“Yes, Gretch...” I muttered, doing my best to inject as much agitation into my tone as possible. That wasn’t difficult.
“He knows... I know he knows. He stared at me with this look. A look of total mortification, Lynlee. What should I do?”
“How do you know he knows?”
“I just do. He totally knows what I am. I thought I carefully masked the siren’s call, but he must know that’s how I got him to go out with me. He must sense it somehow...I gotta get him outta my house before he figures it out....”
“You just said he knows... that would indicate he’s already figured it out. Where are you, anyway?” As I spoke, my stomach began grumbling again. I knew this interruption to my sleep might last a while. I gave in to my hunger and swung my legs out of the bed and started down the stairs.
“I’m in the bathroom... I couldn’t take the uncomfortable looks he kept giving me. Lynlee, please! Tell me what to do.”
I wondered, not for the first time, if Gretchen was just a horribly bad lay and if that was the cause of the strange looks she consistently complained about after sex. I’d heard this same story multiple times. As I rounded the bottom of the staircase and headed towards the swinging gates at the entryway to my kitchen, I mentally took note of the partially open door to my office.
Eyeing the door for a moment, I held the monitor close to my mouth before speaking again. “Gretchen, I want you to get out of the bathroom and go to sleep. Rather than believing you’re a Siren, he’ll think you’re a nut if you keep behaving like one. Just get off the monitor and go to bed. In the morning, if he’s still giving you a look, tell him ‘so long,’ and that’ll be the end of it.”
“But what if he keeps calling after tomorrow?”
Not likely.
“If he thinks there’s something wrong with you, then why would he call again?” Before she could answer that question, I impatiently continued. “If he does call again, I’ll give him a spell, but only if he calls again. Now go to sleep!”
I hesitated at the entryway to the kitchen even as she hesitated on the monitor. I gave her just a moment to mull over my words, then when I was sure she’d reached the appropriate breaking point I spoke again. “Good night, Gretch. Call me tomorrow.”
She disengaged the monitor just as I shoved both palms against the swinging doors and stepped into the kitchen.
There, standing at my refrigerator, was a gorgeous little red-headed girl, no more than four years old. She was so startled by my entrance that she froze in place, her hand to her mouth. Crumbs from the brownie she’d been eating littered the tile floor in little black tidbits. Chocolaty smudges on her cheeks indicated it wasn’t the first of my brownies she’d sampled.
I was about to speak when another child, this one a boy of about ten years, peeked his head from inside my pantry. When he saw me, his eyes widened, and he quickly shuffled across the room to stand between me and the girl. He put his hands down at his side in a protective stance, glaring at me with what I was sure he intended to be a fierce look.
None of us spoke for several moments. I used the time to examine the motley pair. I had to presume they might be siblings, though their resemblance to one another was nearly non-existent. The boy’s hair was brown, his complexion darker than the girl’s ghostly pallid skin. In fact, the girl looked sickly pale, as if she hadn’t eaten in many days. Both of them wore clothes that were wrinkled. Not dirty, just unkempt, as if they’d been bunched into a pile just before dressing in them.
I kept my expression void as was my habit. It was something I’d developed long ago to help me keep my magic closely in check. I was given to extreme shifts in emotion, something that was directly connected to my powers. Those polar swings tended to so shock and dismay people, even those who knew about my magic, that I’d long ago decided it was better to remain stoic and cold. Still, seeing these obviously hungry ragamuffins in my kitchen tugged at some hidden recess of my heart.
“I’m hungry, too, so I imagine we might as well all eat,” I announced to my tiny visitors. I walked in a wide circle around the kids to grab some paper plates from my pantry. I had no choice but to reach around them into the fridge for the barely touched pizza I’d ordered earlier in the evening. As I leaned close, the little boy wrapped one arm behind him and clasped the girl to his back defensively. I watched as she fought against him so that she could look around him and up into my eyes.
