The Five Dimensions Part 1: Shadow World

Chapter 15

"Still keeping up?" Hailey asked after a little while, breathing between her words. She knew that he could run faster than her, but she had perfect coordination in the forest, it was her home-base.

"You're pretty stealthy for a human." His look showed surprise. Hailey didn't know she had the ability to surprise him; he always seemed so unfazed about everything. He was still right behind her, finding his way through the woods just as easily as Hailey; his voice was as steady as always.

"Then what are you, an alien?" She rolled her eyes.

"Busted. Crap, my Leader is not going to like you knowing about me," he said.

"You have a leader?" The sarcasm dripped off her voice.

"Of course, every alien bastard has one." His voice sounded so serious, it seemed like he was telling the truth. It made Hailey question if she would notice if he really lied about something, even though she had always been a pro at telling if someone lied.

"We're here," she said, leaning against a tree for support. She needed to catch her breath because she had been talking while running, and whatever she liked to tell herself, she wasn't superhuman. They were standing at the top of the waterfall.

"I thought as much, it's nice here." Ash took a quick look, but it didn't seem like it was new to him.

"Have you been here before?" she asked, frowning a bit.

"Yeah." He didn't say anything more. It seemed strange to Hailey that Ash was telling so much about himself, maybe not directly, but he told her the direct truth and she really appreciated that. He turned around to face Hailey. At that moment, she threw one of her throwing knives. Ash made a quick turn and the knife whistled past his face. "What was that for? If you're mad at me, just say it, don't start throwing knives at me!"

"I wasn't throwing at you; I was throwing at that tree." Hailey pointed to the tree. It was her regular targeting tree, the marks in its bark proved it. "You were just standing in front of it."

Ash sighed and went to sit on the ground. Hailey continued throwing her knives while he watched. She got a weird feeling, she felt familiarity, like this kind of thing had already happened before. But it hadn't, nobody had ever seen her practice. Just before she threw her last knife, she looked at Ash. Their eyes interlocked. Hailey's were thoughtful; Ash's were curious. Then she turned her focus back to the tree and threw the knife into the bark.

"Do I need to get them for you?" Ash asked, but Hailey shook her head and picked up her bow.

"You know, that move, when I threw the knife, it was fast," she began. It was clear she had not finished her sentence, but Ash replied anyway.

"I know." Ash said with satisfaction.

"But not that fast," she finished.

"What's that supposed to mean?" He pretended to sound hurt, but Hailey knew he was not.

"Just that I'm faster than that." She shot an arrow without looking at her target first but still hitting the heart. Maybe she was showing off a little for Ash, but it was good practice anyway.

"No, you're not. You're..." he began but stopped mid sentence.

"I'm what?"

"A girl," he said eventually, but it was obviously not what he wanted to say. What else would he say though?

"So, what. When I slapped Jayson, he almost fainted," she replied, shooting another arrow.

"That doesn't count. He's a lame guy." Ash came off the ground and brushed the snow off his trousers.

"He's the captain of the hockey team," Hailey said, open-mouthed. She couldn't believe she was defending Jayson to make her point.

"Doesn't make him any less lame," he answered. Then he let out a sigh of frustration. "Why are you holding the bow like that? That way, you can't shoot further than that stupid tree."

I know, I don't want to shoot far, because I'll lose my arrows. Hailey wanted to say, but she didn't. She let Ash stand behind her and put his arms around her. He gave her some instructions and moved her fingers gently. She barely heard his words; she was too distracted by his closeness. Then, when he was done and Hailey found herself holding the bow in the perfect way, as she had always done at Camp Eagle, Ash put his hand over hers and together they shot the arrow out of the bow. It flew straight and fast, slicing through small branches on its way to a tree that was ten times as far as the tree Hailey had first shot at.

Goodbye arrow. She said inside her own mind while the arrow disappeared between the empty branches.

"I could still knock you down if I wanted to," she whispered, turning her head toward Ash, who was right next to her.

"I'd love to see you try," he replied, and Hailey made her first move, which Ash held back easily "Predictable," he said with a laugh. She made another move and was surprised by how good Ash was. Apparently, his arrogance wasn't only well-placed when it came to his looks. He kept fending off and avoided her attempts to push him. A sideliner would almost have thought they were dancing instead of fighting.

They kept on fight-dancing and laughing for a while until a dark figure appeared out of the shadows. Hailey froze and held her breath, looking at the figure. She hadn't seen the figure for a long time, and it seemed like the figure had changed. It looked like the first one in a way, but in another way, it didn't look like it at all. Ash turned around to see what had shocked Hailey and looked straight at the figure. It stood there for another second and then disappeared again.

"Did you see that?" Hailey asked, still shocked.

"Yeah. Hailey ―" he began, not looking at her straight.

"What?" she snapped. She didn't understand why the figure had changed him but suddenly he held himself completely different than before. He was shying away from her now, keeping his distance.

"I have to go," he said, still not looking at her.

"Why?" Hailey was confused. Just seconds before, they had still been fighting and laughing and now he suddenly had to go. He looked at her and she searched his eyes.

"My ― father, yeah, he'll be mad if I come home late." His voice was unsteady. Hailey could easily see he was lying, and it confused her. First, why would he lie, and second, why did he show it. She knew he was a good liar; why wouldn't he be able to tell her about this little lie without her finding out.

"Let me drive you home then," she offered, but he shrugged it off. The offer didn't make any sense, she knew that. He was the one with the car. She didn't know why she'd said it, except that the thought of him leaving made her feel restless.

"Thanks, but no thanks. Bye Hailey," he said, already walking away.

"Bye Ash," she said very softly, she didn't even think he heard her. At first, she just stood there for a while, lost in questions. Then she started to go toward the tree to get her knives and arrows.

"Hey, Hailey, one more thing!" Ash yelled then. She turned around, her eyes curious and maybe there was also a bit of hope hiding in them. "You're going to that party with me. I'll pick you up at nine," he said and turned around again.

"Wait, Ash, I'm not―" going. She wanted to say before being interrupted.

"You're going now," Ash said with a laugh and then he disappeared between the trees. Hailey continued to look at the spot where he had vanished long after he left. There might have been a blush on face, but she denied it to herself.

"I guess I am," Hailey said to herself.