Link Six (completed)

Chapter 29 - "I always feel like somebody's watching me"

The kids play in the pool with Mr. Parkerson for a while, until he, bothered by the salt-water, climbs out of the pool.

"Okay guys, holler if you need me. I'll be by the chair," Mr. Parkerson calls out as he towels off and walks away.

"See you later, Dad," Emma calls after him, bobbing in the water.

"You guys want to try the swirly slide?" Rhea asks.

"Yeah let's do it," Gerald says emphatically. The six of them climb out of the pool and line up behind the slide, one by one they all slide down, cheering, and splash back into the water. As soon as Emma surfaces again, she notices something different.

Wait, it's not different, she realizes that she's felt it for a while, but before she had just blended it into the background hum of everyone else. Now it stood out. She's feeling a sinister vibe from someone on the deck.

"Emma is everything okay?" Leeanna asks.

Emma doesn't answer. She needs to find out who the feeling is coming from. She focuses on the feeling and is able to pinpoint immediately which direction it's coming from, behind her. She ducks into the water and peeps back up, still honed in on the emotion. Her eyes immediately land on a tall man with rusty brown hair. Everything about him seems normal, except the fact that he's wearing black jeans, sneakers and a jacket, in the 80 degree sun. And, while leisurely leaning against a support beam, he's intently staring in her direction. She ducks back under the water and turns around before he notices her looking at him. She pops back up and feels the confusion and worry in her friends.

"Emma?" Howie asks.

"Guys, I don't want to scare you, but there's a guy behind me that I'm pretty sure has been staring at us for a while," Emma explains in a low voice.

"Who?" Colton wants to know, swimming forward a bit to see if he could spot him.

"Don't look!" Emma snaps, "we can't let him know we're on to him."

"I know who it is," Leeanna says quietly.

"What's he thinking?" Rhea asks.

Leeanna, not looking in his direction, tells the others. He's thinking 'I don't care how smart those kids are. They're not getting away from us.'

"Us?" Gerald whispers, "As in, more than one?"

"This is not good," Colton says, frowning.

"What do we do?" Emma wants to know.

"We can't do anything here, we're in the middle of the ocean," Howie says quietly. "But, we can pretend we don't notice him."

"Good idea," Rhea agrees. "No breathing contest, let's see who can hold their breath the longest!"

"I'm in!" Gerald says with a grin.

"Let's do this!" Emma smiles too.

"I'm very good at holding my breath, you guys don't know what you're getting into." Colton says.

You're on, Leeanna replies.

"You guys are funny," Howie says with a laugh. 

"We'll see," Emma kiddingly leers at him.

"Ready..." Rhea begins the countdown. Everyone takes a big gulp of air. "Set...Go!"

All six of them duck under the water.

Howie folds his knees into his chest, sinks to the bottom of the pool and sits there. Emma floats on her stomach on the surface of the water. Rhea just lets her body fall under the water. Colton drops to the pool floor and stands there. Leeanna floats on her stomach at the surface of the water, like Emma. Gerald sinks to mid level on his belly with at least a two feet of water between him and the surface.