As she was walking to the front door of her Aunt’s house she felt more nauseous despite her empty stomach. So much for feeling better; she thought she’d rid her stomach of its contents. Feeling her stomach heave, she quickly turned and emptied the remaining contents of her stomach behind the dried sad excuse for roses that her aunt planted the previous spring. “Even vomit is an improvement to this dumb yard” she thought to herself as she walked into the kitchen. She then opened one of the pantries and got out some saltines and a club soda.
She didn’t know half the stuff she was doing as she walked around. The entire time, she was unable to get Jaisons face out of her head. “I need to find something to take up all of my apparent free time. I don’t like my head being occupied by someone else.”
Suddenly she stumbled over the rug in the living room and fell onto the ugly floral couch. Not feeling the strength to get up, she turned over onto her back and stared up at the ceiling. Again Jaisons face from earlier popped into her head and guilt washed over her for leaving him alone the way she had. Grabbing a pillow from behind her head, she stuffed it into her face and grumbled, “Get outta my head!!!”
From down the hall she heard her Aunt’s bedroom door open. “Stop yelling Ayalet, I am trying to sleep,” Krista half yelled half grumbled from down the hall; emphasizing on the trying part. Ayalet then looked up at the clock on the wall, ouch, it was 1:30 in the morning.
Ayalet sent an apology down the hall for her Aunt. Where her Aunt responded with a grumble, mumbling and a few harsh words as she closed the door.
Energy rushed through her system at the thought of getting away from her Aunt and even Jaison for a while. She walked into her room and started packing her stuff before heading to bed.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
The next morning, she woke up at 6:30. Stomach still queasy, she was thankful for the crackers she put next to the bed before falling asleep. Quickly getting dressed she hoped to get out of the house before her Aunt woke up. No luck. Down the hall, she heard the door open. “Ayalet, why are you up so Damn early?”
“I’m sorry, Aunt Krista, I’m heading out to go camping. I’ll be out in a few more minutes.”
Ayalet caught a few words as her Aunt grumbled inaudibly to herself, “Good riddance.” She then spoke up, “You could at least make some coffee if you’re going to wake me up this early.” Rolling her eyes, Ayalet filled the coffee machine with water, adding the filter and a couple scoops of coffee. In the past, a year after she moved in, Ayalet had once ignored her aunt when she was told to make coffee, and in return had been met with a coffee cup being thrown in her direction The ceramic shattering by her bare feet. Her aunt shrugged saying “I don’t have motor skills until I’ve had my coffee; since this is obviously your fault, you need to clean that up, I'm late for work.” Ayalet had cut up her feet pretty badly trying to get to the broom on the other side of the room from her. She never quite knew what to expect from her aunt as far as reactions go.
As the pot gurgled, Ayalet flinched from the sudden noise behind her. “And don’t drink it all.” Her aunt’s screech came hollering again. Ayalet sighed at her aunt's remark, she had always enjoyed the smell of it, but couldn’t understand what people’s obsession was with it. So bitter.
Grabbing the last of her items, Ayalet threw her pack over her shoulder and yawning, started toward the door. Stepping outside she quickly stuck her head back in the house before calling down the hall to her aunt, announcing her departure and the coffee machine on before heading down the path. She didn't know why, but she hoped that if she just kept trying to be courteous and show some semblance of kindness to her aunt; maybe .. just maybe, someday she would return the kindness and attempt to act like a family. She HIGHLY doubted that though.
With her enormous backpack on her back, the sun just barely over the horizon and the wind rushing through all the trees around her; she walked toward the woods behind her aunt's house. At first she saw the usual footpath that she took, but as she walked it became less visible and she just started walking wherever she felt like it.
All around, trees were towering over her, vines climbed up various plants; some stretching their arms out across her path, begging her to trip. She felt free out here, a smile dared to touch her lips as she moved deeper into the woods. Her heart lightened listening to the birds around her go about their daily chittering. Taking a few deep breaths she felt she was finally clearing her mind. Feeling a bit carefree she began to pick up her pace.
Everything around her was familiar with all the times that she’d walked these paths. Ignoring the weight on her back, she started running through the trees. As she went, she zigzagged here and there, leaping over bushes and vines as she approached them. Blurs of trees passed her every which way. When she ran in the trees, she felt like a wild animal aware of everything around her.
