The Heart-Shaped Emblor (The Ewlishash Series) (13 page)

“I’m here for you.” His response was simple. “As for how I got here, all I can say is that it wasn’t by car.” His demeanor turned flirtatious.

“Oh?” I inquired. “You like keeping me in suspense, don’t you?” I asked in an equally flirtatious manner.

“You betcha!” He laughed. “I have to tease you now, because once you know everything I won’t be able to.”

“Hmpf… I guess I’ll have to wait in suspense then.”

“Not for too long.” Alexander put both hands on the wheel, attempting to make the corner without sliding. “Soon, you will know as much, maybe even more, than I do. But for now, we have to take things slowly.”

“Why?”

“Why what?”

“Why to both your statements,” I grumbled. “Why would I maybe know more than you, and why do we have to take things slow?”

He furrowed his eyebrows. “Aislinn, I thought you were smarter than that. You leave me disappointed.”

“Oh, thanks.” I gave an embarrassing snort. “Guess I’m not that smart after all.”

He leaned back, confused by my overreaction. “I didn’t mean you weren’t smart,” he countered. “I just assumed you would have figured some things out on your own. What happens if I tell you everything right now? You’d panic and leap from a moving vehicle. Not something I want to happen.”

“Oh,” I mumbled. “Well, what about the other question, then? Why would I know more?”

“Because you’re female.” He spoke as if this were an obvious answer.

“I don’t think I’m smarter because I’m female.”

“No,” he groaned. “You misunderstood.” Alexander shook his head. “I didn’t say you would be smarter than me; I said you might know more than me. There’s a difference.”

“Oh.” I tried to figure out what he could mean, but came up short. “Why would I know more? What does being female have to do with anything?”

“Females tend to be more psychic. That’s all.” He explained things as if I already understood them. But that was part of his charm, always allowing me too much credit.

For the rest of the way home, I tried not to ask questions. Instead, I let my mind wander. I focused on simple things, like counting how many white cars passed, the seconds between trees, the number of empty spaces on signs… Anything to keep my mind from running with the possibilities of what Alexander had to tell me.

The trip back seemed very fast. Before I knew it, we were pulling into town and straight into the Celtic shop’s parking area. I turned to Alexander again, smiling, but confused.

“How did you know I wanted to go here? I’ve been waiting for them to open.”

“Uh,” he paused, looking around. “I didn’t know. This is where I wanted to go.” His attempt to look confused by my statement wasn’t working. I suspected there was much more to this coincidence.

“Uh-huh… Sure it’s where you wanted to go.” I spoke with an edge of sarcasm. “Just to make things clear, I don’t like secrets. I didn’t ask you to tell me everything under and above the sun. Just how you knew is all. Is that so hard to answer?”

Alexander squirmed in his seat.

“Alexander?” His silence only added to my frustration.

“Okay.” He put his hands up in submission. “I’ll try to tell you some things, but I want you to understand that normally, I would prepare you slowly and give the final release of ‘all there is to know’ when you seemed ready. Once you start down this rabbit hole, you really are going to be in Wonderland.

“Are you sure you want to know? Even if what I have to tell you goes against all logic? Think about this seriously, Aislinn. Once you know, you can’t go back. Too much too soon could…” he paused, “change things.”

I sat back, wondering what could be so detrimental to my psyche and came up short. Was I prepared to deal with
any
possibility? Alexander made himself—and me, for that matter—sound so important. Could I handle the truth?

“I see what you’re saying.” I paused, making sure I wanted to say what I was about to say. “But I do want to know. Maybe not everything yet, but I want to know how you knew to call me. You don’t have to tell me any more than is necessary. Unless I ask, of course.”

Alexander looked unnerved.

“All right.” He hesitated. “But understand that this isn’t normally how it works. You’re different. We’re different together.”

“I’m ready,” I announced.

“This could take a while. Are you sure you want to talk before you go inside?” He was stalling. “There are a lot of people on the sidewalk and if they walk by, they may be able to hear us. It’s not very private here.”

“Yup,” I replied optimistically. “I’m ready now. The store can wait, and as for the passersby, I don’t really care.”

