Rose
'Uuuuurg, you took so long' E just about spits at Robert
'I had to eat this crap again' she gestures to the wooden bowl on the floor filled with grey lumps.
'what is that' I say peering through the bars
'that is what he left me to eat' E hisses, jabbing her finger at Robert.
'hay, I'm not that bad' Robert replies defensively
'sure, sure' she mutters under her breath
'how do you survive in here?' I ask looking around the dank cell.
'I don't, if it weren't for this hooligan here I would be dead' she answers, 'now are you going to let he out or do I have to wright a letter and send it in the mail?' she asks.
'well now you say so, I actually don't mind mail. How long do you think it will take to get here?' he asks grinning at her anger.
'you had better let me out right now or I'll tell Victax that you let me out last night, you idiot' E spits, making no effort to hide her fury.
'woah there' Robert says carefully, still grinning 'no need to go loopy on me, I'll let you out, but I do like the idea of getting mail'
'Rose hit him somewhere, and do it hard' she orders
'ah, um, ok' I stutter balling my hand into a fist.
I let my fist fly forward, aiming at his arm. Then before I even touch him his hand flies out to meet mine, he somehow turns me around and holds my hand to my back.
'hmmm, your self-defence sucks, I'm sorry to say' Robert says in a mock serious tone.
'ok, whatever, just get the bloody hell out of here!' E just about yells at him
'alright I've got the key' he says smirking again.
He lets go of my wrist and fishes in his pocket, a second later he pulls out a well-used key and slides it into the lock holding the iron bars on place. With a click the door unlocks and E rushes out balling her fist. In a single movement she thrusts he knuckles into Roberts chest before he can even react.
'that is how you throw a punch' E says happily to me
'I should have seen that coming' Robert wheezes with his hand where she punched him 'that's gonna' bruise'
'good that will teach you to show off' she smiles at him.
'can we go now?' I wine at them eager to get back to my beach
'yup, we have some things to do today' E answers 'oh, hurry up Robert, I didn't hit you that hard'
'what things' I say
'you'll see, down here' she says pointing to a door I had walked past.
Inside the door a long passage meets us. The roof, floor and walls are all made of dirt and rock. I run my hand along the wall as we walk and notice it is cold and damp, but somehow our footsteps manage to echo.
A few minutes later a small light appears at the end of the tunnel and I smell the lovely salty air of the sea. Robert starts talking to E and I feel the strong urge to run to the end of the tunnel and get to my beach. The only thing that stops me is the fact that I'd look like an idiot in front of Robert.
What feels like an age later we reach the end of the tunnel, I can't hold on any longer, so I run the last few steps into the salty air. As my feet hit the sand I'm blinded by the mid-morning sun. slowly my eyes start to adjust to the bright light and I see my beach. It's the same as how I remember it with its blue-green waves and white sand littered with driftwood and seaweed.
I hear laughter behind me and I turn to see who it is. Robert and E are howling with laughter, my cheeks flush.
'what?' I yell back at them,
'I-it's nothing' Robert calls back still laughing 'just a bet!'
I crease my brow,
'was this bet about me?' I ask bewiled
'yes, Robert said you would run as soon as you saw the light, but I have the full pockets now because I said that you would only run the last few metres.' E replies 'so, pay up' she finishes turning back to Robert who is still sniggering.
'oh, I... um... right' I say stumbling over what to say to this weird bet, then I remember what E said about working some stuff out.
'so, um... what did you need to work out?' I ask, and Robert loses the smile on his face. Robert and E finally get to where I am standing, a good hundred metres away from the entrance to the cave.
E takes a deep breath and says in a low whisper,
'us moon children tend to get a- '
'moon-who-what's I say, stopping her
'shhhhh' Robert hisses at me 'Kate..., Victax..., their listening'
I'm completely lost.
'as I was saying' E continues 'us moon children, children who have been hit by the storm, tend to get a... a um, oh, Robert help me here, how do I say it?' she whines at him.
