Hadrian's Wall (30 page)

Stephen Cahill was very different than I
expected, except that he could easily be compared to Kevin Costner
because of his physical attributes. He had an undeniably strong
presence and exuded confidence. He was a kind of strong
boy—fearless, whom nothing scares.

Before I met him, I
thought he was like Adrian since they were brothers.
Adopted brothers
I
remembered just in time. Well, that explains the physical
differences. They could not have been more different. Stephen had
very light brown hair with blond highlights, cut in a
military-style. His eyes were dark blue, a shade that seemed
difficult to define. He had a straight nose,
thick eyebrows
, full, shapely lips,
and broad shoulders. The guy was hot, but he couldn’t hold a candle
to
my
Adrian. The
only similarity was the constitution. Stephen was also tall and
athletic, like his adopted brother.

He extended a steady hand, palm facing up.
However, in an act of rebellion, I turned away and walked toward
the old woman...but she had disappeared without warning. Worse yet,
the creek and the fog had also disappeared. I glanced back at him,
horrified. He had not moved and still had his hand extended to
me.

“You must come with me now.” It sounded like
a peremptory order, but I was too stunned to argue.

This was Stephen Cahill, head of an elite
team of bodyguards. With him I would be safe. I took his hand and
realized that it was very cold.

11

LET’S BE
FRIENDS

Exhausted, I was balancing
the shopping bags in my arms as I climbed the steps leading to the
hospital. Charity shouted from the car that she was going park the
Porsche and then she’d come find me. I politely nodded. I was dying
to be alone.

Charity had not stopped
talking one minute all the way back to Hadrian’s Wall. I had the
impression that she wanted to “fill gaps” after my attempted escape
on the trail. After all, who could explain the new hallucination
that I’d experienced? I did not tell them, but I had the feeling
that they knew exactly what I’d seen.

The F-150 stopped at a
distance. Through the open window, I could see that Stephen was
having a serious telephone conversation with someone. Mysteries and
more mysteries...I shrugged and entered the building. I’m not sure
how I found my way because of how stunned I was about the events at
the
Resort
. I
pressed the elevator button and waited.

I was distracted by the sound of the
cafeteria doors opening. I was exhausted...and very thirsty. I
passed my tongue over my parched lips, imagining how good a cold
Coke would taste right now. I took a few steps toward the
cafeteria, completely forgetting about the elevator. I stopped when
I heard the sound of laughter. Sitting at a long table near the
windows was a group of “lab coats” all talking loudly.

I considered turning
around, but then I saw him—Adrian Cahill, in the flesh...
and he wasn’t wearing his glasses!
That was like a powerful magnet drawing me
inside. I took a few more steps, glancing around to see if the room
was full. It was not. The Coke machine was near entrance, very
close to where I was standing, so I figured I might as well get
what I came for and then sneak out.

Laughter exploded from the
Adrian’s group. Startled, I looked in that direction and saw
Adrian
playfully punch
the shoulder of another
young
man
. Asia was sitting beside Adrian. Her
hand was resting on his arm and she looked at him adoringly. Adrian
seemed not to notice her, still laughing at something the other guy
had said.

The unknown
young man
was telling
them a joke
or something
. He wore no lab coat like the others, but seemed to be
familiar with the others in the group. Standing before his
audience, he shook his head, gesturing.

I was so shocked and
delighted to see Adrian without his glasses that scarcely paid any
attention to the unknown guy. He had curly brown hair, longer than
usual which gave him the appearance of “semi-hippie angel.” His
vulnerable visage contributed to this image, though he had a very
athletic build. Looking at him more closely, he didn’t seem as
vulnerable as an angel would be.

Suddenly,
Adrian’s indulgent smile disappeared.
His nostrils flared visibly...as if he were
sniffing something in the air. He raised his head and looked
around. I cringed when all of a sudden he looked straight at
me.

Heart lurched inside my
chest
.

My initial guess was
wrong...completely wrong. His eyes were green, not blue... a shade
that I had never seen before. They were the color of jade.
Amazing!

He still was staring at
me. I felt myself rooted to the ground.
Come on, girl! You’re only a few steps from the door. Turn
around and go!
But I couldn’t
move.

Of course, the others had also noticed my
presence. Some heads turned toward me surreptitiously for a brief
moment before returning their attention to the “Angel jokester.”
The laughter resumed as if nothing had happened.

The jade-colored eyes of
Adrian
shone, his
facial expression changed. It was as if Adrian was waiting
for me to do something. His eyes narrowed as an almost
imperceptible movement freed me from my torpor. I was overwhelmed
by the terrible realization that I was facing the “prince” of the
town—the heir of a powerful clan and the people who were with him
were part of his “court”—all belonging to the same social
circle.

His circle was not my
circle.
I had no circle!
How dare I believe that the chemistry between us
would be enough to...
to what?
He only felt sorry for a crazy, delusional orphan
girl.
A man like that...hot...and a very
rich man to boot, he could choose any woman he wanted. He probably
had many girls running after him, vying for his attention, one more
beautiful than other. Just look at Asia, who was still hanging on
his arm.

I took a step back,
oblivious of my thirst, but before turning away, I glanced back and
saw that Adrian was still in the same position. Something held my
gaze...and suddenly I realized that his jade-colored eyes had
started to change color, becoming yellow.
It was not possible!
It could only
be the effect of the illumination in the room or I was
hallucinating again. I blinked hard and looked again. He didn’t
look away, not even for a second. On the contrary, he seemed to
challenge me to examine him more closely.
That freaked me out!

