The Concealed (The Lakewood Series Book 1)

by Sarah Kleck

  “Very funny,” Felix said.

  “How can you stand having this nuisance clinging to you like a burr all day?” she asked me with feigned horror. Sally really didn’t miss a chance to annoy Felix.

  I shrugged. “I’m tough,” I joked. Both Sally and Felix laughed. Since I was not particularly hungry, I just took a bowl of fruit salad and poked at it while listening to Sally’s report on her morning misadventure involving tripping over her cat, a flying bowl of muesli, and a flokati rug, which she would probably have to throw out.

  Before we separated, Felix proposed meeting at the library after the next lecture. If I was going to have a few minutes to myself with the Calmburry book, I needed to use this opportunity: I’d skip my class and go then. Although I had terrible pangs of guilt—after all, I was at the very beginning of the trimester, and I didn’t want to make skipping classes a habit—curiosity won. A few moments later, I was in the library, where a middle-aged, stout brunette greeted me at the information desk. I returned her greeting and made a beeline for the FE section. I stepped up to the shelf where I had found the Calmburry chronicle the night before and reached up to pull out the book when I noticed it wasn’t there. I looked at the other books on the shelf. It wasn’t among them. Where could it be? Then I remembered: the gray-haired librarian had wanted to return it.

  She may have forgotten. I returned to the counter.

  “Hi,” I said, suppressing my agitation. “I’m looking for a book. It’s not in its place. Maybe you can help.”

  The woman smiled. “Which book are you looking for?”

  “It’s from the FE section,” I said. “I wanted to borrow it yesterday—I didn’t know that books in the FE section are noncirculating—so your colleague said she’d return it. But it’s not there, so I thought perhaps she forgot to return it.” Great, you sound like a nut!

  “I’ll take a look,” the woman said and disappeared into her little office. I tapped my fingers on the counter while I waited. She returned shortly without the book.

  “Sorry, there’s nothing there. Maybe you can show me where you found the book.”

  The librarian accompanied me to the FE section, and I showed her the gap where the Calmburry book used to be.

  “Oh,” she said, “I’ll have to report that. The books in the FE section are very old and very rare first editions and are incredibly valuable!” Then she went back to make a phone call.

  I feverishly began searching the neighboring shelves and even the floor. Someone may have put the book on the wrong shelf—at least I was hoping for that. I searched one shelf after another as if possessed, almost completely forgetting my surroundings. Suddenly, I bumped so forcefully into something that I fell and landed on my hands and knees. I got up as fast as possible and rubbed my arm, which had absorbed most of the impact.

  “Easy, little one!” Beaming green eyes looked at me with concern. “Everything all right?”

  Oh no! I had bumped into Jared’s teammate who was sitting behind me this morning.

  “I’m Colin,” he said with a smile and extended his hand. I hadn’t noticed in the lecture hall how tall and muscular he was. No wonder I felt as though I’d run into a tree.

  “Evelyn,” I said, shaking his hand.

  “I know.” His roguish smile broadened.

  “And how would you know that?” I asked.

  Colin cocked his head to the side. “When a girl who looks like you comes to this university”—he made a hand motion that took me in with a sweep—“the news spreads fast. Especially, if she causes so much . . . excitement on the first day.” He could only mean my crash landing in the lecture hall. Had everyone heard about it?

  “Oh,” was all I was able to say. Colin, who apparently thought my reaction was hilarious, laughed out loud and earned himself an admonishing look from the librarian. She emphatically pointed to a sign that said “Absolute Silence.”

  “Oh,” he said and giggled. “I’d rather not get into trouble with her. We should be quieter.”

  “You mean you should be quieter,” I replied, smiling. Colin seemed to be a really nice guy.

  “Were you looking for something?” he asked. “You looked so helpless.”

  “Yes, I saw a book yesterday that . . . well . . . I really liked it and now it’s gone.”

  “Maybe someone borrowed it,” he said.

