They Do Exist

They Do Exist (21)

Once we got back to the castle everyone left me.  Gabe ran to speak with his mother straight away; Vance had to go back to the winter realm to warn his mother about the attack and to prepare for a possible similar attack there.  Alana was a part of an elect team of spies, and she went off with them, and Cooper and Will followed Gabe’s orders to prepare the army.

So I being human and not important here lazily went up to take a nap in my room.  After all, I had made it rain.  And sleep was so good when it was raining.

I didn’t bother getting on any social networking sites anymore because I knew I’d have tons of people thinking I’m dead or wondering where I was.

The sad part of that was, I’m not really even sure if anyone missed me…

I went to the kitchen by myself and asked for a small sandwich.  They made it eagerly for me, and after I ate it, I wandered outside to the garden again.  The temperature had dropped a little from the rain, and the garden was alive with the fresh water.  I sat out there thinking for a little while.

About life.  About how in the world I was able to control the weather for eighteen years, and I didn’t even know it.

Eventually I found myself wandering over to the secret pond that Alana had showed me.  I had gone back to my room to change into a bathing suit Alana had bought me earlier today.  When I arrived at the beautiful pond, I shrugged my shoes off and jumped in.  The water was refreshingly cool.  I swam toward the waterfall.

I took a deep breath and submerged myself underneath the water.  I came up on the other side and wiped my eyes.

“Layla?” I looked at the corner.

Gabe was sitting there confused, staring at me.

“Oh.  Hey, Gabe.” I said awkwardly.  I felt like I was somewhere I wasn’t supposed to be.

“Did you follow me here?”

“No! Alana showed me this place one day and I loved it so much I wanted to come back.”

He nodded.  “Oh.”

I gave a small smile. “Yeah.”

An awkward silence fell between us and I thought about making up some excuse just to leave.

“Thank you for what you did today.” Gabe spoke.

I looked at him confused.

“Saving that baby.”

I mouthed an O.

“No problem.  I couldn’t not do something.” I shrugged, biting the inside of my cheek.

“You truly do remind me of Abby.”

I smiled down at the water and looked up at Gabe.  He took my breath away.  The hot water dripped from his hair and rolled down his bare chest.

I gulped avoiding looking at him.

“Thanks.” I breathed shakily.

“How’s your mom taking the attack?” I asked him.

“She’s really upset.  She sent out all of the castle’s maintenance workers to fix the village as fast as possible.”

“Are you going to war?”

Gabe sighed, leaning his head back and pinching the bridge of his nose.

“I don’t know.”

His normal cold façade came crumbling down and I saw how troubled and worried he was.

I found myself moving closer to him, but not touching him.  Not sure how to console him.

This was Gabe after all, not really someone you could just go up and hug.

“Want to talk about it?” I offered, preparing myself for a sly defensive comment.  Something I was used to getting from Gabe.

He just sighed.  “The Passing of the Seasons Ball is coming up.  That’s where we pass the scepter of the seasons off to the winter court.  And the winter realm will flourish for their season.  Then we have another ball six months later, where they pass it back to the summer court.”

He took a deep breath.

“When that happens, my mom will resign and step down from being Queen, and I will be named King.”

My eyes got bigger.  “Wow.  That’s intense.” I breathed.

He laughed halfheartedly.  “Yeah.  Tell me about it.”

“Well, if it’s any consolation.  I truly believe you will be a great King.” I nudged him with my elbow in a loving way.

“Yeah, well it seems like you’re the only one.”

“Nonsense.  Everyone will see. I have faith in you.  You just need to have faith in yourself.”

He let a small smile find its way on his lips.

“Well, it looks like you have some thinking to do, so I’m just going to go to bed.  But remember what I said.” I smiled at him.

“Thanks.” He smiled back.  A real smile this time.

“Anytime.” I shrugged and dove under water.

Sky Nymph Castle Roman’s POV:

“And you’re sure the rain came out of nowhere?”

The soldier nodded.  My attack had been almost successful, that is until the rain came out of nowhere and put the fires out.  If it hadn’t been for that, the summer realm is so hot and dry the flame would have kept going on for days.

I cursed silently.

How had the rain suddenly come?

I purposefully picked a day where there was a 0% chance of rain.

The last living being that had controlled the weather was gone. Dead.

I know because I killed him. 

Now, now.  Could the summer Prince be hiding something? Or more importantly someone?

I looked at my guard.

“Call in Quincy.” I ordered.

Quincy came in bowing his head. “My Lord.” 

“Quincy. My young lad, I have a special job for you to do.” I smiled wickedly.