I looked down at the dark boy and nodded. I could sense he was momentarily afraid I’d object or censure them for their sleeping arrangement. Perhaps it was my stoic expression that put him at ease in that moment, but as I stared at him his tension eased and he smiled.
“Seems like a good plan,” I affirmed. “There are some extra blankets for you guys and your dad. Tell him I’ll be upstairs if he needs anything, okay?”
“Okay.”
“’Night,” came a ringing voice echoing from the closet. Swallowing the kindling of fondness I felt for the two youngsters, I turned on my heel and left them to sleep.
At about five a.m. I awoke with a jolt. No fog, no drowsiness. Fully awake. Realization had come to me and with it the understanding that we might not have much time. I had to speak with Beck and so even though I was only wearing some cotton pajama shorts and a camisole, I hurried down the stairs to the other bedroom.
I tried to be as quiet as possible when I opened the door, but when I peeked inside I saw Beck sit up quickly. I cut my eyes to the floor and saw Justin sleeping soundly, his little sister’s hand clutched in his own. I motioned with my head for Beck to come with me, and then I headed down the hallway without looking to see if he would follow.
“What’s wrong?” he asked in a whisper, but I refused to say anything until we were in the kitchen. I ignored his evident anxiety as I started a pot of coffee. Finally, I crossed my arms, then leaned against the counter to face him. I didn’t miss his glance down at my chest and I realized how low cut my top was. The action of folding my arms had lifted my breasts for his view.
“Stop it,” I muttered coldly, “We need to talk.”
“So talk.”
“Did you sell your home?”
Beck’s brows furrowed together, “Of course not. It was Cheri’s family home. It’s for the kids one day.”
I smiled. I was on the right track. I must have been completely exhausted to have missed it last night, “It’s not just her family’s home. It is her family. And it's Jilly’s too. She has to get back there.”
“I’m not following you, Lynlee. What are you trying to tell me? Jilly’s afraid of that place. I can’t put her through that again.”
“No, Jilly’s not afraid of the place. She’s a nymph, Beck. She’s connected to nature. No, that’s wrong, Not nature in general. She has a very specific home and it feeds her life-force. She’s sick because she’s been removed from it for an extended period of time and if you don’t get her back there then she’ll never recover.”
“But the terrors…”
I shook my head, trying to be patient. Patience was one of my strong-suits, but with Beck it was always difficult and almost impossible under certain circumstances. “You said the terrors began when her mother died. Her mother was connected to that place too and when she died something else moved in there and that’s what has Jilly scared. She was too young, too little to defend her home but she has to get back there, Beck. Believe me, we have to get her there and we need to do it quickly. How long will it take us to drive there?”
Beck rubbed his hands over his face and eyes then ran his fingers through his hair, “I don’t know. We can get there by late tonight if we keep our stops to a minimum. You want to go now?”
I did. Today was the day after Halloween, All Saints Day. But tomorrow, tomorrow would be All Souls Day. The souls of the dead tended to revisit the earth on All Soul’s Day when the veil between the afterlife and the now weakened temporarily. MAUCs were generally afraid of ghosts. A MAUC had little ability to harm the spirits and that made them feel vulnerable. Whatever inhabited Jilly’s home would assuredly not expect to find resistance to his claim on All Soul’s Day.
“Yes, today. We need to get there by midnight. Trust me.” I’d kept my tone solid and without excess inflection. I turned to grab the coffee carafe and was shocked when I felt Beck’s hands at my waist. His fingers splayed out against my stomach, tightening just a bit. I sighed through my teeth, “Beck, what are you doing?”
He didn’t speak but I felt his breath rustling my hair against my ear, tickling me and sending goose bumps along my arms. For a moment I felt angry that he would dare to put his hands on me, to make me want him. He was the only man who could ever have this effect on me, the only one who could chip away at my personal walls to find the emotion below the surface. I at once loved and hated my reaction to him, “Beck, I can’t think when you touch me.”
