Ocean Cove

Lyla knew how to stay mad, that much was evident. Four days had passed since my trip into the spirit world--something I could never come close to forgetting. Even though she was still spending time with me, she was still slightly hostile towards me and even more intense were the waves of anger usually coming through our bond at me.

“You know, even though I’ve never known Lyla to be so angry,” Nikolai told me when we were in the school library, “she usually doesn’t stay angry very long. I have to say this is the longest I’ve ever known her to go. Right now, I bet it’s only the idea that you got hurt that’s keeping her fueled. Just give her some time. She’ll come around.”

“Tell me something. Do you think I did something wrong?” I asked him. Since this whole thing had happened Nick hadn’t given his opinion. He didn’t bother looking up from his biology homework, but he did chuckle a bit.

“You only asked that because you know I’m going to say no. No I don’t think you did anything wrong. You were just trying to protect yourself. But then again, Lyla says I’m the reckless one.”

Lyla wasn’t the only one angry with me for what I did. Since that day I’d only seen Hilda a few times, but each time she made sure I knew how she felt, though thankfully her anger dissipated rather quickly. Despite my previous opinions of her, I’d grown to think of Hilda as a friend.

“Chase, I’m very sorry if I made you feel bad. But we are trying to keep you safe and seeing you act so recklessly seems like a serious lack of judgment on your part. It just really angered me. I’m just glad we found you in time.”

One evening I was visiting her, helping sort her herbs.

“How did you know I was in the spirit world, by the way?” I asked. This was something I’d been wondering about for a while now, well at least when I wasn’t trying to think of a way to get Lyla to forgive me.

“I thought you would have guessed,” Hilda said, putting parsley into a basket to be cleaned. “It was Lyla. From the moment you crossed over, she sensed it. That connection between you two must be pretty strong because she can’t cross over to the spirit world, yet she was still able to go over there, find you and bring you back. You two just seem to be breaking all the rules.”

“Why can’t Aquamuns cross over to the spirit world?”

“There are many theories why. Some people believe Aquamuns are so immune to magic that their immunity seeps down into their souls and stops the magic from working.”

Something about the way Hilda kept flaring her nostrils told me she was keeping something to herself.

“You have another reason, don’t you?”

Hilda looked at me, yet her hands were still strangely sorting the herbs correctly.

“Well, there is another theory, one I find more plausible.”

“And that is…?” I said a little roughly. I knew this was something I wasn’t going like.

“Some people believe, myself included, that it is because they have no soul to cross over with. That would also explain immunity to magic and also why it’s so hard for them to possess emotions.”

I couldn’t help scoffing at Hilda’s explanation.

“That’s crazy. How can someone exist without a soul?”

“You don’t know that they can’t,” Hilda said calmly, going through more herbs than me, “and besides, we’re talking about Aquamuns, immortal beings, not humans.”

“You said yourself that Lyla did cross over. How could she have done that without a soul?” I said that as if it was final.

“You’re forgetting about your connection. I wouldn’t say it’s given her a soul, but it has changed her,” Hilda replied as we finished sorting the last of the herbs.

“Well, it’s obvious I can’t change your mind, but if you were to spend any real time with the Morgans, you’d have no doubt that they do have souls. Besides, none of that matters to me. Lyla loves me and that all that matters.”

Hilda rose from the table to take the baskets of herbs to the sink.

“Before you leave, tell me what happened when you were over there. Did you find out anything about whoever is after you?”

“Not really. When we were over there, he looked just like me, so I have no idea who he could be, but he did say the reason he was trying to do me in is because he would rather see me dead then turn into what I was about to become.”

Hilda seemed slightly puzzled. “Hmmm, what you’re about to become,” she said this to herself.

“He thinks she wants to turn you, or you want her to change you. A psycho with a mission. Chase, from now on you have to be more careful,” Hilda told me as she walked me to my car.”

“Of course I will be,” I said to her, then drove off.

When I got home it was after 7:00 and I was exhausted, but I still made sure to call Lyla. When Michael answered, he told me she wasn’t at home. It’s not like I had to know where Lyla was, it’s just she usually told me when she would be away, so her unexpected absence left me puzzled.

Well, I knew how she felt now.

As soon as I’d hung up the phone, I decided to see what she was feeling, but I was surprised when all I felt from her was extreme calmness. Surely she wasn’t trying to avoid me.

I decided to put it out of my mind for the time being. So after a shower and dinner I thought I’d get started on my biology homework, but just as I reached my bedroom door, something I hadn’t felt in a couple weeks happened.

