by KB Anne
“I’m fine,” I stammered out. “I just got up too quickly.” My nerves were a pit in my stomach. It was hard, really hard to remain calm with him so close. I tried to swallow before giving him a weak smile. He must have realized his closeness made me uncomfortable because he shifted off the bed and stood by it. I wanted to shout at the top of my lungs, “Don’t go! Please, don’t go!”, but instead I said nothing. I was such a coward.
I sat up slowly this time. He stood next to me, knees bent and arms held out. “I’m fine.” I waved my hands for emphasis. “Don’t worry about me. Go. I’ll get cleaned up, and then I’ll feel much better.”
“Are you sure?” His eyebrows pinched together in an adorable V I wanted to rest my finger in. “I can wait until you’re done in the bathroom.”
“Seriously, I’m fine. Look, I can walk and talk.” I paraded around the room. “Besides, I’m starving.”
“Okay,” he said reluctantly, “what would you like to eat?”
“Anything except meat. I’m a vegetarian.”
“Of course you are,” he replied. I wasn’t sure what he meant by that comment, but he better not have dissed my food choices. Before I could retaliate, he said with an innocent grin, “I was going to get you a big rare steak at four o’clock in the morning.”
“You’re not a vampire, are you?” I eyed him suspiciously. My initial suspicion might have been correct.
“No, but we werewolves,” he winked, “I mean Cherokee, like a rare steak once in a while. You’re sure you’ll be okay?” His laughing eyes turned serious again. I much prefered them laughing. I hated when people worried about me. It threatened my control.
“I’ll be fine. Go. I’m starving.” I lifted my arms and zombie walked over to him. He reached for his neck in fake horror while he opened the door with his other hand.
He stepped out into the hallway and smiled at me. “I will be back as soon as I can. I promise.” It struck me again that I believed every word he said. The only other person I trusted so completely was Frank. I watched out the peephole until he disappeared down the hallway. When he was out of sight, I rested against the door and sighed.
The strong wood door kept me in the upright position, but the magnitude of the situation weighed heavily on me. The Organization was after me, and clearly, they weren’t afraid to kill people to get to me, but I couldn’t get Christian out of my head.
His intense deep blue eyes. His jet-black hair. His dazzling smile. His red, full lips—I wondered what it would be like to kiss those perfectly shaped lips. Was it possible he was a supernatural being too? Was he in fact a werewolf like he hinted at?
And what did that make me? Was I a werewolf too?
I threw back my head and howled, like Frank, Di, and I did whenever there was a full moon, but it didn’t feel real. It wasn’t natural to me.
But if I wasn’t a werewolf what was I aside from a girl who fantasized about Christian’s luscious lips? Mmm, those lips.
My head snapped back up. The thing was… I couldn’t change. Now more than ever, I needed my focus. My life was at stake and so was Christian’s. I needed to figure out what I was, what I was going to do about it, and I needed to get him out of this mess.
Someone knocked at the door again. My heart sprinted a mini-marathon. Christian couldn’t be back with the food already. It was too soon. I scanned the room searching for another way out. Maybe there was a window in the bathroom. Maybe I could hide behind the curtain and run out when an opportunity presented itself. Maybe I could…. Before I could form my last thought, I heard, knockedy, knock, knock.
I smiled. A wave of relief spread through me. I checked the peephole and saw Christian standing before me, except he looked like a circus performer in one of those old, tarnished wavy mirrors. Still impressive though.
I opened the door and stepped back. “Are you sure you’re not Otherworldly, because you just traveled at superhuman speed.”
A sheepish grin crossed his face. “Actually, I was so worried about you that I just went down to the vending area and picked up a few things.” His arms cradled an enormous pile of assorted chips, candy bars, and baked goods.
“A few things? Looks more like you emptied it.”
He shrugged. “I didn’t know what you’d like so I got a little of everything.”
He sounded nervous. Why was he nervous? Was he nervous because of me? Oh no. Now I was nervous because I remembered what I was thinking about before he came back. Which made me start to blush. Which made me turn away and walk over to the table. I was not playing this game. I took a deep breath before turning around and smiling. “Let’s eat.”
