Trust Issues
Odette stared at the computer asking her for the password. The cursor was mocking me with its blinking. I sighed, “This is ridiculous, Odette, just type in the password. You don’t have to answer Lux Vennox’s emails. You can just read them to find out if they somehow found your Lux already.”
I typed in my password and pulled up my email. I gasped seeing the fifty seven unread emails from Lux and Beatrice. I snorted, “I am not reading all of those.” It was a lie and I knew it. I was far too curious and to be honest, lonely.
I scanned the email titles. I clicked on the one that read PLEASE LET ME KNOW IF YOU ARE SAFE. Lux V was using all caps. The poor man might be having a heart attack or something. Don’t feel bad for him, Odette! He was going to capture you, because he’s mad at your mom.
Noxus and Caspian are going to be upset over the fact you were born. That’s what the man said. This is not a person we care about having a heart attack! What is wrong with you?! I tried not to be worried about Lux Vennox, but I really was.
I groaned, “I’m a glutton for punishment.
I’m feeling bad for people who wanted to capture me and a guy who is stalking me.
At least I didn’t throw myself at Lux V saying I’d be his friend.
In fairness, I did just offer to be Justin’s friend.
So, I have lines apparently.” I took a deep breath and started to read the email.
Katie,
Please answer to let us know if you are safe. I do not know why you left. Beatrice and I tried to find you but have failed so far. There is so much you don’t know about. You are in danger from things I cannot explain properly via email.
We tried to track your IP address, but it’s being blocked. I know Katie is not your real name. I need you to trust me just a little bit and tell me if you’re safe. Outside of that I can answer questions you must have. I would them if I were you.
Things just seem odd to you sometimes, don’t they? You feel things should be strange to you because they are to others, except they’re not. I can help you.
Lux Vennox
I sat back in my chair. Damn. Jarchi must be some kind of technological guy. Or he paid someone who was. Either way I was happy he’d done whatever was making me hard to find. I didn’t even think about them tracking me down from my emails.
Melanie would have found me from that though, but she was a technical genius; who was insanely good with computers. I again wondered what happened with the money I’d given her to invest. Even though my friend was young, she was brilliant. I shook those thoughts and hit reply.
Mr. Vennox,
I left because I heard you guys talking. You know my mother. When I say she will literally kill me if she finds out I’m looking for Lux, I’m serious. I mean my brother, not you. Then you said Noxus and Caspian would be upset with mom because of me.
Believe me when I say, I don’t want there to be a reason for my mom to be upset with me. Please don’t tell her we met and just leave me and my brother alone. If I’m being totally honest, we barely know our mother. Lux hasn’t had contact with her in eleven years.
Mom’s been mad at him for leaving her, saying he’s like everyone else. I don’t know what that means or honestly why mom cares that he left. Or why she considers his father filing for custody Lux leaving her. My brother’s dad was being a parent, something my mother knows nothing about.
I only see mom when I’ve made her mad or we are moving. Once we’ve landed in a new place she’s gone again. I don’t want to move again, I like it here. Please tell Noxus and Caspian I am sorry. I don’t know what my mom, or I, did to them.
As far as your other leading questions, well, I don’t question things anymore. That’s how you end up strapped to a bed where people don’t talk to you. They jab you with needles that burn. I won’t go back there. So, no I don’t have questions.
It seems silly to sign Katie when you know that isn’t my name.
I hit send before I could talk myself out of it. I clicked through some of their other emails. They were mostly asking if I was ok and asking why I left. A ding sounded and I felt like my heart was in my throat. I saw Mr. Vennox had already answered me.
Why did I want to read it? Why did I feel like I had a connection with this man? We didn’t have a connection. So, he had my brother's name. Leave it alone, Odette. Except I couldn’t. UGH! I clicked on the email. I sighed lamenting, “You are so dumb, Odette.”
Not Katie,
You heard us? You have quite good hearing then, don’t you? Out of curiosity, who is your father? Please know that you didn’t understand what you heard. We mean you no harm and only want to help you.
I do know your mother, quite well actually. We were very close as children. I do not speak to her anymore. That much I can promise you. I haven’t for quite some time. Let’s say she was admonished for her actions then fled and vanished.
