"I don't understand Gramma," I told her.

"Well there's still so much you need to learn about our world my dear," she said, now turning back to where we came from.

"Why don't you explore a little, I'm sure you'll find your way back," she said to me, her eyes glinting with a challenge.

The little fear in my heart of being left alone in an eerie place like this when it's almost dark vanished at the opportunity of a dare.

I nodded my head as I stared at the cottage in front of me, its door swinging ever so slightly on its hinges, the wind flowing through the cracked windows creating a sound that made the hair on my arms stand on end.

When I turned around to look for Gramma, I saw that she was gone.

"Ima?" I asked her.

"Yeah?" she replied.

"Nothing. I was just making sure I wasn't completely alone," I told her truthfully.

"Rayne you need to stop being such a wuss," she said.

Sometimes I felt that both Ima and Gramma overestimated me. Ima knew my mental capacity and strength, whereas Gramma knew my physical capacity and strength.

That's because Gramma had trained me well enough to know I was strong and could handle myself if put in a difficult situation. But that didn't mean I couldn't be creeped out by a place like this.

I decided to walk towards the cottage window and peeked inside.

The cottage was bare, the insides were dark but I could make out it was just a hollow wooden structure.

I pushed the door open, and against my will, stepped inside.

It seemed a little bigger when I walked in, but just enough to make me feel like I was being swallowed.

When I stood outside the cottage, it felt like fire. Warm and inviting, but dangerous if I got too close.

Now that I was standing inside it, I realized it wasn't as scary as I thought.

Splash.

The sound of something hitting the water startled me out of my wits.

It came from outside, I guessed from the river behind the cottage I saw earlier.

I found a backdoor on the opposite wall of the cottage and went to open it. It wasn't even closed, let alone locked.

I stepped outside to find Valente sitting at the edge of the river, skipping stones across the surface of the water.

Oh no.

I immediately turned around to walk back where I came from, but unfortunately he'd heard me as I walked out of the cottage.

"Took you long enough," he said to me, still focusing on the small flat stone in his hand.

I couldn't believe it. I couldn't believe Valente was talking to me. What was even more surprising, was that he was waiting for me.

He threw the stone and we watched it skip on the surface seven times before it sank.

He turned to look at me, the same look he'd been giving me all day. The same look he's been giving me for years.

Distant yet intense.

"Are you just going to stand there?" he asked me.

The entire situation seemed a little surreal to me, and it took real effort to walk towards him.

I chose a spot two steps away from him and sat down at the edge of the river too.

"Happy birthday," he told me. I knew he was looking at me, but I didn't have the guts to look back at him.

I could feel my heart racing. The last time we were this close, we were just kids. He's been avoiding me for such a long time now, it seems that was forever ago.

"Rayne?" he said.

I wanted to stay quiet so I could hear him say my name again, but I didn't.

"Hmm?" was all I could manage.

He reached out and cautiously touched my cheek.

I was frozen, the only warmth I felt was emanating from his fingers.

When he saw I didn't immediately flinch, he stroked my cheek, taking back his hand sooner than I'd like.

"Still soft," he whispered to himself. I turned to see him shaking his head, a small smile on his face.

"Valente," I said, my voice very quiet.

I got his attention in an instant.

But now that I did, I didn't know what to say to him. In fact, I had a lot to ask. Ask him why he avoided me so? Why he encouraged everyone else to stay away from me? Why he looked at me like that?

But nothing escaped my lips.

"Well?" he asked me.

I guess I had to say something.

"Do you think I'm a curse too?" I asked him. It just came out of nowhere. I never realized how much this question burned through my mind on the forefront. But now that it was out, I regretted it immediately.

There was one thing I now made clear to us both. For some reason, his opinion mattered to me.

I saw him dig into his pocket and he took out another flat stone. He held it out to me.

"You wanna try?" he asked me, completely side-stepping the question with his own.

I sighed, realizing I won't be getting an answer.

I took the stone from him and tried my best to hit the water with it at a low angle.

Plop.

The stone fell directly into the water without a single skip. Well knowing me, it never had a chance.

He took out another stone and held it to me again.

But this time as I took it, he got up on his knees and came behind me, holding my right hand gently with his.

"Hitting the water at an angle isn't enough. Your palm should be a little angled too," he said, fixing the way I held the stone.

"And when you release it, send it with a flick so it spins," he continued, his hand held mine a little firmer as he demonstrated the flicking motion.

I could hear everything he said from right behind me, but could process absolutely nothing.

"Okay. So on the count of three. One, two-"

I threw the stone quickly under the pressure before he ever got to three.

It fell worse this time than it did the last, in a louder plop and a bigger splash.

I could hear him try and control his laugh, but he wasn't very successful.

His laugh made me smile, and I forgot that I was ever annoyed at him in the first place.

I stood as he stood and turned around to face him.

"I'd say you're pretty much cursed with the inability to ever skip stones," he said, his laughter persistent in his eyes.

I folded my arms and looked away from him. I knew my face was burning with embarrassment. But more so by his close proximity.

"Look at me," his voice resounded in my mind through the pack link.

As I obeyed him, I saw the intensity in his stormy eyes return.

"You can hide from anyone else Rayne, but you can't hide from me."