“Good morning everyone,” Henry said, stepping into the room.
“Morning Henry,” they all answered.
Henry rounded the corner, holding an envelope in his hand. He walked directly to me and bent down. Everybody stopped and became silent again, staring.
“Good morning Emma.” he spoke softly, in his awesome English accent.
“Good morning Henry.”
“Alaine wanted me to give this to you,” he said as he handed me the envelope.
I wasn’t sure what to do with it. Should I wait until I was alone, or should I just open it? What if it was private? If it was private, then Henry would probably have told me. I decided to open it, so I lifted the flap, pulled out the letter and began to read.
………………
Dearest Emma,
I am so sorry that I cannot be with you this morning. There was an emergency at the medical center and they needed my assistance. I will be back at around three, and we will talk then. Until then, please don’t wander off the property.
With love,
Alaine
………………
“Who’s that from?” Courtney pried.
“My aunt. She had to leave, but she’ll be back around three.”
“Oh goody! That means I get to show you around the place. You know… the grand tour,” she said with enthusiasm, shoveling her last piece of pancake into her mouth.
“Yeah, that’ll be cool.” I tried to seem thrilled, but it just seemed like everything that had to do with my new life, was on hold. It was frustrating, and now I had a bunch of hours to kill before I’d get my answers. Well… at least I had Courtney to keep me busy. I’m sure she had a list of things to do.
I instantly felt dizzy and that familiar feeling of euphoria slammed me. I reached for my water bottle, suddenly feeling hot and flustered, and fidgeted in my seat. I took a sip, a deep breath, and tried to calm my nerves. Malachi shot me a strange look just as a side door swung open.
“Good morning!” Kade smiled as he entered the room. He had a sparkle in his eye and a bounce in his step. Seeing his face made every butterfly in my stomach dance with happiness. Malachi glanced at him and then back to me with an inquisitive, yet unpleasant look in his eyes.
He must have sensed something between us, because he was with us all day yesterday and saw how flustered I became whenever Kade and I became too close. I’d have to learn to hide my emotions a whole lot better, because right now…I was wearing them all over my sleeve. It was pretty embarrassing, especially with Malachi’s watchful eye.
“What’s up guys?” Kade exclaimed with a gleaming smile as he entered the room. I felt Malachi’s eyes on me, and started to feel anxious. I took a bite of the much-too-sweet, chocolate chip pancake and tried to keep my eyes on my plate.
The others gave their salutations while Kade grabbed a chair from the other end of the table, carried it down to our end, and set it down right next to me. I felt my face blush with heat as I glanced at him. That was something impossible to hide.
“Hey Emma,” he said in a sweet tone. My heart skipped another beat until I looked into Malachi’s glaring eye. Awkward!
“Hey Kade,” I chimed, hoping it would have some kind of effect on him. It wasn’t fair - the magic he had on me. He laughed out loud, and I could tell he was thrilled I’d said his name. I laughed too, but Courtney and Malachi had confused looks on their faces.
“Inside joke,” Kade explained.
“Oh. Well, Hi Kade,” Courtney said teasingly. “I missed you.”
“Why, hello Courtney. I’ve missed you too. So, how are you doing this morning?” He asked, grabbing a plate and scraping the rest of the pancakes and bacon onto it.
“Not bad. Especially since I’m not the only girl around here anymore,” she answered.
“Well, I’ll be seeing you guys,” Malachi murmured, with narrowed eyes as he left the table. If I didn’t experience his softer side, I would have been terrified. The others also started to clear the table, heading into the kitchen with their empty plates.
“So, Emma… I see you’ve grown a tail,” Kade said raising his eyebrows, looking toward Courtney, who was busy pouring juice into her glass.
“Mmm-hmm,” I hummed.
"What?” Courtney blurted, glancing down towards my backside.
“Courtney you’re so dumb. He was talking about you,” a voice scolded from the kitchen. A tall, lanky boy with golden hair and light blue eyes came around the corner carrying a plate of fruit and toast. Caleb.
