Chapter 12
Castles
Raven
Rachel’s giggling about something I've already forgotten as we wait by the curb. The street is quieter than I expected, the hum of distant traffic is the only thing breaking the silence. The air smells cool and a little earthy, it's that crisp nighttime scent I’ve always loved.
But something about the stillness feels off. My skin prickles as the sensation creeps up my spine like a warning.
I glance around, and that’s when I see him.
A man, standing just across the street, barely visible in the shadows. The red glow of his cigarette flares every few seconds as the embers burn bright before dimming again. But he isn’t moving. He’s just standing there. Watching us.
Unease tightens in my chest. Especially after what happened earlier. Could it be the same guy?
“Do you think that guy is staring at us?” I whisper, nudging Rachel.
She immediately turns around. Subtlety? Never heard of her.
His silhouette stays frozen, carved into the night like a statue. He doesn't shift, or have any type of reaction. Just that steady, unnerving stare.
“I know he’s staring at us,” Rachel says breezily. “We’re the only ones out here, and we’re hot.”
I bite the inside of my cheek, trying not to laugh at her confidence despite the eerie vibes crawling up my spine. “Yeah, that’s exactly what I was worried about,” I mutter under my breath.
Still, my pulse kicks up a notch and the air suddenly feels heavier now. I can’t explain it. Instinct claws at me, telling me to pay attention.
The wind picks up, cutting through my jacket and it sends a shiver skittering across my skin. I sneak another glance his way and my stomach drops.
He takes a step forward, his gaze locked on us. My breath catches as my body goes still.
A sharp beam of lights cuts through the darkness, and I let out the breath I didn't know I was holding as the Uber’s headlights wash over us. Without hesitation, I grab Rachel’s arm and practically drag her toward the Uber.
“Okay, okay,” she laughs, stumbling a little as I all but shove her into the car, oblivious to why I’m in such a rush.
Just before sliding into the backseat, I risk one glance over my shoulder, but the man is gone. No sign of him at all.
The street is empty. Shadows swallow the spot where he stood and I swallow hard, trying to steady my nerves. Maybe it was nothing. I'm just being paranoid.
But as the car pulls away, and the street disappears behind us, I can’t shake the feeling that we’re still being watched, and that whoever he was, it wasn’t some random guy out for a smoke. But there's no one behind us.
By the time we get back to the house, the night’s events feel like a fever dream. We change into comfy clothes, ditching the heels and tight outfits for oversized sweats, and collapse onto the couch. Neither of us wanted to stay out too late anyway, since we’ve got a big day tomorrow.
We’re going to a freaking castle!
I’m way more excited than I probably should be. Then again, who wouldn’t be excited?
“Texting Cam?”
Her lips twitch like she’s trying not to smile. “Maybe.” Her grin widens. “And I may have mentioned that we wanted to see a castle.” She holds up her phone. “He responded with, ‘We already are.’”
I grin, unable to help myself. “I told Kane that we wanted to go, too.”
The thought of spending the day at a castle should be enough to push every weird interaction from tonight out of my mind. But when Rachel sets her phone down, I can tell she’s thinking the same thing I am.
“Dude,” I rub my arm. “That guy at the bar tonight was an absolute creep.”
A shiver runs down my spine at the memory.
“Yeah,” she agrees. “I mean, I know he was drunk, but something about him really freaked me out. It wasn’t the usual drunk guy being a little too persistent thing either, you know?”
“Yeah, he was weird, but nothing we couldn’t handle.”
Rachel nods, but her expression darkens. She’s still pissed. “Honestly, I was this close to throwing down and beating his ass. Like, what the actual fuck?” Rachel isn’t just talk. She’s got the bark and the bite.
I laugh, shaking my head. “It was Florida all over again.”
Her eyes widen before she groans dramatically, covering her face with her hands. “Don’t remind me.” She peeks through her fingers. “Except this time, I wasn’t wearing anything I could use as a weapon.”
I snort at the memory, but it does the trick. I feel the last bit of tension fade.
I'm not going to lie, the moment he grabbed my arm, there was this weird pain. I don’t know how to explain it and I don’t feel like trying.
I chalk it up to paranoia or maybe just the fact that his grip was too tight. No use dwelling on it now.
Rachel yawns and stretches before grabbing my arm, tugging me toward the bedroom. “Come on, let’s crash.”
I let her pull me along, forcing my mind to focus on tomorrow. Not some drunk idiot with grabby hands. Not the strange man outside. Not even the feeling still crawling under my skin.
