Crossing Nexis: YA Paranormal Romance (The Nexis Angel Series Book 2)

by Barbara Hartzler

  “You sure do know how to torture a guy.” His lips twitched at me like he knew he’d just won a small victory.

  Tell that to my poor little heart, beating a mile a minute.

  With that he walked on down the aisle, shoulders bobbing like he was trying not to laugh. Then he turned a corner and disappeared out of sight.

  I raced after him. When I finally caught up, my voice came back to me.

  “Hey, that’s not fair. That Mafia thing was definitely not a date.” I watched as he pulled a book from the over his head, then another, not looking at me.

  “Maybe not.” He didn’t glance back at me, just scanned book titles with his index finger. “But I asked you out and you avoided me all week. So the only reason I came to that stupid dorm party was for you.” With that he dropped two enormous, dusty leather books in my arms and sauntered down the aisle.

  I rocked back on my heels, trying to regain my balance, and followed him down the row. “Not so fast. You’re the one who asked if I was engaged. In front of everybody. Remember?”

  “Yeah, that was a little over the line. But it got your attention.” He still had his back turned, but I could hear the smile in his voice.

  “Grrr. You’re so frustrating.” I poked him in the back with the giant old books.

  “Right back atcha, nerd.” He turned and added two more books to the pile. Then he sauntered off again.

  My arms turned to jelly and I stumbled on a loose stone in the floor. The top book dislodged and skidded across the tile.

  “A little help here, Sweetcheeks,” I called after him. If only he knew exactly what I was referring to. My cheeks sizzled.

  Finally he turned around, his lips twitching. “You know, you make it nearly impossible to stay mad at you.” He picked the stray book up off the floor and shuffled back to me.

  “You were mad at me?” I jutted out my lip and fluttered my best pouty-eyes up at him. Time for a taste of his own medicine.

  “You better believe it. But that was six months ago. And trust me, you’re worth the wait.” He towered over me now.

  Then he leaned down, right where I wanted him. As soon as he got close enough, I dumped all of my books in his arms and took off running down the aisle.

  “You little …” His voice faded out behind me as I ran back to the tables. Laughing until my sides hurt.

  I made it out of the stacks and slowed my pace, leaning on the first table. Breathing hard. I didn’t expect to hear footsteps behind me so soon. But he emerged from the stacks, a grin plastered across the planes of his face. Biceps bulging with the weight of four heavy books. In two strides, he plunked them on the table behind me.

  First one arm, then the other, planted on either side of me. Pinning me up against the table.

  I gulped, eye-level with his collarbone.

  He lifted up my chin, wrapping the other arm around my waist. “It’s Wadsworth, not Sweetcheeks. Now you can stop being so irresistible.”

  A bubble of laughter rose in my throat as he leaned in, smashing his mouth into my lips. I couldn’t catch my breath, yet I kissed him anyway. He could be pretty irresistible, too.

  “You sure know how to make a girl swoon, Wadsworth.” My voice came out breathy.

  He hung his head, touching his forehead to mine. “I knew I should’ve never told you my middle name. You’re just gonna distract me all night, aren’t you?”

  “Don’t worry. It’s our little secret.” I wrapped my arms around his neck and pulled him in for another kiss.

  Chapter 21

  Words blurred together on yellowed parchment till all I could see was a giant blob. I blinked and rubbed my eyes, but it didn’t help. Nothing in these ancient Nexis books made any sense. I scraped my chair back. The sound echoed in the Repository cavern.

  “This is hopeless.” I stretched my arms back to work out the kink that’d formed in my neck over the past two hours. My hands were all dusty. I almost wiped them on my skirt but thought better of it.

  “Not quite the jackpot of Seer information I was hoping for.” Will leaned over my shoulder, squinting at the book in front of me.

  “Not quite.” Narrowing my eyes at him, I turned and wiped my grubby hands all over his jacket. “Take that!”

  “Hey, what was that for?” He flinched and reared back, but the corners of his mouth lifted.

  “Just a little payback for this dungeon date.” I glared over my shoulder at him. Would he tell me the truth if I asked? “What exactly are we looking for?”

