13. FREE DAY

I woke up the next morning with a crick in my neck. My head was drooping sideways on my shoulder, and I was slumped over in the chair. The fire was out and little cinders were floating in the air in front of me. I sighed and got up, rubbing my neck. I pulled out my phone and checked the time. 9:42 A.M. I wasn’t sure what time classes started, but I hoped I wasn’t late.

I walked towards the hall. Julia popped up from around the corner, scaring the daylights out of me.

“Emma!” she began. She was a little too perky for 9:45 in the morning, if you ask me, but I had just gotten up, so I was still a little dazed.

“Yeah?” I mumbled.

“Did you see the notice board?” she asked.

“No.”

“Oh, well, there’s no school today. There’s a paper that explains everything tacked to the board.

“Okay,” I said, turning back around and heading for the notice board near the door. There was a single sheet of white paper pinned to it.

Arborson Students,

No classes will be taking place today. I would like you to have your first full day at Arborson be stress free and beneficial. I am aware you were given a tour yesterday, but I advise that you explore the school and the grounds a little bit more—just so you become familiar with everything and aren’t worrying about finding any of your classes when the time comes. Your class schedules will be posted tomorrow morning. Classes begin at 3:00 PM sharp, so be ready and able. Use today to your full advantage.

Sincerely,

Rosella Marricia Lunding

Rosella Marricia Lunding,

Headmistress

I was glad to see it was typed. That meant computers. I had been beginning to think Arborson was some medieval, technologically-behind school.

I turned back around and headed for the hallway again. When I got to the end, I pushed open the big, solid wood door to my room. I pulled my phone out of my pocket and put it on the desk. I slumped towards the bathroom and took a shower. While doing so, I discovered that some of the ashes from the crackling fire had gotten in my hair. I washed them out, the scent of lavender taking their place.

After finishing my shower, I stepped out, wrapped myself in a towel, and grabbed another one to dry my hair. I walked back into my room, over to my closet, and pulled out a pair of dark-blue jeans and a bright green hoodie. Then I picked a white tank top out of one of the dresser drawers. While I was getting dressed, I looked at my clothes from yesterday, strewn across the bathroom floor and made a mental note to look for the laundry room later today, during my many hours of free time.

When I finished dressing, I pulled out my white high tops and slid those on, as well. As I laced them up, I thought about what I was going to do the whole day. I figured I’d explore some more, of course (I was bound to get lost either way, but trying to become a little more familiar with the school and the grounds would at least give me a fighting chance). At least, with today being a free day, I could just not go to lunch and dinner and no one would notice. That way I didn’t have to have any more awkward conversations with concerned (or suspicious) teachers, like I’d had with LeAnna yesterday.

Thinking about close calls and awkward conversations made me think of the one I’d had with Rebecca last night. ‘Is she seriously going to tell?’ I thought. She wouldn’t, right? Ryan and I would be in so much trouble if she did. I sighed. There was nothing I could do, except maybe plead with her and explain everything—but that wasn’t something I was planning on doing anytime soon—or anytime ever, as far as my dignity was concerned.

When I finished lacing up the neon-green laces of my All Stars, I slid off the edge of my bed and walked over to the desk, grabbing my phone. But before I was able to stuff it into my pocket, I noticed that a piece of paper had been placed underneath it. I quickly slipped my phone into the pocket of my hoodie and picked up the piece of paper. My heart skipped a beat when my fingers touched it; I knew who it was from. I unfolded the white paper. It said:

Emma,

As I’m sure you’ve discovered already, today is a free day. I thought, maybe we could meet up somewhere later and I could show you around the grounds a bit. Don’t worry, no one will see us. I have a couple of places I’d like to show you.

If you could meet me under the weeping willow near the entrance at twelve, that would be great. But if you can’t, or don’t want to, that’s okay. All the same, I hope to see you soon.

-Ryan

I smiled as I folded the note back up and put it in my front pocket, with my cell phone. I was definitely going to meet Ryan. I couldn’t understand why he thought I wouldn’t want to; I thought my feelings toward him were pretty obvious, but you never know.

I walked out of my room and into the hallway, where I turned the corner into the common room. Julia was curled up on one of the couches, reading a book.

“Hey Julia,” I called. I didn’t want her to think I was being rude by walking by and not saying anything.

She looked up from her books and said, sounding exasperated, “Hey Emma.”

I couldn’t help but care a little. “What’s wrong?” I asked.

