Can't Hide

Chapter 3: The Calm Before The Storm

"I'm not doubting your manliness. I'm doubting your ability to procreate."

Alexis rolled her eyes exasperatedly at Jaden and Chazz. Both had been biting remarks at one another for well over half and hour, and what Chazz had just said was not going to lead somewhere good.

"If you two keep this up," Alexis snapped heatedly, "I swear, I'll make sure neither of you will ever have to worry about having children."

Syrus covered up his laughter with a hacking cough.

Both boys immediately turned their attention back to the duel taking place in front of them. It was a dull Friday afternoon and lessons had just ended. Not even a minute before the students of Duel Academia stepped foot outside of their classes did some Ra yellow student come running through the halls, proclaiming there was a duel taking place between the Kaiser and Atticus Rhodes. Needless to say, everyone was intrigued. A herd of teenagers piled into the duel auditorium and were currently glued to the battle that had just commenced fifteen minutes ago. All eyes were on Zane and Atticus's life points. All eyes except Alexis's.

It had been two weeks since Principal Sheppard announced to the young duelists of the danger she was in, and yet, nothing happened. A grand total of fourteen days, and nothing was different. No change or threats whatsoever. The administrators took this as a good sign, but Alexis didn't. Something was terribly wrong; she could feel it in the pit of her stomach. It just didn't seem right that all that time has passed without so much as a false alarm. If only there was some sort of a sign . . . some type of warning or foreshadowing . . .

"Whoa, dude. Atticus almost won!"

Jaden's exclamation brought Alexis back from her contemplating. She focused her hazy and uneven eyes to the dueling arena only a few feet away from her seat. Jaden was obviously paying closer attention to her brother than she was. Zane had beaten Atticus, but he barely survived with 150 life points himself. The crowd was cheering. Or rather, the guys were 'whooping' and the girls were shouting 'I love you's' at Atticus and Zane. Alexis succumbed the urge to gag at the screaming fans. There were times when she thought dueling was completely overrated, and then there were times when she couldn't get enough of it. This was not one of the latter times.

Syrus stood up and stretched.

"Man, that was a good duel," he said, turning to look at Alexis. "Perfect way to start the weekend, huh?"

Alexis nodded mindlessly, her thoughts returning to the Shadow Riders. Bastion put a hand on her shoulder, detecting how distracted she was.

"Alexis, you all right?" the yellow dorm duelist asked, his accent thicker than ever.

Once again, Alexis nodded her head mechanically. Syrus and Bastion exchanged a look of hesitation and uncertainty.

The auditorium was beginning to empty, and soon only the seven ill-fated duelists were left. Atticus and Zane left the arena and joined the rest of them in the spectator's seats. Chazz had casually thrown his left leg over the chair in front of him and was arguing with Jaden about how Zane had the better tactic in the duel. Jaden touched on the subject of 'how close the Kaiser came to losing.'

To which Chazz replied with a snort.

"Zane? Losing? Kind of contradictory, don't you think?" he asked skeptically.

Zane smirked at Chazz's reply.

Jaden stuck out his tongue at Chazz and turned his focus to Alexis.

"Lex, what do you think?"

Alexis merely nodded her head once more in response. Jaden practically glowed at her response.

"See?" he said to Chazz deliberately. "She agrees with me."

Chazz rolled his eyes, yielding his itch to punch Jaden right in the nose.

"She's not agreeing with you, idiot. Can't you tell something's wrong with her?"

Atticus, who was at the moment complimenting Zane on a certain move in the duel, quickly transferred his interest to his sister.

"Alexis?" Atticus said in a worried tenor. "What's wrong?"

Alexis didn't say anything.

He tried again.

"Alexis?" Atticus said.

Her brother's question went through one ear and out the other. It was as if she didn't even hear him. An unnatural glazed look had taken over her bright, amber eyes. Jaden was growing anxious and fidgety. He never was a patient guy. Getting to his feet faster than the speed of light, Jaden stood before Alexis and grabbed her shoulders roughly.

"Lex! Snap out of it, woman!"

The objectionable endearment jerked Alexis from her daydream. Blinking rapidly, she refocused her eyes and found herself on the receiving end of six pairs of concerned gazes.

'Oookay,' she thought as she stared at her semi-circle friends.

"What?" she asked the group bemusedly.

They all swapped looks of confusion, which only annoyed the Obelisk queen even more.

"What?" she demanded specially irritated. Why were they all ogling at her like she'd grown an extra head?

Bastion stepped forward with an arched eyebrow.

"We've been trying to talk to you for the past five minutes, and all you've been doing is nodding your head," Bastion stated evidently.

"Kind of robotically, too," Jaden added.

Alexis gaped, unsure of what to make of her situation. Had she remained so deep in thought that she hadn't even become aware of . . . well, anything?

"Oh," she said. And that was all about she could say.

Atticus took a seat next to her, rubbing circles around her back in a comforting manner.

"Is it the Shadow Riders?" her brother asked. "Is that what your worried about? Or is it other things? . . . Feminine things?"

A part of Alexis wanted to smack her brother, and another part of her wanted to burst out laughing.

"What do you think?" she asked pointedly.

Atticus blinked.

" . . . Feminine things?" came his meek presumption.

Alexis smacked her forehead in frustration

"Don't worry Alexis," Syrus said cheerfully.

Jaden came up from behind and gave Syrus a heartfelt noogy.

"Yeah, Lex," he said cheekily, releasing Syrus and almost knocking the poor guy's glasses off. "Remember? We're here to protect you."

The lone female duelist shook her head and sighed.

"It's not that," she said. "It's just . . . this whole waiting . . . thing. I can't help but think – I mean, I don't know – I can't help but . . . I can't help . . ."

