Finding Midnight

by T. Lynne Tolles

  She felt embarrassed by his admiration.

  “You are something very special,” he said, touching her chin.

  “No, I’m not. I’m just a girl who happened on a shiny object,” she said.

  “I don’t mean you’re special because you found the scale. I think you’re special because amazing things happen around you. I believe things happen for a reason whether it be destiny, luck, or whatever. You’ve adopted a hellhound, which most people would never do. You’re sweet, kind and beautiful and now you have a little magic in your life. That could prove a very interesting combination,” he said.

  “I suppose,” she said, looking into his dreamy green eyes.

  He smiled then leaned in, cupping her jaw with both hands, and leading her lips to his, he kissed her softly. His soft, warm lips lingered tenderly as if tasting her. A warm flush ran up her spine and suddenly it felt as if the cottage was on fire. Her hands rested on his chest, soaking up his warmth, and she felt his heart beating beneath her hand. A crop of goose bumps grew over her skin as he pulled away and the kiss was over. She smiled widely and though she tried to stop herself, she couldn’t seem to stop. When she realized this, she felt her face blush and she averted her eyes from his smile.

  From outside arose a voice, “Hey, lovebirds, we gotta go,” Nick bellowed.

  “Right,” Jackson said. “I guess this is goodnight.”

  “I guess so,” she replied still with the silly smile pasted on her face.

  “Goodnight,” he said as he stepped through the doorway.

  “Goodnight,” she said, waving as he turned to leave.

  “Night…” another voice said.

  She turned to Sully who cocked his head to the side. “Did you just say—?”

  “Yup!” Sully answered.

  Chapter 13

  “So I’m not going crazy, you really can talk,” Summer said.

  “Yup,” Sully answered.

  “But how is that possible? No one else seems to be able to hear you,” she said, puzzled.

  “I don’t know, I don’t think so. Can we play with the ball?” he answered.

  “No, Sully. I’m exhausted. We’ll play ball tomorrow.”

  “Ooookaaay,” he said disappointedly, following her into the bedroom. He hopped up on the bed, circled several times and then plopped down at the foot of the mattress, while she got ready for bed.

  By the time she crawled into bed and turned off the lights, Sully was snoring and twitching away. Summer thought about the evening’s events and the conversations. She rubbed the necklace while she thought about all Jackson said about dragons, dragon scales, and puzzle boxes—but mostly she thought about the kiss that curled her toes and made her body tingle with electricity. With a smile on her face, she drifted off to sleep making her way into a land of magic, dragons, and princely kisses.

  She to voices in the living room. It took a moment for reality to take the place where the dream had just been.

  “Throw the ball, throw the ball, throw the ball…” a voice that sounded like Sully’s said. Thunderous paws clawed at the floor to get traction and Summer was nearly trampled by Sully as she stepped into the main room of the cottage, rubbing her eyes.

  “What’s going on?” she asked before suddenly noticing a tall, dark figure bent over Sully and petting him.

  The sight of the stranger startled her and she heard Sully say, “He smells different, but I like him. Don’t be afraid.”

  “Daniel?” she said, squinting as she made her way towards the two.

  “Yes,” his emotionless voice said.

  “What are you doing here?”

  “I needed to speak with you,” he said.

  “What about?” she said with a half yawn.

  “That vampire,” Daniel said sternly.

  “What vampire? Jackson? Or Nick?”

  “The one you kissed…this…Jackson,” he said with disgust.

  “What about him?” she asked.

  “You should not be consorting with these, these…vampires. What were you thinking?”

  “Wait a minute. I thought you couldn’t interfere in my life, or my decisions.” She was defiant.

  “I can if it endangers your life,” he said matter-of-factly.

  “Uh! No. I don’t think so. As you explained it, you couldn’t prevent me falling out of the tree and breaking my arm—that was certainly an endangerment,” she said, folding her arms across her chest.

