The Exclusive One

Chapter 12

Day 9.

10:45 a.m.

Ryan:

We had been out and about for a couple of hours, but Parker didn’t even seem to notice she’s been having so much fun picking out stuff for her new dog. I didn’t realize that she’s never owned a pet before. I noticed when she was paying that she had Ashton’s card and I couldn’t help, but snort because he’s gonna be shocked when he sees how much money she has spent on this dog.

I head out to the car to start putting away everything and while I’m loading the last two bags, I suddenly get overwhelmed with a feeling that someone is watching me. I quickly get into the car locking the doors and back out heading in the opposite direction as the store. If someone is watching me it is likely they aren’t here for me, but they’re here for Parker.

I hear Parker’s fearful voice pop into my head: I’m being followed.

I gasp as someone almost hits me and when I look at the person, I recognize him as one of the Aberrations and I speed off taking a turn quickly.

I respond: I know I’m being followed too.

Do whatever you have to do to lose them. I’ll be okay.

We need to make it look like you’re with me so the other one will stop trailing you.

And what about you? How will you get away with multiple Aberrations trailing you? No, it’s better for them to follow me.

Don’t be stupid, Parker.

She cuts our connection. I try my hardest to get it back, but it’s just not working. She’s blocked me out.

Damn it.

I glance behind me to see they are still right on my heels I honestly have no clue how I’m going to be able to lose them. I grab my phone and speed dial Thomas because I want to leave my mind link open to Parker in case, she needs me. Thomas answers quickly, “Hello?”

“Hey Tom, Parker and I went out and we are being followed. We got separated and I don’t quite know how I am going to shake them.”

I hear him mutter a curse word then says, “How close are you to HQ?”

“Probably fifteen minutes away.”

“Drive past here, I’ll send some people out to get you and your follower separated. Make sure to keep in contact with Parker. We cannot lose her.”

“Yes sir.” With that I hang up the phone and speed towards HQ. The man keeps up with me well and I hope that whatever Tom has up his sleeve will work. The longer I’m separated from Parker and the longer she keeps me blocked out the more worried I get.

 ******

Day 9

12:00 p.m.

Parker:

I was shocked how quickly I was able to lose those Aberrations. I slipped into a department store blended in with the crowd. Picked up a new sweater and a scarf with a matching beanie and bada bing! No one recognized me.

Unfortunately, my phone was out of juice so I couldn’t call anyone to pick me up. I tried to connect with Ryan, but I assume he is too far away so I couldn’t do that either.

I jumped from store to store in the strip mall always making sure I was blending in with others and trying to mask my scent when I could. Just in case someone’s power was like super sense of smell.

I’ve been at this for at least three hours now and I’m growing tired. I wish I was back at home with Ashton and Blaze or even out practicing my powers with Jasper and Thomas anything would be better than this.

I accidentally bump into someone and mutter sorry then look up and my eyes widen, “Lorelei?”

Lorelei looks at me her mouth slightly open and her eyes wide as if she was a kid with her hand caught in a cookie jar. She looks at me and then at something behind me and pushes past me as she whispers, “Leave.”

I don’t know what’s happening or why she’s here, but I know this time I don’t need to stay. Something about her voice and the way she was looking was way too off.

I make a bee line out the door and then I take off running.

As I run, I start wondering what other powers I could have that I haven’t thought to try. Didn’t the others say Nikki could fly?

I push myself to run quicker and brace myself to jump hoping that I would begin to fly. It doesn’t work. I land hard on my feet.

I groan and try again.

I try and I try and I try and I fall this time rolling on the ground. I huff in frustration and sit down as I close my eyes and focus on my room and on Ashton and Blaze.

When I open my eyes, I smile as I see my room and Ashton staring at me as if I’ve grown two heads.

He stutters, “H-how wha-how did you… how?”

I laugh at him and say, “I don’t really know I just thought of here and here I was.”

“Parker you don’t get it!”

I c**k my head to the side, “What don’t I get?”

“I wasn’t in here. You made me come in here too. How did you do that?”

“Oh, I-uh I just thought about being here with you.”

He smiles and shakes his head, “You are so powerful, Par, you have no idea.”

I look down feeling the blush creep up my face then I shake my head and say, “Who else is here? I need to talk to Thomas now.”

“Why what’s going on?”

“I saw Lorelei.”

His jaw dropped and he grabbed my hand and tugged me out the door to his car and we drove to HQ.

 ******

Day 9

2:45 p.m.

Ryan

I am shocked that Thomas’ plan actually worked. He sent a bunch of people to leave roughly at the same time. He sent one of our best teleporters and he teleported into my car and then sent me into the backseat of the car he was previously in so I would stay hidden. This way even if someone was still following my car, they were no longer following me. Which is great because although I do have powers and I know how to fight well I wouldn’t be able to handle myself against several Aberrations on my own or even just one really powerful one.

