Linked (18 page)

I
closed my eyes and concentrated. His Essence was strange. It wasn’t horrible
like I’d been afraid it might be, but then he hadn’t actually been out stealing
Essence yet either. He’d just been tainted by Melanie and the other Ray-pacs.
He felt polluted and unwholesome, almost like he was missing crucial components
to his inner life force. In a way it reminded me of cancer. Like with Ava Rose,
leukemia forced her body into producing too many immature white blood cells,
thus crowding out all the normal cells. With Ash, it was like the tainted
Essence had all but eaten away at his healthy and vital Essence and replaced it
with impurities.

Visibly
relaxing, Ash drawled, “You feel remarkable.”

My
eyes popped open, and I found myself staring into his amber eyes. Grinning
lazily, with a dreamy expression, he actually winked, and I couldn’t help but
laugh. “At least something is going right for a change,” I said happily.
Whether from the dropping temperatures or from the emotional high, my teeth
started chattering.

Immediately,
his expression turned to one of concern. “Are you okay?”

“I’m
fine,” I replied and crinkled my nose, “just cold.”

He
glanced at his watch. “It’s already six o’clock. How about over dinner you tell
me your story,” he suggested.

I
nodded. “Okay. But I think you still need more of my Essence.”

“Good
idea,” he said gratefully. “I know – we’ll take the bike, and with your arms
wrapped around me, well…we both know I’ll be in good hands.” He laughed and
grabbed my arm. “Ouch!” he yelled out.

Chuckling,
I clicked my tongue and grabbed his arm. “I know this is going to be hard for
you,” I said and dragged him over to his motorcycle, “but you’re just gonna
have to keep your hands off me.”

He
laughed, obviously feeling rejuvenated after the Essence boost. “I would say
that it’s going to be challenging, but I’m sure that after I’ve been scorched a
couple more times, I’ll learn.”

Despite
my protests, he gave me his helmet and his jacket. After I wrapped my arms
around him, the motorcycle roared to life and we zipped through the park. We
ended up at a Thai restaurant on Samish Way where we requested a booth in the
back so we could have complete privacy. We sat next to each other, and although
we kept a good amount of personal space between us, I kept my hand on his leg
giving him that continual flow of my Essence.

I made
a big decision and decided to tell Ash everything. I would have no secrets from
him about who I was or about how I was destined to die. But opening up to Ash,
a Ray-pac, also left me feeling rather guilty, because I was still keeping
secrets from Jason and all my other Guardian friends. Balancing the lies with
the truths around different people was not getting any easier. The only bit of
news I wouldn’t mention, were the details of my one on one time with Jason at
the secluded island Retreat. There was really no reason to share the
particulars of my relationship, or lack thereof, with Jason. Not to mention, I
didn’t want to bring his name into the mix any more than I had to.

“That
explains Melanie’s overwhelming hatred for you,” Ash blurted out when I told
him about my encounter with her in the woods.

“Yeah
well, she banged me up pretty good.” I shuddered at the memory. “Hey,” I said
curiously, “if you’re linked then you must have some new abilities,” I surmised
and gazed into his eyes, in which shades of green were slowly replacing the
hues of gold. That was interesting.

With a
snap of his fingers, he said, “You got that right. The extra speed and strength
are phenomenal; I feel like a superman. But the most amazing part is this
invisibility thing.”

“Are
you serious?” My eyes widened. “Your Flair is invisibility?”

“My
what?”

“The
unique ability you gain when linking with someone is called your Flair.”

He
scratched his cheek. “Oh, okay. Well, my Flair is totally insane. I can
disappear from sight but be right there listening and watching what’s going
on.”

“No
way.”

“Yeah,
it’s killer, but I haven’t used it much yet. There hasn’t been any reason to,”
he said and leaned back against the booth. The waitress brought us soup and a
couple bowls. Her long black hair and authentic looking Thai skirt swished as
she walked away.

“Have
you ever had Tom Ka Gai before?” he asked as he ladled several spoonfuls of
soup into my bowl.

“No,
but it smells good,” I said, detecting a hint of lime.

“It’s
a spicy, coconut chicken soup with onions, lemon grass, and mushrooms.”

