Destiny - Book One in The Bomcard Trilogy
Chapter Nine - A Secret Hideaway

Lucas and Elizabeth walked down the road to Stelipse in silence,staring at the scenery before them. Charles had dropped them off outside theValley of the Giants earlier that morning and now the sun was high in the sky,causing Lucas to constantly cover his eyes from the blinding glare. There wereno clouds in the sky and he looked at Elizabeth, noticing how tired and thirstyshe looked. They had forgotten their water containers back in the giant'svillage and they were now both dehydrated. They walked slowly towards the townbut stopped when they noticed a small wooden sign.

Walking up to it, theynoticed the sign looked old and worn. A small picture of an arrow pointingforward made them lift their heads and notice a small stone path that led up asmall mountain of rocks. Reading the sign, Elizabeth smiled.

‘It says there is a lakenearby. It's called Lake Spring.' She looked at him as she spoke. ‘We can getrefreshment … and maybe stay the night there.'

Lucas nodded andfollowed her up the stone path. As the path came to its end, they stared outfrom the top of the rocks and noticed it had led to a small clearing. In themiddle of the clearing was the large lake, its water crystal blue andreflective. Surrounding the lake were large trees, providing shelter from thescorching sun. Lucas looked around and noticed they were in a similarsurrounding to the place he had arrived in Bomcard. Large stones were builthigh into the sky and surrounded the opening all the way around until bothsides reached the stone path. Clean, dark green grass covered the ground, softto touch and lie on.

Heading down the path,Elizabeth moved towards the lake and leaned down. Cupping her hands, she leanedin and drank, splashing water on her face after she was done. Lucas walked overslowly and did the same, accidentally splashing Elizabeth in the face.

‘Watch it, fire boy,’she laughed as she splashed him back.

Lucas smiled and walkedover to the shade under a large tree, dropping his sword. Elizabeth followedand sat down near Lucas, staring out at the lake in silence and with intensity.Lucas stared at her, confused.

‘What's wrong?' he askedwhen he noticed her sad face.

She looked at him. ‘It'sthe water. It reminds me of home.'

He looked at her,confused, before he turned to stare at the water. He turned back to her andasked, ‘Do you miss it? Home, I mean.'

‘It doesn't matter.' Sheturned back to the water.

‘Where are you from?'

She looked at him andfrowned. ‘Somewhere far from here.'

He smiled at her. ‘Whatis it like? Being a mermaid?'

Confusion crept onto herface. ‘What do you mean?'

‘I mean … the freedom.'He stared out into the lake and went into his own thoughts. When he spoke,Elizabeth thought he sounded like he was asking himself rather than her. ‘Justto get away and not worry about anyone or anything. Just swim away and notworry about your problems. I always wanted that on Earth.' He looked at her.‘Not the swim thing, but you know what I mean.'

She frowned at him andshook her head as she replied, ‘Lucas that is running away. Your problems willalways be there when you come back.'

‘And if you don't comeback?'

She looked at himangrily. ‘Then you would be a coward. Face your problems. Don't hide fromthem.'

He frowned at her.‘Don't you think your father and brothers would be upset that you ran away fromyour problems? You are doing the same thing.'

She shook her head. ‘Myfather, Tristan, would be furious, but he won't come after me.'

Lucas looked at her,shocked, and asked, ‘Why not? Doesn't he care?'

Elizabeth smiled weaklyand replied, ‘He is the king. He has more pressing issues to deal with than arunaway.'

‘Wow … so, you're aprincess. What about your brothers?' he asked.

She looked at him andfrowned. ‘They would obey whatever my father would command.'

‘Do they speak aboutyour mother?'

‘She is dead, remember?'

He looked at her sadly.‘I'm sorry. I didn't mean to … say anything … you know …' He frowned as hewhispered to himself, ‘I knew that, idiot.'

She smiled and nodded.‘Do not be hard on yourself, Lucas. I never knew her. She died when I was veryyoung. I have seen pictures, but I do not remember her. My brothers do, so theytell me wonderful stories.'

‘Good stories?'

Elizabeth laughed.‘Yes.'

