“When are we going to tell him we know who he is?” Jake asked, a frown on his face.
“Not yet; he’s not ready,” she said mysteriously.
Jake sighed. “I hate it when you do this,” he said.
Marley leaned over and kissed him on the cheek. “I know, sweetheart, but the spirits only reveal so much to me at once,” she said. “Now isn’t it time to make your big announcement?”
“You are enjoying being a matchmaker far too much; don’t start thinking about making it a habit,” he said, leaning over and kissing her on the mouth. “Don’t forget you had a lot of help with this.”
Marley waved him away. “I’m just having a little fun, and being creative,” she said. “Go give our lovebirds the good news.”
***Sarah***
When the kiss ended, Sarah’s knees were a little wobbly, but she didn’t mind leaning on Trevor for just a second until the feeling passed. She looked up at him, not sure what to say or what she was doing. Recklessness had never been her way; she’d always been the cautious one in any group. Tonight, she’d lost control, and wasn’t sure she wanted to find it again, not if it meant Trevor kissing her the way he just had.
The sound of the microphone crackling broke the spell between them, and then Jake’s voice could be heard echoing through the valley. “I want to welcome everyone to the second annual start-of-camp barbeque,” he said, then waited until he had everyone’s attention. “First, Nick and Maggie wanted to pass along how sorry they are to have missed tonight, but they should be back in Serendipity in the next few days.”
Sarah wasn’t sure who he was talking about, so she looked over at Trevor, who shrugged his shoulders, then whispered, “I think they’re the ones who had the idea to reopen the camp. Nick is best friends with Jake and Drew; they all grew up here.”
She nodded, remembering Marley saying something about them on the trip up to Serendipity, and looked back at Jake. “Serendipity is truly a magical place, and without all your help, it wouldn’t be here today, so to those of you who have donated your time and money, we all want to thank you.”
There was a cheer from the crowd. Then they quieted down again. “This year, we have a special announcement, one I think should be a lot of fun for both the campers and the staff,” he said.
He paused and waited while Marley, Drew, and Jordan carried eight easels onto the stage and set them up. “This year, we wanted to try something new, something that we hope will get the campers excited to explore the world around them and earn a cool prize in the process.”
Behind him, Marley was putting poster boards on the easels, and Jake’s words faded as Sarah’s shock grew as each one was placed behind him. They were only rough sketches done in colored pencil, but each one was almost an exact copy of the paintings back in the studio. Feeling her chest begin to tighten with panic, she took deep breaths until the feeling passed and tried to focus on Jake.
“Of course, these are just rough sketches, but with a little professional help, we can use them to make tee-shirts, hats, or just about anything the campers want,” he said. “This year we’ll only be giving them out for riding, but over the summer, I’d like to come up with more.”
There were murmurs of approval from the crowd, and she could see that Jake was pleased. “There’s just one more little thing. Since this is a new program, we want to try it out before the campers do, so over the next few days, the staff will be completing these challenges,” he said. “We’re going to pair you off, and together, you’ll find these places, ride there, pick up a token, and bring it back to the lodge.”
Her stomach dropped, and she felt the blood drain from her face as Jake’s words soaked in. After months of looking at the paintings and wondering about them, she’d finally made a connection, but one that didn’t make sense and filled her with a sense of dread she couldn’t explain. Taking short breaths, her head slightly fuzzy, she felt the unseen hands pulling and pushing at her, taking control of her life again.
Desperate for some space from the crowd around her, she looked for a way out, but people were packed in so close, it would have made a scene. So, she closed her eyes and breathed deeply; when she opened them, Trevor was looking down at her with concern in his eyes.
“Are you okay?” he asked. “You look a little pale.”
She nodded her head. “I think it’s the crowd.”
It was a harmless white lie; she couldn’t tell him that she was having a mild panic attack because she’d painted the same pictures months before she knew Serendipity even existed. She couldn’t tell him that she was here searching for her dead friend’s spirit, and that the man who might have killed her was on stage.
Suddenly, she wished that she’d never come to Serendipity, even if it meant that she’d never be able to paint again. But those unseen hands weren’t done messing with her that night, because the next thing she knew, Jake was announcing that she and Trevor would be partners for the riding challenge. It was more than she could handle, and everything began to get fuzzy, so she reached out and put her hand on Trevor’s arm.
“I don’t feel very well; I need to get out of here,” she said.
Trevor took one look at her, scooped her up in his arms, and started fighting his way through the crowd. When he finally found his way out, he headed straight for the food tables and the women who were still there cleaning up. They took one look at Sarah, limp in his arms, and gestured to a chair, where he set her down gently.
Stephanie looked at him and demanded, “What did you do to her?”
One of the women handed her a glass of water, and she gratefully took a sip, humiliated but feeling better. “He didn’t do anything to me. I think it was just the crowd and the heat,” she said.
“You need to drink more water,” Stephanie said, putting her hands on her hips.
Sarah finished off the glass then smiled at her sheepishly. “I think I’ll be okay now, if I don’t die from embarrassment first.”
