Ocean Cove

The buzz from Lyla’s birthday surprise hung around us both for a few days after. Even with my situation, she was finally happy and I knew it was genuine as I could feel its sincerity through our bond.

I was also pleased to see she had grown very attached to the necklace I’d given her as she was sure to wear it every day. I didn’t know if it was too much pride on my part, but I felt extremely happy to know it was I who’d made Lyla so happy. Ever since I’d met her, or even from the time our relationship started, I guess I could say she was happy at moments, but most of the time there seemed to be some kind of crude sadness that always followed her around, but after her birthday it was like she didn’t have a care in the world. How long this would last I didn’t know, but I was going to make sure she enjoyed it.

What I really wished I could give her was some rest from school. Not that she needed it though, because I was sure school life could never tire her, so I guess I the rest from school would have been more for me. After Lyla’s birthday weekend, every teacher in the school seemed to think we needed to be bombarded with work.

“Sir, Mr. Trotman, why is it every teacher is now crushing us with so much work?” A tall boy named Kevin asked from the back of the class. Almost all of the students in the class started muttering in agreement. Mr. Trotman, the Integrated Science teacher, who was actually a nice but strict teacher, actually chuckled appreciatively.

“I figured most of you would forget. Some of you will be sitting CXC exams next year. The work we’re giving you is to prepare you for those exams.”

Everyone stopped muttering and started talking loud at this seemingly unexpected development. I’d recently learned that CXCs were exams students in fourth year and higher sat at the end of the school year as long as they were entered by their teachers, and it was my unfortunate luck that, according to my teachers, based on the marks I got so far and from the marks from my old school, I’d been entered to do the CXCs for all my subjects. Well, if I pass them the first time, at least they would be out of the way, I thought to myself.

“I don’t even like school that much,” I complained to Lyla and Nikolai that evening as we were walking through our gap to home. “I just go because I have to. I’m not ready for any huge exams.”

“Chase, are you afraid of these exams?” Lyla asked, with a teasing smile.

“No! It’s not that I’m afraid, it’s just huge exams like these make me nervous.”

“It’s no big deal,” Nikolai said, “They sound a lot worse than they actually are.”

I scoffed. “That’s easy for you to say. You have a photographic memory and your brains are super huge and give you an unfair advantage, besides you must have done that exam a couple times.”

“Only once,” Nick corrected, throwing his hands in his pocket and walking with a confident stride. He really did have nothing in life to worry about. “Back in 1966 while we were living in Barbados. We lived there for about three years and passed every exam.”

“No one likes an over-achiever,” I called after Nick as he turned to his side of the cove.

Before Lyla followed him, she kissed me then said, with amusement in her eyes and voice, “Behave yourself when you get home.” Then giggling slyly, she turned and followed her brother.

Though I was puzzled about what she said, I didn’t have to long to wait to find out, because as soon as I got home I saw my parents had invited both Madison and Gibbons over for

dinner again. As it wasn’t yet time to eat, Dad and Gibbons were talking and laughing in front the TV and Mom was constantly refusing Madison’s help in the kitchen.

“You’re a guest. You don’t have to do anything,” she kept telling her. And that’s when she found my arrival convenient.

“Chase, why don’t you do me a favor and keep Madison company until dinner’s ready?”

Of course it wasn’t so much a favor as an order, so I didn’t even waste time trying to come up with an excuse. I simply sighed deeply and went upstairs to change.

It wasn’t that I didn’t like Madison, because she seemed cool. It was just I was hoping Lyla would be able to come over and spend the evening with me, but it now looked like that wasn’t going to happen. At least she’ll be here later, I thought to myself.

After I showered and changed, there was a knock on my door.

“There’s something I wanted to asked you,” Madison said awkwardly, rubbing the underside of her arm like she was nervous, “Um… are you hiding up here because of me or something? Have I done something wrong?”

The truth was, I was hiding in my room because of her, but the look of rising hurt on her face was so real, like she knew what I was going to say. I felt guilty for treating her like I did, partly because she did nothing wrong, but mostly because I remembered how it felt when Lyla was ignoring me when all I wanted was to be friends… at first.

“No, no no. Madison, that’s not so,” I answered hastily, “It’s just I have some things going on with me right now and they have me kind of upset. I just don’t think I would be very good company for you right now, that’s all.”

As I said it, it even sounded to me like an average, insincere excuse, but Madison didn’t seem to think so. In fact, she now looked kind of amused, though I couldn’t figure why.

Finally, she moved from the spot she was on from the moment she came in and started looking around while I simply sat on the bed and watched her.

“Wow, I can’t believe you read K.J. Pollard,” she said as she looked over my copy of The Illusionist on the computer table. “I’ve been trying to read his work, but the guy’s worse than Shakespeare, and he’s only twenty five.” I actually laughed.

“He’s not that bad,” I said with a small shrug, “Lyla’s reading it now. She understands it a lot better than I do.”

“So, Chase, tell me something. How old are you?” She dropped into the chair opposite

me.

“Seventeen.”