  Scraping his chair back, he angled toward me with those haunting gray eyes. “The intel I’m after is the whereabouts of the Nexis Seer book.”

  “What?” I shouted. It echoed throughout the stone cavern. Lowering my voice, I said, “Won’t that put a huge target on our backs?”

  Slowly, he nodded. “I’m afraid so. But it’ll be worth it to stop the reckonings, and we’d have some intel to trade if necessary. Exactly like your brother taught me.”

  My brother. His words smacked me straight in the gut, yet seemed so familiar. The implications bombarded my brain, leaving my mind reeling.

  Focus, Lucy. Focus. You have a job to do. And a date to get to, I told myself.

  “Great. Let’s find this bad boy.” Reaching one hand out, I moved to flip the page.

  Suddenly Will’s hand landed on mine. “Wait.”

  His touch sparked the back of my hand, making all the hairs on my arm perk up. Then the cavern faded away in a sea of blackness.

  Remnants of a dream floated back into my brain. And suddenly, an old memory played out before my eyes. James pouring over an ancient book in St. Lucy’s Church library. A strange guy lurked in the background. As if stepping out of a fog, his face emerged from the shadows. That guy was Will this whole time?

  Suddenly the scene was replaced by a totally new one. A glowing red orb appeared in the darkness, just like that night in the field. Was this the Nexis Ruby? Shadows rolled in like clouds behind the ruby, swirling in long tendrils around the stone. The red and black cloud grew bigger and brighter in time to my ever-quickening heartbeats.

  Somewhere far away, in the midst of the shadows, a familiar voice reached my ears. You know what you must do. Was it James, or my angel?

  I wobbled in my chair, tipping back. Strong arms caught me. Rough fingers brushed the hair off my cheeks. The dim lights and the musty smell of the Broadway cavern returned. My thoughts scattered in all directions as I scrambled to put the pieces of the puzzle together. Did my destiny involve the ruby?

  “Lucy, are you okay?” Will’s gruff voice brought me back to the present. “What was that?”

  “I remember. That’s why this seems so familiar.” I blinked and rubbed my eyes, biting back the last part of my eerie vision. “You’ve done this before, with my brother. You were with James three years ago, when he ripped out a page in this ancient book.”

  His eyes scoured my face. “Wait a sec. You didn’t just remember, did you?”

  I shook my head and let the truth spill out. Part of it anyway. “I had a dream back in eighth grade. And I just saw it all again. Right now.”

  “Wow.” His fingers toyed with my hair as he stared at me. “Do you have any idea what he was looking for?”

  I gave him another headshake, careful not to dislodge his fingers from my hair. His touch soothed me as I tried to forget the glowing ruby. And what may lay ahead in my future.

  Running his hands through my hair, Will’s eyes glazed over. “James said he was looking for the Watcher’s Sapphire so he could display his powers. But your brother was as bad a liar as you are.”

  “Hey,” I punched him in the arm. “Is that the worst thing ever?”

  A smile crept up his face. “Not if you’re trying to hide the fact that you’ve liked a certain someone ever since you showed your pretty little face on campus.”

  Oh, my heart. I clutched my chest, willing my knees not to go weak. What was this boy doing to me?

  “So the Watcher’
s Sapphire does what exactly?” I asked in a pathetic attempt to change the subject.

  “Very cute.” His mouth twitched like he knew exactly what I was up to. “Didn’t anyone ever tell you about the sacred stones?”

  Mashing my lips together, I shook my head. “I’ve only heard about the Guardian Amethyst, and that was from the Coopers at Christmas. They never got around to telling me about the other sacred stones.”

  “Figures,” Will huffed, rolling his eyes. “The Guardians wanted you to know only certain things. The Watcher’s Sapphire, when used correctly, allows everyone around it to see what the Seer sees.”

  “Whoa,” I breathed, stumbling toward the nearest chair. “You mean everyone could see what I see? Angels, demons, the whole lot?”

  “Yep.” He nodded, smoothing out the pages of the book.

  “You’re right. James would never want the sapphire. He was a prankster, but never a show-off.” My hands shook as I tucked my hair behind my ears, a terrible question blooming in my chest. But I had to ask, had to know. “So what does the ruby do?”

