SilverMoonLight (SilverMoonSaga Book 1) (32 page)

Myron
looked from Calum to me. »Calum, please take Emma to her room. It’s time for
Peter to take his exam.«

I
was reluctant to go, but Calum pulled me up the stairs, grim-faced. He didn’t
say a word. And I didn’t know what to say either. The future of our
relationship was now completely dependent on the shellycoats’ decision. How
much influence did Ares have compared to Elin? What would happen to Elin? My
head was filled with questions. However, it seemed that things wouldn’t turn
out as bad I had feared; in the last few weeks I had been imagining the worst
possible scenarios. Calum delivered me to my room, speaking only to remind me
to lock the door. He looked so distant as he said goodbye. I sank down onto my
bed, feeling exhausted. What time was it?

A
loud knock on the door startled me.

»Who’s
there?« I called.

»It’s
me, Raven. Calum asked me to stay with you. I don’t fancy sleeping in front of
the door all night, so please let me in.« She sounds testy.

I
opened the door cautiously. It really was Raven.

»Calum
doesn’t want you to be alone. And after the decision of the Council he can’t
stay with you himself,« she said, sounding apologetic.

I
turned to my bed. By now I could barely keep my eyes open.

»Raven,
don’t be annoyed but I really need to sleep.«

»No
problem. You sleep and I’ll look after you. There’s no need to be afraid.«

»How
long does the exam for the Initiates last anyway?« I murmured, falling asleep
before the answer came.

Chapter Twenty-one

In
the middle of the night, I awoke with a start to the sound of shouts and loud
footsteps outside. Raven was standing by the window, looking down into the
moonlit courtyard.

»Raven?«

She
didn’t seem to hear me, so I flung off the thick quilt and ran over to the
window. Chaos was breaking out down below; everyone was running around
frantically.

»What’s
going on, Raven?«

My
fear had returned.

»It’s
Elin. He fled,« she answered tonelessly.

I
gasped.

»Someone
disobeying the Council’s word...« She didn’t finish her sentence, shaking her
head in disbelief. »I don’t know if it’s ever happened before. He must hate you
both so much to do something like this.«

»Wasn’t
there anyone guarding him?«

Raven
looked at me.

»Normally,
that’s not necessary. Every defendant submits to the decision of the Council
without protest. That’s how our justice system has always functioned, and no
one has ever tried to escape.«

I
shook my head in disbelief. That seemed very naive to me.

»Where
would he go?«

Raven
didn’t get a chance to answer my question, for there was a knock at the door.
Raven opened and Peter and Calum stormed into the room.

»Thank
God you’re okay,« said Peter, drawing me into his arms. He looked totally
exhausted.

»Calum,
where would he go?« I asked insistently. But all he did was shrug.

»I
can only guess. He’ll have to hide, and his followers fled with him. We don’t
yet know how many of our people will follow him. Ares is going to call a
meeting.«

I
looked at him in shock.

»I’ll
take you home first, Emma. You don’t need to be afraid.«

But
I was afraid, very much so. Since the meeting, he hadn’t touched me or even
looked me in the eye once. I couldn’t bring myself to speak to him, not in
front of Raven and Peter.

»We’ll
set off at sunrise. I’ll pick you up.«

Then
he left the room with Peter.

I
looked over at Raven. She was looking down over the courtyard. Without saying a
word, I went to stand next to her again. By now, various groups had collected
down there and the sound of agitated debate rose up towards us.

»Will
they look for him?« I asked quietly.

»I
don’t know.« Raven sighed. »I don’t think there are any regulations for
something like this. It’s simply never happened that someone has refused to
follow the Council’s orders.«

She
fell silent, as if she was wondering what she should say next. Clearly, though,
there wasn’t anything else to say.

»Go
back to bed,« she ordered after a while. »I’ll look after you.«

But
there was no way I could sleep now.

»Can
I ask you something?« I said, once she had stretched out next to me on the bed.

She
nodded.

»Are
the rules the same with all the clans? Are you not allowed to mate with humans
either?«

»The
rules apply to everyone. But the clans approach things differently when it
comes to mating. We elves, for example, don’t have a fixed partner. A life-long
union like the shellycoats have is unthinkable for us, it’s hard to imagine how
it would even work. But the shellycoats and the fairies, are the clans that
isolate themselves from the world the most.«

I
looked at her questioningly.

»For
example,« she explained, »look at their habitat. As long as we follow certain
rules, we elves, the vampires, and even the werewolves are able to live amongst
people. And most of us do; our clan structures aren’t like those of the
shellycoats. We’re more like families, living together. We’ve developed and
taken on aspects of human lifestyles and behavior, but the clans who live in
secrecy without any contact with humans tend not to change their rules or
traditions. There are many shellycoats who argue that all their young men and
women should be able to live amongst humans for a fixed period. But their
elders, who of course are all very traditional, reject that. I can’t understand
why; the world is changing, and we should change with it. But all Council
decisions are final, and normally everyone obeys this.«

»Until
someone comes along who doesn’t,« I responded drily.

»I
can’t even begin to imagine what this means for the future,« said Raven. »In
spite of our different ways of living, we’ve always agreed on the basic rules.«

»Do
you think Peter passed the exam?« I asked.

»We’ll
have to ask him tomorrow morning. Normally, the exam lasts all night, so I
imagine the Council was interrupted. Yet another thing that has never happened
before.«

She
turned off the bedside lamp. »Try to sleep a little now, Emma,« she ordered
gently.

