A Taste of Silver

by S. B. Roozenboom

Edging towards the hall, I prepared for him to open the front door. It wasn’t locked last I checked, unless dad locked it before he left. Did he need to be invited in? I squeezed the rubber handle of the knife in my hands, holding it up like you might a baseball bat. Jittering from head to toe, I began to question if I could really do this. I’d never hit anyone before—besides Derek, that is—much less stabbed or castrated them.

  I waited, ears straining. I didn’t hear anyone at the door, nor were there any footsteps on the pavement… but there was a strange tapping, like the sound of fingers hitting glass. And the squeaking of a window.

  I lowered the knife, head slowly turning towards my cracked-open bedroom door.

  He was coming in through the window.

  My guts turned to mush. I couldn’t move. Come on, Rose, my brain prompted. Get him before he gets you. Lifting one foot, I leapt to the wall. Just peek. I reached for the knob. If he was there, maybe I could make it out the front door before he saw me. Then I wouldn’t have to sauté him in any way, shape, or form.

  Holding my breath, I peered inside.

  A figure dressed head to toe in black crawled through the open window. Dark jeans, like Adrian’s, but not quite as tight. At the angle I was at, I couldn’t see his face. Plus, the hood on his hoodie was up.

  “Dammit!” The intruder tripped and fell with a thud to the floor. His sneaker came up and wiped my lamp clean off the bedside table, the bulb splattering across the carpet. The glass base broke on contact with his shoe. “Aw, crap.”

  My brows pulled into a line. Adrian doesn’t wear sneakers, does he? He’d worn boots both times I’d seen him. But if it wasn’t Adrian then…

  The knife slipped from my grip, clattering to the floor. My burnt-out candle of hope was suddenly not a flame, but a fire. A fire big enough to burn houses, fields, forests! I shoved the door open and the figure startled, spinning to face me.

  I shrieked. “Hayden!”

  “Rose.” He grinned, eyes sparkling.

  I dashed forward and threw myself at him, locking my arms around his neck, knotting my legs around his waist. He staggered backwards and hit the wall, hands linked below me in attempts to hold both of us upright.

  “Oh my gosh, I missed you so much!” I kissed the side of his neck, then his ear, then his cheek. He shivered beneath my touch. “Jeez, you scared me! I almost castrated you, you idiot!”

  “Oh.” He laughed nervously. “Great.”

  “I thought you were Adrian!”

  “Absolutely not.” He sounded offended, shaking his head. “Jeez, you think I’d really leave you here long enough for Adrian to come back for you?”

  “I didn’t think you were coming back at all,” I confessed, not mentioning that one of the Shadow King’s faeries had confronted me. “I thought you’d chosen to leave me behind! You weren’t answering your texts, your Myspace is blank… I thought it was over.”

  “Aw, Rose.” He cradled me, lightly kissing my cheek. I shivered. “I’m so sorry. I was going to come back sooner but we’re kind of all over the place. Between FADE trying to track us, the cops zipping left and right, I couldn’t get away. Plus, Lea didn’t want me coming back here. He was going to send someone else to get you.”

  “ To get me?” I asked. My beating heart began to calm. “What… what does that mean?”

  “Well. I can’t exactly stay in LA, can I?” He slid me off his front, setting me down.

  I stared at the floor, processing what he meant. Oh, jeez.

  “You want me to go with you.”

  “You… don’t want to?” He sounded shocked, afraid… like he hadn’t considered me saying no.

  I blinked, thinking. I’d been so set to go on without him, for him to never return, that I didn’t even consider what I would do if he did. Of course he couldn’t stay here, and I wanted to be with him. But what about dad? What about Chanel, Cheyenne, the girls? What about the guys and Joe at the shop? What about mom?

  What about home?

  Rachel’s face returned, grinning that dimpled smile. How brave, Rosie?

  “Yes.” The answer came out without much thought, but I knew I didn’t need logic. It was the right answer. I looked at him, scared and excited at the same time. “I want to go with you.”

  He shook his head. “I don’t want you to go if—”

  “You can’t change my mind,” I interrupted, running my hands over his soft cheeks. “You’re taking me with you.”