“Mushrooms?
Yuk.”I made a face. Carefully wading through my bowl, I avoided the floating
fungi and took a bite. “Mmm, that’s really good. Hot and spicy.”

“I’m
glad you like it. Just dig out the mushrooms and drop them into my bowl.”

“Are
you sure?”

“Of
course.”

“Okay,”
I said, happily dropping several of the dastardly things into his soup.

“So,”
he said in between slurps, “none of your Guardian friends know that you have
premonitions or that you think you’re a Dentelle?”

“True,”
I said and sipped my soup. “And there’s more. I have a plan for taking out the
Ray-pacs, but before I tell you, I want you to promise you won’t go crazy or
try to stop me.” He argued and said he wouldn’t make any such promises, but I
informed him that he’d be left in the dark then. Finally, he acquiesced. But I
knew he wasn’t gonna be happy with me, and he wasn’t.

“You’re
crazy if you think I’m gonna let you go through with this asinine plan of
yours,” he said angrily and banged his fist on the table. A few people glanced
at our table with disapproving looks.

I
narrowed my eyes. “Yes I do. And you’re either with me on this or out of my
life.”

“Damn
it Lexi.” His shoulders slumped and he tapped his spoon against the bowl. Don’t
you think there’s a chance your visions of the icy lake are to prepare you, so
you can save your own life?”

“No. I
think I’m going to suffer the same fate as previous Dentelle’s and die after
I’ve tried linking. But I’m going to take down as many Ray-pacs as I can in the
process. They think I’m an Amethyst, so they’ll be totally unprepared when I
spring this on them.” I glanced over at him because I could feel his eyes
boring into me. “By the way, you’re the only one who knows I’m a Dentelle.” I
offered him a lopsided grin, but he simply shook his head with frustration.

“And,”
he continued in a dramatic tone, “you’ve been thinking that you could just
crash into the Ray-pac’s camp all by yourself, link with as many of them as
possible, killing them and you in the process, and that you’d be successful?”

Drinking
from my bowl, I peeked over the brim and nodded vigorously.

“You
are unbelievable! Do you know how preposterous that sounds? Not to mention
dangerous, stupid, and impossible.”

“Hey,”
I said, pinching his leg. “Choose your words wisely, or I’ll cut you off from
my good, wholesome Essence.

“I
always knew you were hotheaded. But really?” He clutched his spoon tightly.
“How about this,” he said in a much more serious tone, “How about we ditch this
city and run away together?”

I
rolled my eyes. “Right. And then what would we do after your link with Melanie
breaks? You’d probably die. I’d be left stranded somewhere. My friends and
family would worry. I’d end up on a missing person’s poster until I died…”

“Okay,
okay, enough already. Maybe that’s not such a good plan either.”

My lips
burned from the chili spices. Pressing my lips against the ice cold water
glass, I surmised for several seconds. “No but this might be,” I said, looking
at him with renewed optimism. “How about you continue pretending like you’re
looking for me, and when the time is right, you can tell them you’ve found me.
Once I’ve been captured by you, you can deliver me to them.” My eyes grew
wider. “We’ll carry out my original plan, but I’ll have you on the inside.
We’ll know about their every move, and you’ll be able to help me with all the
linking business.”

“Insane.
Totally and utterly insane.” he muttered. “Besides, I can only stall for so
long. And how do we decide when the time is right? I’m confused.”

“Well,
you shouldn’t be,” I conjectured. “You just went through almost the same thing,
so you know what it feels like and what symptoms I’ll have.” I dropped my spoon
into the soup bowl. “We’ll know the time is right when it becomes necessary for
me to link. If my visions are accurate that will be in a few months when there
is snow on the ground – this winter. Not only that, but my premonitions been
more frequent, but I’ve been getting headaches, which you said are key
indicators that it’s time to link. If I had to guess, I’d say maybe December or
January.”

“I
still think your whole plan is weak at best. But there is one thing working in
your favor.” He slid his empty bowl across the table.

“What’s
that?” I glanced up at him.

“Once
I find you, Kieran doesn’t want you captured until there’s a full moon. He
wants all of us to be unlinked when he takes you.”

