“Put it down, Aylie—it’s only me.”
“Ryder?” She strained to see him, slowly lowering the shovel to the ground. “What on earth are you doing out here this late at night?”
“Taking a walk. I do that sometimes.”
Aylie rolled her eyes as her heart rate began to slow. “You scared me half to death.”
Ryder shrugged, stepping into a patch of moonlight so she could see him better. His eyes were so dark they were like empty, black sockets, and his hair was more than a little disheveled beneath the hood of his dark blue sweatshirt. He was practically invisible against the night sky.
Aylie studied his face. “What are you doing here, Ryder?”
He shifted his weight to one foot, leaning casually against the side of the barn. He folded his arms across his broad chest. “I just came by to thank you for the pie. Did you know apple was my favorite?”
Aylie shook her head, blushing slightly in the dark. “I’ve never made one before…I hope it turned out okay.”
“I’m sure it’s delicious,” he smiled easily. “I’ll let you know when I’ve tasted it.”
Aylie narrowed her eyes. “So…you came all the way out here to thank me for a pie you haven’t tasted yet?”
Ryder shrugged again. “Why not?”
“That makes perfect sense.” Aylie looked back over her shoulder toward the house. She felt a little uncomfortable with his sudden appearance, but she wasn’t sure why. Her mom had given him permission to stop by any time, of course, but this just seemed a little…soon. It had only been a matter of hours since she’d been inside his mansion and Ryder wasn’t really the socializing type. She narrowed her eyes at him suspiciously, trying to wiggle her quickly numbing toes inside of her rubber barn boots. Her breath was coming out in frosty puffs in the chilly night air.
The house by contrast, was cozy and warm, beckoning her to come and enjoy its safety and the soothing firelight that flooded every room. Even though she was tempted to give in to her instincts and return to the house, part of her wanted to know what Ryder was up to and why he’d walked five miles just to thank her for something he hadn’t even tasted. It all seemed rather strange, even for Ryder Payne.
“How did you know I’d be out here?” She asked suddenly.
Ryder let out an exaggerated breath, watching it swirl in the icy cold air. “I didn’t.”
Aylie felt a shiver and folded her arms across her chest to keep herself warm. “What would you have done if I hadn’t been outside?”
“I don’t know. I hadn’t really thought that far ahead…I prefer to live on the edge,” he replied with a crooked smile.
Aylie regarded him for a moment. She didn’t know what to think of this odd behavior. Was he stalking her or just feeling lonely? It had to be the latter—not that he would ever admit it. Maybe something she’d said had actually gotten through to him. She scrambled for something else to say to keep the conversation going.
“Did you hear that animal shrieking a few minutes ago?” She asked. “I’ve heard it two nights in a row now.”
“Honestly, Aylie.” Ryder scoffed. “There are a lot of animals that roam the forest at night…sounds like that are a pretty ordinary occurrence.”
Aylie shook her head. “Not like this. This sound was different—like an animal tearing its prey to pieces for fun instead of killing it for food.” She shuddered.
Ryder shrugged it off and took a step toward her. His expression was suddenly intense. Even in the dark, his eyes were glowing with a strange light.
Aylie swallowed. She felt both a prickle of fear and a jolt of courage simultaneously. “How do you do that?” She wondered aloud, unthinkingly.
He took a step closer. “Do what?”
She felt a little silly for asking the question out loud. “I don’t know. It’s like….” She couldn’t find words to describe it.
“Like?” Ryder probed, his face only inches from hers.
It’s like I’m drawn to you for some reason and yet terrified of you at the same time, she thought. A strange look flickered in Ryder’s eyes—curiosity maybe, or surprise? She couldn’t decide which. Slowly and without warning, as if he was afraid of scaring her, Ryder reached for hand. Her first instinct was to yank it away…she hardly knew him. But Ryder was staring deeply into her eyes and it was a little disorienting.
