by K. R. Bowman
My eyes widened with unease. I nodded and placed the dagger back in the holder on my thigh and the necklace around my neck. I took my seat by Ashlen.
She studied me, “Would you like to know what your palms told me?”
I examined my hands, really studying the lines on my palms like they might hold some kind of secrets. “Uh... I think I’ll just be surprised unless it’s something bad? Like when you said it would come for a price?”
She smiled knowingly and nodded, “Well, it doesn’t say what the price will be just that you will have to pay one, and your heart will break. These lines are only a general outline of what will happen in your life, so keep living your life, don’t stop because of some warning that may or may not have a heavy bearing on the outcome. These lines only give us hints of what is to come. Of course, like your life, your lines are not yet finished, so more has yet to be revealed. The tide will shift either for good or bad, but we will not know until it happens.”
Oh, great. I’m going to have to pay a price? What kind of price? I don’t have anything to give. My heart is going to break? Physically or emotionally? How is my heart going to break?
This is too much. I can feel the stress building and layering. What does she mean? Does it only hint to my future? Why in the world should I trust palm reading? I mean, really, who believes in those kinds of things? Will my future end good or bad? I hope my mom is okay and Mariah too. They would not believe what I’m going through right now. I’m fighting demons and night creatures; this is ridiculous. Where’s a guide book?
“Sloane?”
I jerked my head up to Ashlen, “Yeah, sorry?”
She smiled and held her hand out to help me up, “Come on, we’re leaving.”
Everyone else was either at the door or already in the hall. I grasped her hand and stood. She put her arm around my shoulder and squeezed me against her side.
“They’re going to show us to our rooms, so we, meaning you, can get some rest.”
“I’m not all that tired.” I stifled a yawn.
Chuck led the way down the hall with Patrice by his side. They were bent toward each other and whispering about who knows what. Graham was right behind them with his hands clasped behind his back. Harris and Raleigh followed. Callum was behind us trailing by about ten feet. Ashlen had her arm looped through mine.
Ashlen moved closer and whispered, “So, who are you going to fall in love with?”
I glanced at her and turned toward down the hall then quickly glanced back at Callum.
“I’m not planning on falling in love with anyone. It’s ridiculous, especially right now, with everything going on.” I glared at her and lowered my voice using my best self-righteous tone. “Is all you think about, boys? Do you know how insane that is, especially right now, with our futures in the balance? Monsters keep trying to kill us. My priority is finding out what happened to my dad and keeping the Nightlins from taking over that is it. My plate is full.”
She made an exasperated noise, “Oh, come on! I just want a tiny little normalcy in my life. I need it, or I’m going to go cray-cray. We haven’t been able to talk about boys, and now you are ruining it for me. If your heart is going to break, you might as well enjoy one of them thoroughly before then. Personally, I think Graham would be a great choice.”
For a moment, I let myself fantasize. Those golden eyes and long hair. His biceps and lackadaisical smile.
“He is attractive. I’ll give you that.”
Ashlen giggled and pulled on my arm, “Of course, he is! Every girl thinks so! I think he might like you, though.”
My heart stuttered. Nope. Not going to think about it anymore.
“And you’re so lucky if you’ll be a Hunter, I wonder what your Czar will look like, something dangerous so people will take you seriously.” She gripped my arm tighter and, with one hand, made clawing motions. “Like black with dark purple highlights and long needle-like talons. But you do have blue eyes, so maybe it’ll be a gorgeous sapphire color.”
I swatted her hand away and rolled my eyes, “You’re full of it - it being ridiculousness. Besides, have you forgotten these guys have superpowers? They can probably hear everything we’re saying.”
“Oh, who cares? I’m sure they’re used to hearing girls talking about them. There are more guys than girls in this place, so we have choices. Anyways,” she lifted her chin up, “I don’t think I’m into Harris anymore…”
I stared at her, “Ha. Yeah, right. You,” I poked her arm, “are the one that has fallen in love, not me.”
