"First off, your stomach was grumbling the entire way here." Charlie raises an eyebrow. "Secondly, you've been pushing yourself to prove yourself to these people. I get you're trying to build a place for us here, but you're going to cause your powers to go haywire if you don't calm down and rest."
How can I say no? "That sounds great. I'm starving."
Dax enters the den with us and flops down on the cushions. "I'm all for Charlie cooking dinner tonight. Maybe we can find a way to make it taste a little less bland here though."
"Well, I'll do my best, but it's hard with fish and algae. They can't really grow anything much more than that here since ninety-five percent of the world is covered in water." Charlie heads to the kitchen.
"You do realize that he coddles you, right?" Dax picks at his fingernail and snorts. "I have no idea why he does. You could destroy this world if you wanted to."
Each day, Dax seems to get a little more opinionated and judgmental. I hate that he just throws out what I could do. Doesn't he realize I'm very uncomfortable with that? "Thanks, Dax. If you keep saying stuff like that, I'm sure people will be wary about me. Can't we just pretend I'm normal?"
"Isn't that what got you into this mess to begin with?" He places both hands behind his head and stares up at the ceiling. "Pretending you were normal."
If he was trying to make me feel as if he slapped me across the face, he succeeded. "You know what? You can kiss my ass."
"Stop being so sensitive." He turns his head toward me and purses his lips. "I'm trying to keep your head in the game. They're lulling you in with fake promises. I need you to focus."
Maybe he's right. Ria and Tide frown at me, and Ria stays away from here as much as possible. Maybe they are pretending just to ensure I don't take the artifact. Maybe they hope I’ll combust before it becomes a problem.
"Good. I've got you thinking." He places his arms behind his head and stares at the ceiling. "Remember, this isn't over yet."
"Are you still harping on her?" Charlie walks out and kicks Dax's shoes. "Leave her alone and come eat some food."
Lying in bed, I find my mind running wild. I've been tossing and turning the last few hours, but my brain won't shut off. It's so bad that Ria has been home for over an hour, and I'm still staring up at the ceiling.
Charlie’s lying next to me, breathing deep and with his arms wrapped around my waist. His breath is warm against my neck, but not even his musky scent brings me comfort.
What if I messed up with that woman? It's taunting me... haunting me. Did I bring her back after death? I hope I’m just worrying over nothing, but what if it's not? Damn those what ifs. Can't they just leave me the hell alone?
There is no way I'm going to be able to rest until I know for sure. Dammit, I have to find out. This is ridiculous. If what I fear is right, then I do need to focus.
Taking a deep breath, I slip out of Charlie's embrace, placing a pillow where I was, and pause.
His breathing remains steady, and he wraps his arm around the pillow.
Should I take offense that cuddling with the pillow doesn't alert him that it's not me? Am I that cushiony now?
I place my feet on the ground, and as slow as possible, I stand. I don't want to make any sudden movements that would cause him to wake.
Within a few minutes, I'm out of the house and standing outside under the purple moon in the empty streets. It's so quiet that a shiver runs through me. It's kind of creepy out here.
The first thing I need to do is locate her. I close my eyes and picture her in my head, and just like the Water Artifact, there are multiple images of her at once. What the hell is going on? However, unlike the artifact, the area around her comes into view. I pull back to get an outside view and finally manage to see something distinguishable. There are waves crashing right in front of the building. It's got to be on the same side of the island where we rented that boat the first day.
It still doesn't make sense why every time I try to locate something, there are at least twenty of the same images staring back at me. I never had this problem before now. Maybe I should try locating something again on Earth and see if I run into the same issue.
I pull up the image of my apartment back on Earth, and one single image of it appears. Huh, maybe it has something to do with the water around here. There was a video I watched when I was younger that talked about how water can refract an image. I bet that's what's going on here.
All right, it's time to be productive. I've got a house to find somewhere near the ocean side of the island. I get moving and notice that most of the houses are dark. Most of this world must be asleep by this time.
It doesn't take long for me to get to the beach. As soon as I get there, a section of houses comes into view that I hadn't seen. That's got to be it. I need to hurry so I can just let go of this worry. I'm sure it's just paranoia kicking in.
When I get to the side of the building, right before I step out in front of it, a large portal comes into view. It's multicolored and about twice the size as the ones I've seen. I stop dead in my tracks and hide right at