'hmmm, how about: power.' He turns to me, 'us moon children tend to get a power, as a matter of speaking' he says
I think about what he said as E moves away along the beach picking up bits of dead wood and seaweed in her arms.
'do you have a... a power' I ask Robert who is looking at the horizon with a vague expression.
'hmmm? What... oh... um yeah. Yeah, I do, um... Elise does too... we both do.' He says snapping out of his daze, his cheeks going red. He looks at E who has created a small pile of debris.
'what do you need all that for?' I ask
'Robert is going to show you his talent' E says dumping one last piece of driftwood atop the pile.
I imagine him being able to make the whole thing levitate or disappear, but instead E throws him a branch of driftwood. Robert takes the branch in his hands and shuts his eyes concentrating. Then to my amazement the branch, bleached white by the salty water, turns back to brown and grows leaves. Then as if that isn't enough the small branch starts to grow, twigs sprout from branches and buds form between the leaves and bloom. I gape open mouthed at Robert who finally opens his eyes and hands it to E,
'your turn...' he says casually as though he had just caught a ball and I snap my mouth shut as he looks to see my expression. I divert my eyes quickly to E, but not before I see the winning smile on Roberts face.
E takes the branch from Robert and without warning throws it high in the air, too high. Then as the branch gets to its peak she thrusts her arms forward and the branch sails across the beach and into the forest. She then turns to the small pile she collected and spins her finger round in a small circle, a strong wind comes from nowhere and pulls sand into a tornado around the pile. I look at E whose face is contorted with concentration as she finishes pulling her hands up with a flourish. As she does this simple movement the wind powering the tornado shoots up into the sky and fades back to nothingness. Where a pile of debris used to be a mound of sand takes its place and E relaxes where she stands.
Robert holds his hand up for a high five from E. As she walks past she playfully punches him in the side,
'what was that for' asks Robert with a smile and punches her in the shoulder.
'w-wow' I breathe 'c-can I, w-will I do that?' I ask in awe.
'we don't exactly know' E says looking at me 'so we decided that you try some things here on the beach. We'll start to see if you can do any of our things, Robert, if you haven't noticed, is able to control life and make things grow, he is also able to put life back into things I-if their d-d-dead' she stumbles over the last word.
Robert picks up where she left off,
'and E is able to control the wind and how it moves, she can also move things with strong gusts, but it tires her out'
'so, then what do I do?' I ask
'umm, well, like I said, we don't actually know at the minute' E says sheepishly 'but that doesn't mean we can't try to work it out, right?'
'yeah, that's what we going to do today, work out what your thing is' Robert says putting air quotes on the word 'I think we should start on what we do, see if you can do something like us.' He turns to E who is uncovering the pile of debris with a small tornado 'me first then?' he asks her.
'yup' she smiles and flies a stick into his head
'ow! Gees you!' he yells, but he can't keep a straight face, so he cracks a smile too. He turns back to me with the branch in his hand and rubbing his head.
'take it and make it do something, anything' he says
I take the branch and feel the weight in my hand, I shut my eyes and concentrate on nothing but the wood beneath my fingers. After what feels like forever I feel a tap on my shoulder and I open my eyes. Robert and E are standing in front of me, much too close for my liking. Robert still has his hand near my shoulder and E is just staring at the branch in my hand. I look at them both,
'what?'
E finally looks up as I look down, the branch in my hand is not a branch anymore. Its, water, in the shape of the branch, but it still in my hand and it, just is. There is no state of being it just is. I let go of the branch out of fright, the water-branch collapses in on its self and falls in a puddle on the sand. I look up at E and Robert, who has finally dropped his hand,
'how'd you do that?' E asks
'I- I dunno I just did it' I say 'to be honest I was trying to make it grow like what Robert did' I say sheepishly, feeling the heat rush to my cheeks.
'we need to get back' she says vaguely, and she turns and runs back to where we came from.
'come on' Robert says, he grabs my wrist, then he too sprints toward the entrance of the cave.