Chapter 1
526 feet. That’s how high up off the ground I was as I precariously balanced one foot on the thin ledge to maneuver the other in front of it. Somewhere to the right my heels laid there, forgotten.
My arms were stretched out wide on either side of me as though I was a bird about to take flight. The wind roared in my ears, whipping my short hair around in my face. City lights twinkled all around me. I felt almost as though I was in a trance of sorts. One misstep and I was toast. Adrenaline coursed through my veins as I walked along the ridge on the roof 526 feet in the air. I’d never felt so free. I’d never felt so alive.
“What are you doing?” A voice asked from somewhere behind me. At the sound, I was startled back into the moment, and my foot that had just landed slipped. Before I could fall off the roof, a pair of strong arms caught me and hauled me off the ledge, back onto safe ground.
“Get off me!” I shoved myself out of my older brother’s arms and frowned. “You know exactly what I’m doing here.”
“You may want to pick a new hiding place.” Orion ran his finger across the ledge I’d just been standing on, then grimacing at the dust that coated it. “Mother and Father sent me up here. They know you come up here when we have company over.”
“Well,” I said, sitting down on the dusty ground to slip my heels back on, my back to the ledge, “as long as they’re too afraid to come up here themselves, I’m good.”
Orion smiled gently with closed lips. “If only that were true. They sent me to relay the message that you will be severely punished if you don’t go downstairs immediately. I’m assuming you do not want to face Father’s wrath?”
I let my head fall back against the rough concrete of the ledge. Of course I didn’t want to face Father’s anger. When he got angry, he got violent.
With a huff, I stood up and smoothed the wrinkles from my dress. It was long and dark blue, a color that Mom claimed made my eyes pop. She said it was pretty, too. I didn’t see that. All I saw when I looked at the dress was a reminder of who she and Father wanted me to be.
Orion nudged me forwards, batting at the dust that coated the side of my gown. With the back of my heel I lifted up the handle on the trapdoor that led down the stairs, through the hallway, and back to the jail cell I’d just left.
I hated it inside. Mother and Father liked to play a game where they pretended to live in a Victorian era even though the world around us was clearly centuries past that. They thought it was more formal. I thought it made us look stupid.
The smell of roasted duck and pumpkin wafted through the air. I wrinkled my nose. No matter how many times I told them I hated duck, they still seemed to make it every time we had a suitor over. As if being there wasn’t punishment enough.
Before I could even push the door to the dining room open, one of our many servants grabbed the handle and tugged the door wide open.
The orange light from the candles on the chandeliers in the hallway flooded into the darkened dining room. This boy- one of many who my father had brought home to meet me- had a problem with light. One quirk of many, I assumed. All the curtains had been drawn, all the candles blown out. How anyone saw anything in the darkness, I wasn’t sure.
“There’s my darling little blue jay,” Mom crooned from somewhere. “Come, dine with us. We’re having duck, your favorite.”
Blue jay. Because I had blue eyes, obviously. And choppy, dark waves for hair. Not that my partner for this dinner would be able to see any of that.
When I didn’t move, Orion pushed me hard towards the table- my eyes were starting to adjust and I could now see vague silhouettes. It helped that the curtains were open, letting moonlight in. I stumbled into the first empty seat I saw, which happened to be right between Father and the suitor.
Father’s fist was clenched on the table. Orion was right. He was very angry. There was only one way I could fix this. I turned towards my suitor.
“It’s Ernest, isn’t it?” Mother had told me his name and everything else about him earlier. When his shadow nodded I continued. “It’s really so lovely to see you again- how are your monkeys doing?”
Ernest Hewwet was the son of one of Father’s clients. Father had this idea that if any college or client of his had a boy my age, and he brought him home to dinner, then I would be able to win the boy over, and suddenly, bingo, Father would have a sale just like that. Of course, the sequence had never happened just like that. But when Father got an idea, he didn’t give up until it was successful. I suppose that was what made him such a great inventor and salesman, but in this case it wasn’t helpful for me. He thought I was the key to winning over clients, so win over clients I must.
Ernest cleared his throat and patted his mouth daintily with his napkin. “Well, the monkeys are doing quite well, considering everything. They quite like to, hmmm, what’s the phrase- monkey around? Ha!” His laughter was too loud, too grating. When he realized no one was laughing with him, he cleared his throat again and continued. “All jokes aside, they are progressing at a rapid rate…”
I fought the urge to roll my eyes or run my hands through my hair. I wasn’t sure a “date” could get any more boring. I felt so restless, sitting here making small talk, let alone about monkeys. And in the dark! And I’d hardly been here a minute. My fingers drummed on the table.
I touched Ernest’s arm, stopping him mid sentence. “Do you have any pictures of these monkeys? I would love to see them.”
He shifted positions, obviously looking for a photograph he could show me. I squeezed his arm, making him pause again. “Of course, I’ll never be able to see the photographs with the lights out. Do you mind if I light a candle?” Mother and Father had been passively sitting there the whole time, eating their food and quietly listening. Now they both stiffened, and Mother choked slightly on her bite of food.
“We don’t have to do that.” my mother assured Ernest, laying a hand atop his. “Our Camryn loves to joke around. She’s just joking with you now.”
Ernest gave a nervous laugh. “Oh, of course, of course. I too, love to joke around, as you well know. We would be a rather humorous pair, no?”
“We would be the talk of the town!” I said, forcing a cheeriness into my tone. Under the table, my hands tugged a ribbon from the hem of my dress. I deftly tied a bow in the freed ribbon, then tugged it loose. “Now, Ernest, I hear your father is into the buying and selling business now, is he not?”
