“They always seem like they are very busy, don’t they?”
I turned my head and looked up. I saw Mick standing right next to me. He smiled and seemed like he was in a great mood. I laughed lightly.
“They really do,” I said.
He sat next to me in the grass. “So how was your day?” His voice trembled a bit and it confused me. Was he nervous?
“Great,” I said and laid my head back on the soft grass. “Have a lot of homework, though. Exams are coming up.”
He nodded. “That’s right,” he mumbled.
I sat up again and stared at him. His eyes avoided me. Something was up, my instinct told me.
“What is going on with you today?” I asked.
He didn’t look at me but kept glancing at the entrance of the garden, like he was expecting something or someone. “Nothing, I am just … a little preoccupied, that’s all.”
“With what?” I said and pushed him gently.
“You know, life,” he said and glanced again.
I gave him a suspicious look and laid my head on the grass again. If he wanted to act weird then that was his business. I wanted to relax and enjoy my half-a-day off. I had been thinking a lot about Jason all day but I still didn’t quite know what to do. I had this idea that if I kept visiting him he might talk more to me and I might be able to touch him, but it wasn’t fair to Mick. I didn’t want to lose him either. And I had a feeling that I would if I continued to visit Jason secretly. I didn’t think that I could ever get him to fully accept me doing so, even if he said he did. I knew his jealousy would eventually eat him up.
“So you had a busy day?” I asked Mick.
He looked at me with confusion. “Mmm … what? No … not at all.”
I shook my head. He wasn’t even listening.
Two blue butterflies circled over my head, as though they were dancing around each other, like they both wanted something, but no one wanted to go first.
As I stared at the dancing butterflies, I heard singing in the distance—beautiful heavenly voices. I sat up and looked at the entrance of the garden where four big Angels all dressed in white entered while singing.
The music was very uplifting and I got on my feet as I watched them come closer to me. I didn’t even look at Mick, but soon realized that he had gotten up as well.
The Angels lit up the whole area as their internal light shone brighter than the sun. And while they were singing I felt like the whole garden was dancing to the music. The butterflies twirled around even more vividly than before.
The Angels came closer and then they stopped in front of us. They kept singing but now they were looking at us with wide smiles.
I turned to look at Mick. His hands were trembling as he went down on one knee right next to me.
Oh no. Please don’t. Please don’t, I kept thinking. I hid my face in my hands as the Angels lowered their voices so Mick could speak.
“Mmeghan,” he stuttered.
I stared at him through my hands. Between his he was holding a ring. A beautiful diamond ring. Perfect as everything was with Mick. Just perfect. Too perfect. Unbearably perfect. My whole body felt numb.
“Meghan?” he asked again.
I moved my hands away and looked at him. I could feel my face blushing. This was insane. I was way too young for this, I thought.
The Angels were still staring at us, while singing their beautiful tune.
“Mick … I …”
“Please let me do this,” he said.
I nodded and let him. He looked so cute, so vulnerable. I felt like panicking but tried to keep the feeling hidden.
He cleared his throat. “Ever since the first time I laid my eyes upon you, I have known that our love was meant for eternity. I knew we were destined for each other.”
I was stunned. I didn’t know he had loved me that long. I thought he sort of fell in love with me along the way.
“It has always been you, Meghan.”
Time seemed to stop and everything seemed frozen around us. Mick kept saying these nice words and all I could think was how to get out of there. I mean, I loved Mick, sure I did, but marriage? I was sixteen! Well I was when I died which was a year ago in spiritual time, but about three years in earthly time. So I was nineteen, but still, I felt way too young to get married. I had no idea what to do. Some part of me was thrilled, because I really loved Mick, and a big part of me wanted to marry him and spend the rest of my life in eternity with him. So as he spoke I felt the chills crawl up my back. Maybe we could actually pull this off. Maybe we could love each other for eternity, I was suddenly thinking. As I did I slowly started to smile. I felt more relaxed and actually began to enjoy the moment. The singing was wonderful and Mick was really adorable on his knees in front of me. All of the school’s spirits had been gathering from the castle’s windows ever since word spread about what was about to happen. Everyone stared down at Mick and me. It was both embarrassing and beautiful at once.
“I am helpless without you, I desperately need you, without you I cannot live or even breathe,” he continued. “I want to wake up next to you for the rest of my eternal life. I never want to go even a day without you, if possible not even an hour without you by my side. I believe we were meant to be. I believe we were placed on the same boat together that day we first met. I believe that it was all part of our destiny.”
Mick paused and sighed before he continued with a trembling voice. “I have waited for you since I was old enough to think about having a wife. I knew you would come some day, and here you are.”
He swallowed hard and cleared his throat again. This is the important part, I thought. I felt my heart stop as Mick stared deeply into my eyes and grabbed my hand. There was a gentle light in his eyes.
“Meghan,” he said.
I looked at him and smiled. This had to be the weirdest situation in my life. I was flattered and so incredibly embarrassed at once.
“Will you do me the honor of being my wife for ever after?”