‘Who is the older one?'

‘Arthur is by a year.'Lucas stared at her, confused, as she revealed, ‘Two annoying brothers. Beingso closely born, the pair have always been inseparable.'

Lucas laughed as well.He smiled at her and said, ‘Double trouble.'

She nodded, smiling.‘Arthur is the older and he is more like my father, but William is like me.Apparently, we take after our mother.'

‘I have no brothers orsisters,' Lucas mumbled. ‘But I had Linda, who is great. She's my adoptive mum.She was always there when I needed her, as a friend or a parent. She helped putme through school, helped with the school work when I was stuck, drove mearound to people’s houses. She always was smiling, eager to help me with whateverproblem I had, while also giving me the space I needed.'

She smiled. ‘She soundslovely.'

‘She is,' Lucas repliedin a frown, looking out at the lake and beginning to remember everyone he hadleft behind on Earth. He missed Tom, Lucy, Mr. Dawn and Linda. They were allhis connections to being normal. Well, not Tom or Lucy anymore, he thought tohimself.

Elizabeth looked at himand asked, ‘What did you mean before? About not wanting to be king, I mean.'

‘I mean exactly that,'he said quietly, not turning away from staring at the lake.

She stared at him sadly.‘Lucas. If you are the Lost Son, it is your birthright to claim the throne. Itbelongs to you.'

He shrugged. ‘I don'tcare. I don't want it.'

She frowned, shaking herhead. ‘I don't think you can choose.'

He turned to her and fora brief second, she thought his eyes had flashed a dark green. It reminded herimmediately of the emerald on her necklace and his amulet. She shook her headas he replied, ‘Everyone has a choice. You said so yourself.' He stood up andwalked over to the lake. Crossing his arms, he stared out over the water andnoticed Elizabeth was standing next to him within seconds.

‘I'm sorry if I upsetyou.'

He smiled at her. ‘It'sokay. It's just …' Staring back over the lake, his smile disappeared and wasonce again replaced with a frown. ‘My whole life, I was bullied and picked onfor looking different. To replace out that I am different, I mean reallydifferent, it is like the whole time, those bullies knew deep down. I mean, Iknow they couldn't have known, but it's just …'

He looked at her,sadness creeping across his face as tears formed in his eyes. ‘I have alwayswished to be like everyone. Be normal and have a family. No one ever wanted mefor adoption. I went to school and people rejected me, and I went home andfound the same. I wished for a family to call my own and my call was neveranswered.'

Elizabeth smiled kindlyand warmly at him. ‘Family doesn't always mean the family you are given. Ourtrue family is who we choose it to be.'

He smiled. ‘It's easy tosay, but harder to believe.'

She nodded and replied,‘Lucas, you have Linda, Tom and Lucy.'

‘Yeah …'

She shrugged. ‘The way Isee it, Linda is your mum, Tom and Lucy your brother and sister. You alreadyhave a family who love you.'

He smiled at her,nodded, and after a moment replied, ‘Thank you. I never thought of it likethat.'

‘You're welcome.' Shesmiled. ‘Being king will be tough, but you will be able to do it. Just believein yourself.'

‘I don't know how to.How can you when you feel your whole life has been against you?'

She smiled warmly as shereplied, ‘I believe in you. A good king will listen to his people and put themfirst before all others.'

He smiled and looked ather. ‘What about you?'

She looked at him,confused, and asked, ‘What do you mean?'

‘You mentioned beforeyou had a family? Why leave them?'

She frowned and looked outover the lake. ‘My family are not your normal family. My father is very strict.He raised me the same as my brothers, to be a fighter. I never had a chance tobe myself. My brothers always treated me as one of them, not as a sister.'

He smiled sadly andnodded. ‘I always believed my parents were dead. It was the only way to dealwith the fact that I was abandoned.'

‘There would have beenother reasons why you were left behind.'

Lucas shook his head.‘It was easier to believe them dead than the fact they didn't want me. When Ifound out that my mother was alive, a part of me was hurt. I know it was nother fault but it hurts knowing that all along, she was alive. I will be sohappy when I see her.'

