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“He knows who is requesting it, yes?”
Henry confirms it. Raúl’s fangs slide out, piercing his bottom lip. A bead of blood drips down and he wipes it away. He takes his pocket watch out and checks it.
“I’m so sorry, Raúl,” I say, twisting my hands together. “This is my mirror and my fault. I can try to come up with the money.”
Raúl looks at me in surprise. “I’m not concerned about the money at all. I hate being swindled, though, and this little cretin believes he can get away with it.”
He laughs low and deep, sending shivers up my spine, for a much different reason than before. “Thank you, Henry. That will be all for this matter.”
Henry leaves at a much slower pace than he came, and I turn to Raúl. “What are you going to do?”
He grins down at me and winks. “It is almost night. I do what vampires do best.”
“What do they do best?” I ask.
“Bite.”
At midnight, I am eating my midday meal in the library while memorizing spells from a basic spell book. Not a grimoire, though. I haven’t found one here yet. Raúl bends down and kisses me slow before departing to the repairman’s house. I have no idea how he’ll lure the man out, but I do not wish to know. Some things are better left in the dark. All Raúl told me was that he wouldn’t kill him. Carmen is joining me soon, though, to keep me company while I wait.
I don’t mind being alone. After all, that is what I am used to, but Carmen insisted. Secretly, deep down, I can admit to myself I’d rather be around others than by myself, anyway.
Sitting down on one of the chairs, I stare out the nearest window, a book weighing on my lap. The thought of Raúl retrieving the mirror simultaneously makes me anxious and happy. Happy because I will avoid Mother’s wrath. Anxious, because does that mean I have to leave now? Raúl invited me to stay, but did he really mean it? Was it only until the mirror was fixed? Could I stay here? Do I want to? Would I, a human with no powers of her own, be welcome among vampires? I twist my braid in my hand as my thoughts torment me.
“What is the matter, darling?” asks Carmen.
I smile up at her, grateful for the interruption. “I’m thinking.”
“Ah,” she says as she sits down across from me. “About what?”
I open my mouth, then close it. It’s true, she’s asked me, but in reality, does she actually want to hear what is bothering me? I glance down at my book, fiddling with the corner of the page.
“Penny, look at me.”
I bring my eyes up to hers.
“I ask because I truly want to know. I want to know who you are.”
Biting my bottom lip, I nod. “It’s just. Raúl is getting the mirror, but then what? Do I go back to the tower? Here feels more like I imagine a home should feel than that tower ever did. Would I even be welcome here as a human?”
Carmen leans forward and places a hand on my arm. “Of course you would be welcome here.” She sits back. “As for the tower, do you want to return? What do you actually want, after putting fear and doubt aside?”
I stare at her, unsure of my answer. No one’s ever asked what I wanted. To be sure, there have been times I’ve thought about it, but never seriously. “I think,” I say slowly. “I think I want to know the truth. I want to know if Mother is my mother or not. I want to know about this magic hair, and maybe even find a way to use it myself. Besides that? I want to come back here and stay for as long as possible. If I put fear and doubt aside, that is what I truly want.”
Carmen nods, staring intently into my eyes. “Then do it.”
Chapter Twenty-Five
My days and nights have slowly started to switch, and I start thinking of breakfast time as dinner. I start every night with a training session with Raúl, and I can already feel my body growing harder, stronger.
Before the sunset, Raúl knocks on my door and I open it, a smile involuntarily spreading on my face. He always comes by to take me to their training gym.
This time, he holds up a brown paper package tied together with twine. “Penny, I have your mirror.”
“Come in,” I say, opening the door wider. Raúl swaggers in and sits down on the sofa, crossing one leg over so his ankle rests on his knee. He puts the package on the table in front of me. I sit next to him so our legs are touching and stare at the package.
I take a deep breath and reach for it, but Raúl puts a hand on my wrist. “Just because you’re opening this doesn’t mean you need to go home. You are welcome here forever.”
I turn my head toward him, and our faces are so close. Gathering courage, I lean closer and kiss him, encouraged by his sharp intake of breath. After a moment, I pull back and nod. “Carmen said as much yesterday. Or was it earlier today? What day is it even?”
