Key

Sentences/ words that are boldand in italics, are direct thoughts.

Random italic words in a sentence are emphasis.

"Italics with speech marks" signify that what is being said within the speech marks is some distance away.

Bold is Onomatopoeia.

"Bold, italic, and speech marks" signify telepathic speech.


Next chapter, and longer too. Hope you like it. It's a bit more serious than previous chapters.
I own nothing. Nada. Zilch.

Kai woke to find, that once more she had slept in his bed with him, though that might have something to do with the fact that he had a vice like grip on her arm. He released it and started rubbing the circulation back into it.

She moaned and woke to the feeling of pins and needles- not her favourite sensation.

She shifted and found herself nose to nose with Kai. "Morning."

"Morning." He responded. "You think I'm cute."

She blinked, then smiled and pinched his cheeks. "As a button. You're just adorable, those chubby cheeks," she gave said cheeks another tug, and jumped when she heard laughter coming from the doorway. Tala was bent double, the rest in similar positions.

"Your face!" Tala gasped out.

She looked at Kai, who had the cutest scowl on his face. The expression really did something for his eyes, made them darker, and she swore she could almost see little sparks.

Just then she fell back on the bed with a little shriek, clutching her eye. "Why'd you try and poke my eye out?"

"I wasn't." Kai was confused, he had hurt her? It wasn't supposed to hurt, was it? He just wanted to give he a kiss, like she had done to him. Come to think of it, the kiss she had placed on his forehead not long after the two had met hadn't hurt. Maybe he had done it wrong. Am I that bad at kissing? Kai was really worried now, and a bit embarrassed, too when he saw her eye all red, the guys scowling at him.

"Well?" She was still waiting for his answer.

"I just wanted to kiss you," he mumbled, avoiding everyone's gaze, staring at the bedcover he clutched instead. He'd never noticed before how depressing the colour black was.

As the silence that greeted his answer went on, he dared a peek up at the girl sat in front of him. She looked a bit stunned. Her expression quickly became a smile, then a chuckle, and finally a full blown laugh.

Kai found himself scowling again. "It's not funny," he said, rather hurt.

"I'm sorry, but when you kiss someone, you've got to make sure your nose is out of the way or you could end up banging it into their nose, or eye like with me. Like this."

She cupped his face with her hands and leaned forward, placing a gentle kiss in the centre of his forehead.

"Me too, me too!" Bryan cried, leaping forward into range. Smiling, she kissed him, too, then Spencer and Ian. Tala had moved next to Kai on the bed, the only free space with everyone crowded around.

"You want a kiss?" She asked. He nodded dumbly, eyes huge and turquoise against his skin.

She laughed and kissed him. As she pulled back, she heard Tala cry exultantly: "I just saw her udders! Look!" He grabbed her arms to hold her still while Kai moved in to see down her shirt.

Wrenching away before he could, face red with embarrassment, she got up off the bed. Mumbling something about getting on with work, she hurriedly left the room.

Kai watched her go, then turned to Tala. "What did they look like?"

"Dunno. Not like a cow, white, not pink, well, a little bit pink. Looked soft."

"They are." Kai informed him, "I felt them a while back, she fell asleep in my bed, like last night."

The other three leaned forward from their positions in the circle on the bed, lapping up every word.

"Wow," said Bryan. I wish I had seen them. Spencer sighed while Ian nodded. Kai was lost in memory.

Just then the alarm went off for the day to start and the boys scurried into their rooms to get dressed.

Kai, who had the day off because his grandfather claimed he didn't want to see him that day out of shame for his losing, turned till he lay on his back, looking up at the dank ceiling. Everything about this abbey was dank, dark, cold. He shuddered slightly, remembering the dungeon Boris had put him in until he learned to close out emotions- until he no longer felt nothing- not even pain.

But he did feel something, he acknowledged. He had done ever since she arrived; she had made him feel again. He had felt happiness, shame, embarrassment, and something else- a white hot something that shot from his heart to his belly and lower. He didn't know what it was, only that he felt it when he was around her.

He lay there thinking most of the day, only leaving his room for food and to do the necessary. The latest time he had gone out, he returned to find her back in his room, lying almost exactly as he had been doing not a minute before.

"What do you see?" Kai asked her. "When you look at the abbey?"

She turned her head to look at him then patted the place beside her before she answered.

"I don't know," she answered honestly. "When I look on the outside, and the gardens, I see beauty, but the inside… There's a wrongness about this place, not the least of which is the way you guys are treated. What about you?"

"Coldness is everywhere in this abbey, the people, the stones… but it's the only home I've ever known." Suddenly thinking again that he didn't know much about her, he asked her about her home.

"Oh, I don't have one, not anymore. I mean, I still have family, somewhere, I think. Dad lost his job at a factory, and mum- well; she hasn't been around for a while, she died when I was little. I've always helped dad, worked so we could keep our little house. When dad lost his job we had to give it up. Dad got me this job, because it provides a place to stay. He told me he would find a job, and we would meet again someday. I wish I knew where he was, whether he's even still alive. What about you? Is Voltaire your only family?"

Kai shrugged. "I don't remember anyone else. I don't have a dad… What is a dad? And a mum?"

She sighed and turned until they were lying next to each other, face to face. "Remember when I told you about babies, and that we were all babies one day, and it takes a man and a woman to make one? Well the man you makes you is your dad, and the woman your mum. They're your parents. If they have another boy, that's your brother, and a girl would be your sister. I had a brother, he died with mum, they got hit by a car."

The words replayed in Kai's head. Mum. Dad. Brother. Sister. Sister. Kai got a sudden flash of a girl with sapphire hair. As quick as it came, it was gone again. Did I have a sister?

"What's wrong?" She asked.

"I think, that I had a sister." Kai said slowly. "Do you think I'll see her again?"

"I don't know. She might not be alive. But if she is, and if you ever get out of here, you can go look for her, just like I'll look for my dad, soon as I've got enough money."

"You're leaving?" Kai sat up, panicked. He felt like he was falling from the sky, and he was never going to get safely back on the ground again.

"Not until I have enough money. That won't be for a very long time." She assured him, a slight frown on her face at his reaction. Did she really mean that much to him?

Kai shifted till he could touch his forehead to hers, and clasp her hands to his chest.

"Promise me something," he whispered into her hair. "Promise me that you won't leave without me. That you won't leave without any of us. We need to get away from here. Every year we've grown older, we've been worked harder. We're expected to feel nothing, but I can't do that anymore, you made me feel. You made us happy. I don't want to stay here and lose that- and if you left… It would be worse, we wouldn't be happy anymore. Thinking about it makes me want to cry. But we don't cry- we're not allowed to cry. Crying's a sign of weakness. I won't cry!" Kai said fiercely, clutching her hands tighter against him.

She kissed him softly against his cheek, lips lingering on his skin. "Crying can make you feel better- it's not a sign of weakness, Kai. Sometimes it's okay to cry. But I won't leave without you- any of you. I promise. She snuggled closer to him, head against his chest and fell asleep.

At her words Kai had relaxed, and found himself smiling once more, arms wrapped tightly against her form. He never wanted to let her go. Why did he feel like this? What was this feeling? Kai fell asleep before he could think about it anymore.


What did you think?