Chapter Thirteen
***Trevor***
Trevor was relieved when he saw the color coming back into Sarah’s face, but his body was throbbing with a protective instinct he’d never felt before, and an insane need to strike out at someone was flowing through him. He’d never felt anything like it before, not even about Gabe, and for a second, he was tempted just to walk away, pretend he wasn’t feeling it. But then he looked into Sarah’s eyes and saw that she really wasn’t okay, that she was just putting on a show.
“Let’s get you someplace a little more comfortable,” he said. “Can you walk?”
Sarah got shakily to her feet. “I’m okay,” she said, giving everyone a smile. “But I think I’m ready to go home.”
Just then, Jake and Marley came hurrying up to them. “Sarah, are you okay? It looked like you fainted,” Marley said.
“I’m fine, I think I just got too hot and...” she trailed off.
“Oh, good, I was afraid it was the riding that scared you or something,” Marley said. “You don’t have to do the challenge if you don’t want to. I’m sure we could find another partner for Trevor.”
He hadn’t even considered that was a possibility, and he looked anxiously over at Sarah, who was silent, and his heart sank. When she didn’t say anything for a long time, the silence grew awkward, but then she said, “No, I want to do it.”
“Well, then we’ll see you two bright and early day after tomorrow,” Jake said. “Get some rest, because you’re going to need it.”
When they were gone, Trevor looked at Sarah and realized that she didn’t look as confident as she’d sounded. “Maybe I should walk you home now,” he suggested.
She looked over at him, and for a second, the panic was back in her eyes. Grabbing her hand, he gently pulled her away from the bonfire and into the darkness of the night. “Tell me what’s going on, Sarah,” he said, tipping her chin up and looking into her eyes. “I’m not going to stop asking until you talk to me. What happened back there?”
&nbs
p; A shiver ran through her, so he pulled her into his arms, surprised to feel her trembling and his protective instincts kicked in. “I can’t help you if you don’t talk to me,” he said into her hair.
She sighed, then pulled back and looked up at him. “I guess I have to trust someone eventually, and it feels like you are part of this anyway, so I suppose you should know,” she said.
“Wait, you lost me somewhere,” he said, looking down at her.
Pulling out of his arms, she said, “There’s something I need to show you in the studio.”
“Just let me tell Gabe where we’re going,” he said. “Will you be okay alone for a few minutes?”
Sarah nodded. “I’ll be okay; go take care of your son,” she said, giving him a weak smile.
He pecked her on the cheek and went in search of Gabe, who wasn’t that hard to find once he started looked for packs of teenaged girls. After he’d delivered his message to Gabe and had been shooed off by his son, he went back and found Sarah right where he’d left her, her arms wrapped around her body, looking very fragile.
He put his arm around her and asked, “Are you sure this can’t wait until morning?”
She shook her head. “I might lose my nerve, and besides, I need to see them again myself.”
When they got to the studio, she went to a back closet and opened it, revealing the eight paintings he’d seen the day they met. “You want to show me these?” he asked, a little surprised.
The only answer he got was her handing him a painting and taking one herself. When they had them all on the easels, she took a sharp blade and sliced through the brown wrapping on each painting, then set the knife down. She gestured to him, so he walked up to the first one and pulled off the paper, revealing a beautifully detailed painting of Serendipity.
He turned and looked back at her, but she shook her head and pointed to the next painting. The next one was a painting of an old mine with sunlight spilling into the open mine shaft and glistening crystals spread on the ground in front. It looked oddly familiar, but he wasn’t sure where he’d seen it before, so he moved to the next painting and tore off the paper.
This time the scene that greeted him was of an old mill, overgrown with moss and ivy, he knew where he’d seen it before. He moved down the line then, gently removing the protective layers of paper to reveal scenes he’d seen earlier that night, and in the old newspapers he’d been slowly sorting through. When he was finished, he walked back down the line to the first one then turned and looked at Sarah, who was trembling, staring at the paintings.
There were so many questions he wanted to ask, but he settled on, “When did you paint these?”
“Last winter,” she said, beginning to shiver. “I’d go to sleep at night and in the morning, more was done until there were all eight of them. I don’t remember painting them, and I haven’t been able to paint anything since...”
Trevor was across the room and pulling her into his arms before she could finish the sentence. As soon as his arms were around her, she fell into huge wracking sobs that spoke of the months she’d been haunted by the paintings. He rubbed her back and whispered comforting words until the sobs eased and her breathing became more normal.
When she looked up at him, her face pink from crying and embarrassment, he stroked her cheek with his thumb and said, “We’ll figure this out together.”
***Sarah***
Sarah felt cleaned by her tears, and Trevor’s promise to help her, and for the first time in a long time, she didn’t feel alone. “I’m not even sure what it is we’re supposed to figure out; maybe there isn’t anything to figure out, just that I painted them,” she stammered, embarrassed.
Trevor led her over to a couch and sat her down, then joined her. “Let’s start at the beginning,” he said, putting his arm around her and making himself comfortable.
Sarah thought about that. “I’m not sure where the beginning is,” she said. “But I painted those before I even heard about Serendipity. I’d never seen any of those places, but I felt like I’d been there, like they’re special to me,” she said.
