The Keeper: Alexa LeGardien (5 page)

“You’ve opened the box,” Leeman stated, his voice lacking any guilt she’d expected to hear. “I think it’s time to tell you everything. Oh, and Happy Birthday.”

“L
ET
me get this straight, you guys have pictures of her parents? Why?” Matt asked seeing as Alexa was too stunned to say anything in that moment.

Leeman ignored Matt’s wavering questions and walked up to Alexa. “You saw something. Everyone who opens that box sees something. How exactly do you think your parents died? Even more importantly, why do you think they died?”

“How can you ask me that?” Alexa asked, distraught. “Listen you...
puny
man, I’m the one that needs answers. You’re the creep with a key to a box. Just tell me who you are.”

“The faster you answer the questions I ask, the faster you get the answers you want.”

Finally accepting defeat, Alexa decided to play Leeman’s game of twenty questions.

“Fine,” she admitted. “My mother died when I was born. It’s actually less depressing than it sounds.” Not really. “And my dad... well, I’m not exactly sure of the details but he died a few days later. Why does this even matter?”

“It matters because what you were told wasn’t true. It was made up.”

“Excuse me? Look, I don’t know who you are and until I do, I’m not going to believe a single word you say, because you sound almost sociopathic.”

“Don’t believe me, fine. What did you see when you unlocked the box?”

“Nothing, it’s just a box.”

“You’re lying.”

Tempers were rising from every corner of the room. Alexa was getting all kinds of emotional and Leeman was not giving up on the conversation anytime soon. It wasn’t like she could complain, but she asked for it.

Matt quickly intervened. “Little guy, stop it. We don’t know who any of you guys are and we haven’t called the cops. I think it’s only fair that you give us some actual answers.”

“Little guy? That’s just rude.” He put his pipe in his mouth and puffed it. “Alexa needs to know this but you... you, I don’t know or trust.” He pointed right at Matt.

Alexa crossed her arms in front of her chest. “Like I said, whatever you have to tell me, you can tell him. What information is so fragile that you can only tell me anyway?” She wasn’t budging anytime soon.

He picked up the box and opened it wide in Alexa’s direction. “What do you see when you look at the box?”

“A bunch of useless stuff, why?”

“Wrong. These things, everything in this box is of very large importance. All priceless and to be trusted in the hands of only a few people. The box itself can only be opened by what we refer to as the keeper.”

“The what? Do you mean priceless like it’s made of gold or what? Are they stolen?”

“No, they are not stolen, not literally. I get that you prefer to be sarcastic to make yourself seem more confident than you actually are but this is not a time for sarcasm. This is entirely serious.”

Alexa and Matt tried very greatly to withhold their laughter but it just came out at the end of the day.

“Okay guys, you can keep your secrets. Just tell us why you have pictures of my parents. Are you guys like weird stalkers or something similar?”

Leeman shut the lid of the box angrily. “You want to know why pictures of your parents are here. That’s because they lived here. They found dangerous artefacts and took care of it.”

“Dude, I don’t know if you know this but you sound crazy,” Matt said while Alexa just stood by silently.

“Think about it,” Leeman said with furrowed brows. “Why are we so secretive, do you
really
think that this is a bank, normally, we wouldn’t want to burden a
child
,” He paused at the word child and eyed Alexa, “with such an extreme amount of work but as it seems, you’re now the keeper. Just tell me what you saw when you unlocked the box with the key”

“Okay, that’s it we should just leave.” He held on to Alexa’s hand to head for the exit but she didn’t budge.

She gave Matt her ‘I’m-alright face’. “I saw my mother. I saw her face. I just thought it was nothing. Why?”

“Listen to me very carefully, with your mother dead, you are now the keeper. I’m sure you’ve noticed the empty compartments in the box. It’s very important that you find them and keep them in the box where no one else can get their hands on them.”

Alexa was still taken aback by shock. She could feel her heart beat race, she didn’t exactly know what to believe. And magic? That just wasn’t her world. She was a previous delinquent with no knowledge of her parents and now this . . .

“Your parents were very important,” the very silent doorman in the suit added to the conversation.

