Protected by Stone (A Paranormal Romance Novel) (16 page)

Those long fingers adjusted his jacket. I realized I was staring at how he fiddled with the buttons. “I wasn't going to let you go back to the lake after last night, Miss Blooms. That, too, is part of my duties.”

“Oh, just take the compliment already,” I said, rolling my eyes. Lowering my voice, I leaned in. “When you were at the lake, did you happen to see the—well, anything weird?”

Grault just shook his head. “Nothing.”

It wasn't much, as far as news went. I wished he had seen it, whatever
it
was, if only to confirm my attacker's existence.
Do I need it to be confirmed? I know it exists, I saw those creepy legs and heard that voice and...
Quick to change the subject, I brightened my tone. “Here, I saved you some breakfast.”

“No, you don't need to—”

“Shh shh shh,” I said, grabbing the leftover plate of capon from the oven. Shoving it at his chest, I took a step back. “Just eat it, it's the least I could do.”

Seeing him stand there, holding the dish of food, he couldn't have looked more awkward. His eyes flicked to the meat, then to me. Trying to be encouraging, I motioned at him with my hands. It was as if he was doing everything he could to not even
try
the food. Finally, he slumped his shoulders and lifted a tiny chunk. His nibble was dainty, not what I'd expected.

I hadn't planned to be so on edge, so invested, but now I was clasping my fingers in the hem of my shirt and staring with baited breath.
Will he like it, is this going to blow up in my face?

Grault swallowed, grease soaked fingers hovering by his mouth. “It's... good, Miss Blooms.”

My heart jumped, then sank. “Good?”

“Ah, very good,” he explained, taking another bite.

That helped me relax, a flutter of delight rocking my chest. “Seriously? I didn't do much, just cooked it until it was... you know, not bloody?”

He stopped, arching an eyebrow at me.

“Uh, I mean, it's clearly
not
bloody now, and, um.”
Good job, the most appetizing description someone wants to hear when eating is 'not bloody.'

The way he smiled made my legs weak. I blamed it on my injured ankle. “Miss Blooms, calm yourself. It's very good. Thank you for saving me some, I happen to love capon.”

I didn't even know what a capon was until the other day,
I thought privately. “Oh, you're welcome. I, ah, should get back to work. Lots of stuff to do around here still. Like cleaning, and groceries, and...” Trailing off, I felt a spark of courage rising through my body. “Actually, would you like to come with me into town today? It would help me to have another set of hands to carry things.”

He grimaced visibly, moving to set the plate down on the counter. “I can't, forgive me.”

“You... can't?”

“I can't.”

I twisted my mouth into a wrinkle. “Oh. Do you ever plan on explaining that?”

Grault was already turning away, speaking without looking at me. “I'm truly sorry, Miss Blooms. I simply can't. Let me know if you need anything here, though, and I'll happily oblige.”

Watching him leave, I leaned on the sink while digesting his rejection. It
was
a rejection, wasn't it?

Did he just not want to go into town, or did he not want to go with me?

Dwelling on what he'd said was useless. With frustrated vigor, I finished washing the dishes. When I reached for the plate I'd given Grault, I noted how much he'd left uneaten.

The sight of that leftover meat made me squeeze the edge of the counter. Scraping it into the trash, like I needed to remove the evidence, I scrubbed the porcelain until it shined.

****

M
y trip into town was a slow one. While my ankle wasn't broken, it didn't like all the work I was making it do.

The day was warm, but I felt the distinct crispness on the wind that warned winter wasn't so far.

Heading through the center of Barrow Village, I felt the now familiar stares. I wondered if I would get over that.

Or if they would.

Grault not coming with me on my excursion was still bothering me. But, there was one advantage to being alone.

Solid but polite, I rapped on Dirk's front door.
Grault said we'd call on the doctor last night if I didn't get better, but he can't fool me. These two don't get along for some reason.

If he'd come with me, I wouldn't have made a call on Dirk. Now, though, it was an opportunity I planned to use.

“Farra,” he said the instant he opened the door. “Good morning! Is everything alright?”

I tasted the side of my lip. “Yes and no. This is sudden, but could I come inside and talk for a bit?”

