see better in the night, but it was hard to compare since the way that I saw in the light and the dark were two completely different experiences.

  As I was up and moving, I noticed that I was feeling a lot better. I couldn't even see any imaginary animals. When we got downstairs, my parents were settled on the couch, watching the evening news.

  "Any news about good sales?" Amanda asked.

  "Mostly just the crowds," my dad said. "It sounds like it's crazy out there. You girls be safe. You have your cell phones, right?"

  I pulled mine out of my pocket and held it up. "Charged and ready to go."

  "Are you sure you're feeling up to it, Lexy?" my mom asked.

  I spun around and gave a curtsy. "I'm great, Mom. Whatever got into my system is gone now. That nap was just what I needed."

  "Nap?" my dad asked, and chuckled. "You were out for nearly five hours. That's a full night's sleep for me."

  Shrugging, I said, "Guess I needed it."

  He looked at Amanda. "If she starts to look sick, tired, weak, or anything, please bring her back right away. I know you girls want to shop 'til you drop, but Alexis needs to take care of herself."

  "No problem, Mr. Ferguson," Amanda said. "I don't want her getting sick, either."

  When we were outside, Amanda stood next to my convertible Lexus and looked at me expectantly.

  I threw my hat at her. "Why do we always have to take my car?"

  She looked at it and then back to me. "You seriously have to even ask?"

  "There isn't anything wrong with your car," I said, looking at her light green smart car.

  "No. It's nice, I agree. But it's not your shiny Lexus."

  "I don't really feel like driving. I uh, took something that I shouldn't have."

  Amanda raised an eyebrow. "I'm not going to ask. Let me drive. Please. Pretty puh-lease." She batted her eyelashes.

  I sighed.

  "With a cherry on top!"

  I looked back to the house, then turned to her and threw her the keys. "You know I'm not supposed to let anyone else drive it." I threw her my set of valet keys.

  She squealed as she caught them. "Thank you! Thank you!"

  We climbed in and got settled in.

  "I can't believe I'm driving it!"

  "Don't get too used to it," I said, and laughed. "I might even feel well enough to drive it in my new shoes."

  She started the car and blasted the music, so if she responded, I couldn't hear it. We danced in our seats to the music until we reached the outlet mall and groaned in unison when we saw the parking lot. Amanda turned down the music. "Should I drive around and find a close spot or try for one further out?"

  "People are notoriously crazy on Black Friday. I vote for far away—I don't want anything happening to my car."

  "I know, right? Good thinking. Guess that's why you're the one in all those honors classes." She whipped around a corner and went the opposite direction of all the other cars driving around the lot.

  "Easy there, Mario Andretti."

  "Who?"

  I laughed. "He was a race car driver—one of the best. My dad loves him."

  "Oh. Thanks! I—"

  "There's a spot! Get it!"

  "What? Where?"

  I pointed to the left. "See it?"

  A Honda flew around the corner and squealed into the spot.

  "That one?" Amanda asked.

  "That was it. I'm sure we'll find another; we just have to think positive, right?"

  "Yeah. I mean there has to be another. Someone has to be on their way to another mall or something. They can't all be here for our shoes."

  "Of course not. They're our shoes," I said, and laughed. It was then that I realized how much better I was actually feeling. I wasn't sure if it was the blood or the holiday season, but I was glad to be enjoying myself again. We drove around the lot two whole times before we finally found a spot that we got. Before that, three other people snagged spots right in front of us.

  After I set the alarm, Amanda said, "We shoulda brought hiking boots. It's like a million miles away."

  "More like several hundred yards," I said.

  "Yeah, yeah. Let's get going before someone grabs our shoes."

  We talked about what other sales we wanted to check out as we walked the length of the parking lot. Once we got inside the mall, we realized how few stores we would actually have time for. People were everywhere, making it difficult to even make it anywhere. Amanda grabbed my hand and we squeezed through people single file.

  "Should we check the directory?" I asked.

  "Are you kidding? I know where the Coach store is."

  We continued our way through the crowd, brushing by frazzled parents, screaming kids, and all kinds of people from every walk of life. Most everyone was tired and grouchy, with only a few who actually seemed to be enjoying themselves. Some people started shouting and I looked over to see two women holding onto a box in an electronics store, both pulling on it and yelling.

  "Remind me why we came here," I said to Amanda.

  "To get the shoes," she said, pulling me along through the crowd. Finally I saw the sign for our destination and there was a line at the door, wrapping around the store and down the next hall. Someone official-looking was standing at the door, taking a numbered piece of paper from the person in the front of the line.

  I groaned. "That's really where you want to go?"

  "Oh, they always do that when there's a sale. They only let a certain number of people in at a time. It's actually nice at times like this because it's not all psycho in there, like in the other stores."

  As we took our place in line, a different official-looking person handed us each a piece of paper that had information about the sale on it. "How long is the wait?" I asked.

  She looked at the line and then down at her clipboard. "I'd say about ninety minutes."

