Page 38

“Ready,” I say.

The dryad places her hand on the tree, and the stars above begin to swirl around us, covering my vision with blinding light.

I close my eyes.

And a flash comes over me.

Three figures stand on a cliff. Their faces hidden in darkness. I can barely make out their forms in the night, until lightning strikes, and they look like shadows, hungry and cruel. Rain falls heavy and thick, and a stormy sea swirls below them.

I can’t breathe.

I can barely think.

I am here. Standing on the shore at the base of the cliff.

One of the figures leaps down, cape billowing in the angry wind. They land before me, and for a spilt moment lightning strikes, and I see their face, their beautiful face. Blood red lips. Eyes like the ocean. Hair dark as night. It is a woman, I realize, and she reaches forward and grabs me by the throat. Her nails rip into my flesh. “You should have died with your mother.”

I scream.

And strong arms reach around me, holding me close.

A soothing voice whispers to me.

"Shh…you're safe. You're safe, Eve. No one is going to hurt you."

He grips me firmly; my head is against his chest. My tears stain his shirt.

I try to adjust my breathing to match his. Slowing it, steadying it.

A warmth flows through me and my head fills with images of the mountains and tall trees reaching for the sky. I feel my body settle into the earth, like my soul is being grounded, tethered gently to something strong and sturdy, something immovable.

Eventually my shaking stops, my breathing normalizes, and the panic subsides, leaving in its wake a massive headache.

I open my eyes and see that I am lying in Sebastian’s arms at the base of the dryad tree. The swirl of stars is gone. Lily stands uncomfortably to the side.

Now that I'm feeling a bit better, embarrassment floods me and I pull away from Sebastian and wipe my eyes. "I'm…sorry about that. I get panic attacks from time to time, though they seem to be coming in more frequency recently. I think the lights triggered something—"

"You have nothing to apologize for. This isn't your world. And it's dangerous. You're smart to be scared."

I frown, looking at both of them. "That's just it. I'm not scared. Of any of this. I know I should be. And I keep waiting for it to hit, but so far, nothing. If anything, this feels like home. Like I've finally come home after being gone for far too long."

I look at the endless darkness below me, at the roots reaching into nothing. "Adam and I never felt like we belonged anywhere. Our father did his best to make us feel special, since we weren't very normal. But after he died, it was hard. Foster homes and other people's agendas and expectations of us. And then Adam died and it was like the last tether I had was cut. I was floating away until I found this job. This life."

"Your father sounds like he was a special man," Sebastian says softly. "Foster care must have been hard."

"He was," I say. "And most of the foster parents weren't bad people. But they didn't understand us or our relationship. They didn't understand why we never fit in."

I look over at him again, our eyes locking. "Is it weird that this is the place I finally feel like I belong?" I ask.

He shrugs. "Who's to say what's weird or not? Life is full of impossible dreams, often wrapped in the ordinary."

"You're very wise for such an old vampire," I say, teasing him with his own words.

A quiet laugh escapes his mouth. Reluctantly, I think. "Touché," he says.

I chuckle and stand, smoothing out my clothes with my hands. “So did we do it? Did the castle travel?”

Lily beams. “See for yourself.” With a spring to her step, she leads us out the door we came, and to the front entrance of the castle. When we step outside, I gasp.