The Dragonfly Prophecy Page 9

  That whole thing sounded so farfetched that, if I didn’t know any better, I would have thought he’d slipped something into my drink. But I did know better, and there was a lot of strange, unexpected and pretty unbelievable stuff going on. I almost interrupted, but I had an overwhelming feeling to shut up. Chace continued, never noticing that my brain had checked out for that brief time.

  “He and my mother fell in love and got married all very secretly. Dating or even being friendly with another gifted one was strictly forbidden. Two gifted ones with too much information could prove to be catastrophic. It took years for the Commission to catch on to them. When they did, they sent reprogrammers after my parents without so much as a second thought. We were all going to be stripped of our gifts and cleansed of our memories. We would’ve been norms with no knowledge of the world the way we knew it. I was only a small child, but already had mastered most of my abilities. My father was able to hold off the first ones who showed up long enough so he could explain. He told them why he and my mother did what they did.”

  He stopped to sip his soda and shifted his legs under the booth. I didn’t take the opportunity to fire questions at him. For one of the few times in my life, I had nothing to say. It was all starting to make sense to me in a weird way, and I was hungry for more.

  “They both wanted a family, but considering the line of work they were in, my parents decided not to leave such a thing to chance. It was guaranteed that we would all be in pretty serious trouble if the Commission or our enemies found out. My mother, being the brilliant scientist she was and still is, hatched a plan that would protect all of us in the event we were exposed. I was genetically engineered in the lab at the Commission in New York. My gifts were handpicked by my mother. She extracted both her and my father’s abilities from each of their DNA. There was no way I could have anything less than what both of them had together. But she also extracted extremely powerful genes that she was able to isolate from other gifted people’s DNA. My mother thought she knew exactly what I would be. She made me so powerful that I would be a major player in the defense of our world. My training began very early and by the time I was a toddler, I was in complete control of my gifts.”

  He looked around to be sure his voice didn’t carry. The waiter cleared the table behind Chace, making enough noise to drown out any of the conversation that could have been overheard. The busy restaurant was an intentional choice, not for fear of my throwing a fit, but for Chace to talk freely of the secret part of his life. And mine.

  He turned back around to face me and finished his end of the bargain.

  “My father had shown me off to the reprogrammers that day. They quickly withdrew, probably because they were afraid of me. Or afraid of losing me. When word got back to the Commission, all was forgiven, even though my parents had broken the law. It was far better for the Commission if they stood behind me and not against me. They knew I would be big trouble for them if I was forced to the other universe.

  “My mother and father still work for the Commission; in fact, it’s a lifelong affiliation. I work there, too; I just don’t have to make an appearance every day. My job is more of a per diem one. They call me when they need me and I pretty much drop everything and run. It’s not an easy life. I do get lonely because my true existence is kept under wraps from most people. I’m allowed to marry a norm, but that would mean keeping one full half of who I am a secret. It feels so good to finally tell you all of this, Lex. That’s why I was pushing you to tell me everything. I had to be absolutely sure you were truly coming into your own abilities before I blurted all of this out. Otherwise, I would’ve broken the law by telling a norm.”

  He gulped a breath of air before he started to say what I knew was very painful for him to talk about. Me. He had known all of this for his entire life and waited patiently for me. He knew that I was gifted. He just had to wait for this moment. This one right here. And now he had something to say.

  “At the party, I asked you if you remembered us being together. You had no memory of that so I knew you didn’t remember anything that happened during that time. A few months before your accident, you started showing signs of your gifts surfacing. We were best friends and you always told me everything. You knew something was ‘off,’ as you put it, but it was so early for you. I tried to guide you to the truth then, but as you can see now, it was almost impossible. You had to find it yourself, and you would have, if you had not gotten into that accident. I didn’t feel that accident coming, Lex. Something about the whole thing didn’t sit well with me. It didn’t feel right. It still doesn’t. But I’ve always loved you, Lexi. Somewhere, lost in that brilliant mind of yours, you know that. There was an ‘us’ but it somehow got wiped out of your mind. I knew loving you was risky because eventually you would find out who you were. Who we both were. But I wanted to take the chance. If my parents found a way, I believed we could have, too.”

  I felt such a sense of relief after Chace unloaded all that baggage. Finally, all I had known was confirmed and almost everything made sense. It was still an awful lot to grasp. I didn’t even believe in ghosts as a kid so the whole alternate universe, gifted thing was a tough truth to bear. But knowledge is power and, along with whatever else my abilities were, I knew I could handle it. I wasn’t sure what to say to Chace about us. I didn’t know what he wanted to hear. If I did, I would have said it. I hated to see him in such obvious pain over me. He knew how I felt about him, but he didn’t know how I felt about William. Or maybe he did and that hurt him even more. I was at a loss.

  Our server, who came over and refilled our glasses before she slammed the bill on the table, broke the stillness of the moment. She walked away in a huff. “Man, she’s such a bitch, I have to say something.”

  “No, don’t.” Chace grabbed my arm. “She’s having a rough time. Her father was just taken to the hospital with a bad heart. He was the only one she had left who could take care of her daughter. That’s the little girl over there sitting at the corner table. Her father ran off before she was born and her mother is trying to make ends meet by waiting tables while going to school. If she loses this job, they’ll be out on the street.”

