Chapter 9

'The beach?' Piper frowned as they got off the bus and she had a chance to survey their surroundings. 'I don't get it, why'd you bring me here?'

'Because beaches are fun,' Catilin stretched her arms out into a childish pose. 'You can swim in the sea, build sand castles, dig giant holes, have tasty picnics, collect shells, fun, fun, fun.'

'I take it you went to the beach a lot as a kid,' Piper cocked an eyebrow at her.

'I wouldn't know, I don't remember much about my childhood,' she shrugged, 'not really, really. But I know beaches are fun; they have to be, right?'

'Err... I guess,' she shifted her gaze away, 'I wouldn't really know either; I've never been to the beach before.'

'Then we get to find out how fun it is together,' Catilin grinned at her, before pulling out a blue, tye-dye bikini from her shoulder bag. 'I hope it fits, I borrowed it from a friend of mine.'

'You... you want me to wear that?' Piper stared down at the bikini then up at her. 'Seriously?'

'You can't go play in the water if you're not wearing a swimsuit,' Catilin gave a serious little nod, 'not unless you want your clothes getting all wet.'

'Yeah, but... people will stare at me if I'm wearing something like that.'

'I think that's the point,' she tilted her head to one side, 'but staring's not a bad thing you know. You're pretty and people stare at pretty people no matter what they're wearing.'

'Wait, are you saying people stare at me anyway?' Piper glanced about edgily.

'Uh-huh, because you're pretty. So are you gonna put the swimsuit on or not?'

'Err... I guess so,' she hesitantly took it off Catilin, 'but... where am I supposed to put it on.'

'There's a girls' loo over there,' Catilin pointed. 'I've already got my suit on under my clothes, but I'll come with you if you like.'

'No... no that's okay, I think I can manage,' a weak smile pulled across Piper's face.

'Can I look after your bag for you then?'

'Sure,' she quickly passed it over, before making her way towards the girls' bathroom, 'I'll be back in a few.'

Catilin was tempted to root through the bag to find some kind of evidence which might indicate who Piper might really be, but she didn't. Duke and Ahna would have both told her off for it if she had; after all it wasn't nice to root through other people's things without permission. Instead she waited patiently for Piper's return, all the while trying to figure out exactly what it was the air was trying to tell her.

Piper didn't take long to return. She came back clutching the clothes she'd been wearing in front of her. Her cheeks were pinker than they had been before and her clear blue eyes flicked nervously from side to side as if she was trying to work out exactly who might be staring at her.

'I'm sorry, I didn't mean to make you blush,' Catilin blinked at her.

'I... I'm not blushing,' Piper's cheeks pinkened further, 'it's just... this is not what I would normally wear and I... I feel a little exposed.'

'You know you can always slip your t-shirt back on whilst we're not in the water if you like,' Catilin smiled sympathetically at her. 'I brought some snacks and stuff with me and I thought we could sit on the towels and talk for a little while. I'd like to get to know you.'

'Okay,' by this time Piper had already managed to get her t-shirt back on, 'I guess it would be nice to have a proper conversation with someone for once; I get a little tired of always talking about duels.'

'You only talk about duels?' Catilin found herself studying the way the air moved around her. 'Even when you're at home?'

'I... err... I guess you could say I was born to duel,' she shifted her gaze away, 'it's the only thing I've ever really known. And its fine, but... lately I've been wishing I had more than that. I want more than that, but...'

'But?'

'It doesn't matter,' Piper forced a smile onto her face, 'let's get down onto the beach, huh? I've not had a chance to eat yet this morning and the sound of some snacks is like music to my ears.'

Ahna had woken up in the belly of a shallow cave with a splitting headache. Within five minutes of waking she'd managed to work out her powers were down. It didn't take a genius to figure out her power binding mark was at full, so she didn't even bother to check under the stretch bandage she used to cover it. Not when there were more important things to worry about, like where the hell she was and what the hell she was doing there.

She left the cave and begun scaling down the scraggy, rocky hill she'd found herself on. Her main aim now was to find Covo. However mad she still was at him for losing her son, she still loved him. And besides, he had usable power. Right now she needed both him and his powers in order to figure out a way out of this mess and, with any luck, find her son in the process. Somewhere in her head logic told her if she'd ended up here then so had her son. So the only real question was; where the hell was this place to begin with?

At the bottom of the hill, she found herself in a small henge of blue stones. Curiously she began to wander round them, examining each well carved block with both her eyes and her hands. On one of the taller stones she discovered a curious message had been roughly scratched into it.

