Chapter 3

Roommates

Nick was lounging in an easy chair, one foot on the floor, the other leg splayed across the thickly cushioned chair arm. He was trying to read but his mind wasn’t on it. He was a little excited, a little nervous and extremely bored. On his arrival he’d been shown to his room and advised to get some sleep. This proved to be much easier said than done; hardly surprising considering his internal clock still believed that it was the middle of the day. He had tried to follow the advice, lying on his bed and lightly dozing, but after several hours he’d given it up and got up to try to find something to occupy his mind.

The suite of rooms that he’d been told were his quarters consisted of two large bedrooms, each containing two double beds, a large comfortable lounge with a small adjoining kitchen area complete with fridge stocked with soft drinks, and an extremely spacious bathroom fitted with two separate toilet cubicles, an enormous walk-in shower and a sunken bath that looked large enough to accommodate a soccer team. It was a level of luxury that rivalled the palace back home and though it lacked the gilt coated splendour, it was certainly much more comfortable.

The lounge was well equipped with all the usual entertainment facilities; TV, DVD player, stereo music system, even a state of the art games console, but at the moment the young prince couldn’t seem to make himself take any interest in any of this. He put his mood down to the change in time zones and to the fact that he really wanted to get started with his training and make use of these mysterious new powers he was supposed to have.

Earlier that morning, Paul had dropped by to check that he was OK. With Paul had been a good looking and extremely charismatic Asian teenager with a British accent, called Adam. They had chatted for a few minutes and assured Nick that things would get a much more interesting when the other ‘new boy’ arrived. This would be a thirteen year old American boy called Tim, who Nick assumed would be taking the other bedroom. Paul had called in again a few minutes later with a tray containing a bowl of cereal and a glass of orange juice for Nick’s breakfast. With him this time had been a boy called Aaron, a nervous, softly spoken fourteen year old with a pleasant smile. Paul had described Aaron as “the brains of the outfit”, a label that had caused the boy to blush.

Since that last visit, several hours ago, Nick had been left completely on his own and he was getting increasing fidgety, his eyes moving between the clock on the wall and the door as he waited for something to happen. Unfortunately, it didn’t look like anything was about to happen any time soon.

Just as the fifteen year old had resigned himself to a slow death from boredom, there was a noise from the corridor outside and the door opened. In came Paul, accompanied by two other boys.

Nick immediately dropped his book and jumped to his feet, ready to greet the newcomers. He had no idea who they were, but hoped that the younger boy would turn out to be the elusive ‘Tim’; maybe now things would become a little less boring.

“Hi Nick. How’s it going?” asked Paul, casually. “Sorry you’ve had a bit of a wait. You can blame Jayden.” With a grin he nodded towards the older of the two newcomers, a boy of around Nick’s age.

The frown on Jayden’s face showed that he clearly didn’t find Paul’s comment amusing. “You didn’t have to wait, seeing as I didn’t want to come anyway,” he muttered.

“This is Jayden and this is Tim,” said Paul, pointing to each boy in turn. “Jayden is Tim’s older brother. I hope you don’t mind, but it looks like you’ll be sharing a room with him.”

“Erm, yeah, I don’t mind,” said Nick, taken a little by surprise. Jayden was a good looking boy, or at least he would be if he lost that frown. Sharing a room wouldn’t be a new experience for the prince, but it was something he hadn’t had to do for quite a while; he used to share at school, but for the last few years he’d had a room to himself.

“Tim will be in the other room. He’ll be sharing with a kid called Nathan, who’ll be along later,” said Paul.

The younger boy, Tim, pulled a face. “Why can’t I share with Jay instead of some stranger?”

“I don’t want to share with anyone,” said Jayden, his frown deepening

Paul shrugged. “Don’t blame me; Mark decided who was sharing with who. Nathan’s only twelve, Tim, so you’re about the same age. Once you get to know each other you’ll be OK. Anyway guys, this is Nick,” he said, completing the interrupted introductions. “Nick is a real life prince. He lives in a palace and everything.”

Tim’s eyes widened and even Jayden showed a glimmer of interest.

Nick gave a groan a groan. “Thanks, Paul,” he muttered, his voice dripping with sarcasm. “Forget the prince bit, it’s just plain Nick,” he told the brothers.

“Sorry,” said Paul. “I didn’t realise you wanted to keep it quiet.” He glanced at his watch. “It’s past lunchtime, so if you guys just want to dump your stuff here for now, I’ll show you where the dining room is and we can all get something to eat.”

