Maybe (COMPLETED)

Chapter Sixteen

Archer sighs and shrugs. "Whatever." He wanders over to a nearby tree and peers out into the forest. "Not for much longer. I don't like it here". 

Ash offered me a smile. "Are you alright ? You look a bit... feverish?"

I stood, staring at him, puffing like I'd just completed a triathlon. "I... uh.. I um..."

"He fell into a baneberry bush." Mekhi interrupted my blabbering, giving my the side eye. "Got some in his eyes. It's all out now but probably in his system so he might be feeling ill soon." 

I took a breath to attempt to calm my skittishness. "Yeah." I agreed, trying to avoid looking at any part of Mekhi at all costs. "That happened. Pretty weird right? I literally got distracted by something and tripped over thin air." 

Ash laughed kindly, probably to save my embarrassment some how. I felt like assuring him I was a lost cause. "What distracted you?" Ash asked, with a caring smile. 

If only he knew how un-caring his question was. 

Maybe I was overreacting a little. I mean I could have just said 'my thoughts' or 'a pretty flower' or 'I thought I saw something move in the trees'. But as per usual, my panicked brain is not logical. It doesn't think things through. "Oh! Ha ha... nothing! I mean, did I say distracted? Lol!" Since when do I say lol? My brain questioned myself, but I didn't stop there. "I meant... uhh... I was..." At this moment I looked back at Mekhi, who was gazing at me with lazy, curious eyes. "I was just d-d-distracted... not distracted! Thinking."

I'd never seen Ash's forehead so creased. "You... you were thinking?"

I nodded with a brilliant smile, sure that I had worked my way out of this hole. "Yep!" 

The corner of Mekhi's lip twisted upward evilly. "About what?" He asked, watching me with guiltily innocent eyes.  

I literally felt ready to spontaneously combust. "Nothing!" I muttered defensively. 

Ash looked confused again but Mekhi just laughed (causing Ash even more confusion). What's wrong with this guy!? I wanted to scream at the messed up kid and ask what the fuck his problem was. He's so conflicted and conflicting and... agh. Golly gosh. Plain weird. 

Archer seemingly materialized from thin air next to me, making me jump possible five feet in the air. "I guess we should tell you a bit more about what's going on." He said, as if nothing had happened at all. Had he not heard the situation that just occurred? Maybe he was just brushing it off. Either way, I had never been so thankful for anyone to materialize from thin air and almost give me a heart attack in my life. 

"Sounds like an amazing idea!" I exclaimed, my feverish feeling cooling down almost immediately now I had something other than Mekhi and the... that... thing... that happened... to think about. I promptly sat down in front of Archer with a goofy smile like a 5 year old getting ready for a bed time story. 

Archer rose his eyebrows at my actions. "I think the baneberry's getting to you." He commented with what might have been sarcasm. I heard an intake of breath from Mekhi but Archer quickly continued on.  "So... Isaak. This might get a little confusing. Also, I can't tell you absolutely everything, so somethings may be a little vague but you're just gonna have to go with me, alright?" 

"Sure." Whatever Archer, please, just say something, anything, as long as it doesn't have to do with kissing. Even though kissing feels nice... and hot... but I mean, I can think of something much nicer and much hotter than that... what?

"Okay..." Thankfully Archer interrupted my thoughts. "So... you may have noticed that we - Mekhi and I - are particularly protective of our Ash here."

At his words something in my brain slipped into place. "Oh my god! Ash is a prince and you guys are his bodyguard soldier people right? Oh! I didn't think about that!"

Ash laughed. "I'm not a prince!"

"Might as well be." Mekhi muttered.

"No, he's not a prince." Archer corrected. "But he is special. And yes, Mekhi and I are his... bodyguards, I guess." 

"Special how?" I wondered aloud. 

"I can't say that."

"He's powerful as fuck."

"I'm not special!"

The strange mix of words clashed together and an awkward silence followed where Archer glared at an amused Mekhi and Ash blushed and looked at his feet.

"So... he's got like, strong magic or something?"

Archer gives up on Mekhi and sighed. "Yeah. Anyway, Ash has two of us because the King of our people appointed Mekhi but I was appointed by Ash's father. Ash's father and I were good friends. He died a long time ago, Ash was about 7."

I thought about this for a second. "But... you and Ash are like the same age... why were you and his father good friends when you were just, like, a kid and he was an adult? Were you like... super mature or something?"

Mekhi and Archer laughed, making me feel stupid for no reason. My reasoning made sense to me. They were being weird. 

Archer smiled at me. "Sorry, but I'm an aberidus. That means I'm immortal. I'm pretty old, Isaak."

I gaped at Archer. 

"It's okay Isaak, you didn't know." Ash assured me. 

"How old are you?" I asked Archer, still gaping at him.

"That's something for another time." Shrugged Archer. 

Mekhi giggled. "He's embarrassed, Isaak. He's too old. Oh no! Archer! I think I can see some greys in your hair!" 

The immortal magic guy rolled his eyes. "But..." I began, doing what I was best at and pushing all the scary information aside, "why were you guys on Earth?"

Archer took a deep breath and thought for a second. "We were looking for a seer, called Saga. We were told he was hiding on Earth. He knows some things about Ash's late father, Lanaway, which we want to find out."

Hey guys! Sorry for the like super super duper late and dodgy update! I don't have a legitimate excuse to be honest... I'm just super lazy... 

Please tell me what you think about my story so far! I'd love to know who your favorite character is... 

Thanks so much for reading my story! 

Babyy xx