A/N: Thank you Mandas for reviewing. Now that I know that at least ONE
person is reading, I won't stop writing, even if you are the only one who
is actually reading my story...
As they flew through the air on the motorcycle, Tom was the first one to fall off. He landed flat on his back on a pile of freshly fallen snow. Alex landed second and fell into a snow bank and sunk in about two feet. Phi was unluckier however and was thrown over the top of the bike and did a face plant right into a snow drift, her bike landing several feet away, its tires still spinning madly in the air.
Numair scrambled through the snow to pull Tom up, who was the closest to him, but then they were both thrown back down as something else came hurdling through the portal and slammed into a tree on the far side of the courtyard. Numair motioned quickly to several people whom Tom just noticed for the first time and they quickly surrounding the animal and leveled their spears at its chest. The horse creature screeched again then took off into the air leaving a trail of snow dust behind it.
Numair stood up, brushed off his robes, and for the second time helped Tom up onto his feet, who in turn pulled Alex out of the snow bank. Phi managed to get her head out of the pile of snow that she had been embedded into, but her helmet was dented a little on the top. She rubbed the spot and stood up shakily and with Tom and Alex there to steady her walked back over to the mage who was grinning, "It is very good to see all of you again..." He turned to Phi who still had her helmet on with her visor down, "At least, I assume that is you Phiona under that, um...hat?"
She pulled off the riding helmet with some effort and smiled, "Yup, and it is sorta actually good to be back..."
Numair grin widened and he turned to Tom, "You must show me how you were able to communicate with me! I had no idea that such a thing were possible and I am very interested in learning how you were able to manage such a thing in your dimension..."
Tom nodded, "Don't worry. But what I want to know right now is why that...thing was after us, in OWR dimension."
"Yes it is all very odd..."
"Do you mind if we stay with you until you figure it out? I would much rather get things sorted out here rather than go back and be attacked by something even worse than that in the near future..."
Numair's grin faded, "I would say yes, but you know that that is not a decision that I would be able to make. You'll have to ask the king about staying, but I'm sure you are all welcome."
The three smiled gratefully and Numair led them into the Palace. Alex relaxed at once when they entered the building and felt a familiar sensation wash over him, as if he was retuning to his second home. The mage walked up the main stairs and stopped in front of a large set of double doors that none of the three had ever been in before. He motioned for them to be quiet and opened the door.
Jon looked up, slightly annoyed. This was the third time he had been interrupted today. The first was when George fell asleep in his chair and had begun to snore, the second was when Numair had voices talking in his head, and now this. He threw the papers he was going over onto his desk and frowned at Numair as he appeared in the doorframe, "What is it Numair?"
"Well, sir, I just wanted to inform you that I opened the portal and we got the immortal successfully through...but, we also managed to get some old friends along with it..."
Dom snapped out of his daydream. This could still prove to be an interesting meeting. He was almost glad that Raoul had forced him to come along with him as punishment for the last prank he pulled. The king sighed, "If you are talking about the three children that we looked after last time..."
Numair smiled, "Yes I am sir, but I wouldn't necessarily call them children anymore. Anyway, they were asking me if they could stay for a few days, just until we sort their whole immortal problem out so they could go back to their own world without worrying about further attacks."
Jonathan rubbed his forehead, "Of course they can...Numair, would you see that rooms are set up for them?"
The mage nodded happily, closed the door, and turned to Phi, Tom, and Alex, "Well that was easier than I thought. He must really be tired..." Tom smiled and Numair continued to speak, "I'll go see about getting you three a couple of rooms and meanwhile, why don't the three of you wander around a little. I would offer to show you around, but I already did that and not much has changed, here at the Palace anyway, since you were last here..."
Phi nodded anxiously and the waved good-bye to Numair as he turned a corner that they knew led to the servant's wing, probably to see what rooms were open. Alex turned to her after the mage was out of sight, "What are you so excited about?"
"Oh, there's just someone that I wanted to see again..." Alex's eyebrows rose and Tom grinned. For a moment she looked surprised at their expressions then scowled, "Oh it's not like that! I just wanted to see Devic again!"
Alex smiled and Tom laughed as she stalked off back downstairs towards the courtyard again.
