Chapter 3

'I can't believe you're leaving, Sky,' Tina said, sitting down on the bench next to me in the ghost town and I sighed. All of us had got over the emotional trauma of realising we're all going to colleges in different states and went through the tears, but when I told the girls both Zed and I had been transferred to South England for university in a completely different course structure (and education structure, too,) they lost it again. I understood why, though, as the lie Victor had approved for us to tell was along the lines of we got a full scholarship for international students for a new music programme. It lines up if anyone searches into it; the University of Reading offers a new music course starting in a few weeks time and would be the first class to graduate under it and they offered a foreign student scholarships for talented pupils coming to their university from around the globe. No one had to know the secret.

'I know,' I whispered in reply, taking a sip of my costa we had brought up here before checking the time on my phone. Grace had text me the boarding passes, and I knew we had to leave at around two in the afternoon in order to get to Denver International for our private boarding but time seemed to be dragging until then. Both Zed and I had said goodbye to our families, packed out last belongings (our suitcases for clothes and our carry –on luggage for stuff we would need the second we touchdown in England) and they were in the back of the Jeep, Zed's old car. My parents had returned to work and with three hours to spare and not wanting any more tears, I had arranged to meet up with Tina and Zoe at the ghost town for one final gossip.

'England is so far away,'

'It just seemed right,' I suggested, shrugging loosely.

'So you're going to be living with Zed?' Zoe said, slinking over to the bench and falling onto it as she sat down in a fake sulk.

'Yeah, we've got our own place. His cousin lives locally as well, so at least I won't have to cook all the time,' I laughed hollowly and saw Zoe smile but Tina just looked at me.

'You know, you can't let Zed pressure you into... you know,'

'Woah, where'd this come from?' I asked awkwardly, taking another sip of the coffee.

'You two are close and have been since you got together, and you've told us you're not comfortable yet to do the naughty but you need to know just because you are moving in together and you'll be by yourself the majority of the time, it doesn't mean you have to be forced into loosing –'

'You make it sound like I haven't already,' I whispered into my cup and Tina's face drop.

'You haven't! When?'

'This morning,'

'What!'

'Keep your voice down, I'm pretty sure his family can hear you,' I mocked, pretending to look over Zoe's head, who was now up and her mouth dropped where I knew Zed's family lived six miles away from this location.

'We need details, for the record,' Zoe said, grinning to herself.

'Not happening,' I retorted, hugging myself tighter. The memories still lingered close to me.

'You're still on the pill, right? We're not going to be Godparents any time soon?' Tina asked and I frowned at her in mock shock.

'Wow, that was up front,' I joked but I nodded, 'Yeah, still on the pill.'

'Good,'

'It's going to be weird knowing we can't just meet up for coffee like we normally do,' Zoe interrupted, looking at the scenic mountains.

The temperature was still incredibly warm for early September and I was more than warm in my Levi's I had put on for travelling. The flight took nine hours, and even though I planned to sleep for some of it, I had a feeling I would be too nervous the entire time. The news of the case lingered on my mind, but some more superficial fears had set in. What if I didn't like the university? What if I didn't make any friends? What if I hated the course? I was so far away from family I couldn't just shook back for a week break or the weekend, and I would have to deal with half an hour phone calls to my parents or Skype sessions to save on the phone bill. What if Grace didn't like me when she got to know me a bit better? She had worked hard and long shifts to make sure everything was sorted for the time we would come over, and had even offered to fly to Denver to fly back to make sure we felt safe. Why she was doing this confused me. I had never been a part of a loving family, and even after my adoption I felt left out of Sally's large family. Any cousins I had I only ever exchanged a sentence or two at family gatherings. I had no idea cousins could be close – but I guess in Savant families it might be different. From what I could tell from Zed, Grace was one of Zed's favourite cousins because she wasn't like the rest. She stood up for what she believed in and would fight for it. Not only that, she's a trained fighter and doesn't give two shits about anything. But she saw things rationally and could take herself out from the equation, so whenever something big happened in the Benedict's, he could always ask Grace for an outside view and it would act like reasoning to Zed. This was before I was around, and calmed him down. I had more than a few things to thank Grace for, and even though she only asked for a Nando's in repayment I was forever indebted to her.

'I don't want to leave,' I whispered out to the mountains when I felt a hand on my shoulder, but the weight was familiar. Zed came over and sat down next to me on the bench, taking my coffee from the table for a sip, before grimacing.

You like your coffee girly, Zed joked as Tina and Zoe eyeballed him intensely. I'm assuming you told them, and that's why I'm getting the death stare?

I'm afraid so. I thought you wouldn't mind.

Of course not – as long as you're happy it's fine.

'We need to leave soon to avoid the traffic, baby,' Zed said to me, kissing my cheek.

'I guess this is goodbye for now, then,' I said to the girls and they smiled but I saw them tearing up. I gave Zed a look and he smiled, getting up from the bench.

'See you two around,' Zed said incredibly buddy-like before walking over to the Jeep, which he left at the trail. The girls said goodbye to him before turning back to me. We all got up in sync before hugging.

'We'll be back for winter, right?'

