Coalition (LUX series fan fiction novel #1)

Chapter 9

Ashley was relieved when her parents finally returned home at midnight. She called her dad several times but he didn't answer. Her mom's phone went straight to voice mail. Her dad came in through the front door with her mom in his arms. Ashley jumped from the couch and ran up to them. "Mom! Oh my god is she ok?" Her dad motioned for her to turn on the lights. She did. Her dad gently laid her mom on the couch. "Daddy? What happened? What happened to Mom?" Her dad didn't answer. Instead, he brushed her mom's hair out of her face. He began to shake her lightly. "Beth. Beth. Baby. Come on baby. Wake up." Her mom moaned. She slowly opened her eyes and blinked several times. She moaned once more. "Dawson?" Her voice was raspy and she strained to talk. "Dawson what...where are we?" "We're back home baby. How do you feel?" "That boy. At the bookstore. He," Beth struggled to get out the words. "Shhh. Don't talk. You need to rest," Dawson said rubbing her hair. "Dad?" Ashley said. Dawson picked up Beth and held her in his arms once more. "Ash. I'm sorry honey. Can we talk about this later?" Ashley nodded. "Uh yeah. Sure." Her dad ascended up the stairs with her mom still in his arms. This night was so weird. First her cousin bolts from their prom leaving Kelsey behind all confused. Now her parents don't come home until midnight and her mom was unconscious. What on earth was going on? Did something happen at the bookstore? Her mom mentioned a boy and bookstore. The two didn't add up. Ashley ran back to her room and sat on her bed. She pulled out her laptop and went to Google. What bookstore did they say they were going to? That's right. B&N. She typed in Barnes and Noble. The company's info popped up. She clicked on the news tab and her jaw dropped. The first result was 'Alien attack at Barnes and Noble off Highway 65.' Son of a gun. She clicked the link and read the article. Two unidentified teenagers attacked a local Barnes and Noble late Saturday evening, leaving 20 dead and 12 injured.  Twenty dead? Oh dear God. She kept reading. Several witnesses say the two teens shot at the customers with 'bolts of light'. Police were called immediately. One witness believes the incident may be the result of an alien attack. Holy cow. An alien attack? What on earth? Could it be? Ashley needed answers now and she had a pretty good idea of who would have them. She picked up her phone and immediately dialed Adam. It rang and rang but no answer. Finally the call went to voice mail. "Hey this is Adam. I'm not able to get to my phone right now but if you leave your number and a short message I'll get back to you as soon as I can. Thanks." Ashley sighed. Crap. Where is he? The tone beeped. "Adam this is Ash. I need to talk to you. It's urgent. Call me back."  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Adam could see Kelsey's cherry red mustang coming down the road. He was so glad to see her. She pulled up next to him and he slid into to the passenger seat. He put on his seatbelt and ran his fingers through his hair. "Thanks Kels." She nodded. "Just so you know I totally snuck out of the house for this." Adam chuckled. "Well your sacrifice is much appreciated." Kelsey drove forward. "So I guess you would like an explanation hu?" Adam asked. Kelsey kept her eyes on the road. She had changed from her prom dress into a pink hoodie and jeans. Her hair was wet and she wore no makeup. "It's ok baby. You don't have to tell me anything." Adam sighed. "Yes I do. I owe it to you." He didn't know where to start. He looked at her side profile. She was so beautiful. Even with no makeup on, her natural beauty was enough to get his heart racing. He felt he could trust her. With everything. He told her about how he heard his mom scream and his dad called out to her in his head. He told her how he drove to the Barnes and Noble and when he saw the condition of the parking lot he knew his parents were in trouble. He told her how he drove away from the main road about 3 miles north into a wooded area. He told her about how he met those two Origin, how they talked about some kind of Coalition, how he fought them,  and how relieved he was when his knew his family would be safe. Kelsey listened intently, not interrupting him once. After he finished talking, she didn't say anything. He tried to read her thoughts but surprisingly her mind was blank. Nothing. They drove the rest of the way in silence until they finally pulled up to his house. Kelsey shifted the car into park and took off her seatbelt. She leaned over and kissed him. He closed his eyes and placed his hand on her cheek. Finally she broke the kiss. "What was that for?" he asked. She shrugged. "I don't know. I just felt like you needed it." Adam just stared at her unable to respond. She turned to him. "It's going to be ok Adam. Everything's going to be alright. You have to believe that." Adam didn't know why she was saying this. Was she trying to comfort him? She smiled at him and reached over and placed her hand on his cheek. "Get some rest baby, ok?" He nodded. "I'll see you on Monday?" she asked. Adam took her hand and kissed it. "I'll see you on Monday," he said smiling. He said goodbye and got out of her car. She drove off and he quietly entered his home. He saw the guest room door was open so he decided to peak in. His Aunt Dee lay on the bed fast asleep. Adam quietly shut the door behind him. He walked upstairs to check on his parents. When he peeked into their room, he saw his mom sleeping soundly, her head on his dad's chest. His dad lay on his back with is hand gently place on top of his mom's back. He let out a sigh of relief as he shut the door. Thank God they were ok. Adam finally changed out of his tux and headed to the bathroom. He turned the shower on and got in. The hot water felt so good. He let the water run all over his body as he shampooed his hair and washed his face. After spending almost twenty minutes in the shower he got out and wrapped a towel around himself. He went back to his room and put on a black tee and some sweats. He sat on the bed and grabbed his phone. He saw that Ashley had called and left a message asking him to call back. He had a feeling he knew what she wanted. Adam decided he call her back tomorrow. He didn't feel like talking to anyone else. He yawned and got underneath the covers. Today was the weirdest day of his life. He couldn't get his mind of what happened that night. He really hoped he'd seen the last of those kids. There was something about them that creeped him out.  