Ocean Cove

Nikolai took Hilda up, carried her inside and placed her on the couch. Seeing her unconscious scared me greatly, even with the assurance from the other two that she would be fine.

“Do you have any idea when she will wake up?” I said nervously two hours later when Hilda made no improvement. Both Lyla and Nikolai were seated in armchairs on the opposite side of the room. They shook their heads at my question.

“We’ve never dealt with anything like this before.” Lyla said. “At first I thought she just fainted, but I suppose it’s possible she maybe slipped into a coma.”

Lyla then turned to Nikolai.

“Maybe we should take her to the hospital.”

I was surprised to see Nick with a worried look on his face, and then something occurred

to me.

“Wait!” I exclaimed. “I know someone who might be able to help us.”

And without explaining to the others, I pulled out my cell phone and dialed a number I always had but never used. The Ashfords. Within about thirty minutes, Jack and Alisa arrived at Hilda’s, both looking confused, which turned to worry when they saw Hilda.

I hadn’t explained much over the phone, so I filled them in on what happened. Both Lyla and Nikolai had left the room, as Jack and Alisa looked uncomfortable with them there.

“I’ll see what I can do.” Alisa said when I was finished. Jack and I moved across the room, out of her way. Alisa knelt by Hilda, placed both hands at the sides of her head and closed her eyes.

“What’s she doing?” With everything that just happened to Hilda because of me, I couldn’t stand it if something else went wrong. I was relieved to see that Jack wasn’t worried.

“Alisa’s checking to see if it’s magic that’s keeping Hilda unconscious. Some powerful spells give off a kind of kick when they are broken that can be harmful. If that’s what’s happened, Alisa might be able to heal her.”

“But if it’s not. If it’s…” I couldn’t even finish. “Would she still be able to help?”

I turned to Jack. I knew he heard the question, but probably chose not to answer because he’d seen and heard the distress in my voice and didn’t want to make it any worse.

I didn’t press the issue.

Alisa didn’t move her hand an inch. Actually, she didn’t move at all. After a few more minutes, I’d finally grown frustrated enough and was about to question her myself when she opened her eyes.

“She’ll be fine. She wasn’t hurt. The spell just took a lot of energy out of her. She should be on her feet in no time.”

Alisa revealed this and made to stand up, but she almost toppled over. Jack caught her before she could.

“Are you okay? What’s wrong?” We both asked.

“Oh, I’m okay,” she said calmly. “I just transferred a bit of my energy to her to help in her recovery. I’m just a little light-headed. I’ll be fine.”

Just then, and to my great relief, Hilda started to groan and actually lifted herself into a sitting position. Nikolai and Lyla came back into the room looking somewhat relieved to see

Hilda up. She, on the other hand, seemed surprised, as if she wasn’t used to seeing so many people in her living room.

“What’re you all doing here?” She sounded a little unkind, but under the current circumstances, no one took it personally.

Before anyone could answer, a look appeared on Hilda’s face, not unlike a look someone would have when they realized they were just robbed.

“The ghosts. The spell – did it work? Are they gone?”

Alisa raised her hand to calm her down.

“As you can see, everyone’s fine, which means you have nothing to worry about. The spell did take quite a bit out of you, and I did transfer a bit of my strength to you, but you still need to fully recover, so you should try to relax.”

Hilda looked like she was told she would need to stay in bed for a few weeks. She stood up, a little shaky at first, but eventually caught her balance.

“Thank you very much for your help, I really do appreciate it. Since you’re here, I’m pretty sure that means you know the situation this boy is in,” Hilda said, gesturing towards me. “Which means he still needs my help. Just because I got rid of a few restless spirits doesn’t mean all this is over. Whoever’s doing this is still out there and he’s proven to be very smart. So I’ve got to do everything I can to stop him.”

“But you don’t have to do it alone.” Jack explained, following Hilda to the bookcase where she was replacing her books. “Whoever is after Chase is abusing their power by trying to kill an innocent boy. We can’t just stand by and let this happen.”

