The Forgettable Miss French (Shadowvale Book 3)

by Kristen Painter

  Lucas nodded. “Amelia and Thoreau went into the grove. They were greeted by a band of nymph warriors who suddenly appeared. I think they inhabit the grove’s trees. The leader of the warriors welcomed Amelia, they spoke a few words, then the nymphs disappeared, leaving Amelia and Thoreau alone.”

  Gwen was chewing on her thumbnail, but listening intently. “And?”

  Lucas spread his hands out. “Amelia and the tiger approached the book. It was already open. Like it was waiting for them. She patted the page and told Thoreau to put his paw on it.”

  “Did he?” Easy asked.

  Lucas nodded. “He did. But Amelia seemed disappointed after that. I suppose she thought the tiger was under some kind of curse and was hoping that putting his paw on the book would remove it, but it must not have worked. At least not the way she’d thought it would.”

  “I’ve always heard you have to write your name,” Ginny said. “I can’t imagine just touching it would do much good.”

  Gwen frowned. “Wouldn’t the witch know that?”

  “You’d think so,” Ginny answered. “But maybe she thought Thoreau was some kind of special case.”

  Easy put his hands on his hips. “How many years ago was that, Lucas?”

  “Thirty. At least.” The elder shifter’s eyes narrowed. “You think I can’t remember how to get back there?”

  “The thought occurred to me,” Easy said. “Not because you’d forget necessarily, but that was a long time ago. And from what Ginny’s told me about the forest and what I’ve seen for myself, magic makes its own rules there.”

  “True,” Lucas said. “But I’ve been back to the grove since then. Just to see if I could find it again, and I did. Does the grove move within the forest? I don’t know. But what I can tell you is that the place has an unmistakable scent that makes it easy to track. Well, not easy. But possible.”

  Easy smiled. “Then you have my complete faith. Why don’t you and Gwen run back to Emerald Manor and change, then come back here? If we go with you, we’ll have to go through the whole process of showing ID. You both have your keys, you should be able to walk right on in. Then we’ll take Ginny’s Jeep to the forest, if that’s okay with you, Ginny?”

  She nodded. “Perfect.”

  Lucas shook his head. “One of you will have to drive us. My car is still at the Manor.”

  Easy grabbed his keys off the counter. “Take my car, then I’ll drive you back when we return.”

  Lucas smiled, seemingly pleased with that idea. He looked at his watch. “Half an hour, then?”

  “Sounds good,” Easy answered. He would have rather left immediately, but half an hour was no time at all when the payoff could be freedom.

  * * *

  Ginny watched her aunt and Lucas leave in Easy’s black Mustang. “I can’t believe we’re doing this again, but even more, I can’t believe my aunt is going.”

  Easy came up beside her, slipping his arm around her waist. “Nervous?”

  “Very. Especially for my aunt. She might have put on a semibrave face, but I know her, and she’s terrified.”

  “I wish she didn’t have to go, but if she doesn’t put her name in that book, she’ll be stuck with the curses.”

  Ginny nodded. “I know. I just…worry.”

  He pulled her closer. “I give you my word that I will keep watch over her. As I’m sure Lucas will, too.”

  “I’m sure he will, but he’s also going to be leading us in. Kind of hard to do both. So thanks, that makes me feel better knowing you’re looking out for her, too.”

  “And you,” he whispered into her ear.

  She smiled. “Do you really think Lucas will be able to find the grove again?”

  “Do you doubt him?”

  “Not him, exactly. But this is the enchanted forest we’re talking about. A place I’ve been searching for ten years without luck. Forgive me if I have some doubts.”

  “Understandable. But maybe you just never looked in the right place.”

  “Well, then, I really hope today is different.”

  “It needs to be. For all our sakes.” She sighed and glanced up at him. “Are you prepared for what happens if Lucas can’t find the grove?”

  His smile was brave and, she had a feeling, entirely for her sake. “He’ll find it.”

  “But if he doesn’t. Are you going to be okay with that?”

