"I don't know what's going on here." Alfie ran a hand over his face, returning to the couch and seating himself down. "I think I have to call Connor. He's my mentor."
"Mentor for what?" Morlen asked. "For being a medium?"
"Yes," Alfie said, pulling out his phone, just before the doorbell rang, chiming loud through the entire house. "If that's him, I'll be both scared and impressed." Alfie rang Connor as Morlen climbed to his feet like the weight of the house pressed on his shoulders.
While he stormed through the room, Connor answered the phone.
"Hello Alfie," Connor said loud into the medium's ear. "Yes, that was me at the door." Then he hung up, leaving Alfie baffled on the other end.
"What is it?" Koda asked. "Is it him?"
"Yep." Alfie sank back against the couch and Koda shuffled closer. "Don't ask me how he knows where you live. He just knows these things."
"Is he a medium too?"
Alfie nodded. "He taught me how to be a good medium."
Koda turned when he could hear voices and a quiet tapping noise, eager to see who had mentored Alfie. To Koda's surprise, he recognised the older medium's face because he met him in the shop that afternoon.
"Hello boys," Connor beamed. The light tapping noise was him gently moving his white cane in front of him. "Thank you for letting me in Morlen."
"Connor, I'm glad you're here because I'm not sure what to do." Alfie jumped to his feet. "Let me show you these flowers." He waited until his mentor held his elbow before guiding him to the corner of the room.
Connor made a low short noise and raised an eyebrow. He didn't seem shocked by the dense feeling of darkness, but concerned. He reached out to touch the petals. What should have been soft and delicate was solid and crumpling against the tips of his fingers. "Interesting," he murmured. "What kind of flowers are they Alfie?"
"Lilies."
"And the colour?"
"White."
Connor's hands went back to his cane, and they rested there. He stood very still like he did when he was thinking deeply about something important. "Did they come with a note?"
Alfie plucked the note from in between the decaying brown petals and rested it on top of Connor's waiting hand. He watched his mentor slowly trace his fingers over the ink.
"What does it say?" Connor asked, and Alfie told him. After a moment, Connor strongly inhaled like he hadn't taken a breath in hours. "What are your thoughts?"
Alfie looked into Connor's glasses, seeing himself in the reflection and wiped hair from his eyes. If his mentor asked him for his opinion, it usually meant that Connor already knew the answer. "Well, I thought that maybe a dark entity was in the house, which would explain why it feels so intense and cold, but I've felt them before, and this seems a bit different."
"Different how?"
Alfie caught Morlen's intense eyes watching him. "I haven't seen any entity or felt that something was territorial over the house. It's in the house, but it's not here to be possessive."
"What is it here for?"
"I don't know, but there's darkness with it that I've never felt before." Alfie looked back to the flowers. "For something to suck the life out of these in a matter of hours- like what Enya said in her journal- must be something powerful." One of the flower heads fell off and landed on the floor. The petals had darkened to burnt umber.
"This is why I choose to mentor you." Connor tapped Alfie's leg with his stick. "Your observation skills are excellent."
"So..." Alfie followed him back to the centre of the room. "Did you think the same?"
Connor nodded and seated himself next to Koda. "It is not the darkness we feel that I am concerned about, because we, the mediums, will sort that out when the time comes." Connor turned his head, looking in Koda's direction, knowing Alfie had plonked himself down next to his crush by the shifting of weight underneath him. "My concerns are focused on who sent those flowers."
Koda, half distracted by Alfie's feet that didn't touch the floor because he was too short, forced himself to stare at Connor. "Why?" he asked. "Is our house haunted? If it is, then why does it matter-"
"You're smarter than that." Connor's 'matter of fact' voice stopped Koda in mid-sentence. "Your mother, as you are lead to believe, was murdered. Ghosts don't usually murder people. They can only get inside people's heads and make them end their own lives. Do you think that's what happened to your mother?"
"No."
"Well then. A living being killed your mother, and I think they know about this darkness which is why they sent the flowers. They wanted to prove it."
Despite Connor wearing blacked out sunglasses, Koda felt like the medium was looking directly at him, drawing him in with his wise words. "Prove what?"
"Alfie, the writing on the flower's note is familiar to you, yes?" Connor asked, purposely ignoring Koda's question.
"How-" Alfie shook his head. He shouldn't be surprised by his mentor's ability to know everything, not anymore. "Yes, it's familiar."
"Right, so the first thing we need to focus on is who owns that handwriting." Connor stood up, remembering to go left around the couch because the door was in that direction. "Koda, you're staying at Alfie's house tonight. It's not safe here until we figure out what's going on."
"What?" Alfie squeaked out the word. "Staying over-"
"Your parents said it's fine. I asked them earlier." Connor could feel another set of eyes on him, freezing the side of his face. "Morlen, are you okay with Koda staying at Alfie's tonight?"
Morlen looked from Alfie's red cheeks to his son's glittering eyes. "What about me? Am I not in danger here?"
"I'm sure you can sleep in your car if you get too scared." Connor showed a smile that sat somewhere between patronising and amusing. He didn't like how Morlen cared more about himself. "You'll be fine." Connor made his way towards the door, stopping momentarily to turn towards the boys. "Koda, pack your things. It's a college day tomorrow." Then he left without saying another word.
Alfie looked up to Koda when the front door shut behind the medium. "You don't have to stay at mine. You can stay at one of your friend's houses if you'd prefer."
