The voice might have been mysteriously disembodied, but the advice was solid. I turned and sprinted away as fast as my legs would carry me. I darted through the park’s gate only to be stopped in my tracks when a tall figure stepped directly into my path.
I let out a shriek only to realize that Callum Drake was standing in front of me. Without a word he reached for my shoulders, the heat from his palms sinking deep into my skin as I struggled to calm my harrowed breaths. Staring into my eyes with the same look I’d seen in the bookshop—the one that made me feel like he could read me—he loosened his grip but still held me steady, a much-needed support for which I was grateful. I felt like I was about to pass out, and he was the only thing keeping me from sinking to the ground.
“Vega,” he said, “Are you all right?”
I shook my head. Maybe it was the tears welling up in my eyes that made his irises look as though they were glowing in the sunlight, a shade of blue seeming to radiate both hot and cold at once. A sudden urge possessed me to bury myself against his chest and ask him to hold me. But instead, I wrapped my arms around myself and trembled.
“What happened?” he asked.
“There was a woman,” I said. “She…” I spun around, looking for the well-dressed lunatic who’d been lying on the ground and the dog who’d pinned her, but all I saw was a scruffy gray squirrel hopping across the path about twenty feet away.
“I don’t understand,” I said under my breath.
“Something’s freaked you out,” Callum said. “Come on, I’ll take you home.”
I shook my head again. “You have to work. It’s okay, I can get there on my own.”
“I’m sure you can. Let me at least get you inside the shop to catch your breath. You look like you’ve seen a ghost eating another ghost. Don’t worry,” he added as I started to protest, “I’m on my lunch break.”
I nodded, too shaken to resist.
He put a protective arm around my shoulder and guided me across the street toward the bookstore, which had a quickly-scrawled “Back in Five Minutes” note taped inside the front door. When we arrived, he led me inside, locking the door behind us.
“Callum,” I said, “You’re sure I’m okay to stay here a minute?” My eyes were moving between him and the window. I was fully expecting someone—or maybe something—to come crashing into the place. “I don’t want to get you in any trouble.”
“Mr. Worrell won’t care. From what I hear, you’re his best customer.”
“I don’t mean about that,” I said, glancing out the window to the street where strange events seemed to be tagging along after me like a litter of insane and potentially dangerous puppies.
“You can stay here as long as you like,” he said, stepping closer. He reached up and pushed a strand of hair behind my ear. The heat in his touch was a comfort, a reminder that he and I were both alive and safe. “What happened out there?”
“The woman I mentioned,” I said. “She was really weird. I mean, she looked wealthy and elegant, but she was so…creepy. She grabbed me, but Rufus stopped her…”
“Rufus?” Callum asked.
“Charlie’s dog…” I shook my head. “You know what? It doesn’t matter. This has been the craziest morning of my life, and to be honest I’m not sure I really want to talk about it.”
“Of course.” We stared at one another for a moment before Callum puffed out a quick breath.
“Listen,” he said, “I should really help get you home. Where do you live? I can offer you a ride.”
“It’s not far. I can walk.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes,” I said, pushing myself up and then nearly toppling over.
Callum put a supporting hand out, which I grabbed. I felt safe once again, but also incurably stupid. “Maybe I’ll take you up on that ride,” I managed to mumble. “If you’re sure you can knock off from work without getting fired.”
“I’ll risk it.”
We headed out the rear exit to Callum’s beat-up old Honda, and I directed him the few blocks to my house. Along the way, I had to muster every ounce of strength to stop my hands from shaking.
“Thanks,” I said when we’d pulled up to the curb. My breathing had slowed by now, and I’d begun to feel foolish for being so afraid of a well-dressed woman in a public park. What exactly could she have done to me, anyhow? “I’m sorry I’m such a mess. It’s stupid, I know, to run away from someone like that.”
“It’s not stupid,” he said, the words low and quiet. “You followed your instincts. Never second-guess yourself in times of crisis. Do you hear me?”
I narrowed my eyes at him. The way he spoke once again made him sound like he’d had way more life experience than a seventeen-year-old should.
“I’ll take that advice,” I said.
“Good.”
My hand reached for the car door handle, though I hesitated to open it. Doing so would mean walking away from Callum, and I didn’t know when the next time was that we’d see each other.
“Tonight,” he said, reading my mind again. “I’ll be there. I’ll be keeping an eye out for you.”
I gawked at him, puzzled by his seeming interest in me. Why would a boy who was so impressive, so intriguing, so…different from any other boy I’d ever met…keep an eye out for a girl like me? The park would be teeming with far more interesting people tonight. If I wasn’t a nobody in his eyes now, I’d definitely be one by then.
“Why would you watch for me?” I laughed.
“For many reasons. Not the least of which is that you’re beautiful. I’d be a fool not to keep an eye out for you—even if you choose to cover your lovely face with a mask.”
I opened my mouth to say something self-deprecating but decided against it. I supposed that one of these days I should finally learn to take a compliment.
Fighting back the desire to put myself down, I opened the door and climbed out before turning and leaning into the door frame. “Thank you, Callum,” I said with an awkward smile.
“You’re welcome,” he replied.
As I watched his car accelerate down the street, an unfamiliar ache found its way into my chest, an unwelcome sense of hollowness. It was like a part of me had been torn away with Callum’s departure.
Great. I was already falling for the boy with the bright eyes, and I’d only just met him.
“Careful, Vega,” I said under my breath as I headed up the walkway toward my house. “Just be careful.”
When I’d made my way into the house, I trudged up to my second-floor bedroom. I unzipped my pocket and reached inside, hoping to find that the entire incident in the park had been a figment of my imagination. But when my fingers wrapped themselves around the strange key Charlie had given me, I winced. Part of me hoped I’d only imagined it into existence, that it was all part of some intricate hallucination brought on by some dormant psychosis, or, preferably, by my lack of breakfast.
Reluctantly, I pulled the key out of my pocket and stared at it for a moment before meandering over to the mirror next to my closet. After a moment of contemplation, I pulled the silver chain my grandmother had sent me out from under my collar and reached around for the clasp. But as I pulled gently at the chain, no clasp revealed itself. I kept yanking until I was certain I’d done at least two full rotations, inspecting every inch of the chain. It seemed impossible, but somehow, it had fused itself into one long, slinking silver coil around my neck.