“Sounds good to me,” said Nick; he had been starting to wonder whether it was the Corp’s policy to put new arrivals on a starvation diet.

Tim nodded and Jayden gave a disinterested shrug.

As the boys followed Paul out of the room and into the corridor, Tim fell in beside Nick.

“Are you really a prince?” the younger boy asked.

“Yeah, but only when I’m at home and even then, only when I have to be.”

Tim looked a bit puzzled by this answer. “Where are you from?” he asked.

“It’s a tiny little state in Eastern Europe that you probably haven’t even heard of. It’s called Mancovia.”

“Nope, I’ve haven’t heard of that place,” said Tim. “Hey, Jay, have you heard of Mancovia?”

The older brother, who was walking a few paces in front, alongside Paul, glanced back over his shoulder. “No,” he said. His eyes briefly met Nick’s and he quickly looked away, smiling shyly.

“Paul, why aren’t there any windows anywhere?” asked Nick. “There were none in Mark’s office and there are none at all in any of our rooms?”

“That’s ‘cos we’re underground,” said Paul. “All Corps bases are built mostly underground. Dunno why really. I guess it makes them more secure. We’re on the sixth level; this is kept just for Corps members. There’s another level below this one, but it’s not used. Mark says that if we get more members, it’ll be opened up. The main dining room is on level four so we have to go up two levels.” He stopped outside an elevator and pressed the call button.

Once on level four, it was only a short walk along the corridor to the dining room. This was a large room with table and chairs enough to seat around fifty or sixty. About twenty boys, ranging in age from around twelve years old to eighteen, were scattered around the room in groups of three or four, and a few others were clearing tables.

“We’re a bit late, that’s why it’s so quiet. Let’s hope there’s something left for us.” Paul led the way over to the food which was laid out on a long table, buffet style. “Just help yourselves,” he said, grinning. “If you see something you like the look of, grab it, before someone else does.”

“Are all these boys Corps members?” asked Nick, after they’d selected their food and sat down together at one of the tables.

Paul shook his head. “No. Apart from you three, there are only five of us in this base. These kids are all ‘rescued boys’; they were homeless, living on the streets, so the Corps took them in.”

“How many of them are there?” asked Jayden, looking around.

“I think we have about sixty at the moment,” said Paul. “It goes up and down all the time; some decide they don’t like it here and leave, and other new ones come along.”

“Sixty?” An astonished look appeared on Jayden’s face. “And they were all living on the streets?”

Paul gave short, cold laugh. “This is nothing. The New York base has at least a couple of hundred at any time. Some of the other bases are not far behind. Do you have any idea how many kids there are out there, living on the streets? The Corps only takes in a tiny fraction.”

“I didn’t realise…” Jayden once more looked around at the boys in the room.

“Don’t worry about it; not many people do,” said Paul. “The Corps’ been doing this for years now. I first came in as a rescued boy, so did Mark. Nathan, who’ll be sharing with Tim, is a rescued boy as well. In return for us taking them in, they have to agree to go to school and also do some jobs around the base. Nathan’s not a Corps member, he’ll be your ‘houseboy’; it’ll be his job to make sure your rooms are kept clean and tidy.”

“Shouldn’t we do that ourselves?” asked Nick.

“You could do, but once your training starts you’ll find you’re too tired for anything like that,” Paul grinned.

Nathan was waiting for them when they returned to their rooms. He was a small, extremely cute, but sad looking boy who looked even younger than his twelve years. When introduced, he merely nodded, not speaking at all.

“He’s going to be really fun to have around,” Tim observed, speaking softly to Nick and Jayden as he watched Nathan out of the corner of his eye.

“He’s probably just shy,” said Nick. “He’ll be fine once he gets to know us.”

Paul left them, explaining, with a sour expression, that he had an appointment with his tutor; it seemed that even Corps members were not exempt from schooling. This meant that the boys were temporarily left to their own devices. Jayden suggested that he and Tim unpack their things; it seemed to Nick that the older brother was already starting to thaw, since he no longer wore the constant frown. The prince sat on his bed and watched as Jayden put his clothes away in drawers and cupboards.

“It’s been a while since I shared a room with anyone,” said Nick, mostly just for something to say. “I hope you don’t snore.”

Jayden look up from his unpacking. “I don’t think I do, but then I’ve never had to share a room before so I don’t know.”