He took her gloved hand in one of his large bare ones, and stared at it for a moment. Then he looked up at her again. Without breaking eye contact, Ryder removed her glove with his other hand. Now there was nothing separating his skin from hers. She felt the warmth of his thumb pressing into her palm, as he gently turned her hand over, exposing the underside of her wrist to the cold night air. A sliver of moonlight danced across her white skin, highlighting the icy blue veins. He stared at her wrist, holding her hand firmly in both of his.
There was something strangely intimate in the gesture that she couldn’t understand. The moment their palms touched, she felt both unexplainably calm and intensely uneasy in the pit of her stomach. It was like her insides were at war—the two halves of her soul fighting against each other. She was beginning to feel dizzy. “Do you think hypnosis is possible?” She blurted out.
Ryder was taken aback. His eyes were curious, as he cocked his head to one side. “Are you accusing me of trying to hypnotize you?”
“No!” Aylie exclaimed, feeling mortified.
His lips twisted into a wickedly amused grin. “I must have quite the effect on you.”
Aylie wanted to disappear. She silently berated herself for not keeping her mouth shut and considered bolting into the house. It would be cowardly, of course, but it was tempting all the same. She should’ve listened to her gut and cut the conversation short when he’d first shown up. Why did she always say such awkward things in his presence?
“Now it’s my turn to ask a question,” he said, gazing into her eyes.
Aylie swallowed, feeling a little nervous.
“Don’t worry…I’m not going to ask you anything embarrassing.”
“What is it about?”
“I’m curious about your family,” he said.
“My family?” She asked, surprised.
Ryder nodded.
“There’s not much to tell. What do you want to know?”
“Anything. Have you always lived in Silvervane? Were your parents born here? What about your grandparents?”
Aylie narrowed her eyes skeptically, trying to understand why he wanted to know about her family when they hardly knew anything about each other. “I grew up here in Silvervane and my parents were born and raised here, too. My grandparents originally came from Europe, I think. They never really talked about stuff like that.” She tilted her head to the side, a strand of silvery-blonde hair falling across her pale face. “Why do you ask?”
“Do your grandparents still live here in Silvervane?” He asked, ignoring the question.
Aylie shook her head. “They died a few years ago.”
Ryder furrowed his brows. “How did they die, if you don’t mind me asking?”
Aylie swallowed the unexpected lump in the back of her throat. “A hunting accident.” Her voice quivered, but she forced herself to continue. “That’s what the Police Chief said, anyway. I never actually got to see the…bodies. I guess they thought it was too gruesome for a ten-year-old.” She was surprised by how sad she sounded talking about her grandparents. She didn’t realize how much it still hurt. She hadn’t thought of them in a long time, but suddenly she missed them terribly.
She expected to meet Ryder’s usual emotionless stare, but instead, she looked up to see a flicker of compassion in his dark eyes. She was seized with a sudden urge to throw her arms around his neck, but she held herself in check. Ryder Payne was not the comforting type. “I should probably get back inside,” she said, withdrawing her hand suddenly. She took a step back. “My parents are probably starting to wonder what happened to me.”
“I’m sorry, Aylie,” R
yder murmured. “About your grandparents.”
She swallowed again. “I’m sorry about your father,” she answered quietly.
The two of them stood looking at one another for several minutes, neither feeling the need to speak. They understood each other’s pain and there was a mutual sense of comfort in the knowledge that they had both lost people they loved too soon.
“Do you have any idea who might be doing it, Ryder?” She asked softly. Thinking of the untimely deaths of her own grandparents was stirring up all of the unresolved grief she’d tried so hard to bury. “Who hates your family enough to kill them?”
Ryder shook his head. “If I knew who was behind all of this I’d hunt them down and kill them myself.”
The look of hatred on his face was so intense that Aylie knew he meant it. She shivered, wrapping her arms tightly around her body. She couldn’t blame him for feeling the way he did, but there was a savageness in his eyes that alarmed her.