“So how did you find it then, if you’d never been here?” he asked, the one question she didn’t want to answer.
“That’s an entirely different story,” she said, looking down into her lap.
Trevor tipped her chin up and looked into her eyes. “I think you’re going to have to tell me everything,” he said.
Sarah took a deep breath, trying to decide if she could trust him, then realized that what she’d come here to do wasn’t that bad. “I came here to look for the spirit of an old friend. I was told that this was the last place she was seen,” she said, forcing the words out.
“You think someone here killed her?” he asked, disbelief in his voice. “This doesn’t seem like that kind of place.”
She nodded her head. “I’m beginning to see that, but Rachelle seemed so certain that Jake killed her. I mean...”
Trevor stared at her in shock. “Jake? You think Jake killed this woman?”
“That’s what she said; he was her ex-husband, and he supposedly beat her, then stole their daughter and moved up here,” Sarah said. “Melissa followed them and was never seen again, and Rachelle thinks Jake killed her here.”
“That doesn’t sound much like the Jake I know. I mean, I know people can be really good at hiding their true natures, but it just doesn’t fit. Can you trust this Rachelle? A lot of people want to get in here, and a lot can’t,” Trevor said.
Sarah sighed. “Honestly, I don’t know. The three of us used to be best friends; we grew up together, shared everything, but when we went away to college, Melissa and Rachelle got involved with a bad coven, and black magic,” she said, trying to gather the strength to tell him the rest.
“What happened?” Trevor asked when she’d been silent too long.
“They tricked me into helping them call a demon from the underworld, and the spell backfired on me because I didn’t know what we were doing. Ever since then, all I can see are the evil spirits that walk the Earth,” she said, unable to meet his eyes. But then she looked up at him. “Except when I’m here.”
“At Serendipity?” he said, looking back over at the paintings.
“I didn’t think about it until now, but I haven’t seen any spirits since I’ve been here, good or evil,” she said. “It’s like my magic is gone.”
The thought scared her a little; as much as she’d hated seeing spirits, it had been a part of who she was. “Wait, you transported yourself or whatever that night,” Trevor pointed out.
“No, I don’t think that was me. I think that was...” she trailed off, then put her face into her hands. “I don’t know; it’s all just so confusing, and I don’t know what to think.”
“I think it’s time we got you home and you got some sleep. It’s been a long day,” Trevor said, pulling her hands away from her face. “I’d kiss you right now, but I think that might be taking advantage.”
Sarah smiled up at him. “I wouldn’t mind it if you kissed me,” she said, her face flaming.
His mouth was almost on hers when they heard the studio door open, the sound of footsteps, and then a gasp. “Wow, these are way better than the ones they had at the barbeque,” Gabe said, poking his head around one of the paintings. “Oh, gross. Are you two kissing?”
Sarah scrambled to her feet. “Oh, Gabe, you’re here,” she said, feeling like she’d just been caught making out by her father.
“The barbeque is over, so I came looking for my dad,” he said. Then he went back and looked at the paintings again. “Why didn’t they use these tonight? They’re way better than the others.”
She looked back at Trevor, who was just getting to his feet. “They didn’t use them because they’re a secret. You and I are the only ones who’ve seen them,” he said.
Gabe’s eyes got big, and he looked over at Sarah. “A secret? Why?”
“They’re kind of special. I painted them before I came here, and
, well, I haven’t even been to those places,” Sarah tried to explain. “I’m sorry, Gabe, it’s kind of complicated, but do you think you could keep my secret until I’m ready to show them to everyone?”
He was silent for a long time, then he looked at her, and then at the paintings. “You painted these without going there? How did you do that?” he asked.
Sarah nodded. “Honestly, I don’t know. That’s why I’ve been keeping them a secret. Hopefully, your dad and I can figure out what it means, but until then, I’d really like to keep this between us,” she said, trying to be as honest with Gabe as she could.
Gabe looked up at his dad, then over at Sarah. “It will be our secret,” he promised. “But do you think you could teach me to paint like this?”
Sarah couldn’t help but laugh, and Trevor quickly joined in. “I think that could be arranged, but I think we’ll start with watercolors,” she said.
“Now, I think it’s time we all went home and got some sleep. Sarah and I have a ride to plan, and you have riding lesson first thing in the morning,” Trevor said, herding Gabe toward the door. “You go on to the cabin. I’m just going to help Sarah put these away, then I’ll walk her home.”
When he came back, she was already carrying one of the paintings over to the closet, but he took it out of her hands and set it on the floor. “Where were we?” he asked, pulling her into his arms.
She looked up at him and smiled. “I think right about here,” she said, then stood on her tiptoes and kissed him.
Chapter Fourteen
***Trevor***
The morning sun woke him just before his phone rang, and Trevor wanted to throw it against the wall. There could be only one person calling him that early in the morning, and Richard was the last person he wanted to talk to. But he’d missed his nightly call, so he didn’t have much choice but to answer it.
Mountain Wolf's Courage (Daddy Wolves 0f The Wild Series Book 4) Page 8