  “That’s true, but as I explained, pain is a part of growing and learning. Hurting yourself and killing yourself are two entirely different things. Intentionally involving yourself with a predator like a vampire endangers your well-being,” Daniel explained.

  “Seems to me that it is YOU who seems to pick and choose the events you intervene with,” Summer said angrily.

  “I…you…it’s…no. Your path can have many directions. I can’t know what path you’ll take; only you determine that, but as I’ve watched you all your life, I feel compelled to advise you against this…you’re getting involved with a vampire,” Daniel back-pedaled.

  Listening to Daniel stumbling over his words, Summer suddenly said, “If I didn’t know any better, I would say you might have feelings for me.”

  “That’s preposterous…I…you…” Daniel stammered, and then suddenly disappeared.

  “Where’d he go? I wanted to play ball. How come he doesn’t smell like you?” Sully asked, sounding as if his nose was packed with cotton.

  “He’s an angel, Sully. I suppose that’s why. I’m sure he’ll play ball with you some other time. Are you feeling okay? You sound as if you might be getting a cold.”

  “I don’t know. My head hurts a little and it is hard to smell things. Do you want to play ball?” Sully said.

  “No, Sully. Time for bed. If you are getting a cold, you need some rest. I’ll have Dr. Stuart check you out tomorrow.”

  “I like Dr. Stuart. He’s my friend. Will he play ball with me?” Sully said, jumping back on the bed and circling three times before plopping down.

  “I’m sure he will, Sully. Get some rest. Goodnight.”

  “Night niiiiggghhhttt…” Sully said, falling asleep as the words came out his mouth. Summer smiled at that. Rolling to her side, she fell back to sleep.

  *****

  Getting ready for work in the morning, Summer found Sully slow to get up. It had been Sully who often woke her these days but today the alarm went off and Sully was still snoozing. It wasn’t until Summer had showered, dressed and made her way to the kitchen for something to eat that he finally jumped down from the bed and made his way to the kitchen.

  “Little tired, aren’t you?” Summer said worriedly, pouring some kibble into his bowl.

  “Yup,” he said between chomping his food down.

  She had scrambled some eggs and was sitting down to the little table when Sully suddenly sneezed ferociously, sending flames out his mouth and nostrils. Before she could even take a bite of her breakfast she found herself in a panic running for the small red kitchen fire extinguisher. It had been a house warming gift, and thankfully, it readily suffocated the flames that licked at her pretty white and blue checked tablecloth with wet, foamy goo that expanded as it put out the fire.

  With her forearm, she wiped her forehead of the beads of anxious sweat and said, “Well, now…that was exciting.” Sully sniffed and looked terribly guilty and she smiled. “Aw, sweetie, don’t feel bad…it’s not your fault. You have a cold. We’ll get you checked out and Dr. Stuart will make you feel better. Trust me.”

  Sully’s pronounced eyebrows rose one at a time and he answered sadly, “Okay.”

  Summer cleaned up the mess by wiping most of the foam with the unburned portion of the tablecloth which she then tossed in the garbage. Instead of eating, she opted for grabbing a bagel and a cup of coffee in a travel mug and headed toward the door. As soon as the door was barely ajar, Sully bolted out, making a loud bang and nearly knocking the coffee out of Summer’s han
d. Summer laughed, thinking someone certainly had to do his business badly.

  Summer closed and locked the door and made her way to the side gate. She glanced at the house next door and the window that once housed a panicked cat, but today, there was no sign of him.

  She yelled out, “Suuulllll-lllllleeee. Come on, pup, time to go.”

  From behind the little cottage she heard the thumping of galloping, padded paws coming towards her. As he appeared, she saw his eyes were watery and the one ear that didn’t normally droop was now drooping. He had something red in his mouth. He sneezed, setting fire to some dried weeds on the ground and throwing the red item out of his mouth.

  “Ohh!” Summer said with alarm as she ran to the growing fire and stomped it out with her foot. “You poor thing. You know, maybe I should bring along that fire extinguisher, just in case. What do you think?”