Just I as gripped the doorknob, something like a powerful magnetic feeling cruised through my body. This time it was so strong I was afraid I might actually be pulled through the door if I didn’t open it fast enough.

In my haste, I pushed open the door a little too hard. There she was, lying on my bed, reading The Illusionist again.

“You know if you like that book so much, you can have it.”

The fact that sometimes just seeing her had this effect on me just made me swell up inside with a good feeling, one I knew Lyla could feel through our bond.

She got up, dropped the book on the bed, walked over to me and took my hands.

“I owe you an apology,” she said, moving one hand to touch my face.

“For what?”

“For being so defensive and pulling away from you. I was angry at what you did, yes, but I still shouldn’t have acted the way I did, knowing the danger you’re in.”

“Lyla, you didn’t do anything wrong. I won’t deny that I did suffer from not having you with me,” I teased as I pulled Lyla closer to me. It was she who kissed me first. It was like she was taking a long-desired drink of water after a day in the desert.

I knew now I was truly forgiven.

From then on my time with Lyla seemed somehow more special, magical, like every second with her was more precious to me then even my next breath of air.

Within a few days October arrived and with it came the heavy downpour of rain during the day and long, chilly nights. Lyla stayed with me most nights and kept me warm. She was spending a lot more nights with me and she told me it was simply because she wanted to spend more time with me. Because of our bond, I knew that was partially true, but I had a feeling she just wanted to make sure I was okay, to be there to help me if anything should happen, though nothing had happened since the spirit world incident.

This didn’t bother me one bit. It just meant I got to spend more time with her. I even loved the times when we were together just lying in bed, both awake but not even talking, because just having her there meant the world to me.

“The sea must really be cold these days,” I said one night from my bedroom window, listening to the sound of the sea hitting the cliffs while getting a full blast of the cold night wind in the face.

“Well actually, it’s really not that cold yet,” Lyla suddenly appeared in the tree by my window. “You knew I was down there, didn’t you?” She said after a second, a little disappointed.

Recently I had discovered how to control the magnetic feeling that always led me to Lyla, so now I always knew when she was near.

“Well, who do you think I was talking too?”

“Humph, I liked being able to surprise you.” She pouted mockingly. Through our bond I detected a huge surge of excitement, though I had no idea what it was for.

“What’s got you in such good spirits?” I asked as she took up The illusionist. She’d just opened the book and threw her slick black hair behind her shoulders, smiling broadly.

“It’s something amazing, one of the most amazing things in the world. It’s… better if I just show you. Be outside tomorrow at 11:00 pm. This is something you won’t want to miss.”

I climbed into bed and Lyla snuggled up to me and continued reading, leaving me to wondering what more surprises she could possibly have in store.

* * *

I didn’t really see much of Lyla the next day. When I woke up in the morning I was surprised to find she’d already left. She usually waited until I was up to leave, but through our connection I knew she was with her family, so I just resolved to see her later as she’d promised. I was eager for 11:00 pm to come, because if the whale song was that good, what else could there be?

At 9:00 in the morning, 11:00 pm seemed forever away and after finishing my homework and chores it was only 12:00 am, so I headed outside and spent the day with the others.

Very slowly, it seemed, the day ended and soon it was time. When I climbed down the tree, Lyla was already there waiting.

“Are you ready to go?” Her hair was held with a ribbon.

“Yeah, I’ve been waiting all day. Let’s go.”

The two of us set off along the road, where, after we turned onto the main road, we found a jeep waiting.

“Let’s go, you two,” Michael called impatiently from the driver’s seat. As soon as Lyla and I were in, he sped off.

“Mother and father have gone on foot. I still don’t know why they’re making us go, I mean if you’ve seen it once, you’ve seen it enough for two lifetimes,” Nikolai complained from the front.

“Lyla, what exactly are we going to see?”

Lyla tapped Nick on the head, then said to me, “Don’t mind him. If something isn’t a little dangerous or reckless, he doesn’t like it much. Trust me when I say, you’re going to love this. On East Island, October has more than rain and cold nights because it’s the only month the Lillyosa blooms.”

“What?” I asked, but Nikolai was the one who answered.

“It’s a rare flower that only grows on this island and it only blooms for a couple hours once a year.”

“It’s really beautiful,” Lyla said happily, “You’ll see.”

I was glad Aquamuns couldn’t read minds, because I had to agree with Nick on this one.

About ten minutes later, Michael brought the jeep to a stop by the side of the road.

