Ocean Cove

The next couple of minutes flew by in a blur of color and that was because everyone was pacing around Hilda’s living room going over what they were to be doing for the final time, which could be disastrous if it went wrong.

Lyla, Michael and Salathia were going to try to find Andréus and stop him from coming here. According to Lyla, Marcus was to meet up with them in the sea.

Nikolai was to go to my house and compel my parents to make them believe I was still home. To make sure they were safe and out of the way, he was going to use his ability to create some whale activity near the island that would require my parents to leave for a few days. That way Andréus wouldn’t be able to use them against us. Once that was done, he would meet up with the others.

Finally, I was to stay with Hilda at her house, where she would put up some extra defense.

Without me realizing it, everyone else had left the room one by one so I was left sitting all by myself. The silence in the room was now so absolute I could clearly hear the ticking of the second hand on the clock, which was now saying 3:15 am. Any thoughts of sleep had long since left me.

Without any real reason (probably because I had nothing else to do) I started remembering days from months before, when around this time Lyla and I would be asleep, my arms wrapped around her, her body keeping me warm and the sound of my heart beat and my

dreams keeping her comfortable. Those were cherished moments that now seemed an entire lifetime away.

“Those really are good memories,” Lyla said, now walking back into the room. “And believe me, we’ll be making many more, I promise you that.”

I looked at her and smiled. It was the first time I really smiled since she came back. “You can read my mind now, can’t you?”

Lyla chuckled. “Not all the time. And sometimes only what you’re thinking in the moment. I’m still learning to control it. When this is over, we can practice it together.”

“I would like that.” I walked over and hugged her.

I checked the link and shifted through her feelings. Anger, fear, regret. Those were what I expected to feel from anyone who went through what Lyla did.

Over time I’d learned that she was pretty good at hiding her base feelings from our connection, but I found that if I tried hard enough, I could tap into her true emotions. But when I did I was surprised, because I felt emotions from her I didn’t think she would be feeling right now: happiness, hope, content.

The only reason I could think of that she would hide these feelings from me was if she was ashamed. I knew the reason she felt so good was because she was finally back home with her family, with me. I didn’t care how bad she thought that was at a time like this, I was glad she was back.

After disentangling herself from my arms, she kissed me with that same fierce passion she kissed me with before. When we broke apart, she said, “I’m so sorry I brought this on you. It seems whatever I do, I put you in harm’s way. I get close to you and someone almost kills you for it. I leave to keep you out of danger and still, someone else is after you. It makes me feel so helpless.”

The thing about having an emotional connection is that emotions can take you by surprise at anytime. Just as soon as she said it, her despair hit me painfully in my chest.

“Lyla, this isn’t your fault. Just because you love me doesn’t mean when something bad happens to me it’s your fault.” I knew nothing I told her would make her feel better yet, but I still had to try.

A series of audible footsteps told me someone else was here, and I saw Michael standing by the threshold. Knowing that even as big as he was as an Aquamun, Michael could walk without making a sound, which obviously meant he wanted me to be aware he was coming.

“Lyla, mother said it’s time to go.” He told his sister, and then looked at me. “You shouldn’t worry so much, this is all going to work out.”

I tried to give him a reassuring smile. To be honest I had no idea what look was on my face. Looking like he was intruding on something personal, Michael eased out of the room, a lot more gracefully then he came in. Clearly everyone knew how hard saying goodbye again so soon would be for us.

Lyla, looking soulfully at me with her piercing blue eyes, took my right hand and placed it on her cheek, then placed hers on my chest, over my heart. Suddenly, a strange kind of feeling came over me. It felt more physical than emotional. It was beyond anything I’d ever felt in my life, happy and wonderful, yet so much more.

The Aquamun song, Lyla’s song, was loud in my head. The loudest I’d ever heard it. Somewhere, deep in my head, I felt a presence in my mind, another consciousness: Lyla. Somehow, our mental and emotional connections had become so strong, it was as though they were one. I not only felt Lyla’s feelings, but I also heard her thoughts as well and not just what she was thinking at that moment, it was like I had access to all the thoughts and memories she’d ever had, and popping up all around in her mind was me. In that moment, which felt like it could stretch on forever, I knew just how much she loved me.