There were small similarities between him and Courtney; same shaped face and eyes, but he was just an average boy who’d probably get lost in the crowd at my old school.
“I don’t have a tail!” she scolded.
“Hello! You ARE the tail,” he muttered.
“Shut up, Caleb…I knew that!”
“Yeah right! Why’d you look then?” he countered with a scoff.
“I wasn’t! I was…”
“See, just admit it. You’re stupid.”
“Well, you’re…you’re ugly!” she stuttered.
“Uh, you look like me, so there…” he teased, tossing a grape into his mouth.
“I look nothing like you!”
“Whoa! Whoa, you two! You’re not leaving a good impression on Emma,” Kade announced, holding a hand up, and shaking his head in disapproval. They both glanced at me.
I’d never had a sibling. The closest thing I had was Lia and Jeremy, who could talk some pretty good smack to each other. So, this wasn’t something new to me. It was actually entertaining.
“Sorry, Emma,” Courtney apologized.
Caleb remained silent, popping another grape into his mouth.
“Don’t worry about it. I’m used to it. My best friends used to do the same thing.”
Courtney smiled, took my plate, and got up from the table.
“Let’s go Emma,” she said, heading toward the kitchen, shooting Caleb an evil eye.
“You guys are leaving me? I just got here! And you’re gonna make me stay here … with Caleb?” Kade shot Caleb a look, and Caleb rolled his eyes and huffed.
“She’s giving me the grand tour,” I smiled, but my heart ached when he batted his beautiful hazel eyes, and shot me a sad puppy-dog look. Damn! That was heartbreaking…
“Well, I guess Courtney beat me too it,” he said with a wide grin, biting a piece of bacon. His eyes were greener today, mirroring his fitted green sweater, but there were veins of yellow and brown running through them. I became lost, swimming somewhere within the depths of his eyes when Courtney rudely interrupted.
“E-mma! You coming or what?” Her voice dragged, as she stood in the doorway with her arms crossed over her chest. I smiled at Kade and reluctantly pushed my chair in.
“I better go. So, I’ll see you around?” I asked, hopeful for a chance that I’d run into him sometime during the day.
“You can count on it,” he said, holding out his hand. I wanted to touch him so badly, but I also knew that my body would react, and that would be embarrassing… especially with Caleb and Courtney gawking at us. We needed to behave ourselves, so I offered him my cast instead. I knew his magic, or whatever it was, couldn’t penetrate it. He laughed and took a hold of it.
I turned to Courtney, whose narrowed eyes were fixated on Kade, studying his intentions. He ignored her by pouring a glass of orange juice.
“Have fun,” he teased.
“Yeah right. With Courtney?” Caleb mumbled.
“Whatever, loser!” Courtney chimed.
I ambled towards Courtney, and looped my arm through hers.
“Okay… I’m yours for the next few hours,” I announced.
She smiled and started dragging me away.
Chapter 8:
“So where are we going?” I asked, attempting to seem excited. She led me back in the front area, which looked like a lobby.
“Okay,” she said, stopping in the center of the exquisite marble floor wi
th the tiled art of the angel and the sword. We were facing the staircase. “You already know that the top floor is where we stay. We… meaning me, you and Caleb. We’re on the left and Caleb’s on the right. It has eight bedrooms, four on each side. The other five rooms on our floor are empty.” She looked like an airline stewardess going through her motions.
Oh boy. I was getting the deluxe tour.
“So where do all the guys sleep?” I questioned, even though I already knew Kade slept in the guest house.
“They all sleep in the cottage out back, but two of them stay in the tower each night. They have shifts. They were all hired by Alaine to keep strangers out. I guess there have been some break-ins in the area, but I don’t buy it. The nearest neighbor is like ten miles away. Alaine also said that she hired them to make sure we’re kept safe from bears and other wildlife, but I haven’t seen a bear yet. I’ve only seen some moose and squirrel, but that’s it. The whole time I’ve lived here!” Her hands were flying around her in frustration.
“Oh,” I exhaled. I guess they didn’t tell her about the terrifying dark creatures lurking out there that wanted to kill me. And, I was also guessing that if she didn’t know already, then it wasn’t my place to tell her.