After running for a few miles her breathing started to grow heavy; the backpack taking its toll causing her to slow down. The trees around her looked different than normal but she couldn’t put her finger on why. The air around her felt abnormally still and slightly warmer than when she started which was strange because with the dense cover of the woods, it should have made it cooler. Glancing up, she saw a light shine through the trees, blinding her. She raised her arm to shield her eyes when it disappeared. She didn’t expect the sun to be shining over the treetops for another half hour or so. Looking around, nothing was familiar anymore, so she stopped to take in everything around her.
Suddenly her feet began to feel heavier, as if she was walking in sand or mud. Confused, she tried to move a little faster. Still, she found that she wasn’t covering the distance she should be. Ayalet began to run, but suddenly tumbled to the ground as if something that was holding onto her suddenly let go. Looking back, she didn’t see anything she could have tripped over, nothing but grass. “That was weird,” she mumbled to herself.
Not far off she could hear water; curious, she headed in the direction of the sound. Doing some mental calculations on the way, she realized she shouldn’t have reached a source of water yet. The closest was roughly twentyish miles away, there was no way she was even half way there yet.
She found it difficult to locate the tiny creek in between all of the trees she zigzagged through. There were maybe three feet in between the trees and tons of rocks piled up all over the place as the water trickled down them. How was she able to hear such a tiny creek? Bending down next to it, she let water run over her hand. Visions ran through her head like colors mixing on a canvas at the feel of the water. Startled, she jerked her hand back and spilled water down her shorts.
Looking down into the water, she noticed vibrant purple moss growing on the rocks in and around the stream. Purple? She’d never heard of purple moss. Looking up she noticed purple ribbon-like wisps weaving around the clouds. Maybe someone was flying a kite nearby?
Standing back up, she started walking up stream. The further she walked, the bigger the creek got. As the creek took a drastic turn to the left, she decided to continue heading straight instead of following it.
After walking uphill, she finally approached an even landing and decided to stop. She wanted to allow her legs some relief from all the uphill climbing.
Examining the area, she noticed the trees were more spaced out than they were closer to home and up ahead a large tree seemed scarily familiar; as if from a dream, just taller and slightly different. Right past it was a curtain of leaves, the tree they were attached to half standing. Through little spaces in the leaves she could see sunlight shining brightly into the middle of a wildflower patch. A tree stump had a tiny sprout growing out of it. As if her eye’s played tricks on her, it seemed to grow to the size of a tiny sapling. As she approached it, she noticed small delicate blossoms similar to cherry blossoms growing from the limbs. Stopping in front of it, she set her hand down on the stump as a single tear drop escaped her eye. Why was she crying? Was she dreaming?
Grabbing a hold of the backpack strap, she pulled her arms out and set the backpack on the ground beside the tree, following right behind. The grass was extremely long and rather soft, quite tempting to sleep on. How did she get here though; she had wandered these woods every school vacation for almost her entire life?
Up above, the sky was splotched with beautiful white clouds, covering a bright blue background. Off ahead of her she could see some deer grazing at the far end of the open field. One looked up at her, it was rather normal sized for a deer but it lacked any antlers, must be a female. The doe stared at her for a moment with abnormally large orange eyes. It’s tail twitched behind it before she bent her head down to continue grazing. Completely unafraid, how strange. She’d never heard of a deer species with eyes like that. Not to mention the fact that they weren’t the least bit bothered by her presence. Even though she had always been quiet on her hikes, enough so that she was often blessed with glimpses of wildlife, none were ever this nonchalant about her presence.
Behind her she heard rustling, turning she saw what looked to be a weasel of some kind. Not one she recognized from what her dad taught her. Its gray fur was a strange almost blue color that she didn’t ever remember from the pictures in his identification books. She made a mental note of its features as it scurried around before disappearing into the underbrush.
All around, the critters were making sounds and rustling the shrubbery. Birds were calling with various sounds, some she recognized and others completely strange. As she stared up at a nearby bird she again heard rustling behind her. Wondering if the weasel came back, she turned to find herself face to face with a very tall white creature. Its head was a good two feet taller than her if not more. It then bent its long neck forward, lowering to get a closer look at her. She stood frozen, this had to be a dream.
The eyes had such depth and intelligence in them; the face, neck and body reminded her of a ferret.. or maybe rabbit... but behind its head were two horns angled backwards like a Long horned mountain sheep. The limbs reminded her of a kangaroo while the tail looked like a very fluffy, very large squirrel tail. As she was examining this creature, whatever it was; she could see it doing the same.
