Chapter I

Damien Clark grimaced, reaching up to wipe away the sweat that was pouring down his forehead. It was a hot day even for August and he found himself burning up despite wearing only his swim trunks, a white tank top, and his sandals. The boy sighed, wishing that they had planned their trip on a cooler day as he wasn’t one who particularly liked the heat. He squinted as he turned to stare down at the hiking trail he was walking on, once again internally berating himself for forgetting to grab his sunglasses before getting in the car.

We’ve gotta be almost there, he thought bitterly. How did I let myself get talked into coming with them? I mean, I know it's smart to get one last trip in before junior year starts but couldn’t we have gone someplace air-conditioned?

“You really should smile a bit more,” came a sly voice from his right.

Oh, right. That’s how I wound up getting dragged out here.

He turned to look at the girl walking beside him and sighed. As much as he wasn’t thrilled with being out on a hike in the middle of one of the hottest days of the year, he couldn’t deny that his girlfriend looked absolutely adorable with her yellow-framed sunglasses and her black hair tied up in a ponytail. The bright blue tank top, yellow shorts, and blue beach bag she had strapped over her shoulder only added to her attractive appearance.

Elizabeth Tao was smiling up at him with her typical mischievous grin she always gave him whenever he was roped into something he didn’t want to do, which happened to be a common occurrence in his life. It wasn’t that he didn’t like hanging out with his friends. It was actually the opposite as he greatly enjoyed their company. He simply preferred to hang out with them at home rather than out in public, a habit that Liz seemed insistent on getting him over. She liked to tell him how it was good for him to get outside and enjoy the sun, especially during summer.

The girl laughed, as if she knew what was going through his mind, and continued. “Come on, Damien. I know it’s a little hot but look at the view! You can’t tell me that’s not pretty.”

Liz motioned to their left and Damien glanced over to see the beach stretching out before them down below. He could hear the sound of the ocean waves even from their spot up on the side of the hill and the sparkling of the sunlight on the water was pretty to look at. He even spotted a few seagulls gathered around on the sand, picking at trash that had been left there by other visitors. However, there wasn't anybody else within sight as Damien was sure any beachgoers wouldn’t be stupid enough to hike all the way out there in the heat. They were likely at the beach closer to town.

“I mean, yeah,” he replied, readjusting his own beach bag slung over his shoulder. “It is kinda cool. But I just don’t understand why we needed to come all the way out here. If you guys wanted to go to the beach then we should have just gone over to the spot by the pier.”

Liz shrugged. “Maybe. But that’s not really an adventure, now is it? We need to end summer vacation off with a bang and what better way than to go on a hike out to a quieter spot? Plus, Vinny said there were some cool caves over here that he wanted us to see.”

“That there are, my dear friend,” came the sudden call from up ahead.

Damien snorted, glancing a few yards down the path to where his two old friends, Vinny Mickelson and Eric Reiner, were walking, both looking back at him with sly grins that were obnoxiously similar to Liz’s. He always found that, when getting ready to screw around, the two of them looked rather similar. They were both tall and lanky, with mischevious grins that made them look like brothers. The only noticeable difference between them was their hair color, with Vinny's an almost pale blonde and Eric's dark brown. Damien, on the other hand, was shorter with broad shoulders and much darker skin, which was a stark contrast to their almost pasty complexions. He eyed them both for a moment, knowing he was in for their usual banter.

“Trust me, Damien,” Vinny continued, running a hand through his golden locks as he spoke, a typical habit of the boy whenever he was preparing to tease him. “They’re pretty cool—cooler even than your living room, I imagine, so I promise you that it’ll have been worth the hike.”

Damien cocked an eyebrow. “I think you’re underestimating my love for my living room,” he snapped back. “What does a cave have? Rocks?”

“Cool rocks,” Vinny corrected. “And probably a few bats, too.”

Damien eyed the blonde boy with a dejected expression before turning to glance at Eric, who was watching the back-and-forth with an amused look on his face. It was unusual for him to refrain from poking fun at Damien’s expense so he couldn’t help but to suspect that his old friend was up to something.

“Got something to add, Eric?” Damien inquired.

The tall, brown-haired boy simply shook his head before turning back to face forward. “Nothing at all. I just think it’s funny. For all your griping and complaining, you’re still here. Though I can’t help but assume that’s more due to Liz than Vinny and I.”

