-Nicolai-

I stop cackling but Rozalia's haunting laugh is still in my head. As I remove my hands from Ivy and slowly stand, I ball my hands into firm fists. "Cum îndrăznești...? How dare you do this to her?!" I wrinkle my nose, step away from Ivy and angrily pace the room with a low throaty grumble. 'You want her to stay yet you manhandle her? Explain yourself!'

"Dmitri, you are wasting your energy. You know what that means." She makes me lick my teeth. I stop and grit them. 'No. You answer my question NOW!'

"She will not remember anything but think she was supposed to lie down for a nap. And I needed a laugh."

"I know she won't remember anything!" I slam a fist down on the dining table, "You stupid bitch, you are so dense you NEVER understand how the human mind truly works! Disturbing her rest this morning, forcing me to nearly bite her–You have gone too far already! She can't stay here any longer. She heard us arguing!" She swipes my hand across the table, pushing the plates and glasses off, "I have lived many human lives–I know the species thoroughly! That incident this morning was nothing!" She stresses the arteries in my head. I gasp and almost shout, quickly taking a hold of it.

"Do not speak of something you are unfamiliar with!"

I shift away from the table, "Vile...you are vile! You are the bane of my life! You jeopardize us BOTH and you tell me this benefits us!" I go out the door, my infuriated expression suddenly switching to calm and collected, and the headache is suddenly gone.

I find Pamela coming up the hall. "Pamela," I approach her, "I need you to find Christine and help Miss Ivy to the Windsor room. She is in the small dining room." She furrows her eyebrows, "Sir?" I wave a hand, "She just fell asleep at the table. She is exhausted. I may have put her to sleep with my talking." I lightly chuckle at her. She nods slowly, "Of course sir...right away." As she quickly walks up the hall, I put my hand on my mouth. "I will make you pay..." I whisper. Rozalia lowers my head and tilts it, "The fun has only just begun." I snap my head back up with a ferocious hiss, eyes glowing as they dart over to Maria coming out of a room.

She halts, gasping to the sight of the intense glow. Slowly, I beckon her, "Maria...come here." She stares into my eyes, Rozalia luring her in, putting her into a trance-like state. I suddenly turn my head away. Maria approaches me. I stop her with a hand pushing against her shoulder, refusing to look at her. "...Where is Walter?"

"In his office...sir." I inhale deeply, lift my head back up to stare at the wall, then I walk past her on my way there. Rozalia growls at my resistance but I ignore her.

When I reach his door, I open it carefully and see him looking at his bookcase. He turns around, "Yes Sir." I proceed inside with a serious face, shutting the door gently, "Walter, when the clock reaches 4pm, inform Mr. Leonardo that Miss Summers is ready to return to the mainland, and have his sister drive her to wherever she wants to go." He nods and says, "Yes sir." He is curious about what I tell him but doesn't pry. I turn to leave and add, "She will be sleeping for a while. She is exhausted and I want her to rest here."

He raises an eyebrow. "Very good sir, I will make sure she wakes up by then." I nod and go out.

"Well done...I look forward to the events to come."
"You are making a fool out of us." I lightly sneer, "Think of that."

**Cum îndrăznești?
Translation: How dare you?

-Ivy-

As I am surrounded by darkness, it feels like it'll be forever; where nothing exists and never will. I don't even see myself. But...I start to see a little pearl-white dot slowly manifesting in the distance. Curiously, I focus on it. "What is that?" Once it gets big enough, I notice it has formed into a rectangular doorway. I see through it a part of a traditional Romanian-styled bedroom, and I hear a man laughing in a quiet sort of way. It sounds...like my dream guy.

Carefully, I walk toward it, then move even slower when I'm close. I peek inside and suddenly I'm lounging on a canopy bed with him. My eyes grow and he smiles, having his hand propping the side of his head up. Behind him is a window with no drapes, giving a beautiful view of blue skies and a flock of white birds flying out in the distance. I look at him again. He forms a somewhat surprised face as he asks, "Are you alright?" My mouth opens but nothing comes out; my eyes fall and see his bare muscular chest. Oh my...

He tucks my hair behind my ear, "You seem unsettled."
I shut my eyes, lowering my head slightly, "I don't...know why."

He scoots closer and lifts my chin up with a finger, his gaze very serious, "Ivy, you are worrying me." Staring at him, I really find myself wondering where we are 'relationship-wise'. This is like we're married. Oh but I can't complain about this; this is great. I smile softly and put my hand on his face, "I'm fine. I'm really happy to be here with you." And I hug him, laying my head down on his chest. He embraces me and kisses my hair, "I'm glad too. Don't ever go."