“Are they like, Somorian police, to deal with these sorts of things?” I asked.

Alisa and Jack looked at each other, as if not wanting to say what they were going to do.

“Well, no, they’re not like police or anything,” Jack answered. “But we do have a council of elders. They’re the ones in charge of everything magical going on. You see, the day we learned Chase was being targeted by a Somorian, Alisa and I went straight to the elders for help. The thing is, they were willing and going to give it too, which is something they don’t usually do, but then they changed their minds.”

I got the feeling they knew why, but just didn’t want to say. Curiosity got the best of me at that moment.

“Why?” I pressed. But it wasn’t Jack or Alisa that answered. It wasn’t even Hilda for that matter.

“It’s because we’re involved, isn’t it?” Lyla said from the doorway of the room.

Nikolai was standing behind her and even though he was the taller one, he was peering around her rather than over her, which made him seem like a shy little brother hiding behind his sister.

The others turned towards them, Alisa looking a bit weary.

“Your council has decided not to help capture an attempted murderer who’s one of your own, because they know we’re involved in some way and don’t want to get mixed up with us, isn’t that right?”

Lyla was furious. It was obvious to the others by the tone of her voice, not to mention her clenched fists, and to me by the anger now coming through the bond. It was really strong. It was not like before when I merely felt her feelings. These waves of anger were being sucked into my own sea of emotions and they were overpowering everything else I felt. I tried to use my own emotions to see if I could calm Lyla down a little. I had no idea if it worked or not.

“We tried to appeal to them to change their minds. We pleaded with them, said it was the life of an innocent human boy that was important, but they still won’t help.” Jack explained.

“You still haven’t answered her question.” Nikolai pointed out, finally stepping from behind Lyla and looking just as impressive.

“Yes. They won’t lend their assistance because you are involved.” Alisa said finally.

The way she looked as she spoke with Lyla and Nikolai told me she was standing face to face with Aquamuns for the first time. It was obvious she was trying not to let what she’d been taught her whole life get in the way, but it looked like she was having a hard time.

“But that’s their decision. We’ve decided we will do whatever we can to help.” Alisa assured us, indicating herself and Jack. “Even though that means working with you.” She meant the Aquamuns, but Hilda was the one who folded her arms.

“Okay. First let me ask one thing, how do we know you’re not the one after Chase?”

I was shocked at her question, but I seemed to be the only one. Through the bond, I felt Lyla’s feelings shift in agreement and as for Nick, Jack and Alisa, they simply looked like they expected no other question.

Maybe I was the only one that sensed the sharpness in that question.

“Because I would never be foolish enough to play with death magic, because that would be putting my family at risk and there is nothing that would make me do that.”

Hilda considered Alisa for a couple seconds, then nodded and said with unusual

softness, “I would be very glad to accept any help you have to offer, and thank you for coming over to help me. But you do know this will be dangerous, don’t you?”

“Believe me, I know as well as you do.” I could have sworn Alisa looked frighteningly at Nikolai and Lyla for a half second.

After they promised to do some searching of their own, Jack and Alisa left. A few minutes after they did, Lyla suggested we do the same, but I told them to go, as I wanted to speak with Hilda alone.

It was a sign of how far we’d come that she didn’t look concerned or tell me to be careful before she left. Lyla probably wouldn’t consider herself friends with Hilda, but at least there was less tension between them now.

I sighed to myself as I thought about that. One step at a time.

“You don’t have to stay back to make sure I don’t faint again. I’m fine.” Hilda told me as she walked towards her kitchen, but when I saw her stop to lean on one of the dining table chairs for support I knew she was still in some discomfort.

“I actually wanted to ask you something.” I said after she got to the kitchen and was having a glass of water. “Why are you fighting so hard to keep me safe? Why do you want to help me?”

Hilda actually froze at my question. She then set the glass on the counter and walked over to me.

“Do you remember when I first met you?”

“Kind of hard to forget. You told me my soul was in danger.”