  He still frowned, observing my expression. A few heartbeats later, he sighed. “Alright. Then we need to hurry. Get a bag, we need to pack you up and get out of here before your dad comes home.”

  “He won’t be home until eleven.” I kneeled by the bed, retrieving the largest bag I owned—a leopard print duffle bag, which unfortunately had a fat black Playboy Bunny symbol on it. It’d been a gift from Chanel, a joke for my eighteenth birthday and I’d never even taken the tags off (I’d planned to return it when I had the time). So much for that, I thought while ripping the tags in half. It would hold more than the gym bag I had from dance lessons several years ago.

  “Here.” I thrust the bag at Hayden. “Clothes are in the closet and the dresser. I’ll help you in just a second.”

  “Sounds good.” He caught the flying bag one-handed. He was about to set it down on the bed when the emblem caught his eye. His lips pressed together, cheeks blushing red-black.

  I slapped a hand over my face. “Don’t comment! It was a gift!”

  “I wasn’t going to say anything,” he said innocently, smirking as he headed to the closet. “You’re going to want a lot of jackets. It’s cold up there.”

  “I don’t own heavy clothing.” I rummaged in my desk, pulling out a pad of paper. “Where are you guys staying anyway?”

  He pulled the few jackets I did own off their hangers. “You’ll see when we get there,” he said, tossing them into the bag.

  I found a pen next to the computer and sat down, debating on what to write. I decided it best to be simple and to the point.

  Dad,

  You told me I’m old enough to make my own mistakes. Maybe this is the biggest one of them all, but I’m still going to do it. He came back. I love him.

  Tell mom I’m sorry about her wedding day. No, tell her I’m sorry I ruined her wedding day. Tell her I’m sorry I yelled—I just want her to be happy. Tell the boys they were great and to keep riding. Tell Joe he’s awesome and that he can have my quad next year if I’m not back. I know he talked about getting one. Tell the family I love them.

  I hope to see you all again, though I don’t know when. We all have to grow up and leave the nest eventually, but I’m sorry my flight was so sudden. You haven’t lost me, even if you can’t see me. Think of me as—

  I tapped the pen against my chin, having to think a second. Think of me as… what? The word came to me a moment later, and I smiled.

  Think of me as a faerie. Until later and all my love to you,

  Rose

  I hesitated, feeling like something was missing. After a quick read-through, I added at the bottom:

  PS – Rachel would’ve wanted this.

  My mouth was dry as I folded the note. I was going to break his heart, and it made me sick to my stomach. But I had to. Something, whether it was my hormones or Rachel’s words, told me this was destiny. This was what I had to do.

  I was sketching a heart on the folded paper when I realized Hayden had stopped packing. Looking over my shoulder, I cringed. “Hayden!”

  He was holding my white, lacey water bra from the second drawer down. He jumped as I said his name. “Why the hell is it so heavy?” He bounced the undergarment on his fingertips. “Is there actually water in this thing?”

  “Ugh.” I dropped my head to the desk, cheeks in flames. “Just put it in the bag!”

  “O—k. Whatever you say.” He tossed it in, watching it jiggle as it landed.

  Sneaking into dad’s room, I placed the letter on his pillow. The pillowcase was cott
on and smelled of aftershave and Herbal Essences shampoo—which he told me to never tell anyone he used. I would miss that smell. Standing up, I saw there was a new picture framed on the nightstand.

  It was the princess picture of Rachel and me, the one I’d admired on his desk the other night.

  Oh, dad. I left the bedroom quickly, knowing if I stayed I would either change my mind or shed another batch of tears.

  “Wow, you pack fast.” My bag was already two-thirds full when I returned.

  “Jeans, jackets, you’re packing your own shirts. Oooh.” Hayden plucked a pair of tiny, frilly panties from an open drawer. “I like these.”

  “Ok, you’re done helping.” I snatched the underwear from his hands, shoving him aside. He laughed. “I’ll pack my own undergarments, thank you.”

