But I thought of Yas. His life depended on this.
I stepped from the path. The first transgression in a night sure to be full of them.
Fear drove my feet forward, eating up the uneven terrain. I didn’t slow my pace—if I was going to be mauled, I might as well present a moving target. Occasionally I spun, jogging backward to judge my direction in relation to the North Star. Emma had taught me well—I was on track, heading what I estimated to be due southwest.
I reached the standing stones sooner than I’d anticipated, a grim half-moon encircling one edge of a grassy courtyard. Girls had swarmed the area on that first day, but now, desolate in the shadows, I saw that the stones were even more massive than I’d thought. The castle on the hill loomed just beyond, and I didn’t dare think what might be watching me from within its walls.
The yellow LED numbers on my standard-issue watch read 23:47. I was early. I needed to occupy myself until Yasuo came.
I bounced on the balls of my feet, pretending it was to keep away the cold, but really it distracted me from the fear that was twining its way up my spine, making me feel I might never be warm. I started to walk around, and before I realized, I found myself walking toward the stones. They called me. As though a superficial veil had been cast atop my conscious mind, urging, What harm could it be to get a closer look? It was a pull I felt deep in my belly.
And yet a tiny kernel of animal instinct nestled in the recesses of my brain was sounding an alarm, shrill and insistent. You are prey. You must run.
But I couldn’t run. I had to help Yas.
My eyes were only on the center stone. It was where Headmaster Fournier had stood on that first day. The stone on which Mimi had met her death.
It drew me, and I walked to it. Placing my hand down, I braced myself for the shock of cold, but it was warm.
“Little Acari, so far from home.” Cool breath tickled over the skin of my cheek, a gentle breeze in the spring night. “Do you come looking for me?”
My skin shrank two sizes, my flesh rippling into goose bumps. I recognized the sultry voice, the accent. I knew whose face I’d see when I turned.
Oh, shit. I was so dead.
I swallowed hard, somehow managed to find my voice. “Master Alcántara.”
The sight of him stole my breath. His thick, black hair gleamed. His mysterious, dark eyes glittered. He was beautiful, an apparition promising charm, enchantment, seduction. But more than that, he radiated power.
I’d expected anger, a confrontation, but some other emotion played on his face. He looked wicked, playful even, and it terrified me.
He tilted his head, contemplating me. “I felt your approach. The flame of a torch cutting through the endless black of night.”
Pure terror swept me. I’d broken the rules in the biggest way ever. He was one of the main vampires, and he’d busted me. What horrible punishment would I suffer?
I waited for him to lash out at me, but he just stared, consuming me with his eyes. Why was he being so casual? Was he toying with me before he struck?
He traced a finger down my cheek. My skin felt hot under his touch. “Did you sense me, as I sensed you? Did you seek me, as I did you?”
Breathing in and out was a struggle under that penetrating gaze. I was panting, worried I might hyperventilate. My reply was deliberate, my words slow and measured. “You sought me? The stones . . . they pulled me closer.”
His eyes lit. “You felt it, did you not?”
Did he not know for certain? I’d just assumed vampires knew everything. That if they summoned a human, they’d know without a doubt that human would come running. I gave him a wary nod. “Yes. I guess I felt . . . drawn.”
He grew more intense, if that were possible. I focused on not flinching away from him. On not getting sucked into the depths of those exotic, coal black eyes. Carefully, he brushed a strand of hair from my brow. “Like seeks like, Annelise.”
I concentrated on slowing my heartbeat, deepening my shallow breaths. I refused to faint. I might wake in some horrible dungeon. Panicked at the thought, I blurted, “Sounds like a personal ad.”
His laugh reverberated off the stones. “Truly, you amuse me.”
I smiled back cautiously. Why hadn’t he killed me yet?
He cocked a brow, his grin once again mischievous. “Like seeks like. Perhaps it could be a law of quantum mechanics. What say you? Are you here merely because the universe dictated the actions of yet another mindless bit of particulate matter?” He stepped closer. “Or were you, Annelise the woman, drawn to me?”
My mind worked frantically. What the hell was he talking about? Physics? Was he a predator toying with his meal? Or were these the words of a man? “Are you asking as my teacher?”
He laughed. “Poor, befuddled child. How must it be for you? Is it a pleasure, for the first time in your life, to feel a true challenge?”
I didn’t think it’d be a pleasure when he finally got around to slaughtering me. But playing along seemed to have the added benefit of keeping me alive, so I answered, “You keep me on my toes. I’ll grant you that, Master Alcántara.”
