Caroline

Caroline awoke to the sound of the rooster crowing. Infernal buzzard, she thought as she swung her feet out of bed, her thoughts forming slowly in preparation for the day ahead on the farm. It was only when her toes brushed the cold stone floor of Castle Mont did the young witch remember where her eyes had opened that morning.

Gone were the wooden floorboards of the farmhouse, and she realized the smell of Nim's cooking from downstairs was absent. Her head spun as reality crashed down around her. Her eyes traveled to her right hand, where she examined the light blue tattoo again in the early light of morning. The thin blue lines hadn't faded at all, as she had hoped. If anything, the color looked more vibrant in the rays of sunshine spilling through the carved stone window in her tower room.

Caroline had never seen any living space as finely adorned as the one she occupied at Castle Mont. She barely had a moment the night before to comprehend the luxury surrounding her, but now in the chilly spring morning, she could view the interior of the keep properly. The entire castle seemed made up of light-colored stone, but the walls in her room gleamed in fine wood paneling. Various tapestries hung from ceiling to floor, depicting different battles.

She could identify which tree the wood came from for the most part, but some were still foreign to her. Likely native to the strange land she found herself in, she mused. The room she occupied would be considered simple compared to other parts of the castle, but to her, it was magnificent and so far beyond her expectation of reality.

She didn't belong in a place like this. Fine decorative rugs were sprinkled throughout the space, each more intricate in pattern than the next; the furniture was old in design but well made and without a scratch. The four-post bed she had slept in could have fit a small family back home. She had fallen asleep almost as soon as her head hit the overstuffed soft pillows, but in the light of day, Caroline felt hopelessly out of place.

She moved to the window next, slowly allowing her eyes to adjust to the daylight breaking through the pane as the sun began to crest over the horizon. She stared outside with her mouth slightly agape at the view before her. It had been near dark when Ender had ridden with her in through the town surrounding the great castle.

She hadn't gotten the opportunity to examine the small city leading to the vampire's castle. The homes in Ovandale were sturdy but straightforward, mostly wooden farmhouses and stable barns. The tallest building she had ever seen was the three-story inn at the center of town for visitors should they pass through the area, but what she saw now far exceeded what anything she had ever seen back home.

From several stories up, she could see the town separated from the keep by a stone wall and a small smattering of trees. Large buildings and muddy stone roads culminated in a marketplace where vendors were setting out their stalls for the day. Even from where she stood, she could hear the townsfolk beginning to emerge from their homes, horses clopping down the cobblestone paths, women opening the shutters, and letting the day in. The town functioned much the same as the one back home except for its sheer size. She counted at least three inns from her vantage point and several storefronts that sold only clothing. Caroline had never seen anything like it.

Caroline could feel her breathing begin to increase as her head began to swim. If there was ever a doubt in her mind that she didn't belong here, it was erased swiftly by the fine furnishings and bustling town before her.

"You're awake! Good!" a familiar voice spoke from the doorway, making her jump in place. The young witch spun around to find the tall form of Lucian standing just outside her room. His long black hair hung down past his shoulder as he rested his head casually against the frame of the door. His dark red eyes trailed to the tattoo extending up her arm.

"How long have you been there?" She said breathlessly, reaching for her robe and throwing it over her shoulders. She said a silent prayer of thanks to Mara, who must have been responsible for setting the garment out for her. She tried haphazardly to cover as much of the marking that was peaking out of the long sleeve.

"Long enough to confirm that you do indeed glow when you sleep," he told her, shifting his gaze to look around the room. "I do hope you rested well enough, being so far from home and all."

"I slept like the dead." She replied a little too quickly. The older vampire directed a pointed stare in her direction, black eyebrows raised at her words. "Erm...poor choice of words, I suppose. No offense meant Lord Mont, but at least I'm not the one sneaking into rooms when others are still sleeping," she attempted at an apology giving the vampire a sidelong glance.

Caroline didn't feel particularly bad about the jab, but she also did not want to be his breakfast. The vampire, while not as formidable in size as his brother, was intimidating in his own way. It did not escape her notice that whatever room he entered, it wasn't long before Lucian was the center of it. The older vampire commanded eyes and ears with the way his languid body moved, deft and measured but inhumanely fast if need be, like a snake ready to strike. Beautiful and graceful but equally deadly.

He scoffed, ignoring her jab, "Call me Lucian, none of this Lord business. I have enough humans groveling at me throughout the day. It's become quire tiresome. But you're not human, are you?" he said almost to himself absently.