  Sully sadly nodded, his eyebrows arching up and down, making his expressions look almost human. She ran in the house and grabbed the half empty fire extinguisher and met Sully at the gate. She opened her door and Sully hopped in, walking across the driver’s seat to sit awkwardly on the passenger’s seat.

  “I think we’re going to have to graduate you to the back here pretty soon, Sully. You’re getting so big.” He cocked his head to one side, making his droopy ears sag lower and his expression seem even sadder.

  “It’s okay, boy. That’s a good thing. Don’t worry,” she said, patting him on the head and shutting the door. That’s when she noticed the item Sully had in his mouth.

  “What have you got there, boy?” she said, taking a hold of it. Sully was too tired to fight her much. He released the red item then curled up into a smaller ball than she imagined such a large dog could achieve and attempted to nap.

  Summer looked at the item—it was a collar, probably for a cat or small dog. Her thoughts once again went back to the cat in the window. I wonder.

  There was a shiny brass tag on the collar with only one word on it, no phone number or address, just “Morti.” She puckered her lips in disappointment. It would have been much easier to get the collar back to its owner if it had a number or address. She slipped the slightly slobbery collar over her hand and onto her wrist, and then tightened it so it would not fall off.

  “Another mystery, Sully. It’s not bad enough that I haven’t a clue where to look or what to look for with Ms. Midnight’s mystery rat; now we need to find the owner of collar too.” Summer released the hand brake and pulled the SUV into the second part of a three point turn, then off to work. Sully licked the collar on her arm and laid his head back down, closing his eyes.

  *****

  Summer was glad to be at work and back to her normal routine, although ‘normal’ was a relative word and quite honestly, nothing had really been normal since she moved out of the orphanage.

  She received some funny looks from the doctor, Tori and a few of the waiting patients when she walked in with Sully carrying a fire extinguisher in one hand and a cup of coffee in the other, though she was getting used to odd looks, considering not many people were quite sure what to make of the hellhound walking with her. Some stared in curious fear, and some gathered up their children and ran for the hills, but still others ran up to them to find out what he was and asked to touch him.

  Summer found the children to have the best responses to Sully. They’d watch him for a while determining if he acting scary, but when they decided he acted more or less like a normal dog, they wanted to touch him. One little girl hugged him until her mother noticed what she was doing and yanked her away from Sully in a panic. Another little boy asked if he could take him home to scare his little brother, to which Summer responded ‘no’ and slightly scolded him for trying to find things to scare his brother with.

  Dr. Stuart confirmed Sully had contracted a bacteria or virus and though he prescribed antibiotics for him (just to make sure) he wasn’t sure if he shouldn’t be giving him something more hellhound-ish—maybe some sulphur or hell fire. Summer knew this herself, but without knowledge of a hellhound’s proper nutrition, Dr. Stuart and she would just have to wing it. The only person who had seemed to have any knowledge of hellhounds was Hunter the demon, and she hadn’t seen him since she had been mostly at the house for the past couple of weeks.

  Though it felt good to do something she considered ‘normal,’ she also couldn’t help but feel a bit guilty for going back to work without really having made any progress in finding poor Ms. Midnight’s rat. Was she giving up? She didn’t want to give up, but she really didn’t even know which direction to pursue. Would she ever figure out what Ms. Midnight’s rat was or where it had gotten off to? She didn’t know and felt as if she was letting the old woman down.

  They certainly weren’t what anyone would consider to be close, by any measure of the term, but seeing the lucid side of Ms. Midnight that day she had seen Sully had given Summer a glimpse of what she felt sure was what the woman once was. She knew age and isolation could be the cause of how Ms. Midnight was now, but it seemed after that glimpse that something much more severe and horrible had been the cause. That thought made Summer sad and feel even worse for letting her down. Whoever or whatever this rat was—was apparently very important to Ms. Midnight.

