Jaden shrugged. "Fine."

Ikovos narrowed his eyes at him, then turned to me. "Okay. I'll go tell the Masters and meet you by the gate in say . . . half an hour?"

I yawned, feeling my hair again and nodded. "Yeah. That's fine."

He grinned. "Good. See you then."

I nodded again and he was off.

Once he had disappeared through the doorway, I looked over to Jaden. "So we're just saying that you weren't there?"

The boy raised an eyebrow at me. "Looks like it."

My chest fell dejectedly, he made it sound so easy.

Suddenly he rose from his seat, tipping my face up with a finger. "You just worry about finding something to wear."

I gulped as he walked off, but the words had distracted me from the delivery.

Ack! He's right. We're going swimming! What on earth am I going to wear?

I started to gather up my books to put away on the shelves.

Thirty minutes suddenly felt like too short a time to be ready in. . . .

"Here I goooo!" As soon as the young boy landed, bright water splashed up into the air.

I clapped happily.

We were at the glowing pool now, though . . . it didn't really glow at all at the moment. It wasn't very pink either. Ikovos told me it was because of the sun.

I looked up. Made sense, it was strikingly vivid today. The water trickling down along the rock wall into the pool was still beautiful, but it hardly compared to what I had seen before.

"My turn!" shouted another boy, before jumping over the cliff.

This time water splashed up onto the ledge where I and some of the other boys were sitting.

"Hey, watch it!" yelled Jacob. Others joined in the complaints.

I just laughed. The place was so lively. Trevor and Nathan had gone a little overboard with inviting other people, though I'm sure that, per Ikovos's request, they'd also held back.

There were about fifteen boys altogether. Most of them were young. Ikovos, Jaden, Derrith, and another boy I hadn't met, were the only older ones here. The last was playing in the pool, as was Ikovos. Derrith hadn't gotten in the water once thus far. Instead he sat on the high ledge with a pile of books, reading.

Jaden was sitting over on a rock at the opposite side of the pool, periodically watching the boys jump in. I guess he wasn't planning on swimming, because he had a shirt and longer pants still on . . .

Thank goodness.

"Alright," said Nathan excitedly beside me. He moved back till he was about ten feet away from the edge. "This will be the best, jump, ever!!!" He ran and leapt as he said it, springing into a double front-flip before hitting the water.

My breath held worriedly for a second, but when his head came up I cheered excitedly.

He beamed, then one of the other boys in the pool dunked him under.

They could be being a little less rough in there. . . .

"Aren't you coming in?" asked Ikovos from the water. Then he hoisted his body onto the ledge by his arms. His wet, disheveled, hair and dripping skin reminded me of our walk in the rain . . . the look really suited him.

I watched for too long without responding. "I, ah . . ." Then looked ahead. "I'm just warming up. I will in a minute."

He smiled, standing up. "Come on, it's not that cold-" he pointed behind me "-besides, I think some of the boys are conspiring to push you in."

I followed his finger to see Trevor and two others whispering in a small circle. My brow furrowed, then I looked back at him and nodded.

He smirked before going to stand in the jumping line.

My eyes turned down.

I hadn't been completely honest about the whole "staying out to warm up" thing. The truth was that I wasn't really big on the whole swimsuit thing. In Tiver it had kept me from the lake trips many times. It didn't really make much sense I guess . . . the other girls loved wearing them. It was always greatly fussed over to find or make the perfect swimsuit before summer.

I lifted my robe back a bit to examine mine. It really was beautiful. Sophie had made it for along with the other clothes. It was a deep, jade-turquoise in color with bluer trimmings here and there. Fitting, but incredible modest, almost like a mini dress, starting at the top with a curved neck and ending above my knees in a lacey material.

It would have gotten a lot of praise in Tiver.

I sucked in a breath and looked ahead purposefully. Alright, Evelyn, stop being a weirdo. No one's paying that much attention to you anyways. Just get on with it.

I nodded once, dutifully, then stood up and went over to the wall to set my robe down. After that I got into the line to wait for my turn to jump.

"You getting in now, Evelyn?" asked Lucas, one of Nathan's younger friends, behind me.

I nodded. "Ah . . . yeah." Then smiled.

He looked pleased, but Trevor and his small group frowned substantially.

"Wanna jump in together?"

I laughed. "Sure."

We did. The water was cool and refreshing, wonderful under the hot sun. We all swam like this for a while, playing different games or just taking turns jumping in. When they were trying to think up a new one, I mentioned to one of the boys something we used to do in Tiver when I was young. You could either do it alone or with a partner. You would stand out on a ledge and put on a small act, before falling into the water in a way that related to the story. He seemed enamored with the idea and forced me to share it with the others.

