by Krista Wolf
“There… go slow.”
We held our breath as Julian scrolled through. One by one images flashed across the screen, most containing nothing but insects and orbs.
“I thought this thing had a motion sensor?” I asked.
“It does,” confirmed Julian.
“Then why is it—”
“It must be hyper-sensitive,” the stonemason shrugged. “It’s taking pictures of moths and dragonflies, and—”
He stopped abruptly at the next photo. There was something standing in the field. Something substantial.
“Holy shit…”
Though it was warm outside, my blood went totally cold. Our eyes were glued to the screen as Julian pressed the ZOOM button. Once. Twice. Three times…
All of a sudden, Chase was laughing.
“What?”
“It’s a deer!” he exclaimed.
“Not it’s not,” I frowned.
“Oh no? Look at it again. You’re taking pictures of deer!”
Julian zoomed a little more, then moved to the next photo. Sure enough, a big doe took up half the shot. The animal jumped around the field in the next several photos, lazing and grazing, its eyes glowing spookily every time it looked up at the camera. In the last photo on the disc, two more deer had joined the party as well.
“You’ve cracked the case,” Chase chided, but his joke fell flat. He scratched his head. “Are you sure that thing you saw wasn’t a wild animal?”
Julian and I both looked at each other.
“Yes,” we said in perfect unison.
The rest of the SIM card on the trail camera was unfortunately blank. It was disappointing, but at the same time it was also a relief. Maybe Julian had scared the thing away. Maybe it would never come back.
“You sure this is all you saw last night?” Julian asked me, holding up the trail camera. “Animals grazing in the field?”
“We didn’t even see that,” I said.
“Were you looking?”
Now it was mine and Chase’s turn to exchange knowing glances.
“Yeahhhh…” I said, drawing the word out a little too long. My answer sounded suspect as hell.
“We got tired,” said Chase, coming to the rescue. “We went to bed kinda early.”
Julian scanned him for a moment with those piercing grey eyes. “Yeah. I’ll bet you did.”
Strapping the camera back to the tree was easy enough, and we decided not to mess with the settings. The memory card would hold thousands of photos. Better to have it set on high-sensitivity and have to scroll through some insect pics, than to chance missing whatever was out here, wandering around.
“Hey,” Chase said, just as we were about to walk back toward the castle. “Look at this.”
He was kneeling at the edge of the clearing. Running his hand over something in the tall grass.
“What is it?”
“The ground’s disturbed. It’s all dug up.”
Julian and I looked down. Intermittently, in certain spots, there was dirt among the grass.
“Animals would do that, no?”
“I guess,” I guessed.
“Gophers maybe,” offered Julian.
“Doesn’t look like gophers,” said Chase, shaking his head. “Was it like this yesterday?”
Once again Julian and I consulted each other, this time without a consensus. “I—I don’t know.”
“Seems we know less and less every day,” smiled Chase, standing up. He dusted himself off, then looked at Julian for a moment and cocked his head. “Tank! It’s gotta be Tank.”
Julian spat on the ground and turned to walk away. Chase appeared about to call a few extra names after him, when Noah came jogging up. His look was deadly serious.
“We’ve got a problem,” he said gravely. “A big problem.”
Everyone stopped, even Chase. I took one look into Noah’s eyes, and realized this couldn’t be good.
“What is it?”
“That lumber you had delivered the other day? Over by the mill tower?”
My stomach dropped. “Yeah?”
“More than half of it’s missing.”
Twenty-Eight
MADISON
I paced the inner ward, across the graveled remnants of a grain road that hadn’t seen use in at least two centuries. No matter how many times I walked it, Noah was still right:
Half the new delivery was just… gone.
“Where the hell could it be?” he roared, throwing his arms up. “It didn’t just get up and walk off!”
I looked down at the invoice for the fifth time. It still hadn’t changed.
“Is it possible they shorted us?”
“No,” said Noah. “It was all here. Chase and I saw it.”
“We signed for it,” Chase added. “After checking it, too.”
At least twelve-hundred dollars in lumber was missing. Big lumber. Expensive, engineered beams I needed to complete the project.
“I’m afraid the answer’s not all that mysterious,” said Julian. “Look.”
He was kneeling in the softer dirt near the outer curve of the mill tower. A series of tracks criss-crossed the ground here, baked into the mud. Scars in the earth from countless deliveries over the past two years.
One set of tracks was fresh, though. As recently as only a few hours ago.
“Fuck,” swore Chase.
“Someone came here last night?” I swore incredulously. “Loaded up our stuff and just… took off?”
“Apparently.”
The long silence seemed to stretch out forever, as we stared uselessly at half a pile of lumber. My heart was heavy. My mind was spinning. trying to figure out where in the world I’d get the money to replace what was stolen.
“I’ve been on this job almost two years,” said Noah, “and I’ve never seen anything go missing. Why this?”
“An even better question is why now?” said Julian. “We’re so close to being done. Only a couple of weeks from the final inspections.”
The four of us looked at each other, all thinking the same thing.