The singing stopped as he asked the question and all eyes were on me. I even think the butterflies might have stopped their whirling. I could hear my own heavy breathing as I opened my mouth to utter the only answer that I could say being true to my heart.
“Yes … Yes, Mick, I will.”
Chapter 21
The crowd above us burst into a huge cheer and almost drowned out the Angels who had started singing again. Mick placed the ring on my finger and kissed me while the cheering grew stronger and the spirits started descending to congratulate us.
Mick couldn’t stop kissing me and holding my hands. People clapped his shoulder and were telling him that he had done great, that this one was a keeper, and so on. Mick’s face was glowing with happiness. He looked so proud that I couldn’t help getting the feeling of being a trophy. But I quickly shook it off while thinking that I didn’t want anything to ruin this perfect day for me.
Mick had arranged a celebration dinner in Hornam Hall for everybody and he had even made chocolate-dipped strawberries for me.
We toasted with champagne and ate for hours, while a band played. Later Mick dragged me onto the dance floor and started swinging me around. During a slow song, he held me in his strong arms for a long time before he spoke. He lifted the hand with the ring on and looked at it.
“It looks so great on you.”
“Thanks. It feels a little weird, being engaged and all.”
He looked into my eyes. “I am so glad you said yes,” he said, holding tightly to my hand. “I am really happy that you are finally going to be mine.”
I was flattered and smiled bashfully. “Me too,” I said with a low voice.
“I can’t believe you are finally completely mine,” he grinned. “Mine all alone. No more jealousy, no more human boys, no more Jason, ever again.”
Everything inside of me froze at once. I let go of his hand and pushed myself away from him.
“Now what?” he asked.
I shook m
y head slowly. “Is that why you proposed to me?”
“Is what why I proposed? I don’t understand.”
I felt my heart beat so fast. A huge anger rose inside of me. “You only want to marry me because you think it will keep me away from Jason? You only proposed because you knew that I had gotten permission to go outside the school area again, and you were afraid that if I did, I would go and see him and you would lose me?”
Mick lifted both of his hands in the air. “What is so wrong with that? If you are engaged to me, you do not go and see him. Then you have made a commitment to me.”
I shook my head while breathing heavily. “I can’t even stand to look at you right now,” I said and started floating away. He grabbed my arm and pulled me closer.
“Meghan! This is our engagement party. You can’t leave now. What do you want me to say to these people?”
“I don’t care what you tell them.”
“Meghan. I thought you wanted to get married some day. Why is it so bad that I pushed forward the inevitable? We both want this,” he said.
“Not like this,” I said and pulled my arm out of his hand.
I didn’t want to go to my dormitory because I knew Mick would be looking for me there, so I flew in the opposite direction. All I needed was to be alone for awhile and clear my head. I passed our classrooms and said hello to the thinking chair on my way. It crabbed a little sideways and looked like it wanted to play with me, but I really wasn’t in the mood.
“Sorry, little fellow,” I said while I stroked it under the seat.
Then I moved on to the library where I sat in a chair. I stared at the rows of books from the floor to the top of the tower. There had to be more than a million books in there.
I felt tears filling my eyes. Why was everything so complicated? Why couldn’t I just meet a nice guy and fall in love? Why did I insist on ruining everything? If only I hadn’t gone to see Jason that last time, then we wouldn’t be in this mess. If only I could let Jason go once and for all, then there would be no problem. No jealousy, nothing that could come between Mick and me. Jason was our only obstacle. But now that he had spoken my name and I had been able to touch him, I couldn’t shake the feeling that something was happening with him, that maybe he would get better soon. But how? Nothing seemed to have changed in his circumstances.
I sighed and curled up in the chair. I hid my face between my knees. Maybe it would be best for everybody if I let both of them go. Mick was too good for me anyway and I would never be the girlfriend or perfect wife he was looking for. He had put me on some sort of pedestal and thought that I was something I really wasn’t.
It had started raining outside and raindrops lashed at the window. Inside the library the light from the fireplace made it all glowing and nice. It’s so quiet in here, I thought to myself and it made me feel a little better. I needed time to think. I needed a quiet place like this. But then I heard something and my feeling of being all alone was destroyed. It was voices; they were discussing something and it sounded serious.
Curiosity got the better of me and I left the library and followed the sound of the voices.
They came from a chamber I had never been in before. As I floated slowly, searching down the corridor, I found the door to the chamber slightly ajar—just enough for me to hear some of what was being said.
“How could this have happened?” I heard one voice say. I recognized it immediately as that of Headmaster Salathiel.
“We don’t know,” another voice answered. It was trembling and the person speaking seemed anxious. It sounded like Mrs. Higgins’s high-pitched voice. “He must have had help from someone on the outside. All we know is that he escaped somehow from his cell.”
“But the walls to that cell are made from pure diamond. The hardest material of all. No spirit has yet managed to go through that. How did he even manage to get out, let alone get past the guards? I simply don’t understand,” Salathiel said.
