A mumble came from Gabe at the other end of the couch. “Night, man.”
My throat was dry; I could barely speak. “Night,” I forced out.
Sure, I’d paid attention to women before. I’d imagined…well, what most guys imagined. Yet, those moments never amounted to more than random fantasies. Here, on the sofa, in the dead of night, with Cali’s body pressing into me, things were different. My brain flashed to the curves that I’d almost glimpsed when she started removing her wedding dress in the airport. Those curves that I’d been inches away from seeing…
Cali let out a little sigh and pushed into me more, maybe struggling to warm up in her sleep. Putting my fist in my mouth, I stifled a groan, trying not to imagine what this night would have been like in another scenario. In the meantime, I wasn’t about to cop a feel on someone who was unconscious, no matter how tempting that unconscious someone might have been.
Lifting myself up on my elbow, I kissed her cheek, smoothing back her hair. “I love you,” I whispered.
Cali sighed, but didn’t say anything. I lowered myself down to the pillow.
All we needed to do was get through this and we could start our life together. We could be alone then. But would we escape the enemies that were after us? I had no idea how to stop them or what our next move should be. Were they already here? Would they be able to find us?
Despite my own fears, my heart rate settled into a slightly less erratic pattern out of sheer exhaustion. Sleep overcame me before I could answer my own questions.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
CALI—MORNING
When my eyes opened after only a few hours of sleep, they immediately focused on the water outside the window. It made me think of Ireland and my family. I missed them.
Forcing the thoughts aside, I took care not to wake Kellen or Gabe as I stood up. A blanket on one of the chairs would provide a makeshift coat since I had no idea where mine had been stored. Selecting one, I wrapped it around myself against the chill.
Stepping outside on the balcony and shutting the door behind me, I stared out at the surf in the early morning. “I’m mortal,” I whispered to the ocean. Without hesitation, I opened up the blanket and let the frigid wind blast my mortal body. “I’m mortal!” I cried, louder. I reveled in the change in me, in the knowledge that I would never be the same. This moment belonged to me and I welcomed my mortality. I didn’t even realize it when I started crying.
It shouldn’t have worked this way. Kellen and I planned to be married first and then we would have gone away somewhere. I could have slowly gotten used to my mortal bones. He would have patiently taught me everything that I needed to know.
But never in any of my imaginings did I think I’d be in such a cold place, and with Gabriel as well. The company could have been far worse, of course, but I’d wanted time alone with Kellen. The pair us of had been cheated out of that from the beginning. Now, who knew how long we would have to wait before we actually got married?
CHAPTER NINETEEN
KELLEN—EMPTY
I bolted upright after finding the space next to me empty. Cali wasn’t there.
Searching the room, I found myself alone except for Gabe, who lay fast asleep, all four limbs spread out around him, making him look like a giant star. He snored like a bear.
Something caught my attention out of the corner of my eye. Turning, I watched the edge of a blanket flapping in the wind outside. Walking closer, I realized that Cali stood on the balcony, a thick blue blanket wrapped around her.
She’s okay. Relief flooded me and I scanned the massive great room, looking for my coat. Each room connected with the others, joining to form one large space. The comfortable living area blended seamlessly with the dining room and a kitchen that looked like it could have accommodated a restaurant. A balcony spanned the length of the entire area. Glass doors opened out onto it from all three areas of the room.
Walking to the front of the room, I grabbed our coats. I slipped into mine as I padded across the cold hardwood floor to the sliding door in my socks. Stepping outside, a cold blast of air met me, its chill contradicting the sunshine. The door made a clicking sound when I shut it. Turning, I looked at Cali. I didn’t think she’d noticed my arrival over the crashing of the waves against the rock. She remained unmoving, leaning against the railing, shivering in the morning cold. On this particular morning, her beauty went beyond imagination.
Sliding the coat over her shoulders, I put my arms around her pulling pulled her close to me. She’d tensed, probably with surprise, but quickly seemed to calm herself, sighing and leaning into me. “Thanks,” she said.