“Someone doesn’t want me to finish,” I said gravely.
An intruder in an empty field was one thing. But the thought that someone was out to sabotage the project was even more disconcerting.
“Maybe move the trail camera?” I offered. “I’d rather have it pointed at the supplies than the farm field.”
“Would it matter?” asked Chase. “It’s not a security camera. It doesn’t have an alarm.”
“Yeah…” said Julian, stretching his arms behind him. “But it might show us who has her stuff.”
The big stonemason cracked his knuckles menacingly. His giant arms uncoiled, flexing in the morning sun.
“That could be useful,” Chase agreed.
Julian began pulling on his work gloves. He clapped them together a few times as he finished, sending up small plumes of mortar dust.
“Let’s get this thing done,” he said, turning away. “This castle isn’t going to restore itself.”
“But we can’t finish with the supplies missing,” protested Noah.
“But you have enough to get started, right? You can still work?”
“Yeah. For now.”
“Alright, then get on it,” said Julian. “We’ll cross that other bridge when we come to it.”
I found myself touched, that they all cared this much. That these three incredible men were still working for me, through a lack of pay and now even a lack of supplies. Anyone else would’ve walked away. I swallowed the small lump that had formed, and cleared my throat.
“Before you go…”
Everyone had been breaking in different directions. Now they turned around, their gorgeous eyes all falling on me.
“A couple things,” I said, feeling suddenly on the spot. “One, I want to say thank you, from the bottom of my heart. All of you are incredible — far beyond amazing. I don’t deserve any of this.”
I saw Chase smile, Noah shak
e his head in disagreement. Julian stood with his arms crossed over his big chest. With his gloves on, he looked like a superhero.
“None of you will ever really know how much this meant to Travis,” I said. “It was my uncle’s final dream to restore this place. You guys are helping him realize that dream, so he thanks you too.”
I let the words sink in for a moment. Then I smiled.
“In other news, I did some shopping the other day and picked up some of your favorite things. According to what I could pry out of each of you, anyway.”
“Italian Ices?” Chase asked hopefully.
“Yes, those,” I laughed. “But I was talking real food, mostly. Drinks. Snacks. Everything you like.” I shrugged. “You guys are going to bat for me, big time. The least I can do is feed the shit out of you.”
Among other things… my mind wandered.
Silence fell over the ward as I stalled a bit. Eventually, Julian arched an eyebrow.
“That it?”
“Err… Sort of.”
Another lump had formed out of sheer nervousness. This was one so big, I couldn’t swallow it down.
Fuck it, just say it.
“The pull-and-pray method of birth control we’ve been relying on isn’t going to cut it for me,” I announced, shifting nervously. “So I also stopped at the pharmacy… and went back on the pill.”
Instantly I blushed, my face going redder than I’m sure it’s ever been in my life. There was no helping it, really. But the guys seemed cool.
“Duly noted,” said Noah, his mouth curling into the hint of a smile. “And also, probably wise.”
“Yeah,” I chuckled. “That’s what I figured, too.”
Twenty-Nine
MADISON
The castle gardens were a beautiful disaster, made worse by the fact we’d tried our best to fix them up. We’d gotten close, my uncle and I. The place had been weeded down to the flagstones, the statues cleared of vines and moss. The big stone fountain in the center had been washed and scrubbed, and filled back up with cool, clear water.
That is, until we ran out of money.
Now that water was a bright, unnatural green, with something sinister floating on top that reminded me of the lake monster from Creepshow 2. The moss was making a comeback. Grass grew between the cracks of everything.
“This place makes me sad,” I said, following in Noah’s footsteps.
“Really? This is my favorite part of the whole castle.”
He pushed aside another vine, holding it up so I could pass. We were on a midnight walk together, to escape the heat. The outside air was cooler than inside, but not by much.
“This was my uncle’s favorite place too,” I admitted sullenly. “He used to come here all the time. He said it always helped him think.”
Noah gazed up, into a nighttime sky that was unusually clear and free from summer haze. A million glimmering stars stretched out overhead, from horizon to horizon.
“I can see why.”
We walked some more, hand in hand, along the little crooked path. Like always, it made think of the people who’d walked here before us. What their lives had been like. How much they’d enjoyed this world, before passing on to the next.
“That’s also why it makes you sad,” said Noah. “It reminds you of your uncle.”
“That’s part of it,” I nodded. “When he got sick, I used to bring him out here. I used to sit and keep an eye on him. Make sure he was… well…”
Noah turned and slid an arm around me. I huddled in, hugging his ribs. The warmth and reassurance of his body made me feel immeasurably better.
“It’s just so sad to see it like this,” I said, “after all the work we put in. It was so beautiful.”
“It’ll be like that again,” Noah promised. “One thing at a time.”
He’d been so sweet all night, from dinner and even afterwards. Cuddling me on the couch. Playing with my hair. Making me feel ten times better about the theft of our supplies, while casually staying up late enough to keep checking on the rest of them.
“Why do you like this place so much?” I asked.
