SilverMoonLight (SilverMoonSaga Book 1) (4 page)

The
process was repeated multiple times. By now, there was a full moon in the sky,
casting a cold, silvery light over the beach. There wasn’t a breath of wind,
and it seemed somehow peaceful.

Calum
was the last to leave the whales in the water each time. He never seemed to
feel the cold, nor be afraid, even though one false move with the frightened
animals could have injured or even killed him.

Finally,
it was the turn of our little ward. I laid my cheek against its cold skin and
whispered to it: »Everything will be fine.«

While
the jeep slowly drove off, I held onto its tiny head. I wanted to stay with it
as long as I could. Calum had taken up his position on the other side and was
talking to the little whale calf without pause. His slender hands lay on the
creature’s back, almost touching mine. He was whispering really softly, so I
couldn’t make out what he was saying. But I could feel the whale becoming
calmer. The panicked twitch in its eyes was fading.

How
was Calum doing it? We moved slowly into the water. But once it was up to my
knees, my own trembling kicked in. Unbridled fear rose within me, and I
couldn’t get a grip on it. Calum looked up and stared at me. Two confusingly
dark blue lakes shone out at me.

»It’s
okay. You can let go,« he said gently.

I
nodded and tried to tear my gaze away from him.

The
water washed around my legs and my fear intensified. I could feel that my knees
were threatening to buckle. At that moment, he reached out for my hands.

»What’s
wrong?«

A
feeling of calm flooded through me. I held onto him as if I were drowning,
shivers coursing through my body.

»I’m
afraid of the water,« I whispered, before my voice could fail me.

He
nodded as if he understood. »Go back to the beach. He’ll make it, I promise.«

But
neither his hands nor his gaze would let me go. Dr. Erickson came over to me
and took my arm. With a heavy heart, I let go of Calum. Without his touch, the
fear suddenly intensified, causing me to slump. Dr. Erickson held onto me
tightly and led me towards the shore.

»Everything
will be okay, Emma. Calum can handle it.« His words echoed with complete trust
in Calum’s abilities.

Amelie
wrapped me up in a blanket, whispering to me. »What was all that about? Were
you trying to impress him or something?« But when she saw the look on my face,
she fell silent and looked at me earnestly.

»Oh-oh,
I know that look. I see someone’s been struck by Cupid’s bow. Well, welcome to
the club.«

Feeling
the blush creep up my neck, I buried my face in the scratchy blanket.

After
moving all the way to the other side of the world, I couldn’t possibly fall for
the first guy who crossed my path. He probably wasn’t even as good-looking as I
had thought. In all likelihood it was just the surreal situation, making him
seem like a prince in a fairytale.

The
other rescued whales were circling around in the sea a short distance away. It
seemed like they were waiting until the last of the herd was with them. This
time, it took much longer before Calum let go of the little one, but even then
it showed no signs of swimming off.

»It’s
too scared,« said Peter, who was standing next to me.

»But
all it needs to do is swim,« I said.

Then
the whales out at sea began to sing, as if they were calling the little one to
them. It tried to answer, but all that came out was a pitiful wheezing sound.

It
still wasn’t showing any signs of moving away. Then Calum took a leap forward
and began to swim. He held on tightly to the animal with his right hand,
pulling it deeper out into the sea. An odd blue shimmer spread out around them
on the surface of the water. Amelie and I held our breath. One of the whales
broke away from the group and swam towards them, singing as it did so. Once
Calum was around two-to-three meters away from the adult whale, he let go of
the little one and nudged it forwards. He waited a moment to make sure that the
whale was continuing to swim, then came back.

I
sighed with relief.

When
Calum returned to the shore, the men surrounded him, talking excitedly and
clapping him on the shoulders. Dr. Erickson pushed his way through and, despite
Calum’s protests, laid a blanket around his shoulders. Together, they went off
to the car. Before they got in, Calum turned around and stared at me intensely.
I pulled the blanket more tightly around me, but couldn’t ignore the goose
bumps that were creeping over my arms.

Chapter Three

That
night, completely shattered, I fell into my bed like a dead weight.
Nonetheless, Ethan still insisted that we go to school the next day, and our
attempts to change his mind were fruitless. As director of the local High
School, Ethan was adamant that I should try to lead ‘a normal life’ again, as
he put it.

My
first day at school matched my mood—it was pouring down with rain. The heavens
looked grey and overcast, and dense fog seeped out of every valley. We had
decided that Amelie and I would go to school with Peter in his car, and then
meet Ethan when we arrived. Peter gave me an encouraging look when I came down
to the kitchen. I could read the words
‘It will be fine’
in his brown
eyes.

Nervous,
I couldn’t manage a bite to eat, and only had a coffee. But that just made me
more agitated.

Bree
handed us each a bag with sandwiches, an apple and a bottle of water, then gave
me a quick hug. I obediently took my place alongside Amelie in the car.

By
the time we arrived at the school, the yard had thankfully already emptied of
people. We spent a few minutes searching for a free parking space. I looked
around me; the two-story buildings were modern, painted white and blue, and
there was also a low-rise building which was clearly the sports hall.

Peter
went straight off to his class. Amelie came with me to the school office.

»Come
on,« she said, hurrying me along. »It won’t be that bad, I promise.« Perhaps my
panic was etched on my face. As we walked into the office, two secretaries
looked up at me from behind their desks. Recognizing Amelie, they smiled.

»Hi
there, Amelie,« said the brunette, »go on in, your father’s waiting for you
both.«

Ethan
was sitting behind his desk, talking on the phone. Amelie went into the room,
and I stopped hesitantly in the doorway, tugging at the unfamiliar school
uniform she had lent me. As soon as Ethan noticed us, he ended his phone call,
stood up, and came over.

