She woke up to shaking of her shoulders, “Ayalet! Are you okay?” Ayalet? Wasn’t her name Yelena? Where was she? Who was she?
Groggily she responded, “Yeah, I think so.” She looked up into Zack's worried face. Zack? Oh yeah, she was back. She still felt so confused.
As if he noticed her confusion, he patted his hands on her shoulders, arms, legs, neck and head. Checking for bruises, scratches or anything that would be wrong. After he seemed pleased that she was in fact okay he sat back down. “Thank goodness, why is it that you passed out? I’m confused. You seem to be in good health.”
A sadness filled her heart looking out at the scenery. This is where her, Yelena’s father died. “You see this desert all around us, the trees and how they don’t quite fit. And there’s the story you were telling me, about the seraphs?” Nodding, he sat patiently, waiting. His eyes stared openly, barely blinking as he tried to take in what she was saying, “This may be hard to believe but, I’m having visions of this girl Yelena from what you call the medieval optimum.”
“Yelena, the Seriphiel?” With that he became thoughtful. A variety of emotions crossed his face, minutes passed without a single word being spoken.
Not being able to take the silence she tried to better explain, “I’m not completely sure but I think it might mean that maybe. . .” At this he looked up at her, waiting to hear what she had to say. Looking out at the trees she continued, “Well, that there’s some sort of connection between us. I don’t know.”
“Actually, I wouldn’t be surprised if she’s a past life. It’s not uncommon for an elemental species to be reincarnated.” He sat in silence for a moment before continuing.“If I hadn’t known about the stories myself, it would just sound like a dream. However, based on what my grandma has told me of them and how common it is for magical creatures to relive their past lives, it’s highly probable it’s a past life. In fact it’s really common for most magical beings to be reborn. Most of the time, the larger the number of past lives, the more powerful you are. I’ve had a few dreams about my own past lives; never a vision that knocks me out. Have you had visions of anyone else or just her?”
Thinking back, faces of people she didn’t know came back into her memory. She never understood what they were. The few times she tried telling people, they thought she was just telling stories she heard on the radio. So she stopped trying to convey these dreams or visions she would have, not wanting to sound crazy. “I’ve had dreams of times and places for as long as I can remember. They were always places I have never been to and moments in time that I’ve never lived. There was never anywhere I could distinguish a single person, until Yelena.”
“I’ve heard stories about Yelena, she was one of the few names that was mentioned in the stories. Lilith was another mentioned as well as their father, Zoune, who died from the War of the Angels. Otherwise, most names weren’t a part of the stories.” Just then his stomach growled making his cheeks turn a rosy pink, “You wouldn’t happen to have some food with us?”
She shook her head, “No, but I have plenty of food back at home. Do you want to head back? Being here is almost overwhelming.” At that moment she glanced down at movement she could see from the corner of her eye. Oh, it’s just a crab…. wait.. a crab? She didn’t remember if she’d ever heard of crabs living in deserts or not. Suddenly, a small set of wings lifted up briefly before it shook them and she was dazzled by a flash of bright iridescent color. Blinking, the next thing she knew it had lowered them back down to its body as it scuttled away. It had wings? What the hell?! Maybe the heat was getting to her, her head must be making this up.
Looking back up, she saw Zack nod his head in response. They then turned around and started heading in the direction they had come from the nearest water source. It took them about a half hour or so of walking before they made it back. By then, both their stomachs were gurgling up a storm.
After bending down to touch the puddle, an enormous smile brightened Zack’s face. He reached out his hand and next thing she knew they were back in her kitchen. Her heart was beating rapidly in her chest as she stumbled to a chair. It wasn’t as bad this time, which was certainly nice; still not pleasant though. Looking up, she saw him opening up a few cabinets, grabbing boxes and cans before he joined her at the table. “You wouldn't happen to own a can opener would you? I’m starving.” Holding up a can of peaches.
Getting up she went to the drawer and retrieved the can opener before walking back to the table. Reaching her hand out, “Yeah…. Is that why we came through in the kitchen? Hold on, I’ll open it. Just eat cereal while I get it for you.” It was so nice having someone around, to talk with, to be herself around. The house felt brighter than it had in a long time. Looking up, she saw Zack stuffing his face with cereal and peaches. “What in the world are you eating?”
