Smoke & Longing (Caprice Chronicles Book 2)

by Selena Page

  Kara smiled brightly, giving the ranger her most dazzling display of perfect white teeth. She thanked him and spun on her heel. She'd need to get a library card.

  FOUR

  Kara stepped into the Cambrian library. She marveled at the sweeping ceiling and bare beams that crossed the entire expanse. She smelled old oak and wood polish mixed with the tannin of books. She took a few steps farther in and did a slow spin, her mouth agape at the sheer opulence mixed with coarse ruggedness.

  The walls were lined with bookshelves that spanned from floor to cross-beams. Narrow ladders were spaced along the walls and ran on tiny rails. This wasn’t just a library; it was what she'd imagined when she thought of some medieval lord’s keep. It was a dream realized. She felt an immediate need for silence, like the room itself was commanding reverence in its presence.

  Kara completed her spin and found herself looking down the length of the library to a stone fireplace the size of a kitchen oven. It was dark and unlit. In front of it sat a man in a large leather chair. Kara first noticed the line of his chin, hard set, almost clenching, then his deep brown eyes fixed on a book held in one hand, a pencil in the other. He wore a simple black t-shirt that hugged his shoulders and arms. He reached for a notepad and made a note without looking away from the page. His arms flexed, and lean muscle rippled underneath his lightly tanned skin.

  Kara stepped a few feet closer, her breath caught slightly as he rolled his shoulders absentmindedly, exposing a broad and defined chest. Heat rose in her breast as she thought what it would be like to run her hands across that finely controlled power. She bit her lip, imagining the taste of his skin.

  In what seemed like slow motion, he turned his attention from the book and set his deep eyes on her. Kara stared for a second too long, saying nothing.

  "Hey," Andrew Caprice said, smiling slightly.

  "Oh!" Kara started, the moment broken. She knew her neck and cheeks were bright red. "I’m Kara, Kara Powers. I work for the Saratoga Star." She closed the distance between them, extending her hand.

  "Hi, I’m Andrew," he said, flashing a dazzlingly white smile that touched his eyes. That smile was the sun, and it seemed to shine just for her.

  Kara hesitated for a half-beat before shaking his hand and relishing his warmth.

  "So, what can I do for you?" Andrew said as he let her grip drop. Did he let her hand go slowly? Did he hold on for just a second too long?

  "Oh, I heard you're kind of a local expert on the history of the area," Kara said, clasping her notepad.

  "I know a bit," Andrew said. He gestured for her take the seat across from him. "What do you want to know?"

  "This might sound a little weird." Kara flipped open her notepad.

  "A little weird is pretty normal for the history here. The original people who populated this area were very superstitious."

  "Well this actually has to do with something that is going on today. Here. In the present," Kara said.

  Andrew quirked a smile. "OK, why don’t you tell me what you’re interested in then?"

  Warmth spread up her neck again, into her cheeks, and she wondered how deep her blush could go. That damn smile of his was wrecking her concentration.

  "What do you know about people going missing in the woods?" she asked.

  Andrew frowned slightly. He turned toward the fireplace and his gaze grew distant. "People go missing all the time. At least a dozen or so hikers in the last few years have been killed by the weather, getting lost, dehydration, climbing accidents, or just the odd bad luck."

  "So it’s a pretty common occurrence for people to go missing in the woods?"

  "Well, not so much the woods, more so the mountains. See, a lot of people come up here from the city. They think they'll go for a walk in the woods and get to sleep under the stars. They don’t know that bears are the dominant predators and scavengers of the area. They forget to check the weather because who cares what the weather is in the city. So they lose their food, lose their water, lose their way, and then die in the mountains like humans have been doing for thousands of years."

  "Is it really that dangerous?"

  "I take it you didn’t grow up here?" Andrew asked.

  "No. I moved up here from college and pretty much stayed in town."

  Andrew leaned forward and slapped his hands on knees. "Called it. See if you grow up here you know that you don’t go into the mountains without a day’s worth of water and some rain slicks. You just don’t. You also know you need the right kind of trash can or you’ll get your garbage spread across the street on pick-up day."

