CHAPTER ONE: GROWING PAINS
The first time my father hit me I saw stars in front of my eyes just like they do in those cartoons in the newspaper. It was just a backhand across my face though – not like when I saw uncle Radditz, my father's brother, wallop a boy so hard that when he hit the pavement, his head actually bounced. He did not bleed, but he screamed really loud. I didn't like him very much, but I also didn't think he deserved to get hurt like that, especially not by the hands of my uncle… It was just cruel.
Anyway, I learned then and there that I should stay clear from my father after the fifth bottle cap hit the floor. Being angry a lot ran in the family after all, Auntie Tora also took a whack at her children sometimes, and they were still in diapers! So I tried to stay away from home as much as I possibly could, away from my father, but stayed most of the time because of my mom. I could never get her to leave with me.
It was impossible to get lost in Darkhaven. That was where I lived; Darkhaven, in the province of Dysmere, part of Planet Vegeta. I never quite understood why there had to be so many D's in the beginning of each word that described my home, but Mommy told me that it was just one of those things. We lived in Darwin Street, another D; just a few blocks away from the main street, New Church Road, even though the church that sits at the end of it wasn't new anymore.
I didn't really understand why a place like Darkhaven would even have a church to begin with, but Mommy went there a lot, and she took me with her once a week, every time on a Sunday. I could count all the people usually there on one hand. And even though few people went there, I liked it. I was excited to go every week, especially since my dad didn't ever go with us.
Our house was very big; it was three stories high and Dad made sure that we had a lot of servants who had to do everything we asked them to. Mom forbade me to ask them to do anything for me though; she didn't want me to get lazy, and she actually instructed me to help them around the house sometimes. She called it 'chores.' I didn't like it very much, but it seemed to make her happy, so I tried to do each 'chore' with a smile.
I lived here with my father, Goku, my mother, Chi-Chi, and Icarus, my dear friend that lived with us. Mommy tried to explain to me once that Icarus wasn't really real, but that didn't make any sense. I could see him and hear him speak. He was real.
Icarus and I were like the three Musketeers, only without a third member in our group. We did everything together. That was probably our favourite bedtime story.
Icarus had really white skin and yellow hair. My skin was a little darker and my hair was the colour of tar, neither as light as my mother's nor as dark as my father's. My hair changed colour depending on where I was standing and when. In daytime it almost looked brown, but at night it was as dark as the sky without the sun.
When it was clean, Icarus' hair was the colour of a cotton ball, white, white, white. But it was usually dirty, looking like the dusty old letters Mommy kept in a shoe box under her bed.
But I wished that I could be more like Icarus. I screamed when I saw a spider, but he didn't mind them. He even scoops them up in his hands and put them outside! I tell him just to step on them, but he doesn't listen to me. Icarus isn't scared of anything. Except when my dad turns on Mommy. We both are scared then.
When that happens we go to behind-the-couch in the living room. It was like another room for me and Icarus.
It was our fort.
We usually head there when we have counted ten bottle caps falling to the kitchen floor. My father usually started to bother Mommy after the tenth clank. I didn't know why she didn't just stay out of his way after the eight clank, but she never did. The bottles clank so hard sometimes that I think my head is going to explode.
I used to think that it was smelly behind the couch, but I didn't notice it anymore. I brought some of my mother's perfume behind here once, and sprayed it on the fabric, so now it smells like her on a Sunday morning.
It was Monday today, and Dad just got home from one of his hunting trips. He barely was home, and I could already hear the fifth clank of a bottle cap against the floor. Luckily I was already behind-the-couch with Icarus.
"Do you think he is going to get angry at Mommy again?" I asked Icarus in a soft voice.
"Probably." He said equally as soft. "He is angrier than usual when he gets home from one of those trips."
I nodded, that was true. "But as long as we stay here, we will be safe." I rubbed the sore spot on my arm without thinking. It has been almost two weeks since he last hit me, but the blue bruise was still there, and it hurt just as much as it did in the beginning.
I looked down at my blue and green striped notebook-cover. I picked it up gently and held it close to my mouth, my lips almost touched the crinkly cover of the book. "Agent Gohan Son reporting for duty." I whispered my notebook's password before I flipped through the pages. I knew there wasn't reallya voice control lock on my book, but it was fun to pretend. I paged quickly through the book, until I found an open page. There wasn't many more left, and I had to remember to remind Mom to buy me a new one.