He thought of the vow he made to never use his powers again. Yeah that lasted for like a day. Adam was finally getting sleepy and he turned over on his side. He really hoped by Monday his life would go back to normal. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Monday came and life was not normal. He had a raging headache that would not go away. He told Ashley a short version of the story yesterday morning and she flipped out. She showed him the news article and his heart dipped as he read it. Oh crap this is bad. His parents were fine though. They walked around the kitchen normally. However their spunk was gone. Usually his dad would be teasing his mom trying kiss her and play around with her calling her pet names like Kitten and Kitty Kat. But this morning his dad sat at the kitchen table eating cereal with a somber expression on his face. His mom sat on the opposite side of him drinking coffee and looking out the window. The TV played in the living room. He could hear the news reporter talk about the "Alien attack" that happened Saturday. The suspects were still on the loose and Barnes and Noble would be shut down for further investigation. Adam frowned. His headache just got worse. He sauntered into the kitchen and pored himself a bowl of cereal and sat down at the table next to his mom. They all ate in silence. Adam finally got up and grabbed his bag. "Bye guys," he said. His mom smiled at him. "Bye sweetie. Have a good day." "Bye son," his dad said with his head down. Adam left and picked Ashley up on the way to school. They rode in the car not saying a word to each other. At school, Adam felt like his head was going to literally explode. Everyone was talking about the attack at Barnes and Noble throwing around accusations and theories. Derek Bidder talked about how his parents said aliens attacked years ago, killing off a large number of humans. Sandy Jones said it was just a lie made up by the government. Joy piped up saying it was just some overzealous teens using a strange weapon. She didn't believe in aliens. Adam felt his stomach churn. He wished people would just stop talking about it. The bell rang releasing him from Biology. He went to his locker and pulled out his lunch. He felt someone place a hand on his shoulder. He turned and Kelsey stood before him wearing a blue button down shirt and capris. Her hair was pulled back into a tight pony tail. "You ok? You haven't said a word all day." "Yeah I'm fine. I just have a monster headache. That's all." She hugged him. "I'm worried about you Adam." Adam hugged her back. He released her and put on a braved face. "Don't worry about me. I'm fine. Really."  She smiled at him. "Ok. Please come to me if you need someone to talk to. I'm here for you baby." Adam nodded. The two walked to the cafeteria. Kevin and Ashley were already seated. They were talking about something but stopped when they saw Adam and Kelsey approaching. "What were you two talking about?" Kelsey asked as she sat down. Kevin responded. "Nothing. Just small talk." Kelsey shot him a look. "I know when you're lying to me Kev." Kevin gave her a look that told her not to press it. She consented, opened up her lunch and began eating. Ashley faced Adam. "Can we talk?" Adam sighed. "Can it wait? I'm trying to eat here." "No. It can't." Adam took a bite of his sandwich and swallowed. He looked at her and rolled his eyes. He got up and Ashley followed. They left the cafeteria and talked outside in the hall. "What happened Saturday night?" Ashley asked. "I told you." "Not everything," she shot back. Adam was getting annoyed. "What the hell do you want from me Ash?" "I want the truth. I'm so in the dark here. My parents wouldn't tell me a darn thing about what happened that night and you give me some bull version of the story just to get me off your back."  "I told you the truth Ash. I told you everything." "No you didn't. Those Origin. They said something to you didn't they?" Adam looked at Ashley. Her eyes were pleading with him.  He sighed and began to talk. "They mentioned something about the Coalition and moving on to the next phase or whatever." Ashley squinted her eyes. "The Coalition? Like joining forces?" "Yeah I guess. I don't know Ash. They thought I was apart of it. They kept asking who I was with." "What do you think they meant?" Ashley asked. "I have no idea." Ashley stood there and thought for a moment. The Coalition sounded...not good. Maybe it's nothing. She'd never heard of it. "Don't worry about it Adam. It's probably nothing." Adam nodded. "Yeah. You're probably right." They finished lunch and head to their next classes. After school Adam went straight home. He sat in his room trying his hardest to do his Calculus homework. He just kept staring at the first problem. He finally shut his book in frustration and turned on his TV. All the news stations were still talking about the attack. Adam finally landed on MTV and watched an episode of Catfish. Later that night his mom called him down for dinner. He sat at the kitchen table and ate the fish his mom had fried for them. His parents made small talk at the table. Adam didn't join in and thankfully his parents did ask him why. They finished dinner and began to clear the table. Just as Adam got up to put his plate in the sink, the doorbell rang. "Who could that be?" his mom asked. His dad frowned. "I don't know. I'll go check. Stay here." Moments later his dad walked in with a stunned look on his face. A man walked in behind him. He was smiling so big Adam thought his face might crack. His mom gasped. The man spoke. "Well there's a face I haven't seen in a long time." Adam was confused. Did his parents know this person?  His mom walked up to him and stopped in front of him with her hand on her hip. "Well you haven't changed. It's nice to see you again Luc."