“This is one of my favorite things to eat, fruit and cereal! Way different than what I normally eat. When I’m at home for the most part we eat fish, seaweed, and crustaceans. Though we also have cereal and canned food. One of the things I get to eat sometimes as a dessert is cereal and peaches. Here, try it!”
Looking at his hand, it was dripping with peach juice and soggy cereal. “No thanks, I’m good. Would you like me to make something else for you? Something warm?”
At that he looked up, “That would be great.”
“Okay, then we’ll have to head into town so I can pick up some fridge food.”
~~~~~
Locking the door behind her, she turned to see Zack smiling down the stairs on the gravel road. The sun shining over the mountain peaking in the east, indicating midmorning. “Ready?”
He nodded his head excitedly, a grin on his face, “Which way?”
Her parents house was located right at the top of the T intersection. She pointed straight ahead, “We can head this way. It leads to a bridge that crosses over the river running through town. After the bridge we’ll turn left at the cross intersection. We’ll pass my Aunt’s house on that road. At the next T intersection, we’ll turn right at my high school. From there we’ll see downtown on our right. There’s not much to the town but we have your basics. A library, grocery store, post office, restaurant, hotel, dollar store among other things.”
“Would you say your town is big compared to most?”
Ayalet shook her head, “Far from it, it’s very much on the small size. The population is only about two thousand.”
Zack’s eyes bulged, “Woow, that’s much bigger than my clan of about a couple hundred with alot of wandering communities that stop by. My city, Estrella, is located in a cave deep in an underwater mountain range. It’s actually a pocket of air that you have to swim through water to get to.”
“Really? That’s so cool. Do you have stalactites and stalagmites in the cave?”
“Yeah, imagine a night sky with colorful lights all around. The magic infused into the cave makes it look like the aurora borealis.” Zack looked up, “Is that the bridge you mentioned?”
Ayalet looked up to see a large bridge running across the river. The architect who built it designed the stones to make beautiful fluid swirls and wave-like patterns to mimic the river below. She always loved how the pattern of the rocks made her feel more calm and serene. Nodding her head, she walked up to the bridge and looked over the edge. Zack joined her at the bridge railing.
Along the edge of the river there were a few willows leaning over the water. Cattails danced with the wind dipping down to kiss the top of the water. She could see the shadows of fish and debris through the clear water near the edges where the water was less turbid. Immediately underneath the bridge there was a pile of rocks that the water was rushing over, creating some small rapid.
Ayalet went to turn to start walking again when she saw Zacks climbing the railing out of the corner of her eye. She quickly turned back around, “What are you doing?” She went to reach for his shirt when he jumped over the edge and disappeared under the bridge. Rushing to the railing, she saw a large splash of water where he jumped in. She frantically called after him as she leaned over the railing. He probably hit his head on a rock down there. Worry closing her throat she began running to one side of the bridge. Grabbing the railing she spun herself around the corner and started running down the hill to the water's edge. By the time she made it to the water she found Zack, swimming on his back leisurely.
He called out to her, “Ayalet, get in, the water feels great.”
Taking off her shoes, she waded into the water, walked over to him and bopped him on the head, “You idiot, you could have hurt yourself doing that!”
He rubbed his head where she hit him, “Oww. No I wouldn’t have, I could sense in the water where the rocks were and I just jumped in where it was clear.”
Crossing her arms across her chest she grumbled, “Well, you could have at least told me that so I didn’t worry.”
“Aww, Ayalet, are you saying you were worried about me?”
Blushing she turned her head, “Only a little bit. Are you done playing in the water now?” Turning back toward him she got a face full of water. Wiping her eyes she found he used his hands to squirt her in the face.
“Okay, I’m going to start walking again. Join me if you’d like.” Ayalet waded to the edge of the water, shook her legs to get off as much water, grabbed her shoes and started walking to the road.
Once at the road, feeling her feet were dry enough she slipped her shoes back on. Leaning over the bridge she found the river empty of Zack. Turning around she found Zack squeezing his shirt dry as he shook his head. His short hair stood on end in some areas and plastered to his head in others.
With him back up on the road she turned and started walking. “You know, now you have to deal with wet clothes.”
Shaking his head he smiled at her as he said, “Actually, I can just absorb the water into my skin.” At that moment she could see his shirt drying before her eyes. Steam streaming off him.
“Wish I could do that. It’d make life easier when it rains.”
“You should be able to do something along that line. Why don’t you try thinking about a gust of wind blowing through your clothes.”
