What Walks Among Us (book one)

The Surprise (Part 3)

In front of me was a brilliant blue colored hot spring. It wasn't overly large but I'd imagine that about twenty people could fit in with ease. Steam rose off the water and the air felt heavy while still feeling pleasant. The entire thing was surrounded by thick shrubbery and trees. It was like we had stepped through the magic door and were transported to some safe haven.

Beck walked past me, breaking me out of my trance as he set the bags he carried down onto a large boulder with a semi flattened surface. Chester had already taken his shirt off and tossed it on to a different rock, and was now wading into the water. I looked over at Cody as Mabel giddily jumped into the water, wearing her shorts and shirt still.

Cody raised an eyebrow at me, daring me to go in.

So I did. I took off my socks and shoes before putting my hair into a messy bun and walking ankle deep into the water. It felt wonderful, like, it was different from a bath, because I could moved around, but it was also different from how I imagine a hot tub would be, because the water didn't feel like it was burning my skin.

I watched how Mabel did it, because I had never actually been in a pool, let alone a hot tub. Mabel had gone to a few swimming lessons with her class in the fourth grade, but when I had gone into fourth grade, my mother refused to pay the forty dollar fee, and I had to sit on the sideline with a boy who liked to pick his nose and wipe it on any available surface.

I was knee deep when I say Mabel suddenly go from waist deep, to disappearing and reappearing with only her head visible. I stopped walking forward, wondering if she had somehow tripped and just didn't want to stand up, but Cody walked passed me and about the same spot, he did the same.

Sam saw me looking at them with confusion and smiled, "There's a little bit of a drop off, I think the thing is about 14 feet deep, so you can't touch the ground, but," he shrugged and smiled.

I nodded and decided to just wade around knee deep, I spotted a rock that was semi out of the water and sat down on its surface, leaning back on my elbows to let the sun warm me as I left my legs in the water. There were sounds of splashing, and I heard the guys' laughter float around the space. It was serene, relaxing.

When they had first opened the gate I had figured that they were just going to let me run around, like I had been bugging everyone about since my knee hurt. It wasn't enough that I had escaped from one prison like setting.. I wanted to be able to come and go from the compound as I wanted. I wanted to be able to be free, really free.

As I day dreamed about doing whatever I wanted whenever, I let the voices of the other's playing in the water blur. Strong arms picked me up and I was tossed over a shoulder in one fluid move. I was so startled that when Chester started moving towards the drop off, and the voices came back, that I didn't immediately respond.

It wasn't until the guys were hooting with cheers, except Cody, he was just smiling amusedly, that I realized what Chester was going to do. I pushed my hands against his back, trying to push myself up a little to see around, "Chester,"

"No, Cupcake, we came to have fun! Come swim with us!" he said, his voice filled with joy.

I looked around, wondering which one would hear me out, when I saw Mabel. She would know I didn't know how to swim! But when I registered her gleeful expression I realized that maybe she didn't want to save me. She was excited to see this happen, and the thought had my blood boiling.

"Chester, wait I can't-"

"Here we go!!!" Chester said, ignoring me.

Cody moved forward, hand out as he started to say something, but it was a little late as Chester moved over the edge of the drop off. The feeling was surreal, at first I was just closing my eyes and floating. Chester was still right there, and to be completely covered in water made me feel limitless, weightless.. infinite. But then I needed to breathe, and then I panicked.