Lexi (Clarissa Lovett Book 1)

by Jamie Gray

  "No. I-I don't know what she's talking about," Adrian mumbled as he promptly sped past her with brisk steps, not daring to start anything with her by looking her in the eye. Lanie noticeably hesitated, glancing at Lexi briefly with a saddened gaze, but she eventually joined him in walking down the hall, towards the direction of the gymnasium.

  Despite her raging anger and frustration that shook her entire body, Lexi took a deep breath in and out. As she turned and went to follow in pursuit, she spotted Brooke coming out of the same bathroom Anastasia had sprinted into. She walked with quick steps towards Lexi with her head down looking at her phone, oblivious to what was around her.

  With her sister still unaware of her presence, Lexi leaped to stand in front of her. "Hey, Brooke!" she chirped, a bright smile across her face as she actively waved. She couldn’t have been more excited to see her. She knew that after that night, she might not see her sister for a long time, and so that made this moment all the more special to Lexi. She couldn’t stop smiling.

  With mere inches between them, Brooke glared up at her as if her presence hand merely worsened her mood. "Oh, hey. What are you doing here?" she asked in a monotone voice. She was clearly devoid of her usual joy and energy. It was incredibly off putting, as she possesed little more enthusiasm than a robot.

  Lexi did her best to keep smiling as if her joy would encourage Brooke to express the same. "I wanted to see you," she exclaimed.

  "What happened to you spending all your time with our friends, without me?" Brooke asked bitterly, scowling as she crossed her arms.

  Lexi’s smile slumped. It had become painstakingly clear that Brooke was less than impressed with her, and that a simple smile wasn’t going to fix anything. “Brooke, I really want you to know that I’m sorry about all of that. I had no idea you felt that way, and I think you should go travel. I want you to follow your dream and explore the world the way you want to.”

  Brooke swallowed concernedly. “What’s going on?”

  She dropped her voice, begging for her sister to accept her less than adequate explanation. "Look, Brooke, a lot is going on right now that you just won't understand,” she explained in a hushed voice, paranoid about someone listening in on their conversation.

  Brooke shrugged as she shook her head, looking puzzled by her remark. "Won't understand? What do you think I won't understand?"

  Lexi didn’t know what to say.

  Brooke shook her head, baffled. "It's like you don't even care about anyone but yourself anymore."

  "That's not true.”

  "Then stop trying to avoid the subject, and tell me what's really going on with you," she demanded, staring at her pleadingly.

  Lexi had never seen Brooke so angry and pressuring of her. She wanted so badly to tell her the truth, but she only knew it would further put her in harm's way. It would only set a bigger target on her back, and risk getting her hurt. If Brooke knew, she would never let her leave, or she would insist that she come along, neither of which she was willing to let happen. It was too dangerous.

  Lexi froze. Her reasoning. Her thoughts. Her desire to keep Brooke from the truth, it was the exact thing Kadence and Adrian had done to her. She was shocked by herself, but she felt that she could finally understand where they were coming from, why they did what they did to keep her safe for so many years. She understood why they’d kept so much hidden, why they lied to her. They knew this would happen. They knew they’d only be painting a target on her back. She needed to see them again, apologize, or just tell them that she understood now, that she forgives them.

  By the time Lexi came back to her senses, Brooke was gone. She whirled all around, scanning the hallway for any sign of her. Nothing. She was alone. Even Adrian and Lanie had disappeared around the corner at the end of the hall, and entered the gym. She felt a substantial anxiousness weigh down on her chest, trying to press her down to the floor. She knew she needed to find everyone. This was her last day in this life. She needed to make it count. She needed to find her friends.

  Chapter 22

  Lexi walked as fast as her feet would carry her. She didn't want to break out into a run out of fear of making too much noise. As she turned the corner her heart dropped deep into her stomach, as she nearly collided with another person along the wall. She gasped and leapt back from the person, her hand clutching her chest as if searching for her cowering heart. The woman before her looked too old to be a high school student Perhaps a teacher's kid, or a student's older sibling? she thought, taking in the women's features. She stood a foot taller than Lexi, and had the skin of a ghost, looking cold to the touch. She wore black tights, an oversized brown jacket, and golden round sunglasses. Her obsidian black hair was tied with two long dutch braids that hung as low as her waist. She looked as though she had popped right out of a fashion magazine.

