Chapter Forty Three

Kevin's POV

I stood outside the basketball court and watched Ryan and the Purgers through the mesh. The truly played for fun and even messed around. For a moment it looked like Ryan wasn't even a superior to them for they even fouled him to stop him for making a basket and didn't grovel for apologies. No they did the opposite in fact. They warned him that they would foul him even harder if he continuously tried to embarrass them with his flawless shots.

This only seemed to fire him up more as Ryan went more on the offensive instead of backing down. It was a language most sportsmen could speak whenever they were having a friendly competition. As I was watching, the two girls who were always by Ryan's side walked up to me and stood on either side behind me. I remember their names being Mindy and Heather from the unpleasant interaction I had had with Ryan at lunchtime. "Not even going to greet us, Kevin," they said as though it should have been obvious for me to greet them. As far as knew they were supposed to make Ryan look good. But nothing was as it seemed when it came to the Purgers.

"Forgot my manners," I replied in a low voice.

"What's your deal?" the one to my right asked sounding genuinely concerned almost with the same tone a sister would use to her younger brother.

"I don't think I follow," I replied.

"Are you serious?" she said raising her voice and sounding irritated by my reply. I didn't know how to react to this since they were only fueling my already growing confusion. I decided would stay quiet for fear of not even getting a chance to even talk to Ryan at all.

"He won't say any more, sister," Heather told Mindy.

Mindy sighed deeply, "I know." And with that they both fell silent, but they never left my side. They stayed there like it was completely normal for them to be. This fueled another question to pop up into my head.

"What is your relationship with Ryan?" I asked them.

"Well," Mindy started, "he's our cousin of course." I felt my blood go cold by her revelation. This was not right. They were cousins.

"How come?" I tried hoping they would trip up and say they were joking.

"What do you mean? We've known him since we were kids," Heather replied. This only gave me more questions than answers and honestly I wasn't enjoying the headache that was threatening to grow even more painful by the minute. I decided I would ask no more questions until I got the chance to speak to Ryan. Eventually Ryan got done with basketball and had a quick change in the locker rooms. We diligently waited until he was back accompanied by all the Purgers which helped raise my already enormous curiosity.

"Finally back to your senses?" he asked when he reached us.

"More like I'm losing my mind with confusion," I replied honestly. "What happens if I join you? What are the conditions?"

"Oh so you want to negotiate," he said and I nodded. I might have needed him more than he needed me, but I was still going to hold my ground on this one. "Okay how about this. You may join us, but you won't have to follow us around or pretend to be some badass bouncer."

For a moment I couldn't believe my ears so I decided to ask a question to rephrase what he had just said, "So you mean I proceed normally with my life as if I never joined you?"

"Basically yeah, but when we call you in the middle of classes, you respond accordingly. We will discuss the rest in length, baby steps. But for now follow me," he said before turning to lead the way, "Oh and one more thing, no saying things like we are not related. Things like that tick me off, understood?" he said dangerously and I nodded. He led us to the parking lot where we found five black cars, to be more specific, they were SUVs. Of course this is what do you would expect from one of the richest guys in school.

He instructed me to get into the passenger seat of one of the SUVs and he got into the driver seat. In a few minutes we were on the road towards town. Our school was located somewhat on the Eastern border of our town and had almost only one way to get to from town. Most of which was used by the students who attended our school. For that reason it was well constructed and provided quite a neat way to get into school and it never accumulated cars enough to cause traffic jam. Before getting to town was a road that led north to the estates as everyone referred to them. The people who lived there were lords who were very much respected and were said to descended from the families that built the town.

I personally had never been to the estates and dread filled me as I watched Ryan turn the car onto the road that went to the estates. My heartbeat increased, but I forced myself to stay calm. It wasn't like I was breaking a law or anything. After three minutes of smooth driving, my nerves cooled. The sun was setting over the horizon and the road we were on was surrounded by a lot of forest cover. I wouldn't have imagined the estates were deep into the forest. I leaned my forehead on the window and watched the trees running past us at astonishing speeds.

