Chapter 12
Thorne was feeling quite uneasy. For a few moments, he had swore that someone, somewhere, had been watching him. But then, in a flash, they had disappeared.
Was it the entity that was spying on him? Invisibly spying on him, trying to find out his weaknesses?
He shuddered, before walking back to the clearing, via the outer edge. He didn't want to cross the inside area, in case he bumped into Shaiden again, who was probably still angry at him.
But, even if he did avoid Shaiden, there was another person that he'd not be able to avoid- Crystal.
She was happily sucking nectar out of the flower, and as such, Thorne was barely noticed.
"Um, hi Crystal." he mumbled.
"Oh, hi Thorne!" Crystal replied, popping her head out from the flower. "Why were you gone so long? You said you'd only be a minute!"
"I'm sorry," he replied, "but things happened."
Crystal gave him an inquisitive look.
"Things I don't want to talk about." he said, implying that he wanted to move on.
Crystal nodded, and gave a small sigh.
"Anyway, I saved some nectar especially for you!" she said, her voice now happier.
She and Thorne peered into the centre of the flower, where there was indeed a small pool of yellow liquid. It smelled heavenly, but Thorne knew that it would taste even better.
He quickly lowered his tongue into the centre of the flower, scooping up a few small drops of nectar. It tasted really sugary. It wasn't what he would usually go for, but, unless you counted the grass, there was nothing else to eat.
"C'mon Thorne!" Crystal said teasingly, "If you keep taking sips like that, we'll be here all day!"
Thorne gave a weak smile, and lowered his head into the flower once more. He sucked up as much of the nectar as he could. He found it quite hard to swallow, but eventually he forced it down his throat. His tastebuds tingled with satisfaction.
Crystal giggled, and stuck her head in the flower.
Thorne chuckled, and, after glancing around and seeing that no one was looking, he crept round behind Crystal, totally unknown, and shouted: "BOO!" right into her ear.
She screamed, jumped, and in doing so, knocked her top half straight into the flower. Her legs flailed everywhere, and Thorne burst out laughing.
"This isn't funny!" she said angrily. "Get me out of here!"
Thorne just left her in there. It seemed cruel, but he knew she would get out of there eventually.
And, soon enough, as she began wriggling around, slowly, she eased herself out of the flower and onto the grass, though it was a rather clumsy decent. Her fur was soaked with nectar.
She was giving Thorne an extremely dirty look, which was incredibly out of character for her.
Thorne was starting to get slightly worried, and began to back away, when Crystal suddenly charged towards him.
He tried to dive out of the way, but Crystal soon tackled him to the ground.
She smiled at him. "Not just a pretty face." she said.
Thorne knew her intentions, and remembered what he had told Shaiden an hour or so ago: "I can't just leave her." And the same saying was true for this moment- he couldn't just push her away from him, and forget this had all happened. So what if Shaiden, or the entity, or anyone was watching- this was probably the closest they were ever going to get, and he didn't want to waste any time.
So, he smiled back up at her, playfully rolled her over, got up, and in the process, got himself covered in nectar. Grass was getting stuck to his paws, and the air was overpowered by the sugary smell of the nectar was filling the air.
He walked over to the flower, jumped up, and dipped his already sticky paws into the nectar. Crystal began to run, but Thorne soaked her in more nectar before she was out of shot.
They both laughed, and ran into each other, engaging in a full-on play fight. They were tumbling and tumbling, over and over, nipping and swiping and having the best time...
A few yards away, Shaiden was watching from a distance. "I never thought this day would come." she said to herself. "Thorne, in love!" She laughed, and tried to push a certain picture out of her mind- right now, Thorne was happy, and she was nothing but a spectator.
Her mind quickly tried to weigh up the pros and cons of her shouting at him earlier, but it was no use. She just stood back and sighed. Maybe I'll find love one day, said a surprisingly childlike voice in her head suddenly.
Oh, be quiet!, another, more adult, scolding voice replied. Your brother is the dopey one who's fallen for a big-shot billionaire, not you!
Shaiden remembered an old quote that she'd heard not too long ago. Both voices said it in perfect, almost creepy, unison: Having voices in your head is normal. Listening to them is common. Arguing with them is acceptable. However, when you lose the argument...
"...you're in trouble." Shaiden finished, with as much of a smile as she could muster.
She had a lot of thinking to do.