Ocean Cove

Lyla Morgan is my girlfriend. That’s what I kept repeating in my head day after day since Lyla and I got together and no matter how many times I said it, it always made me feel like I was on cloud nine.

We were right in saying some people wouldn’t like us together. And those were the people we’d already called: Marcus, Hilda and Kristian. When we told Lyla’s father the following day, I got the strangest feeling a couple hundred miles between us would’ve been in my best interest, as I could have sworn his light blue eyes were turning red.

“Lyla, you know the dangers and the risks such a relationship with this boy could hold for us… for you. You know how badly this could turn out. Are you sure this is what you want?”

He asked her when we were sitting in their living room that day. Michael might have been furious, though trying to keep it contained, but I could tell Salathia was leaping for joy inside, though she hadn’t said a word yet.

“Yes, father,” Lyla replied. “I am sure this is what I want. And yes, I do know the dangers and risks that come with a relationship with me and Chase, but I also know of the rewards. Father, I am fine by myself, you know that, but I don’t want to be alone when there is someone I love but more importantly, knows my secret and still loves me.”

Marcus was about to speak, but Salathia gave him a look and he looked away and sat back in his chair.

“You two will have to be careful, but as long as you’re happy, that’s all that really matters. I’m sure everything will be fine.” Salathia said, smiling brightly. It was a huge relief that she was on our side.

Our relationship wasn’t something we could hide from our friends, as we were now spending a lot of time together. But I have to admit, the look on everyone’s face was so comical the first time Lyla and I kissed in public. It was like on TV---everyone’s mouths were literally hanging open. They really couldn’t believe that I was now Lyla Morgan’s boyfriend.

“That’s like saying Brandon has a chance of dating Rihanna,” Maranda joked.

“Wait a minute. Are you saying I couldn’t have a chance with Rihanna?” Brandon shot at Kimberley. Everyone looked at him for a second and then laughed, even Brandon.

With no more attacks and with Lyla as my girlfriend, the last few remaining weeks of August were nothing less than amazing. We spent most of our days together and almost every night. When I went to bed, Lyla would come through my bedroom window and stay with me. Simply just having my arms around her as I slept made me feel contented, blessed. And I made sure that every night I gave thanks that my parents forced me to come to this place.

(Yeah, yeah… I know. Don’t rub it in.)

One night when I was about to go to bed, Lyla was looking out through my bedroom window when she suddenly said:

“I’m going down to the beach. Get dressed and come with me.”

“What? Now?”

Lyla turned around, giggled and came over to kiss me.

“Yes now. I just have this strong urge to go down there with you. Get dressed and I’ll meet you down there.”

Laughing, she jumped through the window. I knew she ran off to the beach the second she touched the ground. I was left standing surprised in my room. After a few seconds the same feelings, the desire to be on the beach with Lyla, came over me. I pulled a pair of short pants over my boxers, got a shirt and went through the window and down the tree after her.

When I got down to the beach I spotted her and walked over. She lay comfortably on her back on the sand with her eyes closed, and I lay down next to her. Even though her eyes were closed and I made no sound as I walked on the sand, she still knew I was there, because as soon as my head was against the sand, she took my hand in hers and laughed lightly as she enjoyed the feel of my fingers. When she finally turned her head towards me, she opened her eyes and I was immediately stunned by their beauty.

“What?” I asked, feeling a little shy when she started smiling at me. Even though I was more than glad we were finally together, I couldn’t imagine what had that kept her so interested in me.

“You just feel so good. So warm.” She trailed a finger along a vein on my arm.

“Really? I feel warm to you?” I said disbelievingly, “because right now, I’m actually feeling kind of cold.”

Lyla propped herself up on her elbows, with her hands cupping her face and her hair casually resting on her shoulders. She laughed at my statement.

“I meant to me. Aquamuns don’t have body heat, or we can’t feel it,” she hesitated for a moment, then continued. “Actually, we don’t feel anything at all.”

I stared wide-eyed at her.

“What do you mean, you don’t feel anything?”

“Well, we don’t have a sense of touch. Not like humans do, anyway.”

“Seriously?”

“Yeah. We can detect when we touch something. We know it’s there, we can tell if it’s a solid or liquid, soft or hard, hot or cold. We detect those things, but we don’t feel them. Like, for instance, even though it’s cold outside right now, I can’t feel it, but my body can detect the temperature around me. So if someone asked, I’d at least be able to say ’It’s chilly out’. It’s kind of weird though, always having to pretend to be cold or hot or when the temperature’s too

high for a human to be ‘warm’, but it’s something you get used to. I wish I could have one day where I could experience everything like a human… that would be amazing.”

She had such a dreamy look on her face when she said it that I knew it was something she’d thought about before.

I remained quiet for a while, taking in everything Lyla had just said, but then realized what she just said contradicted something she said before.

“So that really means you can’t feel my body heat, you can only detect it.”

Lyla placed her hand on my chest and my entire body was flooded with warmth. That brought another question to me. But I decided I was going to ask her later.