***Devic's View***
Devic sighed in frustration. HaMich, who was surprisingly able to keep his job after what happened three years ago, was making him muck the stables...on their vacation! The boy sighed and stuck his spade into the muck. He was thirteen years old now, taller than he was before, but still lanky. His light brown hair fell into his eyes as he sat down on an upturned bucket, thinking once again of what he had done to deserve such a punishment. He himself didn't think that accidentally punching someone in the face was a crime during wrestling practice...as long as it was Myrcus he was hitting. Mycrus had provoked him though, so this was a little harsh...he only got a black eye after all.
A smirk lit Devic's face as he yanked off his disgusting boots and threw them into a corner, his hands sore from shoveling so much horse crap. The look on Mycrus's face was still worth two weeks of hard labor...he was such an idiot. Ever since he insulted Phiona back in their first year, Devic and he had been sort of rivals...not in everything of course, just when they were wrestling, jousting, or running.
He leaned back against the wall and listened thoughtfully to the horses prancing nervously in their stalls. What a year it had been. He ran his fingers through his hair, remembering too late what he had just been doing with them, swore and tried to brush the dirt off his head. He froze when he heard a snicker and slowly turned around to see who it was. He was not in the mood...
His heart leapt up into his throat. It was Phi! He ran over to her in the doorway and gave her a huge hug, "Oh gods! Is it really you?!"
Phi laughed as he let go of her, blushing slightly, "Of course it is! Who else would be down here looking for you at this time of day?"
He grinned, "When did you...? How...?"
"We had some trouble back at our place so...we came here for help."
He sat down again and pulled up a bucket for her, which she accepted, "Why in the world would you need to come here for anything? I mean, I'm glad to see you of course, but..."
"Someone sent an immortal back into our dimension and we needed to get it back to its own world. Once again though, we managed to accidentally get sucked through and now we've decided to stay until things are straightened out..."
"You mean Tom and Alex are here too?!" Just at that moment, the two came into the stables as if they had been waiting for their cue and Devic stood up again and bowed deeply to the both of them.
Alex blushed and pulled him up out of his bow, "No need for that kid...so, how goes things in Tortall?"
Devic scrambled through the stables to retrieve two more buckets before answering, "Um...fair. It has been pretty quiet around the capitol anyway, and my training is coming along fine..."
Phi's smile widened, "If it is coming along fine, then why are you down here with a shovel all by yourself?"
"Oh...well..." Devic scratched the back of his head nervously, "It's my punishment for getting into a fight during wrestling practice..."
Tom sighed, "See what you did Phi? You were a bad influence on him and now he's taking after you..."
Devic looked from Tom to Phi, a curious look appearing on his face, "What? What did you do?"
Alex chuckled and leaned back against the wall, "The question is more like, 'What hasn't she done?'"
Phi through him a glare, "The most recent detention I got was for, actually, more or less for the same thing you are being punished for..."
Devic gawked at her, "You fight in your world?!"
Alex spoke up again before Phi could, "Of course she does! Before I left high school anyway, we would end up in a fight almost weekly!"
"And then I had to bail them out of it..." Tom grinned as he received glares from both Phi and Alex.
"So, how long will you all be staying with us?"
Tom's face grew thoughtful, "Not long. Well, actually I have no idea. We are going to stay until we are sure that nothing else comes back through to our world trying to kill us..."
"The immortal tried to kill you?" Devic's eyes grew darker.
Phi sighed, "Yep...but we got away. Unfortunately, so did it..."
"What was it that was trying to get you?"
Tom spoke up again, "I'm not sure. I remember seeing it in one of the books in the Palace library before but I can't remember its name. It sort of looked like a horse..."
Devic looked blankly at the wall opposite from him, "Unfortunately, that could be a lot of things around here..."
The large bell wrung from the clock tower. Devic jumped up in surprise, "Is that really the time?! Well, I have to go now, but I'll see you all at supper okay?"
They nodded as he waved back to them and bounded up the stairs into the main building. Phi turned to Tom and Alex, "Well he looks like he is doing pretty well..."
Tom smiled, still looking thoughtful, "Ya...So, what do you guys want to do until, um...supper?"
Phi shrugged but stood up and Alex said, "I don't know anything that we could do...last time, we would train with the pages and you would go look up stuff in the library, but since they seem to be on winter break and we don't have anything to look up at the moment...I would say we're free to do whatever we want..."
Phi's face lit up and she jogged outside with a grin on her face, "I know what can keep us busy..."