  “I doubt it. When I tried to check it out yesterday, I was told it’s noncirculating and shouldn’t be removed from the FE section.”

  “It was a book from the FE section?” he asked with sudden interest. “Which one?” He looked at me very seriously. All of a sudden, I was not so sure whether I should tell him.

  “One . . . with a pattern on the binding,” I said.

  “A pattern? What did it look like?” he followed up excitedly and ran his hand through his short blond hair.

  “Why are you so interested?” I asked.

  Colin smiled. “I’m on your side, little one. You can trust me.”

  “On my side? I didn’t know I had a side. What are you talking about?” He looked deep into my eyes. This guy meant what he said—whatever it was.

  “So what does the pattern look like?” he asked again. But with a softer voice.

  “It was a kind of . . . crest. With a sword in the middle crossed by a staff . . .”

  “And above it the sphere of the firmament.” He completed my sentence in a calm voice.

  “Y—Yes.” I looked at him in disbelief.

  “You know,” he said, looking into my eyes, “maybe you should pay Professor Mayflower a visit.” Then he turned and left.

  “Wait, what do you mean?” I said a moment later, but Colin had already turned the corner.

  “Oh, that’s where you are! I thought we were going to meet outside,” Felix said. It took me a moment to make him out between the ceiling-high bookshelves. He walked toward me with a somewhat frustrated look.

  “Oh hi. Sorry, it was so cold outside I came in,” I lied.

  “So, would you like a guided tour?”

  “Yes, please.”

  While Felix escorted me through the huge library, Colin’s words went through my head. I am on your side. What did he mean by that? And why should I pay Professor Mayflower a visit?

  “That’s it, I think,” Felix said, ending the tour about a half hour later.

  “Thank you, that was really nice of you,” I said, and Felix smiled in return. He looked at me seriously for a moment.

  “Do you feel like getting a drink with me tonight? It’s always pretty nice at Berry’s on Wednesdays. They have happy hour until nine.”

  Was he asking me out on a date?

  “Sure. Why not?” I said. After all, I hadn’t made any plans and I’d done my laundry the night before. And Felix was such a nice guy, too. But right off the bat a real date? Thinking about it, maybe it wasn’t such a good idea . . .

  “Should we ask Sally, as well? It’ll probably be more fun with more people, don’t you think?”

  “Yes,” he said, somewhat discouraged. “Sure, we can ask her.” Felix’s words did not match his expression.

  “Cool, I’ll give her a call.”

  Berry’s was a rather old pub with wooden floors and dark siding. It smelled of sweat and beer the moment the door swung open. There were several pool tables and dartboards in the back around which young people—presumably all students—had clustered. The room was so full that people even settled in on the hard stools by the bar and put their heads together to be heard over the loud music. Sally spied a table that was opening up. She frantically grabbed my hand and pulled me behind her while pushing through the crowd.

  “Perfect,” she said as we sat down. “We’ve got the best view of the pool tables from here.” She gave me a wink.

  “What do you want to drink, girls?” Felix asked.
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br />   “Guinness,” Sally said cheerfully.

  “I’ll have a ginger ale, please.”

  “Coming up,” Felix said, then he turned and made his way to the bar.

  Sally leaned forward. “The hot guys always meet here on Wednesdays to play pool.” She laughed. Then she turned back to the pool tables, set her elbows on the table, and rested her chin on her hands.

  “That guy at the front.” She extended her chin to show me where to look. “The big, dark-blond one with the green eyes—can you see him? I’d let him do a few things to me . . .” Her tone was so unmistakable that she might as well have drawn a diagram. I asked myself how much experience she had with guys. Judging from her if you know what I mean look, she had more experience than me. But that wouldn’t take much. I had almost no experience in this department. Suddenly, I spotted the guy Sally was talking about.

  “Colin,” I blurted out, surprised.

  She turned to me in a flash. “You know him?” She looked stunned.

  “Yes. I met him in the library.”

  “You’ve got to introduce me to him,” she said and clawed my blouse in feigned desperation, pulling me so close that our noses almost touched. “Pu-lease!”