“Hmmm, not much younger than me,” Madison admitted and flicked her hair dramatically for a laugh. “I’m nineteen.” She was about to say something else, but at that moment Mom called us downstairs for dinner.

Simply put, it was a very boring meal. Everyone was engaged in conversation with each other while I merely sat there playing with my shepherd’s pie most of the time and nibbling it the rest.

At our house, I was allowed to excuse myself from the table anytime except when guests were present, then I had to wait to be excused. So I was extremely happy when Lyla and Nikolai showed up not long after and Mom let me go, though I could tell she didn’t like me leaving so soon. It was certainly obvious to me that Madison didn’t like the interruption.

“Thanks for coming for me. I wasn’t feeling very comfortable there.”

“How come? Don’t tell me Madison’s too much for you,” Lyla joked as we walked down the driveway. I merely scowled at her while Nick looked confused but unconcerned. That’s when I noticed the two Aquamuns had turned and were now heading into the woods.

“Where exactly are we going?” I asked just as I ducked under a low hanging branch. Nikolai, who was just in front me, pointed to a place not too far away from us, but he didn’t

need to, because just ahead, beyond a small group of trees, there was a shimmering orange glow.

“Hey, you guys finally made it,” Justin said, sitting on a rock as the orange glow, which turned out to be a fire burning in an old metal barrel, was crackling away.

Along with Justin, also present were Brandon, Kimberley, Maranda and two friends I’d met at school, Carlyle and Nadira.

“What’re you guys doing here?” I asked as I sat down on a small log next to Carlyle.

“Nothing big,” Carlyle responded just as he threw a few small twigs into the fire and it hissed slightly as if it was an animal being fed, “we just thought it’d be good to relax like this for a while, especially after the week we had. I can’t believe how fast CXC year has come.” Everyone agreed and started chatting and eating the snacks the others brought.

While I did enjoy the ambience of the whole thing, for some reason I felt strangely separated from everyone else, even Lyla, who despite the fact we shared our bond, didn’t really understand what I felt. She seemed oblivious to the fact that I was peacefully watching her as she talked with Maranda and Carlyle.

Soon after, Brandon turned on the radio he’d brought and everyone got up and started dancing. They tried to get me to join in, but I felt better just sitting there by myself.

It had been a while since I was attacked and strangely enough, that had me worried. While I wasn’t thrilled when these attacks occurred, they did serve one good purpose. Because of them we knew what this person was up to. But during this time of peace, I was constantly wondering when the next shoe was going to drop, when the next heart-wrenching attack was going to take place and, would it be the one that succeeds?

Watching Lyla laugh heartily with the others made me feel guilty about being with her. As much as I wanted to deny it, I was the one who brought all the sorrow and complications into her life, no matter how much she denied it.

I stood up suddenly and dusted myself off. Before anyone else had noticed, Lyla pulled herself away from the others and was about to walk over to me, but I just shook my head and said, “I’m just going for a quick walk. I’ll be right back.”

She looked at me oddly, then a sad expression slowly slid across her face as she realized what I was feeling. I’d forgotten to block out those emotions. I didn’t want Lyla feeling sympathy for me, but it was too late. I quickly turned and walked off into the woods, also happy she didn’t see my expression. I was thankful she didn’t follow me because this was one of those moments when I just needed time to myself.

The woods around our neighborhood weren’t very dense, but they were deep and I was so lost in my own thoughts walking absentmindedly, that when I caught myself I was so far from the others, I couldn’t even hear their voices or the music. But I could still see a tiny orange spark which was the fire, so I wasn’t too worried.

Finally, growing tired of walking, I sat down under a huge tree. I don’t know why, but I always enjoyed quiet moments by myself. Sitting alone, I took deep, steadying breaths of the chilly thin air, which did wonders in helping me feel better. I felt all the tension and worry leave my body with every breath I exhaled.

I treasured the time I spent there by myself, but I didn’t want the others to start worrying. Deciding I should find my way back to the others, I pushed myself up from the ground and as soon as I was standing, I heard a rusting of leaves just a little deeper in the woods. I glanced in the general direction the sound came from, but it wasn’t any good because the darkness was so thick I couldn’t see a thing.

At first I wondered if it could be one of the others, but I knew it couldn’t be because everyone else was back at the fire. I supposed it could have been Nikolai trying to scare me, but then if it was, he wouldn’t have made a sound. That’s when I started to get nervous.

“Hello, is someone there?” I called into the still darkness, but there was no response. Not like I was expecting one anyway. “Lyla, is that you?”

I really don’t know why I said that because if it was Lyla, I would have felt her presence through our bond, and I could still feel she was with the others.

Then I heard it again, more dried leaves on the ground being walked on. Goosebumps started rising all over my body and as I tried to control my breathing. That’s when I noticed the air had gone completely still. No leaves were blowing and outside had actually gotten a little colder.

I felt like a lump was rising in my throat because I knew what this usually meant; another attack was coming. After all this time, it really wasn’t over. Then, even in the thick darkness, I knew I saw someone standing close to one of the trees.

