The Enchantress (Wicked Book 1) (7 page)

As Drew
entered the kitchen he was hit with the smell of roast chicken and his stomach
rumbled. He rounded the corner to find Casey, the manor cook, bent over the
stove, stirring a pot gravy. She didn’t usually make lunch so interesting, and Drew
wondered why today was different. He took a buttered bread roll from the
counter and nibbled on the corner.
  ‘Mr Crescent! Put that down!’ Casey scolded him as she turned towards the
chopping board, reaching for the onions.
  ‘Oh come on Casey, you know that I’m your favourite. Give me some slack.’
  ‘I know of no such thing,’ insisted Casey.
  She was a short, plump woman of thirty, with bright red cheeks. She always
had her ginger hair pulled back into a loose bun at the nape of her neck, but
she was, as all those living within the manor agreed, a lovely woman and, as
Drew, who loved his food, would say, one hell of a cook. Few humans were
brought into the Spirit World, as few could be trusted with the secrets they would
learn. Along with that, few could handle the oaths that they were required to take
in order to be trusted, but the ones that were welcomed in to the Spirit World were
to be treasured and not once had the people at the manor taken advantage of
their beloved cook.
  Drew winked at Casey, ‘don’t lie to yourself,’ and, grabbing another roll, he
headed through the double doors and into the dining room.
  As he entered he noticed that the table was spruced up more so than usual
with bright orange, yellow and red arrangements of flowers lining it’s middle.
Glancing around, he found Gemma and Logan already seated, ready for lunch.
  ‘Hungry?’ he questioned, finishing off his second roll and sinking down into
the seat beside Gemma.
  ‘Starved!’ Logan answered, ‘Stella insisted we push lunch back an hour because
Mr Stark from the Corin Force was joining us.’
  Drew screwed up his nose, ‘why is he here?’
  ‘He wanted to talk to Laura,’ Gemma replied.
  ‘Poor girl. I feel sorry for her. God I hate that guy. He always calls me boy
and he is always so cheerful and happy and smiling and blah blah blah, I mean,
you’d think the guy was-
  ‘Thank you for that Drew,’ Stella interrupted as she entered the room, Mr
Stark far enough behind to not have heard.
  ‘Mr Stark, my favourite detective,’ Drew grinned, jumping up to shake his
hand.
  ‘Ah, Drew! Lovely to see you, boy.’
  ‘Two faced suck up.’ Gemma muttered as Drew sat back down, receiving a kick
under the table.
  ‘Not grown much since I last saw you. Haven’t been slacking off with training
have we?’ Mr Stark questioned, turning and placing his hat on the hook by the
door.
  Drew laughed. ‘Hate that guy,’ he then hissed to Gemma and Logan.
  Stella sent a sharp look Drew’s way and he flashed his pearly whites at her.
Laura entered the room then, Caspian right behind her and she turned, quietly
discussing something with him.
  Drew couldn’t help but watch her. She was light on her feet, composed. He had
to admit, he admire her strength and ability to keep the smile on her face despite
all she was going through. Sure, she wasn’t a physical fighter like himself,
but it had taken him months to get the smile back on his face after the loss of
his parents and cousin. However, here she was, suffering an awful loss of her
own and having the terrible burden of immense worry for her mother on her
shoulders, and still, she was smiling. She
was
a fighter, in her own
right.
  Drew could feel his own lips curving into a smile as she turned and locked
eyes with him.
  Was he making it up, or did her eyes seem to linger a little too long on his
face?
  She turned back to Caspian, laughing at something he said, and the two of
them crossed the room to take their places. They were followed by Leo and not
long after, Grace. She avoided Drew’s gaze as she took her seat by Laura.
  Once they were all comfortable, Casey announced the entrée and served the
dish to everyone.
  ‘So how have you all been getting on since my last visit to the manor?’ Mr
Stark inquired, sweeping his eyes from one face to another. A smile was on his
own face and it didn’t seem to falter once.
  ‘Very well. Everyone’s studies have been coming along nicely and we are in
the midst of the planning for the final ceremony in December,’ Stella answered
proudly.
  Mr Stark raised his eyebrows, ‘how interesting! I barely remember my
ceremony, it was so long ago now.’
  ‘Here we go,’ Drew murmured as Mr Stark droned on about how he had been
worried sick on the big day and joked about the anxiety of seeing a gold
Identity Mark instead of a silver.