  "Oh, I'm sorry," Lexi apologized sheepishly, embarrassed for acting so anxious and scared. Her heart was still smashing relentlessly against her chest, as her instincts told her to get to the gymnasium as fast as she could. She went to step around the woman, but she deliberately stepped in front of her, blocking her path. Lexi didn't understand why. Everything about this situation felt off. She felt incredibly uncomfortable as neither one of them acknowledged the woman's imposing action of preventing her from leaving. All she could think to do was to start up a conversation with the woman. She figured it was better than standing there in awkward silence. "I don't think I've seen you before. Have you gone to this school in the past before?" she asked, crossing her arms and tapping her foot as her eagerness to get inside was making her impatient.

  The woman smiled, her arms hanging at her sides as her body language was surprisingly casual. She was incredibly comfortable talking to Lexi. "No, this is my first time," she replied, her glimmering white teeth shining through her smile as she spoke with a noticeably explicit American accent.

  Lexi couldn't help but smile back. The woman's voice was so warm and bright. "Oh. Well, welcome. I'm Lexi," she smiled, reaching out her hand in greeting, but the woman didn't greet her back, acting as though she hadn't noticed she’d stuck out her hand.

  The woman's smile never disappeared from her expression as she simply kept her arms at her sides, motionless.

  Lexi was suddenly restored with confusion and discomfort. Was there something she was missing? Maybe she's a germaphobe, she considered as she slowly pulled her hand back, gaze shifting around as if she was supposed to notice something. "Okay?" The space between them fell eerily silent. She tried to walk around the woman once again, more briskly this time, but she froze in place as she felt a screaming pain come from her forearm. She whipped her head back to see the woman's ghost-like hand wrapped around her exposed arm.

  She felt her entire body scream out in pain as if her muscles and bones were trying to pull themselves apart from beneath her skin. She only knew this pain to come from one person. Daymian, she reminded herself. A Dark and Light Element can't touch without experiencing a horrific amount of pain throughout their body. She was quick to put the pieces together as she tried to focus on keeping quiet. The last thing she wanted was to scream and have to explain this situation to her schoolmates if they came running around the corner.

  As Lexi looked up at the woman holding her like a puny ragdoll, she was shocked to see an emotionless face on her torturer. Does she not feel the pain? She must, she thought, her fear and suffering threatening to consume her entirely. The pain must have been flooding the woman just as it was her, but she had no reaction, no distress in her eyes, not even a blink. She felt helpless as she stood at the mercy of this relentless woman. She hated being so vulnerable, but there was nothing she could do to get away. The woman never gave any release or ease on her arm. It took all of her strength not to scream out and rupture her vocal cords. She tried to pull away, leaning back with all her weight to try and pull her arm free from the woman's death grip on her forearm, but she had the strength of a child when compared to the behemoth holding her. All resi
sting did was prompt the woman in black to squeeze her arm tighter, cutting off her circulation as her arm began to run numb.

  The woman dared her to give in and scream for help. "What's wrong, Lexi?" she asked with the same bright smile across her lips. "You look a little sore."

  Lexi couldn't understand. How had this happened? Was this really happening? Perhaps this was another one of her nightmares. How she hoped this was only a nightmare. She pressed her lips together as she pushed back the tears, desperate to escape down her red hot cheeks. She refused to let this psychotic woman see her cry. Lexi continued to relentlessly pull away, but it was like trying to pull her arm out from beneath a ten-foot cement wall, unbearably painful and undoubtedly impossible.

  The woman's smile widened. "Wow. I'm impressed. You're much stronger than I thought. My brother might actually be right about you."

