They were here. Or at least one of them was, but Gabriel never came by without Embry.
“Get in the car,” he said with his serious intensity. He acted like there was nothing unusual about me climbing out of a bathroom window in a prom dress, but I still felt like I had done something wrong.
I followed him to a beat-up Tercel, which was not a car I had seen him driving before. I had barely shut the door when he put the car in drive and started moving. He wasn’t going more than a couple of miles over the speed limit, but he was clearly in a hurry.
“I’m sorry,” I told him, assuming I had done something wrong by the look on his face. I had no idea if it was talking to strangers, climbing out the window, or going to prom in the first place…all I knew was that something was upsetting him.
He turned as if he was going to say something, then went back to the road for the rest of the drive. He barely even glanced in my direction, except to make sure I was okay after he made a sudden stop to avoid a raccoon.
I tried to hurry behind him as he walked straight into the manor, looking over his shoulder like he expected Clara to jump out at us from the bushes. He opened the door without knocking and waited for me to go in first before calling, “Samuel!” in a tone that suggested he might be in trouble as well.
“Embry!” Clara called, rushing down the stairs to us. She was disappointed when she realized it was only Gabriel, but kept coming until she saw his face. Gabriel would sometimes let her jump into his arms, but tonight she didn’t even try.
“Where is your father?” Gabriel asked her, making it sound like an interrogation rather than a question.
“Where’s Embry?” she asked, suddenly small.
“He’ll be here shortly,” he placated her with a quick answer. “Where is your father?” he repeated.
“What’s going on?” Sam asked, coming down the stairs.
Gabriel gave him a look before they both went to the kitchen.
“Aren’t you supposed to be in bed?” I turned to Clara when they made it clear I wasn’t welcome to follow.
“I thought Embry was here,” she defended.
“You still have to sleep.” I pointed my finger at her, knowing she would laugh.
“Gabriel looks mad,” she told me.
“I’m sure your dad will calm him down,” I said hopefully.
“Do you think Embry will be here when I wake up?” she asked.
“Gabriel said shortly,” I shrugged my shoulders to let her know I didn’t have any extra information.
“Maybe we can play hide and seek with him,” she suggested through a yawn.
“I’m sure he would be happy to.” I gave her a smile I only half-believed. Gabriel wouldn’t lie to her, I told myself, but the uneasy feeling came back when I remembered that I had spent the past week lying to Clara because I didn’t want to worry her.
Once Clara was tucked in bed, hopefully sleeping, I called Keisha from the house phone to let her know I was okay and Gabriel brought me home. I could hear Tennison in the background, as well as the smile in her voice.
“You can come see me anytime at MIT. And we can do lunch every week.”
“It’s a 20-minute walk. We’ll have study sessions and sneak into each other’s libraries. It’ll be awesome,” I assured her before Tennison asked who she was talking to.
“I so would have regretted not coming,” she told me before we said our goodbyes.
I went back downstairs and waited in the hallway to be allowed into the conversation of the kitchen. Gabriel had looked intense and scary at the yacht club, which was the only reason I was waiting in the hall instead of barging in and demanding answers. I was shaken when he showed up, but he had no reason to be mad at me. I had every right to know why he missed my graduation and ignored my calls. I spent an entire week thinking something terrible had happened to them. I still wasn’t sure if that was the case or not. He was mad, or upset, which told me he either didn’t agree with me going to college in the fall (even though I chose the closest one), or something serious was going on that he thought I was too young to handle.
After what felt like an eternity, the voices stopped, so I decided that was my cue to come in. They were both standing by the kitchen table. While Sam at least glanced in my direction, looking apologetic, neither of them said a word.
Gabriel was solemn, like the first day I met him almost fourteen years ago. It was definitely not good news. I also got the feeling it had nothing to do with my going to Harvard.
“Gabriel?” I asked, going closer to him, trying to catch his eye.
“Why don’t you go see Deanna in the studio for a little bit?” Sam suggested when Gabriel stayed silent.