From what she learned from her father; it’s never a good idea to touch wildlife, no matter how tame it may seem. But the urge to touch it overwhelmed her common sense as she reached out her hand toward its head. Halfway, the creature again lowered its neck. Bending its kangaroo-like haunches, it reached for the ground almost as if it was bowing to her. Worried it was going to attack her, she pulled her hand back.
The strange creature then stood back up to its full height, turned its head and moved back into the shadows of the forest. Disappearing from sight within moments. The forest around her was completely silent and still, almost waiting to see what she’d do. Should she follow it? Should she head in the other direction? What was that thing? What was it doing? She had to be dreaming.
Suddenly it started to rain, and it looked as if tiny crystals were falling down from above. Laughing out loud she sent silent thanks that her backpack was waterproof. Her, on the other hand, not so much. Getting up, she picked up her backpack and headed toward the safety of the trees.
As she walked further into the shade of the trees, she took one last glance at the clearing. It almost felt like the sky was crying. Whether it was in remembrance of everything it had seen or a teary hello to acknowledge her return, she couldn’t tell.
Little droplets of water rained down from the leaves up above, leaving puddles in their wake. She had to be extremely careful around tree roots, with her luck she’d slip.
After walking for so long, she shivered from the wetness of her clothes. Thankfully, it stopped raining a while ago. Next time she came to a clearing she needed to let her clothes dry; otherwise, she might catch a cold. Setting her backpack down, she pulled out her jacket and set it on her bag. It didn’t help the fact of the matter that she was wearing an undershirt under her t-shirt; making her that much colder. Pulling off her t-shirt, it was yanked right out of her hands and into a mud puddle by the wind.
Putting the jacket on she walked over to her shirt and picked it up. In the distance it sounded like someone laughed but it seemed to disappear with the wind. Shaking off the chill that the laugh left on her, she set her shirt on her backpack, picked the backpack back up and started walking again.
Shivering off the last of the cold, she continued through the forest. In the distance she could hear water, so she turned towards the sound.
Nearing the water, she picked up speed; water might mean an open area which would mean dry clothes. She was about to run through the last of the trees when she tripped over a wet tree trunk and landed face first on a bunch of grass. That was just her luck, she happened to trip over the last tree before she cleared the opening.
Lifting her head, she saw a beautiful waterfall leading into a lake with a weeping willow placed perfectly on the side. Leaving her bag on the ground, she got up and walked over to the pool. The water was rather warm, just begging her to jump in and take a swim. Tossing all of her clothes except for her tanktop and underwear to her backpack, she walked into the water and dived underneath. It was kinda cold the first few seconds, but after a minute she found it to be quite comfortable.
There were fish all around her in the 8 feet deep water; although it did get deeper closer to the waterfall. As she got closer to the waterfall she saw many large boulders around it. Wanting to get a better idea of the area she swam over to one and climbed up. The area was just beautiful! The lake itself looked to be about 60 feet wide; on the ground, it looked much smaller.
She was about to jump back in when the water started bubbling in a small tornado like fashion in the center of the lake. As bubbles popped, mist started drifting upward from the water. As if a blurry image of a person started forming, she could see what looked like a body in the water. Has someone else been in the water this entire time?
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Suddenly, her feet lost purchase on the wet rock; hitting the water right when the person’s head started drifting toward the surface. For what felt like minutes, she swam every which way as her lungs burned from lack of air. It felt like a small current of water was keeping her suspended in place. She began to wonder if she’d completely run out of breath when a boy’s face swam up to her and stared intently with vibrant purple blue eyes. He seemed young, probably close in age to herself. His eyes squinted slightly and he cocked his head as if confused, like he was trying to figure out why a piece of a puzzle wouldn’t fit.
As they were suspended in place underwater just staring at each other, she noticed his bare chest. A generic pair of boxers clung to his body, she could practically see the outline of his. . . She opened her mouth in surprise and water came rushing in. Urgently swimming to the surface, she burst out of the water coughing, straining for breath.
Turning back and forth, she searched for the boy that had been next to her just seconds before. Up ahead, near to shore already, there he was, swimming like he was in the Olympics going for the gold. Behind him, a huge wave was trailing in the opposite direction.
