“Not exactly; and you wouldn’t believe me if I told you, so just let it go.” The funny thing was – even funnier, since she had no such compulsion to share her late night visitation with Logan – Julie found herself tempted to tell him exactly what happened: all of it, including the most recent ghostly encounter. Logan already thought Gustavia belonged in the loony bin; she didn’t want him to think of her that way as well. But she had a feeling Tyler wouldn’t judge. It would be a relief to just get it out of her system.
Now Tyler was even more intrigued; there was a story here, and he had a firm rule never to let the opportunity to hear a good story pass without digging into it.
"C'mon, give. How do you know I wouldn't believe you, if you don't at least tell me what happened?"
This guy was worse than a dog with a bone but Julie had the sense his interest was genuine. Surprisingly, her gut told her she might even be able to trust him but she needed to get to know him a little better first.
"Maybe another time."
Tyler let it go, reluctantly. His journalistic instinct told him the story was worth hearing, but he could see she was embarrassed by something. He made up his mind then and there to find out what. They began to walk back toward the formal garden.
"Anyway," she continued, "the only map I know of is a treasure-less one. My grandfather hired a local teenager to help him dig up a bunch of the property back in the day. They never found anything. The teenager turned out to be the brother of a friend of mine. He kept the map they used, and she's going to get me a copy."
Julie felt more than a bit uncomfortable even talking about the idea of looking for treasure. She wanted to embrace the project, be more like Gustavia who was always ready for a new experience; but something, some sense of impending vulnerability, held her back from making a total commitment to the idea of an adventure.
Her parents had gone on an adventure, and they never returned. Their last video shoot was in a rain forest. Understanding the dangers and having a premonition they chose, for the first time, to send their seven-year-old daughter – under protest – to stay with her grandparents. Partway through filming, the two left the compound to scout a new location and never returned. Two days later, searchers found their bodies at the bottom of a ravine. Julie was heartbroken.
The devastating loss turned her into an overly-cautious, highly-pragmatic child. Before losing her parents, she had been a bubbly, imaginative girl who loved starting out on any new adventure; now, the only place she let that fanciful side show was through her work. Photography was the only area in her life she approached without reserve.
"So, what is it that makes a garden magic? I mean, this garden looks magical; but if there's nothing here, you might be missing some other logical criteria, "Tyler turned in circle, gesturing at the gardens, "What other options have you explored?" he asked. Reading his grandfather's notes the night before, he had quickly clued in on the one section that seemed most likely to have sparked her sudden interest in the notes.
Then his mouth dropped open.
"Whoa, who is that?" Tyler, with eyebrows raised, gazed past Julie with a dazed expression. Turning, she saw Gustavia in full regalia making her way across the lawn. Today she was decked out in a batik skirt in shades of turquoise and yellow, paired with a salmon-colored tank top, and enough jewelry to weigh down the Titanic. Tied over the skirt were at least two of the jingly hip scarves worn by belly dancers. Woven into her braids, Julie could see several keys and what appeared to be several small Christmas ornaments. Where Logan would have been rolling his eyes in disgust, Tyler, with a huge grin plastered across his face, strode forward holding out a hand in greeting.
"This is my friend Gustavia," Julie introduced the two. "And Gustavia, please meet Tyler Kingsley; his grandfather was the historian who researched our family. Tyler was kind enough to drop off his grandfather's notes."
"With rings on her fingers and bells on her toes, And she shall have music wherever she goes,” he said, quoting Mother Goose. Then, bowing low before Gustavia, he kissed her hand. To Julie he said, "I didn't know you were friends with a goddess. This day just gets better and better."
Turning to Julie, Gustavia said, "He really needs to meet Kat and Amethyst!"
"More goddesses? Yes; please, bring them on! I can't wait."
"Amethyst is an aura reader, and Kat is a psychic medium," Gustavia explained gravely.
"To tell you the truth, my queen, when I met Julie here, I got the feeling she was a bit repressed; you know, a little uptight. She must have hidden depths to have friends like you."
