Aknocking sound rouses me from my slumber. My eyes feel gritty as I try to blink them open. The candle I left lit burned out, seeing as it’s pitch black in the room. I assume it’s morning, however, my exhaustion makes me believe otherwise.
“Cecily, wake up. Let me in before someone sees me out here.” I hear Marcellus’ muffled voice come through the door.Huh,maybe it’s still night since he knows I’m sleeping. I get up and slip my arms through the dressing gown my magic brought to me. I suck in a breath when my bare feet touch the cold stone of the floor, and a moment later, my slippers are under my feet.
Conjuring a ball of light to illuminate the space, I make my way to the door. I’ve barely opened it an inch before Marcellus is pushing on it to make way for himself, and then quickly shoves it closed after glancing both ways down the hall. I only got a quick glimpse of Frances standing there with a raised eyebrow.
“What are you doing, Marcellus? You know we shouldn’t be alone in my room. Just because we’re mates doesn’t mean people won’t talk.” My objections are made with no conviction behind them. In fact, I love him being here with me.
“Shhhh, Darling. No one saw me come in, but we don’t want them to hear us talking either. Did you still want to go on that adventure?” he whispers sweetly to me. It’s been a few days since he asked me. I thought he had forgotten all about it, especially with the turn of our conversation after he asked. His joy and excitement are radiating off him, and it’s becoming contagious.
“Of course I do! I thought you had forgotten you asked me.” Marcellus’ enthusiasm creates a fluttering in my stomach.
“Psh, I would never forget making plans with you. If we want to go, we need to sneak out now before anyone sees us and asks questions. I placed a few things at one of the exits if you’re ready to leave now.”
“I can’t think of… Oh, I need to dress.” I realize with a start. Marcellus takes a moment, his eyes rooming over me, realizing I'm in my nightdress. My cheeks heat with the look in his eyes. And I rush to change; I’m so ready to get out of this place. When I return, the grin on my face is so large my cheeks are beginning to feel sore, and I do absolutely nothing to hide it. Marcellus reaches for my hand, and without even thinking, I reach out for him like it’s second nature. We seem to be constantly gravitating toward each other, like we can’t help but touch.
Marcellus opens the door to my chambers just a crack and peers down the hall before sticking his head out a bit further to check the other direction. Once he confirms all is clear, he pulls me out of my room with him and quietly shuts the door behind us. I whisper out a, “Cover for me,” to Frances who is standing guard, before quickly dashing down the hall with Marcellus to the stairs, asking my magic to make sure our steps remain quiet as we make our way out of this dreadful castle. I also extinguish the ball of light following us, since we don’t need it with the torches lighting the hallways.
At every turn, Marcellus pauses to make sure no one’s there who could spot us leaving. The flickering light from the torches cast dancing shadows throughout the halls, making things more suspenseful as we head to the exit.
Finally, we get to the same door he took me out of the other day when we went for our walk. As he said, there's a satchel waiting there that he quickly shoulders before slowly opening the door to exit. I notice dawn is upon us as the sky lightens, more dark blue than pitch black.
Marcellus peeks his head out, repeating his actions from when we left my room, and then we’re off, running through the yard. It takes a moment for me to realize we aren't running toward the front of the castle but toward the back of the kitchen’s garden. I don’t question Marcellus, knowing he has a plan. We head past all the rows of vegetables and herbs and continue toward the bench we sat on the other day.
Once we get to the bench, Marcellus pauses for a moment, long enough to wave his palm over the space of ground between the back of the bench and the wall. After his hand passes over the area, a wooden cover appears. Letting go of my hand, which feels like all the warmth has been taken from my body, Marcellus lifts the cover to reveal a hole in the ground.
He places the cover along the edge of the hole and drops into it. Once his feet hit the ground at the bottom, he turns around and holds up his hands to me. They beckon me forward as he flashes the smile that makes me melt. “Come along, Cecily, I’ve got you.” He sure wasn’t kidding about going on an adventure.
I sit on my haunches to reach him easily, placing my hands on his biceps as he tenderly grips underneath my arms. His muscles shift under my hold as he takes my full weight and lowers me, my front sliding down his. Once my feet are firmly underneath me, Marcellus trails his hands down my sides until they reach my waist. He leaves them there for far less time than I would’ve liked as my heart pounds in my chest before he takes a step back, causing my hands to fall to my sides as he reaches up to pull the wooden cover back over the hole. He waves his hand over the area, recasting the cloaking spell over his hidden escape route once again.
