Chapter 10

Ellie lay in bed, unable to sleep. It was five in the morning, and she hadn’t slept at all. She couldn’t stop thinking about the gem that was now securely attached to her necklace, the secret house, and the man who claimed to be her grandfather.

Cam had run the photos through the database at the sheriff’s department and identified the men with Simon Dansforth. Neither had a criminal record. He’d suggested that she make a statement that they’d been the ones to attack her but something inside her balked at the idea.

She told him she just wanted to forget it and move on. That was a mistake. They ended up in a huge argument and he’d elected to sleep in the main house.

Ellie didn’t want to fight with Cam. She knew she was in love with him, but what she didn’t know was if they stood a chance at a future together. She didn’t put much faith in the power of love overcoming all.

Hell, her family was a living testament to love not conquering all. Her grandmother spent her life alone, her mother died and her father…well she guessed her father spent the rest of his life mourning the love he lost and incapable of bestowing love on anyone else, even his child.

Her own life didn’t speak so highly of her ability in matters of love. She’d cared for her husband but had never felt a consuming, overwhelming love for him. Ellie had grieved at his death, but she was honest enough to admit that she didn’t miss him.

Maybe that in itself spoke volumes. She was married to the man for five years and didn’t miss him?

Cam might be much better off without her in his life.

The problem was, when she considered life without him in it, something clenched inside her, a pain she could only equate to that which she’d felt when she lost her grandmother, the only family she’d ever really known.

She felt for the gem of the necklace and lifted it up. As always when it made contact with her skin, miniscule lights danced inside it. What are you?

Something swam up through the layers of her mind, an old story her grandmother used to tell her at night when she was very young. It was about the Fae and their magical land, of a portal between this world and theirs.

Ellie suddenly sat straight up, her heart hammering. In the story, the Fae princess rode a magnificent white horse. He was a magical being, sometimes horse and sometimes man. And he took her on journeys, looking for her sister, who had been stolen when but a wee babe.

She grabbed her phone and dialed Cam. He answered on the third ring. “Ellie? Are you okay?”

“I’m sorry. I’m sorry I woke you, argued with you, and didn’t listen to you. I’m sorry and please don’t be mad at me. I…I need to go to the house, Cam. Now. I know you don’t understand, and I can’t explain but I have to go there.”

There was a brief pause before he responded. “Put on a pot of coffee. I’ll be there in ten minutes.”

Ellie jumped out of bed, ran to the bathroom, and climbed in the shower. Five minutes later she was dressing. Just as she hit the brew button on the coffee pot, Cam tapped at the door.

She opened the door and they both just stood there looking at one another. The awkwardness scared her. Had she already scared him off? “I’m sorry,” she said.

When he yanked her to him and folded her in his arms, she nearly sagged in relief. “I’m sorry, too, honey. I shouldn’t have tried to force you into something you didn’t want to do. I just want to protect you, Ellie.”

“I know and I appreciate it,” she said, keeping her head pressed against his chest. “And I will make a statement. Today. You’re right about that, Cam. I should do that. If those men would do that to me, they’ll do it to someone else and I can’t be responsible for that.

“And if they did it because that man Dansforth told them to then I want him punished as well.”

Cam pulled back to look at her. “I think that’s the right thing to do.”

“Even though he’s rich as Midas and probably will walk away without even a slap on the wrist?”

“Yeah, even though.”

“Okay. So that’s what we’ll do. Just as soon as we go—oh! Oh shit, I’m sorry. You have to work.”

“I told you I’d take the day and I will. Now, how about we have a cup of coffee? We have about 45 minutes ‘till dawn and there’s no point stomping around in the woods in the dark.”

“I can fix breakfast,” she suggested with a smile.

“I can eat breakfast,” he said and grinned.

Her mood lightened considerably, and she busied herself with cooking. They didn’t talk of Dansforth or the house or anything to do with her father as she cooked, or as they ate. Cam told her about Lily and the Gypsy Vanner she’d fallen in love with via photos and information she got online from a breeder in Ocala.

“Is she going to buy the horse?”

“She said she was going to ride up the first of the week and take a look. She mentioned asking you to go with her.”

“Oh, I’d love that! Hey, there’s one more biscuit. You want it?”

“No, I’m stuffed. What say I help you with the dishes before we head out?”

“You don’t have to do that.” She got up and started clearing the table.

Cam got up with his plate and followed her to the sink. He set his plate down then took her hand to turn her toward him. “I’m sorry about the argument, honey.”

“I know you were just trying to do what’s right, Cam. I was wrong and I’m sorry. You’ve been so good to me, and I don’t want you to think I don’t appreciate it. I…I’m just not used to having someone look out for me, you know?”

“Well, I aim to change that. I’m here for you Ellie. I told you that and I mean it. I love you, honey and I don’t want to see you hurt, so you’ll have to forgive me if I get heated up about this stuff.”