“I knew you would enjoy the island.” He cupped my cheek and I froze. His skin wasn’t clammy like I’d imagined it might be. Instead, the flesh of his hand was firm and cool.
I forced myself to remember he was a killer. A monster. Breaking our connection, I made myself blink.
He stepped back. He sat on the stone and gestured for me to join him. “Tell me, cariño. Have you given thought to how it is you find yourself on our isle? Think you that paltry Tracer found you?”
His comment brought me back to myself. I remained standing. “You mean Ronan? He’s not exactly what I’d call paltry.”
Master Alcántara’s face and voice sharpened. “Acari, I told you to sit.” The shift in his expression was sudden and terrifying.
“Yes, Master Alcántara,” I said, sounding like I’d been hypnotized. My mind watched as my body sat automatically.
“I caution you, Acari, not to get attached to your Tracer.”
I cleared my throat, fighting the sensation of helplessness. “I’m not attached to Tracer Ronan.”
“Do you truly believe him capable of finding you, out of all the girls in the world?”
“But that means . . .” That meant a vampire had found me. Chosen me. This vampire.
Ronan told me he’d been asked to watch out for me. I knew now: The one keeping an eye on me had been Master Alcántara.
“Understanding dawns on your face as vividly as the sun in the sky.” He touched a finger to my chin, and fear thrummed through me. He could snap my neck as easily and thoughtlessly as plucking a flower.
A low laugh rumbled in his chest. “You betray every thought. I see I must teach you guile. For once you are silent, Annelise. Have you nothing to say?”
What were all these words he was saying to me? They freaked me out. “I’m just . . . confused. I mean, surely there are other girls in the world who know a thing or two about math.”
“None such as you.” He canted his head, and his attentions made me intensely uncomfortable. “You are the full package, as they say. I’ve suffered centuries of dim-witted beauties. Or girls with looks so repellent as to negate minds that shone like diamonds. I seek strength, too, and yet have had my fill of Amazons whose brawn lacks loveliness and grace.”
I stared dumbly. What was I supposed to say to this little revelation? Thanks. You’re smart and cute, too?
“But you, querida, your mind is luminous. You, a crude but radiant light. Your courage, your edge . . . Nurtured in a hothouse of cruelty, you’ve grown into a rosebud with deadly thorns.”
“Thanks . . .” My words faltered. I was uncertain what to do. Uncertain what was expected of me. I opened my mouth to say more, but didn’t know what.
“Do I frighten you with my words? You’ll be unaccustomed to men, I think.”
“Yes.” I inhaled deeply. That was a good train of thought to cling to. “That’s it exactly.”
And speaking of boys, just where was Yasuo? It was surely well past midnight now. Had he seen Master Alcántara and been scared off? I was all alone with him, and I thought I might suffocate from the tension.
“I don’t usually talk to a lot of boys,” I added.
He gave me a look that I prayed was more kindly uncle and less here’s a live one for me to deflower.
Master Alcántara stared up at the moon. “How many nights I’ve sat beneath this sky. How many stars have circled, how many times?” His gaze swung to me, pinning me. “And now I sit here with you.”
Crap. It was the deflower one.
I made myself look away, staring blindly up at the stars. Looking anywhere but at the vampire. I had to keep my wits. This scenario couldn’t end well for me. I’d seen the movies. When Dracula got the hots for a girl, it always ended with him draining her dry.
“Perhaps it means you’re meant to win my award,” he mused.
The vampire mesmerized me, but mentally I pushed back. Mustering my wits, I dragged my mind from its spiral. “Yes, I’d really like to win,” I said, speaking as though I were addressing any teacher. “I’ve been working very hard. I feel I’ve made good progress, too. Plus, I’d really like to take a trip off-island.”
And how. More than ever, I knew I had to do whatever it took to get the hell out of here.
“Is that why you’ve come looking for me?” His voice rose, waiting for some response.
I cleared my throat, imagining it cleared my head, too. Why was I there? Master Alcántara hadn’t summoned me—Yasuo had. Award or no, I had the strong feeling I needed to clarify. What if it was Alcántara who’d sent the note, and this was all some elaborate test? “That’s not exactly why.... It’s . . . I was given a note.”
He laughed, but I wasn’t sure if it meant he was amused or angered. “I see you are incapable of lying. Do you know you just saved your life, little Acari? I dislike lies—I kill for less.”