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I glanced at all the grayish pelts, realization dragging my lips into a frown. “Isn’t it odd to have so many wolf hides?”
Thomas lifted a shoulder. “Romanians aren’t fond of large wolves.”
Before I could have him clarify, the driver loaded up the last of our trunks and climbed aboard. He said something quickly in Romanian, and Thomas responded before leaning back to me, his breath coaxing gooseflesh to rise. I shivered at the unexpected thrill. “Next stop, Bran Castle. And all the delightful miscreants who study there.”
“We’re about to study there,” I reminded him.
He sank into his blanket, doing a poor job at hiding his smile. “I know.”
“How do you know Romanian so well?” I asked. “I was unaware you were fluent in anything other than sarcasm.”
“My mother was Romanian,” Thomas said. “She used to tell us all sorts of folktales growing up. We learned the language from birth.”
I frowned. “Why not mention it sooner?”
“I’m full of surprises, Wadsworth.” Thomas pulled his blanket up over his head. “Expect a long life of unraveling these sort of delights. Keeps the mystery and spark alive.”
With a snap of the reins we were off, gliding over the snow as new flakes whipped past us. Icy wind stung my cheeks, forcing tears out in glistening rivulets, but I couldn’t stop watching the forest flash by through slitted eyes. Every once in a while I swore something was keeping pace with us just inside the woods’ border, but it was becoming too dark to be sure.
When I heard a low howl, it was hard to tell if it was the wind or a pack of hungry wolves chasing their next warm meal. Perhaps the living, breathing murderer and ghosts of Vlad Dracula’s victims weren’t the only fear-inspiring things to worry about in this country.
Time passed in frozen minutes and darkening skies. We traveled up steep mountain slopes and down into smaller valleys. We made one stop in Brasov, where—after great debate on the questionable suitability of arriving at the academy without a chaperone—Thomas assisted Mrs. Harvey with securing a room in a tavern, and we said our good-byes to her. Then we climbed our way from the village toward the top of the greatest mountain I’d ever seen.
When we finally crested its summit a while later, the moon had fully risen. In its light I could make out the pale walls of the turreted castle that had once been home to Vlad Tepes. A jet-black forest surrounded it, a natural fortress for the man-made one. I wondered if that was where Vlad had acquired the wood he’d needed for the victims he’d impaled.
Without worrying about being untoward, I inched closer to Thomas, leaching his warmth for several reasons. I hadn’t thought about it earlier, but Brasov was very close to our school. Whoever had murdered that first victim had chosen a place near Dracula’s castle.
I hoped it wasn’t a sign of worse murders to come.
“Appears as if someone’s left the light on for us.” Thomas nodded toward two glowing lanterns that could be proclaiming they were the gates of Satan’s lair, for all I knew.
“Looks… cozy.”
Winding our way along the narrow path that led from the woods and across the small lawn, we finally pulled to a blessed stop outside the castle. Fingers of moonlight reached over the spires and slid down the roof, casting the shadows of the sleigh and horses in sinister shapes. This castle was eerie, and I hadn’t even stepped inside.
For a brief moment, I longed to hide under the animal furs and travel back to the well-fortified, colorful town whose lights winked like fireflies in the valley below us.
Perhaps traveling back to England with Mrs. Harvey wouldn’t be such a wretched thing. I could meet my cousin in the country. Spending time together talking and sewing items for our hope chests couldn’t be that terrible. Liza made even the most mundane tasks a grand romantic adventure, and I missed her dearly.
A pang of homesickness hit my center, and I struggled to keep myself from doubling over. This was a mistake. I was not ready to be thrust into this academy built for young men. Bodies lining tables and surgical theaters. All of them reminders of the case I couldn’t get past. A case that had destroyed my heart.
“You are going to dazzle them all, Wadsworth.” Thomas gently squeezed my hand before releasing it. “I cannot wait to see you outshine everyone. Myself included. Though do be gentle with me. Pretend as if I’m wonderful.”
I shoved my n
erves aside and smiled. “A monumental task, but I will try to go easy on you, Cresswell.”
I emerged from the sleigh with renewed strength and made my way up wide stone stairs as Thomas paid the driver and motioned for our trunks to be brought up. I waited for him to reach me, holding my skirts above the gathering snow, not wanting to step beyond that bleak threshold alone. We were here. We’d face down my demons together.
A massive oak door was flanked by two lanterns, a giant knocker set directly in the middle. It looked as if two C shaped serpent bodies had become one brooding face.
Thomas smiled blandly at the knocker. “Welcoming, isn’t it?”
“It’s one of the most ghastly things I’ve ever seen.”
As I lifted the dreadful thing, the door groaned open, revealing a tall, thin man with silver hair that fell in a sheet about his collar and a deep-set scowl. Fire crackled behind him, gilding the edges of his narrow face. His dark skin glistened with a thin sheen of perspiration that he didn’t bother dabbing away.
I didn’t dare guess what he’d been doing.