I sit with Thomas and he’s called Ava and Jasper up as we all go over what happened. None of us have been able to get in touch with Parker. I have tried hard to get into her head, but it just won’t happen. I’m terrified of what could’ve happened to her.

There’s a banging on Tom’s door and Ava stands up and opens it and relief floods through me when I hear her say, “Parker, Ashton, what are you doing here?”

Ashton walks in first tugging Parker’s hand as she walks slowly behind him. He breathes out and I jump up and envelope her in a hug and I mutter in her ear, “I was so worried, Park.”

I pull away and see her smiling softly and I sit back down and Ashton says to her, “Show them.”

Jasper’s eyebrows furrow, “Show us what?”

She breathes out slowly and closes her eyes in concentration. Suddenly every one of us is back at home and in our basement that we use as a training area. I whip my head towards Parker, but before I can even say the words Thomas is practically yelling, “How did you do that?!”

 ******

Day 9

3:00p.m.

Parker:

Tom yells, “How did you do that?!”

I look at Ashton and I know my eyes are wide. I don’t know how to react or what to say because honestly I don’t know how I did it. I just… did.

I stutter, “I-I don’t know.”

Jasper clamps his hand down on Thomas’ shoulder and says, “Bro, relax, you’re scaring her.”

Tom looks back at me and shakes his head and says, “Sorry, Parker, I’m not trying to frighten you. The range of powers you have seems… odd. I’ve never seen anything like it before.”

I slowly look at everyone as they nod along and Ava says, “Not trying to like add any pressure, but could you take us back to Tom’s office? We were at work.”

She laughs to lighten the mood and I nod closing my eyes and focusing on the small details of Tom’s office until I could picture a place for all of us in there. I open my eyes and there we are. Ava smiles, “Thank you.”

Jasper looks at me and says, “Do you even have to try hard to do that? You look so relaxed as if it comes easy to you.”

I shrug, “It kinda does. I have to focus and think about where I want to be and where everyone I take with me will be placed, but otherwise it’s pretty simple.”

Ryan asks, “You don’t feel tired?”

I shake my head no and once again everyone looks at each other again and I can tell there’s something they aren’t telling me. I ask, “Why does that matter?”

Ashton puts his arm around me and says, “Par, everyone feels tired especially when they are having to put a lot of focus towards something. The other night when we were playing with fire it exhausted me. It didn’t make you tired?”

I shook my head slowly no and Thomas says, “I would like you to go see Emma so she can run some tests on you. Would that be alright Parker?”

I shrug, “Sure, why not.”

“Go ahead and go down I’ll let her know that you are coming and to make you top priority. She is three floors down just ask the receptionist for her and say I sent you.”

I nod as I turn around and leave and I’m shocked that neither Ryan nor Ashton follow me. But I feel an arm snake around my shoulders and I smile softly seeing Ava and I’m grateful someone cared enough about me to come with me.

****** 

Day 9

3:30 p.m.

Ryan:

The door closes when Parker leaves and everything is silent. Then Ava broke the silence, “Is no one going to go with her?”

No one answers, and she turns around and rushes out the door to catch up with Parker.

That leaves just Thomas, Jasper, Ashton and I in the room. It’s been awhile since it was just us guys, but no one can even focus on the fact that it’s just us because everyone is concerned about one thing.

Parker.

Thomas breathes heavily and asks, “How many powers does she have so far?”

“I believe it’s four.” I answer questioningly as I look to Ashton for confirmation. He answers, “Water, fire, teleportation, and mind linking, so yeah, four.”

Jasper shakes his head, “Does she seem tired after using any of her powers?”

“No, not at all. Honestly some of the time it seems like it sparks her with more energy.”

Ashton nods in agreement and Thomas says, “You guys realize even with Nikki getting her powers and she had a couple too she never got them this quick and she was always tired after practicing them. Something is different with Parker.”

“That’s why you’re having Emma run tests on her.” Ashton states. It wasn’t a question, but I don’t know what Emma running some blood tests will show. Then again, I have never studied anything about the anatomical side of having powers.

Tom looks between me and Ashton and says, “You two are closer to her than anyone else. If you find out about any other powers she gets I need you to tell me. It’s for her safety.”

I agree immediately and all three of us notice that Ashton doesn’t say anything. Jasper asks, “What is it, Ash?”

“No-nothing.”

“Ashton, we know you better than that. What is it?” Tom says in a fatherly tone.

Ashton sighs, “You guys can’t tell her that I told you this. She made me promise not to tell you.”