“I love that about us. I love that I can get through to you, to the Lynlee inside. I love to touch her and to make her hum to life… just for me…”
He had me humming all right. I moaned as one of his hands traveled upwards, while the other went in the opposite direction. His left hand skimmed my breast through the thin cotton of my cami. The right arm clasped me around my waist. I gripped the edge of the countertop and leaned forward until my forehead touched the cabinet door in front of me. My sleepwear was so thin there might as well not have been anything between his skin and mine.
“Beck, please,” I whispered, pleading.
He must have misunderstood the intention of my plea because he pulled me back against him and began to massage me with both hands simultaneously, “I need you, Lynlee. No matter what else has happened, I’ve never stopped wanting you.”
“Please,” it sounded like a whimper to me, but I was too desperate to break his hold on me to care about the sound of my own weakness. “Please don’t do this to me again, Beck. Don’t you understand what you did when you left?”
I might have splashed cold water on him. His movements froze and his body tensed. Before I could speak again, he pulled away and moved towards the opposite side of the room. I didn’t trust myself to step away from the kitchen counter. I needed its support while I found my bearings.
“I’ll, um, let the kids sleep a bit longer. We’ll plan to leave by 7:00, if that’s okay with you.”
I nodded, instead of speaking, and waved my hand in the air as a symbol that he should leave. Beck apparently understood my silence and had left the room by the time I turned around.
An honest to goodness troll. I’d only encountered one in all my life, but I would never forget the smell of one. There was definitely a troll inhabiting this place. It was like a putrid combination of body odor, rotten eggs and decaying meat. I curled my lip in disgust.
The home showed the evidence of being abandoned for a long time. Leaves were piled up on the little porch and cobwebs covered the corners and blocked the screen door. It was an old little cottage-type house. Very charming and almost like something from a fairy tale. It was lodged deep in the woods and was surrounded by a lovely assortment of trees. I could hear the sound of running water and cocked my head to my left and listened. Tiny cold fingers gripped mine and I looked down at Beck’s beautiful red-haired daughter.
Jilly smiled and I smiled back. Her expression was almost glowing, her skin radiant with a fetching blush to her cheeks. The little nymph's green eyes ebbed with energy and I could tell she was absorbing the power of her home. As a nymph, Jillian was connected to this place: to the earth, the trees and every aspect of this property.
“Is there a spring nearby?” I asked.
Beck answered from behind me, “Actually, there’s a little waterfall about a mile away. That’s probably what you’re hearing. There’s a bridge crossing over there that will take you to it.”
I hadn’t looked up at him while he spoke, keeping my eyes firmly locked with little Jilly’s. She smiled wider.
“He’s at the bridge?” I asked, but the girl shook her head.
“C’mon, Lynlee, are you trying to suggest there’s really some rotten troll hiding under a bridge?” I could hear that tone in Beck’s voice again.
Ice entered my expression in an instant and I glanced back to give him a cold glare, “You did want me help, right?”
I watched his jaw tighten and it pleased me to be able to aggravate him.
“She told me he’s in the cave
,” Justin spoke and I looked up to find him slapping a stick against the side of the house.
“Justin Wayne Hale. Are you telling me your sister has told you about this and you didn’t tell me?”
I smiled again. Beck was really unnerved and I couldn’t help but find it comical.
Justin shrugged and began poking at some critter on the ground in front of him, “She made me promise.”
“Where’s the cave, Jilly?” I asked her and then looked off in the distance when she pointed.
I released her hand and began moving in the direction of the cave. I shook my left hand to conjure my wand.
“Wait!” Beck called and I turned to look at him. “You’re going in there alone? I should come with you.”
I almost made a smart comment, but he seemed genuinely concerned and now wasn’t the time to banter, “Who’ll stay with the kids? It would be better if you wait here. I can handle a stupid troll.”
He nodded as he glanced at his kids, and I watched as he approached Jilly and put his hands protectively on her shoulders. The prettiest little girl I’d ever seen simply smiled even broader at me.