I heard more leaves rustle, but this time from behind me. When I spun around, I breathed a sigh of relief.

“Kimberley, what’re you doing out here?”

“I could ask you the same thing. Who were you talking to just now?” she asked.

The lump in my throat felt like it was growing painfully bigger. Kimberly was standing behind me, and even in the thick darkness, she was looking this way and that, trying to see who it was that I was talking too, but when I looked back, whoever it was I thought I saw was gone.

“I could’ve sworn I saw some someone standing over there,” I said more to myself then

to Kim.

“Come on,” she said, sounding a little worried, “let’s get back to the others.”

When Kimberley turned and started walking back, I followed her, not even noticing the air was back to being warm and thin.

* * *

“So are you going to tell me what happened to you tonight?” Lyla asked as soon as I climbed into bed. I was surprised she knew about what I thought I saw in the forest.

“Kimberly actually told you.” Lyla’s eyes became narrow and in the darkness of the room, they looked like two small sapphires.

“What’re you talking about?”

“Nothing really. Funny story for another time. What are you talking about?” I amended quickly. Lyla looked at me puzzled for a while. She sat up against the bed head, then shook her head and continued. “I meant tonight when I felt that strong depression inside you.”

I sighed as I realized what she meant. “Lyla, please, I don’t really wanna talk about that.”

I knew it would be way too difficult to admit to Lyla what I was going through, even if she would understand. She turned in the bed to face me, but I averted her gaze by closing my eyes. It was a coward’s move on my part.

“Chase, I don’t know how you think this is supposed to work, but you’re in a relationship now, you’re not alone, you don’t have to keep things bottled up inside. I’m trying to say you need to learn to talk to me.”

She sighed exasperatedly when I didn’t respond.

“Well, too bad if you don’t wanna talk about it, because I do. Chase what you felt was no little dip. Chase, those emotions I felt from you were… I just didn’t like it. They were so strong and they came onto me so suddenly. I almost didn’t have time to block them out, I mean, you have no idea how hard I had to fight just to keep them at bay. And that’s only for the few minutes I felt them for, I can’t imagine how hard it is for you to deal with. You really aren’t going to talk about this?”

I sighed regretfully, opened my eyes and turned to my girlfriend. I smiled a little at that-- the thought of Lyla as my girlfriend. It was still amazing to think about.

“No, Lyla, I’m not talking about it because there is nothing to talk about. Look, I was feeling a little grumpy before, but I’m good now.” Before Lyla could reply, I kissed her lightly on the lips, then turned over and pulled the covers up to my chest.

I knew she was still watching my very intently and through our very open connection I felt her concern for me rise, but I didn’t dwell on that too long because I quickly fell asleep. However, a short while later an uncomfortable yet not painful sensation cruised through my body and pulled me from my sleep so violently that when I opened my eyes I had an instant headache.

I almost screamed in surprise when I turned over and saw Lyla still sitting up in bed.

“You were awake this whole time?” I asked, sitting up and trying to catch my breath.

“You felt that too, didn’t you?” She said softly. Even through the dim light in the

bedroom, I could clearly see the panic on Lyla’s face. She hopped out of the bed and reached

for her phone on the night stand next to the bed, but before she even touched it, the phone

started vibrating.

“I was just about to call,” Lyla said softly into the phone when she’d answered. “I know, it shocked me too. It was so strong it even woke Chase.” She explained to whomever she was speaking to. “Okay, see you in a bit,” she said, then hung up.

“What’s going on?” I asked. The early stages of panic were starting to hit me. Lyla, on the other hand, didn’t get back into bed, but went over to the window, folded her arms and gazed outside.

“I don’t know,” she answered, still looking outside, “but I do know what we felt wasn’t anything good. My family felt it, but what has me worried is that you felt it too.” Lyla voice sounded so wrong to me, kind of how you would expect a sad mermaid to sound.

“Isn’t the reason I felt it because of our bond?”

“Maybe,” Lyla simply answered.

Through our bond, I felt worry from her; worry for me and for her family. She was afraid they were going to get hurt.

I sighed. If they did it would be because of me. I had to use all my resolve to keep my guilt from Lyla. It certainly wouldn’t help her right now. I finally got out of bed and went over to join her. Her sweet aroma helped to calm me down a little.

“It’s another attack isn’t it?”

“We don’t know that, I mean nothing’s happened to you, right?”

I shook my head, then remembered Lyla wasn’t looking at me.

“No, I’m fine, but that doesn’t mean it still can’t happen.”

Lyla didn’t respond, but she really didn’t need to because I felt it all through our bond, and what I felt was fear, fear that I was right. Underneath that was a strong burning sense of desire. A little intrigued, I touched on it and wasn’t surprised by what I found. She wanted it to be over. She desired some sort of normalcy in her life; after all, that’s all she ever really wanted.

“That doesn’t mean I blame you Chase,” she mumbled as I was about to turn away. She must have felt it when I was sifting through her emotions. “I don’t blame you. I blame the person out there trying to kill you. I want this to be over because I don’t want him having any more chances at hurting you or anyone else. And yes, I want it so I can have some kind of normal life. With you.”