As he said it, the thought ran through her head and the next thing she knew a huge gust of wind started blowing at her from behind. “Okay, so maybe that would work but my clothes aren’t wet right now so it doesn’t matter.” Thinking about the wind doing something wasn’t the first thing she thought about doing in most, if any scenarios.
Walking along the road, she looked to her left as they walked past her aunt’s house. “That’s where my Aunt lives. It’ll be okay if you stay at my parents house but I should probably stay at her house once in a while so she doesn’t notice something’s off.”
“This house?” He asked as he pointed at it. “Why are the flowers dying? It’s spring, they should be doing well.”
“Yeah, that’d be my Aunt for you. Not the most caring person in the world.” She rolled her eyes at the thought of her Aunt and the word caring in the same sentence.
Down the road a large building was visible “And up ahead you can see my high school. The next closest school is roughly thirty minutes away from here. Mostly our town goes here but there are a few small towns nearby that also go to school with me.”
His eyes brighten up! “Can we explore it a bit?”
She chuckled, “Sure, I’ll give you a quick tour, as long as the doors aren’t locked.”
For the first time as Ayalet opened the doors of the school, she noticed she didn’t feel a sense of dread, or loneliness. Zacks excitement made her struggle not to smile. It was like watching a child on Christmas morning.
“What are these? Why does the wall come out like this here?” Zack asked as he walked up to a locker. He put his head to it as he knocked his knuckles against the metal. An empty sound knocked back with the reminder of summer break.
“Lockers….. you put your books and school supplies in them. Everyone gets one.” She opened one up to show him and he stuck his head inside, making a wooing sound as it echoed back at him.
Pulling his head back out, he turned to her as he asked, “Will I get one???” He ran his hand along the door as if daydreaming about what he’d fill it with. “Where’s yours? Can mine be near your locker?”
Closing the locker door, she turned and continued walking down the hall. “You get assigned a new one each year. Usually it’s close to where most of your classes will be, we might be able to get one next to each other.”
His eyes grew wide. “Do I get to pick what I want to learn about? Is that what you mean by classes?”
“Well kind of.” They started to walk toward the first grouping of classrooms down the hall. “You have to take certain classes but you get to pick what’s called electives. There aren’t a ton to pick from, but some are really interesting.”
Glancing into one of the classrooms, Zack gasped at the sight of the colorful science posters and periodic tables. “I want to take this one!!”
Running up to the periodic table on the wall, Zack began to point to each of the alkali metals. Looking back at Ayalet he seemed as if a switch had been flipped and began to speak as if he were quoting her science book.
“These here,” He pointed at the line of elements before continuing. “Alkali metals are the most reactive with water, to the point where they will react vigorously or even explosively resulting in hydrogen displacement. Beryllium is an exception, it’s the only alkali earth metal that doesn't react to or with water.”
This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.
He stopped momentarily, admiring the table of elements. Using his hands to further emphasize the reaction he continued explaining, “Anyway, after the water interacts with the metals, the metal will release negatively charged particles that generate heat. The water also at that moment releases hydrogen atoms, which when it meets the negatively charged heated particles then causes an explosion.” He finished with his hands forming a ball moving around before he quickly threw them outward, as if they were exploding.
He glanced back up at the periodic table before continuing on, “Alkaline metals are really cool because in nature, they occur only in combination with other elements. I’ve never seen them set up like this but all the Alkali metals are in the first row here.”
Staring, Ayalet realized her mouth was gaping open and quickly closed it. “Zack... how do you know that?”
“Understanding the elements that make up our plane of existence, and how they interact with one's own element is how one can truly understand and use their powers. All clans, including mine, are taught this at a young age.”
“Well sorry to say this but if you take this class Zack, you’ll probably be smarter than the teacher. In fact, you make it sound cooler and more interesting than my teacher ever has.” She said, shaking her head in disbelief.
“No, I definitely want to take this one. Look how cool these seats are!” His childlike reactions returned as he walked over to a chair in the first row.
“All the chairs in the classes are like that you goof.” She said laughing as she headed out of the room.
After closing the door to the classroom, they continued walking down the hall in the direction of the gym. As they walked closer, she heard the echo of people yelling and balls bouncing behind the closed doors. She opened the door a crack and nearly got smacked in the face as a ball hit the wall next to her.
She picked up the ball as Raina came running up to her, “Hey!!! Come to join the team?”
