I exhale. The warm air is driving my uneasiness away. It feels good to be out of the car but we have to walk on foot now, together...
I wish I can tell him to take us back home, that I don't want to see Shelia today but that would put me back in the car with him... alone.
I don't have the energy to replay the awkwardness again, at least not right now.
"You didn't tell me what Evelyn demanded for if you had failed."
Dry leaves crunches under my feet.
"That's because you didn't ask."
I hear a hum come from him before he speaks to me again.
"When are we going to talk about last night."
A chill flows down my spine as I gulp.
"What? Talk about what?"
"Please don't play dumb with me. I already know all your tactics."
I smack my lips together.
Really, you know them all or just the ones I want you to know...
"If it's okay, I'd like us to head to the castle after this."
I turn to look at him. He is staring away in thought, his eyebrows furrowing too.
Head to the castle? What does that mean? Does he want me to go back home... Is he letting me go, rejecting me?
He turns to me, as if he reads my mind. "I'm not rejecting you, Isabella. I just need to speak to your family about something and I figured that you would like to see them again. It's been a while."
"Oh," I nod. "Yeah, I guess so. We'll go after our visit-"
"Didn't you want to ask me something about Evelyn?" He cocks an eyebrow.
"Are you snooping in my head again?" I narrow my eyes at him.
"Your expression tells it all, Isabella. I don't need to read your mind to know that."
I flush. He sounds so sincere, it makes me nervous. It's not like I haven't been nervous since we started our walk.
"If you knew about the deal why didn't you say anything. Why did you wait that long?" I ask.
He peeks at me through the corner of his eyes and even though I see him looking, I act like I don't.
"The title of the Goddess Of Season has it perks and downsides, as the seasons changes so does her mood and as you know, the weather also has something to do with the seasons."
"So she gets mood swings?"
"Something like that but not exactly." He shrugs.
Then, she's bipolar. This has proven my theory.
"Why can't you give me a straight answer in anything?"
"I did." He smirks and I roll my eyes. "You're the one who thinks otherwise."
"Hey, it's Isabella!" Shelia shouts and it's then I realize that we have arrived.
A blur of long brown hair rushes to me and before I know it, I am on the ground.
"You have to relax, Shelia or you're going to trample all over me." I giggle when I see her face filled with glee.
I have just been here for a few seconds and her excitement is slowly rubbing off on me. I have forgotten how she can be.
"Trample all over you? Now, that's something I'd like to do." She giggles too and waves her finger in my face. "But don't think you're off the hook yet, Isabella. Why haven't you visited us in a long time."
"It's been just a few weeks, Shelia. Maybe two." I grab both her cheeks and pinch on them, only releasing them when I hear her whine.
"That's still a long time. Come on, come on! The boys will be happy to see you." She drags me back to my feet and hushes down immediately when her eyes moves to the person behind me.
So she didn't notice him before.
She stares at him in wonder. I'm almost tempted to see what she's looking at too, to see the expression on Nathan's face.
"You've grown so big." He says, ruffling her hair and she frowns.
"Do you know how long it took me to comb this hair?" She squints at him. "I wanted to say that it's nice to see you too but you just ruined my hair."
"Well, if I apologise will you forgive me."
"Maybe..." She turns away and grabs his hand too, dragging us both into the house.
I share a surprised glance with Nathan and he shrugs. I bet he is thinking the same thing here...
She has definitely healed up pretty well, she's more energetic than the last time I saw her.
The inner decor of the house looks the same, even the scents. I was a bit worried that a lot had changed but I guess I was worried over nothing.
Shelia gives us a wink and says. "Stay here, I'll be right back." Before she runs off.
In a moment, she comes back, with the Andrew, Todd and even David.
"Well, guys are you staying for the night." Shelia's green eyes glimmer vibrantly as she waits for our answer. It's heartbreaking to decline.
"No, we just came to check on you guys. We have another place to visit after this." Nathan tells her.
"So, that means you will come around another time?" She focuses all her attention on Nathan and I manage to slip away.
"Todd, you've grown bigger." I pinch his cheeks just like I did Shelia. "Even you David."
The latter turns away from me with a small scoff.
"I am still the same age I was, Isabella."
Ah, always playing hard to get. How can I forget that.
"And Andrew, you look awful as usual." I tease him as I wrinkle my nose.
"When you say that, I know you mean the opposite." He pulls me in for a brief hug and I have to stop myself from looking Nathan's way to see if he noticed or if he's mad.
As Todd and David go to Nathan's aid, I whisper to Andrew.
"Is Shelia doing alright now?" Looking at their happy moods that will be the case.
He nods with a smile. "If you didn't figure out sooner, I'd say that you're getting dumber."
I grin, showing off my canines.
"You totally forgot that I can practically eat you if I want to."