Sorry for the delay. My writing time has been cut in less than half lately. I'm managing to make it work; it's mostly the typing up that I have a hard time finding time to do.
A couple of questions from a recent reviewer addressed two primary things that I have been taking very, very seriously. ;) First off, Seth's personality – yes, I do believe he'd be different after the whole Zzyzx fiasco. I do keep in mind that he was still only 13 years old when that happened – in my translation of Seth, that equals a much wiser child than you'd normally find in a 13-year-old boy. However, I don't think his fun-loving spirit would die in exchange for wisdom gained (as witnessed at the end of book 5 when they're having the celebratory dinner). Basically, I'm planning to continue developing his character through future chapters. His goal in life is pretty much to be just like Patton, from what I gleaned from the books.
The second question had to do with Bracken. I picture him as the "fearless leader" when necessity dictates and the guy who remains cool and collected when everything is falling to pieces, but when things are calm I see him as a pretty relaxed and cheerful guy who's kind of a loner and trying to get over that. (He describes himself as such a couple of times in book 5.) He was awkward with Kendra at times in the book, especially when they first met – which I thought was funny. I'm trying to develop his character, too – he's learning more about socialization and human characteristics/personality traits as he spends more and more time with the Sorensons, which in turn makes him more comfortable/conversational around other humans he meets and talks to (as will be shown in future chapters). I also see him as honest to the core – he won't give compliments insincerely, doesn't lie or try to mislead people, and speaks from the heart. Last but not least, he's immortal so pretty much the only real sense of time the guy has is watching the humans around him age and seeing the earth change in general.
Thank you all for your feedback. I especially love the comments that make me think, like the one I addressed above. Now onto the next chapter, in which the satyrs finally make an appearance!
Chapter 11: Graduation
"Seth! Give the ball back – it was safe!" Verl called.
"The right word is 'in,' Verl. 'Safe' is for baseball," Newell said, rolling his eyes.
"I think we should let our referee decide," Doren added. "Dale!" the satyr called.
Dale looked up from the book he was reading on the porch and said, "That was in."
"You haven't even been watching the game," Newel argued. "It was out!"
"The referee exists for a reason," Grandpa Sorenson chided while he flipped over a couple of hamburgers on the grill.
"Right," Dale agreed. "And I say the ball was in. Toss it back, Seth."
Seth was grinning as he tossed the volleyball over to the other side of the net, where Kendra caught it.
Newel, Doren and Seth were in the backyard playing volleyball against Kendra and Bracken. And since Bracken's reflexes were "crazy good," as the satyrs had pointed out not very tactfully, Bracken and Kendra had also adopted Verl on their team "to equalize things" – again, not pointed out very tactfully. Warren had set up the net earlier that day and the whole family was having a barbeque party to celebrate Kendra's graduation from high school.
"8 – 4," Kendra called out the score before she served the ball to the opposing team. It headed straight for Doren, who struck it. Newel reached up and pushed it slightly, and Seth jumped up in an attempt to spike it to the ground back on the other side of the net. Bracken dove and saved the ball, and then Verl shot it back over the net again.
The ball volleyed back and forth a few times until both Newel and Doren dove for it and wound up hitting each other instead of their intended target, which bounced harmlessly off of them and landed out of bounds.
"What the heck, Doren!?" Newel shouted, rubbing his head.
"Me?! You're the one who shouldn't have tried for it! The ball was in my section!" Doren retorted.
"It was in the middle and you didn't call it, so I decided to go!"
"I didn't call it!? You could have called it!"
"Technically," Bracken chimed in, "if the ball was in the middle, it would have been Seth's responsibility."
The arguing satyrs turned to glare at Seth.
"Whoa, guys. What was I supposed to do? Join you in the dog pile? No thanks," the boy responded, holding his hand out in front of him in an attempt to placate them.
"You're ruining fair Kendra's party!" Verl called out from the other side of the net, gesturing to the girl who had wandered over to a nearby rose bush to sniff some of the bright yellow flowers. She looked up when she heard her name.
"Shut up, Verl! We don't want to hear about your unreasonable crush!" Newel shouted.
Verl blushed brilliantly as Kendra interjected. "It's okay, I wanted a break anyway," she said, standing up to full height and moving toward her dad.
"If you leave, you forfeit!" Doren called.
"Forfeiting would be more fun than listening to you two squabble like an old married couple!" Kendra called back with a teasing expression on her face. She was smiling widely as she stood next to her father and Scott placed his own arm around her shoulder.