She continued. “The second floor is for guests, and totally off limits to us. There are eight bedrooms on that floor too, each with their own bathrooms.
“This floor has the kitchen, dining, library, study and Miss Alaine’s master suite. That door on the right, leads into the library and our study where we do our homeschooling,” she said with a scrunched up nose. “It’s really not too bad. We can actually finish our work in a few hours and get the rest of the day to do whatever we want.”
That sounded pretty cool. Better than sitting in classes all day, but I’d still miss being with my friends.
“Down this hall to the left is where Miss Alaine’s study and master bedroom are. It’s huge, like double the size of our rooms, and her bathroom looks like a spa. It’s crazy.”
“If you walk all the way down the hall, you’ll see the ballroom. That’s where Alaine holds all her big, fancy parties. Come, I’ll show you,” she said, eagerly skipping down the long, fancy hallway.
“Does she have a lot of parties?” I questioned.
“No, not really. Maybe one or two a year,” she noted. “But kids aren’t allowed. Adults only.” Her mouth turned down as she continued down the hall.
I’d seen a few ballrooms in the Hollywood Hills, homes which my mom and dad listed. They were pretty spectacular. But this house, from what I’d seen so far, surpassed the homes I’d stepped into; those million dollar mansions that only the rich could enjoy. I hoped my aunt wasn’t a rich snob. She seemed nice, but then…I’d only talked with her for about five minutes.
“So what part of Alaska are we in?” I asked.
“We’re somewhere near Delta Junction. If you go up from here, you’ll see the North Pole. I’ve been there dozens of times. Mile marker 1422 is down a ways. It’s supposedly special because it’s the end of the Alaskan Highway. Tourists drive there to take pictures at some lame sign they posted. So, we’re kind of in the middle of nowhere. The boonies. There’s like miles of nothing but trees around us. And like I said earlier, our nearest neighbor is like ten miles away,” she exhaled, with widened eyes.
At least I had some sort of direction now. The area actually had a name that I could look up on MapQuest. I knew Jeremy would want to know that. He’d probably try and look me up on Google Earth, but I doubted if he could see my new home out here in Boonie Ville.
“So how long have you known my aunt?”
“Ummm,” she hesitated, stopping and turning toward me. “Practically all my life, I guess. She was my mom’s best friend. My mom died of cancer about six years ago, and your aunt took us in,” she breathed. Her eyes started to pool with tears. I felt for her; empathized with her. We both shared a similar path, orphaned and taken in by my “Saint” Aunt Alaine.
“I’m sorry,” I said resting my hand on her shoulder.
“Thanks. And, I’m sorry about your parents, too. That was a pretty bad accident,” she sniffed, wiping away a few stray tears.
“How’d you find out…about my parents?”
“Alaine told us the other day. Someone called her while we were eating dinner, and told her about the accident. She was on the phone the rest of the night and early the next day, trying to get everything situated so you could come here.”
I sighed and stood in silence for a few seconds, wondering who might have called her. Who knew she was related to my mom if I didn’t even know?
“Come on!” Courtney huffed, grabbing my hand and dragging me back down the hallway.
We entered a large empty room with a ceiling over thirty-feet high. The walls were a rich golden color with elegant, curved sconces evenly placed between white marble pedestals. Each pedestal held a beautiful, life-like statue of an angel, each in a different pose. It was completely breathtaking.
The floor was a beautiful golden marble. At the center was a large white marble circle with a mosaic of a single red rose and angel’s wings spread out along the sides. Within the mosaic were shimmering golden flakes speckled throughout. It was surrounded by golden tiles that were so shiny you could literally see yourself in them. Above the circle was another huge chandelier, which looked like it belonged in a palace. Thousands of glistening crystals were exquisitely suspended from graceful, golden curved arms. It was literally dazzling. I could only imagine what it looked like on.
“Wow,” I said out loud as Courtney whirled in the center of the floor.
“I know. This place is pretty awesome, huh?”