“He speaks. I was beginning to think that you were on mute or something,” Alexa remarked, trying to lighten her mood. Sufficed to say, it
wasn’t
working.

“Now that you know, we have to do this as quickly as possible. You need to be sworn in, you’ll be given the location of the next artefact and you must help retrieve it.”

“Whoa. Whoa. Hold on to your horses, man,” Alexa said with her usual playful tone. But the confusion she’d felt since seeing the letter—supposedly from her mother—had more than tripled. “I just got out of a correctional facility, today’s my birthday, and this is just too much.” She grabbed Matt by his long sleeve and motioned for his help. “I need some time to process all of this... whatever this is. I need some air.”

“You heard the lady. Please show us the way out,” Matt said, holding on to Alexa’s arms tighter, as though these people would abduct her once given the chance. Who knew? Maybe they actually would.

—             —             —

A
LEXA
and Matt both sat down silently in the Mustang, almost like neither wanted to be the first one to sound crazy. Matt turned to her and opened his mouth to speak but closed it right back.

Matt had his keys in the ignition but didn’t move. As they stayed parked by the Grand Guardian’s Insurance bank, neither of them knew what to say first.

So instead of thinking and then talking, Matt decided to just pour it out. “You know this sounds crazy, right?”

Alexa kept her head rested on the passenger’s window. “Yup.”

“Did you actually see something when you opened the box, or did you say that for dramatic effect?”

“I wish I had . . . said that for dramatic effect. I saw my mom...” How could she possibly say anything else without sounding psychotic? “I don’t know how to describe it.” Alexa shook her head in a confused manner. Her first day out of the correctional facility, her eighteenth birthday. Of all days for whatever was going on to happen, they picked that day?
Seriously
?

Matt grabbed her right palm. “I’m staying here with you until you decide to either go back or leave, okay?”

She softly nodded her head. “Okay.” She let out a breath of fresh air to keep her heart rate intact, she felt like she was going to explode anytime soon.

“Here.” Matt handed her a bottle of water.

She reached out her hand and slowly grabbed it from him. With all that had happened, she needed a drink, even if it was just a drink of water. After taking down a few gulps, she took another look at the building that had initially been nothing but a bank when she and Matt had first arrived, then she looked at Matt. “We should go in.”

“Really?”

“Yes. My parents were involved with whatever this is. Besides, we’ll just pull ourselves out if things get crazier than expected.”

He unlocked the car doors. “Okay, I said I’ll support your decision. So, if this is what you want... then let’s do this.”

Both Alexa and Matt walked up to the two huge doors that sat in front of the Grand Guardian’s bank, this time with no one standing to welcome them in. Alexa pushed the two doors open. They moved so slowly and felt like they weighed a ton. She was about to put out one of her sly comments right when her eyes fell on a bunch of people she hadn’t seen earlier.

There were those that she recognized, like the doorman without a name, Mr Henderson, and Mr. Leeman, but the other six people present, two women and four men, all dressed in the same white inner shirt and black expensive looking suits.

“We knew you’ll make the right decision,” one grey-haired man Alexa had never seen before said.

“Really, um... what if I came here to say
no way
?”

He asked blatantly, almost as if he didn’t give a damn what her response was, they would be better off without a kid involved. “Well, is that what you came here to say?”

“No, but it just might as well have been.”

Alexa pointed up her index. “Just one question, do I get paid?”

“No.” Leeman answered and she breathed out some air of disappointment. “You do however get the house. Your parents lived here.” Leeman looked towards Matt. “And I guess you too.”

Alexa’s eyes widened in astonishment. “Wait, what? Like the entire house?” she asked just to be sure. She’d never been in a house so big, much less lived in one. It was more, foster home to foster home to a correctional facility for Alexa.

“Then let the ceremony begin,” one of the women stated and lifted up a book. A book that Alexa was too distracted to notice. It had very hard but rounded edges. It was covered with very thick and old looking brown leather. Not to mention, it looked a couple pounds heavier than any book should ever look.

