Blooms Bones and Stones Box Set

by Olivia Swift

  Morning came and the frenzy started to get everything ready before the guests all arrived for the barbecue. Evan and Jazz came first with the big barbecue and the heavy gas tank to make it work. Gradually the others came with tables, chairs, boxes of food, and in Jinty’s case, a sound system.

  “We have a real DJ,” Kat remarked. “I never knew he did that.” His gran arrived in a smart little sports car with a gentleman helper alongside and Ben said he was pleased to meet her at last. The whole story was repeated endlessly about the stones, the house, and the ruins at the waterfalls.

  Bev and Martin arrived along with friends they hadn’t seen for so long that it felt like some sort of school reunion. Marie Carpenter drove up and had brought a friend called Alison with her for company.

  Evan dished out burgers, sausages and veggie kebabs. Drinks flowed quite freely and the whole place had a buzz that was both comfortable and exciting at the same time. The house and garden were explored and Ben spent a long time explaining where things would go.

  Kat’s mom and dad happened to know Jinty’s gran and they went over the happenings with the stones. Bev explained about the stones being magnetic and not magic and she took Kathy, Jinty’s gran, down to see what they had done with them.

  “Look,” she said and threw her chain bracelet at the rock where it stuck and stayed.

  “So, all those rumors were nonsense,” Kathy said. “I bet some of them knew but just let folks think it was magic.”

  “Like that Melanie Mandragora,” Bev said, and told her about the pendant.

  “So, she listens in on the people who buy her stuff. That is disgusting,” Kathy said. “I’ll give her a piece of my mind if I ever meet the woman.”

  “There is always somebody trying to make a quick buck,” Bev said as they walked back. “We are setting the alarm and coming back to see the sunrise as the light hits the non-magic stones. I am long past lying in a sleeping bag.”

  “I might join you.” Kathy smiled. “Do you think those two know they love each other?” she asked as they saw Ben and Kat talking to friends and holding hands. Bev smiled.

  “I am sure my daughter knows she loves him, but Kat has this very practical streak. I bet she is not wanting to spoil what they have just now.”

  They saw that some folks were even dancing in the house to the music Jinty was providing. Darkness was just starting to fall and Kathy told Ben she would come back at dawn. Others started to drift away and the ones who had opted to stay for the sleepover started to arrange where to sleep.

  Thank-yous, hugs, and plans to do it all again sounded through the whole place as cars drove away.

  The group that was left settled in the house with the doors closed, candlelight, and lanterns and drinks all round. Jinty, Marie, and her friend Alison had opted to stay along with Carly, Jazz, Evan, and Dex. Kim and Rob had joined the group. They sat around swapping stories as if it were a campfire and then found places to unroll their sleeping bags and crawl inside. The stories and chat kept going for a little while, and gradually everyone fell asleep. Ben had remembered to set the alarm on his phone, and Kat rolled her sleeping bag up against his as she folded herself against his warmth. He reached across and kissed her on the cheek, but she slept on.

  Ben’s alarm brought groans from various quarters, and one by one they rubbed their eyes and rejoined the world of the living.

  “You’ve got about half an hour,” he told them, “before first light is due.”

  “Any chance of coffee?” Jinty queried. Kat said she would light up the trailer and coffee would be ready soon. Everybody seemed to have slept in his or her clothes. They pulled on shoes, and tidied themselves up. When Kat brought the coffee, they sat with folded hands around their cups and looked up at the sky.

  “Come on folks,” Ben said. “Bring the coffee with you.” A car drew up to reveal Bev and Martin, and shortly after, another with Kathy Malone. Jinty dropped an arm around his gran’s shoulders and introduced her to Marie and Alison. The whole party wandered down past the landscape garden to where the standing stones cast a mysterious solemnity to the scene.