Caroline shrugged. She wasn't sure what she was anymore. "Okay, Lucian, it is then," she replied, unsure if he was condescending or not.

"What are your plans for the day? I've sent for someone to come to the castle to start your training, as informal as it might be, but they won't be here for another day." The vampire asked her while still lounging casually at the door.

"My training?" she asked, moving from the window to sit in the single armchair by the fireplace, dying embers still glowed in the ashes from the previous night.

"Your training, yes. As outlined in the contract that you signed last night. Is anything I am saying making sense to you, girl?" Lucian stared at her from the doorway; his expression was pleading for her to grasp his blatant sarcasm.

"Right. Yes, of course, I recall. It's just that I fell out of the sky yesterday, and after being pursued by foreign soldiers on horseback for the latter part of my day, I'm still a little foggy on all of the details. Do forgive me." she shot back with sarcasm of her own, her temper flaring.

She got her temper from Nim, she knew. The woman did not suffer fools, and Caroline was not about to start. Sometimes she wished she could be as calm and serene as the older women in Ovandale, all subtle grace and eternal patience, but she was who she was, as Nim would say.

Lucian crossed his long arms across his chest and rolled his eyes slightly toward the ceiling. Caroline felt a small thrill of satisfaction at getting under his skin so early in the morning when he let out a long sigh before continuing, "Well, Mara has prepared breakfast when you are ready. I do not suggest wandering out into the town due to your lack of control as yet. Maybe you'd like to visit the garden? Or the library? Jerel is a challenging competitor when it comes to a game of chess." Lucian suggested.

"I'd like to find a way home," Caroline told him quietly from the armchair before she could stop the words from coming out. She tucked her feet under her and began to braid her hair absently. The tresses had come loose again while sleeping, and it just now occurred to her how inappropriate she must look, even if she was talking to the vampire in her night robe. She looked away from the vampire, worried about which direction the conversation might turn. While she didn't feel like a prisoner at Castle Mont, it was apparent now that her choices may be limited.

"And how, pray tell little witch, do you plan on doing that?" Lucian asked, shifting from one side of the doorway to the other, resting his weight against the stone frame of the entrance. She thought he was almost always slightly smiling at her, awaiting her next words so he could pounce in verbal response. The feeling was unnerving.

"A boat?" she asked. As soon as the words came out, she realized how silly they sounded out loud.

"Boats don't cross the Sea of Bones. It's cursed, has been for over a hundred years now." Lucian told her as if what he was saying was common knowledge, and she was dense.

"Oh," she said, defeated. Her heart sank deep in her chest. She hadn't concocted much of a plan, and it certainly didn't extend beyond riding back towards where she had come from yesterday and eventually finding someone that would sell her passage across the water. No one ever sailed from Ovandale, but that didn't mean boats didn't voyage from Ibudal, she reasoned. The chances were small, but at Lucian's words, she felt the last shreds of hope disappear.

The vampire must have seen the despair in her eyes because his tone softened somewhat, "Your only way back is the way you came. You need to learn to use your magic, little witch."

"You don't understand," she said, frustration leaking out from her lips, "At least one hundred Ibudali soldiers were riding towards my farm when I fell. My home is in danger, and I need to get back." Caroline told him. She was desperate to get home, desperate for any way to be back there sooner. Maybe pleading with the vampire would yield some solution to her problem. She worried most about Nim and what had happened after to her after Caroline abruptly departed.

"Impossible, why would the army be in Ovandale? And how would they have even gotten there?" Lucian asked, astonished with a shake of his head.

"There was a messenger, delivering a letter to my grandmother. I only recognized the uniform afterward because Greir was wearing the same one when we met on the road. Here," Caroline said, getting up. She reached for the book she always kept in her pocket, sitting now on the nightstand, and opened it up to the last page she had written in the drawing of the letter delivered to Nim. She handed the book to Lucian, who scrutinized the picture.

The vampire stared at the page for a long moment, biting his lip in contemplation, making him far more attractive than he had any right to be. "This letter, you drew this?" he asked. Caroline nodded. "...it has the seal of the king. Why would it be delivered to your grandmother?"

"I don't know," Caroline told him, shaking her head and taking the book back. She placed it on the nightstand again with a soft thud. "I didn't hear their conversation, but the messenger left in a hurry and brought back soldiers with him."

"Was anyone else on the farm with you after the messenger left?" Lucian asked.

Caroline wasn't sure what that had to do with the events that had taken place. She shook her head, "No, just the farmhand, Callum." She resumed her seat in the armchair, hoping that her face hadn't reddened at the mention of the farmhand.