She’d finally turned to face me. As it was dark in the room, I couldn’t see her face clearly, but just as before I didn’t need to. From the sound of her voice I could tell she was close to tears. Maybe it was her emotions overtaking me as my guard was down, or perhaps they were my own. I neither knew nor cared, but a sudden sadness had come over me and all I could do was throw my arms around Lyla and hold her. It felt good to have her embrace me.

It was starting to seem like our efforts at trying to save my life were futile, because every one of these attacks grew more dangerous and more powerful and after all we tried we were still no closer to even an idea of who was behind them.

Lyla and I just stood there, not kissing or even being passionate, but our simple embrace was intimate. We weren’t looking for intimacy in that moment, but because of the situation we both needed consoling and we provided that for each other.

A couple hours later I woke up in dazed state in my bed. For a while I was under the impression I’d had a troubling dream, but as soon as I sat up, everything came back to me, including the headache I had. I was going to ask Lyla when she had to meet her family, but she was already gone.

She probably didn’t want to wake me. I climbed out of bed. I was shocked to see it was

9:30--half the morning was already gone. I hated sleeping away my mornings because I always

felt I could be doing something else.

After a quick shower, I bolted downstairs and was shocked to see Mom was home, carrying a basket of clothes. From my first weekend here, both my parents worked on Saturdays and it was something I’d become used to. So it was a big surprise to find Mom home in a pair of faded blue jeans and a pink shirt.

“What’re you doing here?” I asked, momentarily distracted from what I was going to do.

She was her way to the backyard with her basket of damp clothes. She stopped and turned to me. “Um, are you forgetting I live here?”

“I know,” I said rolling my eyes and following her into the yard, “but you always work on Saturdays.” She threw some of the clothes at me to hang.

“I know, but that was so I could get the practice off the ground quickly. But I do have a home, husband and son to look after.”

She smiled at me and did her usual thing--ran her fingers through my hair, and for some reason, that single action brought on something that never happened to me before. It happened so suddenly. A moment from my past flashed before my eyes.

It was about ten years ago. Mom, Dad and I were playing in a park, back when we were in New York. It was a time when happiness seemed to me to be never-ending.

“What’s wrong?” Mom asked. It must’ve looked like I’d just zoned out. In response to her question, I threw my arms around her. It was the first time I realized I was a few inches taller than her.

“I love you, Mom.”

“I love you too, Chase,” she said nervously. ’Is there something I should know?”

“Nah, everything’s good,” That was a lie. I turned and headed through the gate.

“Where’re you going?” Mom called after me.

“There’s something I have to do, Mom.” I bid her farewell then headed over to the Morgans.

“Right on time,” Lyla said to me when I got there. “We have a visitor.”

A little curious, I followed Lyla into her family’s sitting room. Sitting among the rest of her family was Hilda, looking somewhat uncomfortable.

“Hilda, what are you doing here?” I asked, taking a seat in the last remaining armchair. Maybe it was my imagination, but now that I’d sat down, she looked a little more relaxed. The muscles in her neck didn’t look so flexed anymore, at least.

“I’m here because of what happened last night.”

“They told you about it, then,” I said, indicating the Morgans, but Hilda shook her head, her locks swayed slightly.

“No one had to tell me. That feeling was so strong, it could have woken the dead.”

Just then Nikolai cleared his throat loudly and I had to stifle a laugh because I knew what he was getting at, and apparently so did everyone else as they all looked at him but looked away quickly. As soon as they weren’t looking, he smiled at me.

“So do you know what it was?” Marcus asked Hilda, with Salathia sitting next to him. Their three children were sitting on the three-seater couch and Hilda was in an armchair across from everyone.

There was a kind of ringing command tone in Marcus’s voice. I knew that’s how he always sounded and wasn’t trying to intimidate Hilda, but I was surprised by the indifferent way she responded, as if she could care less about what Marcus wanted to know.

“I know it was a spell and a powerful one. Had to require lots of energy behind it. I tried to get a fix on the source before the wave dissipated. But whoever it was was able to keep themselves shielded from detection.”

Everyone in the room looked a little disappointed at the news, but then Hilda added, “I do know this though, it was a summoning spell, so we can expect them to be sending something after you.” She looked towards me.

“Isn’t there any way to protect Chase, as we don’t know when this attack will take place?”

I don’t know if the others picked up on it, but I could tell Hilda was taken aback by Salathia’s concern. When she responded, I was glad to hear it was with a nicer voice then the one she responded to Marcus with.

“No, I would need to know exactly what’s coming to come up with a proper defense and no simple defense spell will do as that summoning spell felt pretty advanced. Simple protection won’t do.

Everyone got up to walk Hilda to the door.

“So what do we do now?” Michael asked as we got to the door. Hilda sighed and turned to face us all, but her eyes came to rest on me. “I’m afraid all we can do right now is wait and be careful. It’s playing right into this person’s hands, but as long as we’re careful we should be good.”