  “You know her?” I asked, quite surprised.

  “Never saw her before. It’s a gift,” he whispered and winked.

  “Oh, that. I guess I’ll have to get to know you all over again, Chace. You can read minds?”

  “No, not really. I read energies. I know it makes no sense to the layperson, but that’s not you anymore, now is it? You have so much to learn, Lex, and you need someone to teach you. I’m your mentor. I hope you don’t mind.”

  “I would love for you to mentor me, Chace. Teach me everything you know!” I perked up in my seat, excited over the idea of being super-human.

  “I can’t teach you what I know. My gifts aren’t the same as yours. We don’t even know what yours are yet. You have to feel them on your own. You’ll have to go with some pretty odd feelings and force yourself not to fight them.”

  “I think it’s already started,” I said, still fidgeting with the shredded bits of paper I had rolled into little cylinders. “I had a strange feeling a few hours ago at the festival. I can’t put it into words. It was more like a sensation. Yeah, that’s it—a sensation I’ve never had. I felt warm and my eyes had that brightness you get after a camera flashes in your face. It happened when we were by the gypsies.”

  “That was it,” Chace said smiling. “Don’t worry, you’ll get the feeling again. When you do, open your mind and let everything around you in, just like you did with the gypsy. You’ll know what to do. The gifts have a way of taking control of the situation and it’s much easier if you help them along instead of analyzing them.

  “Once you figure out what your gifts are, I can help you master them. What I can tell you is that you do have the ability to travel between universes. All gifted ones have that. You just need to learn how to use it. Everything else is still a mystery. Now, I need more informatio
n from you, hon. A deal’s a deal.”

  Here it comes, I thought. Surely he wanted to know more about William and my parents in the other world. I was completely aware that he could probably tell if I was lying or leaving out some important facts. I felt closer to Chace now than I ever had, if that were possible. He had given me so much and I owed him the truth, at the very least.

  “What do you want to know?” I asked.

  “First of all, how did you meet William and why is he here?”

  Oh, you had to go straight for the kill, didn’t you? I asked him in my head. I didn’t want to think about what I would say. The truth would have a better chance of coming out if I didn’t try to color my words with fluff.

  “I met him when I went to England for the exchange student program. Of course, I didn’t know that I was in a coma and in the alternate universe, so nothing seemed out of the ordinary. We hung around a lot together and after a while we started dating. I’m sorry, Chace, but I didn’t know about you. I had no memory of you at all. I fell in love with him and it was heart-wrenching to be back here, thinking he was only in my imagination. I don’t know why he showed up tonight. He’s never done that. He only comes to me at three a.m. when I’m asleep. If he shows up tonight, I will definitely find out.”

  “He’s here for a reason, Lex. Even though gifted ones can bounce between universes, they don’t do it for fun. There’s a reason. What is it? Any idea? Is he coming here to take you back with him?” he pressed.

  What the hell am I going to say to that? I couldn’t deny it and I didn’t want to answer. I never thought I would tell anyone the truth about my plan, but there was really no way to keep it from him. I promised to be forthright with him anyway. I couldn’t go back on my word.

  “Yeah. He’s here to take me back. And I really want to go, Chace. I want to be with my mother and father—the way I was supposed to be. He’s been trying to find a way to take me back with him because he mustn’t know that I am gifted and can do it myself. Maybe not now, but soon I’ll be able to. You said so yourself.”

  “Lex, you can’t live there. If you got caught changing fate, which you would, it could be the end of you. There are too many defectors there and too many things we don’t know. And they all want us dead. You know, this William is a gifted one or worse, a defector. With that morphing ability and bouncing between universes, there’s no question he’s not a norm. Did he tell you he was?”

  “Of course not!” I said roughly. “He’s not bad, Chace, and I would bet you anything he’s gifted and not a defector. Don’t forget, he thinks I’m a norm and if he told me he was gifted, he would be breaking the universal laws. He’s only trying to protect me. Just like you are.”

  I knew that must have cut pretty deep. I was putting Chace and William on the same level. The same playing field. I sipped my soda to cover up the silence that followed. I knew Chace wasn’t going to skip the part about me falling for William. He just had to figure out the best way to handle it.

  “I knew you didn’t remember us being together. With everything that happened to you, it was no surprise, but I have a feeling it was done intentionally.” He waited to see if I had something to offer. I didn’t. I knew he was implicating William, although I was pretty sure my William was proud and confident enough to win me over the old fashioned way. He wouldn’t have resorted to such extremes.

  “And I know how you feel about me, Lexi. I probably know better than you do. You don’t know how strong the energies you send my way are. They’re loving, genuine and pure. I will help you remember what we were, Lex. Until then, don’t do anything rash like trying to investigate this guy on your own or traveling to the other world. You have to listen to me on this, hon. I wouldn’t steer you wrong and, quite honestly, I’m all you’ve got in this world, and the other, at least until you find your feet.”