Diving back under the water she started swimming in his direction. What was she doing?! She didn’t know this person, why was she swimming TOWARDS the stranger? When she finally arrived at the shore he was already for the most part dry. As she dragged herself out of the water, he just stared down at her. In between breaths she asked, “What are you staring at?” A single hair fell in between her eyes; the boy reached down and pulled it out of her face. He then turned to the left and started walking in the direction of the waterfall; instantly she started following him curiously. Again, why was she following him?! Maybe he was lost? Yeah, that seems like a reasonable reason to be following someone you didn’t know. She could feel her face scrunching at the absurd excuse she was giving herself.
On a flat rock somewhat near the waterfall, he took a seat. For a second she just stood there watching him as he stared at the waterfall. Thankfully his boxers seemed to be covering everything needed now. Sitting there she noticed that his hair was a dark bluish-black color, he had deep, caramel-colored skin with beautifully brilliant eyes. After noticing that she wasn’t going to join him he looked back up at her and excitedly signaled for her to sit.
Conscious of the fact that she was in basically her underwear, since her blue tank top was wet and practically see through; she nervously sat about 3 feet to the side of him. What are you doing Ayalet? Letting out a soft chuckle, he scooted the rest of the way over.
For a few minutes they sat there in complete silence. The boy then leaned his head on her shoulder, acting as if it was no big deal. As water dripped from his hair, the wind blew over the water before running through her hair and down her back. When the breeze reached her body it felt like her soul was being lifted up; all the nerves left her allowing her to fully relax.
“The wind really likes you.”
“I doubt it . . .” her eyes popped open as she realized that he just talked. Something slimy touched her leg, causing her to jump in surprise before tumbling painfully backwards off the rock. Ayalet mentally checked spots of her body to make sure she wasn’t injured. Breathing a sigh of relief, she laid there for a few seconds trying to process everything.
She felt whatever slimy thing that had startled her was gone. Looking up, she saw that the boy was holding a slug in his hand. That must have been what was on her leg. Turning back around she continued to just lay there; maybe if she didn’t move, she could pretend she didn’t just take an embarrassing tumble off the rocks. She then felt the boy's hand touch her shoulder blades causing a cold shiver to run through her body. “Where did you get these scars?”
Turning her head to one side she asked, “What?”
“There are scars on your back where your wings should be.”
Lifting her torso up she turned around trying to get a look at her back, “What wings, what are you talking about?” And why was she talking to him like this? She always had trouble speaking to people she knew let alone a complete stranger; not to mention she was in her freaking underwear. Maybe she finally lost it, or she was in a dream. The dreams have become super realistic and common lately. She couldn't think of why this felt so natural.
Pictures of the night sky flew through her mind. Replacing the sand beneath her legs, lights of the city flashed below; the nightlife bustling with excitement. Feathers were fluttering behind her and she found her entire upper body felt sore. A fog was clouding her mind, making it seem dreamlike. Her body twitched at the feel of someone’s touch on her back and she was jerked back to reality.
“I know what you are Ayalet.”
“How do you know my name?” As she asked, he pointed to her bag and she saw her name displayed on the front. Oh. . . Letting herself fall to the ground she leaned her head on her hand, closing her eyes she responded, “And what do you mean, what you are? I’m human. I’m not like you; I can’t materialize out of thin air or . . .”
“Water.”
Unsure of what he meant, she tilted her head to the side so she could see his face, “What?”
Turning his body in her direction he folded his legs Indian style, leaned over his knees and said, “I can’t materialize out of air, just water. And I can’t materialize; I transport myself through the water that I touch. I become one and the same as the water around me, I acquire its qualities. I also know your name because the water was whispering it to me, calling me to you.”
She stood there in silence. What was he on? What was she on? As if he took it as a sign to continue. “Water is constantly flowing and moving, it’s an agent of transport. I am connected to water as you are connected to air, the six elements have a mind of their own, a consciousness. I don’t control water but it responds to what I’m feeling and want; it can hear my thoughts.”
Out of confusion, she just sat there in silence. Obviously he was crazy, or maybe she was. She probably hit her head too hard when she hit the ground earlier. It was probably safer if she just left. She didn’t get a sense of danger or feel threatened by him but if some screws were loose then she may not be able to tell. Pushing off the ground, she stood up and wiped the grass from her body. Looking around she found her bag in the same spot leaning against the tree. Before she could take a single step, he slid in front of her.