“Well, if you do I’ll give you a poke and let you know,” Nick grinned. “I just hope I don’t have accidents like I did before.” He told Jayden about his first experience with his powers and how he’d set fire to his bed.

Jayden looked impressed. “You can really do things like that?”

“Not at the moment,” said Nick. “Not deliberately, anyway. I haven’t a clue how I did it last time. What powers have you got?”

“They tell me I have some incredible healing power. I don’t know, I’ve never done anything. It was that Asian guy, Adam. All he did was touch my hand and the next thing I know I’m being told to pack my bags.” The frown returned.

“I think healing must be one of the best powers to have,” said Nick. “This time yesterday I had two cracked ribs and it hurt every time I moved. Mark healed them just by putting his hand on my chest; I’d love to be able to do that.”

Jayden looked thoughtfully at Nick for a moment and a sudden glint appeared in his eyes. “Yeah, maybe having this power may have its good side after all.”

Before Nick could reply, Tim burst in through the open doorway.

“Jay, you gotta come and see this. This bathroom is amazing. Come and look.” The younger boy grabbed his brother by the arm and proceeded to drag him out across the lounge, towards the bathroom.

Nick followed on behind, a grin on his face. For some reason Tim’s excitement and enthusiasm were acutely infectious.

“Look at the size of that bathtub,” Tim giggled, as they entered the bathroom. “It’s enormous. We could all get in it together. That’d be really funny, all of us in the same bathtub, with no clothes on.”

Jayden glanced at Nick and then quickly looked away, blushing. “Yeah, that’s exactly the sort of thing you would find funny,” he told his brother. “Before you start thinking about trying out the bathtub, make sure you’ve finished unpacking.”

“I’m keeping out of the bedroom until Nathan has finished putting his stuff away,” said Tim, lowering his voice to just above a whisper. “He’s really strange. He hasn’t said a single word yet. It’s not fair; why do I have to share with him?”

“Like Nick said earlier, he’s probably just shy,” said Jayden. “You’ve got to give him a chance. Go and talk to him.”

“Do I have to?”

“How do you expect to get to know him if you don’t make the effort?”

“I suppose.” Grumbling under his breath, Tim headed back towards his bedroom.

However, it appeared that Tim’s attempts at communicating with Nathan were going to have to wait. As the boys returned to the lounge, they found Adam waiting for them.

“Getting settled in OK,” the Asian boy asked.

“Sort of,” said Nick. “Tim was just admiring the bathroom.”

Adam gave a laugh. “Yeah, those big baths can be a lot of fun.” He pointed across at the easy chairs. “Let’s go and sit down, it’s time we got down to business.”

“Are you gonna show us how to use our powers?” asked Tim, an excited gleam in his eyes.

“I hope to make a start on that,” said Adam. “We’ll see how we get on; there are other things I need to tell you about first.” He sat down and waited until the other three boys were comfortably seated. “Mark would normally be doing this introductory session with you, but something important has come up that’s going to need his attention and before he can deal with it he needs to catch up on his sleep. So you’ve got me. We’ll start off with me giving you a bit of background about the Corps and you can ask me any questions you might have. Then we’ll talk about your powers and if we have time, maybe make a start on showing you how to use them.”

“I can’t wait,” grinned Tim, shuffling in his chair.

“Well you’re going to have to,” said Jayden, soberly. “Sit still and stop fidgeting.”

Tim gave his brother a cold glare and sat back, pouting, his arms folded tightly across his chest.

While the boys listened with varying degrees of attention, Adam gave them a short rundown of the history of the organisation. He explained how it had been founded around twenty five years ago by some mystery person who strangely, it appeared, no one had ever seen. Originally there were very few boys with powers and by current standards these were relatively weak. As time went on, it seemed that powers were starting to become a little more common and were definitely getting stronger. He paused here to point out that the three of them, Nick, Jayden and Tim were perfect examples; they were all potentially far stronger in their major talents than anyone else so far discovered.

“Where does all the money come from to finance the bases?” asked Nick. “They must cost a fortune to set up and run.”

“Well, our mysterious benefactor provided a huge sum of money when he first set things in motion,” said Adam. “That was used to build and equip the first bases. Also, a great deal of money is brought in by hiring out members’ talents. Private industry will pay quite a lot of money for the use of telepaths, energy manipulators and kinetics. Even teleporters can demand a good fee; being able to travel long distances in no time at all is really useful to some businessmen. With the exception of this one, all of the bases around the world are now almost financially independent. US West Coast is the newest and smallest and all of our money still comes from the main base in New York.”

