by Blythe Baker
“Right,” I said, nodding. “I will make sure to only call if it’s a real emergency.”
Mrs. Bickford grinned at me. “And don’t be a stranger. We are neighbors now, after all. You ever make an extra pie and need someone to give it away to, don’t hesitate to ask.” She wiggled her fingers over her shoulder as she marched toward the door, stepping back out into the morning light washing over the lake in ripples. “Tata, Marianne. Have a great first day, and welcome to Faerywood Falls!”
She promptly closed the door behind her.
Through the window, though, I heard her voice again. “See? I told you I can make myself scarce… No, I don’t need you to remind me, thank you, dear.”
I stared out after her, not seeing anyone anywhere nearby.
Who was she talking to? It sounded like her husband, but he definitely wasn’t there.
Great. My landlady was crazy.
I sank down onto the end of the bed, brushing my hair from my eyes. I’d met more than my fair share of interesting people, but interesting and nosy? Mrs. Bickford was going to require a constant watch, wasn’t she?
I stared around at the small space, wondering if even the little I had brought was actually going to fit inside. I’d easily fill the armoire, and the tiny linen closet in the bathroom would hardly be able to hold all my towels and blankets and sheets.
I had to keep reminding myself that this didn’t have to be where I lived for the rest of my life. It was for now.
And with that view…I could really get used to seeing that lake all the time.
There was an angry buzzing sound behind me that made me jump. It was my phone, vibrating so hard it was trying to knock itself off the table.
I raced over to it, snatching it out of the air before it could fall, and answered it.
“Hello. Is this Marianne?” asked the voice on the other end.
“Yes, this is her,” I said.
“This is Dr. Brian Henson, the veterinarian that you left a message with last night?” the man said. He had a kind voice that was easy to listen to. “So, you found a fox, huh?”
I gave him a quick recap of what had happened – leaving out the part where I could have sworn the fox was asking me for help inside my brain – and he listened patiently the whole way through.
“Well, it sounds like you already know what I’m going to tell you, but it’s unsafe to be handling wild animals. They might bite and be carriers of disease. But, I can admire your heroism and desire to help the poor creature. It’s probably for the best that the fox recovered enough and took off without injuring you or itself any further.”
“Right,” I said.
“Foxes are quite common around here, and while they’re not likely to harm a human, it’s definitely best to keep your distance from them,” he said.
“Will do,” I said. “Thanks so much for getting back to me.”
“Sorry I couldn’t have been more help last night,” he said. “I would just advise not taking in any more wild strays.”
I laughed. “Definitely not.”
“Is there anything else?” he asked.
Part of me thought to ask about the eyes I’d seen in the woods, but now that I was feeling much more refreshed, I wasn’t sure I hadn’t just made that whole thing up in my exhaustion. “Nope. Thanks so much for your time, Dr. Henson.”
“Of course. Have a good day.”
I glanced over at the open window and frowned.
I wondered where the little fox had gotten to…and if it was all right.
6
I stood there in front of my SUV for nearly five minutes before I realized just how much I didn’t want to unpack. My back was still sore from being stuck driving for two days straight, and the sheer number of boxes seemed to multiply every time I peeked my head inside the car.
That, and Mrs. Bickford’s mention of my aunt and cousin made me think that it might be better to show them my face sooner rather than later. If Mom called and let them know I was here, they might wonder why I hadn’t come to see them yet.
I sighed, grabbing one of the bags of chips that I’d picked up from the gas station the night before, and hopped back into my car. I ignored the fact that I could barely see out the back window, and continued on down the road, following my now functional GPS to the lakeside lodge where I would find my aunt and my cousin.
All of the eeriness seemed to vanish with the night. The forest was beautiful. Birds sang to one another as I drove along the dirt road with my window down. I caught sight of fish jumping in the lake, their splashes causing swells in the otherwise mirror-like surface. The air was warm and the day was bright.
