In the Shadows (8 page)

              I don’t get very far before Grey catches up with me.

              “Mia, wait a second,” he calls to me. “I’ll walk with you to meet Jacoby.”

              “Thanks but I’m pretty certain I’m safe here so it’s really unnecessary.”

              “I want to.”

              “Why?”

              He doesn’t answer, but keeps walking with me.  Fine. Whatever. If he’s going to insist on guarding me even in the safety of the castle, I’m going to make this short walk as uncomfortable for him as possible.

              “What were you and Adele discussing? It seemed very…
intense.
” I say the words as casually as I can possibly manage but I’m surprised when my heart rate skyrockets. I know he can hear it which embarrasses me. I’m supposed to be making
him
uncomfortable not
myself
, which makes me regret my decision to try to be mean. I’m more affected by this than I want to admit.

              “We were just talking.”

              “It looked like more than that.”

              “You have a colorful imagination,” he answers stonily.

              “Since when did you two become friends anyway?”

              “Since we both were assigned to protect you.”

              I feel my cheeks redden in response. Low blow. He isn’t playing fair. He knows that I hate the fact that I have not one, not two, but three Light Elves around me at all times to protect me from Dugan. It’s embarrassing. I’m pretty sure I’ve proven that I’m perfectly capable of taking care of myself but Alberico still insists.

              “You guys must’ve really hit it off.”

              “We’re just friends,” he assures me.

              “Just friends like you and I were ‘just friends’ or are you really just friends?” I can’t help myself. I really wish this didn’t bother me so much.

              Grey reaches out, placing his palm on my cheek.                “We never were just friends because I didn’t want more than that, surely you must know that? It’s just— the impossibility of it all—it just didn’t make sense and we both would’ve ended up hurt.”

              My  stomach tightens and I have to force myself to swallow before I can answer. “I know.”

              “And besides, as much as it pains me to admit, Jacoby’s a decent guy. It’s obvious how much he cares about you.”

              I’m not sure why I feel so uncomfortable over the idea of Grey spending time with another girl, especially one that’s infinitely more suitable for him than me. I guess I have just gotten accustomed to being the center of his world. I cringe at that thought, disgusted with myself for being so self-absorbed. How selfish could I be? I should want him to find happiness.

              “Well, Adele’s nice. So if you were ever to want to consider venturing out of the ‘just friends’ territory with someone, I guess she’d be a good choice.”

              “I’ll keep that in mind.” He clears his throat nervously, obviously uncomfortable with this whole conversation. I’m raking my mind for something to say that will derail this conversation when Jacoby walks in from the courtyard.

              “Hey Lark,” Jacoby greets me.

              “Hi.”

              Grey just nods in way of returning his greeting then bids us both goodbye. Will he go back up to the library and finish what I interrupted? I shake the thought from my head and turn my focus on my boyfriend who’s watching me curiously.

              “What took so long?”

              “I didn’t want to come in my jammies so I got dressed first,” I explain, leaving out the whole spying on Grey and Adele detail. “So what’s going on? Why am I here so early? ”

              “Well, Isobel and I went back to my parents’ house. And, oh wait— I brought back a picture to show you.” He holds up a picture for me. His mother had the same coppery brown hair as him and the same shade of emerald green eyes. She was a petite thing though, being an elf and all, so he obviously inherited his father’s height. His father was a tower of a man with short blonde hair and kind blue eyes that seemed to twinkle mischievously. I guess Jacoby inherited that trait from his dad too.

              “Wow, you look a lot like your mom,” I tell him as I hand the picture back. He tucks it gingerly into his back pocket.

              “Yeah, but that’s not the reason I asked you to meet me.”

              “I’d hope so considering, as exciting as the picture is, you are interrupting my very valuable beauty sleep,” I tease him.

              “We think we might have found it. The bottomless cave I told you about. We’re going to check it out and I knew you wanted to come.”

              “Right now?”