"Well, she has her moments, but we do the best we can to keep her from crawling into her shell." Gustavia grinned in delight.
"Excuse me--I'm standing right here," Julie rolled her eyes.
"Did she tell you about the..." Gustavia began before Julie cut her off.
"That's enough; Tyler is not interested in my personal business; I only just met him half an hour ago. Maybe we could wait a day or so before we air all of my dirty laundry."
"Oooh, dirty laundry is it," he interjected, "I am intrigued." And to his surprise, he found he was. Even if he had been correct in his first assumption that she was a bit tightly wound, Julie was certainly attractive; and, with friends like Gustavia, there must be some whimsy under all that outward stiffness. Plainly, there were a few layers to explore. Besides, what red-blooded male could resist a treasure hunt?
Chapter Eight
Gustavia reached down into her voluminous straw bag and pulled out two pieces of heavy wire. The pieces were about 2 feet long with a 90-degree bend some 6 inches in on one end. Grabbing the pieces by the smaller section and holding them level in front of her at shoulder width apart, Gustavia walked slowly toward the garden.
Tyler looked at Julie and tilted his head toward Gustavia. She shrugged in response and waived a hand indicating he should just go ahead and ask the question himself.
"What are you doing?"
"Dowsing. My friend Luka Proud taught me how to do it."
"Interesting."
"He says you have to have a bit of intuition and a powerful connection to the earth; it's mostly used to find water, but some people resonate with metals so I figured it might work for finding treasure, too."
"A perfectly reasonable assumption." He watched with fascination as Gustavia marched through the garden. He thought about suggesting a metal detector, but decided dowsing was more fun to watch.
"Hey, Jules, where do you think I should check? Any ideas where the magic garden might be?" Gustavia called back over her shoulder.
"Well, since the garden club dug up most of this area, I think you'd better try somewhere else." She explained about Tamara's brother and his map. "Maybe if you wait few days, you can use the map and just concentrate on the areas that haven't already been covered."
"In the meantime," Tyler said, "to test your dowsing prowess, I'll hide some treasure for you to find." Julie shook her head. It usually didn't pay to encourage one of Gustavia's schemes but, clearly, this situation had gone out of her control.
Excited as a kitten with a new ball of yarn, Gustavia dodged behind the nearest tree and began counting down from a hundred while Tyler emptied the loose change and keys from his pockets into a crevice between two rocks bordering the garden. Julie, mentally throwing up her hands in surrender, stalked over to a wrought iron garden bench and made herself comfortable. After watching the spectacle for a few moments, she arose and headed back to the house to retrieve her camera. Gustavia, arms outstretched in her unconventional clothing did look a bit like a goddess—well, maybe a wonky goddess—but it was definitely a Kodak moment.
Now it was Tyler's turn to sit on the bench and watch the spectacle. As Gustavia moved around the garden, Julie alternately climbed on rocks or crouched near the ground to shoot from varying perspectives. Before long, Gustavia neared the area where he'd secured the cache of coins. Up until now the metal rods had not budged; but, as she walked within a couple yard
s of the coins, the rods twitched and her eyes widened. "Whoa, check this out," Gustavia said. "It's working."
"Holy crap," Tyler said, "it is."
With each step closer to the hidden coins, the rods swung more quickly until, finally, they snapped together and pointed right at the spot. Gustavia reached between the rocks, grabbed the coins and began to dance. Tyler joined her, hopping up and down in excitement while Julie continued shooting: though now, it was his face she was tightly focused on, capturing the excitement glinting in those deep blue eyes.
"I did it, I did it, I did it," Gustavia sang out.
She and her dowsing rods were about to become a fixture on the property. No doubt about it, Julie thought resisting the urge to roll her eyes.
"I cannot tell you how happy I am," Julie said dryly. One thing though, having something else to do might keep Gustavia from dragging her off to see more psychics and aura readers. Silver linings. Every cloud has them.