Alex and Tom glanced at each other, shrugged, and followed Phi out of the room, completely unsuspecting. A snowball caught Alex straight in the shoulder and he lost his balance and crashed into Tom, who hit the ground with a thud. Alex scrambled back to his feet, trying to catch a glimpse of his attacker, even though he had a pretty good idea of who it was, and threw himself back on the ground as another snowball whizzed by, missing his head by inches.
He laughed and began to pack snow into a ball with his hands while crouching over to block Phi's view of what he was doing. When he heard light, cautious, footsteps approaching from behind him, he whirled around and hurled his snowball at Phi, who let out a small scream of surprise and caught the snow straight in her stomach.
She tossed the snowball she was carrying behind her and Alex grinned as some one, undoubtedly Tom threw a snowball the size of a softball at Phi and covered her in ice. She ran quickly out into the riding field, trying to avoid the on coming attacks, "No fair! It can't be two against one!!"
Alex stopped running and turned apologetically to Tom, "She's right you know..." he sent a ball flying that landed on Tom's chest and bounded of to a nearby drift to collect more ammo.
After two hours, the three returned into the entrance hall of the Palace, gasping for breath, covered in snow, and receiving many strange looks from passers-by. Phi tried unsuccessfully to brush off some of the ice that was clinging to her pants but gave up and the three hulled themselves up the main flight of stairs . Tom stopped at the top and turned to the others, "I guess we should go find Numair and ask him where our rooms are..."
Alex and Phi nodded and they plodded down the hall to their left, looking for Numair's study. Finally, Tom stopped at a heavy wooden door and knocked.
The door cracked open and Daine appeared in the doorframe grinning widely, "Well I see you three have had a fun time outside. Numair needed to go back to the meeting the king was holding, but he warned me that you might come looking for him. He said that the servants have prepared the rooms that you used the last time you were here...It is really good to see you all again..."
The three smiled and Tom thanked her politely, then turned back to Alex and Phi, "What do you say we go and clean up a little before we are seen in public again?"
"Sounds good!"
They went into their rooms that were arranged exactly as they had left them and spent the rest of the afternoon trying to melt the snow of their clothes and trying to find a good outfit to wear.
***
After a very hectic dinner in which people were constantly coming over to Tom, Alex, Phi, and Devic who had joined up with them wanting to know what was going on and who they were, the three returned to their rooms.
Tom flopped down onto his bed and began to flip through a book that he had picked up from the library on immortal beasts on their way back and Alex sat down on his bed and stared at the wall. Phi closed her door and changed quickly into her night clothes, otherwise known as a pair of shorts and a baggy long-sleeve shirt. She had had a difficult time finding anything that would be comfortable for sleeping in and was firmly against wearing the frilly nightgown that the servants had put in her closet.
Phi tried to fall asleep but even though her body was tired, her mind was wide-awake so she went to stand by the window instead. The sun was setting and it gave off a beautiful orange glow on the snow-covered hills. She sighed happily and watched the sun sink lower behind the horizon. What were they going to tell their parents this time if they stayed longer than was planned. That they were mysteriously kidnapped again? No, the police probably wouldn't go for that for a second time without better evidence...
Someone knocked on her door and she got up and cracked her door open just enough to see who it was. She wasn't thrilled about having Numair catch her in a pair of shorts. From what she had learned the last time they came here during the summer, they were basically considered undergarments, and she was sure that he would be very embarrassed. But it was thankfully only Alex. She let him in with a sigh and turned to him after closing the door, "What?"
"Oh, I was just bored to death and wanted something to do...Tom is reading and well, you know how he gets when he is concentrating..."
She grinned, "Ya...what were you doing before you came in here then?"
"Staring at the wall...you?"
"Looking out the window...I personally found it to be more interesting than the wall...It's more beautiful..."
"Ya, it is..." She turned back to look at him and found his eyes resting on her. He smiled and pulled her closer to him, letting his hands slip to the small of her back. She grinned, put her arms around his neck and kissed him.
Meanwhile in the next room...Tom put his book down on his lap. It had gotten awfully quiet in the next room. He listened harder, his mind buzzing. Should he go over there and find out what they were doing? No, he trusted Alex with Phi's life so he shouldn't be worrying. But what if...? No...Damn my older brother instincts...he opened his book back up and tried to focus on it instead of the pressing silence but found in nearly impossible. He was about to get up and investigate when the door to his room opened and Alex stepped back inside. He blushed at the look Tom gave him and sat down on his bed, taking his shoes off.