“If you did that, Ryder, you’d be just like them.”
“I don’t care.” He retorted vehemently. “I’ll do whatever it takes to avenge my family.”
“You can’t just take the law into your own hands and go around killing people,” She said, refusing to shy away from the subject. “It’s illegal, for one thing. There are better ways to get justice.”
“Yeah….tell that to my dead brothers. They were murdered five years ago and the killer hasn’t stopped yet. So much for justice.” He spat on the ground, just barely missing her boot.
Aylie looked down at her feet, trying to think of how to respond. “If you find the killer and murder him, you’ll spend the rest of your life in prison—your entire life would be over. Is that what your brothers would want? Is that what your father would want?”
Ryder clenched his jaw, his hands balling into fists at his sides. “You don’t know anything about my brothers or my father,” he said through gritted teeth. “And you have no idea what I’m dealing with.” His face contorted in rage and his body started visibly shaking.
Aylie stared at him in shock, as the muscles under his clothing started to ripple and bulge like he was flexing, only he wasn’t moving at all. The veins in his neck were pulsing violently and the muscles were standing out. His eyes flashed like flames of fire, first orange then red. “What is happening to you?” Her voice was trembling, but she was fighting to stay calm.
“Get away from me!” He roared, his body thrashing and contorting like something from the Exorcist.
In spite of the fear she felt, Aylie couldn’t leave him like this. She had no idea what was going on, but she took a step toward him and looked him square in the face. “Calm DOWN.” She said firmly, feeling courage rise up from someplace deep inside. “Get. A. Grip.”
His eyes flashed and the veins in his forehead were pulsing wildly. He looked like he was about to lunge at her.
“I don’t know what you are, Ryder Payne—but you are NOT a murderer.” She took another step toward him and put her hands on his shoulders. She knew it was a risky thing to do but she felt instinctively that he wouldn’t hurt her. Slowly, his body stopped thrashing but he was still breathing hard, fighting against her. “
You don’t know what I’m capable of.” He hissed through clenched teeth.
“You’re NOT a murderer,” she repeated calmly, looking into his eyes.
Against his will, Ryder’s breathing slowed. His body relaxed and his eyes stopped flashing, slowly returning to their usual color. His muscles stopped pulsing, disappearing beneath the skin once more as he took a deep breath and unclenched his fists. He blinked and stared through her blankly. It took several minutes for coherence to fully return. As the color began to come back into his face, he looked slightly worried. “Did I hurt you?”
“No,” she replied, her voice a little shaky. “You looked like you wanted to, but you didn’t.”
Ryder glanced around, taking in his surroundings as if to regain his bearings. “I’m sorry for that.”
“I didn’t know what was happening to you,” Aylie said, dropping her arms to her sides. “You looked like you were possessed or something.”
Ryder cocked his head to one side. “Why on earth did you stay?” He was staring at her like she was insane.
“I couldn’t just leave you like that,” she said, returning his gaze.
“That’s exactly what you should’ve done!” He shook his head angrily. “You could’ve gotten yourself killed.”
“I knew you wouldn’t hurt me,” she retorted. “I wasn’t in any real danger.”
“You don’t know what I’m capable of, Aylie. It’s foolish to take chances like that.”
She folded her arms irritably across her chest. “So I was supposed to just let you turn into a raging freak and run away?”
“I know how to handle myself,” he snapped, “I’ve done it for years.”
The implications of what he was saying hit her like a ton of bricks. Aylie’s eyes widened. “This happens to you a lot?”
Ryder glared at her. “Not to anyone else’s knowledge.”
Suddenly it all came together in Aylie’s mind and she took a frightened step backwards as the truth began to sink in. “You’re the one tearing animals apart, aren’t you? The eerie growling sound I keep hearing.”
Ryder smirked. “Do you know how crazy you sound right now?”