“I think awesome is an understatement. It’s totally amazing,” I breathed, as I walked past each pedestal, studying the exquisite details of each angel. They were perfectly detailed and beautiful, all resembling gods, with large wings protruding from their backs.
As I came to the end, the last statue caught my attention. I studied the contours of the face, the nose, the defined muscles in the arms and chest, and the shape of the eyes. It was an unremarkable resemblance of Kade. I was entranced, my gaze fixed upon this oddly familiar and perfect statue.
“Boo!” Courtney screamed, grabbing my shoulders and scaring the crap out of me. I jumped, turned and swung at her, whacking her in the shoulder. It was a natural instinct. I couldn’t help it.
“Ouch,” she laughed, grabbing her arm.
“Sorry,” I muttered. “Reflexes.” She was lucky it wasn’t my casted arm.
“It’s alright. At least now I know…don’t ever surprise Emma,” she grinned, still rubbing her arm, and then glanced up towards the statue. “You have a crush on him, don’t you?”
I felt my face flush with heat, and then attempted to swallow the large lump in my throat before I could answer. “What are you talking about?”
“Kade. You like him. I can tell,” she said, her eyes studying me. She’d totally caught me off-guard with that random question.
“Why, is that really Kade?” I asked, pointing to the statue, averting her attention from my flustered face.
“Yeah. Your aunt flew someone in from another country…Italy or some faraway place like that. He was some kind of master stone carver, and his specialty was angels. I guess you’ve already noticed that your aunt has a major obsession with them.”
“Um, yeah. I can totally see that,” I whispered, still gawking at the statue. “So, how does she know Kade?”
“Well, Kade and the others moved in right after Alaine’s husband passed away. I guess they were hired as security guards or something. Her husband was really rich.”
“But Kade actually left us about a year ago. He said he had to go away on some kind of work related thing. I’m glad he’s back. He’s the funnest.”
I laughed, but was curious to what Kade had been doing for the past year. Was his job one that would take him away for long periods of time? Was he in the military?
&n
bsp; “So anyway,” Courtney interrupted my thoughts, “Alaine asked the carver if he would make one that resembled Kade, and so he did. He’s pretty handsome, isn’t he?” She turned to watch my reaction.
“Yes, he is very handsome, and no… I don’t have a crush on him. I don’t even know him. I mean… I just met him yesterday,” I said in a calm and collected tone.
“Haven’t you heard of love at first sight?” she giggled, looking back at me.
“Yeah, that’s just a myth. It’s really more like lust at first sight,” I blurted. I turned and noticed that her face was all scrunched up, and remembered that she was only thirteen, homeschooled, and kept away from the general perverted public. “Well, I believe you can’t really love someone without truly getting to know them first.”
“Yeah, I guess you’re right,” she said with a sigh. “Well, promise me that I’ll be the first to find out when it happens,” she said, staring at me through wide eyes.
I rolled my eyes and exhaled loudly. “Sure,” I answered, just so she wouldn’t bug me anymore. She smiled and tugged at my arm again.
“I have to show you this amazing place outside next,” she said dragging me back down the hallway. “Caleb and I have this super-secret area that no one else knows about, and I have to show you. But you have to promise, promise, promise not to tell.”
“Okay,” I answered.
“Promise,” she huffed, with her hands on her hips.
“Alright, I promise. But I’ll need to put something warmer on first,” I insisted.
She gaped at me with an exasperated look. “Fine.”
“I need to put some things away too.”
I wanted to kill more time, and knew that putting my things away would waste a chunk of it. Plus, venturing out into the freezing cold wasn’t something I was looking forward to.
We made our way back upstairs, and stopped in front of my room.
“I guess I should clean my room too, so just knock on my door when you’re ready,” she said before prancing down the hall to her room.
I agreed and deliberately unpacked my suitcase very, very slowly. Everything that could be folded, fit into a single drawer. Two hoodies, two sweaters, and a rain coat looked so lonely hanging in one tiny area of the huge walk-in closet. I’d have to get more clothes because that was just pathetic.