Unique ~ Chapter 6

The next morning I woke up breathing heavily and sweating profusely. Luckily, my room was the coldest one in the house so as soon as I stumbled out ouf bed, coolness swept over me in a refreshing breeze. At least this time I didn't wake up screaming, I reminded myself. I sighed and stretched, glancing over toward my clock. This time it was 4:07 AM- I really needed to go back to sleep. But I was too afraid to face that guy again.

Who did he say he was? Oh right, Kaleb's brother- Kaiden. He'd called me love and said he had come for me.... What did that mean? Did he like me too? Was he enemies with Kaleb? How could brothers be enemies? Uh-oh, I thought. Maybe they're enemies because they're fighting over me.

So did that mean I had two guardians that had been watching over me? If so, that meant Kaleb had lied....well, truth slanted. I shook my head. Why would he have any reason to lie? I guessed he'd do anything to win me. I hated that word 'win'. Like I was some sort of prize. Yeah, right. There was no way I'd pick either of them. Not if I was just a prize to win.

I walked tiredly over to my bed and lied down. Maybe if I just closed my eyes.... The image of Kaleb and Kaiden suddenly appeared beneath my lids. Oh, God, will I EVER be able to sleep peacefully again? Probably not- and it's all their fault, I thought hopelessly. I buried my face into my pillow and groaned. Why me?

After a while, I somehow fell asleep again. Thankfully, it was a dreamless sleep- I was glad Kaiden had given up pestering me for the night. When I woke up, I was surprised to feel strong arms wrapped around my waist and warm, steady breathing in my ear. I opened my eyes slowly and was shocked to find Kaleb, shirtless, sleeping quietly next to me.

How did he get in here? I thought, trying to push him away. But the more I struggled to untangle his arms around me, he gripped tighter, murmuring, "No...no...don't...leave..." Obviously he was dreaming because he shook slightly every 20 seconds and never opened his eyes. Sighing, I knew I was defeated. I had to be quiet or else Nathan would come and check on me and I didn't want him to see Kaleb here- with me; in my bed. Not a very innocent picture even though nothing happened.

I looked at the clock and gasped. It was 7:48 AM already! I was so late! Why hadn't Nathan come in my room yet to wake me up? I shook Kaleb violently and whispered fiercely, "Wake up! We have to get to school!"

He lazily opened his dazed green eyes, said simply, "No we don't." and pulled me under the covers with him.

"Uh, YEAH, we do. It's freakin' 7:50! Now get your butt out of my bed!" I shoved him as hard as I could but he wouldn't budge.

"Geez, stop yelling. It's Saturday," Kaleb mumbled and cuddled me closer. Oh, right, duh. Teachers only gave loads of homework on Friday because they thought we all went braindead over the weekend. Which we did anyway- homework or no homework. I struggled to escape his iron grip but it was useless. He chuckled at my attempt.

"This isn't funny!" My voice was muffled by his hand. I tried to bite it and escape like in the movies. But of course, it didn't work.

"Yes, it is. It's hilarious." Kaleb smirked and tousled my hair. I glared up at him and blew a puff of air in his face. "Yick, morning breath," he said, gagging dramatically. But then he flashed a smile of perfect crystal-white teeth. "Just kidding, you smell like strawberries." He brushed his cheek against mine and sighed. Part of me wanted to stay like that forever. The other half wanted to scream at him to leave and never touch me again.

Instead, I kept my cool. Pushing his chest away I asked, "Do you have a brother?" His expression hardened and I could feel all of his muscles tense. He sat up and hugged his legs to himself.

"No," Kaleb muttered bitterly. "Why do you ask?" He started strangling my stuffed bunny.

"Well.... I sort of had this dream last night about this guy named Kaiden. He said that he'd come for me and that he was your brother.... It was all really confusing. I think I've forgotten some of it but I just can't remember what else-" I wracked my muddled brain. Something clicked and a lightbulb flashed on. "Oh yeah, he also called me his 'love'."

Kaleb ripped Chrissy's polka-dot bow off. "He called you WHAT?" His voice was low but sharp and deadly. "Dammit." In a louder voice he growled, "Don't listen to him. He's a liar and a traitor."

"Why? How?" I demanded. This really didn't make sense. "So he IS you're brother?"

"Unfortunately, yes, he is my twin actually. Rather, fraternal twins. We look nothing alike and he is a Naifaun- a nymph associated with water." At this point all of the emotion had vanished from Kaleb's face and he spoke in a calm collected voice. "Kaiden's dangerous. He uses his affinity of water for malicious purposes..."

His voice trailed off so I wondered if he just couldn't remember or if it was a touchy subject. I asked anyway. "Such as...?"