“What is going on?” I asked Gabriel, not at all impressed with his game. I hadn’t seen him in months, he hadn’t come to my graduation and now he was avoiding me. “Where’s Embry?” I hoped he might answer if the question wasn’t about him. Embry didn’t usually go this long without a visit, and he always texted or called when he couldn’t make it. Until last week.
“He’s coming,” Gabriel said with so little conviction, I worried that he might not be avoiding me so much as trying to find the words to tell me my death magnet struck again. It was the most likely explanation. That something happened to Embry. It explained him not coming to my graduation and ignoring me. Why else wouldn’t Embry be here, apologizing profusely?
“Lucy, could you please give us a moment?” Sam asked of me. There was a pleading desperation in his voice. That, paired with me no longer knowing if I wanted to know what was going on, made me oblige.
I was on my way to the back door when Gabriel spoke, stopping me in my tracks.
“She shouldn’t go outside. I’ll bring her to the plantation. We can’t let anyone else in.” His talking showed an improvement, but he was talking to Sam as if I wasn’t even there, and not making much sense.
“What do you mean?” I asked at the same time as Sam.
“Shouldn’t Deanna and Clara go with her?” He looked worried, which I liked about as much as Gabriel’s aloofness. I kept my hand on the door because if there was something dangerous out there, we should get Deanna back inside. The studio was basically a gazebo, and I doubt paintbrushes would be useful in a fight.
“I don’t think they’re at risk once Lucy is removed, but you could set them up at the beach house if it will make you feel safer,” Gabriel offered.
“Once I’m removed? What the hell are you guys talking about?” I let go of the handle and focused on my anger, not wanting them to know how annoyed and hurt I was. Not to mention terrified.
“Not like that,” Sam tried to reassure me.
“Like what?” I asked.
“We need to leave the manor and take you far away, where you can’t be found,” Gabriel said like it was supposed to make sense, looking down at his hands instead of up at me.
“Found by who? For how long?” I asked the first of dozens of questions that were forming.
“Indefinitely.”
“No,” I flat out refused. “I have college and orientation and a chance to start over as something other than the weird Owens girl and…”
“You’re going with Gabriel,” Sam overruled me. “You can defer and go next year, or once it’s safe, but I am not losing you so that you can feel normal,” he added when I looked at him with shock, but that only made it worse.
“Lose me?” I asked. “Neither of you are making any sense.”
“A long time ago, I made a promise to protect you and keep you safe. Up to recently that meant checking in on you and making sure you were okay, but now it means taking you away from here.” Gabriel looked up to me at the end.
“Who did you promise?” I asked him, trying to understand. He and Embry had shown up out of the blue at Grams’ funeral and inserted themselves into my life. They said they were old friends of the family, but there had to be more to it.
“Annabelle,” Gabriel said simply.
I looked to Sam before coming back to Gabriel. “My doll?”
“She was a person before she was a doll. I’m sure Evelyn told you.”
“My ancestor,” I agreed. “Grams told me fairy tales about her from an old book.”
While most girls were raised on Cinderella, Snow White and Sleeping Beauty, my grandmother had recited stories from an old, leather-bound book. My mom might have read me the normal stories before she died, because I knew enough to ask my grandmother why her princesses never found their princes or lived happily ever after. “There are much more important things than finding a prince,” she’d say before continuing her tales. She would open the book to the right page, but she’d tell me the story like she had been there, or rather like it had been told to her a thousand times. She would tell me about Rosie saving soldiers from a mudslide, Beth singing on stage at a speakeasy, Cassie meeting the Queen and Annabelle bravely crossing oceans…I knew them all, but Gabriel couldn’t have met them.
“The Chronicles,” Gabriel agreed.
“Is that what the book was called?”
“No, it’s what it is. Annabelle started it when she left England, and the major events have been recorded in it ever since.”
“And I guess Rosie, Cassie and Beth filled in the rest?” I rolled my eyes, naming my other ancestral dolls.