  "Yeah, I learned the trash lesson the hard way."

  "Everybody does. I forget all the time. But I do know the woods aren’t to be messed with."

  "What do you mean by that?" Kara leaned forward. Her knee brushed Andrew’s, and a little jolt radiated up her leg.

  "Well…there’s other things. If you’ve heard the stories, you know the gist."

  "Humor me," Kara said, flashing a smile.

  "The Darby Boy about five years ago." Andrew raised his eyebrows.

  Kara tilted her head, signaling no recognition.

  "OK, Daniel Darby went walking in the woods. Pretty experienced hiker and backpacker in the area. He was one of those guys that hit every major peak and then all the ones that didn’t have a trail. The guy was twenty-one and made his Eagle Scout by cutting his own trail up Moore's Head Mountain. He took the hardest route, too, up the east face. Anyway, he goes off into the woods with a day's worth of water and food to mess around in the mountains. He disappears. Nobody sees him for a week. Then he comes walking down the road into town one early morning. He’s covered in brambles, scrapes, and dirty with mud up to his knees and elbows."

  "What happened to him?" Kara asked.

  "He wouldn’t say. He didn’t say anything for three days. Finally, he’s in the hospital staring at a wall. A nurse walks in to check on him, and he says, ‘Black smoke.' She asks him what he means, but he just lies down, rolls over, and falls asleep. After that he starts to talk again." Andrew took a sip from his glass. "He was never the same, though. People said he seemed haunted, like he'd been hollowed out."

  "Is he still in town?" Kara asked, perking up.

  "He got checked into Grimalkin Sanitarium, why?"

  "I want to talk to him."

  Andrew pursed his lips. "OK. What sort of story is this?"

  "A friend of mine had someone go missing in the woods. He said his friend came back really different. Really depressed."

  Andrew tilted his head at this. "Come again?"

  "Someone else went missing earlier this year and came out the same way. Very different and totally shaken. I want to see if there's some kind of pattern or similarity to the other cases," she said. God, he was so handsome, and he smelled good, too. This close she could pick up a hint of his cologne, a woodsy scent, and the man underneath, who seemed to be waiting for something, like a hungry tiger.

  "Wow," he said. "How recent was this?"

  Andrew’s question broke Kara out of her reverie. "About a month ago."

  "Why didn’t I hear about it in the news?"

  "The guy who went missing is an experienced hiker and kind of a loner. He doesn't have any family to worry about him. He never got reported missing."

  Andrew tapped the arm of the chair a few times. "Why don’t I come with you?"

  Kara’s face flushed. The thought of spending the afternoon with him sent a warm tingle through her. Of course she wanted him to come with her. She couldn’t explain it, but there was something between them.

  "Sure!" she said, maybe a bit too eagerly. Andrew either didn't notice or didn't care.

  "Great," he said, standing up and grabbing his jacket off of another chair. "Mind if I drive?"

  They left the Cambrian and made their way to the parking lot. Kara admired Andrew’s car as she took the passenger seat. The rich leather still held that new car smell. She ran her hand along the dash following the cu
rve of the board. It was a magnificent car. The engine purred as they made their way to the Grimalkin Sanitarium.

  "I know. It’s a little ostentatious isn’t it?" A bit of embarrassment crept into Andrew's voice.

  "It's a beautiful car," Kara said appreciatively.

  "Thanks. My one main indulgence."

  "Cars?"

  "Yeah. I spend a lot of time doing other things, but I love cars. Something about the sound of the engine."

  Kara felt the rumble run up her feet and into her thighs. It made the car feel alive and pulsing. She looked down, embarrassed by her own thoughts and caught the curve of Andrew’s thigh from the corner of her eye. She wondered what it would feel like to slide her hand up his leg and...

  Kara shuddered and pushed the image away. What was messing with her? It had been, what, two hours and this man had her thinking things her grandmother would blush at.

  "What else do you do?" Kara asked, forcing her urges down.

  "Research. I research the area."

  "What kind of research?"