I’m back in the bar, standing face to face with the guy who grabbed me. His grip is still firmly around my arm. Only this time, I’m not empty-handed.
I'm holding my dagger and the stone in the hilt glows faintly, casting eerie shadows between us.
I watch his eyes widen the second he sees it. “How?” He whispers, and I can barely hear him. But I don't miss the panic in his voice. He drops my arm like it burned him and bolts for the door.
Before I can react, everything shifts.
The bar dissolves around me, melting into darkness. Twisting trees emerge in its place, their gnarled branches stretch overhead, cracking against a wind that wasn’t there before. The shadows between the trees seem deeper than they should be, and the air feels thick.
A sharp gust whips through, tangling my hair, sending a chill rolling down my spine. My heart kicks up, and the unease curling in my stomach feels a lot like a warning. I look over and see a raven sitting on a branch nearby.
“Raven, trust your instincts. If something feels off, it probably is.”
I whip around when I hear my grandpa’s voice, but no one is there.
His words settle over me like a comforting weight. I squeeze my eyes shut, taking a slow breath.
At first, there’s nothing. Just the rush of the wind and the racing of my pulse. But then the air shifts again and the chaotic gusts seem to bend, adjusting to the steady rhythm of my breath. My heartbeat evens out, and for a second, the tension unravels.
I only get another beat of whatever that was and pain slices through my arm.
I gasp, grabbing the spot where the guy grabbed me, looking down to see black veins spreading down my arm. I push against a bruise that shouldn’t be there, but the ache throbs like it’s real. I tighten my grip around the dagger, and the glow from the stone pulses around me.
The wind howls louder and I try to open my eyes, but the force of it shoves against me, whipping my hair across my face, blinding me.
“Grandpa?” My voice is barely a whisper against the storm. “Where did you go?”
No answer. Just the trees. The wind. The darkness pressing in.
My pulse pounds against my ribs. I see faces flash through my mind in a blur. Rachel. Cam. Kane. The man from the bar. My grandfather.
“Feel the energy around you, Raven. It’s always guiding you.”
My grandpa’s voice echoes again, wrapping around me like a lifeline. But I can't see him.
I jolt awake, breathing heavily. The ghost of his words still lingers while the dream clings to me like static. It’s there but slipping away the harder I try to reach it. The only thing that sticks is a memory of training with my grandpa.
I stare up at the ceiling while my memories start pulling me backward. Back to the backyard where he first made me do it.
How am I supposed to fight without seeing? I’d ask him, frustration boiling over. When would I ever need to fight blindfolded?
The thought of it still makes me laugh. It drove me crazy back then, but looking back, maybe he had a point.
The memory unravels in sharp clarity, the warmth of the sun coming through the trees, the smell of wildflowers. I can almost feel the steady weight of my grandpa’s hands as he tied the blindfold tightly over my eyes.
“Your eyes lie to you, Bird. Trust your instincts.”
“Grandpa, how am I supposed to see without my eyes?”
He never wavered. Just took a step back, and said. “Find me.”
I remember the frustration I felt, and the way I wanted to rip the damn thing off. But then, slowly, I’d start to notice things I hadn’t before.
It was always the birds I picked up on first, their song was always cutting through the quiet. Then, it was the rustle of the wind shifting the leaves. The way the earth felt under my feet, like it was alive and humming with something that felt…different.
Rachel stirs beside me, then immediately jolts upright.
“Ahhhh wake up, wake up, wake up! It’s castle day!”
A pillow collides with my face before I can react. If I’d actually been asleep, that would’ve been the worst way to start today. Thank fuck for small favors.
I push it away, groaning as I rub the sleep from my eyes. “Alright, alright! I’m up,”
I roll over, blindly feeling around for Rachel so I can land a well-deserved punch. “We never told them what time, so technically, we can sleep in.”
I burrow deeper into the blankets. “Go back to bed.”
Rachel does not go back to bed.
“I can’t sleep, I’m too excited.” She yanks the blanket down, leaving me exposed to the cold morning air. Ahh.
“I had the best dream. We were at a castle, and a prince came out. He told me I was the most beautiful creature he’d ever seen and asked me to marry him, making me a princess!”
I bite my lip, barely holding back my laugh. I can picture it so clearly, Rachel in an extravagant princess gown, her prince groveling at her feet like she’s the sole reason he breathes.
Rachel sighs dramatically, flopping back onto the mattress. “And after the ceremony, he went under my dress and—”