“Well, that’s what’s odd about you. You see, every other human feels the same to me, like everything thing else… so empty, lifeless. But not you, you’re different. From the moment I touched you the night I saved you, it’s like a whole new world opened up for me because now… I can feel things. Well, I can only experience some things with you, like feeling your body react to me. It doesn’t happen with any other human, just you. But it’s still incredibly amazing. When I touch you, I’m actually feeling you and that’s not even the most of it. When the wind blows, I can feel it on my skin. When I go swimming, the ocean feels so alive and inviting now, like I can become one with it. Chase, I don’t know how or why I’m feeling these things, but I don’t want it to stop. I finally know how it feels to really be alive.”

“Maybe, it’s me,” I said after a moment of thought. “Maybe, there’s something different about me, and that’s why these thing are happening to you.”

Lyla absentmindedly said: “Maybe,” and exhaled, her amazingly sweet breath filling my lungs and dulling my mind, making me crave her more than I already did.

“There’s something else,” she admitted suddenly. “It’s something strange. Ever since that night,” I knew she was referring to the night I met her. “I’ve been feeling these… emotions. The thing is, these emotions, well, they weren’t mine. You know what I’m talking about, don’t you?” She watched my reaction closely.

I sat up and Lyla did the same, once again putting her arms around her legs. I looked at her and couldn’t help but marvel at the intensity with which she regarded me.

“I do. At first, I really didn’t know what to think, because I was feeling things I knew had nothing to do with me and in the beginning it had me a bit scared. But when I realized what I was feeling was coming from you, I couldn’t, no, I didn’t want to fight it anymore. I didn’t care if I even got hurt, as long as I got to be with you.”

Lyla sighed exasperatedly and turned away from me.

Through the connection we were just talking about, I was able to deduce that the anger she was now feeling was aimed at herself, for she still felt that sooner or later she was going to hurt me in one way or another. I was very surprised at how much information I was able to get just from one emotion. I reached out and turned her face towards mine and surprisingly, she complied without any resistance.

“Lyla, I love you. No amount of danger in the world could make me want to stay away from you, not even if you think that danger is inside you, which I don’t think it is.

“What makes you say that?” She sounded desperate for reassurance.

“Look at us,” I searched for the perfect thing to say. “Lyla, look at what we do for each other. You said the things you experience with me, you don’t feel with other humans. When an Aquamun forms a bond for the switch with a human, do they have this kind of connection?”

She shook her head. “Nothing like this.”

“You see? And I’ve never felt this way about anyone else in my life, even though compared to yours, seventeen years isn’t that long to live.”

“Trust me, being immortal just means you feel every tick of the clock. Anyway, there’s something else about Aquamuns I haven’t told you, maybe then you will understand my worry.”

“Okay, but I can tell you now, it won’t change anything,” I said honestly.

She took my hands in hers, pulled me up, and we started strolling along the beach, hand in hand. That got me thinking of how funny it was that I felt so at ease with being so emotionally entangled with a mermaid. Then I started to wonder… what if Lyla was human? Would half the romance between us even exist? I became aware that she started to speak and pulled myself back to our conversation.

“Chase, when an Aquamun has compelled a human to perform the switch, a kind of emotional bond similar to what we apparently have is formed between the two. The reason for it is so we can get closer to the human we want to turn, because the switch happens on an emotional level. With the link, we’re able to manipulate their emotions, make them feel not only what we do, but what we want them too. Another thing is, we can go into their dreams and make them realistically see anything we want them to. I have to admit, that’s something I would actually want to experience, because we sleep, but we don’t dream.

“So, all the times I’ve dreamt about you, that was actually you in my head.”

Lyla turned her head towards the sea and I had a feeling she was blushing when she said: “Well, no. Those times, it was all you. Since the connection was formed, I haven’t been able to control your dreams. I admit, I tried a couple times, but I was just curious.”

I laughed. “But I have been having dreams. At first, I believe I was dreaming what you

were.”

“What makes you think so?”

“Because I felt I was in your mind. Besides, I’ve seen enough of myself not to be dreaming about me the way you do, so it had to be yours.”

This time I was the one that turned away shyly, but Lyla continued as if there was no interruption. “Now, I have the most wonderful dreams. Sometimes I just see colors and shapes, but at times they’re just like yours, and there are times when you are even in them.”

Again, Lyla led me to a tree which we sat underneath and she giggled in the child-like voice of hers that made her seem more carefree. That’s why I loved it.

“Even though we can’t explain what or why this has happened to us, it obviously didn’t happen for any bad reason because it’s brought us to each other,” I said.

She just kept smiling and fell onto her back on the sand. I remained in silence for a while, just appreciating each other’s company and the ambiance around us.

I’d been living on the island for three months now. I still hadn’t gotten quite used to the Caribbean sea, but always hearing the constant swooshing of its ebb and flow was very relaxing.

The air was blowing a little, but to me if felt strangely lifeless as the sound of Lyla’s voice was absent from it. I just longed to hear her beautiful voice.

“Tell me more about Aquamuns.”

“What do you want to know?”

