Fae (28 page)

“I definitely will,” I said as I rose from my chair. “Thank you for everything. I've had an incredible time.”

“You are forever welcome,” he told me as he grasped my hand. He stared at me for a long moment. “You are a special young woman.”

I don't know why but his compliment filled me warmth. I didn't even know this man, and yet it touched me that he thought I was special.

He turned abruptly and left.

I sat back down and felt the mood change in the room. There was now no one left to guide our way through conversation. It was just the two of us again. I cut into my steak.

“Everything is so wonderful. I don't think I've had this much to eat in a long time,” I said, trying to clear the silence with sound.

“I'm glad you like it,” he took a sip of his water. “My grandfather really likes you.”

“Well, I really liked him a lot. He seems like an incredible man. You're lucky to have him in your life.”

“That is definitely an understatement.”

Silence again. This time Devilyn broke it.

“Once we're done, we can study in my room if you're comfortable?”

His room?

I knew it was every girl's secret dream to spend time in the bedroom of their crush. A personal window into their life. To see how it's decorated. To see where they sleep. Where they shower. What pictures they have up. But even though I was beyond curious, deep down I wasn't too sure I wanted to have that access.

“Will your grandfather mind?” was all I could think of saying.

“We're just going to be studying, Caroline.”

I could feel the blush creep up my face.

“Right.” I was such a juvenile. Of course that's all we were going to do.

Even though I took my time eating every last piece of my dessert, it still went by in a flash. The next thing I knew, we were both walking up the winding staircase to his room.

And it was unlike anything I had ever seen.

It was the greatest feeling in the world to have her so close, in my home, and now in my room. I really didn't want her to leave. I wanted to prolong the evening, make it last a lifetime, but I knew that wasn't possible. So I tried very hard to enjoy every moment.

Caroline immediately walked in and put her backpack down next to my desk, and without hesitation went straight to the favorite part of my room. Right out the doors and onto the balcony. She stood there for a very long time staring out at the forest. I gave her the time she needed, as I leaned against the doors and watched her from behind.

Secretly wishing that I could come up from behind her and just hold her close.

But I couldn't.

Not tonight, at least.

But soon.

Very soon.

“The view is incredible,” she said in awe.

“I know.” I didn't take my eyes off her.

“Do you spend a lot of time out here?”

“I actually do. Every morning when I wake up, even in the cold, and every night before I go to bed.”

“I don't think I could ever sleep if I had this view.” She turned and faced me as she ran her fingers against the balcony railing. “I love the trees and the forest. It's kind of crazy considering that all scary movies end up with someone dying in the forest. The girl is always running out into the night through the trees all alone.”

“True,” I laughed.

“But I think it's the most peaceful place. I actually feel very safe when I'm surrounded by the trees. Almost like they would protect me if I was being chased.”

“I'm sure they would.”

She turned again to take one last look and then faced me and moved back into my room.

“Everything tonight—your house, the food, your room even—it's all been so incredible.”

“As my grandfather said, you're welcome here any time.”

She smiled at me and looked down. I loved how she responded to even the slightest compliment. She was a contradiction, never backing down from a verbal argument with me, and yet shy when faced with praise or admiration.

“Maybe we should get some work done,” she laughed.

“We don't have to; we can just sit out here for a little bit and enjoy the beautiful night, if you'd like.”

She hesitated for a moment and then, to my surprise, agreed. “I've been avoiding this assignment all year, so what's another night of procrastination?”

“Let me get a blanket, we can sit out on it so you don't get your clothes dirty.”

“Thanks Devilyn. That sounds great.” I loved it when she said my name.

I walked back into my room and pulled a large blanket out of my closet. When I reached the balcony again she was in her original spot, looking out at the trees.

I placed the blanket on the ground, went inside, and brought out a few pillows.

“If this is uncomfortable for you, I can bring some chairs,” I told her.

“No, this is great. Thanks so much,” she said as she slowly sat down and placed one of the pillows in her lap.

I took a seat next to her and began looking up at the stars. Maybe it was time to begin wishing on them. Hoping that my future would be as bright.

“You have a lot going for you. You're really lucky,” she told me.

“I also have a lot of pressures—the kind that most people don't have.”

“What kind of pressures?”

“My grandfather runs a very large company, and he hopes that one day soon, I will step in and take it over,” I lied trying to get her to grasp the magnitude of the weight I was carrying in life as well.

Even if I spoke in half-truths.

“Company?” She was in a state of utter disbelief. “But you're still in high school; how can you run a company? I mean, I'm sure you're capable of anything, but what about college?”

