The Haunted (39 page)

I went inside and grabbed a bag of chips, a hot dog, and a can of soda. I practically inhaled the food, proving that I was hungrier than I thought, and went back to the counter to buy a pack of gum.

I popped in a piece of minty freshness and chewed thoroughly, hoping to disguise any leftover hot dog on my breath. Caspian was waiting outside the store, the sun reflecting off his hair. The white-blond color practically glowed. “Ready to go?” I asked him.

“Where to next?”

“The cemetery.”

He led the way, and I followed him silently. As we walked, a cloud passed over the sun, dimming the light around us, and his hair didn’t glisten anymore.

I tried to pay attention to where he was leading me, but I got turned around and couldn’t tell which way we were going. He moved quickly, and I found myself jogging to keep up with him as we started down a gravel road.

A white clapboard church appeared, with a small graveyard directly across from it. There was a dark metal fence surrounding the cemetery, and a faded sign arched between the two main fence posts.

“Welcome to Saint Joseph’s Cemetery,” Caspian said. “My final resting place.”

I placed one hand reverently on the metal post and took a deep breath.
This is it. I’m here.

The tiny graveyard was vastly different from the one in Sleepy Hollow. There were no mausoleums, no ornately carved headstones, no statues of angels… no statues at all. Just simple, square granite markers punctuated with carved names and dates.

I stepped up to the first stone. It read:
WALTER ROSE, BORN JULY 7, 1923, DIED AUGUST 21, 1983
. There was no “beloved husband” or “he will be missed.” Just an empty name with an empty date.

“I’m over here,” Caspian said, and I looked up. He was standing by a small gray stone, clearly set apart.

Forcing one foot in front of the other, I moved purposefully toward him. This was what I’d come all this way for. To see him. The
real
him. I steeled myself for the possible tears that might come and concentrated on walking.

Left foot.

Right foot.

Move one, then the other.

His head was bowed when I reached him, and I felt myself falling. Suddenly, the ground was underneath me. Rough stone caught my fingertips.

C,
for Caspian.
V
, for Vander. He was here.

I spread my fingers and touched the rest of his name. Closing my eyes, I imagined…

Caspian in a black suit, eyes closed, head on a white satin pillow. Polished mahogany surrounding him, then slamming shut. Sealed forever.

Fresh dirt. Rich and dark, landing with a hollow thud against his closed coffin. New grass. Growing slowly. Tiny blades appearing from little seeds planted so many months ago.

The pictures reversed, and new images began to play.

Black suit, head bowed, rain streaming down, at Kristen’s funeral.

Crying over her grave on prom night. Caspian finding me at the river… saving me.

Starry skies. The necklace he made me. All alone in his crypt, bent over a small candle and working with his hands to make something beautiful.

Lying on my bed. Green glowing over our heads. My own private constellations put there so I could have them anytime.

The library
… s
mells of books and old papers. His hand grasping mine. That black stripe falling into one eye.

A kiss…

My eyes flew open, and I gasped. Caspian was beside me in an instant, kneeling on the grass. “Are you okay? Talk to me, Abbey.”

With one hand on his name carved in stone, I steadied myself and brought up the other to his face. The feeling was stronger here, and I held my trembling fingers in place.

“It doesn’t hurt, Caspian. I thought it would. Thought it might be too much to bear. But it’s not.” A sense of awe came over me, and I looked at him in amazement. “If I’m strong enough to handle this, then I’m strong enough to handle whatever else comes my way.”

Silent words that I did not say floated on the tip of my tongue.
Revenants… death…

Caspian turned his head slightly to move closer to my hand, and a thousand tiny charges erupted under my skin. “Do you feel it?” I whispered.

He nodded. “It must be stronger because I’m here.”

I shook my head. “It’s stronger because you’re
here
.” I pulled my other hand away from the stone and placed it over my heart. Keeping my gaze steady, I smiled at him. “I finally feel it now. The missing piece.”

He gave me a confused look, so I tried to explain. “When Kristen died, it felt like my heart shattered into a million pieces. And no matter what I did, or how I tried to make it better, I couldn’t. Then I met you. And it started to heal. The cracks went away, bit by bit.

“I didn’t realize that all the pieces were there except for one. But now, being here, with you, It finally
fits
.
We
fit, Caspian. I feel whole. Here, in this place. And I’ll do whatever it takes to hold on to that.”

I brought my hand down from his face and folded both hands together on top of the gravestone. Almost like I was praying.

“Even if that means I only get to touch you one day a year. I’ll take it.”
I turned my face up and felt the sun’s warmth. “I want
you
, Caspian. I want your body, your heart, and your soul. And any part in between.”

I took another deep breath. This was the scary part. “That only leaves one question to be answered.” I wanted to look away. I wanted
so badly
not to see hesitation, or reluctance, cross his face. But I had to know. “Do you want me?”

“Forever,” he said. And in the quiet stillness, the hushed authority of a solemn vow ran behind his words. “I want you forever.”

U
NFORTUNATE

What passed at this interview I will not pretend to say, for in fact I do not know.

—“The Legend of Sleepy Hollow”

We stayed in the cemetery for the rest of the afternoon. When it was time to go back to Shepherd University, I met Ben there on time and we drove to the hotel. Ben talked about the junkyard the entire time.

I nodded my head and listened with one ear, but I wasn’t really paying attention. My thoughts were on Caspian. I didn’t know what would happen when we got back to the hotel. What
could
happen.

Ben suggested that we get Chinese for dinner, and I caught enough of the conversation to agree. “Yeah, sounds good.”

He pulled into the bait shop–Chinese restaurant, but we
were both too grossed out to eat there, so I suggested that we find another one.

