Of the Woods

by J A S Bennet

  She walked to the floor-to-ceiling windows that let in the moonlight. She opened the glass door and stepped onto a stone terrace. You couldn’t call it a balcony. It was too grand for that. It was made of all stone. A mosaic of a grand tree was inlaid on the floor of it and the banister was a Celtic knot design carved into stone. She walked over to it, but her eyes were only looking at the forest beyond the grounds. Home, she thought. I feel like this could be my home. A joyful smile graced her face as she turned to go back inside.

  The bed was calling to her and she took little time in heeding its call. She changed into an old Def Leppard T-shirt and crawled into her bed. It was carved from a beautiful wood the color of ancient oak. The headboard was a freeform shape of carved leaves. The four corners were the shape of tree limbs and they converged in the center to form a knot of wood that resembled the triquetra. It was like sleeping in a centuries-old tree. The mattress felt like a cloud and the linens were all white. She smiled as she laid her head down to sleep.

  The dream formed slowly, but it grabbed her heart and mind when it gained hold of her.

  Fire could warm the body and soul, or it could consume and destroy. This dream of hers always held fire.

  The trees screamed and the animals ran by her in search of air, not smoke, to coat their lungs. She stood and forced one foot in front of the other. She didn’t go with the animals, she went against them. Into the fire. She was always trying to pull the water to put out the flame, quiet the wind from whipping, and fight for herself all on her own.

  This dream was different. She felt a force behind her. Not pushing her, but supporting her effort to save what she held dear. She couldn’t turn to see what was behind her, the need in front of her was too great, but she knew this time things were different.

  The blaze rose up and screamed in frustration, the heat seared her lungs and heated her skin. The blue and orange glow was reaching back to slap toward her and her fear cut her heart rate to stop.

  She awoke begging for air. The dream had awoken her many times before, but this was a new fear. She looked around her, for what or who she didn’t know. She just knew that she had tried to protect more than the trees and animals this time. Her heart was pounding, her hands were at her throat as if to try to drag more air in.

  Stumbling out of bed would have been a nice way of saying what actually happened. Tangled in her sheets, she took a header to the floor. The cool wood floor actually felt good against her cheek that was smashed against it. She placed her hands on each side of her head and winced as her right wrist screamed in pain. Not from falling on it, but burning, like from the fire, but real. Sitting on her bottom, she grabbed her right wrist with her left hand and looked. A new tattoo. Three intertwined circles. The triquetra she saw used on the poster of an Irish-based romcom she refused to watch.

  “Alrighty then,” was her only reaction as she dragged herself to her feet and made her way to her bedroom door.

  Jenny must have spent an hour sitting on the hammock seat, staring at the water out of her floor-to-ceiling window before she crawled into bed. There were vines of ivy covering the window from the outside, but that didn’t diminish the view. She would never grow tired of watching the powerful water crash against the cliffs maintaining the border of the ocean. How dare those rocks attempt to define what shape the water should take. Nothing could contain the sea.

  Another wall in her room contained a huge aquarium with saltwater fish inside. Lights on the top of the glass cage sent waves of light gently flowing across the room. It was a perfect nightlight for her first night in a strange bed.

  The canopy bed was comfortable and seemed to be filled with air. Like a raft on the sea, it moved with her and supported her in all the important places. The gentle murmur of the motor filtering oxygen into the aquarium lulled her off to sleep as soon as her head hit the pillow. That’s when her recurring dream struck.

  The sun was rising off the rear of the boat. He had woken her to make sure she didn’t miss it again. Who he was, she could never tell. This time he sat her down on the end of the reclining chair he was seated in. His legs fell to the deck on either side of her. She leaned into him and breathed in his fresh scent.

  A dolphin or seal breached the surface of the water in the distance. It was such a romantic setting and a beautiful sight to see, but then it went downhill fast. A scratch on the side of the boat caught her attention.

