Amy looked at the map and then back at the roads in front of them. “So, it should be right through those trees,” she said.
“I think so, and it makes sense,” Michael said. “There’s a lake back there with a few picnic tables. I haven’t been out here for a while, but I think by now, someone would have seen an abandoned car.”
“So, this is just a dead end?” she asked, her heart sinking.
Michael shrugged. “Maybe, but we won’t know until we check it out.”
When they pulled up to the lake, Amy sat staring at it for a long time, trying to imagine what could have happened to Molly there. Michael finally turned off the car. “Come on, let’s go walk around; you never know—we might find something,” he said.
She followed him down to the water and studied her reflection, trying not to enjoy the beauty around her. “It's so pretty here, I can’t imagine something terrible happening, and her car isn’t here. It just doesn’t make any sense.”
“Well, let’s think about this logically,” Michael said. “We know she was here, right?”
Amy nodded. “It was the last place that registered on her GPS,” she said.
“So, after she left here, her phone wasn’t working anymore—either the battery died or something happened to it,” Michael said.
“If it was just the battery, she would have started charging it when she got in the car,” she said, then looked down at the water. “She dropped it in the lake.”
Michael nodded. “That’s what I was thinking,” he said. “I bet she stopped here for a break and dropped her phone in the water.”
Amy’s heart sank. “But that doesn’t explain why she didn’t get ahold of me some other way. I mean, we shared email addresses, so even if she lost my number, she would have contacted me,” she said.
Michael put his arm around her and she felt his warmth soaking into her, along with a feeling of comfort. “Well, we’re just going to have to figure out where she went after she left here,” he said.
“We?” she asked.
“Yes, we,” he said. “You don’t think I’m going to let you go off on your own, do you? If something did happen to Molly, you could be putting yourself in danger.”
Chapter Eleven
***Michael***
Michael drove away from the lake feeling a mixture of guilt and relief. His plan had worked, but he’d been lying the entire time, and the better he got to know Amy, the harder that was getting. He still couldn’t see himself telling her the truth, especially when he looked at it from her perspective, so the lies would have to continue until Molly came home.
Amy had been very quiet on the ride back to town and he wondered what she was thinking, but then she asked, “Do you think something terrible happened to Molly?”
He looked over at her, the guilt he’d been fighting surfacing again, but he was able to answer honestly. “I’m sure she’s fine. You’ll see; she’ll turn up and it will all be a big misunderstanding.”
“I hope you’re right,” she said, sighing. “I keep imagining the worst things.”
“It’s going to be fine,” he said, reaching over and taking her hand. “I’m going to drop you off at your cabin so you can wait for Jimmy, then I’ll go down to the station and start doing a little investigating.”
“You’ll let me know right away if you find out anything, won’t you?” she asked. “Even if it’s bad, I want to know.”
Michael squeezed her hand. “It’s going to be okay, Amy,” he said.
She studied him for a minute, then said, “You know what? I believe you.”
After he dropped Amy off, he didn’t go to the station as he’d promised. Instead, he drove over to the newspaper, hoping to catch Vincent. He needed to think about something besides all the lies he’d told Amy, and the demons were a perfect distraction, which made him realize that he’d been thinking very little about that problem. Arthur had made some progress, but he was a methodical man, and it was clearly going to take him some time to figure out the full extent of their problem.
The demons had been quiet lately; only a few had been spotted, and they had behaved normally, which had given them a break from the intense patrols they’d been doing. But if their theory was correct, and Sebastian was trying to sabotage Adam, it wouldn’t be long before they were facing demons far stronger than they should be. What no one could figure out was how he was doing it, which meant that for now, there was no way to stop him.
When he sat down in front of Vincent, he announced. “I think we should call Adam and tell him to come home.”
Vincent, who had been typing away on his computer, stopped and rolled his chair back from his desk and stared at him for a minute. “What’s the matter, Michael?” he asked. “Are you having a hard time distracting our guest? Don’t tell me you’ve lost your touch with women.”
“Very funny,” he said. “I haven’t lost my touch with women; in fact, I have her right where I want her.”
“Then why do you look like that?” Vincent asked, crossing his arms over his chest.
“Have you forgotten about the demons?” he asked. “We could have a mess on our hands if they managed to make it into town.”
“I haven’t forgotten,” Vincent said, “but I don’t think that’s what’s bothering you. Arthur is making progress and we haven’t had any problems for days. No, I think there’s something else.”
Michael wanted to deny it, but sitting there, he knew that Vincent was right. “I just hate lying to Amy,” he finally said, not able to look at his friend, who was staring at him intently.
Vincent started laughing. “You’re falling for her,” he finally said when his laughter had died down.
“I am not,” Michael declared, but the words felt false to him. “I’m just trying to keep her from exposing us.”
“Oh, I see; that’s all you’re doing,” Vincent said. “Then let me ask you a question: have you kissed her?”
He wanted to deny it but couldn’t lie. “Just once,” he said, thinking of the quick peck he’d given her when he dropped her off. “Maybe twice, but the second one wasn’t really a kiss.”
