Ch. 7: A Secret Revealed
Been some time since I updated this. But Rin's birthday (or the day I selected as her birthday) was not so long ago and so I decided to add a chapter in honor of the event.
"There. What do you think?" Rin turned to look at her friend's creation. Though sculped out of sand, the small building was elegantly crafted from its sweeping front steps to its curved pillars. The sides of the building were decorated with tiny shells and pebbles and the tiny doors were open.
"Wow!"
"You like it?"
"Hai, I do! How did you do it, Erik?" The masked boy smiled.
"The same way I build anything. With my own two hands."
"Yeah, but you made it perfect! I don't think anyone here can do that and we live around sand." Rin paused, wrinkling her nose. "But most girls don't like to get their hands dirty." To prove her point, Rin plunged her own hands into the wet sand and came up with two handfuls of dripping sludge, which she let run from her hands and form into a craggy mountain.
"I guess none of them will be building anything worth mentioning then," Erik replied, turning back to his own masterpiece.
"Probably not. Are you gonna build something like that for real?"
"Maybe. I heard about plans for an opera house in Paris, but no one can decide on a location. If it were up to me, I would build it in the center of the city, where everyone can come and hear the music."
"Your music?"
"If I could."
"You should. Your music is the best in the world."
"Arigato, Rin."
"Toitatsematsu, Erik," Rin replied, delighted at how fast her new friend was picking up her language. Indeed, in the two days since scaring away Angie and the others, Erik had mastered enough Japanese to hold full conversations with his half-demon friend.
"I think it's going to rain later," Erik said now, looking up at the greying sky.
"Hai. I can smell it." Rin looked back at Erik's creation. "It'll probably wash away your opera house." The boy shrugged.
"I can make another. I know the design." As he spoke, Erik noticed something shiny in the hole Rin had just dug.
"Look, Rin." Reaching over, Erik's nimble fingers grasped something hard and jagged. With a quick tug, the two children watched as a good-sized chunck of crystal-lined rock emerged. Despite the sand crusting it, the rock still gleamed even with the sun fading into the clouds.
"That was buried here? I wonder where it came from."
"I'm not sure, but I wonder if I can use this."
"For what?"
"To make something. A lovely piece of stone deserves to become something just as nice."
CRACK!
Over the ocean, a bolt of lightning lit up the dark blue water and three seconds later, a booming peal of thunder followed. Rin stood up.
"We'd better go. I guess the rain is going to be be more of a thunderstorm." Erik followed his friend, the wind tugging at both of the children's clothing. Behind them, the waves had began lapping at the sand mountain and opera house they had made.
*******************************************************************************************************************************
After cleaning up, Erik built a fire and the two friends helped themselves to whatever they wanted from the kitchen. Rin had spoken truthfully when she had said there had been plenty of wedding leftovers; the children contented themselves with warming up a shepherd's pie that hadn't even been touched.
"Where did your mother and step-father go for thei honeymoon?" Erik asked.
"Into the country. I think they just rented a cabin."
"Oh."
"Hai."
"Have you ever been into London, Rin?" The little half-demon wrinkled her nose.
"Once. It was loud and smelled bad."
"But were the buildings as impressive as they are in books?"
"Mmmm, I didn't really pay attention to them. But... they're big."
"I would imagine so," Erik responded with a wry grin.
"Well, maybe the people in London are small!"
"Oh, I'm sure!" Rin stood up and began stalking around the room, claws bared.
"Maybe they're so small we could stomp through the city and knock everything over!"
"Why would we want to do that?" Erik asked.
"As a joke! We're just kids, so we can stomp around in a city full of tiny people and when they're scared we'll say, 'We're not even grown-up yet' and then they'll run away even faster 'cause they won't want to see the adults and-" By this point, Erik was laughing.
"You are crazy, Rin!"
"Look out! Here I come!" Playfully, Rin jumped at Erik, who easily dodged away. Laughing hard, the two children engaged in a furious game of keep-away, ducking around furniture and running back and forth across the room.
"I'm gonna get you!"
"Oh no you're not!"
"Gotcha!" Rin playfully pounced, sending the two of them tumbling onto the soft carpet. At the same time, one of her wing spines caught the strap of Erik's mask and caused it to part, exposing Erik's face in all its deformed glory.