“Anything,” I exclaimed eagerly. Lyla laughed out loud, a beautiful, song-like laugh that was unachievable by any human.

This time, before she could reach for my hand, I took hers in mine and through our bond I felt her pleasure at this. She opened her eyes and looked up at the sky. I followed her gaze, wondering if I could see what kept her so in awe about the night sky. There were huge clouds in the sky, blocking the moon from sight, but there were still dozens of stars out, twinkling brightly as they shone down on us.

“Okay. Well first off, I um… I don’t have to eat,” Lyla admitted nervously, as though this bit of information would somehow be her undoing. I couldn’t keep the surprise out of my voice.

“How can you not eat?”

“I didn’t say I can’t. I said I don’t have to. Aquamuns don’t have a need for food because we don’t use it for energy as we get all the energy we need from the sea.”

Lyla avoided my gaze by focusing on a spot above my head, as if she was afraid of what my response would be. I got the strange feeling she would now try to pull her hand out of mine, but she wasn’t because I very easily kept our hands together.

“Must be interesting to never be hungry, but I got to tell you, that would be true torture because I love to eat.”

“Yes Chase, everyone knows that’s true,” Lyla said, laughing.

“You said you don’t have to, so does that mean you do eat?”

I was happy to see that a smile found its way back to Lyla’s face and I felt, through our connection, that she was happy that I wasn’t freaking out.

“Of course. I eat all the time like when I’m at school or out with friends, but I only used to do it for appearances sake. See, we’ve come to notice no matter how careful you try to be, it’s the little things humans pick up on the fastest. Someone would have noticed we don’t eat if we didn’t sometimes. It’s just I never used to like to eat because of the taste, or lack of taste I should say, food used to have and that repulsed me. Aquamuns don’t have a sense of taste either, but we can sense the difference in food.”

“To keep up the charade.” I offered.

She nodded, her gaze still on the stars above, though with more intensity than usual, and that’s when I caught onto something she said.

“Wait, ‘used to’? You said you used to never like to eat? What, you do now?”

Forcefully, Lyla pulled her gaze away from above and looked at me. But as she did, I understood what she must have been implying.

“This connection between us. It’s changed that too?”

“Yeah. I don’t know when it started, but I first really noticed it a couple weeks ago. Father had someone over for dinner and when we sat down and began to eat. I felt every little

flavor explode inside my mouth.” She chuckled and continued. “I started eating everything on the table. Mr. Corner was obviously surprised and simply thought I had a ‘healthy’ appetite, but my family, however, have been more concerned about me.”

“Hold on, did you tell them about the connection?” I asked, a little surprised. Lyla drew herself up and looked me straight in the eyes and it was as if her amazing blue eyes were close to seeing into my soul. “Yes, I told them. But the thing is, they kind of already knew something was different about you.”

“Something different about me? What are you talking about?”

Lyla looked uncomfortable, then she said, “It’s past one in the morning, maybe it’s time you got home…”

“No,” I interjected firmly but gently. “Tell me what you meant by that.”

When I told Lyla maybe there was something different about me, I had no idea that was the general consensus among her family. It’s not like I was worried, at least not yet, but it did intrigue me.

“You know how the witch Hilda has the ability to see auras; well, Aquamuns can too. You told me you got Hilda’s attention because she said she couldn’t see your aura, well my family became worried, not because they couldn’t see your aura, it’s just yours is a little… odd.”

“How so?”

“Well, because your aura tends to, um, well change.”

“Is that bad?” I asked slowly. Lyla thought about it for a couple seconds. “We really don’t know. We’ve never heard of anything like this before. It’s so strange, whereas everyone’s aura, humans and Aquamuns alike, is one color, yours is just white.”

“Let me guess, no one ever has a white aura?”

“Exactly,” Lyla said, “Which might explain why Hilda and the Somorians can’t see it. We Aquamuns probably can because of the bond you have with me. That’s my best guest. And because your aura is white, it makes you untraceable.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, everyone’s aura is unique and the same way you can leave a scent, your aura leaves a trail, one we can trace to find you, but not yours. That’s what my family meant when they said you are different. You should know though,” Lyla added, “That the only time a human’s aura disappears to supernatural humans is when the connection is formed between the human and an Aquamun for the switch, but as my father said your situation hasn’t been documented, we don’t know what to think. Other than everything you’ve told me, is there anything else I should know, any other changes that happened to you?”

There was a kind of pleading in her voice as if she was hoping, no, praying I was going to

say no.

Lyla’s emotions suddenly pushed themselves on me. Coming from her, through the bond, I sensed her happiness at being there with me, that was her current dominant emotion, but under that there was a kind of dormant fear. Fear that what was happening was somehow going to destroy me.

“I told you everything that’s happened,” I said slowly and reassuringly.

“Oh, good,” she muttered.

“Do you think something’s happening to me?”

“I don’t know, but I’m worried.” Lyla moved over to me and sat down between my legs and as soon as she did, I had my arms around her and her head was against my chest.

“I think we ought to see Hilda,” Lyla suggested with a deep sigh.