Drew’s cheek
was resting on his fist as Mr Stark’s story finally came to a close. He was
oblivious to the bored faces around him as he laughed at his own anecdote and
finished off his salad.
  ‘Who will be participating in this ceremony?’ he asked politely after swallowing
his mouthful.
  Drew reached for his glass and took a sip as Leo looked around the room
waiting for someone to respond. They eyed one another in an awkward silence.
  Finally Drew placed his glass down, ‘Grace and I will be eighteen at the end of
August so will be participating.’
  ‘I will also be in the ceremony as I turned eighteen in May,’ Caspian added.
  ‘Ah, three people in the one year! Will you be performing this ceremony with
the Spirit school, or are you planning to hold your own here?
  ‘We’ll be holding ours here as always,’ Leo replied.
  ‘Ah, yes I remember the previous participants. Do they come to visit often?’
Mr Stark continued as Casey cleared away the crockery.
  ‘We do have visitors from time to time, however as you know, we haven’t had
many graduates previously. These next two years will be the most eventful since
James left ten years ago,’ Stella chirped.
  ‘Yes, James! I liked that boy!’
  The main course of roasted chicken and vegetables was served and everyone dug
in before continuing their conversation.
  Mr Stark looked up from his half eaten plate, ‘do any of you here remember
James?’
  ‘I do,’ Caspian nodded, ‘he was like a mentor. He helped me with my studies.
I learnt a lot from him.’
  ‘Yeah, I remember him too. He was a great guy. Although by the time I had
arrived he was in his last two years and always stuck studying in his room or
training. I have to say I understand what he was going through now!’ Logan
added.
  ‘Ah, yes! The final two years are definitely the hardest and most time
consuming! What about you Drew, my boy?’ Mr Stark queried, taking a sip from
his glass.
  ‘Nope. Don’t remember him really,’ Drew answered bluntly.
  ‘I think Drew and I arrived not to long after he left, but I do briefly
remember him from visits, though I must admit I have not talked to him a lot
myself,’ Grace jumped in eyeing her brother across the table.
  It was the first time she had spoken all lunch.
  ‘Yes, I suppose Caspian and Logan were the only ones who really spent a lot
of time with him.’
  Drew grumbled something into his napkin and received a sharp kick from Grace
under the table. He sent her an angry glare, which she returned straight back.
  ‘So what do the three of you plan on doing once you complete your ceremony?’
Mr Stark asked, glancing down the table at Grace, Drew and then at Caspian.
  Drew’s eyes flickered up to his sisters. He hadn’t come up with a good enough
lie yet. Grace could always tell when he was lying, one of the downsides of
being twins, so his plan had to be secure for her to buy it.
  ‘I’m not sure yet,’ was the best he could come up with.
  ‘Ah, boy it’s normal to be unsure of your future. It shall come to you in
time.’
  Drew cringed.
  ‘Neither am I,’ Grace added, catching Mr Stark’s disapproving eye.
  He barely seemed to acknowledge her.
  ‘Caspian?’ Mr Stark shifted his eyes to the boy’s face.
  ‘I haven’t put a lot of thought into it but I have been interested in the Guardian’s
job for a while now.’
  Stella gasped, Leo looked up in shock, and silence fell upon the group. Even
Drew looked at Caspian wide eyed, mouth agape. Why Caspian had never mentioned
this interest before?
  ‘How admirable. Guardian of the endangered. A treacherous job.’ 
‘Yes, but I think I am up for it,’ Caspian answered, avoiding Drew’s
questioning looks, ‘I have been looking into it a lot in the past months.’
  Mr Stark grinned at Caspian, ‘that’s wonderful! I remember when I first…’ and
again Mr Stark was off again, speaking of his adventures of joining the Force.

Once the
table was cleared of the dishes, Mr Stark announced his departure, thanking
Casey for the wonderful lunch and Stella for the hospitality.
  He turned to Laura, ‘I will send constant updates of our progress in the
case.’
  ‘When will I be able to join you?’ Laura asked as they stood, pushing their
chairs in.
  Mr Stark looked almost amused. ‘My girl, I hardly think this is the type of
search a young and inexperienced child should be involved in!’ he laughed,
retrieving his hat.
  Laura’s cheeks warmed, ‘what do you mean? That is my mother out there. I
should be out helping!’ she exclaimed.