"I won't. I'll always be here." I whisper. A small tear streams down my cheek as I start to think; 'But I will wake up and there's always a chance you won't be here with me again'–because after all, dreams change.

He sighs in content, "The wedding will be soon."
I look up at him, surprised. So we're fiancés in this? Oh my gosh, how lovely! He smiles again, then kisses me on the lips. Astonishment still filling me, I grin into it and murmur in the middle, "I can't wait." But the thought I have...it still lingers. Why can't I just stay here forever with him? "I love you so much," I say as I bury my nose in his neck. He hums.

"Miss Ivy?" There are a few hard knocks on the door. I open my eyes. I'm in the Windsor room. Quickly, I scan around me in search of him. He's not here. This is reality and I'm not in the same place. Frowning, I look at the door as it opens. There's Maria. She has a straight face.
"Miss Ivy...sleep well?"

I sit up and rub my head, "Yeah... Man, I was exhausted."
"...I'm glad you feel better. It's now 4 in the afternoon."

I put my hand down on my leg, "Wow, 4 in the afternoon! Did you come to wake me?" Where did the day go? I feel like I just laid my head down and got plenty of rest! I've never slept all day before!

"Yes ma'am I did." she nods, "Mr. Francis will be waiting for you in the main entrance."

"Oh!" I quickly get up, "I'm so sorry!" I check my clothes and wish that I had something better. She bows her head and leaves. Everybody bows here... Hm.

Immediately, I check to see if I left anything in here, then I head out into the hall and get to the main staircase. As soon as I do that, I see Nicolai at the bottom, wearing quite a handsome black suit now. First, he's lost in thought but quickly becomes aware that I'm here. He smiles up at me, "Bună dimineața, dragă mea. You look vibrant." I blink as my lips part, a little confused by the first thing he says and stunned by the last. "Thanks..." I see a book in his left hand. It looks familiar. My journal?! My eyes enlarge.

He tucks it in his jacket, now walking up the stairs to me, "I said good morning if you are wondering... Did you sleep well?" I close my mouth and bring my eyes up from his hand to his face. He tilts his head as he studies my expression. I nod, "Yes, yes I did–Thank you." I point to where I saw him put that book away, "I see you carry books around..."

"Oh! Why yes, I was going to give this back to you. Walter explained to me that you misplaced it." He takes it out of his jacket and holds it out to me, "He said it was underneath your bed." I carefully take the seam of it, observing his body language all the while. He puts his other hand on mine. Whoa, he's so warm! He inches a bit closer and whispers, "Leonardo will take you home now." I stare into his eyes, starting to lose awareness of everything around us. But–But I don't want to go yet! He takes my other hand, puts it on my journal and smiles. His eyes are brightening in color, and as I watch, I'm beginning to feel like I don't have any reason to stay here anymore and that I really should get back home.

Suddenly, we hear four maids walking into the main entrance behind Walter, complaining about something. Nick blinks and looks over in annoyance. I flutter my eyelashes, then do the same as him. He says, "Stay here for a moment." He walks down and meets up with them. It's interesting to see how disturbed they are. I wonder what's wrong. Maria and Christine seem to be bothered the most.

I go to them anyway and stop a few feet behind Nick. The ladies are talking about a mad ghost that was terrorizing them as they were cleaning. Walter is a little aggravated yet he keeps a calm voice. So they deal with it too...but how bad is it for them?

Nicolai looks away from him to the maids, "Don't mind Corneliu ladies. We have already discussed this." Corneliu?! Oh my gosh, no way!

"But sir, he broke a few plates in the kitchen." Maria says.
"Maria," he places his hand on her shoulder while looking around at all of them, "I will deal with him...and all of you should remember... we have a guest here." Deal with him? What does he mean by that?

He turns his head some, acknowledging me, then he waves his hand in a gesture to Walter and stares slightly at the maids. After that, he tells me, "Walter will escort you to Leonardo." He slowly brings my hand up to his lips and kisses it while his slowly glowing eyes focus on mine. In a soft, low voice, he says,

"A fost cu adevărat o plăcere sa te întâlnesc domnișoară Summers. De abia aștept sa te văd dinnou . Poate ar trebui sa avem o mica discuție în casa mea verde." He thumbs over my bottom lip, "Lungă pentru mine..." I inhale slowly as I stare into his shocking bright blue eyes narrowing almost darkly. I'm starting to get the feeling that I will be seeing him again, very soon–but where–I don't know yet.