“That’s
even better,” I exclaimed. Turning sideways, I said curiously, “But why is
that?”

“I’m
not sure, but I’ll do my best to find out.” He swished the ice cubes around in
his water glass. “We do know that he can’t touch you while he’s linked, so I’m
guessing he wants access to you for some reason. At least they’ll be vulnerable
if your plan actually works. But I want you to know that I’m not okay with all
this,” he remarked, grinding his teeth and giving me a cold, hard stare.

“You
don’t have to be,” I said. “You just have to do it.”

Luckily,
that’s when the waitress arrived with several plates of food – a steaming plate
of Pad Thai noodles, a large bowl of brown rice, a colorful plate of Cashew Chicken,
and finally a Red Curry dish garnished in basil leaves. After clearing away our
soup bowls, she whisked herself away again.

Laughing,
I turned to Ash. “What is all this? There’s only two of us eating.”

Raising
a brow, he said, “I wanted you to try all my favorites. Besides,” he shoved a
huge helping of Pad Thai noodles onto my plate, “if we’re only planning on
living for a few more months we need to eat like royalty from now on.”

Despite
the seriousness of all our issues, we looked at each other and started cracking
up.

In a
firm, more earnest voice he added, “If we’re gonna go through with this, then
the least we can do is enjoy every minute we have and live our lives without
any regrets.” He studied my face, and gazed at my lips. A warmth not caused by
the chili peppers began rising up my neck and radiating from my cheeks. “If
you’re going down, I’m going down with you.” And with that, he turned his
attention to his meal and tackled his Cashew Chicken with chopsticks.

During
dinner we compared childhood stories and what it was like growing up with
premonitions, and we discussed the Ray-pacs and Guardians a little further.
Afterwards, we returned to the park where I unlocked my car and stashed several
take-home boxes on the passenger seat.

Leaning
with his back against my car, he cleared his throat. Surrounded by darkness, I
couldn’t make out his face, but I heard him say quietly, “Lexi?”

“Yes?”
I replied and reached out to hold his arm.

“I
think it’s important we at least tell Ben and Ally about me since they already
know about Guardians and Ray-pacs, that is. Having their support will be
beneficial for you but will also explain why I’m always around, and one less
secret might be nice.”

The
hairs on the back of my neck stood up. “As long as they don’t find out about
our plan to take out the Ray-pacs.” He nodded, so I said, “Okay, then I think
that’s a great idea.” I glanced at my toes and said shyly, “Your willingness to
share when you don’t have to, just to make my life easier, really means a lot to
me.”

“I…”
he broke off and tensed.

“Ash?
Ohhh, Ash. Yoo-Hoo! I know you can hear me. How are you? How’s your Essence
holding out? Have you had to resort to finding some on your own yet?”

My
heart flipped. Listening to Melanie’s patronizing voice as she talked to Ash
telepathically was completely creepy. For a moment, I flashed back to my battle
with her in the forest, and I could see her perfectly. Her coy expressions,
cloudy blue eyes, and stringy black hair were enough to rattle my bones.

“Don’t
worry about me Melanie,”
Ash responded.
“I’m getting Essence as I need
it now.”

Remembering
I’d promised Jason I wouldn’t reveal my ability to overhear telepathic
conversations, I decided that was one promise I would honor. Unfortunately, it
meant keeping a secret from Ash, further entangling me in yet another web of my
own deceit. Once again, acting as if I didn’t know what was going on I said,
“What’s up?”

“Shhh,
just give me a second. I’m talking with Melanie,” he said.

“Oh,
okay,” I said trying to sound surprised.

“
Oh
good. I knew you were a big boy and could do what was necessary to survive when
it came down to it. Are you in Bellingham yet?”

“Not
quite there yet,”
Ash lied.

“Okay.
Well, Kieran just wanted me to check in with you and remind you to take it easy
at first. Work your way back into your life and don’t be too conspicuous when
you start snooping around the harbor. If you don’t have any information in a
few weeks you’ll have to come back up to Canada so we can re-link. Next full
moon is October 4
^th
. Then you can head back down and continue your
search for Alex. And I want to know the second you find her, got it?”

“I
hear you.”