“Why?” I blurted out.

“Because as much as we may not like it, she may be able to give us some answers about what’s going on with us and maybe some insight on who’s attacking you.”

I was on the verge of saying no, because honestly I wanted to keep as much distance between Hilda and I as possible, but the pleading in Lyla’s voice when she made the suggestion plus the feelings coming through our bond made me know she just wanted closure and I couldn’t deny her that. When I said okay it was more to comfort her than because I actually wanted to go. She did become a little more relaxed, so I guess it was worth it.

“Simply being with you like this makes it hard to worry about myself,” I whispered as I lightly kissed Lyla on her cheek. The clouds overhead had now cleared and the bright moonlight shone down brightly on us, giving Lyla’s skin a kind of white glow about it as if dozens of white fireflies were glowing underneath her skin.

“Are you okay? Why so silent all of a sudden?” She asked. When she turned around, I could have sworn her eyes were glowing the most amazing blue I’d ever seen. I shook myself out of the trance I was slipping into as I stared into them.

“You are so beautiful. I’m serious. Angels probably look like you.”

Lyla turned her head and let her long, black hair cover her face to hide her blushing, but that didn’t matter to me. I pushed her hair behind her ears and lowered my face to hers, towards her lips, as though they were pulling me to them.

At first we merely kissed softly, but soon we gave in to a kind of fierce passion I’d never experienced before, not even with Lyla. She was finally starting to let her guard down. I now not only felt it burning inside me but, thanks to the bond, but within Lyla as well.

* * *

Even though I had promised Lyla we would visit Hilda, that didn’t make the thought of it any more tolerable, so for as long as possible I did my best to put it off, but that only lasted for three days, as Lyla was dead set on going.

So on Thursday afternoon, after Lyla had cornered me, we hopped into Shelia and set out for Hilda’s house. The drive there felt longer than it actually was due to the silence in the car. Through our bond I felt Lyla’s discomfort about where we were going increase. I didn’t know if she told her family where she was going, but I figured if they knew, they wouldn’t be too happy about it.

If Hilda was able to tell us anything about our connection that wasn’t good, Lyla would believe it to be her fault, which was what she was dreading at the moment. It was agony for her to even think about, and all that came barreling over to me.

Taking my left hand off the wheel, I took her hand and gently squeezed it. She returned the gesture and turned to give me a smile, then went back to gazing out the window.

It occurred to me then that as much as Lyla believed that everything I was going through was her fault, the truth was that if she’d never saved my life, she wouldn’t be going through this now. It really was all on me.

* * *

When we pulled up at Hilda’s house, we saw her working in her front garden and even from inside of the car, I saw the slight smile she was wearing drop a little when she noticed Lyla in the passenger seat of the car.

“Are you sure about this?” I asked Lyla before we got out. Lyla had looked at Hilda as though she was a despised rival.

“My… uh… dislike for the witch… I mean… Hilda aside, we can’t deny we need her help. She may be able to give us some answers. Though I should speak as little as possible.”

“Why?”

“I don’t want to give her a reason to piss me off,” Lyla said, getting out of the car first.

Laughing, I did the same.

We walked up to Hilda with Lyla two steps behind me, and upon reaching just in front her, I cleared my throat. She looked up at me with an intensity that told me she was trying not to see Lyla.

“Good afternoon, Chase. How can I help you today?”

“I’m ready to talk to you. We…” I made sure to stress the word and indicate Lyla, “Need your help.”

Hilda looked momentarily surprised, but quickly composed herself. She considered us for a couple seconds, then stood up, dusted herself off and said:

“Very well, come inside.” She walked off into the house, leaving the door open for us.

I followed her, but just as I passed the threshold I turned and saw Lyla standing just outside the door.

“What’s wrong?” I asked. It was her idea to come here, so I couldn’t understand why she wouldn’t even come inside.

“I can’t enter,” she replied indifferently. Before I could say anything else, Hilda came back to the door and removed what looked like a wind chime made of sea shells and sea glass. I noticed there were strange markings on them.

I wasn’t sure if it was just me, but as soon as the wind chime was down, I could have sworn I felt a wave of heat pass through me and now the house, to me, felt strangely open, vulnerable.

Hilda smiled slyly at Lyla and said, “Sorry.”

Lyla glared at her as she walked in and that’s when I understood that coming here was a lot harder on her than it was on me. Hilda led us straight into her living room where we took seats around her circular table.

“What can I do for you?” she asked.

Taking a deep breath, I finally explained everything about Lyla and I to her. When I was finished Hilda was still looking at us seriously, but she couldn’t keep the surprise off her face.

“It seems obvious to me what’s happening to you Chase.”

“No, it isn’t,” Lyla said, soft but forcefully. “Because I’m not trying to turn him, as that’s what you’re insinuating.”

Hilda leaned forward in her chair, her nostrils flaring.

“I’m not insinuating anything, as it’s happening right before us,” Hilda retorted, waving her hand towards me. “I knew you Morgans were just the same, despite the harmless act you put on.”

