“Sara…Sara, where were you last night?”
“Hm?” I asked sleepily.
“I waited for hours and couldn’t find you, so I went to the gathering by myself. You still weren’t in your room when I went to bed.”
The morning sun splashed my face with warmth as the same voice that had woken me up the morning before repeated the offense. “I’m sorry, Helena, I got distracted and forgot all about it.”
“Distracted by Enock?”
I stared at her, not sure what to say. I decided nothing was probably the best solution, and got up to go to my closet and get dressed. Then I put my tennis shoes on, because the dress was long enough to cover them.
“There are a lot of chores I have to do today, so I probably won’t see you until tonight,” Helena said. “Do you want to meet me in the kitchen when you’re done playing at dinner? I really think you’d like coming to a gathering.”
I felt bad that I’d stood her up the day before. “What exactly is a gathering?”
“What it sounds like. Everyone gathers in the barn and Old Bargus and his boys play their violins. The barn’s really big, and it’s a lot of fun.”
It sounded a little like a party—loud and crowded—but I did owe her, and I could just go for a little while. “Okay, I’ll meet you in the kitchen when I’m done, I promise.”
“Can I fix your hair again today? We’ve got more time.”
“Sure.” We went to the bathroom, where she wrapped little braids all around my head and pinned them up with shiny little clips. “I love it,” I said, turning my head. “Do you think I could eat breakfast with you in the kitchen this morning?”
“Yes! I mean, I think it would be all right. Let’s ask my mom.” We went to the busy kitchen, where Helena shoved a few croissant-type biscuits into a pocket in her skirt and started stringing a bowl of cherries into another matching jewelry set.
“I think it’s fine,” Aria said when we asked her. “But are you sure you’d rather be here? It’s a bit of a chaotic place to be enjoying your breakfast.”
Better than the funeral home room. “I’m sure.”
“All right. Have a seat and I’ll fetch you some bread and jam.”
“Thank you, Aria.”
I wondered if Enock was thinking of me in the other room. I’d told him I would probably eat breakfast in the kitchen and he said that would be safer since he couldn’t seem to control the emotional projection from his eyes when he was anywhere near me. It was like floating on a cloud all through breakfast, because I would be meeting him when I was finished.
My feet had been tenderly cleaned, medicated, and bandaged by Enock the night before, but they were still sore as I climbed out of my window after breakfast and began toward the southern hill.
Again, I was met by the black fox and led through a tunnel of trees. No elk this time. And when I found him, Enock and I danced to the rhythm of the hovering leaves, holding each other as close as we possibly could.
We only stopped when it began to rain. As the first cold drops of water hit my nose, I sort of cringed against Enock. He led me under the largest tree at the edge of the clearing and placed a hand on its trunk. The limbs groaned as they gathered above us, shielding us completely from the droplets of water. It was one of the most romantic moments of my life, huddled close to a gorgeous beast who couldn’t stop staring at me like I was the only other person in the world. His body was so warm and gentle, but firm and protecting. We sat there like that long after the rain had stopped and on until the sun began setting dangerously low, by which time I was starving and wishing I was wearing something edible like Helena always did.
I was relieved when I returned to my room to find a slice of apple pie waiting for me on my bed. It was cold and the crust was stale, but it tasted incredible.
It was the perfect day, which would end up leading to the strangest of nights…
* * * *
It was still fairly nerve-racking, but I played the piano—song after song—until I felt Enock settle on the bench beside me. “I’ll find you later,” he whispered simply. It felt like I was falling for the half- minute we just stared at each other in silence.
Then we both got up and walked away in different directions, glancing back several times, until we exited our opposing doors.
I still felt swept away in the secret place we’d escaped to earlier that day when I entered the kitchen. Only Helena and Eddy were there, sitting at the little table with an oil lamp between them.
“You’re here!” Helena said excitedly, coming to hug me around the neck and squishing the apple her hair was wrapped around against my cheek.
“Well, I did promise.”
“Shall we go then?” Eddy asked, picking up the lantern and opening the back door.
“Should I get a coat?” I asked, even though neither of them was wearing one.
“No, it’s still warm out there.”