“Mmmhh.”
We stood like that for many moments, looking at the bay while the seagulls dipped and dove over the water. Their cries acted as a greeting to the both of us, a worthy audience for their first show of the day.
Scanning my memory, I tried to recall a time when I’d come across a view like this one. Certainly some of the places that I’d visited in Ireland were breathtaking, but Maine set its own standard. The landscape had been described to me as rugged, both in geography classes as well as in magazines and coffee table books that I’d skimmed over the years. No explanation could have been more accurate. The rocky, jagged coastline simply fell into Frenchman Bay as it led out to the rough seas of the Atlantic. Pine trees dotted the landscape, jutting out at odd angles. The smell of saltwater filled my lungs as I took a slow, deep breath. I could only sum it up in one word: extraordinary.
Then I realized that Cali had been crying. “How are you feeling this morning?” I tried to keep my feelings out of my voice as I asked the question of Cali.
She smiled a small smile. “You already know.”
“Yep,” I agreed.
Cali’s emotions had assaulted me the moment I’d opened the door. We’d never tested out how close I needed to be or anything like that. However, it seemed like it worked best when I was with her and focusing on her. Touching her made it easier, too. That morning, she felt sad and afraid.
“I’m sorry that we couldn’t get married yesterday,” I said again. I kept feeling the need to apologize for it. It seemed so unlikely now that we’d ever stood at the altar. Mentioning it helped me to get a grip on reality.
She turned around in my embrace and kissed me on the cheek. “You can stop apologizing. It wasn’t going to happen. It’s not your fault.”
“Maybe not. There are so many missing pieces to this puzzle. We don’t know anything. That makes me nervous.”
Cali rested her head against my chest, hugging me close. She was freezing, just like a normal girl might’ve been. A mortal girl.
“We haven’t had the chance to talk much about being mortal. Do you…know how to do everything?” Please let her know about girl stuff. God, I really didn’t want to have to be the one to tell her.
She smiled, apparently enjoying my discomfort.
My cheeks burned “Please don’t make me—”
“It’s okay, Kellen. When I changed, my mortal body came with most of the basic knowledge that I need to care for myself.”
“Whew.” I let out a breath. Conquering Faerie was easy, but talking about feminine hygiene was another matter entirely.
“There is also one other gift that Father gave me…though I’m not sure what it is yet. He said that it would reveal itself when the time was right.”
“When did he tell you this?”
“Before the change occurred. He and Mother told me about some of the important things I would need to know when I told them of my decision,” she said.
That would have been before our wedding day, before we took off. A simpler time. We were the hunted now.
Standing on tiptoe, Cali pressed her lips to my own. Though she seemed unaffected, the impact of her kiss nearly knocked me off-balance.
“Is there breakfast? I’m starving.” She craned her neck around me, as if looking for breakfast to magickally appear.
Kissing her forehead, I gave her m
y best smile. “No, but I think we can change that. Follow me.”
Turning, I led her back into the house. And just like that, our dire situation seemed to evaporate in my mind. It was a beautiful day and I was with Cali. How could we be in danger? We were so far away from Ireland; they’d never find us here.
But a small voice in the back of my head warned me: They can find you if they want to.
“Gabe, come on, man, wake up,” I said, shaking Gabe’s arm.
Gabe groaned, pressing the heels of his hands into his eye sockets. “Noooo.” He rolled over and started snoring again.
“Come on, Gabe!” I shook him again. “Cali needs to eat.” Our trip to Wal-Mart had provided us with some of the basics, but we had no milk or hamburgers. Already I was running out of Snickers candy bars and Pepsi, my two staples. “If we want to eat real food, you’re going to have to get up.” I said.
Gabe opened his eyes then looked up at me as if I’d just ruined his day. Cali laughed. He sat up then leaned back against the couch. “Gosh, man, like, give a guy a minute or whatever.”