Ayalet passed her the ball as she shook her head, “No, I didn’t even know you had practice today?”
As Raina was juggling the ball in her hand, Zack poked his head through the door. “Yeah, the coach likes for us to practice some over the summer. Oh, who’s this?”
Ayalet moved to the side a bit to leave more room for Zack, “Yeah, actually, he’s the reason I’m here right now. I was giving him a tour of the school. He’ll be starting with us this upcoming year.”
Sticking the ball under her arm, Raina pushed her hand forward, open and ready for shaking. Zack looked down at her hand a moment then grabbed it before shaking vigorously.
Raina cocked one of her eyebrows while chuckling softly as she pulled her arm back. “Nice to meet you. . .” She paused, letting him fill in the blank.
“Zack” He said as he grinned a huge toothy grin at her. Ayalet looked at them across from each other, realizing they stood at eye level. Has Raina always been so tall? Guess she never noticed.
“Nice to meet you Zack.” Raina then turned back toward Ayalet, “So did you want to join the team?”
“Maybe, can I think about it a bit?” With all these visions and having Zack around, she wasn’t sure if she’d have time to pick up volleyball or not.
“Sure, the season technically doesn’t start until the fall. But if we want to get you up to speed, you should come to summer practices so I can sand down those hard edges you have. I’ve noticed how strong you are, give me a summer and I could make you a prodigy.” Raina said as she playfully bumped Ayalets shoulder with her fist. This playful side of Raina was something new to Ayalet. She liked it, she thought as a smile spread across her cheeks.
“I’ll definitely think about it. We should probably get going though, we have a few errands to run.”
“Sounds good, I’ll catch ya later then.” She then turned around and ran back to the court. Ayalet and Zack then walked back through the gym doors and headed towards the front entrance doors they came in.
After closing the front doors behind them, they left the school and headed back toward downtown. School was never very far from most of the town shops. In fact, she’d always overheard students talking about heading to the coffee shop or the few other stores in town after school. Some people would go to the bridge and goof off.
To be honest, there was not a whole lot to do in a small town like this. Besides playing sports, some people were big into hunting. Speaking of sports, she really did need to talk to Raina about tryouts and practice over the summer. After that interaction, she felt she had a glimpse of an opportunity to be a part of something, to open up and maybe just maybe let more people into her life.
At the corner, she could see the big sign right outside the building stating their arrival at the library. The building looked like an old fashioned greek style building. Behind it she could see a clock tower towering another story or so above it a few buildings behind. “Welcome to the town library.” She said to Zack.
“Why are we here again?” He asked as he looked at people walking up and down the streets.
“I want to look into the Medieval Optimum. You mentioned it at the crystal forest and I do want to find out more about Yelena and her time period. I guess, make sure I’m not actually going crazy.” Ayalet pulled out her library card as she walked up to a computer, using her card number to log in. She looked over at Zack to find an empty space next to her.
Looking around, she found Zack in the middle of the floor back toward the entrance. He was slowly spinning in a circle, taking in the towering books everywhere. Based on his reaction, he probably hadn’t been to a library before. It was then that Zack met her eyes and walked over to her.
“There are so many books here, most of our knowledge is passed down verbally and only sometimes is it hand written.”
“Huh, that’s very old fashioned.” She looked back at the computer and typed google into the search engine.
Suddenly Zack stopped spinning, focused on the computer and gasped. “OH. MY. GOD. Are those your computers?!” From the corner of the library at the desk they hear a frustrated “Shhhhhhh” and a few questioning stares.
Blushing out of embarrassment for both her and Zack, Ayalet beckoned Zack to sit in the chair next to her at one of the empty computer stations.
After he sat down, Ayalet softly said to him, “Zack this is a library you have to talk a little softer otherwise we will be kicked out.”
“I’m sorry. This is just sooo cool, I’ve never seen a computer so small and thin. Ours are like, the size of this whole desk.”
“I’m a little surprised that you even have this kind of technology honestly. Especially deep underwater… How do you even get a signal down there? ”
“Ayalet, we aren’t cave people, we have to stay in touch with current events and contact our sister clans for various reasons. And also so we can blend in better with human civilization and keep up to date with trends and knowledge. Clans have what we call dry grottos, which are on the surface, a little bit above sea level. We are taken up there at a young age to get accustomed to being above sea level and to practice long distance water travel. That's where we generally keep technology we acquire or extra supplies for emergencies, and stuff like that.”