“What about healing?” asked Jayden. “You didn’t mention that. Doesn’t that fetch any money in?”

Adam gave a grin. “It used to, up until a couple of years ago. Then Mark and some of the other stronger healers decided that they weren’t going to do it for money anymore; they said that healing should be for the people who needed it, not just the ones who could afford it. It caused quite a stir at the time and made Mark very unpopular with some people. It did get him noticed though, and eventually led to his appointment to the Corps Council.”

“I’m getting to like Mark more all the time,” smiled Nick.

“Mark’s great,” said Adam, nodding. “I’ve been here with him for almost a year now and he’s not only a terrific base leader, he’s also one of the best friends I’ve ever had.” He rubbed his hands together then absently cracked his knuckles. “I think that’s enough background for now. You’ll pick up other things as we go along and if you want to know anything in particular you can always ask.”

“Does that mean we get to talk about our powers now?” asked Tim, perking up a little. His previously bored expression had indicated his complete lack of interest in anything that had so far been discussed.

“If you like,” said Adam, laughing. “I suppose it is a bit more interesting than a history lesson.” The Asian teen then launched into detailed descriptions of the more common abilities possessed by Corps members, explaining some of the things that could be done with each. “It’s important to remember that even people with the same ability can sometimes do slightly different things,” he said. “For example, with telepaths, some of us can do things that others can’t, such as speaking to people a long distance away.”

“You’re a telepath, aren’t you? Does that mean you know what I’m thinking?” Over the past few minutes Jayden had been looking increasingly worried.

“I can’t tell what you are thinking unless I deliberately read your mind,” said Adam. “I could do that, but I won’t; not without first getting your permission or unless there was a very good reason. You’ve nothing to worry about on that score.”

“OK, I just wondered,” say Jayden, looking somewhat relieved.

“It was a good question,” said Adam. “Later on in your training you’ll be shown some techniques for protecting your thoughts, but I’m afraid there’s nothing you can do to keep out a skilled telepath. That’s why there are rules there to protect you; all Corps telepaths are taught to respect people’s privacy. Though of course there are people in every organisation who don’t always play by the rules. If you think a telepath has been into your mind without your permission, you can complain first to your base leader, and if that does no good you can take it to the Corps Council. It would then be up to the telepath to show he had a valid reason for what he had done.”

Nick had been watching Jayden closely and was curious about what the boy might be hiding, but he put this aside. “Are there other powers, besides the ones you’ve described?”

Adam nodded. “Yeah, there are new ones appearing all the time, but mostly they are far too weak to be of any use. Eventually, if they follow the same pattern as the other powers, I expect people with stronger versions of them will appear. There’s a boy in New York who is able to see what is going on in the next room, but the power only works if he was in the room himself less than five minutes previously, and he can only use the ability for a couple of minutes at a time. Another boy in Moscow can create illusions, but they are only tiny and again he can only hold them for a few minutes at a time.”

“Never mind about all those,” said Tim, again looking impatient. “How about seeing what we can do?”

Adam glanced at his watch. “Time’s getting on,” he said. “It’ll soon be dinner time.”

“Aw, that’s not fair,” grumbled Tim. “I thought we were going to get to use our powers.”

“I thought you’d already used yours,” said Adam, with a grin. “From what I hear, you had a disagreement with a boy in school and he ended up flat on his back about yen yards away from where he’d been standing.”

Tim gave a little snigger. “That was Davey Edwards, and he had it coming. He thought that ‘cos he was bigger than me he could push me around. You should have seen his face when that happened to him. I didn’t do it on purpose though. I don’t even know how it happened. I want to be able to make something happen.”

“I’ll tell you what,” said Adam. “We haven’t time for a proper lesson, but if the others don’t mind, we’ll see if we can get you to make something happen. Then maybe you’ll be happy.”

“Yeah!” Tim gave a delighted cry.

“Anything to shut him up,” said Jayden with a smile and a shake of his head.

“Let’s see,” Adam looked around, his eyes coming to rest on the book that Nick had earlier discarded. “This’ll do nicely.” There was a small table in front of where they were sitting and Adam carefully balanced the book on its end on the tabletop. “Right, lets see if you can make the book fall over. Concentrate on the book and feel it in your mind. Feel how heavy and solid it is. When you have a good picture of it in your head, flip it over onto its side.”