She glared at me then haughtily said, “Have not. There’s a difference between fun and love.” She stared down the hall and, in an indirect way, undoubtedly making sure he hadn’t heard that.
We continued on in silence. She eventually dropped her arm to swing at her side. Chuck showed us to our rooms. The three of us girls shared a rather large room, with a fireplace, three beds, one window, and a small kitchen. The window had two boards positioned on either side that acted as shutters. The same long bulbs from downstairs hung from the ceiling. They seemed pretty serious about this vitamin stuff.
The guys were in a room next to us that I hoped was identical to ours. No reason for them to have a better room than us girls.
As we walked into our room, I watched the guys make their way down to theirs. Callum’s eyes locked onto mine as he passed. The corner of his mouth twitched like he was trying not to smile. Graham stopped at the doorway. He winked at me, then sauntered in. Callum’s face changed to annoyance. He glanced at me and walked through the door, shutting it heavily.
Chuck and Patrice continued down the hallway picking up their whispered conversation. I drifted to the bed closest to the door, crawled under the covers, and fell asleep within a matter of seconds.
9
The flash of light, signaling morning, interrupted my sleep. No shades were on the windows, so the light had unobstructed freedom to shine. I rolled over. Mumbling noises came from the kitchen area. I opened one eye to see Harris standing against the counter with his back to me, and Ashlen stood in front of the makeshift stove, which consisted of a fire with a metal stand sitting over it. The cabinets were just planks of wood set up as shelving and were built around the make-shift stove. Ashlen was moving something around on the oven top. I searched for Raleigh, but she wasn’t in either bed. The heat from the stove made it hard to breathe. I threw the covers off and kicked my shoes off. I stretched as far as I could and slowly sat up. Ashlen and Harris watched me.
“Mornin’.”
“Hi, Harris,” my throat croaked as I spoke.
I stood and shuffled across the room to sit on a stool by them propping my elbows on the counter. Eggs were frying in the skillet along with some vegetables. I scrunched my nose and got up to get closer to the food. I grabbed some bread and peanut butter from off the shelf that ran along the perimeter of the wall and set them on the counter.
Harris ended up spending all morning in our area. For someone who wasn’t in love, Ashlen could have fooled me. She gave Harris every dazzling smile and laugh she had. They both beamed as they talked in a secretive manner. I didn’t mind since I was still exhausted. Someone rapped on the door, and Harris sauntered over to open the door. A young girl came in with clothes draped over her arms. She carried the garments to a chair and set them down.
“These are for the feast this afternoon. The Leader said you had no dress clothes, so I brought some for you to try. I have some pins in case we need to hem them or make them fit better. Just let me know.” She bowed her head and strolled out the door closing it softly behind her.
Ashlen and I immediately looked at each other. I’m pretty sure we were thinking the same thing… this whole situation was straight out of a movie. I stuffed some of the bread into my mouth and strode to the garments.
One was a simple blue dress with long sleeves and a small sheer train. Another was a deep red wine color made just like the blue one. Two were different shades of green with
scoop necks, and the length hit the top of the floor. I opted for the wine-colored dress just because I wanted something different than the usual blues and blacks I wore. Ashlen chose one of the green dresses that showed off her beautiful green eyes and dark hair.
Harris went back to his room to see if he had gotten some new clothes while we got baths and fixed our hair. Long luxurious baths were something I missed while at the training camp. I could tell Ashlen had too. We both seemed happier and refreshed.
I stood in front of the dingy mirror and tried to make sure I was presentable. The girl came back and made some slight modifications, so the dresses would be more tailored.
Once I slipped the dress on, I didn’t realize how much it would stick to my body and how low the scoop of the neck was. I knew what to expect before even looking in the mirror, my boobs were barely there. I figured with me training every day and already being rail-thin the mirror would reflect that, but somehow, I looked different. This dress gave me an hourglass figure. My breasts were a little fuller along with my hips. It looked like I had gained weight, and in all the right places. Wow. I stood there somewhat dumbfounded, even noticing the color of my hair. It must be a trick of the light or the color of the dress, but my light brown hue was lighter. I was turning blonde? I tugged at the low neck and at the silky fabric on my hips.
