“How about that?” Nasha raised one shoulder. “That’s Shadowvale for you. Sometimes this town just has a mind of its own.”
Chapter Sixteen
Deacon’s morning was off to a good start. He was spine-free as of 2:17 a.m., and now he was walking into Amelia’s dining room, about to see Em again.
While he wasn’t exactly looking forward to what today was going to bring, he was happy to see her. And happy to be spending the day with her, such as it was.
He liked her. There was no denying that. And spending time with her wasn’t hard.
Too bad his future, and Gracie’s, depended on getting her to leave.
Beckett announced him as he entered. “Mr. Evermore is here.”
Amelia nodded. “Good morning, Deacon.”
Em twisted in her chair to see him. “Hey.”
“Hey. Morning.”
“Are you hungry? Em asked. “There’s all kinds of good stuff. Ham and cheese quiche, to be exact.”
“I ate at home, but I’m always up for another cup of coffee.”
A wide grin spread across her face. “I love coffee.”
He did, too, but her expression seemed a little over the top. Maybe she’d had a few too many cups already. Didn’t bother him. Who didn’t get a little overcaffeinated sometimes? He took a seat next to her. Helen, the housekeeper, came over and filled his cup.
The sparkle in Em’s eyes remained. “Where are we off to today?”
He glanced at Amelia. The look in her eyes was dark and certain. “Couple places,” he said. “Mostly just around.”
How did he tell her they were going to see some of the town’s most infamous residents? The ones that existed only in myth and legend outside these walls? He couldn’t really. It would be easier to show her.
And hope those particular people didn’t take offense to being used as a deterrent, supposing they found out.
“So mysterious,” Em said.
“I don’t mean to be. It’s just hard to explain where we’re going when you’ve never been there before.” He took a big gulp of coffee and checked his watch. “Actually, we should get going.”
The first person they were going to see required proper timing.
Em frowned. “I’m not done with my breakfast.”
“I’ll get you a snack.” He stood. “Come on.”
“Fine, but I’m bringing it with me.” She stood, picking up her remaining slice of quiche. “See you later, Aunt Amelia. Dinner tonight, right?”
“Yes.” Amelia nodded. “Have a safe day.”
Em’s expression turned curious. “I’m sure we will.”
Deacon tipped his head toward the hall. “My truck’s out front.”
She followed him out of the room. “Kind of strange, don’t you think?”
“What?”
“‘Have a safe day.’ That’s not what people usually say. Have a fun time, have a good day, that’s what people say.” She looked at Deacon. “Why would she say ‘safe’?”
He grunted. “It’s Shadowvale. ‘Safe’ is the right word.”
That seemed to end the conversation until they were in the truck and headed toward their destination. By then, Em had finished her breakfast.
She tucked one leg under her and shifted in her seat. “So. Did you know my aunt has a pet tiger?”
“Thoreau? Yes. I think everyone knows.”
She clicked her tongue against the roof of her mouth. “Well, I didn’t until I came face-to-face with him in the garden.”
Despite his best intentions, Deacon laughed. “I wish I could have seen that.”
“It freaked me out!”
“I’m sure it did. It would have freaked me out, too.” He glanced at her. “You don’t seem to be any worse for the encounter.”
She gave him a withering look. “All my scars are mental and emotional.”
“Good to know your beauty remains unscathed.” A second after the words were out of his mouth, he realized what he’d said.
Her silence melded with his until the space inside the cab pushed toward uncomfortable.
She suddenly held her hands up. “Okay, you think I’m cute, that’s cool. Where are we going? Into the woods? If so, is this the enchanted forest or just a regular old—”
“Not cute. Beautiful. And yes, I do think that about you.” Why pretend he’d said something different when he hadn’t?
“Oh.” She stared at her hands, which were now in her lap.
“Don’t tell me you’ve never heard that before. I’m sure a lot of men have said the same thing. And probably a lot more than just ‘you’re beautiful.’”
She nodded. “Yeah. I’ve heard it. For whatever it’s worth. I just didn’t expect it from you. I didn’t think you liked me enough to even notice anything about the way I look.”
“I like you.” And he had noticed. It was impossible not to. Especially when she was right next to him.
She lifted her head. “You do? I thought you were just, I don’t know, tolerating me because my aunt is making you take me around.”
“Maybe a little in the beginning. But you’ve grown on me.”
Her brows canted inward, and her mouth quirked up on one side. “Like a fungus.”
He snorted. “I did not say that.”
She shook her head, still smiling. “Thanks. For the record, I think you’re a very handsome guy.”
He didn’t drive off the road, which was nice. She thought he was handsome. So she’d actually looked at him, then. But handsome? That wasn’t a word he’d ever use to describe himself.
She went on when he didn’t say anything. “I mean, you’re kind of grumpy, too, but I get that it’s sort of your thing.”
“My thing?” His brows lifted as he looked at her. “I’m not grumpy.”
“Oh, you’re totally grumpy. Even your sister agrees.”
“You talked to Gracie about my grumpiness?”
