Chapter 3

Normal POV

Tyson woke with his vision blurry and his body feeling heavy. He opened his mouth, licking his lips he felt how dry his mouth was.

Stretching, the world champ yawned as he moved in his bed, it was dark still, but the morning light was nearing.

Tyson felt the urge of nature calling and the teen remembered why he was awake at such an ungodly hour, turning his bedside lamp on, he sluggishly headed towards the bathroom.

The bathroom was furthest away from Tyson's room which was closest to the stairs, it was Tyson's room, Max's, Ray's and then finally Kai's whose was always the furthest away from Tyson.

As Tyson scratched his head and his eyes adjusted to the dim light in the passageway he noticed that Kai's bedroom door was slightly ajar, finding this strange Tyson paused and leaned in, using his index finger he moved the door open slightly.

Inside Tyson noticed that Kai was not in his room, the bedside lamp was on, identical to the one in his own room. Though unlike Tyson's room, Kai's was neat and tidy, nothing was out of place, it was as if Kai could leave at any moment and no one would know he had even been there.

Tyson poked his head inside the room even further. He noticed that Kai's bed wasn't made and that the Russian had left his suitcase open, very unlike Kai.

Stepping now fully into the room, Tyson looked around, though there wasn't much to look at given Kai carried very little on him. The only thing that caught his eye was a book, on the bedside table, small and thin with a green hard cover. Turning it in his hands Tyson flipped it open turning the pages, it was all in Russian.

Sighing Tyson suddenly felt that urge that had woken him, placing the book back Tyson left Kai's room and headed to the bathroom, he was feeling the cool air and was looking forward to returning to his warm bed.

Max POV

Tyson was snoring again, he is always snoring. I'm sure that's the reason why Kai sleeps so far away from Tyson.

The sun was now streaming I passed the curtains and in my view. I had been lying in the bed for so long now wide awake that I was sure I had missed breakfast, but I hadn't…and I only knew this because Tyson was still snoring.

Right! That's it, I was getting up.

I noticed that everyone else's rooms were closed so I figured I must be first to wake up, which is amazing because usually it's either Kai or Ray, but usually Kai.

I headed downstairs but I could hear the kettle boiling, someone must be awake. Heading into the kitchen I noticed Kai was making himself a cup of tea, he busy putting the sugar in. He glanced at me as I sat myself at the island; he motioned to me with his mug and sat at the island opposite me.

"How did you sleep?" I asked smiling, I finally got up and started to find the bread so that I could some toast.

Kai shrugged.

"Did you hear Tyson last night? He must have had a good sleep, dead to the world", I couldn't find the bread.

Kai didn't answer; it was a rather awkward silence.

"Did he keep you awake?" Kai suddenly asked, he was looking straight me with those piercing eyes, except they looked tired, very tired.

I found the bread and as I popped two slices into the toaster I shrugged.

"Nothing new really. You get used to you know".

Kai looked away, sipping his tea.

As I waited for my toast a thought suddenly dawned on me, "Uh Kai, did you want some toast?"

Kai shook his head, "If he keeps you awake you should take some sleeping tablets or maybe just gag him and have him sleep outside"

Did Kai just make a joke?

"Uh I don't know about gagging him and I'm not sure about forcing myself to sleep".

I think I saw a corner of Kai's mouth smirk; he drained the last of his tea and set it in the sink. He seemed to pause there, at the sink, about to rinse the mug up.

"I have ear plugs"

"Pardon?"

"If you can't sleep, I have some ear plugs that work well; you can borrow them, if you like".

My jaw almost dropped, actually I think it did because Kai's expression suddenly changed to hard, he quickly rinsed the mug and moved away out of the kitchen.

Was Kai trying to be friendly?

Ray POV

We had decided to go on a hike, once everyone was awake and ready which took longer than I had originally anticipated.

We were going to get the lay of the land. We each had a backpack which had food, some essential tools, first aid and water.

Everyone except Kai carried their pack, which really just got my goat as I had prepared the packs! Though I must admit he did carry the map and seemed to know what he was doing with it.

We found a trail; hiking up the trail in the mountain forest we all clearly understood we were no longer in suburbia. Kai lead the way, some distance away, he also seemed to have adopted a long branch as a staff.

I felt quite at home up here, it reminded me of my village and the hikes I would take with the White Tigers.

Our aim was to find the lake, which we did.

It was huge and covered in a thin layer of ice, the shore were black pebbles, it was an open space, surrounded by forest. We could see the road which lead to the cabin in the distance and orientated ourselves.

Tyson decided that this was the place to have lunch and he began to unpack the sandwiches and food stuffs I had packed.

I handed Kai a sandwich from my pack and he received it with a nod, he didn't sit with us on the shore as we ate, he walked further along.

Once he was out of earshot Tyson turned to us and said, "What's eating his shorts? He's acting weirder than usual".

I frowned, not sure as to what Tyson was talking about, though I had an inkling.

"What do you mean?" asked Max.

Tyson scrunched up his face as he thought about this.

"I don't know, he just seems moodier, not talking as much".

"When did he speak besides scolding you Tyson?" I asked, hoping to lighten the mood.

"He isn't even doing much of that. I don't know something isn't right".

Max and I exchanged glances, we all agreed, something funny was going on with Kai.

"Maybe he just has a lot on his mind. I mean his grandfather was just put into jail and is going on trial. Maybe it's that? His only relative".

Max had a point, we all watched Kai as he was now crouching on the ground, leaning against his staff, looking out at the lake, even more mysterious than before.

Normal POV

It was evening now, and after their day hike the team was exhausted and so settled on an early night, besides the weather was looking grim and it was getting cold fast.

Tyson, Max and Ray were sitting around the coffee table, playing scrabble and drinking hot chocolate while Kai sat curled in a chair reading, sipping every now and then at his own hot chocolate.

"Do you think it's going to snow?" asked Max as he placed his word on the board, making him the winner at the moment.

Ray sighed and placed his own tiles, "I don't know, but it was forecasted? Maybe it will just rain and hail"

"Don't you like the snow?" asked Max, glancing at the Chinese curiously.

"No, it's just so cold", Ray shifted as if suddenly uncomfortable.

The two looked over at Tyson, waiting for him to make his move.

Tyson had been staring at his tiles during the whole conversation, he was behind in the game and he was tired, plus his hot chocolate was finished.

"C'mon Tyson, we don't have all night", complained Max.

"Do you want help?" offered Ray.

"No, I can do this on my own", huffed Tyson, folding his arms defiantly.

A few seconds later Tyson felt something vibrate in his pants pocket, removing his cell phone Tyson stared at the message, his eyes almost popping out.

It was from Kai, Kai had actually sent him a text. Opening the text Tyson was baffled, it was merely a long complicated word. Tyson stared at the message and then at his tiles until it dawned, Kai had sent him a word to play.

Smiling Tyson placed his tiles on the board, Ray and Max looking at him dubiously when another text came through from Kai, it was the definition.

Turning to look at Kai to say thanks, Tyson noticed that the captain was no longer in his chair. Tyson shrugged and eventually won the game of the scrabble thanks to Kai's word.

Max was beat, he couldn't understand how Tyson had won but after finally accepting it, Max headed for bed.

He sat on his bed stretching, when he noticed something on his bedside table. A small box, opening the box Max found a pair of eye ear plugs. Max sighed, they were from Kai.

Max got ready for bed, he lay in his bed in the dark for a moment, and reaching for the ear plugs he put them on, hoping he would remember to thank Kai in the morning.

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Sorry if it seems slow but I am trying to build something up with all of these cameo moments. There is a reason I promise.