  Will gulped, Adam’s apple bobbing as he leveled his gaze at me. “As legend says, the Nexis Ruby, in the hands of the Seer, allows access between earth and the underworld—the depths of hell.”

  The world spun around me as I gripped the chair tighter. Now I definitely didn’t want anything to do with the ruby. “That’s all in the Nexis Seer book, isn’t it?”

  Ever-so-slowly, he nodded, reached for my hands, and squeezed. “If we can find what I’m looking for, we can turn the Guardian’s plan against them. If we get this intel, we can both join the Guardians. Together.”

  He barely whispered the words, but they sank like lead into my heart.

  I froze to my chair. I could barely move, let alone blink. “You really want to leave Nexis?”

  “I know what they’re planning to do with your gifts. And I can’t let that happen.” His jaw hardened into steel, except for a lone muscle twitch. “You see, they need the Seer, the Interpreter, and all three stones to open the gates of hades. And set their sick plan in place for a false utopia.”

  Ice crackled through my limbs. “What? That’s their agenda?”

  “I’m afraid so.” Pushing the book aside, he grabbed my shoulders and looked me square in the eye. “That’s why I stopped working for Nexis. And why I want to join the Guardians.”

  Something clicked into place like a missing puzzle piece. “Because you’re the Interpreter. That’s how they were going to control me.”

  He nodded. “Now they’ll be moving on to plan B. And so am I.” Lightly, he brushed his lips to mine, then stopped.

  Sccrrrclunck. A strange clanging noise echoed through the cabin, followed by what sounded like footsteps.

  “What was that?” I arched back, bumping into his nose.

  More footsteps. Voices filtered above us.

  “Someone’s coming.” His eyes darted around the cavern as he dug around in his jacket pocket. Then he pulled out a strange plastic bar that lit up at his touch.

  “What’re you doing?” My eyes went wide. Was that a portable scanner like I’d seen in spy movies?

  “Scanning these pages. They’re obviously important enough to give you a vision.” He started piling books in my arms with one hand, while scanning pages with the other. “There’s no time now. Take the rest of these books and stick them back on the shelf. Whoever is up there can’t figure out what we’re doing here.”

  “Okay,” I grunted, piling the mega-books in my arms. “You’re right behind me, right?”

  “Right.” One quick head bob, and he shoved me into the stacks.

  My pulse thundered in my ears as I fumbled my way through the stacks, the books heavy as an anchor in my arms. At random, I shoved one book here, filed another in the next row, and the last in the row behind. Hopefully whoever was following us wouldn’t notice the books were out of place.

  Footsteps clomped behind me, getting closer and closer. I raced deeper into the cavern, running straight into the unknown.

  Suddenly the footsteps were louder, almost on top of me now. My heart went haywire, until rough, familiar fingers laced through mine.

  “Thank God,” I breathed, slowing my pace for a second.

  “There’s no time. We’ve got to get out of here,” Will hissed in my ear, tugging me forward. Making my legs spin faster.

  We sprinted out of the stacks in what I’m sure was Olympic record time. He led me to a set of stone stairs built into the back wall. As we speed-climbed, I was grateful it wasn’t another rickety spiral staircase.

  At the top of the landing, I glanced back and caught a snatch of red hair.

  “Is that Felicia?” I gasped, gaping at the bird’s eye view of the stacks. She wasn’t alone. A group of four black-clad figures raced through the rows with her.

  “C’mon, Lucy. We’ve got to get out of here.” Will grabbed my hand, pulling me into another stairwell as a subway car buzzed past.

  More stairs. Then we reached another door and burst through it. Into an alleyway.

  My lungs were on fire. I doubled over and sucked down much-needed breaths of cool night air, my nostrils flinching as I caught a whiff of garbage.

  “We can’t stop here. We have to keep moving.” He tugged on my hand again and dragged me up the alley, toward the lights of Broadway. Only then did he slow his pace.

  “Where…are…we?” I huffed between breaths. “What happened back there?”

  Turning to look at me, something flickered across his chiseled face. “I don’t think that’s a Nexis repository anymore. I think it’s fallen to the Watchers now.”