“Well…” He blew the hair from his eyes. “I do care. Not everyone can know what I have to say. We need to keep our voices low if we’re going to talk here.”

“Okay.” I unbuckled my seatbelt and turned to face him with my full attention. “I’m listening.”

He shook his head, but kept his smile. “I can’t believe I’m doing this!” He said it aloud, though it wasn’t for my sake. “So…” He took a deep breath. “You wanted to know how I knew, but that is a bit harder to explain until you know something else first.”

I waited.

“The reason I knew what you were talking about with Evan is because I was there.” He grimaced, waiting for the backlash.

“How?”

He seemed surprised that I wasn’t panicking and sat up straighter, a bit more comfortable. “You see, I can change.” He winced again, but I waited for him to finish. “Do you know anything about hyperspace?”

I shook my head. “Not that much.”

“Well, theoretically, we exist in the same space as other dimensions. Only, we move at different speeds, therefore we never cross paths. Well…” He rolled his eyes. “Almost never.”

Alexander stopped for a moment to let my brain catch up. I tried to comprehend what he told me, but my confusion only got worse.

“See, I can change my speed.”

“What do you mean
change
your speed?”

“Most of us, like you and me right now, vibrate. Smaller than our smallest atoms, we have little tiny strings that move. Scientists still can’t prove any of this yet, but they are getting very close with String Theory. Right now, because of the electromagnetic pull on us, our strings slow their vibrations, making us appear solid. But imagine for a moment if you could speed those strings up while still being in this dimension. What do you think would happen?”

I pondered Alexander’s question for a moment. “We’d become less solid.”

“Exactly.” He nodded. “And what happens when water becomes less of a solid mass?”

“It becomes like mist, I guess…”

“This may be easier than I anticipated.” Alexander’s brilliant smile widened, revealing his dimple. “So let’s say that I can, for instance, change my speed and become less solid. I could then travel differently if I was like mist rather than a walking human. Or I could travel as light, if need be. We have many options, since we’re made of light, water, and other particles. So if I wanted to be there to assist you while you talked to Evan, all I’d have to do would be to speed up. Then you couldn’t see me, and I could be in the room the entire time. My cell phone, however, can’t change speeds, as it is not living. Therefore, I would have to hide it outside or somewhere else where no one would see it.”

“What about your clothes?” I asked curiously. “Do you have to be naked when you change?”

At that question, I could have sworn I saw Alexander blush, which made my cheeks burn. A quick flash of him standing next to me with nothing on sent a heat through my body that I knew he could feel. It radiated from my skin.

“Not necessarily.” Alexander looked away, definitely embarrassed. “It depends on the types of clothes you’re wearing. If you had on synthetic clothing, your clothes would fall to a pile on the floor.” He gestured toward the floorboard. “However, if you wear things that are all cotton, the clothes can change with you. I’m careful to wear cotton or hemp, just in case. It’s the easiest to change with me. Other natural fabrics can change, but it takes a lot of concentration.”

I placed my elbow on the side of the door and leaned my head on it. I’d had an odd morning already, and this conversation was making it worse.

What would be the purpose of changing like that? Was that what was supposed to happen to me? Maybe some of these questions could wait. I didn’t need all the details yet.

Looking out the window, I carefully arranged my next question. “Just so that I don’t get overwhelmed,” I began, “I’m going to try to keep my questions very specific. You don’t need to go above and beyond right now in answering them. Keep it simple, if that’s possible. Is that okay?”

“Yes.” He nodded. “I prefer to do it that way. I’m afraid to give you too much, too fast.”

“So you said you can change your speed, or more specifically, speed up how fast you vibrate. How, in your simplest explanation, can you do that?” I turned to face him again.

Alexander rubbed his chin. “Have you ever heard of manifestation?”

“Yes,” I responded slowly. “But I’m not sure that I completely understand what that means.”

“Well,” he began. “Usually, when we manifest, we bring something into being, a solid. You would go about doing that by concentrating and forcing the mind to
accept
what you’re telling it. Your mind is what is making the thing or someone appear. It’s not that easy to do.