Gustavia looked toward the house.
"Uh-oh, here comes the wet blanket," she said. She and Logan were always coldly civil to each other; but, for her friend's sake, she wiped the disdain from her face and greeted him cordially as he joined them on the lawn.
Logan had barely gotten halfway back to the city before hearing what he thought was his own mental voice telling him Julie must have read those papers by now and, maybe, he should go back. Unseen in the back seat, Grams smiled, delighted at her ability to make her whisper heard as Logan made an illegal U-turn.
Positive he would find his fiancé contritely waiting for him, he'd sped back to the house.
Julie introduced the two men. Barely acknowledging Tyler, Logan took Julie by the arm stating, "We need to talk," as he pulled her forcefully away.
Tyler and Gustavia exchanged a look. He was not impressed. This guy had gone from zero to jackass in under 30 seconds.
"Not now, Logan, I have guests." She tried to pull her arm away, but he only tightened his grip.
"This is important; have you looked at those papers yet?" he asked, ignoring everything but his own interests. Still holding her arm, he leaned closer to Julie. Too close. He loomed over her. Tyler took a deep breath, ready to defend this woman he had only just met when Julie, eyes alight with anger, shook off Logan's hand and took a step forward. "Don't try to intimidate me, Logan." She drilled a finger into his chest. "I don't want to hear another word about those papers today, and you are being unforgivably rude."
Logan's eyes widened in surprise; he hadn't expected resistance. He'd used what he considered to be a perfect set of skills on her; she should have been trained by now to fall in line with whatever he asked. He clenched his hand into a fist, the desire to use it nearly overwhelming.
"I will read them when I get the chance," she continued.
Without another word, he turned and stalked away across the lawn.
***
Face flaming red, Logan got into his car. He needed to calm down before he messed up the entire plan. Venting his frustration by slamming the car into gear, he was tempted to peel out but drove sedately away. It wouldn't be a good idea to let anyone see the rage building up inside him. When he let the beast out of its cage, people sometimes got hurt. Now was not the time.
What was her deal, anyway? He'd expected her to just meekly sign the papers. Instead of thinking he might possibly have been wrong in his personality assessment of Julie, he decided Gustavia was the one turning her against him with all this talk of hidden valuables. Well, that was something he could easily deal with. It shouldn't take much to break up that little friendship; they were nothing alike and had only known each other a few years. They couldn't be that close; and if smashing their friendship didn't work, there was a more permanent solution. That crazy witch was not going to come between him and his future.
Six months of research on Hayward House hadn't turned up any rumors of treasure. Instead, Logan's master plan was to get control of the property then sell it to developers. In anticipation of everything going according to plan, he had already proposed a deal for the property to be developed into high-end condos, making him a lot of money in the process. The house would be razed; it was the land that had value. This was his big score. After all, it had only taken him three months to convince that half-witted twit to marry him; it shouldn't take long to get her to sign those papers; then he could do whatever he wanted with the house and the land. There would be no stopping him.
He knew when to step in and play the gallant prince. The grandmother had just loved him; then, when she died, he had swept Julie off her feet counting on her intense grief being a big enough distraction that she would fall in line with his plans. Once he had the house--well, there was no way he was going to spend a lifetime with that boring little photographer, not when he had a hot calendar model as a side piece: gorgeous, yes; but also dumber than a bag of hammers. Just the way he liked them.
Learning there might be something of value in the house or on the property made him doubly intent on following through with his goal. He would become the sole owner of Hayward house at any cost, plunder everything it had to offer, then walk away. Descended from a long line of pirate ancestors, he planned to carry on his heritage and its traditions—on land, of course; that was where the money was these days. He would stop at nothing—not even murder—to get what he wanted, what he already considered was his.
He still didn't see the shimmer in his rear seat; nor did he feel the intense fury coming from the energy of the spirit sitting there, the spirit that was easily able to read his thoughts. This man had no idea what forces he was messing with, but Grams was about to unleash a beast of her own. She'd gotten him to at least begin showing his true colors already hadn't she? It was a start.