My father’s elbow touched mine. It was a warning. He wanted me to take things slower, small talk for a little longer. But this had already taken long enough as it was. I couldn’t act for much longer, I didn’t have the energy to draw this out. If I didn’t secure the deal now, I wouldn’t be able to do it. Really, it was now or never.
“Yes, he’s very interested in buying things he thinks will ‘go big’ in the near future. Things he suspects might sell.” Ernest shrugged like he didn’t understand.
“What sort of things has your father sold?” I asked, leaning closer to him. I ran a finger down his arm. “I know he’s sold things before like airbourne cars and such.” Boys before had fallen at my feet for using this move. Not that that had helped my father sell any more of his inventions, though.
I heard Ernest swallow and I saw his shadow look down at where my hand rested on his arm, then up at me. He in turn slowly drew his hand up and down my arm. “Yes, um, and he’s sold things like, ah, solar powered toasters….” His hand reached my neck and he threaded his fingers through my hair. He was more affected than most boys by my touch. I forced myself to stay frozen, while every instinct told me to shake his hand off. But no, I needed to secure this deal.
“And… et. cetera…” he continued, trailing off. Suddenly I felt Ernest start learning towards me, his head tilted slightly. I froze. He wasn’t going to kiss me was he? I felt his hot breath wash over me and I almost gagged at the smell. Just before his lips met mine I stuck a hand up, blocking him. I couldn’t do it! I couldn’t let him kiss me! For a moment, his lips kissed my hand before he realized. He leaned back and cleared his throat.
I could feel Ernest’s embarrassment. If the lights had been on, I knew I would see his face flaming red. I knew I had valuable time before he walked out, so even the voice in the back of my head telling me it was a terrible idea couldn’t stop me from going for it.
“Would your father, say, be interested in buying…” What was it my father was trying to sell? “Shoe coverings?” Yeah. That sounded right. But one look in Father’s direction told me I’d guessed wrong. His entire shadow had tensed up and I could see his hard jaw working back and forth. Instinctively I tensed too. I could only imagine what kind of punishment I would get for this.
“Given that you declined my kiss, I find it highly improbable that my father would want to invest in anything that your father is selling.” Ernest patted his mouth again with the napkin then folded it nicely and set it on the table. “Thank you for the lovely meal. I really must be going now.” He started to walk briskly away.
“No! Ernest, wait please!” My voice sounded panicked. I grasped at his arm and tugged him back in my direction, grabbed his face and planted my lips on his. For a moment, Ernest froze in shock and then he shoved me off him, and ran out the doors. I stumbled backwards into a little pedestal holding one of Mother’s prized vases, which proceeded to crash to the ground, shattering into a million little pieces.
The room was silent. I pressed my forehead to the tiled ground, wishing I could sink into it. Then the light flickered on.
Orion, who had apparently sat down at the table with us at some point, stood up and shook his head, chuckling lightly. “Well, that couldn’t have gone much worse.” He turned to Mother and kissed her cheek. “Goodnight Mother.” Without a glance in my direction, he strode out of the room. Then, with a sympathetic glance in my direction, Mother stood and walked out as well, leaving me to the mercy of Father.
He hadn’t moved yet. His back was to me, so all I could see of him was his tight shoulders and dipped head. Suddenly he stood, slashing an arm across the table. All the dishes and glasses we’d used crashed to the ground like Mother’s vase. He grabbed one glass he’d managed to miss and threw it in my direction. It hit the wall behind me, raining shards into my hair.
“Clean this up, then go to your room,” He said, his voice hoarse. He murmured something to a butler standing at the door and stormed out, slamming the door behind him.
I got to my feet slowly, glass tinkling around me. “Am I allowed to use a broom?” I asked the butler quietly. He shook his head sympathetically. Of course I wasn’t allowed to use a broom. This was part of my punishment. For the rest of it, Father would probably restrict the cook’s from making me any food for the next few days. And of course, if I dared to close my bedroom door who knew how long I would be locked in there for. I was a literal prisoner in my own home.
I wasn’t sure how long it took me to gather up all the little pieces of glass into the few napkins there were. By the time I was done, my hands were freely bleeding from all the little cuts and tears in the skin. The butler finally nodded his approval that the room was clean enough and opened the door for me.
When I made my way back to my room, I found Orion standing near my window, looking out at the city below. He took one look at my head and my hands and waved me into the bathroom. He gathered the medical supplies from under the sink while I freed a few ice cubes from the mini fridge I had in my room and wrapped them in a rag. We’d done this hundreds of times, I was just instinctive by now.
I sat on the edge of the bathtub as Orion took the ice and pressed it to the worst spot on my forehead. “You know you shouldn’t have done that.”
I hissed as the cold substance hit my bruised skin, grabbing the rag from him and holding it to my head myself. “What part are you talking about specifically? The part where I showed up late, rejected that idiot’s kiss, tried to sell the wrong invention, or broke Mother’s vase?”
Orion grabbed my wrist, moving the ice pack slightly over to rest right on my cheekbone. “It hasn’t been the best night for you, has it?” His lips twitched slightly.
I made sure Orion was looking me in the eyes before I responded. “Thank you, Orion. For… this.” I needed him to know that even though I was sharp and insensitive often, I still appreciated being cared for like this. Orion was the closest thing I’d ever come to a loving parent, and that was saying something.
He sighed deeply, lowering his hand. For a moment he looked much older than he was. “You know I love you, Coby, don’t you? I just want what’s best for you.”
I leaned forwards, resting my head on his leg. He ran a hand over my hair. He cleared his throat. “We’ll make it through this. I promise.”
I nodded and stood. “Goodnight, Orion.”
“Goodnight Coby.”
