Chapter 45

A couple days had passed since Tania was defeated. Bastion was still not over her loss. The four remaining key keepers were all extremely anxious about when the next Shadow Rider would appear.

Alexis woke up to the sound of knocking on her door. She sat up and checked her clock, it was 8:30am. Usually Alexis would already be up at this time, but thanks to all of the stress she had been under recently she had been having trouble sleeping.

There was another knock on the door and Alexis wondered who it could be.

"Just a minute." Alexis said as she quickly tried to make herself look more presentable. Alexis fixed up her hair and straightened our her nighty.

Alexis, now satisfied with how she looked opened the door and was greeted by a party horn being blown by Mindy.

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY!" Mindy and Jasmine shouted together leaving her stunned.

Jasmine was the first one to notice that Alexis looked both confused and like she had just gotten out of bed.

"Alexis are you okay?" Jasmine asked.

"What? Oh yeah, I'm fine." Alexis said, coming out of her shock.

Mindy seemed to realize what was going on.

"Wait a minute Alexis did you...did you forget your birthday?" She asked.

"What, no I didn't forget. I just forgot that it was today." An embarrassed Alexis said. Thanks to all that insanity that she had been dealing with Alexis had completely forgotten what day it was.

Neither Mindy or Jasmine could believe that Alexis who was usually so organized could forget something like her own birthday or that she would oversleep. The two had also noticed that Alexis had seemed very distant recently and that she seemed to be very stressed.

"Alexis are you okay? You're not sick are you?" Jasmine asked as she placed her hand on Alexis's forehead to check her temperature.

"I'm fine guys. It's just...I have a lot on my plate at the moment." Alexis said as she removed Jasmine's hand.

"Well you should hurry up and get dressed. We've got a whole day planned for you." Mindy said.

"Okay guys, just give me five minutes." Alexis said.

Alexis quickly started to get dressed. She had been under so much stress recently that the thought of spending the day with her friends sounded like paradise.

Ryan was in the infirmary. Today was the day that his bandages were finally going to be removed.

"Okay Ryan, are you ready?" Nurse Fontaine asked as she reached for the bandages.

"Yes." He answered.

Nurse Fontaine slowly removed the bandages. Once they were all off she sighed.

"I'm sorry, I did the best I could." She said.

"It's appreciated. This won't keep me down." He told her before slipping on a pair of finger-less gloves.

"That's good to hear." Fontaine smiled.

Ryan then left the infirmary and headed back to his room at the blue dorm.

Once there he inspected his hands briefly and then left his dorm room.

Alexis was laughing and having fun with her friends. She, Mindy and Jasmine were sitting on a bench while eating ice cream.

"So Alexis, what have you been up to recently? You seem to be really busy." Mindy asked as she licked her ice cream. Alexis hesitated, she didn't want her friends to know about the Shadow Riders in case it put them in danger.

"Well, Dr. Crowler put me on a special course and I've been working really hard on it." Alexis lied.

"Really, what's the course about?" Jasmine asked.

"Oh well, it's about the advantages of extra monster zones." Alexis lied, thinking quickly.

"Really, I wouldn't have thought that that would have been taking up so much of your time." Jasmine said.

"Neither did I." Alexis replied, silently praying that her friends wouldn't look into this.

"Hey Alexis, do you know what happened to that boy you're always hanging out with?" Mindy asked.

"What boy?" Alexis asked, slightly nervous.

"You know, the one with the blue eyes. Why does he have all those bandages on him." Mindy said. Jasmine was clearly annoyed by this change of subject.

Alexis thought quickly. She knew that she couldn't tell her friends that Ryan was injured after a shadow game.

"He just had an accident in the kitchen." Alexis said.

"It must have been a pretty bad accident if he still has his hands covered." Jasmine said.

"Actually, I heard he had his bandages removed this morning." Mindy stated.

"He did. Is he okay?" Alexis asked, concern clear in her voice.

"I don't know, it's only what I heard." Mindy answered.

Alexis stood up.

"I should probably go and see him, just to make sure that he's okay." She said.

"But you can't go now, we still have so much stuff to do." Jasmine said.

"I'm sorry Jasmine, but this might be important." Alexis told her as she left.

Jasmine huffed in annoyance.

"It figures that some boy would ruin our fun." She said.

"Hey don't be so mean to him. He does seem like a nice guy." Mindy scolded her friend.

Alexis found Ryan near the lighthouse. He was staring out at the ocean. Alexis stood next to him.

"Hi Ryan." She said.

"Alexis." He replied, not looking at her.

Alexis had noticed the finger-less gloves he was wearing.

"I heard that your bandages were removed today." Alexis said.

"Yeah, they were." Ryan replied.

"So, can I see them?" Alexis asked.

"What?" He questioned, turning to look at her.

"Your hands, I just wanted to make sure they're okay." Alexis said.

He remained quiet for a few seconds. Alexis was sure something was wrong.

"Ryan, please show me your hands." Alexis said, now much sterner.

He was still facing away when Alexis took a hold of his wrist. For a second Ryan thought she was going to remove his gloves but she made no move to do so.

"Ryan, I know that there's something wrong. Please just tell me what it is, because I care about you." Alexis said as she held Ryan's hand in both of hers.

Ryan opened his mouth as if he was about to say something, but then he closed it again before looking away. Alexis took this as a sign that he wasn't going to resist.

"Fine. But you're not going to like what you'll see." Ryan slipped both gloves off.

His hand was a splotchy mess of pink and purple. Ryan's veins were a bright blue color and they stood out clearly just underneath his scarred skin. Alexis reached out and took a hold of his hand. It felt smooth, much smoother than human skin should feel. It was as smooth as glass.

Ryan tried to pull his hand away from Alexis, but she held on tightly. She couldn't look at his hands without being reminded who was responsible for his injuries.

"I'm sorry." She whispered.

"For what?" Ryan asked.

"I'm sorry. This shouldn't have happened to you." Alexis said.

"You're not at fault." Ryan told her.

"No, but I still feel guilty. After all, it was my brother who did this." Alexis said.

"Alexis you aren't your brother. You have no reason to feel guilty for what he did." Ryan told her. Alexis moved closer and hugged him.

"It still isn't right that you got hurt." She said as Ryan hugged her back.

The two stayed where they were for some time until Alexis received a text from Jasmine asking her where she was.

"I should probably get going. Mindy and Jasmine planned a full day of fun for my birthday." Alexis said.

"Wait today's your birthday? Why didn't you tell me?" Ryan asked.

"Well, with everything that's been going on with the Shadow Riders I sort of forgot." Alexis admitted.

Ryan smirked.

"And you gave me a hard time for missing my birthday." He said. Alexis started to laugh.

"Yeah, I guess it is a little ironic." She said.

Alexis stood up.

"Anyway, I need to get back to them. Otherwise Jasmine's probably going to think that you kidnapped me." She joked.

"See you later." Ryan said, continuing to stare out at the ocean.

Once Alexis left, Ryan slipped his gloves back on to hide his scars.