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"Five boys?! But there's six of us!” one of the boys shouted.
"My instincts tell me that Chris over there is innocent in all of this, and since he told me some very valuable information, deserves a less extreme punishment. Now, don’t say another word, or I'll ensure that patch of ice covers your whole body and the next time you speak will be at your trial," Quil threatened.
All the boys shut up at that, and I returned to comforting the little girl, who looked to be only about six or seven.
Within two minutes, the police guards had arrived, arresting all the boys and taking Chris after Quillian had done a detailed interview with him.
The little girl's parents were here on vacation, even after all the rumors, and had planned to check out today due to the ongoing news. They were completely shocked that their only child had almost been killed, and couldn't thank us enough for saving their precious daughter.
After three hours of discussions, reports, and Quillian contacting the others and the Emperor regarding the incident, we finally returned to our secluded cabin.
The moment I entered the house, I went straight to change into a bathing suit. Then I walked out to the wide infinity pool, needing a moment to myself.
Quillian didn't stop or ask me questions, just giving me space, which really helped me in my current mood.
I didn't know how to explain how I currently felt.
Angry, sad, disappointed by what our country was becoming. We could have walked away, thinking it was just a bunch of teens having fun, but we would have been ignoring another death by doing so. I couldn't even imagine how the parents would have felt, the immense regret they would have harbored for coming to a place they were warned about over and over again.
I took a deep breath and submerged myself in the water, swimming to the bottom and rolling over to press my back against the flat surface. My gaze lingered on the rays of the sun for a long time as I remained under the water.
Normally I would be afraid of staying in the water for long, unsure of how long I could hold my breath. But this time I didn't care, staying under for minutes with no urge or desperation to go back up for air.
I closed my eyes, remembering my past like it was a movie playing my mind.
The emotions unwound themselves and filtered through me, one after another. My ears picked up the sound of something plunging into the pool, but I didn't move or open my eyes.
It wasn't until something pressed against my cheek that I opened my eyes; Quillian's pink eyes met mine. I could see the fear in them, which was replaced by relief as he rubbed my face with his thumb.
I closed my eyes and reached out my arms. Quillian's arms encircled me as he held me in an embrace.
Was it weird to be hugging the person I loved underwater? Yes.
Yet, I felt a level of compassion in his actions as we continued to stay under the clear surface of the pool.
When he pulled back, I finally felt the urge to go to the surface for air, my lungs begging to breathe once again.
I gave him a look, and he nodded in understanding. His hand slipped into mine, and we began to swim up to the surface. I gasped as my head broke through the water, and let go of Quil's hand to slide my hair back and out of my face as I took a few deep breaths. We both swam to the ledge that faced the clear glass entrance leading back into our house.
Quillian lifted himself up first, then turned and crouched down to offer me his hand.
I gave him an appreciative smile and placed my hand in his. He helped me out of the water, lifting me out as if I weighed practically nothing.
He walked over to get us both white towels and returned, passing one to me.
"Arigato," I whispered and began to dry myself.
We were quiet as we patted ourselves down and then walked over to put the towels in the hamper. I didn't know what to do after that, to stay outside and continue thinking about what happened, or take a relaxing bath and go straight to bed.
"Crim?" Quil's gentle voice pulled me out of my thoughts.
"I don't know how to feel about what just happened. I've thought about it and played it over and over in my head...yet I can't wrap my mind around the reality that...that it happened," I expressed, glancing down to my feet.
"To think our country has become so accustomed to hatred, that twelve and thirteen-year-olds are willing to...participate in killing a little girl. A six-year-old human girl who couldn't even defend herself. She would have died if we turned a blind eye, and it makes me wonder how many individuals have done just that, turning a blind eye for the sake of their own safety at the cost of someone else’s? Where is the justice in our lands anymore? Maybe this was what Storm wanted to end; maybe she wanted to ensure that an innocent kid didn't have to face death at the hands of her peers."
Quil nodded. "She wanted the hate between races to stop and bring forth unity. Any form of dislike of one another that resulted in detrimental harm, such as being severely wounded or death, would face serious consequences. That's what the peace contract would have enforced. It would make it so that people would attempt to get along and accept that not everyone could be a shifter and not everyone was born a human. It would end the bullying and senseless deaths that are still occurring. We all have differences, and the point of the peace movement and signed agreement between Storm and the Council was to bring us together."
"I want us to be able to do that. We have to implement something, or we'll kill one another until there's nothing left," I whispered, raising my head to look into his dark blue eyes.