  ‘You are helping by giving us the information we need to find her. I don’t
think your mother would like it if you were off running through the streets,
putting yourself in danger,’ Mr Stark replied, giving no acknowledgement to the
anger in Laura’s face.
  Laura wanted to say more but Grace took her hand and patted it, ‘you will be
able to help, we promise,’ she whispered to her, ‘Mr Stark is just doing what
he thinks is right.’
  Drew snorted and Grace shot him a look that said ‘shut the hell up!’
  ‘Well, take care everyone.’ Mr Stark bid them farewell.
  Laura forced a smile as did the others.
  ‘Let me show you out,’ Stella said, leading Mr Stark through the door and
down the hall.
  ‘Absolutely hate that guy,’ Drew muttered.

Laura
excused herself not long after Mr Stark’s departure, shutting herself in her
room. She needed time alone to think about her dream, the one that seemed to
have sprung to mind so suddenly during her interview with Wilford Stark.
  What had it meant? Was it a real memory that had somehow been unlocked?
  Laura rolled onto her bed and rested her hands on her stomach, mulling over
the vision from her sleep.
  When you remember this my dear, it is time,
her mother had said.
  It was that line that caused her extensive inner havoc, and that was why she
was even considering the possibility that it may not have been a dream. She desired
the freedom to discuss it with someone, but she couldn’t risk bringing forth
more trouble for her mother. Being able to exercise her power when she, they
assumed, didn’t maintain the mark, was a very dangerous ability to possess.
  Laura squeezed her eyes shut in the hopes of blocking out the dream. She
allowed a calmness to settle over her as she pretended she was back on Wimerack
Mountain, her mother was safe, her father alive and the Spirit World non-existent.
  She opened her eyes. But it
did
exist. Even if she were oblivious to
it, it was there and she was still a part of it. There was no escaping it.
  Laura sat upright on her bed, reaching for her backpack. She found the map
inside, and unfolded it onto the bedspread. She noticed it’s incredible detail
considerably better this time, as she actually had the time to take in every feature
displayed on the fading and frayed page. The entirety of the country of
Lastrala was visible, forming the
shape of a giant, very rough triangle. Different symbols were painted on in
delicate black brush strokes, covering different sections of the ancient map.
  Laura studied them with wonder. Then Mr Stark’s words crept into her mind
  It allows people to seek out every
living
witch, wizard and warlock
in the country, with or without their marks, by simply speaking their name.
  An idea so wild, so frightening, formed inside of Laura’s mind. Should
this plan succeed, she could finally allow herself to feel hope again. But if
it were to fail, she could be left with an even bigger hole in her heart than
she already had.
  Laura took a breath and spoke the words very carefully.
‘Please show me Cara Harmer.’
  Nothing happened straight away. And then, for only a moment, Laura saw the unmistakable
flash of green at the top of the triangle, where the peak of the state of Sharan
was.
  Her heart fluttered and she spoke the words again, the light appearing for
only a second.
  But it was there. She saw it.
  Her mother was alive.

‘STELLA!’
Laura burst into Stella and Leo’s office to find them both hunched over Leo’s
computer.
  They looked up, startled and Stella ran to Laura, resiting both hands on her
shoulders to steady her.
  ‘What is it, Laura? Are you okay? What’s happened?’ Estella was panic
stricken.
  In Laura’s left hand was the map. She pushed past Stella and placed the map
in front of Leo on the desk, beckoning Stella to follow, ‘she’s alive! I saw
her on the map. She is alive!’
  Stella was frowning slightly as she approached the desk, but the look on
Leo’s face said it all, ‘I can’t believe we didn’t think of this! Where did you
see her Laura?’
  Laura pointed to the exact spot where the green light flared up on the map.
  ‘Watch,’ she said.
  ‘Please show me Cara Harmer,’ she spoke clearly and steadily, as she had
before.
  Nothing happened.
  Laura remembered that it took a minute, so she remained patient. Then, the green
light went off as quick as the flash of a camera, only this time the light did
not flicker in the spot Laura had placed her finger, but in the middle of the
ocean millimetres above where her finger sat.
  ‘See!’ she exclaimed.