“We have to go in there?” I asked when we all go out, pointing to the dense bush that went far inland.

“Yeah, we do,” Michael said, starting ahead. “It leads to a small hill we have to climb.” Michael stopped and turned to Lyla. “Do you mind if we –” he indicated himself and Nikolai and before he even finished his sentence Lyla nodded her head and said, “We’ll be there soon,” then Nick and Michael super-sped off into the thick forest.

“How far do we have to go?” I asked Lyla as we started our walk through the bush.

“Well, it might be a while. I think it’s a forty minute walk at normal speed.” Lyla then looked at me, looking a little apologetic, “That’s not a problem is it?”

“No, of course not,” I quickly said to make it clear nothing was wrong. Though, even if it was a problem for me, I would have said the same thing for Lyla’s benefit.

Just because I was a little reluctant to walk into a thick overgrowth of bush didn’t mean I was afraid, because I wasn’t. But I did have to keep close to Lyla as the moon was nowhere in sight, which meant I had no light to see and the fact that every tree, bush and rock looked the same only meant it was easy for me to get lost, but not for Lyla because she could see in the dark.

If it wasn’t for our bond, I would have thought she was angry with me for some reason, because she didn’t say a word to me on the entire trek up. But after carefully shifting through her emotions, I found she was perfectly fine and just wanted to get to the top of the hill.

The journey up wasn’t as easy as I would have liked. As we got further up, the bush got more dense and the terrain got rougher. Eventually (it felt a lot longer than forty minutes) we reached the top of the hill and thankfully, because of the breeze, I wasn’t hot or exhausted.

The view alone from the top of everything below made it all worth it. We appeared to be so high, I could even see the ocean from where I stood.

Lyla walked over to me.

“It’s beautiful up here, isn’t it?”

“Hmmm.” Was all I replied. From this altitude, it was easier to understand how Aquamuns found such fascination at staring at an object.

“What we’re going to see is even more amazing. Come on,” Lyla said as she took my hand and guided me through the trees.

As we walked deeper into the forest up here, I became aware of a slight light spreading fast over the forest floor. I looked up through the trees to see the huge full moon emerge from behind two thick black clouds.

“Wow,” I whispered, amazed. It was amazing how beautiful the forest looked in the moonlight.

“We’re here,” Lyla said, stopping just before a small circular clearing.

Here, the moonlight was brightest, but I quickly saw that was because of what was reflecting the moonlight. The clearing was filled with the most beautiful multicolored flowers I’d ever seen. The leaves of these flowers were of a heavy purple, the petals were flaming red and the bud in the middle, which was now open, was a pure white. And somehow, these flowers were able to reflect light.

The flowers alone would have been enough to make this something to never forget, but it didn’t end there. Every color and kind of butterfly was out in the clearing, drawn to the flowers. It was like nothing I’d ever seen before.

“Lyla, how comes no one else knows about this place?” I whispered in awe. Lyla shrugged.

“Maybe no one’s ever been here when the flowers have bloomed before. I think that’s a good thing. The fact that only we know about it makes it a lot more special when it does happen.”

Lyla’s hand was still in mine when I walked forward towards the clearing. I pulled her with me, but was extremely surprised when she quickly pulled her hand from mine.

“I’m sorry,” she apologized, “but I can’t go in there.”

“Why not?” Lyla looked around at the flowers, sighed deeply, then walked up to the exact edge of the clearing, kneeled down and touched once of the flowers. When I saw what happened, I wanted to pull her as far away from the flowers as possible, but I didn’t need to as she up and back by the tree line in a second.

“Lyla, what –” I started at her palm. It was raw and red and was slightly smoking as if she was burned, but as I was looking at her hand I saw it start to heal to the perfect way it was

seconds before, right before my eyes. I grabbed her hand, turned it over and felt the flesh of her palm. It was fully healed.

“I’m fine,” she said with a small smile at the look on my face. “The Lillyosas are beautiful flowers, but they are dangerous to Aquamuns. They burn us on touch. Their scent can even knock us out. The flowers aren’t strong enough to kill us, but they can do a lot of damage, that’s why we appreciate their beauty from a distance.”

Lyla dropped to the forest floor and crossed her legs. I sat down next to her, put my arm around her and drew her closer to me. Together, we watched a wonderful display of nature only a few were lucky enough to see.

* * *

“I really don’t see what’s so bad about the Lillyosas, I like them.” I said to Nikolai on Monday morning as we were on our way to lunch. He turned to look at me skeptically.