I don’t know how I said it, with my mouth, mind or emotions, but I said to her, “Lyla, I will always love you.” I knew she heard me.

* * *

Shortly after the Morgans left (around 3:23) I sat down on Hilda’s couch just to rest for a couple minutes, but what felt to me like a few minutes later, I opened my eyes to find the house bathed in sunlight and I was lying down with a blanket over me.

After throwing it over the back of the couch, completely forgetting I didn’t live here, I got up. I saw on the clock that it was five minutes past nine.

“Hilda,” I called a little hoarsely, but was only answered by the ringing silence of the house. Stretching my still tired body, I walked around Hilda’s living room for a while, looking at the pictures depicting her life and came to realize something. All of the pictures in Hilda’s house were of her when she was younger, but she didn’t have any of herself after her late twenties.

I took up one of the photos which depicted a scene of a younger, much happier looking Hilda, posing for the camera with a group of other women. It was so hard for me to imagine the past Hilda and the present one as the same person. Judging from the photos, their personalities seemed entirely different. It made me think of how much I didn’t know about Hilda, not that she was the sharing type.

“What is it?” Hilda’s voice said quietly from behind me. I spun around in surprise. Did everyone supernatural have the ability to sneak around so quietly?

“Looks like you slept well enough, but from now on you can sleep in the room I prepared for you upstairs.”

I figured she was outside when I called, as she was wearing her gardening stuff with the gloves in her hand. I saw her eyes drift down to the picture in my hand and even though she

said nothing about it I got the strangest feeling me holding it was making her uncomfortable, so I carefully put it back in its place.

“Would you like some breakfast?”

She walked into the kitchen. I followed her.

“You don’t have to make me breakfast, you know,” I said even as I sat down to a plate of fried eggs, hot dogs and toast.

“Well of course I know that, but it’s not like I get many guests here anyway. Now, if you don’t mind, I would like your help with a few things around the house.”

I nodded as I sipped a cup of Lipton tea.

Hilda watched me for a moment as I drank my tea, but just when she was about to speak, I asked, “Do you think they’re going to be okay?”

I could tell she read the worry on my face, but I didn’t care. I just needed to hear something good.

“Chase, there’s five of them against one Aquamun, I’m sure they’re going to be fine.”

Because of her tone, her words didn’t reassure me. Instead it brought more worry. I loved the Morgan family as if they were my own and the thought of losing any of them made my stomach turn.

They’d already done so much for me, but this time it seemed like there was a lot more to lose, as if this time the mission at hand was way more dangerous. Maybe it was because Chris had no direct way of killing them, but as an equal, Andréus did. It just hurt me to imagine one of them not coming back if Andréus fought them and for some reason, I knew he was going to.

“Chase, I won’t lie to you. There’s a chance one of the Aquamuns could get hurt. This Andréus sounds like a tough character, but you have to have faith. You need to believe they’re

going to be okay or you’ll drive yourself mad with worry. Plus if he does manage to get here, you’re going to have to be ready, so try not to worry so much.”

After a quick, sympathetic smile, she stood up, pulled back on her gloves and was back in her usual mode.

“Once you’re done, you can come on outside. The garden fence needs painting and it won’t paint itself. “

“Can’t I shower first?” I moaned through a mouthful of eggs.

This time, Hilda’s smile was shrewd.

“Trust me, showering now isn’t going to matter in a few hours, not when I’m done with

you.”

* * *

The days that followed the Morgans’ departure were far from blissful. We didn’t have any contact with Lyla and her family, so we had no way of knowing how they were doing or where Andréus was.

Hilda still kept trying to use magic to look for him, but somehow now even that was not picking him up. As we had no idea where he was, we decided it was best if I stayed home from school. At Hilda’s house I had the best protection. I had left my cell phone home, so no one knew where I was.

Even though I knew they were off the island and safe, I still couldn’t help thinking about my parents. This whole situation was messing with their lives, even though they didn’t know it.

I spent my time helping Hilda as much as possible, because even though it didn’t calm my mind, it did help me pass the time.

On the third day after the Morgans had left, outside seemed like it was permanently overcast. Huge dark clouds had settled over East Island, leaving the place dark and windy.

I was upstairs sitting in the room Hilda prepared for me, wondering just how the cove sounded in this weather, when Hilda walked in.