  "Local history and geography. The history here is incredible."

  "Really?"

  "Oh yeah. The French and Indian War. The Civil War. It's all really felt in Saratoga Springs."

  "What made you get into it?"

  "Well, one of my ancestors, Nathaniel Caprice, was a veteran of the French and Indian War. He focused on the day-to-day lives of the people here. I guess, I just picked up where he left off."

  "Why was he so interested?"

  "I don’t know. Maybe he thought that lives so simple might be completely upended in a blink."

  "What do you mean?"

  "Well…look at us. We have cars, TV, cable, internet, if any one of those things break, our whole lives are disrupted. We have to stop and get it all working again."

  "OK," Kara said. "What if we just traded one fight for another?"

  Andrew raised an eyebrow.

  Kara cleared her throat. "I mean we've taken our lives out of the Dark Age and made them more complicated. What if we are trading the problems of today’s technology for the fight for survival we had a few centuries ago?"

  "Huh," Andrew said, focusing on the road. He rubbed a hand across his chin. "I never thought of it that way."

  He slowed the car and turned down a drive that led to a large building. It reminded Kara of a prison as she gazed up at rows of narrow windows covered by imposing black bars. In the middle was a parking structure, and wings split from either side to disappear around the back.

  "So here it is," Kara said.

  "Yeah this is Grimalkin Sanitarium," Andrew said, studying the building. "It was built in 1850 during the Tuberculosis epidemics and repurposed a century later to house the mentally ill. It's one of the few facilities left like this."

  Andrew pulled into the garage and parked the car. They exited and followed a light gray concrete path that led to the main entrance.

  The walls seemed to press against Kara as they entered the main door and signed in to have their bags checked. Her shoulders tightened as the guard rifled through her bag, and Andrew seemed to eye her knowingly. He must understand the aggravation that being examined can cause, she thought. Even though her frustration was evident, Kara maintained a polite smile and spoke cordially to the guard about the weather.

  Andrew smiled at her as the search finished. She slipped on her shoes and glanced up at him.

  "Kind of extreme, huh?" she said.

  Andrew chuckled, nodding in agreement. "Lot to go through to visit one person."

  An attendant led them down a hall lit by sterile, flickering lights. They made their way to a common room where the attendant explained the procedure of interacting with patients and how to behave with Daniel. Then, she guided them between game tables and patients. Some of the patients stared silently, some spoke to themselves, and some fiddled with common items.

  Daniel Darby was a man in his forties, graying hair at the temples, a blunt and smashed nose, and deep set eyes that seemed even deeper with the dark rings around them. His breathing was labored, and an air of exhaustion loomed around him. He made Kara sleepy, and she felt her own eyes sag, her mind wandering to her comfortable bed at home.

  "Hi Daniel, it's Andrew." Andrew stepped closer to him.

  Daniel turned his head from the window, his gaze settling slowly on them. His blue eyes surveyed Kara a moment, and she felt the weight of his gaze like a wave of tiredness, pushing her down. It seemed difficult for Daniel to keep focused.

  "Hi Andrew," Daniel said.

  "This is my friend Kara."

  Daniel’s gaze swiveled to her. She couldn’t help but feel sorry for him. This man clearly suffered from depression, among other things. Kara wondered how deep his depression must be that he could barely look at the world around him.

  "Hi," Kara said, mustering her warmest smile.

  "Hello," Daniel said dully.

  "Daniel, we wanted to talk to you about the last time you went to the woods, is that OK?" Andrew asked.

  Daniel slowly turned his head back to Andrew and nodded.

  "What’s the last thing you remember?" Andrew asked.

  Daniel chewed his lip for a moment. "I remember I went to sleep."

  "Why? Why do you remember that?"

  "It was by the old mine," Daniel said.

  Andrew quirked an eyebrow, clearly confused. "What old mine?"

  "The…the…the Kelforge mine," Daniel said, his breathing growing more labored.

  "That mine was sealed up and collapsed, Daniel."

  Daniel shook his head. "That’s what they said. They wanted to make it nice for the town… for your grandparents. But they didn’t do it right. That was the rumor. I wanted to go see."

