She Shall Have Music (Psychic Seasons Page 13

  The decision made, she zipped toward the dog. “Lola,” she hissed, “stop.” The dog never slowed; she didn’t even veer when Estelle appeared before her. All she could do was watch helplessly as events played out.

  Logan broke through the trees and was halfway across the lawn when a growling Lola rounded the corner of the house. If Logan had been in control of his own body, he would have recognized the danger bearing down on him a little quicker. As it was, when almost a hundred pounds of angry dog hit him, he staggered and nearly went down. Lola dodged the man’s flashing feet and went for skin but Logan’s unholy luck held once again. Instead of sinking her teeth into his thigh, all the big boxer got was a mouthful of loose clothing. The split second it took her to spit out the shreds of fabric cost Lola her quarry.

  The specter inside Logan pushed its energy toward the dog casting the same type of barrier that had immobilized Estelle earlier. It worked that way again. Locked into place by his barrier she could only watch as a bewildered Lola lunged twice then gave up and ran back toward her home and safety while the unearthly energy carried Logan back through the woods well ahead of his pursuers.

  When the barrier broke, Estelle’s borrowed energy was not strong enough to pull her into the chase and instead returned to the body it had been taken from. Kat staggered and sagged against Amethyst for a moment before speaking. “It’s over. He got away again. Lola’s safe at home and Estelle won’t be back until her energy recharges.”

  _,.-'~'-.,_

  Returning to the farm was no longer an option. Logan couldn’t remember why he knew this but was sure it was a fact. The cops had gotten ahead of him and closed off every exit, including the trail he had used last time, leaving him only two choices. Stay up in this tree where he had a bird’s eye view of the town and take a chance on falling asleep and then just falling or make use of the caves he’d found near the lake. The blanket, extra clothes, kale, and carrots rescued from the farmhouse were stashed in the woods near the farm and it was at least an hour-long hike from there to the caves. It would be easiest to stay put but if he did manage to get to the caves, he could hole up for a couple days, wait for the furor to die down and stay a bit warmer. Maybe even risk a small fire.

  Caves.

  Caves.

  Logan squeezed both temples between palms abraded from living rough. But, the word continued to boom through his head. Rough-textured bark tore deeper into those sore hands during the quick slither down the tree.

  Caves.

  Caves.

  It was only when he obeyed and began to stumble and pick his way through the uneven terrain between the tree and the lake that the incessant repetition eased.

  The thing inside him leered.

  Chapter 9

  “She’s not going to like it.” Tyler tapped his fingers on the tabletop; a sound that irritated Zack’s already frayed nerves.

  “Are you saying no?” Under any other circumstances, Zack’s tone could be mistaken for aggression. Though, given the stress Zack had been under, Tyler took no offense.

  “Of course not. I was merely pointing out that your sister is unlikely to appreciate this particular bit of interference.” Not that he cared one whit. Tyler and Finn were in wholehearted agreement with Zack. Gustavia would not be going home alone once she was released from the hospital. In fact, she would not be going home at all.

  Finn spoke up, “She’ll have to get over it because I won’t have her unprotected.” He looked first at Zack and then Tyler. “I’ll back you up so we can present a united front.” It was the first time he had seen Zack lose that pinched look he’d had on his face since Gustavia had been abducted. “You’re going to be the one to tell her, though.”

  “Then we’re in agreement, Gustavia will come here.”

  “Not just Gustavia. He’ll have his sights set on Kat and Amethyst now, too, so I think they would all be better off staying here for a while.” Tyler turned to Reid, “You’ll handle Amethyst?”

  “Count on it.”

  “I’ll go talk to Julie then we’ll pick up Kat. Zack, you and Finn go pack up some things for Gustavia and Fritzie. This will all go more smoothly if she comes straight here.”

  With the matter settled, Zack was finally able to relax. His considering gaze landed on Finn and for the first time, he noticed how pale the man was under the last of his fading summer tan. If his cop sense was worth anything, he figured it was telling him he would be gaining a brother in law before too many months passed. Kat wouldn’t have taken that bet, she didn’t like to lose.

  On the way out the door, Zack clapped a hand on Finn’s shoulder. “I think you should be the one to tell her.”

  “No way. She’s your sister, you do the deed.”

  The good-natured argument followed them out the door leaving Tyler and Reid to chuckle.

  “Good thing you live in a McMansion.”

  Tyler grinned. “A lot of changes these past six months. It’s been a wild ride.” Then he sobered. “Some of it has been a little hairy. We could have lost her. If it wasn’t for Amethyst…” The consequences would have been disastrous. Zack hadn’t been the only one with a sister on the line. Tyler loved her like family.

  “Any regrets? Doubts? Cold feet?” Reid wanted to believe life could improve in such a short time; it gave him hope for his own future.

  “None. I’ve made a second family here. Julie is everything.”

  “She feels the same about you. I’m jealous.”

  “Any success on that front?”

  “No. Maybe. A little. We started something the night she saw Logan before it became all angels and auras. Since then, I haven’t been able to get a minute alone with her. You think when she’s staying here, I’ll have a better chance?”

