I'll Protect You (Re-Edit #2, 2016)

A faster mind-reader than Edward Cullen

dedicated to georgia for the lovely trailer she made! 

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Park

"Psst," I whispered. "Ghost Eyes, I need your help."

Darkwood halted in his steps for a moment, and he glanced around the hall. Finally, he turned around and caught sight of me, and he rolled his pale eyes before walking over, stopping right by the suit of armor.

"This is the worst hiding spot in the entire palace," he scorned.

"And yet you didn't see me when you walked past," I pointed out, earning a scowl.

Darkwood stuffed his hands into his pockets. "What do you want Sparrow?"

"I need you to sneak into my father's study with me."

Here, the bored expression on his face dropped and a curiosity glimmered in his eyes. "Now that sounds fun. Can I ask why?"

"If I tell you, the mission will be compromised," I said.

"Well, thanks to a little bird, I've learned not to do anything without being given the whole dish up front," he countered. "It looks like I can't help you. Go get your boyfriend. He'll follow you with a blink of an eye."

I whacked him upside the head. "If only you were as observant as you are sarcastic. Clearly, he's not my boyfriend."

"Clearly you two have issues," he seethed, rubbing his head.

"Obviously you're going to be of no help, so I'll be on my way," I grumbled and I left my spot behind the suit of armor. It was after I turned the corner did I hear footsteps follow me, and in a few seconds, Darkwood was walking in step besides me.

"Speaking of issues, what's going on between you two? You haven't spoken since the Whitepine wedding."

My hands clenched and I could feel an ache in my chest that I wasn't quite fond of. Thinking back to the night of the wedding was still a sore thing to do. Even with a whopping month and half of silence between us, it still hurt to pass him in the halls.

"It's nothing, Darkwood," I brushed off. "Why do you care? Why are you even following me?"
"This is my method of slyly following you into your father's study," Darkwood grinned. "I'm still curious why as to why you have to sneak into there, so I'm creating idle conversation to distract you."

"It's not working."

"Really? And here I thought everything was going so smoothly."

"You shouldn't be so sarcastic, Darkwood. You don't make friends that way."

"So that's why you don't have a social life."

I gave Darkwood a playful shove as the two of us took another turn down a corridor. At the end of the hall stood a set of doors with gold knobs. After we stopped in front of it, I fished out a key from the pocket of my jeans. Ever since I overheard the conversation between my father and grandmother on the phone a few nights ago, I had been plotting this whole thing with utmost care. When I brought him his tea yesterday night, I made sure to leave with the key in the teapot.

My parents weren't here today. They were off to welcome with Logan andJasper to welcome my grandmother home at the airport, leaving the children behind because, according to my mother, I couldn't be taken anywhere without something being blown up.

Which, I admit, is pretty true.

With the key inserted into the lock, a soft click was heard and the door opened. Darkwood and I crept in, and I swiftly shut the door before turning to glance around my father's tidy study. Despite his wild and eccentric behavior, my father was a neat freak. Not one book or pen was laid askew. That meant I had to leave everything in tip-top shape or else my father would know I had been in here.