We went outside and turned left at the end of the courtyard, walking toward a downward slope. Eddy kept Helena busy talking with her about what they’d each done during the day, making me feel like a third wheel.
The aroma of burning fireplaces filled my nostrils as I felt the wind carry it away from the manor and northward in our direction, reminding me of the nights my friends and I spent roasting marshmallows and eating s’mores last summer. I really missed those girls.
Twice, I saw a blue streak of light through the trees in the distance and wondered if that meant an Anvilayan was hunting.
From the top of the hillside, I saw the giant barn with two truck-size doors hanging wide open in the front. There was enough light pouring out that I was sure there must be electrical lighting inside. The faint sound of laughter carried to my ears and I saw the colorful maid skirts twirling around as people danced inside the barn.
Halfway down the hill, I stepped on something hard and stopped to look at the ground. All I could see was grass, but it was dark outside. So I knelt to feel around, letting my two companions go ahead without me. At first, I only felt the earthen floor. Then I felt something metal that was mostly under dirt and weeds, and began digging it out. It was flat and not difficult to uncover, but it was big. I unearthed a few square feet pretty quickly before I heard someone running toward me.
“What are you doing?” Helena asked.
“There’s something here,” I said.
“It’s likely to be stone,” I heard Eddy say. “Nothing worth worrying over.”
I was about to argue when I felt a small stone protruding from it and wondered if maybe he was right. But the stone began to glow faintly, and then another one a few inches away, and then another. Looking up, I saw a whole row of Anvilayan stones, a few half covered by dirt.
“What is that?” Helena asked, as I stood up and looked at the top part of a wide rectangle.
“It’s a door,” I said, taking a step back. When my foot left it, the lights went out.
“It’s probably just an old storm shelter,” Eddy said.
“Help me dig it out.” I wanted very badly to know what was underneath us. The stones lit faintly again when I touched it, as Helena and I knelt down and began scarping the dirt away.
Eddy only shifted his feet uncomfortably. “I do not think this is a good idea. It’s too dark to see anything, and no one’s used it in years.”
“Exactly.” Didn’t he wonder what was buried right under our feet, hidden for who knows how long?
Helena giggled and apologized every time she accidentally threw dirt on my skirt. Luckily, getting dirty’s never bothered me. So I smiled and threw some back each time.
Eddy never offered any help, only his opinion that we should stop repeatedly, which was very annoying.
One by one, the glowing stones were unearthed, until the door was fully exposed. Helena took the lantern and held it closer to the ground. We could see a flat circle the size of a basketball where you would expect a doorknob to be, so there didn’t appear to be any way of opening it. I tried reaching under the sides to see if it was a door with nothing under it that had been left there to rot, but a metal structure continued down for the few inches I dug and forced my fingers through.
“Could we pry it open with a stick?” I asked Helena.
“No,” Eddy replied unnervingly. “There isn’t enough space between the door and whatever is under it to fit anything between them. We should leave it alone. It was obviously not built by any servant, so we could get into trouble. Let’s just go to the gathering.”
He meant not built by any human.
“I hadn’t thought of that,” Helena said, looking somber. “Eddy’s right, we should go.”
“All right,” I said, standing up hesitantly.
As we finished the walk down the hill, I looked back and decided to ask Enock to come and open the door later. There had to be some point during the night when both humans and Anvilayans slept.
Everyone was excited to see us when we entered the barn, lit so brightly because of the countless lanterns hung everywhere. People sat on stall doors with giant brown and black horses behind them that seemed to be quite accustomed to all the commotion. In the back of the open area, between the two long rows of stalls, stood four men playing violins and three women playing wooden, carved clarinets. It was a huge gathering, full of happy people and good times, but still not really my thing.
So I only stayed for about half an hour before I told Helena I was getting tired and left. She offered to walk back with me, but I declined, wanting to be alone if I came across Enock.
I didn’t see anyone else all the way to my room, and then I felt someone opening the door from the other side. Enock stood there with a book in his hand.
“What are you doing here?” I asked, stepping into the room and letting him shut the door behind me.
“Just reading the book I found on your desk. Tell me, do you actually believe in ghosts?”