“Among other things.” A sly, knowing light danced in Em’s eyes.
He shifted uncomfortably. “What other things?”
She casually lifted one shoulder like she couldn’t quite recall. “Nothing much. But your sister is definitely trying to hook you up.”
For the second time, he managed to keep the wheel steady. “What?”
Em nodded. “That was my take anyway.”
“I do not want to be set up.” Getting into a relationship with anyone was out of the question. It was pointless. He was trying to leave Shadowvale, not find a new reason to be anchored here.
“If she brings it up again, I’ll tell her.”
“Thanks.” He was lost in his thoughts for a moment and almost missed the turn.
Em leaned forward. “Are we going back downtown? I didn’t think anything would be open at this hour.”
“We’re going close to downtown, and you’re right that nothing’s open, but we’re just going to observe.”
“Observe what?”
“You’ll see.”
She scrunched up her face. “Still with all the mysterious stuff.”
He pulled into the shadowy depths of a back alley and parked. He tipped his head forward. “Can you see the landing there on the second floor?”
She looked up. “With the stairs leading up to it? Yes.”
“Good. Keep watching.” He checked the time. Only a few more minutes, unless Henry was off his schedule for some reason.
But the good doctor was on time, as usual, and came lumbering up the stairs in his cursed form.
The hunched bulk of the man reached the door, a slab of reinforced steel, and began pawing at it, trying to pull it open with hands the size of baseball mitts. When he had no luck, he leaned his mountainous shoulder against it and pushed with a grunt that reverberated through the alley.
Em sat up. “Who is that?”
“That is Dr. Hendrick Jekyll. Henry to those who know him. But as you see him now, he’s at the tail end of his cursed state. In that form, he prefers to be called Edgar Hy
de.”
As Hyde grew weary of the effort, he gave up and slumped down against the door. Beneath the thick ledge of his brow, his eyes closed. His time was nearly up, and his energy was going with it.
Em stared at Deacon. “You mean as in Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde?”
“Yes. He’s a descendant.”
“But that’s just a story.”
“Is it? Keep watching.”
Hyde began to change. His body lost all of the extra musculature, his bones shrank, and his features returned to their human state.
Em was at the edge of her seat. “He looks…normal now.”
“Happens every morning at this time. He won’t allow his cursed self into his apartment, so he spends the night in a basement cell beneath his laboratory and shop.”
The now transformed doctor opened his eyes. He patted himself down, then ran his hands over his face. Satisfied he was himself again, he stood and placed his hand on the electronic panel next to the door.
The door unlocked, and he went in, shutting it behind him.
Em blinked and shook her head. “Did I really just see that?”
Deacon started the car. “Yes, you did.”
“Has he ever not spent the night in the basement?”
“Yes. It takes several of us to contain him. Still happens on occasion.” He backed out of the alley. He didn’t want to drive past Hendrick’s and alert him that they’d been there. The man had enough on his plate.
She looked pale. “Does he do anything…bad when he’s out?”
“I guess ‘bad’ is relative in this town, but he tore down seven lampposts on Main. Chased Maggie Thorpe into the river. He’s afraid of water, apparently, and that was enough to get him to leave her alone. Wiped out half of Skeet Lander’s chickens.”
“Wiped out?”
“Ate.” He turned onto Main and headed for the forest.
She grimaced. “What other things that I’ve spent my whole life thinking were made up are actually real?”
“That’s a tough question for me to answer. I don’t know what you’ve thought was made up.”
“The Little Mermaid.”
“Can’t say about that story, but we do have mermaids. And mermen. They’re beautiful, if you’re into fish, but some of them are also very dangerous.”
She stared, openmouthed. “And where do they live? In the river? Or the lake?”
“They live wherever they want. Like Frieda. She’s half mermaid and can’t really shift. That’s where the spines come from. But quite a few live in Bayou La Mer.” He watched while she took that in. “Does that make you think twice about living here?”
“I…” She shook her head. “No, it doesn’t. Nothing is going to make me leave. Not when I have so many reasons to stay.”
The way she said reasons, it was like there was something more to it than what he already knew. Whatever. He’d see what he could do about changing her mind. With a nod, he took the next turn into the enchanted forest. The neighborhood they were headed to wasn’t a place anyone went unless they had a very good reason.
The Dark Acres. He went if he was called. But otherwise, no. He didn’t even fly over in raven form.
“You never did answer my question earlier.”
He glanced at her. “About what?”
“Are we headed for the enchanted forest or a different forest?”
“We’re going to part of the enchanted forest. One that I don’t recommend you ever come to on your own. Actually, you shouldn’t come to any part of the forest by yourself.”
She settled back in the seat, slouching down a bit. “So you’re just bringing me here to put some fear into me.”
He wasn’t surprised that she’d picked up on that. It was what he was doing, after all. He was a little surprised she’d called him out on it. “You need to know who lives in this town. That’s all.”
And then, hopefully, be scared enough to not want to move here.