“Well you’re assuming right,” he replied wryly. “As if I’d ever make a hike out to some boring ass caves for either of you idiots.”

“Ah, how rude!” Vinny retorted, feigning offense. “Are you saying that just because I don’t have boobs, you wouldn’t go on a hike with me if I asked you to?”

“No, it’s because you’re obnoxious,” he replied.

Vinny sighed and glanced sidelong at Eric. “You hear this, dude?”

Eric nodded somberly. “Yeah, I do. And here I thought Damien loved us! I feel betrayed! My feelings have never been so hurt before! I don’t think I’ll ever recover! I’ll never trust anybody ever again!”

“Don’t worry, bro. You can always trust me!” Vinny assured. “I’d never choose a girl over you!”

Eric gave an exaggerated smile. “You really mean that?”

“Of course!”

Liz chuckled, watching the interactions between the three boys with amusement. “Alright, you two can cut it with the comedy act now.”

Eric glanced over his shoulder and eyed the girl suspiciously. “I hope you realize this is war, dear Liz! I can’t believe you would dare steal Damien from us with your womanly wiles! This act of defiance against us will not go unpunished! We shall reclaim Damien and save him from your siren’s song!”

Liz returned Eric’s challenging grin with one of her own. “Oh really? Bring it on, Reiner. I can take you, no problem.”

Eric frowned. “Vin’. She’s not backing down. I don’t think my intimidation efforts are succeeding.”

Vinny shook his head. “It doesn’t seem so. Perhaps we should try a different method of attack. Perhaps the time has come to put Operation Falconhyde into effect? That could work against her.”

“But that’s a risky move. If we fail then we will almost assuredly lose the war before it's even begun! Can we really risk Damien’s well-being like that?” Eric asked with mock nervousness.

But the blonde boy nodded sternly. “We must. If we do not free him from her grasp soon then I fear we may never save him.”

“Throw whatever you want at me,” Liz called over to them. “I have no intention of losing to a couple of monkeys like you two.”

Damien sighed as he listened to the three of them in their mock argument, barely following any of what they were saying. He was also pretty sure that Eric and Vinny were just making nonsense up and didn’t actually have any clue what “Operation Falconhyde” was or how it would help them in their imaginary war.

“Can you guys cut it out,” Damien snapped. “I don’t need to be ‘saved’ and even if I did, I wouldn’t want either of you to do it.”

Vinny glanced back at him, his eyes wide. “My god, Eric! She really has brainwashed him into submission!”

The two boys broke out into laughter as Damien eyed them irritably. Although, like usual, he couldn’t help but laugh along with them after a few moments. Vinny and Liz had both been quite busy for most of the summer so the four of them had only been able to get together a handful of times. Despite his grouchy attitude, the boy couldn’t deny that he loved their back-and-forths and was happy that they’d be seeing each other more often once school started back up.

“Ah, here we are!” Vinny announced, coming to a stop up ahead.

He and Eric waited for Damien and Liz to catch up before setting off down the natural stone steps that descended down the side of the hill and toward the beach. Looking off to the left, Damien could already see the entrance to a cave in the side of the rock wall and, while he would never admit so to Vinny, found himself suddenly excited to look inside.

He felt Liz softly grab his hand, smiling at him like she knew what he was thinking, before leading him down the steps and toward the sand.

“Ah, finally!” Eric cheered as he and Vinny jumped over the last few steps to land in the sand. “And we’ve got the whole place to ourselves.”

“How’d you even find this place, Vin’?” Liz called down to him as she and Damien reached the bottom.

The blonde boy shrugged. “I actually didn’t. My little sister was telling me about it a couple weeks ago. Apparently one of her friends took her down here to show her the caves and Mia thought they were really cool. I asked her to show me so she brought me here and we checked out the caves together.”

Damien smirked. Vinny’s little sister had always been more of the tomboyish type so he found it easy to believe that she would be pretty excited to go exploring some caves. Mia and Vinny had a close sibling relationship, something Damien had always been slightly jealous of. Like Liz and Eric, Damien was an only child, and he had always wanted a sibling, though his two friends had become like brothers to him over the years.

“Well I’m all for checking out the caves,” Liz replied. “But I’m dying from this heat so I’m getting in the water for a bit.”

