Elements of Emotion

Chapter 22: A Dark Truth

"But the horns and tail are strange, aren't they? They make you wonder who his mother was..."

Caelian walked down the long hallways of the palace. Every now and then he'd come across whispers about him. It bothered him at first, but now he had just learned to ignore them. They weren't purposefully malicious, at least.

Athena had said she had things to take care of that morning, but that she'd be happy to spend more time with Caelian later in the day. He looked forward to it, but until then, he had to figure out something to do to keep him occupied. He had come up with an idea, he just had to go ask the others if they'd be willing to join him.

He opened the door to Zephyr's room, disappointed when he saw that he wasn't there. Where did he go? He needed him the most for this to work out.

He walked down the hallway, on his way to Damien's room. He was surprised to see all three of his friends sitting there together when he opened the door. They looked back at him with equal surprise.

"What are you all doing here?" He asked as he entered the room.

"Damien protection squad!" Evelyn exclaimed, raising her arms into the air.

"Protection squad...?" Caelian asked.

"Someone tried getting in here last night," Damien said. "The door was locked so they couldn't get in. It... kind of rattled me a bit, so I ended up going to Zephyr's room for the night.

"Yeah, scared the shit out of me," Zephyr sighed.

"Hey, I woke you up out of your nightmare, at least," Damien said. "Be grateful."

"But then why are you all back here?" Caelian asked.

"Because if someone tries it again they won't be expecting three people," Zephyr said.

"I don't get it," Caelian said.

"If anyone tries coming in here they're getting three blasts of magic to the face," Zephyr said.

"Oh!" Caelian said. "Well, thanks for not blasting me with magic!"

"We would never blast Caelian with magic!" Evelyn said.

"Glad to hear!" Caelian grinned. "But does that mean you guys are too busy to come to the pool with me?"

"Wait, what?" Zephyr said, immediately perking up. "You want to go to the pool?"

"Yeah! I was hoping you'd teach me how to swim," he said.

"Evelyn wants to go swimming!" Evelyn said excitedly.

"Hell yeah I'll teach you how to swim!" Zephyr said, way more excited about it than he should have been. His tail slapped happily against the floor.

"We don't really have swimsuits," Damien said.

"I mean, what I wear now is basically a swimsuit." Zephyr shrugged. "Water spirits always wear clothes like that."

"Evelyn not need a swimsuit! Can swim in clothes!" she said happily.

"There's some swimsuits we can borrow, Damien," Caelian said. But Damien shook their head.

"I don't really enjoy swimming. I'll come keep you guys company, though."

"Okay, if you're sure," Caelian said.

The four of them left Damien's room together and walked down the hallway, chatting as they went. They went to Caelian's room first so he could retrieve a swimsuit, before they made their way to the indoor pool.

Evelyn immediately cannonballed into the water, with little regard to who she splashed in the process. Damien sighed after they got soaked. Caelian couldn't help but laugh. He changed in one of the adjacent changing rooms, coming out feeling a bit embarrassed by how much skin he was showing. His chest being visible also made him extremely uncomfortable. But nobody stared at him as he got down into the water, with Zephyr quickly jumping in after him.