Forsaken (18 page)

I open
ed my eyes to see that his were filled with a painful conflict I didn’t understand.  I touched his cheek and watched as the pain slowly receded.  The raw vulnerability I saw in his eyes would haunt me forever.  It was a look I knew well.  I had seen it many times in my own reflection.  When all of your defenses are stripped away, the only thing left is surrender.  Only then can you see the true size of the burden a person carries.  Only then can you see the toll it has taken on their soul.  His silent pleas broke my heart. 

“
You don’t have to be strong all of the time, Finn.” I didn’t know why, but I felt it was what he needed to hear. His eyes searched mine and he smiled.  I could feel the special bond we already shared growing stronger with each passing moment.  With a slowness that threatened to make the fire inside me explode, he kissed me. What started out as slow and gentle quickly turned in to something more urgent and powerful.  A low moan sounded from deep within him and he unzipped my jacket, pushing it down and off my arms.  I felt his hand at the small of my back; the tips of his fingers dangerously low, as his other hand pulled the strap of my tank top off my shoulder.  With a hunger that was almost tangible, he ran his lips along my collarbone and shoulder, licking the same spot, sending waves of pleasure through me. 

Bringing his mouth to
mine, I gently kissed his bottom lip, then the top.  He bit my lip lightly and gave it a tug, then began kissing me in earnest again. A longing so strong took hold of me; all I could do was feel.  I ran my fingers through his soft hair and clutched a handful, eagerly holding his lips to mine. He ran his hands up my thighs, gripped my waist, and slid my body closer; pressing me against him.  I felt his body tense and he broke our kiss, leaning his forehead against mine; leaving both of us breathing hard.  He slowly opened his eyes.

“You have no idea what you do to me
,” he said as he looked up at me with restraint.  He stood and lowered me to my feet in front of him.  He straightened, took both my hands with a slight smirk, and suddenly looked very regal.  He extended his arms and stepped back as if dancing, bringing me back towards him, then lifted one hand above my head and spun me around.  He caught my waist awkwardly and dipped me dramatically. The blood rushed to my head and a giggle escaped my lips.

“
If we have to actually dance at the Ball, you’re in trouble,” I laughed at him.

He stood
me upright, bowed and with a horrible French/English accent grinned up at me. “Right you are, mademoiselle.”

             
“Yep, just as I suspected,” Carmen placed her palm on my forehead, “two degrees above crazy.”

             
Although Finn had cloaked me all the way back to the dorm, the damage to my clothes and hair had been done. I heard a fork drop and several gasps when I walked back in to our suite. Their breakfast plates were immediately abandoned, as Carmen started in on a game of twenty questions and Willow practically threw me in the shower, mumbling something about me getting sick.  Once in dry clothes, I found a blanket and made myself a nice cozy spot on the couch beside Phoebe.

             
“I hope he had a good reason for dragging you out in to the middle of a hurricane!” Willow scowled at me. “He needs a lesson in common sense.”

             
“Well if you call asking me to the Ball and giving me a necklace a good reason, than I guess he did.”  I grinned and heard Phoebe squeal beside me.  She jumped across the couch and wrapped her arms around me.

             
“We get to go together!  We have to find dresses!  Oh my God, this is going to be so much fun!  We can go shopping tomorrow if the hurricane’s gone, and I need to find some jewelry too-“

             
“Calm down Cinderella, you don’t even know if she said yes…” Carmen interrupted her.  They looked at me in anticipation.

“Well
, duh.” I rolled my eyes and Phoebe squealed again, “But look what he gave me…Isn’t it the most gorgeous thing you’ve ever seen?” I pulled the necklace out of its velvet bag.

             
“Does he have any cute brothers?” Carmen’s face lit up.

             
“Stasia, that is so romantic,” Phoebe gushed, “I mean he gave you a necklace
and
asked you out in the middle of a hurricane!”

             
“I’m seriously beginning to worry about you guys,” Willow sighed from the arm chair and looked up from her laptop with discord, “Being asked out in the middle of a hurricane is not romantic.  It’s totally reckless and irresponsible.”

             
“And totally hot,” added Carmen. “Let me see that necklace”

             
She turned it over in her hand a couple times. “It looks old.  Does it belong to somebody in his family?” she asked.

             
“I don’t know.  All he said is that it belongs to me now.” I contemplated her question.  It seemed ludicrous to think he’d given me something of that much value.  I’d been seeing him for three years in my dreams, but we just officially met less than two weeks ago.   

“I got it!” Willow bounced
in her chair, pointing at her laptop screen.  Before we could ask her what she was talking about, she bolted into her bedroom.  She came back with a notebook and the piece of paper that had belonged to Nicolet, rolling it out flat on the coffee table.