Elizabeth smiled. ‘Itwill be great.'

He nodded and smiled ather. As she smiled seductively at him, she began to take a few steps back.Holding out her hands as if she was cupping something invisible and stickingout her left leg, leaning forward on her right, she smiled and said, ‘Now, YourMajesty. Shall we test how strong we believe you are?'

Lucas laughed and lookedat her, shocked. ‘What?'

She smiled seductivelyat him, not moving, and spoke quietly. ‘Fight me. See if you can win.'

Lucas took a few stepsback and stuck out his left hand in a fist. His left leg stretched forward ashis leaned on his right leg as it slid back. His right hand clenched into afist and he raised it behind him. The two stood in their fighting poses andstared at each other as the wind blew passed them. In his hand, Lucas created afireball. Staring at Elizabeth, he noticed water from the lake fly into heropen hands. She created two water balls and smiled. He smiled back.

‘We really going to dothis?' he asked.

She continued to smileback at him. ‘I want to test your powers as well as test your limits. Besides,'she smiled seductively at him again, ‘I need the practice.'

He nodded and ranforwards at the same time she did. She threw her first ball as Lucas threw his.The balls collided and one evaporated the other. They reached each other andshe leapt up, kicking him in the face. Falling backwards, he flipped over onhis hand and smiled, rubbing his jaw. Moving faster than her, he struck outwith his foot, connecting with her stomach and sending her to the ground.

He stopped and his smilefaded. Looking at her, concerned, he moved towards her to help her. ‘I'm sorry.I didn't mean to -’

She ignored him and,leaning on her hands, kicked his feet from under him. Landing on his back, shewas now sitting on top of him.

She smiled seductivelyat him again. She shook her head. ‘Never be lenient on your opponent becausethey won't be lenient on you.'

He rolled over and shefell off him. He was now on top of her and he smiled down at her. ‘I didn't. Idon't want to hurt you.'

She smiled and replied,‘Do not hold back. I have been through worse fights.'

She kicked him in thegroin and he fell off her. She rolled away from him and leapt to her feet.Creating a water ball again, she threw it at him as he stood, hitting him inthe chest and sending him flying back. Landing on the soft ground, he rolled tohis feet and smiled at her.

Creating anotherfireball, he ran forward at the same moment she did. When she created anotherwater ball and threw it at him, Lucas flung his ball down, blasting the groundand sending himself flying above her. Landing behind her, he turned around andswung out his leg, connecting with her arm and sending her flying towards thelake. As Elizabeth fell into the water, Lucas lost sight of her, created anotherball and waited.

There was no movement inthe lake as the water lay still. Lucas extinguished the fireball and movedslowly towards the water. Staring down into the lake, he could not see anythingmoving.

‘Elizabeth?' hewhispered.

Before he could react,the surface erupted and a large water hand reached out of the lake and grabbedhim. Curling itself into a large fist, Lucas felt himself being thrown aroundin the watery hand as it raised itself into the air. All of a sudden, Lucasfelt himself flying downwards towards the ground. On impact, the water burstapart, spraying water all over the ground. Lucas lay on the ground winded anddrenched, coughing up the water in his lungs.

Elizabeth jumped out ofthe water and flew down towards Lucas. As she moved down towards him, she swungout her hand into a fist. He rolled out of the way just as she hit the groundand he flung out his hand, sending her flying away from him. Standing and stillcoughing up water, Lucas stared at her as she ran towards him. He was stillwinded and could not move in time as she flung out her arm, backhand punchinghim.

Lucas fell to the groundand remained there, unmoving. Elizabeth sank into her fighting pose, waiting,but he did not move. Her smile faded and she stood, her face now showing shockand confusion. She ran towards him and leant down.

‘Lucas?' she whispered,reaching out to touch his shoulder.

Before she knew whathappened and just before she touched his shoulder, he grabbed her arm andfrightened her, sending her falling back. He stood up coughing, wiped the bloodfrom his face and smiled at her. ‘That was interesting.'

She smiled as he heldout his hand. ‘You faked it.'

He smiled as she grabbedhis hand and he pulled her up. ‘You'll never know.'

