The Willows: Haven

by Hope Collier

  Well, you’ve been rescued, Ash. It’s not like you can’t handle yourself from now on. Why keep Allie at risk when she doesn’t have to be? I thought. Do the right thing and rid everyone of their problems.

  I refused to be anyone’s responsibility. Determined to make things right, I stood and set off into the forest.

  “How could you do this? What were you thinking?” Gabe questioned, his tone quiet yet livid. “Do you have any idea what you’ve done? What this will mean?”

  I froze at the fringes of the forest, and held my breath.

  “What was I supposed to do? Leave her there?” Allie retorted. I crept further in as and slipped behind a boulder. “Would you rather she killed herself with misery in that hole? Or were you just going to let one of them do it for her? You saw the dress.”

  The moon broke through the clouds, and light filtered through the trees overhead. Gabe shook his head, his voice no more than a murmur. I crept forward, peering through the bushes, straining to hear.

  “Sorry. You’re right. I shouldn’t…” Allie’s voice trailed off as she put her hands up defensively. Something Gabe said sent her backtracking before making her lash out again. “That’s just stupid! It didn’t matter,” she hissed.

  “It’s not worth the risk. You should’ve talked to me first.” Gabe’s voice dropped as he continued.

  “You don’t know. Your feelings have nothing to do with my choice,” Allie snapped. “I couldn’t just leave her to them. I don’t care what you say.” She turned away from him, her voice became desperate. “You were never stuck there … you have no idea.”

  Gabe mumbled something that seemed to reassure her, and she looked at him with a grim smile.

  The despair in Allie’s voice caught me off guard. I could just make out their profiles through the dimness. Gabe continued speaking too soft for me to hear. It annoyed me to no end. It was like he knew I was listening.

  “Best for who?” Her eyes sparkled with unshed tears. “It’s so not like that. Sometimes you do what you can. You wouldn’t understand.”

  Gabe snapped his fingers and pointed in the direction where they’d left me on the beach. Allie glowered at him.

  I didn’t need to hear anymore than this to realize the problem. Me. Allie’s rescue meant more trouble for Gabe and his family. It probably negated everything he’d accomplished by trading me to the Dryads in the first place.

  I turned back toward the beach. I balled up on some ferns and closed my eyes. Gabe and Allie reemerged from the woods just after me. I watched through slitted eyes as Gabe carried an armload of branches and dried pine needles.

  “Is she asleep?” He knelt down to start the fire. The sharp click of his flint rocks making contact carried a connotation of sadness with it. The only other time I’d heard the sound was the night at the mine. A shudder slid through me.

  “Get that fire started so we can move her closer,” Allie spoke, seeing my tremble.

  Someone lifted my body into the air. Warmth wrapped around me as I was laid on something soft and forgiving.

  “I know she’s beat,” Allie said tenderly. A hand brushed my hair away and lingered around my face. The scent confused me; I heard Allie but smelled Gabe. On a reflex, I inhaled. The hand eased away from my hair.

  “I’ve missed her more than you know.” Allie sighed. I heard the smile in her voice as she spoke. I wanted to “wake up,” to tell her that I’d missed her too, but we could be sisters again. …I wouldn’t do that to Allie though. I wouldn’t risk her life just to keep her with me. It was selfish and wrong. I had caused enough damage doing that very thing.

  “Eat now and go to sleep. We have a long way to go tomorrow and it’s going to be tough enough taking turns at watch.” Gabe’s voice drifted away.

  “Fine.” Allie settled near me. “Don’t let us get eaten in the middle of the night.”

  They were taking turns watching. I would be here a little longer. The idea of sticking around set my heart wanting more. The idea of being with Gabe, even if for just a short time, had me itching to stay. And I’d missed Allie more than I realized. We had so much to catch up on.

  Maybe a couple of days, just enough time to get me on the right path, I decided before giving into exhaustion.

  ***

  The smell of roasting food stirred my senses. Visions of shadows and distant voices whispered through my head. I struggled through the haze of sleep and opened my eyes. A cloudless blue sky greeted me with a kiss of sunshine and the happy call of a loon. I yawned and stretched, peering around at our discreet campsite.