“It’s a garden,” he shrugged.
“So?”
“Ever been to Brooklyn?” he smirked. “Not much in the way of gardens. My mother always wanted one, though. She took us to the park every chance she could. But even then, you were always surrounded by concrete. Constantly reminded you were still in a big city, and not a place like…” he waved his arm grandly, “this.”
“I could see that,” I admitted.
“Plus, you’re from California. Everything’s beautiful over there. You said you were on the coast?”
“Sunset beach.”
He laughed. “A surfer girl.”
“Damned right,” I confirmed. “Every day.”
I thought longingly back to my surfboard, and my little beige Jeep. To how many mornings I’d seen dawn while floating weightlessly in the ocean, the water swirling around me, waiting for the next good break.
“And yet you came here,” said Noah. “To live in a castle, in Scotland.”
“There’s always Portobello beach,” I said, reaching.
“In Edinburgh?”
I nodded. “Water’s icy cold though. Waves are choppy. Rideable sometimes, but nothing decent.”
“You haven’t even tried, have you?”
I shook my head into the crook of his arm. “No.”
We walked some more, stopping near the back end of the garden. The broken statue of a woman presided over a small flagstone circle, missing both arms and one leg. It was flanked by a pair of ancient stone benches, worn smooth with time.
“Tell me how a surfer girl from Cali ends up in a castle in Scotland,” said Noah. “I’m curious.”
He sat down, then pulled me into his lap. Sitting there in the moonlight, his big arms wrapped around me, everything just felt right.
“Well I lost my father at a very young age,” I said. “When I was only seven.”
As I paused in reflection, Noah shook his head. “Damn, that sucks.”
“Yeah. I do remember him, though. “Good man, kind smile.” I was staring off into space. “Very handsome, too.”
Noah squeezed my thigh, causing me to look back at him. “Honey, that goes without saying.”
I giggled appreciatively. “Anyway, I was raised by my mother and two older sisters, which made me the forgotten child. Everything I did was never a first, so it was never important to anyone. It’d already been done twice before, and with my father no less, so it was never as special.”
“So you’re rebelling?” asked Noah. “Is that it?”
“Nah, nothing that exotic,” I said. “I just had a really kickass uncle who traveled the world. He was always going off on these adventures, like Indiana Jones. He’d send us things in the mail — trinkets from other countries — and he always remembered our birthdays.”
“Your dad’s brother, I assume?”
“Yes,” I said. “Uncle Travis would stop in once or twice a year to serve as a father figure, but also to do fun stuff with us. It was always the coolest stuff, too. Activities my mom would never approve of, like zip-lining, or mountain biking, or whatever he came up with.”
“And he’s the one who taught you to surf,” guessed Noah.
“Bingo.”
Noah’s hands slid from my hips to my ass. He pulled one of my legs over his, until I was straddling him face to face.
“So when your uncle mentioned he’d bought a castle in Scotland…”
“I came right away,” I finished for him. “Part of me was bored. My older sisters are married now, and pumping out grandkids. My mother is too busy doting on them to care much about what I’m doing. At least, not until I’m pumping out grandkids too.”
I shifted closer, feeling the sharp pinch of stubble as his chin nuzzled my neck. His scent was amazing. He touch, even better.
“So you came here,” Noah murmured. “To this place.”
I threw my head back a little. “Yes.”
We were chest to chest, our bodies sharing heat in the cool summer night. The air was fragrant here, and smelled of lilac. The sky was full of stars.
“What happened to Travis sucks…” my lover sighed, his breath warm on my neck. “But you know what? I’m glad you’re here.”
A pair of warm lips found my neck. Noah began planting tiny kisses along my throat, as ten eager digits wandered my ass.
“Me too…” I whispered.
“Know what’s the best way to get rid of the bad memories you still associate with this place?”
He pulled back to look at me, his two starfire eyes locking on mine. I shook my head slowly.
“You make good ones,” he murmured, and then kissed me like fire.
Thirty
MADISON
I rode him slowly, gently, shifting forward and back in his warm, wonderful lap. Rising upward as he pulled me tight against his chest, then feeling the stretch of him plunging inside me again, as gravity took over.
Mmmm… He’s so deep…
We’d taken the time to strip each other totally bare. We were utterly and completely naked, screwing hotly beneath the nighttime moon. Fucking like rabbits in the castle’s ancient garden.
And the freedom was magnificent.
“Fuck, Madison…”
It was the third or fourth time Noah had said my name. Each time sent ripples of pleasure through me. I screwed him into the cold stone bench, alternating between kissing him and rubbing my breasts in his face. Made out with him while he squeezed my hips in his two powerful hands, while focusing on how good his cock felt buried all the way to his balls in my pussy.
Yes…
It was incredibly liberating, fucking so wantonly like this. Giving myself over to the thrill of being with someone in such an open, vulnerable setting. I loved having Noah wrapped around me. Inside me. It made me feel safe and protected and owned by him, and — for right now at least — I didn’t have a single other care in the world.
