That night, in celebration of the winter break, she wore a new white blouse and brown skirt. She had even taken the time to curl her hair the way she liked it, not the usual way. To top it off, a bright shade of lipstick made her feel great.
But where on earth was Liza?
The restaurant was full, but then again it was a Friday. Many of the patrons were in uniform, they must’ve been officers that had just gotten off duty or were playing hooky from their responsibilities. Some were young, some old. There were a few girls milling around them and giggling, and a few other small groups of people scattered about, each engaged in their own private conversations.
Gwen recognized Henry Tolkien across the bar—the officer she saw every morning on her recent travels to the store. He noticed her staring and waved her over with a smile.
She looked around the room and smiled back, removing her coat and accessories to lay it on the rack with the others and then walked across to him. She felt a little awkward about it, considering their last real conversation was weeks prior, when he asked her out and she said no. He patted on the seat next to him for her to sit with a warm smile. Maybe he’s unashamed of being turned down for a date, Gwen thought.
“What can I get for ya, Gwen?”
“Water is fine.” She took a seat beside him, removing her hat and gloves. “With a lime,” she added. It was warm in the restaurant, and she was grateful for it. Her fingers began to thaw, they never did well in the cold. A minute later, there was a drink in front of her, complete with her lime. The little garnish was her favorite part, a little extra flavor that made all the difference, though often underestimated.
“So,” Henry started, turning to her with a grin and a tall drink of some sort in his hand. “What brings you here tonight? Never see you anywhere but the streets early in the morning lately.”
“Getting a bite to eat with a friend. I don’t usually get to go out much, honestly.” She stirred her water absentmindedly and took a sip. “What about you?”
“Just here with a few of the guys.” He nodded to the group behind him.
“Oh! Don’t let me bother you then,” Gwen said and began to slip away from her seat. Maybe she could avoid the impending awkward conversation.
“Don’t worry, they’re all drunk now anyway.” He laughed and pointed. A few of the guys were still in uniform, singing and spilling more of their drinks on the floor than into their mouths. “They are all a bit older, and a bit more rambunctious than myself. And the man I was to meet, the one you see me with every morning,” he paused and corrected himself, “I mean, if you do see me every morning—anyway, he was supposed to come and he’s nowhere to be seen.” He propped his head on his hand, leaning casually over the counter.
“All right then, I’ll chat,” Gwen said. She remembered she was going to give him a second chance. Looking at him now, she wondered how she had said no to those big brown eyes… He was good looking in his subtleties and mannerisms. He had a nice smile, too.
What am I thinking? It was unlike her to be so silly.
“You all right?”
“Yes! I’m fine.” Her face grew red.
“Perfect.” He smiled wide. “So, did you hear about the creature in town?”
“Hear what?” she asked, her curiosity peaked.
“That’s where we all came from—a meeting about this new threat. There is a ‘Shadow Man’ sneaking into homes at night.” Henry paused for effect. “Rumor has it that this mystery man is responsible for a few attacks that happened in the past week or so. He went after a few children—Jews. The paper almost praised him for that one. His most recent victims have all been drained of blood—” he leaned in a bit further, his leg touching hers before stopping himself. “Anyway, the witnesses said the shadow brought a chill and feelings of dread like they’d never felt before. They were paralyzed ... and then he attacked.” He threw his hands out on the last word, making her jump.
“That’s ... horrifying. I don’t know what I would do,” she said and stirred her drink again. In that moment, Anna briefly crossed her mind—and the castle, the strange feelings she had when they met him—but it was fleeting, and she couldn’t pin the source of those feelings.
“I could protect you,” Henry said, offering a grin.
She raised her eyebrows. “I’ll call you if I hear anything creepy walking through the house.”
They talked for a while in their corner of the bar, away from the rest of the crowd. Despite her no-show friend, Gwen had to admit she was having much more fun than she anticipated.
The hours ticked by and after a time they noticed the bar was beginning to clear out.
“How about I call you for dinner?” Henry offered for the second time, confidence creeping up on him, and surprising them both.
Gwen conceded with a shy nodded. “All right. But for now, I must call it a night. I don’t think my friend is coming and I have to get up early in the morning, as per usual. Thanks for keeping me company.”
“Next week?” he asked, and Gwen nodded.
“How about I walk you home? It’s getting late you know,” he offered. “You never know what could be lurking.” His smile spread ear to ear and his hands offered Gwen her coat from the rack.
“Okay.” She wriggled into her sleeves, threw on her scarf, and pulled her hat down tightly over her head.
As they walked, it began to snow, but it was a nice soft snow, as it had been that afternoon. “I’ll see you in a week, then?” Gwen asked as she shivered. It hadn’t been a long walk back—one of the beauties of their centrally located home, no matter how tiny it was.
“I’ll come get you.” Henry removed his hat with one hand and held Gwen’s hand to kiss it with his other. She hid her face beneath her scarf before pulling back and going inside.