  Looking down, she found a turtle wrapped in a net. It was sick, making it obvious it had been caught in there for a while. Not being able to get free was keeping it from finding food or even being able to go to shore somewhere to rest. Poor thing must have been exhausted and hungry. Her heart leapt into her throat as she realized she had to help.

  She got up and grabbed a knife. Hanging over the side of the boat, she got to work setting the turtle free. He seemed to understand her soothing words about not being afraid and how she was trying to help. As she got the last piece cut off his hind leg, the boat stalled. She stood up to see what happened when the man grabbed her and tackled her to the ground. Every instinct in her mind told her to fight, but in the dream Jenny didn’t.

  “Don’t move.” His warning was unnecessary, she couldn’t have if she wanted to. Then she saw what it was. A black ship was headed their way. This wasn’t an innocent seafarer that found this inlet on accident. They meant to cause harm and it was up to her and the stranger on top of her to warn the others. Who the others were, she didn’t know.

  This time, her dream didn’t end there. Suddenly, the man stood up and whispered, “Okay, go now.”

  Without a thought about leaving that man behind, dream Jenny dove into the water, fully clothed and aiming for the black ship.

  Evidently, right into some coral or on top of a stingray or jellyfish who stung her because she woke up holding her right wrist, which was in pain. Using the light of the aquarium she looked at it and could see three intertwining circles were now tattooed there. Her finger slowly traced what looked like an infinity symbol, but with three parts instead of two. The skin surrounding it was sensitive and sore.

  Throwing back her covers, she climbed out of bed. It was still dark outside, but she wasn’t sure she would be able to sleep knowing someone had snuck into her room and tattooed her in her sleep.

  Before she could get to her door, the handle turned and someone opened it.

  “Ah!” Jenny screamed because she was sure the tattooer was back for more skin to use as a canvas.

  “Shhh! Don’t scream. It’s just me.” Ava was standing there holding her own wrist.

  “Did you tattoo me?”

  “Yeah, I get my jollies off tattooing naïve little girls while they sleep.” She was being sarcastic and rude. Jenny was not a big fan of middle-of-the-night Ava. Before Jenny could reply, she went on, “What the fuck? You think I was packing for this trip and I thought I’d better not leave home without my tattoo equipment?”

  Ava showed Jenny her matching tattoo, but before she could say anything, Sheridan arrived at the door. Sheridan being who she was, said, “Y’all need to chill out. Seriously. This is happening. We can’t bully our way out.” She looked Ava in the eye. Then she looked Jenny in the eye before continuing, “Or talk our way out. We need to sit and think and be. Something is happening to all of us. I need a drink or a brownie or something.” Then off she went. Ava looked at Jenny, Jenny looked at Ava, and they both followed.

  “I’m not usually the follow the leader type.” Ava felt the need to bitch about not being the one in charge.

  Sheridan actually grinned to herself. She really had no idea where she was going, but she would get somewhere. She ended up in the most spectacular library she had ever seen. The doors actually opened for them as they approached. Not normal human doors, but Celtic-knot-carved, three-story tall doors. The first thing Jenny saw was the enormous windows out the back. Just like her room, they overlooked the sea.

  Each of them stopped walking on their own. Of all the differe
nces between the three, one thing they had in common was stories. They each loved books and the worlds within them. A library. Not a little reading room or book-nook, this was a full-on library in the castle.

  Ava’s mouth opened then closed, then opened again. “Now this is what I call a library. Look at all of these books. I wonder who all of this belongs to. This would be a great place to make a movie. Something with a Beauty and the Beast theme. I can see it now.” Ava seemed lost in thought daydreaming about producing a blockbuster hit. She suddenly jolted and looked around at who she was with and looked over at where Sheridan was standing.

  Sheridan gave her the look of death. “I was enjoying the view, then there was your voice.” Clearly, Sheridan was not in the mood for Ava. She walked away with a sigh and began to explore the space. If there was no alcohol or special brownies in this place, she was going to end up hurting that woman.