“Ah, come on,” Vinny whined. “We can swim afterwards!”

But Liz simply ignored him as she slipped out of her blue tank top to reveal a black bikini top underneath. Damien laughed, knowing that if Liz decided she was going to swim then there was nothing the blonde boy could do to change her mind. Vinny no doubt realized that fact as well since he merely sighed in defeat and shrugged, seemingly deciding not to protest any further as he, too, took off his shirt.

“Alright, swimming it is,” he grumbled.

Liz smiled sweetly, though there was an undeniable smugness to her expression. “I thought so.”

Damien hung back for a moment, watching both Vinny and Liz heading for the shore. He shook his head and chuckled softly.

“Well, Eric,” he began. “I guess we ought to get in, too.”

He glanced to his right and immediately frowned. His friend was staring off toward the cave entrance, his brow furrowed in confusion as if something was bothering him. Damien suddenly felt a little worried and turned his own attention toward the cave, wondering if the boy had seen something inside. However, he saw nothing out of the ordinary from where he stood so he turned back to Eric.

“Uh, dude?” he asked. “What’s wrong?”

Eric didn’t reply. He just kept staring at the cave.

“Dude? Eric? Earth to Eric Reiner!”

When Damien raised his voice, Eric suddenly seemed to snap back to reality as he turned his head sharply to look at him.

“Huh? What’s up?” he asked casually, as if he hadn’t been doing anything weird.

Damien cocked an eyebrow. “You okay? You were staring at that cave pretty intently. Is everything alright?”

The tall boy immediately nodded, grinning at his question. “Oh yeah. Everything’s fine. I just thought I saw something but it was probably just a seagull.”

“Oi!?” Vinny called from the water, waving his arms over his head to get their attention. “What’s taking so long? Get your asses out here!”

Damien narrowed his eyes at his friend but Eric simply laughed before patting him on the back.

“Come on, buddy. Let’s go swimming. I’m sure you’re dying to cool off for a bit,” he teased.

He watched Eric pull off his shirt and kick his sandals off into the sand before sprinting off to join Liz and Vinny. For a moment, Damien stared after him before deciding there wasn't any point in worrying. Eric was a strange person in general and he had long accepted his quirks. So, he pushed the issue from his mind then removed his own shirt and rushed off to join his friends. For all of his griping about getting dragged out to the beach, Damien actually found himself enjoying the cool touch of the ocean water as he listened to the ridiculous back-and-forth between Eric and Vinny about which of them could swim faster which inevitably ended up with them splashing each other and challenging the other to a race. It was a common occurrence in the ever competitive relationship between the two boys and Damien could always predict how things would end up. Of course, there was no question that Vinny was the faster swimmer since he was a part of the swim team during their freshman year.

“Alright,” Liz called out, glancing between the two of them as they both prepared to take off before pointing to a rock nearly fifty yards to the right. “First to circle around that rock out there and get back wins. The loser then has to buy everybody snow cones from the pier after this.”

Both boys turned to look at her in surprise.

“Hey!” Eric protested. “Why would the loser have to buy cones for you and Damien? You guys aren’t a part of this bet!”

“Yeah! That’s not fair in the slightest!” Vinny agreed.

Liz laughed mischievously before fixing them with a challenging stare. “Because I said so. Is there any better reason? Or are you going to challenge my decision?”

Eric sighed. “I am wholeheartedly convinced that you were sent to this plane of existence from the deepest pits of hell. You truly are a demon, Tao!”

“That I am, Reiner,” Liz replied with an oddly creepy giggle. “Now, any more objections or can we get started?”

“No, ma’am!” both replied in unison.

“Good. Then go!”

Taken by surprise at her sudden shout, both boys scrambled to begin swimming, taking a few seconds to get a rhythm going as they raced each other toward the rock. Damien watched the whole interaction with amusement before glancing at his girlfriend, who was smugly watching the two in their race.

“You really do like messing with them,” he mused.

Liz laughed. “Of course I do. I mean, I wanted a snow cone and this seemed like the best way to get one.”

“It is a bit unfair though,” he replied. “Either way, we benefit here.”

She eyed him wryly. “And that’s a problem, how?”

