by Unknown
“So, that’s it then?” Lexi asked. “All I have to do is drink this potion, and I can become an immortal?”
“You must do a combination of two things in order for your immortality to take effect,” Belinda replied. “You must drink the potion . . . and afterwards, you must commit a selfless act.” Belinda paused, tapping her chin with her finger. “Oh, there is one more thing that I have forgotten to mention.”
“What?” Lexi asked.
“I’ve made a sacrifice for you, Lexi,” Belinda told her. “If you choose to accept this potion from me, my powers will be transferred to you. I will no longer be a witch. You, however, will be. This change will not take effect until you have consumed the potion – which you may not do until you go back to where you came from.”
Lexi blinked. “Have you cursed the vampires yet? If you don’t have your powers, you won’t be able to do it right?” She tried to hide the hopefulness from her voice. What if this was the way around the curse, though? Belinda had told her that they couldn’t change the past, but maybe this was some sort of loophole.
“It does not work that way, Lexi. By the time you get back, the curse will already be set in motion,” Belinda replied. “Once you are gone, it is likely that I will forget that you ever existed in my life. Even if I do somehow remember you, I have no control over this. The past has already happened, and the present and future are already scheduled to happen. There is nothing that either of us can do to change it. The most I can do is offer you this potion to take home with you.”
Lexi sighed. She knew that her mom had told her to listen to whatever the witch said, but . . . this was a major decision. It was life-changing. Actually, it was more than life-changing. It would completely alter her life forever. Was she ready to become an immortal?
“Do you wish to take the potion with you?” Belinda pressed. Lexi could feel both Belinda and Dan’s eyes on her as they waited for an answer.
Becoming an immortal sounded scary. Lexi couldn’t imagine a life that would last forever. Even though that’s what she would have gotten if Belinda had granted her wish to become a vampire, it somehow seemed scarier when she was going to be called an immortal.
Fire wouldn’t kill her. Disaster wouldn’t kill her. A stake through the heart wouldn’t even kill her. Did she want a life that would forever prevent her from death?
When Lexi considered the alternative – to live in fear of the vampires of Briar Creek forever – immortality didn’t seem all that bad, though. And she would never have to worry about Gabe, Austin, and Dan all staying the same age, while she grew old and eventually died. If she was going to love a vampire, it could be forever this way.
“Yes,” Lexi finally answered, looking up at her. “I will take the potion with me.” Now was not the time to turn down Belinda’s offer just because she was unsure if this was what she wanted. When she got back to Pennsylvania, she would decide whether or not she was going to use the potion.
“Do you know how we can get back to the future?” Dan asked Belinda. Lexi realized that was the first time either of them had thought to ask Belinda if she knew.
Belinda shook her head, her long braid moving with it. “No. I sincerely apologize. I know about book time travel incantations, but I do not actually know how one gets back once they have time traveled.” She paused, squinting her cat green eyes, as though she were remembering something. “I do recall another woman who practiced witchcraft mentioning once that she had heard that one could return if they thought about wanting to go back to the future at the same moment in time as someone in the future thought about how they wanted that person to come back.”
Lexi glanced at Dan. He had a worried look on his face. She knew that he was thinking the same thing as her: that should have already happened by now. Even if Gabe had moved onto Veronica Hart and had completely forgotten about Lexi already, Austin and Anna should have thought about them at least once since they had time traveled.
Would it have been at the same exact time that one of them thought about how they wanted to go back, though? Lexi had been focusing more on being angry at Gabe, her mom, Belinda, the bat pendant, staying alive, and her dad than she had been on missing home. She decided that she was going to have to channel some of her energy into wanting to go back.
“Well, I suppose that is all that I can do for you. The rest is up to you,” Belinda told them, turning to Lexi. “I hope the odds work in your favor once you are back home.”
“What will become of you . . . now that you will no longer be a witch for the rest of your life?” Lexi asked Belinda. She hadn’t really considered the sacrifice that the woman was making for her. Losing her powers surely was going to change her whole life. She tried to imagine having part of herself taken away for the benefit of someone else. She couldn’t even begin to imagine how difficult this change was going to be for Belinda.
Belinda smiled. “I guess things will be easier for me from now on.” Lexi knew that Belinda was talking about her scarred face and, more importantly, the people who had caused those scars.
“Umm, I have a question before we never see you again,” Lexi told Belinda. “What about the spell book?”
Belinda stared at her wide eyed, the confusion written all over her face. “You mean, you do not already know about the spell book?”
Lexi shook her head. “No, I don’t think so. I am supposed to know?”
“As far as I know, my spell book is what brought you here,” Belinda said slowly. “Once my powers have been transferred and you are able to use them, you will realize how silly the idea of a spell book is. You will not need a spell book to know what words or ingredients to use when you cast your spells. It will come naturally . . . It will come from your heart.”
“Then, why is there a spell book at all?” Lexi asked.
“In case you ever need help figuring out a spell, mostly,” Belinda replied, shrugging. “My mother gave the spell book to me when she died.”
“You mean, being a witch is hereditary?” Lexi asked. “If I have children one day, will they be witches now?”
