Dentelle (19 page)

I could do this. No question.

The entire remaining section was divided into
two foot by two foot squares. At any moment they might split in half and drop.
This would be like walking on a series of unpredictable trap doors. Again, no
rhythm or pattern. At one point, more than two-thirds of the doors were open at
the same time, and the solid ones were great distances apart. Knowing when to
leap was key. If I was standing on a square when the doors flew open, I’d fall
to my demise. Failure with no prizes. The meaning wasn’t lost on me. This last
challenge bred vulnerability. Like when you have no control over anything in
your life and you know that at some point you’re going to stumble and fall. So
you live in constant fear – self-doubt controlling your every cautionary step.
In fact, a year ago, I felt like that a lot of the time. But not anymore.

Now, I was all about accepting life’s challenges
and jumping into action. If I didn’t, I was never going anywhere. And in this
life, I planned on going a lot of places. When I went and where I went needed
to be determined by me, not the Senior Council. At this moment, playing a
high-speed rendition of hopscotch would take me further towards my goals.

Feeling empowered, I jumped swiftly from square
to square. Oftentimes, one trap door would fly open just as I stepped off. A
couple times, several doors in an entire area dropped at the same time, and I
had to leap a couple rows over. I didn’t care about appearing graceful for the
spectators, my goal was simply to win. My Flair worked well. Towards the end, I
was laughing, because I was truly enjoying myself. I felt like I was dancing. I
felt like I was living.

Finally, I reached the end of the gauntlet, and
the announcer, along with the audience, went wild. All smiles, I hurried off
the platform and down the stairs. I was happy to be on solid ground again with
no moving parts, and I was ecstatic. Jessica, Ash, and Izzy nearly bowled me
over in their attempt to congratulate me. My other friends crowded around
without getting too close, cheering and laughing.

When Jason came within earshot, I said, “If you
have to leave Bellingham, then I’m going too.”

His blue eyes sparkled, a big change from the
teary-eyed mess they’d been the night before. “No way was I leaving without
you.”

“Yeah well, let’s just find a way we can all
stay in Bellingham,” Madison interjected.

“You got that right,” I declared.

“Nice run by the way,” she added.

“Thanks.” We locked gazes, and I noticed her
eyes were still glossy and a bit bloodshot. “We got this,” I assured her and
smiled, because I knew that when she and I teamed up, no challenge was too big.

“Hey,” Ash said loudly, “Tonight we celebrate.
Tomorrow we go home and come up with a plan.”

“Amen to that,” I said.

Bellingham,
Washington

There was something strangely comforting about
standing in the checkstand again. All the hustle and bustle, the customers’
constant chatter, the beeping registers… Oh yes! All of it, like music to my
ears. I took a deep breath and smiled at my customer, a pretty middle-aged
lady. As I scanned her groceries, she spoke animatedly about her daughter’s
sleepover birthday party. I laughed at the drama. Loud music, dancing, popcorn
fights, and texting into the wee hours of the morning. I could tell she wanted
me to be impressed. Surviving a night with ten squealing eleven year olds was
quite a feat by anyone’s standards. Since it was my responsibility to make sure
she left happy, I gave her all the kudos I could think of, even suggesting she
be nominated for mother of the year.

When I put the last bag of groceries in her
cart, she said, “Thanks for listening. I guess I needed to vent.” She paused
and looked at my name tag, “Lexi,” she said as I handed her the receipt, “I’ll
look for you the next time I’m in. My son’s birthday is just around the corner,
and I’m sure you’ll want to hear all about it.” She winked and waved her
receipt in the air.

“I’m always in for a good story,” I called after
her. She laughed and moseyed toward the coffee shop. Funny thing was – I was
totally serious. Customers sharing stories was normal. And I enjoyed being part
of something normal.

I sprayed the belt with cleaner and sighed…if
she really wanted to see chaos in action, she could shadow me for a few days.
My mind flew back to when I’d beaten the gauntlet and how crazy things had
gotten afterwards. The crowd had celebrated like their team had just won the
Super Bowl. Then people started chanting, “Senior Council. Senior Council.”
Apparently, there was a short ceremony when someone was elected to the Senior
Council, and this time, everyone wanted to see it happen. Talk about confusion.
The Council members didn’t even have time to debate, or, as I’m sure some of
them wanted, to renege on this prize, and before I knew it, I’d been sworn in
as a Senior Council member. Unbelievable!

Not long after that, an eager fan handed me a
mic and asked if I knew which Guardian Circle I wanted to join. Mr. Wright
looked stunned, but at that point he couldn’t very well stop me from answering
the question without looking like a fraud. As voices quieted down, and people
leaned in to hear my response, I knew I had to be careful with my words. I told
everyone what an honor it was to have the choice, especially when there were so
many exceptional Circles to choose from. I said I didn’t want to make a hasty
decision, though, and needed a couple months to think about it. That way I
could talk with representatives from different Circles, reflect on the pros and
cons, and make a thoughtful decision – one that would be beneficial to all
involved. I’m sure Mr. Wright and Carlos understood my meaning behind the two
month timeline, but there wasn’t much they could say, because the crowd had
approved my request with applause and shouts of support. Afterwards, it had
taken forever to get everyone settled again, but we finally got the awards
ceremony back on track. It ended up running late into the evening. By the next
morning, after a quick breakfast and a lot of good-byes – with several
invitations for Ash and I to visit different Circles – we were finally on our
way home.