I stared down at my handwriting; compared to Mommy's, my letters were very big and hers were much neater too. Maybe someday my words will look exactly like hers.
Right after I clasped my pencil between my fingers, my notebook went flying out of my hands and onto the floor. My eyes went big. "Whoa!"
Something sharp grabbed at my wrist and pulled me up, only to throw me down on the floor again. I landed hard on my bum and cried out.
"Betcha didn't see thatcoming!" My father's mouth smelled like beer. He laughed at me as I scrambled to pick my notebook up before he could get ahold of it. "Must be something important, you grabbing at it like that." He went on. "Let me see it." He said loudly and pulled it out of my hands before I could make a squeak about it. He walked out of the room and out of the front door. I followed him to the porch.
"Give it back!" I yelled powerfully, not afraid of him.
"Petrova McGrath isn't talking to me anymore because of the frog incident, maybe I should use grasshoppers next time…" He read out loud and I felt how my cheeks started to get warm. He wasn't supposed to know that; it was mysecret. He looked up from my notebook over to me. "What's the frog incident?" He laughed. "You misspelt every word but frog you idiot."
"Give it back!"I said again strongly, but when I went to try to get it back, he shoved me away. He kept flipping through the pages, scanning each one with his dirty finger.
"Where am I?" He smiled. "I can't wait to see what all you wrote about me. Hmm." More flipping. His face started to get red and his teeth were showing. "Mommy this, mommy that." His voice was very loud now. "But yet nothing about your dear old dad?!" He threw the book back down to the ground and I was so mad that I didn't listen to the voice in my head that said that I shouldn't reach down to pick it up until he left.
Just as I bent down again, he shoved me into the dirt with his smelly boot. "There!" He yelled. "That will give you something to write about." He spun around and walked away, and I heard him throw the front door shut with a loud bang. I lay there for another few minutes, staring at the dust settling around my body to pass the time. I wanted to make really sure that he was gone before I stood up again.
I ran up the porch steps, clutching my notebook close to my chest. I marched over to my mother; she was sitting alone in the sitting room, a book in her grasp and her reading glasses over her eyes. Dad must be upstairs by now.
"Mom!" I called with determination in my voice and stopped right in front of her.
She placed her finger as a bookmark between some pages and took her glasses off. Her bright green eyes looked sad. "Yes darling?" She asked, smiling at me. She was really the most beautiful girl I have ever seen. No one in town was as pretty as my mother.
"I don't like Dad." I stated. "He is just so… hateable!"
She frowned at me. "How can you say that?!" She sounded very upset, she even threw her book on the floor. I blinked quickly as I felt my eyes getting watery. I didn't like getting yelled at. I didn't like it at all. She didn't think I was funny, and sent me to my room.
Later that night when my dad was back picking on my mom, she yelled that no one liked him and that his own son called him hateable. When she said it, I just stood in my room with my ear pressed against my door. I just stood there, listening to the tick-tick-tick of the plastic robot clock that hung against my wall. It was very quiet now.
I peeked out of my room, staring into the empty hallway. Icarus was gone now, I didn't know where he was. I guess I'll have to be brave alone. My blue doggie slippers was first out of the door and I balled my hands into fists as I dared to go out into the hall after my bedtime.
"Mommy?" I called unsurely, but my voice was very soft, I doubt if she heard me.
"Mother." I tried again; my voice was louder, stronger.
"In here sweetie."
I followed her voice and it led me to her bedroom. The door wasn't open, but it wasn't closed exactly either. I placed my hand on the wood of the door, I couldn't reach the handle just yet, and pushed on it.
The room was a mess. The bedside lamp lay on the floor now with all the broken pieces of bulb scattered around it. Clothes were also strewn everywhere and their closet doors hung wide open. In the middle of it all was my mom, sitting on her peach-coloured bed sheets. She was crying and she wiped her cheeks with her hands as I walked into the room.
"Are you okay?" I asked softly, playing with my thumbs as I looked down at the floor. She always said she didn't want me to see her like this.
She sniffed really loudly, and all I could think about was how much litres of snot she just swallowed. "Everything is fine sweetheart." She said surely. "Come here."
I looked up again and saw her hold her hands out towards me, waving me forward. I smiled and eagerly ran up to her and sprang into her arms. She let out a happy breath and pressed me tightly against her chest as she rocked me backwards and forward.
My eyes widened when I saw a red splotch of goo on her wrist. "Mom, you are bleeding." I yelled in a squeaky voice.