I would rather explain Caspian and Noxus in person. Please come back to my office. No one is upset with you. Where is here, not Katie? Where are you? What do you mean strapped down? Who did that?! Where was your mother?!
Is your name Odette? It’s an old family name. The last girl in the family was actually your mother. It’s been quite some time since there was a girl born to our line. Odette is the name that should be passed to the next female. Is it yours?
Please let me help you. I promise nothing bad will happen if you ask me a question. I will answer, I swear it.
Lux Vennox
I bit my lip and began to pace. Logically, Lux V already said he can’t find me. That could be a lie, but if it was I’m pretty sure he’d be banging down my door. Family. I gasped. I went back and re-read the email six times.
Lux Vennox was related to me! That’s what he was saying. Wasn’t it? I had to know. Did I have other family members out there? Tears filled my eyes. Is that why I made that weird sound and he did too? Because we were family.
Mr. Vennox,
Are you saying we are family? Is that why we made that weird sound? That was not normal. You know that right? Normal people don’t whistle when they meet family. This is crazy.
I don’t trust people because I trusted someone and he hurt me. He put me in that place, and my mom let him. She said I embarrassed her. The whole situation was crazy. It was a fine, happy sixteenth birthday to me.
If you mean it, about asking questions I do have them. If, and I’m not saying I do, I started hearing a song in my head, would you know anything about that? Or, and again not saying I do, hissing in your head? Again, I’m not saying any of that is happening. It’s all hypothetical.
My name is Odette.
I hit send and slammed my computer shut. I put my head on my desk and lightly banged it. I yelled, “What are you doing, Odette? You can’t trust him. You don’t even know this man.” I felt the voice in my head was trying to push trust at me.
I snorted at it, “What do you know? You weren’t around for that stint in a mental facility. You be trusting, and I’ll avoid my email. Since apparently, I have no freaking willpower to not answer people.” I got ready for bed, but I just tossed around.
I missed Keaton. OH MY GOD, NO YOU DO NOT! YOU JUST MET HIM! Be normal, Odette. Just be normal. We are not head over heels for a man we just met. We don’t wish he was beside us and we are not even a ‘we’ yet! Stop talking to yourself. Stop it! UGH!
I threw the covers off me and began to pace in my bedroom.
What if Lux and Beatrice were out there?
Or worse, what if Caspian and Noxus were?
What if I got kidnapped? Again. God, that would be embarrassing.
Melanie gave me tips, so I’d have to use those since I didn’t think she’d come this time.
Given, my friend wouldn’t know about it.
The song started humming in my head. What?
Is Keaton here? I ran to the window. The song was quiet, but then when I looked in the direction of the tree line it got louder.
I snorted, “Dumb song. That’s a large dog or something, not Keaton.
” It looked like a large black dog, but it was pretty far away.
I wanted to go outside and try to find it to pet it. I yelled, “OH MY GOD! WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU, ODETTE?! We do not go outside and try to find massive stray dogs to pet. Even if they do look super adorable from a great distance that you should not be able to see in the freaking dark.”
I muttered, “Why has my life gotten so crazy since I moved here?” It was beginning to feel overwhelming. I missed Keaton as if I’d known him my entire life. Was I really that lonely? Some guy was nice to me, and I practically jumped him. Now, I needed him around all the time too?
I flushed red at my own thoughts. I’d seen guys like this all over the country.
They were nice until they had sex, then they stopped calling and texting.
How many times had I heard some girl crying over the senior, or junior, who did that?
What was I doing? This happened with Luke.
He was nice then we had sex then he turned mean real fast.
Keaton wasn’t like that though. Where did that thought even come from? I don’t know him. This is insane. I thought Luke was nice. Ok, no that’s not true. I thought Luke was nice to me and he cared. I was wrong on the caring part, and he definitely did a one eighty on the being nice to me part.
I really felt, with every fiber of my being, that Keaton was different. I groaned, “This place is making me crazy.” The thought of leaving made me want to curl up in a ball and cry. I didn’t get any sleep. Eventually, I got too excited at the thought that Keaton would be here soon.
I went into my closet deciding if my face was going to look like a sleepless trainwreck I wanted to look nice. I laughed going through some of the clothes. My mother would die if she saw this wardrobe Jarchi got me.