  He looked out the window. “Okay with it? I don’t think I’ll ever be okay with the burdens we’re bearing. Have you been okay with your curse all these years?”

  “No. But I’ve learned to deal with it.”

  “And that’s what I’ll do, too. Learn to deal. But even if that’s the outcome, and I don’t think it will be, we have each other. We might be impossible to remember to the rest of Shadowvale, but there are four of us in this together. We can make it work.”

  She leaned against him. “Thank you.”

  His arm tightened around her. “For?”

  “For not freaking out about this. For keeping your head level. For being the kind of guy I can lean on.”

  He kissed the top of her head, making her feel completely safe and protected. “Between the military and writing, there’s one thing I’ve learned. There’s always a way through whatever trouble you’re in. If you’re determined enough to find it, it’s there.”

  “I think we’re determined enough.”

  “I do, too. But we should probably change so we’re ready to go.”

  “Right.” She put her finger on the glass. “I just hope the way through our trouble is in the enchanted forest.”

  Chapter Twenty-nine

  Easy had sat in the back seat of the Jeep with Lucas on the drive to the enchanted forest, and while the ride hadn’t been long, there’d been very little said. The importance of their trip weighed on all of them, but it was apparent that Lucas felt it the most.

  That weight increased now as they stood at the edge of the road, staring into the depths of the woods while Lucas got his bearings.

  Some of that weight was lifted by the strength of the magic in this place. It buzzed over Easy’s skin with an energy all its own, reminding him how much power was here.

  When they shifted, it would become even more noticeable, especially when they were connected to this ground with four feet instead of two.

  After a few more moments, Lucas shook his head. “I have to shift. My senses aren’t keen enough in my human form to find the scent trail.” He dropped his gaze a little. “I’m not as young as I used to be, but I know it’s here. I can almost pick it up, but every time I think I have it, it slips away.”

  “Hey,” Easy said, “there are enough different smells out here to make tracking difficult for anyone.” He said it like it was no big deal, which it wasn’t to him, but Lucas’s trouble picking up the trail clearly wasn’t sitting well with Gwen.

  Her face showed every worry she felt, but Easy wasn’t sure how to make her feel better. He gave her props for coming with them, despite her misgivings. That took courage.

  “Yeah,” Lucas said. “I suppose.”

  “Plus,” Ginny added, “we’re all going to shift anyway.”

  “I know,” Lucas responded. “But I’d hoped to pick up the scent trail first.”

  Easy shrugged. “I’m sure you will once we’re in the woods. Ladies, Lucas will lead, then Ginny, then Gwen, then I’ll bring up the rear. Anyone needs to stop for any reason, vocalize once. Softly. We don’t want to draw unnecessary attention to ourselves.”

  Gwen hugged her arms around her torso.

  “And when we get to the grove?” Ginny asked.

  “We shift back to our human forms and put our names in the book.” He smiled at her and gave her a little wink.

  She smiled back. “That’s the plan, then.” She glanced at her aunt. “You good, Aunt Gwen?”

  The woman nodded, but her eyes never came off the forest. Her nerves were almost a visible thing.

  Ginny stood beside her. “I kno
w you’re worried. But it’s going to be okay. This is a good thing we’re doing.”

  Gwen nodded, her smile tight. “I know.”

  Ginny gave her a quick hug. “If you really don’t want to do this—”

  “No,” Gwen said, her smile relaxing a little. “This is our only chance for a normal life. And you deserve that. You’ve already had too many years of being forgotten.”

  “Thanks,” Ginny said softly.

  Easy clapped his hands lightly. “All right. Let’s get moving. We don’t want to be out here after dark if we can help it.”

  “Agreed.” Lucas glanced at Ginny. “You have that video handy? I put some full moon ointment on back at the condo, but that video worked great last time.”

  “I do.” She pulled out her phone and produced the full moon footage again, showing it to him as it started playing. “Here you go.”

  He took a concentrated look at it. A few seconds later, his eyes started to glow. Gwen and Ginny followed.