Tim sat forwards in his chair, his arms on his knees and his young brow furrowed in concentration. “Nothing’s happening,” he said. “It’s not working.”

“It’ll work,” Adam reassured the boy. “Keep concentrating; you need to actually feel the book with your mind. Then give it a push. Picture it falling over.”

The seconds ticked by.

“It’s still not working.”

“Concentrate.”

“I am, it’s no good.”

Suddenly, the book took off from the table and flew with tremendous force straight towards Adam’s head. The telepath barely managed to duck out of the way in time.

“I did it!” Tim was on his feet, literally dancing with joy. “You saw that, Jay? I did it.”

“Yeah, you certainly did,” said Jayden, his eyes wide.

Adam rubbed his head as if imagining what would have happened had the book made contact. “I think we have some control issues that are going to have to be resolved,” he said, wryly. “We’ve definitely done enough for today. Hopefully tomorrow Mark will be around to start your coaching properly; I’m not sure I’m up to it.”

“Sorry, I didn’t mean it to fly at you like that,” said Tim, the clear excitement on his face at what he had just done making his expression appear anything but sorry.

“Don’t worry about it.” Adam looked again at his watch. “The dining room will be open for dinner in a few minutes. Why don’t you all wander up there and get something to eat. After that you have the evening to yourselves. You can spend the time getting to know one another, or whatever. I’d suggest that you don’t be too late to bed, because you have a busy day tomorrow.
Oh, and Tim, no attempting to use you powers until Mark is around to supervise; promise me?”

“Yeah, OK, I promise,” said Tim.

“So shall we go get something to eat?” Nick asked the brothers, after Adam had left them.

“Yeah, please. I’m starved,” said Tim. He set off for the door.

“Hang on minute,” said Jayden. “Shouldn’t we ask Nathan if he wants to go with us? He’s been stuck in his room on his own all afternoon.”

“Aw, do we have to?” Tim whined. “Why do we have to have spooky Nathan along? He hasn’t said a single word yet.”

“Tim, give the boy a chance,” said Nick. “Paul said he’d been found living rough on the streets and was in a real state when the Corps took him in. And he’s only twelve years old. You’d probably be acting a little strange if that had happened to you.” The prince shook his head sadly. “How could anyone let something like that happen?”

“I don’t know,” said Jayden, looking unhappy. He knocked lightly on the door to Nathan’s room. There was no reply so he pushed the door open and stepped inside.

Nathan was laid on his side on his bed, staring blankly at the wall. He didn’t even look up.

“Nathan, we’re just going to eat. You want to come with us?” Jayden stepped closer to the bed.

There was still no response.

“Nathan?” Jayden gently touched the boy’s leg.

Nathan reacted as though poked with a cattle prod. “Arghh! Leave me alone!” he screamed. He scrambled to the top of the bed where he sat trembling in fear, his eyes wide and his knees pulled up tightly beneath his chin.

Jayden had pulled back in shock and surprise at the boy’s reaction. He briefly turned to look at Nick, but the prince was equally shocked and uncertain about what to do.

“Nathan, it’s OK.” Jayden tried again. Slowly approaching the boy, he sat down on the edge of the bed and put his hand on Nathan’s arm.

The youngster flinched at the touch but didn’t make any sound. Gradually some of the tension seemed to ease out of his body.

“Are you alright?” Jayden asked, softly.

There was a short pause before the boy nodded his head. “I thought you were someone else,” he said, in a soft, nervous, boyish voice. “I… I was sort of dreaming.”

“But you had your eyes open,” said Tim, from the doorway.

“I was dreaming,” Nathan snapped, shooting Tim a challenging look.

“OK, if you say so,” Tim shrugged.

“Tim, why don’t you wait outside for a minute,” Jayden suggested. He watched his brother depart and then turned back to the boy on the bed. “We’re going to get something to eat. Do you want to come with us?”

“Me?” Nathan seemed genuinely surprised at the invitation.

“Yeah. Come on, it’ll give us all a chance to get to know each other.”

There was another longish pause while Nathan appeared to be thinking it over. “Alright,” he said. He climbed off the bed, quickly wiping his eyes on the sleeves of his shirt.

The dining room was much busier and considerably noisier than it had been on the boys’ previous visit. Upwards of thirty boys of varying ages chatted, laughed and joked with each other as they ate their food.

