Hidden Temples

(12) Flirts and friends

                                (Rue)
"I figured I'd find you here, how you doing?" Jack asks.
"Good."
"Oh so your Rue." The other boy beside Jack says, I figure it's Jason.
"Yep that's me, and I'm guessing your Jason?"
He grins, and flashes his deep blue eyes.
"So you do know me. Jacky over here must've said a whole bunch of nice things bout me."
I shrug.
"Not really, in fact I haven't heard one thing about you." I say.
He chuckles.
"Your a feisty one aren't you. I also hear your a cat, maybe you-"
"Okay I think that's enough Jason," Jack says.
"And how manny times do I have to tell you, my name isn't Jacky."
I grin.
"It is pretty funny," I say.
Jack grins at me.
"At least we agree on that," Jason says, eying me, and running his hands through his curly dirty blonde hair.
"Hey, I wouldn't get any ideas if I were you," I say.
"Ya you wouldn't, she'd beat you up pretty bad," Jack says.
I grin.
"Oh, so you and Jacky here have something going on?" Jason said taking a step closer to me.
"No," Jack says quickly.
I glare at Jason.
"Aww did I make the pretty little kitten angry?" He says.
I call the wind, and hiss a command, sending Jason flying backwards, and landing with a thud.
"Ouch," Jason say sitting up and rubbing his back.
Jack grins at me, and Ivory laughs.
"Well, that was fun," I say smiling.

Jason gets up, and walks beside Jack.
"We'll continue this talk later," Jason says.
"I don't think so," I say summoning another gust, making Jason trip backwards.
Ivory laughs again.
"Okay, okay, I get the point," Jason says, smiling at me. Something tells me he's not done trying.
"So why're you guys here?" I ask.
"Jacky's doing some homework," Jason says smiling.
Jack elbows Jason, probably for the nick name.
"You guys?" Jack asks.
"Just reading," I say.
Jack grins.
Why does he always do that?

"We're looking for books, Rue actually took one yesterday," Ivory says.
I'm suddenly I'm nervous.
"Cool, what's the name?" Jack asks.
"Actually, it was in these weird runes," Ivory responds, when I don't.
"D'you figure out the name?" She asks me.
"I...um...ya I figured out the name."
"The name is...?" Ivory asks.
"Um......excuse me for a moment," I say rushing out of my seat, and to the door.
I slide my shoes on, and rush outside.
I sit on the long bench, that ran along the thin building.

I burry my face in my hands.
How am I going to deal with this? I can't tell them? Can I? No, but-ahhhhhhhhhhh, gosh, why me? I don't even feel evil.

Suddenly a hand grabs my shoulder.
I jump.
"It's okay, just me," Jack says.
"Oh, god you scared me." I say placing my hands on my chest.
"What's wrong?" He asks.
"What?...nothing."
"C'mon, you can tell me."

I look up at him, and stare into his eyes, their a mix of worry, fright, and truth.
I sigh.
"Tomorrow, maybe."
"You better tell me tomorrow," he says, lifting his hand I forgot was on my shoulder.
He turns around to walk away, but the stops in his tracks.
"Nope," he says coming to sit down beside me.
I sigh.
"Please," he pleads.
"Tell me what's wrong, I might be able to help."
"You can't help with this," I whisper.
"What do you mean?" He asks.
"I mean, you can't help me with this, I can't tell you, I'm sorry," I whisper again.

"I will find out, believe me." He says.
"And once you tell me, I'll be able to help you."
"I'm not so sure," I say getting up, and calling the wind to my side.
"I'll see you tomorrow."
And without another word, the drafts whisk me away.
_________________________
I run into my room, and fall to the floor. I curl up into the corner of my room, hugging my knees to my chest.
"Do I tell him? Do I not?
I don't know, I can trust him right?
But what if he tells mistress?
I start to rock back and forth, counting my breaths as I do so.
Once I'm finally calmed, I sit up and stare at my wall. The wall is plain and empty, and also has cracks ant the bottom, making it insecure, almost as much as I'm feeling, and frankly I'm feeling exactly like my wall.
So I close my eyes, and drift of to sleep.
______________________
I wake up to knocking on my door.
I curse under my breath, and get up, realizing the pain I have in my back, from sleeping on the floor.
Quickly, I pull on a pair of pants, and a top, and race to the door.
"Morning," Jack says.
"Morning."
"C'mon, let's go."

The wind carries us into the yard, and when Jack hisses the command, we land in our practice grounds.

"We'll be practicing the arts of mind, you'll learn how to explore someone else's mind.
It's pretty hard, because other Liths can choose to block them out with their mind. Give it a try, go on.
"But, I don't know how," I say confused.
He grins.
"As weird as it sounds, focus on my forehead, and imagine your clawing open my head and reach for my memories. If you stretch deep enough, it's said that you can actually listen and hear other Liths thoughts, but it's impossible."
"Okay," I say.
"I'll try my best."
I look directly at Jacks forehead, and imagine I'm stretching his mind open, I can feel me slowly slipping into his mind, but very slowly, like I'm trying to run through a wall of thick cotton balls.
Slowly,
And slowly, I get a grip of his mind and slip through.

A thousand different images, or I'm guessing memories, pop up all around me.
It's like a live photo book.
I fallow the warm trail running through his mind, and pass a bunch of his memories.
I'm tempted to take a peak of some, but their personal, but, I pass one and see myself.
I stop in my tracks, to face the memory.
It's of me walking in a park, then I fall, and get pinned to the ground.
It's the second time he found me.
I smile at the thought. Then I continue in my path.

I go further, and further, and so fast, it feels if I'm flying.
And I wonder if I'll find the chamber where I can hear his thoughts.
And I do, when I suddenly, in no more than a whisper, Jacks voice fills my head.
"I wonder if she'll ask about the souls practice?"

"Souls practice? What's souls practice, and why would I ask?" I speak in his mind.
Jacks yelp fills my head, and I worry he'll scream, so I quickly pull out of his mind, and sprint to him, covering his mouth with my hand.
"Please don't scream," I say quickly.
He looks at me, and his panic calms.
I remove my hand.
"How...how...wa-wa-what?"
"I don't know, I just kept running, and running, until I reached some sort of chamber in your head, and I heard you and......please don't tell mistress."
He stares at me for a moment.
"Rue...that's...that's, Rue you need to."
"No, no, no no no no no no PLEASE?!!?!!!!!" I say.
"Okay okay, fine, I won't, but why? I think mistress would praise you!"
"No," I whisper.
"She won't, she'll ban me," I say.
"What why? It's about that book, isn't it? What did you find?"
I look away from him, unable to look him in the eyes.
"Rue, what did you find?" He whispers, taking slow steps toward me.
And closer, and closer, and closer.
So close, it his cheek could any second, brush against mine.
He's now dangerously close.

My breathing turns heavy, and unsure of what to do, I take a step back, startled when my back hits a tree.
I'm trapped.
All I can do is stare into Jack's sparkling eyes, as he inches toward me.
We're centimetres apart, wait, is he going to kiss me? Oh no!?
I have to stop this.
Jack gently lifts my chin with his hand,
then I softly whisper,
"You said something about something called souls practice? What's that?"
He chuckles, and his warm breath tickles my face.
"First tell me about that book," he says, not backing away.

Damn!!! He's not letting me get away with this.