Cali discreetly went into the kitchen while I stayed behind with Gabe.
After a moment of grumbling, Gabe jumped up, stretching his arms toward the ceiling that he had no hope of reaching. Then as quickly as if he’d flipped a switch, his normally buoyant personality returned. “Hey, there’s this great pancake place in town. Let me get my stuff and we’ll go.”
“I thought maybe there’d be take-out or something. I don’t know if going out is such a great idea,” I said. “We’re supposed to be in hiding.”
Gabe looked at me. “Yeah, but we need food and supplies. I know it’s only October, but the weather is dicey here. We need to make sure that we’re prepared for whatever might come. “Besides, we don’t know how long we’ll need to stay. If we’re going to go out and get stuff, we should get it done now, right? Before they figure out where we are.”
“They probably already know where we are,” I said. Idly, I started flipping through a binder about the house and the Bar Harbor area as I spoke.
Gabe looked at me. “Then wouldn’t we be better off staying in a heavily populated area? If we go into town, no one needs to know where we’re staying. If we have food delivered, the local people will know the house is populated and they’ll talk.”
Looking outside, I watched a nearby tree blowing in the wind. If we found ourselves trapped in the house, we didn’t have enough food to last the three of us a week.
“I think we should go, but we need to be quick about it,” Cali said, walking back in from the kitchen. “I think Gabriel gave us some time when he read those words on the plane.” Gabe blushed. “But not much. Let us eat, get what we need, and come back here as quickly as possible,” Cali advised.
I didn’t like it, but I couldn’t argue with the barren refrigerator and dropping temperature.
For about ten minutes, bags crackled as each of us dragged out the caps, coats, and boots that we’d purchased last night. Ensconced in several layers, we left the house, walking outside into the magnificence of fall in Maine.
The smell of burnt wood clung to the air while leaves swirled around us. A patchwork quilt of colors blanketed the earth in golds, rusts, and browns. Inhaling, the purity of the untainted oxygen burned my lungs.
Gabe walked toward the car, shouting over his shoulder, “We need to drive there. It’s too far to walk.”
The bridge creaked as we walked across it to the parking area. Hands running along the handrails of the bridge, I let the smoothness of the cool wood slide under my fingertips. Gabe and Cali were already at the car, but I lagged behind. Curious, I took the opportunity to check out the house for the first time since our arrival. At the edge of the bridge, I stopped and looked up.
The place could not have been described as a cottage, or a house. The Stewart place deserved the title of “mansion.” I’d never seen a home that large up close. It made Stephen’s Tudor-style mansion look like a shack. The structure, made predominantly of stone and white siding, seemed to pop out of the pine trees which sheltered it. Sunshine danced off of each of the windows in the front of the three-story house, including the one window that dominated a turret in the very front of the structure. The stone gave it a grander, older feel, though the house seemed more modern from the inside. I also noted the spring that trickled below the walkway. Moving water might help protect us, just as the moat at Leeds had.
“K, you coming?” Gabe stood at the car, half in and half out of the driver’s seat. Cali sat in the front this time, practically dancing in her seat as she sat. She must have been hungry, as she gestured animatedly for me to get in the car.
Disappointment tapped on my shoulder as I left the bridge behind. The writer in me wanted to take my time, to observe the area more. That obviously took a back seat to two hungry travelers. Okay, three.
I walked to the car and got in, touching Cali’s cheek lightly as I shut the door. Gabe started the car, turning the vehicle around in a wide circle. He drove back in the direction that we’d come from last night.
Driving down the long lane from Gabe’s family home, I began to orient myself. You’d probably have to drive a good mile to reach the house from the main road, and then the property ran right up against the sea. “This place is pretty isolated. Good choice, Gabe.” My eyes followed the endless sea of pine that framed the road on either side.
Gabe glanced back at me, but quickly returned his eyes to the road. “Thanks. It’s the perfect place to hide out. It’s the start of the off-season, so there won’t be too many people here.”