She laughed. ‘How didyou like my powers?'

He nodded. ‘Like I said,it was interesting. I don't like drowning, however.'

She frowned. ‘Yeah,sorry about that.'

Laughing, he moved overto where they had sat. Reaching down and grabbing both their swords, he walkedback to her and smiled. ‘So, you can beat me in hand to hand … for now atleast. Let's see how you fare in sword play.'

She raised an eyebrow.‘Have you ever used a sword?'

He laughed. ‘No way.Well, except that time in Darkness Forest and the harpies. Everything elsecomes to me naturally. Let's see if this does as well.'

She nodded and grabbedher sword as he held it out. Holding his out in front of him, she smiled anddid the same. They began to circle each other, swords raised towards eachother.

As Lucas moved forward,Elizabeth dived to her side, his sword slamming into the ground. She swung hersword, but he had already recovered, swinging his sword to meet hers. Bothjumping back, they stared at each other before they ran forward.

Their blades clashedseveral times and both jumped back. Lucas ran forward and struck out his swordtowards her. Elizabeth, stepping back with her right foot and hitting his swordaway from her, kicked Lucas and knocked him off guard. She swung out with herfoot again and he fell backwards. Recovering quickly, Lucas dived to his sideas Elizabeth attacked. Raising his sword and stepping back, Lucas blocked herstrike. She swung again and for a second time, Lucas blocked the attack.

‘This is even moreinteresting,' he smiled as he stared at her.

She smiled in return andtheir swords clashed in the air again. As they attacked and parried eachother's strikes, Lucas realised they were equally matched. Both jumping back,they stood staring at each other, swords raised. They both leapt into the air,spinning in a circle as their swords hit one another. As he landed, Lucas swunghis sword above him, but Elizabeth did the same, their swords clashing.Elizabeth swung low towards his legs, spinning down into a crouched position. Lucasleapt above the sword and swung down as she raised hers.

Elizabeth rolled to herside as Lucas leapt back and moved in closer. Lucas swung his sword above himas Elizabeth did the same. As he moved his sword lower to attack, she did aswell. He jumped into the air, spinning into a circle, and kicked her, sendingher falling back. She leapt to her feet, smiling and wiping away the blood fromher mouth and ran forward.

Swinging her sword leftand right above her, Lucas meeting every strike, Elizabeth began to force Lucasto move back. As their swords clashed, Lucas stuck out his hand, sending herflying. As she bounced on her hand and back onto her feet, she created a waterball and threw it. Lucas knocked it aside with his telekinesis and ran towardsher. They both leapt into the air, their swords clashing as they landed wherethe other stood.

Turning, Lucas swung hissword towards Elizabeth. Parrying his sword, Elizabeth grabbed the advantageagain. Smiling, Lucas stepped back as her sword came crushing down. Kicking herin the stomach, he sent her to the ground. Leaping into the air, he landedabove her, his sword aiming down towards her chest. She looked up and hecontinued to smile.

‘Looks like we areeven,' he laughed, stepping back.

Laughing, she stood upand smiled back. ‘Looks like it.'

They walked over to thelarge tree from before and throwing their weapons down, they both sat down.Lucas was soaked, so he sat out further in the sun, lying down and letting hisclothes dry. Even though she was drenched, Elizabeth moved towards the shadedarea and sat down.

‘This is beautiful,'Elizabeth spoke softly. She looked at Lucas who now had his eyes closed.

‘What is this place?'

He smiled. ‘I don't knowbut … it feels …'

‘Like it's ours?' sheasked.

He nodded and sat up. Hestared at her and whispered, ‘I don't know how, but a part of me doesn'tbelieve this could be happening.'

‘What do you mean?' sheasked, staring at him, confused.

‘Well, it's just, itfeels … right.' He smiled at her and she returned his gesture. She stood up,walked over to him and held out her hand.

‘Want to see my world?'she smiled.

He tilted his head andlooked at her, confused. ‘Wait, what?'

