That got his attention. “What did she ask you?” he asked, grinning at me. I ignored the question, choosing to answer a different one.
“Great-grandmother really upset Rob. I would love to know what she said to him, but I know I would be wasting my time asking her. Rachel was in with her for a lot longer than is usual and seemed very flustered when she returned.”
Death frowned. “That seems a bit odd. It doesn’t take long for one question to be asked then answered. Something else must have gone on. I wonder what.”
I returned his frown. That was bothering me too. Then I grinned. “Oh and Jill bit her.”
“What?” Death asked in surprise.
“Apparently Rachel tripped over her and the feisty little ferret retaliated.” My uncle was still laughing when I disappeared.
Waterfall
I tossed and turned all night, trying to decide if I should take the short route or the long one. The long one would mean that I would get to spend more time with Rachel, but the short one meant I would see her wet again. In the end I decided to leave it up to them. Well, sort of.
As we were eating breakfast I broached the subject. “We have another decision to make in regard to our route. We need to get to the bottom of a waterfall. We can either walk down or jump.”
“How high is it?” Rob asked.
“You don’t want to know.”
“We walk,” Rachel instantly said.
“Hold on,” Rob said, holding his hand up to her. The look on her face suggested that this was not the first time he had done that and that she found it irritating. “Kris would not be asking the question if it was that simple. What’s the catch?”
“Walking will take 5 days longer.” So I was exaggerating a little. Make that a lot. It would have taken one day longer, two at the most.
Rob’s response was instantaneous. “Then we jump.”
Rachel did not say anything. She didn’t need to; her face said it all for her. To say she was not happy is an understatement.
We walked all morning, arriving at our destination just before noon. We heard the waterfall long before we saw it. The number of trees was increasing the closer we got and we started to spot the occasional deer and other wild animals, indicating that water was nearby. Soon we heard the roar of the water pounding over the edge to the pool below.
The view is breath-taking. Even if they had decided to go the long way I would have first taken them there. We approached it from the side and at first all they could see was a wide, fast flowing river. Then the top of the waterfall came into sight; it looks like the water is falling off the edge of the Earth.
I pointed to the water. “This is why we have to jump. There is no way down this side and the river is too rapid to cross until you get a long way upstream.” This was not a lie. It just depended on your definition of the word long.
Rachel peered cautiously over the edge and gasped. I didn’t need to look to know what she was seeing. The foaming white water streams down and ends up in a deep blue pool at the bottom. From there a number of smaller rivers take the water away at a much slower pace. A multitude of differing shades of green surround the pool, making it look calm and peaceful.
However, I don’t think the view is what made her gasp. It is a long way down. A very long way down.
“Can’t you just transport me down?” she asked. “I know that Robert has to experience the entire journey properly, but why do I have to?”
“You agreed to help him. That means you have to go through the same experiences.” It sounded like I was being honest. The truth was that I had brought them both here specifically so that Rachel would have to jump, but I wasn’t going to tell her that.
“I think you are only doing this because you enjoy making me suffer,” she said.
I smiled. She was closer to the truth than she realised. “That is just an added bonus.”
Rob looked over the edge. “It doesn’t look too bad,” he lied. “Where do we jump from?”
“There are a number of large rocks that we can climb on. They are close enough to each other that we can leap along them and they are high enough out of the water that we won’t get our feet wet. At least not until we jump. They will take us to roughly the middle of the river. We could jump from the side, but the pool is deeper in the middle so it is safer.”
Before they could change their minds I led them onto the first of the protruding rocks and from there we easily made our way across the rest until we reached the last one. All three of us looked over the edge at the water below. Rachel gulped and quickly moved back.
“I’ll go first.” I threw my bag down into the water as I spoke, remembering to put a protection bubble around it as it fell. Before either of them could say anything I dived off the edge. Having done this a number of times before, I was able to enter the water without causing much of a splash.
I swam to my bag, then pulled it to the shore. I have no idea what went on between Rob and Rachel after I left them, but it did not take long for him to throw her bag down to me.
Looking up I could just make out the figure of Rachel looking down. I shook my head. That was a really stupid idea. If she had been nervous about making the jump, now she would be terrified.
She proved me right by screaming the entire way down. I watched as she went under the water. When she surfaced she was coughing and spluttering. I pulled a towel from my bag as she swam toward me.
I have no idea why, but as soon as she had managed to drag herself out of the water she walked up to me and started yelling at me. What had I done wrong? She called me some very nasty names and it was all I could do to keep a straight face. She is very comical when she is angry.
When she started to repeat herself she stopped the name calling. “I hate this god forsaken place,” she shouted.
I have never wanted to laugh so much in my life. Somehow I managed to remain calm and composed as I responded. “This place, as you put it, was designed and created by a god, so how could it possibly be god forsaken?”