“It is a possibility,” Belinda said, nodding. “Though, your children will be with a vampire, so they will probably be half-vampire, half-witch.”
Lexi shook her head. “That’s not possible, remember? The curse prohibits anyone from the Hunter bloodline from becoming a vampire again. My children will be half-Hunters.”
“Oh, yes, I forgot about that clause,” Belinda said slowly.
As Lexi tucked the small jar of potion under her shirt, she turned to Belinda. “Why are you doing this for me? You know, giving up your powers?”
Belinda let out a sigh and looked around the room, as though the walls of her home held the answers. Finally, she said, “You need them more than I. You can use them to protect you. And to be honest, I no longer see a need for them. My powers have only complicated things in my life. If it were not for the decisions that I am about to make, if it were not for me casting a spell on your bloodline, the future that you live in would be better.” Pausing, Belinda met Lexi’s eyes. “You must use your powers wisely, child. Always consider the future outcomes of the spells that you cast. Never use your powers with evil intentions. Do not allow your emotions to get in the way any time you cast a spell.”
Lexi nodded and, just as she was about to walk out the front door, she turned around and threw her arms around Belinda. Although Belinda seemed surprised by the hug at first, she wrapped her arms around Lexi, the same way a mother would hug her child.
This might be the last time they ever saw each other, but Lexi knew that if she chose to drink the potion and become an immortal, she would also be accepting a part of Belinda into her life forever. Even though she knew that she should probably hate the woman who had cursed the town that wanted to sacrifice her, she couldn’t. Belinda was giving up everything that she had left for her.
It was in that moment that Lexi truly understood Belinda. She was already able to relate to Belinda in som
e ways. Like Lexi, Belinda really had no one in the town that she lived in. No one was able to understand her; they only wanted to hurt her because of who she was. She tried to imagine what it would be like to lose the one person who truly loved you, the one person in the entire world who mattered to you, because of someone else’s selfish motives.
Lexi realized that she didn’t have to imagine. She already knew what that was like. And she completely understood why, in a moment of pain, Belinda had made the choices she’d made. But hadn’t the psychic from Briar Creek told her that understanding the originator of the curse would break the spell? If that was true, why hadn’t anything changed?
Chapter 28
****
“So, what do we do now?” Dan asked Lexi as they sat down next to the river. Albert’s body laid on the ground feet away from them. He still hadn’t woken up yet. If Lexi hadn’t known that he was going to be a newborn vampire when he woke up, she would have been worried that he had died during Zachary Wilkinson’s attack.
Lexi shrugged. “I guess we just sit here and think about how we want to go back – and hope that someone from home is thinking the same thing about us.”
“If someone thinks of me first, make sure you grab my leg,” Dan said, laughing.
Lexi laughed at his lame attempt at a joke, but she wondered if someone would wish for Dan to come back before they would hope for her to return. Sighing, she knew that she couldn’t get mad at anyone just yet. She hadn’t been thinking about how badly she wanted to get back to the 21st century; she wasn’t even thinking about going back to the future right now.
Closing her eyes, Lexi thought, I want to go home. When she opened her eyes, she was still sitting on the large rock next to Dan.
“Don’t you kind of wish that we could stay here in a way?” Dan asked.
Lexi glanced at him, raising her eyebrows. “Why would I wish that?”
“Well, for one thing, life seemed so much simpler during this time,” Dan began, running a hand through his sandy blonde hair. “And we also wouldn’t have to deal with the stressors that will be waiting for us when we get back. There’s no Greg Lawrence here.”
“True,” Lexi replied, gazing into the water. She felt a few drops of sweat make their way down her forehead. It was three o’clock – the hottest hour of the day. Deciding that she couldn’t take the heat anymore, Lexi climbed off the rock and raced over to the river and pulled her tank top off over her head and climbed out of her jeans. Carefully, she set the jar of potion on top of her clothes.
It was probably a good idea for her to bathe now, anyway. It had been days since she’d even changed her clothes. Just thinking about how much their personal hygiene had suffered since they’d time traveled made her feel really gross.
“What are you doing?” Dan called from his place on the rock. Lexi picked up on an amused tone in his voice. When she glanced over at him, she noticed him taking in her body. She was only wearing a bra and her bikini underwear. Dan was the only guy who had ever seen her so undressed. She’d taken her shirt off in front of Gabe once, on impulse, but even he had never seen her without her pants on.
Oddly, Lexi didn’t mind Dan seeing her this way. She knew that she would feel much more awkward about her body if she were standing in front of Gabe, but something about being nearly naked around Dan made her feel more comfortable. It felt like she was just wearing a bikini instead of actual underwear.
“Are you stripping for me?” Dan called when she didn’t answer him.
“No! You wish!” Lexi yelled, giggling, as she leaped into the water. “I’m swimming. It’s hot out. Come in!”
Without asking any questions, Dan stripped down to his boxer shorts. It wasn’t the first time Lexi had seen him without a shirt on. There had been the time at her aunt’s house when she’d rubbed sunscreen lotion on his shoulders, which was the first time she could ever remember herself being physically attracted to him at all. Lexi had also seen him without a shirt on since they’d time traveled, when she had wrapped the dress around his body in hopes of relieving his sunburn.
