Soul Ties

Chapter 33: Hidden Angelfish

Ogmellos bursts through the water a second after me. He pushes his wet black hair out of his face, his horns dripping onto his large shoulders. He shakes his head at me with a grin.

"I don't know how you do it," he remarks, paddling his way to join me in the middle of the pool. I spin around laughing.

"I was born in the water. You can't out swim me," I counter, giggling.

"Yeah, but I'm stronger than you."

"And also heavier. Plus, my tail helps me move through the water easily."

He splashes me. "So you're saying you're a cheater."

I splash him back, laughing when the water catches him in the face. "I'm saying I'm better than you."

"In more ways than one," he mumbles to himself while swimming by me and heading to the shore. I follow behind him, trying to hold back the smile that's desperately trying to come out. When his feet touch land, he peers back at me. "Don't let it go to your head."

"I won't." But I can't tell how true that is. I haven't had many friends, none of them males either. The only real friend I had was Seren and even that became something more. This feels different. Ogmellos and I feel right together, we feel strong. We could protect each other in ways that the other needed. His strength with my comfort and care.

One thing we had for each other that was the same was trust. I ponder if one of my faults is being too trusting. Yet Ogmellos makes me think I can trust him because he's been vulnerable with me. I hope this won't come back to bite me.

"Let's head back to my room so I can change out of these wet clothes." He squeezes the sides of his pants and rakes his fingers through his hair, pinching the ends to get out the excess water.

Heading for the tunnel, I push open the door, stepping into the hallway with Ogmellos behind me. We travel down the hall until we come to another one of those red chained doors. This one seems a bit larger than the others though and I smirk.

"Is everything about you large?" I tease. He nudges me with his elbow gently, but it still knocks me off my balance.

"Quiet, Corai."

Ogmellos shoves the door open, the veins on his arms and hands moving from the force. I can't even imagine how heavy this door must be. Surely he can't be the only one able to open it, right? When I step in, the orbs on the wall light and I'm taken back yet again by what I see.

His room is huge. Much larger than the one Scorpius and I share. The bed in the middle has dark red sheer material hanging from the banisters. His sheets, a deeper red than that, shimmers in the light as if they're made from some soft fabric. Four long pillows are propped up top.

I look up and notice the same jagged points that are on the roof of the building covering his ceiling. Although these don't look as ominous as the ones I saw outside. Along the wall is a hole about as long as my legs but wider than two of me. Streaming down inside the hole is lava. If I wasn't so afraid of getting burned I would've thought it was beautiful. A large plush chair is placed near the magma by the wall. Decorated along the room is something curved and black. I walk over to one of them and reach out to touch it only to realize what it is. A horn. I spin around, noticing all the others attached to the walls. I stare at Ogmellos.

"Don't look at me like that," he mutters, almost ashamed. "I know."

I can't judge him for this. That was who he was before I offered him friendship, not who he is now. At least, I hope it's not.

Ogmellos walks over to the side table by his bed, removing his soaked pants and replacing them with what looks to be the same ones he had on before. I keep my eyes everywhere else so I don't look at his naked body. No need to have that image in my head.