Group Z

Chapter 25

I come back to consciousness slowly and it's only reluctantly that I open my eyes. The sun is now well up and Sapphire hasn't moved from where she was since I closed my eyes.

She smiles down at me. 'Good sleep?'

I nod and reply. 'The best. Thank you.'

'Great.' She says standing up, 'I'm going back up to work on the thing. All goes well, and I'll show it to you later today.'

'Well, I'm looking forward to it.' I say simply.

She bounds off in the direction of the waterfall and I quickly follow suit. When I get there, I see Lizzie and Damon already in the water with Benny splashing around. They see me, and wave and I wave back before sliding into the water.

I swim over to them and look Lizzie up and down raising an eyebrow.

'What?' She demands.

'You still want to spar?' I question her cocking my head to the side.

A grin spreads across her face. 'Duh, of course I do!' She says almost bolting out of the water.

I follow her grinning broadly. Damon and Benny get out of the water sitting cross legged to watch us as we mark out a large circle on a mixture of grass and stone then standing facing each other.

'Count us in Damon?' I ask him.

'Sure. 3,2,1... GO!' He yells.

I immediately charge at Lizzie swinging my leg up so that it flies in a circle hitting her side. She grunts in pain and keeps a hold of my leg. She moves into a roll and I'm brought over her shoulder, slamming into the ground. She tries to straddle me, but I throw an elbow into her chest and scoot away as she falls back, winded.

We both get up at the same time and this time we meet each other, she goes to punch me in the face, but I block it then, so fast I can't even see it she sends her other fist into my stomach which leaves me gasping for air. I drop to my knees and she swings her leg back to kick me in the face and this time it's my turn to grab her leg and yank it upwards causing her to fall hard onto the grassy floor. She kicks her leg trying to get me off it, but I ignore her attempts, even when a kick lands on my face, bruising my cheek. In her vulnerable position on her back I climb on top of her, pinning her arms to the floor.

'Victorious!' I yell out getting a grin from her.

'Yeah but you've got more bruises.' She shoots back at me.

'That and I think you cracked a rib.' I joke.

'If only.' She laughs as I stand up holding out a hand to help her to her feet.

'Oh my God.' Damon says staring at us open-mouthed. 'You did that every day?!'

'Well... Yeah, but it made us stronger. They're usually longer than that too.' Lizzie says going over to him and kissing him gently on the cheek.

'Lizzie, can you teach me some cool stuff?' Benny asks jumping around her.

'Yeah sure kiddo, what do you want to know?' She asks swinging him around.

Her eyes meet mine and she smiles at me, turning her attention back to Benny.

I slip into the water, allowing myself to float, stopping the aches springing up from the new bruises I have courtesy of Lizzie. I find I'm not as restless as I have been for the past few days, the fight used up some of the energy rattling around inside me. Using slow lazy strokes, I move across the lake to the waterfall.

The water pounding down drowns out every other sound and as I move underneath it the pounding moves to my head and shoulders. My feet find solid ground beneath me and I'm able to stand under the torrent of water. Here the water is warmed from the sun, far from the cold torrents of the Hub, this simply feels like the best shower in the world. I feel tension move away from my shoulders as the water massages them.