Without a hitch, he stepped aside to motion me in. “Always. Come in, tell me what's wrong.”

Darting through his tight hallway to get it over with, I breathed easier in the main room. It was even better when he led me upstairs.

He offered me leftover orange juice, which I happily took a deep swig from. The walk in the sun had been rough. Normally it would take me an hour to reach the village. With my tender ankle, I'd doubled the time. “I hope I'm not messing up your schedule,” I said.

“No, no, not at all.” He sat across from me, an elbow tossed over the back of his chair. “My day is based around helping people. Usually it's the sick, or injured, but help is help.”

“Actually,” I chuckled humorlessly, “I am a little injured.”

That had his attention. “Tell me what happened, Farra.”

Setting down the glass, I rolled up my trousers. His eyes fixed on the bruises, then he was moving faster than I expected. Kneeling in front of me, he balanced my leg with his smooth palms. “It's not as bad as it looks,” I explained.

Dirk stared me in the eye, prodding the area. I couldn't stop my wince. “It isn't bad, you're right, but it still hurts.”

“It still hurts,” I admitted.

“I'll give you something to take home with you for the pain and swelling. How did it happen?”

“I tripped on some logs,” I said slowly. Looking down at him, I watched his interest shift from my ankle, back to my face. “That's not why I'm here. I wanted to talk to you about what happened after I fell. About a certain lake, and what's inside of it.”

The flash in his eyes said so much. “You saw it.”

“So you do know about it,” I gasped. “Grault didn't! He had no clue!”

The doctor set my foot down, climbing back into his chair. “He wouldn't. It's from before he was around.”

“But not before you,” I whispered. “Because you grew up with her, with Tessa. Right?”

I'd never seen him look so uneasy. “Yes, that's right.”

“What
is
that thing?”

His wrinkled hands slid over the table, folding together like a knot. “You saw it, what do you think it is?”

“I don't know.” Looking down into my lap, I fought the part of me that wanted to remember. “It was... awful looking. I didn't see much. Black, slimy, lots of legs.”

I heard his chair squeak as he leaned forward. “I'll be honest, I never actually laid my own eyes on it.”

“I—you didn't? Then how did you...?”

“Tessa,” he said, looking out the window as if searching for the woman herself. “She told me about it. I think I was the only one who ever knew about her and him. And, about what really happened that night.”

“
That
night?” Squinting at the side of his face, I waited until he was clearly focusing on me again. “Dirk, please, I need you to tell me about it.”

His smile was sad, those warm eyes hiding away. “It isn't a pleasant memory. But you should know. You of all people should know. Farra, this happened a very long time ago. Please forgive me for not bringing it up, it was a hard time. A strange time.” Hunching his boney shoulders, the doctor leaned away. “I thought it wouldn't matter.”

“That what wouldn't matter?”

“You showing up here, taking over for Tessa. You look so much like her, but you
aren't
her. The sylph must be confused.”

“A what now, a sylph?”

“It's... well. Honestly, I don't know exactly. Tessa told me about it, but her description and yours are vastly different.”

My nails were making half-moons in my palms. “Different in what way?”

There, that sadness was written all over the lines of his face again. “She called it beautiful. She confided in me that she came upon it singing one night, this was back when she was around your age, even younger. As I said, I never once saw it, and it took much prodding before Tessa admitted to me what was going on.” I waited with baited breath. “Tessa,” he chuckled darkly, “was in love.”

“
In love!?
” There was no point in hiding my disgust. “With that monster? I don't—that's insane! How could she love that thing?”

He spread his fingers on the table, and I swore he was counting them one by one. Was he calming himself? “Who knows. I imagine it didn't look like a monster to her. Love is a funny thing, after all.”

I didn't know if I agreed. Biting my tongue, I pushed my glass of juice further away. The smell of the citrus was turning my stomach. “If you're right, and she loved it, why would it think I was her and try to attack me?”

“Perhaps that's my fault,” he sighed. “She was young, but I was younger. Maybe youth isn't an easy excuse. When I learned Tessa was falling for someone else... I thought it was a lie. She confided in me, and I responded by daring her to prove it. I told her to go into the lake and kiss her sylph, that I'd hide nearby and watch. Only then would I believe he was real, I'd said.” He hung his head, his voice hoarse. “I was an awful child.”

