CHAPTER 4
When they told me that we were going to a “castle,” I hadn’t really known what to think. The only images I could come up with in my mind were based on the only two examples of castles I’d ever really known, neither of which were doing me any good. The first was of the only two castles in the US – or the only two that I was aware of, anyway – one in Florida and one in California, both of which had been built by Disney, and as such, obviously didn’t count. The other was pictures and drawings in all the fairytales and textbooks I’d read growing up. The history books had shown ancient fortresses which were cool, but clearly not anything that would still be habitable today, while the fairytales depicted grand Camelot-style citadels with stone arches, flag-topped steeples, and drawbridges over sparkling moats, which, though awesome as it would have been, didn’t seem any more likely. However, anthropomorphized rodents and lack of round table aside, Adare Manor turned out to be pretty incredible.
I did my best to play it cool as we pulled up the long drive to the entry, but on the inside I was gaping like a kid from the sticks on their first trip to the city. The long white graveled drive up to the entry was lined with perfectly groomed topiaries and flowerbeds that looked like they’d popped straight off the page of a gardening magazine. The walls of the manor were high and white, with windows of all shapes and sizes decorating their faces, each pane shimmering under the afternoon sun like gems.
And if for some reason the building and grounds alone weren’t enough to impress, the hustle-and-bustle surrounding them would certainly have done the trick. The moment we stepped out of our car we were swallowed up in as high class a flurry as I’d ever seen. There were dozens of luxury vehicles being unloaded and whisked away by white gloved valets, scores of servers – in tuxes, no less – passing trays of refreshments to the arriving guests, and more varieties of designer luggage than I’d even realized existed.
And I felt like a chicken at a swan show.
I’d worn the nicest travel-appropriate outfit I owned, and had even taken the time that morning to do my hair and make-up, and until that moment I’d felt pretty good. But now, standing in the midst of a five-star flutter of manicured nails, air kisses, and French-cuffed shirts, it didn’t feel like enough. Luckily, my general distaste for these people eased the self-conscious itch I felt crawling up my back.
Almost, anyway…
However, there was something else that was off, and it had nothing to do with rosebushes, fancy cars, or self-esteem. It was a feeling in my head; a strange haze round my mind as though my brain needed to blink. It started just before we pulled up to the Manor and seemed to be growing by the minute, becoming almost overwhelming. As one of the valet/bellman teams came over to our car and began unloading, I stepped over to the edge of the drive and out of the way, trying not to stumble.
Holders. They were all Holders. Of course I’d known that would be the case, but I hadn’t given any thought to how it would feel – and I clearly should have.
“Are you all right?” Alex asked quietly, coming over to stand beside me.
“Yeah… I’m, um… fine.” Or at least I was trying to appear fine, but I knew I was blinking way too much to completely pull it off.
Being able to sense other Holders around me was not new; in fact, it had become so second nature that I barely noticed the brushes of ability on my mind unless I deliberately looked for them. This, however, was like nothing I’d ever experienced. There were Holders everywhere; dozens and dozens of them, all with a corresponding ability radiating from them like a florescent bulb. I could feel them everywhere; nearby, far away, outside, inside, alone, in groups, standing still, moving around – everywhere. There were so many brushes against my mind that I couldn’t tell where one ended and a new one began. It was like trying to pick out a single voice in a choir.
“Becca,” I hear Alex say again, this time worried. “What’s the matter?”
“I…” I paused, blinking again and shaking my head. “Nothing, I just…”
“Jocelyn,” Alex called quietly, not waiting for me to finish.
I didn’t hear him answer, but a moment later Jocelyn was standing in front of me. “Becca, what’s wrong?” he asked, putting a hand on my arm and discreetly leading me further away from the drive.
“Nothing,” I said, finally starting to get my bearings. “No really, I’m OK. It’s just… there are so many…”
I looked up and saw the sudden realization on both Alex and Jocelyn’s faces as they exchanged a glance. “We should have had Min block you entirely,” Jocelyn said, concerned. “I hadn’t considered that you are not often around so many full Holders. If it is too difficult, you I can call for Anderson to come and get you.”
“No,” I shook my head, not about to let this get the better of me. “I’ll be OK. It’s getting better already, I just need to get used to it, that’s all.”
Nobody seemed convinced.
“Are you sure?” Alex asked. His hand instinctively started to reach for mine, but at the last moment flinched and fell back to his side.
“I’m sure,” I smiled up at him. “It’s just weird. Like… I don’t know, getting used to new glasses.”