We all nod in agreement and he looks at me, “You remember that dog we got?”

“Yeah…” I trail off waiting for him to get to his point and he sighs, “She made it appear from thin air. We were playing with fire the same way she played with the water and we were talking about how fun it would be to have a dog and made a dog shape out of the fire and all of a sudden there it was a real dog.”

We all look at Ashton with our jaws dropped. None of us had even heard of that being a thing before. Jasper sighs, “I think Parker is a lot more powerful than any of us ever realized.”

I shrug, “Maybe that’s why Nikki chose her over anyone else. Maybe she somehow knew that Parker would be this powerful and may be the key to taking the Aberrations down.”

 ******

Day 9

5:00 p.m.

Parker:

I was grateful for Ava’s company. Emma was busy today so she went in and out of the room trying to figure different things out with me, but for the most part we all just talked. I forgot how much I missed having girl friends around. It’s been a week and a half since Bella and Lorelei were taken and since Nikki’s death and suddenly that thought reminds me of Lorelei! I haven’t told anyone how I saw her. I look at Ava and say, “Aves, I need to tell you something!”

Her face shows her confusion because of my alarmed tone and she says, “Okay…”

“I saw Lorelei today.”

“You what?!”

“I know, I just remembered! With everything going on and getting followed and trying to stay hidden and Thomas wanting tests run on me it just completely slipped my mind.”

“Well, is she okay?”

I nod slowly trying to remember the small details of when I saw her, “Yeah, she looked alright. No bruises, little bit of dark lines under her eyes indicating lack of sleep, she just told me to leave and I ran. I was terrified what it meant with her being out. I thought they were using her as bait.”

Ava sighs and nods in understanding then nervously begins playing with her hair and she says, “You did the right thing by running, Parker, they probably were using her as bait. We need to tell Tom and Jasper though.”

I nod in agreement and she asks, “Do you remember seeing a glimpse of Bella while you were out? Even if you didn’t run directly into her is there a chance you saw someone that might have been her?”

I try hard to think and honestly, no, I don’t recall seeing anyone that looked like her. I hear the door shut and look up to see Emma and she sits down sighing, “I’m sorry, I’m exhausted it’s been a long day. I will get your results back to you as soon as I can, Parker. And just so you know there’s nothing for you to be nervous about. Tom is just getting concerned since you’re not getting tired after using your powers.”

“Is it really that unusual?” I ask feeling like this is bizarre that only I seem to be able to use my powers without getting exhausted. Emma smiles softly and takes my hands, “Parker for an Original normally it drains them after trying something new. When we first get our powers we are exhilarated and full of energy, but by the time we get done playing with our new ability we are exhausted and sleep for like 12 hours sometimes even longer than that. It is unusual. Normally it takes a lot of practice for a power to become second nature, but everything you’ve done seems as if you’ve been doing it since you were born.”

“So, I’m just gifted?”

Ava laughs, “You’re powerful, Parker, more powerful than even Nikki was and that can be scary. We are just trying to figure out why, but we also want you to learn how to properly use your powers.”

Emma nods in agreement, “That’s right, so first thing tomorrow morning at 7:00 a.m. I want you in the basement with us and we will get to training.”

Ava grins, “We’re gonna let her in on our fun?”

“I think she’s ready! Don’t you?” Emma responds back with a teasing smile and Ava looks down at me and nudges me saying, “Yeah, I guess she is. Now come on, Par, we need to go tell Tom what happened?”

Emma asks, “What happened?”

Ava waves her hand dismissing her, “I’ll tell you later when you’re not going to leave the room. Because don’t you need to get back to work.”

She glances at her phone and says, “Oh no!” and runs back to work.

 ******

Day 9

6:00 p.m.

Ryan:

Ava and Parker walk through the office door and we all look at them waiting for them to tell us something. Parker breathes out, “I saw Lorelei today.”

My eyes feel as if they are bulging out of my head and I say, “You what?”

She looks at me with a hint of pity in her eyes, “I did not see Bella, but I saw Lorelei and she was looking alright. Nothing much happened I bumped into her while I was trying to lose my stalkers and she told me to leave and I was so frightened thinking they were probably using her as bait that I just took off.”

Tom nods, “You did the right thing. And that does help us with one thing.”

“What’s that?” Parker and I both ask. Thomas smirks, “They haven’t gone far. They wouldn’t bring Lorelei from somewhere far away just to try and get to you unless they were positive, they could succeed which they didn’t. Lorelei and probably Bella as well are still nearby. Especially since Ryan has still been able to communicate with Bella, I would bet they are closer than we think.”

His words provide me loads of reassurance and for once I feel like a little bit of the tension in my shoulders is gone.