And that was when I noticed it. She wasn’t just an ordinary child, she was a MAUC. Her eyes were as green as the grass in a spring field, and they flashed with the slightest hint of magic. I was fairly certain as I examined her and drew forth her power that she was probably a nymph. As if reading my thoughts, the girl smiled up at me with the utmost trust in her features.
“You can take your sister to the bar, and both of you can have a seat while I get this ready,” I told the boy even as I placed several slices of pizza on a plate and popped them into the microwave.
He glared at me a little longer, then took the girl’s hand and led her around the counter. Watching him wipe at her chocolate-covered face, I decided it was best not to talk and instead studied the carousel as it turned inside the microwave. When the cheese began to bubble, I pulled the latch and slid a piece each onto two other paper plates before setting one in front of each child. With a roll of one hand, I motioned the children to start as I leaned my backside against the counter.
In unison, all three of us wasted no time, opening wide and taking huge bites of warm gooey pizza. I had just finished the minimal amount of chewing necessary to swallow that first tasty mouthful when the kitchen doors swung open, and the three of us looked up in wide-eyed surprise. Instantly reacting, I tossed my plate onto the counter and immediately conjured my wand into my left hand. I had just pointed the wand-wielding arm towards the doorway when I recognized the warm cognac-colored eyes staring back at me.
Chapter 3
LYNLEE FINDS HER HEARTSTRINGS
His hair was longer than it had been the last time I’d seen him, and I was almost surprised to see the way his red-brown locks curled against his ears and neck. It made him look rugged as opposed to the perfectly coiffed man I’d known all those years ago. I stared into his eyes and felt some of my defenses slip. It appalled me when my peripheral vision caught the tremble in my outstretched hand.
I swallowed the remaining pizza in my mouth then gulped again to force down the reaction I felt rising up inside of me. I shook my hand to send the wand away.
“Beck...” I said in a hard, cold tenor.
“Lynlee...” he clipped back.
Okay, so we’d acknowledged we knew each other. What now?
“She gave us pizza.” The boy spoke, and when I looked at him again, his previously defiant face had melted away to be replaced by that of just an innocent young child.
“I see that,” Beck responded, and I couldn’t miss the fatherly affection in his tone.
“Your kids?” I was astounded. Beck, my Beck, was a father? Well, not my Beck, at least not for a very long time. But in all my imaginings, I’d never conjured the idea of him as a dad. Probably because it hurt too much to think of him with anyone else. Which was likely because it hurt too much to think of him at all.
Still, I was in more control now, so I managed to keep my voice monotone.
“My kids. Justin and Jillian... er, Jilly for short.”
I followed him with my eyes as he walked into the kitchen and towards the children. He combed the girl’s hair back with one hand while he ruffled the boy’s head with the other. It seemed to me he was inspecting them for any signs of harm, and I snorted in spite of myself.
“They were hungry so I just gave them pizza. It’s not like I’m fattening them up for the oven or something,” I declared, the slightest bit of aggravation rising in my voice.
The flash in his eyes when he glared up at me said he’d caught my veiled reference to Hansel and Gretel and the fact that I was a witch.
“I
see that,” he finally said, repeating his earlier words. Then a sigh issued from his lips, and he shook his head as if angry. “I’m sorry. I don’t really know how to explain this.”
“Try.”
His eyes hardened again as that single word sounded from my lips.
“I guess some things never change, do they?” he breathed heavily, and his shoulders slumped a little as if in defeat.
“I guess not.” It was all I could do not to raise my voice at him, but I was determined not to give an inch. “So now that that’s settled, why not try explaining?”
“It’s a long story, but... we don’t have anywhere to go, Lynlee. I thought you could help us. At least I hoped you could. Or would.”
“That’s interesting Beck. Since you don’t believe in my vocation, in fact don’t believe in advocating the use of magic in the presence of norms. So that must mean you’re not coming to me professionally. And since you ended our relationship and our friendship, quite abruptly, I might add, then this cannot be a personal request, either. I must be missing something.”