Tom sighed and shook his head, put his book back down, and blew out the candle. He heard Alex get into his bed and the next thing he knew he was drifting off to sleep.
As they flew through the air on the motorcycle, Tom was the first one to fall off. He landed flat on his back on a pile of freshly fallen snow. Alex landed second and fell into a snow bank and sunk in about two feet. Phi was unluckier however and was thrown over the top of the bike and did a face plant right into a snow drift, her bike landing several feet away, its tires still spinning madly in the air.
Numair scrambled through the snow to pull Tom up, who was the closest to him, but then they were both thrown back down as something else came hurdling through the portal and slammed into a tree on the far side of the courtyard. Numair motioned quickly to several people whom Tom just noticed for the first time and they quickly surrounding the animal and leveled their spears at its chest. The horse creature screeched again then took off into the air leaving a trail of snow dust behind it.
Numair stood up, brushed off his robes, and for the second time helped Tom up onto his feet, who in turn pulled Alex out of the snow bank. Phi managed to get her head out of the pile of snow that she had been embedded into, but her helmet was dented a little on the top. She rubbed the spot and stood up shakily and with Tom and Alex there to steady her walked back over to the mage who was grinning, "It is very good to see all of you again..." He turned to Phi who still had her helmet on with her visor down, "At least, I assume that is you Phiona under that, um...hat?"
She pulled off the riding helmet with some effort and smiled, "Yup, and it is sorta actually good to be back..."
Numair grin widened and he turned to Tom, "You must show me how you were able to communicate with me! I had no idea that such a thing were possible and I am very interested in learning how you were able to manage such a thing in your dimension..."
Tom nodded, "Don't worry. But what I want to know right now is why that...thing was after us, in OWR dimension."
"Yes it is all very odd..."
"Do you mind if we stay with you until you figure it out? I would much rather get things sorted out here rather than go back and be attacked by something even worse than that in the near future..."
Numair's grin faded, "I would say yes, but you know that that is not a decision that I would be able to make. You'll have to ask the king about staying, but I'm sure you are all welcome."
The three smiled gratefully and Numair led them into the Palace. Alex relaxed at once when they entered the building and felt a familiar sensation wash over him, as if he was retuning to his second home. The mage walked up the main stairs and stopped in front of a large set of double doors that none of the three had ever been in before. He motioned for them to be quiet and opened the door.
Jon looked up, slightly annoyed. This was the third time he had been interrupted today. The first was when George fell asleep in his chair and had begun to snore, the second was when Numair had voices talking in his head, and now this. He threw the papers he was going over onto his desk and frowned at Numair as he appeared in the doorframe, "What is it Numair?"
"Well, sir, I just wanted to inform you that I opened the portal and we got the immortal successfully through...but, we also managed to get some old friends along with it..."
Dom snapped out of his daydream. This could still prove to be an interesting meeting. He was almost glad that Raoul had forced him to come along with him as punishment for the last prank he pulled. The king sighed, "If you are talking about the three children that we looked after last time..."
Numair smiled, "Yes I am sir, but I wouldn't necessarily call them children anymore. Anyway, they were asking me if they could stay for a few days, just until we sort their whole immortal problem out so they could go back to their own world without worrying about further attacks."
Jonathan rubbed his forehead, "Of course they can...Numair, would you see that rooms are set up for them?"
The mage nodded happily, closed the door, and turned to Phi, Tom, and Alex, "Well that was easier than I thought. He must really be tired..." Tom smiled and Numair continued to speak, "I'll go see about getting you three a couple of rooms and meanwhile, why don't the three of you wander around a little. I would offer to show you around, but I already did that and not much has changed, here at the Palace anyway, since you were last here..."
Phi nodded anxiously and the waved good-bye to Numair as he turned a corner that they knew led to the servant's wing, probably to see what rooms were open. Alex turned to her after the mage was out of sight, "What are you so excited about?"
"Oh, there's just someone that I wanted to see again..." Alex's eyebrows rose and Tom grinned. For a moment she looked surprised at their expressions then scowled, "Oh it's not like that! I just wanted to see Devic again!"
Alex smiled and Tom laughed as she stalked off back downstairs towards the courtyard again.
***Devic's View***
Devic sighed in frustration. HaMich, who was surprisingly able to keep his job after what happened three years ago, was making him muck the stables...on their vacation! The boy sighed and stuck his spade into the muck. He was thirteen years old now, taller than he was before, but still lanky. His light brown hair fell into his eyes as he sat down on an upturned bucket, thinking once again of what he had done to deserve such a punishment. He himself didn't think that accidentally punching someone in the face was a crime during wrestling practice...as long as it was Myrcus he was hitting. Mycrus had provoked him though, so this was a little harsh...he only got a black eye after all.
