The Stone Sisters: Lyssa (The Stones Sisters Book 1) (18 page)

And then, he was gone.
 
Lyssa opened her eyes and found him walking way down towards his car.
 
She blinked a moment, wondering if she was hallucinating.
 

She called out to him, “Hey!”

He turned and gave her a devilish grin, “If I don’t stop kissing you now, I’m going to try to get you to show me your room.
 
When I get in your room, I don’t know if I could only kiss you.
 
I gotta go.”

Lyssa watched him leave, her cheeks tomato red, her lips feeling bruised and cold without him, and her heart thundering madly in her chest.

Chapter 14

The
moment Lyssa drove off, Lexa’s cell dinged.
 
She hated the damn antiquated thing.
 
Lyssa worried about location services on devices allowing Hunters to track them at some point so Lexa had old style flip phones, no GPS.
 
Lyssa’s was better, but then again, she just needed to touch an electronic device to manipulate it to her will.
 
In the go-bag that Lyss had set up, she also had six burner phones that she had bought with cash.
 
She was always prepared.

Deciding Missy had radar, she checked her message.

Almost there u ready?

“Shit!” Lexa flew upstairs, grateful that Lyssa wasn’t around to chastise her language skills.

Changing into a big oversized forest green cable knit sweater and skinny jeans, Lexa fluffed her hair before putting on a little mascara and lip-gloss.
 
It was going to just be the three girls today.
 
Melissa’s parents were picking her up and dropping them at Anna’s, which meant she was meeting both sets of parents today.
 
Melissa’s would be quick and easy, but being at Anna’s meant she’d have to deal with them more.
 
Lexa had never dealt with parents on Earth before.
 
As for parents not on Earth, she’d not dealt with much more than her own.
 
And they had died four years ago during the incident.
 
It was a lesson for Lyssa because of her lack of obedience.
 
A lesson that would have included Lexa if Lyssa had not gotten there at the right time and saved her.
 
She knew her sister still blamed herself for their parents’ death.
 

Grabbing her purse, she dashed out just as a nondescript black sedan pulled up.
 
Grinning brightly, Lexa opened the back door and slid into the seat.

“Hi, I’m Lexa!”

A gorgeous woman with brown eyes and pale skin turned and smiled back at her, with a slightly accented voice she said, “I’m Keiko, Missy’s mother and this is John.”

John turned to Lexa then, his skin was a light cocoa that just made the green of his eyes pop dramatically.
 
No wonder Melissa was so pretty, her parents were gorgeous.

“Hi, Lexa,” John said smoothly, “Where are your parents?”

Sighing dramatically, Lexa lied, “Gone off for a little weekend one on one time.”

Melissa’s parents exchanged a look.
 
Obviously, there was much debate about her parents.
 
Looking out the window, Lexa continued, “They work so hard, they deserve time.
 
And Lyssa is so responsible that they know they can leave us alone.”

“You aren’t responsible?”
 
Keiko asked.

“No one is as responsible as my sister.
 
It’s like living with a nanny.”

“You can’t even swear in front of Lyssa,” Missy chimed in.

“We’d like to meet your parents sometime.
 
We like knowing the families of Melissa’s friends.”
 
John said smoothly.

“That’d be great!”
 
Lexa lied with her usual ease.
 
Sometimes it bothered her that she could lie so well.
 
They would have to invite Melissa’s family over and then Lyssa could play with their memories so that they “met” their parents.
 
Lyssa would hate doing it, but it would stop the barrage of questions that were going to head their way if no one in Missy’s family met the Stone parents.
 
Sometimes being an alien really sucked.
 
Lexa hoped that Anna’s family wasn’t so questioning.

After a trip filled with small talk, they arrived at Anna’s and Lexa leaned forward and smiled amiably.

“Thanks so much for the ride.
 
It was really nice to meet you both.”

“We’ll see you soon, we hope,” Keiko said and smiled warmly.

Once out of the car, she felt her heart lighten.
 
But only for a moment, another set of parents awaited.
 

Anna opened the door and Lexa grinned as she trotted up the steps, “Hey!”

Anna gave her usual subdued smile and opened the door wider, “Hello.”

Missy ran up and gave Anna a big bear hug and all three girls laughed.
 
Lexa felt the tension leave her shoulders as she slipped into the house.
 
It was warm and the scent of spices hung richly in the air.
 
Looking around she noticed there were no family photos out.
 
That was odd.
 
Lyss and Lexa didn’t have any because if they had to run, they didn’t want to leave behind evidence of their current appearance.
 
So, to Lexa, it was odd to find another family that didn’t have family photos hanging.
 
She had to admit, however, that going to a friend’s house was a new experience.
 
Lyssa had always had Lexa have her friends to their house, in case they had to suddenly run.
 
A benefit to Lyssa dating was a loosening of the rules.
 
