****PARADISE
SAGAS: BOOK 2: HEAVENFIRE****
Loyalty laughed, “It’s good to see you, too. But remember, the name’s Alex.” She returned the embrace.
Kendra
smiled as she pulled away. Loyalty
hadn’t changed much since the last time she’d seen them. Her hair was still the same color, here eyes
the same shade. She looked a little
taller, in her blue jeans, but she was, for the most part, the same.
“What’s
up, Alex? Something’s going on if
you’re here.” Kevin rose more causally
than Kendra had.
“Yeah. And where’s your brother?” Daenna added, sliding out of the bench.
“Virtue’s
sleeping at the hotel. And yeah,” She
turned to Kevin, “Something’s up. Something
big. Lexa’s pretty much begged us to
come back.”
“Lexa?” David coughed, almost choking on a gummy
bear.
“She’s
been in our dreams lately. We’re able
to talk to her, but lately she’s been talking about how we had to come back.”
“See?” Kevin turned to his dark-haired friend, “I
told you.”
David
smiled, “So, she’s okay?”
“She
asked me to come make sure that you’re all okay.” Alex looked uncomfortable.
“But
is SHE okay?” David pressed.
“For
being in her state…yeah, she’s doing fine.”
Alex picked semi-nervously at her nail, “She seems a little
disorientated, but she’s okay.”
“Disorientated? Confused?
What’s she confused about?”
Kendra tried to meet Alex’s eyes.
Alex
shook her head, “Nothing. Well, not
really, anyway. She’s got herself all
mixed up. One minute, she’s herself,
the next, she’s insisting she’s Lari and babbling about some ‘Dark’. She calls you guys by your old names,
sometimes. When she’s Lexa, she doesn’t
have that ‘I’m-rich-I’m-free-I’m-happy’ air about her. It’s more of a ‘I-know-when-the-end-of-the-world-is-coming’
air, now. When she’s Lexa, she’s quiet
and talks really serious.” Alex took a
deep breath and sat down where Daenna had been.
“Hmm…”
David rubbed his chin, “I wonder what she knows that she’s not telling you.”
~*~*~*~
Alex unlocked the hotel room door and pushed it open. Virtue was sleeping quietly on the bed closest to the window. Alex settled down on the empty bed, silently slipping off her sandals. She heard her brother flip over and mutter something, as she reclined into the bed and fell asleep.
~*~*~*~
It was always the same. A white light’d envelop her as soon as she’d fallen into a deep sleep.
And
there was Virtue and Lexa-or Lari.
“Did
you find them?” Lari—she guessed—asked,
“Are they okay? She hasn’t hurt
them—has she?”
“One:
yes, I found them. Two: They were wondering about you. Three:
WHO hasn’t hurt them?”
“The
Dark.” A strange mist floated around
her and Alex knew she was Lexa again, “If the Dark touches them…I swear I’ll…”
“Lexa. There’s nothing you can do right now.” Virtue finally stated.
Lexa
glared at him before she seemed to realize the truth in his words. She sighed, but looked hopeful again.
“Loyalty. You have to help Ens and Eravia. They need help. They are so very close…
When they crack the code, I can finally help.”
“Code?” Alex heard Virtue ask, but the place around
them was already beginning to fade as the dreams slipped away.
“Tell
Ens about the code…” Lexa’s voice echoed as they woke up.
~*~*~*~
Alex sat up and propped herself on one hand, facing Virtue, who was rubbing his eyes.
“What
code?” She asked him. Virtue only shook his head.
~*~*~*~
Kevin stared at the letters. He didn’t understand it. He had gone to the two New Age stores on the south side of town and neither of the women working had been able to read it.
ACRFOSMMUSEBITEROLLTOTHEREDOPLELTRANK
CFOESHWALHANEVARBAETOTDOHCREDAESALN
AECAMORESANDETFOSARMSAELLECOTDOCONAF
RLANLSAOSENEFYSAOTOUDARKLPLAONFWONES
CRSOATRNECDSOTHAHNOESOFTALDROWNWIREK
ARSAWDAISHLAMLALCODOSHMARE
Just
a bunch of letters, right? Kevin rubbed
his eyes, sighed, then turned off the desk lamp, to be consumed in the shadows
of his room.
~*~*~*~
“What code?” Kendra asked, looking from Alex to Virtue.
Alex
shook her head, “I don’t know. Lexa
told us to tell Ens and Eravia that when you cracked the code, she’d be able to
help.”
Virtue
ran a hand through his dark blue hair.
He sighed as he straightened the paper.
Kevin had told them about the visit to the New Age stores. It just didn’t make any sense. The letters blurred for a moment as
something tugged at the back of his mind.
“So,
there’s nothing we can do right now?”
Daenna asked. She had directed
the question at Virtue.
Virtue
looked up at her, “No. I guess
not. Maybe it’s right in front of us,
we just need to take a step back and look at it. Or maybe we need to forget about it and it will come to us.”
Kevin
nodded, “Yeah, maybe.” He stood, “I’ve
got to get Jo from daycare. I’ll see you guys in school. Later, you two.” He waved and started to walk away.
“I
take it you fixed your truck?” Kendra
called after him. He turned and shook
his head.
“Nope. I’m taking old man Davis’s offer. He already gave me the truck.”
Kendra
nodded, then turned to face the others.
David was gathering his backpack and jean jacket.
“I’d
better get going too.” He gave no
explanation as he left also.
Daenna
looked at Kendra, who shrugged.
Virtue
and Alex came over to her, “Here.” Alex
handed Kendra the slip, “Take it with you.
You and Kevin are supposed to solve it, not us.”
“What
code?” Virtue was mumbling to himself,
“What code?”
“C’mon,
brother.” She put an arm around him,
“Like you said, we need a distraction.”
~*~*~*~
Jo
was holding the sword’s handle, while the blade rested in Kevin’s hands. He was thinking hard, as he looked at his
little brother.
“Did
you crack the code?” Jo asked him.
“No.” Kevin muttered, putting the silver sword
back into the box that he stored it in.
“When
are you going to?”
“Soon,
I hope.” Kevin slipped the sword back
into the closet, “Time for bed, squirt.”
“Night,
Kev.”
“Night,
Jo.”
Jo
left the room.
~~~~~*~~~~~
Author’s note: That brings us up to
page 24 out of 151 notebook pages (just so you know how much I have to type
just for THIS book, which is 22 chapters.)
For both Book 1 and 2, the total is 249 pages…yay for me…*^_^*