“Going for an early morning jog on the beach?” Olivia smirked, and they both laughed hysterically. Why couldn’t they just say hey and keep walking? “You might want an umbrella though; I heard it’s supposed to rain.”
“Oh my God, Olivia. Is that a zit on your chin? It must really hurt, it’s huge!” I leaned in and stared at her face with mock horror.
“What?” Olivia looked accusingly at Cassie “Why didn’t you tell me I had Mt. Everest on my face before we went downstairs!” She pushed past her into their suite.
“Olivia, wait!” Cassie called after her. I hopped onto the elevator before the doors closed and smiled, despite myself.
Down in the lobby, a group of girls were gathered around one of the large big screens watching a movie since the satellites were out. I felt their stares and heard the whispers in my direction as I walked by as nonchalantly as possible. Oh yea, Finn was definitely going to pay for this.
I hesitated at the double doors. How was I supposed to find him in a hurricane? What if I got blown away? And worse, what if everyone saw me get blown away? It would be all over YouTube within minutes. I looked back at the lobby to see how many witnesses there were. Only twenty or so.
Excellent. I turned back toward the door and almost had a heart attack. Finn stood on the other side snickering at me. I was glad he thought this was funny. Using all of my strength, I wrenched open the door. With the wind counteracting my movements, I had to slide out quickly before getting crushed.
“What part of ‘go out into a hurricane’ did you think was a good idea?” I glared up at Finn, but he had vanished. Something touched my hand and he reappeared right in front of me.
“How’d you do that?” I yelled, realizing a second too late it wasn’t necessary. It was like we were back inside, except…we weren’t. The rain had stopped and the deafening sound of the wind had disappeared as well. I was also sparkling.
“I’ve cloaked us.” Finn grinned, proud of himself. “It’s one of my abilities.”
“You what?” He was sparkling as well. Instead of answering, his grin widened and he released my hand. He disappeared and I was back out in the hurricane. Rain battered my face and the sound of the wind screamed in my ears. Thankfully, he grabbed my hand again.
“Don’t do that!” I scolded him, as he tried not to laugh. “You think you’re real funny, don’t you? Just because you borrowed an invisibility cloak from Harry Potter, doesn’t mean you can just
–“He let go of my hand again. I reached out through the blinding rain, hoping to grab him but my hands couldn’t find anything solid. Knowing he was watching me, I put my hands on my hips and yelled over the wind. “If you don’t cloak me right now, I’m going back inside and never speaking to you ever again!” I felt his hand in mine again and he reappeared, along with the protection of his cloak. Unfortunately, I was already dripping wet.
“I just wanted to see if you’d melt,” he explained with feigned innocence.
“I’m not that sweet,” I retorted, wiping the water off my face with my free hand. I tried my best to be mad at him. It was difficult considering he was the embodiment of temptation, continually wreaking havoc on my emotions.
“Neither am I,” he answered, a conspiring gleam in his eye. He pulled me down the steps and onto the beach. I noticed we weren’t technically the ones sparkling, the cloak attached to us was. It was draped around us like a blanket, sticking to our bodies and keeping the rest of the world out. I glanced sideways at him, wondering how many times he’d cloaked himself around me without my knowledge. I thought about all those times I had felt like I was being watched. I probably was.
Unlike me, his faded jeans and blue t-shirt were completely dry; his hair lay perfectly across his brow, also untouched by the hurricane. I felt like a wet dog in comparison. The sand beneath our bare feet was wet, but I was glad for that one connection to the beach. I couldn’t feel the air or smell the water. Otherwise, I couldn’t be sure we were really outside. The rain and wind whirled around the cloak, creating a misting effect that made it impossible to see. I felt like we were walking through a storm cloud.
“Where are we going?” I asked.
“Almost there.” We could walk right off of a cliff and I’d never know the difference.
Suddenly, the sand beneath our feet turned to wooden planks. He turned to face me and the cloak blasted outward, encompassing a large gazebo. It hung down the sides of the roof, glittering all around us. It was awe-inspiring.
“Wow.” I spun in a circle taking it all in. “How do you do that?”
“I just will it to be.” He shrugged his shoulders like it was no big deal. “As long as we’re under the cloak, no one else can hear or see us.” I didn’t miss the ghost of a smile that crossed his lips.
Unfortunately, a twinge of fear overshadowed my sense of adventure. I’d been cloaked by a possible murderer. In the middle of a hurricane. The possible ‘accidents’ that could happen to cause my death were endless. I pushed down my worries and put on a face of confidence.
“So now that you’ve got me here, what do you intend to do with me?” I looked around, curiously. “And where have you taken me?”
“To a gazebo,” he responded slyly, watching me carefully. He picked up a small wooden box similar to Kira’s, but his looked much older. The wood was weathered and smooth with dark engravings covering its top and sides.
“I have something for you.” From the box, he pulled out a small blue velvet pouch and handed it to me. Surprised, I held it gingerly and looked at him for the meaning behind it. He gazed back at me with amusement.
“It’s inside the bag,” he grinned at me. With shaking fingers, I untied the ribbon and pulled the top of the bag open. I reached inside and pulled out the most beautiful necklace I’d ever seen. The delicate chain was black in color; a dark metal I didn’t recognize. From the chain hung a large oval pendant of the same metal, made up of swirls and loops that encased an oval blue-green colored gemstone.
“It’s an aquamarine,” he told me in almost a whisper. The beauty of it illuminated the gazebo with a brilliance I could feel deep down in my heart. As I placed it in my hand to get a better look, my skin tingled under its weight. It had a very gothic quality to it and I could tell it was as old as the box it came in.
“Finn.” Completely at a loss for words, all I could do was stare at it. “This is….I can’t take this.”
“Of course you can. It belongs to you now.” He was peering at me with curiosity. “Plus, it matches your dress.”
“My dress?” Last time I checked I didn’t have on a dress.
“The one you’re going to wear to the Ball.” I felt myself smile as I realized what he was saying.
“Are you asking me to the Cimmerian Shade Ball, Finn?”
He took a step toward me, eyes never leaving mine. “Are you saying you’ll go with me, Stasia?”
“I heard you don’t go to those kinds of things,” I challenged him.
“I don’t.” He moved even closer to me, gently taking the necklace and placing it back in the velvet bag. Pulling the ribbon closed, he dropped it into the pocket of my wind pants. His hand grazed my leg, sending sparks all the way down to my feet. Holding my gaze, he pulled the hat off my head and brushed my wet hair back from my shoulders. I waited for his fingers to get caught in the mass of tangles I knew had been created by the wind, but thankfully that didn’t happen. The thought brought on a nervous smile and he grinned back at me. His eyes dropped to my lips and when they met mine again, they were stormy and filled with white hot desire. He took my hand.