              “Aunt Isobel didn’t want to wait any longer.”

              “Okay then, let’s go.”

Chapter Ten

             
W
e meet Isobel at her apartment in the castle’s residential wing. She and Duke Finnegan do have their own land and their own house, but with everything going on with the Dark Elves, Alberico insisted that they move into the castle on a more full-time basis since Finnegan is one of Alberico’s advisors.

              The front room is similar in elegance to the rest of the castle. The tones are soft blues, grays, and marble with rich mocha-hued hardwood flooring. A majestic grand piano sits off to the side of the room. I idly wonder if Isobel or Finnegan plays. There’s a small oval table surrounded by four tall-backed winged chairs where I imagine Isobel enjoys her daily tea and cookies. 

              Isobel emerges from one of two thick wooden doors the same color as the flooring wearing jeans—actual jeans— and a simple violet top that looks like something I’d get at Old Navy.  I don’t believe I’ve ever seen her in anything less than a formal dress.

              “Um, I should probably change, huh?” I ask, realizing that my dress is a little inappropriate for this little journey of ours and that nothing in my Álfheimr closet will work either. I might be putting my Hello Kitty jammies back on.

              “Yes of course my dear. You are about my size, would you like to borrow something? I had Jacoby take me to, what was it called again?”

              “A mall,” Jacoby smirks.

              “Oh yes, a mall, to pick up some human clothes. He seemed to think I’d attract too much attention in my usual wardrobe in a town like Diamond. Though you would think with a name like Diamond they’d be used to more elegant attire,” she scoffs in disbelief.

              I laugh, “He’s probably right and yes, I’d love to borrow something.”

              She pulls out two large Old Navy bags from her closet and I laugh again. “When did you guys go to Topeka?”

              There isn’t an Old Navy in Manhattan which is unfortunate since it’s the only place I really like to shop and I have to drive forty-five minutes to get there.

              “Oh, a few weeks ago. The first time we went to visit Cordelia’s house. Jacoby didn’t want to attract any unwanted attention so—“

              “So I asked Hannah where all the cool kids shop,” Jacoby interrupts.

              “And she told you Old Navy?” I ask skeptically. Hannah pretty much detests Old Navy. It’s more my style than hers.

              “Okay, well, I might have lied and told her I was shopping early for your birthday. Apparently I’m the, and I quote, ‘sweetest most thoughtful boyfriend ever’, end quote, to shop a month early for your birthday present,” he laughs. “She directed me to your favorite store.”

              “Why didn’t you just ask me?” I wonder out loud.

              He just shrugs, “How do you know I wasn’t really shopping for you too?” He smiles mischievously.

              “You already bought my birthday present!” I smack him.

              “Hence I’m the sweetest most thoughtful boyfriend ever.”

              “Can I open it now?”

              “Your birthday is next week. I think you can wait.”

              “But—”

              “Patience is a virtue, Lark. Now go change so we can leave because there’s no way you’re getting your present early so don’t even think about trying the puppy-dog eyes.”

              Sometimes it’s no fair having a boyfriend who can read my errant thoughts.

              “Hmph. Fine. I’m going, I’m going.” I step inside Isobel’s bathroom with my borrowed jeans and blue v-neck tee. Isobel and I are going to look like middle school little girls who plan to wear the same outfit to school every day.

              Isobel’s feet are an inch smaller than mine, which is crazy since I wear a size six shoe and I haven’t met too many people who have smaller feet than me.  I slip my ballet flats back on and hope that there’s not much hiking involved where we’re going.

              Once I’m all dressed, I rejoin Jacoby and Isobel in the sitting room.

              “Ready?” she asks me.

              “Yeppers.”

              “Okay, let’s go.” She reaches out for my hand and Jacoby holds my other one. A moment later we’re surrounded by the warm light of transporting and the next second we’re in the middle of a thickly wooded area. I can hear water streaming nearby but there’s no sign of any other people in this area.