  Kat pointed to the sky and held Ben’s hand. The stream of light widened and although it seemed a long wait, the first beam of sunlight emerged from behind the mountains and shone on the group waiting in the dark. It hit the table made of the magnetic stones, and the crystals that Carly had put in the plaque shone and sparkled. Everybody clapped and cheered and raised their coffee cups to toast the sunrise. Carly was taking a photo of the plaque with the light shining onto it when Marie screamed and grabbed the person next to her.

  Stepping up from what would eventually be the rockery, five figures in dark clothes appeared. Four of them seemed to be carrying some sort of weapons that looked suspiciously like guns, and the figure in the front was dressed in a long, flowing black dress with sleeves that looked like bat wings when she raised her arms.

  “So, you buried them in the foundations,” she shouted sarcastically. “You lied to me and I would have given you money for them. Now we will just take them back where they belong.”

  “And how did you know we would be here at sunrise?” Kat asked. “You sold us a pendant with a microphone inside. You listen to private conversations, you nasty fraud of a person.”

  “We wondered if you would show up when we gave you the information,” Dex added.

  “And now we’ll take the stones home with us.” Melanie answered.

  “Magic stones,” Carly said derisively. “They are magnetic, not magic, you stupid woman.”

  “Your pots and potions are just herbal remedies. You lie to people. You cannot make spells. You’re a crook and I bet you put the red paint on the stones.” Kat told her.

  “You all deserve to have things spoiled. You spoiled my business.”

  “Just spiteful,” Kat called out.

  Bev stepped beside her daughter and laughed.

  “Melanie Mandragora my foot,” she said. “Sawyer Woodman is your real name. I went to school with you.” There was a gasp from the others, but Jinty’s gran stood up as well and added her voice.

  “I remember you as a kid as well. My kids were your age. You always were a nasty little boy who squashed frogs and pulled the wings off butterflies.”

  “You mean this is a man?” Jazz asked the question for everybody there.

  “Oh, yes,” Bev answered. “This is Sawyer Woodman and I would think the police will be glad to find him brought back from the dead.”

  “This is the man who grabbed me in the street and took me to that horrible place by the waterfalls.” Marie shuddered. “He will go to jail for a very long time.” Jinty and Alison both put an arm around her because she was trembling violently, even though she sounded brave.

  19

  “Melanie Mandragora,” Kat said scornfully. “Not a woman, and certainly not a witch.”

  The witch in question waved his arms in the air and stepped forward. His four guards stepped forward as well, and suddenly it seemed a lot more menacing.

  “You can see that I do not rely on magic alone to make things work. Four guns say that we take those stones away.”

  “Why don’t you just wave a wand at them and let them fly off to your car?” Kat asked derisively. “Because the police will pick you up. Your face is on their database. Then they will bring the stones back again.”

  Melanie stretched a grin across his face that was pretty hideous, and for a few seconds looked like the witch he was pretending to be.

  “I can put a spell on this man so that he will never love you, and you will never love him. You can do anti-love spells as well as good ones. Two love birds. It will never come to be.” His voice rose to a higher and higher pitch as he waved his arms about and pointed his hands at Ben, who stood like a rock and ignored it.

  Kat stepped up and wrapped her arms around him.

  “There is no spell in the world powerful enough to stop me loving this man. Do your worst, Sawyer Woodman. Do your fraudulent
, ignorant worst.”

  The man in front of her pointed his arms at Ben and screeched a curse that was supposed to send him to purgatory forever‒then there was a quick flash of something he held in his hand under the long sleeve of the dress.

  Carly screamed at Ben to watch out, but a long streak of electricity curved from the witch’s sleeve and landed directly on his chest. Ben was thrown to the ground where he convulsed in agony. Jazz shouted that it was a Taser and dropped beside Ben to see if she could help. Then Kat threw herself at the man in witch’s clothing and the scream she produced matched anything that Melanie Mandragora could muster.

