CHAPTER 14
Catherine sat casually with her legs off to the side as she finished chewing an impossibly sweet strawberry. "So, Iris, Brett tells me you've made progress with your magic?" She took a dainty bite of another strawberry while intently watching Iris.
Iris, on the other hand, was shocked at Catherine's comment since she'd not had much of a conversation with Brett since he'd told her to start unlocking her skills. "I suppose so. I do find that I am noticing more, though that could be simply because I've been here for a little while."
"That's possible." Catherine responded, settling into silence without anything else to say.
They looked out onto the peaceful waterfall that pounded into its lake many feet away. Fish swam just below the surface of the lake. Iris loved the way they would swim tot he shallow part of the water, right near the shore, them flutter away when shed shifted on her blanket a foot away. Soft foliage lined most of the lake, with bushed and trees butting up in some places. But where Catherine and Iris sat, only soft soil coated the ground, the occasional weed or flower speckled among the grains of dirt.
"What do you suppose Brett is up to now, anyway?" Iris asked. I was a beautiful place, but silence with Catherine was unbearable uncomfortable.
"The man has several projects in his study that require near-constant care." She chuckled. "And he's just the slightest bit too stubborn to let anyone else here take care of them for him."
Iris smiled hesitantly. She wanted to ask Catherine bout the lack of people int he castle, but as she formed her words, her attention snapped to the lake.
At first, it was just a bubble, then it grew into a gurgle, but in no more than a few instants, that gurgle was a bubbling white whirlpool in the center of the normally peaceful lake.
The girls slowly stood and took a few steps back. "Does this happen often?" Iris asked, her voice loud over the lake's new noise.
Catherine only shook her head, her attention enthralled in the lake.
AS interesting and thrilling as the while foam spreading to the edges of the lake and the mist reaching even further were, Iris found herself utterly interested in the man gasping for air at the center of the churning water.
It took her a moment, but... "Aden!" Iris squealed, her heart panicking as she watched Aden struggling to keep above the surface of the water.
A second man popped up beside Aden, his dark hair and face unknown to either of the girls standing on the shore. As soon as the second man surfaced, the lakes rage began to quiet and its tendril mist seceded.
"Aden!" they yelled together, Catherine now nearly as frantic as Iris.
The second man, who appeared to be significantly less taxed that Aden, began pulling Aden along with him ad he swam to shore. He breathed heavily, but when they reached the footed part of the shore, both Iris and Catherine were ready to help drag the waterlogged Aden onto dry land.
"Aden, my love." said Iris, holding Aden's head in her lap.
After a few labored breaths, Eric stumbled to Aden. "Give him to me." he ordered and Iris slid backwards in the soil. Eric checked Aden for breath, and rolled him on his side. He gave Aden a firm slap to the back, then one more.
Aden suddenly hacked up a gob of water and Eric continued to pat Aden's back, albeit much more gently.
With danger seemingly out of the way, Iris' heart swelled with elated joy. She waited until his coughing subsided before embracing Aden's sopping form. "You came." she whispered.
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Something Bigger Part 1
Roman pour Adolescents"We could run away." He'd suggested. But that was before the offer came. The offer that changed Iris's life and sealed the fate of more than a few. Aden should have pulled her away, he should have broken free of the hold. But maybe this was fate.
