Lost Energy

  All Rights Reserved

  Copyright © 2015 by Lynn Vroman

  Cover Design © 2015 by Sean Hayden

  Cover Photo © 2015 by Depositphotos/Gorielov

  All rights Reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  Names, characters, places, and incidents are the products of the author’s imagination and or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  Published by Untold Press LLC

  114 NE Estia Lane

  Port St Lucie, FL 34983

  www.untoldpress.com

  PRODUCED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

  Victoria, Katherine, Olivia, and Rhys,

  always everything is for you.

  First, I have to thank Jen Wylie and Sean Hayden. You two…there are no words. Thank you.

  I have to give a huge shout out to Winston Campbell. You’re probably the coolest person I’ve ever met, not to mention one of the most genuine. Thanks for wanting to be part of this crazy ride.

  Angela McPherson, you’ve become such an amazing friend and supporter. I love our late night conversations and your knack for making me laugh when I’m at my most frustrated. Not only are you a great writer, but a compassionate person who always knows exactly what to say. I’m so lucky to have met you!

  As always, thanks to my awesome critique partner, Jadah McCoy, and one of my best friends on the planet, Jenn Wescoat, who read whatever I send them.

  Most of all, thanks to my husband and four awesome kids (and you, too, Kody and Mac!), whose support and encouragement drive me to keep going. This wouldn’t be possible without you, and I love you, even when I hide away in my writing dungeon.

  THE FAMILIAR

  Sweat stung my eyes as my head bounced off the mat.

  Stay down, dumbass.

  I crawled up the ropes, chest heavy and gasping for breath, until I stood on wobbly legs. It didn’t take long for him to come at me again, his cushioned fist slamming against my jaw. The mat met my face for the tenth time, becoming good friends with it. When blood dribbled from my lip to the canvas, I decided to listen to my inner baby and stay down. An ass kicking a day for the last six weeks didn’t make defeat any easier, though. If I could catch his chin with one hard hit, it’d be him on the floor mopping up blood with the edge of a T-shirt.

  “Get up and try again.” Farren wiped his brow and danced around the ring, smacking his gloves together. “An old lady could whoop your ass.”

  We’d been at this every morning, him beating me up under the guise of training. Running was my thing, not getting into a roped-off square to let a Protector treat me like a punching bag. A man, I might add, whom I once thought a traitor for shooting Tarek, but now considered family. Funny how life worked out.

  But Wilma, my former lunch lady/ Protector, insisted on the training. What Wilma said these days was law–unfortunately for my poor face.

  Small price to pay for knowing about my past lives as a Guide in Exemplar, I guess. The benefits, Tarek, Wilma, and Farren being the most important, far outweighed the aggravations, like allowing a big, redheaded jackass to thump the shit out of me.

  I moved to lean against the ropes, heaving as I spit out my mouthpiece. “I need a break.”

  He danced around me some more, shadow boxing. “No, you don’t. We just started.”

  “Yeah, an hour ago.” I threw off my gloves and gave Jake, who watched from outside the ring, a sneer. “What’re you smiling about?”

  “Nothing, Lena girl. Love watching a good butt-kicking, is all.” Jake. My boss, friend, pseudo-dad, landlord, and mother’s boyfriend, all labels he earned. Loyalty had rewards in my book. But his wiseass remarks? So not nice.

  “Whatever.” I left the ring and stormed by him to hit the showers, needing to wash away some of the sweat and humiliation. “Why don’t you get in there with him? Guarantee you won’t be smiling for long.”

  “Hey, I was middle-weight state champ two years running.” But Jake took my invitation, the usual routine when I’d had enough. He got his ass handed to him by Farren every time, but it took a while longer as the weeks went by.

  I shot him a smirk over my shoulder. “Wasn’t Elvis still doing Vegas then?” Wiseass cracks deserved a few verbal jabs.

  Jake shoved on his gloves with a scowl that didn’t reach his brown eyes. “You got jokes, huh?”

  Farren laughed, jumping from foot to foot. “Come on, old man, at least give me a few minutes of a real workout.”

