Shopping was not my thing. It never was. When I had asked Tandy and Mo if they wanted to go into town and go dress shopping I had hoped, prayed, they would say no but of course, they were ecstatic and blindly agreed.
The town was small and there really wasn't much to see except for the library which I was curious about. The dress shop was a little boutique off the main street.
"Oh! This one would look perfect for you!" Tandy gasped, pointing to a glammed out sparkly ball gown on one of the racks.
Mo rolled her eyes. "Does Ryn look like the kind of girl to wear glitter?"
Tandy stuck her chin out stubbornly. They fought like siblings, almost so entertaining it made me forget about a green-eyed enigma. Almost. He was still on my mind, like a bad penny. It was driving me crazy because I wasn't this type of person. I was so not the boy crazed type of girl. "Well, maybe she should be."
I flashed her my best 'let down' smile. "Eh, I'd rather wear something a little more basic. Plain."
"You can't wear something basic. Not at Crestwood. It has to be extravagant."
"This time I agree with Tandy, it has to be amazing, especially if you're trying to win over the Devara," Mo explained as her fingers ran over the dresses on the rack.
My eyes widened. "Who says I'm trying to impress them?"
"I'd be concerned if you weren't trying to impress them. They invited you to sit at their table. They've never done that with anyone." Tandy's blonde hair bounced as we walked the isles, she reminded me of a sunflower. Bright and cheery but sometimes gloomy. She was a good friend, I could tell, but there was nothing alluring about her to me, nothing deeper, nothing mysterious, nothing like them.
"Oh! Tandy look at this one!" Mo got distracted and they started looking at a bright yellow one.
I decided to look by myself, maybe if I wasn't around people I could find something I actually liked. I wandered without purpose through the isle. Nothing stood out to me. Wasn't I supposed to feel something when I found the right one? I mean that's how it is in the movies.
I found myself in the back of the store, two mannequins wore two different dresses. One was classy, white. It was innocent and angelic I'd probably look like a twelve-year-old in it but there was something I liked about it. The other one was the opposite. It was dark, blood-red, dangerous, and tight. It was everything I wasn't.
I run my fingers over them.
My eyes landed on a nearby shelf with the shiniest gorgeous earrings. I didn't necessarily like any of them but that didn't stop the urge to take one. What was wrong with me? Since I was a kid I've had a problem with stealing, of course, it's not exactly a problem when nobody knows about it. I've never gotten caught. And I never will. I knew it was wrong. But there has always been a voice in my head urging me to do it.
Just take one.
The voice always belonged to my father and that's part of the reason I refrained from doing it. I can't be like him. I just can't.
But then again I've never thought of myself as a good person and I'm not necessarily bad I'm just logical. As in thinking "who am I really hurting?" Right now if I took a pair of earrings nothing would happen to anyone. The store I'm in is a million-dollar company owned by a man richer than a god. He certainly wouldn't notice if one pair of earrings went missing. Before I could stop myself I slipped the gold dangly pair into my bag and turned back to the dresses, contemplating which one I should pick.
"You should choose the red one," a low voice told me from behind.
I shrieked and turned around.
The boy chuckled at me. I blanked for a second. He had to be the most beautiful thing I had ever seen. Silver hair, white as snow, hung over golden brown skin like honey and glass. His eyes were an amazing dark color, I couldn't explain it but they almost looked Like black onyx. In the past few weeks, I met the most beautiful people and this boy was definitely added to the list. He was elegant, luxurious, And even devilish.
I'd never used the word perfect before but I could certainly use him as the exception.
I swallowed, suddenly feeling extremely intimidated. Did he see me take the earrings? "How long have you been there?" I asked, my brows raising.
"Don't worry I'm not stalking you, I'm waiting for someone." He deflected my question, intentionally not answering. This had never happened before. Nobody had ever seen me steal, I tried my best possible to hide that part of me.