"Can't help but what?" Zane ventured.

Alexis looked at him hesitantly.

"Don't you think it's a bit strange?" she asked, feeling as if a big weight had been lifted off her shoulders as she voiced her thoughts. "It's been two weeks now, and everything's been kind of . . . quiet."

Zane looked at her perilously.

"And you rather it not be this way?" Chazz asked.

Alexis shook her head aggressively.

"No," she said almost desperately. "I've got this weird feeling. Like something's off. I don't know what it is. It doesn't feel right. I don't feel right. I feel like . . ."

The girl trailed off, running an aggravated hand through her hair as she tried to string her words together.

"If something was going to happen," she continued, "it should have happened by now."

Everyone looked at her sympathetically.

"Don't think about it too much, Alexis," Jaden said. "Whatever happens, happens. All that matters is that you're safe."

Alexis smiled at Jaden and nearly doubled up with laughter at the irony of it all. Very wise words coming from the class clown.

"C'mon," Atticus said, getting up and gesturing at Alexis to do the same. "We should get back to our rooms."

Alexis nodded, this time listening.

Back in her dorm, Alexis changed into her pajamas. She'd planned on watching some mindless television to distract herself from her oh-so exciting life, but her brother had forced her to go to bed early. Alexis argued that it was a Friday night, and Atticus threatened to cut holes into her favorite pair of jeans if she wasn't in bed in five minutes. He even took out a pair of scissors to show he was serious. Defeated, Alexis snuggled underneath her warm comforter and drifted off to sleep.

A loud vibrating noise was sent through the air, and Alexis immediately snapped awake. She groaned, rubbing her eyes to look at the clock. Bright red numbers blinked back at her, telling her it was two in the morning. The vibrating noise cut through the silence of her room a second time. Reaching over to her nightstand, she searched blindly for the source of her interrupted slumber. The jolt of a third vibration confirmed that she currently had her fingers wrapped around her portable, handheld P-V-P: Pocket Video Phone. Who could be calling her at this hour?

Popping the baby blue cover open, Alexis pressed the 'talk' button, and was surprised to find a very distraught looking Syrus on her small phone monitor.

"Syrus?" she asked, shocked.

Hair disheveled and eyes completely bloodshot, the little guy was barely recognizable.

"Alexis?" he asked, making sure it was her. "Oh, man. Alexis, I've called everyone and I don't know where he is. I tried calling him, too, but he won't pick up. I know I should have probably called you first but I didn't want to bother you after what happened today – or, well – technically, yesterday. I don't know where he is or where he could have gone. He's missing and I can't find him any–"

"Who is missing?" Alexis demanded, cutting him off as she tried to rub the sleep out of her eyes.

Syrus stopped his jabbering and gulped visibly.

"Jaden," he said.

Alexis's eyes widened. That woke her up. Goosebumps instantly went up and down her arms.

"He must have snuck out," Syrus rationalized. "I wouldn't have even noticed if I hadn't gotten up half an hour ago to get something to drink."

"Alexis?" came her brother's tired voice.

Alexis spared him a glance. He rolled over on his side and looked at her groggily from his bed.

"What's going on?" Atticus asked, attempting to suppress a yawn, and failing miserably.

Alexis's throat closed up. That was a very good question. What was going on? She turned her concentration back to her P-V-P.

"Have you tried looking for him?" she suggested. Her voice had undeniably cracked.

Syrus shook his head.

"We were just about to," he said. "Everyone's already here with me."

Alexis nodded. She'd really had been doing that a lot lately. Atticus had left his bed and was sitting on the edge of her bed. He took the P-V-P from her hands.

"Lex and I will meet you in your dorm in about five minutes," he told Syrus and clapped the cover back on the phone.

Alexis was in the midst of putting on a light sweater over her cami top when something struck her.

"Atticus?" she said, turning to her brother. "What about Jeckle and Hyde out there?"

And by Jeckle and Hyde, she meant the two guards that were placed by her door and window for her protection. Atticus swore underneath his breath. He went to her window and snuck a peak through the curtains.

"Well, I don't see Hyde anywhere."

Alexis scrunched her eyebrows in confusion.

"You mean he's not out there?"

Atticus shook his head.

"You wait here a moment," he told her. "I'll check to see if the other guard is there or not."

Her brother rushed towards the door quickly and opened it a crack. He stuck his head out and looked left and right down the dark hallway, until his eyes finally settled on a massive heap on the floor to his right. Atticus made a hissing noise and opened the door wider, stepping outside. Her brother's curious actions got the best of her and Alexis soon followed him outside to see what was so interesting. What she saw caused the color to drain from her skin. There, lying on the floor was her guard, his face pale and pasty, and his opened eyes completely void.

Atticus squatted down beside the guard and felt around for a pulse, sighing in relief when he found one.

"He's alive," he said.

Alexis shivered.

"He doesn't look it," she replied. "What do you think happened?"

Her brother looked at her compassionately.

"I don't know," he said. "But I've got a feeling; a really bad feeling. We need to get going. I seriously hope Jaden is better off than this guy."

Grabbing his sister's arm and pulling her along with him, Atticus broke off into a panicked run towards Syrus and Jaden's dorm room.

(A/N)

Big 'thank you!' to everyone who reviewed. Kiss, kiss!

Here are the poll results so far:

Jaden/Alexis: 20

Zane/Alexis: 14

Ooooh, this is getting exciting! (squeals) I think I will have this poll up for maybe two or three more chapters. I've been reading the reviews, and most people who vote for Zane tend to argue that there are not enough stories out there with him. Very good point, I have to say. So if you want Zane, you'd better vote for him. Jaden is clearly in the lead. Review and let me know what you think!