☪ Saracen ☪
I was startled out of my dreaming by something wet dripping onto the corner of my mouth. "Yuuuuuck," I groaned, swiping my wrist across my face a couple times to rid it of the drool pooling on it. Rubbing the sleep out of my eyes, I looked around, still a teeny bit disoriented. Racquel's arm was draped across my chest, and her face, lying on my shoulder, was surrounded by a muss of her curls which were mostly sticking to the drool on her cheek. So that's where it came from.
Gingerly, I scooted out from under the eighth Digit's arm, and sat up. For the most part, we had the whole tent to ourselves; Rhys refused to sleep in it with us, but neither Racquel nor me were complaining with his decision. There really wasn't anywhere else for him to sleep, though, seeing as Ayre and Greyson had control of our second tent. I had resorted to taking many naps throughout the day; it was impossible to fall asleep with the kinds of noises that filled the night. But I did have a heart, I would have to help Rhys find a new place to sleep if he wouldn't sleep in a tent full of girls. The night before, I had found him curled up under our tarp in the grass.
Ducking my head low, I stepped out of the tent; a branch cracked loudly underneath my tread, and I froze. The giggling of Ayre stopped abruptly, and I heard Greyson sit up. Crap. I had forgotten that he had forbidden to let me and Racquel out of our tent unless he needed to use us for our powers. I squeezed my eyes shut, and said a wordless prayer that he wouldn't see me.
"Come on, Greyson, it was probably nothing. Maybe an animal at most."
I crossed my fingers behind my back and bit my lip.
"I doubt it."
"Greyson. Seriously. It's nothing, come back."
The tarp of the floor of their tent rustled, and Ayre's shadow reached for Greyson's fingertips. The third Digit complied, and laid back down. The laughter resumed, but I didn't wait around to see/hear the rest of it. It always ended the same anyways.
This time, I made sure not to step on anything that would make a loud noise. I went on in silence through the threshold of scattered trees for a while, in search of Rhys, but to no avail. He was nowhere to be seen. Sighing, I collapsed against the trunk of a tree and pushed my hair out of my eyes. Maybe all I needed was some fresh air away from Greyson's hold on me. I had almost drifted back into sleep when a sharp 'pst' resounded down from one of the tree's branches. I slowly straightened back out, cautious. Was I just hearing things?
"Pst! Saracen! Up here!" The voice was more insistent this time around, and all thoughts of having imagined it were banished from my mind.
Leaves crackled as I sprang up from my seat and looked from tree branch to tree branch.
"Up here," the voice called out more loudly than the past times. It wasn't familiar to me. It wasn't high pitched, but it wasn't exactly deep either.
My eyes darted up to a branch about five feet above my head; it was bending towards the ground from the weight of the figure perched upon it. The stranger had a shock of red hair and icy green eyes; freckles covered the area around his nose and high cheekbones. I would have said it was Rhys, but this guy could hardly be the tenth Digit. I mean, he was attractive. There was no sign of braces on his bleach-white teeth, and his skin had a healthy glow to it, instead of Rhys's sickly pale pigment. He had an air of maturity about him.
"Saracen, I need help," the stranger pleaded with me, and I backed away from the tree, shaking my head.
"I-I'm sorry, I d-don't... I don't think I know you, I..." My tongue suddenly felt too large for my mouth, and I clamped my teeth down on it so that I wouldn't stutter anymore. I could feel a blush creep up around my ears and cheeks.
The boy easily dropped from his place on the tree branch down to the forest floor. "I don't know what happened to me," he tried to explain, casting his gaze to his feet.
It had to be. Nobody else could be so helpless. It had to be Rhys. Completely flabbergasted, I cocked an eyebrow and surveyed the person before me. A bowtie hung, loosened, around the collar of his white dress-shirt, which was tucked into black slacks. He wore suspenders that criss-crossed at his back and clipped to the back of the slacks. "Rhys?!" I couldn't help but burst out in shock, before clapping my hands over my mouth. I knew that my face had to be completely crimson now.