Kaleb was quiet for a while then whispered sadly, "He drowned our mom when we were in the womb. I barely escaped alive. Even though he wasn't conscious of doing it, I've hated him for it. He can't control himself, especially when he goes into one of his rages. I, at least, have some control over what I do..." He glanced up at me, waiting for my reaction.

I was shocked. Drowned? This guy really was evil. "I'm so sorry. I didn't know...." Kaleb was just like me then- he lost his mom too. I blinked trying to fight away the tears that came whenever I thought of my mom. He looked at me as if waiting for a signal to continue. I nodded.

Kaleb started again, "Anyway, remember I was assigned to watch over you? Well Kaiden wanted to protect you too but there could be only one person." He ran his hand through his hair. "So we got into a fight and he said there was no way he'd let me have you. That you 'belonged' to him and you were meant for eachother. I told him it didn't matter because not her guardian nor any other nymph from our world could fall in love with her anyway- it was against the rules. He didn't believe me and disappeared. I've never seen him since."

Oh, so they WERE fighting over me? Great, now I've got another psychopath after me, I thought sarcastically. "So why did you come here today?"

His answer was simple, "To protect you."

I rolled my eyes. "From WHAT, exactly?"

"Well..." his voice trailed off. "I am breaking the rules so I've got the NLEA after me and they are pretty ruthless so I don't want to run into them anytime soon."

My eyes widened. "Can't they track you or something? You'll lead them here! How could you?!" I threw a pillow at him, but he dodged it swiftly so I started pushing him towards the window. "Leave." I commanded icily.

Kaleb grabbed my wrists and pushed me against the wall, his face inches from mine. "No, they won't come here, so settle down or else you'll lose control again." I tried to kick him but his knees were pinning my legs to the wall too.

Sighing, I questioned, "Why should I believe that? They could be here any minute now." Obviously my house wasn't strong enough to keep away some powerful nymphs. But then again they weren't after me. "So what exactly is the NLEA?"

"Oh. NLEA stands for Nymph Law Enforcement Agency. The humans have something like that too," Kaleb answered. "They can't come in here or else they'd be breaking the rules too. Plus, I am technically watching over you, just from a closer perspective so your house is automatically surrounded by a shield."

I noticed he still had me locked against the wall. Even realizing this, Kaleb didn't let go. Instead he moved closer, his lips brushing across mine. My whole body shivered and butterflies flew around in my stomach. Kaleb pulled back to see my reaction. He smirked and leaned in again. No, you don't like him, a voice in my head protested. But he's so hot and he likes you, another voice cooed. Shut up, I thought and right at that moment when he was so close I could feel his soft lips, my phone rang.

My head came back to reality and I glared at Kaleb to let go. He slowly took his hands off me and slumped down on my bed with disappointment written all over his face. I answered my phone, "Hello?"

"Hey, Brooke! It's Emmy. I was wondering if you wanted to hang out?" Her chipper voice caught me off guard and I glanced at the clock.

"What would we do at nine in the morning?" I wondered.

"Dunno, just couldn't sleep last night and I'm bored. Plus, I wanted to hang out yesterday but it seemed like you had somewhere to be and I couldn't ask you in time. I mean we could watch a movie or something-"

"Great, I'll be right over." I cut her off, wanting to get as far away from Kaleb as possible.

Emmy was ecstatic. "Okay, cool! My mom's making pancakes! Cya!"

"See ya." I hung up and glanced over at Kaleb. "I have to get changed so if you don't mind going somewhere else..." He stayed put and looked blankly ahead. "Fine then." I took a white tank top, my blue school hoodie, and some grey sweatpants out of my closet before walking over to the bathroom to change. When I came out Kaleb was still sulking on my bed. As I threw my hair into a messy bun I said, "Stay here but stay hidden. I don't want Nathan to see you."

He drug himself over to my closet and hid under loads of random stuff. I shut the door for him and went downstairs. In the living room Nathan was sprawled on the couch watching ESPN. He hadn't shaven that day and was looking scruffy. "Hey, Nate?"

He was surprised to see me. "Morning. Why're you up so early?"

"Emmy wants to hang out. I'll be over at her house." I crossed my arms and leaned against the edge of the couch.

"Don't you want something to eat?" he asked.

"No, Mrs. Garret's making pancakes."

"Okay, be careful. Love you."

"I will. Love you too." I kissed him on the cheek, quickly slipped on my navy blue crocks, and ran out the door. The cool autumn breeze swirled around me as I sprinted towards Emmy's house. She lived only a block away so we hung out a lot. I took the shortcut throught the woods most of the time.

I was halfway there when a voice stopped me. "You shouldn't be out here in the woods alone. Where's you're protector?" an angelic voice asked mockingly. Instead of running away like I know I should have, I walked towards the direction of the voice. "That's right, come here..." the melodic voice instructed. My body moved on its own now and I began to see the owner of the voice standing in the middle of the clearing.

Oh, no, I panicked.

Kaiden.