Hilda turned and stepped outside without even saying goodbye, but before she even got off the steps, her eye caught something and she said, “Huh. Those are very hard to take care of,” Salathia stepped outside as well and gasped. Some of the flowers she had outside the house had withered and died. I hadn’t even noticed them on my way in.

“But those were fine yesterday,” Salathia said sadly, checking her dead flowers.

“Maybe it’s something in the soil,” I said absently, thinking of the other plants and flowers I saw that had died in the woods. Strangely, Hilda seemed a bit more interested.

“You’ve seen dead flowers like these ones before?”

“Yeah, flowers and plants, in the woods. Sometimes there’re even dead birds around them too, which makes me think it might be something in the soil or water or something.”

“No, it’s nothing like that,” Hilda said, looking as though she just found a missing piece of a puzzle. “They’re using them for power,” she uttered more to herself than to everyone. After a couple of seconds thought, she said to us, “Whoever’s doing this doesn’t have enough power to fuel these spells on their own, or maybe their own strength is low. The point is, they’re using plants and small animals for energy. When too much energy is taken,” she gestured towards the withered plants, “they die.”

“Is it possible to take energy from humans too?” Marcus asked.

“Yes,” Hilda responded, “but taking energy from humans weakens us quickly. Whoever’s doing this could kill someone without meaning to, which is probably why he hasn’t, or maybe he just isn’t that strong. The good news is, however, from the amount of powerful spells this person’s using and for him to be taking energy from elsewhere, it probably means his own body must be weakening from all that magical strain. His own energy must be pretty low. If he’s not

careful he could end up dead, but then,” she stooped down by the dead flowers, picked a few, and carefully placed them in her purse and stood up, “That’s probably best for you, right?”

I was hoping Hilda’s views on the Morgans were going to change. Guess that wasn’t going to happen anytime soon. I was surprised when none of the Morgans responded to that and apparently, so was Hilda.

“Hmmm, I’ll see if I can learn anything from the flowers. I will be in touch.”

“She is a very odd woman,” Michael said as they all turned to head back into the house.

“Are you coming?” Lyla asked me.

“Yeah, yeah I am,” I responded.

“What’s on your mind?”

I turned to Lyla. “Did you notice Hilda said ‘we’ and not ‘you’?”

“Oh yes, I noticed,” Lyla said, chuckling herself as she went inside.

I took one last look at the dead flowers and wondered just how far this person was willing to go, just as the last living leaf on one of the flowers fell off.

* * *

The fact that an impending attack was on the way made me unsettled. For the whole day I kept wondering if I was going to spontaneously combust or maybe shrivel and die lie like those flowers. Maybe I might get hit by a bolt of lightning.

“Nothing like that’s going to happen,” Lyla whispered to me when we were in the library later that day. “Hilda said it was a summoning spell, which means something’s going to come after you, something we can fight.”

“A bolt of lightning’s something, we can’t fight that. Unless you Aquamuns have some kind of lightning rod powers or something,” I said jokingly. We both laughed, then I noticed Lyla was staring intently at me for awhile.

“What?”

“The necklace you gave me for my birthday, do you always wear your piece?” She asked.

My fingers automatically flew to it. I nodded to Lyla and she held out her hand for it.

I took it off and gave it to her. “Why do you want it?”

“I just had an idea, but it’s a surprise. Trust me though, if it works, it will come in useful.” She collected her stuff, said “See you later,” and after a quick kiss on my check, she left. And with her went my desire to finish my Social Studies assignment, so I too, collected my things, left, and hopped into my car to go for a drive.

I hadn’t gotten too far when I saw Dad’s truck outside an auto parts store. I parked Sheila and went in to look.

“Dad, what’re you doing here?” I asked when I saw him inside, and then thought it was a stupid question. He pointed to someone sitting in one of the waiting chairs at the side of the room. I gasped when I saw Chris, who I hadn’t recognized at first, sitting there.

“We came in to pick up a part for his car, then I’m taking him home. He’s feeling a bit

sick.”

Chris looked more than ‘a bit sick’ in my opinion. Sure I hadn’t seen him in a few days, but still, I’d never known anyone to look so different in such a short space of time.

Chris’s skin had always looked clear and healthy, despite the amount of time he spent in the sun, but now it had kind of a green tinge to it that made him look like he wanted to vomit and it also made him look older. There were huge, dark circles under his eyes and the way he sat told me that he could barely hold himself up.

“Couldn’t you have waited in the truck?” I asked Chris softly, as if any louder and his ears would bleed. Hey, I didn’t want to risk anything.

“It’s not as if I’m dying Chase. You guys don’t have to worry about me. I will be fine.” Even as he spoke, his voice sounded depleted of energy.

“Dad, you can take him home now,” I said, looking sympathetically at Chris as he clinched the sides of his chair. “I can wait here for the part and you can take it to him tomorrow.”

My father looked at Chris intently for a while, then said to me, “Are you sure?”

“Yeah, it’s cool. Just get him home.”

Dad smiled, handed me his numbered ticket, then took Chris out to the truck and drove

off.