“Some more than others,” he agreed. “Rosie’s was mostly stories she told us because she never had to deal with the dangers…”
“What dangers, Gabriel?” I cut him off. “The Annabelle my doll was named after lived in the 1600s. Rosie was there on the first Independence Day, so I doubt she told you anything.” Gabriel looked at me like he was wondering how much he should tell me, while Sam didn’t look confused or surprised about these tall tales Gabriel was telling. It was like he took it all as fact.
“I was born here in 1662. I met Annabelle the day she arrived and have loved her every minute since. Before she died, she asked me to keep her daughter safe, so that is what I have been doing for centuries,” Gabriel emphasized the last word. “Most of the time I stay in the shadows and watch from a distance, but every once in a while, one of you will look like her and then we do what we have to, so he can’t get you.”
“He?” I needed clarifications.
“The Big Bad who is after you,” Sam shared.
I turned back to Gabriel. “You and Embry have been protecting me and my dolls from a guy who wants to hurt us…” I tried to sum it all up.
“The women the dolls represent,” Gabriel corrected, which made the story even less plausible. He looked relieved that I was getting it, whereas I was trying to point out how crazy he sounded.
“They lived centuries ago,” I reminded him, not believing that he was born in 1662 and had been hanging around for centuries to keep me safe.
“Correct,” he stuck to his story.
“And you believe him?” I turned to Sam. It didn’t make sense that he was going along with it.
“My mom did,” he admitted. “My dad hated them, but even he told me that if ever a time came where you were in danger and they showed up, I was to let them do whatever they needed, because keeping you safe is why they’re still alive.”
“You’re my guardian angel?” I asked Gabriel. I still found it ludicrous, but while Sam might have gone along with a prank, Gabriel had rarely been anything but completely serious. As far as I knew, he didn’t even have a sense of humor.
“Cassie tried calling us that, but I’m no angel.”
“What are you then?” I was still skeptical. “A vampire? Do you have horns that sprout at night? Do you ride around on a broom?”
“This is serious Lucy.” Gabriel wasn’t yelling at me, but I could tell he was on a short fuse.
“You’re the one who’s implying you’re immortal.”
“I’m not immortal. I’m sticking around because I have a job to do,” he argued.
“Protecting me.”
“Yes,” he agreed. “Which is why we have to leave. Now.”
I was about to argue, but Sam spoke before I could. “Why don’t you go upstairs and pack up some things.” I wanted to say no and keep asking questions, but he gave me that look, where he was pleading and needed me to do it, so I sighed before reluctantly going up the stairs, shaking my head at the two of them.
“Pack light, but for a long time,” Gabriel advised, which was much easier said than done.
My room, like me, had changed a lot since I used to beg Grams to show me the dolls and read me their stories. The teddies and costumes were replaced by books, and the walls held posters of skeletal structures and anatomy instead of Beauty and the Beast decals. The dolls were still up on a shelf that was no longer too high for me to reach, but it had been ages since I had taken them down.
I tried to imagine Gabriel interacting with them, the women from my family who died centuries ago, but that was a lot easier when I was a child who believed in magic. I wondered where the old book had gone. I had asked for their stories at first, but Sam said he didn’t know any, and Mrs. Boyd ran out of them pretty quickly.
I figured the best way to comply with Gabriel’s instructions would be to limit myself to whatever I could fit in my backpack. I packed it like I would for a sleepover at Keisha’s, the two times that happened, then added my tiny old photo album. I doubted Gabriel would see the point, but it had all the pictures I had of my mother and Grams, the one picture I had of my father, as well as a few of Mr. and Mrs. Boyd. It wasn’t something I took out frequently, but if we were going to be gone indefinitely, just the two of us, I got the feeling I might be homesick. Gabriel had been popping into my life sporadically since he showed up when I was five, but he had always been more reserved than Embry.