“Looks like there’s a storm coming.” She stood behind me as I looked through the window at the dense forest beyond. “I want you to have this.”

I turned around and was surprised and a little shocked to see she was holding a sheathed hunting knife out to me.

“I, um, don’t think this is going to hurt Andréus if he gets here, Hilda,” I said as I took the knife from her.

“Well normally, no, it wouldn’t, but this knife has been touched by magic. It’s been charmed.” She added at my puzzled look. “I’m betting it won’t kill him, but if he does get close to you and you use it on him, it will do some damage. Enough for you to escape anyway.”

At that moment I felt a strong pang of frustration in my chest.

“I don’t think they’re having much luck,” I said, then explained to Hilda what I just felt through the bond. Even though we had no idea what Lyla was feeling so frustrated about, Hilda decided to increase the protection around the house.

I had no idea how she was going to do that, but I was really concerned about it. From the time Lyla left, I hadn’t been able to connection with her through the bond and that worried me a lot because I couldn’t help but remember the loneness and pain I felt the first time she left. That was the hardest part. Having to constantly reassure myself that she would come back, that she was just keeping the bond weak so I wouldn’t be checking it in concern all the time. But I just had to know she was okay. Now that I did feel something from her end, however, I had just had to know that they were okay. It appeared what I felt only got through because Lyla temporarily lost control, because as soon as I was about to check the link, I felt it close off again and my own anger began to rise.

I knew Lyla only wanted me to be safe, but I couldn’t roll with the fact that she was keeping me in the dark about everything. Just because I didn’t have any supernatural abilities didn’t mean I needed to be kept from everything. I began wishing I had some way of letting her know how I felt when, to my surprise and relief, one such way did arrive later in the afternoon that day.

Hilda called me downstairs and when I got into the dining room, I was excited to see Nikolai sitting at the table, eating an apple. It was gone within seconds of me reaching the room.

As he was only wearing a pair of shorts, Hilda came into the room holding out a T-shirt to him that I was sure was mine. Nikolai eyed it sadly, but took it and pulled it on.

“What are you doing here?” I asked, the surprise disappearing, giving way to panic. “Did something go wrong? Is Andréus here? What’s wrong?”

“Nothing’s wrong, well except the current problem, which is why I’m here.” Nikolai pulled two more apples from the fruit bowl on the table and bit into one.

“Why is it you eat so much when your kind don’t even need to eat?” Hilda wondered.

“Some organic foods actually have taste to us. Weak and quick, but it still has an appeal to me.” Nikolai replied through a mouthful of chunks.

“And apples are one of those foods?”

Nick nodded as he took another huge bite.

“Why are you here?” I asked again, a little more sharply. “And maybe you can tell me why Lyla’s been keeping me out of what’s been going on.”

“Dude, she hasn’t been doing that to keep you out. She didn’t want to be distracted by the connection, so she closed it to focus on Andréus. And that hasn’t been going very well.” Nikolai suddenly became very serious.

“What do you mean? What exactly has been going on?” Hilda asked. She pulled out a chair and sat down.

“Well, first, I don’t think I need to tell you that he refused to give up the hunt.”

“So what have you been doing this whole time?” I demanded as if I was accusing him of doing something wrong. He simply looked at me and started on his third apple.

“Well, we’ve been trying to pin him down. When we first found him, he was near Australia. Lyla actually convinced him to talk to us, but when he heard what we were asking, let’s just say he wasn’t too keen on the idea of giving up to a human. Sorry.”

Hilda was about to protest, but as I was hungry for information, I spoke a little louder. “Wait, what was he doing near Australia. I thought he lived in England?

“I think he was trying to avoid any interference as he figured Lyla was going to try to stop him. Luckily for us, Lyla already had a pretty strong sense of his aura, so she was able to pick it up. Well, from that time on, he’s been trying to get to the island, but we’ve been throwing him off, though it hasn’t been easy. Believe it or not, he’s actually smarter than he looks.”

“Has he been getting close to East Island?” Hilda asked, getting a little tensed.

“Well, not really,” Nick admitted, thinking on it. “The closest he got was the British Virgin islands. Once we blocked his way, he then tried to shake us off, but with Lyla and me being so fast, he usually has a hard time shaking us off.” Nikolai looked a little nervous, and then said, “He sometimes uses distractions, the worst so far was when he attacked a small fishing vessel.”

