My thoughts scatter and my fingers still.
In my bones, I know it’s Audrey who’s here.
I quickly hide my sunscreen under a couch pillow and slowly make my way to the front door, keeping my steps unhurried, unbothered, and certainly not anticipatory.
Audrey stares up at me with her big brown eyes, her shoulder-length hair still damp from what must be a very recent shower, and plump red lips already poised in a small grin. “Oh good. You’re still up. I was scared I’d be too late and you’d already be asleep.”
There’s no greeting, no easing into the conversation, only direct communication while speaking her mind. It’s somewhat startling, and also a tad refreshing.
I frown down at her, keeping myself within the castle’s safety and away from the creeping rays of the sun. “I don’t require much sleep. I’m not human,” I remind her, lest she forget.
And it’s true. A couple of hours a day is more than sufficient for me. Most of the time sleep is but a habit that I partake in to cure some of the boredom of my daily life.
When one has been alive for as long as I have, it’s hard for something new to truly capture my attention and lure me into changing my routine.
So, I survive, one day at a time, one habit at a time, as the decades pass by.
Except for my recent weekly game night at Shinsu’s mill with him, Bodin, Ren, and Eleanor—creatures I’ve started calling my friends—I usually refrain from change. It’s only a matter of a couple of years before the dynamics have shifted again, the trends have changed, or the creatures have moved on to greener pastures while I remain right where I’ve been for the last four centuries.
Lately, however, something has been happening in Starry Hill and changes have been aplenty, which is why there’s currently a housing crisis on the island.
Nevertheless, I refuse to turn a creature in need away. Starry Hill will always welcome all, just like the barren island did for me when I first set foot on its sandy shore. And just like I welcome Audrey now too.
Brown eyes rake over me as Audrey gives me a slow and thorough perusal from head to toe before her eyes settle on mine again. “Didn’t want to bother you when you’re getting your beauty sleep.”
It takes monumental effort from me to fight my instincts and not to give Audrey an equally thorough assessment, fixing my eyes on her face instead, and only then do I register what she said.
“What?” I sputter. “I don’t need— Oh, you’re making a joke, aren’t you?” I huff when I note the humor tugging on her mouth.
Audrey leans against the doorpost. “Too early for that? Or too late in your nocturnal case?”
“Not at all. Please, come in.” I open the door wider and step back, indicating toward the parlor.
I hold absolutely still as Audrey gives me a nod of thanks, barely breathing and definitely not scenting her as she passes by me and heads for the exact spot I had recently vacated.
Whirling around, I speed past her and quickly lower myself onto the couch, making sure the sunscreen is discreetly tucked behind me.
“Guess that’s your favorite seat? Is it okay if I sit over here?” Audrey asks cautiously, indicating the chair Pierre was in yesterday.
For reasons I don’t want to examine too closely, I don’t particularly care for this choice.
I point at the armchair across from me, the one Bodin, and then Katie, had occupied. “That’s a good one.”
Audrey’s brows arch, but she indulges me, lowering herself into the appointed seat. Leaning forward, she sets down a small dog with incredibly short legs and very large ears.
How did I not notice her companion when she arrived?
“When did you get a dog?” I ask, gesturing at the relatively cute animal now sniffing at my furniture.
Crossing one lean leg over her knee, Audrey tilts her head. “How do you know I haven’t always had a dog?”
“It’s small, which means it’s young. And you didn’t smell like a dog last time,” I add.
“Do I smell like a dog now?” Audrey asks as she holds my gaze with a level of curiosity that has me shifting in my seat.
I’m already shaking my head. “No. Not at all. I simply mean that I can scent many things, and a dog was not one of the things I scented.”
Audrey props an elbow on her knee and rests her chin on top of her open palm. “Tell me, Arran. What else can you scent?”