»There
you are at last, girls. Quickly now, class starts in five minutes.«

He
looked me up and down, checking over the black skirt, white blouse, and
matching black blazer with the school coat of arms. »Our uniform suits you.«

I
looked at him unhappily. I had already decided to get some black jeans as soon
as I could; Amelie had told me I could probably get away with it.

While
Ethan walked over the rain-drenched schoolyard with us, he pointed out each of
the buildings to me.

»Here
on the left is the gym.« He gestured towards the building I had already
identified. »Straight ahead are the classrooms for the younger grades, and here
are the ones for the tenth and twelfth grades.« He swung the large door open
and herded us inside. We struggled to keep up as he marched us swiftly towards
a room on the second floor. As he walked in with us in tow, all eyes turned
towards us and I realized that my cheeks were reddening. Just what I needed.

Either
Ethan was a man of few words or he wanted, for my sake, to make sure he didn’t
prolong the introduction. In any case, he kept it brief.

»This
is Emma Tate, my niece,« he explained to the pupils who were looking at me with
curiosity.

»And
this is Mr. Beckett, the class teacher for our tenth grade class, Emma. Amelie
can show you everything else later. Good luck.«

And
with that, he disappeared.

I
would have liked a little more time to prepare myself. He could at least have
given me a proper tour of the school first. But I didn’t have time to get
annoyed; everyone was staring at me expectantly.

»Hello
Emma,« said Mr. Beckett. »Welcome to our school. I hope you’ll soon settle in.
Sit next to Jamie, there’s a seat free there.«

I
sank down on the chair he pointed out.

»Hi,
I’m Jamie Barnes,« said the girl with a shock of short red hair.

Even
though I tried to follow the lesson, my thoughts kept wandering, and I was
relieved when the school bell eventually sounded. Jamie packed her things up
and looked at me questioningly.

»What's
next?«

I
looked down at my timetable. »Sports.«

»Great,
then we can go together.«

Relieved,
I followed her. We ran through the pouring rain to the gym. Basketball wasn’t
my strong point, but I was pretty good at it. I had already had a few classes
back home, so at least I wouldn’t embarrass myself. Maybe my first day wouldn’t
turn out to be as bad as I had feared.

At
lunchtime, the blanket of cloud finally tore apart. I sat with Jamie and Amelie
on a low wall in the schoolyard. The sun was struggling to send lukewarm beams
of light down to Earth, but I still pulled my jacket tighter around me as I
struggled to ignore the inquisitive looks. Either it was big news that the
Director’s niece was being sent to school here, or change was such a rarity
that every new event had to be savored. It was probably the latter. It occurred
to me that many of the parents must have known my mother.

Next
to me, Jamie chatted away non-stop about the teachers and the courses she was
taking. I was only half listening. My gaze wandered over her shoulder and came
to a halt as I spotted Calum. He was leaning against a tree not far away. As he
was taking no notice of us whatsoever, I was able to study him in peace. I
hadn’t been mistaken about his looks; he looked even better today than he had
yesterday. A pretty girl stood next to him, chattering him up relentlessly. His
thoughts seemed to be somewhere else. I was still looking at the two of them
when, over the heads of the other pupils, his blue eyes looked up at me.
Startled, I looked away, but not swiftly enough. His all-penetrating gaze had
given me goose bumps again.

When
I glanced over at him a little later, he was still looking at me, albeit with a
frown and a dark expression in his eyes. But it wasn’t detrimental to his
beauty. Quite the contrary.

»Let’s
go inside,« said Jamie at that moment. »It’s about to start raining again.«

I
looked up at the sky and saw large grey mountains of cloud forming. It was
still April, after all. I stood up with a sigh.

»You
didn’t tell me he goes to school here,« I whispered to Amelie, nodding
surreptitiously towards Calum.

»You
didn’t ask.« She shrugged.

»Who’s
the girl?« I asked grumpily.

»That’s
Valerie.«

I
gazed after Calum as they walked ahead of us into the school building.

Much
to my regret, Amelie didn’t offer any more details. She ran quickly inside as
big raindrops tumbled down from the heavens.

My
next class was French. Neither Amelie nor Jamie were doing the course with me,
so I was left to go on alone. When I got to the classroom I was met by Ms.
Turgot, a genuine old French woman, who was standing at the board and smiling
at me.

»Ah,
you must be Emma,« she greeted me in a charming French accent.

I
nodded.

»Look,
there’s a seat free next to Marc, please sit next to him.« She pointed at the
empty seat.

I
slid into it.

»Hello,«
said a slightly-too-stout boy with short, red hair. »I’m Marc. We had English
together earlier.«

I
shrugged apologetically. I hadn’t paid that much attention to the others in the
room. Luckily, the lesson began at that moment, saving me from the need to
reply. As I wasn’t getting my own books until the end of the day, Marc helpfully
shared his book with me.

»Thanks,«
I mumbled.

Emboldened,
he edged a little closer to me until our arms were almost touching. I resolved
to try to sit somewhere else the next lesson, even at the risk of seeming
impolite.

I
was happy when, at four in the afternoon, the school day finally came to an
end. Amelie and I fetched my books from the administration office and drove
home with Peter. I was exhausted. My cheeks were cramped from the constant
smile I’d kept on my face, wanting to make a good impression. But I wouldn’t be
able to keep the act up for long.

»Could
you show me the library?« I asked Amelie while we had tea.

Bree
had prepared sandwiches and cookies for us. I’d have to keep an eye on how much
I was eating here. With all the delicious food, I’d be piling on the pounds in
no time whatsoever.

»Of
course, no problem,« she said, chewing away and flicking half-heartedly through
a magazine. »It’s at the school.«