by John Osborne
Willow’s face flushed. “No, because no self-respecting fairy would attend. I suppose photographer school didn’t have a class on take a chance and live life to its fullest?”
Noah couldn’t help laughing. Willow bristled.
Oops.
Noah raised his hands. “Don’t get your hackles up. I’m not laughing at you. I’m laughing at us. I think we’re trying to fight again.”
Willow relaxed and smiled. “I’m not fighting. I’m having a difference of opinion with my fairy friend.”
Noah paced again before stopping in front of the sofa. “And I’m going along to protect you since I have inferior technical skills?” He grinned.
The “P” word should rile you if anything will.
She grinned back. “No, I don’t need anyone to protect me, but I do need a lookout while I work my computer magic.”
Noah sat beside her on the sofa. “So what’s your plan?” he asked.
“We’ll go over tonight about eight thirty and get in.”
“That’s it? ‘Get in.’ How?”
“I don’t know. We’ll work that out when we get to his house.”
Noah sighed and shook his head to clear it.
Willow grinned. “Noah, it’s called an adventure.”
“I don’t need any more adventures. I’ve had one every day since I met you.”
“I’ll take that as a compliment.”
Noah drummed his fingers on his knee. “Okay, I’m in.”
“Good! Relax, it’ll be fun!”
“I’m only going to keep you company in jail.”
“Oh, I’m not going to jail.” She conjured an impish grin. “I’ll just wink and be gone.”
I hadn’t thought of that.
He took a drink of his coffee. “Much better this time.” They sipped coffee and tea for a few moments.
“I don’t need your protection, you know,” Willow said.
“You’re picking a fight, aren’t you?”
“No, I’m not!” She pasted on an injured look but those dark eyes twinkled.
“Yes, you are. I think you like to fight.”
“Well … I like the making up part.” They sat in silence again, but Noah could almost hear the wheels spinning in Willow’s little head.
“I’ll prove it to you,” she said.
“Prove what?”
“I don’t need protection. Let’s arm wrestle.”
Noah laughed. “Are you kidding?”
“No, I’m not,” she gritted out, frowning. “Are you afraid I’ll beat you?”
“No, but … well, alright, let’s settle this once and for all.” Willow stood up with an eager expression that said nothing would please her more.
They moved to the kitchen table and sat on opposite sides.
You may think you’re strong, but I can bench press two-fifty.
“You’re arms are short,” Noah said. “This may be a mismatch.”
“I’ll risk it,” she said, and put her elbow on the table. “Open grip.” He nodded and placed his elbow against Willow’s, with her palm resting against the bottom of his hand. The tube top displayed her muscular arms and shoulders.
But you’re so little.
“You say go,” Noah said. Willow waited the proper amount of time to make the competition legal.
“Go!”
A half-second later, Noah’s knuckles smashed into the tabletop.
“Ow!” He massaged his hand. Willow smirked.
How in the…
“You cheated,” Noah said.
“I did not! Do you always say that when you lose?”
Noah frowned at her. “Two out of three. And I’ll say go.”
“Fine.”
Five seconds later Noah’s hand slammed down again.
“Damn it!” He rubbed his fingers again.
Willow wore a smartass grin. “Three out of five?” she asked.
“It’s the leverage. It’s because your arm is so short.”
“Excuse me, but I thought the longer the lever the greater the strength.”
Great. A smartass fairy that understands physics.
“Tell you what,” she said, “I’ll use my left arm backward if you like.”
“No, we do it straight.” Noah put his arm up for another bout. Willow suppressed a grin as she put her arm against his. “Go!”
He got a head start—by cheating—and met Willow’s force. Their arms remained straight up for a few seconds, and then slowly tilted as he gained against her. The veins popped out on his arm and his breath became short. Willow didn’t appear to be straining in the least. She seemed rather amused.
“Getting tired?” she asked. “Maybe we should finish before you use all your energy.” She was gentler this time, and merely forced his arm back until his hand rested on the table. “Four out of seven?” she asked with a bright smile.
“Oh, shut up,” Noah said. “And stop gloating.”
Willow pasted on a serious expression, but her eyes still gleamed. Noah pushed himself up from the table and walked into the front room, with Willow right behind.
You’re cute even when you’re irritating.
He faced her and they broke into laughter.
“Good grief, you whipped my butt,” Noah said. “How much can you bench press?”
Willow shrugged. “I don’t know, I don’t work out or anything.” She hesitated, her face sheepish. “I think I could lift you … with one arm. Does that bother you?”
“Well, I do feel a little inferior. You’re stronger than I am, you can see in the dark, you’re a whiz at computers, you can fly. Shoot, you even eat more than me.”
“Oh, Noah, no.” She rubbed her hands on his chest. “Don’t think that, please. Fairies have some powers, sure, but we’re just ordinary people. Most of us are introverted snobs who don’t know how to act around people. You’re kind and considerate and thoughtful. Don’t feel that way.”
Noah regarded her quietly. I would have never dreamed the first time I saw this sweet little person she would turn out to be a knuckle-cracking, butt-kicking fairy.
