The Hidden Gemstone

Epilogue

13th November 2011

Alex stood in front of the mirror in her room, dressed in one of the most gorgeous dresses she had ever seen, and all she could think of was that Cody should've been here.

It had been a year since she last saw him - her memory of him should've been fainter, his face should've been a blur, and all the things he said should've been hazy in her mind.

But she remembered him as vividly as the day she met him.

Downstairs, she could hear River and Xander playing One Direction songs on Xander's guitar while laughing. Over a year, they had become so much closer to each other. They helped each other heal from the events that occurred last year and although they still might not have healed completely, Alex was glad they had each other. She was glad that her little brother had the friend he always deserved.

The doorbell indicated the arrival of Zoe and Elijah. Alex gave herself one last look in the mirror. Her hair was up in a bun and she wore a midnight blue dress, similar to the one she wore last year to Jeremy Milestone's ball, but this one was much less fancy. Her lightning bolt necklace glimmered on her throat and made her glance down at the tattoo on her arm.

She stared at the lightning bolt identical to her necklace, and the scene of her getting it came to her mind as fresh as ever. She remembered all the things Cody said to her that day and after. She remembered him all too well, and it didn't always make her happy, but that was how her mind chose to function.

The doorbell rang again and Alex hurried downstairs, making her way to the front door. She opened it and saw Zoe and Elijah standing hand in hand on her porch. Zoe wore a short silver dress, her red hair down in gorgeous curls. Elijah was in a tuxedo, his dark hair combed back neatly.

A couple of months after the battle in Hawaii, Zoe and Elijah had started dating, and Alex couldn't be happier for the two of them, but seeing them together felt a little painful as she was reminded over and over again of Cody. She couldn't help but think that maybe things could've been the same way if only he had stayed.

She hadn't talked to him, even though she had his phone number, but it wasn't like he had called either. Every night before going to bed, she would open his chat and type out a text to tell him how she felt, but she never pressed send. Never.

"You look like a queen," Zoe said, looking at Alex's dress in awe. "Come on now, we can't be late for the ball."

Alex nodded and closed the door behind her, following Zoe and Elijah to the car that would take them to the event hosted by Zoe's father. He called it the ball for a fancy touch, but in truth, it was just a celebration for Zoe and the birth of her baby sister.

She tried to will herself to enjoy the celebration before bracing herself for what came tomorrow: her father's trial.

Alex's instincts told her that it would turn out just fine, and she believed them. She just wished they had warned her about Cody. She wished they had told her that he was going to leave her eventually so she wouldn't get too close to him. And somehow, that was the only time her instincts hadn't satisfied her. She found that extremely complicated.

But when it came to love, everything was a little complicated.