“Well…” He sighed, knowing that if it actually bothered Vinny or Eric then they wouldn’t actually buy the snow cones. He knew the two greatly enjoyed their weird relationship with Liz that always seemed to end up with them getting manipulated so, if it meant he got free dessert out of it and they were having fun, then who was he to complain?

He and Liz grinned as they watched Vinny begin to overtake Eric and, by the time they had looped around the rock, the blonde boy had gained a good ten yards on his friend. When he passed by Liz and gained his victory, Eric was nearly twenty yards behind, finding himself greeted by Vinny’s victorious laughing when he finally reached the end.

“I told you not to challenge me, Eric!” he boasted. “Clearly I am the superior swimmer, as was obvious! I am sure going to enjoy that snow cone later!”

Naturally, Vinny’s victory speech led to another childish splash war between the two, which Damien couldn't help but to sigh at.

They stayed in the water for another hour and a half. Damien spent most of the time chatting with Liz and enjoying the water while also watching Eric and Vinny’s shenanigans. However, he could tell that Vinny was getting impatient to check out the caves and, finding himself oddly excited, too, Damien decided to finally bring them up.

“Alright guys. Why don’t we go to the caves now,” he suggested. “I’d say I've cooled off enough.”

“Yes!” Vinny cheered. “Damien to the rescue! Let’s go!”

Before either Eric or Liz could offer their opinion on the suggestion, Vinny immediately began to swim toward the shore, leaving his friends watching after him in exasperation. When they all got back to the beach, Liz got her towel out of her bag and began to dry herself off while Eric and Vinny simply threw their shirts back on over their wet bodies.

Liz frowned at them. “Uh...are you not going to dry off?”

“Nah,” Eric replied casually. “I didn’t bring a towel or anything.”

“Yeah, same,” Vinny added.

The girl shook her head. “You didn’t…? What kind of idiots don’t bring towels to the beach? And actually…” She looked around the beach and scowled. “I just realized neither of you brought any bags or anything! Where’s your sunscreen?”

“Don’t worry about it, Mom,” Vinny replied, brushing her questions aside with a wave of his hand. “I put sunscreen on before I left. I just didn’t want to have to carry a bag with me all the way over here.”

“And it’s not like I needed anything either,” Eric added. “Other than my wallet, of course, but I gave that to Damien.” The tall boy indicated Damien’s bag laying a few feet away from them with a grin.

Liz merely rolled her eyes before looking back at Vinny. “Oh whatever. Anyway, Vin’, lead the way.”

The blonde boy’s eyes lit up at her words. “Awesome! In that case, follow me, friends!”

With an exaggerated spin on his heel that nearly caused him to fall over due to the sand, Vinny recollected himself and began to make his way toward the mouth of the cave off to the right side of the beach. Eric followed immediately behind him while Liz and Damien fell into stride alongside each other in the rear.

As they got closer to the cave entrance, Damien realized how big the cave’s opening was. It was easily twelve feet tall and nearly ten yards wide, giving the four of them a good look at the darkened space beyond. The sun was on the other side of the hill so there was no direct sunlight streaming in yet he was still able to tell that the cave went on for a decent length. The rock walls were slick and the ground looked unstable to walk on, making the boy slightly apprehensive to go inside despite his earlier curiosity.

“Vinny? You’re sure this is safe?” Damien asked skeptically.

The blonde boy merely laughed as if Damien was telling a joke. “Of course it’s safe. When Mia and I came down here, we found that it doesn’t really go too deep. Admittedly, it’s not the most impressive thing ever but I thought the stalactites looked cool so…”

Damien narrowed his eyes at his friend’s laid back response before shrugging. He figured that as long as there were no holes they could fall into and they watched their steps, they would be fine. He shrugged, motioned for Vinny to go inside, and then watched the boy smile and hurry in. Damien exchanged a brief, reluctant look with Liz, but, as was to be expected, she merely smiled back at him, took his hand, and led him forward.

“See? Isn’t this cool?” Vinnny asked enthusiastically, motioning to the stalactites hanging from the rather high ceiling.

Though he wouldn’t have said so to his clearly excited friend, Damien found it to be rather underwhelming. Vinny wasn’t exaggerating when he said it wasn’t very impressive. Even Liz, who typically enjoyed that sort of stuff, was looking around as if expecting something cool to magically appear. However, when Vinnny turned around when they didn’t immediately respond, Damien forced a smile.