“Is something wrong?” Cormac asked, joining our impromptu powwow.
“Becca is just noticing how many Holders they have attending this year,” Jocelyn told him conversationally, with a look in his eyes that didn’t match his tone.
“Ah,” Cormac nodded, catching the drift. “I see. I had not considered that.”
“Neither had I, but I should have,” Jocelyn agreed. “Do you know of an Alchemist here we can trust?”
“No,” I said quickly, “there’s no need for that.” I appreciated that they were all concerned, but I was not about to have them treating me like a baby bird. I knew I could handle this. More importantly,
they
needed to know I could handle it. “Really,” I said again, “I will be all right. It’s strange, but I’ll be fine.”
“All right,” Jocelyn said with a hesitant nod, “if you’re sure.”
He waited only a second or two longer before he and Cormac turned and walked back over to the driveway, leaving Alex and I to follow behind. I could tell Alex was still concerned, so I caught his eye before we made it within earshot of the other arriving guests.
“I’m good,” I said softly, “really.”
He looked down at me with that flicker of fear and worry in his eyes that always caused the overprotective dragon that slept in my chest to rear up.
“Will you tell me?”
He didn’t offer an explanation, but he didn’t need to. He was asking if I’d tell him if it got too hard for me and I needed help. It was a fair question. If anyone knew how much I hated looking weak or incapable it was Alex, so naturally he would expect me to suffer in silence rather than ask for help. And he was right, normally I would have. Especially when it was a problem that I felt I should have been able to handle, like this one. But Alex was worried, and luckily, my protective instincts always overrode my pride.
“Yes,” I said, lifting my hand and wrapping my index finger around his pinky, giving it a quick squeeze. “I promise.”
I saw his shoulders relax slightly as the corner of his lips twitched up in a small grin. He turned his head away casually, but quickly shifted his finger within mine, enclosing his entire hand around my own, holding it tightly for a heartbeat before releasing me and stepping away.
By the time we got back to the drive, the car had been unloaded and taken away by the valet, so we turned toward the entrance of the manor and made our way into the enormous foyer. Now
this
was something straight out of Camelot. Stone pillars, molded wood paneling, carved marble mantles, and deep red carpets with gold trim. It would have been ridiculously over the top if it wasn’t so incredibly cool. We headed toward the far side of the room where a woman sat at an ornate wooden desk handing out room assignments and other check-in information. The desk was only a short distance away from the main door, and in theory should have been no problem to get to. However, it turned out that crossing a room isn’t as simple of a task as it sounds when you are with two of the most popular people in that particular room.
Cormac seemed to know everyone, and they were all very excited to say hello. They would hurry over with big smiles and air-kiss or shake hands, then talk about how long it had been, then inquire about one another’s health, then the health of the family if applicable, so on and so forth. Typical fluffy, not-too-deep, reunion conversation that you pull out when you see someone you’ve not seen in a while but aren’t close enough with to bother seeing outside of formal occasions. After the pleasantries were done, Cormac would introduce Jocelyn, Alex, and I to whomever it was he was speaking, while they in turn would greet us politely, pretending just a little too hard not to look impressed by the name Clavish. Finally, whomever it was would promise Cormac that they would meet again later so they could catch up properly before walking off, allowing the next person to come forward, and the process would start all over again.
The other popularity peg in our little group was of course Jocelyn, and while he may have only personally known two or three out of the dozens milling around us, it was clear that they all knew him. I don’t think there was a single person in the entire foyer that I didn’t catch stealing glances, or gesturing toward him then whispering behind their champagne glasses. Jocelyn had told me that he was kind of a God to these people, but I guess I hadn’t realized just how serious he’d been. I glanced up at him expecting him to seem edgy or uncomfortable as he had never enjoyed attention – at least as far as I’d ever known – but he was totally at ease. Did he seriously not realize that practically every eye in the place was on him? He had to.
And to make matters worse, when each pair of eyes were finished gawking at Jocelyn, without fail, they would move to me. They’d look me over, glance back to Jocelyn, then back to me, whispering, staring, pointing, more whispering, more staring…
I felt like an animal on display at the zoo.
Though, I guess I should have expected as much. After all, it was no secret that I was the spitting image of Jocelyn, so it wouldn’t have been hard to deduce that I was his daughter. And if he was a rock star, I guess that had to make me at least a backup dancer.