“I knew this was a waste of time. I knew I shouldn’t have brought them here.”
“Then why did you?”
Yep, I was getting dangerously close to that extreme shift in emotional balance that would lead to some explosive display of my magic. My fingers started to tingle as energy chomped at the bit to get loose. I was at the same time angry and hurt that he would invade my safe place. I didn’t want these feelings for him to come to the surface again. And I especially didn’t want the man I had once thought myself in love with to come to me with two kids in tow seeking my help.
“Where’s their mother?” I asked with narrowed eyes, doing all I could to keep a lid on my feelings.
Beck eyed the kids, then gave me a stern look before walking towards the door. He motioned with his hand that I should follow him. I took a few steps before I remembered my pizza. I backtracked and took the plate with me. I led him towards my office, and once inside, closed the door. It was immediately clear to me that the photos on my desk had been moved. No, I couldn’t tell because of magic, but rather because I was a terrible housekeeper and it was easy to detect where the photos had been based on the lack of dust under them.
“You’ve been snooping,” I accused dryly, taking a bite as I sat down on the worn easy chair in the corner of the room.
Beck smiled apologetically, looking off into space, and I wondered what he was thinking at that moment. When his eyes turned back to me, they were again impassive and hard.
“My wife died a few years ago. Car accident. That’s when things went downhill for us. Cheri lingered for a long time before she finally passed, and I lost my job. We should have stayed put. The house was paid for, and I was at least able to maintain our lives there, but then Jilly’s terrors began. She became afraid of our home. It was like a nightmare, Lynlee, only it happened all the time. Whether she was awake or asleep, she was living in terror.”
I frowned, thinking of the magic I’d seen in the little girl. “What is she afraid of?”
That was when I noticed the strain in his expression. He looked tired, worn, and he also looked as if he’d aged many more years than he should have in the intervening time since I’d seen him last. I realized his hair wasn’t long because of any desire to look sexy or attractive. He’d given up on taking care of himself, and I supposed he was focused entirely on his children.
“I don’t know what she’s afraid of, Lynlee. She was too young to talk then. At least she wasn’t talking well enough for me to understand her. When we left, the terrors ended, but her sickness began. She doesn’t grow, she doesn’t put on weight, and she seems malnourished. I feed her well and regularly. You can see Justin and I aren’t suffering like she is. But the doctors I’ve taken her to can’t seem to figure out what’s wrong with her.”
“Why me? Why’d you think I could help?” That was me fishing. I knew the reason, but I wanted him to admit it
Beck began pacing the room. Despite the wear and age, he still was as attractive to me as ever. I watched as he reached his hands behind him and slid them into the back pockets of his jeans. I licked my lips and tried not to remember how good his kiss tasted. I hadn’t thought of him in years, but now each memory was just as vivid as if the events had occurred just the day before. How could he still have such a profound effect on me?
“Justin read her a book, a fairy tale, but when she saw the picture, her reaction was frightening. It took us hours to calm her down. It was very similar to when she had the terrors.”
“The picture?”
Beck turned those brown eyes on me, and I felt a flutter in my belly. “I came to you because they were reading the Three Billy Goats Gruff... and the picture she saw was a drawing of a troll. So, tell me, Lynlee, am I crazy to believe maybe trolls actually exist? Is that what my baby girl’s afraid of?”
I took a deep breath. Carefully, I weighed my words. “You do know what she is, don’t you?”
He cocked his head. I knew him, and I could tell he had no idea. “She’s a nymph, Beck. Which means her mother was, too. Are you telling me you didn’t know?”
He switched his gaze down, consternation marring his features. I snorted in derision as I walked past him and took the doorknob in hand. “So I was at least honest and told you what I was, but you still cut me out of your life. She kept it from you, and you married her. That’s almost funny, Beck.”