“Oh, yeah,” he replied. “Really cool, Vin’.”

Vinny nodded. “Right?” He then glanced over Damien’s shoulder. “What about you, Eric? Wouldn’t this be like a cool hideout or something for the club?”

Damien expected Eric to come back with some over-the-top response about how perfect it would serve as their base of operations for whatever secret plan the two of them would inevitably come up with so when the boy didn’t reply, he looked over his shoulder in confusion.

“Eric?” he called, cocking an eyebrow.

The tall boy was kneeling down on the ground, looking at something beside the wall of rock.

“What are you doing?” Liz asked. “You find a cool rock or something?”

As if snapped back to reality by her question, he raised his head and looked over at them, a conflicted look on his face. “Uh...yeah. Something like that, at least.”

When the girl frowned as if not understanding what he was talking about, Eric raised his hand to reveal a small, orange ball clutched in his right hand. Intrigued by what he had found, Damien turned and made his way over to his friend to get a better look and, upon closer inspection, he found that it was less of a ball and more of an oval-shaped gemstone. It sparkled slightly from the little bit of illumination coming through the cave entrance.

“Woah!” Vinny exclaimed in awe. “Where’d you find that? I know for a fact it wasn’t here when I came here with Mia the other day!”

Eric shrugged. “Well...it was just laying here against the wall.”

“It looks expensive,” Liz mused. “You think some rich girl wandered in here and dropped it or something?”

“I mean, maybe,” Eric replied uncertainly. “But…”

He trailed off, looking as if he was considering something that Damien could only guess at. He narrowed his eyes, knowing his friend well enough to know he was hiding something. However, he also knew that if Eric didn’t want to say something then it wasn’t good to pry. The boy, despite his outgoing personality, was actually quite private and only refrained from talking about certain things when he really didn’t want to. Therefore, Damien chose to remain silent and not press the matter further.

“Well, finders keepers,” Vinny said. “They lost it and you found it so as far as I’m concerned, it’s yours now.”

“Vinny,” Liz admonished. “Look at that thing. Not only is it clearly expensive, but it looks like the type of thing that would be a family heirloom or something. I know I’d be really upset if I lost something like that!”

The blonde boy smirked. “Yeah, maybe. But what would you have him do then? It’s not like we could find whoever owns it anyway.”

“Then we leave it here for the owner to come back and find it,” Liz suggested.

“And risk some other morons getting their grimy hands all over it?” Vinny shook his head. “No, dear Liz. That just won’t do.” He then turned to look at Damien. “What about you, buddy? What do you think we should do with it?”

Damien grimaced, having not wanted to be dragged into the situation and forced to take a side. Both his friend and his girlfriend were looking at him with expectant expressions that told him they both wanted him to side with them. However, as was often the case in situations like that, he chose the safer side and merely planted himself right in the middle.

“I honestly don’t care,” he said. “Eric can do whatever he wants with it. It doesn’t matter to me.”

Liz stuck out her bottom lip and pouted at him. “No, Damien. You were supposed to side with me.”

“Ha!” Vinny turned and smiled at her as if he considered the response to be a victory for him. “Well, it seems there are some holes in your siren's song! Damien Clark is not lost to us yet!”

Sighing apathetically at what he was sure would be a long debate, he turned and glanced down to where Eric was still crouched, his eyes fixated on the orange gem. Damien found himself surprised at how interested the boy was in it as he was never really the type of person who got awed by pretty stones and jewels.

Damien internally laughed, knowing that it would be best to keep his mouth shut, but also wanting to settle the matter quickly. So, ignoring his logical side, he turned back towards Liz and Vinny.

“On second thought, I think Eric should keep it,” he said. “He did find it, after all.”

The combination of Vinny’s victorious cheer and Liz’s narrowed eyes told him that we would almost certainly regret ever opening his mouth.

***

“Ah, the sweet taste of victory!” Vinny exclaimed happily as he chewed on his strawberry flavored snow cone. “I’d say this was a rather successful day for me, wouldn’t you guys?”