He sat down in the other chair and looked over at me. “You didn’t get a chance to clean up, did you?”
“Uh, no,” I stammered, removing the wrapper of a blueberry muffin. “I got distracted.”
Distracted? Really Starr?
“Thanks for the food. Blueberry muffins are my favorite.”
“Oh?” he said, but I didn’t think he was remarking about the muffins. He studied his. “I’ll have to buy several boxes of muffin batter.”
I swallowed hard. “Where did that come from?”
“For our stay at the cabin. I’ll have to rent some horses to carry all the boxes though. I can’t carry that much food by myself,” he said with a hearty, full-on belly laugh. The kind of laugh that was real and came from deep inside. It was the third or fourth time he laughed since he found me. I never knew he had a sense of humor.
I put my hands on my hips. “Excuse me! I am capable of carrying things. How far do we have to carry it anyway?”
“I’m sure you can carry some things, but a horse can carry a lot more. The driveway is a bit…,” he paused allowing the words to hang in the air, simultaneously mysterious and frustrating, “of a distance from the cabin.”
“How far?” Why was he playing coy with me?
“Well, there’s a barn to park the cars at the bottom of the trail. Then you hike to the cabin.”
I straightened in my chair. “Hike. You didn’t say anything about hiking.”
“What’s the matter?” he said. “Afraid of a little exercise?”
I gave him a “yeah, right” glare, before admitting the truth. “I’ve just never really hiked before that’s all.”
“Never really. How many times is that?” he asked with his utterly distracting crooked smile.
“Okay, never. I have never hiked before. I was a deprived child.” My head snapped up. “Are there bears? And snakes?” Real panic started creeping in.
“Mmhhmm.” He nodded with pretend frightened eyes. “And deer, fox, and coyotes. I hear tell there are even wild rabbits up there.”
“Oh, shut it.” I snapped, tossing a candy bar wrapper at him. “Don’t make fun of me.”
He caught the wrapper out of the air before it fell to the floor. For an assassin, my shot was lousy. “I wasn’t making fun of you.”
I raised an eyebrow at him. “Really?”
“Well only a little. Bears and snakes alarm you, but an unknown organization threatening to take you away….”
It was my turn to shrug. “I don’t know who is after me, but I do know what a bear looks like. Besides, you don’t strike me as a nature boy.”
Black combat boots. Black jeans. Black t-shirt. Definitely not the outdoor type.
“Starr, you will find there are many things that are not as they first appear.” I considered his comment before glancing over at him. I caught him staring at me again and this time, instead of keeping eye contact, he stood up and rubbed his hands together.
For some reason, I mirrored his behavior. A wave of anxiousness overcame me. “It’s okay,” he murmured raising his hand to my cheek. Without touching my skin, he pushed a lock of my hair behind my ear. “You need some sleep.”
“I’m good,” I murmured, content to stand next to him all night.
He smiled at me. “Go to sleep. We’ve got a big day of hiking with the bears tomor
row.”
“Gre-at,” I replied. “I’m really looking forward to it.”
Laughing, he said, “Don’t you want to take a shower?”
Ouch! I must be a mess if Christian, a complete stranger, thought I needed a shower.
He didn’t miss my pained expression. “Oh no Starr, I didn’t mean anything by it. I just thought you’d feel better. It’s been a long couple of days for me. I can’t imagine how you must feel.”
The pity in his eyes made me want to vomit. I would not have anyone feel sorry for me. Squaring my shoulders, I grabbed my bag and stormed into the bathroom. I tore things out of the bag and smashed them onto the counter. Then I caught my reflection, and my world crashed down. A stranger with teased up black hair, heavy white makeup, and thick, charcoal-lined eyes stared back at me. Christian made me forget she was here. He made me feel like the old me, and I could never be that girl again. But then, who was I?
I willed myself to shift into whatever the hell I was, but no teeth protruded from my teeth, no predator eyes stared back at me, not even wings popped out of my shoulder blades.