Both Hilda and I gasped in horror. I’d never imagine Andréus would hurt complete strangers just to get to me. But then he probably only thought of them as mere humans.

“Did he kill any of them?” Hilda asked.

“No,” Nick replied, “But a few of them were badly injured. I compelled them to forget how they sustained their injuries, but the boat’s been damaged so people will probably think pirates or something.”

“It seems he’s getting desperate. Or frustrated,” Hilda said. Nick nodded in agreement.

“That’s what father said. He also thinks Andréus may be getting help somehow.”

“I thought Aquamuns go on the hunt alone,” Hilda said. I looked to Nick who shrugged.

“Well, we do, but this isn’t a typical situation. We aren’t part of the hunt and we’re helping Chase, so to even things out, maybe Andréus got someone from his house to help him. But it’s only a theory, and Andréus hasn’t been acting like he’s getting any help from anywhere and father doesn’t want to split us up for an unsupported theory, so he sent me to tell you to be on your guard. And yes, we’re all okay.”

Nick got up to leave.

“Thanks for coming to tell us Nick. It’s been horrible being without you, I gotta say, though I thought you would have sent Lyla as she’s the fastest.”

Hilda and I walked Nick to the door, where he turned and looked back at me. Nikolai,

out of everyone I knew, knew just how much Lyla and I loved each other, even if he couldn’t

understand it. He knew how I felt as he had his own special connection with her. It was

anything but supernatural, but it was strong. I’d never forget how much it hurt him when she

left.

“As Lyla’s the fastest, she’s the one who’s best able to keep up with Andréus . He’s pretty fast himself. Lyla and I are the ones usually on his tail. Chase, Andréus wants Lyla, remember. He won’t hurt her.”

“But that isn’t true for the rest of you.”

Nick gave us a small smile. “Don’t worry about us. We’ll be fine. If he decides to fight us, we’ll handle him. I’ve got to go, hopefully the next time back, this’ll all be over.”

He gave us a quick wave and sped through the door, disappearing from sight in under a second.

“If I’m not careful, he may actually start to grow on me.” Hilda admitted as she hung back the protective medallion over the door.

“I hope you realize he took my shirt with him,” I joked. The first clap of thunder rolled through the after sky, sounding like drums of war, signaling the danger to come.

* * *

Even with the existence of magic, I still didn’t believe in omens. However, I didn’t take it as a good sign when the overcast sky got worse over the next two days. This was supposed to be the sunny season, yet outside was cold, dark and wet as rain pummeled the island due to a passing tropical depression.

Since Nick’s visit, Hilda had upped the magical protection, not just on the house, but on me as well. She’d given me a ring to wear she said would protect against an Aquamun’s touch and she’d made one for herself.

I’d seen her doing other things around the house that had to be powerful because she’d begun to get exhausted really quickly. She spent more time sleeping the regain her strength, which wasn’t good, as I knew that meant she was tapping into her own life energy.

“Maybe you should go easy on the magic,” I suggested one evening when Hilda was resting on the couch. She eyed me disbelievingly.

“Chase, you know I can’t do that. Andréus could be a lot older than the Morgans, in which case my protection wouldn’t hold for very long, so I’ve got to put up as many spells as possible. One small spell could mean the difference between life and death.”

Shaking my head in defeat, I drifted back up to my room. As I was too agitated to keep still, I took my clothes off and took a shower. By the time I was finished, rain had already began to fall, sounding like rocks falling on the house, and I actually jumped in surprise as a huge bolt of lightning showered the house in light for half a second, which was followed by an explosion of thunder that was enough to sake the windows.

I knew Andréus didn’t have the power to make storms, but the worsening of the

weather made me very nervous and made me think of what Lyla said, about Andréus being just like his father.

After getting dressed, I decided to ask Hilda if everything was okay, but after searching the whole house, I couldn’t find her anywhere. I even tried calling out to her, but got no answer.

My heart was already racing with worry. Since I came here to stay, Hilda had never left without telling me, so I knew she didn’t just go off somewhere. I supposed she could have just been in the shed outside and couldn’t hear me over the pounding of the rain, but when I went out there, I still couldn’t find her. I couldn’t quite tell what it was, maybe it was all in my head, but something just felt wrong.

