An hour later Camryn and I strolled back to the manor. I hadn’t really spent much time alone with her, Jack was almost always present. For once she was quiet, and not filling every silence with unimportant chatter. Perhaps she had a lot on her mind. I knew I would soon find out. Camryn wouldn’t be afraid to ask questions.
I was right, all too soon.
“I’ve noticed something.” She said, breaking the awkward silence.
“Well done.” I was still sour over the fact that she had suggested we set Hawthorne free.
“For the past few weeks you’ve been vanishing of an evening.” She continued.
I scoffed, “Vanishing?”
“No one knows where you go. Charles has been getting other staff to help out where you usually volunteer.”
I stayed silent and continued my slow pace towards the manor.
“You have become very secretive.” Camryn noted.
“So have you and Jack.” I snapped.
It was true. Whenever conversation strolled onto the topic of Noah Forsythe, Camryn and Jack became mysteriously deaf and rather interested in the weather, (which never changed, but that was beside the point).
“What do you want to know?” Camryn frowned.
“Why do you hate Noah Forsythe so much?” I said stopping and turning to face her.
“We don’t hate-”
I laughed, “Oh, please. I see the way your eyes narrow and your body goes tense when ever his name is mentioned.”
Camryn studied my eyes momentarily, “Is this why you have been vanishing of a night?” She whispered.
“Camryn, I’ve just been doing some different work around the manor, it’s nothing to worry about.” This was partly true, but I didn’t want to cause her more alarm.
She pursed her lips and folded her arms. Several seconds passed before she sighed and dropped her guard, “Do you remember the first thing I said to you when you arrived here?”
I thought back a month and a half ago.
“Well I remember what you said about me. You said I looked an awful lot like-”
“Exactly.” She said as though this settled the matter, though I was still thoroughly confused.
“I don’t understand.”
“Oh, you will.” She gave me one last fleeting look before entering the manor and vanishing from sight.
I cursed, rather frustrated. She hadn’t answered my question at all. She had only confused me further. Huffing impatiently I stormed through the kitchens to return to work.
I wondered if Jack and Camryn would go as far as following me of an evening to see where I went. As far as I knew the only people who were aware of my new “job” were Noah and Charles. But it appeared that Charles gave the generic answer of “other duties” whenever someone asked where I was all the time. Perhaps Noah had asked Charles not to mention it. I wasn’t sure if this was a good thing or not. There were a lot of things I wasn’t sure about these days. Myself, for one, and the weird way I acted whenever I was in the same room as Noah. I was sure it wasn’t normal Mage behaviour. I had never felt so giddy, shy, worried, scared, excited and confused all at one time. I reminded myself that I had no experience with men. Males didn’t really like dating Fire Mages. Especially useless ones. It probably didn’t help that I was a total recluse through all of my teenage years. I had no social skills what so ever. I didn’t know how to communicate effectively.
I finished my jobs rather early today. Perhaps it was because I was still annoyed at Camryn and running on that adrenalin, so by the time I was knocking on Noah’s study I was half an hour early. Any normal Mage would put their feet up in that time, but, as I reminded myself, my actions as of late hinted at anything but normal.
“You’re early.” Noah commented as I entered the room. He looked gorgeous, of course, just like every other day, but today his long golden brown hair was out of its usual pony tail and falling to his shoulders. I found myself momentarily dumb-struck and simply gave an awkward smile.