The Prince

Part 6

"What are you doing?" Skye asked, watching as a young boy crouched in the corner of his tree house with, a frown.

Noah let out a frightened scream and jumped up when he heard a disembodied voice behind him. He immediately sat down rubbing his head that he'd hit against an overhead branch.

"Why are you here?" Sky asked again, noticing the boy's thin clothes and his shivering in the night air that had suddenly turned very cold.

"Um, eh, I've come to get, er, to think," he stammered, still not sure who he was talking to, but the voice was warm and comforting and didn't sound like a serial killer or pervert at all.

"Well, you'd better go home, it's going to rain soon," He climbed down the rope ladder again.

Noah almost groaned in embarrassment. It was Skye, he was sure of it. His voice was sensual and warm, which made everybody swoon when he opened his mouth to speak in class. Now he couldn't move from where he was and the temperature had dropped again. He couldn't stay out here the whole night if Skye didn't move off.

"Are you avoiding me?" He heard Skye ask from beneath the tree house.

"What?" Noah was surprised that Skye knew who he was. He must have the eyes of a cat to see in this dim light.

"Why are you avoiding me?"

"Oh, I'm not, I'm sorry." He finally started climbing out of the tree house. There was no point in trying to hide, it was cold and he wanted to go home, but knew that he couldn't for quite a few hours still.

"Are you a runaway?" He curiously looked at Noah. He was an odd kid that kept popping up around him.

"What?" he looked up in surprise. "No, no. I'm not a runaway. The thing is, I can't go home right now," He said quietly, hoping that he would be left alone in his miserable state. He didn't want anything from this boy who didn't show any expression, emotion or real interest at all.

"Well, it's going to rain soon, do you want to come with me?"

"No, no," He said panicking somewhat. He already owed Skye so much already, if he went with him there would be no end. "I'll stay here for a bit. It doesn't look like it will rain soon anyway." He shivered again.

"Come with me." Skye grabbed his wrist and pulled him along a path that he'd never taken at all. His grip was firm and warm and for a moment Noah forgot that he could be dragged to his death right now. Nobody would suspect Skye if his body appeared lifeless in the morning.

"Hey," he stopped and jerked his arm out of Skye's grip. "Your hand," he stammered, not sure what he wanted to say.

"Oh, sorry," he looked down at his hand. "Well, you were taking your time and it's going to rain as in now." He turned and walked on again. "Come on, I'm not going to murder you," He chuckled not waiting for Noah to respond.

Thinking about all his options, he came up empty. He didn't want to stay outside for the next few hours caught in the middle of a rainstorm, but he also didn't want to go wherever it was Skye was taking him. Right now, however, the decision was being made for him. Grinding his teeth, he followed Skye through the forest to the bright lights that were shining in the distance.

As they stepped up to the front door fat drops of rain started falling from the sky. It soon turned into a deluge as the door was closed behind him.

"How did you know?" He asked in awe. Their timing was perfect, a second longer and they would both have been soaked.

"The rain? I could smell it." He said nonchalantly, shrugging out of his jacket and hanging it on a peg. "Come on, I'll get you something to warm up." He walked off toward the kitchen, surprised that Jackson wasn't around.