A sense of peace settled over me followed by a deep sense of familiarity which was slightly threatening. "Kevin, come on. Hurry up," the voice of my dead cousin, Charles rang in my head snapping my slightly dosing frame awake. My breath began to quicken. I had no recollection of my cousin ever saying something like that. And yet I was very sure he did. Why was my cousin's voice coming back to me now of all times.

"Slow down Charles. How are you moving so fast," I remembered myself reply to him that day. 'What is going on,' I thought, 'why now?'

"You okay man?" Ryan asked snapping me back to reality.

"I don't know," I quietly replied looking out the window. I regretted this action soon after for the woods alone had begun to look familiar. 'I have never been here,' I told myself turning my gaze away from the forest.

"Remember anything yet," Ryan asked as though he had expected it to happen and this only got on my nerves.

"No," I spat, "like I said, I…." my words stopped in my mouth when I saw ropes hanging from a tree like they belonged to a broken DIY swing. The site passed by us so fast, but it had been enough to send me in a trance down memory lane.

Flashback...….

"Charles, don't push me too hard. You know I'm afraid of heights," I shouted at my cousin who only happily pushed me even higher.

"Come on Kevin. You have to get over your fear of heights if we are to ever learn how to fly. How can you possibly be afraid of soaring high up in the skies, free from all burden," he squealed as he pushed me to swing even higher. I felt like I was going to throw up the higher I got and the thought of me falling scared me even more. I shouldn't have gone through with Charles' plan to build a swing and yet here we were. As he pushed me one more time, "Charles," I screamed and closed my eyes this time avoid looking down at how high I would be swinging right before I heard a snapping sound and the ropes holding me weren't taut anymore.

I opened my eyes to see that I had been propelled far from Charles and was headed for the mother of all falls. I braced myself for the fall. Charles' giggles died down and I heard his footsteps rushing towards me. "Kevin, Kevin, Kevin get up," he called terror laced in his voice. Every fibre in my being wanted to tell him I was fine. "Kevin, I'm so sorry," he pleaded by my side. I couldn't stay mad at my cousin. I just didn't have a fibre in my body that was capable of it.

End of flashback…

I was currently hyperventilating. "Ryan, stop the car," I said trying to find air. I did not want to get closer to wherever he was taking me. I did not want to remember him. I had spent a very long time getting past his death, but I didn't want to remember him. It was simply too painful.

"What's wrong?" he asked visibly concerned. I could tell he meant well, but my unease was getting worse.

"Stop the car," I yelled tears finally breaking loose. The car skidded to a sudden halt and I immediately got out staggering. I needed to get away from this place.

"What is it?" Mindy also asked exiting the car.

"You guys probably mean well. And I know that there's nothing I know about you. I'm not even so opposed to the idea that we are related any more, but this place you are taking me. I am truly sorry, but I'm not ready to go there yet. Forgive me," with that I turned and used my super-speed to get out of there as fast as I could. Tears flowed like rivers and there was nothing I could do stop them. New images of my cousin kept flashing in my head and I couldn't get them out. 'Charles was always smiling. He was everything to me before I turned seven. Why did he have to die?' the thought ran through my mind as I continued speeding home. I didn't care if Ryan had seen me use m powers or not. I just had to get home. I slowed to normal speed and ran up to my room blocking out the calls from my parents as I entered my room and locked the door behind me. I needed to get into the shower and under running water. It was the only thing I knew would calm everything right now or ever so slightly. I leaned against the wall and let the tears flow and allowed the impact of my dead cousin's memory rack my brain and send shivers throughout my body. With time it would ease, but I had learned a long time ago that there was no escape. I simply had to go through it.

Back to Ryan and the Purgers that Kevin left in a brilliant display of magic

Ryan stayed silent for a while before turning to face their destination. It was dark now and there was nothing you could see past fifty metres. In a hundred metres, a tall black gate stood proud awaiting its owners. "So he was remembering," he said quietly to himself before turning back to face the path Kevin had taken back to his home. "We were so close to getting him back. When will you be ready cousin?"