"We win!" Newel and Doren high-fived each other before breaking down into a victory dance.
Bracken laughed. "By technicality," he said.
"What's that I hear, Newel?" Doren asked, cupping his hand around one ear.
Newel looked mockingly perplexed. "I don't know, Doren. What did you hear?" he asked.
"I could have sworn I heard that unicorn we defeated in an epic game of volleyball crying that things weren't fair!"
Newel started to laugh as Seth responded with an arched eyebrow, "He didn't say that."
"What are you complaining about? Your team won!" Doren admonished.
"Only because Kendra left," Seth said. "Face it, guys – we were getting creamed."
"We were not 'getting creamed,'" Newel corrected, pantomiming quotes in the air with his fingers.
"Buzz kill," Doren fake coughed into his fist.
Seth smiled and tossed the ball to Verl. "You guys can keep playing if you want," he said. "I'm going to check on the food."
"I'll go with you," Bracken said to Seth.
Verl visibly paled as Newel and Doren's faces took on evil glints – they were obviously planning to grind Verl into the ground.
"I think I'll go… see what the fairies are up to," Verl lamely thought up. He dropped the ball and took off running, despite the loud protests of the other two satyrs.
Seth walked over to the table that would soon be adorned with grilled meats, side dishes and condiments and sat down where he could see Kendra, Dad and Grandpa Sorenson standing around the barbeque. Bracken took the seat next to him and asked, "What's bothering you?"
"Who said anything was bothering me?" Seth replied, continuing to stare ahead with a muted smile on his face.
Bracken leaned back a little and said, "It doesn't take a genius."
Seth went quiet for a while, so Bracken relaxed and took in his surroundings. Newel and Doren were playing volleyball against each other – well, more like arguing instead of playing – while Dale continued reading and still pretending to referee. Verl had disappeared somewhere into the woods. Stan, Scott and the beautiful radiance that was Kendra idly chatted around the grill. He could tell that she loved her father. It was obvious – she and Scott were standing next to each other with her arm around his waist, head on his shoulder, and his arm around both of his daughter's shoulders.
The unicorn fidgeted a little with his hands as he remembered his own conversation earlier in the day with Kendra's parents. After that, he was really pretty confident that Scott hated him, no matter how Marla had tried to assure him otherwise.
Well, at least Kendra's mother seemed to like him.
Seth cleared his throat and Bracken's attention refocused onto the teenaged boy. "I'm going to miss her," the boy stated simply. "By the way, your ogling of my sister is really obvious."
Bracken hadn't expected that last comment. His eyes widened as he tried to brush it off. "I was not 'ogling' her," he stated quietly, trying not to draw attention to the two of them.
"Uh… yeah you were," Seth responded. "Unless you can think of another word that means 'to stare at someone and fantasize about them in a really creepy way.'"
"I wasn't fantasizing about her," Bracken again muttered. "For the record, I was trying to think of ways to get your father to approve of me."
"He does," Seth said plainly. "He doesn't love you, but it would take a miracle for that to happen. Kendra is a daddy's girl."
Bracken decided to re-direct the conversation back to Seth. "You're going to miss her?" he asked in a prompting fashion.
"Nice transition," Seth replied, rolling his eyes. "Of course I'll miss her. I didn't ever really think she'd actually leave. Those were stupid thoughts, I guess."
"It's not stupid to enjoy the moment," Bracken said. "It is limiting to fear change, though."
"I just said I'll miss her. Not that I'm afraid of change," Seth clarified. "She should go. I want her to go. But I'll miss goofing off in the pool and making faces at her while she's trying to concentrate on something and… I think I'll even miss the way she talks in her sleep in the middle of the night." His eyes were wide as though he just realized that last part.
"She's not leaving for school for six more weeks," Bracken said. "And she'll be back to visit during breaks."
"It won't be the same," Seth responded, staring at a nearby wind chime that one of the fairies was tapping on.
"That's the point," Bracken said. "It's hard for things to change and yet remain the same."
Seth blinked. "Thank you, Captain Obvious," he answered. "You're terrible at giving advice, by the way."
Bracken chuckled. "I advise you to spend time with her while she's still here. Do brother things that annoy her, but that she secretly enjoys. And while she's away, pick up the phone every once-in-a-while to talk to her." He paused, then cocked his head to the side. "You can't tell me that was bad advice."
"No," Seth answered. "I guess not."
Marla exited the house at that point and stood on the porch. "How much more time on the meat, Stan?" she called out.