“Don’t leave. Please.” A soft sound came from his throat. Did he just whimper?
“Wh… why should I stay?” Oh know this is gotta be how those teen horror films start. . . Why should she stay? What did she gain from staying? He was interesting but that may not be a good thing. Hell, she didn’t even really know if all this was real to begin with.
“I’m not crazy, I swear! I mean that’s how you're looking at me anyways.” His eyes seemed truthful.
She threw out her arm towards the water before saying, “Then make it move, make it turn into some figure in front of us.”
“I can’t make it do something it can’t do on its own. I can’t make it displace a space. As in, this lake can’t jump up like a dolphin unless something displaces the water, pushing it to move upward like the wind or a person jumping into the water.”
“Okay, well if you can’t prove anything to me then that’s that.” She went to walk away when he grabbed her wrist.
“I didn’t say I couldn’t prove it to you, merely that I can’t do that specifically.” He let go of her hand and she stood there, waiting. The next thing she knew, the water droplets on her body started trickling upward, toward him. As one droplet reached the end of her finger, it seemed to jump off and drift over to a small three inch ball of water slowly swirling in the air between them. It was mesmerizing.
A huge smile claimed his face as he lifted his chin mockingly. “Now, do you believe me?” All she could do was nod her head in response.
His facial features changed and became stern and unyielding as he proudly stated, “I won’t apologize for saying what needs to be said. I don’t believe in beating around the bush. And you can call me whatever you want, but it won’t bother me; I know what I’m saying is true.”
Instantly his face relaxed as he continued, “But back to what I was saying, you’re a Seraph. Most likely, the last of the air elemental species.”
“Seraph?” She thought back to her dream; of all those people with wings and Yelena flying. Could it be that it wasn’t just a dream? She hoped so, because it would mean she wasn’t crazy.
“I’m extremely surprised that you don’t know what you are. Do you at least know what I am?” Again, all she could do was shake her head from side to side. “Do you at least feel something different about me?”
Finding the last question rather funny, she responded in a sarcastic tone, “Yeah, I see this beautiful blue aura coming off of you.” As she said it, she ran her hands through the air around the shape of his body.
Looking at him, a smirk crept upon her lips as she crossed her arms, waiting for him to respond. Whether she was crazy or not, he was quite entertaining to be around. Thinking about it, she realized that it did feel different to be around him. He made her feel calm like when she was in a bath relaxing.
Recognition flashed through his eyes as he saw that she was starting to waver about what he was saying. “All types of creatures give off a feeling, this feeling is just more distinguishable in elemental beings. For example, I feel very carefree around you, because your element is air. And I’d suspect that you feel relaxed and somewhat . . . um, I guess more willing to accept things you normally wouldn’t. Well, that is because of my water element; I am a Yerith.”
“Huh?” It sounded like he said, you’re it with a lisp at the end.
His face looked thoughtful, as if he was contemplating a better way to rephrase whatever he just said. “You know a Merrow.”
Still confused, she just stared at him. Why was he talking about bone marrow? God she was confused.
Scratching his chin, he contemplated then grumbled out, “Urg, ok um . . . how about a mermaid?”
A light bulb finally went off in her head, something she actually understood and that made sense. Wait, “Oh ok, then if you’re a mermaid, where’s your tail?” She teased, pointing at his bare feet.
Suddenly his face got serious, “Let me be clear, mermaids DO NOT EXIST. They are nothing but a grotesque story humans made up.”
And he just lost her again. Why even use mermaids as an example if they don’t exist? God she was confused. “Um . . . Okay. . . .” Suddenly she felt the boy touching her shoulder blades again, “Stop that.” Shaking off the shivers.
“I don’t know why, but I feel so sad when I touch your scars.”
“Then stop touching them, cuz believe me, I don’t like it.” She grumbled in annoyance as she tried to shake off his hand. Her body tingled in response as she failed to remove his fingers from her back. She hated that when he touched her scars images rushed through her head.
As he continued to run his fingers along her upper shoulder area, she saw pictures in her head of people with wings. Again. The images ended with a vision of herself as a little kid flying through the air. Could it all have been real? Did she really fly as a kid? And if so, why didn’t she still have her wings?
Turning her head to the left she stared up at the boy. She then wondered what his name was. She’d been calling him boy in her head, “What’s your name?”