***
"Well, that was pleasant," Tyler said, "nice to meet you, too." He and Gustavia shared a conspiratorial eye roll.
Julie slanted him a look, "I'm sorry you had to see that, but at least we got our first major fight out of the way before the wedding." Bothered more than he expected to be by the word wedding, Tyler said, "That was your first fight?" His eyebrows arched in surprise. "That was not a fight. That was an exercise in intimidation." His eyes narrowed as he replayed the scene in his head.
Gustavia muttered something under her breath. Tyler couldn't help being amused as he picked up the words skunk and stripes.
Julie looked away.
"But," he continued, "you handled it well. Can I be nosy and ask what papers?"
"A prenup, a will, and life insurance."
"Be careful signing those papers." As he said the words, she heard her grandfather's voice and felt a chill that raised the hairs on the back of her neck. Gustavia stepped closer, tilted her head and got that look on her face. The one that said she was about to talk about auras or chakras or some other new age word ending in ras.
She didn't quite know how it happened, but fifteen minutes later all three of them were in the car headed toward Amethyst's house. Or was it a burrow? Julie wasn't sure what to call it; she also didn't know how Tyler had managed to get invited along. Turning to him she asked, "Don't you have anything better to do?"
"Better than meeting more of your fascinating friends? Nope." He crossed his arms and gave her a cheeky grin.
Julie slumped in her seat and then stared out the window. How had her life gotten this out of control in a matter of days?
Meanwhile Gustavia gave Tyler the rundown on auras.
"Yours is wide and Julie's is tall, but they are almost the same color pattern which is cool. I just wish I could see mine but they don't show up in mirrors," she said as she drove north toward the hills outside of town, "Amethyst says my dominant colors are blue shading to indigo. In chakra colors that means my intuition and spirituality centers are strongest."
By now, Logan would have been talking over Gustavia to shut her up. No--strike that. Logan would never have gotten into a car with her in the first place, but Tyler asked questions as though he were genuinely inte
rested. He listened to the answers. Now to see what he would make of Amethyst. This might be a little bit fun.
For the second time in less than a week, Julie trudged through the seemingly empty field leading to the cozy underground home. For the second time in less than a week, her aura was going to be observed, talked about and repaired. For the second time in less than a week, she wished she were anywhere but here.
Chapter Nine
A gorgeous photographer who lived in what could almost pass for a castle, a treasure hunt, a goddess, and now he was pretty sure he was about to meet a fairy. A fairy that lived under a hill. Grabbing Julie's hand, Tyler placed it on his arm and said, "Pinch me; go ahead; do it."
They each felt a little tingle in the spot where her hand rested on his arm, but they both had their own compelling reasons for ignoring the feeling.
Shaking her head, she snatched her hand back, but grinned at him and said, "You haven't seen the half of it."
Tyler felt a great sense of anticipation as he looked at the door set into the hill. Made from honey-colored wood, it was attached with black wrought-iron hinges and covered with carvings in the shape of climbing vines. Flowers in shades of pink and white burst out of window boxes cleverly constructed from pieces of old rain gutter. When the door opened and he laid eyes on Amethyst for the first time, Tyler grinned like a dolphin. Best day ever. He didn't even wait for anyone to introduce him, just walked right up and kissed her on both cheeks saying, "I'm Tyler, and you must be the queen of the fairies."
His unabashed glee couldn't help but communicate itself to Amethyst, and she let out the throaty laugh that never failed to surprise. "What have you brought me, Gustavia?" she asked. Playing along, Gustavia answered, "Oh, just a mere mortal; feed him, and legend says he will be trapped here forever."
Before Amethyst could answer, Tyler pulled something out of his pocket. "This here is a musket ball I always carry with me; I believe cold iron will protect me from the fairy's spell."
Rings On Her Fingers (The Psychic Seasons Series Book 1) Page 5