Seeker (Completed)

Pick a Partner

Chapter four

I'm at the top of a staircase looking down into a room that is split into four sections: blue, red, grey and green. In each section there are shelves and shelves of misty colourful orbs. "You were being serious." I mutter in disbelief. He takes hold of my hand and gently starts leading me down the stairs. "Every word." He promises. "You only know the basics of this stuff but unfortunately we have to rush you so you can catch up with your training."

"So if Zack's your partner that makes him a merman...then again it could be that he's the guardian and if that's the case it would make you tinkerbell," I grin playfully at him. "But my money is on that you're the guardian."

"Why?" Justin asks putting on a fake hurt expression. "Don't you think I would look good in a tutu?" I let out a small laugh.

"Well, there's that but I saw Zack sneak some salt into his water at lunch. So that either means he has seriously low blood pressure or he's a mermaid. Wait, no, merman."

"To shay." He replies, confirming my guess

As we descend further down the stairs the sound of whispering fills the air and grows stronger with each step. "Just ignore them. They're just excited because we're the first ones down here in months."

"They're conscious?" I ask sounding surprised, which I guess I am. Justin looks at me as though he can't believe I just asked that and then nods his head. "Am I really the new kid by months?" Justin nods again. "Great." I mumble and as if life couldn't get any worse I ungracefully trip. Before I hit the ground arms encircle around me and pull me back up. My face is close to his, I'm breathing heavily and I know what you're thinking 'oh lucky Layla!' but no, he's invading my personal space. "Falling for me already, Princess?" He grins smugly, God he is so arrogant! Suddenly I feel as though a huge hand has grabbed my insides, yanking them. My eyes widen and a gasp escapes me. "You feel it, don't you? You've chosen your partner." Justin says yanking out a black scarf out his pocket and I raise my eyebrows. "Helps add to the suspense." I allow him to blind me. Putting his hands on my shoulders he gives a light pull that causes me to take a step back. His lips to my ears he whispers "Let the feeling guide you." He let go of me and I blunder in the direction of the tugging feeling.

My hand reaches out, almost on its own accord. My right hand picks up a smooth surfaced sphere as my left removes the blindfold. I find myself staring at a green orb, I notice that I've been holding my breath and I let it out. The orb warms in my hand and starts smoking. Alarmed, I look to Justin for guidance but he just smiles. The orb morphs into a hand...this day just keeps getting weirder. The rest of my partner morphs and I officially decide retract my previous statement of Justin being the most gorgeous guy I've ever seen. Standing in front of me was a tanned guy with messy black hair and intense green eyes. I look at him from head-to-toe and back again. He's wearing a leaf skirt but somehow it works for him and I have a sudden urge to rub it in Justin's face, so I'm going to do exactly that. I turn my head towards Justin and say, "You might not be able to rock the skirt look but he sure as hell can."

I hear a chuckle sounding like wind rustling the leaves of autumn...OK maybe I'm being slightly poetic but still. My eyes dart back to him and his eyes skim me from head to toe, "Nicholas Frost." His musical voice echoing like th...OK you get it he has a nice voice, moving on.

He sticks out his right hand, I glide my hand into his."Layla Winters." I declare. A green light burst from our hands and snake around our wrists. I shoot a startled glance at Justin but he's acting like light burst out of people's hands on an everyday basis, which it probably does for him. The light fades into a tingling sensation. I let go of Nick's hand and examine the wrist of my right hand; I'm shocked to see a green vine snaking around it with a circle on top and the letter N neatly traced in it. N for Nicholas? I glance at Nick's hand; his is the same as mine except it has an L in the circle. Interesting. I flick my gaze towards Justin; he lifts up his long sleeve of his right hand to reveal a blue vine snaking across it with a Z in the circle. Justin looks at Nick and says; "Now I'm jealous." Nick raises his eyebrows. "Of what?" He asks throwing a curious look between Justin and me.