The Forgotten Light

63. Kaelen

He had what he wanted, so why didn't he feel good about it?

Ritael avoided him as much as she could, she hadn't exchanged a single word with him since their last conversation, hadn't even honored him with a passing look. It was as if he had ceased to exist.

He kept returning his thoughts to the words that were said.

"All it takes is for one of us to fall in love with the other and we'll be lost."

"It certainly won't be me," Ritael had said.

"It most definitely won't be me." After these words, his heart had beaten ominously. As if it had warned Kaelen that it was too late.

That memory didn't leave his head, quite like the incessant ringing in his ear. He was slowly starting to get irritated. Twenty years ago he died for the first time, and since then he had been able to hear almost everything. Their abilities were a posthumous gift with which they came back to life. One never comes back from the dead the same.

For twenty long years he had been accompanied by sounds that no one else could hear, which had become part of his life, and now there was a sudden silence. He felt like a cripple, and even though he knew it was only temporary, it was driving him mad.

The young trees spread, and Harlyn stepped out. He walked quickly and angrily right past Kaelen and disappeared into the entrance of their hideout. His older brother emerged right behind him.

"Yo, Ace." Kaelen pushed himself off the rock wall. "What's going on? Why is Hobbit going wild?"

"Hobbit?" The boy snorted with amusement.

"It isn't? Oh, shit, somehow I can't remember his name."

"Sure you can't." Ace stopped next to him, smiling crookedly. "Answering your question, my little brother is starting to panic. He still doesn't believe that this Being wants to help us get Fairlight back, which is why he keeps busting Reyn's balls to start repairing his ship, to which the latter replies to him that it will take them a bazillion hours to complete a machine capable of flying to San Diego, and the Invicta will show up any minute. Midnight in a few hours, the full moon is already rising."

"It's an interesting coincidence that your brother is starting to get anxious just now. Are you sure your he isn't a werewolf?"

Ace burst out laughing. "I don't know anymore. The scar on his face gives him that charm." He combed his light hair with his fingers and said more seriously, "Okay, that wasn't very nice. I should go and calm him down. Oh, and thanks for what you're doing. Thanks for bringing our Fairlight home. It's very brave of you, risking your own life for a person you don't know at all, but believe me, she's worth it."

Yes, he didn't doubt that at all. He had never even seen this girl before, and he already felt that she was truly special.

But back to his first thought - he had what he wanted, so why didn't he feel good about it? Maybe he played it the wrong way?

He leaned his head against the canyon and looked up at the darkening sky.

The hatred he had tried to breed in Ritael to protect them both was clearly not the solution.