Chapter 16: Portals

He was sitting in one of the lounge chairs, his eyes were closed but when she entered he opened his eyes and sat up. She stood by the door. "Come sit," he said motioning to the empty lounge chair next to his. She gingerly approached and sat on the chair. The was a table between the chairs and on it were two plates that had avocado toast, eggs, and sausages with two glasses of orange juice. He handed her a plate and took the other for himself and began to eat. she followed his lead.

After some time of eating in silence, he finished his food and set the plate aside waiting for her to finish eating.

She purposefully chewed her food slowly but she couldn't avoid the inevitable. When she finished eating he took the plate from her and set it down beside his.

"What did you see?" he asked turning to her.

She inhaled slowly.

The faster I get this over with the faster I can go back to my room.

"I saw a little girl and a woman in a field of blue roses," she said.

"Was that so hard?" he asked.

"No," she answered quietly.

"Now... I didn't want you to drown, I knew you wouldn't," he explained.

"It's just weird that you aren't able to swim," he said.

"How is that weird?" she asked heatedly.

"Because she was supposed to teach you," he answered.

"Who?"

"I've said too much already," he said getting up.

"I'll teach you," he said running his hand through his hair in frustration.

Cloe stood up so quickly she had to sit down. "No way, you don't have to," she said after the dizziness passed.

"But I'm going to," he said.

The room went silent.

She felt trapped.

"Why?" she asked breaking the silence.

"Because you'll need it," he said turning to face her. There was such intensity radiating from him that she suddenly felt self-conscious. She looked down at her toes.

"How did you know I wouldn't drown?" she asked changing the subject.

"Everyone in the royal and water family is amphibious," he explained.

"You could have told me that before you made me fall into the pool," she said quietly.

"I was going to, and to set things straight I wasn't the one who made you fall into the pool, you were the one backing away when I wanted to take a closer look at your neck," he said defending himself.

"Why did you want to take a closer look at my neck?' she asked bewildered.

"Because your family mark was glowing," he said.

Her hand shot up to her neck, there was a mark there but she always thought it was some sort of scar.

"Yeah, you were all born with it, and don't ask me why because I don't know," he said.

Wordlessly she ran a finger over the mark on the left side of her neck, it was a straight, short line that was paler and smoother than the rest of her skin.

She considered telling him that the key glowed as well but she decided to keep that to herself until she figured out what it really meant.

Suddenly something clicked.

"Do the elements have something to do with my memories?" she asked.

He was silent for a bit, seemingly lost in his thoughts.

"I'm not entirely sure... Why do you ask?"

"Well being in the water seemed to have triggered a memory..." she noted.

"Ahh, I see," he said rubbing his stubble.

"Well, there's only one way to find out," he stated.

"How?" she asked wondering what he had up his sleeve this time.

"By getting you acquainted with all the elements."

"Right, that seems like the only option we have right now," she said sighing.

"It's worth a shot..." she continued.

"And that we will begin after you've learned how to swim," he added.

"Why are you so adamant about upgrading my swimming skills?" she asked slightly annoyed that he wouldn't drop that topic.

"Trust me when I say you'll be grateful later."

"How so?" she probed.

He sighed.

"Are you forgetting that the portals to your dimension have gateways located in bodies of water?" he asked.

"Ohhh," she thought mentally facepalming herself for forgetting such a major detail.

"How will you get through those gateways if you can't swim?" he continued.

"Ok, you have a point," she mumbled.

"Good, now that that's clear up shall we begin your lessons?" he asked his tone now serious.

"This is going to be interesting... and not in a good way." she thought as she followed him to the edge of the pool.