She smiled and reachedup. Taking off her amulet and kneeling down, she placed it over his head. ‘Inour world, merpeople can breathe perfectly underwater. The necklaces we wearare magical. We can give them to surface dwellers, as we call all of you abovethe water. With this, you can breathe underwater.'

He grabbed her arms asshe lowered them. They stared into each other's eyes and began to lean in. Itwas silent, and as his lips moved closer to hers, almost touching, they stoppedthemselves and she leant back. Smiling, she stood up and held out her hand.

‘Trust me,' she whispered.

Grabbing her hand, Lucassmiled at her and followed her as she moved closer to the lake. Walking intothe water, she dived in and he realised he could not see her anymore. He beganto follow her until he was in waist deep and he turned around in circles,looking for any sign of her.

‘Elizabeth?!' he called.

Her head rose slowly outof the water in front of him. Smiling, she replied, ‘You have to go under forit to work.'

‘Is it deep?' he asked.

She smiled, rolling hereyes. ‘Yes, really deep. Quit being a baby.'

‘Shut up,' he repliedwith a smile.

Moving further in, hecould feel himself beginning to sink deeper until he was fully submerged andwas amazed to discover he could see as clearly as he could above water. It wasas if he was wearing water goggles and could see everything in clear detail. Hegasped in awe as he finally caught a glimpse of Elizabeth. Her top half lookedexactly the same, except now her feet were gone. She had a beautiful purpletail, her scales shining in the crystal blue water. Her tail, which began ather waist, had two light purple fins that were moving back and forth in thewater. She smiled at him.

‘Lucas?You okay?' He looked at her, shocked, and she tapped her head. ‘We communicate telepathically in the water.As long as you wear my amulet, we can hear each other, and the fact you are atelepath would help as well.'

Lucas nodded. He openedhis mouth to respond and froze. He had thought that the moment he did, waterwould begin to flow inside him, but he was shocked to discover that this wasnot the case. It was as if a small invisible air bubble was blocking the waterfrom entering his mouth. He tried to talk, but no sound came out. He stared atElizabeth and began to talk to her in the same way he did back in the giant'svillage.

‘Thisis amazing. I feel like … I can breathe.'

She smiled and movedcloser to him. Holding out her hand, she leaned in towards him and asked, ‘Ready to see my world?'

He nodded and she swambackwards, pulling him along. She turned and swam deeper into the water, herhand never leaving his, guiding him down towards the bottom of the lake. Theypassed a school of fish that Lucas immediately believed to be goldfish, but ashe stared at them, their orange scales changed to green. In the next instant,they changed to red before turning blue.

‘Whatare they?' he asked.

She smiled. ‘We callthem Multis. They change the colour of their scales to blend into theirenvironments. When they are not in any danger, they change for the fun of it.'

He smiled and held outhis hand. The Multis swam around his arm and moved around his whole body. Theytickled him and many moved towards Elizabeth as well. As they swam over them,Lucas watched as one by one they left both Elizabeth and him and swam away. Elizabethtook his hand again and swam further down.

They passed more Multisbefore it began to grow darker. Elizabeth pointed towards something passingabove, and letting go of his hand, she swam up towards it. Swimming upwardstowards the dark shape, Lucas realised it looked like a dolphin. It had thesame fins and tail, including the fin on its back. Its face, however, did notlook like the dolphins he knew.

On its flat, circularface there were little black ovals as eyes, which reminded Lucas of little blackstones. A large line stretched from its top left to its top right in asemicircle and as he swam closer, the lines parted to reveal it was thecreature's mouth. Hundreds of sharp teeth in two rows hung out as it smiled.Elizabeth grabbed its top fin and it swam down towards Lucas.

Paralyzed with fear,Lucas watched as it swam towards him. The creature stopped in front of him andsmiled. The pure white teeth shone brightly in the water and Lucas could nothelp but smile back.

‘Thisis a Terrfish,' Elizabeth explained.

‘Itlooks like … something from my world,' he replied. He smiledat it, holding out his hand.

He patted its head andit swam around him. Elizabeth let go and swam next to Lucas as the Terrfishdisappeared.

Lucas looked atElizabeth and smiled. She smiled back and looked at him deviously.

