by Dale Mayer
The tears wouldn’t stop. She snuggled against his warm chest and hung on.
Wafts of steam rose around them, hugging them, healing them, even if they weren’t aware of it. Genesis understood the effects of the healing water. However, she’d never been in the waters with another person.
“Why the tears?”
She swiped her eyes and went to sink back into the water. Instead of releasing her, he sank down with her, carrying her in his arms as they floated.
“Talk to me.”
She closed her eyes and rested.
She had no answer. But her eyes burned and her heart ached.
With grief.
“Please, sweetheart.” He shifted back slightly so he could look down into her face. “Why are you so sad?” He dropped his lips to her forehead. “Please, tell me.”
Instead, she could only look up at him as big fat tears continued to roll down her cheeks. He pulled her closer and just held her.
“I wish I could go back in time. Take back everything I did and said that hurt you.”
She shook her head. “It wouldn’t matter.”
He stopped for a second and then shook his head. “I don’t believe that. I won’t believe that.”
“It’s better this way,” she whispered.
“And that’s where you are wrong.” He brushed her cheek with his finger. “This…what we have here, is right. It’s what’s important. We are important.”
She smiled. He believed what he was saying, but he didn’t realize that nothing had changed. She did. She reached up and brushed her fingers through his wavy hair. With a sad smile, she stood and climbed out of the pool.
Too emotional, she pulled back inside, desperate to hold it together. To get through this as an adult. He was a good man. Just not her man. And that wasn’t his fault. She walked to the window and stared out as the morning sun drifted across the bushes. A still summer morning.
A beautiful summer morning.
She sensed more than felt him behind her.
“Please, give me a chance,” he whispered.
“I can’t.” She wiped her cheeks. “Nothing has changed.”
The words exploded from him. “Everything has changed. We’re here together, aren’t we? That’s change.”
She gave a broken laugh. “That was just sex. We never had a problem with that.”
“It was not just sex. Don’t go there. I love you. I always have.”
Her heart ached. She turned, hating to look but needing to see the truth or the lies on his face. She carefully studied his features, reading deep in his energy. Could she trust what she was seeing? She had before. And he’d let her down.
As if sensing the change in her, Connor grasped her arms in his hands. “I was wrong. I shouldn’t have walked away from you. If I’d known what I know now…I wouldn’t have. And that is something I will regret for the rest of my life.”
She shook her head. “It wasn’t about making it a choice.” She stopped. “It was about not needing for there to have been a choice in the first place.”
“We were young,” he murmured. “And what we had was hot.”
“Too hot, apparently.”
“I don’t think that’s possible.” She stared at him. “Besides, this isn’t the time.”
The water beside them gurgled, almost angrily, reacting to the tension in the room.
“I’m not following you.” He stared into the water that rippled uneasily.
She motioned to the pool.
“They couldn’t have behaved like that before. Whoever started that construction in the sacred pools knew that the forest power was low. Knew that they could go in and rape the land without fear of reprisal.” She took a deep breath. “The real question is, did that person who is damaging the pools do something to hurt the forest, and did they do it intentionally?”
He stared at her. “I have no idea who is building there.”
“There aren’t many companies big enough – or ballsy enough – to try something like that.”
“You’re thinking Grandfather?”
Her gaze slid towards him, then away. “I don’t know. I would hate to think he’d do that level of damage to a necessary energy source for the people. His community.”
“I can’t see it, either.”
But she heard the doubt in his voice. The pain of the possibility.
“It could be someone else. But they’d have to have deep pockets.”
He shrugged. “There are many who have that.”
She nodded and hardened her resolve. “Whoever it is, I have to go after them.”
He stared. “Why?”
“Because no one else will. This is my forest. My reserve. I’m one of the guardians along with my sisters.” She sat on the edge of the pool, swishing her hands in the water as she tried to organize her thoughts. “I can’t let it die. That will kill all of us.”
“How can such a responsibility be yours alone?” He slumped backward.
He needed to understand. He was a powerful investigator, well respected both personally and professionally. She needed him on her side. She also needed his help. But only if he was on her side. She took a deep breath. “It is definitely that bad. Especially for me. Things have started going very wrong. This is my place in the heart of the woods. I have to protect my heritage and that of my granny’s.”
He shrugged. “Okay, I can see that. But why not the Paranormal Council? They are the ones ultimately responsible.”
“Sure. Except your Grandfather has a lot of influence. As Granny hated the Council and refused to have anything to do with them. I’m not sure anyone on that Council will believe me. And…” This was where it got very dicey. “If Grandfather’s involved in the damage in some way…”
“He has influence, but not that much. Matt is doing a hell of a clean-up job there.”
She stared at him. “Really?” At his nod, she raised an eyebrow. “I hadn’t heard.”
“You isolated yourself for a long time. A lot has happened in a year. The Council elected Matt to take over. Not that he’d have allowed any alternative.”
