Chapter 12 Touching my beauty with your fingers
The following night, Izabella couldn’t fall asleep. Whether it was the new bed, the new place or the fact that her brother was still out there, waiting for her to find him, dead or alive, she couldn’t be sure. It was probably a combination of all those factors which was keeping her awake in the dead of night.
She tossed and turned, trying to make herself comfortable but it was no use. Strange sounds kept coming from outside, from the forest the mansion was surrounded by, sounds Izabella had never heard before. First, there was a wailing, as if a woman was crying. Then, it resembled a wolf howling. This was followed by sounds of thunder. Then, it all started again, in the same order.
She tried ignoring them at first. She wished she had some ear plugs on her but they were the last thing on her mind when she was packing for this hellhole. She considered herself lucky that she was able to bring a few of her favorite weapons and potions in a hidden compartment of her backpack. Somehow, no one asked to check her baggage and she didn’t question fate. It was simply how it was meant to be. She felt like she was where she needed to be, fate made sure of that. Only, she had no idea how this journey would end.
A wolf howled in the distance, the sound oozing through the window as if it was wide open. Izabella angrily pulled off her covers and stomped over to the window. She pushed the curtains aside and gazed into the darkness. It took her eyes a few seconds to adjust to the darkness that reigned outside. All she could see were tree tops, darkened bushes, and a mountain peak far away in the distance. Everything was black and grey, just
silhouettes of their daytime counterparts. The moon was full, but it didn’t illuIzabellate the earth enough. Izabella could only see shadows and outlines, as if she was slowly going blind.
Then, suddenly, she thought she saw something bright red, orange and yellow flickering in the distance. She squinted in an effort to see it better. Quickly, the light disappeared. It was dark again. She looked around but there was nothing. A second later, the light flickered again, only for a brief moment, then it died. The same thing happened a few more times. Now, she was sure that something was happening in the forest, outside school grounds, something mysterious, something manmade.
She quickly changed into a pair of sweatpants and an oversized hoodie, and tiptoed out of her room. The hallways were empty. She wondered how she’d be able to explain her going out to the watchman, as every dorm had one, purely for the safety of the students. Though she wasn’t sure what vampires had to be kept safe from. They were the most dangerous creatures here, in her opinion.
She walked down the staircase slowly, glad that she’d opted for her sneakers instead of boots with a leather sole and wooden heel. Those would be echoing throughout the whole dorm. She looked at the entrance. A small lamp was on, in the corner of a little booth. She leaned a little forward and saw the head of the watchman, resting against his elbow on the table. He seemed to be asleep. She wondered if she could tiptoe past him, without him noticing her. The door opened on the inside, it was only locked from the outside. All she had to do was make those few steps and she was in the clear.
She started slowly, one step at a time. All of a sudden, he stirred. His head lifted but she couldn’t see if his eyes were still closed or not. She breathed slowly, quietly, even though it felt like her heart wanted to leap out of her chest. She jumped behind a big
pillar to the side. Her heart was racing, though she wasn’t sure why. She probably wasn’t the first one to try to sneak out in the middle of the night. What would the watchman do anyway? Shake his finger at her crossly? Send her back to her room? Tell her not to do it again? She doubted they’d suspend or expel her over this, it wasn’t that big of a transgression of school rules. She could just say she wanted to go out and meet a guy. That sounded plausible enough, it probably happened a million times before. Girls meeting guys, guys meeting girls. It’s an excuse as old as time itself. A small place, lots of teenagers with raging hormones, of course, it happened before. She had nothing to worry about. She kept reminding herself that.