"Oh this?" She asked and pulled the sleeve of her purple sweater down to cover it. "This is just a scratch; it's nothing really."
I pulled my head from under her warm arms and climbed off her lap. I was sitting in front of her on the bed now, my feet dangling off the matrass. "It isn't!" I said angrily and hit my fist against the bed, making the whole bed wobble a bit. "He has to stop hurting you; it is not fair!"
She smiled and that made my heart hurt, she was hurt but she still managed to look happy. She touched my face with the back of her hand and wiped some strands of hair away from my eyes. "He will never truly hurt me." She said with a softer smile, looking straight at me with her eyes that looked so much like the leaves on a tree we had in our front yard. It was my favourite tree. "Not with you here with me."
I sighed and looked down, jealous that she had my favourite colour for eyes. My eyes were just a plain grey, like Dad's, they looked like ugly rocks, not beautiful trees. "But you are bleeding." I said again; she washurt.
She chuckled. "It will heal darling, don't you spend a single second worrying about me." She touched the tip of my nose with her finger and I couldn't help but giggle; it was a bit ticklish.
"Where is Dad now?"
Her face fell. "He went out; he will be back soon."
"Can't we lock the doors?" I asked. "He doesn't have to live here anymore. He isn't here half the time anyway."
She smiled again. "We can't do that to your father honey; this is his home too."
I wished he weren't my father. "He scares me Mommy."
She pressed me against her warm chest again. I hugged her back. "He scares me sometimes too, but we are strong." She held her hands on my shoulder and pulled me back. I looked into her kind green eyes. "You hear me, Gohan? You are strong."
I nodded, even though I didn't feel very strong.
She wiped some more tears off her face. "Good." She smiled a toothy smile. "That's what I want to hear." She got up and walked over to her already open closet. She disappeared through the doors and came out with something in her hands. She laid it on the bed and I saw it was a black suit. My size.
She held it out in front of my body and tilted her head to the left as she looked at me. "Yeah, it looks like a proper fit." She replied happily and folded the suit up on the bed.
"Are we going to church?" I asked; it was the only place where I ever wore a suit.
She turned to me again. "No. You have to wear it when you are meeting your grandfather tomorrow." She said and bit her lip. "He is very… peculiar."
I frowned, feeling my forehead making wrinkles. "I have a grandfather?"
"You do." She smiled at me again. "You have two actually."
"I haven't seen him before."
"You have, when you were still a baby." She said with a frown. "But you would not remember that."
"I don't."
She looked at me strictly. "He isn't a very pleasant man sweetheart, you need to know that." She didn't smile anymore. "If I had a say in any of this, I would let you live a full life without ever seeing him." She looked at the blood on her hand. "But your father insisted; that's what we fought about now."
"Can't you go with me?"
"No way in hell." Just then my father waltzed into the room. He walked directly towards me and grabbed me by my pyjama shirt. He pulled me up to his height and I felt very scared again. My mother was screaming at him to let me go, but he ignored her, even pushed her to the floor when she tried to take me away from him herself.
"You have to learn what it means to be in this family." He said in a low voice. "You are already six; it has been long overdue." He shook me and the fabric of my shirt started to burn my skin. "You understand?"
I nodded and he let me go. I fell hard on the floor and my back really hurt. Tears flowed down my face and my father turned around to me again. He looked at me with an expression of disgust on his face, and then he kicked me. So hard that I thought I was going to die.
"Goku!" My mother screamed and rushed over to my side. I was aware of her cool hands on my forehead, but everything else was blurry. "Was that really necessary?!" She sounded very angry and was standing in front of me now, her hands wide from her sides, as if she were shielding me.
"Of course it was!" He yelled at my mother. "He has to stop being so weak Chi-Chi, or else he will never survive in the industry." My father sneered and pointed at me. "If I see you crying again, I will give you something to cry about."
"How can you say that?!" My mother's voice was low but very dangerous. I wanted to get up, but she pushed me back down discreetly. "He is a child Goku, a youngbeing, not even old enough for school yet, and you want him to be part of your "hunting business" already?" She made some weird gestures with her fingers that I didn't understand.
"I was two years younger than he is now when my father sent me away."
Her eyes rounded, looking like two perfect eggs on her face. "You said nothing about taking him away!" Her voice was very loud now and I covered my ears with my hands to make her sound softer.