I finished scrubbing the belt and misted the air
with a final blast of lemon-scented sanitizer for good measure. Inhaling, I
smiled. Maybe that’s why it felt so good to be here – the simple act of ringing
up people’s groceries was routine. And calming. Life without structure equaled
chaos. Reality talk show experts were always touting the importance of routines
for children. According to them, feeling safe and developing healthy habits
were essential for developing a child’s emotional stability. But let’s face it,
we adults needed order and stability just as much. Maybe even more.

In greeting the next customer, I continued with
his order as he ran back to grab the one thing he’d come in for: milk. So
funny. Milk or bread were two hot commodities, often the driving force behind a
trip to the grocery store. But somehow they became the two most forgotten items
once the shopping cart was in hand. I burst out laughing and even started
talking to myself as I put the man’s strange assortment of items in his bag. It
was really none of my business to judge, but the combination of energy drinks,
baby formula, diet hot chocolate mix, orange juice, wine, Ensure and gummy
bears was seriously comical. They had to be really thirsty at this guy’s house.
When I grabbed two bottles of Pepto-Bismol, I lost it. Of course, neither pink
bottle would scan, so I had to hand enter the UPC code. My vision blurred and I
couldn’t read the numbers, because the words “provides relief from diarrhea” struck
me as super funny. Needless to say, I messed it up several times before finally
getting them entered. Parting ways with the culprits of my hysteria, I dropped
them into the bag. Quickly, I grabbed a tissue and wiped my eyes. Everyone had
problems. Some just worse than others.

Yep! It was good to be back.

I’d been home for a week, and already I’d helped
Ally with wedding plans, been to a Bellingham Bells baseball game with Jason and
my parents when they’d come up for a day visit, rode bikes with Jason and Ava
Rose along the boardwalk, finished the Cassandra Clare book, hiked with Jason
to a new waterfall at Warm Creek, and, as expected, had a couple premonitions
which resulted in saving a few lives. All normal, everyday kinds of activities.
Even though life in Bellingham was good, the two month deadline loomed.
Frustratingly, we were no closer to a solution. The only sure-fire way the
Senior Council would allow Jason and Madison to stay in our Circle would be if
my link with Ash broke and I relinked with Jason. Or, as Ben had suggested when
no one else but Ally and I were in earshot, maybe if Ash and I got married.
Obviously,
that
was not an option.

“Oh, here’s the milk. Thanks for waiting,” the
customer said breathlessly, banging it onto the belt. It took all my
self-control not to start laughing again. I mean, did he really need something
more to drink?

A couple hours later, Lesley showed up at my
checkstand. “Hi. I’m here to take your place. Guess you have a 30 minute dinner
break.”

“Great. I’m starving,” I said, logging off the
computer.

“How come you’re working so late tonight?”

Groaning, I said, “I don’t know. Midnight is too
late for me, but it must have been my turn.”

“Yuck. Well, at least you have a late break.
When you get back you’ll only have two hours to go.”

“I know. Gotta love it when it works out that
way. See ya.”

“See ya,” she echoed.

After paying for a turkey pesto sandwich and a
small bag of Cheetos, I hurried to the food court seating area, which was still
fairly crowded. Shocked at finding Ally, Ben, and Ash seated together in a
corner booth, I appeared at their table with a disgruntled look on my face.
“Hey, what’s the deal? You guys get together and don’t bother inviting me? My
ego is damaged for life,” I teased, dropping my dinner on the table. I gave Ash
a shove, forcing him to slide over.

“I didn’t know you were working late,” Ben
commented, putting an arm around Ally’s shoulder. His naturally tanned Hawaiian
skin a dramatic contrast to her lighter one.

“Must be making up for the fact I was on
vacation for a week,” I said in explanation and stuck out my tongue.

Ally set down her sparkling water. “Glad we’re
not open this late at Macy’s.” She pointed at Ash, “Originally, we’d planned to
meet with Ash tonight and talk about music for our wedding, but someone got
sick and Ben said he’d cover the shift.” She grabbed his hand and shook her
head. “He didn’t ask what time the shift was until after he’d already said yes.
Luckily for us, though, Ash is wonderful as always,” she paused and threw him a
smile, “and he volunteered to meet here during Ben’s break. I picked his brain
for a good half hour before Ben got here, too.”

“That’s
me. The perfect man.”

I snorted.
“Ally’s
delusional.”
For some reason, she considered Ash to be the complete
package. She was always saying, “He’s funny, intelligent, considerate, kind,
and passionate.” That might be true, but he was also opinionated, egotistical,
and annoying. I don’t know how she couldn’t see his flaws. Personally, I think
she overlooked them on purpose. Either it had something to do with the obscene
amount of flowers he’d showered us with on our birthdays, or she was just
trying to send subliminal messages to Ben about stepping up his “gentleman”
game.