“Oh, nothing,” she sighed. “It’s just this book. It’s so boring.”

“Well them why are you reading it?” I asked, as I walked toward her.

“A friend told me it was really good, so I figured I’d give it a try. But now I’m starting to wonder if she was being sarcastic.”

When I reached the couch, I looked down at the book she was holding—Emily Brontë’s novel, Wuthering Heights. “What part are you on?” I asked.

“Uh,” she scanned the page. “Mr. Earnshaw just brought Heathcliff to his house.”

“You’re not even that far into it,” I accused her.

“Well, it’s already kind of boring,” she said.

“Don’t worry,” I assured her. “It gets much better.”

She looked at me with an expression on her face that said, ‘Yeah right.’

“It does,” I said again. “Trust me.”

“Okay, she muttered and reluctantly turned back to her book.

I turned back around and headed for the door. I grabbed another map and was about ready to push open the heavy wood door, when I heard Julia sigh behind me. ‘It can’t hurt,’ I thought. “Hey Julia,” I called.

Her head snapped up; she obviously wasn’t preoccupied with her book.

“I’m going to go explore the school a little. Do you want to come?”

“Really?” she asked, her light-blue eyes lighting up.

“Yeah. Maybe it’s time for you to take a break from the eighteen hundreds,” I suggested.

“Yeah, maybe that’s a good idea,” she agreed. Then she set Wuthering Heights down on the coffee table in front of the couch and hopped up, ready to leave.

“Uh, Julia, do you want to put on some clothes?” I asked; she still had her pjs on.

She looked down. “Oh, right,” she mumbled, turning slightly pink. “Uh…”

“Don’t worry about it,” I told her. “I’ll just wait here.”

“Oh, okay. Thanks. I’ll be right back,” she spluttered as she raced out of the common room and turned down the right side of the hallway.

I sat down in one of the high-backed chairs and looked into the gray, unlit fireplace, full of the remains of a blistering fire. After a few minutes, Julia came bouncing out of the hallway wearing a bright blue T-shirt and gray sweatpants. Her dirty-blonde hair was hanging loose and straight at her shoulders.

“Kay!” she exclaimed. “I’m ready.”

I hauled myself out of the chair and led the way as we exited the common room and slumped down flight after flight of stairs. When we reached the door marked, GIRLS’ DORMATORIES: LEVEL I, the door on the landing was opening and someone with long, dark hair and copper skin was walking out.

“Oh, Emma!” Rebecca exclaimed in mock excitement.

I tried to ignore her and walk past. But just as I was walking past the door (which Rebecca hadn’t closed all the way) it was pushed in front of me, causing me to run into it and lose my balance, falling to the cold, stone floor. I turned my head and glared at Rebecca.

“Oh no, Emma,” she sighed, sounding sweetly devastated. “You’d better be more careful next time,” she advised.

“Oh, I will be,” I assured her, as I stood back up. “You have nothing to worry about.”

She hesitated, looking almost shocked at what had come out of my mouth. Did she really think I wasn’t going to sneak out to see Ryan again? Did she seriously think I’d felt that threatened last night?

“Oh, that’s good,” she said, smiling, as she regained her arrogant, manipulating composure.

I smiled a genuinely fake smile and turned my back on her, starting down the last flight of stairs. After irritatedly stepping off the last stair, I raced for the door, just wanting to escape. I pushed it open and stepped out into the hazy morning. The grass was covered in even more frost and there was a thick, gray-white cloud of fog lingering throughout the grounds. I stomped down the granite stairs, into the fog.

When the grass crunched under my foot, I stopped. I hadn’t heard the massive door creak shut.

“Emma!” Julia called.

Crap. I forgot. I turned around and saw that she was jogging toward me, down the stairs.

“Emma!” she called again. “Wait up!”

I didn’t move as I waited for her to catch up.

“What’s wrong?” she gasped, out of breath. “You just stormed off and I couldn’t keep up.”

“Sorry Julia,” I sighed. “I was just irritated. Sorry,” I apologized again.

“Oh, that’s okay,” she breathed. “Are you alright?” she asked.

Huh? “What do you mean?” I asked, confused.

“You fell down, remember,” she reminded me. “Are you alright?” she asked again.

“Oh, yeah, uh, I’m fine,” I mumbled. I didn’t fall, I was pushed—but I didn’t want to unintentionally drag Julia into the whole forbidden secret thing, so I didn’t say this.

“So, where are we going first?” Julia asked.

