Moonhaven

Chapter 9: The Hardest Punch of All

Alex had spent much of the day cooking up a storm for three in the Novas' kitchen: spaghetti, honey garlic drums, barbecue chicken drums, honey-coated fried vegetables, garlic loaf of bread, and freshly squeezed lemonade were on the menu for the sleepover dinner evening.

Lev had idly watched him with a peculiar gaze for nearly the entire time, until Alex asked for a hand in preparing a banana cream pie for dessert. While Lev had been busy whisking the batter, Alex had decided to paint his face with whip cream. Lev had retaliated by clutching Alex's skull to smear the batter-covered whisk all over his face. Alex had laughed through the sticky assault and scooped up the residual batter on his face, lapping it off his finger. He tried shoving a spit-coated finger in Lev's face, which compelled him of a bountiful fit of laughter as he tried fighting Alex off.

Neither of them had noticed Kaia hiding behind a wall of the kitchen entrance, silently observing the buoyant scene.

When it had finally come time to gorge on the feast, Alex and Kaia had indulged in the largest servings. Lev couldn't help but gawk left at right throughout the meal at the two, who were so entranced by the food that there wasn't much conversation happening then. By the time the three had devoured the much of the table, along with taking care of all of the mess in the kitchen and scrubbing the dishes, it was almost 11 p.m.

An exhausted Alex had gone upstairs with Lev to his bedroom to prepare for the final stage of a sleepover — actually sleeping. While Alex got changed into some sleepwear, Lev had a closer look at his bow.

"So you seriously made this?" Lev asked, as he examined every nook and cranny of Aetherius.

Alex sat cross-legged on the floor in a white t-shirt and blue boxers, and neatly folded his other clothes into his duffel bag. "Yup. Took a long while. You like it?"

Lev tried to hide his fascination. "It's...alright."

Alex grinned to himself as he put his duffel away. He stood and started towards the latter of the bunk beds, when Lev stopped him.

"Nuh uh, Prior. I'm on top, always. Get under."

Alex threw his hands up in defense and flopped down onto the lower bunk. "Noted." He then noticed the golden chest by the foot of the bed. "What's in there by the way? Sorry to pry, but it stands out so much. I probably wouldn't even look twice at it if it was wooden or something."

"It's nothing. Forget it."

"Aw come on, pleeeaase?" Alex begged, increasing the pitch of his voice until it was unrecognizable.

Lev stared at him for a moment, his eyes blank of any emotion, before setting down Aetherius, and going towards the chest. "Don't ever do that again," he said without looking at Alex.

Alex nodded, grinning from ear to ear, and rotated himself to lay stomach-first on the bed. He watched as Lev pulled a silver key from his back jeans pocket, and used it to unlock the chest. Inside was a silver double bladed sword, with a midnight blue centered handle. Both blades were shaped as Chinese Dao's. Lev held it up for Alex to see.

"Whoa!" Alex rocketed to sit up as Lev went around to let him hold the sword. The centered handle was quite cold, and the blades were flawlessly shined. "Where'd you get it?"

"A place," Lev said casually.

"Wow. That sounds just as magical as the place I came from," Alex teased. Lev sneered at him. "Why is it so cold? Does that chest you keep it in transport it to the North Pole when it's locked?"

Lev leaned forward and mercilessly flicked Alex on the dead center of his forehead. Alex winced and squirmed a bit, as if he could wiggle away the numb pain he was starting to feel.