  Easy willed the shift to happen. In moments, it began. The familiar but welcome ache took over his body, causing bones and muscles to morph into his most natural form.

  He went to all fours, his hands and feet becoming broad paws meant for gripping the earth. His ears elongated, increasing his hearing range. His eyesight became keener, his sense of smell sharpening to the point that he could pick up the scent of a rabbit a mile away.

  He stretched his front legs out to get a look at what he’d become. Maybe not the wolf he really was, but some kind of wolf.

  Lucas was a hound, graying at the muzzle, but perfect for tracking. Gwen and Ginny had both become coyotes, although Gwen’s was darker, making it easy to tell them apart at a glance.

  Lucas sniffed the air, then woofed quietly and started into the woods, nose leading the way.

  They were off. They fell into line as Easy had described and kept up a good pace. Nothing too fast. There was too much to pay attention to in the forest to run wild. Too much to be wary of.

  Easy had his eyes peeled for anything glowing red. Actually, anything glowing was going to get a second look. He wasn’t afraid. He just didn’t want to derail their plans by getting swarmed again.

  The woods thickened, but Lucas kept on, his stride steady. Suddenly, the trees opened up, and a small clearing appeared, the ground covered in moss and a few rocks where there wasn’t leaf litter.

  Lucas paused, his nose in the air, taking in scents from every direction. He turned south, sniffed again, then whuffed and took off.

  A little faster this time, a little more intent, perhaps.

  The women followed with Easy close behind. A drox, one of the winged, fire-breathing foxlike creatures the woods were known for, trotted past at a distance. Easy knew about them only because Ginny had told him over dinner one night, and Easy had written about the creature in his journal.

  The drox stayed far enough away to see but too far to catch, should they choose to pursue. Which wasn’t something they’d do, but the drox didn’t know that.

  Easy had a feeling the drox was more curious about them than they were of it. Did the creature know that they were shifters? Could it tell? Would a drox consider Charlie Ashborne kin? The chocolatier was a dragon shifter, and droxes were part dragon.

  His mind continued to wander while his senses remained on alert for danger. None, thankfully, appeared. So far anyway.

  The woods dimmed, the canopy overhead blocking most of the available light. Clumps of sprite moss began to show up on the tree trunks. An owl hooted. Or maybe it was a meowl, something else Ginny had told him about.

  Ginny paid little attention to any of it, but Gwen stumbled once because she was too distracted by what was around her.

  That worried Easy a little. This wasn’t the place to lose focus.

  Mist rose up around them. At first, it clung to the ground, twirling away in little eddies as they trotted past.

  Then it grew denser and deeper, reaching almost to their chests. Still, Lucas led them on. Tiny spots of blue light danced at the edges of Easy’s peripheral vision. His eyesight was sharp enough to detect the outlines of wings in the orbs of light. Fairies.

  An excited burst of energy zipped through him. Lucas had said the grove was in the fairy realm. That meant they were getting closer.

  There was no visible sky above them, and no horizon line to be seen anywhere. They had to be in the depths of the forest. Still, the mist rose up around them until all Easy could see was the tip of Gwen’s tail.

  It wagged nervously. He understood. The chances of getting lost or separated in this foggy soup were high. They’d slowed some, too.

  Easy prayed that was because Lucas was being careful, not because he’d lost the trail.

  Leaves crunched underfoot occasionally, but soon the ground was all moss, and any sound their footsteps made was swallowed up by the mist.

  Still, Lucas plodded on. Slowing a bit more, but going forward all the same. Easy had no sense of time. They might have been in the forest for thirty minutes or three hours. It was impossible to tell. His senses, even as keen as they were, felt muffled by the closeness of the trees and the cover of the haze.

  It was like they’d been purposefully blindfolded. Like the path they were traveling wasn’t supposed to be memorable.

  That creeped Easy out. But it also gave him hope.

  Then he walked through a curtain of mist and came into a clearing on the other side without a trace of haze. Lucas and the others had come to a halt, so he stopped, too. As resting spots went, it was a decent one. Better visibility than they’d had in a long while. Even so, he kept a watchful eye on their surroundings until Lucas signaled it was time to move again.