  She rugby-tackled the witch and her momentum took both of them over the edge of the hill and down the slope that would one day be a rockery. They rolled and fought, but Kat was beside herself and not about to let go until she had dealt with the hideous man. Wearing jeans and boots gave Kat a decided advantage over the man in the long dress, and when they stopped up against a stone, Kat grabbed the long, blond hair that was a gift for the task at hand, and began battering the head of Sawyer Woodman up and down on the stone.

  Strong hands lifted her away, and her dad wrapped her in his arms.

  “Come back up and see Ben,” he said, and it was the one thing that would calm her down. By the time they climbed back up the hill she realized that there were police around taking away the four men with the guns who had apparently just given up when Kat attacked the leader.

  “Dex warned the police beforehand, and they waited until they heard the witch convict himself,” Martin told her.

  Ben was still on the ground, and Dex was helping him sit up. He looked very weak and was struggling to breathe.

  “Oh my lord,” Kat said and dropped down beside him. He grabbed her hands and held on for dear life. The blessed sound of a siren reached their ears, and in seconds, medics were on the scene and attending to the patient. He protested that he would be okay, but his voice was weak. Kat grabbed his hand and walked alongside as they got him onto a stretcher and into the ambulance.

  An oxygen mask was applied and he was breathing more easily, but the paramedics used lots of other equipment to monitor him, and at the hospital rushed him on a gurney into Emergency.

  “Tasered,” the paramedic told the doctor, “and I think on full force.”

  A nurse moved Kat into a waiting room and told her that she would come back with any news. Minutes later, her mom and dad found her and hugged her between them.

  “He’ll be fine,” Bev said reassuringly. “You’ll see.” They told her that the police had taken all five intruders away, and Marie had told them that it was definitely the same man that kidnapped her on the street.

  “He won’t be weaving any magic spells for some time.” Martin said. “Good riddance.”

  “Those freakin’ stones!” Kat exclaimed. “It was a cheap buy because of the rumors about the place, but they certainly made up for it in the trouble they’ve caused.”

  “The house is beautiful,” Bev said.

  “But what if he dies?” Kat whispered, and cried on her mom’s shoulder. The nurse came and told them they could see the patient and led them to another room. Ben was hooked up to what looked like a mini power station. He had more lines flipping across screens than something out of science fiction.

  “Gee. How bad is he?” Kat whispered to the nurse.

  “It’s not half as bad as it looks,” the woman said cheerfully. “He has had a nasty electrical shock and we have to make sure his heart is monitored for a little while. The oxygen helps his breathing, and we are checking his blood pressure as well. We gave him some mild sedation, but he is awake and he can hear what you say. He might find it difficult to answer.”

  Kat went over and sat beside the bed. She took his free hand and squeezed it.

  “Hi there, sweetheart,” she whispered. “Squeeze my fingers if you can hear me.” The squeeze came as requested and she breathed a sigh of relief. Bev and Martin came as well and told him about the arrests. Ben did not really respond, and the nurse said that the sedation was making him sleepy.

  “He can hear you,“ she said. “But after a few minutes, he will be better left to recover.”

  “Will he be all right?” Kat asked quietly, and the woman nodded.

  “We are pretty sure that he will but we have to make certain.” Bev and Martin left Kat sitting at the bedside holding his hand. Once she was alone, she shed a few tears. Ben was breathing evenly and the machines were quiet. Kat laid her head on the bed and silently cried. Eventually she fell asleep.

  Ben opened his eyes. For a few minutes his mind was completely blank. He was in a room, probably a hospital, because he was hooked up to all sorts of wires. He had no recollection of how he came to be there, and for a few seconds panic set in. Then he moved his head and saw Kat asleep and still clutching his hand. It brought the memory back into clarity and he relived the scene, as the Taser arced across the garden and hit him in the chest.

  He raised the arm that had the blood pressure monitor attached and gingerly pulled off the oxygen mask. He took a normal breath and felt a little bit more like himself. The nurse popped her head around the door and smiled. She checked the machines and removed the electrodes.