My fingers closed on top of his, it startled him, made him look up at me. For a second, I wondered what he saw. Me, or Tessa? “That's not fair. You were both just teenagers. You can't hang on to those words, you meant no harm.”

Dirk hesitated, uncertainty creeping into the furrows of his forehead. Then he smiled, but it was fragile as new snow. “The young lecturing me on being young. You're a lot like her, Farra. More than you might realize.”

“No I'm not. I didn't fall in love with that creature last night,” I said with a sideways grin. It did the job, easing the mood enough that the doctor chuckled. “So, what happened next? You dared her, then you went and spied to see if the sylph was real?”

He slid his hands out from under mine. “No. That's the worst part of the story. I dared her, but that night, I was too scared to show. The idea of seeing Tessa with someone else, even the chance of it, was too much for me.”

“You really loved her,” I whispered.

Dirk eyed me sullenly. “I always did. She just didn't love me back.” I was nervous with how his voice cracked. He pressed on firmly, despite my fear of him breaking down. “I wasn't there that night. I could have helped her. She wasn't even angry at me for not showing. I came by the next day, found out from her mother that Tessa was very ill. She'd almost drowned in the lake, she told me the sylph had tried to take her. Luckily her dog pulled her out.”

The memory of the painting floated up like a bubble. “Right, she had a big golden retriever. I saw it in a picture, they seemed close.”

“Extremely close,” he sighed. “Tessa recovered from the sickness, my father was a good doctor. But her dog, well, she didn't last long after that.”

Clutching my chest, I fought back a wave of sadness. “That's awful! She lost her dog?”

Nodding, Dirk rubbed at the corner of one eye. “Things changed after that. Tessa never went near the lake again, and I think she was too ashamed of what happened to tell anyone but me. I never planned to tell anyone, either, until now.”

Tessa fell in love with a creature like that... and it almost killed her.
I didn't know what to make of it. “So that thing, that sylph, it wanted Tessa but never got her. Now, it thinks I'm her.” I fought down a burst of laughter. “Great. That's great.”

It was his turn to take my hands, holding them like I might vanish. “Farra, listen. It's not the best consolation, but I think you're safe as long as you stay away from the lake. Tessa lived in that house her whole life.”

Her whole life.
Was that my future, too?

“I need to get going,” I mumbled, pulling away from him. The pain welled up in my ankle when I rose.

Dirk caught my flinch. “I'll get you that medicine.”

The rest of the visit was a blur. I took the drugs he offered, said my farewells, then moved like a zombie through the town.

Tessa and the sylph... now, it's Farra and the sylph. Is it really as simple as staying away from the lake? Can I be okay with that?

I'd been holding myself up against my grandmother, this woman I'd known so little about. She'd seemed strong, talented, and loved.

Thinking about those slippery black legs, I didn't think I wanted to be compared to her any longer.

I exchanged money to buy a small wagon, taking a cue from Dirk. It would make the trip easier, allow me to carry far more.

Loading it up with food and cleaning supplies, I quickly had a full pile. The sound of the wooden wheels kept me company on my slow trek back home.

Home. Yes. And what a home it is.

––––––––

C
leaning made the day fly by.

It was sort of funny. I'd never cleaned my own apartment like this. Not once. Now, here I was scrubbing down a bannister with what I
assumed
was a safe product to use.

It says Ultra Clean, it has to be good.

I'd packed the larder with food, put more wood on to burn in the furnace, and even gone digging around for a recipe book.

With two roasts cooking in the oven, surrounded by potatoes I'd been wise enough to add some salt to, things were looking tidy.

To say I was trying to distract myself was downplaying it.

Pushing my hair back, I crinkled my nose for a sneeze. All the dust was getting to me, though the results were amazing. The house was starting to sparkle.
It actually looks welcoming. Well. On the inside, anyway.

Thinking about the moss clinging to the roof sent my brain on a tangent. I knew of a particular room full of plants that could use some work.