“I warned you that if you kept seeing Lyla you were sure to lose your soul, but you kept seeing her anyway, because you loved her. From the first time I met you, I saw something in you that reminded me of a dark time in my life. A time I wish I could go back and change. Maybe if I had someone who… Right now you’re going through something awful, if something happened to you because I didn’t try my best to protect you…” Hilda placed her hands on my shoulders, whether sympathetically or from exhaustion, I didn’t know. “…well I wouldn’t be able to forgive myself.”

Apparently realizing her guard was down, Hilda drew herself up and after withdrawing her hands from my shoulders, walked past me and said: “I need to get some rest. Helping you is like a full time job without pay.”

* * *

I had to bury my head in my pillow just to stop my brain from feeling like it was going to spin out of control.

Later that evening, after Hilda put the ghosts to rest, I went home and tried to call Lyla, but her anger had returned in full force. She told me she was busy and would talk to me when she could. I knew she just wasn’t in the mood to talk, so I simply sat at the edge of my bed thinking about everything that had happened so far, and it all sounded so unbelievable that my head started to hurt trying to comprehend it all. I contented myself with knowing that at present, everything was okay. Well, almost everything.

I wasn’t comfortable though. I decided to take some time to myself and go for a ride. So I hopped on my bike and just started peddling with no real destination in mind. I knew it was reckless after being attacked, but I just needed the time alone. Besides, I figured if Hilda was so worn out from putting those spirits to rest, the person who raised them in the first place probably didn’t have the strength to do anything quite so soon. I really hoped I was right. To my surprise and pleasure, it was amazingly refreshing. The further I rode, the clearer my mind seemed to become.

I rode far into the country for what felt like close to an hour until I came upon a stable. I’d seen live horses before, but what made me stop was who I saw riding a tawny horse. I dropped my bike by the side of a tree and walked up to the wooden fence to watch her finish her ride. It was amazing how fearlessly she jumped over every obstacle with her long, blond her flying behind her.

When she was finished, she hopped off the horse, patted him and started walking him back to the stables when she spotted me. At first, for some reason, she looked slightly embarrassed, but she quickly composed herself and came over to me, the horse following behind her as she had the reins in her hand.

“I never took you for the cow-girl type.”

Kimberly laughed. “Come around the back with me.”

I gave her horse a wary look.

“He’s a horse, not a dragon. Alex won’t bite.”

“You named your house Alex?” I climbed over the fence. For a few seconds I was a little cautious around Alex, but he seemed totally indifferent to my presence.

“Alex is one of the best behaved horses in the stables.” Kim patted him again and got what sounded like an appreciative grunt from the horse. “He wouldn’t hurt a fly. And yes I named him Alex. It’s a nice name, but he’s not my horse. Well, not legally anyway. See, he belongs to the Lovewigs. They live a little while away from here and are really nice. When Alex was born three years ago, they told me I could name him.” She laughed as she remembered something. “They thought Alex was a funny name for a horse too. Anyway, they let me ride him whenever I wanted and I help take care of him and the other horses when I can.”

We reached the stables, which were surprisingly clean, but still had that undeniable smell of horse crap. Before Kim placed Alex in his stall, she began taking the saddle and other stuff off him.

“Oh, and Alex is a perfectly good name for a horse.”

Kim thrust the saddle at me, which was surprisingly heavy. I stood by and watched as she fed, watered and groomed the horse, then shut him safely in his stall.

She seemed so at peace as she worked, so dedicated and delicate, it was hard to believe she was a Somorian. Then again, she only was by blood. When she was finished Kimberly said goodbye to Alex and then took me on a tour of the stables, which was a little bigger than I would have guessed.

Apart from the stables, there was a smaller building that served as a kind of day quarters, because, according to Kim, the Lovewigs loved their horses like children and wanted

them taken care of daily. So the building was where a team of three people stayed during the day to take care of the horses and the grounds around, which were also very nicely kept.