He smiled, his grin was bashful, nervous even, but I got the feeling that was not the case. I could tell by the way he held himself he was anything but nervous. The way he stood screamed confidence, maybe even arrogance and somewhat power. His shoulders were wide and straight, his posture was merely perfect and his demeanor ... Stubbornness also seemed to be a main factor in his personality, much like me.
Something about him was different and not in a 'Devara' way different. While the Devara seemed godly he seemed devilish. He seemed like the kind of guy with fire in his eyes and ice in his veins.
"Why red?" I found myself asking him instead of running away and finding Tandy and Mo. Maybe for once in my life, I should open up. Even if it's a tiny bit and to a stranger I'll never see again.
His mischievous grin widened. "Red is more daring, it'll make you stand out more. I get the feeling you're the kind of girl who wants to be seen."
I laughed humorlessly. "No, not at all."
"But you want to be."
I shook my head. My nerves were on high alert, nothing about him made me feel comfortable. It was like I was leaning on my toes in case I had to sprint. I squinted at the white dress. "What if I just want to be invisible?" I whispered, more to myself.
"You don't."
I turned back to the alarming but breathtaking stranger. "Oh? And you know me so well?"
He leaned against the wall, so effortlessly, so uncaring."I think the only reason you want to be invisible is that it's easy and maybe you like easy right now but trust me when I say it's boring. Go with the red dress."
A wave of sudden anger boomed through me. He had no right to assume anything about me! Easy wasn't boring! It was stable and manageable. "Don't tell me what to do." it was a lame thing to say but it was the only thing I could think of to express my anger.
His lips formed a knowing smile. "I would never, darling, I'm just truthful." he was right of course. He wasn't mean or an asshole or even flirting with me, he was just honest. It was kind of refreshing.
My eyes stayed on the dresses trying my hardest not to stare at him, it was hard when he looked like ... that. Like a devil with an angel smile.
I decided it didn't matter and turned back to him.
He was closer to me now, just a few steps away. I hadn't even heard him move. For some reason, my breath caught in my throat. His head tilted as he stared down at me. "What is your name?" He asked and by the way he said it I could tell he was used to getting an instant reply. Getting what he wanted.
I swallowed my anxiety. "Avaryn."
"Well, Avaryn, I'm sure whoever you're trying to impress will definitely notice you in the red dress."
"What is it with you and the red dress?" I joked, which is something I rarely did but something about this boy being so close to me made my nerves spiral.
His chuckle was low and soft, almost comforting but in the way, you find the calm before the storm comforting. His head tilted once again. I shifted on my feet, the weight of his eyes making me feel unsteady. He was observing me. Was this how other people felt when I did it to them? When I read people I tried to be as stealth as I could but this boy wasn't even trying. "I find you very fascinating."
"You don't even know me," I retorted, glancing at my feet. "If you spent more than one hour with me you would be bored out of your mind. I'm not that interesting."
He flashed me a wolfish grin. It felt as if he were in on a joke I wasn't aware of. "I really doubt that."
I glimpsed away from him feeling unnerved. My eyes fixated on the white dress, needing to look away from the strange boy.
The white dress was elegant. It didn't seem boring to me. But maybe that's because I am boring.
I twisted back to the stranger. "What if-" I trailed off as I saw that the mysterious boy was gone. Poof. vanished. My eyes darted around the store but he was nowhere to be found. My heart sunk. What the hell?
Maybe he went into one of the dressing rooms or something? Yeah, that could totally be it.
I twisted back to the dresses contemplating if that conversation was even real. Maybe I made it up? Like I did with Bash's glowing white eyes. I shook my head. No! I wasn't crazy. I wasn't like him. There was a perfectly good explanation for both situations, I was just being dramatic as always.
I looked back at the dresses, frowning.
Easy wasn't boring.
