Dark Waters (Warriors S1B5)

Chapter 10

Earth date: 01/08/2012, 13:22

"And that's why I came to America," I said. "When Uncle Ryan and Aunt Rory heard the news, they picked me up and brought me here." My eyes were on my boots. One of them had come untied. "Jay, Frazz, I'm really sorry. I never meant to hurt you. But..." my vision blurred again. "I can't be in water. Not a river or a swimming pool or even a bathtub."

Footsteps crunched through the thin layer of snow on the ground, and a second pair of boots stopped in front of mine. "Daphne," Jay's voice said. "Look at me."

I didn't. I didn't want his angry glare burning through me.

"Daphne, can you look at me?"

I chanced a glance at him. 

His expression wasn't angry, it was...apologetic? "I'm...sorry," he said slowly. "Your mom...she's supposed to protect you, not do...that."

"Daphne, that's f*cked up," Frazz said.

Kristi sniffled, wiped her wet red eyes and nodded her agreement.

"Where's your mom now?" Max asked.

"Prison. She was sentenced for attempted murder."

"On her own daughter," Joey said, shaking his head in disbelief. 

"On her own daughter," I confirmed. 

There was silence. More snow fell. Max's boots shuffled in the snow as he moved from one foot to the other staying warm.

"What's the plan?" I asked.

"Plan for...?" Joey asked.

"What's the plan for catching the Hautik?"

"Daphne, you can't be serious," Margaret said, shocked.

"I am." I parroted Dino. "Courage isn't having a lack of fear. It's having the fear but facing what scares you."

Six pairs of eyes looked at me with doubt in their eyes. Finally, Max looked at Joey and rasped, "We catching this thing or what?"

"As soon as we're somewhere warm," Joey replied.

Earth date: 01/08/2012, 14:10

"Hot stuff comes faster when you can shoot lasers," Frazz said cheekily as he brought the last mug of hot apple cider down into the basement. "I would have cracked open the soup, but there's not enough for seven people."

"That's fine," Kristi said warmly, sipping hers. "This is great." She scooted closer to Frazz so their legs were square next to each other.

We were in Frazz's basement. His family was out. "Mom and Dad took Gia to Cindy Thatcher's birthday party," he'd said when he let us in the side door. "You're safe, Max."

Frazz had led us down into the basement and directed us to a couple of couches, then began the arduous task of making seven mugs of hot apple cider from powdered mix. When he came down with the seventh mug, his, he brought a laptop with him. Now, he opened it, typed in the password, and handed it off to Joey. Joey drank his cider, which still had steam rising from it, in one long gulp. "We get it. You're invulnerable," Frazz said snarkily.