Chapter Five

Igor felt like an outsider ever since Carns walked in on their lives especially when things had just gotten interesting between him and Ateara. Every day he tried to talk to him about what happened or even trying to continue where they left off but Carns is always there or just around the corner. Ateara however lets him in on everything to his disapproval.

Lately Igors thoughts were filled with thoughts of Ateara, like 'I wonder if he was Ateara's old flame in his last life' and 'is he trying to trigger his memory so they can continue where they left off and finish what they had started'. I have only just about picked myself up. I don't need this complication right now, if I leave them I risk not seeing Ateara again and remain with a lot of questions of 'what if' and a lot of wondering why. For this reason, I will stay put and I will fight for the life I have now, I really cannot be alone for another 100 years and I don't know how long I can keep this secret from Ateara How well do we know this Carns guy, I need to keep my eye on him as he may know who I am already. I wonder if Ateara is thinking about me. Now we haven't had time alone. Does he even remember me, has he replaced me with him. 'Oh god' Igor thought 'what is wrong with me this isn't me, I have to snap out of this and get back to reality.'

Igor left the house and went to look for Ateara and Carns which did not take long as they were in full view in the woods, he carried on walking towards them and announced himself, "Oh hi guys what are you talking about?"

"Hey Igor, where did you go? We have been looking for you." Ateara asked.

"I have been inside the house thinking."

"Oh ok, we were just heading to another beach, would you like to join us this time?"

"Yeah sure no problem I can come with you"

"Cool"

"Cool" Carns repeated

"Yeah, cool" Igor said suspiciously

The trio walked to the beach chatting and laughing away. It took almost no time at all when they arrived, "Ateara, I need to chat to you alone" Igor whispered in his ear.

"Why what's up?"

"Nothing I just need to speak to you alone, we just haven't had time to chat since he arrived"

Although they were not speaking to him directly, but Carns had heard them and decided to leave them so he could venture out on his own. Without saying a word he headed a good mile or so away.

Ateara and Igor were deep in conversation and were oblivious that Carns had wandered off.

"Yeah ok and yeah I have been spending a fair bit of time with Carns, not really fair on you. All that time he has been telling me all these things that supposedly had happened hoping to bring something up but it still hasn't triggered my past memories, but I'm sorta glad but slightly upset at the same time about it. It would be amazing if I could remember something" Ateara said.

"Maybe not now you can't remember but one day maybe you can and you will know about it with or without him being here." Igor responded

"Thanks Igor I needed that talk, but to be honest these past few days I have missed chatting to you and you got to understand that if he is in fact part of my past life I would like to know about it because he thinks he knows how to jog my memory of my past"

Just as Igor opened his mouth to respond he and Ateara suddenly jumped as Carns was only few paces away and said "And I will trigger that memory of yours, I know I can"

They had chatted all day and night and were now laying down under the stars, then it all went quiet as Igor and Carns fell asleep on either side of Ateara. He looked left then right and straight up at the stars and closed his eyes.

The following morning Ateara found himself feeling a little light, he looked around, then down and saw Carns still on the ground asleep and he noticed Igor was not there, so he looked to his left and found him still sleeping so he woke him up.

"Whoa! What's going on? Why are we up here?" Igor panicked.

"This isn't my doing, it's not my gift" Ateara looked at him "you need to calm yourself"

"Ok I will try, but I don't even know how I got us up here," Igor said hesitantly.

"Don't even doubt yourself at this Igor, I faith in you so please have faith in yourself so we can get down before Carns wakes up"

Ateara continued to help Igor regain his confidence in order for him to be calm and float towards the ground, only the landing wasn't so smooth as they landed hard on top of each other. Just then Carns awoke and saw them gazing into each other's eyes till they turned their heads to face him. "This isn't what it looks like Carns" Ateara said, "Well from what I saw it looked pretty intimate and looked like Igor was getting ready to take it to the next step."

Igor turned to face Ateara shaking his head denying "No I wasn't, I was just gazing intently" not realizing Carns noticed he was blushing. "We will chat later..." Ateara whispered "Alone!" He finished.

"Shouldn't we start heading back now?" Carns asked, "I think that is a wise choice" Ateara said bluntly.

The three of them walked quietly back and it had seemed like the longest walk of their life.

They were about one kilometer from their site when they decided to part ways, Carns headed east as he needed space to practice, whereas Ateara had his usual spot in the opposite direction where he needed open space but complete isolation to communicate, but as for Igor a little nearer the site was his training ground that Ateara had made for him.

They were not quite concentrating as much as they should have Carns interrupted Igor's training and got talking again after a few moments of silence, Ateara continued to train getting slightly stronger, though after several attempts he managed to connect with Bella and got some great advice, about some things he may need to think about. He sat by the river trying to make sense of what she tried to tell him, but all he could understand is that both Jacob and Bella understood why he did what he did when he chose to leave so abruptly. He had been thinking to himself for that long that he had not realized it had gone dark until a shadowed figure appeared in front of him which he didn't recognize. He stared for a bit "Who's there?" as he stared a little longer "Do I know you?"

There were a few moments of silence "Well you should recognize me as I have come to you a few times since you were a little boy"

"Chief Black…I didn't think you were going to come and visit again and I gather that you aren't here just for a friendly chat" Ateara said, sounding scared but confident.

"Well depends how you want to look at it, but what I am surprised about is that you had found two more of your kind already in just a short time running away from home and are you an item with one of them?" Chief said curiously.

"Erm….we are only friends at the moment but if I'm honest I'm not really looking for anything serious as I am still trying to find myself" he said with slight hesitation "but if it feels right I do feel that I am ready to tackle anything that comes at me"

"Wow you really do take after Jacob black after all" Chief Black said happily.

As the night got darker it also grew colder. Chief had left Ateara an hour ago and he only just decided to head back thinking about his conversation with Bella and Chief Black. Soon as he got to his condo he saw Igor sleeping with Carns snuggled up close to each other, but he decided to leave them be as he was tired anyway and slept in his hammock where he usually lay to help him think clearly, when he finally fell asleep he didn't wake up till late and was feeling fresh, the way he hasn't felt in a long while.

'Wow I haven't felt anything like this in such a long time,' Ateara muttered to himself .

Suddenly he was face to face with Carns which caught him off guard. He wasn't sure what to do as Carns moved in so close that their lips touched, Ateara didn't try to stop him. "I knew there was something going on between you two. I was hoping it wasn't true" Igoe said with a tone of sadness in his voice.

Both stopped in an instant and they all stood in silence.