The Valley of Kings and a Queen

Chapter 8

The next couple of days, Finley takes me out to train me with my abilities after his basketball practice. He teaches me how to transform from my goddess state to my form as a kite and back to my human form. When Isis tries to use me to speak, Finley drills me on how to create a barrier in my mind, so that I'm not overwhelmed by her thoughts. I don't want a confrontation with Kate 2.0 – she's laid off of me in class ever since Finley told her off, but I don't expect her to completely back down from me.

It's actually quite fun training with Finley out in the countryside. He can actually be sweet when he's not yelling at me with drills or tips. One time, I try to transform from my kite form back to my normal body, when I tumble out of the sky handing headfirst in a pile of mud and dirt. He cannot hold back his laughter as I struggle to lift my hands and knees out of the pit, I landed in.

"Har har har," I say, getting up, wiping the stains of dirt off the silk gown that for some reason I still am managing to wear or more like ruin.

In between laughs, he manages to comment, "nice gown. Really fitting."

"Yeah, I thought it was perfect for the autumn ball considering it was the cheapest dress I could find," I humor him, "but I guess I can't wear it now."

"I think the stains are quite fitting, really adds personality to it," he adds between laughs, "and your hair doe, really bohemian I'd say."

"Really, you like?" I say glaring back at him jokingly, "you know what would make it better?"

He looks at me questionably, not quite registering what I'm about to do. I run across the slight space between us and tackling him into the pile of mud.

"Now you've done it," he says, grabbing me in his arms, and throwing me into the small pond near by soaking my clothes. He laughs running away, and I try to get out of the pond only to find myself slipping back into it.

"Can you at least be a gentleman and help me out, I'm stuck," I plea. He leans down giving me a hand, and I push him down into the pond with me. He starts splashing me with water and now we're like kids playing in a swimming pool. He dunks me in the water, and I try to drown him too. After quite a bit of playful swimming, we decide to dry off using towels that Finley luckily had stashed in his car in case of emergency. He refuses to let us get into his precious car before we have dried off at least a little bit. We're sitting on these towels in the grass, and I fall back into the grass.

"It is so beautiful here," I say, "how'd you find this place."

"Well, my father used to take me here when I was little. He was convinced I was going to be the next biggest footballer like the next Beckham," he says longingly, "so he would take me here to this space with my mother who would watch us run through drills. Sadly, soccer didn't have my heart as much as basketball did, and I wouldn't say I was that terribly great at it either."

"Are you talking about basketball or football," I say jokingly, and he just throws grass in my direction in response.

"football silly or shall I say soccer. Anyways, my dad was hoping I would fall in love here just like he did my mother." I gave him a confused look as though I wasn't putting all the pieces together. "My dad used to take my mother here when they were younger, and this is where he said they fell in love. He hoped maybe that I would fall in love here too except more per say with football" he adds endearingly.

"do your parents ever come out here now," I ask. His face hardens and becomes somber. I realize my mistake before Finley even responds.

"My father died in a car accident when I was fourteen years old, and my mother...well she's never been quite the same since."