CHAPTER 33
There’s a soft grunt as a man squeezes between the frame and the glass panes. Once through, he rotates the window back into place and pauses, feeling around in the pitch blackness. Then he ascends slowly, and doesn’t stop at the first or second landing. He’s coming all the way to the tower.
When he reaches the spiral stairs, I open my eyes and back into the shadows behind the round house in the corner, my movement thunderously loud in my ears until I’m out of the moonlight. Then I feel uncomfortably blind and deaf, but being seen is more dangerous right now.
The man’s footsteps are so soft, it’s his heavy breathing that tells me when he’s almost to my level. He emerges slowly, arms outstretched, his face too shadowed to make out. “Cat?” he calls softly.
It’s Simon.
I slide one hand out to the left, putting my fingers in the light. Now I can see him plain as day, from the worried lines on his forehead to the trembling of his legs. His heavy pulse echoes through the air, while the light breeze carries the scent of his sweat soaking into the starched linen of his shirt. There’s blood, too, from two fresh scratches on the back of his hand.
Simon takes another step away from the shelter. “Cat?” he says again quietly, though he might as well be shouting as far as I’m concerned. “Are you up here?”
“Behind you.”
Simon spins around, putting one hand to his heart, which jumps to a rhythm fast and loud as a running horse. “Holy Sun!” he gasps as I move out of the shadows. “Why didn’t you say something sooner?”
“I didn’t know who you were or what you wanted,” I reply. “You scaredme.”
He laughs a little and drops his hand from his chest. “I suppose that’s fair.”
We fall silent for several moments. “What are you doing up here?” I finally ask.
Simon clears his throat. “I wanted to talk to you. I went to your house first, but you weren’t there.” He shrugs sheepishly. “And I remembered you said you come up here sometimes to think.”
Oh no. “Who answered the door?”
He shuffles his feet. “I didn’t knock. I, um, went around back and tossed a few rocks in your window.”
Romantic. Or desperate. “What is it you wanted?”
“I owe you an explanation.” He swallows and looks down as he runs a hand through his blond curls. “After some things I’ve said… and done.”
Suddenly I dread what he will say. “You don’t owe me anything, Simon.”
“Yes, I do.” He raises his eyes to mine. His legs are shaking, but not from climbing the stairs. “Please. It took a lot for me to get up the courage to do this.”
“To talk to me, or to come up this high?”
“Both.”
Alone again with Simon in the moonlight. Last time I was helping him, but this time will definitely be different. “All right. Let’s talk.”
Simon grabs my arm. “Here?”
“It’s perfectly safe.” I gesture to the evenly spaced columns around the perimeter. “You’d have a hard time fitting more than your head through the gaps.”
“I’ll take your word for it,” Simon mutters, looking up at the open sky.
I also take a moment to appreciate the stars, which are breathtaking in my sight. The cloudy glow of previous nights is dotted with thousands more points of light than I’ve ever been able to see before. Simon moves to stand beside me, his upper arm pressing against mine, a contact which thrills me more than is proper.
“Can we sit, though?” he asks. “It’s a bit dizzying.”
I tear my eyes away from the banner of diamonds above. He’s more than just dizzy—he’s positively green. I smile indulgently and turn my face back up to the sky. “As long as you admit itisbeautiful up here.”
“Yes, yes,” he mumbles, plopping to the stone at our feet. After a half minute of calming himself, he tugs my hand. “I’ve truly never seen anything lovelier, but I’m not sure how much time we have.”
I lower myself to sit near his bent legs, facing him and the moon. “Why would you throw rocks in my window rather than knock on the door like a normal person?”