Adrian moved his chin forward—an attitude
typifying pride and then his eyes turned black!

Someone laughed noisily.
It was the “angel face” guy
.
Worried,
he glanced my way and then
laughed again, demanding Adrian’s attention as if to finish his
joke he needed the full attention of his audience. Adrian smiled at
him, but did not take his eyes off me. It was a superficial smile
that soon disappeared—nothing like the genuine enthusiasm he’d
shown before noticing my presence.

His eyes were now black as
the night. How was that possible? My dread must have been shown
because he scowled at me through narrowed eyes and his jaw was
clenched. Adrian didn’t seem indifferent
as
usual
. It seemed more like he was
overwhelmed by anger. Worse yet, the manner in which he was staring
at me gave me a feeling of déjà vu. It was like I was sinking into
a vortex of recognition, but I did not want any of it. I just
wanted to run away. The hair on my arms stood on end. My heart was
pounding and my muscles twitched painfully. My entire body was
begging to escape. Still, I could not move.

The black eyes were
observing my growing tension like an x-ray
and then his face became empty. Adrian picked the glasses
that were laying on the table in front of him. Without looking away
from me, he put them on his
face.
Then
he turned to his friends and struck
up a conversation as if nothing had happened.

When he turned to smile at them, I felt like
he was rejecting me. At that moment, Asia launched a murderous look
at me. She also put on her glasses and examined me from behind the
colored lenses. Adrian glanced at her and she meekly lowered her
eyes. I could have sworn that he blasted her with his irises.

“Hey!
You’re still here!” said a breathless voice behind me. I
turned around.

Charity tugged at my arm, casting a nervous
glance at the group.

“I was trying to decide if I wanted a Coke,
but I changed my mind,” I mumbled.

I turned back toward the
elevator without any desire to remain close to the circle of young,
rich and successful people. They had nothing to do with me. I
didn’t belong to their world.
Forget
it
.

Given my
psychiatric history
of
hallucinations that were becoming more and more enhanced, who would
want to date me? A coveted doctor certainly would not.

I suspected that Adrian had the heart of a
knight, ready to defend any helpless creature that crossed his
path, so he asked his cousin to help me. He asked his father to
hire me as an assistant and illustrator. Okay, he was a wealthy,
handsome man, but above all else, he was naturally benevolent. He
deserved to find someone as special as he is and that someone
certainly was not me.

I lowered my head. My self-esteem was
gone.

“Are you all right?” Charity asked. “Are you
thirsty? Maybe we...?”

“Don’t...I get something
later.”

* * *

Charity stayed with me for
a few minutes talking about trivialities. When she realized wasn’t
getting any answers from me beyond “yes,” “no,” and “okay,” she
decided it was time to leave me alone.
Thank God!
She got up to leave,
saying that she’d meet me the next day.

I sat at my computer,
typing the name “Cahill” in the Google search bar.
You really are masochistic, girl. Why don’t you
forget him?
I grumbled to myself that I
was just curious about him, but I knew it was a lie.

I found everything about
everything: the labs and the brands of medicines manufactured in
the Cahill name. I found the address of the town hall, the
hospital, and the museum. Some of the pictures I saw in the museum
were also available on the webpage. Hadrian’s Wall had social
networking sites and even a community on Orkut; but nowhere was the
Cahill family name mentioned, nor were there quotes about them
anywhere. I thought it was strange not to find anything about their
social lives in the newspapers or any of the online “gossip”
forums. After all, Adrian was a billionaire, so he should have been
besieged with requests for interviews or stalked by paparazzi, but
nothing showed up anywhere. Strange...v
ery
strange
.

I found no mention of the
death of Adrian’s mother. Absolutely nothing about his trip to
Germany, not even a note about some party he had
gone to or given
.
Niente
.

I remembered a comment that Charity had made
about how the family ensured their own privacy. They had so much
power that they were able to prevent any news about them being
disseminated through the media?

* * *

It was late and I despite
the fatigue, I still couldn’t sleep. I thought I could
re-pack
my suitcase,
since I had to leave the hospital soon. Nobody had said anything,
probably assumed that my stay was over. Any clothes that wouldn’t
fit into the suitcase would be placed in bags and if I couldn’t
carry it all...
Well, there’s nothing you
can do about it, girl
. I could always
leave the extra clothes that Charity had given me in the hospital’s
donations basket, except for the high-heeled shoes. Nobody in their
right mind would donate such things for the needy, but if the
hospital staff could hold an auction among the jet-setters of the
town, they could raise some money to help people in
need.

I got out of bed and
immediately felt I wasn’t
alone.
A chill ran down my spine. I scoured my room,
looking behind the curtains, in the closet and the bathroom.
Nobody. I was alone,
of course!

I turned on the bathroom
light and decided to take a warm bath to help me relax. I let the
shower water run until it got warm while I chose a simple outfit to
wear when I was ready to leave. I still wanted something cold to
drink. Moreover, something was attracting me to the cafeteria.
Maybe I needed to take a short walk until I felt sleepy
finally...
or maybe you want to know if
he’s still on duty
... Insidious thinking
rattled my ability to reason.

I tied my hair on the top of my head and
took off my clothes, but I felt another chill...like someone was
right behind me. I spun around. Nothing, but it was as if my body
was being looked at by unseen eyes. There was an undeniable energy
in the air. I shuddered, but oddly enough...I was not afraid.