  “Morning, chick. Did you get enough sleep?” Allie sat cross-legged on a piece of bleached out driftwood across from me.

  Her smile warmed my heart then set it aching. I didn’t want to lose the things I loved again. “Yeah. You?”

  She suppressed a yawn. “Yep, I’m good.”

  Don’t get comfortable, Ashton. They’re exhausted because of you. Don’t keep them in danger. You’ll only make things worse.

  I looked around and noticed Gabe wasn’t in sight. My searching turned panicked when I didn’t hear or smell him. Had he gone on without us? Wasn’t I even going to get one more day?

  “He’s fishing,” Allie explained, shaking her head at my overreaction.

  I made a non-committal sound. Seemed my months of practicing indifference hadn’t paid off.

  Gabe’s head broke the surface of the water, a string of fish in his hand. He slogged on shore and laid the fish out beside Allie.

  “Morning, Ashton. Did you rest well?” he asked, offhand. I followed the trail of water streaming down the V at his chest to his face then forced my eyes away.

  I cleared my throat. “Yeah. Thanks.”

  Gabe nodded but didn’t say anything as he began preparing our meal.

  After eating our fill of breakfast, we cleaned up the evidence of our stay and prepared to leave. Allie dove in first, nodding to Gabe as she darted across the surface of the water before disappearing below.

  “You ready?” Gabe asked staring out over the horizon.

  “Sure,” I murmured and waded out a few feet.

  I stared at Gabe’s bare chest as he tucked his shirt into his pocket. Muscle rippled over his shoulders as he stretched, but all I could see was his back as he walked away in the cave — the back of someone who didn’t even want to rescue me.

  He won’t have to worry about that much longer, I assured myself, but it didn’t help.

  We sank beneath the surface, and I peered around. What looked like underwater ferns grew in between fuzzy rocks. Wispy green leaves swayed and danced below me with a ballroom of foliage. The flavor of fresh rain and stirred earth lingered in the water.

  I turned, feeling the change in vibrations behind me, and saw Gabe motion for me to surface. My head broke the waterline, but Gabe stayed below. A low drone, barely audible beneath me, carried as I watched him with curiosity.

  The sound stopped, and Gabe joined me topside.

  “I see you’ve mastered the swimming technique,” he said, his tone guarded.

  “I don’t know how. It’s not like I’ve been practicing.” I frowned at the water.

  Gabe stared at a lone goose overhead, and a vague sadness rested on his expression. It set my heart aching again. I only now noticed the bloodshot tint of his eyes and the darkened skin beneath. The scruffy hair on his sallow cheeks hinted at him being in the wilderness for some time. What had happened to him?

  “Well, I guess there are a few things I think I should teach you while we’re at a safe place to do it,” he said. “You should learn this sooner rather than later.”

  They were planning on ditching me after all, I thought with regret but nodded.

  “First thing, we obviously can’t speak under water, but we can navigate and communicate as you probably remember.”

  “Echolocation,” I said.

  “Essentially. Though there are a couple of differences. We can talk in a way, as well. It’s similar
to that of a whale song. Though it’s more of a learned thing, there are a series of sounds and pitches we use instead of words.”

  “Were you communicating with Allie just now?”

  “Yes, I told her to go on ahead and we would—”

  “Catch up in a few miles,” I finished his sentence without thought.

  Gabe’s eyebrows rose. “How did you know that?”

  I scrunched my nose. “I don’t know. I just did. It sort of felt like humming the tune of a song that I couldn’t remember the words to but the melody was still there. The tone conveys its meaning. It’s hard to explain but it seems to be ingrained in my memory somehow.”

  “Hmm.” Gabe hovered in thought.

  “What else do I need to know?” I suddenly remembered my previous concern. “How do I breathe?”

  “You were breathing,” he explained like I was missing something. “You don’t really need to surface anymore.”

  “Wish I would’ve known that sooner.” I sighed, feeling relieved but foolish.

  A long silence stretched between us as we floated, but I didn’t know what to say.