“Um, actually, I wanted to find the laundry room,” I told her.

“Oh, okay.” She shrugged. “I guess that would be good.”

I rolled my eyes. “Yeah, so let’s find a place to stop, where we can actually see this map.”

“Yeah,” Julia chimed in. “There’s so much fog.”

Obviously. I was beginning to think Julia was going to be a little annoying. Oh well. I turned away from her and led her over to the main courtyard entrance, where there was a torch bolted to the wall, cutting through the dense fog, allowing me to read the map. I studied it for a while and couldn’t locate the laundry room. Eventually, I could feel Julia leaning over my shoulder, searching the map herself.

“It’s right here,” she said after a few seconds, pointing to a small square in the middle of the map. Huh. Maybe she would come in handy. The laundry room was on the opposite side of the building from where we were, so, instead of walking through the thick fog, we took a shortcut through the school.

We walked through the courtyard and into the courtyard entrance. We were in a vast hallway. The floors were tan marble (I assumed they used to be white, but after many years of use turned a brownish-tan color). The walls were gray marble. Green and copper flowing silk cloths draped the upper part of the walls and the ceiling.

There were portraits on almost every square foot of the marble walls. Most of them depicted battle scenes of Caduto Angelos and Vampires. They were all very beautiful, but, at the same time, extremely depressing. At the end of the hallway, there was a painting—different from all the rest—of a man standing in the center of a fiery blaze. It looked as if the flames were consuming him. He was hunched over in pain, his silver and black wings clipped, crunched, and lit on fire. A little to the side of the man in the fire was another man. This one was standing straight up, laughing, with an evil glint in his eye. He was tall, with dark hair and very pale skin.

“This way, Emma,” Julia chimed in. She started down the hall on the right, and I followed her, taking once last glance back at the portrait before we turned the corner. On our way to the laundry room, we passed empty classrooms, students, professors, and more paintings. There were also several statues placed sporadically throughout the school—mostly gargoyle-type statues, but there were also some of people (Vampires in history, I presumed).

When we finally reached the laundry room, we walked in. It was your typical Laundromat; washers, dryers, ironing boards, counters, etc.

“Okay,” Julia drawled. “This is exciting,” she said, sarcastic, as she scanned over the laundry room.

“Well, at least now we know where it is and won’t have to worry about finding it when we really need it,” I pointed out.

“True,” she agreed. “I wonder if they’re charging us.” She walked over to one of the washers and inspected it, looking for a coin slot. “All clear!” she shouted.

I smiled, despite myself.

After inspecting a dryer, as well, she skipped back to me and asked, “So, where to next?”

I had a place in mind, but instead I said, “I don’t care. Is there any place in particular you’d like to go?” I asked.

“Hmm, not that I can think of,” she replied.

“Well,” I hesitated. “In that case, is it okay if we check out the library?”

“Sure. I don’t care.” She shrugged. Julia had been carrying the map, so she quickly inspected it and pointed the library out to me. It was on the second floor, and it was huge. I smiled to myself. Books.

We left the laundry room and headed for the stairs, which were on the other end of the hallway. The staircase was just like the one in the dormitories—twisting and winding. Except, there were several different staircases in the school, rather than the one, in the dorms. This staircase was embedded in the wall, so it was dark, except for a single torch located at the landing of each level. The stairway itself was so narrow it would be dangerous to have a stick of fire located near the actual stairs.

I wondered what the point of the torches was anyway. The school obviously had electricity, so the torches must just be for decoration. Or maybe Arborson only had electricity in certain parts of it and in certain classrooms. That was a possibility.

As we reached the second floor, Julia and I stepped off the landing and into another vast hallway draped with more copper and green banners and adorned with more paintings. We walked down the long hall for a time, then we turned a corner, and I saw it. The library of all libraries. The gold encrusted doors were wide open and welcoming, beckoning me to come closer and be swallowed up. I picked up my pace and Julia followed behind me.

When I stepped through the doors, I was overwhelmed with shelf upon shelf of books. The shelves went to the ceiling and there were little ladders and staircases everywhere so you could get to the books at the top. The library itself was also huge. It stretched on and on, probably taking up half of the second floor—not that I was complaining.

I walked around in a daze, sliding between bookshelves, inspecting different sections and the books in each section. There were books for practically everything—fiction, nonfiction, history, sciences, writing, art, mathematics, astronomy, law, religion. Just about anything you could imagine, there was a book on it. The only thing I didn’t see was a book on cooking.

