Free Chronicles of Eden - Act III by Alexander Gordon Page A

to seeing her lying down on her pillow with a gentle smile. “I love you, sleep well.”
    Daniel looked at her with wonder then to Alyssa as the witch lay back on her pillow as well.
    “I love you too, Daniel. Sweet dreams,” she said with a wink.
    Daniel smiled and glanced to Squeak, the ant girl squeaking at him a few times with a timid smile. The boy looked around at the three girls, seeming to hesitate as he opened his mouth to say something.
    “I know you can’t say it back, it’s okay,” Triska assured. “I just wanted to tell you. After all I’ve waited to say those words to you for so long.”
    “I’ll be dreaming of you all night, just like I always do,” Alyssa said with a cute smile as she curled up in her blanket.
    Squeak merely squeaked something as she peeked out from under her blanket, with one of her antennae poking out from under it as well.
    Daniel smiled at the girls then looked down as he tried to think of what to say, with Specca waiting on the other side of the curtain and listening for his response carefully. After a moment Daniel nodded and looked around at the girls.
    “Sleep well, all of you,” he said gently, then went behind the curtain. The other girls breathed out quietly then looked to each other with concern, none of them looking forward to playing the waiting game through Specca’s turn.
    Behind the curtain Specca was smiling bashfully at Daniel, her tail swaying gently behind her as she held her hands together in front of her. Daniel smiled at the girl while rubbing the back of his neck, glancing down to their sleeping area then to her again while feeling his heart beating faster at the thought of her being so close to him during the night.
    “So… should we… get ready to sleep?” Specca asked timidly.
    Daniel looked to their sleeping blanket for a moment then shook his head at the nixie.
    “Well, I’m not too tired yet, are you?” The girl looked at him curiously then slowly shook her head.
    “Well, not quite. No.”
    “Good,” Daniel said with a wink. “Then, there was something I thought we could do together that you might enjoy. Something that would let us get a lot closer with each other.”
    Specca’s eyes went wide as she stared at Daniel with surprise, a faint gasp escaping her mouth as she questioned what she just heard him say and whether she merely imagined it. From the other side of the curtain a thump was heard followed by two more.
    “You’ve got to be kidding me,” Triska whispered with disbelief.
    Daniel chuckled and pulled the curtain back to see Triska, Alyssa, and Squeak lying on the floor while looking up at him with stunned expressions.
    “First off, we can hear you,” Daniel said playfully. “I thought the rules were you couldn’t disturb us.” Triska stammered something while looking at him with disbelief before the boy shook his head with an amused smile at them.
    “And also, were you all eavesdropping on us just now? I thought we were entitled to our privacy.”
    The other girls opened their mouths to speak then just froze, with Specca looking to them questionably.
    “What were you girls doing?” Specca inquired.
    “Well…” Triska said nervously.
    “We… just…” Alyssa stuttered with a weak smile.
    Squeak smiled nervously and shrugged in response.
    “You all wanted to do this, didn’t you?” Daniel reminded. “Well, then that means you have to give us our privacy tonight, right?”
    The three girls nodded slowly while Specca crossed her arms with a raised eyebrow at them. Daniel nodded and looked to Triska with a calm smile.
    “Goodnight, Triska,” he said expectantly. The girl slowly sat up and looked at him with worried eyes. The boy glanced to Alyssa and raised an eyebrow in question.
    “Goodnight, Alyssa,” he said knowingly, with Alyssa glancing to Specca then back to him with concern. Daniel smiled and looked to Squeak as the three girls sat up on their knees.
    “Goodnight, Squeak,” he said kindly. The