Now it was Lyla’s turn to lean forward and through our connection, I felt a strong anger rise up inside her.

“Don’t bring my family into this. None of us have ever tried to turn a human, ever. I do not know why Chase and I share this bond, nor how it allows me to experience the things I can now, or even how I am able to be in love with Chase. I don’t know what it happened, but I’m glad it did. Now, Hilda, the reason Chase and I are here is to discover whether this connection can hurt Chase or if I… will change him, without intending to do so. Can you give us that information?”

After that Lyla just sat silently and looked at Hilda. The tension between them was strong. Then Hilda’s black eyes came to rest on me.

“I’ve never heard of anything you described happening except with the switch and even with that, she shouldn’t be having these kinds of experiences if it is the switch. Add to that the fact that she says it’s not intentional and we’ve got a real mystery. I’m sorry Chase, you know I’d like to help you, but I’ve never heard of anything like this before. But I will do all I can to find something out.”

I nodded slowly. Lyla made to stand up, but before she did, I said: “There’s something

else.”

Both Lyla and Hilda turned to stare at me.

I’d decided to tell Hilda about the attacks because, even though coming here wasn’t my idea, I was sure she could help with this. But to do this, I had to ignore the looks and emotional waves of curiosity from Lyla.

“I – I mean, we – think someone might be trying to kill me.”

“That’s a pretty serious thing to say. What makes you say so?”

I recounted to her all the strange attacks that had occurred since I had met Lyla. Even though Lyla told me she didn’t believe Hilda to be the one after me, I still searched her face for any trace of guilt or secrets, but I saw none. But I was shocked when she admitted she knew what I was talking about.

“I knew it,” she said under her breath when I was finished.

“You knew someone was trying to kill him?” Lyla said surprised, “And you didn’t…”

shot her a ‘Lyla-don’t-argue-now’ look and she kept quiet, though she continued glaring at Hilda.

“How do you already know that?” I asked.

“Because I’ve been sensing it,” she said simply. She seemed to be recalling something to herself before she continued. “It started a few weeks after I met you. You see, usually when

someone uses magic, you wouldn’t sense it unless you were looking for it. But for a while now someone on the island has been using powerful magic, very powerful dark magic. It’s so strong that once it’s even woken me from a deep sleep. It’s had me very disturbed. I figured whoever’s doing it has to be up to something very shady. Then that night I found you and your friends stranded on the side of the road, minutes after I’d just defused one of the spells…”

“What, what do you mean you defused it?” I asked.

“Well, when I sensed it, I used a spell to counter it. The counter was supposed to cancel it out, but that person’s spell was so powerful it had a backlash, which was what you felt. Anyway, when I found you, imagine my surprise when I found the spell had been aimed at you, Chase, but out of all of you, you were the only, um, different one, but I had no way of knowing if that was the first time or if all the others were attempts on your life.”

“So you’ve known about this all along. Why didn’t you tell Chase?” Lyla asked, without the attitude.

“For a couple reasons. One, I had no idea he already knew about magic or was sure he was the one being attacked. Two, if he wasn’t the one, I was afraid of scaring him or putting him in danger by telling him. And besides, I’d already decided I would try to find this person by myself. They have to be stopped anyway. And three, I was afraid if I told Chase the attacker would find out and get more desperate, pushing them to more extreme measures.”

“Well, do you have any idea of who it is?” I asked, but Hilda shook her head.

“Not a clue. See, since the magic this person’s using is so very powerful, I was hoping it would leave some kind of trail, leading back to the attacker. But whoever it is seems to be pretty smart, because they’re covering the trail and hide their location.”

This was very disappointing news. However, Hilda was looking at me as though I was a long awaited gift. I had no idea why she looked so pleased, but what surprised me was when I felt the same feelings coming from Lyla.

“Can you do it without hurting him?” Lyla questioned.

Hilda nodded. “He won’t feel a thing,” she said as she rose from her seat.

“What are you guys talking about?” I asked.

“Hilda’s going to see if she can use you to form a kind trail to find the person that’s behind all of this.”

“That’s correct,” Hilda said as she came back into the room with six candles cradled in her arms, along with six candle-stick holders.

After they were placed around the table and the candles lit, Hilda made sure all the curtains in the room were drawn. The room was filled with a low, yellow-orange glow.

“How is this, um, link supposed to work? I mean, how can you make it if you don’t even know who is behind it in the first place?”

“Well because it’s already there, as this person has been directing their attacks at you from a distance. Let me explain,” she said when she saw that I still looked puzzled. “This person would’ve had to have contact with you sometime, because when you want to inflict damage on a person using those kinds of spells, you need something belonging to the person, kind of like getting a bloodhound to find someone. With the object they have belonging to you, they can use it like a kind of beacon, allowing the spell to find you and hurt only you. Now, because some of these spells have already affected you, what I’m hoping for is for there to be a kind of residual magical link trace from you leading right back to the attacker.”

“Can he use this link to hurt me?”

“No,” Hilda responded at once. “If it is there, they won’t be able to use it to hurt you. It’s not like the one you two share. All it will be able to do is provide us with the location and identity of who is behind this.”

