Chapter 25: Rose
I was woken the next morning by another knock at my door.
What is it this time?
I found myself looking at Caleb’s harp. I supposed he’d thought it would give me something to do while I was alone in my room for hours. I felt grateful for the gesture. Then my eyes settled on the floor beside the instrument. A tray full of food. Not oatmeal. Real breakfast food. I pulled the harp into my bedroom. Then I returned to scoop up the tray and put it on my bedside table, and began to eat hungrily. French toast had never tasted so good to me in all my life. I gobbled everything up in less than five minutes.
I wonder where on earth Frieda—Caleb—even got this food? I witnessed for myself how bare the kitchen was.
Once I’d finished, I took a shower and got dressed.
I headed up the stairs toward Caleb’s room. I knocked on the door and waited. He answered it after a couple of minutes, appearing at the door fully dressed, no trace of the scars from the previous night left visible.
“I, uh. I wondered if you’d mind taking me for a walk? Outside, I mean. I haven’t had any proper exercise in days.”
He stared down at me, a flicker of discomfort showing across his face, followed by indecision. I thought he was about to say no, but then he nodded.
“All right,” he said. “Wait here.”
He returned a few seconds later wearing shoes and holding a scarf in his hands.
I eyed the scarf as he stepped out of the room and shut the door behind him.
“I didn’t know vampires needed…”
He handed it to me before I finished my sentence. “For you. It’s freezing out there.”
“Oh. Cheers.” I took it and wrapped it around my bare neck.
He gestured toward the stairs and I followed him.
“Thanks for the harp. And the breakfast.”
Keeping his eyes straight ahead, he nodded slightly.
We descended the stairs in silence. When we reached the main door, he pulled a key from his pocket and unlocked it. Pushing with both hands, he heaved the doors open. The force of the icy wind that came flooding through the doorway knocked me breathless.
“Can you manage?” he asked, frowning.
“Yes,” I said immediately. As if I can’t walk through a bit of wind without his help.
Holding onto the door for support—my eyes now beginning to water from the wind—I walked to the edge of the wide stone doorstep and, rather too brashly, placed one slippered foot onto the icy ground. It started sliding as soon as I made contact with it.
I can do this. I just need to take it slowly…
I placed the second foot on the ground and found enough confidence to let go of the door completely.
Swiveling around, I turned myself to face Caleb, who was watching me, his expression blank. Glancing down the side of the mountain, I was so taken by the sheer beauty of the frozen landscape, I lost concentration and slipped. Just as I was about to make contact with the ice, Caleb’s arms wrapped around me, breaking my fall.
His face inches from my own, I could feel his cool breath against my cheek as he pulled me upright.
Okay, these slippers weren’t designed for the Antarctic.
“So that witch,” I said, clearing my throat and looping an arm firmly though his, “Annora. She makes this island freezing like this just to make it more difficult for the humans to escape?”
“That’s the main reason.”
“And you have to put up with this weather all year round. What an asshole.”
Caleb didn’t respond to my outburst, though I could have sworn I saw the shadow of a smile on his lips.
I gripped onto him as we began to make our way down the narrow steps.
“So, what’s your name?” I asked.
“You know my name.”
“Your full name.”
“Caleb… Achilles.”
“Achilles? As in the tragic Greek hero Achilles?”
I was about to say “as in the Brad Pitt Achilles”. But I wasn’t sure if he would have seen that movie. I wasn’t sure if he even watched movies.
“It’s also a Germanic surname.”
“Oh. I see.”
I started wondering about what his boundaries were in terms of questions he would answer. I suppose there’s only one way to find out.
“Do you have family?”
He shook his head, his eyes fixed on the icy steps.
“How old are you?”
“Nineteen.”
“And how long ago were you turned?”
“A while ago.”
Hm.
“So when you’re not out kidnapping girls, you’re moping around this gloomy old castle?”
“You could put it like that.”
No wonder you’re depressed.
By now I was beginning to get tired of walking down the steps in my slippers. “Would you carry me the rest of the way down?”
He grunted and scooped me up in his arms. Then he began dashing down the mountain. My eyes watered from his speed coupled with the fierce wind blowing against us. I half expected him to slip and for both of us to go tumbling down the mountainside, but he didn’t falter once. Every step was perfect.
He placed me down again once we reached the bottom of the mountain. Feeling more confident on this flat surface, I didn’t reach for his arm again as we walked toward the entrance of the woods.
“So,” I said. “I take it that you don’t have a girlfriend?”
No duh, Captain Obvious. Unless she doesn’t mind taking a bedtime beating alongside him every night when the witch comes to visit.
“You’d be correct in assuming that.”
Change the subject.
“So how did you know about me?”
He glanced down at me, an eyebrow raised.
“You seemed to know who I was the moment I mentioned my name back on the beach.”
He ran a hand through his hair and clenched his jaw. “Most vampires have heard of you,” he muttered. “You’re princess of The Shade. That place is a legend.”
“Have you ever visited The Shade?”
He shook his head.
“It’s beautiful. Much nicer than this bleak place. Why don’t you come live with us there instead? We could leave now. I’d make sure that my parents welcomed you and—”
Exhaling sharply, he broke away from me and ran to a nearby tree. Ripping off a thick branch, he snapped it in two over his knee. Then he rested his arm against the tree, his back still turned to me, his whole body heaving.
“Caleb?” I whispered.
He turned back round to face me, composing himself again and standing up straight, his face once again unreadable.
“We should return.”