              “So this is Diamond?”

              “No, we’re actually about three hours away from Diamond,” Jacoby says as he walks over to an abandoned truck and pulls out a large canoe.

              “What are you doing?”

              “Don’t worry Lark, I’m not stealing. We’re just borrowing it. The owner won’t even know it’s gone.”

              “But—”

              “I told you we have to float down the river to get to the cave.”

              “Say what?”

              “We're goin' floatin',” he says with a wide smile.

              “But why can't we just transport to the caves?” I ask.

              “Because we've never been there before, we've just
heard
about it.”

              “I see.” Unfortunately, elves can't transport anywhere that we've never been before. “That sucks.”

              “C’mon, it’ll be fun.” He’s entirely too excited about this especially on this cool spring morning. Goosebumps are already prickling up and down my arms and I’m still dry. I don’t even want to think about how freezing cold the water is going to be if Jacoby tips us over.

              “I’m not going to flip the boat. Relax.”

              “Promise?”

              “Well, of course I can’t promise but I can say with 99% certainty that I will probably not flip the boat.”

              I narrow my eyes suspiciously at him.

              “Okay, 95%.”

              “The cave is about seven miles that way,” Isobel points towards the east. Jacoby puts the boat in the water and helps Isobel climb in. I dutifully follow.

              I’ve never been floating before, but it’s pretty peaceful until a bug flies into my hair. I’m sandwiched in between Jacoby and Isobel. He paddles from the back of the canoe while Isobel manipulates the water in front of us so we glide through the blue water seamlessly. We float along for hours, bubbling over smooth gray and purple rocks, watching the fish dart under and around our canoe while listening to the birds chirp and other wildlife scurrying around among the trees.

              “Um, how do we know when we’re there?” I ask as the sun settles directly above us.

              “We’re getting close. Do you feel that?” Jacoby asks and at first I have no idea what he’s talking about. But then as the river snakes around a corner, I feel it. There’s a noticeable shift in the air. It’s cooler, fresher, and smells damp. I look around but all I see is a lot of trees along a narrow riverbank.

              Isobel points at some boulders straight ahead and says, “We’ll tie up the canoe just over there.”

              I turn around to look at Jacoby and he must see the confusion on my face.

              “I told you, you can’t see it from the river,” he explains matter of factly, “We have to hike up there.”

I look up at the house-size boulder to which he is referring to and silently curse the ballet flats that are on my feet.

              “Next time, do you think you could give me a heads up so I can wear different shoes?”

              He grimaces. “Sorry, I didn’t think about that.”

              After we tie up the canoe, we start making our way up the monstrous boulder. The dark gray, moss-covered rocks are just as slippery as I feared but miraculously I don’t fall. Jacoby hikes behind me just in case though. We climb higher and higher until we can no longer see our canoe hidden under the trees. As we start our descent on the other side I immediately notice a sign posted to the left: “Cave Closed to Public” and another one that says “Caution Falling Rock”.

              Well, isn’t that just peachy?

              It’s dark, damp, and dirty and I’m pretty sure I can already hear bats flying above our heads and we haven’t even stepped foot inside the real cave yet. Isobel keeps going so I keep trudging after her with Jacoby trailing behind me. The ground’s jagged with fallen rocks of all different sizes. Some are barely pebbles, some are as big as baseballs, but others are the size of a small house—we walk around those.                Above me is just as jagged as the bottom and if I was Hercules I think I could pick up some of the larger rocks from the ground and match them perfectly to the top of the cave like missing puzzle pieces, which makes me wonder just how often the rocks fall from the ceiling. I just know I’m going to sprain my ankle.

              “You okay?” Jacoby asks as I slip a little, almost falling forward.

              “Yeah, I’m fine,” I grumble. 

              “Next time I’ll be more specific about what we’ll be doing. I’m really sorry. I didn’t even think about it.”

              “It’s okay. I’m the one who wanted to tag along.”