  ‘They must be travelling. No, this is bad. If they leave Lastrala they enter
a whole new set of rules. Every country has their own Courts and departments
that abide by their own guidelines. I mean we still all answer to the Grand
Courts, but it’s not quite the same in every country. She could be in serious
danger entering a place she has no knowledge about, especially without her
mark. In some countries, those who willingly choose to leave the Enchanted are
considered traitors and are punished. And we may not be able to help her once
she leaves Lastrala,’ Leo was rambling to himself, but as Laura listened, she
began to worry.
  She glanced at Leo, then at Stella, ‘I have something I need to tell you.
Something that could put her in even worse danger.’
  ‘What is it?’ Stella asked, her voice calm. Laura could see that her eyes
told a different story. One of fear.
  She took a breath, ‘I think she can still use her powers.’

Drew heard
the shout echo down the hall. He hurried down the passageway, coming to a
skidding stop at Stella and Leo’s office. He rested a hand on the door knob,
his other hand holding his dagger at the ready and he was about to barge in, when
suddenly he heard the voices. Instead, he lowered his dagger and pressed his
head to the door, listening intently.
  ‘A dream told you this?’ He heard Stella ask, and he could hear the disbelief
in her tone.
  ‘Yes, except I think it was a memory, not a dream,’ Laura’s voice floated out
from under the door.
  ‘But how could that memory have been hidden until now?’ Drew could hear
Stella pacing as she asked the question and he could imagine her with her hand
to her chin, thinking.
  ‘The charm, Stell,’ Leo’s rough voice replied.
  Drew heard Stella pause, mid-pace, ‘well that’s two things she can do without
her mark. Performing a Charm, one she has no legal right to access, and using the
Lightening. That’s impossible. It just can’t happen.’
  Drew sucked in his breath. Could Laura use her power without her marks? No it
must not be Laura, she was the one insisting her memory had been hidden. Then
who? And How?
  ‘Maybe there is a way we can train ourselves to… to unleash the power without
the mark. But the Charm…’ Leo trailed off as he wondered aloud.
  ‘That’s why you asked Mr Stark about using powers without our mark in the
interview isn’t it?’ Stella began pacing again not waiting for Laura’s answer,
‘if she is taken to another country and they find out that she, indeed, can access
her powers without her mark then she will be executed. They don’t want people
finding out that this is possible. It will cause an uproar. No one can know.’
  ‘She has hidden it all these years. Aside from this memory, I have not once
noticed her accessing her powers. Not unless she wiped my memory more than once,’
Laura spoke up and he could hear the shock in her voice.
  Drew then realised that it was Laura’s mother they was talking about. That
was all he needed to hear to drive him away from the office and towards the
Library. He had to find every book he could on the Identity Mark. If pressing
forward with his plan sooner was possible, it was crucial for him to know. The
waiting was getting to him and it had been driving him away from everyone at
the manor for years. Everyone he cared about. As soon as he had served his
revenge, he would be free.
  There must be a flaw somewhere within the system.
He thought.
There
just must
.

Stella was
pacing furiously back and forth as she tried to formulate a solution to their
growing problem.
  ‘Laura, we promised we would do everything we could to get her back. But you
must know, this is a very dangerous situation. If she is capable of the things
you say she is then she has put herself at terrible risk of being caught. This
must not be passed on to anyone, okay? Not even the Forces, if they found out
she would be sentenced to death, or even worse; hell. Even here in Lastrala they
would. This must stay between us.’
  Laura nodded and her stomach churned with worry. She swallowed and took in a
shaky breath, ‘I won’t say a word,’ she promised. ‘Why are they taking her
overseas?’ Laura whispered as Stella’s pacing slowed to a stop.
  Leo shook his head, ‘I can’t answer that. What we need is to find out
who
within the Wicked is behind the kidnapping. Then maybe we can begin to
formulate some idea of what they want and why.’
  ‘Maybe if we can find out where they are going we can follow them? See what
is there and that might give us an idea of what it is that they want,’ Laura
suggested, ‘and then we can trace it back to who it is.’
  Leo and Stella peered at one another, expressing everything that was left
unsaid in that one look.
  They all knew that Laura had something to do with what the Wicked were
searching for, but it couldn’t be just
her
that they wanted. It had to
be something much bigger than that. There must be some reason as to why they
need her. Why they were willing to kidnap her mother.
  ‘What we need is all the maps we can get. To at least narrow the search down
to where she isn’t and where she might be,’ Leo finally said.