  “How do you feel?” she asked quietly. Ben said that he felt fine. She tiptoed away again.

  Ben squeezed Kat’s fingers and her eyelids fluttered, and just as it had been for him, it took a few seconds until she remembered where she was.

  “Oh, Ben. You’re awake. Thank the Lord.” She cried and sat up. “Does it hurt? Can you breathe? Are you feeling better?”

  He smiled and put a finger on her lips.

  “I am okay, thank you. How are you? I remember being hit but nothing else really.” She smiled ruefully and told him that she had attacked the so-called witch and they had rolled down the slope.

  “They pulled me off before I actually killed him.” She smiled.

  “Oh, Kat. You are some wonderful woman. There is one thing I think I remember.” He paused, and took her hand. “Just before I was hit, you came and put your arms around my waist.” She nodded. “Did you mean what you said, or did I just imagine it?”

  Kat sat on the edge of the bed and slid alongside him.

  “Do you mean the part where I said there was not a spell strong enough?”

  “I have always wanted to tell you the same thing but I’ve been too scared to say it out loud.” Kat took a breath and said it for him.

  “I love you Ben Carruthers. I love you to the moon and back. I think I did before you ever asked me out and I just would not let myself give in to it.” She turned to face him and kissed him on the lips.

  Ben reached an arm across and held her close.

  “I knew, when we were at the house, that I wanted you to be there with me forever. I was dreading next week when the time together would be over.”

  “Me too, but the most important thing is that you are going to be okay. I couldn’t bear it if anything happened to you,” Kat added, and he smiled.

  “Katarina Jones, stop talking and listen.” He kissed her on the lips. “I love you so much that I think I might explode. Please say that you will marry me and we can be together for ever and ever.”

  As Kat’s eyes filled with tears, she smiled through them.

  “It will make me the luckiest woman alive to marry you, Ben Carruthers. We can beat anything that comes along together.” The doctor knocking and coming in interrupted the kiss that sealed the question and the answer.

  “You seem to be recovered, Mr. Carruthers.” She smiled. “Let me just give you a final check and then you can go home.” She handed Kat a tissue. “He’ll be fine you know.” Kat nodded and told her that he had just asked her to marry him. “I gather you said yes?” The doctor smiled as she checked the readings and declared him free to go. “Congratulations. Let’s hope nobody else attacks you because she almost killed the one who did.”

  “the he in hospital?” Kat asked.


  “Under police guard and being an absolute pain,” the doctor told them before leaving. Ben slid out of the bed and folded Kat in a huge bear hug.

  “The bad guys are taken care of and we have a wedding to plan. Where on earth are my clothes?” Kat started to giggle and told him she would marry him in the hospital gown if he wanted. Once he was dressed, they left the hospital hand in hand.

  “We will go and tell everyone, but let’s go and see the house first,” Ben said. They arrived at Eagle’s Cry, which looked peaceful and beautiful in the sunshine with the landscape spread out in spectacular views in all directions.

  “I cannot carry you over the threshold because there are no steps.” Ben laughed. Inside the house he gently took hold of her shoulders and looked into her eyes.

  “I don’t know how many times I will say this over the years, but I love you from the bottom of my heart. Thank you for being you and for making me happy.” He kissed her long and lingeringly, putting his heart and soul into the offering. The emotion in the kiss she gave him back was given unreservedly.

  “I didn’t think it was possible to feel this happy. Love you right back, big man.”

  “Thought we might find you here,” Carly’s voice said from the door, and she and Dex clambered inside. “It’s over and you are fine. The bad guys are in jail and the stones were not the secret after all. It was that awful man pretending to be a woman.”

  “It worked for him for a long time and he must have done some awful things in that time.” Dex added.

  “He won’t get out of jail,” Ben said. “We can forget the whole thing now. The stones have their place in the garden.”

  “Kat certainly started the rockery off well by almost cracking his skull open.” Dex laughed.