“It’s wr
itten in an early form of the Greek language,” she explained to us, “so all I have to do is find a website to tell me exactly how early….” She began writing furiously, looking from the screen to her notebook and back again. 

“
Oh, good.  One less thing for me to figure out.” Carmen pointed at all of us, “Start saving up your money, cause you’ll be paying for my meal at the nicest restaurant on the east coast.”  She grinned and turned her attention back to the necklace. “What kind of stone is this?”

“It’s an aquamarine.  He told me before that it stand
s for courage and….” My breath caught and I looked up, “...foresight.” 

“Do you
think he knows you might have….?” Phoebe blinked at me.

“I never told him.  I mean, I just figured it out last night.  How could he possibly know?”

“Maybe it’s just a coincidence?” Carmen suggested. “I mean we don’t know for sure you actually have foresight.” She shrugged her shoulders. 

“That’s a really big coincid
ence, if you ask me,” Phoebe commented as she peeked over Willow’s shoulder.  I leaned back on the couch, my mind reeling.  Even if no one else believed me, I knew it was true.  I knew I had seen into the future.  Twice.  Was it possible that Finn knew it too?  He knew I could breathe underwater, so it wouldn’t be a long shot.  How could he know so much about me?  Who was he?

~Ӂ~

The next day as storm clouds gave way to partly cloudy skies, we decided it would be the perfect day for dress shopping, since classes had been cancelled again.  Although the storm surge was prevented, the wind had still caused damage to trees and anything else not bolted down.  While the maintenance crews cleaned up the campus, we took the ferry to the mainland.  We piled into Carmen’s black Audi and headed to some boutiques Carmen knew of in Wilmington.  I honestly didn’t know what I was looking for since I’d never been to a Ball.  I’d never been to the prom either, but I had a feeling the Cimmerian Shade Ball would be absolutely nothing like the dances back at home.  Considering back in Atlanta, kids only stayed at the dances as long as their buzz lasted, which ended up being about thirty minutes.  Then everyone left to go to the after party, which was the real event of the evening.  The actual dance was more of pit stop and an excuse to get dressed up before the real fun began.  Thanks to Laura Beth, I wasn’t usually invited to the after parties, so more often than not I didn’t bother going to the dance either.  Why get all dressed up for nothing?

But this was
completely different.  This wasn’t some high school dance with punch and streamers.  It was a Ball.  This was an exclusive event that had been held for countless generations.  I wanted to look beautiful.  Most importantly, I wanted to
feel
beautiful.  I wasn’t just any normal human girl anymore; I was a descendent of the Nerieds.  A Tyde.  I was part of a legacy that had been established for centuries.  I was finished hiding in the shadows, simply surviving.  I was ready to live the life I deserved to live.  After everything I’d been through, I was ready to be happy.

We had gone
to several boutiques before we realized that unless we wanted a wedding dress or a bridesmaid dress, we’d have to look elsewhere.  After we stopped at Panera Bread for lunch, we decided to go to a shop Carmen had heard about that offered a more eclectic selection of gowns.  After driving to an outlying swampy area, we sat in Carmen’s car staring up at a daunting Victorian manor surrounded by live oak trees with Spanish moss draped on their branches and two sprawling cemeteries.  The house itself had been neglected over the years and showed signs of wear.  The paint was peeling off of the exterior and several black shutters hung from their hinges.  The wraparound porch had warped in several places, giving it a wavy appearance.

“
Are you sure about this Carmen?” Willow hesitated.  Carmen shrugged her shoulders and looked out at the tombstones warily.

“I heard she’s off her rocker, but she makes rockin
’ dresses,” she laughed at her own joke.

“I have a bad feeling some of her customers ended up with a permanent
address in her cemeteries,” Phoebe scrunched up her nose.

“Y
ou guys are so dramatic,” I sighed, and opened the car door. “We’ve got her outnumbered four to one.”  My stomach was a little queasy with nerves, but I tried hard not to let on.

“All I’m saying is that if she comes at me with scissors
or a butcher knife, I’m out.” Phoebe put her hands up.  As we walked down the winding sidewalk toward the house, I noticed a sign above the door that simply read “Seamstress”.  It reminded me of an old western town with signs above the doors that just read ‘Blacksmith’ or ‘General Store’.  The old weathered tombstones near the house added to the nostalgia.  Before I could knock, the door swung open.

A
demure woman in her early forties with long, straight black hair and large blue eyes stepped out of the door to greet us.  She wore a dark red dress with a black lace overlay across the bodice, giving her a slightly medieval look.  It hung on her thin figure and pooled down at her feet.  Twenty or thirty bracelets hung on both of her arms and a large red stone hung from a long necklace.  She was strikingly beautiful.