Understanding
that she wanted to be alone with her thoughts, I turned over on my side and
stared into the darkness. I had hoped for some kind of resolution, and now
everything was up in the air again. Calum would go back to his people and
wouldn’t get a chance to face the Council’s judgment. The thought was
unbearable. How much time did we have left? Tears ran silently down my cheeks.
If Raven felt my despair, then she didn’t say anything.

»Raven?
Are you asleep?«

»We
don’t sleep; our thoughts go to another sphere where our minds can gather
strength. Our bodies don’t need rest,« she replied, as though it was the most
normal thing in the world.

»I
got the impression Myron tricked everyone with the judgment on Ares.«

I
turned to face her. Raven nodded.

»The
vampires are the clan which is closest to humankind. They are the oldest and
wisest clan of us all. That’s why they understand the allure you have for
Calum.«

»But
I thought vampires needed human blood to survive?« I stammered.

»You’re
right, but vampires are also forbidden from killing humans. Almost all vampires
feed on animal blood nowadays. Only in exceptional cases do they drink human
blood, and then it’s given voluntarily by the humans.«

»But
don’t those humans then become vampires?«

»Yes,
of course. But that’s the point. Vampires can’t reproduce. In order for them to
maintain the youth of their race, they have to regularly ‘transform’ humans.
These individuals are carefully chosen. When they’re ready, they’re taught here
at the academy, and as soon as they’re confident in their decision, the
transformation is completed with a special ritual.«

»I
assume vampires don’t age?«

My
question seemed naive, but my head was filled with stories of garlic, stakes,
and bat costumes. When I had read a book about vampires for the first time at
the age of twelve, I hadn’t been able to sleep for nights on end.

»The
body doesn’t age, Emma. But the spirit does, so it’s often unable to keep up
with the changing times.«

»How
many vampires are there in the world?« I asked, marveling at these revelations.

»The
number is fixed,« answered Raven. »There can be up to six thousand.«

»Does
every clan have a fixed number like that?«

»No,
the vampires decided that for themselves. Like us, vampires are immortal, but
in order that our people don’t become too old, everyone who reaches a certain
age voluntarily goes to their death. Dying is only possible if they carry it
out themselves. We elves, too, go to the Land of the Immortals at a certain
point, and retreat forever from this world.«

I
smiled, reminded of one of my favorite books.

»Tolkien
knew our world very well,« said Raven with a smile, »he was an Initiate.«

»Can
you read my thoughts?« I asked in disbelief.

She
nodded apologetically. »I try not to look into humans’ minds too often, but
sometimes the thoughts are impossible to ignore.«

I
had question after question, and Raven answered each one willingly.

When
dawn broke, I got up and washed my face, then got dressed and packed my things.
Raven watched me in silence.

»I’m
so sorry for you both,« she said after a while. »I really wanted you to have a
chance, but I fear the shellycoats won’t give you one now.«

She
hugged me goodbye and left the room. I watched her go sadly, certain I would
never see her again. I had grown very fond of her. A few moments later, Peter
arrived to pick me up.

The
courtyard was deserted as we got into the car. This time, Peter sat next to me
on the back seat. I bit my lip with anger and fear. Nothing had changed for the
better. Instead things were even worse.

After
we had been driving for a while, Peter began to talk to Dr. Erickson about the
exam. It seemed it had indeed been interrupted.

»What
does this mean for Peter?« I asked Dr. Erickson.

»He’ll
have to finish the exam next year. After Elin fled, the Council decided Peter
would get a second chance. The interruption was an exceptional circumstance.«

»What
did they ask? What did you have to do?« I asked curiously.

»Emma,
you know I can’t talk about that.«

I
gave an annoyed sigh. All of their rules were starting to seem really
ridiculous. I turned moodily away from Peter and looked out of the window. Then
I remembered I had to ask Dr. Erickson something.

»Why
didn’t Ares seem too bothered by his punishment?« I asked. »Doesn’t losing his
voting rights make him lose status in the clan?«

»You’re
right,« he responded. »Normally, this punishment would be considered a harsh
one, but given that Ares needs to select his successor next year, he will lose
his voting rights anyway. Myron knew that, and I’m sure everyone else did too.«

Silence
descended again. I was desperately hoping that Calum would speak to me again at
some point, and that we would get some time alone. I didn’t want to believe
that he would leave me.

When
we arrived home later that afternoon, I gave a sigh of relief. I couldn’t have
handled one minute longer in the tense atmosphere of the car.

Bree
and Ethan rushed out of the house and hugged us tightly. Bree looked like she
hadn’t gotten a single wink of sleep the whole night. The two of them
immediately latched on to Dr. Erickson and Peter and besieged them with
questions. Amelie had gone to the cinema with the twins. Seizing the
opportunity to be alone with Calum, I pulled him into the garden. He tried to
hold back, and I could feel that he didn’t want to follow me, but I refused to
give in.

»Let’s
go for a walk,« I said. He followed me through the garden and towards the
cliff. We stayed silent at first but it wasn’t long before I couldn’t bear it
any longer.

»Will
you take part in the Council meeting that Ares convened?«

»It
would be best if I did,« answered Calum briefly.

»And
that would mean you have to go back for good?«

Calum
nodded, with a tortured expression on his face.

»But
if you go back to your people when it isn’t a full moon night, you’ll never be
able to come back to me«