by T. L. Haddix
“From the sounds of things, it’s burning quite well,” he replied grumpily.
She laughed. “I hope so.”
“Should I give him a nudge?”
As she withdrew her right foot and extended her left, she laid back, her arm behind her head, and stared at the ceiling, thinking. “I don’t know,” she finally said. “How much are you going to tell him? About the family, I mean.”
“As much as he can handle. I trust Sawyer. He’s a good man. He’s kept Noah’s secret well for a decade. Shoot, I didn’t know he was aware of Noah’s abilities for a year or so after he learned about them, and then it was only because Noah mentioned it in passing.” He sighed. “I’ll play it by ear. Think he’s going to want a demonstration?”
Sarah smiled. “Want me to call Rachel, have her come up for dinner?”
“Probably wouldn’t be a bad idea.”
Now that he was older, changing into the deer or wolf took a lot out of him. He could still do it, but it wasn’t the pleasant, cleansing metamorphosis it had been when he was younger. Thankfully, the compulsion to shift had died down over the last decade or so.
“I think we should pretend ignorance as far as his being with Sydney goes,” Sarah said as he handed her the phone. “After all, we could be wrong.”
“Do you really think we are?” he asked, sliding his hand up to her calf where he knew her muscles tended to tighten up into painful knots.
“I don’t think so, no. Or maybe that’s just my optimism talking.”
“I love your optimism, woman. Nothing wrong with it,” he said, easing over to lean down and kiss her. “I’ll see what I can find out. Subtly, of course, but I should be able to ferret out some information.”
“Good. And then we can decide when to push.” When he went to sit back up, she grabbed his shirt and tugged. “More, please.”
Owen laughed and lowered himself back down, bracing his weight on the couch as he dipped his head to kiss her again. “Yes, ma’am.”
Chapter Forty-Three
When Sawyer got to the farm five minutes before four, Owen was standing on the porch with Noah. They came down the steps as he parked and met him at his truck.
“Why don’t we walk?” Owen suggested. “It’s a good day for it.”
Even though it was late July, as high up on the mountain as they were, a good breeze was blowing. Unlike the steamy misery in the valleys, the air was comfortable and pleasant up top.
“Sure. Where’re we heading?”
“Down to my house,” Noah said.
Sawyer looked at Owen, remembering the grimace from a few weeks ago. “You sure about that?”
Owen winked and slapped him on the shoulder. “I’m not as decrepit as you think. Let’s go.” He started out, walking briskly and with a surefooted stride of a man twenty years younger.
Noah grinned at Sawyer’s surprise. “Come on before he beats us down there.”
“How’s Eli?” Sawyer asked as they caught up to Owen.
“Better,” Noah said. “They had him up walking on crutches before we left Germany, and Mom said he’s fighting mad to get out of the hospital here. If everything goes as planned, he’ll probably go to rehab Monday or Tuesday. And he could come home a couple of weeks after that.”
Sawyer was stunned. “That soon?”
Owen smiled. “That soon. He’s a Campbell. A lot of us heal faster than the average bear.”
As much as he wanted to delve into that little tidbit of information, Sawyer had something else on his mind.
“How are you doing?” he asked Noah, who was slightly ahead of them on the wide path.
The younger man shrugged. He looked wearier than Sawyer had ever seen him. “Now that I’m home, I’m good. There’s less… How do I say this? Hospitals aren’t the best place for someone like me. There’s a lot of suffering that goes on, especially in the kinds of hospitals Eli’s been in. A lot of people don’t walk away from those places.”
Sawyer exchanged a look with Owen. Noah was talking about the dead.
“Hopefully you won’t have to go back there,” Owen said. “He’ll be home soon.”
“Yeah. I hope we can get things sorted out between us once he is home. He’s stubborn, though. Gets that from the Campbells, too.” Noah turned and walked backward to grin at his grandfather. It was a startling reflection of what Owen must have looked like fifty years earlier. The smile was Zanny’s, but everything else was pure Campbell.