“When I want to change, it’s similar to that, but reversed. If I want to speed up, I force my mind to see myself as mist, as light, or translucent. When I want to re-appear, I see myself as a solid again. But it can be different for others. Some people, although I can’t say how they do it, can change so fast that I’m not even sure they have to think about it. The act seems like an involuntary reaction. Like a blink.” He grimaced. “Sorry, that last part may be too much information just yet.”

“It’s okay,” I assured him. “I’m not going to ask any more about that right now. Your answer explains things in a way that I can accept, so I’ll stick with that.”

He nodded, seeming thankful I wasn’t going to push for too much. “Next question?”

“My next question kind of covers a long range of time, so be forewarned.” Alexander’s face contorted. “How many times have you been in your changed state around me, and for how long have you been doing this?”

“Oh.” He ran his hand through his hair. “That’s not that bad. I thought you were going to ask something else.” Alexander grinned. “I can’t say how many times; there have been too many. But I can tell you the first time. Can you guess it?” He chuckled, waiting for my response.

I revisited all the times I’d either seen him or assumed I had. I’d been dreaming of him since I was about ten. As I thought over the few times I’d actually seen him in person, my memory of him standing over me in bed jumped to the forefront of my mind.

“My room!” I shouted. “You were there that night, after my dream about you!” I beamed with pleasure, proud of my connection.

“Wow.” He seemed taken aback. “Very perceptive. You’re right. I was in your room the night you woke and saw me, but that wasn’t the first time I’ve been in my changed state around you. The first time was at the art show.” He paused, changing the topic. “But what was this dream you mentioned?”

“Wait,” I said. “You were in your changed state
before
I saw you at the art show?
Before
the parking lot?”

“Yes. I guess you could say I tried to guide you, so to speak.”

“How?”

“With Cooper and Jaden, you were so nervous. I tried to get you to understand that you weren’t seeing the whole picture. But I need to refrain from saying much more on this subject, at least for now.” Alexander seemed proud of his efforts from that night, but also firm in his resolution not to elaborate.

“Ah, well… As for my dream, I asked for help on getting answers. Sort of like a prayer, I guess, but not to anyone specific. That night, I had a dream about you—well, you and me together in my room anyway. We were mixing. When I woke up, you were in my room. I saw you and thought I was still dreaming. You were there, and then you were gone. Like a ghost. It made no sense then, but now I understand completely! You changed when you realized I’d woken up.” I was excited that aspects of my life seemed to be coming together.

“What do you mean we were mixing?” Alexander seemed shaken, and I had no idea why.

“Well,” I responded. “In the dream, we were both energy. I really can’t describe it any other way. When you approached me, we mixed our energy like we were batteries. It felt like getting shocked.”

“Oh.” His face softened a bit. “That’s interesting.” But he offered no further explanation or opinion. I took it that this was a no-fly zone, at least for now.

“I used to dream about you a lot, even before I saw you working after the art show. I recognized you when I saw you and told Hope that you were the one from my dreams.”

“What do you mean you used to dream about me? Am I the one you told me about when we were in town? What were the dreams about?” His flicker of curiosity sent a brief chuckle through me.

“Yes,” I confessed. “I spoke of you when we talked in town, in that old building. The dreams lasted for years, but I didn’t have them more than once or twice a year. This last four or five months, I’ve been dreaming about you often. In many of them, your age jumps around, and oftentimes there is a girl with you, a very beautiful blonde.”

Alexander’s face blanched. “That’s enough. I don’t want to discuss this anymore.”

“I don’t understand. Who is she?”

“Enough.” His tone was like ice.

“What did I say?” Fear of his anger made my voice crack. Was she his girlfriend? Was that the reason he was angry with me for knowing about her? Sudden jealousy got the better of me, and I opened my mouth before thinking things through. “Are you dating her?”

Alexander gripped the steering wheel so hard that his knuckles turned white, and he frowned. He breathed heavy through his nose, as though trying to calm the rage inside him. His negative energy was too much for me.

I flung the car door open so fast that I made Alexander jump. But I didn’t care. His reaction made no sense, unless he was playing me the fool.