I call for the bill and the waiter that had tried to convince Neah to get swine hurries over. His cheeks are already the colour of beetroot. He could barely look us in the eye. Neah presses her lips into a thin line but I see her shoulders jigging up and down as she tries not to laugh.
As we walk to the car, Neah links her arm with mine, almost pesteringlike a small child, askingwhere we are going.
"You will see." I drive for another hour or so down to the coast. It had been a long tsince I had been here. I used to take Jenson and Raven all the twhen they were little, but as they grew up, the trip becjust for me. A place where I could clear my head. A place of peace as I listened to the sea crash along the sand before it dragged itself out again.
Follow on NovᴇlEnglish.nᴇtIt had been almost four years since I had been here.
Nesh is silent as the car comes to a stop. She slowly unclips her seatbelt and leans forward on the dash, smiling at the waves.
"The beach." She whispers "I haven't been here for a while, but I thought you might appreciate it as much as I do." I've never been." She starts pulling off the trainers. Excitement flooding through her and a strange pang of happiness hits my heart.
She gets out of the car before I have a chance to say anything and runs down onto the sand.
For a moment, she just stands there. Wiggling her toes in the soft sand as she stares up at the crescent and stars that light up the night sky.
Looking back at me, she smiles and stretches out her hand in my direction. "Coming?" I take her hand and she pullstowards the water. Stopping a few feet away. Nervousness radiates from her. It was different, new and not something that was purposely trying to cause her trouble.
She hikes the long black dress up to her knees and lets out a small giggle as she steps forward, letting the cold waves wash over her feet.
Slowly, she turns around to face me, laughing as a wave crashes into the back of her legs, sending her stumbling towards me.
Follow on Novᴇl-Onlinᴇ.cᴏm"You've never toldabout this place." She looks up and down the deserted beach. "The boys will like it here." "My father used to bringhere. Before the twins calong. To teachabout the power of the ocean. After he died, I tried to do the swith Jenson and Raven, but they missed the point. Raven had her own ideas for her future and Jenson just wanted what everyone else had. Maybe that was part of their downfall." I wrap my arms around her, holding her flush to my chest. "Father used to tellhow easy it is to lose power. To keep it, you had to stay alert and own it. Constantly fight for it." "He used the sea to teach you a lesson?" She asks as the water licks our feet.
"He did." "You think that's why Silas is really here. To take your place, just how Blair thought she could take mine?"
"I won't let him. Black Shadow is mine. Always has been and always boys will be until the boys are ready to take En over."
"He calledfamily." She mumbles into my chest. "I was just going to walk right past him and he askedif I always ignore family. He didn't want to interrupt us, that's why he didn't make himself known. Maybe I got the wrong impression" She shrugs her shoulders and shakes her head.
"To me, that doesn't sound like he is coming for what he thinks is his. Not everyone we meet has to be bad. Not e everyone can have a secret reason for showing up. I refuse to believe that, because otherwise, what kind of world are we bringing children into?"