“Goodnight, Henry.”
Chapter 15
Joe
Across town, Joe and his sisters lay on their three mattresses set haphazardly on the dark second floor with only one window letting in the moonlight. It was chilly; there was no heat upstairs, and the only airflow was from a few cracks in the walls that let the winter air seep in even more quickly. The cold often woke Joe or one of the girls from sleeping peacefully—well, as peacefully as they could. This night in particular was exceptionally bitter and draining.
Joe opened his eyes and looked around the dark room, blinking a few times to get his bearings. Across the room, only about three feet away, the girls slept, but there was something else too. He began to wake more, becoming more alert by the second. It wasn’t just the raw winter air, he realized, there was something there, something dreadful.
His eyes adjusted. There was a figure standing in the corner by the head of the girls’ bed. He could only make out a silhouette of a man bending over them. He sprung out of bed, and he lunged toward the creature with his new knife. It was too fast for him and the shadow moved out of the room in a dark blur, letting the knife sink into the wall.
The girls woke at the sound and Joe spun to face them, dropping the knife and going down to his knees to meet them. They rubbed their eyes groggily and peered at him.
“Is it time to wake already?” Abby asked, sniffling. “I don’t wanna go to school.”
Joe shook his head. “Are you okay?” He asked the girls, checking their faces for fright, but all he found was confusion ... and a mark on Hannah’s neck. He heard the rumors going around, and wouldn’t help but wonder if the Shadow Man had come for them. At least they don’t know what happened, he thought bitterly, and at least he had stopped it.
But what if he hadn’t woken up?
Abby quickly fell back to sleep, but Joe could feel Hannah’s eyes on him, dimly aware. She whispered in the night, “Someone was here.”
He did not respond, nor did he go back to sleep that night. He cradled his knife in his hand and waited for the sun to rise into the solitary window.
Chapter 16
Anna
“What is that?”
Anna sat up in bed feeling exhausted. She was in her room in the castle. She felt the back of her head and there was a prominent bump. Leon stood next to her bed, fiddling with something on the table.
“The best medicine,” he said with a smile. “Chocolate,” he laughed lightly. “You need it.”
He moved over to sit on the bed beside her and offered her a piece. She took it eagerly, ever the sweet tooth.
“What day is it?”
“Saturday. You passed out in the woods yesterday on your way home from school.” He shifted on the bed to look at her. “I got worried and searched for you.”
“What happened?” She vaguely remember walking through the woods.
“I’ve ... noticed something about you. You have a ... problem.”
“What kind of problem?” The last thing her family needed was medical issues to add to the financial ones. It was bad enough that Effie was always sick, and they couldn’t find a good doctor they could trust.
“You’re—I think you are diabetic,” he paused.
“That sounds vaguely familiar … ”
“It’s a disease that affects your blood. The sugars fluctuate because your body doesn’t know how to control it. Usually, it’s high, but when you exercise or if you were to give blood, it drops. Yesterday it dropped, and you passed out. It’s like a war inside your body. I’ve seen it before. I’ll make sure the kitchen is stocked with everything you need. I’m sure you’ve noticed it works like magic.”
Anna’s eyes widened. It was confirmed, in a roundabout way, but still he’d confirmed the castle was magic. The way he said it … he had seen it all too. She wasn’t crazy. The magic was real—and it was here.
She was getting ahead of herself. She tried to slow down her thoughts. Maybe now they could talk about it a bit further. Her obsession with magic and stories might really be founded in something real and tangible, and somehow, she had gotten lucky enough to experience it. She wondered if the magic extended past the castle walls—if it existed everywhere or if the castle was special for some reason.
“Leon, when you say ‘magic,’ I’ve been meaning to ask—” she began, her thoughts spinning.
“Join me for dinner tonight?” Leon cut her off. She nodded quickly. He looked at her with kind eyes that brought her back to reality. Instead of the emptiness she saw in his eyes in the beginning, she saw warmth and caring. He really had changed since she met him. He was still quiet and a bit mysterious, but there was a tenderness to him. “We need to get some food in you. When’s the last time you ate something solid?”
Anna responded with a shrug. He suddenly seemed to really care about her health and well-being.
“I thought so,” he said. “We can’t have you living on chocolate.” The idea of having dinner together was appealing, though the idea made her heart leap more emphatically than she’d expected it to. But, yet, another part of her was nervous. If she had diabetes, then every meal from here on out came with questions.
“I’ll leave you for a bit; I think you are doing better now. There’s more chocolate if you want it.” He rose from the bedside and closed the door behind him with a quiet click.
Anna was left alone in the room. She breathed deeply and let it out slowly, her mind reeling, and her fingers wound tightly to the blanket around her legs.
“Relax,” she said to herself. At least Leon would be able to help her. He knew how to deal with diabetes, and he seemed willing to help. She had way too many questions, and no idea where to begin.
