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Leaving the bait and tackle store with her borrowed fishing nets and a small anchor they kept on display to decorate her porch, she noticed Sandy and Shelby giggling up ahead as they walked through the streets, putting up posters advertising the events taking place during the Autumn Festival. Aerin couldn’t believe how fast it was approaching.

“Why are you two so giddy?” Aerin asked, sneaking up behind them.

“Shelby has a crush on your boyfriend,” Sandy teased, nudging her blushing sister.

“I don’t! I don’t like vampires like that,” Shelby hissed at her sister.

“She does; she was so busy staring at him in the library that she photocopied her hand instead of the posters,” Sandy told her.

“Gideon isn’t my boyfriend, and stop teasing your sister,” she said, though she was far more interested in what the hell he was doing at the library in the middle of the day. There was no way he could still be there.

“Sure he isn’t,” Shelby said, rolling her eyes. “We saw the two of you night swimming; you were making out under the dock.” Sandy made some infuriating kissing noises, and if she weren’t forbidden from using her call on her own kind, she would’ve ordered her not to speak for twenty-four hours or, better yet, wipe what they had seen from their memory.

“Sloane wasn’t looking for us, he was looking for you two!” Aerin exclaimed, it made sense that Sloane was barking at the young sirens instead of scolding two adults. Both girls’ faces fell as she put the pieces together. “What have I told you about swimming so late? If you won’t listen to me, I’ll have to talk with your mum.”

“We’d better go finish putting up the rest of the posters before we have to get to the coffee shop,” Sandy said, and the girls ran in the opposite direction before she could give them a proper scolding.

Aerin checked her phone and texted Miranda that she would be late for their meet-up because she had to make sure Gideon wasn’t in the library, as the girls said. No vampire, no matter how desperate, would risk running into the sun.

Inside the library, Aerin was glad for the overcast day, so it wasn’t too bright inside. She made her way through the stalls, relieved not to find any trace of him.

The girls must have seen him before school, before dawn broke, since they work the pre-dawn shift at Crescent Coffee, she thought, only to reach the last stack and find a hooded man at the far end in a dark corner. His back was to her, so she couldn’t see his face.

Approaching him, Aerin placed her hand on the man’s shoulder, and Gideon grabbed her hand and forced her against the stack, baring his fangs at her.

“Aerin?!” His gaze softened as he realized his mistake.

“It’s me! Put your fangs away!” Her heart raced, terrified someone would see and think that he was attacking her.

“What on earth are you doing sneaking up on me like that?” Gideon warned, still gripping her shoulders.

“What am I doing? What are you doing?” She brushed his hands off, putting some space between them. “You do realize you’re out in the middle of the day? Are you trying to burn up in the sun?” Aerin asked, but he took her hand and walked her toward a study table with a bunch of books stacked up.

“I’m judging from all this that you’ve been here long before the sun came up,” she said, searching through the stack of history books. Everything from exploration to family lineages. “If you wanted to come, I would’ve brought you tonight; you didn’t need to risk getting burned. I don’t think books on architecture and shipbuilding are going to get you the answers you need. I could’ve helped you with this.”

“Don’t worry about me! I finished off two bags of blood, and I got here as they were opening,” he said, flipping through the pages. “Last night, I had a dream, or maybe it was a memory, about my home, a castle to be precise. I figured that there had to be books on English heritage sites, or architecture.” He pointed to one section, and then to the other. “This is English historical figures and royalty, portraits and titles mostly, but I thought a face might jog my memory. They had some books on ships, but the librarian said that most of the important records are in the Maritime Museum. Once I’m done going through everything here, I’ll head to the museum,” Gideon reasoned.

“Sounds like a great plan, Gideon. I’m glad you’re feeling motivated, but I need you to slow down,” she said, wondering if it was all the blood making him so manic. “It’s the middle of the day, and I’m going to talk with Miranda about what she’s found out,” she said, closing the book in front of him so he would focus on her.

“While you go talk with her, I’ll go to the museum, and I’ll meet you there,” Gideon said. “The librarian said they have records of all the wrecks in the area.”

“What’s going on with you? You’re acting like you’ve had a dozen coffees,” she said, wondering why he was suddenly in such a rush. “Do you have any idea how many wrecks there have been? Finding your ship is going to take a while. I think you need to adjust your expectations,” she reasoned, seeing his mind racing a mile a minute.

Gideon leaned back in the chair and rested his head in his hands.

“Can you tell me what’s going on?” Aerin asked, running her hands through his hair to try and calm him down.

He stared up at her and kissed her before she could blink. She kissed him back, but she didn’t want this to be a distraction. She pulled away just enough to rest her forehead against his.

“You’re starting to worry me,” Aerin said softly.

“I found these in the basement,” Gideon said, reaching into his pocket. He put down a small stack of polaroids, wrapped in an elastic band, on the table.

“Polaroids? Of me? Why would these lead you here?”

“Because look at the life you’ve had,” Gideon said. “I spent two hundred years trapped in a fucking coffin. I want to know what happened to my friends, my family. Are they out there? Are they dead or looking for me? I don’t want to waste another moment.”

“You’ve every right to be frustrated, but please stick with me for a little while longer. Do you think those out there who care for you, wherever they are, would want you to put yourself at risk to find them?” Aerin asked. “I promise that we will get answers, but you can’t go out in the sunlight. “Promise me you’ll wait here for me to get back from seeing Miranda?”