With the cover back in place, we are plunged into darkness. The defused rays of dawn snuffed out.. I create an orb to light our way; it floats before us as we walk. The tunnel we’re in is carved out of the dirt, smooth, and completely straight. The space is similar to the size of a doorway and heads straight underneath the castle wall for about six feet, just long enough for us to come out on the other side of the ward.This tunnel appears to be perfectly made. I’m willing to believe magic was used to make it.
Marcellus pulls himself out on the other side and helps me, before again covering the entry and leading me into the trees. We travel using the cover of the woods to hide our escape from the grounds as we make our way to the road leading into the village. Once we’re far enough from the castle, we make our way onto a worn path. “So, Marcellus, where is it you’re taking me that requires us to sneak out?”
“I’m starting to think you don’t understand what a surprise is, my darling. As for the secrecy, I have a few reasons. For starters, I wanted it to be just the two of us. If my uncle knew, he would never let us go by ourselves. Also, this is something I like to do as an escape from my everyday life. I've never shared it with anyone.”
I can’t help the warm bubbly tingles from overtaking my body when he tells me he’s sharing something with me he’s never shared with another. We’re walking side by side, our hands slightly brushing every few seconds. I reach out my pinky as my arm swings back, and one side of his mouth twitches up as I slightly hook his hand with it.
Before I can get a hold of his hand, he lifts it up and says, “I'll tell you that just past this curve, we’ll branch off the road and head into the mountains.” He uses his finger to point in the direction we’re heading. As he brings his hand back down, I try to catch it again, but just before we touch he brings it back up to swat next to his ear.
“Darn gnat. Hate when they buzz in my ear.” Once again, I go for his hand but then he suddenly bends down. “Oh, what an interesting pebble.” Holding up a plain brown stone for me to see.
I’m beyond perplexed as to why something so ordinary would catch his attention. Maybe he sees something in it I don’t, so I ask, “What is so riveting about it?”
“Hmmm… it looked interesting from a distance. Perhaps I was mistaken.” His lips are twitching as if he’s trying to stop a smile from making an appearance. He drops the pebble but then swiftly brings his hand back up from his side to brush his hands together, trying to remove any dirt. I narrow my eyes at him.
Is… is he… he is! He’s trying to keep his hand away on purpose. I gasp at the realization and he bursts out laughing. I turn toward him to smack his shoulder but he jumps back before I make contact. He runs off down the path, laughing the entire time as I dash after him.
Marcellus has us heading in the direction of the mountains as we keep playing a game of chase. Every time I get close to grabbing him, he would evade me by smoothly jumping to the side in an almost graceful manner. Our constant laughter mingles with the sounds of the leaves crunching underfoot and the birds singing from their perch in the treetops of the forest surrounding us.
We take turns chasing each other. When he’s chasing me, I can tell he’s still directing me to where we need to go. Whenever he gets close to catching me, there’s an internal battle within me trying to decide if I should let him or not. My competitiveness wins out each time and I use my magic to help me avoid being captured. In no time at all, we’re up and over a few hills. According to the sun, we’ve been playing for a couple of hours. Marcellus is right in front of me now, the fabric of his shirt brushes my fingertips in my attempt to capture him.
If I can go just a little faster or reach a little further, I’ll be able to grip it in my hand and pounce on him. I barely catch his movement, but suddenly he’s running backward, facing me. I realize I appear crazy with my hand stretched out in front of me, so I drop it to my side, pumping my arms back and forth to try to gain a modicum of speed.
“Darling, you’re so close, just a little faster and you’ll catch me. Don’t you want to hold my hand?” He waves said hand right in front of my face, taunting me to reach for him. The joke’s on him though. I choose this moment to push a gust of wind right into his back, slowing him down enough for me to grab a hold of his hand just as he pulls it back.
I let out an embarrassing little squeal of excitement that turns into a scream when Marcellus trips over a log he didn’t see due to him still running backward. His momentum causes both of us to lose our footing and fall to the ground.
As we fall, with lightning-fast reflexes, he wraps one arm around my waist and his other on the back of my head to protect it from the fall. We hit the ground and he lets out a small ‘oomph’ sound as my weight lands on top of him, with my head cradled to his chest and both of my hands tangled in his shirt.