  “If you can talk her into it. Zack is going to have his hands full getting Gustavia to agree but she’s not in any condition to balk. Ammie, now? That’s going to take some smooth talking. She likes living alone up there on that hill and I think prying her out of her comfort zone is going to be a tough sell.” More than, if he knew Amethyst, but better not to say that out loud.

  “If she won’t come here, then I’ll camp outside her door. One way or another, I’m going to protect her.”

  Amethyst may be stubborn, but she was too kind hearted to shut him out in the cold. “It’s one way of getting her to talk to you.”

  With a thoughtful nod, Reid headed upstairs to pack. Just in case.

  _,.-'~'-.,_

  “I’m probably safer here than at Hayward House.”

  Reid’s left eyebrow shot up. “Safer here? Alone? On top of this hill and with winter coming on?” His expression said she was deluded but those were words he was too smart to let pass his lips. Unmoved, he said, “Pack whatever you need. Do you have a carrier for the cat?”

  “What about the dogs? Tommy will be traumatized; he’s never been around dogs before. No, I’m staying here. I have clients all week; I can’t just take off on a whim.”

  “You do have a history.” The words popped out before he had time to think them through. She treated him to a withering look, which he ignored.

  “It’s under control. The museum is heated and Tyler and Finn are planning to rearrange it to give you and Kat each a private place to meet clients. You know there is plenty of space to find a safe place for that cat. If that’s your only excuse, it’s a flimsy one. The bedroom I was staying in is half the size of this whole place. He will manage.”

  Patient, but adamant that she would be protected; he waited for her to voice the real reason for staying.

  She capitulated, “I know. It’s just—this is my home. It’s quiet, peaceful. It’s my sanctuary.”

  He had to ask, “From me?” His words were quiet, pain-filled.

  “No—oh, no. Nothing like that.” She had hurt him, too. Probably more than she had realized at the time.

  Laying a hand on his arm and doing her best to ignore the way her heart leapt at even that brief contact, Amethyst said, �
��Reid, I really am sorry. About everything.”

  “For what it’s worth, so am I.”

  The urge to kiss her nearly overwhelmed him but he resisted. Instead, he gave her another option.

  “Either get your things together or I’ll be going back out to the car to get mine.”

  Amethyst frowned then it hit her, he was volunteering to stay here—alone—with her. Mind racing through a myriad of possibilities, she realized her mouth had dropped open in surprise, snapped it shut and said in an exaggerated tone of indifference, “Fine. If that’s what you want to do.” Her heartbeat sped up.

  Reid felt a stomach-jumping, pulse-pounding, excitement and did not wait for her to change her mind. He gleefully made the decision to extend his vacation for a few more weeks. “As your husband, it’s my duty to protect you.” Maybe reminding her of that was a bad idea but it was nothing short of the truth.

  That statement earned him a snort but his sincerity got him a smile to go along with it. Hope bloomed; maybe they could work things out after all. All they needed was a second chance and some time alone.

  The question was whether they were both willing to work for it. Reid knew exactly where he stood on the subject.

  Since he was now going to be staying here, Reid looked around his wife’s underground abode.

  The stucco walls had been painstakingly hand-textured then skillfully painted to resemble sandstone. Curved horizontal bands stood out in shaded relief to resemble layers ranging from rich mahogany through sienna to a pale but warm orange. Small up-lights placed at intervals cast dramatic shadows and highlights to emphasize the graceful arcs and patterns. No art hung in the living room the walls were enough.

  Opposite the front door, a short but wide hallway flanked by narrow storage closets on either side, led to the kitchen. Lit by several skylights, what he could see from where he stood looked cozy and warm if ever so small. Glass fronted cabinets displayed her mix and match collection of colorful tableware bought at yard sales, flea markets and second hand shops. She had indulged her tastes by choosing everything from delicate floral china to chunky stoneware in bright colors and geometric designs.

  The honey-colored maple table was flanked by a set of mismatched chairs all painted the same color.

  Amethyst loved a good bargain. Her favorite being one where she could rescue a piece then repair, repaint and just generally love it back into usefulness. Recycling and up cycling were passions she shared with Gustavia and in fact, the two women had met by haggling over an old, broken-down table.

  The battle between them had been fierce but when the dust finally cleared, Amethyst owned the kitchen table that Reid was now admiring, and she had also scored a lifelong friend.

  Reid did the math in his head. Unless there were other rooms behind the laundry room, he assumed the hallway doors must lead to a single bedroom and bathroom. Well, at least the sofa looked soft, even if it was at least a foot too short. He’d just have to curl up.

  Reading his thoughts, Amethyst said, “Looks like you’re on the couch, pal.”

  He shrugged in acceptance but thought she needn’t look so gleeful about it. “I don’t suppose it folds out or anything?”

  Her wicked grin gave him the answer but did nothing to dim the sense of anticipation growing inside. The sofa would have to do. It was better than pitching a tent in front of her door, something he was fully prepared to do if that was the only way he could protect her.

  “Fine. It’s fine.”

