Before the Dawn

by Kristal Lim

The first rays of the morning sun were starting to shine through the window, and Aline could not remember the last time she had felt so relieved that it was daytime. Daylight meant that the night was over, that those who threatened her in the dark could not harm her and she was safe. But was she really safe? She unclenched her hands and saw that the right one was bleeding from a cut. The wound was where the silver leaf from her dream had sliced through her skin as Trevor tried a desperate gamble to get them away from the Prince and his dangerous Court. As these memories came to her mind, she suddenly became incredibly worried about what had happened to Trevor. But, almost as soon as she thought of him, her cellphone rang and she let out a sigh of relief when she saw his name and number flashing on the screen.

  "Trevor? Are you okay?" she asked before he could even speak.

  "Yeah, I'm fine," he assured her quickly. "I'm in the Ballroom, in one of the private rooms. How did I even get here? Anyway, where are you? You just disappeared." He sounded a bit dazed, like he had just woken up, too.

  "I'm in my room at home. Come get me, okay? We'll go to school together and talk about this." She was already moving to get ready. Her feet were hurting more than ever and she felt exhausted, but she had to check if the other kids she knew were all right. Trevor promised he'd be at her house as soon as he could then they said their goodbyes. She immediately began to dial Cassie's number after hanging up on him.

  "Cassie? Cass, are you okay?" The worry and nervousness made Aline speak too loud and she heard her friend grumble on the other end of the line.

  "Aline, what is wrong with you?" Cassie complained, and Aline was incredibly relieved to hear the other girl’s familiar voice. "It's too early. I still want to sleep."

  "No!" She almost yelled. "Get up. Don't go back to sleep." But Cassie hung up on her before she could say any more. Her calls to Sam and Meran also woke them up and, like Cassie, they both sounded tired and confused when she insisted that they meet up in school really early. Gracelyn, however, was still not answering her phone, and Aline began to be very scared for her friend as she remembered the lost expression on Gracelyn’s face that she glimpsed before she and Trevor made their escape from the Prince.

  A brief shower, a change of clothes, and fresh bandages on her feet and hand later, Aline was ready and waiting for Trevor to pick her up in less than an hour. Then she cursed when she finally noticed the bloodstains on her bed sheets and the carpet. Her feet had bled on the two, and they were now streaked with ugly red marks. She stripped the sheets off her bed then went downstairs to the laundry room so she could stuff them in the washing machine before her dad could see them. The carpet, though, was a lost cause. For the meantime, she just covered the blood with some dirty clothes and other stuff she could throw on the floor without making it too obvious she was trying to hide something. Then she went downstairs again.

  "Dad?" she called out. She hadn't heard him puttering around in the kitchen earlier, but maybe he was up and about now. "Hey, Dad. I'm going to school in a bit." There was no answer. "Dad?" Curious, and worried, she tortured her feet by checking each room in the house that she thought he could possibly be in. He was nowhere to be found, though. But she also couldn't see his cellphone and his laptop anywhere, and she knew he'd never leave home without them, so maybe he had left for work very early. It certainly wasn't unusual for him to do that. Besides, and by now she realized that she was just trying to reassure herself with all the excuses she could think of, he hadn't been at the ball last night. So there was no way Raven and the Prince had gotten their hands on him. Right? She called his phone and got his voicemail, so she left him a message to call her back and she had to be content with that because there really wasn't anything else she could do about it right now.

  The doorbell rang then and, when she saw Trevor outside, she couldn't help herself. She was so happy and relieved he looked okay that she threw her arms around him and hugged him as tightly as she could. "Oh, thank God you're safe!" she whispered against his neck and he just made a sort of comforting rumbling noise as he held her close. "Last night really happened, didn't it? It wasn't just a dream?" She was silently begging him to tell her that none of it had been real.

  "It was more like a nightmare," he said softly. "Especially when I saw you running away from that guy and you looked so scared. I wasn't sure I could protect you." His lips grazed her ear as he spoke and, instantly, the mood between them altered. She was suddenly very aware of how tall he was and how his body was wrapped up against hers. She also realized that their faces were really close.

  They both made the decision to move even closer and their lips met in their first kiss. She felt slightly guilty for letting the thought flash through her mind for a few seconds, but this was nothing like kissing the Prince in her dreams. That had been a seduction, tempting her with the promise of how wonderful surrendering to passion could be. Trevor's kiss was different. It didn't demand, it asked for her response. It was warm and passionate, yes, but it didn't try to take her over. It was just–Trevor, and being with him and being close and sharing themselves with each other. It kind of felt like coming home.

  When they finally broke apart after several minutes of being lost in each other’s kiss, they were both grinning.

  "That was," Trevor thought for a second, "different." He leaned his head down again and gave her another, quicker kiss. "Why does it feel like I've done that a thousand times before?"

  "I don't know," Aline replied with a smile. She couldn’t believe how light and happy she was feeling right now in his arms.

  "You know," he said conversationally, "when all of this weirdness is over, we need to go on a date." He winked at her.