  “This is it,” Lucas whispered.

  Easy turned to see the man back in his human form. Gwen and Ginny were shifting back, too, so he joined them. He shook himself as he became human again, rolling his shoulders. The magic hung on him like a damp blanket.

  “The magic is thicker here,” Lucas said almost reverently.

  Easy nodded.

  “I feel it, too,” Ginny said. “We all do, I’m sure.”

  Gwen rubbed her arms. “Too much magic.”

  Lucas’s mouth was a firm line. “It’s because of where we are. Some of the meridians spread out from here.”

  “Where are we?” Ginny asked. “You said this is it, but are we—”

  “Turn around,” Lucas said.

  She, Easy, and Gwen all turned at the same time.

  Behind them was the grove.

  None of them said a word as they took it in. Easy could only imagine what Ginny was feeling. She’d searched for this place for ten years. To finally be standing here must seem like the answer to a prayer. A dream realized.

  He decided in that moment to let her guide them through the next phase of their adventure. After all, they were here because of her in so many ways. Not just because of her curse, but because of her belief in this place, her refusal to give up, her unwavering faith that she’d find a solution.

  After a minute or two, she took a single step toward the circle of trees. “I can’t believe we’re standing here. It’s beautiful.”

  She reached her hand back toward Lucas, but kept her eyes forward as if looking away might make the grove disappear. “Thank you for bringing us here, Lucas.”

  He nodded, even though she couldn’t see that. “You’re welcome. Thank you for believing in me.”

  Easy went a little closer to Ginny. “This is your show now. What do you want to do next?”

  “Okay,” she whispered. “I guess…go in?”

  “However you want to handle it,” he answered.

  Her aunt frowned. “I’ve never felt such strong magic. Do you think we should all go in together? Maybe one at a time?”

  “I don’t know,” Ginny said as she stepped forward. “But this isn’t a place to be afraid of. We’ve made it this far without incident, so we have to believe it’s going to continue that way. So long
as we’re respectful of the power here.”

  “Exactly,” Easy said. But he wasn’t so sure he bought that this trip would remain uneventful. His life had taught him there were two sides to everything, a natural balance. If there was good, there was also bad. That symmetry was an intrinsic part of storytelling.

  It wasn’t lost on him that they were about to trust a book to remove their curses. So how could he not wonder what the price of such a gift would be?

  Chapter Thirty

  Aunt Gwen was right. Ginny had never felt such powerful magic in her life before. It was like walking through warm water and suddenly stepping into a cold current. Impossible to miss. Impossible not to react to.

  But as much as Ginny wanted to run into the grove, find the book, and scrawl her name on its pages, she knew that magic could be tricky. There might be a right way and a wrong way to enter this grove. The same went for putting one’s name in the book.

  And they’d come too far to mess something up now.

  She glanced at Easy, smiling. “Thank you for letting me handle this. Doesn’t mean I’m not open to suggestions, though.”

  His gaze narrowed ever so slightly. “We have a saying in the military. Slow is smooth and smooth is fast. I think more than ever, especially when we’re dealing with such life-changing power, that’s the way to go. Carefully. And with consideration.”

  “I agree.” Ginny took a breath. “I just wish I knew more about magic. About how to approach it. How to stay on the right side of it.” She looked back at Lucas and Aunt Gwen. “Any ideas?”

  Aunt Gwen put her hand to her mouth. “Just be careful.”

  “Same,” Lucas said. “Whatever you think we should do is fine with me.”

  “Okay.” But the weight of that responsibility only added to the stress of the moment. She could handle it, though. And she would handle it.

  She reached out and took Easy’s hand. “We all need these curses lifted. I think we should all go into the grove together.”

  “Sounds logical.”

  She looked at Lucas and Aunt Gwen again. “Okay?”

  They nodded, Aunt Gwen with a little less enthusiasm than Lucas.