Amber
I should have know better than to leave him alone in my room. Not that I had had much choice in the matter. I couldn't tell my parents 'no' to dinner, and the only other option would have been to have Alek leave. .
I hadn't been ready for that. A week alone had been more than enough. And if he left I didn't know when I would see him again.
Even now, pissed as I was, the thought that he would be leaving soon had my heart racing.
He didn't even seem remorseful that he had been going through my notepad. Lucky for him, there was nothing personal in that pad. Still, I marched over to where he was sitting in my desk chair holding the pad to some doodle drawings I had made during a boring school lecture.
"Really, no 'sorry for the intrusion of your privacy'?" I attempted to snatch the pad from him. He pulled it out of my arms reach and snagged me around the waist. With one strong tug, I found myself off balance and in his lap, where he held me still with one arm.
"Why did you draw these?" He held the pad directly over my chest. It was turned to a page of swirling patterns.
"I was bored during my homeschooling lecture on Romeo and Juliet." I shrugged my shoulders. My mom must have brought the notepad and my laptop up when she came to get me for dinner. But I didn't see the big deal in the doodles. "It's just some doodles."
"These are not just doodles." The seriousness on Aleks face was starting to scare me. What was the big deal about these drawings?
"Are you just trying to distract me from the fact you can go all invisible, or something? Because it's not working." I had a million and one questions and he wasn't going to get out of answering them.
The hour I had spent at the dinner table, choking down a chicken salad, had been torture. I had whiled away the time coming up with a list of questions for Alek. I would get them answered.
"Amber, look at me. These are not just doodles." He grabbed my chin in his forefingers, turning so his blazing green eyes were focused on my own. "What made you draw these?" He again asked.
"I told you, I was bored during lecture..." I huffed out, a little annoyed at the questioning.
Before I could finish talking Alek set me aside so he could stand and pull his shirt off over his head.
I'll admit it. My brain temporarily short circuited. But who could really blame me when I was faced with a shirtless Alek.
I wasn't sure if it was just a Zionian trait or if he had to work for his body. Either way, he was honed perfection. Muscled and lean while broad at his shoulders and chest. His skin was tanned from time spent outside with markings that seemed to dance over his body.
I found myself stepping forward, wanting to trace each marking with my fingers.
I was reaching for his chest when it hit me. These markings, they were the drawings he was freaking out about. This is why he was questioning me.
"How?" I raised a shaking hand to my lips, as I searched Alek's face for an answer. "I've never seen these before."
"I know." He again held up the notepad. "So how did you draw them?"
"I...I..." I had no clue. "What's going on?" My words came out in a whisper as the room started to swim around me.
"Whoa, you ok, Princess?" Alek caught me up against him when he noticed my knees going weak. "Didn't realize the sight of me shirtless would affect you so much?" He teased, obviously trying to lighten the mood.
"Haha...it's just from the chemo." I lied. It was more the shock of my drawing Aleks markings unknowingly. I remember vaguely thinking that they reminded me of the markings i had seen on his neck and arms. But these were exact replicas of the markings on his chest and back. Markings I couldn't have known about.
"How can I help?" He asked. He set the notepad down. Forgetting about everything else to take care of me.
"I need to go down to the lake, but that's not happening?" I sighed at the reminder of my imprisonment. "So I guess I just need to lay down."
Alek basically carried me to my large bed where the bedding was already pulled back, seeing as I had never bothered to make it this morning. He place me in the center of the bed and pulled the comforter around my now shivering form.
"Can you sit with me a little while?" I didn't want him to leave. And I didn't want to admit to him that his presence was as soothing as the water to my chemo riddled body.
"I'm afraid you're stuck with me until morning." He pulled his shirt back on, much to my disappointment and joined me in the bed. He sat with his back against my headboard and an arm slung around me.
"Lindsey left you here?" I moved closer so my head was rested on his abdomen. "You're not going to get caught are you?"
As glad as I was to have the time with him I didn't want him risking anything for me.
"Naw... I spend the night at the beach all the time." He shrugged away my worries. "Zeena and Zeke will cover for me if they need to. But none of the Zionians ever make a big deal out of someone going missing. We don't want to draw human attention to our coming and goings."
"So you're not the only one who leaves the compound unauthorized?"
"My lips are sealed."
"Ugh...like I would tell anyone." I pulled his free hand over so I could trace the markings decorating it. "Can everyone go invisible?"
Alek released a heavy sigh, leaning his head back to stare at the ceiling. He was obviously divided on whether to confide in me or not. I felt the minute the tension left his body and he started running his free hand through my hair. "Yes. We learn before we can even walk. We call it 'ghost mode'."
"Is it hard?"
"Nope, it's just like a switch in our brain that we learn to flip." I wished I had that ability. Then I could leave at my will.
"But I can still feel you and hear you?"
"We don't fully dissipate." He explained, sharing way more than I thought I would get out of him. "You know, you somehow saw me when I was in 'ghost mode'."
I quickly sat up so I could see him face. "When?"
"That first day in the woods. You shouldn't have been able to see me." He gently pushed me back down.
"How?" I remembered how he had seemed to appear from no where, before just as quickly disappearing from sight. I hadn't even questioned it at the time, thinking it was just my brain playing tricks.
"I don't know ....sort of like I don't know how you drew those marks. It should be impossible. I have Zeena looking into it, but I don't know how much she will be able to find."
"Great, you're leaving it all up to the girl that hates me." I sighed, we would never get answers from her.
"She doesn't hate you."
"Yes, she does. And I can't say I blame her." I would hate me too if I were her.
We fell silent, both deep in contemplation. Slowly, the pains and weakness left my body. The warmth coming from Alek's body soothing my own. The sound of his rhythmic heartbeat calming mine.
"Do the government officials know about this ability?" I broke the silence when I remembered Mayor Talis' claims on the news that they were 'just like humans'. I wondered who was lying, the Zionians or the government.
"No. So this has to stay secret." He tensed. "I'm trusting you with a lot."
"I won't tell." I reassured him. I wouldn't betray this trust. "Any other abilities I should know about?"
I had been teasing, but when I felt his body tense I knew I had hit on something. "Seriously, there's more?" Should the humans be worried about these Zionians'? What with their hidden lairs and secret abilities?
"How about we leave the rest of this discussion for another day?"
I wanted to push for more. My curiosity was spiked. But at the same time, I didn't want to push him too far. Plus, I was extremely tired now that the pain was fading. "Fine, but I'm not forgetting."
"Never doubted it." He sighed. "You're going to be the death of me."
I burrowed closer to him, throwing a leg over his own. "Thanks for staying." I muttered as I closed my eyes.