Lyla squeezed my hand. “It’s going to be okay.”

“I know,” I responded, not altogether truthfully.

“Give me your hand.” I placed my left hand in Hilda’s palm, which was surprisingly

rough.

“Now, I just want you to close your eyes. And just remember, you have no reason to be nervous. You won’t be hurt.”

She looked over at Lyla and the look on her face was a little comical. It seemed she’d just realized she was no longer being rude to her.

“I’d like you to complete the circle, please. You’re a supernatural being, so your

presence will help us greatly,” she told Lyla who, in turn, responded by offering her hands to us

both. As usual, when I took hold of Lyla’s hand my body seemed to take the same temperature

as hers, so that I felt warm.

From the moment Hilda and Lyla’s fingers touched, still a little reluctantly, a ripple of warmth seemed to fill our little circle, but I had no idea if it was Hilda’s magic or if it was Lyla.

By this time Hilda had closed her eyes and had gone incredibly still. Lyla had also done the same, so I thought for good measure I would do the same too. For a while all I felt was a rising sense of silliness almost to the point where I was getting restless, but then something strange started to happen.

The table began to shake just a little, and then the rocking grew violent and Hilda’s hands began to grow mysteriously hot as if she had two burning rocks of coal in her hands. Hilda and Lyla were still not moving.

I tried to pry my hand free from hers, but she had an incredibly strong grip on me. I was starting to get worried when I looked over at Lyla and saw that her eyes were now open and she too was looking worriedly at Hilda. Before either of us could do anything, Hilda’s eyes flew open and she pulled her hands from ours. I was shocked to see that even though her hands were physically fine, they were smoking as though they’d been badly burnt. But Hilda, was looking at them as though they were merely smudged with dirt.

“Are you okay?” Lyla asked, not sure what to do.

“Oh yes, I’m fine, but I’m very sorry,” Hilda said, looking at me. “Whoever’s doing this seems to really know what they’re doing. I tried to trace the link back to the person, but the protection spells they have in place are pretty powerful. I could not even get a general location, much less a mental print of who they are.”

Both Lyla and Hilda were visibly disappointed, but strangely I didn’t feel that let down. I knew Hilda could help, but for it to be this fast would have just been too easy.

“Hilda, it’s okay,” I said to her. “You tried your best and to be honest, I’m just glad you’re not the one after me, but that just brings us back to square one, anyone could be after me.”

Lyla looked over at me with a kind of fierce determination burning on her face and burning through our bond. As her gaze locked onto mine the feeling that I was being hypnotized crept upon me once again, but as usual I didn’t want to fight it. Instead, I wanted to fall as far as possible into it; maybe it would bring us closer.

Suddenly Lyla gripped my wrist and it was like a bucket of cold water to the face, I was instantly back to normal and saw Lyla was now looking at me differently, half-concerned, half-exasperated. She leaned towards me and whispered: “I thought you said that stuff was over.

Did…” But she broke off when Hilda came back into the room. In fact, I hadn’t even noticed she’d left in the first place.

“Did something just happen? Between you two I mean,” Hilda said, looking from me to Lyla, then her eyes strayed to Lyla’s hand, which was still around my wrist. Lyla quickly released it, then stood up in a defensive way.

“Nothing we can’t handle,” she said.

Hilda merely stared at her and before she could say anything, Lyla said:

“You can check for yourself,” while holding her palm out to Hilda. She, in turn, looked taken aback by Lyla’s directness, but quickly composed herself.

“I’ve already told you that I’m not going to hurt Chase. I don’t need you to keep reminding me that I shouldn’t be with him, I promised I’d do my best not to put him in any danger, whether from myself or anything else. But as my word isn’t enough for you, and as we also do need your help, I give you permission to check for any lies you think I’m telling.”

“You obviously know about magic, you might know a way to conceal something from me,” Hilda said, rising an eyebrow.

Lyla smiled in response and said, “You’re a skilled witch, I’m pretty sure you would know a way to get around any tricks I would have.”

Hilda fixed Lyla with a stare as she just ran her tongue over her lips for a couple seconds.

“You do know the connection works both ways, how do I know you won’t try to use it to your advantage?”

“Hilda, despite what you think, my family and I have no quarrel with you. You’ll see if I’m

lying.”

All the while I just sat there listening, looking open-mouthed at the two of them. I wanted to get up and find out what they were talking about, but I didn’t do anything partly because I felt that was something between them and maybe it would sort out their differences and anyway, whatever they were talking about, I was hoping I would be able to feel it through our bond.

I had no idea what Lyla meant when she asked Hilda to check her, but Hilda obviously did, because she walked up to Lyla and placed her palm to hers. It seemed I was right. Whatever was happening between Lyla and Hilda was passing to me through the bond, and it wasn’t anything pleasant. It felt like something slimy was passing through me, searching my soul. Only it wasn’t my soul Hilda was searching, it was Lyla’s emotions.

