19. Chapter 19

Chapter nineteen

H aven rested for only half an hour, if the small clock on her desk was anything to go by, before she was pulled from her nap by her rumbling stomach. Stretching her arms above her head and letting out a loud yawn, Haven sat up and rubbed the sleep from her eyes. When she first laid down, Haven had guessed she'd sleep through dinner with how exhausted she was. That was clearly not what happened. Haven didn't know whether to be happy about or not, this meant she'd have to get out of her comfortable bed to go find something to eat.

After a moment, Haven decided to go through the things Astrea left for her and put them away. She'd explained each and every one of the items, there was soap for her body and hair, some salves and ointments for various things like scratches or cramps, a notebook to write in and some crystals that each did something different. One was supposed to help with sleep, another acted as a light when activated, another helped soothe aches and pains when dropped into the bath. Rea had also left a small pouch of things for Havens cycle when it came around.

Rea had explained that Haven would notice fae cycles only came once every four to six months and as her body developed into that of a fae. As her ears gained points and her canines became long and sharp, she would also gain the every four to six month cycle.

Lastly was the large purple candle. When lit, it cast a bubble around the room so that no sound could escape. Haven found that particularly useful. Rea also explained that eventually Haven would be able to cast a bubble like that as she gained control of her powers but for now, the candle would work. The last thing Rea had done before she left was use some string to measure Haven so that she could have a wardrobe made up for her. For now, there were a few dresses and pants in the closet near the door.

Haven entered the bathroom and put away the items on a shelf next to the sink. Overall, there wasn't anything fancy about the space, a simple sink with a mirror above it, a toilet in the right corner of the room and finally a clawfoot tub with a spout coming out of the ceiling directly above it for showers. The shocking part was how modern everything was.

Even though she was in what appeared to be a medieval fae castle, it still had all the comforts of modern architecture, a flushing toilet, indoor lighting and fans on the ceiling that kept the air moving. She wondered if the fae copied those inventions from humans or if they had come up with them on their own .

Before Haven could get too lost in her thoughts there was a knock at the door.

"Who is it?" She called

"Roman"

Haven smiled to herself and went to open the door for him,

"Hey" She greeted

Roman smiled at her,

"I thought you might be hungry so I figured we'd grab an early dinner from the kitchens"

"Yeah that sounds nice" Haven responded, stepping through the door and using the key Rea had given her to lock it behind her. She slipped the key onto a small chain around her neck and moved to follow Roman down the hall.

"How do you know where we're going?" She asked him. Roman shrugged,

"I dunno, I guess I just paid good attention when Wendy was showing us around the place" Haven had thought she paid pretty good attention but apparently not as good as Roman who was currently leading them through the halls like he knew exactly where he was going.

Only five minutes later they were in the kitchens, Roman was grabbing snacks off a shelf and handing them to Haven. Next he opened what appeared to be a large ice chest and tossed her two wrapped sandwiches. He closed the ice chest and then they were walking back out the door.

Roman led them to the rooftop area where they sat down at a table and began to unpack their stolen snacks and sandwiches. There weren't many other fae on the roof with them but the ones that were there were doing a terrible job of concealing their glances towards Roman and Haven. Haven assumed they simply didn't care if they were caught staring.

The unsettling thing was that just like earlier, they all seemed to be staring at her. Haven couldn't tell what their stares held, most seemed to be plain curiosity but if she was right, others held nothing but disdain.

***

The sandwiches had been eaten, the trash was thrown away and now Haven and Roman were taking a walk through the gardens at Haven's request. It was getting late; the sun was dipping behind the horizon illuminating the row of colorful flowers they were walking through. Haven wondered if it was also evening in the human world and whether her mother was doing the same thing as her.

Was her mother worried about her, Haven wondered. Binah had made it seem like her mother had known what was going to happen to Haven and where she'd end up before she left for her trip but Haven wasn't convinced.

Despite Havens slightly dark thoughts, the gardens were absolutely gorgeous. So far they had seen rows and rows of vegetable plants, flowers scattered throughout every row, fruit bearing trees lining the perimeter and then more rows filled with nothing but more flowers. Haven's favorite thing had been a rose arch that led way to the back of the gardens where a tall hedge maze sat. Haven loved the gardens, just like she assumed she would.

Roman eventually broke the relaxed silence they had been walking in by saying ,

"I think it's about time we head back to our rooms, I'm exhausted."

Haven had to agree, they turned towards what appeared to be the nearest exit and headed back towards the castle entrance. As the two of them left the gated gardens, they saw the crow Haven was sure had been following them. At almost every turn it had been sitting somewhere nearby, she had seen it too many times for it to be a coincidence. Haven also noticed Roman giving it a few dirty looks.

It squawked at them as they passed by, startling Haven slightly. As it flew away, it made a chattering sound that sounded a whole lot like laughter.

Haven and Roman made it back to their rooms right before the sun fully set. Locking the door behind her, Haven was prepared to take a nice long soak in the bathtub before she passed by the desk and remembered the letter she'd found.

Turning back to her desk and taking a seat in the chair, Haven pulled out the letter. After unfolding it, she found that the letter was no more than a blank sheet of paper. Haven didn't understand why someone would slip a plain sheet of paper under her door. Pondering for a moment, Haven held it up to the lit candle she'd accidentally left burning on her desk. In the firelight text began to appear. Sucking in a breath, Haven moved the note as close to the candle as possible without burning it and read,

Be careful who you trust

That was all the note said. Nothing more, nothing less. Haven tried taking it away from the candle and putting it back but nothing else appeared.

Sighing, Haven slipped the note back into her desk drawer where her own notebook and pencils sat and pondered what the note could mean. Was it some kind of threat? It hadn't felt particularly threatening but it was definitely some kind of warning. Haven wondered who sent it. Maybe Rea had slipped it under the door before she knocked? That seemed likely since she hadn't heard anyone else by her door before Rea had shown up. But why not just say that to Haven?

Haven had just as many questions if not more than before she sat down. She decided to try and forget about it for tonight, take a bath and get some proper rest. Her meeting with the crown regent wasn't until lunchtime tomorrow so hopefully she would be able to find the library in the morning and begin looking for the diary Binah told her to find. She hoped it would offer some answers, or at least, not bring about more questions.