My dad’s number was seventy-five and they were only up to sixty, so I took a seat. I couldn’t stop my mind from wondering about Chris’s condition. I wondered if Hilda was wrong and my attacker was taking energy from people and Chris was one of the unfortunate ones.

I sincerely hoped that wasn’t true, but if it was, I was at a loss about what to do. Like everything else, all we could do was wait to see what happened.

That thought was so depressing.

After about half an hour, one of the assistants called my number, apologized for the wait and handed me a small box. When I finally left the store it was almost 6:00 pm, so I decided to have dinner in town. But the time I was finished, it was past 7:30 and night had fully fallen.

While I was driving back home, I couldn’t help thinking of how my other friends were having completely normal lives. They didn’t have to worry about fearing for their lives, or maybe, because they were my friends, they did, but just didn’t know it. But still they only had to worry about stuff like exams and normal relationships.

If I didn’t know about the supernatural, my life would be like that; things would be so much easier, not to mention safer. But then I’d be unhappy and constantly feeling like a part of my life was missing because I wouldn’t be with Lyla. Life without her wasn’t worth living and any life with her was worth fighting for.

I smiled to myself as I swelled up with a tingly good feeling inside. This was one feeling I wasn’t going to keep from our bond. And that’s when I stepped on the brakes as hard as I could, because out of nowhere on this lonely road, flanked by woods on both sides, a woman appeared so suddenly as if she slipped out of the darkness of night itself, wearing a long, sweeping white dress.

But I didn’t even get a chance to see her face, because as soon as I saw her, I could have sworn the car smashed into her. But the strange thing was, she’d vanished.

As soon as Shelia came to a stop, I hopped out, leaving the door open, and screamed “Hello!” as hard as I could.

Though my heart was beating fast with panic, I was still able to notice the air was chilly, yet deadly still, just like it was last night. Goosebumps started rising up all over my arms just as something in the back of my head told me to look at my car. When I did, she looked perfectly fine. There was no indication that I’d hit anyone. Fear started bubbling up inside me. As fast as I could, I got back in the car, locked the doors and drove off with the radio turned up for company. I was so happy when I finally pulled up outside my house.

“Took your time getting here. Wait, don’t you want dinner?” Mom said from the couch with Dad.

“It’s okay Mom, I already ate.”

When I got up to my room, Lyla wasn’t there as I’d hoped, but when I came back after a quick shower, she was sitting on the bed silently and quite still. I rushed over to her and hugged her as if she’d been gone for years.

“I’m sorry,” I said when I let her go. She turned away from me and I was about to ask her why when I remembered I had to get dressed.

“Don’t be. What’s wrong?”

“It’s nothing big,” I lied. “I just had a really tough evening and really needed to see you. Lots of weird stuff going on.”

Without me even telling her, she knew I was finished and turned around, but before she’d even taken a step her eyes darted to the door for half a second. Without saying anything to me, she was through the window before I knew it. I was about to run to the window when there was a light knock on the door and Dad came in.

“What’s wrong?” he asked.

“Nothing, Dad. I was just feeling a little tired. Oh yeah.” I took up Shelia’s keys and threw them to him. “The part for Chris’s car is in the back seat. How is he anyway?”

“Well it’s not like he’s a hundred percent better, but from the moment he got to bed, he actually started to look a little better. Poor guy overworks himself, what with working with us, his studies and his second job.”

“He has two jobs?” I blurted out, surprised. I couldn’t tell if Dad was going to put his face in a grin or grimace, but whatever it was, he certainly did fight hard to hold it back.

“Chase, everyone doesn’t have an aversion to work like you.”

I shot him a condescending look which he ignored. “He’s only twenty-three and lives on his own. He’s just trying to keep his head above water.”

“Must be hard for him,” I said.

“It is,” Dad agreed, “Anyway, I’ll leave these for you on the table.” He shook the keys at

me.

“Something’s wrong with Chris?” Lyla asked as soon as the door was closed. Her appearance was so sudden, I actually flinched a little. No early bond warning this time.

“Yeah, he’s kinda sick. Dad thinks it’s just exhaustion, so he probably needs rest.”

Lyla was staring at me as though she was expecting me to say something obvious, but after I remained quiet, she said, “Chase, Hilda said your attacker would probably be weak from the amount of spells he’s been using. What if his sickness is because of the attacks on you?”

If I was an insensitive jerk, I would’ve laughed because that sounded so far-fetched, but after thinking about it for a couple of seconds, I saw how she could reach that conclusion, but I had to derail that train of thought.

“Chris isn’t the one doing this,” I said, sitting at the end of the bed as Lyla went to look through the window. “He isn’t a Somorian and we know it’s a Somorian doing this. Plus he doesn’t even believe in the supernatural.”

Lyla only said, “Hmm.” As she continued to gaze out the window.

“When I saw him earlier today I wondered if maybe the attacker maybe wasn’t pulling energy from Chris which is why he’s so weak all of a sudden.”