It didn’t matter how many times she’d seen him without a shirt on; Lexi still couldn’t help but notice how attractive his chiseled chest and muscular arms looked when they were bare.
Dan ran towards the river and jumped into the water, making a large splash. Brushing his wet hair back, he doggy paddled over to her.
“So, vampires can swim, huh?” Lexi asked, splashing water at him playfully.
“Even better than humans can,” Dan replied, diving under the water. Lexi watched as his body skirted around her and then disappeared into the depths of the murky river.
Floating on her back, she allowed the undertow of the water to carry her a little upstream before flipping over and onto her stomach. Dan still hadn’t surfaced yet. Lexi began to panic.
She scanned the river for him, but she didn’t see him anywhere. His tan skin must have blended in with the mud-covered rocks beneath them. “Dan?” she called, hoping that he would be able to hear her underwater. There was no response.
“Dan?” Lexi called again. This time, she felt her eyes filling up with tears. She didn’t even try to hold them back, instead allowing them to slide down her cheeks, one by one, as she tried to figure out what to do.
Several minutes had passed since he’d gone under the water, which was more than enough time for him to drown. Had he gotten caught on something at the bottom of the river? Had the current of the river dragged him under?
Just as Lexi was about to climb out of the river and get help, she heard the sound of water moving. She turned around just in time to watch Dan’s head emerge from the water. He burst into laughter.
Lexi swam towards him and slammed her hand against the water, creating a large splash. His face told her that he understood that she was angry. “What the hell, Dan! It’s not funny! I was worried about you. I thought you drowned!”
Dan swam over to her and wrapped his arms around her. “Hey, I’m sorry,” he said soothingly, running his hands through her wet hair. “I thought you knew that vampires can’t drown.”
“Well, that’s not something you think about when someone goes under the water and doesn’t come up right away, vampire or not,” Lexi shot back at him. Feeling defeated, she wrapped her arms around his back. She pressed her cheek against his ear and rested her chin on his shoulder. Dan’s embrace tightened around her.
“Lexi?” Dan asked quietly. “Are you in love with Gabe?”
Lexi let out a sigh. “I don’t know. I thought so, but . . .” She trailed off.
“It seems to me that if you really loved him, you wouldn’t be hesitating about whether you love him,” Dan said quietly.
“It’s complicated, Dan,” Lexi said. She still hadn’t told Dan that she thought Gabe had cheated on her with Veronica, and she didn’t plan to. It would only make her look pathetic if she chose to take him back. Plus, it would prove that he had been right many months ago when he’d told her that Gabe wasn’t right for her.
None of that really mattered right now, anyway. She didn’t even want to think about Gabe or what might happen between them when she and Dan got back. Lexi was actually enjoying getting to know Dan – and the scare he had just given her had made her realize how upset she would be if something did happen to him. Months ago, she might have been happy if he drowned, but he was proving to be one of the best friends she could ever ask for.
Dan didn’t respond. He just continued to stroke Lexi’s hair. “I wasn’t lying, you know. I do plan to go to Huntington with you, instead of back to Briar Creek.”
“I know,” Lexi whispered. The night he had told her that – the night he had admitted that he knew what had happened to her mom, which was the same night that she first thought that she might have some sort of feelings for him – his words had seemed so genuine and true. It was the first night that she’d realized that, no matter how much she might not have trusted Dan in the past, he would never lie to her again i
n the future.
“Do you want me there?” Dan asked carefully.
Lexi pulled back and looked into his face, meeting his blue eyes, which matched the color of the cloudless sky. She knew that letting him go back to Huntington with her would only complicate things if there was anything left between her and Gabe. They would probably even fight about it, especially now that Lexi and Dan were friends. But she didn’t want him to go back to Briar Creek. She would constantly worry about his well-being now that she knew that Greg Lawrence had been threatening him all along.
And the truth was, Lexi didn’t want him to go back because she didn’t want to lose whatever it was that was developing between them. Whether they remained close friends or this grew into something more, she didn’t want to prevent it from happening. So, she told Dan the truth. “Yes, I do want you there.”
“Good,” Dan whispered. He leaned in closer to her. Lexi could feel his breath against her neck, and she felt his eyes staring at her lips. She knew that he was thinking the same thing that she was thinking: that he wanted to kiss her.
Lexi inched closer to him and tilted her chin, as she braced herself for their first kiss. Her heart was doing cartwheels, and her stomach was swarming with butterflies.
Just as Dan’s lips were about to brush against hers, a voice behind them said, “Lexi, I thought you hated Dan.”
Chapter 28
****
Mary-Kate stood on the riverbank, with her hand on her hip, as she stared at Lexi and Dan. Her eyes were squinted, which Lexi assumed was to block out the glare from the sun.
“Mary-Kate!” Lexi yelled excitedly. “I can’t believe you’re here! Oh, my God. How did you find us?”
“I’ve been following you for days,” Mary-Kate said curtly. Lexi remembered when she felt like they had been followed on the way to town the other day. The person in the bushes must have been Mary-Kate . . . but why hadn’t she made her presence known then?