“Not as crazy as you looked a minute ago,” she retorted. “And you didn’t answer my question.”
The smirk disappeared from his face. “You’re the one who said I wasn’t capable of savage murder.” His mouth twisted in a sarcastic grin. “Having second thoughts?”
“It’s barbaric.” She said, shaking her head in disgust. “Why would you do something like that to innocent animals?”
“Better animals than people.”
Aylie took a deep breath and let it out slowly, exhaling a large puff of frosty air. “I’m too tired for this right now,” she muttered. “I’m going to bed.” She started to walk away and then paused, looking over her shoulder. “You owe me an explanation tomorrow.”
“I don’t owe you anything,” he replied haughtily.
It was Aylie’s turn to smirk. “Yes you do, unless you want me to go straight to Chief Blair tomorrow and tell him everything I saw.” Ryder’s lips curved down into an unpleasant frown. “Whatever.”
CHAPTER SEVEN
R yder didn’t appear at school for the next three days. No one seemed to notice that he was gone, and no one but Aylie seemed the slightest bit concerned. The rumors about his father’s death were still circulating wildly, but Fall Break was officially about to begin and they would soon die down. People would stop caring by the time they returned to school in a week and a half.
Aylie forced herself to focus on her exams. This was semi-finals week and she had to do well or she’d be stuck in Silvervane forever; her dreams of going off to an ivy-league university would be shattered. She had her heart set on a University abroad, but she had to finish well in order to even be considered for admission. She had already turned in her Literature semi-final earlier in the week, and had survived her exams in both Humanities and Physics. Her French exam was the only one she had left and then she would be done with school for ten whole days.
She was headed for the French room, looking down at her flash cards as she walked, when she ran into someone rounding the corner. He was wearing a light blue hoodie and was standing just outside the classroom door. He turned around with a look of surprise on his face. A little jarred, Aylie looked up at him to apologize. The boy’s face was familiar, but
she couldn’t quite place it. He was extremely attractive with ash blonde hair and bright blue eyes. Ren was standing next to him with her older brother, Derek. She stifled a giggle.
“Aylie, you remember my brother Derek, right? He was a senior when we were sophomores.”
Aylie nodded, feeling a little embarrassed. She remembered Ren’s brother—dark, slicked back hair and chocolate bro
wn eyes. He looked so much like Ren they could’ve passed for fraternal twins.
“This is his friend, Eli—he’s from Switzerland.” Ren said, nodding toward the boy she’d nearly trampled.
“It’s nice to meet you,” Eli said with a smile.
Aylie was taken aback by the striking blueness of his eyes. There was something almost mesmerizing about them; they sparkled like blue diamonds. It took her a second to respond. “Sorry for running into you a minute ago…I wasn’t looking where I was going.”
“No harm done,” he replied genially.
Aylie smiled back. “Are you guys here to crash finals or something?”
Derek chuckled. “We just came by to see Coach Cole.”
“And of course you wanted to see me,” Ren added smugly, sneaking a glance in Eli’s direction.
Aylie noticed the look but said nothing.
“You guys go have fun,” Ren said, dismissing the boys with a wave of her hand. “Aylie and I have more important things to do right now—like passing our French examination.”
Eli smiled at them both politely, before turning to follow Derek away down the hall.
Aylie watched them disappear and hurried into the classroom just as the bell rang, reminding her once again that her future was hanging in the balance.
When she had finished her exam, Aylie waited outside the classroom for Ren so they could walk back to her dorm together. She was curious about Eli and wondered what her friend thought of him. Lacey had volleyball practice after school so it would be just the two of them, which was rare. They went straight to their lockers to get their things and Aylie dropped off her textbooks, tugging her wool coat on over her navy blue uniform sweater. She draped her scarf around her shoulders without bothering to wrap it around her neck. She was anxious to put the school behind her and embrace ten days of absolute freedom.
WAKENED (The Silvervane Chronicles Book 1) Page 6