  “One Guinness and one ginger ale.” Felix placed the drinks on the table. “Everything okay with you two?” he asked.

  Sally let go of my blouse. “Yes,” she said and rolled her eyes. “Sit down and keep still!” Then she looked at me again. “Come on, aren’t you going to introduce me?”

  “I don’t really know him. I only know his name and that’s about it.”

  “Who are you talking about?” Felix asked.

  “Colin, shhh!” Sally said. Then she turned to me again. “Do you know his last name?”

  “No, sorry,” I said and suppressed a laugh.

  “Sullivan,” Felix said as he recognized Colin.

  Sally repeated the name Colin Sullivan in a dreamy way. “Do you know him?” she asked Felix.

  “I’ve seen him around.” It was clear he wasn’t enthusiastic about the direction our conversation was going.

  “What about Professor Martin?” I asked Sally. “Won’t he be jealous?” I couldn’t suppress a grin anymore, and Felix obviously liked the way I was teasing her about her obsession with the good-looking professor.

  “Oh be quiet, you two,” Sally said. The twitch at the corner of her mouth gave away that she was trying hard not to laugh. Still grinning, I tried again to find Colin among the pool players. What harm could it do to introduce them? Even if I didn’t know more than his name. But! I did know something about him: he was a friend of Jared’s. They ran together every morning. At least, that’s what he told me.

  Then I saw Colin. His back was turned to us while he sipped his beer. It looked as if he was giving advice to another player, whom he half blocked from sight, on how to sink the last two striped balls in opposite corners to win the game. The friend told Colin to be quiet, then shot with lightning speed and sank the first ball in the front right corner and the second ball in the back left. Colin cheered and high-fived his partner. A wad of cash changed hands. Colin smiled and pocketed the cash as his buddy stepped into the light to receive his half. Could it be . . . ? Jared! As if I had said his name out loud, he immediately turned in my direction and stared intensely at me. The light flickered and shone noticeably brighter than before. Then, just like that, it was pitch-black in the pub and the music stopped. Girls screamed and a few guys complained. Someone shouted, “Lights! Did you pay the electricity bill?” Then the lights came back on again.

  “Just a fuse, no need to panic,” the bartender said from behind the bar.

  It took me a moment to collect myself and search the room for Jared. He was nowhere to be seen. Only Colin was standing where I expected Jared to be. Had Jared actually been here? It had all happened so quickly. No! I was sure I saw him. That wasn’t just my imagination—or was it?

  “Hello, Earth to Evelyn . . .” Sally leaned halfway over the table, waving her hand in front of my face.

  “Sorry, what did you say?” I asked, shaking my head.

  For a second, she looked as if she doubted my sanity. “Well? Are you going to introduce me to him or not?” She nodded in Colin’s direction. “Come on, he’s looking at us.”

  I lifted my head, and my eyes met Colin’s. The expression on his face was . . . friendly. Just friendly. After what had just happened, I would have expected something else.

  Colin’s words echoed in my head: I’m on your side, little one. You can trust me. Trust him? Even though I didn’t know what was behind that, I sensed it was true.

  “All right.” I got up and pulled Sally by the arm. “I’ll introduce you.”

  “How do I look?” she asked as we walked toward the pool tables, and she quickly ran her fingers through her hair.

  “Ravishing. As always,” I said, rolling my eyes.

  Colin sipped his beer without taking his eyes off us.

  “How’s your arm?” he asked when Sally and I came within earshot. I rubbed my right shoulder, which had suffered the brunt of the impact.

  “Still hurts a little,” I said, “but it’ll get better.”

  Sally threw me a questioning glance, and Colin took a step toward her and held out his hand. “Hi, I’m Colin,” he said.

  “Oh yes.” I remembered my mission. “Colin, this is my friend Sally. Sally, this is Colin.”

  “Hi,” she said a few moments later.

  “Hi,” he said with a broad grin.