Chapter Seventeen
She watched him for a bit, trying to read his expression, but he didn’t have much of one. Unless poker face qualified as an expression. It should, because it was one he was really, really good at. In fact, he seemed to be deliberately holding on to that look because she was scrutinizing him.
Yep. She kept staring, and there was no change.
Fine.
She let out a little sigh and went back to watching the scenery. They had been driving through a residential area with some lovely parks, then had passed a high school—home of the Tigers, interestingly enough—but now what they were passing was just landscape. Lots of trees, the occasional bridge over a small stream, a field here and there. Pretty standard stuff.
A new question popped into her head. “Hellhounds?”
“What?” He turned. “Where?”
“I guess that answers that question. Those are real.”
“Yes. But rare.”
“Yikes. Even so, evening strolls are out of the question. How about the boogeyman?”
“Depends on your definition.”
“Freddy Krueger?”
“No, he’s not real or the boogeyman.”
“Good. That would be super weird and terrifying.” She thought a little more. “Spice worms?”
“What?”
“You know, from that series Dune. Never mind. Dragons? Bigfoot? Giant spiders?” A thick wall of trees had sprung up next to them. Their leaves, despite the lack of sun, were the most brilliant green.
“Yes, yes, and not giant, no.”
“So just standard spiders?”
“There are some large ones in the Dark Acres.”
She shuddered. “I don’t love giant spiders. Or any spider, really.”
He shook his head. “And yet you liked the meowls.”
“Hello, they’re kind of the opposite of spiders. They’re adorable cats with wings. What’s not to like?”
He just grunted like he couldn’t understand why that was even a question. Then he slowed and turned down a road cut between the trees. What light there was went green.
She glanced up through the window. The leafy canopy grew over the road, making a tunnel. No sky was visible, just leaves and branches.
It was pretty. And definitely seemed magical. “Is this the enchanted forest?”
“Yes.”
“What makes it enchanted?”
“The biggest meridian line runs beneath it. Look closer at the trees.” He slowed a bit.
She turned, concentrating her efforts out the window. She squinted. Was she really seeing what she thought she was seeing? “Are those…faces? On the trees?”
“On some of them, yes. That’s an indicator that a wood nymph lives there.”
She had no clue what a wood nymph was. “Is that so the tree isn’t accidentally cut down?”
“It helps, yes. Not that we harvest any of these trees.”
Deeper in, where less light reached, a faint glow seemed to cling to the trees. “What are the spots of light I see on some of the trees?”
“Sprite moss. It’s naturally phosphorescent. Only place I know that it grows is in this wood.”
“Wow. That is really cool.”
“It is. But don’t get romanced. This is an easy place to get lost in.”
“Got it.” Every once in a while, a small unmarked road diverged from the main. There were a few footpaths, too. “I’m not doubting you about getting lost, but who uses those paths, then?”
“Desperate people.”
She looked at him. “What does that mean?”
He shifted his hands, putting one on top of the steering wheel and the other on his leg. “There’s a very special book somewhere in this forest. Legend says your best chance of finding it is during a full moon. Anyway, if you can find it and you write your name in it, your curse will be gone. The book absorbs it. Or so the story goes.”
“But you don’t believe it.”
“I want to, but…” He shrugged, a little anger tugging at his mouth.<
br />
And suddenly she knew why. “You’ve tried to find it, haven’t you?”
Silence answered her for a few seconds. “Everyone did in high school.”
She wanted to ask him if that was the only time he’d looked, but she wasn’t sure he’d want to tell her the truth. “What kind of book can do that?”
“A magical one. Just like everything else in this town.” He turned down another road. It was wider than any of the others she’d seen and had a sign. Blackthorn Drive. “Ask your aunt about the book. She’s supposed to be the one that found it.”
“Really? I—” The woods around them changed, thickening as the trees grew more twisted. The light dimmed further. In fact, everything dimmed. Or darkened. She moved closer to the window. The brilliant green leaves looked almost black, and the bark now resembled charcoal, burnt and gray. “Was there a fire here?”
“No. This is just very cursed ground.”
And yet, while she didn’t see much glowing moss, she did see something else. “Are those fireflies? I’ve never seen red ones before.”
“Not in the Dark Acres. Those are either will-o’-the-wisps or lightning bugs. Wait, red? Lightning bugs.”
“Aren’t fireflies and lightning bugs the same thing?”
“No. The lightning bugs carry a charge, like an electric eel. And they will zap you.”
She took her hands off the truck door and placed them on her lap. For the first time, she was having second thoughts about Shadowvale. She didn’t like that. Not when she’d been so certain this was her new start. “Why is there so much here that can do harm?”
He glanced at her, maybe a hint of sympathy in his gaze. “I told you, this town is a cursed place.”
She looked straight ahead, trying to see where they were going. An iron arch crossed the road ahead. Dark Acres was spelled out in the top curve, but there were no gates to keep anyone out. Or in. “Where are you taking me?”
“As I said, the Dark Acres.”
“I see that. But why? Who lives there?”
“Nasha’s father, for starters.”
“One of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse lives here? In Shadowvale?”
The Trouble With Witches Page 12