Getting myself together, one thought came to me--getting to the knife Hilda gave me, because if she really was in danger, that knife would be my only hope of helping her.

I dashed back into the house, rushed upstairs, dug into the top drawer of the chest-of-drawers and pulled out the knife.

After I took it out by its wooden handle, I couldn’t help but marvel at it. Another bolt of lightning flashed across the sky followed by another explosion of thunder, illuminating the room and making the sliver blade of the knife glow in the light.

At that moment, the realization of the situation and what I was about to do came to me. If Andréus really was here, if he’d somehow found a way around the Morgans, then they wouldn’t be far behind and would simply deal with him. But if he somehow managed to slip

past them without leaving a trail, if he was way ahead of them and the Morgans weren’t able to get here anytime soon, that would mean Hilda and I were on our own with him and I’d have to try to find Hilda by myself.

If he was willing to take Hilda, I knew he wouldn’t have a problem going after my parents; it was a good thing we got them away from here. It was a relief not having to worry about them too.

Taking a deep breath and mentally pulling myself together, I gripped the knife tightly in my hand and confidentially strode out of the room only to walk into a completely soaked figure wearing a wind breaker.

“Aaaaahhhhh!!” I screamed, only to realize it was Hilda.

“Where the hell have you been? I’ve been looking everywhere for you. I was so worried.

I was just about to go out to look for you.” I said, half-relieved, half-exasperated.

“I was out strengthening the protection around the house when I thought I saw someone lurking just behind the trees so I went to look, but I didn’t find anyone.”

“Well that’s good, right?”

Hilda gravely shook her head. “Just because I didn’t find anything doesn’t mean someone wasn’t there. Anyway, it made me increase the power around the house. We can’t afford to be sloppy with him out there.”

Then Hilda’s face became kind. It was something I was still getting used to.

“I’m sorry I worried you. I didn’t expect to be gone so long. And it’s good to see you’ve finally got that out.” Hilda said, pointing to the knife in my hand. “It’s best if you keep it with you from now on.”

“Why must you be so negative? I’m sure the Morgans will handle this.”

“It’s not that I’m being negative, I’m being careful. The young one…”

“Nikolai.” I corrected.

“He told us Andréus was trying to shake them off by leading them all over the place but when I thought about it, it sounded more to me like he was trying to keep them occupied, away from the island, away from you.”

A flash of lightning lit up the sky again and was quickly followed by its companion, thunder.

“Even if that’s true, that he’s trying to keep them away from the island, so what? It’s not like he’s here to do something. He can’t be in two places at once.”

“He might not be here, but like the Aquamun suggested, he could have a partner that’s just waiting for the right time. Now if that’s the case, the Morgans won’t be here to help us, which means we’ll have to fight for ourselves. I’m going to get out of these clothes and I want you to keep that knife with you at all times, okay?”

After I didn’t reply, Hilda grabbed me by the shoulders and looked me in the eye. “Do you understand?”

“Yes, yes, I got you.”

“Good,” she said as she released me and went to her room, leaving me to ponder about the severity of her words.

* * *

The storm that had hit East Island didn’t let up by the next day as I’d hoped. In fact it wasn’t until midday the day after when the lightning and thunder ceased and the rain was reduced to a drizzle. However, huge, dark clouds still drifted slowly across the sky.

I was actually glad when the rain slowed because Mom and Dad were still at sea. Around two in the afternoon, Hilda told me she was going out to strengthen the protection around the house. When I watched her from inside I saw her mutter as she walked around the area of the house. I noticed strange rocks and seashells were placed around the house. As I glanced at her through the living room window, she seemed agitated as she kept glancing towards the forest, as though she expected something to jump out at her. Something or someone.

Before she’d left the house, Hilda told me to stay in the living room and keep the knife with me, which was now lying on the coffee table behind me. There was something in her voice, like panic or fear. Whatever Hilda knew, it had her scared.

Suddenly, as I was staring out the window, I could have sworn I saw a figure just beyond the tree line. A humanoid figure. But as quickly as I had seen it, the figure disappeared. For the smallest part of a second I’d actually thought maybe the Morgans had returned, but if they did, they would not hide. They would come and let us know what was going on. That only meant either Andréus was here, or like Hilda said, he had an accomplice.