So, as for trolls, yes, they were very, very stupid. The biggest difficulty with these ogre-like creatures is that they’re fast. For all their hulking bulk and chubby bodies, they could move with more speed than a gazelle. It wasn’t easy to catch one, but I had to catch him tonight. It was nearly midnight and he’d be in hiding for All Souls Day. With any luck I might be able to corner him. Now how to get him to leave this place was another question.
The stench got stronger and was almost unbearable the further I moved from the house. That was the thing about trolls, they could turn a lovely place into a cesspool. They had a habit of gathering dead carcasses and storing them in bodies of water to rot. Trolls caused all kinds of problems; from damming up creeks with debris to infecting lakes and forests with alien plant life that would kill off the natural habitats. Most non-MAUCs had no idea that trolls were responsible for such devastation to nature.
“Gawwwk!” I nearly jumped out of my skin when I heard the croaking sound and looked up just in time to see a huge raven sail down from a nearby tree. The bird perched in a scraggly bush ahead of me and eyed me with a knowing gaze. I knew the stories about ravens carrying messages from the spirits, but I’d never actually experienced such things for myself.
I had no intention of falling for the idea of prophesies now and I was frustrated with the bird for riling up my nerves. I pointed my wand toward the bush. My magic blew a forceful blast of air in that direction so the ominous bird was knocked off kilter.
“Gaaawk,” it replied and as it flew away I stuck my tongue out at it.
It was getting darker as I escaped the lights around Beck's house and the canopy of the forest cut off any light from the moon that might have shown my way. I swirled my wand into the air and the end immediately flared into a bright lamp. That was when I caught sight of the cave. I realized I might likely need my wand so I transferred the blazing light to my right hand, cupping the illuminated ball in my palm as I approached the rock opening.
I couldn’t imagine why any creature would enjoy the nasty odors that trolls did. The sound of grunts echoed out of the tunnel and the power behind those sounds gave me momentary pause. How big is this guy? I tightened my stomach and straightened my back as I trudged on.
I didn’t have to go far into the cave to find the MAUC in question. He was about nine feet tall and his waist was pudgy; about four times as wide as my own. His hair was brown and scattered in angry tufts in all directions and down to his knees – actually his locks could have been any color but the long tangled strands were so encased in muck and dirt that any other color than brown was lost. He was filthier than anything I’d ever seen.
The troll swam, or rather floated, in what probably used to be a beautiful spring. Now, however, it was black, goopy and slithering with all manners of nastiness. I cringed and then gagged involuntarily, the smell too strong to overcome. My coughing captured his attention. He jumped out of the water and slime-like goo dripped to the stone floor.
“You want what?” he asked, eyeballing me with beady black eyes.
I generally went into a situation such as this without any real plan. I was quick on my feet and my ideas were better when they were shot from the hip. I spoke almost before I considered what I was doing, “Me, well I be here ta clean this here place. It looks ta me like a pigsty.” My impression of an English maid from a black and white movie was poor at best, but as I spoke I gradually affected a change of clothing from jeans and a chemise into an old-style housekeeper’s uniform. The troll didn’t notice the transformation.
“Mine!” he grunted, taking a few steps towards me.
“No, sir… it says right here. Thus place belong ta someone else,” and I flashed a sheet a paper in front of him too fast for him to read – that was assuming he could read, “And this here won’t do, no siree it won’t.”
“Mine!”
“Well perhaps the master will letcha rent this here place,” and as I moved closer to him I waved my wand and opened a spigot in the wall. Soapy water shot forth from the stone and sprayed all along the nasty wall surfaces. I searched my mind for other means of neutralizing the horrible odor. I decided a little fresh air would do and so I pointed my wand at the ceiling and forced away a chunk of rock to allow the cool evening breeze to divert into the tight space. Immediately I could breathe just a bit better.
“It say here, tha’ master wants some roses,” and when I advanced towards the pool of rotten water I saw little plants rising up from the surface, so I pointed again and transformed them into a row of fragrant blooming roses. “And ya’ know, you be needin’ a little ‘elp too,” I exclaimed as I misted him with a spray bottle of strong perfume.