In that moment, Sawyer couldn’t help but wonder what a child of his and Sydney’s might look like. He ruthlessly tamped down that train of thought, knowing from painful experience that it would only lead to heartache.
“So what else runs in the Campbell family?” Sawyer asked. They’d reached the edge of the clearing where Noah lived. In the bright sunshine, he could see even more details of the magical setting.
“That’s why we brought you here,” Owen answered. He heaved out a sigh, eyeing Sawyer carefully. “You’ve kept Noah’s secrets well. And what we’re getting ready to discuss here, it’s vitally important you keep those secrets, too. If word got out about this, it could be disastrous for our family. Do you understand that?”
Owen was as serious as Sawyer had ever seen him. He nodded. “Yes, sir. I think I do.”
After a minute, Owen accepted the words. “Okay, then. How much do you know?”
“I know that when I offered Sydney some deer salami, she turned white as a sheet. And she told me not to ever offer anyone else in the family anything made of deer. She had that sick look on her face the two of you have right now. Between that and reading your books, I’m guessing what Noah can do is just the tip of the iceberg.”
Owen exchanged a look with Noah. The younger man shrugged. “Might as well.”
“Come with me. Noah, you get our… demonstration ready.”
Sawyer followed Owen to a shady corner of the garden, far removed from the house. A round table was situated under an arching maple tree, comfortable-looking chairs arranged around its perimeter. On the edge of the area was the carved statue of a young buck, a cluster of daisies in his mouth as he looked up, startled. The sight made Sawyer laugh.
“That’s so lifelike. Noah has so much talent. You can tell that guy’s shocked to have been discovered eating those flowers.”
Owen grinned. “Sarah snapped a picture of me while I was grazing in her flower bed one day about oh, thirty years ago. Those daisies were too tempting to resist. Almost as good as sliced apple. Noah took the picture and made this. Said it appealed to his sense of whimsy.”
It took a few seconds for the meaning behind the words to sink in. “Excuse me?” Sawyer asked faintly. He eased down into one of the chairs, not taking his eyes off Owen.
Instead of answering directly, Owen moved on to a beautiful wolf, caught in a playful pose as it nipped at the tail of a seated mountain lion who, Sawyer swore, was watching it with indulgent resignation. Owen rested his hand on the wolf’s head. “You’d never know it by talking to her, but this is Amelia. I can change into either a wolf or a deer depending on how I feel. I’ve never been entirely comfortable as the wolf. That’s usually reserved for when I’m in a dark place mentally. But my baby girl, she takes such joy in becoming that animal.”
He touched the mountain lion’s ear. “Logan, bless his patient soul, endures all kinds of teasing from her when she’s in her wolf form. She likes to chew on his tail. Not hard, mind you. Just enough to remind him she’s there.”
Sawyer couldn’t have spoken or moved then if his life depended on it. Fortunately, Owen saw that, and he moved down the line to the mountain lion who was reclining on its side, one paw raised as he licked at it. His eyes were half closed, and Sawyer would have sworn he could see satisfaction in the cat’s face. Two cubs with chunky feet and
curious expressions were climbing over the lion’s back.
“Archer and the boys. Shifting tends to run in the family, you see. He lost his cat for a few years after he was shot, back before he met Emma. Remember when that bullet fragment shifted and we almost lost him? Not long after they were married?”
Sawyer nodded slowly. “Yeah.”
“He got the cat back then. Didn’t know it for a few weeks after surgery. Emma woke up one morning to find a cat in her bed, and not Huff and Puff.” Owen chuckled. “She was pregnant with Graydon, just starting to show. Called me, told me to expect her with a cat, and came out here so fast she didn’t even let Sydney get dressed. Just pulled her robe on over her pajamas. Sarah and I thought she was bringing us a kitten or something.”
“But it was Archer?” Sawyer managed.