"It was implied." He said angrily. "All will be determined when Father arrives tomorrow."
"I will not allow that manto take our boy away!" She screeched. "Don't you care for him at all, he is your son!"
Dad rolled his eyes. "There's no need to tell me the biology of it Chi, I know." He looked down at me again, instead of pressing my face in the rug like always, I looked directly up at him. "I do care for the boy, but his fate is sealed, I cannot do anything about it." With that said he stormed out of the room.
Mommy sank down next to me and placed her hand on my shoulder, it was shaking a little. "Honey, don't ever believe a word that comes out of that man's mouth."
"But it is true." I said quietly, not wanting to look into her eyes. "They want to take me away." I finally looked up at her again and her eyes were more clear than ever, sparkling with tears. "I don't even know why."
"Gohan, look at me." She grabbed me by my chin roughly. "You are special, more than you might think, but know that I will never allow them to harm a hair on your head, never mind taking you away from me." She kissed me on my forehead. "You know that right?"
I nodded and she picked me up, carrying me back to my room. She tucked me in and kissed me on my cheek goodnight before she walked over to the door to switch the light off.
"Sleep tight sweetheart." She smiled at me warmly.
"Mommy?" I called.
She switched the light on again. "Yes sweetheart?"
"Can you read me a story please?"
She smiled and walked back to my race-car bed, sitting tightly next to me with her arm around my shoulder. "Three musketeers?" She guessed and I nodded. She smiled and ruffled my hair as she leaned over to reach for my favourite book, where I hid it under my bed.
She cleared her throat before she started reading. "Porthos and his friends walked into the King's Musketeers' building. He grinned at a couple of ladies in waiting that they went past. "So the King didn't say why we've been summoned?" He asked." Mom made her voice deep. She always had other voices for each Musketeer.
""No, he didn't." Athos answered shortly. "His note just said it was urgent." Aramis sighed, nervously pawing his golden cross around his neck. "That's what he always says", His friends stared at him, surprised by his tone. "Are you all right?" Porthos asked. "Yes," the younger Musketeer merely answered. "I am just tired.""
I yawned.
"Athos and Porthos looked at each other. Indeed, they didn't even had time to rest properly between missions, and as themselves were always ready, they knew that the former priest could not sustain a cadence as dense as they did, and due to his frail body compared to theirs, he needed more time to rest." My mother took a breath and turned the page. "Only a few months had passed since their triumph over the Duke of Buckingham. D'Artagnan had been admitted into one of the junior guards on a two year probation. Meanwhile the three inseparables went on some missions for the King together, all successful…" Her voice faded away until it was gone completely as I fell asleep.
The next morning my father woke me up, yelling and screaming at me until I dressed correctly in that suit Mom laid out for me. I wanted to wear my pyjamas instead, but Dad refused, and kept saying that I had to make a very good impression, whatever that meant.
"Gohan, get down here!"
Even though I didn't want to, I walked down the stairs when the doorbell rang its familiar tone. I tugged on the collar of my black buttoned-up shirt, and pulled at the blue tie. I have never felt so uncomfortable in my life. Was a suit and jacket really necessary in the middle of the summer?
My mother smiled at me as she met up with me at the bottom of the staircase.
"You are a very handsome boy, Gohan." She complimented and ruffled my hair. "You will steal a lot of girls' hearts when you grow up."
I made a face. "Girls are gross Mom."
She laughed. "Except me right?" She winked.
I smiled. "Of course."
"Good, now get out there, your grandfather is waiting for you." She didn't sound very happy about it, but she smiled anyway. She placed her hands on my shoulders and led me to our foyer at the front door. A man I have never seen before sat on one of the single chairs. He was talking to Dad before he looked at me after Mommy cleared her throat loudly.
"Hello Gohan." He greeted friendly and stood up. He looked a lot like Father, except he had a big scar on his face. His eyes looked like mine, grey, but his set had a black glow about them. He also wore a suit like me, so I figured that we must be going to some place fancy. "I am glad to see that you have grown out of your diaper."
"Aren't you going to say hello to your grandfather, Gohan?" Dad asked, sounding a little angry at me.
I looked up at my mother and she smiled at me, pushing me forward as to urge me toward the stranger who they said was family.
"Hey." I made my arm leap forward towards his, and hungrily grabbed on to it as I shook it roughly, just as my father had taught me. "It is really nice to meet you sir."