Ellie was quite sure she’d never had sweeter words spoken to her and it kind of rattled her, so she tried to pass it off. “Well, truth be told I kinda like you all heated up.”

Cam’s expression went to surprise and then something else entirely. She was a bit shocked at the strength he exerted when he pulled her to him and claimed a kiss. And holy mother of all that was holy, what a kiss. Ellie had never—not ever—had her toes curl because of a kiss, but he had the power to make that happen.

Here was the passion he’d held so tightly in check. He unleashed it in his kiss, and it stripped away all hesitation from her, allowing her own passion to break free. When he suddenly pulled away embarrassment immediately followed. She should not have let herself give in to the desire she felt for him. She’d obviously turned him off.

“Honey, if we keep this up, we’re not getting to your secret house anytime soon.”

Relief washed through her making her feel almost giddy. “You’re one hell of a guy, Cam Marsh.”

Cam smiled and gave her a quick kiss. “Okay, hot stuff, let’s get going.”

“Right behind you, just have to grab my phone and keys.”

Ellie snatched up her things from the countertop, shoved everything in her pocket, and followed Cam out to his truck. The sky was starting to lighten and there was the barest hint of cool to the air.

“Does it get very cold here in winter?” she asked.

“We can get a week or so of lows in the 40s and cool days in the 50s or 60s, but generally we get highs in the low 80s and lows in the low 70s.”

“Beats the heck out of 30 degrees and rain.”

“Oh, hell yes. Although sometimes I do miss snow.”

“Haven’t gotten a lot of snow around Charlotte in the last few years. I mean not enough to stick around more than a day.”

“Maybe this winter we should take a trip somewhere there’s real snow—the mountains or something.”

“Really?”

“Well yeah.”

“That’d be wonderful.”

Both fell silent for the remainder of the drive. The moment Cam made the turn into the property Ellie felt conflicting emotions rise. On the one hand, that squatty old house made her feel depressed. Not to mention the memory of getting beat all to hell while in it.

On the other hand, thoughts of the secret house and the lake and stream filled her with excitement and anticipation. She wasted no time getting out of the truck and starting around the side of the house.

Cam fell in step beside her. No words were exchanged until they reached the stream.

“Guess you don’t need anyone to protect you from the snakes,” Cam said.

“Huh?”

“You don’t seem scared out here anymore.”

That stopped Ellie in her tracks because it hit her. She wasn’t afraid. Not at all. “Wow, wonder how that happened?”

Cam shrugged and gestured for her to precede him. She smiled and led the way. The moment the house came into view, she stopped and took his hand. “Isn’t it…magical?”

“Definitely doesn’t seem quite real, “Cam said. “So, if that mean’s magical, then yeah.”

“Come on!” She took his hand and broke into a run, eager to get to the house.

She unlocked the door and opened it. Once again, a wonderful smell hit her as soon as she entered, but this time it wasn’t of cinnamon and spice, odors that incited feelings of things homey. It was of flowers and trees, the bite of cedar in the air and jasmine and roses.

“It smells different.” Cam commented.

“Strange huh. Oh, crap we forgot to bring a screwdriver for that door.”

Ellie hurried to the door in the rear of the living area. “Wonder what’s behind it?”

She put her hand against the door and the moment she did, the gem in the necklace around her neck flared like a strobe light. Ellie squeaked Cam’s name in surprise and a little bit of fear, almost at the same instant her hand and the surface of the door lit in a brilliant flare of light.

“Ellie!” Cam grabbed her by the shoulders to pull her away but stopped short because at that same moment the light disappeared, and the door swung open about three inches.

Ellie backed up a step, colliding with Cam and fumbling for his hand. Her heart was beating wildly in her chest. “What was that?” She whispered.

“Beats the hell outta me.”

“What do we do?”

“See what’s inside.” He reached around her and pushed on the door. It opened into blackness.

“Maybe there’s a switch on the wall inside,” he suggested and stepped around Ellie to feel along the wall inside the black room. “Nope.”

Ellie ventured a step into the darkness. She couldn’t see two inches in front of her face. “It’s the weirdest thing ever,” she commented. “I mean, why isn’t the light from the house at least spilling part of the way in?”

“Beats the shit outta me, honey. This is all getting a little too twilight zone for my brain.”

“No kidding.” She held out her hands and took another step and then another. “We need light.”

No sooner were the words out of her mouth than a golden light appeared. It had no visible source that she could see, it was simply there. And what was odder still was that it was not an even an actual light from a fixture. It was like a circular cloud of illumination, brightest at its center and fading the further it moved away from the center point.

In the center of what appeared to be a large room stood a circular table. Its top appeared to be of some type of black stone, smooth but intricately carved. The support was a large center column, equally as intricate in the carvings it bore. The column did not seem to be mounted to the base that flared out from it, but more a part of it.