I put the copy of Gray’s Anatomy that Sam had given me for graduation and some medical journals into the part that was for laptops. I was scanning the room to make sure I hadn’t forgotten anything when Deanna walked in. She used to knock, even when the door was open, and wait for my permission to come in, but eventually she decided I was family, and family doesn’t need permission. She never once acted like my mother, and I wouldn’t want her to, but I appreciated having something like an older sister since she married Sam. She hadn’t expected to have to raise a fifteen-year-old a couple of years into her marriage, but she stepped up to the plate like there was nothing she wanted more.
“I finished the laundry while you were escaping through bathroom windows.” She gave me a look while putting a pile down on my bed. She must have seen the guys before coming up. “I didn’t want you to forget this.” She took my old blankie from the top of the pile and handed it to me. It was thin and white, made from a bamboo-like material, the kind that keeps you cool if you wear it in the sun, but warm if you’re cold. It had a purple threaded border and my name in eggplant on the corner, with a pink heart underneath.
“I don’t…” I was about to tell her that I was basically a grown woman and didn’t need my blankie anymore, but she looked at me like she wasn’t going to believe it.
“I’m not going to remind you that I was already dating Sam when you went through that phase where it never left your sight, or that it lasted two years and only ended when you thought you lost it and Martha suggested you keep it on your bed,” she said, doing exactly what she said she wouldn’t. “But if you’re going somewhere far from those of us who love you, I want you to have it.”
“Did they tell you what’s going on?” I asked her, putting the blankie into my backpack.
“Sam filled me in,” she agreed.
“And?” I waited for her to be the voice of reason.
“Years ago, when Sam first told me about it, I thought he had gone mad. Then I talked to Embry and…I’m glad they’re looking out for you.”
“Embry confirmed Gabriel’s story of them being over three-hundred years old and put here to protect me?” I asked, hoping she would crack and admit it was all a joke.
“They don’t get any older, Luce.” She could tell I was having trouble accepting it. “Ask Embry about it when he gets here. He spent hours answering my questions.”
“Is he even coming?”
“I don’t think Gabriel would lie. About something like that,” she added when I raised my eyebrows.
“Are you afraid?” I asked.
“I have it in my mind that Embry and Gabriel are invincible and the best at whatever it is they do, so I’m going to go the Beach House, make sandcastles, eat seafood, then hopefully come back and help you pack this all up for a dorm room.”
“That’s it?” I asked. The boys were way more scary and serious about it.
“That’s it,” she agreed.
“It was never because I needed a blankie. I knew it wouldn’t keep me safe or any of those foolish kid reasons,” I defended myself from her earlier comments. “My mother made it for me when I was a baby.”
“I know,” she assured me, like she understood, before going back to her own packing.
“I want to go with Lucy!” Clara was pleading as I came downstairs with my backpack. The ears from her bunny onesie flew as she shook her head, pouting through all her freckles.
“Sweetie, you, me and mommy are going on a trip of our own. You’re going to have all kinds of fun!” Sam tried to calm her down and act like this was an exciting adventure.
“Please Lucy, please!” She ran over and wrapped her arms around my legs.
“Clara, if you let go of my legs, I’ll make you chocolate chip cookies,” I offered as a bribe, knowing they were her weakness.
“But how will I get them?” she asked, wise beyond her 5 years of age.
“I’ll give them to your daddy and he’ll bring them to you,” I promised, looking to Sam for confirmation. He looked to Gabriel, who didn’t look convinced, but nodded anyway.
“Promise?” she asked her dad, knowing he had more of a say than I did.
“I promise,” he agreed. Clara let go of me and ran into his arms, but there was a guilty look to him that made me doubt his keeping his word, at least not for a while.
“I’m ready,” I told Gabriel, who had stayed quiet throughout this whole debacle. It wasn’t just me he was acting indifferent to…he was a lot nicer to Clara the last few times he came.
Without saying anything, Gabriel effortlessly picked up an oversized suitcase I had never seen before. He walked to the garage while I said goodbye to the people who had long ago become my family. I knew Sam was bringing his wife and daughter to the summer house and Gabe was taking me to the old plantation, things we did every year, but I felt the same as Clara.