“How could I have missed hearing about that?” Had she been so oblivious, and how much did it matter? Granny has trusted Matt, but he’d broken Celeste’s heart.
“Maybe you didn’t want to know.”
More than a little stunned, she wondered at the totality of such a mindset. Had she been so hurt that she’d kept everyone from her old life out of her mind just because of Connor? Apparently so. “Then you’d better catch me up.”
He shot her a questioning look, but at her nod, he gave a quick rundown on the forced takeover of the Council and the motions that were passed, limiting Grandfather’s influence. She’d heard Matt ran the Council now but hadn’t understood how he’d gained control. It couldn’t have been easy going against Grandfather. As she listened, she realized how much she’d refused to see.
She’d had other friends. Other people that might have believed in Granny. She’d turned her back on them, too. Without an explanation. They might have understood, but she hadn’t given them a second thought. Or a chance to help.
All this time, she’d been so busy hating Connor and his family that she’d not once looked at her own actions. Now that she had, she didn’t like it at all. She stood up and tugged on her robe.
Silently, she stared out the window. Damn. How had she gotten so far away from herself? Had her pain kept her so focused on staying away, staying hidden, staying separated? And now she’d been brought back. Expecting, thinking it would all be the same as when she’d left it.
But time had marched on.
She’d marched in her own direction and the rest of the world had gone in the other. She felt out of the loop. Part of her wanted to hear every little detail and catch up, yet another part wondered if that was the same for Connor. Did he feel like he wanted to know everything about her life? Had he felt so cut off that when they’d come together there was a thirst for so much more?<
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But the forest was her priority.
“I have to find out what’s wrong in the forest with the pools.” She turned to face him. “There could be more happening down below as well.”
He’d stepped up behind her. “Then I’m going with you.”
It was going to hurt, but she needed to remind him, “It’s dangerous for you without your senses.”
“I still have common sense, experience, and lots of other skills. I can protect you. I may not have any of my paranormal senses, but I am not useless.”
True. She studied his determined features and realized arguing would do neither of them any good. “Fine. I want to leave within the hour.”
He paused. “Now? Today?”
“Yes. We have no time to lose. Whoever attacked you last night reported it to his boss. We need to get in and go to the caves below. Find out if there are more problems we don’t know about. See what’s going on.”
“Let’s go.”
As if not sure whether to believe him or not, she said, “You realize it’s going to be someone you know?”
“And who you know.”
“Maybe, but I’m not as attached to the people here.”
“You are, you’ve just forgotten about them. Now that you’ve remembered, you realize the bonds are still there.”
“Maybe, but we don’t have time for a philosophical discourse on that right now.” She turned away, her mind already on what she needed to do.
He grinned. “As long as we pick it up later.”
She rolled her eyes. “Whatever. And I need to know that your head is fine. I’m not taking you down into the caves if you are having any kind of vision trouble, headache, or any other symptom. You know that down there your normal senses will be completely whacked.”
“Until yesterday, I’d never actually been down there, at least not that area.”
She stared. “Really?”
“Really.” He shook his head. “Most people don’t even know about it. They weren’t raised by a stargazer Granny.”
She laughed. “True. But Granny had a lot of respect for those caves. She firmly believed in the connection of Mother Earth and the rest of the universe. She wouldn’t go down into the caves unless she had to.”
“She had no trouble navigating?”
“None at all. She’d been going down there for over a century.”
He paused midway through the doorway. Stepping back into the pool room, he stared at her. “Did you say a century?”
She brushed past him, deliberately letting her breasts brush against his bare chest as she moved through the doorway.
“Yes. Surely you knew she was old?”
“Old is one thing; if she’d been going down in the caves for that long, she was ancient.” He grinned. “And she looked damn good for her age.”
That brought a laugh out of her. “You don’t know the half of it.”
*
Connor dressed quickly. Now they were getting somewhere. He’d been down a few levels of the caves years ago, but he’d had his abilities then. That had given him a certain level of immunity. Many had none and went anyway. There were always groups of daredevils, partiers and then the just plain stupid.
Every year there were several deaths. It was sad in a way. There were always warnings, news articles, and safety meetings. The locals knew the rules, but there were always new arrivals and those that would lure them to the caves, steal everything they had, and leave them there.
For the first time since he’d started working for Grandfather, his life felt incomplete. Wrong.
Somehow going down into the cave…felt right.
As long as he stayed with Genesis, he’d be safe. But more importantly, as long as he stayed with her, she’d be safe.
And he didn’t dare let her get hurt.
“If you take any longer getting ready, it will be tomorrow already.”
He spun around, only just realizing that he’d been standing there, staring out the window. “Do you have anything for breakfast?”
She grimaced. “There isn’t much. A few granola bars.”
“It’ll do.” He motioned back to the kitchen. “We’ll take them, and I’ll treat you to a full meal when we’re done.”