Ashlen swatted my hands. “Stop picking at it. You’re beautiful.”
I frowned slightly. I wrapped my hair up into a side chignon. I wasn’t too sure about so much skin showing, but I thought to hell with it. I’ve got to learn to show off what my momma gave me. No matter how little that was. I’ll probably regret it later if I get lots of stares but oh well. I turned in the mirror. Even the back was low, a first for me. What was I thinking?
Ashlen cleaned up very nicely. Her green dress had one thigh-high slit, showing off her long legs. She wore her hair down, but it twisted on one side, giving more view of her perfectly symmetrical face. Her huge boobs had been smashed into her dress, threatening to rip the seams. She came to stand beside me in the mirror.
“We look pretty damn great if I do say so myself.” Ashlen nodded her head and smiled the biggest I had ever seen her smile. She linked her arm through mine.
I turned my head to the side to get one last glimpse at my hair and smiled, “Yes, we do. I’m sure Harris’s mouth will gape when he sees you.” I winked at her.
She pinched my arm, “I’m sure Graham will stop dead in his tracks when he sees you and maybe Callum as well.”
I made a face at her and dragged her toward the door, “Whatever, let’s go.” The truth was I couldn’t wait to see what Graham’s reaction was, and I wanted to see how well he spruced up too, but I wasn’t about to admit it out loud, especially to Ashlen. I knew she would have something silly to say.
We walked out the door and down the hallway to the stairs that would carry us to the dining hall. I hardly tripped and kept Ashlen from stepping on the train of my dress. As we walked, other people fell in line with us; all were dressed in their finest clothes. We greeted each person we passed, like old friends. We glided into the dining hall through double wooden doors that had beautiful carvings etched across. Large candelabras hung from the rafters, and the fire was aglow in the center of the room. Giant wooden rectangular tables were spread throughout the room. In front of the room, I could see Graham sitting by Chuck both in deep conversation. Harris sat by Graham with an empty chair beside him. On the other side of Chuck was another empty chair, then Callum, and then Raleigh. How is it that I'm always by Callum? While everyone was dressed in their finest, he was dressed simply. Despite his gorgeous body and face, his expression was sour. It’s like he’s always sucking on one of those lemon heads.
Graham cleaned up nicely, just as I had thought. He wore a jade green tailored shirt, a dark coffee brown vest, with dark brown pants, and his regular tan boots. He had combed his hair and pulled it back, tying it off with a leather strip. His gold eyes weren’t unobstructed since his hair wasn’t in his face and reflected handsomely next to the jade color of his shirt. His skin even had a more honey hue to it.
“Hey, don’t worry, I’ll make Graham and Callum switch seats so you can be by Graham.” Ashlen winked at me.
I grabbed her arm, “No, no, don’t do that. I don’t want people to notice.” My heart jumped with fear.
“Sloane, no one will notice.”
I tightened my grip, “Please, don’t. Please?”
Her lips flattened into a thin line as she thought. She crossed her eyes. “Ugh, fine. But don’t whine to me later about having to sit next to close-mouthed Cal.”
I nodded.
We split up, Ashlen went to her seat by Harris, who indeed dropped his mouth when he saw her, and I walked to my seat between Chuck and Callum. My eyes drifted over to Graham, who watched me, I smiled at him, and he smiled. As I made my way to my seat, Callum rose and pulled my chair out. I stopped in shock for a moment. He kept his eyes turned away from me until I stepped forward. His eyes met mine for a tiny second then he helped scoot my chair in.
“Thank you.”
“You are very welcome.” He scooted his chair in and didn’t attempt any further conversation with me. I glanced at Ashlen, who made an I-told-you face.
Chuck asked me, “How are you today? Did you sleep well?”
“Alright, and yes. Thanks for letting us borrow the clothes and hosting us, and really for everything.”