The closest place ended up being almost an hour away, but it was worth it, and we returned to the hotel with several boxes of leftovers. Ben carried them in and walked me to my door. I just wanted him to say good night already so I could spend the rest of the evening alone with Caspian.

He started fidgeting with the boxes as soon as I pulled out my room key. “Are you sure you don’t want to take any of these?” He held them out to me. “You might get the midnight munchies.”

“They’re all yours.”

He looked down at the floor. “Do you want to come watch a movie or something in my room, then? I feel bad. I didn’t get to ask you anything about the school.”

I slid my key into the card reader and pushed open the door. “That’s what we have a six-hour car ride home tomorrow for. We’ll talk—” The phone in my room started ringing and I glanced over at it. “That’s probably my dad. I should get it.”

Ben nodded and opened his door too. “See you tomorrow. Night, Abbey.”

He sounded kind of disappointed, but I told myself that I’d
let him talk my ear off the whole way home. I’d buy him a bag of Funyuns, too. That should make him happy.

I crossed the room and reached for the phone
just
as it stopped ringing. My foot kicked something, and I reached down to pick it up.

It was the bottle of lotion I’d had this morning.

Caspian stood by the door, and he slowly came toward me. I scooted backward, dropping the lotion, and felt the hard wood of the headboard at my back. “Lie down,” he commanded, with a slight tremble in his voice.

My knees turned to jelly.

I inched my way down onto the bed, stopping when my back was flat. “This isn’t, um, fair, you know.”

“No?” He leaned over me, and I blinked several times, trying to keep my thoughts straight.

“No, it’s not. You use that sexy voice and I go all melty.”

“Mmmm, melty? Is that the technical term?”

I could barely breathe. He was wreaking havoc on all my senses.

“We can’t…
do
anything,” I finally said.

“We can’t?” He whispered in my ear, “Let’s find out what we
can
do.…”

I closed my eyes.

“Are you cold?” he said. “You have goose bumps on your arms.” His gaze fell to my hair, and he lifted one hand, almost as if he was going to touch it. “I like seeing you like this. Your hair is all wild.”

“And witchy?” I teased, remembering prom night. When I babbled about my wild and witchy hair.

He smiled. “I’m thinking, yes. You definitely cast a spell on me. It drives me crazy.”

“There you go with those pickup lines again.”

He shook his head and lowered his face. We were nose to nose. Lips to lips. “You have no idea how much I want to kiss you right now,” he whispered.

“How much?” I taunted.

He licked his lips. “Very,
very
much.”

“If you had to choose between kissing me once right now and then dying, or living forever without my touch, which would it be?”

He didn’t even hesitate. “I’d die a happy man, with the taste of you on my lips.”

I tried
very
hard not to blush. “I’d make the same choice too.”

“You would?”

I nodded, then closed my eyes.

The hotel phone next to me rang loudly and completely broke the mood.

Caspian groaned. “Ignore it,” he pleaded.

“It’s my dad. I know it is.”

“He’ll call back.”

“He already called once and I missed it,” I argued. Truthfully, I was feeling a little bit of relief at the interruption. I was getting completely carried away.

Caspian sighed, and sat up, moving away from me. “You’re right,” he said. “You should probably answer it.”

I reached for the phone, trying to compose myself before saying hello.

“Hi, Abbey, it’s Dad.”

Yeah, like I couldn’t tell.
“Hi, Dad.”

“I called earlier, but you didn’t answer. Were you in Ben’s room?”

“No, Dad,” I sighed. “I wasn’t in Ben’s room. We went to get Chinese food for dinner, so that’s why I wasn’t here to pick up.”

“I’m trusting you, you know,” he said. “Both your mother and I are. Speaking of, she wants to know what you thought of the college.”

I
so
wasn’t in the mood to talk about that right
now. “It was okay.” I tried to think up something to tell him. “I wasn’t really all that impressed by it, honestly.”

“Did you meet the dean? What did you think of the campus? What’s the curriculum like?”

How could I answer
those
questions? “Like I said, Dad, I wasn’t really happy with it. So it kind of all passed by in a blur.”

“Oh.”

Inspiration hit. “I think I’ll tour some more colleges closer to home. Maybe I’ll find one there that’s more to my liking.”

“Oh, yeah?” He sounded happier. “That’s a good plan. I’m sure your mother can arrange something.” He chattered on for another twenty minutes. Finally I told him I had to get to bed, and I’d see him soon. He agreed, and I hung up the phone with another warning to “be good” ringing in my ear.

I glanced over at Caspian. He seemed to be waiting for my reaction. “
That
was fun,” I said.

“I could tell.”

“Do you mind turning out the light?” I asked him. “I really need to get some sleep. Long drive home tomorrow.” Sort of true. But mostly I wanted the light out because I felt awkward that our moment had been completely interrupted thanks to my father’s call.

He nodded, and hit the switch. The room was plunged into darkness, and I slipped off my pants and into my pajamas.

Something crunched in my jeans pocket.

“What was that?” Caspian asked.

I pulled out a cellophane wrapper. “Fortune cookie.” Padding over to the window, I parted the drapes slightly and cracked it open to read what was inside.
Every gift comes with a price. Choose wisely.
Clutching the fortune tightly in one hand, I climbed into the bed.

“Good fortune?” Caspian asked, settling down on the covers beside me.

I rolled onto my back and looked up at the dark ceiling, silently wishing for glowing plastic stars. “Yeah. It was. I think I’m going to hold on to it.”

He was quiet, and I said, “I miss my stars.”

“I have mine,” came his reply. “Right here next to me.”

I rolled to face him, but I couldn’t make out anything in the darkness. It was like talking to a shadow. “Sweet dreams, Caspian,” I said. “Even if you don’t dream, think of me.”