“That’s what I think too. Its just…” but she didn’t continue, she actually didn’t have to. I knew she just wanted to have at least one theory where we have an idea of who is behind all this. She wasn’t alone in that.

“Lyla, I wanna ask you something weird.” She looked away from the window and looked at me seriously. I really didn’t know how to ask without making it sound silly, so I just said it.

“Do you believe in ghosts?”

“Yes,” she said bluntly, “and you should too.” I stared at her perplexed for a while, completely taken aback by that. “The spirit hounds should have been proof enough.”

“What, they’re like the ghosts of dogs or something?” I’m sure that sounded stupid, but Lyla didn’t laugh or anything, she just shook her head.

“No. They’re like spiritual pitbulls born from the anger and greed of the dead. But there are real ghosts that remain here after they die, but no one really knows how they remain here, though there are a lot of theories. Why do you ask?”

I explained what happened earlier and the night before.

“I don’t know if what you saw were ghosts or not,” Lyla explained, “but if they are, why would ghosts be appearing to you?”

“Maybe they’re attracted to me for some reason. Maybe I’m haunted,” I added in a whisper.

“I don’t think you’re haunted,” she said, but her divine sounding voice somehow sounded small, like she wasn’t sure about much anymore. We stayed silent for a while, then her jewel-like eyes sparkled as her face lit up. She removed something from around her neck and I realized it was my piece of the crystal necklace which she dropped into my opened hand.

“It still looks the same,” I said, holding it up to the moonlight, watching it spin and sparkle as if I was expecting something amazing to happen.

Lyla rolled her eyes. “I went to Hilda and had her enchant it.”

“I thought she said she could only perform simple protection spells as she didn’t know what was coming?” I slipped the necklace back on. I didn’t know if it was just me or the magic, but as soon as it was around my neck, a strange, quivering feeling passed through my body which left me feeling strangely comforted.

“That’s true,” Lyla admitted, “but simple protection is better than none. The crystal will burn when you’re in danger and in case anything stops me from finding you, I will be able to use my half to find you. For good measure, she also did something that will allow the crystal to

emit a burst of energy that should cancel out any spells around you. But she did say it only has enough power for two blasts, if you go for a third it will drain the crystal.”

I kissed Lyla softly. She looked at the ground. “I just wanted to be able to do something useful for once.”

“Lyla, you’re always doing useful stuff for me. I mean. If it wasn’t for you, I would be

dead.”

“You used that one too many times.”

I chuckled and kissed her on the cheek, then got up to use the bathroom. When I was at the sink, I leaned over to drink some water straight from the tap (yeah, that’s right, I do that) and when I got up, half a scream escaped my mouth before I got it under control. I didn’t think it was loud enough for Mom or Dad to hear, but Lyla, who did, was in the bathroom in a flash.

“What’s it?” She said in a panic but I didn’t answer at once. I looked around the bathroom, but saw nothing. When I’d stood up from the sink, I looked in the mirror and thought I saw a man and woman standing behind me.

“I thought I saw…” But then I thought about it and said,”Nothing. Never mind.”

We went back to the bedroom, where the light was still off. As soon as I reached the door, I saw four silhouetted figures standing in the middle of the room.

There was no way Lyla could doubt me because she saw them too. But I was shocked to see Lyla was looking at me as though something was off – with me. I rushed across the room and flipped on the light switch. As soon as light flooded the room the figures disappeared, but it didn’t matter because from the look on Lyla’s face I could tell she knew what I saw but was skeptical it was real.

“What is it?” I asked sharply.

“Chase, I’m sorry, but I just don’t see what you’re trying to show me. Plus father once told me ghosts also emit a strange kind of aura we can detect, which was how I found the

hounds.” I knew what she was implying but didn’t care. I switched off the light (the figures didn’t return) and went to bed.

“It’s okay Lyka, they’re not here anymore.”

I tried to keep my frustration to myself through of our bond, as Lyla really didn’t deserve to feel it. It was already too late because I heard her sigh and get into the bed. I knew she was facing the other direction. I didn’t like this, so I spun myself around and threw my arm over her side and with her soft, warm hand she held mine against her body. It was funny how I believed I was seeing ghosts, yet could easily climb into bed with my girlfriend.

Sunday morning brought with it cloudy skies and a heavy, thick fog that rolled in from the rough sea and dampened everything it touched. The sunlight coming through my bedroom window was a greyish yellow, as if it was losing all its light and warmth somewhere up in the clouds, maybe because the air coming in the room was cold as though it was still night.

I got out of bed quickly (Lyla was still asleep) and once I heard how noisy the waves were bashing against the cliffs, I wondered how I could have ever slept through that.

“You’re up early. I thought you would have slept longer today.” Mom said when I got downstairs for breakfast.

“I like this, we don’t really get to have breakfast together anymore.” Dad murmured when I sat down at the table and he shoveled a forkful of pancakes into his mouth.

Just as I sat down, Mom sniffed the air and Dad wrinkled his nose, but they both stared

at me.