'Of course,' I said. 'None of us have a choice,'

'Sky, if you need us just call us and we'll arrange everything. Just because you live with him now you can still have arguments and fall outs. If you need us, call us.' Tina started lecturing me and I nodded. They thought we were just high school lovers, and they had no idea about the Soulfinder element. They thought we might one day break up, but I knew that we wouldn't and we were destined to be together. It was more than just a story, like I thought it once was. It made sense and I wouldn't want it any differently. I blinked, seeing the aura's around the girls; the glittering silver of friendship that was permanently there and the soft blue edge of sadness.

'We'll keep in touch through Whatsapp yeah?' Zoe said and I nodded, wiping away a tear that I didn't realise had began to fell. 'And we can group Skype as well, and we'll meet up in the winter break,'

'I don't want to go,' I whispered, crying again, covering my face with the palm of my hands. There was a slight conversation over my head and I heard the gravel move as someone walked over it. Zed wrapped his arms around me, pulling me into his chest as he kissed my forehead.

'We're going to go Sky, we'll miss you and we love you – we'll talk later,' Tina said and with that, my best friends were gone and I was left in Zed's chest crying.

'Come on, love,' Zed said incredibly tender, sitting me back down on the bench and passing me my coffee. 'This'll be easier than you think,' Zed said.

'Easy for you to say, you have family the other side of the pond.'

'So do you, in fact I remember Sally telling me we have to go to your grandparents for a Sunday roast as her Yorkshires are divine? I don't know what that means and I think Yorkshire is a place but hey, you'll have to teach me the British slang,' Zed mocked his hand on my knee. 'We have each other, which is what really matters. We can be there for each other,'

'Sorry, it's hard for you too,'

'Yeah, but you're a lot more upset about it. It's fine, Sky, it's not a competition. We can both find it upsetting.' Zed said, pulling me towards his chest. 'It's a new start for both of us; I think after everything that's happened in the last two years we need that new start.'

Eventually, Zed comforted me enough to stop my tears and pull me up, taking me to the car. I guess he was right – we needed a new start together and hopefully, this would provide us with that.

The flight was mediocre at a push – not that I was awake for much of it. I had fell asleep near enough the second we were at altitude until we started to head over England's waters, and Zed just let me sleep on his arm. I had woken up to the sound of girls talking to Zed, and like the jealous human I was, I had to make sure they weren't flirting with him. I wasn't overly surprised they were – he was incredibly good looking and was the type that would make shy girls swoon and more confident girls flirt with him. But he had given up on his old days where he would flirt back, and now just politely answered their questions all whilst hugging me to my side.

'Oh, so you're American,' One of the girls said to him and Zed made a slight noise of anger, and I fet his hand gently brush my arm.

'Er, yeah,' He replied back.

'I have an Uncle who's American,' The girl said and I frowned. How dare she hit on my boyfriend?

'That's nice,' Zed said and I gently half-opened one of my eyes to see the people next to Zed's chair. Typical – they looked like the tourists that would be hitting on someone. They had the short denim shorts which would be classed as underwear if they didn't have the slightly ripped, laddered threads at the bottom. A white vest top was tucked into the shorts, with some Ray-Bans hanging from the top and a flower kimono over the top. She was leaning on the back of the shirts and when she saw me waking up she gave me a dirty look.

'Going anywhere nice, then?' She said, trying to keep Zed away from noticing I'm awake.

'Er, just to see family,'

'Oh, in London?'

'Yeah,' Zed said hesitantly.

'Well, you can always come over my flat for dinner, if you want. If you have a mobile number I can text you the address,' The girl said and I immediately sat up straight and Zed looked at me, smiling softly before kissing my head.

If you want, you can shoot this one down, Zed softly told me as he held my hand, rubbing my finger softly.

'We're good, thanks,' I went for the polite approach as Zed smiled at me.

'I wasn't asking you,' the girl replied and something in Zed flipped.

'I don't care if you was asking me or her, we're not going.' Zed argued back and the girl looked mortified.

'Jeez, I was just trying to be nice,' She sulked and walked back down the plane, and Zed turned to hug me a bit better and kissing me softly.

'Good sleep?' He whispered, turning slightly so he blocked out the rest of the plane and flower bitch too. I rubbed my eye.

'I don't think you slept very well last night, did you?' Zed asked.

'Not overly, I kept waking up. You didn't either, did you? You came to mine stupidly early in the morning and had to stay with me as I wimped out and started crying,' I mumbled, embarrassed.

'Sky, love, this is a massive change for both of us. It's okay to be scared, alright? You found out the people who abused you after your parents died are trying to find you, that's a completely legitimate thing to be terrified of. It's okay to be scared, love,' Zed said softly, finding my hand again. 'But I'll be there, and Grace and Jack will be within minutes if we need them, but if they think I'm leaving your side they are deadly wrong,'

'I love you Zed,' I whispered, before I saw flower girl walk back up the airplane aisle with a piece of paper in her hand. She got to the side of Zed's seat and I raised an eyebrow at her. Zed frowned slightly before he realised who must have made a reappearance.

'I love you too, Sky,' He replied, kissing me.

oh my! thank you so much for all the reviews and follows and messages - it really does mean a lot and makes me incredibly happy. What do we all think of this so far? do we like grace and jack (even though you haven't met them yet) what could I improve? any feedback would be brilliant :D