Through our connection I felt Hilda go through all of Lyla’s feelings, but in a different way than I did. It was as though she was able to read her feelings like an open book. Somehow

Hilda was able to sift through all the emotions Lyla ever had in her life, though she only focused on the recent ones, specifically the ones she had since she met me.

I tried my hardest to push those feelings away because I remembered the emotional turmoil Lyla went through at that time and I knew I couldn’t handle all that at once. But as I tried to keep them away, somehow my own confused feelings got mixed up in whatever they were doing. Finally, they pulled apart, and I felt the huge mountain of emotions between me and Lyla subside.

From the looks their faces, I knew it was something they weren’t keen on doing again.

“Do you see now that I’m not lying?” Lyla said, but Hilda was once again looking at me and rubbing her hands together as though they were sore.

“What is it?” I asked. She simply continued to stare and say nothing. She seemed then to shake herself out of her deep thought.

“Oh, it’s nothing. The connection you two share allowed me to see a little into your own emotions. Not that I went looking,” she added defensively, “it’s just your connection is so strong, it intertwines your emotions and it was a little hard to tell them apart at first. When I was feeling through your emotions, Chase, I felt something that surprised me, that’s all.”

“Okay…” I said slowly. “So anyway, what do we do now?”

“Just be careful…” she sighed as she looked at Lyla, “and stay close to her. She should be able to keep you safe should she need to.”

Lyla merely said: “Hmmm,” and turned and walked out to the car.

“She really does love you, you know. I know she does, well I do now anyway, but believe me, that doesn’t mean she still can’t hurt you.”

“But you’re not so sure she will anymore, are you?”

“What makes you say so?”

“Because if you were, I’m sure you would have told me to stay away from her.”

“I still think you should, but it would be a waste of time trying to convince you of that. So as long as she has to be around you, she might as well be of some use.”

Hilda followed me to the door, her strange amulet in her hand.

“Just because I think she may harm you doesn’t mean I don’t believe she will protect you.” She said as we stood by the door. She hung the amulet back over the door, and I felt a strange heaviness fall over the house.

* * *

Okay, so visiting Hilda gave her more information than us, but at least we knew for sure she wasn’t the one trying to kill me, and knowing she was on our side greatly reassured Lyla, and me too.

Instead of going back home, Lyla and I headed to Ridgetown and as soon as we got there, headed for the first Chicken Stack restaurant we found where we ordered chicken and fries. I’d never realized how hungry I was until I started eating.

“Don’t you want any?” I said as I washed down a mouthful of fries with some pineapple

juice.

Lyla smiled as she watched me. “I’m fine. But I did have a feeling you were hungry. Anyone would have heard the songs your stomach was singing.”

“Well, I could have gotten something to eat at home.” We’d chosen a seat on the ground floor by the glass wall and I noticed that almost every guy who passed had to take a look at Lyla.

“That’s true,” Lyla said, picking up a chip and slowly eating it, “But you and I’ve never spent any real time together doing normal stuff, other than at home, so I thought we’d just use this time for that.” I didn’t say anything, but I was extremely excited by the idea.

Usually when we were together, our conversations had something to do with the supernatural. So after we ate we walked around town and not once did we talk about any of our troubles. It was like we were just another teenaged couple. For a short while, we were like everyone else.

My greatest happiness didn’t only come from being with Lyla. It came from knowing she was happy. I was just glad that being with me brought her that happiness. The whole time we were out and about, Lyla smiled and laughed and held my hand with the greatest pleasure. Not once through our bond did I feel any negative emotions coming from her. She must have needed this just as much as I did.

“What?” she asked, still smiling broadly when we got in the car.

“I’m just glad to see you happy.”

“Chase, I’m always happy when I’m with you, and I did have a lot of fun tonight. Thank you so much for a wonderful evening.”

“You’re most welcome.”

By the time we got home it was just after 10:00 p.m., but Mom and Dad were still entertaining guests. Chris, Gibbons and a young black woman with long black hair that I didn’t know were in our living room. When my mother saw me looking at her, she introduced us.

“Madison, this is my son, Chase.”

Madison stood up from the living room couch and shook my hand, eyeing me with interest. “Chase, this is Madison. She just started working at the clinic as my assistant.”

Madison smiled and shrugged that off, as if she didn’t think that was anything important.

“I’m in college and I want to be a vet someday, so I thought the experience would do me good. But I only put in a couple hours a week,” she added sadly, “can’t afford to fall back in my studies.”

“Quite right,” Dad said from his seat.

At that moment, Lyla wrapped her arm around me, which resulted in my hand being pulled from Madison’s, whose eyes turned to Lyla with slight interest.

“Hi. I’m Lyla, Chase’s girlfriend.”

There was a definite stress on ‘girlfriend’, to which Madison responded with a curtly nod, which Lyla ignored. I was sure the others weren’t seeing any of this.

“Well, we’ll just go on upstairs. And don’t worry,” I added, speaking to my Mom, as we starting to climb the stairs, “I know it’s getting late. Lyla will be leaving soon. We won’t even have enough time to get to the good stuff,” I joked.

