‘’Jackson concentrate!’’

‘’I’m trying.’’

I brushed the sweat from my forehead, the glow of the mysterious sources of light flickering in shades of blue, green and purple from Daphne’s magic all beating down in hot rays from hours of ‘training’ in the bowels of the cave.

‘’Try harder!’’ Daphne yelled from the opposite side of the rocky clearing, the pools of water between us vibrating with the boom of her voice.

I once again turned my attention to a decently deep pool a few meters from my feet. The water rippled under my gaze, the reflection of light dancing on the sparkling surface for no more than a few seconds before the ripples calmed to a flat surface again.

‘’Maybe we should take a break.’’ Daphne sighed and made the hundred meters trek back towards my side off the clearing which we happened to find when trying to look for an inconspicuous place to test my water skills within the confines of the cave.

‘’Yeah.’’ I sat where I was, wiping my fore head again as sweat made its journey down my face.

Trying to move water with nothing but will power took a toll on one’s body, I had come to find through this morning’s events. It wasn’t as simple as imagining the water moving or imagining you lifting it without actually lifting it; it was a mix of both plus the willpower and previous experience.

‘’Is there any news?’’

‘’It’s quiet but I’d expect that. No one knows about you Jackson, and that’s what is going to buy us time… and probably save your life.’’ She stated as she lowered herself onto a rock shelf only a few feet away from where I sat on the ground.

‘’Do you think he’d come himself?’’ I turned all attention to her, moving my eyes away from the pools in front of me.

‘’No.’’ She shook her head. ‘’It would draw to much attention to himself. It’s not every day a God just up and leaves his palace.’’

‘’Thank the Gods.’’

‘’Yes, thank the Gods.’’ Sighing and turning her body from me as she stood, Daphne made her way back towards the tunnel that would lead to the exit.

‘’Where are you going?’’

‘’To think.’’ Her voice faded as she fell into the darkness, her glowing orbs not reaching her body anymore.

My eyes wandered to the dimly lit pools again, my mind wandering to thoughts with calming capabilities. The sea; a bowl of water forever tossing and turning but calm when the wind caressed its shimmering skin. The blue sky; the way puffs of soft white covered it in a warm blanket of clouds. And Chandler; the way his cheeks dimpled when he graced the earth with a smile, that heavenly smile that the God’s had blessed him with to warm the hearts of any who approached him.

A lone drop of water trickled from the cave roof before I looked up to a thick blanket of a river gathering above. My eyes widened and before I got a chance, the floating river crashed down on top of myself and everything else surrounding me.

Spitting water out of my mouth and pulling myself off the ground, I glared at the water in front of me receding back to the comfort and security of its pools.

Coward.

By the time I made it to the opening of the cave, Daphne was gone. There was no trace of her, only her lights left to show she was here once.

This wasn’t uncommon. Daphne was always disappearing and reappearing when she saw fit. She always had something to do, was always busy but I never had ill feeling towards her for it. She had saved me, not only when she helped me escape but before that, she had saved my sanity by visiting me and speaking with me.

Now calm, I headed back through the tunnels of rock to what I was going to call the ‘training room’.

I focused on a small pool by the left wall where there was a small crab scurrying around. I cleared my mind of everything and focused on the body of water, willing it to create a small dome around the mud coloured crustacean.

Nothing.

My frustration started to peak after twelve more failed attempts but I kept trying. I had to do this.

I thought of all the reasons this has to happen.

I have to protect Chandler.

I have to make sure my father never gets to Chandler.

I have to make sure my father never hurts Chandler.

Chandler.

Chandler.

Chandler.

I couldn’t think of anything else and that thought worried me. How could this boy have captured all of my attention. He had captured all of my thoughts with just one smile but strangely, it didn’t bother me as much as my mind was thinking it should.

Opening my eyes from my thoughts and looking up I was stunned to see a large circle of moving water dwarfing the crab in the centre of it. A smile broke out on my face so wide as I walked towards the crab and touched the sphere. I could pass my fingers through it but it didn’t fall, didn’t drip.

Soon the crab became agitated at its loss of land and I slowly lowered the ball of water to the ground where it slowly trickled into the bowl of rock, the crab happily going back to scurrying around.

Wanting to end my training on a positive note, I exited the cave.

The usual early bird runners were starting to emerge as the sun slowly rose over the sea. I’d have some serious explaining to do to Alex and Chandler this morning and I don’t know how many more lies I could come up with without them getting suspicious. Being cut off from other people all my life had left me with little practice in the fibbing department.