  “Ash, I need to know something, and Allie never asked.” Gabe’s eyes searched mine. “Do you want to go with us?”

  “I don’t want to be held captive in The Valley, if that’s what you’re asking,” I muttered, trying not to give him the upper hand.

  “It didn’t sound that way to me,” Gabe quipped, his jaw clenching.

  “Because you were there? You lived through it all?” I snapped.

  Gabe didn’t speak for a moment. “Listen. Ashton, I owe you this much. If you … want Kyle, I can arrange it. You won’t have to go back to The Valley.” His voice lost all its aggression, but his tone stayed cold.

  “No,” I huffed. “I don’t want Kyle. But don’t worry; I’ll get out of your hair as soon as we get wherever we’re going.”

  I turned, hoping to hide my heart, and started to swim toward Allie. Slick hands gripped my waist and pulled me back. Gabe’s chest warmed me from behind.

  “Wait, what do you mean you don’t want him?” he asked. “You certainly acted like it.”

  A sense of betrayal rose up, and I snapped. “Why do you even care? You traded me, remember? What does it matter anymore?” My voice broke as I bit back a sob and slapped at the water. I’d rather die than cry in front of him now.

  Gabe turned me around in his arms, his eyes hard on mine. His palm caressed the side of my face when I looked away. “I never left you, Gracie … never.”

  “You left me in the cave,” I spouted, angry tears streaking over my skin now. I didn’t care anymore. “How could you do that to me? I trusted you, and you just bailed like everyone else!”

  “Ashton, that night was the most excruciating one of my existence. I can’t even begin to tell you how wretched it was!” Gabe paused and took a steadying breath. “I had to force the distance between us. That’s why I put up the front for the Dryads in the cave that day. Whatever you thought, I needed them to believe that I wasn’t watching you.”

  “Yeah, well it worked,” I grumbled.

  “So I heard,” Gabe murmured. “But I was also trying to separate myself from you. I hoped that in what little time we’d spent together, that your attachment wouldn’t be fixed on me. Nymphs have such a unique bond with their partners, but you weren’t there yet, Naiad wise I mean. I hoped that in time, your feelings would fade. Out of sight, out of mind.”

  “It doesn’t work that way, Gabe.” I held my breath remembering all the nights I cried myself to sleep only to watch him leave me a hundred times over in my dreams. Where was he then? “You could’ve told me. Why would you want me to not love you?”

  “Because love will never be enough…” he began, and my heart fell, “to keep you safe. For as long as we live, you’ll be the bull’s-eye of every target. If you could be happy there, you would at least be safe.”

  “Happy?” My tone rose. “How could I ever be happy forced to live as a slave?”

  “You seemed fairly content your last few moments alone with Kyle,” Gabe muttered, his eyes hard.

  My heart sank. “You heard that?”

  “It was hard to miss,” Gabe said, his breathing labored.

  “Then you heard everything he said,” I argued. “How could you believe I didn’t care about you then?”

  “I trust you…” Gabe murmured slowly, throwing my words to Kyle back at me. “When you told him that, it was all I needed to hear to know he’d won. His word over mine. And I assumed you’d made your choice.”

  “My choice?” I said, my voice as frosty as the air. “Nothing has ever been my choice.”

  Gabe flinched then his expression blanked. “Then make one, Ashton. Right here, right now. Consequences aside, what do you choose?”

  I hesitated. The consequences would never be aside. Gabe made a derisive sound when I didn’t answer.

  “You don’t even know what you want yourself,” he said, his expression pained but bitter.

  “I know exactly what I want.” I pulled Gabe close and pressed my lips to his, letting go of all my anger and emptiness. My fingers wound through his damp hair, and I poured every ounce of my heart into his.

  Breathless, I backed away. “I want you, Gabe. It will always be you.”

  Gabe’s eyes warmed as his finger swept a tear away. “I never meant to hurt you, Gracie. I will forever be sorry for what I put you through. But if you’ll allow me, I will never leave you again.”

  “I don’t want any kind of life that doesn’t include you, no matter how temporary,” I confessed. Warmth filled my chest, and I smiled, reveling in the fullness.