“What do your parents say about you riding? Are they cool with it?” I asked when we sat down under the tree with my bike.

Kimberly chuckled uncomfortably.

“They actually don’t know. When I was younger they let me have riding lessons. It was either that or ballet and everyone knew I was not light on my feet. So they paid for my riding lessons and I loved them, but after the lessons were over, that was it. I got the impression they didn’t trust me with a horse, so they didn’t want me riding. Afraid I would get hurt probably. So I kinda figured they wouldn’t take it well if I told them about this.”

We were silent for a while. While Kimberly and I were friends, this was the first time we’d ever spent any time alone together. And if what the others said was true about her having feelings for me, that would explain why she looked like she was feeling awkward around me.

“You should tell them, your parents. You should tell them about your riding. I mean, they may not like it, but it’s something you love and from what I saw, you are really good at.”

Kimberly blushed at the compliment.

“I’ve gotten to know a little about your parents, and I’ve got to tell you, even if they don’t like it, I don’t think they will stop you from doing something you love.

“Really? You think?” I could see she took my opinion very seriously.

“Yup. And take it from me, when you keep secrets from people you love… it’s just best if you tell them.”

I shifted my position, which made my knee rest against her leg. She didn’t seem to mind, but did become a little flustered. Then, for no reason at all, she suddenly became a little depressed and slightly defensive.

“So, what did you do?”

I looked questioningly at her. She seemed to get more uneasy by the second.

“I noticed you and Lyla aren’t as touchy and gropey as you two usually are which means something happened. Now, from what I know about Lyla she never seems to do anything wrong, which points to you, and from what I know about you, well I’ll just say you’re no son of mother of Teresa.”

We both laughed at that and I decided that telling her a carefully edited version of events was okay. Too many people were now involved as it was and I wasn’t going to be responsible for bringing Kimberly into this when she was safe not knowing. It would destroy me if she got hurt because of what I said.

“Well, you’re right. Lyla is mad at me and she has every right to be. Um… sometime ago I went looking for someone that wasn’t exactly good. Lyla didn’t like that, and to top things off, I almost got into an accident. If I’d just listened to her, that wouldn’t have happened. She wasn’t mad at me very long and quickly got over me being reckless, which I admit I was, ’cause it was kind of dangerous. But then after that, I kept something really important from her, and now she thinks I don’t trust her and she’s having trouble with it.”

“Wait a minute,” Kimberly said curiously. “How do you know she felt like that?”

Damn, I didn’t think she’d latch onto that, I thought to myself.

“I might not have known Lyla as long as some people, but I do know her a lot better than most,” I said. I couldn’t tell her I actually felt it through our supernatural connection. Well, I could, but then I would have to tell her everything, including opening the can of worms about her family.

I noticed there was a look of what could only be admiration and lust in Kimberly’s soft green eyes. There was no longer any doubt in my mind about her feelings towards me. It made me kind of sad to know I couldn’t return those feelings, especially as she was such a nice person.

If her feelings for me were anything close to what I felt for Lyla, her unrequited love was going to cause her a lot of pain. That made me feel guilty.

“What’s wrong?” She asked, probably noticing the sad look that slipped onto my face.

“Nothing.” I took up a small rock and started turning it in my hand.

“Anyway,” Kimberly continued, “I think you should try to talk to her. Yeah, there are times when the guy should give the girl time and wait for her to come to him, but this isn’t one of those times. You need to go to her and sort things out. Tell her you do trust her and keeping something like that from her was a foolish mistake on your part. I bet she just needs to hear you tell her you’re sorry and mean it. She will forgive you. And you’ve got the perfect opportunity tonight.”

“Why, what’s tonight?” I asked, following Kim’s lead and getting up. I stretched my myself before I moved. Kimberly looked at me and shook her head.

“You really are something else. Lyla’s birthday dinner is tonight, remember?”

* * *

It was true. I had indeed forgotten all about Lyla’s birthday dinner, but apparently no one else had. When I left Kimberly at the stables, she said she was going home to get ready.