“Absolutely, you can have anything you want. You are one of us, and we take care of each other. Now, if you’ll excuse me for a moment.” He stood to address the rest of the crowd, “Good afternoon, everyone, we are here today to welcome our visitors and celebrate their wellness. We also need to take a moment of silence to remember those fallen in the recent battle.” He bowed his head, and everyone in the room did the same. Reverent silence filled the hall.
When the minute was over, he sat. “Let’s celebrate life. Let the festivities begin.”
Everyone through the room began clapping, the music swelled, and with the sounds of instruments, the festivities commenced. The food came out on large steaming platters that contained favorite dishes from around the world. Some began to eat while others needed to move. People started dancing around and between the tables. Chuck and Graham started their conversation back up, while Harris and Ashlen headed to the dance floor. A tall, dark, and handsome man asked Raleigh to dance. I loved watching everyone. A smile began to slide across my face. A large and lined hand appeared in front of me. I turned thinking it was Graham, but it was Callum. I’m pretty sure my features didn’t hide my disappointment, because his face hardened slightly.
“May I have this dance?”
“Oh, well, I don’t know if you want to dance with me. You know how graceful I am.”
His eyes and mouth softened, “I’ll take my chances.”
I nodded and slowly stood. He pulled my chair out for me as I stood and helped me slide between the chairs. His hand slid into mine as we made our way toward the other dancers. I glanced back at the table. Both Graham and Chuck watched our progression. Graham didn’t seem very happy at first, but then smiled when he noticed me looking at him.
Callum gently pulled me around, so I faced him. He placed one hand on my waist and lifted our linked hands. We swayed to the music slowly getting used to the rhythm, then Callum began taking small steps backwards and forwards. I tried not to stare at our feet. I was trying so hard not to step on his feet.
“Sloane, it’ll be easier if you look at me.”
I glanced up at him for a moment, “Um, I don’t think so.”
“You haven’t stepped on me yet. Just trust me.” His eyes were more alive in that moment than I had ever seen them, even more than when we had fought that first time.
“Okay,” I managed to squeak out.
I kept my eyes on him and noticed, more closely, that he too cleaned up well. His hair was combed, and he had shaved, which somehow made his face seem softer and mo
re attractive. Instead of his thick black boots, he had on shoes that resembled loafers or moccasins, which was a surprise. I never thought I would see him wearing something like loafers. His pants were a light tan coupled with a dark blue shirt that had a small silver stripe running through it. Every piece of clothing fit him well like it had been made just for him.
We traveled around the dance floor, easily waltzing past other couples. He held me carefully like he thought I might break. His hand was pressed against my bare back, giving me a slight direction as we moved. I tried not to overthink it. I tried not to think about his massive warm hand on my back. He brought his head closer to mine.
“See? You’re doing great,” he whispered.
I felt like I was on air. Every now and then, he twirled me around, which made me laugh, and my smile grew. The tightness in my body lessened. His eyes seemed brighter, and a real smile tugged at his mouth. The more I took him in, the more our bodies synced and swayed. I did not step on his feet once.
“So, Callum, what’s your favorite movie?”
A full smile threatened his lips, “What made you ask that?”
I shrugged a shoulder, “Humor me. I barely know anything about you.”
He smirked as we made a turn, “I haven’t seen that many movies. Every now and then, they have movie nights, but I usually miss them.” He glanced at me. The usual hard lines of his face were soft and carefree. “I would probably have to say The Princess Bride.”
“Inconceivable!” I laughed. “I love that movie.”
Callum smiled wide, showing one dimple.
“May I cut in?”
We halted. Callum stiffened. Graham smiled at us. Callum’s face had closed off once again. Callum glanced at Graham then back at me. I opened my mouth to say something, not sure what, but Callum spoke first, “Go ahead.” He dropped his arms from around me and turned away without looking back. A hole formed between us. It felt like a cavern had opened wide. Why was it so easy for him to walk away? It shouldn’t matter, but it did hurt a little every time.