I wandered to the back of the library and—instead of books—in the very back corner, there were a couple rows of computers. That was good. I hoped I’d be able to get on the internet soon—I was pretty sure I’d have a ton of e-mails from my friends that would need answering.

“Hey Emma, you done?” Julia’s voice sounded from behind me.

I turned around to face her. “Yep.” I smiled a little. Now that I knew where the laundry room and the library were, I was set.

“Okay, cool. Let’s go.”

I followed her out of the library. When we got in the hall, she stopped. “Where do you want to go next?” she asked.

“Umm.” I thought. “It doesn’t matter.”

She looked up at a clock on the wall. It was dark brass and the frame was made up of intricate, swirly designs. “Well, it’s eleven fifty right now. It’s almost time for lunch. We could explore more later,” she suggested.

I looked at the clock for myself. Yep. Eleven fifty. I had to meet Ryan in ten minutes. I had to go. “Uh, Julia, why don’t you go down to lunch. I’m not really that hungry. I’ll just go wander around the grounds a bit.”

“Oh, okay.” She shrugged. “Do you want me to meet you after?”

“No, that’s okay. I have no idea where I’ll be. It would be a waste of time for you to try and find me,” I lied, quickly clearing the rest of my day.

“Oh, alright. That’s cool. I’ll see you later then,” she called as she turned and started down the stairs, heading for the cafeteria, which was right below us.

“See ya,” I muttered, and turned around, heading for the opposite end of the hall. When I got there, I checked the map to make sure I was on the right side of the building. I turned the corner and went down another spiral staircase. At the bottom, I stepped onto the first floor, right near the entrance to the courtyard. I walked around the perimeter, trying not to be noticed.

I exited the courtyard and walked down the frost-covered dirt path. When I reached the place where the bus had dropped us off, I glanced behind my shoulder to make sure no one saw me. The visibility was pretty low, thanks to the thick fog, but I assumed no one was behind me.

There were several huge trees near the entrance, shading a vast area of land. I couldn’t remember which tree Ryan had told me to meet him under. Was it the oak or the maple? The pine or the willow? I stuck my hand in my front pocket, searching for the note. I felt my phone, but didn’t feel any paper. I began to panic. Did I lose it? Maybe I had taken it out again and left it somewhere. No. I didn’t take it out. It fell out.

The note fell out of my pocket when Rebecca pushed me over, I realized, horrified. It must have. There was no other reason why it wasn’t in my pocket now. I jabbed my hands in my pocket one more time, searching frantically. I took out my cell phone and flipped it open; maybe the small piece of paper had gotten jammed in there. Nothing.

“Oh my god,” I whispered, terrified. If Rebecca found that note… I didn’t even want to finish my thought. I leaned against one of the trees and tried not to think about the trouble Ryan and I would be in if anyone found out about us—especially if the adult Vampires found out; they would know he was my creator and know that what we were doing is against the rules.

“Emma!” someone hissed.

I stood up straight, squinting into the darkness. It was hard to see much, what with the fog and the shade of the massive trees. “Ryan?” I whispered back.

“I’m under the willow. Hurry up!”

I jogged over to the weeping willow and ducked under the bare, hanging, ice-coated branches. Ryan was standing under the tree, waiting for me, a grin stretching across his face as I appeared. I ran over to him and he embraced me, squeezing me tight. I wrapped my arms around his waist and squeezed him tighter. He chuckled.

“You’re getting stronger, Emma,” he pointed out.

“Really?” I asked, slightly stunned.

“Yeah,” he laughed lightly.

“What does that mean?” I asked.

“It means you need to be careful,” he warned. “You should probably start watching yourself. We don’t want you to accidentally crush something.”

“Okay,” I mumbled, as I pressed my cheek into his chest.

“I’m glad you came,” he murmured, and kissed the top of my head.

“Ryan,” I said, looking up at him. “I told you. You don’t ever have to worry about me not coming. If you want me around, I’ll be around,” I informed him.

He smiled. He leaned down and kissed me gently on the lips and I melted in his arms. I had a feeling I wasn’t going to get used to Ryan’s kisses anytime soon. They were much too sweet and delightful—and dangerously addicting.

After he finished kissing me, Ryan leaned his head back a little and looked down at me. “Do you want to see something?” he asked, excitement glinting in his eyes.

I nodded, unable to speak after I once again got lost in his eyes of molten emerald.

