Awakening (Book One of the Eklektos Series)

Chapter Two

Kali scurried back, letting the words die in her throat and the last of the heat seep out of her. Suddenly, she felt cold and grey, as though all the colour had ebbed away with the warmth. The cold wasn't the chill of the water; it was inside of her. She stared blankly at the girl, now surrounded by the paramedics. Someone was at her side, silently handing her a towel, and Kali looked up to see that it was her mother. Lynette wasn't even looking at her, her cold expression fixed on the little girl.

Holding the towel, Kali made no move to dry herself. Instead, she continued to stare at the girl who was now on a gurney. Her throat constricted when she tried to speak so it took her a few tries before she managed to croak "Will she be okay?"

Lynette nodded slowly before managing to prise apart her lips and unclench her jaw enough to mutter "It looks that way."

A woman, clearly the girl's mother, rushed over to Kali and her mother and grasped Kali's hands tightly, saying 'thank you' over and over. Kali just looked at her, shaken, and whispered that it was nothing. But the girl's mother just touched Kali's face with tears in her eyes and whispered "You saved Katie! You saved my baby! God bless you."

Kali watched her go, unable to process anything that was happening, and then looked back at the pool. She dropped the towel that she still hadn't used and moved to the edge of the water. Ramu lifted his head above the surface and looked at her steadily so she slowly placed her hand on his nose. After a moment, he softly butted her hand and then slipped back below the surface and away from the people gathering to see what was happening. Kali's mother was watching her carefully and she pulled her back away from the medics, who were still checking on the little girl, Katie. Her eyes were almost accusing when she asked, "Why did ­Ramu help you?"

"I...think I asked him to." Kali said slowly, trying to get her head around the idea while wondering why her mother looked more angry than surprised.

After silently keeping up that cold stare for a moment longer, she stated "She wasn't breathing when you pulled her out." Kali just shook her head, worried at the fierce expression on her mother's face, and Lynette continued "You don't know how to do CPR."

She shook where she stood. What else could she have done? After a few seconds of trembling under her mother's glare, she stammered "I've seen it on TV. I don't know what I did."

"I do." She stated grimly. "Why were you here?"

Kali recoiled slightly from her mother's cold tone and stammered "I...don't know. What's going on?"

Lynette ignored the question and just repeated "Why were you here?"

"I just...felt like I should come here early...I..." Kali murmured shakily and then uncertainly said "I'm sorry?"

"What?" For the first time since Kali had gotten out of the pool, her mother smiled slightly and insisted "You saved that girl's life; no one else would have reached her in time, but you did. Don't be sorry for that. Ever."

"Then...why do I feel like I've done something wrong?" Kali asked, trembling, and wiped a tear from her cheek.

Lynette clenched her jaw for a moment and then muttered "We can talk about it later. You should go and change before you freeze to death. I still need to finish my shift; will you be alright until then?"

Kali nodded weakly, though she wasn't sure that she would be. She shuffled to the locker rooms to get the spare clothes her mother kept, feeling the obvious dismissal. They weren't exactly Kali's style, but they were warm, and they were dry, so she couldn't complain. She peeled off her white blouse – which now looked and acted more like a second skin than a shirt – and pulled on a tight grey t-shirt bearing the safari park logo and baggy black tracksuit bottoms.