  “Old man? Aren’t you like a hundred?” Jake pushed through the ropes.

  “And can still beat the shit out of you.” Farren’s handsome face split in a grin as Jake stuffed in his mouthpiece.

  As the grunts and thuds took over the gym, I pushed open the locker room door.

  Testosterone.

  Had to love it. Had to put up with it, at least.

  I dug in my bag to grab soap and shampoo, spotting a new message on my phone. When I slid the bar over to unlock my screen, Belva’s pretty face sat next to the message, don’t forget the picture! See u at 4.

  Smiling, I threw it back in my bag and hit the shower.

  Twenty minutes later, I headed out of the gym, shaggy hair still wet, in a pair of shorts and red tank top. Before leaving, I held my phone up to the ring. “Hey, Farren!”

  The Protector stopped pounding on Jake long enough to glance my way, and I snapped his picture. “Belva asked.” I took a couple–one sweaty and big muscled photo for my friend and one for me when Jake managed to get in a good jab to Farren’s chin.

  Since Farren was a ginger, his skin always matched the stark red of his hair when he was embarrassed. If fighting Jake and me didn’t make him red from exertion, the next best thing was my friend’s crush.

  He spit out his mouthpiece. “Knock it off, Lena. Don’t encourage her.”

  I stuffed my phone in my back pocket. “You know you like it.”

  Didn’t know it was possible, but his face turned a shade darker. His full lips curved up at the corners, though. “Hey, I’m used to the ladies drooling over me.” He wriggled his brows. “But I like them a few more years out of their diapers.”

  Jake punched him in the jaw.

  “Ouch, man! Not fair.”

  I hiked up my bag, laughing. “She’s nineteen, Farren, plenty old enough. If you’re trying to find someone closer to your age, maybe you should stop by Sunset Manner. Hear the blue hairs there are pretty hot.”

  The door closed on Jake’s cackling as I headed toward Zander’s old car. Since he was now living in Empyrean, I figured he wouldn’t mind if I took it over. It was the least he could do, even if he would. Zander owed me for pretending to be my best friend while he conspired to get me and Wilma killed with his Protector, Mateusz, who took over guard dog duties after Zander’s original Protector was killed in Arcus. Granted, I understood why Zander tried to send us to Casimir, Arcus’s prior Warden. The bastard had held the energy of Zander’s dead Protector hostage, and the only way he’d give it up was in exchange for Wilma’s energy—and the only way to get to Wilma was through me. Like Zander, I’d do anything for my Protector. Thank God, Wilma never put me in that position, though. Anyway, if he wanted to hide away in a different world, fine. But his car was mine.

  I dumped my bag in the passenger seat, hopping in the driver’s, yelping when the scorching leather seats burned the backs of my legs. After starting the motor, I flicked on the AC, enduring the first gush of hot air, and turned up the radio. Summers on the mountain were awesome. I couldn’t deny it–even with all the city tourists wanting to expe
rience the “wilderness” of the Poconos.

  When I pulled into my driveway, I rolled the windows down before climbing the steps leading to my apartment.

  I opened the door to find Mom sitting on the couch, reading a book in a new yellow sundress. “Hey, Mom.”

  “Hi, baby.” She bounced off the couch and gave me a hug. Always smiling now, and with an added fifteen pounds and sun-kissed skin, she looked like a twenty-five-year-old.

  “Nice dress. Going in early?”

  “Yeah, I want to make sure everything is ready for the new menu. If the advertisements worked, we should have a pretty good crowd tonight.”

  We had a full house every weekend now that it was tourist season and we served dinner. Mom made some cosmetic adjustments to the lobby, too, adding a few small tables, fresh paint, and talked Jake into a couple of video games. Out went all the boxing stuff. I’m sure all the pictures and trophies were sitting in some closet graveyard. My boss couldn’t be happier–but I’m almost positive it was because he finally had Jacie Tulman all to himself.

  “Me and Belva’ll be there around six. She wanted to go shopping first.” I shook my head, a smile playing on my lips. “Farren’s coming in to help out.”

