Soul Stitched (book one)

Chapter 25: Cashmere

The fact that I was glowing? Mind blowing. But of course, just like everything else that had been happening to me lately, it wasn't bad or harmful. Just strange and of course, totally confusing.

Aqua claimed that sparks were flying off of me, but that was impossible. The more we fought, the warmer my cheeks got. They always did that when I was angry. My mom told me that it happened to a lot of people from getting so worked up.

As we argued, the rain poured harder until it felt like it was a million knives, stabbing my skin, I screamed, and Aqua just scowled. "I should have known better than to take someone I just met on a trip where I need to "COOL DOWN!" she yelled over the rain. "What are you saying? That you wish I hadn't come?" I asked in disbelief. She paused, then said, "That's not what I-" Oh, that's exactly what you meant! Don't deny it! And trust me, I wish I had never come, too!" I hollered. "Then maybe you should leave." she snapped. Woah. How bad we gotten this carried away? I didn't know how to swim, and now she wanted me to get off the boat. I tried to backtrack, apologize, something. But anger swelled up inside of me, and I couldn't keep myself from saying, "Maybe I should!"

"Fine!" she snapped.

Fine." I stormed down the lower deck.

I slammed the door to our suite shut and screamed in frustration. Why was she so stubborn? We both knew I couln't actually get off the boat, but we were going to act like it. She would probably ignore me for the res of the trip, and I was definitely going to ignore her. The only downside: w were stuck in the same suite.

A couple hours later, I opened my eyes and realized I must have fallen asleep. I left my bedroom and walked into the central room of the suite where Aqua was lounging on the sofa, drinking a smoothie, and flipping through channels on he flat screen TV. I walked past her and she eyed me warily, but then looked away as if I wasn't even there. Told ya.

I walked over to our kitchenette and grabbed an apple from a fruit basket with a note that read, "Enjoy your stay!" I took a bite of the apple and thought. Why had our birthmark been glowing? Why were Aqua and me mad at each other? My birthmark had only glown once before, when my necklace had appeared n my hand before ran away. Had Aqua's birthmark ever glown before? If so, why? All these questions swarmed in my head when Aqua walked in. But she didn't look down or up, or to the sides like I was expecting her to. Instead she looked me right in the eyes. "I'm sorry." she said. "I'm sorry for yelling at you." I gasped, then scowled. "No you're not. You meant everything you said." "No. Well, maybe. But that's not the point. The point is that-" "That you want me off the boat?" I suggested. She sighed. "No, Cashmere. I don't want you off the boat. I just-" "Hate me?" I offered. "No!" she snapped. I smirked and she groaned in frustration. "Listen, Cashmere. I'm sorry for yelling at you. I don't want you of the boat and I don't hate you. You're my friend." She explained. I looked at her skeptically, then said, "Really? You...you think of me as your friend?" Aqua nodded. "Yes. I hope you think of me the same way. I don't want us to be angry at each other anymore. It' just...I need to know something." I knew what she was going to say. Among all of the questions jumbled up in my head, there was on that stood out, one that I needed to find the answer to. And I knew that Aqua was wondering the same thing: What was going on?

We talked for hours. We mainly talked about how each of us flt when our hand was glowing. Aqua said that hers HAD glown before. But not like this. Not so powerfully. It was the same situation with me. And the way my whole body was glowing? Weird. No, weird doesn't fit it. Something much more than weird. Something that no words can describe.

"So, did you feel anything when you were glowing?" She asked. "No, not at all. I didn't even know until you told me." I replied. "Hmm. Was I glowing?" She asked. I closed my eyes and tried to think back to our fight. Now that I thought about it, she wasn't glowing, but something even stranger. She was...attracting the water. The rain had seemed like it was falling towards her. The water in the pool was swirling around her. I opened my eyes and said, "No. You weren't glowing.The water was almost, well, being drawn to you." I paused, waiting for her to say something serious, but she just laughed. "Psh! Being drawn to me? Cashmere, you need to see a doctor! Didn't you tell me that you had a concussion recently?" she asked trying not to laugh. "Well, yes but-" "You obviously still have one! Being drawn to me?Yea right. That's the silliest thing I ever heard!" she chuckled. "Yeah, well think about what's been happening so far! Both of our birthmarks were bright, and I was glowing!!!" I shouted. Aqua stopped laughing and stared at me. "I guess you have a point. But sheesh, you don't have to yell." she said. I rolled my eyes and we left the kitchen.

"So what now?" she asked, sitting on the sofa. "I do't know. We have to figure out what's going n. It definitely involves both of us, but how? I mean, we just met. What could possibly be happening?" I asked. I heard footsteps and voices, lots of voices, above us. Aqua shook her head. "I have no idea. But there's one thing I know: we just reached New Jersey."