Ayalet turned back toward the screen where she started typing into the google search bar, medieval optimum. As the results popped up, she became incredibly confused. Everything seemed to be talking about a warm period. No mention of Seraphs, Yelena or even what time period it was specifically. Some websites said it happened between 950 to 1250 AD while another said between 800 and 1400 AD; Others ranged any time in between.
Looking over at Zack she asked him, “It says here that there was also increased solar activity, decreased volcanic activity and changes to ocean circulation. Is there anything in your stories that mentioned how your species was affected during that time?”
He stopped messing around on the computer next to her and sat frozen in thought. “Actually, now that you mention it. My grandmother told me that all six species were affected during that time.”
“Six species?” As if the two, Merrow and Seraph hadn’t been enough to blow her mind. Now there were six.
“Actually, technically seven if you count the Mara. Even though Mara and Seraph were basically the same. They were both species of air.” Mara? She thought back to her last vision, wasn’t that who the Seraph were at war with?
She sighed as she asked, “And what are these other species?” She was probably going to regret this.
He turned toward her, his brow crinkled, “You really don’t know anything about the elemental species?”
She shook her head in response before he continued on with his explanation. “There are six elements: Earth, Air, Water, Fire, Life and Death. Along with each element is a species that is connected to that element, representing it in a sense. For air there are the Seraphs and Mara while for water there are various species of Merrow. I won’t even go into the different types of merrow; though not to brag, the Yerith are the most powerful and have the strongest connection to water.”
As he rattled on about the Merrow, he looked so prideful about the Yerith. She couldn’t help but smile. He really was such a nice guy. She was happy to have stumbled upon him at the lake.
“Next is Earth with their species being Tuatha and Fire is a species called Psym. They are the common elements most people know of.”
She felt like she was in a classroom learning a new language. In a way, she might as well have been because she was learning about all these new cultures that she never even knew existed.
“Life and Death are ones people think less about. Life is represented by the Athrane, or what we usually call the shapeshifters while death is represented by the Vithe.”
“Vithe? What, what is that?” Ayalet felt her head reeling with all these new names.
“Vithes are alot like ghosts or wraiths but are alive. Not much is known about them to be honest.”
“Ghosts? Wait, ghosts actually exist?” She didn’t know if that was kind of cool or freaked her out. And shapeshifters, what did she even think about that? Were they like werewolves or something else entirely?
He nodded his head and was about to continue explaining when she held up her hand. “Hold on, I think my brain is in overload right now. Let’s hold off on more explanation until I have had some time to process it.” She cupped her face in her hands before massaging her temples.
“Should I at least explain their relation to the Medieval Optimum?”
She considered whether she could handle more information before nodding her head as she said, “Simplify it if you can. Please.”
He then continued explaining, “Okay, basically, with increased solar activity, the Tuatha expanded their regions utilizing the extra sun rays.”
Earth, earth, was that the Psym or the Tuatha? “Tuatha are Earth right?”
He nodded his head as he continued, “With decreased volcanic activity, the Psym, that’s fire, seemed to have lost some power but spread out across the equator more as they realized a gradual increase in power supply as the temperatures warmed over generations. Finally, with the change in ocean circulation, my species the Merrow, we had to relocate many of our largest populations because of the downwelling and upwelling changes in currents. Areas in the oceans that were filled with life became oceanic deserts with no circulation of nutrients. We also lost so many miles of coral reefs all over the world. There is a culture of merrows that rely on those reefs for survival and we almost lost them. From what the stories say the ocean was completely unstable for a long time after.”
She continued searching site after site, all just relating back to the warming period. She dropped back against the chair, rested her head backward then sighed. She didn’t feel like she had gained any specific knowledge on the medieval optimum to help her better understand these dreams and visions. Plenty of other knowledge to further confuse her though.
How does this all relate to Yelena if she comes from this time? Maybe it was just a coincidence that the warming started around the time she was alive? If the six species were affected during the medieval optimum, what could have happened to cause these major changes? Did it happen naturally or because of something in particular?
With a heavy sigh she looked over towards Zack. His eyes were glued to a video about deep sea exploration and the geography of the ocean floor.
“They might have some books on that stuff if you want to look for some.”
“Naw, I just didn't know people were so interested in the deep dark places of the ocean. If only we merrows could expose our existence to them, we could show them or at least tell them all the amazing things down there.”