“I'm definitely going to go to college, that's why I have to keep my grades up and play as best as I can on the field. I need to get into an ivy league, nothing less than that will suffice.”

I knew she would have a million questions because she was such an inquisitive person. And I knew that there were many answers I couldn't give her. But for now, sitting here, side-by-side, together with the moon lighting up the sky, I had to continue. I wanted her to have some compassion for me, to understand that the reason for my sour attitude may have nothing to do with her. That so many extenuating circumstances contributed to my constant negativity. The pressure of leading a group of people, whether in a company, or in a country, or even in the depths of the forest was not easy.

The pressure of uniting two kingdoms.

Of fulfilling a prophecy.

It consumed me.

“There are a lot of people who are vying for my position in my grandfather's company, hoping to prove to him that I'm not fit for the role,” I told her in a quiet voice.

“So you have to prove them all wrong,” she was staring at me, pushing me on. I knew she believed that I could do anything.

“I'm lucky because he has faith in me and supports me, but I want to be welcomed by everyone else as well.”

“It doesn't matter if everyone likes you. But I know they will support you because I've seen you. And I think I know you. Kind of. And you're that kind of guy.” Her words lifted me, and I couldn't stop myself from wanting more.

“What kind of guy?” I stared at her.

She shrugged. “The guy that everyone wants on their team. The guy that walks in a room and is automatically the leader. That kind of guy. That's you.”

I was humbled by her words. Flattered and elated that she had that much faith in me.

“Thank you.”

“You're welcome. Don't doubt yourself. You're so dedicated. To everything you do.”

“I have to be. There's no room for error.”

Your life depends on it.

“I have faith in you,” she almost whispered as a gust of wind suddenly blew her hair in her mouth.

Before she could raise her hand I reached over and brushed it away from her cheek. I couldn't stop myself from lingering and rubbing my hand across her chin. She was so soft and beautiful. I wanted so badly to pull her closer and kiss her. I wanted to taste her, hold her, and never let go.

But I didn't want to do anything to ruin the evening or ruin the connection we had made tonight. There were so many reasons why I wanted her close.

But I had to be careful.

“It's getting late,” I said, hating to be the one to end our evening. “I don't want your parents to worry.”

“You're right,” she replied. “I should probably go home.”

The drive home was a lot quieter than I imagined. We sat together silently listening to the radio. When she left my car and ran up to her front door I couldn't stop myself from smiling. Tonight had been a monumental and successful evening for me. I could sense that Caroline was finally beginning to trust me, and I was finally beginning to trust myself around her.

I had exercised self-control.

It had been hard, but I had gotten through it.

I knew that I was going to do everything in my power to change our course.

Surely I was worthy of happiness as well.

“Victory and defeat are each of the same price.”
—Thomas Jefferson

Odin stood by himself in the great room. He lifted his hand up and watched as the ceiling opened at his command, exposing the sky above. He closed his eyes, and the wind moved around him in a frenzy as he whispered into the air.

He watched as his words moved up toward the open sky, calling out to his ancient pets. They arrived within moments. Fluid, graceful, and obedient to the master they had always known. Hugin and Munin. Mind and thought.

“Tell me what storm awaits us,” Odin commanded as they flew in circles above him.

“He is near,” Munin, the elder eagle answered; his voice echoed in the room.

Odin nodded his head. He knew this to be true, but he needed to make sure that he would force the right course of action.

“The Valkyries are looking out for him.”

“We have seen them sire, your faithful ladies, watching the woods, searching for him. We can smell him. Closer. He is getting much closer. Your cloak will not be able to hide her forever,” Hugin, the other eagle, warned gravely.

“Yes. I know,” Odin's voice replied with deep sorrow and sadness.

“The time is near for the prophecy to begin its course,” Hugin said. “The war is inevitable.”

Odin closed his eyes for a brief moment.

“Father, we know how you despise what must come. The killing. The death. But we see what needs to be done. The time for change is here. It is now,” Munin called out, sensing the anguish Odin felt at the dreaded word.

War.

“There is no other way for the darkness to be defeated,” Hugin told Odin. “It is the will of the Fates.”

Odin lifted his hand. He was done with the conversation.

“So it shall be.”

The time on the clock couldn't be right; there was just no way that it was only seven o'clock.
The battery was probably not working,
I thought. I bent over and stretched my back, regrettably aware that only five minutes had gone by since the last time I looked up at the old timepiece. The diner had been unusually quiet for a Friday night, as most of our regular patrons were at the downtown First Friday festival. Every month downtown Manteo celebrated the first Friday with musical bands, food, and a small reception.