“Hello
,” she gave us a warm smile. “May I help you girls with something today?”

“Um, we were hoping to look
at some dresses?” Phoebe squeaked.

“O
f course, of course.”  She stepped aside and gestured for us to come in. “My name is Natasha.  The dresses are upstairs, so feel free to go on up and take a look.  I’ll join you shortly.” I followed her eyes to a wide antique staircase. Above it, a gothic looking chandelier with candles hung precariously.  The interior of the house had been given more attention than the exterior, but I could tell nothing had been changed from the original house.  Expansive wool rugs covered the hardwood floors, and faded black and white photographs watched us from the walls as we passed by.  If I didn’t know any better, I’d say we had just arrived in to a different era.  We made our way up the creaking stairs as she disappeared into a room that I assumed was the kitchen.

“Would you
girls like some tea?” she called from below.  I could tell Phoebe was trying to decide if she was going to poison us or chop us up for a stew.

“Sure, that’
d be great!” Willow called back.   She shrugged when Phoebe gave her a harsh look.

“If we all cr
oak, it’s your fault,” she said in a hushed voice.

At
the top of the stairs, a very shabby-chic dress shop stretched out before us.  However, unlike the trendy décor crafted in mass warehouses, this was the real deal. An antique postmaster’s desk greeted us at the entrance, holding a vintage cash register that probably still worked.  Beside the cash register was a modern credit card machine.  Which was a plus, since that’s what I’d be using to pay for my dress.   An old Singer sewing table covered in fabric, pins, measuring tape, and spools of thread took up one corner.  Lace curtains hung from each of the four square windows, and a romantic white chandelier hung from the ceiling with crystals raining down from the eight arms.  Large white ornate iron racks stood throughout the room holding an arrangement of different gowns.  Each dress was a work of art in its own right; each one intricately sewn together shining with its own individual personality and character.

“Stasia!” Phoebe whispered at me. 

“Why are we whispering?” I whispered back.

“I don’t know!” she
giggled.  She held up a strapless gown made up of layer upon layer of silk cascading down to the floor.  The bodice was cream colored with an empire waist, accentuated by a silver band.  As the fabric floated to the floor, flames of teal, purple, and orange danced up from the bottom.  I pointed to a small door labeled Fitting Room and she entered hesitantly. I turned and walked right into Natasha. 

“Oh!  I’m sorry
!”

“Do not fret child,
it’s alright,” she assured me and then gazed at me almost lovingly. “What is your name, dear?”  

“Stasia
.” She continued to stare at me and her blue eyes darkened, taking on an otherworldly quality.

“Dangerous waters await you, but destiny breathes within you
. You shine with a pure beauty all your own.”

“Um, thank you,
” I mumbled, unsure of how to respond to that.

She just smiled
and placed the tray of glasses down on a small sitting table. 

“Help yourselves to the tea, girls, it’s a new herbal
recipe I’ve created.” I heard Phoebe mumble something about six feet under in the fitting room and hoped Natasha didn’t hear it.  If she did, she didn’t show it.  She glided over to the sewing table and began searching through a rack of dresses. 

“
Ta-da!” No longer whispering, Phoebe pranced out of the fitting room and twirled around.  Accentuating her tiny waist, the different layers of fabric flowed out elegantly down to the floor from the silver band.  As the cream changed to teal, orange and purple it reminded me of an exotic bird.  She looked exquisite.

“It’s beautiful!” Willow clasped
her hands together.

“It looks like it
was made for you, Phoebs!” I exclaimed and Carmen shook her head in agreement.

“I am
so
getting this.  It’s perfect!” Phoebe twirled around again, grinning from ear to ear.  “Did you find one yet?” She asked me.

“N
ot yet.”

“I
believe you’ll find your taste matches this particular dress.” I whirled around at the extreme closeness of her voice.  Natasha stood mere inches from me, holding a bunch of fabric I assumed was a gown.  Her eyes watched me knowingly and I began to get slightly uncomfortable as she continued to stare at me with a wide, almost proud smile on her face.

I took
the dress and high-tailed it to the fitting room.

I
carefully stepped into the dress and zipped the back up as far as I could. I twisted to see my reflection in the mirror.  The woman looking back at me caught me off guard.  She was…beautiful.  The dress itself began over one shoulder, swooping down to cover my chest as it followed the curves of my body perfectly; down my waist and flaring out mid-thigh.  Ironically, the tag said this particular style was called mermaid.  The bright teal color matched my eyes perfectly and gave the impression I was much tanner than I really was.  It wasn’t quite a teal though, more of a…