Chapter 18 #2
“I am here, and you are safe,” I assured her.
As soon as we got outside, I dropped to the ground, coughing. My lungs felt thick from the smoke. I looked at the girl whose face was streaked with tears and ash lying beside me.
“Are you well?”
She rubbed her eyes and throat. Her once strawberry hair was caked with soot, and she had burns on her hands. “Thank you,” she choked out.
“Emily!” A panicked voice cried, and a woman rushed over. She scooped the girl into her arms and hugged her tightly, tears streaming down her face. “Thank you, thank you!” she rejoiced, looking at me with gratitude.
I got up and wiped my arms on the front of my dress, now covered in black soot.
Vail came over and hugged me. “Oh Rosie! I cannot believe you did that!” she exclaimed before slapping my arm. “You scared me, never do that again.”
I continued coughing; my throat was dry, and my lungs felt like they were on fire.
“Come along,” Vail said, linking her arms with mine. “Let’s bring you to my grandmother’s.”
My heart swelled with joy as we arrived at Agne’s house.
I had only been there a handful of times in our friendship, and the sight of it always filled me with awe and wonder.
Surrounded by trees and bushes, the charming black house was overgrown with flowers and herbs of every kind.
Smoke rose from the chimney, and a tantalizing scent of cinnamon and cloves wafted from the windows.
The garden was always something I admired.
Three figures in dark cloaks emerged from the front door.
The women moved with urgency, their cloaks trailing behind them, and I froze, startled by their sudden presence.
One of the women, whose hair was black and curly, had a bird’s lifeless body hanging loosely from her hand.
With a quick motion, she tucked the bird behind her back, hiding it from view.
The oldest woman looked at us. “Vail.” She nodded, and the other two women vanished around the side of the house, their cloaks disappearing into the shadows of the trees.
“What was that about?” I asked, trying to shake the odd encounter from my mind.
Vail pulled me toward the house. “Don’t trouble yourself with that. You need something to eat.”
Vail led us inside the welcoming warmth of the house.
Knick-knacks and artwork covered the walls, and stacks of books and clothes were piled around the floor, creating a small labyrinth of items to navigate through.
Herbs and dried flowers were hung up all around the house, their fragrances filling the air.
Despite the house’s many rooms, only Vail’s room was used as a bed chamber.
Her grandmother often just slept in a chair by the fire as piles upon piles of her belongings filled the spaces.
Trinkets, gifts from travels, and items I was told were cursed or were off-limits for some other mysterious purpose.
I knew that her grandmother struggled with a deep-seated attachment to possessions.
I entered the kitchen and Agnes’s long grey hair swayed behind her as she walked.
“Please, sit down.” She indicated to the table set for three. “Here, Rose, this will help your throat,” she said, pouring me a cup of tea.
“Thank you, Agnes. How did you know?” I asked, surprised.
She winked at me and gave me a warm smile. “You appear as though you ran through a house on fire, and I could see the smoke from here.”
I sat and took a sip of tea; it soothed my throat and coated my tongue with a sweet taste. I reached out to touch a bottle on the table filled with an amber liquid and what looked like teeth.
“No touching,” Agnes warned as she swatted my hand away from it. “I am still working on that.” She took the bottle and shoved it into her pocket. Vail gave me a look as if to say, you should know better.
“I will get you something else to wear,” Vail said, slipping past me into her room at the back of the house.
Agnes handed me a damp cloth and wiped the soot from my face and arms. When I pressed the cloth to my face, it was warm, and a comforting herbal scent emitted from it. I couldn’t quite place it, but it made me feel melancholic as I lifted it from my face and looked out the window.
“You appear as though your mind is much troubled.” Agnes sat next to me at the table.
“I am thinking about my mother, about my home.” I smiled weakly at her.
“Your mother is well looked after,” she assured me, though the meaning behind her words was unclear. Vail came over and offered me a dark blue dress.
“This might be a tad tight, though the colour is lovely,” she said, and I followed her into the back room.
I slipped on the dress and a hint of lavender from Vail’s scent lingered in the fabric.
I smoothed the front, noting that it wasn’t as fine as the dresses I had at Draven’s house.
Vail did up the buttons and lace on my back, her gentle touch sending a rush of goosebumps along my arms as she laced me into the dress.
“Sorry,” she said. “My hands are cold.”
“No, it is fine, they are nice.” I looked in the mirror. The dress was tight across my chest and hips, but it did look lovely. “Thank you,” I said, giving her a small smile.
“Have you heard from Henry at all?” I asked her as she started to fix my hair, taking down the pins, my curls unfurling behind my back.
“Henry and his family moved only a few days ago. After news got out about your mother, Henry’s mother got worried, and they left. I heard something about them moving to Waverly Cove.” I smiled at that, remembering Henry saying how his mother wanted to live by the sea. “Why do you ask?”
“Nothing.” Vail didn’t know about my meetings with Henry, but she probably suspected. “I thought about him the other day. His mother and mine were friends.”
“Rosie, I am so sorry about your mother,” she said, her arms coming around my waist and she looked at me through the reflection in the mirror. I leaned back into her touch, her smell comforting.
“I really miss her.”
“I miss her too,” Vail said, squeezing me gently, “I will go and check on your house from time to time … if you want me to? To keep it nice until you decide when you want to move back.” She smiled, and her eyes held a hopeful promise that touched my heart.
I couldn’t bring myself to tell her that I had no intention of returning there.