“The Morgans sent my family an invitation, though I think I’m the only one that’s going.” She’d told me.

“There you are.” My mother sighed, half-frustrated half-relieved to see me when I arrived home around five. The living room was almost unrecognizable. The table was half-covered in assortments of hair care products. Sitting in one of the chairs was Madison, who had

a blow dryer working on her hair. My mom, on the other hand, already had her hair in green curlers.

“You need to get upstairs and start getting ready. The dinner’s starting at seven and we are not going to be late.” Mom said, already starting to take the curlers out of her hair. “I already sent your father upstairs, but it’s been awhile. He’d better not be lagging.” She added with a dangerous look towards the stairs.

I was on my way up when she said to me, “And Chase, do something with your hair.”

“Would you like me to braid it?” I joked.

“What was that?”

“Nothing.” I said quickly.

I trotted up the stairs, not intending to start getting dressed, but just to stay out of Mom’s way. As I reached the second floor landing, I saw Dad about to dash into the bathroom, but when he saw it was me he stopped and breathed a sigh of relief, though he looked slightly uncomfortable.

“Chase, um, I was just going to…” I held up my hand to stop him. Trying to hold back my snicker, I said, “It’s okay Dad, I know. Mom’s downstairs in one of her ‘don’t be late’ moods. I’m doing the same as you, just keeping out of her way.

“Good man.” Dad patted me on the shoulder, then stalked back to his room like a teenager hiding from a parent—well, I guess like me.

When I got to my room, I was shocked (and a little happy) to see Nikolai there, going through my CD collection. Yeah, I still kept CDs.

“Two things: you actually listen to Wicked Wish and two, you still have CDs?”

“Wicked Wish, they are amazing and who doesn’t still own a few CDs? Now, what are you doing here? What if my parents saw you?” I said softly as I closed the door, which I just

realized was now closed a lot of the time, and crossed over to Nick, who in turn stood up and looked genuinely insulted.

“Chase, Lyla comes over here all the time and never gets caught. I, on the other hand, am the one with the ability to make illusions and you think your human parents are going to catch me? Please.”

I shook my head, not admitting he was right. “What are you doing here anyway, what’s

up?”

“Well everything for the party’s all set up and now that’s done, mother has all of us getting ready early and it’s nowhere near seven yet. You think your mother’s bad? Well, at least she doesn’t still pick your clothes out for you for these kinds of things. She’s a nightmare sometimes,” he complained, dropping back into the chair.

“So, how’s Lyla?” I said kind of nervously. Nikolai was spinning around in the chair, but upon hearing my question, stopped and looked sympathetic.

“Generally, she’s fine. Her issues with you, I have no idea. She’s not really talking about it. I’m not the one who can read her feelings, but I think she’s more sad than upset. But I do know she does really miss you.”

That made me feel a little better. “I’m actually kind of scared to talk to her.”

“You should be, because when she’s ready she’s going to eat you alive,” Nick said, resuming his usual smugness. He opened his mouth to speak again but stopped, looked shocked, then sulky as his shoulders dropped.

“What is it?” I asked. His eyes were unfocused, as if he was somewhere else but upon hearing my question looked directly at me. “It’s my mother. She knows I’m not there and wants me home now.”

“You can hear her from here?” I said incredulously as Nick walked over to the window.

“She’s shouting. If I was human I would still be able to hear her from the other side of the island, voice like hers. I’m coming, I’m coming.” He mumbled and then hopped through the window.

In no time at all six o clock arrived, so I decided it was time I started getting ready. By

6:30 I was dressed and ready in a white dress pants, blue long-sleeved shirt and a white vest.

After putting on a pair of white shoes, I took a comb, applied some hair gel and with a deep sigh, started working on my hair. The end result was actually very nice to see. My usually ruffled hair was now straight and slightly wavy.

“Chase, get down here, we need to go.” Mom finally bellowed from downstairs at about twenty minutes to seven. I took one final look at myself in the mirror.

