Sorry guys, something came up and I didn't have time to write. So this chapter took longer to write. As I promised in the previous chapter, this chapter will be longer than the previous one. Enjoy!
A World without Alex Russo
Chapter Eighteen: The Plot Thickens
Alex walks out of the kitchen frustrated. No matter what she did to her mom, she couldn't break her.
Okay, Plan B… find out the meaning behind the symbol on Alexa's ring!
She makes sure her dad wasn't watching her and runs up the stairs quickly.
"Alex, honey where are you going?" her dad said as he catches her going upstairs. Alex froze halfway up the stairs and turns around slowly with a small smile.
"Oh, my head started hurting so I am going to nap for a little while," she tells him while slowly inching her way up the stairs.
Tom frowns, "Oh okay honey, have a nice nap."
She starts up the stairs again when her dad said, "Hold on Alex."
Uh oh… busted
She turns slowly back with a smile, "Yes father?" trying to sound as innocent as possible.
"Can you call your sisters downstairs? Your mom and I are really swarmed here!" he tells her while writing down a table's order on his pad.
"Of course father, I will get them for you," she said innocently and runs upstairs.
Whew… that was a close one…
Meanwhile, Jennifer is in front of Michelle's room, trying to get her to come out.
"Come on, Michelle! Please come out! I didn't mean what I said!" Jennifer leans against the door and tells her.
Michelle yells from inside her room, "No! You did mean it! You're a big meanie!"
Alex was running up the stairs when she heard her sister shouting at each other. She stops at the top of the staircase and eavesdrops on their conversation.
"Okay… now you're just acting like a child!"
"Nuh uh! You are a child!"
"See?! Right there! That's what a child will say!
"Nuh uh! You are a child!"
"What? You just said that!"
Alex face palms listening to their childish argument.
Wow… and I thought Justin and Max was bad. Okay this is taking too long. I need to hurry this along.
She steps out and clears her throat, "Ahem"
Jennifer turns her head and sees Alex, with her arms folded, standing near the stairs. There is a moment of panic in her eyes, but it quickly passes.
"Oh… hey… Aleeeex… umm… how long have you been standing there?" Jennifer said and rubs her head nervously.
"Alex, tell Jennifer she is a big meanie head!" Michelle shouts from behind the door.
Jennifer kicks the door to quiet her, "Can it sister!"
Alex walks slowly up to Jennifer, "Long enough to hear you two arguing like children."
She eyes Jennifer suspiciously, "Sooo… what were you girls arguing about anyways?"
Michelle opens her door and smirks, "Yeeah, sis… what were we arguing about?"
Jennifer glares at her with a 'don't you dare tell her look'.
Jennifer turns back to Alex with an uneasy smile, "Ohhhh… it's nothing you should worry about Alex."
Michelle steps out of her room, "Acctuuually… Alex we were just arguing about…" Jennifer, who was behind Alex, starts waving her hands in front of her face frantically. When Alex looks behind her, Jennifer pretends to be swatting a fly. Michelle smiles and open her mouth to speak when they hear their father calling them from downstairs.
Alex remembers what she was supposed to tell them "Oh right, I forgot, dad wants you both downstairs to help out," Alex tells them. Jennifer sighs with relief.
Jennifer sees her opportunity and grabs Michelle's arm, "Let's go help our parents!" then pulls her downstairs with her. Alex watches them leave in a huff.
What are they up to?
She shakes the thought out of her head.
No time! First, I need to research on the mysterious ring before another distraction comes my way.
She runs into her room and closes the door behind her. Jennifer and Michelle runs down and sees their parents waiting for them at the bottom of the stairs.
"There you are! I thought I told Alex to tell you both to come downstairs!" their dad tells them angrily.
"Yeah, your father and I need-" their mom starts to say when Jennifer interrupts her.
"No time! Family meeting in the lair now!" she tells them urgently and rushes them into the kitchen.
Inside the lair, her father snaps at her furiously, "Jennifer what is the meaning of this?! We got a lot of hungry customers out there!"
"Quit the act Tom! Alex almost found out about our secret!" she tells him. Tom expression becomes serious. Jackie gasps and puts her hand to her mouth.
"What do you mean almost?" he puts her hand on her shoulder and asks her. Jennifer motions toward Michelle which made her mad.
"Jennifer started it!" Michelle pointed at her angrily.
"Hey, at least I didn't almost blurt out our secret!" Jennifer screamed back. They start to slap fight each other.
"That's enough girls!" Tom pulls them apart. "You are not even real sisters and yet you act like one!" he tells them.
Jackie started pacing back and forth while panicking, "Alex knows! Alex knows!"
Tom turns to Jackie, "Alex doesn't know anything."
"Yeah, but she is getting closer! Once she does…" she starts to say when Tom covers her mouth.
"She won't find anything. Alexa controls everything with her ring and that's including Alex's family and friends" Tom reassurances them.
"Yeah, even if she does, Alexa can use her family and friends against her. Alex doesn't stand a chance!" Jennifer tells them with a chuckle.
"I wouldn't be so sure. Alexa told us not to underestimate her since Alex is a lot smarter than she looks plus she knows how to get what she wants," he tells her while pacing back and forth. "What we need is for someone to distract her from snooping around," he stops and faces the group. "But who?" as soon as Tom said that, they heard the lair's door opening slowly. Jennifer and Michelle whips out their wands in a fighting formation. Harper walks into the lair with a smile.
"Ugh, it's you. What do you want?" Jennifer asks while placing her wand inside her boot.
"Alexa told me to bring Alex to the movies as a distraction," she tells them proudly.
Tom walks up to her and said, "Alex is upstairs. Make sure you don't tell her anything if she asks about us."
"As you wish," Harper said and walks out of the lair.
Tom turns to the others, "looks like we found the person to distract her."
Meanwhile… Alex had tried every search engine that she could think of and came up with the same results. The ring Alexa was wearing is just a regular death ring that you can buy from any emo/vampire store. Although the word 'death' worries her a little. She was thinking about what to do next when she heard someone calling for her downstairs. Thinking it was her parents, she closes her laptop lid and rushes downstairs. Only to see Harper waiting there.
"Harper, what are you doing here?!" Alex said surprised to see her in her home since she assumed they weren't best friends in this strange alternate universe.
"Hey Alex! Want to go see a movie together?" she asks Alex. Alex couldn't quite put her finger on it, but Harper looks different from her usual self.
Alex walks up to her, "You… know who I am?"
"Of course! You're my best friend Alex Rus-Florez" she corrects her mistake quickly, but Alex notices it.
"Riight…" Alex said suspiciously back.
She looks upstairs then back to Harper.
Okay… clearly someone is trying to stop me from snooping around. I could… blow her off with some lame excuse and research some more on Alexa's ring.
She smirks to herself.
But maybe I can use this to my advantage…
She fake a smile and wraps her arm around Harper shoulders, "Sure thing, Harper, my best… friend, let's… go see a movie together!"
With her arms still around Harper, they walk out the door as Alex starts planning in her head on how to manipulate Harper to her advantage.
What does Alex have in store for Dream Harper? Who is Alexa? What is the microchip and why does Alexa want it? All this and more will be answered in Chapter 20!
Next Chapter, Harper attempts to escape from the warehouse and Justin and his dad fights Journal Dean for the microchip.