  “Well, he is a handsome boy. I don’t blame her.”

  Even though Mom knew Farren wasn’t anywhere near a boy, she never failed to see him any different. He looked about eighteen, with a face as smooth as marble. He also had a body that convinced anyone who wanted to cause trouble to reconsider.

  “If you say so. I’m gonna get dressed, go for a run before she gets here.”

  She grabbed her purse. “Sounds good. Oh, yeah.” Mom stopped at the door, holding it open. “Wilma came over, said she’d be back in a day or two.”

  Anger, a step up from the raw pain I used to feel, coursed through me. Wilma always performed the same tactic: come by to tell Mom she was leaving, making sure I was nowhere in earshot to beg her to take me with her. Her little trips consisted of going to Empyrean to talk with Teenesee, Empyrean’s Warden, to see if Zander was behaving. I didn’t mind that, but she’d also go to Arcus–where my soul mate was Warden.

  “Wish she had the nerve to tell me herself.” I looked up at the ceiling to keep the angry tears from falling.

  “She’s watching out for you, honey.”

  Wilma said the reason Exemplar, specifically Casimir’s sister, Cassondra, didn’t come after me was because I stayed in my dimension, lived my life. Guess the Synod deemed what happened in early spring, with Casimir and Mateusz trying to disrupt the dimensional lines, wasn’t my fault. By law, they had to leave me alone, but only if I played by the rules.

  I didn’t much care about the rules.

  “Maybe she should stop treating me like a child and let me make my own decisions.”

  Mom left the door to give me another hug. “Love makes us do things that aren’t always easy.”

  I returned her hug, not at all feeling the lecture. “Yeah, like killing Arcus’s Warden.”

  A warden sounded like a jailer to me, but in reality, Wardens were the ones in prison. They had to stay in one dimension and live forever until some power-hungry person came along to kill them, all the while controlling the flow of energy.

  Lonely. Miserable. At least, it was for my giant. The world where he’d become Warden when he killed Casimir to protect me didn’t have a population of actual people he could talk to. Just those damn squid that climbed the trees squealing all the time.

  Mom rubbed my back. “From what Wilma said, Tarek did an honorable thing.” She stood on her toes to kiss my cheek and went back to the door. “Look, in a couple months, you’ll be in college, out on your own…around other boys.”

  Yeah, like what Tarek and I had was so small I could move on with some idiot frat boy. I’d keep that to myself. She didn’t deserve an attack, verbally or otherwise. Dad did enough damage to last her a lifetime. “Sure, ah, see you later.”

  “Love you, baby.”

  As soon as she left, I went to my room to change into running gear, throwing my bag in the corner. Thick, plush carpet felt good on my bare feet. Wilma had given me her memory foam mattress after she moved. She insisted, saying she needed a new one, and I didn’t put up too much fuss. Falling into the bed every night, especially after the tough workouts with Farren, felt like heaven.

  The dress Teenesee gave me hung in the back of my closet. Every time I reached for my running shoes, it was a reminder of the last night Tarek and I spent together. The most beautiful–and revealing–article of clothing I owned. I had plans for that dress, plans that required Tarek.

  Not wanting to dwell–because that led to an embarrassing amount of tears–I laced up my shoes and went outside.

  The path I ran hadn’t changed since school let out six weeks ago. I’d head two miles east until I was able to cut through the school’s backyard to the woods, heading straight to the trailer park. As I delved into the shaded woods, my breathing relaxed and my heart skipped. The spot by the stream, where I spoke to Tarek the first time, crawled with kids from the park. The music was loud and the chatter louder. A few kids waded in the water. Others sat around the unlit fire pit, talking, making out…staying as far away from their parents as possible.

  Some waved my way, and I returned the gesture, no longer feeling animosity for kids who were always in survival mode. I used to be one of them. Now, I considered myself reformed since I escaped. Guess I could thank Casimir for some of that.

  When I reached the rusted mailboxes, I went to Dad’s. Pulling the key from around my neck, I opened his box and checked the contents: a few bills and a grocery store flyer. I jogged down the hill, ready to have another non-conversation with the man whom I used to think was the scariest being on the planet.