Mom’s head did a double take towards the stairs, but Lyla and I had already rushed up, giggling.

“I can’t believe you didn’t see that,” Lyla said as she dropped down on my bed.

“See what?” I asked as I pulled off my shirt, preparing to take a shower.

“It’s so nice to meet you,” Lyla said, doing an accurate but cruel impression of Madison.

There was no way to hold in the laugh that escaped me.

“Lyla, that’s not nice.”

“Don’t tell me you didn’t see the way she looked at me.”

I merely shrugged as I pulled off my jeans.

“Go on, don’t let me stop you,” Lyla teased with her eyebrows raised as I stood there in my boxers. I grabbed a fresh towel and wrapped it around me.

“Easy, girl,” I kissed her quickly and left the room to take my shower. When I returned to the bedroom I found Lyla reading my copy of L. G Harding’s novel, The Illusionist.

“This book is very interesting,” she said as she marked her page and then put the book

down.

“That’s why I like it. So anyway, tell me, what you were saying before? Did you mean Madison likes me?” I fell onto the bed next to her.

“Chase, you mean to say you really couldn’t tell? She practically wanted to wish me out of existence.”

I laughed because I knew Lyla’s pouting was merely playful banter. She knew she had no reason to be jealous. Lyla got up and headed for the door.

“You’re leaving,” I said, shocked. “Lyla, I really didn’t notice…”

I stopped when she placed her index finger by her mouth. “I’ll be right back. No need to worry.”

She blew a kiss at me and practically drifted out the room. Within a couple of minutes, there was a light tap on my window.

“I just wanted your parents to think I’ve gone home,” she said after I’d opened the window and she climbed in, but there was something strange in her voice.

“Lyla, you have nothing to feel guilty about. It’s not like we’re having sex or doing anything wrong. We just like each other’s company.”

She seemed to ease up after that. “You know, a gentleman would’ve walked a girl home.”

“Well, I’m very sorry about that, miss. Allow me to make it up to you.”

I leaned forward and kissed her, the sweet taste of her lips filling my mouth, enticing me even further. Lyla and I fell onto the bed and then parted.

“Can I ask you something?”

She turned towards me and nodded.

“Will you stay here, tonight?” I asked.

Lyla chuckled and said: “Chase, I’m here every night, I thought you would have known by now.” She snuggled up to me and said, “Of course I will.”

I was very surprised when my eyelids started to feel heavy with tiredness, because up until then I didn’t feel the slightest bit sleepy. With Lyla here, I really didn’t want to waste time sleeping. But as I should have figured, she’d already sensed it through our bond.

“You’re sleepy. I can feel it. You should get some rest. I will be here in the morning.”

I was about to protest, but as my mind was becoming slow and groggy, I had to focus on what I wanted to say so I wouldn’t talk gibberish. During those few seconds when I tried to gather my thoughts was all it took for me to drift off to sleep.

As with a lot of my dreams, the one I was having started incoherently, but very quickly it shifted and became very life-like to me, almost like I was reviewing a memory rather than dreaming. It was so realistic.

The scene all around me was full of chaos and strangely vivid. The dream was in some kind of medieval village. People were running scared in every direction as their homes burned and the screams of the terrified and injured raked the night air. The dream was so real that I was able to feel the heat coming from the fires, smell the smoke rising from the burning homes. But what hurt the most were the cries of the children as they stumbled about, looking for their families.

Then I saw what these people were running from: Aquamuns. And by no means did it look like they were simply trying to switch with some of the villagers. They were taking prisoners and killing anyone who fought back.

One of the Aquamuns that caught my attention was a tall one with short blond hair and he was one of the only Aquamuns riding a horse. He did look rather impressive on his black stallion. This man looked like he was in his sixties or seventies, but I knew he had to be centuries older and his physical appearance had nothing to do with how powerful he probably was. The way he acted, and how he ordered the others around, I was sure he was their leader.

Suddenly, through all the confusion, he looked at me and inclined his head, as if ordering me somewhere and to my surprise, I actually turned towards a black-haired woman lying on the ground, weeping before me. Even though this was a dream, I still felt a strange, powerful urge to end her life. But at the same time I wanted to shout “run!” to her as she slowly crawled away from me, fear beyond imagining etched on her face. I had no control over what I did or said in this dream.

That’s when I crouched down and lunged at the woman. As I flew towards her, my eyes passed over a puddle of water on the ground. It was probably because this was a dream, but the time it took me to pass over the couple inches of water felt long, and in that time my eyes glanced away from the woman and into the puddle. I was horrified to see that, in this dream, I wasn’t even me. I was Marcus, Lyla’s father.

I sat up in bed with a sharp intake of breath. My body was trembling slightly. I looked over at the other side of the bed and saw Lyla, too, was awake, resting against the bed head.

“I just had a crazy dream. Well… more of a nightmare, I’d say,” I said as I too, sat up against the bed head and started rubbing my temples.

“That wasn’t a dream,” Lyla said so softly, it was almost a whisper. I looked over at her incredulously. She climbed out of bed and said, “Get dressed. We need to talk.”