  Lexi used all the will power she could manage to speak aloud what had become so aggravatingly evident. "Mara," she muttered, her voice strained from the pain coursing through her every inch of her body. She felt as though her muscles were being ripped apart from the inside. She knew it had to be her, it was the only way she could be in such pain, and the mention of a brother had only confirmed it.

  In a desperate move to fight for her own survival, Lexi reached beneath her skirt and ripped the black dagger from her thigh as she swung it towards the giant woman's chest.

  Mara dropped her facade instantly, her entire appearance ultimately morphing into an entirely different person as she effortlessly caught Lexi's wrist with her free hand. A new wave of pain shot through her like burning electricity, causing her entire body to shake and tremble. She held her tiny wrist like a twig in her giant hands. No matter how much Lexi pulled or twisted to free herself, it was no use.

  She allowed her smile to fade to a slight smirk as she peered down at Lexi, hollow of emotion. With an intimidatingly stone-like expression, her natural British-like accent re-emerged, making her voice all the more terrifyingly calm and collective as she spoke. "Hello, darling," she greeted chillingly. She ripped the blade from Lexi's hand, throwing it down the hallway and into a wall like a dart. She dug her long claw-like nails into her other arm, squeezing harder and harder with every passing moment.

  As if Lexi weighed little more than a pound, Mara launched her across the hall, throwing her through the air and onto the white tile floor like a ragdoll.

  She pushed herself up as she stumbled back to her feet, watching as Mara removed her big brown jacket, and sunglasses to leave her in nothing but black. Lexi felt as though she was staring at death. Like this was her chance to either live or die, and she wanted to live. She stumbled back into a run down the hallway, making a break for the main door, but in the blink of an eye, Mara was gone. She whipped her head forward as she nearly slammed into her. She slipped back, jumping as far away as she could. She shivered all over. This was it. Live or die, she told herself. She barely gave herself time to catch her footing as she opened herself up to the light filling the room, and began whipping her arms wildly towards her advisory. Bright waves of light shot from her hands, one at a time. Mara whipped her fist up, creating wall after wall of solidified shadow to effortlessly deflect her attacks. Before Lexi had a chance to take in another breath, she hurled a wave of darkness towards her that threw her off her feet and against the ceiling boards, and then another that whipped her back down against the tile floor. Her entire body ached as she spat blood from her mouth as her lip had begun to bleed. She cried out in pain, tears streaming down her cheeks as she wept. She begged for Mara to stop, getting to her knees, but as the woman started to approach her again, she knew she had no choice. Lexi screamed as loud as she could, opening herself to be consumed completely by the light in the room as she threw her arms forward. As the blinding light erupted from her palms the space around her became nothing but darkness, like a black dome had formed all around her. The light from her hands merely reflected off the walls of the dome, filling her vision as her screams only echoed louder and louder in her own ears and the dome began to shrink. She could feel the life being drained from her as everything blurred together. Her thoughts and the world became obscure and tainted. Lexi couldn’t think as the heavy pressure of the dome closed in on her, pushing her down until her body fell limb and her cries fell to nothing more than panicked breaths. As she collapsed to the floor, she shut her eyes tight, laying in a ball on the cold floor, she was terrified to move. However, that terror quickly forced her to blinked her eyes back open. The black dome had disappeared and the lights in the hallway had gone out. In a cautious motion, she pushed herself back off the ground, stepping up to her feet as she turned to see Mara nose to nose with her. Before Lexi could act, she waved her hand, throwing an aggressive wave of darkness against her chest as she was flung against the brick wall with a firm bang of her head. She gasped to refill her lungs with air as she hit the floor again, sitting on her butt with her back leaning painfully against the wall.

  “Did you really think you could get the best of me?” Mara asked her darkly. “You really must be a Light Element, your arrogance is undying.”

  Lexi took in heavy breaths, feeling her chest begin to close as air became harder and harder to access. “I don’t know what my people did to you, Mara, but I’m not them. I never even knew my birth parents. I didn’t even know I was a Light Element until a few days ago. I’ve been lied to, manipulated, and still I came here, risked my own life because I wanted to be there for someone that I care about. I could’ve been long gone by now, but I came anyway, so that I could see the person most important to me smile one last time. I doubt you could ever understand.”