Disgusted with myself, I cranked the hot water and jumped into the shower. I scrubbed my face with a washcloth until it was raw. Black-stained water disappeared down the drain taking its phony disguise with it. When my entire body was red and wrinkled, I turned off the water and dried off with a scratchy, cheap towel.
I tore through Di’s bag looking for anything with some color, but there was nothing but black, black, and more black! I was sick of black! I yanked on a black shirt and leggings and stormed out of the bathroom ready to pick a fight with the guy who saved my life, just because I was in that sort of mood.
But his empty chair stopped me in my tracks. Did he leave already? Decided enough was enough, and seriously, who could blame him? My head whipped around the room before stopping at one of the beds. He was propped up against the pillows, as if he was waiting up for me, but his closed eyes told me otherwise.
I smiled at him. I couldn’t believe Christian Evergood came to my rescue, the boy who scowled at me when he wasn’t ignoring me. His features softened in his sleep. He looked young and innocent. I climbed into the other bed, curled into a ball, and watched him through the wee hours of the night. He looked just like an angel, my guardian angel.
Chapter Thirteen
Opening my eyes didn’t seem like the best idea right now, especially if Christian was still in bed with me. I could just imagine the movie script: The Guardian Angel came to the aid of the damsel in distress, ripping her from the throes of danger, as a terrifying nightmare caused her to scream and thrash in the night at imagined enemies. He comforted her until she fell into the most peaceful sleep she’d had in days, protecting her from all dangers, both real and imagined. Stay tuned for her next psychotic break….
Taking a deep breath, I sat up to face him, but he wasn’t in bed next to me. He wasn’t in the other bed either or in one of the chairs, and the bathroom door was open with the lights off. “Christian?” I called out to the curtain-darkened room, but I was greeted with silence. “Christian?” Still silence. A lump rose in my throat. Dread spread through me. Not that I blamed him for leaving, I mean really, who wanted to risk his life for a girl he just met and who suffered mental breakdowns every other minute? But I really thought there was something between us. Maybe what I took for chemistry was just him being nice. Chemistry had always been my worst subject.
A pile of muffins on the table with a note made me smile. He didn’t run at the first sign of crazy. I snorted when I saw that he was an “all-caps” writer.
GOOD MORNING SUNSHINE, I MEAN STARR,
HOPE YOU SLEPT WELL. I KNOW I DID. ENJOY THE MUFFINS. THERE SHOULD BE ENOUGH TO LAST YOU A FEW MINUTES— JUST KIDDING. I RAN OUT TO THE STORE TO STOCK UP ON SOME REAL FOOD AND OTHER SUPPLIES FOR OUR HIKE—YOU KNOW THE ONE YOU’RE LOOKING FORWARD TO? BE BACK BY 2:00.
CHRISTIAN
P.S. THE DO NOT DISTURB SIGN IS ON THE DOOR, BUT DEADBOLT IT.
It was only 12:00. What was I supposed to do for two hours? I peeked through the heavy red and yellow striped curtains. Little bits of dust wafted around in the sunlight streaming into the room. With the sun shining and bright blue skies, it was a perfect day for a run. I tried to shake off the urge. I shouldn’t go anywhere without Christian. I paced the room, unable to sit still. I grabbed the phone from the cradle and started to dial my parents but stopped before pressing the final digit. They thought I was dead and until I figured out who was after me, it was better that way. I slammed it down.
I grabbed the remote and flicked on the TV. Tom Cruise hung inches from the floor in another daring acrobatic feat to beat the bad guy in Mission Impossible. Tears formed in the corner of my eyes, and I quickly changed the channel. The movie reminded me too much of Frank, and what I thought existed only in Hollywood was much too real.
The next channel was no better. Ryan Gosling and Rachel McAdams kissed on the front porch of her parent’s house in Nicholas Sparks’ The Notebook. Every girl’s night, Jovie, Sami, and I watched The Notebook and cried our eyes out. I couldn’t think about them right now. I was barely keeping it together. Thinking about them would only bring me pain. I stabbed the off button and chucked the remote across the bed. It smashed against the wall and fell to the floor.