“Did you go out last night to see Lyla?” Mom said slowly, but intently. Very discreetly, I sniffed my hand the same time I raised my fork to my mouth. Lyla’s sweet scent clung to me as strongly as though I’d sprayed it on. I had to bite my tongue to stop myself from smiling stupidly.

“Um no. I… had dinner in town with her last night. Some of her perfume got me on.

Must not have completely washed off,” I lied. I added a shrug to make it more believable.

My parents looked at me for a while, then at each other and finally went back to breakfast, but not before I noticed the strange look that passed between them. I decided to ignore it, for the moment.

When I finished my breakfast, I went back upstairs where I was surprised to find that Lyla was still there. She was no longer sleeping, but sitting on the bed awaiting my return.

“Get dressed. Hilda called and she wants to meet us. I’m going up there now. Get there as fast as you can.” Lyla was already by the window.

“Okay,” I said, “See you soon.”

She looked at me and smiled and said, “Can’t wait till then.” And with that she jumped through the window and was gone.

Within forty minutes, I pulled up in Hilda’s driveway.

“Come on in,” Hilda said when she met me outside, “you’re going to want to hear this.”

I followed Hilda into her living room where all the Morgans were sitting, looking uncomfortable, all except Nikolai who looked as relaxed as he would in his own home.

“What’s going on?” I said when I sat down.

“Now that you’re here, Chase, I have some news to share. I know what’s coming after you.” Hilda let that hang for a few seconds. The suspense in the room was almost physical. “It’s a ghost.” Everyone except Lyla and I seemed surprised.

“The spell this person performed was used not only to summon the spirits but also to bind them to his will, meaning they’ll do whatever he wants –“

“And he wants them to kill me.” I interjected.

“So why haven’t they attacked yet?” Michael asked from his seat.

“Because they don’t have the strength to yet.”

Hilda got up and walked over to a book cabinet, ran her fingers along the spines of some hard cover books, reading the titles as she went, until she found the one she was looking for, which was a reddish brown hardcover book without any writing on the front cover.

When she found the text she was looking for, she said: “Yes. This person might’ve raised the ghost, but they still need a fair amount of power before they can interact with our world, which they don’t have yet.”

“Which is why they haven’t attacked Chase. Well that’s good,” Salathia said, but it didn’t escape my notice that Hilda had said ‘yet’.

“But they can get this power right?” I said. Hilda nodded as she continued skimming through the book. “And only too easily. You see, every time they come over to this world, they get stronger. And they can even feed off the energy in the air.”

“That’s why it gets so cold when they’re near,” I said, remembering how the air felt whenever they were close. Hilda placed the book on the table and pushed it to the side, out of the way, but left it open.

“Exactly. Unfortunately it won’t take them long to get the power they need. The only reason they need to gather power is because the spell brought a bunch of them over at once. That probably inadvertently links their power. Usually they have their own energy when they cross over.”

“Okay. Bottom line, is there anything you can do?”

“Of course,” Hilda responded to Nick, “There is a spell I can use to put them back to rest but it will have to be as powerful as the spell that brought them here. I just have to find it. I’m sure she told you about the crystal,” Hilda said to me, pointing at Lyla. “Only use it when you

have no other choice because it may be a while before I can perform the counter-spell. Well, I will be in touch with you.”

Everyone seemed taken aback by this abrupt dismissal, but they got up to leave just the same. When I did, however, she held me back until the others were outside.

“You do know anything you tell me they can still hear from outside.” Hilda smiled as she sat me back down. “I have many protection spells on this house. One of them is a kind of supernatural soundproof. They can’t hear anything said in this house from outside.”

Hilda sat next to me and turned to look me dead in the eye and as she did, I got the feeling like she was seeing someone else. It was freaky.

“I want you to be careful. Just because you have the crystal and the protection of the Aquamuns doesn’t mean you still can’t get hurt. Promise me you’ll be careful.”

“Yes, Hilda, I promise,” I said softly.

Hilda was looking at me sadly, and then, looking as though she had to steel herself to do it, she hugged me. It was emotionally uncomfortable at first, but still I had no idea she really cared. I always thought she was helping us because she felt it was duty. It did raise one new question for me though. Why did she care? But I wasn’t going to ask. At least, not just yet.

“Go on,” she said when we broke apart. I looked at her one last time, then headed for the door. Before I was even out of the house, I felt the pressure in the house increase as she put back up her protection.

Lyla was waiting for me by Sheila. The others had apparently left.

“So, where to now?” She said when I got there, tying her hair back with a rubber band. “Home, unfortunately. I’ve got homework to finish that I can’t put off any longer, but you can come over later, if you’re not busy. You can even use the front door.” I joked as we got in the car. She slapped me around the head, but still laughed.

When I pulled up in our driveway after dropping Lyla home, I saw my dad standing outside with Justin and another man I recognized to be Justin’s dad.

“Hey,” I called as I crossed over to them. I figured they’d just come from the beach because they were all wearing they beachwear. But when I got over there all thoughts of pleasantries left me. Justin’s dad was wearing a sports vest and on his upper right arm was the troublesome tattoo, the Somorian siduel I’d seen before.