  As I climbed the cement blocks and turned the knob, a strange but too familiar cloud dulled my brain. I let go of the door and searched for the sole person who had ever caused my mind to go lazy. The only people around were the usual inhabitants, sitting out front, batting away flies, and smoking cigarettes.

  The fuzz stayed on my brain for another few moments before it cleared.

  What the…?

  Rubbing my forehead, I opened the door to find my father in his wicker chair, watching his Indian wall. He gave a slight wave before tucking his hand back inside a thin blanket.

  I waved back on my way to the fridge, not even pretending to show any affection. Still hated him, but like any other unwanted pet, I had to feed and water him or guilt would keep me awake at night. From spending six days in Arcus, Dad broke. His pieces would never glue together again. Not many others could return whole from that place. I left a part of me there, too.

  After I put his grilled cheese in a frying pan and crammed clothes in the washer, I started the coffee pot. Still, not a word floated between us. I stood by the counter, watching the sandwich cook, my mind drifting to what I used to call Zander heroin. If he found a way to come to Earth, I’d leave it up to him to gather the nerve to confront me. I wouldn’t search for him.

  Unfortunately, Zander wasn’t the only one who could force my common sense to take a vacation. A dimension existed full of Guides whose energy had a magnetic connection with mine. From what Wilma let me know about my prior research, a few didn’t like me very much. A list hiding under my bed had a bunch more Exemplians on it who might not find my company welcome, either. The list. A souvenir, Wilma called it, a reminder of those who had to escape Exemplian rule.

  I flipped the sandwich, pressing all my tension into the spatula smashing the bread.

  Nothing like having an entire world pissed at you.

  COMPANY

  Belva sat on the porch steps, glaring at me as I walked up the sidewalk. Five months’ experience being her best friend told me she hated waiting and my ears would more than likely be in for a good ten minutes of crap.

  I climbed the steps, and her pretty face went from glaring straight to scowling while she tapped her red-lacquered f
ingernails on her phone screen. “Just once, I’d like you to be on time. Nice lip, by the way.”

  I touched my tongue to the little gift Farren gave me this morning and smiled. He usually left my face without evidence, but not today. Saying nothing, I pulled my cell from its armband and scrolled to his picture. When I handed it over, her face brightened as her hazel eyes shined on the sweaty, muscular Protector looking right at the camera.

  “I swear he’s the hottest guy on the planet.” She started clicking buttons. “I’m sending this to my phone.”

  “Go ahead, but if you keep nagging me, that’s the last sweaty picture you’re gonna get.”

  Belva, my one-time nemesis, followed me to the door. We hated each other in high school, until Belva…well…had an accident. Ever since, we were inseparable.

  “Fine, fine, but hurry up. I don’t want to be late for work.” Belva had managed to slip perfectly into Zander’s spot. Bonus, Jake actually liked her, too.

  I snorted. “You mean you don’t want to miss a second with Ginger.”

  “You’ll understand when you find the guy, Lena.”

  A small sting zapped my heart. Belva had no idea Tarek existed, had no idea anything outside Earth existed, really. Our discovery of dimensions and the juicy details remained between Mom, Jake, and the two Protectors hovering around me all the time.

  Tarek was my secret. My beautiful, painful secret.

  “Whatever you say, pal. Try not to salivate when he flexes his muscles.”

  She laughed, her face turning a sweet shade of pink, and went to sit on the couch to stare at Farren’s picture while I got ready.

  If Ginger realized how lucky he was to have someone as great as Belva interested in his annoying ass, we’d all be happy.

  ∞ ∞ ∞

  Belva and I pushed through the front doors to a full house. All five little tables had teenagers crowded around them or couples laughing while a bunch of people talked by the concession counter. Everyone ate the food Mom put on the menu and what Farren currently cooked in the kitchen. Belva gave me a quick hug before heading straight to her man, willing to get the new black strapless stained with grease. She swung the door open, and Farren glanced up, his eyes going wide when he spotted my friend. The stove wasn’t the only hot thing making him turn red.