I leaned forward in my seat, Cali’s hair inches from my face. My hands stayed on my lap as I resisted the temptation to run my fingers through her hair.
“We haven’t had any trouble since Boston. I think we lost them,” Gabe said.
“Maybe.” Yet I couldn’t shake the feeling that we weren’t getting away with anything, that they knew exactly where we were. “We should make this a quick trip,” I said. Cali turned and looked at me.
“Agreed,” Gabe said. We continued the drive in silence, each lost in our thoughts.
My travels had never brought me to Maine and I scanned the area with interest as we drove into the town. Small crowds of people sat in groups in a commons area. They appeared to be receiving some sort of instruction. Part of a tour group, maybe.
Glancing away, I turned to the shops that lined the road. There were certainly people out on this Sunday morning, but I could imagine the potential for more. The quaint little shops and restaurants that made up downtown Bar Harbor seemed to have a certain appeal. Loaded with cameras, groups of baby boomer tourists flocked to every corner, whipping their Digital SLRs out to show off and taking photos of who knew what.
“Those people were taking my picture!” Gabe grinned and attempted to show his best side as he eased the rental into a spot on one of the side roads.
“Try to look away. I’m not sure it’s such a good idea that we’re being photographed,” I said. It made me nervous for anyone other than Lugh knowing where we were. Too risky.
“Right.” Gabe nodded, averting his gaze. “I didn’t think about that.”
Gabe parallel-parked on a side street, and the three of us got out of the car and crossed the street to a restaurant. I didn’t get a chance to read the sign as we entered. However, the menus that we were handed by a smiling waitress proclaimed it as Jacob’s. Their special: none other than Maine blueberry pancakes. The three of us ordered rounds of coffee and the special.
After the waitress returned with cups and a carafe of coffee, I poured each of us a cup before I asked the question that had been preying on my mind. “Do you think we need to move on today?” I asked, the photographer still on my mind. Taking several sips of coffee, I almost immediately returned to a half-human state. The brew gave me the kick in the butt that I’d needed.
Gabe scoffed. “Kellen, this is a tiny town. They were just tourists. I think you’re making a
bigger deal out of this than it needs to be.”
Raising the coffee cup to my lips, I took another sip before I said, “Maybe, but I’m just trying to be cautious. I’m not sure we can write anything off now.”
“Kellen’s right. We need to be less conspicuous and more aware of what’s going on around us,” Cali said.
“Do you think we need to leave?” I asked Cali.
“I think we need to stay in the same place until we’ve heard from my family, and just be careful,” Cali said.
Gabe nodded and took a sip of coffee. His expression led me to believe he’d begun to take everything more seriously. “Why couldn’t we just have gone with your parents and Dillion, again?” he asked.
Cali looked up from her coffee at Gabe. “Because mortals can’t live where I come from. They weren’t meant to.”
Gabe opened his mouth like he considered asking more questions, but he closed it just as quickly and nodded. “So we wait,” he said, raising his sandy eyebrows.
About twenty minutes later, three ginormous plates of food were set in front of us. The meal could have fed us as well as about ten others. Taking in my blueberry pancakes, I inhaled then exhaled slowly. The pancakes steamed on my plate.
The first bite was heaven. The blueberries burst open in my mouth, burning my tongue. It reminded me of the time Gran made cookies and I’d taken a cookie off of the pan as soon as it came out of the oven. It’d burnt my tongue so bad that it had puffed up. It had been worth it, though. The cookie had been awesome.
Gabe polished off half of a pancake by shoving it into his mouth whole. He chewed for several seconds before swallowing and glancing to me. “We need food,” he said. As he spoke, syrup leaked out of the corners of his mouth. Stifling a laugh, I looked at Cali. She stared at Gabe, looking like she was trying to fight a smile. The next moment she roared with laughter. Gabe looked up at her. “What?” A residual piece of pancake stuck to his pronounced chin like a goatee.
The Fallen Stars (A Star Child Novel) Page 9