Rhys reached a hand up to rub the back of his neck awkwardly as he looked back up at me. "I don't know how it happened, I was just minding my own business when I just... Changed. It completely freaked me out when I saw my reflection in the lake, I have to say. I don't feel like I used to!"
Still completely rooted to the ground, I couldn't help but stare at him. "You certainly don't look it! Or sound like it. Man, you're like... I mean. You're not."
The tenth Digit smirked, and I felt my heart leap unwillingly. My stomach did flips. How could that possibly happen?! It was Rhys, for goodness sake! Rhys. Nobody boy. Awkward kid. "You think I'm cute, don't you?" He teased me, flashing a wide-spread grin at me. He took step after step closer to me, until he was only a foot away.
Goosebumps prickled up the back of my neck, and I exhaled sharply. "Yeah! I mean no. What were you saying?" What in the world was I saying?! I couldn't get my mind set straight, I felt lightheaded.
Ignoring my babbling, this attractive Rhys closed the distance between us and bent down closer to my ear. "So you wouldn't mind if I did this?" His lips brushed the side of my cheek, and he pulled away slightly, surveying the emotions crossing my face.
I unfroze, and shuddered away from Rhys. It just wasn't right. He was still the same person, after all. Right? I set my jaw and socked him square in the stomach. Panting, I watched him double over in surprise and pain. "Yes. I would mind, actually."
Almost instantly, Rhys began to shrink back down to his original height; his braces reappeared, and his skin lost all of its color. Slowly, he changed back into the Digit I was more familiar with. He moaned in exasperation, and collapsed to the ground.
Remorseful, I held out a hand to the tenth Digit, who stood up with my help. He seemed to be completely unaware of the past moments. "Rhys? Uh. Are you alright?"
He raised an eyebrow in my direction, and dusted himself off. "Of course I'm alright. Why wouldn't I be?"
Yup, he was back to normal, that's for sure. Somewhere in the back of my mind, I was slightly disappointed, but it couldn't be helped. The other Rhys was certainly easier on the eyes.
"Sorry. I just thought I would come and check to make sure you didn't run off, that's all." I regarded him with a short gaze, then turned my back.
During my stroll back to camp, I thought of how to get the other Rhys back. Was it just a fluke? Would it never happen again? Becoming good-looking had nothing to do with the rest of Rhys's original powers. I mean, we had all been going through changes with our abilities in the past couple of days, but none of us had experienced any physical changes. Perhaps the other Rhys only showed himself when original Rhys was feeling powerful or arrogant?
I rubbed my temples; a horrible headache was gnawing at the front of my skull from all of my confusion.
I guess I would just have to test it out for myself. Excited, I turned back around and returned to Rhys's side, right where I had left him.
"Hey, uh, Rhys?" Man, this would have to be one fantastical lie. "I know that it doesn't seem like it, but I really really like you." I batted my eyelashes, and smiled at him. It was more of a grimace, I'm sure.
This piqued his interest. He straightened up with widened eyes. "Really?"
The change took place shortly after my announcement, and Rhys shifted into the attractive redhead I had been quite fond of. It lasted all but a minute.
Pleased with my experiment, I linked arms with the other Rhys and began dragging him in the direction of Racquel's tent. Upon arriving, I called out to the eighth Digit. "Hey, Rhys wants to tell you something! It seems important." I turned my attention to the boy at my side and smiled. "I need you to do me a favor here, okay?"
Rhys shrugged nonchalantly, and pushed his hands deep into his pockets. "Sure thing."
I leaned in close to him, cupping a hand around his ear, and whispered a set of words that I needed him to say.
He frowned slightly, but repeated them nonetheless. "Racquel, I think you're really pretty. Would you maybe like to be my girlfriend?"
From inside the tent, Racquel choked on the water she had been drinking. Spluttering, she began to laugh in between her coughs. "Are you joking? Ha! Wow, where'd you get that stroke of confidence? Man, you have the face of a wombat that got run over. Multiple times. Why in the world would I ever go out with the likes of you?! Ah, that's rich." She said nothing else, and neither did Rhys, for he had fallen to the ground once more.
So proved my theory.
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Ewie. What is this.
