The Rink of Time

Chapter Fifteen

But we cannot simply sit and stare at our wounds forever.

ELIJAH STARLING

"I need to talk to you" Dexter barges into my room.

"Sure, come in" I make a sarcastic gesture at his entrance.

He begins to pace back and forth, running his hand through his hair occasionally, this goes on for about a minute bringing me to wonder; is he here to pace or to say something?

"Is everything okay?" I sputter out, not really sure what to say, assessing his behavior with my eyes.

"No, not at all" he plants his self on the bed and looks down. I walk to the bed, taking a seat next to him.

"What's up?" I slowly ask after a minute of silence, it's unlike Dexter to act so out of it.

"My mom Elijah" He runs his hand through his hair frustratedly. "What if she dies when I'm gone" he looks at me tears sitting at the brink of his eye lids.

What do I even say to this?

"She's not going to die Dexter" I breathe out, carefully calculating my next words "Listen to me" I pause "I'm sure she's fine right now, we're going to get out of here soon, okay? we just have to stay focused"

"How do you know that?" he frowns. I don't

"I don't" I look down "but if there's one thing I know, it's that you can do anything you put your mind to" I give him a small smile turning to face him completely and he does the same. "And you've got us, we're in this together, okay?"

"You promise?" he takes his pinky out.

"I promise you, we'll find answers" I lock my pinky with his.

"Party and the Starling condo?!" Skai barges in loudly, River trailing slowly behind her.

I look behind at River confused and he shrugs. "Don't look at me, she was looking for Dexter and I said 'oh check Elijah's room' then she said 'they must be having a sleepover without us' and the-" Skai cuts him off before he could finish retelling the conversation they had prior invading my room.

"Then you said 'Damn that's rude' don't lie River Vermont Ladiston" she retorted making Dexter and I laugh.

There they go again, they get into a heated argument which we all know will die down in a couple minutes, River will put Skai in a headlock and Skai will resist but somehow, they end up in a hug.

Just as I predicted it played out in front of us and Emily walked into the room, surprise evident on her face and the full room.

"Were you guys leaving me out again?" she frowns playfully and I walk over to her quickly.

"Of course not, sunshine, they just got here" I plant a kiss on her forehead guiding her to the bed, where River and Skai were now sat on conversing with Dexter.

"Let's play spin the bottle!" Skai cheers and River instantly smacks the back of her head lightly.

"First of all; gross" her brother gagged "And secondly, who do you want to kiss" he looks at her weirdly lifting a brow "Dexter?"

Realization seemed to have dawned on Skai but she masks it almost immediately "I mean...Dexte-" she began to crawl over to Dexter when he cut her off.

"Get over yourself little Ladiston" he uses his hand to push her face away from him, rolling his eyes.

"How about we do something more beneficial?" Emily quietly suggested from beside me.

"What do you mean?" Skai asks her.

"Why don't we plan our way out of here?" she shrugs "I mean it seems better than watching Skai shamelessly flirt with Dexter" she pauses and looks at Skai shaking her head "You never cease to amaze me"

"I wasn't flirting with him, y'all take me too seriously" Skai huffs "No offense Dexter, but you're not my type" she smiles at him.

"None taken, it's good to know that I'm not dirtbag, plus I'd rather drink hot sauce than kiss you" he mimics her and Skai charges at him but River holds her back, causing us all—except Skai—to burst into fits of laughter.

"But Em is right, we should plan" Dexter agrees with Emily after the laughter had died down "How exactly do we plan though, we're practically blank canvases when it comes to this world" he scratched the back of his head nervously.

"Let's start with what we know" I suggest "The name of this world is Ardeneon"

"There's an 87% possibility that we are sprites" Emily adds.

"We might have magical powers" Skai beams.

"Skills" River corrects his sister "We may have skills"

"Same thing" Skai huffs rolling her eyes at him.

"But how did we end up here?" Dexter thinks out loud "Are our parents from here?"

"A portal?" Emily looks at him like it was common knowledge, I mean technically it was.

"No shit sherlock" Dexter rolls his eyes "I mean why did the portal draw us in, surely other kids had gone through the woods before us"

"Maybe, it was timing?" River suggests.

"Or maybe they didn't want to 'change mankind'" Dexter grumbles placing air quotes on 'change mankind'

Emily looks at him taken aback for a second before retorting "Who brought us into the woods in the first place?" she lifts a brow at him "Wasn't me was it?"

"Pfft, to play hide and seek not to change mankind" Wide eyed, Dexter opposed her. They began exchanging words back and forth.

Skai, River and I stared at each other exhaustedly before I decide to intervene.

"What sane person, walks towards a weird light shining in the middle of a forest, in the middle of the night?" Dexter seemed exasperated.

"W-" I cut Emily of placing my hand on hers and she turns to look at me.

"You guys do know fighting isn't going to solve anything right?" River looks at them like they were both stupid. "To get through this we have to work together, we're all we have"

They both look down in shame.

"River is right" Skai smiles softly before her expression changes to one of excitement "Seven minutes in 1990!"

Seven minutes in 1990 is a game we invented, it's like seven minutes in heaven except instead of making out or whatever, you have to be vulnerable with the person you're locked in the closet with. It's how we resolve issues, or how we help each other out when someone is going through something.

"No need to spin, Emily and Dexter, you're up!" River ushers them both off the bed and they trudge their feet into the closet.

"We should do a spin for who goes next" River suggests and I nod looking around the room for a bottle or cylinder of some sort, then I spot an empty vase above the fire place, filled with water.

Bingo.

I strut over to the fireplace and grab the vase, before making my way to the bathroom and spilling the water out.

Walking back into the room I see Emily and Dexter sat on the floor talking in the walk- in closet.

A smile etched onto my face, at least they are talking. I continue my way into the room and notice Skai and River were already sat on the floor, I sit with them placing the vase in the middle.

"Skai" I motion to the vase, for her to spin it, Skai always spun first, because she's the youngest.

She spins the vase and it points to me.