As expected, as soon as I walked through the now familiar green door, Alex was on me like a lion on a lamb.

‘’What happened yesterday? You left us with so much to clean up on our own! You can definitely expect to be doing the crappy jobs today.’’ She left me, her hands flying through the air in frustration before I could even get out an apology.

‘’She was more worried about you than the cleanup.’’ I spun around to find Chandler watching after his retreating sister.

‘’It’s fine. There was a lot to clean up.’’

‘’There was.’’ He laughed softly, his eyes closing momentarily before smiling up at me and gesturing me to follow him outside.

His laugh left me breathless and stunned. It was gorgeous. Beyond comparable. The way his hips swung with innocent sensuality had my body tingling in appreciation. The wind blowing through the now open door danced on his body greedily before torturing me with his scent of strawberries and pomegranate.

‘’Are you coming?’’ His innocent eyes knocked me out of my haze, punishing myself with how he captured me.

‘’Where are we going?’’

‘’Errands.’’ Shrugging his small shoulders, he turned out the store, me trailing closely behind him.

We walked in a comfortable silence along the cement pathway lining the assortment of little stores ranging from bakeries to shoe stores to cafes. There were countless different smells mingling in the air; Leather, cakes, coffee, pie, sausages grilling and the ever-present smell of seawater mingling between them all.

We slowly made our way into a supermarket just grabbing what we needed to restock the apartment. Chandler seemed to make every task look graceful. I don’t know how he did it but he did. It was safe to say by the time we left the supermarket, I was carrying at least six bags of heavy groceries, my fingers turning blue and red from the plastic handles hanging from them.

‘’Chaddi! Jackson!’’ Our heads whipped around to the sound of Alex yelling and running straight or us.

‘’What wrong Al?’’

‘’That customer that only likes you is at the store Chaddi and I need some clothes. I’ll take Jackson from here. Oh and hurry. Mr Mukulsky is waiting outside the store.’’ She smiled and nudged Chandler in the direction of the store before he could even blink.

Instead of the comfortable silence of walking with Chandler, the ten minute walk to the small pink corner clothing store marked ‘’Cassie’s’’ was uncomfortable and felt like the air was thick.

About halfway through Alex’s clothing adventures I began to feel a prickling at the back of my neck, a nagging feeling telling me to look around but when I did I saw nothing but shoppers doing the same as the young girl I was accompanying.

‘’Jackson!’’ I shook my head and looked over to a confused looking Alex.

‘’Yeah?’’

‘’I’ve been talking to you for the last five minutes. You okay?’’

‘’Yeah. Sorry. What were you saying?’’ She looked at me for a few more seconds before holding up two shirts.

‘’Which one?’’

‘’They both look really nice.’’

‘’Men.’’ She shook her head then sent me a smile.

I still couldn’t shake the feeling of being watched, even after Alex paid for her three bags of clothes –which I had to carry on my already numb fingers- and we left. Alex kept looking over to me questioningly as I searched the crowds.

Maybe I had just become paranoid since my talk with Daphne.

There were only four or five shops between us and Lannie’s before the feeling on my neck intensified and I had to stop and turn around. My eyes drifted to a figure blatantly staring at me.

He stood at least 6’7’’ towering over the busy crowd. His eyes were black, his dark hair shortly cropped to his head and his almost military style clothes giving him a ‘no b.s’ look. However, what unnerved me the most was that unlike the moving flow of crowd, he just stood there, his obsidian eyes staring at me, watching me, calculating me and I didn’t like it. Not at all.

‘’Lets go Alex.’’ My fight or flight response telling me it was best to leave this one be.

Her blue eyes looked at me in that confused way she had started using more often than not with me. She kept looking between me and the man, probably seeing the unease in my eyes but something seemed to click in her head.

‘’I’ve got to get something. I’ll meet you back in the store.’’ I was about to protest. ‘’You have milk and it will go bad if you spent anymore time with it out of the fridge. Plus, Chaddi is probably worried by now.’’ She shooed me and headed towards the direction the man once stood but now seemed to have vanish into the crowd.

I kept looking over my shoulder until I reached the store but Alex had blended into the crowd and was lost to my eyes.

I couldn’t shake the feeling that something bad was going to happen and just as that thought had surfaced, a nasty storm brewed.