Yeah, it was weird –
really
weird – but if Jocelyn wasn’t going to let it bother him, I certainly wasn’t going to be the one to fold. Following his example, I stood quietly with my head up, feigning an easy smile I didn’t feel, ignoring the nagging urge to shrink back behind one of the stone pillars and disappear.
“Jocelyn!” a dainty yet confident voice suddenly called through the cloud of conversation surrounding us. I turned to see a thin woman with a radiant smile headed our way, gliding through the clusters of chatting guests like a yacht cutting through sea foam.
“
Tá mé chomh sásta d’fhéadfaí tú a bheith linn,
” she twittered, stepping up to Jocelyn and taking his hands into hers, “
tá sé iontach a fheiceáil duit!
”
I was about to eye Alex for a translation, but as it turned out, Jocelyn took care of it. “Alva,” he said, leaning down and air kissing each of her cheeks – at which, I am proud to say, I did not so much as smirk. “We are more than happy to be here, thank you for the invitation.” Then he took a small step back and turned her to face me. “Allow me to introduce my daughter, Rebecca. Becca,” he said, placing a hand on my shoulder, “this is Mrs Alva Bloch. She and her husband Brassal are our hosts this week.”
“It’s a pleasure to meet you,” I said with my best smile.
“
Mo daor, conas álainn go bhfuil tú!
” she mooned, gently placing the tips of her fingers under my chin.
“Thank you,” I said, torn between being embarrassed at the compliment and happy that I was able fudge a basic understanding of what she’d said. My Gaelic was still on the piddling side of poor, but luckily I was dating a fluent speaker with a larger than average romantic side, making me more than capable of recognizing the Gaelic word for “beautiful” when I heard it.
“And, my word,” Alva gasped, dramatically placing her hand to her chest, “so like your father!”
“Yes,” I said, glancing down and tucking my hair back behind my ear, never sure what to say to that. “That’s what I hear.”
“I am so happy you decided to join us this year, we are overjoyed to have so many young people joining us this year. It can be difficult at this time of year, what with most of them in school or attending university…”
She continued to talk, but I lost all focus the moment one of the servers came over with a tray of champagne. Before he even had a chance to pick up one of the fizzing goblets from the silver tray he held, Alva waved him off with a single flip of her wrist, not even glancing in his direction as she did so – like she was swatting at a bug that was flitting around her ear. The server immediately looked down, his expression hovering somewhere between ashamed and scared as he slunk away like a dog with his tail between his legs.
I swallowed down the thorns of contempt rising in my throat as I continued to listen to her prattle on, no longer remotely interested in what she was saying.
Thankfully, before it would have been my turn to say anything back to her, Cormac came to my rescue. “Alva dear,” he chimed in suddenly, “you grow more lovely each time I see you.”
“Cormac, you old charmer,” she said, stepping over and giving him a cordial but somewhat stiff hug. “I was thrilled to see that you were joining us as well, it’s been far too long! How have you been…?”
Ugh. More of this?
I was ready to ask where the ladies’ room was just so I could escape for a few minutes, when someone nearby caught my eye. It was a girl who looked to be about eighteen or so years old. She was the first person other than Alex who I’d seen that was even remotely close to my age since we’d arrived, though Alva had said something before I tuned her out about most of the younger Bhunaidh being in school. Maybe this girl was already out or had taken time off.
She appeared to have just entered the room and had pulled another woman – judging by their identical shades of auburn hair, her mother – from her conversation to speak to her, but it wasn’t until I saw the mother gesture our way that things got interesting. The mother pointed us out to the girl and whispered something to her, then placed a hand on her shoulder and took a step toward us, but the girl didn’t move. The mother tried again, glaring at the girl in a “don’t you embarrass me” kind of way, but still the girl wouldn’t move. Instead she mumbled something with a small shake of her head then looked away. The corners of my mouth twitched as I watched the quiet argument and snickered quietly; the girl didn’t want to meet us. Her mother was clearly trying to get her to accompany her over so that they could introduce themselves just as everyone else had done, but the girl wasn’t having it.
Suddenly my hopes began to creep up. Was there actually a person here who was humble and unpretentious enough to realize that mooning over Jocelyn – and by extension, me – was ridiculous? A person with whom I could actually converse without having to fight the urge to punch them? Could I really make a friend here? I had to admit, it would be nice. Particularly considering that Alex and I had to keep our distance from one another and I wouldn’t have him to keep me company this week. I looked over more directly, hoping to maybe catch her eye and give her extra encouragement to come over, realizing that for the first time since we’d arrived, there was someone I was actually excited to meet.