Charlotte
I was perched on a rock, my feet dangling in the cool rapids as I watched Axel flick his fly rod, murdering the art of the beloved sport. Talk about a fish out of water—fly fishing certainly wasn’t his forte. Ike, bless his soul, was doing his best to guide my boneheaded sibling, to no avail. There was no delicate way to put it, Axel sucked, but as I was the self-proclaimed mature sibling between the two of us, I kept my opinions to myself. It was, however, extremely entertaining to watch.
“It’s all in the wrist,” Ike said, motioning his hand to demonstrate. While he went into more detail, I let my eyes wander as I absorbed our surroundings, my mind flittering through a Rolodex of thoughts. Ike had brought us here—he’d created it for us. It was the backyard of the McDermott’s home. For Ike, his family’s land was heaven. I suppose if we find a place like that while we’re alive, we’re damned lucky. As I stared into the glimmer of the water’s surface, an image of dark eyes and a face matted with wet hair looked back at me. George, the day he proposed. The corners of my mouth lifted as I remembered that day, one of the funniest, yet most romantic, moments of my life. I’d been so fortunate to be loved like that. I winced, the happy memory bringing me pain.
“You look like a mermaid sitting there like that,” Ike called to me, distracting me from my thoughts. I blinked a few times to deter the tears burning my eyes and plastered on a smile, hoping neither of them noticed I was on the verge of crying.
Axel darted his gaze between us as he smirked. “Is he serious?” he asked. “You look more like a wet otter to me.”
I kicked my leg out, managing to splash him with water.
“I think this rod is bowed or something,” Axel griped, yanking at his rod.
“Yeah, it’s the rod,” I said dryly.
“You’re doing pretty good for your first time,” Ike assured him before rolling into explaining what Axel needed to do for at least the twentieth time. The day was perfect and the company was even better, but try as I did to tamp it down, I felt off. I felt the urge to move, to keep busy, believing maybe that would force the uneasiness churning in the pit of my stomach to disappear. To distract myself, I pulled out the pocket watch I’d kept with me since my dream. It began ticking the moment I opened it, just like it had in my dream. I still couldn’t make sense of it, not that I’d really tried. I’d left it to sit in a corner of my mind while I’d focused on everything else going on, but every now and then I bumped into it. When that happened, I’d pull the watch out and see if anything magically revealed itself.
The guys seemed to be content in the water, so I decided to visit Grams for a while. I was about to let them know I was leaving when I noticed the boy we’d seen on the cliff and in the field standing at the shoreline, silently watching us. I hadn’t exactly mastered the whole morphing bit and landed with one foot on a rock when I tried to morph to him, causing me to lose my balance and drop to my knees.
“Shit,” I muttered, as my knee hit the ground.
I glanced at the boy, who was staring at me. “Shit,” I said again, realizing I’d just cussed in front of a kid.
Squeezing my eyes, closed I shook my head. “Sorry…don’t say shit. It’s bad.” I widened my eyes. Oh, for the love of all that’s holy, Char! How many times am I going to swear in front of a kid? This had to be a record, or something. I risked another glance at the little boy, but his expression was still blank as he watched me.
Shoving my epic blunder as far behind me as I could, I settled more comfortably on my knees, thinking the closer I was to his level, the more likely I was to get him to respond to me. This is the third time he’d appeared...that couldn’t just be a coincidence. Could it be he wanted me to be his tour guide? I wasn’t sure I could do that, given I was still learning about this side myself.
“Hi there.”
He blinked at me.
“Do you have a name?” I tried again.
Silence.
Though he wouldn’t speak and gave no expression, he was a cute kid. I didn’t quite understand the beige cotton clothing he was wearing, but the outfit matched his behavior: vanilla. “You’re a handsome little guy,” I tried, but I didn’t even get a blush from him. Tilting my head, I considered the reasons why he wouldn’t speak to me. Maybe he never learned how? I slowly reached for his shoulder, hoping to give it a comforting squeeze, but he backed away. I wracked my brain for something I could do to get him to trust me; though, I wasn’t sure why I felt so concerned about him, other than it might have something to do with my unresolved feelings regarding Click. His gaze dropped to the pocket watch I was still holding in my hand and pointed to it.
“You like this?” I asked, as excitement sparked at his interest in something. Given his reluctance to let me touch him, I was pretty sure he wouldn’t take it from my hand, so I laid it on the ground between us and said, “You can have it if you want it.”
He picked it up, staring at it intently for a moment before meeting my gaze again. “Do you like it?” I asked. “My grandfather had one just like it.”
He disappeared.
I frowned, perplexed by the whole thing. Had the tour guides lost him? He didn’t seem upset, or out of sorts. I made a mental note to ask Ike to help me find the guides so we could make sure someone was helping him. I hated to think of him lost and all alone.