Lucian raised a single eyebrow at her when she said the boy's name but didn't remark. "Well, I think it's safe to say your grandmother is a witch. You likely inherited the trait from her. She sent you here and likely has other secrets she's keeping from you as well. Besides the obvious fact that she's receiving messages from foreign leaders, she let you believe you were human until the ripe age of..." Lucian looked to Caroline.

"Twenty." She supplied.

"Right. Twenty. I'd say there's a fair amount of information that you may not be privy to." He finished from the doorway.

"I suppose you're right," Caroline muttered, her thoughts swam at the revelations. She hadn't had a spare moment to piece together the events of the last few days, but she had to admit to herself that what the vampire said made sense. Lucian had concluded much quicker than her, but Caroline reached it none the less. Nim had sent her here on purpose.

She didn't want Caroline to be in Ovandale currently. If Nim was skilled enough to send Caroline an ocean away with magic, then her grandmother must have enough faith in her ability to defend herself if need be, at least for a time, Caroline reasoned. She didn't have another plan to get back. She would have to find someone to send her with magic or teach her how to do it herself.

Lucian watched her curiously as she pieced together what he had concluded the night before. Caroline could feel his eyes on her again, and she shifted in her seat.

"I guess I'd like to see the library," she told him finally. "Erm... is there anything I can wear?" she glanced at her travel-stained clothes sitting at the end of the enormous bed.

"Mara has already stocked the wardrobe for you," Lucian said lightly. "I'll see you at breakfast, little witch."

"You eat breakfast?" Caroline blurted out, her curiosity getting the better of her again.

"Humans need water to survive, yes? Yet, they still enjoy eating a decent meal. I prefer raspberry jam." Lucian told her in a severe tone. She couldn't help but laugh at the arrogant vampire, her shoulders finally releasing some of the tension they had been holding throughout the conversation. "Gods woman, you would think we were a species of uncivilized monsters."

"Did you happen to meet Greir yesterday?" Caroline projected a side-eyed stare at the vampire.

"Well, there's some in every bunch, aren't there?" the vampire scoffed.

"See you at breakfast, Lucian, now get out so I can get dressed and stay out of my room while I'm sleeping." She said, shooing the vampire away from the door with a huff. The vampire took off quicker than she had expected. She suspected it would be a long time before she got used to the speed at which they moved. Caroline stared at the empty doorway a moment longer where the handsome vampire had been standing a moment before. She shook her head and smiled to herself at the exchange. Lucian was exhausting to converse with, but he did make her laugh.

Caroline felt a pang of guilt for her brief moment of lightness, how could she enjoy herself while Nim was under threat back home? Taking in a deep breath of air, she reminded herself she could only control her actions for the moment. She remembered what Nim said when a particularly bad storm had surged through their lands three summers ago and decimated half of their fields in floodwaters. Caroline remembered asking her why she wasn't more upset about the lost crops.

"My child, life does not happen on our terms, only on its own terms. It is up to you to decide how you respond." she had said in her soft, cracked voice.

Caroline remembered how the older woman never complained while harvesting what they could that fall. The pair had made do with the stores from the previous winter and gifts from their neighbors. The whole community had come together to make sure everyone who had lost fields in the storm had enough food that winter. She smiled at the memory and resolved to learn from the teacher Lucian was having come to the castle. She couldn't change the hand she dealt to her, but she could respond in a way that would make her stronger and would hopefully get her back to Nim.

She moved to the broad teak wardrobe in the corner and began to rifle through for something to wear. Every dress seemed to have some sort of lavish embroidery, most with small flowers or birds, fancier than anything she could have ever imagined owning. Each dress must have been worth an entire year's wages on the farm. Terrified of even touching something so expensive, she finally settled on the most simple dress she could find in the closet.

She lifted a light blue gown made of what she thought was a satin material, stitched with only a few vines along the neckline and long sleeve of the wrist. At least it would cover the majority of her tattoo, she thought. She couldn't help the marking on her neck peaking out, but she could at least keep the majority of her arm covered. Maybe a pair of gloves could be found to cover her hand, she mused. Caroline didn't like drawing attention to herself. The more she could keep concealed, the less anxious she would be in this new place.

Once she finished dressing by tying the green ribbon at her waist into a neat bow, in what she assumed was the correct fashion. She placed her book in the nightstand drawer for safekeeping. Reminding herself of Nim's words on the flooded farm back in what felt like a lifetime ago, Caroline exited the room to join the vampires for breakfast.