“Ahhhhoowwwww!” Harlow yanks his body back, kneeling before me, and rubbing his finger.
His scowl hurts, and though I know it was to save myself, I feel a twinge of betraying guilt. “Sorry,” I murmur.
“No.” He stands and casts his attention around us. “You did the right thing.”
His curt tone tells me otherwise.
I can tell he’s pissed. I’m just not sure who he’s pissed at? Me? Himself? The situation?
But I don’t have time to think about it. We’re in the front of the train station. Black carriages line up at the front, ready to take passengers. Some are pulled by monster looking beasts and others aren’t pulled by anything at all. Spirits maybe?
Several people walk into a few of the cabs and drive down the cobblestone street. Others come in and out from the concrete sidewalk. Buildings, none of them less than two stories, crowd the lane, looming over the street in confining oppression.
My eyes sting.
I don’t belong here. I need trees, grass, dirt, the forest. This industrial park deadens my heart. The gray drudgery weighs on my soul. Steam, gears and cranks replace the noise of birds, deer and the rustling of woodland creatures. I turn and almost run into Harlow. The once friendly gleam in his eyes is now intimidating, haunting and cold. I shrink away, afraid.
“I need to get back on the train.”
Harlow smirks, though his mirth isn’t pleasant. “I’m afraid this is your destination, sweetheart.”
“You can’t keep me here.”
He looks at me over his sunglasses, his voice sultry. “Yes. I can.”
My breath hitches when I realize what he means. Drugged up shell. I search for a way around him, but there isn’t one. And I know if I try to flee, he’ll just grab me and once he touches me again, I might not be so lucky about keeping my ‘V card’ as he termed it. At the thought of him slipping inside me, a bunch of butterflies start stirring in my stomach.
My opinion of him splits in half. One half appreciates his gift for the utter ecstasy he could bring, the other doesn’t like him for using such a beautiful power in such a manipulative way.
“Get in the cab,” he says as we walk up to one which is drawn by nothing.
“No,” I say and look around myself, wondering what would happen if I just bolted and explained to the train attendant that this really wasn’t my stop, that I was supposed to be going to Arcadia. That Dread is definitely not the place for a dryad.
“Don’t make me do anything we both will regret, Everly.” Harlow points behind me. “Get in the cab.”
That, at least, makes me feel better about him. He doesn’t want to use his gift to incapacitate me. “But you don’t understand! I’m supposed to be in Arcadia. I’m an exchange student at the Academy of Enchantment. I have to go back to the train attendant and explain!”
“Everly.” Harlow draws out my name as though he’s lost his patience. “I was sent to escort you to Castle Raven Night. You were expected. You have a host family.”
He pauses, lowering his arm and staring at me in expectation. I can’t wrap my head around what he’s saying, though I’m trying to work out how I can get around him and back to the train station. There has to be someone I can talk to! The ticket office, maybe?
“I… can’t be expected here, Harlow,” I explain. “Because I’m expected in Arcadia.”
“No, love.” He shakes his head. “I can’t explain it, because I don’t know what’s going on or why you think you’re supposed to be somewhere else. All I can tell you is that I have my orders to pick you up and take you to Castle Raven Night. Anything more than that and you’ll have to talk to the headmaster.”
“Headmaster?”
He gives me a wicked smile. “Yeah. Headmaster of the Academy of Necromancy.”
Eep! “Necromancy?” What? The Academy of Necromancy? No. No. Nooo. NO!
Harlow nods.
Yes, getting out of here now is the number one priority. I have to make it back on that train and I need to get out of this awful place. This was a huge mistake. One I don’t understand, but at this point, I don’t need to understand it. I just need to get back on that train!
Sudden inspiration hits me.
“My bag.” I step forward.
Harlow steps in my path. “I’ll come back for it later if it’s still there.”
“I need to get it now. All… all my clothes are in it. Everything… everything I need is in it,” I continue, making my bottom lip tremble as I give him my best doe-eyes again. Hey, it worked before so it should work again.
His eyes narrow. “Everly, if you go back there, it’s going to be pandemonium. You stink to low hell of fear and desperation. Not a great combination, understand? Your bag isn’t worth your life.”
“Then… can you get it for me?” I bat my eyelashes, magic my eyes to look even bigger than they already do and I add a few extra chin trembles.
He rolls his eyes. “Oh, yeah, and the second I turn around, you’re going to have a vampire on your neck, a zombie tearing at your brain, and a ghoul eating your toes.”
“Oh,” I say and then swallow hard.
“Get in the cab.” He points.
Defeated, deflated and scared, I turn to the carriage in front of me and enter the enclosed four-seater space. Harlow is on my heels, and he calls to the driver before he slams the door, “EverDark.”
Two bug eyes under a top hat peek from the top of the glass, and a green fist knocks politely on the window. Harlow pulls the door open,