"You are my friend," Koda smiled, and when Morlen turned around to inspect the dead flowers, Koda winked at Alfie, showing that he knew they were on the verge of being something more.
Alfie looked away immediately. His cheeks wouldn't stop heating up. Koda Oaks just winked at him. He wanted to film it and play it on repeat for eternity; he wanted to tell Koda how hot it made him look and kiss him until their lips hurt-
"Go pack your stuff then," Morlen said with a sigh, dragging Alfie out of his love-filled thoughts. "I'll drop you off when you're ready."
Koda's eyebrows were high on his forehead, surprised that his father had offered him a lift. "Okay," he said quickly before the opportunity was taken away, "thank you."
Morlen didn't meet his son's eye when Koda headed towards the corridor with the big windows on the right, showing off their jungle for a garden.
Alfie followed Koda to his room, still holding onto Enya's journal. He planned to read the rest of it when he was home. Alfie sat on the edge of Koda's bed, watching him start to fill a bag with clothes and some art supplies.
"Are you sure it's okay with your parents if I stay over?" Koda asked, cramming some jeans around his sketchpad.
"I think so. I've never had anyone stay over before."
Koda paused, looking up to the medium. "Never?"
"People annoy me."
Koda chuckled and picked up some socks. "Well, there's a first time for everything."
Alfie wasn't sure why he expected Koda to make fun of him or laugh at the fact that he didn't have friends. Alfie should've known better. Koda was a kind and loving person, which is why Alfie liked him so much. "Um." A pang of nerves flicked Alfie's heart. "I think I want to come out to my parents soon."
Koda hauled his bag over to the bed and didn't question the subject change. He sat down next to him, sitting very close as usual. "Today?"
"I don't know." Alfie twisted the rings around his fingers. "How did you tell your parents?"
"I told my mum when I was fourteen. I was helping her with the garden." Koda stared out of the large window in front of them as he remembered the day. "I told my dad last year out of rage."
"What was their reactions?"
"My mum smiled and said that she had always wondered. She was fine with it which is what I was kind of expecting." Koda rested a hand on the bed behind Alfie, and their bodies pressed together. "When I told my dad, it was in the middle of an argument. I just yelled it because I knew it would anger him. I thought he was going to punch me or something."
"Did he?" Alfie asked carefully, and Koda quickly shook his head.
"No. Dad punched the wall instead and stormed out before he could say something he'd regret." Koda was smiling at the memory. "I don't regret it. I knew that telling him would be the hardest thing I'd probably ever have to do. Once it was out, it was like someone had relieved all of my stress. I suddenly didn't care that his reaction wasn't great." Koda then shrugged. "It could've been worse. He could've kicked me out."
"Still, it could've been better." Alfie admired Koda's ability to see the positives in everything.
"Yes, but it is what it is." Koda jumped to his feet, feeling surprisingly upbeat despite everything that was happening with his mother, the mystery flowers, and the threat of danger that only Connor seemed to understand. "Come on. We should go before my dad changes his mind."
Alfie followed him down the hall until Koda suddenly stopped, and he walked right into him, hitting his face against the middle of Koda's back who turned with a light chuckle.
"I just wanted to ask," he said, staring back and forth between Alfie's blue and brown eyes. "Did you find anything embarrassing in my room?"
"I didn't have a chance to look around."
"Hmm. Maybe you'll find something next time." Koda nudged him and continued through to the living room, leaving Alfie gushing on the fact that he'll have another opportunity to be in Koda Oaks' bedroom.
Morlen was standing by the front door when the boys arrived, and he took Koda's bag, dropping it into Alfie's arms. "Can you put that in the car while I talk to my son?"
"Sure." Alfie eyed Koda on his way out, catching his narrowing eyes until Morlen half closed the door behind him.
Koda crossed his arms when his father scratched the back of his head. A grumpy frown shadowed his eyes. "What's going on?"
"What?" Koda asked.
"With that medium. You were practically kissing each other." Morlen's icy stare was stabbing him in the face.
"A bit of an exaggeration," Koda said, blushing hard with a throbbing heart. The simple thought of kissing Alfie heated every inch of him.
"Look at you; you were practically drooling all over him."
"Was I?" Koda gave up with fighting his embarrassment. He was proud, and why shouldn't he talk to his father about guy stuff? "Did Alfie notice?"
The icicles in Morlen's eyes shattered. "Jesus Christ." He ran a hand through his hair, hoping this day would never come. "You like him, don't you?"
"I do," Koda said like he had never been more certain of anything. "He's the first guy I-"
"I don't want to know."
"You do."
"I don't."
"He's the first guy I really like. I think he's cute-"
"Stop it, Koda. I don't-"
Koda grabbed his dad's arm when he tried to leave. "You said you were going to try and be a better dad. Guy stuff is no different to girl stuff. I would talk to mum about it, but I can't anymore. You said you'd be here for me, no matter what."
"I didn't mean that," Morlen said and was surprised to see his son flinch like he had physically hurt him.
"If you're not going to be here for me through every aspect of my life, then what's the point of being here for me at all?"
"Very dramatic." Morlen hadn't moved away from his son's grip. The sun caught Koda's face, and his eyes were like looking into Enya's, and for the first time, Morlen was glad his son had her features and personality. Elegant, kind, gentle, stubborn. "Just like your mother."