I knew that my comment would irritate her, but I did not expect her to react so violently. She balled her hand up into a fist and tried to punch me in the face. I was shocked, but still managed to move out of the way just in time. Her clenched hand flew past me, knocking her off balance. She would have fallen onto the ground if I had not grabbed her.
She struggled out of my arms and turned to face me, obviously intent on trying again, but something stopped her. I have no idea what went through her mind, but she froze, her fist in mid-air.
The next thing I knew she was kissing me. And I don’t mean a polite kiss on the cheek. It was hard, passionate and frantic as if I had somehow transferred all of the emotions I had been feeling to her and she was allowing them to break free.
For a moment I did not know how to respond. She was kissing me! She was actually kissing me! I soon got my act together and began kissing her back. It felt good. It felt really good. I didn’t want it to end, but inevitably it had to.
“That was rather unexpected,” I said when we finally pulled apart.
“I’m sorry,” she said as she flushed bright red and started to move away from me.
“I’m not.” There was no way I was going to let it end there. I pulled her closer to me and kissed her once more. I felt like I had gone to heaven. Suddenly nothing and nobody else mattered as long as she was in my arms.
“What the hell do you think you are doing?” a voice behind us shouted, making us both jump. Neither of us had heard Rob’s descent nor his splash as he entered the water. We had both been too preoccupied. “Take your hands off her.”
I did as he asked, removing my arms from around her and dropping them by my side. I slipped my hand into hers and was pleased when she did not pull away. My eyes never left hers as I told Rob that we should make a fire to dry out our clothes.
He didn’t say anything, but stomped off, presumably to look for firewood. I lifted my free hand and gently stroked Rachel’s cheek. I t
ried to say something, but words failed me, so gave up and kissed her again.
Then the spell that seemed to have taken over us broke and I noticed that she was shivering.
“You’re cold. Take off your wet things.” I handed her a towel and a dry jumper then turned my back on her. Only then did I realise that I had inadvertently given her one of my own. I shrugged. It might be a little big for her, but it was warm and comfortable. She could make do with it. I did not turn around again until she told me I could.
I liked what I saw. “You look good in that.”
“I think I’d prefer my own clothes,” she said.
I threw her bag to her, making clothes that would fit her properly appear inside as I did so. “You will find dry clothes inside.” I turned my back once more, staring at the pool until she handed both the jumper and the towel back to me.
“You need to get dry as well,” she said, so I started to unbutton my shirt. “Allow me,” she continued, moving my hands out of the way. I could not believe this was really happening as she undid the rest of the buttons then slowly eased the wet material off my shoulders, letting it fall to the ground. I didn’t move as she ran a shaking hand over my bare chest.
When she started to pull away I grabbed her hand, holding it close to my skin. I could feel her tremors. “You’re still cold.”
“No I’m not,” she said softly, then she slipped her arms around me and kissed me again.
I was breathless when she finally released me. “I really need to get into some dry things.” I know I had a huge grin on my face, but I couldn’t help it. “Turn around.”
She did as instructed and as soon as I had changed my clothes I walked up to her and encircled her with my arms.
“I told you to keep your hands off her,” Rob snarled at us, making us jump once more as he dropped a pile of twigs at our feet.
Reluctantly I released her and threw a dry towel to Rob, informing him that he would find a change of clothes in his bag. He stripped off without bothering to turn his back to us. Rachel averted her gaze and we both started to pile up the twigs so we could start a fire.
Rob and Rachel needed to talk, so I made up an excuse to leave them alone. I looked down at the twigs, which were quickly being consumed by the flames. “We need some bigger ones,” I said and left to look for some. They would both know that my ‘searching’ was just pretence, but it didn’t matter.
They were sitting by the fire when I returned. Rachel was staring into the flames and I did not like the look on her face. Rob must have said something that bothered her a great deal. I placed some of the sticks I had created on the fire, putting the rest in a neat pile nearby once I was satisfied that it was blazing properly. Then I sat down beside Rachel.
“What’s wrong?”
“How old are you?” she asked in a tentative voice.
Not a question I wanted to answer so soon after winning her heart, but there was no way to avoid doing so. She could either live with what I really am or she couldn’t. It was better to find out before things went too far. “I was born in 1421. I’m not sure of the actual date. We don’t bother celebrating birthdays down here. I guess that makes me five hundred and eighty one, give or take a year.” I kept my voice calm as I spoke though my emotions were in turmoil. What would I do if she reacted badly?
“We don’t age down here,” I continued. “Not in any of our three realms. The gods and all of their offspring can travel freely between the four realms, the fourth being yours of course, but we only age when we are on what you consider to be the normal world.”
“I don’t understand,” Rachel said in confusion. “You said you grew up with Ankou and you both went to school together. How?”