  I looked at Amanda. "It's going to be after midnight before we even get in there."

  "Don't worry about it. The mall's open all night. They're not closing 'til tomorrow night."

  "Will there be anything left in there in an hour and a half?"

  "Of course. They keep it stocked. Every time something sells, someone puts something new in the empty place on the shelf or table. But it's not always the same stuff. They don't always have shoes here, so I totally hope they don't run out."

  "We'll just keep thinking positive. We got that parking spot."

  "Yep. That totally worked!"

  "So, where's Mark?"

  She sighed. A dreamy look clouded over her face as she leaned against the wall. "I wish he was here. He's over in Seattle. He's got some rich uncle with a house on the lake. Some of his family was going to go shopping downtown tonight. He wasn't sure if he was going to go or not. He's not much into the shopping scene. I'm working on him of course, but unless there's a skate shop, he really has no interest."

  "I'm sure if you were there, he'd go."

  She looked like she was going to melt. "Awww. Thanks, Lex. Yeah, I've gotten him to go shopping a few times, but we always end up in a skate shop. Then he e
nds up talking about decks and all kinds of other parts. It's seriously like listening to a foreign language."

  "I thought you go skating with him sometimes."

  "Yeah, of course. He's taught me tricks and stuff—he still thinks he's going to get me to enter one of those competitions, but believe me, that's not going to happen. But even if it did, I still don't want to spend hours talking to someone about skate trucks and all those other board parts."

  I nodded. "Understandable. Oh, look. The line's moving."

  We moved forward two feet. I sighed. We'd be lucky to get inside the store in ninety minutes.

  Five

  Nearly two hours later, we handed our papers to the person at the door and walked into the Coach store. I looked around as we entered and immediately felt more peaceful. The store was still busy, but compared to the zoo outside the doors, it was an oasis.

  "They still have shoes!" Amanda squealed. She grabbed my arm and dragged me around people and tables until we reached a wall unit filled with shoes. "Look at all the choices! Look!"

  I laughed. "There's definitely a good selection. I'll have to get a pair for my mom and sister. They would love—"

  "Ohmigosh! Fifty percent off! Fifty!" Amanda shouted. Several people around us turned and stared.

  "Just try something on," I whispered.

  She let out another squeal and grabbed a pair as she slid off the ones she was wearing.

  I scanned the rows of shoes, thinking about which ones to get. I decided to try on some of the sneakers because they were actually cute—and I never liked the way any looked. I figured they would be stiff and uncomfortable, like every other pair I'd ever tried on. "Wow! These are really comfortable! It's like walking on a cloud."

  Amanda smiled at me, holding two pair of shoes and wearing another. "I know, right? Best shoes ever. Next thing on my list is to get contacts."

  "Really?"

  "Yeah. I'm going to have them before Christmas. I can't wait!"

  "I'm so happy for you!"

  "Maybe everyone will stop looking at me like I'm such a loser."

  "No one thinks you're a loser."

  She gave me a disbelieving look. "Seriously?"

  "I'm not talking about Emma and Hailey. We could be on the red carpet with Justin Bieber between us and they'd still think we were pond scum."

  Amanda cracked a smile. "The Bieber? Really? He's so last year, Lexy."

  "I thought you had a crush on him."

  She shoved me. "Shush. Someone'll hear you. Don't tell Mark."

  "Okay. I'm going to wander." I took off the shoes and grabbed some for my mom and sister too. As I was walking to a wall marked Clearance, a sales lady took the shoes from me and said she'd make sure I would get them when I checked out. I walked around the store, looking at all of the purses, wallets, and everything else. I decided that I was happy with the shoes. I didn't really need another purse, anyway. My parents had just gotten me a Louis Vuitton before school started.

  After nearly forty minutes of wandering the store, I found Amanda still in front of the shoes. "Have you decided yet?"

  "No. But I did narrow it down to five."

  "Want some help?"

  "Sure. These or these?" she asked, holding up two different colored pairs of identical pumps.

  "I like the pink, but you have more blue clothes, so you could wear the blue ones with outfits."

  "Pink it is." When I gave her a questioning look, she said, "They'll give me a good excuse to get more clothes. My stepmom-to-be is super loaded. She lives in that crazy-expensive neighborhood by the lake. Anyway, she's taking me to her condo in New York soon to get fitted for the wedding dresses."

  I raised an eyebrow. "Nice."

  "Tell me about it. She can't stand to see me out of style. Every time I see her, she's got something new for me."

  "That explains your constantly increasing wardrobe."

  She nodded. "It's awesome. She even told my dad to be nice to my mom. Can you believe her? So much for the wicked stepmom myth."

  "She sounds unbelievable. Will I ever get to meet her?"

  "Oh, that's right. I totally forgot you hadn't met her yet. Yeah, I'll have to invite you over next time I'm there. She's smart too, so you guys would have plenty to talk about."

  "Right. Because I always have awesome conversations with people just because they're smart."

  She stuck her tongue out at me.

  I ignored her. "So which shoes are you getting?"