  ‘How do we get a hold of so many maps?’ Stella questioned.
  Leo raised an eyebrow, ‘anyone up for a trip?’

Caspian was
sitting peacefully by the fire in the Library when the doors flew open and Drew
stumbled in.
  ‘Good God Drew, what are you doing?’ He exclaimed.
  ‘I need to look up something. For school,’ he lied, heading for the last row
of books against the back wall.
  ‘Well if this is your attitude towards your school work then I would love to
see your enthusiasm for taking out the garbage,’ Caspian commented as he rested
his head against the chairs head rest.
  ‘It is not my turn already is it? I thought it was Logan’s?’
  ‘He did it yesterday.’
  ‘Damn it.’
  ‘That’s the spirit.’
  Drew slipped a book from its place,
The Book of the Identity Mark
. A
fitting title.
  ‘What was with the sudden interest in the Guardian job?’ he asked casually as
he flipped through the pages.
  ‘Oh, nothing really. I have been looking at possibilities for after the
ceremony, and that was one that appealed to me,’ Caspian replied, brushing it
off with a shrug.
  ‘Any particular reason?’
  ‘No, not really.’
  Drew ached to ask why Caspian hadn’t discussed it with him, but he didn’t
want to push him. As close as they were, he knew Caspian had his boundaries,
and if he had wanted to discuss it he would have. Drew knew he would have to
let it go and leave it up to Caspian to come to him when he was ready to talk.
  ‘Why are you looking into the Identity Mark?’
  ‘How do you know what book it is?’ Drew asked, surprised.
  ‘Please, I have spent hours each day studying every nook and cranny of this
Library. I know every book and their exact location,’ Caspian waved it off.
  ‘Well, I’m just interested, that’s all,’ Drew answered gingerly.
  ‘You already know everything about the Identity Mark. You aced that test,’
Caspian raised his eyebrows.
  ‘Yes, well, I wanted to know more.’
  Caspian shook his head, ‘well, if you are looking for information in great
depth on the mark, I suggest the book three down from the one you selected,’ he
said, and then quietly rose from his seat and exited the room.
  Drew watched him leave, then took the book Caspian spoke of from its place
and sat down on the couch. He flipped it open to the first page and began to
read.

Laura was
stepping out of the office when she found Caspian leaving the Library.
  ‘Is everything alright?’ He asked as they met halfway down the hall.
  She looked up at him and knew she couldn’t lie.
  ‘Do you want to go for a walk?’
  Caspian was surprised, ‘sure.’
  The two made their way to the entrance. Caspian passed one of Stella’s coats
from the rack to Laura, then secured his own over his shoulders, buttoning it
up tight to keep the warmth in.
  They left the Manor, finally allowing Laura to see where she had come to
live. The Manor was built high up on a hill that overlooked Corin. They stood
on a wooden veranda, three even steps leading to a stone path that wound its
way down the hill. To her left, across the green lawn, were stables surrounded
by leafless maple trees.
  They took the cobble stone path, Laura admiring the view of the city before
them.
  ‘We are a few kilometres out,’ Caspian told her, ‘it is more peaceful out
here. But we are close enough to be in the backstreets of Corin in well under
10 minutes. Well, if we speed.’
  Laura grinned, ‘I like it.’
  Caspian lead her down the path to a lake at the bottom of the hill. Willow
trees crowded the further side of the lake and their limbs hung over the path,
dipping into the glassy blue water. The sun peeked over the top of the trees as
it began its descent, indicating that the afternoon was coming to a close.
  ‘Was there a reason you wanted to go for this walk?’ Caspian asked, the two
of them following the path around the lakes edge.
  Laura wanted to tell him about her mother. She figured that they would all
come along on the trip so what was the use of hiding it from them? But Stella
and Leo had told her not to tell
anyone
.
  She sighed, ‘I guess I just needed to get out of the Manor. Breathe fresh
air, feel the wind on my face, you know?’
  Caspian chuckled, ‘well, I am not sure what breathing is like since we don’t
need air, but I’m sure it is lovely.’
  Laura was shocked, ‘I don’t believe that you could live without air. How
ridiculous!  What about blinking? Do you blink?’ Laura stared at him closely
and sure enough, Caspian blinked his eyes, ‘hah! You do!’