  “Suit yourself.” He held his hands up. “I’ll go get your flip-flops from the closet.”

  My bag was so stuffed to the zipper that Hayden had to carry it. Removing my purse from the kitchen counter, I gave the house one last look. Goodbye, home. The door shut tightly behind me as we stepped into the night, a hot breeze teasing my hair. Electricity danced in the air, the green lawn rippling like water. It was as if mother nature knew I was leaving.

  Hayden slipped his hand into my back pocket. “You don’t have to do this. I’m not making you do this,” he reminded.

  I nodded, wrapping my arm around his waist. “Yes, I do. And I want to.”

  He sighed, muttering something like, so stubborn. “You won’t be hanging with many mortals. Most of our friends outside California are fey.”

  “That I have no problem with.” The idea of meeting real faeries—ones that didn’t adore or work for Adrian—made my veins tingle excitedly. “Throw anything at me, baby, I’m going to do this.”

  He grinned. Shifting his arm around my shoulders, he pulled me in and pecked my neck. “Thank you. For coming with me.”

  “No. Thank you for not forgetting about me.”

  He laughed. “Trust me; I never did for a second.”

  Opening the back door of the Mercedes, he threw my bag in. The odor of new leather wafted past my nose. “Where’d this car come from anyway?” I asked.

  “It’s Lea’s. He’s got my truck right now. He and Drake are trying to swap the plates and change the color. Somebody reported to the cops that I was driving a black Silverado.” He scowled while shutting the door. “Plus, FADE got the license plate. I don’t know where they are at the moment but—”

  I grabbed his sleeve as he went to pass me. He swiveled around, throwing me a panicked look. “What?” he asked. “Oh God, you didn’t change your mind, did you?”

  My heart fluttered. Do it. I had to have something to remember my last minutes at home by. Tugging him by the shirt so that he was against me, I laid my hand on his neck, pulling him down to my level.

  “Absolutely not.” My eyes closed as our noses touched, and I locked my lips around his.

  At first he was hesitant, then he started to press closer. His hands slid to my lower back, resting under the hem of my shirt against my skin. He tasted salty, like metal. No. Like silver. And while most would think silver tasted like nail’s rust or old spoons and forks, it didn’t. It was a rebellious, bittersweet taste unlike any I could’ve imagined. And while I can guarantee some would never settled into such a taste…

  I loved it. It was perfect in a misfit sort of way, something few can appreciate.

  Suddenly he pulled back. “Are you trying to suffocate me?” he gasped.

  “You’re supposed to breathe through your nose, silly,” I giggled, but was still embarrassed. “You just… you taste good.”

  His eyebrows lifted, then he threw his head back and laughed. “Oh, I do, huh?”

  “Mm-hmm.” I nodded, licking my lips. “Like silver.”

  “You are funny.” He pulled me back by the belt loops, kissing me again. “And here I thought you’d hate it… one reason I didn’t kiss you sooner.”

  I moved my hands down and hugged his waist, chin resting below his collarbone. “Well, for your info, I like it. I prefer things that are unique.”

  The moon shined off his blue eyes and he kissed my nose. “Alright, silver addict,” he said, squeezing me before letting go completely. “We need to get going.”

  I frowned as he stepped away, nearly forgetting we were on a time limit. I’d never left California. Not once, though dad had made frequent promises that we would do some out-of-state vacation soon, like Hawaii.

  As we backed out of the driveway, I stared at my tiny house one last time. It was painful to leave, knowing I may never see the place again. But I had it in my memory. And even while I was afraid, I was ready. A new chapter in my life was about to start, and I needed it. I wanted it.

  Brushing my hand, Hayden watched me stare at the rapidly disappearing house from the side-view mirror. “I’ll do my best to get you back here again, Rose,” he whispered. “I just don’t know when.”

  “It’s ok.” I took a deep breath. “This is how it’s supposed to be.”

  He sighed. “If things weren’t so complicated I might have a guarantee for you. But with FADE on our tail, I don’t know what’s going to happen.”

  “Don’t worry. There’s got to be some way to get rid of them.”