I sat in the Crestwood library, the old wrinkly leather almost fell apart in my hands. The book had to be over fifty years old. I had caved in and looked up white glowing eyes online. I wanted to believe that it was just the lighting or something. I wanted to just ignore it but that would mean going against all of my instincts. My natural instincts were to research until I found the solution, the answer.
I leaned back against the bookshelf as I flipped through the pages of this historical fiction book. I was sitting on the floor, by myself, in the middle of the night. I glanced at my watch, it was twelve-thirty a.m. I was so stupid. If I got caught I would be screwed.
I stopped on chapter twenty-eight.
The men with glowing eyes.
I read the first paragraph slowly in my head.
It is to be believed that the men with glowing eyes are something greater than human. A possible supernatural. Supernatural beings with true glowing eyes usually have a lineage derived from a higher dimensional source. This includes Angels, Demons, Jinn, werewolves, wraiths, kitsune, vampires, and even the Heavenly Souls of higher dimensional afterlife Humans.
I slammed the book shut wanting to slap myself for reading such nonsense. How could I stoop this low? Bash's eyes glowed because of the lighting, it wasn't anything more than that. Why did I have to make it bigger than it was? You know why.
I had to make sure. I had to know. Everything always comes back to my father. Why? I hardly knew the guy and he made me question my own personality every single day.
I wasn't crazy. I was just curious, I reminded myself. Know who you are and never forget it.
He had once said to me. Before he went psycho and burned our house down. Before he started drinking every day. Before he hit mom. Before he hit me. He was somewhat a good father before all those things. I felt guilty for even thinking about it.
As I slid the book back into its rightful shelf I felt the skin on the back of my neck tingle, as if someone were watching me. I slowly peeked over my shoulder, trying not to express the fear that shot through me, but there was nothing but the hollow shadows of the dark massive library.
It's all in your head.
I quickly picked up my bag and rushed through the library. Of course, I was on the third floor and all the way in the back. That was just great.
I stopped dead in my tracks as something caught my eyes in the far left corner of the room. An outline of a figure stood in the shadows. I didn't dare move. Maybe I was just seeing things? It was too dark to tell if that was a person or not.
Although even if it was real, was I so sure it was a person ...? I shook my head. This was stupid. This was all a play from my head. I was imagining it. This is what I get for reading that stupid book.
I made a move to walk but the figure I 'imagined' stepped forward. I held my breath as it strode into the light.
It was like ... it was like an oily dark silhouette. Like black dust.
Maybe the lighting was playing tricks on me but It was like a shadow without a person to belong to it. An arm and fingers formed through the shadows they were like a black mist. It was like they were reaching out to me. And for some reason, I felt compelled to walk towards it. I didn't feel endangered by it like I should've.
This couldn't be real. This was my imagination playing with me. I was tired. It was nearly one a.m. That was it. My eyes roamed around me, trying to find any possible way out of this situation when a hand clamped on my shoulder.
I bit back a shriek when I was turned to meet emerald eyes. Cautious wary eyes.
"Bash?" I breathed then I saw what he was looking at. The figure in the back of the library hadn't moved but had somehow become more threatening. Scarier. I turned back to Bash but his gaze never left the shadowy figure.
"Run." Was all he said. All he said to make me question everything I had ever known to be true. He saw it too. This wasn't something I could just play off as a trick from my brain. This was real.
For a second I couldn't breathe.
"Run Avaryn," he said more sternly with some amount of force.
He didn't have to tell me again I turned on my heels and ran. Bash knew something. I could tell from the lack of shock on his face. The way he was barely even afraid. He knew what that was. He was lying. I couldn't wrap my head around what was happening because how could I? This couldn't be possible. All the thoughts running through my head couldn't be possible.
The men with glowing eyes. It was too much of a coincidence. It is to be believed that men with glowing eyes are something greater than human.
I once again stopped dead in my tracks. Only fifteen feet away from where Bash stood. I peered over my shoulder at him. "Um... Bash?"
"Ryn, I told you to-"
"There's two of them."