The Infinity Trilogy

Chapter 17

Chapter 17

“Alex,” I said, stepping away from him. 

All he did was step forward again.  He looked down at Chloe in my arms and smiled at her.  “Well, who’s this little cutie?” he asked, reaching out to touch her hair.  I jerked her away from him. 

I think Chloe knew something wasn’t right between me and Alex.  She just wrapped her arms around my neck and pressed her face into my shoulder.  I was happy about that.  Then he wouldn’t be able to control her by looking into her eyes. 

Alex’s eyes flared as he looked back at me.  “Well, it’s good to see you,” he said.  “How’ve you been?”

I narrowed my eyes at him.  “Why are you here?”

“Oh, you know,” he said, turning to look around the mall area.

People were walking around and laughing with each other.  But then I saw what he was looking at.

Carlos was standing just on the other side of the walkway.  He was smiling as he looked at me and brought his hand up in a wave.  As he did, about six of him walked off in different directions, each of them smirking at me.  Looking up, I could see Aspen and her brother Brian on the second floor. 

But there were two people missing: Sawyer – the guy with the power of possession – and Owen.

“Well, you can see that you’re not going to be getting out of here anytime soon,” he said, and turned to walk away.

Heart still pounding, I turned and started to walk quickly down the walkway. 

We’ve got to get out of here, I thought, hoping that Arin would hear me from wherever she was. 

What’s happening? I heard her say in my head. 

Alex and his buddies.

Owen?

Don’t know.

But right when I thought that, he was there, standing in front of me. 

“Owen,” I breathed, looking up at him. 

“Lola, you’ve got to get out of here,” Owen said, looking around.  But when he looked back at me, something felt off about him.

“What…you’re not going to kill me?” I asked dumbly, and Chloe whimpered into my shoulder. 

He shook his head.  “I’m out of Alex’s control,” he said.  “I’ve followed them here because I know what they’re going to do.  They want to get her…”  He pointed at Chloe.  “And the other two you’ve got.  If you follow me, I can get you all out safely.”

I shook my head as I looked at him.  Then, there it was again.  That glint in his eye that was there in my vision. 

My eyes went to someone leaning over the railing on the second floor and I looked up to see Arin, looking down at me with wide eyes.

It’s not Owen, I heard her say in my head. 

Slowly, I trailed my eyes back to ‘Owen’.  I guess I knew just where Sawyer was then. 

“The first night at your house, what happened?” I asked, just to make sure it really wasn’t Owen in his body.

He looked confused.  “What?” he asked.

“The first night that I was at your house after Zack brought me there from Rutherford,” I said.  “You and I were on the balcony that we shared with our rooms.  What happened?”