A flicker of something silver caught my eye ahead, and I quickly slammed on my brakes as a dog jumped out in front of me.
My heart hammering against my ribs, I peered out of the windshield at the creature.
My chest tightened. It wasn’t a dog at all.
It was a wolf.
It had gleaming silvery grey fur, a long snout, dark nose, and golden eyes. And the wolf was staring straight at me.
I gripped the steering wheel as if it might give me some support. I was fully protected inside the vehicle, yet something about that wolf’s gaze unsettled me. It was as if it was watching me with an intelligent gaze, as if it was regarding me as its equal, not as prey or predator.
I swallowed nervously as the wolf turned its shaggy head away, and it started to walk off the road and into the tree line.
I couldn’t swallow past the lump in my throat. Those eyes…they reminded me way too much of the eyes I’d seen the night before in the woods. It must have been a wolf that had stared out of the trees at me then. This couldn’t be the same wolf, could it? We were miles away from where I’d found the fox…
I pushed the wolf out of my mind, but even still, I took more caution as I drove up the road toward the lodge.
The structure came into view a short while later. It was tucked away up on a hill that overlooked the lake and all the cabins that surrounded it. As my SUV snaked up through the winding roads, I could see the appeal of this place as a tourist destination. It was so lovely here, so peaceful. I could understand why Mom liked coming to visit her sister here.
The lodge itself was a grand sight, with a lot of large windows around to let all that glorious light in. It looked almost as big as some hotels I’d seen, but it felt a lot more homey.
I hopped out of the car and headed toward the front entrance, checking over my shoulder for any other animals that wanted to jump out at me.
Nothing decided to, and that helped me to breathe a little easier.
I stepped inside and was blown away by the luxuriousness of the lodge. I wasn’t sure if I expected to see bearskin rugs or antler chandeliers, but instead I found overstuffed leather sofas, hand carved wooden tables, and paintings of the lake that were as long as my new cabin was wide.
“Good afternoon, Miss,” came the voice of a man behind a counter off to the side. He had a large white moustache that obscured his mouth, but his eyes told me he was smiling. “Are you checking in?”
“Actually, I’m looking for Candace Brooks,” I said. “She’s my aunt. I think she’s expecting me.”
The man nodded and disappeared behind a door.
A moment later, the door opened, and the kind, elderly man was followed by two women who looked very much like…and very much like my mother. Like her, they both had beautiful dark hair. Also like her, they both kept it long. The younger kept it in a long braid that fell down her back, and the elder wore it loose, all full of volume and shine. They both had green eyes, rosy cheeks, and wide hips, just like my mother.
“You must be Prudence,” the older of the two women said, stepping out from behind the counter. The only reason I could tell her apart from her daughter was because of her years and the fact she was a little fuller figured. Otherwise, my aunt and cousin could have been twins. She held out her hand to me, smiling. “I’m your Aunt Candace.”
; “Nice to meet you,” I said, taking her hand and shaking it. I added, “I’m actually going by my middle name of Marianne nowadays.”
“I’ll try to remember that,” she said, smiling. Her grip was gentle, but warm, and there was pure joy in her eyes as she patted the back of my hand with her own. She looked over beside her and gestured to the girl standing next to her, her hair tied back in a braid. “And this is your cousin, Bliss. She’s only a year younger than you are.”
Bliss smiled at me, and we shook hands as well. I noticed this close that she had a tiny sapphire stud in her left nostril. Her eyes widened as she looked more closely at me. “Wow…you have silver eyes,” she said, her mouth hanging open slightly. She looked over at her mother. “Did you see her eyes, Mom?”
Her mother smiled kindly. “Yes, I did. They are very pretty.”
Sheepish, I smiled and looked away. My whole life, I’d been complemented on the color of my eyes. I’d always thought they were grey, which I knew was a rare enough color, but this was the first time I’d heard the word silver used.
