Page 36 of A Sky of Storms
Kendra and I advanced, stomping towards him. He looked over his shoulder, sneering. “If it isn’t the angel bitch and her little sidekick. This doesn’t concern you. Run along before you get yourself into trouble.”
“You’re not going to lay another hand on that girl,” Kendra said, stepping forward.
“And what are you going to do about it?” Mark said, looking her up and down as he let the girl go and turned. Clearly, the guy had no idea what kind of strength Kendra was packing.
The girl looked between us all, and I jerked my head for her to escape. Her features smoothed out in relief. She mouthed a ‘thank you’ and scurried away before he could notice.
I shifted my stance as I looked at Mark, then back to Kendra. “I recall you saying something about war?”
The grin she gave me was pure viciousness. Then she advanced. Before I could blink her leg whipped out and she smashed little Marky’s chest with her chunky boot. His back slammed into the wall with a satisfying thud.
“You little bitch,” he roared. “You’re going to regret that. I have no trouble beating down a woman.”
“A statement that surprises exactly no one,” I drawled.
Kendra’s fists moved like lightning as she punched him once, twice, three times in the gut. Then she kneed him in the balls so hard he gasped, doubled over, and vomited into the bush.
Happy to watch my badass bitch of a friend whoop his ass, I stepped closer, flicking his chin up with my fingers. Then I waited for Kendra to impart some final wisdom. She knelt as I held him, then cocked her head.
“Consider this a warning, Mark. If we see you even look at a girl the wrong way, we’ll find you. If we hear about you touching someone without their consent, we’ll tear your fucking balls off. Play nice or suffer the consequences, kay?”
He didn’t answer but his eyes glared murderous hell at us both.
“Kay. Good chat,” I said cheerily as I pulled away.
Kendra just grinned. “See ya, roomie.”
We relinked our arms and headed to the caff. I had the feeling breakfast was going to taste all the sweeter now.
Nothingbeattheslipperywet embrace of submerging myself in the lake. The water had a way of calming my thoughts and relaxing my entire body. I hadn’t realised how badly I missed it—especially against my gills. I sighed at the cooling sensation of the water against my neck. It was never ideal to spend so much time on land. I hated when my gills got too dry and showering just didn’t lubricate them like I was used to.
I kicked my legs, propelling myself up until I popped my head through the surface and moved to float on my back. The sun warmed my tanned chest as tiny ripples tickled my sides. I ignored the far away sounds of the other Potentials, most of whom were either on shore or swimming close to it. All I needed now was Pip and Delilah and my day would have been made.
The lake was part of mini Tritosa City and was surrounded by sandy shores and green shrubs, a pier running out from the edge closest to the centre of the House of Ascension. After diving in, I’d swum down to check the lake’s depth, but the thing went on and on and on and I wasn’t a fan of getting lost in the dark on my own. Especially when I wasn’t entirely sure what lived down there. As the lake was made by humans for the purpose of testing potential rulers, I had a feeling there would be some gnarly stuff swimming around in its depths.
A splash landed on my warm belly, followed by a succession of small waves through the water that wobbled my calm floating. I turned my head to see Kayden thrashing as he swam back and forth from one end of the lake to the other like it personally offended him. He had zero technique. He just used brute force to make his way through it like he apparently did in every other aspect of his life. The dude was using his energy to splash rather than push himself forward, and it was embarrassing to watch.
“Hey Kayden!” I shouted, grabbing his ankle and pulling him to a stop in the middle of the lake.
Kayden kicked furiously but I didn’t let go. I had some very important pointers the dude needed to hear and I couldn’t in good conscience let him keep swimming like that. He’d terrify all the poor lake creatures if he kept up that nonsense. Kayden rounded on me, throwing a punch towards my face, but I dropped his foot and pushed backwards before he could make contact. He dropped face first into the water, coming back up and sputtering before his red head went diving back down again.
“Tread water, man!” I told him, swimming closer. I gripped him under his huge, tattooed arm, holding him up above the water. “Doggy paddle at the very least.”
“What?” he grumbled, wiping a hand over his face to clear the water. He didn’t push me away from him, instead leaning into my hold.
“You know, kick your legs on the spot,” I said, letting go of him so that I could do the action with my hands. He sank like a rock as I did. “Oh, sea cucumber!” I reached down for Kayden, pulling him back up. “Sorry, dude. Shouldn’t have let go. As I was saying, tread water so I can help fix your stroke.”
“I don’t need you to fix anything,” he said, placing a big hand on my shoulder to keep himself afloat.
I sent him a sly grin. Sure, sure, Kayden. It wasn’t his fault he lived in a desert and couldn’t dive into the water’s sweet embrace whenever he wished.
He looked at something behind me, and I followed his line of sight to see Mark Leroy getting smacked by some chick whilst she yelled at him about keeping his hands to himself.
“Bro’s a pervy dick,” Kayden said.
“Yep,” I agreed. Mark had tried to get all handsy with my Starfish. Dude didn’t know a thing about boundaries. “Now, back to you. Kayden, you swim like a cat in a bathtub,” I explained. “Zero technique and I can see the fear in your eyes a mile away. The water is here to support you, it’s not cool to slap her like that.”
“Are you high?” he asked, giving me a quizzical look.