“You wouldn’t be so quick to say that if they could hurt you. Anyway, what’s going on with you and Lyla?”

“What are you talking about?”

“Well, usually she’s always extra chipper around this time of the year because of the Lillyosas blooming, more than her birthday, which for some reason, considering how old we are, she always loves. But this year she –”

I touched Nikolai’s shoulder to bring him to a stop. “It’s her birthday?” I said a little too loudly in surprise. A few people glanced around at us, but I ignored them.

“Yeah tomorrow, and you…” Nick’s voice trailed off and his eyes widened in surprise. “You forgot, didn’t you?”

“I didn’t even know when her birthday was, she never said. But that shouldn’t be an excuse.”

“What the hell can we plan for her in such a short time? In fact, she has almost

everything she wants, she… let’s think, generally, what can you give her that wouldn’t suck?”

I punched him in the shoulder as he laughed at his own joke.

When Lyla and the others came into view and she beckoned us over to their bench in the yard, a brilliant, fully formed idea came into my head.

I stopped Nick again. “I know what I can get Lyla for her birthday. It’s something I know she’ll love, but I will need your help.”

* * *

It wasn’t easy pulling off Lyla’s surprise at such short notice, but I felt I needed to do something extra special to make up for not even asking when her birthday was when I was sure she knew about mine.

I had to spend most of Monday and Tuesday evening between Hilda’s house and Jack’s garage, so that by the time Nikolai brought Lyla over at the appointed time--10 o’clock--I was pretty exhausted, but very determined.

“Would you mind explaining why you had him take me all over the place? I swear, if I heard ‘Oh, I know what we can do next’ one more time, I would have snapped his neck.” Lyla said, looking savagely at her brother when they just got through my bedroom window.

I was amazed to see that Nikolai didn’t seem troubled by his sister’s words, but she really wasn’t in a good mood. I hoped it wasn’t because I’d been avoiding her all day. I’d only been doing that so she wouldn’t think I was up to something.

Not too long ago I’d learned that Lyla paid less attention to the link when she was furious. And I was right. Mix together Nikolai’s pestering her and the fact that she believed I didn’t know it was her birthday, and I bet she never even felt a twinge of my emotions all day. It all really did sound kind of cruel, but I knew she was going to love this. It would all be worth it. I just wanted to be able to something nice for her after all the things she’d done for me.

Actually, I needed to do it.

“Nick, thanks a lot. I’ll take it from here.” He gave us a salute, but before leaping through the window, said, “I’m glad you really enjoyed this Sis. Oh and we have to do the whole thing again. I had so much fu--” But he quickly leapt through the window before he was finished because Lyla had taken up one of my track & field trophies to throw at him.

“What’s he talking about?” she asked, putting the trophy back.

Ignoring her question, I walked up to her and pushed her hair out of her face and just stared at her for awhile.

“You are so beautiful,” I said dreamily to her. Even though I told her that all the time, this time it really seemed to soften her up, so at once I took advantage of that.

“I want you to come with me.”

“Where?” she said, a little suspicious, a little intrigued.

“Please?” I said a little softer, unfolding her arms and taking her hands. Through our bond I felt her mood shift. “It’s really important to me that you come.”

I only meant to give her a quick kiss, but it was as if I was unable to pull away from her.

Not like I wanted to anyway.

Even though she was becoming more open with me every day, she was still very inhibited with me.

Finally I felt her anger and despair melt away. When we finally broke apart. She let out a guilty sigh. “Chase, I’m sorry. I didn’t –”

I placed my left index finger on her lips.

“You don’t have to explain anything to me. Just come with me and you’ll understand all of this. I promise.”

She looked like she wanted to say something more, but simply agreed to go with me, and as we had less than two hours, we didn’t waste any time.

It was another cloudy night, but a bright moon hung to the east of the night sky, which meant it was going to be out for a while. That fitted in nicely with my plan. The air drifting in from the sea had its usual salty smell and as it blew inland all the leaves on the tress rustled loudly.

I was really getting used to this.

I picked up a jacket and pulled it on tightly. Once we were outside, we hopped into Shelia and set off. When we pulled over at the side of the road, not too far away, I felt Lyla’s curiosity rise through our bond, but she didn’t ask me any questions.

When we got out and I indicated we were going in the woods, she raised her eyebrows, then just put her hand in her jeans pocket, pulled out a ribbon and used it to tie her hair up.

“One of these days, you have to show me how people do that,” I said, genuinely amazed. I was thankful for the small giggle I got.

