Chapter 11

The next few days were tense as Duke, Jennifer and I worked to try to open up Jennifer's connection the Barn and to Audrey in any way possible. We tried yoga, meditation, drinking, etc. Anything we could think of to relax her brain and open her mind. Finally, I had enough and I knew Jennifer was more stressed than relaxed so I suggested a day in Portland having a girls day. I needed to get some more maternity clothing and I wanted to start picking out some specific baby clothing. Jennifer agreed with me and after some careful begging and pleading and pouting on my end with Duke, it was agreed that Jennifer and I would take his jeep Portland for the day. I wasn't allowed to get too much baby stuff because Duke wanted to help with that, but I could get a few things.

The morning dawned clear and beautiful. The weather reports were saying it was going to be a nice sunny day and neither of us could wait to get out town for a little while. I made sure to pull on my skin-tight leather gloves that went all the way up to my upper arms just to be safe and together we set out. The day started out normal enough we got to the closest mall we could find and started just wandering. We picked out a few things each and tried them on. I got to know Jennifer a bit better as we went from store to store and she asked a few questions of her own about my life, about how Duke and I met, about Dwight, etc. It was fun and relaxing.

We had just sat down at the food court with ice cream when she asked about why my nickname from Nathan was Prom Queen. I laughed at the memory. "That's a funny story actually. So like I said Duke and I started dating when we were all sophomore's in high school. When our senior ball rolled around we obviously went together. Things between Duke and Nathan weren't exactly the greatest, but they put up with each other because I insisted on it. So we went together, Duke and I and Nathan and his date. I think her name was Ashley or something, anyway. When it came time to announce the Prom King and Queen none of us really cared. Nathan was nominated, but didn't think he would win and I wasn't even on the card, but apparently everyone had decided to rebel and they botched the voting so Nathan was the Prom King and I was the Prom Queen. I had never won anything like that in my life and I was so excited, but sad because I had hoped to dance with Duke. So Nathan and I devised a plan. We dance for half the song together and then brought our respective dates to the floor and danced with them for the rest of the song. It was a fun night that we all actually really enjoyed. Jennifer…are you okay?" I realized that as I had talked she had pressed her hand to her temple and seemed to be listening intently to something. I shut up quickly and waited for her to talk to me.

Minutes passed before she shook her head and looked up at me with scared eyes. "We need to get back to Haven. I heard them talking about a door in the area that Audrey is in. She needs to open this door on her end and we need to open the door on our end so she can come through. I…I keep hearing a…fog horn of some sort...I need to talk to Duke." I nodded and grabbed our bags and together we headed for the car.

On the drive back to Haven Jennifer explained the conversation to Duke, who then looked up where a fog horn would be in relation to Haven geography. He figured out where this door was supposed to be, gave us directions and then hung up so he could call Nathan. I quickly navigated us to the hill near the lighthouse and we quickly, or as quickly as I could, moved up the hill to where Jennifer saw a door standing in the middle of nowhere. I couldn't see it but I could sense it. I knew it was there, so I laid my hand on it softly, feeling power pulsing under my hands. I had the indescribable urge to touch the door with my bare hands so, while Nathan, Duke and the Guard argued I slipped my glove off and pressed it against the door softly. I felt my body go rigid as I heard Audrey in my head talking to someone about the door. He was explaining that he was going to stay in the Barn. There was a warm tingling feeling going through my hand and it was mirrored on my other hand. It went from warm to burning quickly. I heard a high keening scream and was shocked to realize that it was coming from me.

It broke off as Duke pulled me away from the door, unknowingly touching my bare hand. I jerked it back at the contact out of instinct, but he didn't go down like everyone else. I stared at him and he stared back. Everyone was silent as we all looked at my hands and his. "You just…" I whispered softly and he nodded. "Gods forgive me for this…" I whispered before gently pressing my bare hand against his cheek, ready to pull back the second I felt the tell-tale signs of my trouble. My mouth fell open as nothing happened. I pressed my hand more firmly against him and only felt the wonderful feeling of his scruff against the palm of my hand. Dave and Vince had shown up at some point as well as more of the Guard as Jordan. I scowled at her and quickly moved towards her, wanting to test something. She never saw me coming as I gently but firmly placed my hand on the base of her neck. She gasped in shock and I hissed in pain as she filled my head. The contact was brief, but more than enough to find out that my trouble was still there, but Duke was apparently immune to it.

Suddenly I saw Jennifer move towards the door and open it. I quickly moved to her side and looked through it searching for Audrey. Nathan came to stand with us and we all saw someone far away moving towards us. There was a large blast of energy and we were all knocked back into unconsciousness.

When I came to I saw someone laying in the grass near Nathan. She had long brown hair with blonde highlights. She was dressed nothing like Audrey, but I knew it was her. I could feel it. As Nathan sat up he explained to her what had happened as he placed the gun in her hand and asked her to shoot him. I began to protest, but Jordan was there suddenly with one arm around my throat and her other hand holding a gun to my stomach. "Kill him or I kill her," she said to Audrey, who was staring at us blankly. "No, I'm not killing anyone. Especially not someone I don't know," Audrey replied and all of us stared at her. "And who is Audrey? My name is Lexie."