Cast Down (The Immortal Balances- Book 2)

Chapter Seven: Never Leaving

FYI- 'Caleb' has now changed to 'Kaleb' simply because I had always intended it to be spelt like that, however I forgot, got too far into Hell Bound and never got around to changing it back. I will be making big changes to the story and rewriting the first book once I'm done with university (only another four months thank fuck) but until then, here's a little note to clear up any confusion! 😊 Otherwise enjoy.

Rachel

Kaleb had been out cold for a week.

Jules had to keep him sedated the entire time otherwise when he woke up he'd start shivering and would eventually go into a fit. I'd stopped going to see him. I couldn't deal with seeing him like that.

"You've barely touched your food, Rach."

Marcel nudged my arm and nodded towards my wrap still sat barely eaten on my lap. I stared down at it blankly, then handed it to him.

When it came to food, Marcel didn't need to be told twice.

As best-friends were required to do at a time like this, he had dragged me out of the house as a means to get me away from where I'd spent however long crying over my mother, over Kaleb and over not being in control of myself. Jules had also whipped up some sort of elixir to keep my powers from going crazy again, but until I got as emotional again, we wouldn't know how well it worked.

Just thinking about it made me want to throw up.

Marcel and I went quiet again, allowing me to stare out into the ocean before us. It was my favourite thing about our spot- the ocean. The tide pushed in and pulled out against the shore repeatedly, the sound of waves sending me into a numb, careless, sleepy state, like a lullaby.

"We missed the Summer Ball this year y'know," Marcel suddenly said, as if he'd been toying it on his mind for a while but only now decided to voice it aloud. "It was going to be you, me, Berlie... Jake."

Jake's name hung in the air a little while longer as the breeze blew past us, the chill of it reminding us of the past summer in which everything had begun to spiral out of control.

"Remember when we all came here after the Summer Ball last year?" he asked, taking a chunk out of the wrap with his mouth. Mayo coated his lips, but he was quick to lick it off and continue eating. "Just you, me and Berlie."

I pulled my legs further under me so I sat on the sand in a hunched ball, arms around my knees to keep myself from loosening my position. When I didn't reply, Marcel continued.

"We had that bottle of whisky and necked it down like our livers didn't matter, and then we passed out at mine." He rested his head in his palm and looked out into the horizon. "Berlie woke up and her dress was torn at the bottom but she had no idea how it had even happened. None of us did."

A smile took over my expression.

"Oh, she remembered," I grinned, flashes of the night popping up in my mind. "She just didn't want to admit to us that she'd got off with Alex Harvey during the slow dance and then snuck off for a quickie. She was notorious like that."

Marcel nodded in agreement and took another bite of the wrap. "Yeah," he added, leaning back against the tree he was rested against. "She was great like that."