“Ah! No, mine! Mine, no, no, no!” The troll reached down to pick up a boulder and tossed it like a pebble a few feet from me. The entire cave rattled with the sound of it as it slammed into the wall and shattered.
I shrugged mostly to cover up the quiver in my body. He was a huge ogre and just the force of his words reverberated along my spine. I wasn’t sure if my actions were having any affect, but I fully intended to make this cave so uninhabitable for him that he’d vacate.
Along the stone floor I sprinkled baking soda, leaving a fine film of white powder all around. I conjured my wand into a vacuum hose and sucked all of the granules and hopefully some of the stench into an airtight bag.
Suddenly the hair on the back of my neck began to rise and I felt a cold wind rush not just into the cave, but through my entire body. I shivered and turned. The troll must have sensed something too because he was no longer looking at me, but was sniffing the air like an animal searching for prey.
And then she was there, at the entrance to the cave. Shimmering and translucent, but as beautiful as any woman I’d ever seen. Her features were perfectly proportioned; her entire body delicate like glass. The woman had strawberry-blonde hair that dropped in shiny waves across her shoulders and down to her waist. Upon finishing my examination of her I noticed that her body floated just above the ground.
“Bruno, you were warned not to come here,” the woman spoke and her voice held the same lovely ring that her daughter’s did. This was Justin and Jilly’s mother, Cheri. I was momentarily struck by the realization that this was also Beck’s wife. This was someone he loved.
The jealous spark searing a hole in my heart was unexpected. Cheri was so stunning suspended there in her ethereal form and I found myself comparing us from top to bottom. When she cast her gaze upon me I was instantly drenched in her overwhelming benevolence and kindness.
Snapping back to the reality of the situation, I turned to the troll and frowned, “See here, this be the master’s wife and she be wanting the place ta’ herself,” I said, cringing when I realized how silly I must sound. Cheri cut her eyes to me and smiled. I thought I was probably blushing.
“It’s time for you to go
now, Bruno. This isn’t your home. And you will no longer be able to encroach here. Our power will be too strong for you to hold on to this place.”
“Mine!” he insisted, but I could see the hesitation on his grimy face.
He moved forward, coming to stand just in front of me. His hot breath rushed down against my face and the gross stench was strong enough I could actually taste the foulness on my tongue. I swallowed to keep from vomiting.
“There’s a much better place for you, boy’o. This place isn’t your cup o’tea now. Too clean, eh?” I managed to speak in a choked voice.
He eyed me carefully, but I pressed on and took my wand in hand and conjured a rolled up piece of paper that I held out to him. When he used his clumsy, huge hands to open it, his eyes widened and I could see that I had him. On the map was a very simple, very clear map to a landfill not far from here. “X” marked the spot along with a picture of a very gross looking slop of land, but one that would be especially appealing to a troll. He smiled and I gagged again when I saw his rotten, black teeth.
A flash pushed past me followed by a sickening wave of nasty stench. Bruno was gone, hopefully for good. I sighed deep, then regretted it immediately. The air was still thick with stink and all I wanted was to leave the close quarters.
“I’d like to get out of here, if that’s all right.”
Cheri laughed, it sounded like clinking bells, “Of course! Let us step outside.”
She used the word “step” but the beautiful ghost simply glided on air through the opening of the cave. Once outside I wasn’t sure what to do or say. I hadn’t actually ever met a ghost before. I wasn’t afraid, but it was a sort of intimidating moment, especially considering she was also Beck’s wife.
“I would like to see my family. Could you send them to me? I think it would be easier for them to come to me, rather than for me to go to them. Don’t you agree?”
I nodded, then turned to head towards the house, “Thank you, Lynlee. You’ve saved my daughter and for that I will be forever grateful.”
A Bundle of Trouble (The Lynlee Lincoln Sets Book 1) Page 6