Ben glanced at his cell phone. “Yeah, at least I
had an hour break and we had time to figure some things out. I only have about
fifteen minutes left now. Hey,” he pointed his soup spoon at me, “what’s your
story?”

“I’m on a 30 minute,” I said, unwrapping my
sandwich. I gave Ash a dirty look when he popped open my bag of Cheetos and
started munching away.

He smiled brightly and said nonchalantly, “Oh,
by the way, did Ben tell you that he and Ally did some research on you?”

“What?”

“Not on you specifically,” Ben said, shaking his
head at Ash. “But on Dentelles.”

“Huh?” I mumbled, having just taken a big bite
of my sandwich. “What do you mean? Did you find anything?”

“We did some googling,” Ben said proudly.

Ally leaned forward. “Yeah, and we found a bunch
of stuff about Dentelle being some lacelike pattern they used in the old days
for decorating book covers or something.”

“But,” Ben interjected, waving his spoon around
the air “we didn’t think that was why,” he glanced over his shoulder and
lowered his voice significantly, “the ancient Guardians chose the name
Dentelle. I mean, wouldn’t they want something more distinctive for a person
with both Guardian and Amethyst talents…”

Ally pushed her food to the side and leaned
forward. “Then we found something much more interesting –”

“Yeah!” Ben interrupted. “Apparently, high on
some tropical –”

“Hey, big mouth,” Ally said, slapping her hand
over his face, muffling his voice. “I get to tell her the good part. Got it?”
His brows furrowed but he nodded, so she lowered her hand and looked at me.
“So, there’s this hill way up in the cloud forest of Mauritius Island. And on
this hill are these two amazing trees – the only two trees of this species
still living on the planet. And get this;” her blue eyes flared with
excitement, “They are called Bois Dentelle! They have sprays of long white,
bell-shaped flowers with lacy petals and are supposed to be absolutely
beautiful.”

“Beautiful and rare,” Ben confirmed. “And they
did look pretty awesome in the pictures we found.”

I set my sandwich down and sputtered. “You’re
making this up. I…I’ve never even heard of this…Martius –”

“Mauritius,” Ally corrected.

“Finally, something she hasn’t heard of,” Ash said,
waving his orange-stained fingers in front of my face.

“Oh, they exist all right,” Ben said. He leaned
back and crossed his arms. “And the islands are right smack dab in the middle
of the Indian Ocean. Supposed to be like some enchanted tropical paradise or
something.”

Ash smacked me on the back, and I cringed at the
thought of his orange fingerprints on my clean white blouse. “Hey, isn’t this
amazing news?” His eyes gleamed, and I wondered at his smug expression. He
wiggled his eyebrows up and down, looking absolutely ridiculous.

“I suppose so,” I said cautiously, looking
around the table.

“Yeah,” he continued, finally wiping his hands
on a napkin. “Funny how it all works out, isn’t it? I remember the first time
we met, and you castigated me for being named after a tree. And now here we
are,” he said, a full smile plastered on his face, his dazzling green eyes
alight with humor, “both named after trees. Looks like we’re back on equal
ground…”

Ally and Ben started laughing, and then Ben
turned to Ally and said, “Castigated? What’s up with that?”

Giggling, Ally said, “I think he’s trying to
impress her with big words.”

“You know it,” Ash said.

Meanwhile, I thought back to my first encounter
with Ash, when he’d opened the front door and I’d tripped and fallen into his
arms. Yes, I’d been rude that day. It hadn’t helped that he’d parked that
flashy motorcycle in my parking spot. But it was
his
cockiness that had pushed me over the edge. If I remembered
correctly, he’d even accused me of “checking him out.” So yeah, I’d probably
dished out a few nasty comments. For a split-second, I thought about
apologizing, but since I wouldn’t mean it, why bother? Besides, he’d enjoy it
more if I played the game. And there was no point in playing if I wasn’t
playing to win.

Sighing, I brushed my hands together and took a
deep breath. “We might both be named after trees,” I said, batting my
eyelashes, “but it’s obvious we’re
not
on
equal
ground. Nope. It appears I’m
on much
higher
ground.” I shook my
head and stuck out my lower lip like I was really sad about it. “And according
to Ben and Ally here, we’re talking high in the hills of a tropical paradise.”
I grabbed his shoulder. “And remind me, where is it that those dime a dozen Ash
trees grow? Oh, don’t answer that. We all know they’re just about anywhere,
everywhere, and nowhere in particular.” Just to show off, I drilled him with
Essence.

His face broke into a huge grin and he laughed
loudly. “Damn, woman. I’ve taught you well.”

My head fell back and I laughed out loud. After
a minute, I sat back up and said, “You wish, Ash. You wish.” After the laughter
finally died down, I changed the subject. “So, did you guys get the music
figured out, or what?” I gazed at Ally. Her auburn hair was pulled back in a
French braid, and her eye-shadow was glittery, enhancing the color of her baby
blues. “And what’s with the sparkly stuff?” I added, motioning to her eyes.
“Looks fancy.”