"It's done," he answered. "The kabobs are cooking. You've got maybe a few minutes to go on those."
"Excellent," she said, clapping her hands together. She turned her head to the left and found Bracken and Seth staring back at her. "And look, I found a couple of pack horses! Boys, if you would please bring things from the kitchen outside and put them right at that table, I would appreciate it." Her tone of voice was cheerful, but also indicated that non-compliance was not an option.
"Absolutely," Bracken smiled, standing up and walking into the kitchen. Seth followed behind him.
Kendra sat on the back porch near where Dale had been sitting earlier, with her back against one of the beams that supported the roof. Evening had fallen, and her grandfathers Sorenson and Larsen had managed to find some small fireworks to set off. They were a distance to her left. Looking around, she saw her parents sitting with her grandmothers at the picnic table under the awning on the deck, about twenty feet away from where Stan and Hank were unwrapping and prepping the fireworks. Seth, Newel and Doren (Verl hadn't made another appearance after fleeing the scene earlier) were sitting in lawn chairs on the grass for an "up-close" view. Dad had insisted that they sit at least forty feet away from the large board on the grass where the fireworks would be lit, to which the trio had objected. Dad relented and let them set twenty feet away when Grandpa Sorenson explained that these particular fireworks were going to be relatively small, since he didn't want to scare the creatures on the preserve. As it was, he had already been hesitant to light them – but in honor of Kendra's achievement and pending departure, he'd approved when Hank had insisted.
Kendra spotted Dale, Vanessa and Warren sitting next to each other on the porch quite a ways away from herself. Warren and Vanessa were holding hands and quietly chatting with Dale. She was happy to see Warren and Vanessa back together; they'd had an argument a couple days ago about something apparently serious that she'd not heard.
Bracken approached Kendra from the lawn and asked, "Why are you so far away from everyone else?"
She shrugged her shoulders. "This looked like a good place," she answered. "Want to sit with me?"
"Of course," he said, walking up the steps and settling down to her left. "I warned the fairies about the fireworks," he explained. "We'll see if they decide to stick around and watch or not."
"Good thinking," Kendra commented. "How did you explain what they were, anyway?"
"I told them it'd be colorful fire shooting up from the ground and falling from the sky. A few of them looked mildly terrified at that." He chuckled softly. "Some of them might choose to interact with the lit ones."
Kendra remembered the first time she'd seen the fairies when bubbles were around and her eyes widened. "That could be really cool," she said, obviously interested.
"Yes," he answered. "You never know what they'll do." He leaned back and casually took hold of Kendra's hand. "I have something else I want to talk to you about," he said, looking into her eyes.
"Sure?" she asked, curious about what he wanted.
"I think this is an excellent choice for you to make," he began. "You will do well at the university."
"Oh," she answered. "Thanks."
"A selfish part of me doesn't want you to leave," he admitted. "I enjoy being able to see you often, and that will change. But that's not the point I wanted to express." He paused for a quick breath before continuing. "Would you be willing to go on a date with me?" he asked.
Kendra's face flushed brilliantly – a sudden rush of gratitude for the night's darkness hit her – and she responded with a dazzling smile and an emphatic, "Yes! Of course!"
He grinned widely as well. "Excellent," he answered. "How about tomorrow?"
"Wow, um… Alright, tomorrow would be great!" Kendra played with a strand of her hair, wrapping it around her finger in a nervous gesture as she shouted at herself internally to remain calm. "Did you have anything particular in mind?" Her face was still burning, and her inner voice was still shouting at her to play it cool.
"Yes," he said. "I saw an advertisement in your father's newspaper for the county fair. It looked like fun – would you like to go?"
"The county fair, huh?" she asked, her entire countenance still gleaming with enthusiasm. Her voice remained at least somewhat level, though. "I haven't been to one since I was six or seven. I'd love to!"
"Well then, good. It's a date," he responded, still beaming as he continued to hold her hand and scooted closer to her.
Sparks seemed to fly through Kendra at Bracken's touch and proximity. She didn't fully understand – they'd held hands and cuddled before. What was so different now?
Then again, she supposed, something was different this time. A whole new dynamic was being introduced to their friendship. A very, very exciting one.
She couldn't seem to focus on anything else, even when Grandpa Sorenson lit the first firework and a shower of purple sparks shot up several feet into the air as a few curious fairies left their hiding places and wandered closer for a better view.
Kendra Sorenson had a date tomorrow. One that she was very much looking forward to.