CursEd

Lucas

“Wrench! I mean…Kaylee!” Lucas said, bouncing across the room as she entered the door. “Look!”

He held out a small box with a button on the side. The metal cube was about as long as the boys thumbnail and could fit inside a bottle opening. There was detailed work along the sides as well as small, black scorch marks that showed mistakes and re-doings.

“Press it!” he said excitedly, bouncing on the balls of his feet. Kaylee reached out and lightly pressed the small button.

*tweet tweet* *tweet tweet*

Kaylee stared at the small machine. “I don’t get it.”

“Its for Fitz!” Lucas said. “A talkbox!”

“Brilliant!” Kaylee said, ruffling his hair and holding the box up to the light. “Does Anaru have one?”

Lucas nodded and whistled, the dragon glided down from an upper shelf and landed on his shoulder.

“Theyre incorporated with four different emotions along with a learning processor.” Lucas said. “Anaru. Speak.”

*screeeeeech* *roar*

“That means ‘good morning’ “ Lucas smiled. The dragons mouth opened and closed happily. Kaylee ruffled the boys hair again. “Nice, squirt. You’ll be a dragon speaker yet. I’ll input this as soon as go back to the cabin.”

“The big three cabin?” Misty, one of the younger girls head appeared from behind a large, broze ball on stilts. “What’s it like?”

“Big” Kaylee amended, shrugging her shoulders. “Nothing fancy. Its just like being under the sea.”

“Under the Sea, Under the Sea!”

“Shut up with the Disnee, Oscar!” Mckenzie said, hammering her sword again. Kaylee laughed until Mckenzie gave her a scornful look and then she grabbed Lucas and ran out. Working could wait until she was out of the forgery, for now she would settle with chilling with Lucas on the beach.

“Where are we going?” Lucas asked.

“The water…” Kaylee said. “The waves are nice at this time of day…”

“Don’t you have combat soon?”

Kaylee looked at the sky. “Not for an hour.”

“Its nice” Lucas said, pulling Anaru down to cradle him in his hands. “being able to ask you questions.”

Kaylee looked down at the kid. So smart and creative, yet so real and innocent. She didn’t know those kind of kids existed anymore; especially not in this dangerous world.

Lucas ran ahead into the white sand and watched as Anaru soared on the breeze. His eyes were as wide as saucers and as blue as the sky on a clear day. A small, boy giggle escaped his throat as he pulled off his shoes and ran to the surf.

“Its cold!!” he yelled back to her. Kaylee laughed before she breathed out deeply.

“Its hot!!” Lucas yelled, jumping out of the water. Kaylee laughed again and he gave her a suspicious look.

“You did that?” his question was an accusation as he kicked some of the sea at her. Pretending to be astonished, Kaylee fought back until it turned into an all-out splashing war.

“It would be so cool to be child of the sea” Lucas suddenly said. The water stopped as Kaylee stood straight, astonished.

“Really?” she asked. “You think so?”

“Mhmm” Lucas said. “You could do anything you wanted. Water covers more than half of the world.”

“True…” Kaylee said. She had a thought, one that could either go extremely good, or extremely bad. “You want to be a son of the sea for five minutes?”

His eyes grew even bigger and he had to push his glasses up his nose. “Me?”

Kaylee held out her hand and he took it. “Don’t breath until I tell you.”

“Wait, wha-?” she dove into the water, pushing the currents behind him so that he could keep up with her. Near the base of the waves, she formed a sort of bubble around the two of them.

“You can breath now” she said calmly. Lucas’ face was a sheet of paper, his lips were pressed closely together and his eyes looked red from the salt water.

“Luke?” Kaylee asked, getting down and squinting into his eyes.

“That…was…” Lucas said quietly, his lips barely moving. “AWESOME!”

Kaylee had to step back to steady herself as he suddenly started running around her bubble, jumping and wooping.

“This is amazing!” he yelled. “You can do this whenever you want?!”

Kaylee laughed until the waves told her the exact time and she swore in greek under her breath…she was late.

“Sorry, bud” she said, grabbing Lucas’ hand again. “Five minutes turned into three. We have to go.”

Lucas smiled at her in an amused look, like a parent watching their child make a stupid, but not harmful, mistake.

“You’re late, aren’t you” he said.

“Yeah…” Kaylee said quietly. Why did she feel like the younger one in the bubble? Closing off the air, they shot up to the shore where Kaylee dropped the dripping Lucas off and started sprinting towards the clearing.

She was barely on the green when a hand shot out from behind a tree and knocked her shoulders backwards so that she landed on the ground.

“You’re late.” Markus said, standing over her.

“Wanna get beat up on time today, Markus?” Kaylee asked, sitting up and wiping the grass off her palms. Markus was silent for a moment and when she looked up at him he didn’t look so much angry as shocked.

“What?” she asked. He shook his head.

“Nothing…” he mumbled. “Take your stance and let’s get this over with.”

They sparred for thirty minutes, each taking equal hits at the other as they danced across the field. Two other sets of partners arrived to train but neither could compare to the grace or strength. When their fifth match was about to begin, a hand appeared on Markus’ shoulder.

“Mind if I cut in?” Percy asked, smiling at his sister.

“Not at all, sir” Markus said, his hands falling to his sides as he took a step back.

“Enough, Markus” Percy said, taking his spot and crouching down. “It’s Percy.”

“okay, Percy” Markus looked to Kaylee. “Don’t forget your with Wilson at two.”

“Yeah, yeah” Kaylee muttered, rolling her eyes.

“Don’t be late” Markus called as he walked off the green. Kaylee smiled smugly at the sweat that had soaked a line down his back.

“Alright, lil sis” Percy said. “Focus on me now.”

The two other parters stopped to watch, one of the boys running off towards the camp. Kaylee groaned internally: probably to tell the camp that the big-three siblings were having it out. This should be fun…