by Lila Felix
***
Chopping woke us the next morning. Who chops things in the morning? Who?
“You should’ve let me kill Collin back when I was jealous,” Theo murmured into my hair. He began a dangerous path of pecks down my back.
“Please, Theo, you’re still jealous. You’re just going to hide it well. Correct?”
“What is with all the chopping,” he asked with a wide grin, not so smoothly ignoring my question. In turn, I ignored him, grabbed my bag, and flashed into the bathroom. It resembled more of a sauna than a bathroom—more of the teakwood I’d found in the rest of the house. I loved the simple elegance of the whole thing.
After showering, trying not to use all of the hot water, I put on a white maxi dress with a pale pink sweater on top. My stomach rolled thinking about all the faux pas I would commit while with the monks. I just knew I was going to embarrass Theo so much that he’d ask me to go home.
“I saved you some hot water,” I blurted out into the kitchen. As my eyes searched for Theo, I squealed a little. In the kitchen was Collin, chopping away at some fruit salad makings, Theo with a devilish grin on his face—and two monks. One was the one I’d eyed at the end of their line—he was just so intriguing to me. And I was equally intriguing to him, I’d guessed by the way he then stared at me in awe.
They pressed their hands together and bowed in my direction. I bowed back, only because I didn’t know what else to do. No one broke out in uncontrollable laughter, so I assumed I didn’t commit an international manners crime.
Theo sidled up beside me. “They have come to escort us.”
“How do you know? Aren’t they not allowed to speak?”
“A note, Querida. Are you ready?”
“Yes. Are you?”
“I’m fine.”
He didn’t look fine. In fact, he looked downright squirmy. Theo took my hand because he needed to. He was anxious. I let go of his hand and burrowed into his side. I knew it would comfort him.
Wrapping his arm around my waist, he kissed my temple and sighed. The guilt of denying him these things that I knew made him happy was almost more palpable now than it was when I stayed away from him.
“Whatever it is, we will handle it together,” he murmured the words to me that I should be saying to him. But they were still stuck in my throat.
“Yes.”
The monks were watching us intently. The one curious monk had his head tilted to the side listening and almost hanging onto every word and gesture Theo and I shared.
The other one made a wave toward the door and we took it as our signal to leave. Collin grumbled something about not eating and tossed his chunks of fruit into the refrigerator.
Both monks turned to us and smiled. The monk who interested me so much grabbed the hand of the other, and before I knew what was happening or had time to process—they’d both flashed away.
They flashed.
Traveled.
Like Lucents.
Like us.
“Holy shit! Those monks are Lucents!” I shouted to the space that was occupied by the monks a few seconds before.
Beside me, Theo closed his eyes and shook his head. Cursing in the same sentence as monks probably wasn’t the most ladylike thing to do. It wasn’t like he thought I was Princess Kate when he decided to love me. He knew I was a bag of mess.
“What? I bet they were the ones flashing near the house last night—checking us out.”
“Let’s just go before they come back and you cuss at them again.”
I thumped him on the shoulder. “I waited until they were gone.”
“Praise the Almighty for the little things,” Collin grunted in the corner. I didn’t know if he was more pissed about me cussing or his precious fruit.
“We are going to flash ahead, Collin. We’ll see you later?”
“Yes. I will be there as soon as I can.”
“Wait,” Theo said. I’d already started to move into a space away from him to flash. I knew what he would say. I didn’t know why he wanted to test this theory so badly.
“No.” I answered before the question could be posed.
“Collin isn’t scared,” Theo challenged.
“But I am. People get lost. And until we can figure out how those two did it, we should remain cautious.”
Collin bounced down the stairs off the porch and began his journey on foot toward the temples. “At least someone has some sense.”
I didn’t wait for Theo’s reply. I flashed to the temple, making sure to land on the crumbling stone stairs in front of it instead of in the temple itself. I would have to wait for Theo to mimic his formalities.