“I see,” Vincent said again, making him want to get up and leave. “And what exactly makes it a kiss? Are we talking tongues?”
He did get up then. “I’m not going to listen to this anymore,” he said. “I’m not falling for Amy.”
Vincent shrugged. “Whatever you say but let me just say one thing more: you could do worse.”
Michael stomped out of the newspaper office, Vincent’s laughter following him all the way out to the street, his words echoing in his head. There was a strange feeling in the pit of his stomach, and he’d gone almost a block before he figured out that it was jealousy. Shocked to his core, he stopped in the middle of the sidewalk, his heart pounding, and stood staring at the ground, thinking about what it meant.
Jealousy was an emotion he rarely felt, but it was there, pounding away every time he thought of Vincent’s words. He couldn’t deny that he was attracted to Amy, but it was purely physical. At least he thought it was until now. Suddenly he wasn’t so sure and realized that had been so busy making himself believe that was all it was, something more had snuck up on him.
Getting her to open up to him this morning had shown him that she was an intelligent and caring woman, the kind of person who cared enough about her friend to come looking for her. Even more tantalizing was the fact that she lived in a world of knights and dragons, that she spent all of her time sharing the stories of his ancestors with a world that had almost forgotten about them.
Afraid of where his mind was traveling, and the implications of what he was thinking, he turned and headed back to his car. It was time to let someone else distract Amy; he’d done enough and was close to doing something stupid that might hurt them both. Bonding with a human wasn’t in his plans, and he had to stop what had begun between them before it went any further.
***Amy***
Amy was pacing restlessl
y back and forth across the tiny living room in her cabin, wondering if she’d just made a mistake. When she’d handed over the stack of papers and the maps to Michael, it had felt right, but now alone in her cabin, she was beginning to wonder if she’d made the right decision. All her evidence was gone; the screenshot on her computer all she was left with, and she still couldn’t leave if she wanted to.
Jimmy hadn’t shown up yet, and she was getting restless, but she had nowhere to go, nothing to investigate any longer. Deciding that she’d give changing the tire on her own a shot, she went to the door, but when she opened it, she saw the tow truck coming down the drive. She waited for Jimmy on the porch, some of her unease melting away, especially when she saw the smile on his face.
“Thanks for coming over here,” she said when he got out of the truck. “I should know how to change a tire, but I’m afraid I’m terrible with anything mechanical.”
“Oh, that’s okay. I don’t mind a bit,” Jimmy said, grinning at her. “I have something for you from Horace. He heard I was coming over here and asked me to deliver it.”
He handed her a slip of paper that was folded in half. “Oh, no, I feel terrible,” she said, opening it. “I owe him for a couple of books.”
But it wasn’t a demand for payment. Instead, the note informed her that she had an appointment with him to look at something she might be interested in. She read the note twice, then looked over at Jimmy. “He says he found something I might be interested in,” she said, folding the paper up again and stuffing it into her pocket.
“He does that sometimes,” Jimmy said. “If I were you, I’d go. he has a weird way of finding just the right thing for everyone.”
Half an hour later, she was climbing the steps in front of the bookstore, thinking that it looked much more inviting than it had the first time she was there. The front door was open, and Horace was waiting for her in the entryway. “I’m glad you could join me today,” he said when she walked in. “I have something you might find interesting.”
“Thank you for inviting me. I’m sorry I haven’t called,” she said. “I haven’t forgotten that I owe you for those two books.”
Horace waved his hand in the air. “We’ll talk about that later,” he said, then turned and headed down the hallway. “Come, I want to show you something.”
She followed him back to the little door she’d peeked into the last time she’d been there, watched him unlock it, anticipation making her heart pound. When he swung the door open and gestured for her to enter, she didn’t hesitate, her eyes feasting on the items that filled every available space. This time, she took her time scanning the shelves and tables, marveling at the collection of what looked like genuine artifacts, some more than a century old.
She looked back at Horace. “It’s a bit overwhelming,” she said, reaching out to carefully run her fingers over a wooden chalice studded with jewels. “Is it real?”
“You tell me,” he said, a grin on his face. “Go ahead, pick it up.”
Amy reached out and gently picked up the goblet and studied it, her heart beginning to pound in her chest, then set it back down. She turned around and looked at Horace. “That should be in a museum,” she said, looking around the room again. “If all this is real, it should all be in a museum.”
He nodded. “Perhaps, but what you see here is the heart of the town; all of this is what allows us to live here in peace,” he said. “For many years, it has been my job to care for all of this, and I promise you that I take my job very seriously.”
Amy was worried that she’d insulted him and quickly backpedaled. “I’m sorry, Horace, I didn’t mean to imply anything else, it’s just I’ve never seen a collection like this out of a museum, and, well...” her words trailed off when she saw a collection of carved dragons in one corner.
She took a few steps toward them, then looked back at him. “These are incredible. Some of them look old,” she said.
“Yes, some came over from the old country with the town’s founders,” he said, stepping up behind her.