“So, how was your trip up here?” Aunt Candace asked warmly, brushing some of her thick, dark hair behind her ear. “Uneventful, I hope?”
“For the most part, yeah,” I said with a smile, reflecting on the woman at the gas station and the fox. “I got in late last night. I don’t think I’ve ever been happier to have a bed to sleep in.”
“Are you hungry at all?” Bliss asked. “We just finished breakfast and had some leftovers.”
“No thank you, I’m fine. I ate on my way up here,” I said. The greasy chips hadn’t done much to fill me up, but the nervousness at meeting new people had my stomach twisted in knots enough to kill whatever appetite I did have.
“Well, why don’t we show you around?” Aunt Candace said. “I hope that you’ll be able to call this place home just like we have.”
“That’s very kind of you,” I said.
Bliss fell into step beside me, a little smirk crawling up the side of her face. Her eyes were so startlingly green that I found it hard to look away. “How do you like the cabin Mom found you?” she asked.
“Oh, it’s very nice,” I said. “It’s cozy, the perfect size for one person.”
Bliss laughed and her mother arched an eyebrow at her.
“I know it wasn’t much,” Aunt Candace said to me. “But it was close to us and something that was more than affordable. You could have stayed here at the lodge, of course, but I thought you might enjoy the peace and privacy of having your own space.”
“I think I will,” I said. “That view is spectacular.”
“Just wait until you see it from these windows at the top of the stairs,” Bliss said as we started to climb a gorgeous staircase carpeted in plush green. “I’ve heard the Missouri hills are pretty and all, but Colorado has her own kind of charm.”
We reached the top of the stairs, and she couldn’t have been more right. The lake was spectacular. It looked almost perfectly round from up here, and the landscape looked as if it had been painted on with a thick, bristly brush.
“You must be missing your mom already, aren’t you?” Aunt Candace asked suddenly. I turned and saw her eyes were on me, and she looked a little sad.
“A bit,” I admitted. “Though everything she’d told me before I left…it’s all kind of hard to believe, you know? It’s hard to think that I was adopted.”
“But that doesn’t mean you are any less a part of our family,” Bliss said, throwing an arm around my shoulders and winking at me. “There are some things that are thicker than blood, you know.”
Her mother gave her a cautioning look I didn’t understand, and Bliss smiled nervously and stepped away.
These women were already treating me like family. They were being so kind, so open with me. I realized how much I was already starting to like them.
“It’s a relief having people here who are so normal,” I said without thinking. “I feel like my last couple days have just been so weird. It’s nice to be reminded that my whole life isn’t upside down.”
Bliss furrowed her brow. “Weird? What do you mean by weird?”
I shrugged. “Well, my landlady for one. She’s…well, she’s a character.”
“Mrs. Bickford?” Aunt Candace asked.
I nodded.
“She’s harmless enough,” Bliss said. “She may be way nosier than she needs to be – by the way, she’ll remind you if you leave your porch light on all night – but other than that, she wouldn’t hurt a fly.”
“It wasn’t that,” I said. I shifted uncomfortably. “She was talking to thin air. She kept saying these things about her husband and then turning to look at nothing and talking like he was asking her questions.”
Bliss and Aunt Candace exchanged a very similar look.
“She has a tendency to do that, yes,” Aunt Candace said.
“But she’s perfectly harmless,” Bliss said. “Now, come with me. I want to show you the lodge’s pool and hot tub.”
My spirits perked up. “Hot tub? Really?” Though I wasn’t exactly ready to drop the whole Mrs. Bickford thing, as I had the sneaking suspicion they weren’t telling me everything, I was willing to let it go for now and let them show me around.
Aunt Candace grinned at us both. “I just knew the two of you would get along.”
They walked with me all over the whole resort. It held tons of rooms, all lavishly furnished. I met a lot of the staff, all of whom were busy cleaning and arranging and cooking and preparing. Apparently we were headed into one of the more popular tourist seasons of the year. Everything was so pretty, and I heard myself promise over and over again that I would come up to visit them here.