He then says, "I bid you good evening." I blink repeatedly, blushing, then I quickly move on behind Walter. As I go, I constantly look back at him and watch how authoritatively he stands there, smiling at me in a way that seems confident about something. It's mysterious and sinister.

Walter guides me into the foyer and presents the grocery bag I brought along, the tire iron, which he stows away in a different bag, and then he asks for my journal. Though I don't want to, I hand it to him and he puts it away. "Alright Miss Ivy... on to Mr. Leonardo."
"Yes..." I quietly agree, "Of course."

**A fost cu adevărat o plăcere sa te întâlnesc domnișoară Summers. De abia aștept sa te văd dinnou . Poate ar trebui sa avem o mica discuție în casa mea verde.
Translation: It was truly a pleasure to meet you Miss Summers. I cannot wait to see you again. Maybe we should have a little talk in my greenhouse.

**Lungă pentru mine...
Translation: Long for me...

As Walter and I follow the rocky path among the calmly wavering trees, I look up at them and feel the cool wind blow past me. It was refreshing at first but now it's getting uncomfortable. I would hug my arms together if I didn't have my hands full. After another few minutes of walking, I see a two-story boathouse and hear metal clanking. It's extraordinary to look at; much like the Boltd castle's boathouse...

When we approach it, I see a middle-aged man who I assume is Mr. Leonardo coming around from the garage area, dressed almost like that farmer I saw; only he has a fisherman's hat and a fairly long coat. He spots us and walks our way.

"Mr. Leonardo," Walter shakes hands with him, also nodding his head toward me, "This is Miss Summers." Leonardo looks at me with a smile, "Good evening." I smile back a little and nod once. Then we return to Walter, who says to me, "Well then Miss Ivy, it was a pleasure to meet you. I bid you farewell and a safe journey home." He gives me a warm, almost grandfatherly smile.

"Thank you... I really appreciate all that you and the maids have done for my friend and I."
Seriously, it was wonderful.

"Bye now." He lowers his head, then starts back for the castle.
I look at Leonardo. "Miss Summers, right this way." He waves me along with him to the boathouse, so I go. As soon as we get inside where the boat's parked, I'm immediately awestruck. This boat in here is big and extremely beautiful! I wish it was mine! I love the colors and design!

"Mr. Francis's boat?" I quickly ask, not looking at him.
"No, this is Mr. Vladoiu's boat but he allows Mr. Francis to use it. I think he has a bigger one somewhere else."

I slowly gulp, "Wow...that's amazing..."
"He knows what he likes." He says with humor in his voice.

On our way to the mainland, I see on that side yet another boathouse, but it's a bit smaller. From what I can tell, it's really eerie around it... I mean, it's surrounded by dark leafless trees. Some of them have lanterns hanging on strings that go from one tree to another. They're not lit. Another thing that makes it ominous is a flickering light in one window of the boathouse. He said Esmeralda will be waiting for me. She is supposed to help me with my transportation.

He parks the boat in the boathouse, gets out first and ties the boat. He offers to help me with my bags. I politely refuse as I step off. We walk outside and around, up the steps toward the main house. I instinctively inspect the windows of the main house and I don't know why, but I feel unwelcome here. It's not because of Leonardo–it's something or someone else. Or maybe I'm just freaking out for no reason.

I swallow a bit harder than planned and ask, "So uh...the lights are flickering in your sister's place." I look at him. He raises an eyebrow, "Well that's unusual." Hmm...

Just then, a woman comes out of the house with a set of keys in one hand. She's middle-aged too, wearing a t-shirt and light blue jeans. Her hair is short, in a ponytail and her face is serious. I figure this is Esmeralda.

Leonardo looks at her and motions her over–though she's halfway to us. When she stops beside him, she says, "Hi–you must be Ivy. I'm Esmeralda." She reaches out to shake hands with me. Carefully, I do, "Yes...nice to meet you." She smiles brief and kindly, "Likewise... So, I'm driving you to..?"

"To my friend Gina's house. My car's there. I'll give you directions." I quietly say. Of course I'd give her the directions... What was I thinking?

"Okay then!" She points with her chin over toward the side of the house, "The car's this way. Follow me." As she walks away, I give Leonardo a last glance and trail behind her. He tips his hat at me. "Thank you." I say. He smiles back.

Once she and I make it to the side of the house, I see that everything is nicely decorated and beautiful instead of dark and eerie. I was just freaking out after all. There are flowerpots and shrubs everywhere, including some that line along the white concrete driveway, which leads to a double garage. She opens it with her key fob, revealing a black mustang and another car that has a cover over it. I lift an eyebrow, "...Hm," I wonder what's under that.