A smirk lit Devic's face as he yanked off his disgusting boots and threw them into a corner, his hands sore from shoveling so much horse crap. The look on Mycrus's face was still worth two weeks of hard labor...he was such an idiot. Ever since he insulted Phiona back in their first year, Devic and he had been sort of rivals...not in everything of course, just when they were wrestling, jousting, or running.
He leaned back against the wall and listened thoughtfully to the horses prancing nervously in their stalls. What a year it had been. He ran his fingers through his hair, remembering too late what he had just been doing with them, swore and tried to brush the dirt off his head. He froze when he heard a snicker and slowly turned around to see who it was. He was not in the mood...
His heart leapt up into his throat. It was Phi! He ran over to her in the doorway and gave her a huge hug, "Oh gods! Is it really you?!"
Phi laughed as he let go of her, blushing slightly, "Of course it is! Who else would be down here looking for you at this time of day?"
He grinned, "When did you...? How...?"
"We had some trouble back at our place so...we came here for help."
He sat down again and pulled up a bucket for her, which she accepted, "Why in the world would you need to come here for anything? I mean, I'm glad to see you of course, but..."
"Someone sent an immortal back into our dimension and we needed to get it back to its own world. Once again though, we managed to accidentally get sucked through and now we've decided to stay until things are straightened out..."
"You mean Tom and Alex are here too?!" Just at that moment, the two came into the stables as if they had been waiting for their cue and Devic stood up again and bowed deeply to the both of them.
Alex blushed and pulled him up out of his bow, "No need for that kid...so, how goes things in Tortall?"
Devic scrambled through the stables to retrieve two more buckets before answering, "Um...fair. It has been pretty quiet around the capitol anyway, and my training is coming along fine..."
Phi's smile widened, "If it is coming along fine, then why are you down here with a shovel all by yourself?"
"Oh...well..." Devic scratched the back of his head nervously, "It's my punishment for getting into a fight during wrestling practice..."
Tom sighed, "See what you did Phi? You were a bad influence on him and now he's taking after you..."
Devic looked from Tom to Phi, a curious look appearing on his face, "What? What did you do?"
Alex chuckled and leaned back against the wall, "The question is more like, 'What hasn't she done?'"
Phi through him a glare, "The most recent detention I got was for, actually, more or less for the same thing you are being punished for..."
Devic gawked at her, "You fight in your world?!"
Alex spoke up again before Phi could, "Of course she does! Before I left high school anyway, we would end up in a fight almost weekly!"
"And then I had to bail them out of it..." Tom grinned as he received glares from both Phi and Alex.
"So, how long will you all be staying with us?"
Tom's face grew thoughtful, "Not long. Well, actually I have no idea. We are going to stay until we are sure that nothing else comes back through to our world trying to kill us..."
"The immortal tried to kill you?" Devic's eyes grew darker.
Phi sighed, "Yep...but we got away. Unfortunately, so did it..."
"What was it that was trying to get you?"
Tom spoke up again, "I'm not sure. I remember seeing it in one of the books in the Palace library before but I can't remember its name. It sort of looked like a horse..."
Devic looked blankly at the wall opposite from him, "Unfortunately, that could be a lot of things around here..."
The large bell wrung from the clock tower. Devic jumped up in surprise, "Is that really the time?! Well, I have to go now, but I'll see you all at supper okay?"
They nodded as he waved back to them and bounded up the stairs into the main building. Phi turned to Tom and Alex, "Well he looks like he is doing pretty well..."
Tom smiled, still looking thoughtful, "Ya...So, what do you guys want to do until, um...supper?"
Phi shrugged but stood up and Alex said, "I don't know anything that we could do...last time, we would train with the pages and you would go look up stuff in the library, but since they seem to be on winter break and we don't have anything to look up at the moment...I would say we're free to do whatever we want..."
Phi's face lit up and she jogged outside with a grin on her face, "I know what can keep us busy..."
Alex and Tom glanced at each other, shrugged, and followed Phi out of the room, completely unsuspecting. A snowball caught Alex straight in the shoulder and he lost his balance and crashed into Tom, who hit the ground with a thud. Alex scrambled back to his feet, trying to catch a glimpse of his attacker, even though he had a pretty good idea of who it was, and threw himself back on the ground as another snowball whizzed by, missing his head by inches.