“How he got out is less important now. We have to focus on we are going to do,” a third voice said. It had a gentle singing tone and could only belong to Rahmiel.
“We have to find him immediately,” a fourth voice grumbled. I recognized that one right away. That was the old Danish Viking Hjalte Havskäg, our teacher in self-defense. “If he is out there, then there is no telling what he will do now,” he continued. “I think we should evacuate the whole castle and get this boy once and for all. Let’s send all the Angels after him. He won’t stand a chance.”
Salathiel interrupted. “Wait a second. We can’t evacuate the whole school just because of him. That is insane. He is not that dangerous.”
“You haven’t spent the last days and nights with him in the dungeons of this castle as I have. You don’t know how evil he has grown. I have seen it in his eyes,” Hjalte Havskäg roared.
“Let’s not get carried away here,” Rahmiel said. “Adrian is not very big, nor is he very powerful. I seriously doubt that he is capable of harming any other student at this school.”
“But he did harm Adahy,” Mrs. Higgins said.
They became all very quiet for awhile.
“He did,” Salathiel said. “But Adahy is no longer on the school premises, so he will not be able to harm him again.”
No one spoke for a few minutes and I became afraid that they were about to leave the chamber. I started to float away as silently as possible, when I heard Hjalte Havskäg say something that made everything inside of me freeze.
“He might not be able to reach Adahy, but what about our young Meghan?”
“We will have to protect her as best we can,” Salathiel said.
I sighed. I knew perfectly well what that meant. More Angel guards and no more leaving the castle to see Jason.
“Let me go after him and take him down,” Hjalte Havskäg said. “I was supposed to guard him down there, but I failed. Let me fix this.”
“No, Hjalte,” Salathiel said. “It is honorable of you, but we need you here with the students. I will put this matter in the hands of the Angels. They will take care of it. They will search the castle immediately.”
Then Hjalte Havskäg mumbled something I couldn’t hear.
“But please don’t tell Meghan about this,” Rahmiel said. “She has just gotten engaged to be married and this is supposed to be a happy time in her life. She has had a lot on her mind lately, too much if you ask me, and I want her to be happy.”
“But she will certainly know when you give her extra protection and when you no longer allow her to leave the school premises again,” Mrs. Higgins said with a concerned voice.
“Then we must make sure that she doesn’t notice the extra protection. And the temporary rule to not leave the school will go for everybody. No student leaves the school premises unprotected.”
I hurried back to my dormitory. How Adrian had managed to escape from the dungeons and Hjalte Havskäg was beyond my understanding, but it had happened and he was here somewhere in this school. I knew it would be a matter of minutes before the guards would be looking for me, and I was back in my prison. But at least I was protected. It was worse for Adahy. No one thought about sending someone to protect him, and as far as I could see, he was a much more obvious target than I was. Adrian might want to get back at me, but he had more reason to hate Adahy.
And it was all because of me.
Chapter 22
Salathiel and Rahmiel gathered all the students in Hornam Hall.
“We suspect that we have an intruder at the castle. To protect you the Angels will search the entire castle all night,” Salathiel said.
There was a lot of murmuring among the students. Some tried to guess what it could be. Others just complained they would have their sleep interrupted by the searching. Mai and Acacia, who stood next to me, whispered something to each other while I didn’t say anything. I was worried about Adahy and I glanced around the Hall to see if he was there somewhere, but as expected he wasn’t there. I wondered if they had even told him wh
at was going on.
“There is no reason to be alarmed, it is probably nothing, but any disturbance should be reported directly to me immediately,” Salathiel said. Then he paused. “Ring one of the bells if necessary. We will hear that right away.”
“Have there been more screamers?” an elderly woman asked with a trembling voice.
Rahmiel took over. “No there have been no more incidents, fortunately.”
“Then how do you know that there is something to be afraid of?”
Rahmiel smiled. “Just trust us,” she said.
“Whatever this is, we will find it, be sure of that,” Salathiel said.
The hall buzzed with voices as we were told to return to our dormitories and go to sleep. When I went into the corridor Mick came toward me.
“Do you want me to spend the night with you?” he whispered.
I hesitated before I answered. “No, I’m okay.” I looked into his blue eyes. I didn’t want to be mad at him anymore. I was too tired.
“Are you sure? It is no problem. I can sneak in and out without anyone noticing me. I am great at that.”
“The guards will take care of me,” I said. “I’ll be fine.”
Mick looked disappointed. “Okay. Will I see you tomorrow?” He grabbed my hand and felt my finger where the ring was.
“Sure.”
I didn’t get much sleep at all that night. The search of the castle kept me awake and so did the thought of Adrian being out there somewhere. At one point I got out of bed as I heard voices coming from the yard. I saw two Angels passing the tower. Then I stared at the forest. Would Adrian hide in the castle, knowing that everybody was looking for him? Or would he go into the forest? Maybe he had turned himself into some animal and was hiding in there. Maybe he was out looking for Adahy. I swallowed hard. I had to find Adahy and warn him before it was too late. I felt like I owed him that much.