Waters of Oblivion

Chapter 10.2: The Race

They joined Morgan and Amara for lunch. Afterwards, Max promptly excused himself to finally go into work. Reine spent the rest of the afternoon with the girls and didn't see him return even by bedtime.

Once again, nightmares continued to haunt her.

In the dreams, she was running through crowds of maniacally laughing people, bumping into them, and being shoved to and fro. Although she tried desperately to see what it was she was running from, no matter how much she looked behind her, a pursuer was always out of sight. Ultimately, she left the crowds behind, but she continued to run from the invisible adversary through empty, dark alleyways. When she thought she was finally safe, she tripped and began endlessly falling into a bottomless pit, which only exists in dreams.

She woke with a start. Not only was she still tired, but she was also extremely hungry. While it seemed like a good night's rest was impossible lately, at least she could do something about the latter problem.

After pulling on some clothes, Reine headed downstairs to the dining room. While all the places were already set for breakfast, there was neither food nor anyone else in the room. There was, however, an encouraging smell of bacon and pancakes in the air.

As she walked out the door toward the kitchen, something interrupted her steps.

"Oww, oww, oww!" she automatically exclaimed, trying to regain her balance while avoiding the dark mass of fur underneath her feet.

"What are you doing, Frankenpuss?" She greeted the cat with the full name Amara had given him. Bending down to scratch the purring feline's head, Reine smiled while remembering Max's fondness for the animal. "Where's everybody, buddy?"

Although she naturally didn't expect an answer, the cat turned out to be just as unpredictable as his master. As if giving a response, he ran to a slightly ajar door nearby. Sticking his paw into the gap, he knocked it wide open and ran down another flight of stairs.

"All right, show me what you've got," Reine said as she followed the animal. As she neared the bottom of the stairs, she could hear muffled voices and water splashing. There was also a faint smell of chlorine in the air.

While the cat had initially outrun her, she caught up with him when a closed, frosted glass door blocked his path. Opening it, her eyes widened.

"Is there anything he doesn't have?" Reine muttered under her breath, crossing the threshold.

The air in the large room was much warmer and a lot more humid than in the rest of the house. The space was enormous, and one wall was made entirely of glass. Because the house sat on a hill, the indoor pool in front of her - which took up most of the room - was at ground level compared to the rear of the property.

There were two people in the water swimming at a feverish pace. Mikey sat in a beach chair on the side, occasionally cheering and clapping.

"Come on, man! You can still take her!" he yelled at the figure trailing by a half body length.

The swimmers had just turned at the near wall and were now starting another lap. In front, a woman with long, red hair was cutting through the water with such grace and impossible speed that Reine could easily imagine mistaking her for a mermaid. It could only have been Morgan.

"She's amazing. Are you sure she doesn't have a couple of fins down there?" She joked as she reached Mikey's side.

"Oh, I can guarantee she's all woman." Seeing Reine's raised eyebrow at the statement, he topped the declaration with a sly wink.

Looking away, she tried to hide the blush that came to her face. "Is that Max?"

After turning at the far wall, the man was now a full body length behind in spite of his own superhuman speed.