  She would have considered trading with him since, at her height, the sofa was a perfect length, but he had expected her to refuse to go with him, even to the point of bringing his things. She hated being predictable.

  Reid brought in his bag and went into the compact but surprisingly well-appointed bathroom to unpack his personal care items. As he laid his razor on the counter next to her eye shadow—how many shades of purple did that stuff come in—he couldn’t help thinking how long it had been since he’d shared an intimate space with her.

  He wondered if her habits had changed in the past three years or if they would slip back into the old routines.

  Meanwhile, Amethyst was wondering the same thing. Did he still sleep in his skivvies? Could she handle seeing him all half-naked, eyes blurred from sleep, hair mussed just the way she liked it best? The memory was like a gut punch, swift, and all the more painful because of the possibilities now dangling before her. He still loved her; he had told her he did and she had no reason to doubt his word. Why, then, was she finding it so difficult to open up?

  It would be so easy to pick up right where they left off—forget the time apart—but would anything really have changed? She wasn’t cut out to be the perfect image of a corporate wife and it wasn’t just about the clothes or hair.

  Amethyst was just a name she had chosen. Seeing auras was different.

  It had started during a field hockey game in fifth grade gym class. One minute she had been driving the ball down the field and the next she was flat on her back on the ground, looking up at the gym teacher who was surrounded by a haze of pretty, red color.

  She had taken a stick to the shin and gone down, hitting her head on the goal post, after scoring, of course.

  The doctors had assured her parents that the auras would fade over time and that they were just a residual effect from the concussion. The doctors were wrong. The auras remained and before long, she began to see more complex combinations of them, and make connections between people’s emotions and the shifting of the colors that surrounded them. She began to see patterns in the swirling colors and to lose herself in their study.

  Reid had been the only person—outside her family—who never judged, so they spent a lot of time together.

  With no other choice, Jane came to terms with her affliction—stopped thinking of it as such and began to consider it a gift. Okay, so maybe at times it was like opening a brightly wrapped package and finding granny panties inside but it was the thought that counted. Thank you, universe.

  _,.-'~'-.,_

  “There must be a story behind this place. Underground houses aren’t all that common.”

  “It used to be a fallout shelter. Two of them actually. They were all the rage in the 1950s, and the original owner found them when he was digging to put a pool in his backyard. They had to rent a crane to get them out of the hole. I bought them for the cost of the crane rental. Really cheap.”

  Reid walked over to touch one of the walls and discovered that under the cleverly painted sandstone was a plastic wall that curved toward the ceiling. While Amethyst continued, “My uncle owned this piece of property. I think he got it at a tax auction. He planned to fix up the old house but the first winter after he bought it, the whole place collapsed into the cellar hole. When he found out how much it was going to cost to get it cleaned up, he decided to cut his losses and sold me the land for what he’d paid. I talked some friends into helping me clear out the debris and I sold the granite blocks from the old foundation for enough to install a wastewater system. There was an old well already in place, so with very little digging, I dropped the shelters into the old hole, connected them and buried them for around the cost of a used car. It’s small but it’s home.”

  “How long have you been here? Did all this happen before you left me?”

  This discussion was exactly what she had hoped to avoid. Still, she owed him some kind of explanation. “No, of course not. This was two years ago. The first year we were apart, I moved around a lot. Spent some time finding and learning from other aura readers, rented a houseboat for the summer, did odd jobs here and there. But eventually, I needed to put down roots.” That it had not been easy for her was evident in the painful hitch of her voice.

  It struck him as appropriate and a bit funny, the thought of putting down roots in an underground home. There was something oddly literal about it. However, he wasn’t laughing at the knowledge that she had fled the home he provided for her. Not for someone else or even for something b
etter but just to get away from him.

  No way was he going to apologize again, though. There was nothing to be gained from endlessly rehashing the past. He would bite his tongue to a bloody pulp before bringing it up one more time. From now on, he would take his cues from her. Let her make the moves for a change. Oh, he still wanted his marriage to work, but for that to happen, they both needed to build back some trust.

  “Look,” he said, “I know this isn’t the best case scenario; me staying here with our history and all the things left unsaid, but I couldn’t forgive myself if something happened to you. I don’t want to revisit painful memories. We used to have fun together, before you started hating me.”

  “I never hated you,” Amethyst spoke with quiet conviction. “Never.”

  She turned her head as much to draw peace from her view of the lake as to keep him from seeing the unshed tears in her eyes. No, hate was not the right word for what she felt. Not at all.

  Finally, with her features carefully schooled to keep him from reading just how much she was affected by his presence, she turned back to him, “Let’s make the best of the situation.”

  He nodded then an awkward silence fell before Amethyst suggested he unpack the rest of his things.

  Motioning for him to follow her, Amethyst led the way to her bedroom. Two steps into the room, Reid stopped and let out a low whistle. The room shimmered. That was the only word he could think of to describe it.

  Cozily set into the smaller of the two shelters, the bedroom walls curved gently upward to meet at the top in an unbroken arch. Tinted in a variety of colors, iridescent pearl paint washed the walls, each color melting and blending into the next like a watercolor made of subtle light.