My head started to spin. Every beat my heart took seemed to send vibrations through my body that made my vision blur. My whole body felt out of my control. Then I remembered, Hilda had the house protected. Even if an accomplice of Andréus was here, as long as I stayed inside until the Morgans got here, I would be safe.

Wait a minute. That’s when I remembered Hilda was still outside. I looked out the window but couldn’t spot her. Panic filled my body, making my arms and legs tingle in that unpleasant way.

Without thinking about it, I grabbed the knife off the table and put it in the waist of my pants where I could feel the cold brass handle pressing against my skin. Very quickly, I ran through the door and into the drizzling rain. Although the lightning and thunder had stopped and the rain lessened, the wind remained as strong as ever. As soon as I got out, the wind had

started blowing the rain in my face, lowering my visibility. I started calling out for Hilda, but my voice was carried away by the wind.

By now my clothes were completely soaked and I had to keep wiping water out of my eyes. Adding the wind to the mix, I was freezing cold. I was about to turn when I felt a hand grab my shoulder. I quickly spun around, only to be relieved to see it was Hilda.

“Chase we’ve got to go now. We’re in danger.” She shouted over the wind, her eyes wide with shock and fear. The hand she had on my shoulder was trembling violently.

“Hilda, what’s wrong?”

“He’s coming. Andréus is on his way. The protection I placed around the house won’t hold. We’ve got to get away from here.”

“Where can we go? If the protection you put on the house won’t stop him, what will?”

I was starting to feel like the end was near, like everything everyone did for me was in vain, and in no time Andréus would be able to kill me.

Hilda grabbed my shirt and started pulling me towards the forest as she said: “There’s an old abandoned chapel deep in the woods. Its walls have powerful magic that will keep Andréus out.”

I pulled myself free of Hilda and stared at her.

“What about Lyla and the others? What happened to them, are they okay?”

Hilda looked at me, the urgency temporarily disappearing from her face.

“Chase, I’m not sure what happened to them, but if they’re okay, I’m sure they will be here soon and when they get here, I know Lyla would like to see you alive. Everything will be fine. There are five of them against Andréus. I’m sure he only slipped past them but didn’t hurt them. Lyla will be fine. I promise you.”

Hilda motioned towards the trees with her head then took off at a sprint, faster than I would have thought she could run. I took one last look at Hilda’s house and the feeling that I was going to lose everything I loved rushed over me. I turned and took off after Hilda.

As I was following her into the forest, I began to realize I’d never been out here before, so I had no idea where I was going.

The trees were a lot closer together and taller, and there were a lot of low-lying branches that felt like they were trying to catch me. After a couple minutes of running, I started breathing hard and had to slow down as I had a terrible stitch in my side that felt like a knife had pierced my ribs. I had stopped to take a breath when I saw Hilda was just in front of me.

“We’re here. Come on.” Hilda said. I looked around and saw we were now standing in a very small church yard with a very old and majestic looking chapel just ahead of us and all of this was in a small enclosure inside the forest.

As we walked up to the chapel we passed through the graves and crypts. They were about thirty in all.

“I would have never guessed this was here.”

“There’s a lot you’d see if you just opened your eyes,” Hilda said as we got to the chapel, but then she turned to me and held out her hand. “I’m sorry to ask this, but I need your ring. I need to use a spell and require a little extra power.”

Without thinking on it too much, I slipped the ring she gave me off my finger and dropped it into her open hand. She looked at it for a second then placed it in her pants pocket.

Hilda walked up the chapel steps, then opened the doors and stood aside for me to enter. The rain had finally stopped and the wind had simmered down somewhat.

I walked up the steps past Hilda and into the chapel. The inside gave away the fact that this place hadn’t been used in a long time. There were leaves and dust all over the floor and

benches. The benches themselves were scattered all over the room as if everyone left in a hurry and threw them out of their way.

Colorful pieces of glass from the broken windows littered the floor, glittering brightly as weak sunlight shone on them. Huge networks of spider webs were across the whole room. In all, the deserted chapel had a very sad look.

There was a loud bang which I assumed was from Hilda closing the door. I turned around and stepped back in surprise as she was already standing in front of me. I didn’t even get the chance to ask her how she did that. All I saw was the back of her hand as it collided with my face and I went flying across the room.