I know that to anyone living in a sophisticated metropolitan city it probably sounded like a lame reason to have a get-together, but the festival was usually a lot of fun and a great chance to hang out. On the nights I wasn't working, I would always go. In fact, Teddy and I would generally take his younger brother since they had so many games and activities for the kids.

Since it was fast becoming a tradition that wasn't going anywhere any time soon, I had begged my parents to close up the restaurant on these nights. Just to give everyone a night off. Even though I knew that deep down they agreed with me, they would always say,
‘let's just see what happens next month.'
And month after month, it was always the same. The only people to come through the diner doors were the employees.

That night, I kept myself preoccupied by doing busy work. I spent the first half of the evening filling up every single container I could find, and when I say every container, I mean every container, from the ketchup, mustard, salt, pepper, tobasco, and even every napkin container. When there was nothing left to fill, I began dusting until my allergies started acting up, forcing me to leave the rest to the professionals. The boring job had actually kept me quite preoccupied. It was the first time in a while my mind hadn't gone off to daydream about the certain somebody who seemed to preoccupy all of my thoughts.

I glanced at the clock again: another hour to go. Wow. Talk about time standing still. It was really quite unbelievable. I wished I had brought a book with me or even my cell phone so I could text Teddy and see what he was up to.

The restaurant was now spotless, and I was fast running out of things to do to keep busy. I went strolling through the kitchen and saw that the garbage cans overflowing.

Now there's something that I could fill up another fifteen or so minutes with,
I thought anxiously. Even though the thought of throwing out all the garbage grossed me out, I decided that I could do it, and it would also give me an excuse to get some fresh air.

“Those are awfully heavy for a scrawny kid,” Frank laughed as he watched me struggle with the big bags.

“I'm not scrawny. I can handle anything you can handle,” I replied, challenging him. I smiled as I lifted the bag, proving my point.

“Honey, that's ridiculous. Look at me and look at you.” He said, pointing at his belly.

I couldn't stop the laughter. “My belly's not lifting the garbage, my arms are.”

He walked over to me to give me a hand. “Let me help you with those. You shouldn't be taking out any of the garbage anyway.”

“Why not?” I asked him.

“Because you're too good for that,” Frank said smiling affectionately at me.

“And you're not?” I asked him as he shrugged. “No one is too good for this.”

“Besides, if you wanted to do it so badly, you would have taken them out sooner,” I said smiling up at him.

“You are probably right,” he said with a laugh. “At least let me get the door. “

Frank had a big grin on his face as he reached around me and opened the back door.

The cold air hit me hard. It was another chilly night in Roanoke. Just from the briskness in the air, I could tell that winter was around the corner, which meant that we were close to having our first snowstorm. I'm sure that everyone else in town would have another opinion, but I loved the winter, and I loved the snow, even though it meant layers of heavy clothing and hours and hours of snow shoveling, which I always did with a weird kind of pleasure.

I loved walking outside and breathing in the clean air. Watching the snow line the beautiful trees. And even more, I loved the fact that it meant that a new year was around the corner. Something about moving forward and moving on with my life gave me hope and basically meant that I was starting fresh.

I smiled as I walked around the building toward the two black dumpsters. I lifted the first bag with ease and threw it up and over the short fence that surrounded the ugly metal boxes. As I went to throw the other one over, someone called out to me.

“You need a hand?”

I whipped around. I couldn't see who the person was and didn't recognize the voice. I looked through the darkness, not sure what to say.

I couldn't see anyone.

I couldn't stop the goosebumps or the shiver of fear that ran down my spine. These were the kind of moments you watched in a movie and screamed at the screen for the girl to run. And yet, I stood where I was. The stranger stepped out of the shadows and into the light, and I couldn't stop the feeling of relief that washed over me.

“You startled me,” I'm sure he could hear the fear in my voice. But I didn't care.

“I'm sorry. I saw you walking out, so I thought I'd come say hello and offer you some help.” He sounded genuinely apologetic.

“That's okay. Sorry, I guess you just took me by surprise.” I was shocked to find the handsome stranger here.

“It's Patrick, right?” I knew who he was, yet still couldn't help feeling apprehensive,. I hoped that he didn't notice how nervous I was, and suddenly I wished Frank would come outside looking for me.

“Yes. That's right. It's Patrick,” he said stepping forward and reaching down to lift the remaining garbage bag. “Let me give you hand with that, Caroline.”

Caroline.
The way he said my name made my skin crawl. As he stood across from me and stared into my eyes, I had the distinct feeling that he was trying to dissect me. I shrugged off the strange sensation and reminded myself that my imagination had to be getting the better of me. But even as I placed a careful smile on my face, I couldn't help the way I felt.