He grabbed my arm, fingers biting into the skin. “You didn’t exactly tell me from the beginning. And don’t disparage their mother. I didn’t cut you out because you’re a witch. It was too hard not to be with you.”
“Right,” I responded dryly. I tried not to frown, realizing how crass my earlier comment had been. A part of me wondered if I might have chosen to keep who I was from him if it would have meant still being with him. Maybe I would have been no different than his wife had been.
“Daddy?” The little girl’s voice was melodic, like the ringing of tiny bells. Beck released my arm even as I looked down to find his daughter standing on the other side of the door.
He moved past me, and I watched as he reached down and scooped her into his arms. She laid her head down on his shoulder and stuck two fingers in her mouth as she examined me. Her green eyes danced and sparkled. She blinked twice before looking at her father. Jillian reached out with tiny delicate fingers and clasped both of his cheeks to turn him towards her. Once he was facing her, she dropped her forehead onto his and smiled. “She’ll help.”
“Yes, I suppose I will help.” I didn’t know what possessed me to say it, but I couldn’t seem to stop myself. There was no way to take my words back now, so I took a deep breath before speaking again. “I think your dad and I probably need to chat. Isn’t it past your bedtime?”
“You’re not our mom.” Justin spoke softly from his self-appointed post just inside the doorway.
“Justin, what about that talk we just had?” Beck’s tone was firm, like a father’s should sound.
“Mind my elders.”
The dark-haired boy’s dejectedly chastened expression nearly made me smile, which was good because I’d been just about to choke on another bite of pizza. Had Beck just called me an “elder”? Hell, I was a year shy of 35. That wasn’t old, was it? Especially in witch years.
Mouth full, I pointed down the hallway. “There’s a bedroom there. Why don’t you two head on in there to check things out?”
Jilly began scrambling in Beck’s arms, and he quickly set her on her feet. She took her brother’s hand and led him in the direction I’d pointed. The boy didn’t seem to mind her leading him along, and he nodded at his father to assure he’d watch out for her, then they disappeared around the corner.
“Are you hungry?” I asked even as Beck started to follow his children. I watched him stop, his shoulders tense and then drop wearily. He looked back at me slowly, and I wanted to go to him and smooth the worried lines on his face. I felt my insides melt a
little and then I quickly froze those old feelings back into their hiding place. Turning away from him, I headed towards the kitchen. “If not, I’ll put the pizza away.”
“No, I’m fine. Thanks.”
I could hear the “tone” in his voice and recognized the aggravation. He always hated it when I managed to remain passive towards him.
A few minutes later, I approached the bedroom, my arms laden with blankets and pillows. The door was open just a crack so I knocked with my foot before stepping inside. The connecting bathroom was closed but I could see a light coming from under the door.
As I placed the extra linens onto the bed I noticed Justin curled up on a makeshift pallet on the floor. At closer inspection I saw a tiny hand reaching through a cubby opening in the wall. I pushed the door to the cedar closet and found Jilly on a pallet with her arm sticking through to the other side. I was caught off-guard for a moment because I’d never once noticed that little connection between the two rooms.
The little girl had her nose close to the cedar paneling, and I could see a look of rapture on her face as she inhaled the scent. It made sense, being that she was a nymph. She’d take comfort in the wood.
“She wants to sleep there,” Justin explained, “I told her I’d sleep in there too, but she said I can just hold her hand.”
I looked down at the dark boy and nodded. I could sense he was momentarily afraid I’d object or censure them for their sleeping arrangement. Perhaps it was my stoic expression that put him at ease at that moment, but as I stared at him, his tension eased and he smiled.
“Seems like a good plan,” I affirmed. “There are some extra blankets for you guys and your dad. Tell him I’ll be upstairs if he needs anything, okay?”
“Okay.”
Trolling for Trouble (The Lynlee Lincoln Series Book 1) Page 2