  Chace was definitely right about my feelings for him, but he was wrong about one thing. He wasn’t all I had. I had William. “Don’t worry, I won’t do anything stupid. Actually, I’m too afraid to. You can’t relate because this has always been your life, but it’ll take some getting used to for me.” I sighed.

  “You’ll be fine, Lex. You will be. It’s just important that someone keeps you out of trouble until you’re completely aware of everything. For right now, the Commission will get a message that your abilities have come to the surface and then they’ll come for you. You’ll be briefed on the laws of gifted ones amongst the norms, universal laws and a bunch of other details. At some time during the process, they’ll take you to the Commission in the city to show you around. When your abilities have all been accounted for and demonstrated, they’ll decide what your role in the Commission will be. This is the beginning of your new life, Lex. You’re in it for the long haul.”

  It was scary and exciting at the same time. I didn’t know if I would like my new life. I didn’t know if I really liked my old one. Since I didn’t have a choice, I had to accept my fate for what it was—unknown. Just like the gypsy saw on my palm.

  “Got it. Thanks for the four-one-one. Now, I really need to go home and try to digest all of this. You know, it’s kind of funny. I always thought Paige was a little loopy with all of her spiritual stuff—what would she think of me now?” I snorted.

  “She won’t think anything because you can’t tell her—remember?” Chace said as he stroked my hair. “I know it’s tough, Lex, believe me, I know. But you have to remember, the Commission frowns upon loose cannons.”

  “I didn’t mean I would actually tell her. But I can’t help but wonder if she could be a gifted one, too. Really, Chace, she’s always been... well, different. She’s into all of that mystical and celestial junk, and she’s always danced to her own whacky tune. She’s just like those gypsies. C’mon, didn’t you see the way she fit right in with them?”

  “It’s possible, Lex, but I would venture to say she’s probably not. There are clusters of gifted ones around the globe. All of us have to be within a reasonable distance of the nearest Commission. There are lots of suburban towns commutable to New York where gifted ones have set up homes. So you never know, your neighbor could be one. Gifted ones number in the thousands and we are a few hundred on the East Coast. You won’t be allowed to know everyone for the same reason they don’t want two gifted ones to marry. You’ll only know who the Commission says it necessary for you to know. So if Paige was a gifted one, you probably wouldn’t know anyway.”

  “Am I allowed to know you or are we in trouble already?” I panicked.

  “No. I was your chosen one. One of my jobs has been to watch over you since the day you were born. Not such an easy job, you know! Anyway, there was only one time when I had to check out for while, so they had someone else take my place for a few weeks.”

  “Really? Anyone I know?” I asked curiously.

  “His name is Mark. Mark Simon. Name ring any bells with you?” I felt that weird sensation again when I tried to remember.

  “I can’t think straight right now. Let’s just go,” I mumbled as I started to slide out of the booth.

  Chace locked his leg around mine under the table so I couldn’t move any farther. “Don’t fight it, Lex. Don’t fight the sensation. Focus on that picture over there on the wall. Open your mind and let whatever comes swirling in take over. Force all of your energy into your mind and that feeling. Let it consume you. Feel it, Lexi. Focus, breathe, relax.”

  I took every drop of will and determination I could gather and focused on the picture of the horse across the room. I was already a pro at this technique, given my medical history. My mind opened and the energy invaded my body, which made me feel warm and tingly. It didn’t hurt, though. It just felt strange. Almost like I was floating in a rainbow that smelled like strawberries, with puppies running around my feet. Wherever I was, I felt happy. And then the picture of the horse came back into focus.

  “You’ve done well, phyter!” Chace laughed and released my leg from his.

  “What was th
at? I don’t feel any different now. I don’t feel like I have any superpowers,” I said disappointingly.

  Chace let out a little snicker. “It’s not like you’re a superhero from a Saturday morning cartoon! I doubt you’ll turn green or spin webs from your hands!” he mocked. “One of your abilities just surfaced. You’ll know what it is soon enough.”

  “How can you tell?” I asked.

  “I’ve seen it enough to know. I can see the energy, remember?” He tapped his finger to my temple.

  “Oh,” I said, feeling awfully stupid again.

  “Lex, it takes time. You can’t possibly know all there is to know in one night. Let’s get going. Aunt Fay will worry if you’re out too late.” He threw a fifty dollar bill on the table and winked at the waitress. We walked through the door of the café and the world looked to be a whole new place.

  Chapter 11

  You’ve Got Some Explaining to Do

  The night was quiet, the roads empty, and a faint buzz from the outside door light hummed its last bit of life. It must have been late, since the house was mostly dark, except for the glimmer of the nightlights that lit the stairs. I followed them up and climbed into my bed, hoping William would make his nightly visit. I wasn’t sure if he would, since he showed up at the festival. I was so tired I didn’t remember what my last thought was before I dozed off.

  ˜ * ˜

  “Wake up, love.” I couldn’t mistake that voice.

  “William!” I ran to him and jumped into his arms. He gave me a long squeeze and brushed his hand through my hair. With the moon hidden by a blanket of clouds, I couldn’t see well enough to look into his eyes, which always gave me insight to his being.