He grinned and resituated his arms on my body. He put his left arm around my shoulders and I left only my right arm around his waist. He led me out from under the tree, ducking under the frosted branches. He glanced back and I followed his gaze. I didn’t see anyone, and I supposed Ryan didn’t either, because he turned back around and led me to the gravel road. We stayed close to the edge, where there were trees hiding us from view.

After a few minutes of walking in silence, I asked, “Where exactly are we going?”

“You’ll see,” he chuckled, still looking down the path, a mischievous grin stretching across his face. I sighed dramatically and playfully shoved him a little with my side, trying to show my “irritation” towards him for not telling me where we were going. He just ignored me, keeping his arm laced around my shoulder. I bumped my side against his again. He continued walking. I did it again, a little more pointedly this time, and instead of ignoring me like before, he bumped me playfully back.

I was about to pull Ryan closer to me, but at that moment, he removed his arm from my shoulder and pushed me away from his side. I stumbled toward the edge of the path, mildly shocked. I looked back at him and saw that he was looking straight ahead. I sighed in relief as I saw the disguised humor on his face, as he forced himself not to laugh.

I decided I’d tease him a little, and just walked along the very edge of the gravel path, pretending to ignore him, just as he was pretending to ignore me. Of course, I would frequently glance over at him and catch him watching me, as well. But then we’d both divert our gaze and smile to ourselves. Slowly, I edged my way back over to where he was on the path.

When I was close enough, he reached his arm out, acting like he was going to put it over my shoulder again, but instead, he just put it back down at his side. He looked at me and smirked playfully. I glared at him, trying not to smile.

“Ahh,” he groaned and pretended to stretch his arm out, right behind my head. But again, he just put it back down at his side. The third time he did it, I quickly reached under his arm, when he had it high in the air, and wrapped my own arm tightly around his waist. I squeezed him and pulled him close to me. He let his arm relax on my shoulder, and smiled. I smiled in victory as I pulled him tight against me.

We continued walking down the frozen gravel path for about fifteen minutes. As we were walking, the fog slowly cleared. The sun still hadn’t come out, but at least it was easier for us to see where we were going. When we reached the end, Ryan turned right, dragging me along with him. The icy grass crunched noisily beneath our shoes as we walked farther and farther away from Arborson. We were walking into a forest of mostly pine trees. The longer we walked, the denser the trees got; soon we were completely surrounded by green.

“Are we there yet?” I whined, jokingly.

Ryan chuckled. “We’ve been there.”

Huh? “What do you mean?” I asked.

“This is what I wanted to show you,” he explained. “The forests, the mountains—everything.”

“But we haven’t seen mountains yet,” I objected.

“Emma, we’re in the mountains. They’re all around us.”

“All I see is trees and snow,” I argued.

“I’ll show you.” Ryan stopped walking and took his arm off my shoulder. “Do you think you can run yet?” he asked me.

Of course I can run—maybe not without falling on my face, but I’m capable. That must not have been what he meant. “What do you mean?” I asked.

“I mean, have you tried running really fast yet?”

“No, I’m not very good.”

“But with your transformation progressing the way it is, you might be able to run—and I know this sounds kind of dumb, I just don’t know how else to say it—but, you might be able to run a little more like a Vampire now.”

I just looked at him, a questioning look forming on my face. “What do you mean? Like, you think I’ll be able to run freakishly fast?”

“Well, you are definitely gaining strength, so I’d assume you’d be gaining the other physical traits, as well—speed, dexterity, endurance.” His expression changed from one of reason to one of excitement. “Do you want to try?”

“Um, sure, I guess,” I mumbled.

“Well, it will be faster that way—we’ll get out of the forest faster, I mean.”

“Okay,” I said hesitantly. “What exactly do I do?”

“Just start running. And keep pushing yourself until you’re going as fast as you can,” Ryan directed.

“Okay…” I felt a little weird. I didn’t usually randomly take off sprinting.

Ryan smiled. “I’ll start running in that direction.” He pointed east. And I only knew it was east because I could see the sun trying to peek out from behind the thick, gray clouds; it was, for the most part, unable to do so, which I was glad for. “And you can just follow me. I’ll slowly speed up and I want you to try and catch up with me.”

“Okay.” I was beginning to feel nervous. I was terrified I would trip or fall and end up looking like an idiot, trying to catch up with him—which I was entirely convinced I would not be able to do. I sighed and waited for him to take off. Ryan looked at me once more and smiled, before lurching forward into a fast jog. I started after him. I was soon jogging next to him.