Turning his head to look at her, his hand dropped leaving an empty feeling behind before responding, “Zackary . . . . But Zack is fine.” His grin was so wide his eyes closed to accommodate the expansion.
“Hm, where do you go to school?” She couldn’t remember ever seeing anyone like him near here. Maybe he just moved to the area like Jaison did. An image of him from the party popped into her head. She then shook her head, hoping to help rid her mind of his face.
Thankfully, Zack responded, distracting her mind from Jaison, “School?”
Confused, she responded, “Yeah, you know, school, where you learn and get educated.”
“Oh, is that what you call your form of education?” He made a face as he repeated what she said, “Skull? Why would you name it after bones?”
“Umm, No, you pronounce it with longs o’s like spool but with a k sound.” She chuckled a little bit at the thought of how close it actually sounded to skull. It does steal the life from you.
“Cool! Do you have any siblings and neighbors that learn with you?”His excitement was clear on his face as he asked the question.
“Well, I learn with about fifteen other students normally; but I don’t have any siblings.” It would be nice to have had a sibling, maybe she wouldn’t have been so lonely.
His eyes bugged out as he said, “Woah, that’s a big group!”
Ayalet responded nonchalantly, “Not really, lots of schools in bigger cities have twice that if not more. How many students are in your class?”
He raised his shoulders in a shrug as he stated, “Just my two cousins and myself. We have elders teaching the younger generation as we come about.”
“Really? So you’re kind of taught from home?”
“I guess, kind of. Are you not?”
“No, that’s what school is for. The community meets and is taught by special teachers.”
“We don’t generally have too many people around the same age around. So groups are usually around five people. It’s exciting to think about being surrounded by that many people all the same age. Ooh ooh, Can I go to ska-ool with you?!” Internally she laughed at his mispronunciation of school again.
Seeing his seriousness, she responded, “Uh . . . yeah, of course, anyone can go to school; although I don’t see why you would want to.”
“Well, I love to be around people, especially close to my age. Anytime someone comes hiking in the woods like you did, I normally transport myself to them; although it doesn’t happen very often. I don’t know why, but I love to be around humans. Let’s go now, it’d be so cool to see your school. ” He reached for her hand, in an attempt to drag her back toward her backpack near the woody edge.
Pausing and causing him to jerk back, she said, “But you know, school doesn’t start until September.”
“September, isn’t that when the leaves start falling from the trees?” She nodded to his question. Dropping her hand and putting on a puppy dog face he finished, “But I want to go now.” Walking around her back, she expected him to touch her shoulder blades again but was surprised when he started poking her sides.
Instantly laughing fits consumed her as she wiggled every which way, trying to get away. In between breaths she managed to get out, “What . . . are . . . you . . . doing?”
“I don’t know what you are talking about. But hey, go over, get your stuff and come back afterwards.” He said, but when she turned to look at him, he was at least ten feet away back near the lake edge. God he was fast and the amount of energy he had was almost exhausting.
She took a minute to catch her breath. No one has tickled her since she was little, it was strange. Did she like it? Confused, she slowly got to her feet and walked around the water to her backpack. Thankfully her clothes were mostly dry now, so she pulled them on and ran back over with her stuff in hand. Some of the things he did didn’t make sense or they were completely out of the blue so she didn’t expect him to do them. What was funny was he kind of reminded her of a little child or a puppy. He was all about go, go, go.
When she reached him, he was bent down with his eyes closed while touching the water with his hands. The water lightly rippled around his hand as he leaned over the water, statue still.
She was about to touch his back to get his attention when his eyes shot open and he mumbled, “Got it.”
Startled, she took a step back as she asked, “Got what?” Maybe this wasn’t a good idea to go with the stranger. Before her mind had any chance to come up with reasons to leave he spoke.
“It was extremely hard trying to find a source of water that led to your town, but I did. So come on before I lose it.” Zack spun his hand in a circular motion, hurrying her on. “It’s really hard to find water connecting across dimensions. Come on!” Grabbing her arm he jerked her toward the water and they fell in. Suddenly her body started to feel strange, almost like she jumped into a pool of warm soda, fizzy bubbles popped all over her skin and insides. She felt a curious pulling suction feeling, starting in her toes and moving up her body as if she was being sucked down a drain. She was joining together with the water around her but splitting a part at the same time. Then her mind slowly slipped away from itself into a void; like when she was waking up from her vision of Yelena’s time.