  Caspian laughed, ‘we still need to keep the dust from our eyes, to, you know,
be able to see and all. But the experiment that Erebus performed did something
to our organs. Stopped them, yet allowed us to keep living. It was like the
Lightening was what controlled us, what kept us alive. Somehow, the need to
breathe left us.’
  ‘What about blood? Don’t they all relate somehow? Like you need the oxygen to
keep your heart pumping blood or something.’
  ‘Obviously we all know who payed attention in Human Development.’
  Laura laughed, ‘but seriously though?’ she pushed on.
  ‘I don’t really know how it works. But I can guess as much. Our bodies
are…undead. I mean, we are alive, our souls are alive, and the Lightening keeps
us alive, like a heartbeat of its own, but at the same time our bodies are dead.
We still have blood inside us but our organs aren’t needed. We can still be
hurt like anyone else as long as it is with gold weapons, although other
weapons can still do a little damage. And we still get sick, only there are a
few little twists on illnesses and how they affect our bodies.’
  Laura felt a strange surge of unease at his words. ‘I swear I can see you all
breathing?’ she insisted.
  ‘Well, in order to smell, we must learn to breathe through our noses. But we
train our bodies to automatically do it. If we walked the streets of the human
world without doing so then I am sure we would raise a few eyebrows.’
  ‘Hey, if they are looking at you close enough to notice you’re not breathing
then I would consider that a compliment,’ Laura said.
  He chuckled lightly as he looked out across the lake, ‘so I guess part of our
bodies work the same and part don’t.’
  ‘Look who payed attention in Wizard Development,’ Laura mocked him.
  He grinned, ‘I deserved that.’
  ‘But does anyone really know how your bodies work?’ Laura asked.
  ‘I think those within the Spirit World are too afraid of what they will find
out. We know the basics and what we are able to do. I think the Grand Courts
believe that is enough to live with and don’t put much time or effort into the
study of our bodies and why we are the way we are.’
  They fell into equal steps as they came to the halfway point around the lake.
  ‘Is it weird?’ Laura asked.
  ‘What weird?’
  ‘Living in this world.’
  ‘At first it certainly was. But it began to explain a lot. I always won the
underwater challenges at the swimming sports in school. I could hold my breath
for ten minutes and even after that I could have kept going if I wanted too. My
parents insisted it was normal, but taught me to ‘breathe’ to convince people I
wasn’t a freak. And my parents forced me to join a fencing club. They said it
was for fun, but I know now why they had me do it. It was strange, but I had
this natural talent with a blade. It didn’t take much training to learn to
fight.’
  ‘So you would never give it up?’
Caspian thought about it for a second, then looked across at her, ‘depends on
what I’m giving it up for.’
  Laura considered this as she watched a mother duck enter the water, her
ducklings trailing behind her.
‘Were you the only one to come to the manor who didn’t know who they were?’
  ‘Yes, my parents were like yours. Wanted to keep me from this world,’ he
paused. His eyes turned to the ducklings, and she saw him suck in an unneeded breath,
eyes growing glassy. She didn’t say anything, allowing him the time he needed
to continue.
  ‘They were in a car crash which killed them instantly. I was in the car, but
for some unknown reason, I made it out alive. I saw the whole thing. The truck
that hit us, my father screaming at me to get down, something shotting through
the windscreen hitting both mum and dad, and their bodies... There was so much
blood…‘ he stopped and sucked in another breath to steady himself, ‘It is said
that for one of our kind to die, our soul has to be that badly affected by the
injury and pain inflicted that it has to leave the body to heal. Without its
soul, the body dies and there is nothing for the soul to come back to once it
has healed. The only other way we pass away is as humans do once they reach an
old age and the soul may leave in peace. But that day, when I saw my parents in
front me, I felt as though my own soul had been ripped from my body. Because
suddenly, I had nothing. Absolutely nothing,’ Caspian spoke with such passion,
such an ach in his voice, that Laura could feel his pain.
She didn’t know what to say. There was nothing she could say. She understood
the way he felt, for that sorrow ran deep in her bones too. It was like they
were drowning, and no one could save them. She reached out and took his hand,
and in that moment, as she gripped his fingers, she knew that it wasn’t just to
help him tread water. She needed assurance that she, herself, would stay
afloat.
  His hand was warm, opposite to what she was expecting, and he gave her a
smile as he squeezed her fingers.