She studied the dragons, itching to pick them up, but kept her hands clasped in front of her. “Go ahead,” Horace said, pushing her forward a couple more steps. “They won’t break.
Reaching out, she picked one of the newest dragons, ran her fingers over its wings, imagining what the feathers would feel like under her hands, then set it in her palm and held it up to the light. As she studied the dragon, she began to think that it looked familiar, that in its features, she saw someone she knew.
“There is one more thing I want you to see,” Horace said, interrupting her thoughts.
She put the dragon on the shelf and turned to face Horace, feeling slightly shaky. He gestured to a little desk shoved into one corner, waited until she was seated before taking a key out of his pocket and unlocking a little cabinet she hadn’t noticed. Inside was another cabinet, this one metal with blinking lights in the upper corner, and her heart began to pound with anticipation.
When Horace lifted the book out of its cradle and set it down on the desk in front of her, the smell of old leather, mold, and dust drifted up from its cover and filled her senses. “Is this what I think it is?” she asked.
Chapter Twelve
***Michael***
Michael was enjoying a relatively quiet afternoon, sitting in his office finishing all the paperwork that had piled up, when he saw his mother come through the station doors. Wishing he could run and hide, he waited for her to make her way to his office, dreading the conversation that was coming. He’d been ignoring her calls all afternoon and wasn’t surprised to see her but thought that he’d have a few more hours of peace.
“Well, it’s good to see that you’re alive,” she said as soon as she was through the door. “Is there something wrong with your phone?”
“No, Mother, there’s nothing wrong with my phone,” he said. “I’ve been busy.”
She sat down in the chair across from his desk. “Yes, I heard, walking around town with that woman, holding hands.”
He sighed. “Mother, I was just doing my job. In case you’ve forgotten, that woman could expose us to the rest of the world if she thinks we did something to Molly.”
“Then tell her that Molly is fine,” she said. “I don’t see what the big deal is.”
“What exactly do you want me to tell her?” he demanded. “Molly is fine; she met someone got married and took off to Europe. Do you really think she’s going to believe me?”
“I don’t care what she believes,” his mother said. “I want her gone. I want you to stop making a spectacle of yourself before Mary Beth changes her mind about you.”
“What does that mean? What have you cooked up, Mother?” he asked. “I told you I wasn’t interested in going out with Mary Beth.”
She waved her hand in the air and got up. “You’ll change your mind once you meet her; she’s perfect for you,” his mother said. “I expect you home for dinner tonight, and dress nice.”
Michael let her get all the way to the door, then said, “I can’t make it for dinner tonight. I already have plans.”
His mother stopped with her hand on the doorknob, turned, and looked at him, her face scrunched into a frown. “We’ve had this dinner planned since you got home.”
“No, Mother, you had dinner planned. I never agreed,” he said. “I love you, but you have to stop meddling in my love life.”
His mother drew in a breath, then said, “You never used to talk to me that way. It’s that woman—I just know it.”
Michael took a deep breath, willing himself to be patient. “Mom, this has nothing to do with Amy. I know you’re just trying to help, but I’d appreciate it if you’d let me handle my own love life.”
His mother’s face softened, but he knew that she wasn’t going to give up. “Okay, sweetheart, but Mary Beth is going to be very disappointed when I call and cancel.”
“I’m sure she’ll be fine, Mother,” he said. “Now, if you don’t mind, I’d like t
o finish this before I go home. Don’t you have to go make dinner for Arthur or something?”
His mother gave him another hurt look. “Arthur is a nice man and he makes me happy. I haven’t had a lot of happiness in my life; I think I deserve a little bit now,” she said.
It took him a second to answer. “Yes, you do, Mother. I’m sorry. I’ll call you tomorrow.”
After she was gone, he sat staring at the wall, thinking about the life his mother had lived and how difficult it must have been to be married to a guardian and know that you always came second. He knew that the love shared between his parents had been one based on mutual respect, that only years of depending on each other had forged the bond that had created him. And suddenly, he wasn’t sure that’s what he wanted, wasn’t sure he could live his entire life bonded to a woman he didn’t love.
It had always been so clear to him in the past: his role as a guardian, the kind of woman he would marry, the life he would lead. But now that future looked murky. When he thought about how happy his mother looked when Arthur was around, he realized that she’d never been that happy with his father. She’d hardly ever smiled or laughed when his father was around, and he understood then how empty her life must have felt at times.
His father had never seemed unhappy, but he also never failed to remind Michael that he would be asked to make sacrifices as a guardian, that his life wasn’t his own. Now he thought he understood what his father was telling him, and he wasn’t sure he was willing to sacrifice the rest of his life to a woman who didn’t make him happy.
Desperate to get away from his thoughts, he got to his feet, thinking that the clamor of the restaurant was just what he needed. But when he walked out of his office and saw the time, he decided to make a quick detour on his way to dinner, which made a smile spread across his face. He chose not to think too deeply about what the burst of happiness that filled him when he thought about Amy meant as he walked out of the station. Instead, he drove over to the bookstore and waited outside, looking forward to hearing about her afternoon.
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