I think what bothered me most was the fact that he was someone I met in a fleeting moment, and there he was days later standing before me.

“I can't believe you remember my name,” I said, noticing that he was now positioned in a way that blocked my entrance to the door to re-enter the restaurant.

“You're a hard girl to forget,” he said with a smile as he slowly reached over and grabbed the trash bag out of my hand and with one swift motion threw it up and into the large dumpster.

That was another thing I noticed as I looked at the bulging muscles in his arms. He seemed strong. Really strong.

Almost scary strong.

“You look great. And as usual, you smell really nice,” he continued as he rubbed his hands together and stared straight at me. He must have noticed my apprehension because he took a few steps back, putting some space between us.

I was relieved he finally noticed that I was uncomfortable but felt guilty as I watched him cower a bit. I knew that I was making him feel unwelcome, but I honestly didn't like the way he stood so close.

“It's just the smell of food,” I replied as I swept my hand through a wisp of hair.

“How've you been?” he continued.

“I'm great. Just busy with school stuff. You know, the usual. What are you doing out here? It's a long way from Plymouth.”

He looked down as if embarrassed.

“I'm sorry, I really didn't mean to catch you off guard. I know how this must look to you,” he said as he stared at me. “I know this might sound crazy, but I came out here to see you.”

I didn't think I heard him correctly. I almost blurted that out loud but thankfully caught myself before it was too late. I watched how his deep blue eyes flickered in the light, making him seem even more mysterious.

“Me?
How did you know where I lived or even worked?”
Ugh, Caroline, can you try to be a bit more cool about it,
I thought.

“I…uh…asked around at school, and there were a couple of people who knew who you were,” he said shyly. “They mentioned that your parents have a place that you occasionally work at. So, I thought I'd start here.”

“Someone from Plymouth knows me?” I said with surprise. Plymouth was seventy-three miles away. The kids at Manteo barely knew me. Or at least, that's what I thought.

“Yeah, actually the Spencers,” he told me as his gaze swept over my face trying to ascertain if I knew who he was talking about. “Maryanne Spencer is in one of my classes, and her dad apparently knows your father.”

I was puzzled and still unsure. It wasn't like I thought he was lying, but it was still kind of strange. Yes, I knew Maryanne Spencer; we actually attended the same church when I was younger, but what were the odds that he would talk about me and find someone who knew me?

More than anything I was just surprised that Patrick asked around about me. I had never known anyone to spend so much energy and time trying to figure out my whereabouts. No one had ever done that. Ever.

It was shocking.

Well, it was actually very flattering. But still…

“Actually, I know the Spencers very well,” I replied with a smile. “And I can't believe that you would be so…”

Interested in finding me.
I couldn't finish my words because I was about to insult myself.

“So what?” he asked curiously.

“Well. I mean,” I began fidgeting, “you met me for five minutes.” There. That said it all. He had to understand what I was saying from that.

He smiled at me and stepped closer. I knew that most girls would find him charming and would be dying to get home and tweet about it or post it on Facebook, but I wasn't like most girls.

Clearly.

I don't know what it was about him. He was good looking, charming, and seemed smart, but there was something in his mannerisms that just didn't feel right. He was a young guy in high school, but he was lacking all of those characteristics. He seemed almost artificial. Like he was trying to be something he wasn't. I knew that my thoughts were crazy and completely unfair and unfounded, but I couldn't shake what I felt.

And then there was the way that I kept meeting him. Both times now I felt like I was almost being stalked or watched then pounced on.

And in the dark.

That was the part that scared me the most.

Don't let your imagination get the best of you Caroline,
I thought. I took in a deep breath and began silently cursing myself. I was so cautious. To the point of even being afraid of my shadow. But that was my problem. I always second-guessed people's intentions. His were probably harmless.

Totally innocent.

But here I was condemning him. If anyone showed any interest in me, I automatically thought they were weird or a future serial killer. I never just accepted the fact that maybe they just liked me. Maybe he liked me so much, that he just had to know who I was, so he searched and searched until he found me.

“I'd love to explain it all to you but inside, if you don't mind. It's really cold out here, and I'm actually pretty hungry,” Patrick replied with a big charming smile. “Are you guys still open?”

“Of course!” I said, suddenly embarrassed by the direction my thoughts had led me in. What was wrong with me? “I'm so sorry. I'll get Frank to make you whatever you like, on the house of course!”

We walked into the restaurant from the back door and through the kitchen, and he continued to follow me closely from behind.

“You need help, kid? I knew I should have come out there with you,” Frank called out, not realizing that we had company.

“I actually found someone to help me.”

Frank moved around the corner to see who I was talking about. He eyed Patrick suspiciously.