13. Adrian
Adrian
R ocks and broken shells crunched under Adrian’s sneakers as he walked down the sandy garden path to the side gate, Cori at his heels. It was difficult to see now in the darkness, but the fullness of the moon provided an eerie glow that guided him toward the path along the cliffside. Cori walked beside him on the grass-lined walkway.
Her delicate heart-shaped face was angled toward the sky as she strode along, her eyebrows furrowed and her lips pursed. Her eyes asked an unsaid question, the golden flecks becoming even more illuminated in the moonglow.
They reached the driveway that led to Anne’s cottage as her voice broke through the rhythm of the waves. “You didn’t have to lie for me, you know,” she said. She had stopped in her tracks, inquisitive eyes now focused intently on him.
He didn’t know why he had lied for her.
When she had snapped out of whatever trancelike state she had slipped into at dinner, he could tell she was on the verge of panic. If he hadn’t been studying her so closely to begin with, perhaps he wouldn’t have noticed the change in her at all. It lasted only for a moment. Her eyes had become opaque, and the golden hue seemed to be sucked from them for an instant .
It felt like only a few heartbeats had elapsed, but he could sense something was wrong. That she had left .
He had been studying her closely because, well, he couldn’t help himself. When he had sensed her presence on the dock the day before, the electrical tingle seemed to stay on his skin and linger there. After meeting her on the beach this morning, it felt like a piece of her was embedded within his skin.
“Not that big of a deal. It was only the second time today I saved you from something unpleasant,” he reasoned. He smiled easily at her, remembering how she had almost gotten washed away by the tide this morning.
There were many things he would rather do than help Seth fix Auggie’s boat, but the thought of spending the morning with Cori alone on the water seemed like more than an adequate excuse. “What happened to you at dinner?” he asked.
Cori’s face turned ghostly white. She hesitated, her mouth opening and closing with half-formed words. What exactly was she holding back from him?
She released a breath and squared her shoulders. “Sometimes that happens to me,” she said carefully and slowly. “I had a feeling like if you went to work on that boat something bad was going to happen to you. In my head, I saw a fire.” She breathed out a sigh as she looked up at him. “I know it sounds strange. I just didn’t want you to get hurt. That’s all.”
He pursed his lips together in thought. “I’m a Water Elemental, Cori,” he reminded her. “Usually, fire isn’t a problem for me…” he trailed off in thought, “Unless it was an electrical fire.”
Cori’s eyes widened at this statement, but Adrian shrugged, nonplussed. They continued walking down the side street. She craned her neck to see into Richard’s front yard, her interest kindled by the dinnertime storytelling. He smiled secretly at her as she stood on tiptoes to get a look over the fence, fidgeting nervously again with the dainty bracelet on her wrist. She wasn’t nearly tall enough to see over to the other side.
“Need a boost?” he teased her.
The tension in her brow fractured as she laughed. “No thanks. I’ll just have to imagine what it looks like over there until I can investigate in the daylight hours.”
She seemed more relaxed as they walked along the path to the gate. Adrian had always been naturally empathic, but he couldn’t remember a time he seemed so in tune to another person.
He let her walk a few steps ahead of him and watched the way the moonlight traced lines over her shoulders. She tipped her hand out slightly, grazing the tips of the boxwoods with her fingers as she walked along the path.
She turned toward him, a soft smile playing on her lips. “Good night, Adrian. Thanks again for walking me home…” Her words trailed off, contemplating. “And thanks for offering to show me the boat tomorrow.”
He opened his mouth to say something, but no words came to him at that moment. She waved her hand over the gate, her lips gently whispering an incantation as the latch clicked open. It swung open with a melodic creak.
She waved her hand over the door in the same fashion, and the door opened with her magic. She looked back at him one more time, her golden eyes twinkling at him as she disappeared like vapor into the darkness of the cottage.
He walked back up the path, only this time he was the one who felt like he was removed from himself. The lights were still on in the main house, and he could see his mother bent over the kitchen sink, no doubt canning something she had harvested earlier. Ariel’s light was on, too, but the light in his parents’ room was out. David always fell asleep earlier than anyone else in the family, especially when Hannah slipped him a tonic.
He continued into the garden, taking long strides toward the barn. He took the steps two by two up to the side deck that led to the apartment he shared with Seth. His brother’s light was also out, so he sat down at their small round kitchen table, resting his head in his hands, feeling the electric energy that seemed to weave over his skin wash over him in waves until he was too tired to continue blinking.
He let the undulation lull him into a deep, undisturbed sleep.