Ame Perdue

Chapter Nineteen

My eyes scanned the stream until I found Kam. He was sitting on one of the numerous flat stones, his eyes up in the sky. Although the boy was likely supposed to be watching over everyone, he didn't appear to have noticed me. I rolled my eyes at his carelessness. What idiot left him on guard?

I guessed it was a good thing Shadow was awake.

Grabbing my sword silently from where it had been discarded, I snuck over to where Kam was sitting. I was careful not to let my shadow fall on him as I moved behind him. He was sitting up, his eyes opened as he stared mindlessly at the clouds. He didn't even notice me behind him until I had the blade at his throat. Leaning forward, I whispered in his ear, "Don't scream... I hate it when they scream."

Kam jumped, a rather dangerous thing to do with a sword to his throat. I jerked it away from him to avoid having him slit his throat by accident. The wind spirit spun around the moment that he realized that he wasn't in danger of losing his head. I crossed my arms at him as he blinked, realizing that it was just me. He gave me a sheepish grin, "Hey, Tay. I thought that you were sleeping."

"I am." I deadpanned, jerking my head to where my body laid sleeping. Kam's eyes widened as he looked between where I stood and my body. I had already twisted away from the jacket again. If I wasn't outside of my body, I wouldn't be sure as to how I got any sleep. No wonder the circles under my eyes were always prominent. I was not a restful sleeper. Upside though, I didn't snore.

"Wicked," Kam breathed out. Without warning, he moved to punch my arm. I caught the clumsy throw with ease, twisting it until I had it shoved up behind Kam's back. He hissed in pain, "Ow! I just wanted to make sure that you were solid. I guess that answers that question," He muttered almost as an afterthought.

I released his arm, rolling my eyes, "Who's brilliant idea was it to have you stand guard?" I asked him rolling my eyes. I sat down on the rock, setting the sword down in easy reach. Kam would be next to no use in any kind of ambush. We would all be dead before he even realized that there was a threat.

"I wasn't tired when the others were," He looked abashed at his screw-up, "I convinced Milo that it would be fine. I'm supposed to wake him when the sun reaches mid-sky, but the clouds are covering it." He pointed to the sky, shrugging helplessly, "They don't seem very inclined to move and I don't want to waste power making them."

I didn't hesitate to smack him upside the head. I glanced briefly at the dark clouds looming over us. I was mildly surprised that they were blocking the light of the sun. They had rolled through quickly, I couldn't recall seeing that many on the horizon before I went to sleep, "You're an idiot," I declared, "Do you always take things that seriously? I doubt that he will care if you wake him up a little earlier or late."

"I just don't want to mess anything up," He said with a smile, his attitude as light and carefree as always. His words made me frown as I looked over at him, at the happy smile that he always wore. I could still feel his emotions running through me, the hatred that he constantly had for himself.

There was a large part of me that didn't want it to be my problem. So what if he was depressed? Everyone and their uncle claimed to be depressed. He could get over it, find something to live for. Or he would die, and what would it matter to me? I didn't even know him all that well, not really. Only a few days ago I assumed him to be a figment of my imagination. What did I really know about him anyway?

It wasn't in my nature to worry about people. I wasn't the guy that people went to when they were having a mental health crisis. I was the guy that often caused those crises. I was the guy that saw a guy standing on the edge of a building and yelled at them to do a backflip. I was the guy that wasn't concerned when someone tried to commit suicide using my brother's car. I recognized death, but I didn't care about it.