She found herself feeling excited at the prospect of dining with someone else for a change. It had been a few weeks of lonely meals, which as nice as it sounded had already began to grow depressing. It was weird how different it was to eat alone, though admittedly she was suddenly afraid of eating and what it might do to her.
The dining room was more decorated than usual, complete with flowers from the outside garden. It was an assortment of black roses with long stems—and, strangely, all the thorns picked off. They were surrounded by some green ferns to complete the bouquet. She marveled at them before noticing Leon’s presence—he had a habit of blending in. He was watching her from across the room.
“I didn’t see you there.” She smiled warmly and crossed the room to say hello. Out of habit, she leaned over and kissed his cheek, a normal formality but this time something was different. He felt different, and, quite frankly, he looked different too. It wasn’t often that she was so close to him. It was one thing to feel more comfortable in his presence, another to see such drastic changes. His eyes weren’t as red, more golden, and his complexion less pale. His black hair no longer hung in his face like seaweed, it was perfectly lush and combed. It was strange. She almost didn’t recognize him. He looked surprisingly handsome and her stomach fluttered briefly at the thought. His eyes did look vaguely familiar, she noted, it was an unusual golden hue, but she couldn’t place it.
“What are you thinking?” Leon asked quietly as his eyes searched her face for answers.
“Nothing,” she said, trying to place the connection. She walked over to her seat and he followed behind her. He pulled out the chair for her to sit and some of his loose hairs fell in front of his face. He pushed it back to its resting place, just off to the side, but not perfectly set like many men chose to make it. Anna lingered for a moment, staring.
She noticed the way his body moved, very quiet and fluid. He had a strong and lean build like an athlete, though he obviously didn’t do any sports. When he stood back up, she noticed he stood straight, like he was conditioned that way.
“What are you looking at?” Leon eyed her curiously.
Then it clicked. He resembled the man from the gallery—and her dreams. The eyes were the same, the hair, the young face. He had the same stance as the soldier in the portrait and the same build. If she didn’t know any better, she would have thought the portrait was made yesterday. The only difference was the uniform, and Leon was slightly duller. The portrait and her dreams were more vivid and lively than the real man.
“You just reminded me of a picture I saw in the gallery.” Anna gestured to the hallway. Perhaps she couldn’t pull the boy out of the picture because he was already a part of reality ... in some weird twisted way. The castle hadn’t made sense to her since the minute she’d arrived, so she believed this was a completely logical deduction on her part. “I’ve been doing a lot of looking around and ... rearranging.”
“Good,” Leon said, “then you’re doing your job. Have you found everything okay?” She noticed that he avoided saying anything regarding the portrait.
“Yes. Though I admit it’s been a little hard navigating. This place is huge and has a mind of its own.” She waited for a response, but he offered none. She turned her attention to her food. The chicken was still steaming on her plate, fresh out of the oven.
“I have a question though.” She took a few bites between her words. The chicken practically melted in her mouth.
“Go on.”
“So, is that portrait you? It seems old and that doesn’t make much sense … does it?”
“Yes, it is me,” he paused.” I was wearing my grandfather’s old uniform. Thought it would be nice to do in his memory.”
That answer satisfied her, though she was hoping for another response to lead into her next question. She took a deep breath. She’d been meaning to ask him a lot of questions, and since the morning she determined that she wanted to know about the magic more than she did her disease. “There are other weird things I’ve noticed too…”
“You’re just full of curiosity and questions, aren’t you?” he laughed.
“I mean, I guess so. For one thing, at school the other day my sister Gwen came up to me and asked me about this place. When I tried to answer her, I realized I couldn’t seem to remember things about the castle. But when I came back, everything was clear again. Whenever I come back—” She was almost tempted to say ‘home’ but the word wouldn’t come out. She looked up to fi
nd he was not looking at her but instead looking at his own plate. “And, when is your dad coming back? I have so many questions, but I just keep forgetting them.”
“The castle has some interesting qualities, to say the least. Do you like it?”
“Yes, I do. Though I see it can get a bit lonely. When does your dad come home?”
“At times,” Leon said, mostly ignoring the question. Anna noticed he had already finished his meal and was rising from his seat. “Are you finished as well?”
She shoveled a few more bites into her mouth and nodded. What did I do? She took another sip of her water and stood up from her chair.
“I’ll walk you back to your room.”
Anna followed just a few steps quietly behind him and he brought her to her hallway, where he watched as she headed into her room. She couldn’t help but think she screwed up. He practically ignored her questions and rushed her out of the dining hall.
There goes my chance of making friends. Anna was about to step into the room when he called out to her one more time. “Will you join me for dinner tomorrow, too?”
After school and her usual rounds of the day, Anna headed back to her room and picked a blue dress that was a little bit nicer than the one she’d worn the day before. She walked down to the dining hall, which she found much easier to find than other areas, where he was waiting for her. The table was set the same way it had been the night before, and again Leon generously pulled out her chair and sat across from her. That night, it was lasagna.
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