He turned his cocky smile toward the other three and Damien simply opted to ignore him, focussing only on the refreshing taste of his own blueberry snow cone. The four of them were sitting on a bench at the pier, the ocean on the other side of a concrete barrier across the cement path before them. Off in the distance, they could see the ferris wheel slowly turning, it’s flashing lights turned on in preparation of the oncoming night. The sun was partially set below the horizon, casting an orange glow over the Wilham Pier.

Damien watched the steady flow of people walking both in the direction of the parking lot and the stalls and games of the pier. He knew the place got much livelier at night, especially considering the fact that summer vacation was ending the following Monday. Most students would be trying to get a few more trips in before most of their free time became dedicated to school. Oddly enough, Damien found himself excited for his junior year to begin and wished the rest of vacation would hurry along so he could get back to his school routine.

“Ah, why so quiet?” Vinny teased when he realized nobody was going to respond. “Didn’t you guys have fun today? Wasn’t it just the most funnest, bestest day ever?”

God, I suddenly wish Eric had won that swimming contest. I forgot how obnoxious Vinny can be when he wins anything!

Damien at least found himself grateful that Liz was sitting between him and the blonde boy though he did feel bad for his girlfriend, who was nibbling on her snow cone as she stared out at the ferris wheel with a blank expression. However, he knew Vinny wouldn’t stop until he got a reaction out of somebody so, predictably, he continued on.

“I mean, I couldn’t have asked for a better day, honestly!” His laugh sounded so fake that Damien couldn’t have imagined that the boy was actually trying to make it sound real. “I mean, I got a free snow cone and I managed to convince the famously brainwashed Damien Clark to take my side against the siren of the deep! Really, it’s such a successful da—!”

At Vinny's sudden exclamation of surprise, Damien glanced to his left to find that Liz had reached over and shoved her snowcone into his face. The cone itself was laying in his lap and shaved ice was dripping down his nose. Beside him, the girl was smiling with satisfaction despite wasting her dessert. Those who were walking by were looking at them either with amusement or like they were idiots. Damien even saw a little kid with his mother pointing at Vinny and laughing.

“Well, jokes on you,” Vinny said, reaching a finger up to wipe some of the ice off his face before sticking it in his mouth. “You just gave me more to eat and now you’ve got nothing! Still a victory for—”

Before he had finished talking, Liz had reached out and grabbed his wrist, pulling it upwards so Vinny’s own cone collided with his face. Damien sighed, having seen that coming from a mile away and suspecting Vinny probably did as well. The whole thing was a show to him and there was no doubt that he was simply trying to get reactions like those out of her.

“You were saying?” she asked smugly.

The blonde boy cleared his throat and smiled. “I was saying...what a wonderful sunset this is. It’s so beautiful.”

Liz snorted. “That it is.”

Damein chuckled softly, finding himself grateful to have the whole group back together for one final hurrah before school. He then looked to his right where Eric was sitting. Normally the boy wouldn’t have hesitated to get involved in the teasing battle between Liz and Vinny but, like he had been doing since they entered the cave, he was staring down at the orange gem clutched in his hand. He seemed so hypnotized by it that it had Damien a little concerned.

While they were on their way to the pier, he had fallen back to walk beside Eric, wanting to make sure his friend was doing alright. But before he could ask him anything, the boy had spoken first.

“Damien? Am I holding anything in my left hand?”

The question had been so out of the blue and he only found himself more confused when he looked to find Eric’s hand empty.

“Is that supposed to be a trick question?” he had asked.

Eric’s eyes had momentarily widened before his brow furrowed in concentration. Then his familiar grin had returned and the next words to leave his mouth had thrown Damein through a loop.

“I think...this gem is magic.”

They weren’t unusual words for Eric Reiner given his obsession with the supernatural but, for some reason, they had thrown Damien off. Normally when Eric would talk about magic, he would always say how he would someday find something magical to prove its existence to them. Damien liked to write it off as one of his games yet, every time Vinny or Liz would try to play along and pretend something was magical, Eric would always shoot them down and sternly tell them it wasn’t. No matter what, Eric never once claimed to have any magic. So for him to so openly say he thought the gem was magic was completely out of left field.

The boy hadn’t elaborated since, but his attention never left that gem. He just kept staring at it with a soft smile and a faraway look, like he was reminiscing about something. Damien couldn’t explain why, but something about the situation put him on edge.

He couldn’t help but feel like something was about to change.