Crossover Crossroads (The Kell and Maille Story)

Moving Fast

065: Moving fast

It was late. Maille drove back to Kell's jubilant, but very tired. She'd spent the evening in Shawn's room with her mom and dad, who had fallen instantly for Shawn 's sweet spirit. They stayed for dinner and had gospel discussions for over an hour. Then seeing Shawn so sleepy, Maille had ushered everyone out, kissed him gently on the cheek and departed. They'd gone back to Park City to talk, and talk they had. 

It had been an incredibly enlightening experience to have her parents all to herself, and have them see in her a new and independent personality. It seemed that having an interest in Shawn had opened their eyes to Maille's own possibilities.

She let the animals out and they followed her with enthusiasm into the house where she went to change into her bathing suit. She had too much energy to just go to sleep. She put her cell phone on the bench, but Kiyah immediately took it and ran to the diving board.

"Oh no you don't, monkey, give that back." she skipped toward the diving board, where Kiyah was holding the phone out of her reach. The lighting was dim, but she could see the little black hands examining the small device, and she feared that it was about to go swimming with her.

Kiyah was tossing the phone between her hands, her eyes gleaming mischievously when suddenly the little gleam blinked out. Maille lost Kiyah's form in the darkness and yelled out, sure she had jumped into the pool, or got off the board. Maille had reached the board and put one foot up on it when she felt the startling and eerie feeling that she was being watched. She glanced around, called for Kiyah , saw the gleam again of her eyes still looking at her from the end of the diving board. She decided it had been nothing and got up on the board.

"Kiyah, give it back." she ordered sternly.

There was no peep, and except for the breathing of two dogs, and the lapping of the hot tub bubbles, there was no sound. But something had disturbed her, and Kiyah's eyes kept blinking on and off in the reflected light, as if she were looking at something else periodically.

She scanned the room, but the brightest thing was the city lights not far away, and the pool itself was in darkness. Her sense of hearing was working far stronger in this setting. Maille swam to the edge of the pool where the stairs were and called to Kiyah again. She uneasily traversed the steps and retrieved her towel and was about to wrap it around her when she was grabbed from behind by strong male hands.

Instinct and martial arts training were against her assailant. A sharp elbow to the chest, a kick in the groin and a shove into the pool, and Maille took off. She had been uneasy, her instinct paid off and the next course was to get out of the house.

She heard the splash of her assailant's descent. She heard a muffled grunt and a muttered exclamation, and suddenly she knew her mistake. "Kell?"

Her body was still running when her mind stopped and turned, and she slid into the doorway and bumped her arm and shoulder. The dogs were on her tail, neither very concerned with the intruder, which should have been her first clue.