  “Do you want anything else to drink?” Felix was suddenly standing next to me and held my ginger ale under my nose. “Happy hour is over soon.”

  “No, thank you.” I took the glass from his hand and sipped from it. Colin and Sally didn’t look as if they needed company. So I took Felix by the arm and pulled him back to our table.

  “I think it’s better if we give those two some space,” I said and cast a glance at Colin and Sally, who seemed to be getting along really well.

  “Hmm. Then again, I don’t mind having a break from Sally,” he said, rolling his eyes. “She can really get on my nerves.” I couldn’t resist laughing. The way Sally treated Felix, provoking him every chance she got, I could understand why he felt that way.

  “So, tell me a little about yourself. We’ve only talked about me the last few days. I know almost nothing about you.” He looked at me full of expectation.

  Oh no! Did we have to go there? What should I tell him? My whole family is dead, and I’m here at Oxford because I want to make my sister in Heaven proud of me?

  I decided to start with something harmless. “I’m from Fleetwood, north of Liverpool.” Lame! Sounded like a geography lesson. I had to add something personal. “I grew up and went to school there.” Still lame!

  “Fleetwood, hmm?” he said. “And . . . is there someone you left behind there? Someone . . . special?”

  I almost had an attack of hysterical laughter. Did I leave someone behind? I was the one left behind!

  “I mean, is someone waiting for you there?”

  “No.” I couldn’t suppress the bitterness in my voice. “No one is waiting for me in Fleetwood.” Absolutely no one!

  Felix seemed relieved by my answer. He looked at me with a big smile. Had he not heard the sadness in my voice? Or had I become that good at hiding my feelings?

  Felix, in any case, seemed to be gaining speed. “Tell me something about your family. Do you have any siblings?”

  No, not that question! Not that damned question!

  “I . . .” I felt the sadness rise in me but suppressed it. “My . . .” I swallowed hard. I squeezed out: “My parents died when I was little.” I held my breath.

  Felix looked at me with empathy. “I’m so sorry to hear that, I didn’t know.” How would he know?

  He tenderly put h
is hand on mine. “You don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want to.” I felt his eyes on me while I stared at his hand, which had closed around mine.

  “What graveyard mood do we have here?” Sally! “I barely leave you alone with Felix and you get all depressed.” She cocked her head and gave me an encouraging smile. “Would you like to play a round of pool?” My eyes flitted to Colin, who was leaning against the pool table. I had played two or three times a few years ago and found it fun. Anyway, just about anything would be better right now than Felix’s pity or my crying in front of all these people.

  I shrugged. “Why not?”

  Sally clapped for joy and pulled me to the pool table.

  “What’s the matter? Aren’t you coming?” she called over her shoulder. I hadn’t noticed that Felix was still sitting at our table. He casually rose and followed us. I had the impression that he wasn’t happy with the idea of playing a round of pool with us. Colin put his hand out to Felix and introduced himself. Felix mumbled his name and reluctantly shook hands.

  “Guys against gals or mixed?” Colin asked.

  “Mixed,” Sally said. “How about the two of us?” she asked, batting her eyes at Colin.

  “Sounds good,” he said. “Evelyn and Felix can start.”

  Since I wanted to watch first, I let Felix break. He sank two of the striped balls into the corners.

  “Evelyn and Felix get stripes, we get solids,” Colin said. Since we were alternating, Sally was next. She awkwardly set up the cue, shot, and almost slashed the green cloth with her clumsy attempt and didn’t even come close to hitting a ball. She looked apologetically at Colin, who winked at her and said, “It happens.” She had completely succumbed to his charm.

  My turn was next. I carefully aligned my cue, struck the white ball, and managed to hit one of the striped balls into the front right corner. But my second shot was a failure.

  “Not bad,” said Colin, which earned him an angry look from Felix. I didn’t think those two would become friends anytime soon. Now Colin skillfully worked the cue on the table and struck as fast as an attacking cobra. Two balls disappeared into corner pockets.