  The weight of his words sank in deep as the questions swirled in my brain. How did the Watchers know we’d be there? Were they following us? But the bigger question was too scary to ask. They must have some kind of plan. Maybe they wanted to finish what they started a few months ago. Or maybe it was bigger than marking the Seer. Maybe they had plans of their own. Just for me.

  ***

  A door burst open, spilling light into the alley. Will and I froze in our dark corner behind the dumpster. Two guys in black vests strolled out, casually chatting with each other as they each lit a cigarette. Soft strains of orchestral music trilled through the opening then died as the door slammed shut.

  Will put a finger to his lips and moved against the brick wall, motioning me to do the same. I slid next to him, deeper into the shadows. He tucked me under his arm.

  Something scurried near my boots, making me shiver. I started to scream. Then a second later, I stifled the sound into my fist.

  “What was that?” The little vest guy said to his tall friend.

  “It better not be more second-acters. I’m sick of being a bouncer.” Tall guy stomped in our direction.

  Will turned to me. “Just go with it.” Then he pressed his mouth into mine, pinning me to the wall.

  I didn’t have a problem with that. I wrapped my arms around his neck and kissed him back. As I closed my eyes, images flooded the darkness. Hazy and scattered. A dark room with a stone pedestal in the center, holding a giant sparkling hunk of stone. Dim hallways. My hands gripping iron bars, reaching for Will as he sat curled up in a corner.

  Somewhere, far off in the distance—on another planet perhaps—two guys were shouting at us, shooing us away.

  But Will was still kissing me. And I was still seeing things. Visions that I shouldn’t be seeing.

  Will running up to me on a dark cobblestoned street in a foreign city, then pulling me into a black building, shadows chasing us. In a flash, the image vanished, fading into a new scene. Will and I were huddled together on a train, sitting across from James, me leaning on Will’s shoulder. Staring out the rain-soaked window, I watched another scene unfold. One that made my blood run cold. Wind whipped my long hair behind me as I stood in the center of a stone dais. Light and shadow swirled around me, purple lighting sizzling, shadows exploding into fireballs. But Will stood right there beside
me. I reached for his hand and held on tight.

  Suddenly he jerked back, and my head bumped into concrete, bringing the world back into focus. His face contorted, eyebrows wrinkled at me. Had he seen the same things I just saw?

  Fear crawled up inside my throat and seized my lungs. A bitter taste filled my mouth.

  He grabbed my hand and whispered in my ear. “Run.”

  Then we took off. Away from tweedle-dee and tweedle-dumb-vest. Down the alleyway and out onto the sidewalk.

  The street was lit with billboards and flashing marquees. Broadway.

  We wove our way through the theater-goers glommed up in packs on the sidewalk.

  “Maybe those guys aren’t as dumb as I thought.” Will slowed his pace, glancing around. “If Felicia and her Watcher minions follow us, we’ll just slip into the second act of one of these shows.”

  As if on cue, I spotted a flash of auburn hair in the glow of a flashing sign.

  “I think they’re onto us,” I whispered in Will’s ear.

  He turned, his face locked in an expression I couldn’t fathom, and herded me into the nearest theater pack.

  My pulse thundered in my ears. Did he see the crazy-insane vision I’d just seen? Was he as freaked out as I was?

  It was like someone had just fast-forwarded my life. Everything around me seemed to move at hyperspeed. The crowd bustled around us. Heels clicking on marble. People coughing, talking, laughing. All the sounds blending together, bouncing off the floor and the yellowed walls. The lobby lights flashed. Will pulled me into a dark theater. Everything stilled and quieted as the lights went out and we took a seat in the back row.

  Somewhere far away, up on a stage, a spotlight flicked on. But I just turned to Will. And stared.

  “What just happened?” The words fell out of my open jaw. I tried to close it.

  He shrugged his shoulders. One arm swept around my back.

  “I don’t know,” he finally said as he turned to stare back at me. “I think the Watchers have taken the Broadway Repository, but I have no idea what they’d want with it. Maybe they’ve got another spy inside Nexis, besides Felicia. It wouldn’t be the first time.”