  Andrew chewed his lip in thought. "What happened after that?"

  "I remember the woods. I could feel the twigs and leaves on my feet…." Daniel rubbed his knees anxiously.

  Kara suddenly remembered herself and started scribbling on her notepad. "What happened next?"

  "It was really dark, and I couldn’t see my hand in front of me." Daniel continued.

  "Did you smell anything?" Kara asked.

  "Yeah. Water…like a pond. My shoes were wet…."

  "What else?"

  "I could feel something, something on me. On my face, I tried to pull it off but I couldn’t touch it. It was taking something from me….I just couldn’t grab it." Daniel looked up at her, confused at the memory. His breathing grew harsh and furious, and he rubbed at his chest.

  "It’s OK, Daniel. Everything is fine. Nothing is going to bother you here," the attendant said, moving forward to rub his shoulders.

  Andrew and Kara took a step back, letting the nurse work.

  "What do you think?" Kara whispered to him.

  "I don't know what to think." Andrew shrugged, but she sensed something hiding under those broad shoulders. He knew more than he was letting on.

  "Daniel acts a lot like Joey did when I interviewed him, only worse," she said, her investigative journalist instincts twitching.

  He glanced at her, then back to Daniel, who seemed to be growing more agitated by the nurse's attentions.

  "There's weird shit going on here," Kara finally said, keeping her voice low.

  Andrew opened his mouth to respond, but the nurse interrupted him.

  "I think it's best if you two leave. Now," she said moments before Daniel started screaming.

  FIVE

  Kara blinked against the sun and rubbed her eyes. "How does anyone get better in there?"

  "I don’t know, but I can’t imagine anyone does," Andrew said.

  "So what about Kelforge Mine?" Kara asked.

  Andrew shrugged. "Big mine, owned by Dunbar Coal. At one point, most of the town was employed by them. The mine ran dry and they sealed it up."

  "That’s it?" Kara said incredulously.

  "What?" Andrew said, sounding slightly injured.

  "I thought you were the big Saratoga Sprin
gs expert," Kara said, bumping him with her hip. It sent a thrill through him.

  "I said I study the town…." Andrew's face reddened with embarrassment. "I don’t remember telling you I was an expert."

  Kara tilted her head back and laughed. "I’m just giving you a hard time. That’s what other people say about you. That you’re an expert."

  Andrew shrugged again, feeling the warmth of pride move through him. He didn’t care if anyone else thought that way about him, but he really liked the way it sounded coming from her. He didn't just want to please her, he wanted to make her proud of him.

  They drove back to Kara's car in the library parking lot and parted awkwardly, not knowing if they should shake hands, hug, or something more. Andrew promised to get back to her with anything he found on Kelforge Mine.

  He kept thinking about her all the way home. He wondered what she liked, what she thought of everything that was happening. He had enjoyed the ride over to Grimalkin with her. He kept seeing the curve of her neck and remembered the rise and fall of her breasts underneath her blouse. Thinking of her sent a hot pulse all the way through the center of him. There was definitely something between them. That he was sure of, and he thought she felt it, too.

  He had arrived home and went straight to his work room. It was where Andrew did the bulk of his magical study and careful craft of Artificeary, which was the only part of his family’s magic he was sure of. Artificery was the practice of binding runes and objects together. It was how he had built his magelight and few other baubles.

  Pushing his thoughts of Kara aside, Andrew carefully etched the sigil for pull at the tip of a compass. There weren’t many magical beings in the mountains of Saratoga Springs. The enchanted compass would find whatever was taking people from the woods.

  Andrew deftly scraped the rune along the needle of the compass; his vision was magnified by large glass. Andrew was grateful for his calm, careful hands. The magic that was broken inside of him would not let him truly work his will on the world, but at least he could manage to work inside of the loopholes.

  Magic took will and will needed to be focused through the gift. The gift in Andrew’s family had been broken for more than a thousand years. He could feel the tattered edges in him scraping against each other. It left him with sensing something just out of reach. Something that was half forgotten.