Free Charles' Choice (Penny's Choice) by Annette Archer Page A

Penny said, swinging into the passenger seat. “Let’s get out of here and find your terrifying human little brother.”
    “Oh that was a low blow,” Thomas said, starting up the car and speeding off down the road.
    “Oh that was a compliment,” Penny said. She put her hand on Thomas leg and squeezed lightly.
    After a short ride the couple reached the Irish coast. Penny watched the waves crash against the rocky, cliffs for a few minutes. A dilapidated castle rose from the sea mist.
    Penny assumed that this was their destination, but she had no idea how Thomas knew that his brother was staying here. There were hundreds of castles in Ireland. Why did Charles chose this one?
    Thomas drove up the long, broken rocky road toward the castle. Several of the towers were crumbling and by most standards, it was not the best looking castle. Thomas stopped before they had to cross a rotting bridge, more punctuated with holes than actual material.
    “Are you sure this is the place?” Penny said, getting out of the car. She looked over the cliff and shrunk back. It did have an element of Charles to it. It was a fierce, mysterious looking place.
    “I can smell him,” Thomas said, sniffing the air, “and his fish girlfriend.”
    “Alright then, tell me that we aren’t going to drive over this rickety, old bridge.” Penny peeked over the edge again. She breathed quick and pulled herself back.  It didn’t take long for vertigo to take over Penny when she looked down.
    “No, we’ll walk,” Thomas said, holding out his hand for Penny.
    “I think that I’ll just stay here,” Penny said. She took a few steps away from the bridge.
    “Come on,” Thomas said, grabbing her hand in his and giving her a very slight tug. “I won’t let you fall.”
    “I know you won’t,” Penny said. She looked into Thomas’s eyes. When he was being protective, the green deepened so his eyes looked like emeralds. “I trust you, but it makes me dizzy just getting close to it. I have a thing about bridges.”
    “Bridges?” Thomas said. He put his hands around Penny’s waist as he waited for an explanation.
    “Before I had dreams about vampires,” she kissed Thomas on the neck, “I had them about bridges.”
    Thomas shook his head and smiled but didn’t make any smart comments. “Alright, princess, you stay here and watch the car. I’ll make it quick.” Thomas made his way across the bridge by carefully picking each step. One time he took a false step and a crumbling rock gave way underneath his foot.
    Penny sat back on the top of the car and watched the ocean spray hit the cliffs. She tried to think of the last time that she was alone. Other than when she was asleep, Penny couldn’t think of a single time in the last six months that she had spent even a moment alone. She slid off the hood and made her way to the sparse tree line.
    Penny scrambled up a tree nimbly. As a child, she loved climbing the trees in her grandmother’s backyard. Penny was glad to see that she hadn’t lost her touch. Perhaps because she was in such good shape, the climb was even easier. Penny couldn’t understand why the bridge gave her vertigo, but the top of trees just made her feel exhilarated. Penny sat still in the tree and breathed for a minute.
    A twig snapped below her somewhere near in the forest. Penny froze in the tree. It could just be a woodland creature scurrying about the floor. Penny carefully looked down from her perch without drawing attention to herself . She didn’t see anything. There was snap and then another. Penny still couldn’t see what was making the noise, but something was definitely coming near her. Penny pulled her body further into the trees foliage. She caught a glimpse of a human head then a body was crouched low to ground.
    Penny evened her breathing. She hadn’t been spotted yet. She couldn’t see how the person was dressed, so she didn’t know if they were a legitimate threat or not. She looked out toward the