'I am. Reflection. I reflect.'

Frowning, she slowly made her way round to the other side of the stone to find a similar looking message there too.

'You are. Reflection. You reflect.' Ahna made a confused half laugh-like noise. 'Well that's clear,' she shook her head. 'So... why do I get the feeling it's important somehow?'

For about five minutes she found herself studying the scratched messages on both sides of the stone. She could feel something in her head absorbing the words and slowly turning them over. For some reason a part of her felt as if she would understand them if she just thought about it for long enough. But no matter how hard she tried, she just couldn't get her brain to make the connections she wanted. It was like some kind of mental block had come down and bound her usual powers of deduction.

Something about that final thought felt odd to her, but she just shook her head and chose to ignore it.

'I guess I should get moving,' she gave a heavy sigh as she finally pulled herself away from the stone, 'after all, Covo's not going to find himself.'

'Well I suppose kidnapping is only one step back from murder,' Jay's gaze narrowed on Duke for a moment, after hearing the explanation for Catilin's whereabouts, 'you know it takes a real man to handle a girl like her.'

'Well at least I have the opportunity to grow into a real man, dead boy,' Duke found himself getting defensive. 'I guess that's why she likes me.'

'Oh don't flatter yourself, you do something funny to the air,' Jay turned his nose up at him, 'no doubt she finds you fascinating for it. It's just a pity you're really, really not or else I might be worried the two of you had a future together.'

'Watch it,' Duke took a step towards him, 'just because you're dead doesn't mean I can't mess up that pretty little face of yours.'

'You'd need powers for that one Duke and all you have is a hole.'

'What's that supposed to mean?'

'Guys, please, could you leave the testosterone at the door and remember we're all on the same side here?' SK sighed and licked his lips.

'Sorry,' Jay rolled his eyes. 'I just hate seeing my Cat fooling around with someone so far beneath her.'

'She's not your Cat,' Duke glared at him.

'Well she's not your Cat either, not yet anyway.'

'So you said something about Catilin believing this girl to be Téa,' SK gave an impatient sigh, clearly trying to change the subject.

'Yeah,' Duke tilted his head to one side, 'or at least a part of her at any rate. I think the word she used was onchasen. I'm not totally sure what that means, but from what I understand it's like some kind of astral projection.'

'And what do you think?'

'Well there is definitely something odd about the girl and she did show up pretty much out of nowhere about three months ago. On top of that she is a blue-eyed brunette just like Téa is. I wouldn't say there was any more of a resemblance there, which makes me doubt it's her, but Catilin's argument about how onchasen don't have to look like their originators was pretty compelling. So, honestly, I'm not sure what to think.'

'Well I guess it's a tough one,' Jay gave a heavy sigh, 'Cat hates feeling useless, especially when it comes to her friends so she can get pretty carried away when she thinks she can help them. But at the same time she has pretty good instincts for things like this, so you just have to trust she won't get herself into too much trouble doing it.'

'Yeah, I guess,' Duke pressed his lips together and glanced around the chamber they were in. 'So where's Joey anyway?'

'He'll be along later,' Jay shrugged, 'Mai had an appointment or something this morning.'

'So it's just us then.'

'Looks like,' he folded his arms. 'Why, you got a problem with that?'

'No just wondering,' Duke tilted his head to one side. 'So Joey must be pretty damn pissed at Covo if him and Ahna aren't here.'

'Yeah, well I don't care whether or not Covo's around, but I wish Ahna was here,' Jay pulled a face. 'I know with her around my powers would be down, but she is Crovell's mother and I'm sure she's probably going out of her mind about now.'

'So then why isn't she here?'

'SK doesn't like the idea of being the only one with power, just in case something goes wrong.'

'I guess that makes sense,' Duke swept some of his hair back from his face. 'So have either of you tried bringing the wall paintings out yet?'

'No, boss man said we should wait for Joey.'

'Boss man?'

'Ignore him; he's just being childish, as per usual,' SK licked his lips as he folded his arms.

'Yeah, I'm the childish one,' Jay rolled his eyes. 'You're the one who's too afraid to be the only one with power in the room.'

'I'm not afraid,' he licked his lips again, 'I just don't think it's a very good idea.'

'Whatever,' Jay turned his attention back to the wall he'd been studying, 'let's fine tooth comb this place, shall we? It's not like we have anything better to do.'