The thought of entering that house again felt like an insurmountable challenge.
I hugged her back, resting my head on hers.
Vail eased out of my embrace and retrieved something from her bedside table, and handed it to me.
“Here,” she said, offering a small, worn crucifix dangling from a simple chain.
“This belonged to my father, and I keep it hidden from my grandma. You know how she is with religious things. Keep it with you. I am not sure why, but something in me tells me that you need it more than I do.”
I knew people kept religious items around them for protection against Blood Hunters, but that was never something my family did. I took the crucifix in my hand, feeling the weight of it. “Thank you.”
She moved closer to me, her voice almost a whisper. “You can stay here, you know.” Her eyes filled with hope. “You do not have to go back to that haunted mansion.” She smiled at her own joke. “It will be a tight squeeze, but we can share my room.”
I met her gaze. “I appreciate that. Though, I want to go back.”
“All right.” Her worry was still evident on her face. “I hope you know what you are doing, Rosie.”
I nodded and glanced out the window. The sun was setting in the sky, “I have to go,” I said abruptly.
“Stay for dinner,” Agnes suggested from the kitchen.
“I cannot. It will take me a while to walk back, especially since it is uphill, and I do not want to be out in the dark alone.”
Vail and her grandmother bid me farewell at the door. Agnes gave me a candle and told me to keep it lit during the entire walk back. The flame would ward off the spirits of the night.
Vail pulled me in for a tight hug. “Promise you will visit me soon?”
“I promise.” I hugged her back.
“I really thought you were dead. Do not ever scare me like that again,” she warned, giving me one final squeeze before I turned away to walk back to Draven’s.
The walk back to Thornwood Manor took me longer than I had anticipated and the moon was already emerging over the tops of trees as I opened the heavy front door.
When I stepped inside, the house was dark and cold. No candles had been lit, and it felt like the fireplace had been out all day. The door closed behind me, and a rush of air extinguished the candle I was holding, leaving me in darkness.
“Where have you been?” a voice called from behind me.
I dropped the candle in fright.
Draven was leaning against the wall, his hair falling across half of his face like a mask. He took out a match and lit the candelabra on the table next to him.
“There was a fire in town,” I replied, my heart racing.
“Do you have any idea what time it is, Rosalia?”
“I was helping—”
“The moon is in the sky and that means there are creatures out there in the woods who would have loved it if you stayed out a while longer.” He almost spat out his words to me. I had never seen him angry before, and it scared me.
I swallowed hard. “I apologize. I did not think it would take that long.”
Draven glided closer to me, his eyes piercing through the dark. “You should know better, Rosalia.” He loomed over me. Sometimes I forgot how tall he was. “You cannot do reckless things.”
I squared my shoulder, feeling defensive. “Draven, I was helping someone. What else was I supposed to do? There was a child in the fire! I had to help!” I was angry. Angry at Draven for thinking me so reckless that I would put myself in danger without a cause.
“I am not saying you should not help. However, you need to think about the risks. You could have been hurt.”
“I do not need you to tell me what I can and cannot do. I can take care of myself.”
Draven’s eyes flash with something I couldn’t quite decipher. “This is not about control, Rosalia, it is about common sense. I do not want to see you get hurt.”
“I do not need your protection,” I shot back.
Our voices clashed in the grand room, the tension thickening as the candle’s flames wavered. Draven took a deep breath, running his hands through his hair, trying to regain his composure.
“I do not want anything bad to happen to you.” His voice was calmer now.
I softened slightly. “I appreciate your concern, but we barely know each other.”
Draven nodded, his anger slowly dissipating. “You are right.” He looked down at my dress as if noticing it for the first time. His glance shot back up to mine and his eyebrows furrowed together, clearly wondering where I got it. It was obviously not mine considering it was a size too small.
“I think I will be going to bed now,” I said in response to his gaze. I moved past him, and he straightened as if realizing he had been staring.
“I will have Imalda come and draw you a bath,” he suggested as he followed me up the stairs, guided by his candlelight.
I was aware of his every movement as we walked. Long shadows trailed across the walls. Had Draven waited for me to return? Why would he care whether or not I came back? I thought about our almost kiss, and I instinctively brushed my lips with my fingers.
We arrived at my door, and I reached for the handle, wanting to end this strange encounter.
“Rosalia,” Draven said from behind me. I looked up at him and I felt my hands grow clammy as I noticed how close we were to each other. The heat was radiating off my body.
“Yes, Draven?” I asked him, my body remembering the other night, when we had stood this close to each other … and what almost happened.
“I worry about you,” he admitted in a soft voice, and he reached out his hand. This time, he didn’t stop. His hand cupped my cheek though his expression was still stiff.
I felt a pang of guilt for making him worry about me. “I promise I will be more careful next time.”
Draven sighed. “I do not want anything to happen to you. You mean too much to me.” His voice was almost a whisper as he admitted that, and I felt my heart quicken.
I smiled at him. “Goodnight,” I said, as I reached up to squeeze the hand on my cheek. Looking at him, I thought about what Vail told me in the market about Draven’s mansion being haunted. I searched his eyes for a moment longer, looking for the answers.
The only thing haunted in the house was a lonely man.
“Good night,” he said, and I retreated into my room, closing the door behind me. I took a breath to steady myself and went over to my bed and lifted the mattress. I took the crucifix from my pocket and placed it in my father’s journal.