It wasn't long till they were playing it repeatedly.

I sat in the pool and watched as they put on the short plays. Most often they would display a Meoden being defeated by one of the Masters in the order, and then falling to a watery death, sometimes from a sword to the gut, others a fire spell. I laughed and clapped merrily for each. Nathan's were my favorite as he would act ridiculously animated, completely entering into the role.

Ikovos never did it, watching instead beside me at the edge, commenting every so often.

I glanced at Jaden a couple times, but he was just lounging contentedly on the rock. He seemed a bit dubious of the game I'd taught . . . I couldn't tell if he was happy to be here or not. . . .

After another hour of role-playing, Derrith called all the boys together to head home for dinner. It had gotten quite a bit darker. The pool was beginning to glow now, it was absolutely wonderful, especially being in it. It didn't take a long time to round up all the boys. They moved out sopping wet and talking about how much fun it had been while waving goodbye to me and Ikovos.

"Bye, Evelyn," shouted Trevor last.

I raised a hand. "Bye!"

"You're good with kids, you know that?" came Ikovos voice calmly beside me.

I looked to him. We were the only ones left in the water. His hair had begun to dry out a bit, but his blue eyes against the pink glow around us were startling.

I raised a surprised brow. "Really? . . . I've always thought the opposite. . . ."

He sunk a little deeper. "That's because you always assume the worst about yourself."

He said it so matter-of-factly. I raised a finger to argue, but he dipped his head back under the water before I could.

When he came back up he shook out his hair, running a hand through it. "So, do you want to stay here a bit longer, or are you ready to go back?"

I looked at the pink wall behind him and the glowing sky above. "It really is beautiful at this time of day."

He shrugged before I could think up my answer. "Okay, let's not leave yet."

I smiled and everything went quiet.

"By the way, thank you for today, Ikovos . . . it was a lot of fun."

He brightened then chucked my arm. "No problem. You deserved it. You worked hard."

I smiled again, then my eyes moved past him to Jaden. It was inevitable that every time I thought about magic, I thought about him. Silly . . . Ikovos could use magic too. He was lying on his back, I think he might have been asleep. I couldn't see his face from here.

Ikovos followed my gaze, which had probably lasted to long, then looked back with a wicked smirk. "Wanna try something fun?"

My eyes widened, suddenly nervous. "Huh?"

He tossed his head back. "With Jaden."

I settled. "Oh . . . what do you mean?"

He got closer checking back once at the other boy. "Don't you think it's about time he got in the water?"

I looked over at Jaden. ". . . I don't think he wants to."

"Exactly," said Ikovos, smiling.

He then relayed a plan to get the currently dry boy into the water. I would have liked to object, but with all he had done today I felt indebted.

With a wink and a nod he jumped out of the pool towards the woods.

I looked back ahead dejectedly, then waded through the water towards Jaden. My part in this was purely distraction . . . It might not have been the best role considering I was hardly adept at holding the boy's attention . . . or, at least, he never makes it seem like it . . .

"You guys about ready?" questioned Jaden, shocking me out of my contemplation.

I guess he wasn't asleep.

He sat up, leaning back on his arms, then looked around. "Did Ikovos leave?"

"Ah . . . yeah. He'll be back though . . . I think . . . I don't know." We hadn't discussed that. Ugh, this was a bad idea.

Jaden raised a disbelieving brow, looking towards the trees. "That's awfully reckless of him."

Huh? "How so?" I asked confusedly.

Jaden looked at me, mouth tilting into a thin diagonal line. I would have called the face condescending . . . except there was a trace of tenderness to it . . . pity?

"That was an interesting game you taught," he said, tossing his head up and ignoring my question completely. I sighed as he continued. "Can't really picture you doing it though."

I looked back, blushing slightly. "Yeah. I used to . . . I guess I'd be too chicken now."

His smile kept, but for a moment there was silence.

"Well, are you ready to go, or . . . ?"

Ack, I forgot about the prank. "Ah . . . no!"

His eyebrows lifted and I cleared my throat. "I mean, not yet. In a bit."

"Okay," he drawled, eyeing me skeptically.

I was going to kill Ikovos for making me do this.

Suddenly Jaden stood up.

"Where are you going?" I asked panicking. This wouldn't work if he moved.

"Nowhere," he answered.

Oh good.

But then he pulled his shirt over his head and dropped it on the rock.

I gulped, ignoring the sudden tightening of my stomach. "You're swimming?"

He nodded. Off went the shoes.

"But . . . but I thought you didn't want to."

"I didn't," he said, then walked to the edge and dived into the pool.

Wha? How is that supposed to make any sense?!?