“Sounds good.” She walked into the kitchen and rustled in the cupboard, turning to hand him several bars. “Breakfast is served, my dear.”
“I’ll eat while we walk.”
With a quick nod, she filled several bottles with water and led the way out of the cottage. Outside, in the early light, he stopped and stared at the calm, cool paleness of the morning. “I’ve never seen anything like this.”
“No, and you won’t again.” She started forward.
He fell in behind her. “Unless I come back here.”
“Which you can only do if you are with me.”
“And why is that?”
She never broke stride. “Because this space, the cottage – it’s hidden. Only my family can find it.”
The brush started closing in behind her, and he hurried to catch up. If he wasn’t careful, he’d lose her and possibly become completely lost. They walked steadily in silence for twenty minutes. He surveyed the area. He’d swear he hadn’t seen this part of the woods before. He was as familiar as many others with this general location, but this area…this area was very different. The plants were lusher here. Greener. Thicker. If the rest of the forest was normal, then this area had been coddled, pampered. Protected.
A special place.
He felt like an interloper.
No, that felt too negative. Maybe a visitor. An honored guest.
Chapter 10
Genesis walked in silence, listening. To the forest. To the energy. To the animals. There’d been little change here. At least on the surface. But underneath, she sensed a rumbling, a shadow of something else.
No. Not even a shadow. More like the hint of a shadow. As if it could become a shadow if it developed enough. And she had to make sure that it didn’t get that chance.
If she could only figure out the problem.
As she approached the back entrance to the caves, she held her finger to her lips. He nodded and stepped up to her side.
Motioning to a cliff wall up ahead, she ran forward. When he didn’t follow fast enough, she gestured more insistently. With a warning look at him to stay close, she walked parallel to the wall, one hand sliding on the stone as she went. An outcropping of darker rock appeared in front of her. Good. She peered around the side, relieved to see the entrance was the same as the last time she’d seen it. After finding the construction at the pools, she wasn’t sure what – if anything – she’d find here.
This was one of Granny’s entrances. She’d hoped it would be pristine. That would make her trip easier.
With Connor on her heels, she crossed to the far side. With a quick check around, she started down the carved stone steps. Some of the entrances went down for miles before you reached the main caverns, twisting and twining as they went.
Granny’s entrance, on the other hand, was one of the straightest and most direct routes.
As well as one of the most dangerous.
“Remember, stay close to me.”
“I’m right here.” He stared down into the blackness. “I didn’t know there were entrances over there.”
“There are entrances all over this place.” She turned, walked a few steps inside, then stopped to look at him. “This is one of the steepest pathways. If you fall, it could be difficult.”
“I won’t fall,” he replied.
“Stay close anyway.” She turned and headed into the darkness. There wasn’t a sound for the first couple of dozen steps. Then she heard the first musical notes of running water. Like water gently splashing over a wall. Not like a waterfall, but a slow-moving river flowing over a smooth rock.
The walls of the cave gleamed as the moisture in the air thickened. The noise built the lower they went. After twenty minutes, the rumble of the water dro
wned out any other sound. She kept glancing at Connor to make sure he was still with her. The steps were choppy and uneven.
“Stay focused. I’m here. I’m fine.”
The slight sharpness in his tone made her realize she was hovering.
And he’d find it insulting. He was a protector, after all. Without a word, she decided to trust that he’d be fine and focused on getting to the bottom safely.
She stopped on the last step. Weird, incandescent green light hovered like a low-lying cloud, giving an odd glow to the cavern and tunnels ahead.
“Uh, what’s with the light? The weird color?”
“It’s a result of the mineral composition mixing with the normal light of the caves and the energy of the healing waters,” she answered absentmindedly.
“That color has no relationship to healing anything.”
She laughed. “This is the normal color.”
“If you say so,” he replied.
She stepped into the fog, unable to stop herself from glancing back to make sure he followed. The green fog wallowed around his legs. He kicked at it, sending clouds to one side then the other. But it always returned to hug his legs. He glanced up to find Genesis watching him, laughing at him. “Are you done?”
He grinned. “Sure.”
She rolled her eyes and turned away to study the narrow tunnels. So far, this area all looked normal. If she could determine how far the problem went, she might be able to find a solution to keeping it contained. Rot like she’d seen could completely take over a space like this in no time if left unchecked. Granny had been gone for a year and her sisters slightly less. The troubles had started around the same time.
Apparently Matt had taken over the Council around the same time. More changes that would affect the energy of the area. She asked Connor, “What modifications has Matt made in regards to this area?”
“I have no idea. He’d had doubts about how effective the support work has been to date as it is. I’d expect him to have increased the checks in order to pinpoint the state of every forest.”
“If he was doing every forest, then it would take a long time if he had the same team doing the assessment.”
“I’d think several teams.”