Dive In

Chapter 15

Ella awoke to the sweet smell of pancakes wafting up to her bedroom from the kitchen. She sat upright in her bed, straining to get another whiff of the sweet batter. She glanced over at her alarm clock, startled to see it was eight in the morning. Last thing she'd remembered was passing out mid-afternoon on the beach. Landon must have carried her here then, and she must have slept the whole night too. She let out a big yawn and stretched her arms out, relieved to see that almost all of her aches and pains had vanished.

Absentmindedly, she reached towards her neck to feel for the cool metal of her necklaces to find that only the lotus charm was hanging there. She quickly threw off the sheets, frantically searching for any sign of the shell pendant. Her eyes fled around her room, but there was no sign of it. She growled out of frustration and banged her fists against her mattress, forgetting her sore knuckles.

Her stomach rumbled, reminding her that she hadn't eaten anything since lunch yesterday. Quickly she changed out of the shorts and tank top she'd been training in yesterday, cringing at the smell of the sweaty fabric. She threw on the first sundress she came across and doused herself in perfume. She went into the bathroom and splashed her face with some water, surprised to see that her hair wasn't greasy, nor was her face oily. It almost looked like she'd just stepped out of the shower, despite it being almost two days since she'd actually had one. Ella chalked it off to some sort of Wildfolk thing and headed downstairs.

Derek was seated at the kitchen table, hunched over one of his video games. The thing squawked violently as Derek mashed buttons, and he grunted at Ella, too busy to even say good morning. Ella sighed, it was the same old Derek that's for sure.

Landon was pouring batter into a pan, sprinkling in chocolate chips as he went. A stack of steaming pancakes was already on a plate next to the counter, and Ella's mouth watered at the sight of them. She scrambled across the kitchen and shoved an entire pancake in her mouth, not bothering with any butter or syrup.

“Hey there sleeping beauty. You might want to slow down there-” Landon started to say but stopped when Ella shot him a glare.

She shoved another pancake in her mouth, devouring the whole thing in a matter of seconds. Suddenly very thirsty, she moved to the fridge for something to drink. She spotted a half-full carton of orange juice, uncapped it, and drank the whole thing straight from the carton. She dropped the empty container on the counter and snatched another handful of pancakes. She bit into the stack of pancakes in her hands, slowing down to actually chew them this time.

She had to admit, for a fish, Landon could make a pretty damn good pancake.

It was then that she noticed that both the boys were staring at her, stunned looks on their faces. Landon had nearly dropped the pancake he was making onto the floor, and Derek had actually paused his game. She felt a blush rise to her cheeks and she sunk into the nearest chair.

“Oops, sorry,” she blushed.

“No it's fine, Derek and I already ate. Besides, that's a normal, healthy reaction to being healed by a fairy. Even if it was a little delayed,” said Landon cheerfully.

“Right, totally normal,” Derek snorted. Ella threw a waded up napkin at his head.

Ignoring her brother, Ella asked, “So what are we doing today?”

“After the incident on the beach yesterday, I'd figured we'd just take it easy today. Maybe do some reading, I'll teach you some penmanship and maybe some history. How does that sound?” Landon set down the rest of the pancakes in front of Ella and began to clean up.

Ella had to fight to keep the scowl off her face. She knew that learning to read the Waterfolk symbols was as equally important as learning how to fight, but it just seemed so boring. And what good would a book do if she came face to face with another Shadowfolk?