He chuckled and returned the shake. "The pleasure is all mine." He said pleased. "But please call me Grandfather, boy, after all, that is what I am to you."
I nodded. "Sure gramps."
He laughed again.
Dad shot me an angry look and I felt how freight spilled through my entire body.
"Excuse him Father, he has always been ill-mannered."
"He is nothing like what you always say him to be." My mother shouted, defending me. "He may look a lot like you, but he will neverbe anything like you!"
Dad frowned and grabbed on to her arm very tightly. He said something very softly in her ear, and I could see her face go white. I couldn't hear what he had said, but that didn't stop the goose bumps from popping up on my skin.
"No need to bicker in front of your child." Dad's dad broke in. "I find him quite charming, Goku. Our forces could use someone as charismatic as him."
Mommy gasped. "You are not suggesting that he becomes one of you, Bardock."
"Chi-Chi!" Dad scolded.
"We will see about that." Grandfather played with the hairs on his chin as he spoke. "Everything depends on his display of strength."
Mom fell to the floor on her knees and stared at her hands. "You will take him if he is powerful enough."
"It is in his blood dear, a legacy, you cannot deny him that."
She looked up into his eyes. "I am his mother and I can deny everything I damn please from him. He will not be taken away from me while he is still so young!"
His lip twitched up into a smile. "Even if so, it is not your choice to make." He moved to me again and smiled. "But let's not jump the gun, shall we?" He extended his hand towards me but I just stared at it, mesmerized by all the shiny jewels he had on at least every second one of his fingers.
"What?" I asked as I noticed everyone in the room staring at me.
"Have you ever heard of instantaneous movements, son?"
I shook my head. "What's that?" I asked curiously.
Grandfather shot an angry look at my father before he looked down at me again. "Let me show it to you then. Grab on."
I placed my hand in his and he clamped his palm shut over mine. He had a strong hold and actually made my fingers sting.
I had always hated roller coasters, hated that feeling of my stomach dropping out through my feet when the coaster hurtled downward. The city swung around me, blurred walls of glittering light. It might have been beautiful if I weren't so terrified. We banked and dived, Grandfather's hand was still firmly planted over my hand, and suddenly instead of rising I was falling.
I thought of the thing dropping me hundreds of feet through the air until I crashed into the icy black water. I shut my eyes—but falling through blind darkness was worse. I opened them again and saw the black deck of the ship rising up from below me like a hand about to swat me out of the sky. I screamed a second time as we dropped toward the deck—and through a dark square cut into its surface. Now we were inside the ship.
Instantaneous movement was like nothing I have ever felt before.
"Can you teach it to me too sometime mister?" I asked cheerily, exposing my front toothless smile.
"Grandfather." He corrected.
"Sorry."
He looked down at me, his grey eyes scowling. Gosh he was tall. "I'm disappointed that your father hasn't taught it to you yet. You are already five for goodness sake." He took me by my arm and yanked me up on the deck before he floated up himself. I absentmindedly rubbed the spot his bony fingers grabbed. I was going to be surprised with a giant blue bruise in the morning; I was sure of it.
"Mommy says I am six." I informed proudly, displaying the number of years out on my fingers. I could already count to fifty and write most of the alphabet and I wasn't even in school yet. That must be some kind of record for a kid.
He frowned as he looked down at me. "You had another birthday?" He asked surprised.
I nodded, making my full head of hair fall across my face. Sometimes I had to remind myself that my hair couldn't be eaten, even if they looked like toffee. Most times my hair was already in my mouth when I realised that though, but what does Mommy always say? Better late than never.I remembered. "I have one every year."
He scoffed. "Then it is even worse than I thought." He threw his hands up in the air; it seemed like a happy gesture, but the expression on his face made me think otherwise. "You are already six and you don't know a thing about Ki yet." He shook his head slowly, making a weird clicking sound with his tongue as he did so. "A disgrace really."
"I know plenty about keys." I smiled. "We have one for every door in the house."
He shook his head. "I am talking about energy, boy. Look." We stopped walking and I stared up at him. A black ball appeared in his hand out of nowhere and he threw it on the ground. I thought it was going to bounce, but it didn't. Instead it exploded like a bomb. It was not like any ball I have ever seen.
"Did he show that to you maybe?"
I shook my head slowly as I looked at the big hole in the floor of the boat. "He must have been busy." I said in a soft voice, mindlessly following my grandfather as he walked deeper into the deck of the ship. It looked like he knew exactly where he was going. "I haven't seen Dad in a while. He came back last night for the first time in a lot of days. He must be out hunting again."