Lyla was never really concerned about how I looked, but that didn’t mean I still couldn’t make a good impression.

When I got downstairs Dad, who was dressed in a simple tux and was sitting around the dinner table waiting, gave me a simple approving nod, but Mom, wearing an elegant, gleaming purple dress, was still fidgeting with her hair, but when she saw me, she gasped dramatically and smiled.

“Why can’t you keep your hair like this?” I was surprised when she made no attempt to touch it. I guess this was too important.

“Mom, it’s too much work to keep it like this every day.” But she wasn’t listening. She’d just pulled out a digital camera and looked excited.

“We’ve got a little time for a few pictures,” she said with a big smile. Mom liked to document almost everything in a photo album. As I rolled my eyes I noticed that Madison, dressed in long, white, strapless dress, was looking at me in a very flattering way.

“Madison, I want to get a quick one with you and Chase.”

Looking pleased and reluctant at the same time, Madison came over to stand on my right side.

After Mom had as many pictures as she needed, we finally left at ten minutes to seven. It was yet another beautiful night in East Island. A bright half moon shone above a few clouds in the sky, covering everything in a silver glow. There were hundreds of stars out tonight and the air was so nice and light.

Already there were cars parked on both sides of the road leading all the way up to the Morgan house. Some people had even parked on the road at the bottom of the hill to the beach.

When we got around the bend, we actually stopped in amazement at what we were seeing. When Nikolai said they were prepared for the party, I didn’t figure he meant anything like this. Colorful lights were strung up around the trees leading up to the house. Even though the trees were way higher than any ladder could reach, the lights went all the way to the top. The lights were hung on the branches, as one would expect, but were also wrapped around the tree trunk itself, making the tree look like it was a multicolored, luminous tree.

“How did they do that?” Madison wondered aloud.

“I have no idea.” I lied, knowing that their abilities were a great help.

The Morgans’ front door was wide open as the entire ground floor seemed to be a mingling area.

“I’m so glad you all made it,” Salathia greeted us as we went in. Mom and Dad stopped to chat with her and Madison caught the attention of a guy I figured she knew. But being alone suited me just as well. No matter how jittery I felt, I still really wanted to find Lyla.

It was only a couple minutes past seven, but probably more than half the guests had already arrived, including some of my friends who came with their families, who I merely said ‘hi’ to or nodded at and walked on. So many people were here now that I had to turn sideways or actually step out of the way to avoid walking into people.

After about ten minutes of frantic searching I still hadn’t found Lyla, which left me frustrated because I knew she was so close, yet just out of reach. Then I remembered our bond. I hadn’t been with Lyla so long I stopped using it to let her have the right to keep her emotions to herself.

But at that moment I wasn’t in that state of mind, so I focused on our connection and I was immediately surprised to feel something like a jolt pass through me before the bond opened. I figured it was because I hadn’t used it in a while.

Pushing that aside, I reached out to Lyla, not bothering to hide my desire to see her. The magnetic pull-like feeling I was waiting for didn’t come at once and that was partly because Lyla was fighting me, but the resistance I felt disappeared quickly, as if she’d changed her mind.

I never thought I’d miss that strange magnetic pull, but right then I did. Just as it used to months ago, I felt it take hold of me, its force wanting to lead me somewhere. Up the stairs and into Lyla’s room. I was sure of it. Lyla said she’d never experienced the pull, so at least she wouldn’t know I was on my way up.

Slipping past a few other people, I headed straight for the stairs, but someone grabbed my arm and spun me around.

“Mother wants Lyla to come down soon, so if you go up there now that will just offset things. And trust me, you don’t want my mother on your case tonight.” I didn’t respond at once, because I was looking at Nikolai in amazement.

He was wearing a red dress shirt under a gray dinner jacket. The pants were an exact match to the jacket and the shoes was the same color as the shirt. And to top it off, sitting stylishly lopsidedly on the top of his head was a red bowler hat.