He laughed and began to pack snow into a ball with his hands while crouching over to block Phi's view of what he was doing. When he heard light, cautious, footsteps approaching from behind him, he whirled around and hurled his snowball at Phi, who let out a small scream of surprise and caught the snow straight in her stomach.
She tossed the snowball she was carrying behind her and Alex grinned as some one, undoubtedly Tom threw a snowball the size of a softball at Phi and covered her in ice. She ran quickly out into the riding field, trying to avoid the on coming attacks, "No fair! It can't be two against one!!"
Alex stopped running and turned apologetically to Tom, "She's right you know..." he sent a ball flying that landed on Tom's chest and bounded of to a nearby drift to collect more ammo.
After two hours, the three returned into the entrance hall of the Palace, gasping for breath, covered in snow, and receiving many strange looks from passers-by. Phi tried unsuccessfully to brush off some of the ice that was clinging to her pants but gave up and the three hulled themselves up the main flight of stairs . Tom stopped at the top and turned to the others, "I guess we should go find Numair and ask him where our rooms are..."
Alex and Phi nodded and they plodded down the hall to their left, looking for Numair's study. Finally, Tom stopped at a heavy wooden door and knocked.
The door cracked open and Daine appeared in the doorframe grinning widely, "Well I see you three have had a fun time outside. Numair needed to go back to the meeting the king was holding, but he warned me that you might come looking for him. He said that the servants have prepared the rooms that you used the last time you were here...It is really good to see you all again..."
The three smiled and Tom thanked her politely, then turned back to Alex and Phi, "What do you say we go and clean up a little before we are seen in public again?"
"Sounds good!"
They went into their rooms that were arranged exactly as they had left them and spent the rest of the afternoon trying to melt the snow of their clothes and trying to find a good outfit to wear.
***
After a very hectic dinner in which people were constantly coming over to Tom, Alex, Phi, and Devic who had joined up with them wanting to know what was going on and who they were, the three returned to their rooms.
Tom flopped down onto his bed and began to flip through a book that he had picked up from the library on immortal beasts on their way back and Alex sat down on his bed and stared at the wall. Phi closed her door and changed quickly into her night clothes, otherwise known as a pair of shorts and a baggy long-sleeve shirt. She had had a difficult time finding anything that would be comfortable for sleeping in and was firmly against wearing the frilly nightgown that the servants had put in her closet.
Phi tried to fall asleep but even though her body was tired, her mind was wide-awake so she went to stand by the window instead. The sun was setting and it gave off a beautiful orange glow on the snow-covered hills. She sighed happily and watched the sun sink lower behind the horizon. What were they going to tell their parents this time if they stayed longer than was planned. That they were mysteriously kidnapped again? No, the police probably wouldn't go for that for a second time without better evidence...
Someone knocked on her door and she got up and cracked her door open just enough to see who it was. She wasn't thrilled about having Numair catch her in a pair of shorts. From what she had learned the last time they came here during the summer, they were basically considered undergarments, and she was sure that he would be very embarrassed. But it was thankfully only Alex. She let him in with a sigh and turned to him after closing the door, "What?"
"Oh, I was just bored to death and wanted something to do...Tom is reading and well, you know how he gets when he is concentrating..."
She grinned, "Ya...what were you doing before you came in here then?"
"Staring at the wall...you?"
"Looking out the window...I personally found it to be more interesting than the wall...It's more beautiful..."
"Ya, it is..." She turned back to look at him and found his eyes resting on her. He smiled and pulled her closer to him, letting his hands slip to the small of her back. She grinned, put her arms around his neck and kissed him.
Meanwhile in the next room...Tom put his book down on his lap. It had gotten awfully quiet in the next room. He listened harder, his mind buzzing. Should he go over there and find out what they were doing? No, he trusted Alex with Phi's life so he shouldn't be worrying. But what if...? No...Damn my older brother instincts...he opened his book back up and tried to focus on it instead of the pressing silence but found in nearly impossible. He was about to get up and investigate when the door to his room opened and Alex stepped back inside. He blushed at the look Tom gave him and sat down on his bed, taking his shoes off.
Tom sighed and shook his head, put his book back down, and blew out the candle. He heard Alex get into his bed and the next thing he knew he was drifting off to sleep.