“Okay Emma,” he began, still looking ahead at where he was going. “I’m going to gradually speed up. I just want you to try and stay by my side.”

“Okay.” I was hesitant to say anything—I didn’t want to lose focus and trip.

Ryan shifted into a run. I sped up, as well. I was about a foot behind him. He edged into a fast run, then a sprint. I continued to increase in speed as he did. I saw him speeding off in front of me. I was at least a few yards behind now.

“Come on, Emma!” he called. “You can do it! Just focus!”

I concentrated on the muscles in my legs. I focused my energy on the springs in my feet, commanding them to push me forward, as I told my legs to ignore the uncomfortable feeling that was arising in the muscles; I wasn’t used to running like this. I set my mind to catching up with Ryan, and thought of nothing else. Pretty soon, I was only one yard behind him, then a foot, then I was sprinting right next to him.

I glanced over at him and he shot a quick glance at me. He was grinning, a look of excitement and wonder on his face. “Good job Emma,” he breathed. “Wow, really good job.” Then he sped up some more, and so did I. We were running up a hill now, so gravity was definitely starting to work against me, but I kept pushing myself. I blocked out everything except for the feeling in my legs and feet as they hit the ground and propelled me forward even faster.

Ryan sped up again. He was going lightning fast and I was lagging behind. I concentrated as hard as I could on the muscles in my feet, thighs, and calves, blocking out all else. I felt every stretch of every muscle. I was getting closer to Ryan. The trees were speeding past me so fast they were a blur. I wondered idly how fast Ryan and I were going, but I quickly focused my attention back on my legs. I could feel my heart pounding in my chest and behind my ears, I could feel a thick sweat forming on my forehead. But one thing I didn’t feel was out of breath. I didn’t feel tired at all. I accelerated and in no time at all, was running at light speed next to Ryan.

“Yes!” he exclaimed, euphoric. “Yes! Emma, you’re doing it!” He was grinning from ear-to-ear. And so was I. Then, just as I was beginning to get the hang of it, he began slowing down. I followed his lead.

The trees were getting thinner and I could see an enormous tan and gray rock about fifty yards ahead. Ryan and I continued to decrease in speed—from practically flying, to sprinting, to a slow run, to a fast jog, and eventually, a quick walk. As the pine trees became farther apart, Ryan turned to look at me. He was beaming, a look of satisfaction and pride plastered across his face. I couldn’t help but smile back; I was overjoyed that I’d been able to run like a Vampire—without tripping and falling on my face.

We were still walking toward the rock, but unexpectedly, Ryan ran toward me and scooped me up in his arms, bridal style. I yelped out of surprise and quickly wrapped my arms around his neck. “Emma, you did it,” he breathed. I smiled and leaned in to give him a quick kiss.

He carried me the rest of the way out of the woods, but before we reached the edge, he told me to close my eyes. Then he exited the woods and walked forward a couple of yards, from what I could tell—I still had my eyes closed, like he’d instructed. He began climbing up something steep, with me still clinging to him. Eventually, I felt him stop and turn around.

“Open your eyes,” he murmured.

My eyelids burst open and I looked around me. We were on the side of a mountain (the big tan and gray rock that I’d seen from the forest). There were other mountains all around us. There were Rocky Mountains as far as the eye could see, stretching towards the horizon. I could see the forest we had run through—a splash of green against the multihued Rockies—go on for miles. The sight was breathtaking. I looked at the rock behind me and noticed that there was a dark opening cut into the side of the mountain—almost like a cave. Ryan was standing at the edge. Far off in the distance I could see Arborson—a colossal speck in a deep valley.

“This is incredible,” I whispered in amazement. Then I peeled my eyes away from the landscape and looked at Ryan. His jade eyes were twinkling with delight.

I felt a small, cold drop of moisture hit my nose. Ryan and I both looked up. Delicate, white snowflakes were beginning to fall from the sky. As we both stared at the gray clouds, the flakes got larger and fluffier. Soon, it was as if little ends of Q-tips were raining down on us. Despite myself, I smiled. I looked at Ryan, who was smiling as well.

He pulled me tighter to him. He leaned in and kissed me softly as snow continued to fall and swirl around us, melting in our hair and sticking to our eyelashes. I could not believe where I was right now—on the side of a snow-covered mountain, in Ryan’s arms. The moment was absolutely surreal. And absolutely perfect.