  Sheridan loved two things—nature and books. Here she was with one love and lacking the other. On top of that, she had a burning new tattoo she couldn’t explain and the memory of green eyes matching hers haunting her heart. Not her mind, her heart. She stopped walking and tried to find the fine crystal decanters she knew would be here. It was a castle, for goodness sake! There had to be fancy crystal with alcohol somewhere.

  In front of the two-story fireplace sat three chairs with ottomans. One had a green throw, another a blue, and the last a red. She went to the huge fancy globe to the left of the fireplace and opened it like a massive gas grill, finding exactly what she was looking for. She poured what she was sure was bourbon into a crystal glass etched with a triquetra.

  “Full should do it,” she said to herself as she filled the glass. The green throw fell around her as she settled into the soft chair. She took a deep swallow of the golden liquid and tried not to sputter. Truth be told, she didn’t drink bourbon much. Yes, it was the drink of her Kentucky home, but damn, it burned. She laid her head back on the cushion and tried to settle her nerves by feeling her surroundings. She felt the heat of the fire, the hug of the cushions, the soft cashmere of the throw, and the smell of books in the air.

  Deep breath in, exhaling the burn out as she looked at the third of her tattoos. This one she didn’t choose and this one was going to matter. She knew it in her soul. Three flattened circles. All equally entwined and important. Sheridan was used to being alone. What would this symbol of three have to do with her and why was she with these two women?

  In the few minutes that Ava had been awake she had several different emotions. Emotions. What the fuck? She didn’t have emotions. She was an executive movie producer, for shit’s sake. What the hell was she doing here? Why was she with the annoyance twins in this castle? A castle? What was happening with her life? She didn’t even bring her battery-operated boyfriend, BOB, with her, maybe that’s why she couldn’t sleep. BOB was a need, not a want. She just wanted to get all of this mess settled without killing someone from lack of BOB-induced orgasms.

  Ava found herself sitting in a chair with a red blanket over her shoulders, wanting to go back to LA. To do what? Spend all her time alone watching sad Netflix? Now she had the tattoo that each of them had gotten in their sleep. She had always been a take-charge kind of girl. The problem was that she didn’t even know what to take charge of. She decided to sit in her chair of shame in silence and just prayed that the annoyance twins did the same.

  Jenny couldn’t believe all three of them had the same tattoo. She wasn’t sure what was going on in this place, but she could feel how important it was. It was humming through her veins relentlessly. Wanting to get their perspective on what was happening to them, she sat down in the remaining chair at the fireplace.

  “You know how when two people wear the same thing, they call it twinning? Well, these tattoos have us tripletting. Isn’t that special? I mean, something strange is definitely happening here, but at least we are all in it together and none of us are alone.” Her tone was hopeful.

  Jenny heard Sheridan’s sigh when she started talking and knew there was probably a matching look, but she ignored it. Ava was bound to tease her for looking for the bright side, but she didn’t care. They couldn’t go back in time to change anything and they obviously needed to figure this out together.

  “Have either of you ever seen anything like this before? It’s like a weird infinity symbol.”

  “Triquetra,” Sheridan spoke, but almost to her glass instead of to the women she was sitting with.

  “Oh. So maybe we could learn more about it in one of these books. Why did this triquetra appear on us? I mean, it isn’t coming off. It’s a real tattoo, but it didn’t hurt as much as I thought a tattoo would.” Jenny had so many questions, but these just breached the surface.

  “This one actually hurt worse than my last one.” Sheridan was loosening up now that the drink in her hand was half gone. She pulled the sleeve down off her shoulder to show them a beautiful tree of life inked there on her upper back. Then she took another drink before she showed them the tattoo on her ankle.

  Sheridan suddenly stood up, splashing the liquid around in her glass. Fortunately, it was mostly gone so it didn’t spill out. However, at this point, none of the three would have been surprised if it had. Anyway, she had a stirring deep within and it unsettled her. “Did y’all feel that?”