  "Definitely the pink ones," she said, putting the blue ones back on the shelf.

  We discussed which shoes she should get for a few more minutes before she finally got three pair for herself. At the counter, the same sales lady from before, handed me my three boxes of shoes.

  "You're getting three also?" Amanda asked. "Great minds—"

  "One is for Natalie and the other for my mom."

  "Oh. Well, that's thoughtful of you. You must already be in the Christmas spirit."

  I shrugged my shoulders. "Any other stores you want to go to? Since the mall is open all night."

  "Good thing too. It's gotta be like 1:30 or something by now. I want to check out Juicy for sure."

  Once we exited the oasis of the store, we were bombarded by crazy immediately. The crowds seemed to have gotten worse instead of better while we had been trying on shoes.

  "Hold on tight to your bag," Amanda said.

  "Are you serious?"

  "Uh…yeah. It's Black Friday and the crazies are out in full swing."

  I clung onto my bag with all of my vampire strength, even though I could obviously fight off any human. I followed Amanda as she led the way to our next destination. I stopped in my tracks, causing the person behind me to slam into, and curse at, me.

  "Sorry," I said, not even looking at her. I was staring at who I thought to be Cliff. He wouldn't be in the mall…or would he? Could he actually be searching for me? Was that even a possibility? I held my breath in anticipation. In the back of my mind I knew that Amanda was getting further and further away from me, but I didn't care. We both had cell phones, and I could possibly be a hundred feet away from Cliff. That was more important.

  Loosening my grip on the bag, I made my way through the flood of people. I was zoned in on the back of the guy who looked like he could be Cliff. The hair was the right color and the length that he liked it. I didn't recognize the jacket, but he could have easily picked up a new one. The build was the same.

  It had to be him; it just had to be. My stomach did somersaults as I got closer to him. He was staring into the window of a stationary store. Cliff loved to hand-write notes and letters. It had to be him. I thought my stomach was going to jump out of my throat, I was so anxious to see him again.

  I almost didn't care if he did hate me. I just wanted to see him alive and well, to know that Alrekur hadn't killed him. If he hated me, at least I would know. Not knowing was worse than anything. Having no answers was what made the memory loss so difficult.

  Time seemed to stand still as I got closer to him. I thought I could smell him, but with all of the people around me, my senses could have been playing a trick on me. My stomach danced some more, and I started to worry about keeping down the big Thanksgiving dinner.

  He was so close that if I spoke, he would turn around so that I could see his face. Was I within reach of the love of my life? Was he there to find me? Could it be possible?

  I opened my mouth to speak, but I couldn't make my voice work. I tried to say his name, but nothing came. I took a deep breath and was about to try again, when someone bumped into me with such force that it shoved me right into the guy I was hoping was Cliff.

  "I'm so sorry," I said, finding my voice. "Someone bumped into me and—"

  He turned around and I was face to face with him, with Cliff. I would know that face anywhere. His was one of the first I ever saw, and he was the one that I was going to marry someday, somehow despite the ancient prophecy that claimed otherwise.

  Ou
r gazes locked, and I froze. I couldn't move or speak. The only thing I could do was look into those chocolate-brown eyes. I'd been longing to see them for the past three months. There he was, right in front of me, and I was speechless. I had to say something, quick, before he disappeared from life again. I had to find out what was going on.

  That's when I noticed that his eyes hadn't registered any recognition. It was as though he was looking at a stranger.

  "Cliff," I whispered. No one else would have heard me with all of the noise around us, but with his vampire hearing, he heard me.

  A wave of surprise went over his face. "How do you know my name?"

  My stomach dropped to the floor, and I knew that I was going to be sick.

  "It's me."

  He gave me a questioning look. "I think you have me confused with someone else."

  "No, Cliff, I don't. If you hate me, just tell me. I only want answers."

  He shook his head. "I'm sorry. I can't help you. I don't know you."

  "Cliff, it's me."

  "I don't know how you know my name, but I've never seen you before."

  Tears filled my eyes. It felt as though he had just ripped my unbeating heart out of my chest with his bare hands.

  "Sorry that I can't help you. I hope you find who you're looking for," he said, and then turned around and walked away. I stood there, watching him with tears spilling from my eyes until he was out of sight.

  My phone started ringing. Not taking my gaze away from where Cliff had just disappeared, I pulled the phone out and answered the call without a word.

  "Alexis?" Amanda asked. "Are you there?"

  "Yeah."

  "Where are you? What happened?"

  "I just saw Cliff," I said flatly.

  "What? He's here? What did he say?"

  "He said he didn't know me," I said, starting to snap out of my zombie-like state of disbelief. "Look, Amanda. I have to get out of here—right now. You've still got that valet key, so if I don't answer my phone, just take my car back to the house and get yours."

  "What? Are you crazy? I'm not leaving you here."

  "I'm not staying here. I have to get out of here, away from people. I need time alone."

  "Let me take you home then. How will you get home? We're way too far to walk. This isn't Delphic Cove."