“At least I’m taller.”
“And always will be.” Willow laid her head on his chest. “Still friends?”
I’m not sure anymore. That kiss changed things.
He tousled her hair with both hands. “Still friends. But this friend needs to get out of here and get some work done.”
“Okay. Pick me up at the missing sign at eight fifteen. Wear dark clothes and a stocking cap if you have one. No ski mask, of course.”
Noah nodded and drained his coffee. He put on his shoes and retrieved his hat and coat. Willow opened the door and gate and they went outside.
“Wait,” Noah said. “When are we going to explore the basement at the Big House? That was supposed to be our next project, to see if there’s an entrance to the cave.”
“I forgot. How long do you need to work today? Could we do it this evening before our secret mission?”
“I’m going down around Potomac. There are three ponds and my editor wants me to shoot the river while I’m there. I could be back by five or a little after.”
“Good! I’ll have something to eat ready and that will still give us a couple of hours.”
“Sounds good.”
“So long, Cowboy.”
Noah rolled his hips forward, hooked his thumbs in his jeans, and used his best John Wayne voice. “Adios, little lady.”
Willow giggled and waved him away.
Conscious of running late, Noah walked as fast as he could to the truck. He pulled his keys out as he arrived and started to unlock the door.
I should have kissed Willow goodbye.
Loud buzzing sounded behind him about the same time amusement grew in his heart. Willow zoomed toward him just above the path in Supergirl mode, flying lying down, so to speak. She flew straight to him, shifted to standing position and stopped, hovering at arm’s length with a happy smile. She put her hands on his shoulders.
“We forgot,” she said, pulled close and kissed him. “See ya later,” she said and zoomed away toward the cottage, cackling with laughter.
Noah laughed, too.
Things are beginning to get interesting.
Fourteen
After a successful day of photography, Noah returned to the woods at five fifteen. Darkness gathered under the trees as he walked from the truck, but the windows of the cottage glowed with welcome. The iron gate stood open. He rapped on the door and opened it a crack.
“Willow, it’s me. Are you decent?”
“Yep.”
“Darn it,” he said as he swung the door open.
Willow scowled from behind the kitchen counter.
Noah laid down the two flashlights he had brought from the truck for their expedition to the Big House basement, stripped off his coat and hat and hung them on a peg. He sat down to pull off his boots as Willow came in from the kitchen. She wore black jeans over her flight suit. A black zippered sweatshirt and her blue stocking cap sat on the arm of the sofa.
“Where’s your dark clothes?” she asked.
“I was running late so I came straight here. I figure we’ll park the truck at the motel and walk to Jones’s place. Better if my truck stays there all evening. I’ll grab my clothes when we drive over.”
“Good thinking.”
“Wait, there’s more. We’ll make sure someone sees us both go in. You can disappear before we come out and we’ll leave the lights on.”
“Wow, you’ve been thinking hard.”
“I’m just trying to stay out of jail.”
Willow rolled her eyes. “I’ve been busy all day, too.” She walked over to the desk and held up a small metal object on a strap. “Making this.”
“What is it?” Noah asked.
“It’s a flash drive loaded with a snooper program to install onto Chester’s computer. After we talked this morning, I decided you’re right about spying from here. I can install this in ten minutes so we can work at our leisure from the comfort of our own … my own home. We can spend more time checking out the Big House basement, too.”
“Safer, too,” Noah said. “The shorter the time in Jones’s house the better.”
“Right. Are you hungry?”
“Starving. Whatever you’re cooking smells delicious.”
Forty-five minutes later Willow unbarred the front door of the Big House and Noah walked in, flashlight in hand. Willow put the bar back in place and Noah handed her a flashlight and her jacket. She pocketed the flashlight and hung her jacket on the doorknob.
“I know you don’t need a flashlight,” he said, “but it will help me know where you are in the dark.”
“Okay. Follow me.”
Their footsteps echoed as Willow led the way through the darkness. The old place was uncharacteristically eerie. Willow flipped a wall switch and the atrium flooded with soft light. Across the floor in front of them was the service hallway leading to the back door. Willow led Noah to its dark opening and flipped a second switch to illuminate the passage.
On the left near the back was a closed door, one of the few Noah had seen in this house of open doors. Willow opened it and flipped on a third switch. Light illuminated a wooden stairway leading down to the basement. Creaks and groans filled the air as they climbed down to a smooth concrete floor. Mustiness met them as they descended.
The cellar was one large, empty room with heavy wood posts placed at eight-foot intervals in all directions. Huge oak beams rested on the posts and formed the support for the upper levels. The smell of damp rock rose from the limestone foundation. Four brick chimneys marked out the corners of the atrium above. A network of bare incandescent bulbs lit the space.
“It’s spooky down here,” Willow said. “I don’t like it.” Gooseflesh dotted her bare shoulders. She held her wings high in flight position, which Noah had learned indicated stress or excitement.
What a wonderful opportunity to sneak up behind you and say ‘boo’.