  “No, but I will if you want me to.” Ava was reaching out like she was going to pet Sheridan’s ankle tattoo. Sheridan swatted her away.

  “No, there is a feeling in the pit of my stomach like someone or something needs me. Not that I have much to offer.” That last part she had mumbled to herself.

  The door to the library opened again. “Oh good, you’re all up.”

  9

  The Will

  It couldn’t have been much later than four thirty and the caretaker was far too chipper for this time of day.

  All three of them began talking at once.

  “Do you know anything about these tattoos?” Jenny was about to get up to find a book on them, but it was worth asking the question.

  “Is it time to read the will?” Sheridan was ready to put this place and all the internal struggles it brought with it to rest. She wanted to escape before things became too much to handle.

  “Can you point me to the nearest Starbucks?” Ava’s priorities were questionable.

  “All of your questions will be answered, except maybe the one about the bucking stars; I have no idea what that is. Who would like some tea before we get down to business?”

  The caretaker was quickly climbing to the top of Ava’s shit list. Who wants tea before five in the morning? Losers, that’s who. “Listen, none of us want tea. We may speak English, but we are red-blooded Americans. I, for one, would like some coffee, because I like to feel the caffeine racing through my veins like cars in the final laps of the Daytona 500.”

  “Oh, I love NASCAR. Have you ever been to the Daytona 500?” Jenny was seeking another common interest.

  “No, I don’t like NASCAR, but I was on set when we were filming that movie and let me tell you, those cars go fast.” Ava turned back to the caretaker. “Unless you have tea that I can somehow take intravenously, that shit will not cut it. So, tell me, Obi Wan, where can I get some of that?”

  Sheridan sat with her University of Kentucky hoodie over her head and hoped each speaking person would choke to death and leave her in peace. She needed to do and be done. End of list. God bless it.

  “We do not have coffee,” the caretaker said that word with obvious disdain, “in the castle. We have tea. Take it or leave it. If you wish to have that vile substance, you’d best get to walking to the Auld Triangle, as that is where you will find it. Breakfast will be served in the dining hall at six. The video of the will starts an hour after that. Don’t be late.” The caretaker walked away and mumbled something that sounded like she didn’t know what a woby wand was, and Americans were crazy.

  With those words spoken, she left the library. The sun was just starting to fil
l the space with natural light. Looking outside, Ava was not at all confident she would be able to find the pub from here, so tea for today would have to do. Unless the puppy was awake and willing to show her the way. Maybe he would just fetch it for her.

  “I like coffee, too.” Jenny hopped to her feet and was smiling already, she apparently didn’t need it as badly as Ava did. She was busy folding her throw to put on the back of her chair. Ava’s heart sank. Things were going to get ugly if Jenny proved to be one of those hideous creatures known as morning people. Really, really ugly from the Sheridan look she was receiving at the moment.

  Ava suggested, “Let’s see if the butler will take us to get coffee.”

  “I’d like to get ready first.” Sheridan blushed as she said it, but come on, she certainly didn’t want to return to the pub, and potentially to the man with the green eyes, while she was still in her pajama shirt.

  “Good idea. We’ve got fifteen minutes, twenty tops. Meet at the top of the stairs?” It had all the makings of a question—her voice went up at the end, the words were in the proper order, et cetera, but Jenny and Sheridan knew it was an order and it wasn’t up for debate. They hurried off to prepare themselves for the day.

  After a day of travel, and collapsing into bed from near exhaustion, Sheridan needed a shower. Even at her quickest, there was no way she would be ready to go in fifteen minutes. Looking at her hair in the bathroom mirror, she decided it was good enough. She took a quick shower without getting her hair wet, to wash her body and cleanse her face. She hastily applied deodorant, brushed her teeth, and carefully applied makeup, finishing with her favorite lipstick in deep red to complete her morning routine. Feeling good about her appearance was important on days following rough nights of sleep. It was self-care 101.