Around The Clock

CHAPTER 5

Ryder whipped around to see a boy that looked like he was in his mid-teens, with a mass of curly red on the top of his head and green eyes that looked like they were permanently filled to the brim with mischief.

"Little Michael Macintosh," Sam said, bringing him into a chokehold and ruffling up his hair roughly until the boy screamed.

He threw himself away from the man with a scowl, flattening down his hair and straightening out his shirt.

The man chuckled and flicked his sweaty black hair away from his forehead.

"What did you do to James?" Marina asked, getting straight to the point with her hands on her hips.

"Nothing," he said with a frown, completely innocent and even slightly confused.

"Don't use that voice on me," she warned, waggling a finger at him. The boy grinned suddenly.

"You couldn't even tell I was lying could you." She growled at him and he laughed.

"Loch Ness has this uncanny way of telling whether he's lying or not," Sam said with a shake of his head. "I don't know how she does it – he's a right little devil."

"I just told him if his ears were any bigger they could be a radio dish," he said simply with a shrug.

"Michael," Marina scolded.

"But it's true," he exclaimed, putting a hand on his heart. "And Loch Ness taught me never to lie."

"Lord give me the strength to get through this day," Veronica hissed, cuffing the boy around the ear. He yelped and glared up at her and she threw him a withering glare back.

"Well since James isn't here, don't you have somewhere to be?" Naomi said a little too cheerfully.

Ainsley glared.

"Not really. I have a lot of spare time on my hands – and don't you need to talk to Marina?"

"I just did," she sassed back, crossing her arms.

Ryder once again had to push the two apart, but doing so he basically shoved them both in the chest and while Ainsley went stumbling backwards, Ryder's other hand ended up between Naomi's breasts.

He withdrew quickly, his face flaming, but the earth elemental seemed too busy trying to launch herself at the human across from her to notice. "Asshole," she screamed heatedly and he chuckled darkly.

"Like I haven't heard that before."

"That's enough," Sam snapped. "Ainsley, you're with Veronica. Naomi with Marina and Ryder with me."

Marina looped her hand through Naomi's and walked her away, while the taller blonde grabbed Ainsley by the ear and dragged him along whining behind her.

"Don't mind them," Sam said, taking Ryder by the shoulder and leading him in the opposite direction.

"Why do they hate each other that much? I mean Ainsley told me the physical reason but I still don't quite understand how such a wedge could be driven between them." Sam grinned down at him.

"I see we have a poet." Ryder chuckled slightly.

"Sorry – it's kind of how we have to talk in... my world."

"I'm glad you're away from it now," he said sincerely. Sam was taller than Ryder and he guessed maybe even more than Una. He had wavy black hair and honey coloured eyes that were almost gold.

Ryder found himself staring and quickly snapped out of his stupor. "Anyway, they hate each other because that's all they know how to do. I don't think they can imagine a time where they weren't going for each other's throats and maybe they're even afraid of it. It's become a part of their lives now and I think it might be one of those things that can't really be fixed."