Willow’s eyes flamed and her wings twitched. “I don’t know what you were just thinking, but you better stifle it.” Noah snickered while he turned in a circle and surveyed.
The area of interest was the south wall, the closest to the presumed cave. Along this wall were broad stairs to an outside entrance, an abandoned coal bin, the water softening system and the steam heating system. Willow walked toward the boiler.
“I’m going to turn the heat on while we’re down here. It’s time for a monthly warm-up.” While Willow fiddled with the boiler controls Noah walked along the south wall, probing the dark nooks and crannies with his flashlight.
The outside entrance doors were heavy steel plate, with an inner bar across them for extra strength. The unused coal delivery door in the east wall was welded shut. Nothing remarkable stood out around the water system or the boiler, nor was anything unusual about the south wall itself, which like the other walls displayed no visible cracks or openings. Everything in the basement appeared normal.
Shoot. I thought sure we would find something.
The boiler roared to life as Noah finished perusing the wall. Willow walked over to where he stood near the southwest corner.
“See anything interesting?” she asked.
“No,” Noah said, sighing in disappointment. “Maybe I was wrong about the cave.” He glanced around the basement again, pondering, his mind searching for data. He fell into his old habit and counted the posts in each row. Seven posts east to west meant eight spaces or sixty-four feet between the walls. Turning, he counted the nearest row of north to south posts. Seven posts north to south…
That’s odd.
The spacing next to the south wall was six feet, not eight.
“Willow, is the house square?” Noah asked.
“I think so. Why?”
“The basement isn’t. Let’s go outside. Leave the lights on.”
They walked up the creaking stairs and outside to the base of the front porch steps. Noah flipped on his flashlight and walked to the northeast corner of the house, carefully aligned himself and paced off the width of the house.
“Sixty-seven feet, give or take,” he announced when finished. “Sixty-four feet plus two walls eighteen inches thick.”
“That sounds right,” Willow said, looking a little lost.
Noah repeated the process on the west wall with the same result. “Just what I thought,” he said. “The house is square, but the basement is two feet smaller north to south. Let’s go back downstairs.”
As they crossed the atrium, Willow spoke. “Oh, I get it now. The back wall of the basement is set in two feet from the back wall of the house.”
“Right. Space enough for a double wall with a hollow space in between.”
Back in the basement, Noah walked to the outside entrance and trained his flashlight on the doorway. “Look at this. The doorway is extra tall, and the stairs start in the opening, which helps conceal how thick the wall is. You don’t realize it unless you look overhead.” Noah’s light revealed a five-foot long stone block ceiling slanting up parallel to the stairs.
“You’re good at this stuff,” Willow said.
“Well, maybe. It’s still a theory until we find an entrance to the hollow wall. We know it’s not down here. The entrance is upstairs someplace, a concealed stairway maybe, or a hatch in the floor.”
“I have no idea where,” Willow said.
“We’ll need to search all the rooms along the south wall on the first floor.” Noah looked at his watch. “We might as well not start tonight, since we have our secret mission.”
“Right. It’s nearly time for the council meeting to start.”
On the way to the motel, Noah detoured to the liquor store and bought a bottle of wine.
“What’s that for?” Willow asked as he climbed into the truck.
“You never know when you might run into a pretty girl you want to entertain.” She arched her eyebrows.
Noah parked outsi
de his room and told Willow to wait for him to open her door. When he opened it, she smiled at his chivalry. He took her hand and led her across the parking lot toward the office.
“Where are we going?” she asked.
“To rent a movie. It’s part of our cover. When we go in here, try to look sexy.”
“What?”
“Even better, try to look horny.”
“Noah!”
He grinned. “We need the guy in the office to remember us, and we want him to think we’ve spent the evening in my room. So smile and enjoy.”
Willow gave him an exasperated look. She took her stocking cap off, stuck it in Noah’s jacket pocket, and shook her head to fluff out her hair.
“Do that looking at me through your eyelashes thing you did in your parents’ room.”
“Like this?” she said and demonstrated.
“Perfect.”
Willow giggled as they walked into the office.
“Evening, Noah,” said the young man behind the desk. His eyes slid off Noah and were all over the hot little babe dressed in black.
No need to undress her.
“Hi, Tommy. Got any good movies?” Noah set the wine on the counter. Willow sidled up beside him and snuggled close, pressing her chest against his arm. Tommy seemed reluctant to turn around and pull Noah’s selected movie off the shelf. When he turned back, Noah was massaging Willow’s neck. She looked dreamily up at him.
Noah paid for the movie, which was loaded with sex, and thanked Tommy. When they reached the door, he turned and spoke. “Tommy, would you put a note on the switchboard to hold my calls.” He made sure Willow was outside and whispered, “Until morning.”
Tommy grinned and nodded.
Once outside, Noah put his arm around Willow and guided her across the parking lot. “You did great. I guarantee Tommy’s watching every move. I should maybe feel your butt to make it look good.”
“Touch my cute little butt and I’ll break your arm.”
They laughed and continued walking.
“I should at least give you a passionate kiss,” Noah said. “You know, to get Tommy’s hormones pumping.”