“Well there are a lot of stories about mermaids…..”
With a slight frown Zack suddenly turned toward the computer again typing in Merrow. “Well this isn’t right… I don’t even have a tail…. I mean some types of merrows have tails, especially open ocean dwellers but most of us don’t.” He huffed and closed out of the search bar.
“Well, we should get going anyway, we’ve still got errands to run.” She was having a hard time hiding her smirk seeing his pouting face as she rose.
Ayalet looked over at Zack as they walked down the street. He was absorbed, taking in all the sights and different people around him. Must not see large groups of people often, even if her town wasn’t really all that large.
“So, how often do you get to head into town? Is it hard to get to town if your community is in underwater caves?” Asking the question pulled him out of his trance. He’d been staring at people and picking up random things.
“Maybe once or twice when I was younger with my parents. It’s something you get to do more when you have your own family, when you get older. I’m nowhere near ready to settle down so I visit lakes and rivers, traveling, seeing what’s out there. It’s recommended that the younger individuals avoid larger towns until we learn how to better blend in.”
She accidentally snorted as she thought about more people like him in a large city. It made sense that they would be more restricted from going into a town if they acted like he did. They’d all stand out like a sore thumb. Composing herself, she asked, “When you went into town, did you only ever go grocery shopping or did you guys do other things together?”
“I remember one of the times we went shopping there were lights everywhere and fire. It reminded me of one of our festivals, a bunch of people gathering together, celebrating.” Zack said to her.
“Oh, we have festivals too. What are your festivals like?” Ayalet asked inquisitively.
“OH, they’re amazing; we have two big ones! There’s a small hole in the ceiling of our cave leading to above the mountains. Twice a year the moon shines through directly overhead and brightens up the entire cave; we hold festivals during that time. All the crystals that line the walls and ceilings of the cave system refract the moonlight making it bounce off the water. The entire city is splashed with dancing lights in all different colors for a few hours on those nights. We have feasts, fly lanterns, have water dances, and the elders tell stories of history. You should come, they are generally during the fall and spring equinox.”
“They sound way better than our festivals. I would really love to go to one!” She couldn’t imagine an entire city covered in dancing lights. That would be something beautiful to see. Better not to get her hopes up; for all she knew Zack would have to leave before school started, or heck maybe this really was just a crazy dream. Better to focus on the present. Groceries, they needed groceries.
“Well we should probably get some groceries so we can make dinner.” She started walking down the street toward the grocery store when she felt someone’s eyes on her back. Icicles were beginning to form on her back. It scared her, glued her feet to the ground. She felt like a small mouse with a hawk circling over her. Her entire body felt frozen in fear. But of what? She tilted her head to the side as she attempted to look behind her toward the library. No one seemed to be looking at her. A jolt of electricity shot through her body, as if warning her. She couldn’t shake the feeling of icicles on her back. The feeling of ice started at her back and spread through her body, freezing her to the core. Something was hunting her, stalking her. She didn’t dare move her head again in fear that it would attack.
Suddenly, someone's hand was on her shoulder. A tiny scream escaped her lips as she jerked backwards and her heart stopped beating. Looking in the direction of the hand, she saw Zack, his hands up defensively and a little spooked himself. “What’s wrong?”
The fear was mostly gone now but she could still feel someone watching her. She frantically turned from side to side, trying to see if she noticed anyone watching her, no such luck. Taking a deep breath, hoping to wash away some of the fear she said to Zack, “I. . I felt someone watching me. I don’t know who but it felt like a shadow over me, stalking me.”
Zack then turned from side to side as well, scoping out the sidewalks, “Any luck finding out who?”
She shook her head, “No, and the feeling is still somewhat there but it’s largely faded now.” She rubbed her arms, trying to rub away the cold feeling.
Zack stepped in and held her close, “It’s okay, I’m here. You’re not alone anymore.”
Again, her heart stopped but not out of fear. His words caused her heart to tighten in her chest. Words she had longed to hear and yet why was she sad to be hearing them. An image of Jaison popped into her mind. Did she want to hear them from Jaison?
For a moment, she let Zack hold her; to warm the cold from her body. She let out a sigh of relief as she began to feel better. Lifting her head from Zack’s chest she caught movement just to the right, across the street. A figure was standing still, facing directly at them. She pushed Zack away to get a better look to find Jaison. Staring at them.