“Ma’am place your right hand right here. And raise your left arm.” The lady held on to the bottom of the book with both her hands. Alexa did as instructed and placed her right palm on the top of the book.

“Repeat after me: I, Alexa Margaux LeGardien, promises from this day forward to uphold my duties as The Keeper, to keep the secrets that you uncover and to do so with my life.”

“Hold up,
with my life
?”

“Are you doing this or not, Miss LeGardien?”

“I’m doing it. What do I have to lose right? I mean, sure, yeah.” Alexa confirmed, still taken back by the possible existence of magical artefacts. She rose her left arm to a ninety-degree angle and repeated everything the lady said. There was no going back. Whatever this all was, wherever it all lead to, she was involved now.

“So help me God.”

“So help me God,” Alexa repeated. She had to literally stop herself from rolling her eyes. Sure, something weird had happened when she unlocked the box, but magic? She had to take a leap of faith. She needed to know about her parents.

“Well that was easy. When do we start?” Matt asked getting bored with all the pledging that was going on. Truthfully, there was still a part of him that thought this was all crazy.

“Not so fast, you have to take the pledge, too.”

Matt rolled his eyes. “And then what?”

“You are given your first mission. Just so you know, it’s hard enough having her involved but she is the keeper. You, on the other hand—”

Alexa interrupted her before she could finish her statement. “I’m here whether you like it or not.”

“Place your hands here and do as she did.”

Matt took the pledge without further interruption. Frankly, he still wasn’t sure what exactly they were getting themselves into but he had to make sure Alexa was safe and if it took taking a pledge about a bunch of artefacts, then that was what he was going to do.

Alexa stepped forward. “So, what’s our first . . .
mission
?”

“Have you ever been to Italy?” Leeman asked Alexa.

—             —             —

L
EEMAN
held on to a digital tablet. “Your first job.” He dropped the tablet he was holding on the table; it was opened to a picture of an antique-looking necklace.

Alexa held on to a plastic water bottle. “First job already?”

“These artefacts, for lack of a better word, are very dangerous,” Leeman informed them. “They can’t wait around for you to feel like doing your duty.”

She looked over at Matt, then returned her eyes to Leeman. “I guess you’re right,” she reluctantly said. Why did she agree to this again? “You mentioned something about Italy.”

“That is where you need to retrieve the item from.” He pointed at the address at the bottom of the page.

“I’ve never been on a plane before. I’ve barely ever been out of New York, much less, Italy. I don’t even have a passport.” She took a sip of water.

“That won’t be a problem. We had passports drawn out for both of you.”

She shrugged. “Well that’s all been taken care of so that’s one less problem. Wait, I need a change of clothes.”

Matt flashed her a comforting smile. “So, how are we getting there? Private jet?” he jokingly asked.

“Don’t be so optimistic. You’re a ‘normal’ civilian. You’ll be taking commercial air.”

Alexa spat out the water in her mouth. “Okay, whatever.”

“We are a very rich organization, but there are still several guidelines we must follow.” Leeman pointed out. “Air transportation is not a problem.”

She took a good look around the huge open space and the even larger dangling chandelier. “I can see that.”

Leeman pulled out a drawer and took out two brand new American passports. “Here you go.” He handed one over to Alexa and the other to Matt.

Alexa was too riled up to wait and opened it up immediately. “I love books but I can’t remember my name being Jane Austen.”

“It’s an alias, Miss LeGardien. Same goes to you, Matthew.”

“It’s Matt.”

Leeman shook his head. “Not for this mission, it’s James Array.”

Matt glanced at his passport photo, it was the exact one he’d taken for his license but with a few touch ups. At least he didn’t look half bad.

“Can I retake my passport picture? I’m not really feeling it.”

“No, you cannot,” he replied blatantly.

She waved her hands in defeat. “So what magic does this artefact possess?” she couldn’t help but laugh at the word magic. She still wasn’t sure if she believed anything Leeman talked about.

“Magic is just science we do not yet understand.”

Alexa nodded slightly. She couldn’t complain, after all, she just got the opportunity to go to Italy. Her birthday had started out really crappy, but she sensed her year as an eighteen-year-old was about to turn a corner.