A bit of jealously surged inside me at how effortlessly he pulled off the look. I knew it was an Aquamun thing, but it still wasn’t fair. His cologne-like scent hung around him.

“You will get your chance to talk to her when she comes down. Come on.”

Disappointed, I followed Nikolai around, chatting with our friends until finally – “Look, here she comes.” Nick announced, lightly elbowing me.

I looked toward the staircase. Lyla was descending the stairs slowly. I always considered her to be the most beautiful person in the world, but as she came down in a dark blue dress that matched her eyes, I was rendered speechless.

When Lyla finally got to the bottom, I was distinctly aware that Salathia began talking to the guests, but as Lyla was all I could focus on, the two of us might as well have been the only people in the room.

“Outside to dinner,” Salathia finished. I got the feeling Lyla was looking at me, but when her mother turned to go out the back way, she followed without a word to me.

I followed everyone into the Morgans’ backyard where two huge tents had been

erected and under them dozens of plastic tables seating five each. Mom, Dad and I were seated at a table with the Morgans, with Lyla and I facing each other. Madison and Chris were also at our table eating happily and talking with my parents.Through the whole meal, Lyla and I kept staring at each other. Not small, quick glances but long, wanting stares. I tried to feel Lyla’s emotions through our bond, but she kept pushing me away, so I was left not knowing how she really felt.

The meal was fine, but I was extremely happy when everyone got up to dance. I was going to walk right up to Lyla, but she beat me to it. “Would you like to dance with me?” I’d never been happier to hear that voice before.

“I’d love too,” I answered, feeling nervous as I took her hand for the first time in over two weeks. We walked into the middle of the yard and started dancing to a slow song.

I couldn’t actually dance, so I simply ‘stepped’, which made Lyla laugh. It made my heart dance just to hear that. We danced through that and the next song. I didn’t even check the link, for fear of ruining the mood. As soon as the song was over, Lyla’s hands slid from around my neck, though I got the feeling she really didn’t want to. I took her hand in mine. It felt so good.

“Lyla, please… I want you to come with me,” I suddenly desired to be alone with her. A Bruno Mars song started to play. People began dispersing and started mingling with each other.

“Where do you want to go?”

“Do I have to tell you?”

She considered that for a while, than her hand, which was still in mine, relaxed a little. I took her outside to the front, around her house and through the trees toward the cliff. Just as we reached the tree line, Lyla took off her heels and left them by a tree. After a few seconds consideration, I took off my shoes and socks.

As soon as we passed the tree line, we were on the cliffs. The Morgan cliff was different to ours. Instead of just being a piece of land, it looked like dozens upon dozens of huge boulders had been piled there, so much so that even though it was natural, it looked man-made.

We crossed over the rocks until we were standing close to the edge. The sound of the waves on the Morgan cliff was a lot louder and we could actually feel sprays of sea water on our face.

We were still holding hands as we walked.

“Okay, I’m just going to come out and say this,” I started. “Lyla, I’m sorry. I really am. Believe me when I say I had no intention of hurting you, but I know I really did.”

I stopped abruptly when Lyla started giggling. The fact that I hadn’t heard that sweet sound in so long took away some of the sting I felt that she actually laughed at my apology.

“Oh, Chase, no – I’m so sorry,” she said quickly, clearly forcing herself to be serious. “I’m not laughing at your apology. I was just wondering how many times you were going to force ‘really’ into your sentences. I do know how sincere you are. The truth is I feel I need to apologize to you too, because deep down, I knew you had no intentions of hurting me, but I just felt like I wanted you to feel how you made me feel. Honestly, though, I think you might

have been right not telling me about your suspicions until you had proof, because I was so desperate for answers, so desperate to keep you safe… well, I might have done something foolish.”

Lyla turned and looked out toward the sea, probably because she didn’t want me to see her face. It was always easier to see her as an Aquamun whenever she did this. To me, it was such a mermaid-like thing to do.

