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Talia
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Mom and Dad were gone for the night. My uncles had been given the night off. And on top of that, Lex and Rudy said that I was not allowed to leave my room because there were no other guards here. They said that they didn't want to risk what might happen if I were to explore the area.
What the hell did they think was going to happen? Did they think that I was going to go for a walk and wind up falling into the ditch? If that happened I might end up getting abducted by aliens and not coming back for ten years. Then all hell would break loose because I would still be fifteen years old while they all had gotten older. Not that it would matter much, since they were all immortal and only the kids would be affected by the passage of time. Yeah, they must think that would be the case. I mean, what else could they possibly be afraid of?
Of course, my sarcasm was running rampant right now. It always does when I get mad. I was told that I get that from my mom, but I also noticed that my dad does that too. Did he pick it up from her? Or was it a trait that they both had and people just noticed it from my mom more because it was more unexpected, or she was just better at it than him. Whatever the case was, I was just like my parents, for better or worse. And right now, that meant that I was angry about being locked in my room. And thing that I have been told that my mom also hated very much when she was not much older than me.
“Hahh!” I sighed long and loud as I laid there in my bed. Lex was standing across the room from me with a book in his hand.
.....
“What is the matter, Talia?” He didn't even look up from his book.
“I am bored. That is what's the matter.” I was glaring at him but it didn't seem to be affecting him at all.
“Then might I suggest you do your homework? You have to send it in to the teachers by the morning.” He knew that I was doing distance learning for the time being.
“I did it all already. I don't have anything left. I was so bored that I did all the regular work as well as all the extra credit. I literally have nothing left to do.” I threw myself back on the bed in exasperation.
“Then might I suggest you read a book. It will take you into an exciting adventure that someone else is living at the moment. And all the while you will be here safe and sound for me to keep an eye on.” Still, Lex hadn't taken his eyes off of his book. He was continuing to read and to turn pages.
“I enjoy reading, I just don't want to right now. I'm in Wales, and I haven't gotten to see anything but morgues and crime scenes. I want to get out. I want to see things. I want to explore.”
“No.” He shut me down right away.
“LLLeeexxx!” I dragged out the sound of his name and turned it into a whine.
“That won't help your case. I was told to protect you here in the house.” Finally, he marked his page and looked up at me. “The last time that I went against the orders that your parents gave me, I was told that I could be fired. I will not let that happen. You are going to be ruling the underworld someday, and I intend to guard you then. I will not let myself be replaced. I would count that as the worst offense that I could commit, and I would not have that on my record.” He was giving me the most serious expression that he could muster. I knew that he was being honest with me. He was always honest with me.
“I'm sorry, Lex. I know how you feel, I'm just so tired of this room.”
“Hahh.” At that moment, Lex set his book down and walked toward me. “OK, Talia, let's make a promise. If you are good, stay here in the room, and do what you are told for the remainder of this case, I will take you wherever you want me to. I don't care if it's the frilliest store in the mall, the place with the fluffy animals, anywhere. And I promise that I won't complain about it at all. Do we have a deal?” He was now kneeling next to the bed and looking at me in the eye as I lounged there.
“Promise?” I asked him, sitting up but not taking my eyes off of him.
“I promise.” He nodded and agreed instantly.
“No complaining?”
“No complaining.” He still didn't take his eyes off of me, actually he was now smiling at me.
“Even if I want you to help me pick out dresses for three hours, go to the perfume store, try on shoes, and pet all the kittens and puppies that are in the pet shop?” I saw that he faltered for a moment, just a moment. But he recovered and the smile got even wider, albeit fake.
“Even then.”
“Yay!” I flung myself at him and hugged him tightly around the neck. “Thank you, Lex. I promise I will be good for the rest of the case. And then you can take me to do all the stuff that I want.”
“Why do I feel like I just sold my soul to the devil?” He laughed then, but it almost sounded like he was doing it satirically.
“I am not a devil. I am a little angel.” I giggled. “Speaking of, I wonder what Angel is up to without me there. I hope they're taking care of her.”
“I am sure that they are. They know that she is your dear friend.” At that moment, Lex pulled himself away from me and rose to his full height. “Now, Talia, I am going to get back to my book. Please, do something to occupy yourself.”
“Meh. I think I will just go to sleep early.” I pulled the covers back and slid under them. “Good night, Lex.”
“Good night, Talia.” He nodded before going back to his spot near the wall. He was going to continue to read his book. Which, by the way, he could do in the dark. He had better night vision than anyone I knew. Aside from my mom and me of course. But we used magic to enhance it. His was natural.
I suddenly felt a lot more tired than I had expected to. I thought that I was going to lay there in the dark for a little while before drifting off to sleep, but that wasn't the case at all. I closed my eyes and was instantly asleep.
Another thing that I thought was odd, was the fact that I started to have some strange dreams. Now, being who I am and seeing what I do, I am no stranger to nightmares. Lex and Rudy had needed to comfort me as a little girl when I had nightmares that I didn't want to tell my parents about. They would tell me that I was not allowed to take over the underworld if they knew that I was having these vivid and scary nightmares about all the dead people that come to me. The two of them hid it from them and helped me to pursue my goal of leading the underworld.
This dream though, it felt less like a dream than anything that I had ever experienced before. For one thing, I suddenly found myself back home. I was seeing Reagan and Rika while they were at school. And then I jumped to see Zachary, Zander, Zayden and Zaley at the elementary school. Seeing that place was nostalgic for me. I hadn't been there in a long time. It was part of the main school, but it was separated and out of the way of the high school that I would be attending if I was home.
I think that I was just missing my family, and eager to be getting home. That had to be it. There was literally no other reason for me to be seeing these places. And I had never actually seen the college campus that Reagan and Rika were going to. The one that I would be going to next year. I didn't even know if what I was seeing was real or not. For all I knew, this could all just be my mind's interpretation of the campus.
“Oh, there is Rika.” I smiled. “And it's not just her.” Sitting with her was Ilana, Alyssa and Alexandria. They were my cousins. Not by blood of course, but still. We were raised that way. “And over there is Reagan, Rowan, Levi and Luka.” They weren't sitting together. It was like they wanted to be in their own groups. “Who are they?” I was looking at my sister and saw her talking to a boy that I had never seen before. And there was another boy that had his arm around Alyssa's shoulders. “I wonder if my sister and cousins are making new friends? Those guys look friendly, but we don't know them at all. I just know that the guards would freak out if they knew what Rika was doing. I know that Lex would never let some guy hang on me like that one talking to Alyssa.
Suddenly, the dream that I was having started to swirl and change.
