Disclaimer: I do not own the characters; even I extremely wish I do. But they belong to Julie Kagawa.
"I'm sorry." A corner of his mouth quirked up as he quickly released he stepped aside and I rushed in.
"I see you've met our new neighbour."
"What?!" I exclaimed, looking at Kierran. "Is he our new neighbour?"
"Of course I am." His voice came dangerously close; I could actually feel his muscular chest touching my back. "Mrs Summer, would you mind if I and Cecily went for a walk?"
My jaw dropped opened, he did not just asked that right in front of my mum. But to my huge surprise, my mum replied smoothly. "Of course."
"Is that alright with you, Cecily?" He asked with a smile on his lips.
Do I have a choice?
"No, it's fine."
He opened the door for me, every molecule of perfect gentleman. After we have both stepped out, he then closed it gently behind him.
"Do you want to lead the way, since I'm new?" There was a silver of nervousness in his voice, barely detectable. Here I thought, this guy was just another pretty face perhaps I was wrong.
"Sure." I cut across the road, there was a park nearby and that was probably the best place to go. "So, why did you move here?" Even though I already know the answer.
"Mum left us, Dad got a new job nearby, but we are always moving from place to place."
"That's unfortunate." I replied mindlessly, momentarily distracted by a large raven several feet away from me, staring at us with dark green eyes. It cocked his head, and I could've sworn it winked at me before flying off into the sky.
"Did you see that?" I couldn't help to exclaimed, Kierran looked around, confused and looking slightly offended.
"See what?"
"That raven with green eyes, I think it winked at me!"
Kierran had a strange look on his face as he absorbed this in, then I realized how insane I sounded and looked down at my Converses.
"Forget about that." I muttered, silently cursing all ravens on earth.
"No, is alright. I find ravens quite interesting."
"Oh."
"So, where are we going?"
"Frog reserve park." I answered and continued across the empty path, the autumn wind lifted up several discarded old receipts, also bring the soothing fragrance of clove and a scent of summer and winter together.
Before I could even think about what I was saying, the words were out of my mouth. "You remind me of my home."
He turned his head, icy-blue eyes piercing mine. "What do you mean by home?"
I cut across another road, we lived in a small suburb in a small town and it seems that everyone is at home or somewhere else.
"Oh, we used to live in the mountains before we moved here."
"So, why did you move here?"
We had arrived at the park, where maple leaves paved the concrete path, it was quite a sight really except there was only a few trees in the park. "Dad got a job here, we didn't want to move but we needed the money, so we moved."
"Oh, no wonder you seem to have that air around you."
My heart skipped a beat, my mother had always said I had the air of the wilderness, if that even makes sense. But no one had notice it, not even Jules, yet this stranger, could detect it so effortlessly.
"What air?" I asked, and sat down on the soft grass, overlooking the road where a few cars slowly crawled up the hill.
"An air of the wilderness, like the woods, it shows in your personality you know, the way you talk."
I turned and gazed at him in amazement, he didn't try to explain how he did it and what he meant, I could only assume he knew that I knew what he was talking about.
"So, am I right or am I right?" He smiled, fingering the hem of his grey jumper. The way he smiled even makes my heart beat a little faster. What a strange boy…
"You're right."
He chuckled softly before asking, "Do you have any siblings?"
"No, you?"
"No. I'm the only child."
Before I can answer, the same green-eyed raven landed on the slide. Cocking his head and looking at me, wait, no, winking at me. With anger boiling inside me, I marched up to the raven expecting it to fly away but it stayed there. Boy, I'm going to kill this thing.
"What is the problem with you?" I demanded, feeling extremely stupid.
"Cawk cawk!" It replied, winking at me again.
"Argh! Stop doing that!" I stepped forward and did probably the stupidest thing on earth, I slapped the raven and it tumbled back on the slide. Behind me, laughter exploded. I turned around, Kierran was clutching his stomach, and his eyes danced with amusement and walked over and placed a hand on my shoulder.
"Don't worry, I'm not laughing at you, I'm laughing at that thing." He pointed to the raven, it was getting up unsteadily and cawking at me. I returned his cawk with a glare.
"Cawk!" It winked at me with its deep green eyes and flew off into the tree tops before I can slap it again.
"I hate ravens." Kierran muttered under his breath.
"That feelings is completely mutual, Kierran."
"So, what do we do now?" He asked, silver of laughter still in his voice.
"I don't know, what do you want to do?" I replied, equally lost.
"HELLO, BROTHER!" A loud voice boomed across the park, Kierran froze and I turned in confusion just as a young boy maybe a year or two older than me, with wild red hair and strangely familiar green eyes came pounding to us. Wait, to Kierran.
"Hello, little brother. Off to flirt with girls again?"
"I thought you didn't have a brother." I looked between the two of them, fact is, they don't bear any resemblance.
"Oh, of course he won't mention me." The latter grinned and threw his arm around me casually, "I'm his stepbrother."
"Yes, that is right." Kierran replied with clenched teeth, seeming very hard to control himself not to punch his stepbrother out.
"So, you are?" I asked.
"Me?" He threw his arms towards the sky in a dramatic manner. "I is Robin but you may call me, Robin the great if you like!"
"That is quite enough, brother." Kierran said in a tensed voice, throwing a glare at his brother.
"Oh, why are you looking like a woman giving birth? Brother?" I winced slightly, and then he turned to me, green eyes sparkling with mischief. "So, what were we talking about?"
"Well, actually. Since you are here, would you like to join us for dinner?" I asked politely, smiling.
"Great! And what is your name?"
"Cecily."
"Well then, Cecy. Lead the way."
Wow, on minutes in and he's already got a nickname for me.
Smiling to myself, this guy, Robin is just so easy to talk with. It seems that he's even wilder than me, like the summer wind, wild, unpredictable and passionate.
"So, Robin, where did you come from, hm?" I questioned him as he walked along side me with ease.
"Me?" He flashed me a mischievous grin, green eyes flashing as he said, "go on and have a guess."
I regarded him carefully, dressed in a pair of lose denim jeans and a loose fitting white t-shirt with some kind of weird writing on it, loose on his lanky but lean frame. The easy and confident way he held himself, the best I could come up with was really nothing. He was open yet mysterious at the same time, this intrigued me.
'Well, you're a mystery." I smiled, and he offered me a sheepish smile. "What about you, you don't seem much like a city girl."
God, is today I can read- you- like- a- book day?
"You have to guess that."
"Somewhere from Sweden I suppose, high mountains?"
He was right on the spot, maybe these two are mind-readers? "Yeah, you're right." I stuttered out somewhat uneasily.
"Of course I'm right, I'm always right!" He grinned and patted my shoulder friendly, boy he has a high self-esteem.
"Nice house." Robin commented cheerfully as we finally reached the driveway. The door was knocked and something wasn't right. All the lights were out and an ominous atmosphere shrouded the lane.
"Though since I'm the guest, I guess I should knock and do the honour." Robin climbed up the stairs and rang the doorbell.
Ding-dong, ding-dong.
Silence.
Ding-dong, ding-dong.
Silence.
Robin peeked into the key hold for a few second. Then finally announced in a carefully controlled voice, so different from what I've been hearing so far.
"I think we would best see if anyone's at home through one of the windows."
"But she is home!" I protested, starting to worry. That was when I saw the thin rivets of blood seeping through the crevice in the door.
Author's note:
*Cowards in fear from the update monster* Forgive me, readers for my awful timing to update. Feel free to harass me over a PM, it might just speed things up a little. So, anyways. Hopefully I can update weekly now. Review please?