Wanderlust (14 page)

“We could hear you snoring on the other side of the car,” Eli teased. I cringed at the possibility of any truth to his words, but more than anything, I was happy to see he was back to his old self. Standing, I ran my fingers through my tousle of curls, wiped the sleep from my eyes, and smoothed the wrinkles from my shirt. We grabbed our packs from the storage rack by the exit, and hopped onto the platform. The feel of Eli’s arm snaking its way around my shoulder warmed my insides.

“I get it,” he whispered into my ear, leaving a light peck on my cheek. “If it has to be anyone other than me, I’m glad it’s him.”

Chapter 15 - Paris

“Before we do anything else, we have to go shopping on the Champs-Élysées,” Addie commanded. “I ran out of my favorite perfume a month ago, and I was going to order some, but since I knew we were coming here anyway, I figured I would just get some myself.”

“I love the Champs-Élysées,” Chip said, clapping her hands together gleefully. “This is going to be so much fun.”

Eli and I rolled our eyes at the two of them and watched as they bounced off arm-in-arm. I was glad to have Eli along to temper the girliness. I had never been a fan of rainbows, unicorns, and all the other clichéd things girls were supposed to like. So perfume shopping was pretty low on my list of things to do in the city of lights. Chip, on the other hand, could fill the role in my friendship with Addie where I had always fallen short.

With the addition of Eli and Chip to our duo, we needed to further rearrange our accommodations. As had been our experience in London, the hostels had already filled up, and there was no extra room to spare. We didn’t want a repeat of our departure from that city, so we decided to let Addie take matters into her own hands. It turned out that Chip came with quite the bankroll as well, so we ended up in a pretty stellar suite a stone’s throw from the Eiffel tower.

“This place is amazing,” I said when we walked through the door to our room. There were two bedrooms, each with a king-sized bed, as well as a sofa bed in the living area. Addie and I put our bags in one room, and Chip took the other.

“I thought these places only existed in movies,” Eli added, taking the hint and tossing his bag beside the sofa. “I bet the mattress on this thing is better than mine at home.”

We all laughed, but I knew he was only partly teasing. Eli and his grandpa got by, but there was little room for extras in their budget. I knew what is was like to live on a budget--which was more than either Addie or Chip could say--so I could sympathize with Eli. I winked at him between chuckles.

“Well ladies, where to first?” he asked, standing up from the sofa.

“We told you,” Addie chided. “Don’t you listen at all? We’re going shopping.”

“Oh, I don’t think so,” Eli said, sitting back down and stretching out his long legs. He tucked his arms behind his head and made himself comfortable. “I’d rather hang out here and take a nap than follow you girls in and out of shops all afternoon.”

I was on the same page as Eli. The last thing I wanted to do was wonder through stores where I could never afford to buy anything. Even worse, I would have to watch while Addie and Chip dropped dollar after dollar on whatever caught their whim. The thought of wasting time like that when we only had a few short days in Paris made my stomach turn.

“Would you guys be totally pissed if Eli and I did something else instead?”

I decided I’d rather toss out the question and suffer the consequences than spend the rest of the day wishing I had stood up for myself. Eli’s face lit up at the suggestion.

“Like what?” Addie asked incredulously.

“I thought maybe we would spend the day at the Louvre. You don’t mind, do you?”

“That’s a great idea--I‘ve been trying to find a way to get out of going with you guys. If I have to look at the Mona Lisa one more time, I swear I’m going to find a wet rag and wipe that ridiculous smirk off her face,” Addie said.

“How about you, Chip? Do you mind?”

I thought I better ask her opinion. She was only along with us so that she could keep an eye on me amidst the supposed vampire revolution, so I wasn’t sure about protocol. Were we to stay glued together at the hip for the entire trip, or could we go our separate ways from time to time?

“No way,” Chip offered. “I’ve been there like a million times. I definitely don’t want to go back.”

So, it was settled. While Eli and I formulated our plan, Addie went to our room to change. Chip lingered a moment before plopping herself on the floor at mine and Eli’s feet. She took one of each of our hands in her own and urged us to listen carefully as she spoke.

“You have to be very careful,” she whispered. “We have reason to believe that Paris remains a safe haven for now, but that could change at any moment. I feel confident that I can separate from you, especially during daylight hours. Most of my kind wouldn’t dare make a move in broad daylight. They’re way too worried about drawing attention to themselves to take that risk.

“Still, I need you to watch your back. Keep out of the shadows, don’t talk to strangers, and stick to the main streets. If you sense any kind of a threat, lose yourself in a crowd or make a spectacle of yourself. I don’t care how you do it--pretend you’ve lost something and ask anyone who will listen for help, pretend you’re having a lover’s quarrel, anything--just make yourself the center of attention. There is no way a vampire would come anywhere near a situation like that.”

Chip was dead serious. She never broke eye contact once during her lecture, and we were totally enrapt by her words. They were all perfectly logical--much like the words my mother told me before I walked to school the first time on my own back in Grade one.

“One more thing,” she said, placing a small object in my hand.

“What’s this?” I asked, never once taking my eyes from hers to look at the object. In my experience, vampires had ways of tracking humans if they wanted to, and I suspected she had given me another amulet--or something of the sort--to wear. “If it’s a vile of blood, I’ve already got one from Chaseyn. And, no offence, but if I’m going to drink anyone’s blood, it’s not going to be yours. The thought of drinking Chaseyn’s blood is creepy enough, and I love him.”

I saw Eli wince at the confirmation of my devotion to Chaseyn. Chip gave me a confused look.

“What are you talking about?” she asked.