“There aren’t any girls at all,” Tim observed as they sat down around a table.

“Disappointed?” asked Nick, jokingly. Having spent most of his life at an expensive and exclusive boys’ boarding school, the prince felt relatively at home in the current environment.

“No chance,” Tim replied, giving a disgusted snort. “Girls are stupid. It’s better there aren’t any.”

“Spoken like a true thirteen year old,” Nick laughed. He glanced at Jayden, but the other boy quickly looked down at his food.

Whilst Tim seemed quite easy to fathom, Jayden was a bit of a mystery to Nick. Most of the time the boy was open and friendly, but there also seemed to be moments where he shut himself off and became quiet and insular. Maybe it was just a reaction to the situation they found themselves in. It was still very early days and it would probably take a while before they all settled in and became completely comfortable with one another.

The conversation during the meal consisted mainly of light banter between Nick and Tim. Nick, and a couple of times Jayden, made some attempts to bring Nathan into the conversation, but the younger boy would respond with just an odd word or a nod of his head and then lapse back into silence.

Back in their lounge after the meal, the situation was much the same. Nathan had made to return straight back to his bedroom, but Jayden had talked him into sitting in the main room with the rest of them. However, it seemed that in his present mood, Jayden was hardly more talkative than Nathan, and the two of them sat pretty much in thoughtful silence.

Tim had talked Nick into playing video games and the fifteen year old soon realised that he was completely outmatched by the excitable youngster. He lost game after game but still found himself giving in to the repeated plea of “just one more”.

“I think I’m going to go to bed,” said Jayden, eventually, the first words he’d spoken in a long time.

“Yeah, it is getting quite late,” Nick agreed, grateful for the excuse to bring to an end the string of embarrassing defeats he had suffered.

“It’s not that late,” said Tim. “Just play a bit longer.”

Nick gave the boy’s shoulder a friendly shove, pushing him over onto his side. “We’re all supposed to be getting an early night,” he pointed out, laughing. “We can play again tomorrow. You don’t want to be too tired in the morning to use your powers, do you?”

“No chance,” Tim grinned. “I bet I can beat you at that as well.”

“We’ll see,” said Nick. “Get off to bed and get some sleep.”

The boys quickly used the bathroom and said their good nights and then retired to their respective rooms. As he closed the room door, Nick put out the main light, leaving the room lit only by the much softer glow of the lamp beside Jayden’s bed.

“You alright? You’ve been quiet all evening.” Nick asked.

“I’m fine. Just tired that’s all.” Jayden pulled off his shirt and dropped it on the bed. Then, realising that Nick was looking at him, he blushed and crossed his arms over his bare chest. “I’ve never had to share a room before; it feels really strange.”

Nick gave a smile. “You’ll soon get used to it. When I first went off to school, there were six of us sharing a room. It was fun.”

“What do you mean fun?”

“We just generally larked about and had a good time. I used to miss it during the holidays when I went home and had a room all to myself. Later on I shared a room with a boy called Edward; just the two of us. We shared for about four years until I was thirteen, after that they gave me a room of my own. Almost everyone else was still sharing, but I got my own room because I was a prince.” Nick gave a sigh. “I’d rather have continued sharing with Edward.”

“I suppose it can be pretty cool, sharing with a good friend,” said Jayden, sitting on the bed to take off his shoes and socks.

“Yeah, it is,” Nick agreed. He started pulling off his own clothes.

Jayden removed his trousers leaving him in just a pair of loose, grey cotton shorts. He put his hands to the waistband as if about to remove them and then thought better of it, opening a drawer and pulling out a clean pair.

Nick watched out of the corner of his eye, trying not to smile, as Jayden turned away, pulled his shorts down and off and tried to step into the clean ones all in one movement. It would have worked if he hadn’t got his toe caught and nearly fallen over. He staggered, wheeled around and caught his balance by putting his hands on the bed, finally sitting down to pull on the clean shorts.

After all those years of sharing a room, Nick didn’t have anything like the same inhibitions. He stepped out of his shorts and, naked, he casually located and pulled on a clean pair. When he looked up he saw Jayden was already in bed, watching him.

“Ready for sleep?” Nick asked, climbing into his own bed.

“Yeah, I think so. Want the light out?”

“Yeah, go ahead. Goodnight.”

“Nite.” The room was plunged into darkness.

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