A silky caress along the length of my arm stirred me. I was in the state of being awake, but unwilling to be awake at the time. My mind, overwhelmed by the previous night's activities, was trying to grasp onto the sleep it needed.
"Harper, we have to get started while we have the night," Hector said softly.
"Hmmn. I know," I groaned.
I snuggled back and sunk into the cool flesh behind me. The entire length of cool flesh... My eyes popped open as if I'd been smacked awake, and I rolled over, burying my face in the plump pillows.
"You're naked," I noted, my voice muffled.
"Oh, yeah. Well, my clothes were wet weren't they?" he mused.
"Yeah, but I didn't expect. . ."
"Does it bother you because you're modest, or does it bother you because you're naughty?" he teased.
"You stop that, Mister. Just because I lose control and kiss you from time to time doesn't mean I'm ready to jump into bed naked with you."
"But you aren't naked. I am. Do you want to be?"
Normally, I would be angry, but I'd gotten used to his foul little jokes. He was just being himself. I sat up wiping my face and brushing back my wild, red mane with my fingers.
"What's the plan?" I asked casually.
"Straight to it, then," he said with a nod. "Well, there's sort of something I have to tell you first. . ."
I waited for him to continue, but he'd gone rigid.
"Hec-" I started.
"Shh." He wasn't looking at me, but beyond me with a sort of far off expression.
In a flash, he was dressed. I hardly saw a single movement.
"We have to go. I let you sleep too long. I can hear them. They're fighting deaders," he hissed. "There are too many of them, I might not win . . ."
I jumped straight up, my heart racing.
"They'll catch us-"
"They don't know where we are yet, but they're looking. They'll eventually pick up the trail. Come on."
Hector took my hand and led me to the back door. Outside, all was silent. The only sound that might have given us away was my living, beating heart. My clumsy human steps on the ground would also be a giveaway, so he lifted me and we fled silently.
To my mild discomfort, we went through water again. This time, I was imagining a rotting hand shooting up out of the depths to drag me down, but - much to my relief - it didn't happen. Finally, we slowed after what felt like an hour. He let me slip from his arms.
"We're almost there. Listen, there's something I should tell you-" Hector started.
A shrill whistle sounded out, interrupting him. I had't had much experience with the wild, but I had a feeling it wasn't a normal sound to be heard in the middle of nowhere. I shot him a questioning look.
"It's Wren," he said, as if a Wren were a troublesome thing.
Just then a person called out, "'Bout time! We thought you were a goner."
He emerged from a thicket of tall weeds. A mahogany-haired youth of perhaps fifteen. He was very slim, to the point that it made his teeth appear very large, and he was smiling wide.
"You know me, I like to make a memorable entrance," Hector returned the smile, patting the boy on his shoulder.
"Better late than never," Wren said. "Who's this? You have to take a hostage?"
"I'm no hostage," I piped up. "I'm here because I want to be...I think. Wherever "here" is. Where is here?"
""Here" is headquarters," Hector clarified.
"Headquarters for what?" I wondered.
"The return," the boy said simply.
"I was about to explain a few things before you showed up, Wren."
"It'll have to wait. Max is losing it. She thinks you screwed up and all the plans have to be rearranged. She's been on the war path since yesterday. Better get in there before she slaughters Jun, or busts up the office again."
"Whoa, she's really PO'd, huh?"
"Dude, you have no idea. I've never seen her this ticked."
Hector slumped his shoulders and sighed. He was always surprising me with his human-ish gestures.
"I'll explain things to you soon, I promise," he told me, then to us both, "Come on, time to face the music."
"Is Max... like you?" I asked as we trudged through the wilderness.
"Pfft. She's nothing like Heck here," Wren butted in. "She's scary, that woman. Heck is like Casper the Friendly Ghost of vampires, but Max... well, Max is like Cruella De'Ville."
What I meant to ask was simply, "Is she a vampire," but I got that and more. I wasn't exactly sure what he meant by Casper the Friendly Ghost, but I did know who Cruella De'Ville was, thanks to Gramma's stories.
To put it lightly, that worried me. If she was that mean, wouldn't she rip my neck open right away? The prospect didn't seem to bother Hector, as he ushered me forward.
Sweat was beginning to coat my hands as I wondered what I was getting myself into, but as I began to soak in my surroundings, amazement won over nervousness. Though everything was being invaded by the wild, I slowly realized we were amidst some type of amusement park. Thick vines and moss covered concession stands, letters from random signs peeked through weeds, bushes formed shapes of the complicated structures hiding underneath. It went on and on. I was sure, had the wild not taken it, it would be a beautiful, wondrous place.
"Harper," Hector said, bringing me back to earth.
I glanced at him reluctantly. What I really wanted to do was explore, but he was holding weeds and vines to the side, revealing a doorway. Wren stood inside, eagerly pantomiming for me to follow.
Inside, stairs lead downward. We descended in single-file, first Wren, me, then Hector, who'd secured the hidden door behind us.
"Where are we?" I asked, unable to hold the question in anymore.
"Well, it used to be one of the happiest places on Earth," Wren said. "Of course, I never got to give it a whirl. I'm basically human. Heck remembers it, though."
"Yep. A happy place. You would have loved it. Maybe you'll get the chance to enjoy it some day," Hector said. "For now, as I said, Love, it's our headquarters. We're doing a lot here."
I followed them down the off-white hallway with tons of new questions floating through my brain with the old ones.
"Basically human?" I asked Wren. Initially, I hadn't even thought of what he was, but since he pointed it out. . .
"Awe, well, you know. Parents are weres, I'm not. Kind of a bum deal," he said.
No, I didn't know. "I've never met any humans with were parents," I said honestly, wondering what that must have been like for him. But I decided any questions I could ask would seem rude, so I kept my trap shut. It just wasn't good manners.
"Well, that's no surprise. There aren't many." He shrugged, then opened a door in front of him. "Found him!" he announced to someone inside.
"It's about time!" an angry voice exclaimed.
The first face I saw was a thin, smiling Asian man, wearing a lab coat. Then I saw the one the must have referred to as 'Max'. She was a vampire, without a doubt. I could tell from her unbelievably enhanced good-looks. But at the same time, she was unlike any other vampire I had ever seen. instead of the pale-white or dark-ashen skin, she was milk-carmel. Instead of the usual blue eyes, she had one green to go with one blue one.
The most noticeable thing about Max, though, was her size. If I didn't know she could tear off my head in three seconds flat, I may have giggled from the shock of it. She was obviously a young teen when she was changed. I would guess fifteen at the most.
"Why did you bring her down here? Why not leave her with the other survivors to look after her?" she shot at Hector.
"I thought you'd want to meet her," he said.
"Hector, it's none of my business who you date. All I care about is the job you were supposed to do."
"Don't be so cold, Max. That's not why I brought her here-"
"Certainly not," lab coat guy uttered. He leaned toward me, inspecting me seriously. "Astonishing!"
"What?" Max said, growing interested at his reaction.
"You can't tell?" Hector asked, unwilling to elaborate.
I was growing more anxious and confused by the second.
"What?" she demanded impatiently.
"I thought you'd know, I mean I didn't at first, but then I've never-"
"What are you on about Hector? Spit it out. We've got business to take care of."
"But, Max, don't you see? This changes everything," the lab coat guy said, slipping his cleaned glasses back on and standing to have a closer look at me. "Remarkable!"
He was really thrusting me into awkwardville.
"Excuse me?" I said.
"I'm sorry. I'm Jun." He held out his hand to shake mine. He was extremely warm. "I've been so rude. Forgive me, I had no idea there were any left. My, my, my. A living Spellbinder."