CHAPTER 45

He’s gorgeous.

I sat on the straw floor in the barn, feeling so relaxed, and was overwhelmed with feelings as I stared at the sleeping Caleb.

He reclined across from me, about fifteen feet away, so perfectly still. He was sleeping, and I took the opportunity to study his face, his perfect features, his pale, translucent skin. I had never seen features so perfectly chiseled. It was surreal, like staring at a sculpture. I couldn’t fathom how he had been alive for 3,000 years.

At 18, I already looked older than he did.

But it was more than his features. There was an air about him, a subtle energy that he exuded. A great sense of peace. When I was around him, I knew that everything would be all right.

For the first time in weeks, I felt relaxed. Sitting comfortably on the floor of the small barn in the Hudson Valley, I leaned back against a bale of hay, and exhaled. A small fire raged in the stone fireplace about ten feet away. Tonight had been especially cold. Outside, the snow fell.