It was so nice to have some normality again.

Grinning at Anna, she let the girl lead them inside where she got her first glimpse of her family.
 
The mother was very petite, blue eyed with deep dark brown hair and a peaches and cream complexion.
 
Anna’s father was tall, gray eyed with dark blond hair and ruddy cheeks.
   
Both had a familiar grace that Lexa couldn’t put her finger on.
 
A hole opened in her heart and suddenly her yearning for her own mother was so strong tears sprung to her eyes.

“You okay?”

“I’ve got something in my eye.
 
Can I use your bathroom?”

Anna looked at her quizzically and then nodded, “Down the hall and to the right, join us in the living room after.
 
My parents made snacks and they don’t allow them in the bedroom.”

Once in the bathroom, she gripped the sink until her knuckles went white.
 
Tears slipped down her cheeks and she remembered the last time she saw her mother.

They had gone to the market and were returning home.
 
Since Lyss had been spirited away in the night, they had tried to pretend nothing was wrong, but they all feared at any moment the full power of government forces would fall upon them and test them all to see if they were in the same category as Lyss.
 
None of them was, but disappearances of family members of Taldee often occurred not long after the Taldee did.

When they had arrived home that day, a dark transport was in front of their house.
 
Fear had wormed a thick cold coil into her stomach.
 
But, it was no use.
 
They couldn’t leave now that they were home, they’d only be chased down.
 
Lexx was only twelve at the time, but with perfect clarity, she remembered the terror that had turned her mother’s face stark white.
 
Still, inside they marched, her mother gripping her hand so painfully the tips of her fingers were turning blue.

It had been so quiet inside.
 
When they got to the living room, her father was sitting in his usual chair.
 
She tried to pull away and go to him, but her mother would not let go.
 
It was then that she noticed her father’s eyes were staring off in the distance and lifeless.
 
She had still wondered why he didn’t turn his gaze to her, why her once vibrant father seemed so dim.
 
That was when she noticed the inky red blossom in the center of his shirt and her eyes had gone wide.
 
Her father was gone.

“Meetay.”
 
Please.

That was the last word spoken in her own beautiful language that she had ever heard her mother say.
 
Before they had learned English, she and Lyss had still spoken their own language.
 
However, the pact had been once an Earth language was mastered, they were never to speak in their own language again.
 
It was funny the only word she remembered was her mother’s voice that last time.
 
Please.

Her mother had been dead before she hit the floor.
 
They grabbed young Lexa and picked her up.
 
When they opened the door to leave, Lyss stood there, eyes wide with anger and the need for vengeance.
 

Everything that had happened after that had been a blur.
 
She didn’t remember much until she was put into the stasis pod for the FTL jumps that they would make on their journey.
 
All she knew was Lyss had killed all of them that day.
 
Their revenge for the lives of their parents, Lyss had taken care of that for them.
 
It was a burden that her sister carried and Lexx had no way to repay it.
 

She stared at the mirror.
 
Fat tears had rolled down her cheeks while she had been lost in memory.
 
For the most part, she avoided observing families too closely.
 
TV shows that featured a family were a no-watch.
 
Now she had met Missy’s family and that quick glimpse of Anna’s parents had sent her over the edge.
 
Taking a breath, she cleaned herself up and steeled her nerves.
 
She could do this.

When she joined the group, Anna’s parents were sitting on the loveseat and they looked up at her cautiously.
 
It was odd and all Lexa could think was perhaps Anna got her odd behavior about new people from them.
 
Instead of reacting, she smiled brightly and walked forward.

“Hello, I’m Lexa.
 
It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

The couple exchanged looks and the dark blonde haired man who was about forty gave her a serious gaze before saying, “I’m David and this is my wife, Mary.
 
You may call us Mr. and Mrs. Smith.”

Lexa couldn’t imagine names that were more generic.
 
She also had to keep herself from laughing.
 
Wasn’t that a movie?
 
While the two looked up at him, Lexa could not help but feel as if she were being scrutinized.
 
Judged even.
 
But, what could she do?
 
However, there was one thing she finally understood and that was why Anna had been the way she was when they first met.
 

There was nothing overly remarkable about Mr. and Mrs. Smith.
 
They both had typical parental looks.
 
Neither of them was ugly, but neither was overly attractive either.
 
If they were in a crowd, no one would really notice them.
 
Anna was lovely, but she never really dressed up.
 
She wondered if the brother took after the parents.
 

“So,” Lexa tried to fill in the awkward silence as she sat down and grabbed a handful of chips, but she couldn’t.

Anna quickly gave her a little plate.
 
This was going to be a long afternoon.
 
Lexa smiled, “Sorry.”

“So, Lexa, tell us about your family.”

“We travel a lot.
 
Well, move a lot is more accurate.
 
My parents both work for the same company and they are shifted around nearly every year which is why we recently moved to Bedford.”