All I could do was shake my head. I was the wrong one and the one apologizing, yet she was acting as though she’d done something far worse. That made my sense of guilt rise.

“Lyla, I really am sorry,” I said when she looked back at me. I started stammering. I’d planned everything I wanted to say, but now it felt like that had just vanished. It never occurred to me before that I could simply let her feel what I wanted to say, but in the end I didn’t have to do anything, because Lyla just gave in and threw her arms around me.

We held each other for a long time, during which I realized I was long forgiven.

* * *

With November also came the constant arrival of cold, low drifting mist in from the sea on the mornings and huge dark clouds which kept the island heavily supplied with rain and thunderstorms, but as Lyla and I were back on speaking terms, this didn’t bother me one bit. On the contrary, I found the rain kind of relaxing in a way.

A few days after Lyla and I reconciled our differences, I woke up to find my room showered in a weak grey-golden light that obviously meant the sun was covered with bulging rain clouds. But at least for a few hours, maybe, we were going to have some sunlight.

It was a nice Saturday morning and I would have preferred to spend it with my

girlfriend, but she told me she was going swimming with her family, so I decided to just finally

get caught up with my homework, and as Justin was behind as well, I got him to come over so we could work together. Both my parents had already left and we’d just taken out our books, had snacks and drinks ready, when there was a knock at the door.

“Hey, Chris, um, Dad’s already left. I thought you would have been with him.” I said when I let him in.

He sighed heavily. “I was supposed to meet him here, but I was running late. You have friends over?” Chris asked as he saw the table and Justin’s empty chair.

“Just Justin. We’re studying today. He’s in the bathroom.”

“Oh, okay. Chase, could you get me a glass of water please? I’m going to see if I can’t get your dad on his cell.”

“Sure.” When I came back, Justin was already back and Chris had made his call. I handed him the water and he said Dad told him to catch up with him at the harbour in Bermintown.

Just as soon as Chris finished his water, Justin started coughing badly.

“Are you okay?” Chris said looking deeply concerned. I could tell Justin was trying to say he was fine, but couldn’t get the words out with all the coughing. Then I noticed his eyes were becoming red. That’s when I started to panic.

“Maybe we should get him to a doctor. He’s not looking so good,” I said to Chris. He nodded and ran to the telephone as I went over to Justin.

“My chest is killing me!” He shouted at me. Then without warning, he went limp and collapsed onto the floor, just as if he simply feel asleep instantly.

What was going on? I couldn’t explain what was happening to Justin. One minute he was fine and the next, he was unconscious on the floor.

“Yeah, that’s right. He’s unconscious. The poison’s working his way through his body really fast. We need that ambulance now.”

Oh my god, he’s been poisoned, I thought as I tried to see if I could get just get him to wake up. As I was franticly calling out his name, trying anything to see if I could wake him up, something occurred to me when Chris came over and knelt next to me to check Justin.

“How do you know he’s been poisoned?”

Justin’s breathing was turning harsh and shallow.

“Because I poisoned him by accident.”

It was one of those times when a million questions hit me at once, but mere milliseconds after, two simple answers came to me that explained everything. I stood up slowly, my shock causing me to forget to put distance between me and the person before me.

“You were trying to poison me. You’re the one that’s been trying to kill me.”

Chris was busy checking Justin and after forcing some water down his mouth, he looked

at me.

“Yes. I’m the one who has been attacking you from the start.”

Justin’s breathing was returning to normal and I took that as a good sign. It also seemed to bring my senses back to me as the instinct to run took over my body, but ironically, that’s when I realized I couldn’t move.

“If the ambulance gets here in time, your friend will be alright. That poison was made specifically for you. It would still work on anyone else, but a little water slows it a lot. Since it wasn’t made for him it should only have knocked him out. I didn’t expect it could kill someone it wasn’t made for, which is why I chose it. I didn’t want anyone it wasn’t meant for getting hurt. Everything will work out fine, though. I know it.”

Chris took out a handkerchief out of his pocket, held it forcefully against my face, and everything went black.