“My ring…it looks like a ruby, but it’s actually Chaseyn’s blood. If I ever need him, I can drink it, and he’ll be able to find me,” I explained.

“Convenient,” she said. “I just gave you my phone number, but that could work, too, I suppose.”

Chip gave me a dry smile before pushing to her feet and rushing to her room in such a blur that I could barely believe my eyes. She returned a millisecond later wearing an entirely new ensemble--one worthy of a Paris catwalk, though still scant on fabric at best. Was she even wearing a bra under that sheer shirt? Judging by Eli’s determined gaze, the answer was “no.”

Addie emerged a moment later looking every bit Chip’s high-fashion rival, only much more modest. Where had she hidden that outfit in her backpack? She gave me a quick hug, and if my eyes weren’t deceiving me, she petted Eli on the arm before grabbing her hand bag and leaving the room.

So, that’s how we spent the day--alone together. Wasn’t that an oxymoron? How could we be alone if we were together? But we were, and it was a bit awkward at first.

Sometimes, when I looked at Eli and the way the sun caught his ocean blue eyes, I was sure I could see forever in them. Which was ironic, since forever with Eli meant very little in comparison to forever with Chaseyn. Other times, when I looked at him, I felt the type of safety I imagined an older brother could provide. My parents only had me, so I wasn’t certain exactly how that felt, but I was pretty sure it would be similar to this.

We left our hotel on foot, and we walked for what felt like miles before we came to the conclusion that we were more lost than we cared to be. After about an hour of struggling with the street map, we decided to cut our losses and hailed a cab.

At long last, we stood outside the infamous Louvre--one of the world’s greatest museums. I had never been one for wandering the halls of galleries, but this was different. The building itself was a twelfth-century palace, and it was filled with some of the most prominent artifacts in history. I couldn’t wait to walk its halls in search of these fascinating treasures.

“Come on,” Eli said, grabbing my arm and yanking me alongside him “We’ve only got a few hours. There’s no time to waste.”

After about three hours of hunting down all of the most important pieces, we made our way outdoors. We still had the next day to check out the other major sights in Paris, but we wanted to take in at least a few more that afternoon before meeting up with the girls for the night. We made our way to the Seine and crossed over on the Pont des Arts bridge.

“Oh, I read about this bridge in one of the guide books,” I said excitedly. “It’s got this really romantic history.”

I explained to Eli that, like many of the great cities in the world, Paris has a bridge where young lovers would come to publicly proclaim their undying devotion to one another. As a symbol of their love, they wrote their initials on a padlock and affixed it to the side of the bridge.

Eli jammed his hands in his pockets and kicked at the ground. I could tell he was uncomfortable with the twist the conversation had taken.

“You should be here with him, not me,” he said quietly.

“It’s fine,” I said, only partly meaning it. Guilt swept over me for the second time that day, and I couldn’t help feeling he was right. Paris was a place for young lovers, and the passersby likely thought that’s what we were. But, they couldn’t be more wrong.

“Look,” I said, pointing to a pink balloon that was attached to one of the locks. I wanted some way to take away the discomfort of the situation, and this seemed to do the trick. “What do you think it means?”

I turned to look up at Eli, expecting to see his stunned surprise at the strange coincidence of finding mine and Chaseyn‘s initials engraved on the lock. Instead, I found him stomping off in the opposite direction. I ran after him uncertain of what had upset him.

“That was no coincidence, Lia. Can’t you see that?” Eli said, never pausing his brisk walk. In fact, he kept walking at a breakneck pace to the other end of the bridge. “The guy’s freakin’ amazing. He’s got eyes and ears everywhere. No wonder he told me I could take a crack at trying to get you to fall in love with me. He knew there was no way I could win.”

“I’m sure that’s not true,” I said, stopping dead in my tracks and tugging his arm until he was forced to stop as well. If Eli was right and Chaseyn had planted the lock for me to find, I needed to go back and take a closer look. “He’s not like that, Eli.”

“Isn’t he?”

“No. He would play fair.”

“What makes you think that? Because he’s got the wisdom of several decades and the savvy of a political diplomat. Yeah, that’s a good reason. At heart, he’s still a guy, like me, and we have this need to win that we just can’t control. When I’m out there on the football field, nothing can stop me from getting what I want if what I want is a touchdown. Chaseyn’s like that, only what he wants is for you to be with him at all costs.”

He had a point. Chaseyn had always been very competitive when it came to Eli, so it seemed strange that he would just step aside. I turned and walked away without another word.

Eli was right--it was no coincidence. Attached to the lock was a small silver plate, about 1-inch square. I could tell from the way it felt when I ran my fingers along it that it had been engraved. I pushed aside the balloon and kneeled on the ground in front of the lock to get a closer view.

Cordelia,

Like the lock is forever a part of this bridge, you are forever a part of me.

-C

I imagined what it might have been like to have come here with Chaseyn instead of Eli, and I slipped into a daydream.

It was a brisk autumn night, and the bridge was virtually deserted. All of the summer tourists had long returned to their homelands, and we were the only two people in sight for miles. Under
the cover of darkness, with the moonlight casting a soft glow to light our path, Chaseyn protectively wrapped his arm around me to guard against the chilly night air as the we ambled along the center of the deserted pathway.

“
What’s that?” Chaseyn said, pointing to a pink balloon.

After reading our initials engraved on the back of the lock, I turned to Chaseyn to thank him for his romantic gesture, but he was no longer standing before me. Instead, he was on bended knee, a square-cut, canary diamond held up in his outstretched hand, gleaming in the starlight.