“Most of our time on Earth, if that is what you want to call it, we spent together. It is where our bodies grew up. Ankou is actually a little under a hundred years younger than me. I must have been about the equivalent of 7 or 8 when he was born. I spent a number of years on Earth living with Ankou’s mother before he arrived. I then came back down here until she died and he came to live with my family. We enjoyed our childhoods so much we postponed turning into men for a long while, eventually deciding to go to school sometime in the 1950s. It was a fun time to be on Earth. You would have enjoyed it.”
She stared at me as though she didn’t believe a word I was saying. This was not a good sign. “What about college?” she asked.
“Late eighties, early nineties. University was a very enjoyable experience, especially for Ankou.”
“I can imagine,” she said. She was obviously struggling to take it all in. I am nearly six hundred years old. I’m pretty sure she had not been expecting that.
Colour drained from her face and she looked like she was going to faint. She was holding her breath and Rob had to remind her to breath. This was not good and I became very concerned.
“Is this a problem?” What a stupid question. If it wasn’t a problem she wouldn’t have reacted so badly. I took her hand and began to caress it tenderly. At least she didn’t pull away from me.
“No,” she replied, squeezing my hand tightly. “It isn’t.”
“You are completely nuts,” Rob said, unable to comprehend her response. “If you want to make a fool of yourself over someone who is old enough to be your great great great with a few more greats added grandfather don’t let me stop you. Just don’t expect me to pick up the pieces when it all goes south.”
He stood up and walked away, yelling over his shoulder that he was going to look for more wood. We had plenty piled in front of us so it was just an excuse to leave before he said something he would regret.
“I’ll go after him.” I stood up and followed after Rob before Rachel could protest. I had no idea why he was reacting like that or what I could say to him to calm him down, but for Rachel’s sake I had to try.
“What exactly is your problem?” Rob had stopped just out of sight of Rachel. We were too far away for her to overhear us so our conversation was going to be private. He had his back to me and did not turn around as I voiced my question. For a moment I thought he was not going to respond, but just as I was about to continue he spoke.
“What are your intentions toward Rachel?”
I opted for honesty. “I love her. I plan on doing whatever it takes to make her happy.”
When he turned to look at me his face was completely emotionless. “She is going to get hurt.” The way he said it made it sound like he was quoting a fact rather than making a prediction.
“Not by me.”
He tried to smile and failed. “Don’t say I didn’t warn you.” Warn me? Warn me about what? Was he threatening me? For some reason I didn’t think so.
“You owe her an apology.” To my relief he nodded his head.
“I know. It’s just that....” He seemed unsure of what to say.
I thought I knew where his mind was going. “It’s just that you brought her down here, so if she gets hurt it will be your fault?”
“Something like that.”
“Then stop worrying. I have no intention of leaving her. Or of making her do anything she does not want to do.”
Rob opened his mouth to say more, but then closed it again. He shrugged his shoulders as though whatever he had been about to say was of no consequence, then started to walk back toward where Rachel was waiting for us. Had talking to him done any good? I had absolutely no idea.
Rachel was looking through her bag, a puzzled expression on her face when we returned. Before she could speak Rob immediately apologized to her for his outburst. She seemed as surprised as I was and accepted the apology with good grace.
“Why is everything dry?” she suddenly asked me.
“I put a protection bubble around the bags as they descended. It kept the water out.”
She stared at me. “And it never occurred to you to do the same for me?”
I think I went a little red as I replied. I had decided to be nothing but truthful with her from then on so there w
as no escaping this confession. “Yes, actually, but I rather enjoyed seeing you wet.” Other than a slight smile tugging at her lips she did not react.
It did not take long for us to become warm and dry and I could not justify delaying any longer. I put out the fire, took Rachel’s hand and led the way. I still could not believe that she had kissed me and I needed the feel of her skin against mine to convince myself that this was really happening.
I led them through the jungle which was filled with rainbow coloured birds calling to each other. Rachel looked amazed and I knew I had done the right thing by making her jump. She would have regretted missing this.
Not long before the sun set we reached a clearing which would be the ideal place to stop for the night. After a quick meal Rob went to his tent, leaving me and Rachel alone by the fire. She sat between my legs, leaned back against me and pulled my arms tightly around her. It felt good. My mind drifted back to the night I gave her the massage.
“This feels familiar,” I said and kissed her neck.
“Not quite,” she said. Her memory of that evening was slightly different to mine. “Your arms weren’t around me and I was sitting up straight instead of leaning into you.”
My silence made her suspicious. “What aren’t you telling me?”
I kissed the side of her neck again. “You fell asleep while I was massaging you.”
“And?”
“And I held you in my arms, just like this, for quite a while before finally putting you to bed.”
“I guess that explains the strange smile on your face the next morning.” I had a strange smile on my face? She really had been watching me closely.
“You cannot imagine how hard it was for me to let go of you. Ever since I saw you I knew I wanted you. Then you met Ankou and I thought I had lost my chance. I believed cuddling you while you slept was going to be the closest I would ever get.” I hadn’t meant to tell her all that, but once I started talking I couldn’t stop myself.
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