As we were nearing lunchtime, we’d found our way to the back of the resort where the pools were. They had an indoor and outdoor pool, as well as a hot tub that was both inside and outside, connected by an opening in the wall. Bliss mentioned that sitting in the hot tub as it snowed was basically magical.
Her mother had given her another look for that comment. Was she not supposed to be in the hot tub when it snowed?
I was wandering through the locker room when I heard Bliss say something to her mother in a hushed tone.
“So…that hunter died?” she asked. “The one who was attacked in the forest last night?”
A chill ran down my spine. A dead hunter? I pretended to examine the list of all the activities offered for guests while I listened to what they were saying.
“Yes,” I heard Aunt Candace say heavily. “Unfortunately, he passed away early this morning.”
“That’s the third one this month,” Bliss said.
“I know…” Aunt Candace said solemnly. “It’s happened far too often to be coincidence.”
“Do you think it could have been him?” Bliss asked.
Her mother made a noise to silence her. “Of course not,” she said in a much more motherly whisper. “He would never go that far, or allow any of the others to, either.”
“So you really think whatever attacked him was…normal?” Bliss asked.
“Probably only a bear or a wolf,” Aunt Candace said. “He was just at the wrong place at the wrong time. Just like all the others.”
“Of all the places…” said Bliss. “To be killed by the ordinary kind.”
My stomach twisted painfully. So much for this place not being weird.
“Ordinary what?” I asked, walking back over to them.
They both seemed flustered as I approached. “Oh, nothing, dear,” Aunt Candace said with a broad grin, even though there were spots of embarrassed color in her cheeks.
“Some hunters have been killed in the woods recently,” Bliss said. “The police are baffled.”
Aunt Candace stepped between us. “Actually, Marianne, there was something I meant to ask you earlier. Did your mother tell you that I managed to find you a job in town?”
“Yeah, she mentioned it,” I said. “What sort of job is it?”
“Oh, yo
u’re going to love it,” Bliss said, nodding fervently.
“It’s nothing too strenuous,” Aunt Candace said. “Most days, you will probably find yourself reading a lot of the time. Very relaxed.”
“That sounds nice,” I said. I was still looking back and forth between them with curiosity. What had they been talking about, really?
“If you want, I could take you into town and you could meet the owner, see if this might be something you’re interested in,” Aunt Candace said.
“What, like, now?” I asked.
She nodded. “I know it’s a lot, and you just got here, but he really needs the help, and I really think you’ll like working for him.”
It was sudden, but what else did I have to do all day? “Okay, that sounds great,” I said, flickers of anxiety fluttering inside me like hummingbirds.
“Wonderful,” Aunt Candace said. “We shouldn’t delay, then. Bliss, you make sure that old Mr. Terrance has his lunch break today, all right? He’s not taken one for three days.”
“Yes, Mom,” Bliss said with a wink at me. “Have fun in town. Say hi to Mr. Cromwell for me.”
7
“So tell me, Marianne,” Aunt Candace asked as we drove along in her car through the winding roads. “How are you liking Faerywood Falls so far?”
I pulled my gaze away from the river that rushed below the bridge we were crossing, the foamy white waves crashing against the slick, rocky cliffs flanked by more thick forest. “It’s absolutely beautiful,” I said. “I’ve never been here, but even still it feels so welcoming.”
Aunt Candace smiled. “Some people will always feel that way, returning to the place where they’re from. Some would even say that the soil sings to them in a way it would sing for no other.” She gave me a gentle smile. “An old wives tale, of course, but I like the sentiment. Makes me feel like we all have a place to belong in this world, you know?”
I understood her perfectly. The trees, so tall and dark, hovered over my head like guardians. I wasn’t someone they were trying to keep out. I was being protected. I couldn’t explain it, but I was feeling more and more secure as time went on.
