The water feels cool and relieving against my skin. "This isn't so bad," I say.

"It'll only get better!" James promises. "Watch this!" He holds out his hand and out of the lake a bubble floats towards me. Inside, I see a school of tiny fish, still swimming as if nothing's happening.

"Wow!" I say in astonishment, and reach on my hand to poke the ball. "It feels like normal water. Why did I think it would feel weird?" I think out loud.

"That's a common misconception. People think it changes state or texture or something. It's just normal water."

"Except it floods above the water, not in it like normal water. Or liquid. Or anything for that matter, apart from things that fly."

"Fairpoint. But since I'm such a sore loser, I'm going to need you to take a dive underwater so I can see how you normally do it, or you'll get splashed with my water army!" He says the last part with a dramatic voice, raising his hand to add an effect. He gets his point across.

Either get wet willingly, or not.

"All right," I say, taking a deep breath, putting my hands in front of me, and kicking my feet off the ground so I jump into a slightly deeper part of the lake.

My instincts kick in after the initial shock, moving me forward as I kick my feet, trying to seem as professional as I can, though I feel it's obvious I don't know what I'm doing.

Breathe I think, as I come up for air, standing upright. The water is now just below my shoulders. James wades through the water and stands at my side. He crouches in the lakes so the water sits at chin level, and sort of floats there. He's not moving and he's not touching the ground. I can see them through the water.

How is he doing that? I wonder, but that's not the question I ask.

"Be honest, how bad was it?" I asked nervously, biting the corner of my lip in slight worry.

His eyes are drawn to the motion, then back to me in the eye. "Well, there are definitely some things you could work on," he said slowly, though quick to add a compliment after, saying, "but it is a very good job, especially for your first time. You've got the energy and power down, we just need to work on your form. One thing you could do is kick your feet below the surface of the water, that way you'll be able to go farther and faster using the same amount of energy. Also, you won't end up soaking the poor person behind you."

I blushed in embarrassment. "Sorry."

He grinned at me, loving how bad I feel.

A burst of emotion causes me to use my hands as scoops to splash as much water onto him as possible.

He splutters, mostly from shock, then says, "Hey!" and splashes me back.

I put my hands in the lake, and turn in really fast in the circle, making the water splash in all directions, including onto James.

He grins evilly, and raises his hands, and tiny droplets of water come out of the lake, and move over my head. They fall onto me in a tiny downpour. The force of the drops pushes me underwater.

I hear James calling from the surface, "Scarlet!" though it's muffled because of the water.

I panic, needing air and try to kick to the surface, but end up floundering and thrashing in the water, not knowing which way is up, and which way is down.

My heart pounds telling me I only have seconds before my reflexes kick in and I inhale buckets of water.

I point myself in a direction, and put all my efforts into going there, Hoping it's the direction of the surface.

I feel pain on the back of my head, just before everything goes black.

I first hear voices. Actually, just one.

James.

He curses and sounds really worried. I can practically see him running his hand through his hair, like he does whenever something troubles him. I open my mouth to ask him what's wrong, when my lungs threw up practically the entire lake.

That's what's wrong.

I give another few coughs just to get the last drops out, and open my eyes. James is close to my face, though he looks relieved.

I feel the tension in the air as he helped me set up, and I replay the last moments I remember, still trying to catch my breath.

Playing, swimming, then nothing.

"What happened?" My voice doesn't sound like my own. It sounds hoarse, as if I haven't spoken for months.

"Well, you splashed me, then I went a bit overboard and splashed you too much, making you go underwater. I tried to help, but I can't control water that's out of control very well. I try to then just help you get to the surface, but I think you hit your head on one of the rocks, and you went out unconscious. I brought you to shore, and tried to get you to wake up. Nothing worked. You were out cold. Then you just... spit out the water and... Yeah. I'm really sorry. I didn't think I was that rough, but sometimes I get carried away."

I can tell he feels the worst about it, and that was the most terrifying thing that has ever happened to me, well one of the worst.

I decide to joke as a way of forgiveness. "I thought you said you weren't gonna let me drown." I say with a smile.

He chuckles, somehow looking even more relieved, knowing what I actually meant. "You didn't. Just as I promised."

"Well, I'm never stepping foot in another lake, pond, or any body of water for that matter, ever again."

"That's fair. Though I would like to mention that your body is 60%  water, so technically you are a body of water."

I give him an unimpressed look.

"What?" He asks with a smile. "I just wanted to let you know!"

I roll my eyes, both of us now smiling, as we stand up and start walking back to the house, the unfortunate lake incident now out of sight, and putting it completely out of mind.

On our walk back, I could feel James slowly using his magic thing to dry us off, and the warm sunlight shines upon us, reminding me of our little game of Chase the Rainbow.

The silence between James and I is comfortable, but I want to start up a conversation anyway.

I look around for something to talk about, when I notice James. I mean, I've noticed him being next to me, but he seems more tense than when he was in the water.

"Is something wrong?" I ask.

He looks at me and opens his mouth as if to say something, but closes it before saying, "It's probably nothing."

I raise an eyebrow. "Whenever someone says 'probably nothing' it means 'definitely something'."

"I promise to tell you tomorrow," he says as we reach the back door to Adam's house, "but for now you should go to bed. You've had an exhausting day, and I'm really sorry for the lake fiasco."

"Don't tell me to go to bed. I'm not even tired!" I say back.

"I didn't mean it like that, but once the sun goes down, there's a curfew of sorts. Most people don't even follow it anymore, it's such an old rule. There isn't a punishment for disobeying, but my crazy mother decides to follow it for some reason. So, I have to go, but I strongly advise you to get some rest. Good night," he said softly with a small smile, closing the door behind him.

I turn around and see Adam with a smug smile on his face.

"What?" I ask, curious.

He just raises an eyebrow at me, then looks at the door where James recently was standing, and slowly back at me.

I feel my face heat at what he's implying. "It's nothing." I murmur to him, but he just exhales loudly through his nose as if he was an impatient teacher and I was a particularly dumb student who kept getting the wrong answer.

He turns around and walks away, and waves over his shoulder as I say, "good night!" To his retreating back.

I walk into the guest - now my - room, and take in the beautiful sight on the walls again. It amazes me every time.

I look around to see which one is the wall with the door to the bathroom. Once I find it, I go and change into PJs, thanking Charlie again as I do. I snuggle under the blanket and even Mr. cuddles comes and lies down next to me as I fall asleep.

I wake up feeling a poke in my neck. Still half asleep, I try to open my eyes to slits to see the cat and shove him off, but instead I'm greeted with a man's blank face.

I try to ask him what he's doing in my room. My face won't obey. My arm won't obey. I'm frozen in place, and I feel myself falling to darkness once more.

———-

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