  “What?” Gabe asked, tracing my upturned mouth with his thumb.

  “I just missed my heart.” I sighed.

  “I love you, Gracie,” Gabe whispered against my lips.

  We continued on toward the shore. Allie was swimming to the equivalent of pacing by the time we reached the opposite bank. She looked over as we closed in, and I practically heard her eyes roll.

  “Well, I can understand the connection now.” Allie wrung her hair out and tossed it over her shoulder.

  “What do you mean?” I asked as Gabe helped me ashore.

  “Just look at you two.” She waved her hand in our direction. “It’s like you’re incapable of existing apart from each other.”

  I blushed. Gabe laughed softly and squeezed my hand.

  “Maybe that’s a bit of an overstatement. You can exist, just not functionally.” She shook her head. I grinned at her sarcasm. Allie had never been in love. Boy was she in for a surprise.

  “You know Al, one of these days you’re going to find a guy who you’re meant to spend eternity with and … what?” I asked when Allie arched an eyebrow at Gabe.

  “Ash?” Allie began in a placating tone, staring at Gabe.

  Gabe glared at her, a warning clear on his face. “Don’t, he said sternly. “This isn’t the time or place.”

  “Be mad at me if you will, but she deserves to know the truth for once in her life.” Allie’s gaze shifted to my face. “Ash, you know I love you, right? We’re like sisters. Closer than sisters.”

  “Yeah,” I answered slowly.

  “Good. And you know that Gabe loves you and only you. He’s never wanted anyone else.”

  “Mm-hmm.” I cast him an unsure look.

  “Okay then. I think it’s best to lay everything out on the table, no secrets, and no omissions.” Her gaze flickered to Gabe who stood, arms crossed, irritated by her speech. “That way everyone knows everything and there are never unpleasant surprises. You want the truth right?”

  “No,” Gabe cut in.

  “I wasn’t talking to you, your highness,” Allie retorted. “You know she has every right to understand.”

  Gabe let out a tired sigh.

  “Here we go. Gabe was supposed to marry me,” she said, gesturing flippantly over her shoulder. The horrified sound I made didn’t break her rhythm.
“We didn’t exactly get on very well, so we shot that horse before it ever had a chance to live.”

  “M-m-marry you?” I choked out.

  “I know, right?” She laughed. “It’s ridiculous.”

  Allie was formerly engaged, in a way, to my Gabe? The story about her run in with the Dryads made all too much sense. She was the girl Kyle spoke about. I couldn’t even wrap my head around the outcome of that.

  Maybe I should’ve been used to dealing with the unexpected by now but I wasn’t. My reaction was probably as bad as Gabe had feared and worse than Allie deemed rational. My mouth hung open, and my eyes were dry from not blinking.

  “This is why you should listen to me on occasion,” Gabe spoke to Allie. “Ash, this is not as important as it sounds. Things aren’t the same for us as they are in your family. It’s not an issue.”

  I fumbled around for a response. Finally, I quit trying and gave him something in the way of a shrug.

  “My brave unrivaled Gracie.” Without warning, a set of burning lips moved against mine. Liquid fire. Gabe’s breath invaded my body, igniting my insides and melting my defenses. Forgetting about the past betrayals and future impossibilities, I simply drowned in the passionate moment of now.

  Allie cleared her throat loudly. Gabe sighed and dropped his forehead against mine.

  “Do you mind?” Allie rolled her eyes when I looked her way.

  “Just wait, Allie.” I smiled, anticipating her reaction. “You’re going to meet someone who will absolutely sweep you off your feet, and you’ll be as dopey and disgusting as me.”

  She tossed her blonde hair back, wearing a defiant expression. “Doubtful.”

  “You know they’ll chase us to the ends of the earth.” Gabe’s worried eyes met mine. “Are you sure this is the life you want to choose?”

  I smiled warmly. “I made this choice a long time ago. Nothing and no one can ever change that.”

  “We should get going then.” He sighed and laced his fingers through mine.

  “Lead the way…” I smiled.