Chapter 3

The next morning Ginny picked up any shells or bits of shiny rock that caught her eye on the way to Lucas' house. She squinted from the bright sun overhead to see Lucas coming down the stairs of his house. Ginny didn't see that pretty woman anywhere. She did see the top of a man's head, just as white blonde as Lucas' and the woman's somewhere on the house's large patio. She hurried on her way to meet her friend. "What are we playing today?"

"I don't know. We can play in the cove again, find some shells or play some games."

They headed to the hidden cove, playing in the pools where the sea life wouldn't be harmed, finding shells and shiny rocks to use on later castles and thinking up games to play. They soon came up with one they called "Saved". The game consisted of someone pretending to be lost and in trouble and the other having to find and save them. This was a very great game considering they had found a small cave along the cove's edge. The cave would probably be gone at a higher tide because it was half way in the water already. It was Ginny's turn to hide; she knew the cave would be the perfect place to go. Neither of them had noticed the slowly gathering storm clouds. She was far enough from Lucas to only hear his counting as a quiet noise against the waves coming into the cave's mouth. She had to stifle her want to laugh with her hand as she heard him nearly finish counting. She wanted to get a look around the cave wall and moved just a little bit, trying to crane her neck around with out being seen. Her foot slipped and dipped into the water that should have been farther away. She heard Lucas yelling but couldn't hear all of his words. Ginny answered while cupping her hand around her mouth only to get a splash of seawater to her face. With a few small coughs she quickly realized the path she had come in on was smaller than it had been. She knew she had to leave quickly and did her best to stay on the path that was growing smaller and smaller with each incoming crash of wave. There was a dark blob at the cave's entrance.

"Lucas? The water is getting higher. Don't come in."

"Mia it's going to storm. Hurry up!"

The problem with hurrying was that her footing was not as firm as it could have been. Fear rose in her when she was only half way out of the cave. The seawater rising, the path became even harder to travel. Her hands gripped the wall as much as possible, helping for nearly the rest of the way. Ginny let out a surprised and very loud scream when a wave crashed making her slip. Something else grabbed her and she nearly screamed again until her eyes opened to see Lucas holding her hand and arm.

"I said hurry!" He had impatience and fear in his voice.

"I was!"

Both of them were soaked from the waves and looking rather unhappy until they caught better sight of one another, bursting into shining laughter. Lucas suddenly went silent. There was a third shadow on the sand, tall and menacing. Her heart jumped to her throat as she wheeled around so fast she nearly slipped again despite being on the sand. A very tall man with broad shoulders stood staring at them. Unlike Lucas' grey eyes that laughed when he laughed this man looked as if he would never laugh or find anything funny. He had Lucas' hair too, only much longer, nearly all the way down his back and tied back in an elegant fashion she had never actually seen before and seemed kind of funny. However, she didn't dare laugh now. Instinctively she took a step backward from him and toward Lucas who was staring straight faced and seemed to be a different boy entirely. He looked more like a scared mouse that was trying his best not to show its fear of a swooping hawk.

"Son. Your Mother heard screaming." If he had not looked so much like Lucas she never would have thought him to be her playmates father.

"We won't do it again Father. I promise." Lucas' back straightened as if a hand had suddenly pushed it.

"Let us hope not." The sharp gaze shifted to her. Her hand fiddled with her wet clothes, her toes scrunching and stretching in the sand under them trying to take away from the uncomfortable feeling in her stomach. She wanted him to look away more than anything in the world. He raised a blonde disapproving eyebrow at her. Perhaps dying would be better; he wouldn't look at her like that anymore. "Return home soon, Son. You're mother will want your story and a look at you."

A/N: The game they are playing was inspired from the song "Cure My Tragedy" by Cold.