I realized he was holding my teen ghost love story in his hand. “Not really. It’s a book Jo Hanna gave me to read during my trip here. I haven’t actually gotten past chapter one.”
Enock took my hand to lead me to a small wicker sofa that had been placed in front of the fire while I was gone. It was painted white with a red buttoned pillow that was long enough to fit the entire seat.
“Do you believe in ghosts?” I asked him as we sat down.
“Of course not.”
I ran my hand over the red cloth. “Did you put this in here?”
“Yes.” Enock put his arm around me, separating me from the hard backing. “I saw it in a storage room and thought of how nice it would be to sit in it beside you… Has the relocation been difficult for you?”
I stared at the fire as I thought about all the changes I’d had to make since I got there. It was quieter. There were less distractions. And it was darker most of the time. These were all nice changes. But I was dreading the bath I would have to take in a giant man-sized pot eventually. And being cut off from the rest of the world did really bother me. It also hurt to think of my parents and Jo Hanna. “It’s been okay.”
Enock took the pins from my hair and began brushing out the braids with his fingers. “You’re lying, Sarafina.” I looked at him, feeling bad, but he grinned handsomely in the flickering light of the fire. “Thank you. I know you’d rather not be here. I see it in your eyes every time ours meet. So thank you for lying to spare my feelings, and thank you for staying with me.” His arm went around me again as he leaned closer.
“It’s worth it to be with you,” I whispered against him.
And then the skin on my lips felt like it was melting away as he kissed me, pausing to drag his tongue over my eyelids delicately, making my head spin. My hands slid under his collar and over his neck and everything in the world stopped except for us…until I heard the faint scraping of a door opening at the end of the hall.
Enock didn’t seem to notice, but I moved away. “That might be Helena,” I said. “She’ll probably come in here.”
With his arm thrown over the back of the sofa, Enock looked at the door. “Well, I’m not ready to leave your side just yet.”
He stood and went to move the curtains to the side enough to look through my window. “Only Henrik is out, I believe. Come on.” He opened my window as I went to him. When we were both outside, he scooped me up and raced past several windows and two bends in the front of the manor before stopping to help me into another window.
“Whoa,” I stammered as I stepped into his room. It was lit by bright red berries growing on purple vines that clung from ceiling to floor in the corner beside the window. Next to that, a table had a huge glass tank on it, filled with glowing multicolored rocks and the most beautiful fish I’d ever seen. Vibrant blue, green, and red fish swam around, a sort of hybrid between a betta and a jellyfish. I moved closer to watch them, their long tails swishing back and forth through the clear water.
“There’s still so much you haven’t seen yet.” I felt Enock’s hand on my back.
“Really?” It seemed like I’d seen everything he could possibly have to show me, except for the Anvilayan woman I could only assume he’d killed. But I didn’t recognize the fish or the berries. And the fact that his bed was bare except for a white sheet wrapped around the mattress seemed strange.
“I could show you more. We have all night.”
Another long night would wipe me out completely, but I wanted this. I craved that lost-in-his-soul, complete-love-for-me feeling. And I could beg Helena to let me sleep in the next morning. “All right.”
He put his other hand behind my knees to sweep me off my feet again, this time to carry me to his bed. He smiled and held me close.
As he took my hand, his eyes seemed to flare, the gold burning and swallowing everything else, until Anvilayans were whizzing around me and I was seeing all of Enock’s favorite foods, including the thresh berries growing in his room. I saw that Anvilayans usually only slept for two hours each night, because that was all their bodies needed. I saw all the animals Enock had seen and read about over the course of his life. They came in all shapes, sizes, and colors, just as ours do, but most of theirs had no hair and only slits for eyes with cold black spheres behind them. I also saw some of the customs of their planet. Like two Anvilayans placing their right hands on each other’s left shoulder to say hello when they hadn’t seen each other in a while, or poking out their bottom jaw and their hair standing up when they needed to show dominance. Then it all began to fade away.
Enock was still smiling as he watched me when I opened my eyes. I took in a deep breath and pulled myself up to lean against him and smile back, still completely aware of how absolutely amazing and extraordinary everything about him was.
“We’ll wait until all Halvandors are asleep,” Enock said, “and then go to see what is hidden under the door you found.”