“Yep. As soon as she parked, she got out and held the door open. He ran and ran and ran that day. Hadn’t been able to shift for close to ten years at that point. Emma just sat on the porch and cried, she was so happy.”
“And both their sons…”
“Are mountain lions. Carter’s been able to shift since he was little. Graydon only figured it out when he was twelve.”
It was so much more to take in than Sawyer had ever imagined. “Emma’s the only normal one, Sydney said. And Sarah.”
Owen sat beside him as Noah came out, a tray with tall glasses and a jug of lemonade on it. There was also a small bowl of sliced apples. Noah dished some out and handed them to Owen, then offered some to Sawyer, who shook his head.
Owen took a drink of lemonade. “Ah, there’s my boy. Thank you. Emma’s so stubborn she more than makes up for being normal. And Sarah… she might not be a shifter or have the abilities some of our offspring have, but I think there’s something there. Several talents popped up in our progeny that didn’t come from the Campbells.”
“What about Rachel? Easton? Eli? Amelia and Logan’s kids?”
Noah sat down across from Sawyer and poured himself a glass. “Easton’s normal. Eli has Dad’s gift for patterns, maybe even stronger than Dad. Two of Pip’s kids are shifters—one cat and one wolf. I’m working on their statues now. As for Rachel… if she’d ever come out, you could see for yourself,” he said, raising his voice and looking toward the house. “He’s not freaking out. Come on. Stop being nervous. I have apples.”
After a minute, soft footfalls sounded in the grass and a wary deer poked its head around a shrub. It studied Sawyer for a long time, assessing him, before stepping forward. A doe, it eased toward the table carefully. Once she saw he wasn’t going to react violently, she relaxed and came up to Noah, who fed her sliced apples.
“Oh, my God.” Sawyer was afraid to breathe. He gathered he was supposed to believe the deer was Rachel, but he couldn’t accept that. It was too fantastical. That said, the magic of a deer who was so tame was mind blowing. “How’d you get it to come in the yard?”
“It? Um, she volunteered to show you the deer,” Noah said, handing him some apple. “She changed in the house.”
Sawyer chuckled. “Okay. If you say so.” He held the fruit out in his palm.
The deer took it, but before she pulled back, she snorted mightily as though offended.
“It’s a lot to take in,” Owen said. “But that’s Rachel.”
“Sure it is. No offense. This is a really charming fairytale you two have woven here. But I can’t… no. I could believe one of you. But so many of you?” He shrugged, shaking on the inside. He didn’t believe it. He couldn’t. Could he? “So where’s ‘Rachel’s’ statue?”
“In the workshop. A limb fell and knocked her ear off,” Noah said. The deer snorted again, nudging him in the side hard enough to shift his chair. “What? I’m sorry. It wasn’t my fault. I’ll make it as good as new.”
As he looked from the deer to Noah to Owen, Sawyer didn’t see the hint of a laugh or a smile that might indicate they were joking, only indulgent tolerance. Though he’d been expecting something, he sure as hell hadn’t been expecting this.
“Why don’t you follow her back to the house, Sawyer?” Owen suggested. “She’ll change back and answer your questions.”
“Okay.” He still didn’t believe what he was seeing, but he was at a loss as to what else to do. Without an argument to the contrary, he stood. The deer turned and led the way back to the house.
By the time they reached the deck, Sawyer was on his way to being able to accept what he’d been told. The deer hadn’t just wandered a path and ended up at the house. She moved with purpose.
When they got to the door, she looked over her shoulder at him as though asking him to open it. He did.
“What, you can’t turn the knob?” he asked as he twisted it.
She shook her head and butted the door gently, opening it wide enough that she could walk through. Astonished, Sawyer followed and closed it. He watched as she went to the bathroom and closed the door with her nose.
Fig meowed at him from the loft above the living room, causing him to jump.