  Dr. Stuart and Tori tried to make Summer feel better about her guilt by assuring her that without more credible information from Ms. Midnight, it was practically impossible for her to move forward. Anything she did would be just grasping at straws.

  While she pondered all this, a thought occurred to her. Ms. Midnight had responded so kindly to Sully’s presence that maybe another visit from Sully would prove fruitful. So it was decided—first chance she got, she’d get the two of them together and see if anything came of it.

  She also hoped that while she was at work that maybe they’d be due a delivery. According to Tori, Hunter had asked after Summer during the last couple of deliveries, but they weren’t expecting any until later in the week. She hoped to catch up with him and see if he had any info on supplements or nutrition for a hellhound. It was a long shot that he’d know any such thing, but after all, who better to ask (other than another hellhound) than another creature from hell—seemed somehow logical in a crazy and diluted way.

  Chapter 14

  One of the best things about being back at work was lunch with Tori. Aside from feeling starving, since Summer had just the bagel for breakfast, it was the ultimate sign of normalcy for her. She and Tori had been having at least one meal together every day for just about all their lives, so these last couple of weeks without the normal banter from her BFF—well, let’s just say it had been sorely missed.

  “You know, Tori, I have to tell you…I had my doubts about your graveyard movie night, but it was really fun. You did a fabulous job,” Summer said then took a bite of her sandwich. Sully lay beside her, singeing the grass with his stuffy nose.

  “Why are you so surprised?”

  “Well, I guess I thought sitting on some ancient guy’s grave would be more disturbing than it actually was,” Summer admitted.

  Tori shook her head, smirking as she finished chewing, and then said, “You crack me up. The way I look at it is those poor old souls haven’t had any entertainment in God knows how long. They deserve a movie once in a while and in doing so, they’re willing to share their plot with the one providing that entertainment.”

  “I love how you think, Tori.”

  “Thanks,” she said, taking a sip of soda. “So Sully really set your table on fire?”

  “Yeah! Poor thing. Then outside he caught grass on fire.”

  “I wish I could throw flames with my mouth,” Tori said with a mischievous smile.

  “Really? Wouldn’t that be like having the ultimate bad breath?” Summer joked.

  Tori laughed, “Yeah, but that nasty Sister Eunice from 10th grade certainly would have thought twice before scolding me for dying my eyebrows purple, if I could throw a few flames her way.”

  Summer laughed and
nearly blew soda through her nose.

  “I wouldn’t hurt her, but it sure would have been nice to scare her a bit,” Tori admitted.

  “You’re terrible,” Summer said.

  “That’s why you love me so much,” Tori said proudly.

  “You’re probably right,” Summer admitted.

  “So what was up with the voices and the owl last night?” Tori asked.

  “Funny you should ask—it seems I hear animals speaking.”

  “No way. Really?”

  “Yeah. In fact Sully and I talked about it last night. Once I got over the initial shock and disbelief of having a conversation with my dog, it was pretty cool.”

  “No kidding.”

  “I know…how bizarre, right?”

  “Definitely. So did slobber-puss have anything important to say?”

  “Not really, unless you consider his plea for playing ball important. But then again, he wasn’t really feeling very well.”

  “So just out of the blue, all of sudden you’re talking to animals,” Tori said, trying to wrap her head around the thought.

  “Yeah. I mean, I had been hearing things for a day or so, but I was just brushing them off as my mind playing tricks.”

  “You sure that’s still not the case?” Tori jabbed.

  “Ha! Ha! Yes, I’m sure.” Summer gave her a faux punch in the shoulder. “Hey, I was wondering if you might come with me to the neighbor’s tonight?”

  “You finally met your neighbor? The one that tortures cats?” Tori said with a little too much excitement.

  “I don’t know that he tortures cats,” Summer corrected.

  “This is the neighbor that had that cat in the window that you said looked like the boogie-man was after him,” Tori stated.

  “I don’t think I said that, but yes, that neighbor and no, I haven’t met him or her yet.”

  “Then why are you going over there?”