  In a swift motion, Mara reached down and grabbed Lexi’s arm tighter than before, reigniting the crippling pain as she was pulled up to stand on her feet. She hung limb. She could barely hold her own weight as she was mostly being held up by the strength in Mara's singular arm. Without a word, she once again dug her nails deep into her skin, piercing through the same wounds she had created the first time. Her claw-like nails were like tiny daggers, scraping against her bones like a chalkboard. As blood began dripping from her lifeless arm and onto the white tile flooring, Lexi crumbled to her knees, landing in a puddle of her own blood as she lost all feeling in her legs. Mara's locked grip on her arm was the only thing holding her from completely collapsing to the floor.

  It didn't take long for Lexi's vision to go blurry as the hall began spinning. The pain and inevitable trauma of the situation was eating her up as she felt herself start to slip away. "What do you want?" she wept. Something about the submission of her body and words caused her to burst into tears. She couldn't resist the hot liquid as it burned against her red cheeks and dripped down into the puddle of blood below her.

  It was like Mara didn’t hear, staring down at her with eyes of stone.

  Lexi continued to weep, her throat begging to scream out, make it stop, but she could barely speak. There was no way she would be able to scream or call for help. All she could do was cry as she asked the question that had been burning against her skull this whole time. "Are you going to kill me?” she mumbled, her voice cracking and weak. She was petrified to hear Mara's answer, her limbs shaking wildly as she had lost all feeling in her muscles. Lexi knew she could effortlessly kill her right there in the empty hallway in the middle of the night. Anyone could, with the state she was in. It wouldn't take her very long with those nails, and the amount of strength she'd demonstrated to possess. So what was stopping her?

  Mara's pencil-thin brows rose ever so slightly, appearing amused by her ambition. "Kill you? Oh, darling, you're getting ahead of yourself. I'm not going to kill you. That's not my role to play in this game for blood. I’m simply here to apprehend… someone else has big plans for you."

  Lexi's face filled with terror as she felt breathless. What was to become of her? Why do these people want to hurt her? What did she do wrong? Her heart was beating faster and faster, threatening to give out at any unexpe
ctedly shocking moment.

  Mara simply nodded, acknowledging her reaction, her flawlessly white smile remaining aggravatingly present across her ghostly haunting face. "That's good. Fear is only natural for someone as frail and insensible as you. I came here expecting nothing less. Who knows, it might even win you a merciful death." She peered down at Lexis lifeless arm, throwing it down like trash, and finally relieving them both of the pain that came with touching each other's bare skin.

  Her entire body came crashing to the floor, splashing in the warm pool of blood that splattered across her discoloured face. As she slammed her forehead on the hard tile floor, her mind ran numb as Lexi lost consciousness.

  Chapter 23

  Daymian stood near the main doors as he could feel his heart pounding. He knew that Mara had gone after Lexi, making it impossible for him to keep still. His entire body was shaking with nerves and anxiety the more he thought about what his sister was capable of, and with his sister so unstable when angry, he could only fear the worst. She had ordered him to stay on look out, but he couldn’t stand it. He needed to do something-anything else. In an aggressive thrust, he threw one of the main doors open, storming outside only to freeze suddenly. He felt every one of his muscles turn to stone as he spotted Brooke, sitting on the concrete steps with her back to him. She wore a cream coloured dress with gold stars on her knee-length skirt and flat dress shoes. Her chin looked to be in her palms, and her attention was down at her feet.

  “Oh, sorry,” he coughed, forgetting to think as he spoke to her. What am I doing? He asked himself critically. He knew he shouldn’t talk to her. Mara told him to keep on watch, and now he was beginning to wish he had listened to her. She whipped her head around, jolting herself to her feet as if she hadn’t expected someone to come outside. Her face was bright red as she rapidly whipped her hands over her cheeks. It was obvious she had been crying. “I can leave you be,” he insisted, turning to walk back inside.