I paced from the door to the window to the bathroom and back again. The moldy stagnant air of the room made it impossible to breathe. I felt like someone was smothering me with a pillow. On my tenth lap, a thin ray of sun peeked through the curtain. I looked out the window. The blue skies and sunshine tormented me even more. I couldn’t stay in this room another minute.
I grabbed my sneakers from under the bed. The General and his goon squad wouldn’t find me down here, wherever here was. No one was going to recognize me with my black hair. Well, Christian did, but Di told him about my hair. With new purpose and a mission in mind, I reached for the door. The only thing that stopped me from leaving was Christian’s note. If he got back to the room before I did, he’d think something happened to me. Grabbing the note, I flipped it over, and scrawled:
Went for a run. Be back soon! Sunshine
Laughing at our little joke, I swung open the door and let the sun’s warmth embrace me. I sucked in the fresh air feeling light and free. I smiled in anticipation of the fresh wave of endorphins that would pump through my system and clear my head. I always did my best thinking when my body was occupied in physical activities. Maybe I’d even figure out who was behind the Organization. I skipped down the stairs and raced up the street. I wanted to hoot and holler with my newfound freedom, but I knew I couldn’t shout or even whoop. I was all too well aware, that drawing attention to myself was not in my best interest.
As I ran down the street, I took in my surroundings which was smart given that an insane group led by a general was after me. The classic colonial brick and stone buildings reminded me of a college town. It was nothing like the new vinyl-sided suburbia houses of my neighborhood.
I tried to figure out where we were. Christian drove for three or four hours. Maybe five—not that I really had any idea how long we drove since I evidently passed out placing all my trust in a person I barely knew and who admitted hating me for the majority of the school year, but then the universe shifted for both of us, and he’s here to help me.
Four or five hours put us someplace in Pennsylvania or maybe Virginia. As I continued down the country road, the houses spread out and grew in size and grandeur. I ran alongside a tall wrought-iron fence that went on forever. For some reason, it seemed vaguely familiar. As the fence turned into a huge gate, I came to a screeching halt. I knew this house, and I used house loosely. This place was a mansion, an estate actually, and one of the largest I’d ever seen. I couldn’t remember where I knew it from. Maybe one of my dad’s architectural magazines or maybe I saw it in his portfolio?
The front gates swung open and several black SUVs pulled out onto the road followed by a long, black stret
ch limousine. I always wondered who hid behind the tinted glass—a movie star or a musician, a diplomat or a dignitary, or just a boring old rich person. I watched the motorcade until it disappeared out of sight. When the last leaf floated back down to the road, I returned my attention to the mansion.
There was an “Open to the Public from 10 a.m.-5 p.m.” sign, and I was tempted. Oh, I was tempted. If the grounds and the outside of the building were any indication, the interior had to be amazing. Besides, maybe I’d remember where I knew it from. And if I didn’t go in, it was going to drive me crazy for days. I’d be back to the room before Christian even knew I was missing.
On my way up the front stairs to the portico, I was hit with de’ja vu so hard I almost turned around, almost, but my curiosity got the better of me. A cheerful woman walked out, just as I stepped onto the front landing. “Good afternoon,” she said.
I nodded my head, my Southern roots returning to me. “Good afternoon.”
She folded her hands together as she stared at me in expectation. “Are you interested in viewing the mansion?”
“I am. I noticed the ‘Open to the Public’ sign. I’m a huge fan of architecture and historically significant buildings, and this place just screams to be looked at. Would you mind?” I asked, with a smile and silent raised “Please” shoulders.
She glanced at my workout clothes and sneakers. Her lips turned down in disapproval.
“I apologize I’m not dressed appropriately, but like I said I was literally running by when I saw the sign.”
Her frown rearranged into a tight smile. “Of course, I’m Marian. Please follow me.” She walked into the foyer and began gesturing with her arms. “The structure was built pre-civil war. It was originally a cotton plantation, but cotton didn’t grow well this far north.”