‘Wantto see a nifty trick?' she asked.

He smiled and nodded, soshe swam upwards towards the surface. He tried to follow, but she was too fast.Breaking out onto the surface of the lake and breathing in fresh air, he lookedaround. He could not see her anywhere.

‘Aha!'

He turned and noticedElizabeth leaping high out of the water and into the air. Her scales shonebrightly in the sky as she back flipped into the water. He looked down and sawher swim fast past him and once again, she leapt out of the water, though thistime towards the ground. As she fell, her fins seemed to shrink into her tail.When they were gone, her tail split into two pair of purple legs. She landed onher feet and turned to him, waving, her human legs and skin colour now clearlyvisible.

Unable to controlhimself, he smiled and waved back. Elizabeth ran back towards the water andleapt high once again into the air. He had never seen her leap that highbefore. Actually, he had never seen anyone leap that high in general. This timeas she fell towards the water, her feet fused together and changed into herpurple tail in the opposite way they turned into feet previously. The two finsgrew out of the bottom of her tail and she landed in the water, armsoutstretched.

Popping her head abovethe surface, she smiled at Lucas. ‘How was that?'

He smiled, holding upboth hands. ‘Perfect ten.' She laughed and he looked at her, amazed.

‘That was incredible. Ihave never seen anything like that before. How did you leap that high?'

She shrugged. ‘When wetransform, we can leap that high. When we fight, we can use that leapingability, but we need to be careful we don't transform on land.'

He looked at her,confused. ‘What would happen?'

She frowned at him.‘Well, if we were say on a beach or over there where water was nearby, thennothing. If we were in the middle of a battle, you can imagine.'

He smiled and nodded.‘The mermaids I hear about can never do that! It's so amazing!'

‘What do your mermaidsdo?' she asked him, staring at him, confused.

He shrugged. ‘Well, theyusually only stay in their mermaid form in stories. Some stories have them ableto turn into humans, but usually if they get wet, they transform back.Sometimes, they continuously need water to survive above the surface.'

Elizabeth smiled. ‘We donot need water above the water. Nor do we transform back into our mer-form ifwe are wet. Only when we wish so do we.'

Lucas moved in closer toher and they were now face to face. He smiled at her. ‘I cannot wait to showyou my world.'

She smiled at him. ‘Iwish to see it so much.'

‘The water there is sobeautiful,' he whispered. ‘Not like here but still nice. The ocean is so largeyou can swim for years to get from one end to another.'

She looked at himlongingly. ‘It sounds lovely. I wish I could go there.'

He nodded at her. ‘Iwill take you there. I promise.' He leaned in closer to her and as she leanedin as well, their eyes closed and as their lips were almost touching, he felt aweird sensation pass through him. He could not feel the water anymore and whenhe opened his eyes, he realised he was in his small bed in Charles's room.

He sat up and lookedaround. He had been dreaming, or so he thought. He looked down, felt hisclothes and realised they were dry. He looked at Elizabeth and she stared athim, smiling.

‘What happened?' heasked.

She shook her head. ‘Idon't know. One of us was dreaming and somehow we … I think we went into theother's dream.'

‘It felt so real,' hesaid, pulling at his dry clothes. ‘I expected us to be … wet and stuff.'

She sat up and lookeddown at the blankets. ‘I think it was, to an extent. I mean, we bothexperienced it.' She looked over at Charles and saw he was still asleep in thelarge bed in the gigantic house. ‘Maybe we should ask Charles in the morning.Try to get some sleep.'

Lucas nodded and laydown. He looked at Elizabeth and whispered, ‘Elizabeth?'

‘Yes, Lucas?' shewhispered back.

‘Maybe we don't tellhim. Not yet.'

She turned her head tolook at him and she looked confused. ‘What do you mean?'

He smiled at her. ‘Itwas nice having something … of ours, I mean. Something just between us.'

She smiled back at him,‘Our little retreat.'

He nodded. ‘We canalways meet the other there.'

She smiled back weaklyand closed her eyes. ‘Yes …' She fell asleep as Lucas watched her and, closinghis eyes, he fell asleep as well.