“Cat, you scared me to death. What do you think about a deer being in your house?” he asked as she bunny-hopped downstairs and scampered over to where he was standing next to the bar. She didn’t answer him, but by this point, he wouldn’t have been surprised if she’d spoken.
Two minutes after the door had closed, it opened. And instead of the deer, out came Rachel, fully dressed.
“You want to check and make sure there’s no way out?” she asked as she crossed to the kitchen.
He didn’t respond, just hurried to the bathroom to look. No deer, no window or door to the outside of the house. His knees were weak as he turned to face Rachel, who was sipping on some water.
“You okay?” she asked.
Sawyer shook his head, an incredulous huff escaping as he grasped the doorframe to keep from falling. “You, you… How? I can’t… I need to sit down.”
He was still on the couch several minutes later when Noah and Owen came in. Rachel, seated beside him, was rubbing his shoulder. Head in his hands, he lifted his face briefly to look at the men, then lowered it back.
“He’s okay,” she told them. “It’s just taking a little time for everything to sink in. Knowing and knowing are different cats entirely.”
“You must have questions,” Owen said, taking a seat in the recliner next to the couch. “When you’re ready, we’ll answer them. There’s no rush.”
Sawyer didn’t even know where to begin. He looked at Rachel, studying her as though he’d never seen her before. “Sydney wouldn’t tell me what the secret was. Just that I needed to talk to you,” he said to Owen, “and that it wasn’t her secret to tell.”
“That’s my girl. It says a lot about how much she trusts you that she’d even say that much to you.”
“Just how did that conversation come up?” Rachel asked. There was a bit of a challenge in her tone, but it was teasing, not adversarial.
“He offered her some deer salami,” Noah said when Sawyer hesitated.
Rachel sucked in a breath. “Oh. What the hell were you doing with that? You’re a vegetarian.”
“A friend gave it to me. I have omnivores over from time to time. No point in throwing it away. Well, there wasn’t. Damn, I’ve never been so glad I don’t eat meat. I’ll dispose of it as soon as I get home.” He felt sick, thinking about Rachel being caught outside the safety of Owen’s property by hunters. “That’s why this property’s so big.”
Owen nodded. “At first, I wanted to protect my privacy. And then when I met Sarah and we started having kids, it became about making sure they had a safe place to change, to grow up.”
“Speaking of Grandma, we’d better head back up to the house,” Noah said. “She’ll be wondering what happened to us.”
All through dinner, Sawyer kept
trying to figure out if he was dreaming or if the last few hours had really happened. He wished Sydney was there to guide him through the maze he felt like he was lost in. She had a unique perspective on the world, a way of viewing life that was very different from how he interpreted things, but somehow, her vision complemented his.
When he realized what he was thinking—that he was starting to turn to her for emotional support in ways he’d not done with anyone in years—it rocked him more than any revelations Owen had made.
She was sneaking in behind the wall he’d built, and he didn’t know how in the world he was going to get her out, or even if he wanted to get her out. He’d dealt with enough today already without having to figure out his suddenly complicated feelings. There’d be time enough to deal with that once she got home.
Chapter Forty-Four
By noon on Monday, Sawyer was pacing the office, waiting anxiously for Sydney’s return. She’d been delayed leaving Virginia, and when she’d texted him at ten Sunday night, she’d guessed it would be at least three a.m. before they got in. He’d texted her back, insisting she not come in until noon if she felt like coming in at all. His phone rang a few seconds later.
“Don’t be ridiculous. Of course I’ll feel like coming in. How are things there?”
“Quiet. Boring. Lonely. Did you have a good visit?” he asked, stretching out on the bed.
“We did. I’ll tell you more when I see you. I can’t talk long tonight. Daddy and I stopped at a rest area for a few minutes. He’s lost without Mom, even though she’s only going to be out there a week.” Emma was staying to give John and Zanny a break.
Sawyer knew how Archer felt, he thought uncomfortably. “How far out are you?”
“About an hour from Roanoke on the Washington side. I wish we were home.”