Coal: A Novel

Chapter 2

Chapter Two

On horseback, Coal followed Chalcedony away from Legacy, through the town square and into the royal forest. After a few miles, they came upon a lake.

“We can leave the horses here. We have to walk the rest of the way.”She bent down and put her hands in the water. “Remember this place?” 

“Yeah.”The sound of waves falling onto the shore mingled with the chirping of the birds created a melody that made Coal feel like they were the only people left in the world. “We used to get in so much trouble for using your portal to come here to swim.”

“Well, we're a little bit ahead of schedule. Do you want to go swimming?”

“We didn't bring any swim clothes.”

She gave Coal a wicked grin. “Never stopped us before.”

“That was a long time ago.”Coal looked nervously at Chalcedony's chest before he quickly looked away.“We've changed since then.”

Chalcedony tilted her head to the side. “We haven't changed that much.”

She walked towards the lake, and began taking off her clothes. At least she was wearing underwear. “You’re trying to get me killed aren’t you? What if Madoc is watching?”

“Don’t worry about Madoc. He promised he’d let me do anything I wanted today. And right now this is what I want to do.”

It had been a while since he’d been swimming Coal thought as he stripped down to his underclothes and followed her into the water.

 #

 After being picked up and thrown into the water more times than she could count, Chalcedony ran out of the lake and sat on the grass. It had been a while since she'd done anything merely for fun and she was glad Coal had warmed up to the idea of going to the human realm. The rift that had been growing between them over the past few months had finally closed.

Coal left the lake and walked towards her. She was seventeen, one year older than Coal, and until recently she'd always towered over him. Her growth had slowed and she would look this way for the next fifty years. But Coal continued to grow and surprisingly he'd caught up to her.
His dark brown skin glistened in the midmorning sun as he stood above her. “You give up?”he laughed, one dimple forming on each cheeks.

Madoc's rule number 8: never admit defeat. So she changed the subject. “One of your braids has come undone.”Chalcedony sat up and patted her lap. “Come here. I'll re-braid it.”

He looked as if he was going to refuse but sat down and laid his damp head on her lap anyway. She undid the rest of the braid before passing her fingers through his thick hair to remove any kinks. Then she grabbed a small section and separated it into three before she began. “It took you forever and a day to learn how to braid. You were the worst student,”Chalcedony said as she worked.

“I didn't want to learn. I liked it better when you did it.”

“You have gotten better, though,”Chalcedony said.

“I didn't have a choice. You've been too busy to do it.”

“Madoc thinks it's beneath me to braid my own hair,”Chalcedony said. “He most definitely didn't like it when I braided yours.”

Coal tensed beneath her fingers at the mention of Madoc's name, so she changed the subject. “I love how your hair makes a halo around your head. For years tried I to get my hair to match yours. But I could only get it darker, not curlier.”