  “That’s what Lea and Drake are talking about right now. They’ve taken too many lives since the feuds so long ago. We can’t let them continue to hunt us. If we step out of line, it’s up to the Bavellas Court’s spies to deal with it; not the humans’. We can supervise ourselves without the help of these bloodthirsty mortals executing us.”

  I smirked, but didn’t comment about the fact he was calling the fey, us, as in his self included. I also didn’t say: I thought you considered yourself human. Though it was tempting. “Is there a way to destroy them? How about their island?”

  “We’ve got a lot of work to do if that’s going to happen,” he replied. “I think we can, but for the time being, one thing at a time. Let’s get out of here first.”

  He slipped his free hand around mine. The sensation made my whole arm tingle. Using my other hand, I drew out my cell and hit Chanel’s number. I sent her a goodbye text. Even though all my friends deserved one, she was my closest, my soul sister.

  Hey he came back 4 me. We’re leaving 2nite. Don’t do n e thing stupid while I’m gone. U r worth the best. Take care

  of the gang. I love you, Chanel. Bffs 4ever. After the little checkmark popped up on the screen, I turned the phone off. It was best this way. She would try calling me and if I heard her voice, I might lose my nerve and want to go back—which was unacceptable.

  At the first stoplight, Hayden leaned over to kiss me again. I had a feeling I’d be getting a lot of those now that that barrier had been broken. “Hey, you’re stressing out. Relax. I can feel the vibes practically shooting out your fingers,” he said. “Relax. Take a nap. It’s going to be a looong drive.”

  I brought his hand up and kissed his fingers. I couldn’t believe how happy I was just being able to hold his hand again. This happiness alone drove away the heap that had been forming in my stomach. “I’m ready.” He grinned. “I know. And it’ll be ok.”

  As the Mercedes turned onto another highway, a full moon stared down through the windshield. There was a pale ring around it tonight, something you can’t usually see from LA because of the city lights. I am brave enough, Rachel, I thought.

  In a flash, a shooting star streaked the heavens.

  “What?” Hayden jerked sideways, hearing me gasp.

  I smiled, my worries floating away like leaves on a river. “Nothing.” For once, the word left my mouth as an honest statement. I leaned back in my seat, feeling serene like I had in that dream last night. “Wake me when we get there?”

  “Of course.”

  I closed my eyes. “And Hayden?”

  “Mm-hmm?”

  “… I love you.”

  Silence. At first he didn’t seem to hear me
, or he just didn’t know what to say. As I cracked an eye though, I saw his dusty eyes had gone pale silver, his skin shining like porcelain under the moon’s rays. He was gleaming. Literally.

  “I love you, too,” he chuckled. He meant it.

  I grinned from ear to ear. Whatever lay beyond LA it wouldn’t be like home, but maybe it would be better… or worse. Maybe things would get easier now… or harder. Despite the fact I suddenly felt light as a feather, my sister’s warning was still tattooed to my mind, as was that dark faerie’s words. If Adrian thought I was “unique” would he keep following me? Exactly what obstacles had Rachel foreseen in my trail to true love? Then there was Dad, who I tried not to think about. He would come home tonight and find that note, find me missing. If I was going to elope, I’m sure he would’ve preferred it be with Greg, or Preston, or even Paul… someone he knew, someone normal.

  But as I dozed in the Mercedes, listening to the purr of the engine, I knew I didn’t want—wouldn’t ever want—normal again. It was like taste-testing ice cream in a Baskin Robbins parlor. You could try vanilla and decide it was pretty good, then you’d try chocolate and decide it was better. And then you’d get to something like the special edition, only-available-in-July, birthday cake ice cream that wasn’t really that popular. One taste and you love it. You love it more than all those other flavors, and never again do you want the bland vanilla, the boring chocolate, or even the high-demand Oreo. You just wanted July birthday cake.

  That’s how I felt about Hayden, though—ok—I shouldn’t have compared him to July birthday cake ice cream. The fact was still made that I didn’t want those other flavors anymore. He was my only desire.

  Him and his rare, bitter-sweet, unique taste of silver.