  "Absolutely!" she agreed. "But no dancing, though," she quickly added.

  He nodded. "You bet. I have two left feet anyway." Then they just smiled at each other goofily for a minute or two, enjoying the strong new feeling of closeness between them. Finally, he asked, "Are you ready to go?" She nodded and locked up the house behind her, and then she made an uncomfortable discovery: Trevor drove around in a motorcycle.

  "Have you ridden one of these before?" he asked a bit worriedly when he saw the expression on her face.

  "No," she answered. "Never." She felt like her entire body was starting to freeze up.

  "What's wrong?" he frowned. "If you've never ridden one and you're nervous, it's okay. It's completely safe. I'm a careful driver."

  She took a deep breath to steady her nerves. "I'm sorry if I look freaked out about this, but I have a bad history with motorcycles, one in particular." Then, in a quiet voice, she told him about the accident that had killed her mom.

  "Oh, God." He looked miserable. "I'm so sorry. I had no idea."

  "It's okay." She tried to smile at him. "Anyway, it's still early. We could catch the bus instead?" she suggested. "It stops a block away from here. That's what I usually do when my dad isn't around to drive me to school."

  "Sure," he nodded. "We'll do that." He seemed eager to make her forget about the memories that had suddenly come rushing back to her. She told him he could leave his bike in their garage, and they got that taken care of before heading to the bus stop. While they walked, he noticed the way she was limping, so she also told him about the poor state of her feet.

  "What?" He was aghast. "Then you shouldn't even be walking around at all. Aline, this is crazy. You're going to make your feet worse. And what if you get an infection?" He seemed ready to go on and on about it, but she interrupted him.

  "It’s fine. I’ll be fine, I promise. We’ve got more important things to worry about right now," she told him. "You know, I think I may have some kind of theory about what’s been happening to us, and it's connected to that silver leaf I gave you. Have you still got it, by the way?"

  "Of course," he confirmed, and he took out a small plastic case from his backpack and shook it. The leaf made a rattling sound as it bumped against the sides of the case. "I think this leaf kept me safe last night, or it acted as some kind
of veil or something." He wouldn't say any more about it though, but he promised to tell her later about everything that had happened to him during the previous night before he ended up in that strange ballroom. For now, they both agreed that they would first have a talk with Aline’s friends about what they could remember regarding her birthday party and last night.

  The two of them didn't speak much during the bus ride to school. They sat near the back and she just leaned against him while he put his arms around her. The other kids gave them curious looks when they recognized Aline, and she knew that the news would be all over the school before lunchtime that she and the new guy, Trevor whatshisname, were playing kissy face on the bus. But she didn’t really care. There were other things that she had to worry about today.

  It turned out to be a really good thing that she and her friends had homeroom together with Trevor in the mornings. It gave her the chance to talk to everyone right away. While the classroom filled up and she waited for her friends, she looked around carefully to study the other kids in their seats. Most of them had gotten invitations to her birthday party at the Ballroom and she had seen them dancing with the people in the Prince's castle last night. This morning, they all looked pale and tired, a fact that only increased her anxiety levels. When Meran walked in and she also looked exhausted, Aline became even more anxious. Meran seemed surprised to see that Trevor was in the usually empty seat on Aline’s right as she slumped down in her own chair, but she didn't say anything about it and Aline just shrugged at the questioning look she got from the other girl. So, instead, Meran bitched about Aline’s early morning call.

  "Seriously, the sun had barely risen," she complained. "You're not supposed to call anyone that early. It's illegal or something." Then she yawned widely.

  "Meran," Aline said slowly, "why are you so tired?" She wanted to hear what her friend’s answer would be.

  Meran blinked and looked surprised as if she had just realized that very fact herself. "I'm not sure," she confessed with a shrug. "I slept early last night. I should be well-rested. But, yeah, I do feel bad, like I ran a marathon or something. And my feet hurt worse now than they did yesterday."

  "They're not bleeding, are they?" Aline asked.

  "No, no," Meran shook her head. "Just really sore. But, hey, I just thought of something, or I remember something, I mean. You met that cute guy named Raven at your party, right?"

  Aline suddenly felt cold. Beside her, Trevor tensed. "Yeah, I did," she said carefully. "What about him?"

  "He came to see me last night," Meran said. "He's really weird, you know. But I think he’s okay. If he'd only shut up once in a while. He's always arguing with me about something." She gave an embarrassed laugh and blushed. "It's kinda stupid, but I've dreamed of dancing with him for two nights now. Really stupid, I know. You don't have to tell me."

  Aline wasn't sure how to react to her friend’s little confession. On one hand, she was scared sick that that freak, Raven, had dared to come to Meran’s house. But, on the other hand, she was furious at him and the Prince for playing their twisted games with her and her friends. What did those two want from them anyway? She was about to warn Meran to stay far, far away from Raven when Cassie and Sam finally arrived–and Sam was crying.

  Before they could ask her what was wrong, she told them the terrible news.

  "Guys, it's Gracelyn. We found her in her bed this morning, and she wasn't breathing!"

  ~~~

  Chapter 9