Grandpa chuckled. "Is thatwhat he tells you he's doing?" He asked but it didn't really sound like a question. "It is an interesting way to phrase it."
"Why?" I asked curiously.
He smiled down at me and I suddenly felt scared. "Your dad hunts a lot, doesn't he?"
I pulled my shoulders up. "I guess."
He nodded. "And by the looks of it, he takes his after-hunting frustrations out on you."
"He gets angry when I don't do what he says."
"He always had a bit of a temper."
"What does that mean?"
He stopped walking and we stood still on the big boat. "It means he gets angry really easily."
I nodded. "Yeah…"
"But you don't have to put up with his shit for much longer, kid. I feel a strong energy inside of you; we just need to bring it out to see how much it is."
I folded my hands over my chest. "You said a bad word." I declared. "That is not a very good example you are giving to a child."
He tilted his head to the side and laughed. "You never stop talking, do you?"
I frowned. "Of course I do; Dad says my tongue will fall off if I don't stop once in a while."
He chuckled again. "Indeed; your father is a very wise man." He pulled me with him and placed me in the middle of the deck while he stepped away a few paces to a door in the corner. "I want you to release all the energy you have inside you."
I squinted my eyes. "How do I do that?"
He laughed and knocked on the door. "He will show you."
A tall man who was not wearing a shirt opened the door and smiled as he saw me. When I stared at his face for a while, I recognised him instantly.
"Uncle Radditz!" I squealed happily. Even though I didn't like him that much, it was nice to see a familiar face around here.
He frowned as he heard my voice. "I didn't realise we were testing little Gohan today."
"Yes." He let go of my hand and pushed me towards the tall boy. "But don't go too hard on him, he is only a young child after all." He looked at me again. "Just determine if he has a higher than average inner energy; don't push him."
My uncle nodded. "Sure thing Father." Grandfather smiled down at me, but it didn't feel like a happy gesture.
"Good luck." He said before he disappeared completely. My mouth fell open. How did he just do that?!
"Hey kid, listen up." Radditz said loudly, trying to get my attention. I turned my head to him. "I want you to look at what I am doing very carefully, and try to do it yourself after I am done." He placed his hands on his hips. "Okay?"
"Sure, but I won't do it if I don't feel comfortable with it." I said quickly, proud of myself for using such a big word, and knowing what it means too!
"Okay then." He closed his eyes and clasped his hands shut. He made the sound that lions usually made then. A warm feeling shot out of his body and it felt as if I were standing next to an open fire.
"This is what energy is all about, kid." He breathed quickly now. "I want you to try it out."
"So I just keep screaming and you will know?"
He laughed. "Not quite." He kneeled down next to me, looking me in the eyes. "I want you to think about everything that makes you feel mad, scared, helpless and sad and then scream your lungs out." He poked my arm softly. "You think you can do that, buddy?"
"I don't know what makes me feel that way." I said softly, secretly wishing Icarus was here; he would have known what to do!
He sighed loudly and sat on his knees in front of me, looking me in my eyes. His eye-colour was also grey, like mine. "Why don't you think about your father, I know he isn't a very nice man to you?" He suggested.
I looked to the ground, balling my hands into fists. "Do I really have to?"
His soft expression was gone and he stood up, towering over me again. "In this case, yes."
"Okay."
I thought about dad, but none of the emotions he listed came to mind. Another one, I had no words for, flashed over my body and I felt myself getting warmer the louder I screamed. I didn't know what I was doing, I felt rather silly while screaming like this for no reason, and Uncle Radditz made no move to show me that I was doing it right.
"You can stop now." He yelled louder than my cries and I stopped immediately, feeling grateful, and happy to sooth my sore throat.
"Did I do it?"
He chuckled. "Not even close." He said and folded his arms over his chest. "You are going to need a lot of practice, but I did manage to detect your energy level." He paused and pouted. He got a weird look in his face and his eye twitched. Just when I was about to ask him what was wrong, he shushed me with his finger. "We have some visitors." He whispered. "Just be quiet and don't say anything." His face was very close to mine now. "You got it, small-fry?"
I nodded.
He smiled. "Good." He pulled on his shirt and ran his fingers through his hair which was almost the same colour as mine, only a little lighter.
His lips twitched up into a smile and he gave a little bow. "Good day to you too, Zarbon…"