The spot I took Lyla to wasn’t far, but because of the dense bush around it and the fact that no one lived nearby, I knew we wouldn’t be seen. The space was exactly as big and free of grass as the clearing with the Lillyosas, but it wasn’t so densely occupied either, which made it do just fine.

A few tall trees grew here, and there was even a small stream that ran past us and thanks to the moon and stars, we had just enough light to make this work.

I took off my jacket and spread it on the damp ground under a tree.

“Here, sit.”

“Chase, I’m fine sitting on the ground without it,” Lyla said, her voice soft and serene. I just loved to hear how words and sounds seemed to flow so magically from her mouth.

“Humor me,” I said. She blushed, and I felt like she was calling me to her. So when she sat down, I fell to my knees and kissed her. At once, our heightened feelings started bouncing through our bond, magnifying what we felt, what we both desired.

So with all the self restraint I had, I pulled away from her. I had a job to do.

Lyla held my face in both her hands and as she gazed at me with her hypnotic blue eyes, I couldn’t help but crack. “Happy birthday, love.”

Her soft hands fell from my head, but a huge smile lit up her face. I could see in her eyes she wanted to ask a whole bunch of questions, but all she said was, “Thank you. So much.”

I left her for a few seconds, went behind a tree and took up an old backpack I’d stashed there earlier. When I came back, I sat down on a dry spot of grass beside her.

“Lyla, since I’ve known you, you’ve done more for me then I could have ever imagine I deserved. Certainly more then I can ever give back. But tonight, I can at least give you a little something for this very special day; the day the world was gifted with your presence. I have a few things here for you. Sure they aren’t much, but I still hope you’ll like them.”

I opened the bag and the first thing I took out was a brass sphere with “Lyla” and “I Love You” cut in the sides and a bottom cut out. I saw how she looked at it and chuckled.

“Hold on,” I said as I dug into the bag and retrieved the spinning bottom. There were seven small light bulbs attached to it and a switch.

“I know how much you loved how the Lillyosas lit up. I can’t give you that, but I can at least do this.” I switched on the lights and covered it with the sphere and made it spin. It was

obvious by her small squeals of glee that Lyla loved how the light poured through the markings, projecting them all around us. But what she found most amazing was the different colors that flashed through the sphere.

“Chase, that’s beautiful,” she said in awe, clasping her hands to her mouth, watching her name spin.

“I’m glad you like it,” I said as her head turned in every direction to admire the look of the lights on the trees.

While she was gazing about, I pulled out her second gift and placed it on her lap.

“Chase, this is your sketch book. I can’t take this.” But even as she said it, I felt her desire to peek inside. I’d never allowed anyone to look inside it, not even her.

“It’s yours now. It means a lot to me, but only for one reason. Go on, look inside.”

She opened the book slowly as if it was hundreds of years old and it contained

important secrets she didn’t want to damage. But when she’d finally taken a good look at the drawings inside, her surprise sent my heart racing. She then began flipping through the pages of various drawings I made of her.

“Chase, no one looks this flawless, not even Aquamuns,” she cried, shaking her head while looking at the drawing interpretation of when I first saw her sitting on the rocks by the cliff. I shifted myself to be closer to her. If only I could have copied that wonderful scent of hers.

“Lyla, that’s how you look. That’s how everyone sees you. That’s how I see you. But my best ones of you are when you smile.”

Not able to resist waiting, I pulled out the last gift. “This was the hardest to get, but I had to, just for you.”

I was about to open the small box, but stopped and decided it was better if Lyla did. So I handed it to her.

“I think you should do it.”

She took the box from me and pulled open the lid. When she saw what was inside, she looked at it for such a long time, I was afraid she didn’t like it and was trying to find a nice way of telling me.

But then, slowly, she took up the semi-circular shaped crystal which hung on the end of a chain. When she held it up, it flashed beautifully as the light from the sphere and the moon as stars passed through it.

“Chase, where did you get this?” Lyla asked in a whisper as if such things should be unattainable.

“It belonged to my mom. She told me it was in her family for years. It’s supposed to keep you close to the one you love. That’s why the crystal rests over your heart. And look,” I threw my hand inside my shirt and pulled out my half of the crystal. “See? Two halves, one whole. They belong together, like me and you.”

I was struck speechless when I saw a tear roll down Lyla’s face. “What’s wrong?” I asked, worried.

She shook her head and laughed. “Chase, nothing is wrong. Nothing could ever be wrong with this moment. I will never forget this night, no matter how long I live.”