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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. ”