“It looks like a tree,” Ellie said as it hit her. “The top is like the branches and the support is the trunk. Oh my god, Cam, look. The base looks like it’s rooted into the floor.”

“Strangest thing I’ve ever seen in my life. What’s that on the table? I mean besides that box sitting in the middle of it. A rolled-up paper?”

“Let’s see.” Ellie started forward but Cam grabbed her arm and stopped her.

“Maybe we should just get out and close the door.”

“Why?” She asked.

“Why? Well, how about because of what just happened? This shit isn’t natural.”

What he said was true, and maybe it wasn’t smart to stay there but now that the surprise was over, Ellie realized that she wasn’t afraid. Not at all. She was eager and excited, but not afraid.

“It’ll be fine,” she assured him.

“How can you know that?”

“I don’t know, I just do. You can go back out if you want, but I have to see what’s in that box.”

“Then I’m with you,” he said after a moment.

Ellie went to the table. Sure enough, there was a roll of paper beside the box. It looked like parchment paper, not necessarily old, but thick paper of a heavy stock that had been rolled up and tied with common twine.

She slid the twine from it and unrolled the page. Cam stepped up beside her ant they looked at the words on the page. They were penned in an intricate script.

“What the heck language is that?” he asked.

Ellie shook her head and studied the words.

Fac apel la magie, la competențele de lumină. Risipi întunericul care fura ochii noștri. Restabili magia, aduce înapoi dreptul nostru, astfel încât încă o datăthe FAE poate dansa noaptea. Sub soarele, sub luna, în pădure și curent, da înapoi comuna. Te sun acum să auzi motiv meu. Așa cum am vrea, deci Mote fi.

“Oh my god!” she breathed. “The song.”

“Song?”

“My father sang it to me when I was very young. Every night.”

“But what does it mean?”

Ellie frowned at the page. “It’s…damn.”

“Can you read it?”

“I think so.” She tried to bring the song to mind, hearing her father’s voice as she read.

“Well?” he asked when she fell silent.

Ellie shrugged. “I…I don’t know. I mean I feel like I should, but I don’t.”

She put the page down on the table and reached for the box. It was of a dark wood with a single symbol inscribed upon its top. When she touched it light flared from the small crack where the lid met the body of the box.

Ellie started to open it, but Cam put his hand on top of the box. “Don’t”

“Why?”

“I don’t know, I just don’t think you should. This is all…I don’t know, Ellie, it’s just kind of creepy and unreal. I think you need to know what those words mean before you do anything.”

“But the answers might be in there.”

“Really? Has this house or this room given you any answers?”

Ellie thought about it. He was right. So far, she had no answers, only more questions, and more mysteries. Maybe he was right. Until they knew, what the words meant maybe it was safer to do nothing.

“Ok,” she agreed. “If you think that’s best.”

“Don’t do it just to appease me. Do it because you really understand that we don’t have a clue what we’re messing with here.”

That was all too true. “You’re right.”

“So, let’s wait. See if we can get that paper translated and then decide what to do.”

She nodded. His plan made sense. No point in leaping before looking. “Okay, that’s a good plan and that’s what we’ll do.”

“Thank you.” He pulled her to him for a long hug. “I just want to keep you safe, Ellie, and against stuff like this, I don’t have a clue what to do. It’s all just too strange.”

She hugged him back then pulled away. “I just wish I knew where to start looking for help to figure it out.”

“I may know someone.”

“Who?”

“A friend I made when I was on the rodeo circuit. She was a barrel racer. Damn good one, too. World Champion several years running. She ended up marrying a guy our older brother Colton was in service with, Jed Nash. He raises horses up in North Carolina. Anyway—and before I go on, I swear this is what Colton told me—Mik is something of a witch.”

“A witch? As in ride a broomstick or dance naked under the moon?”

“I don’t know. But Colton said that Mik’s sisters have some kind of abilities as well. One of them can get impressions or something from touching objects.”

“Psychometry?”

“Uh, don’t know what that is so…”

“Being able to tap into the energy left behind. At least that’s what Grannie said it was.”

“Ok, so yeah, psychometry. And the other sister…ok this is the really out there one, but she supposedly can talk to the dead.”

“Which means she could talk to my father?” Ellie grabbed his arm in excitement.

“You mean you believe that?”

Ellie shrugged and looked away. She’d never witnessed anything like it firsthand, but her grandmother had been a believer. “I guess. I mean, look at what’s happened here, Cam? This is a bit woo-woo if you know what I mean but it’s real so we can’t just assume there aren’t other things just as real.”

Cam smiled down at her. “Open minded. I like that. Ok, so here’s what I think. Take the scroll and the box. I’ll get up with Colton and ask to call up his friend and see if he can wrangle an intro to these witchy women. Maybe they’d agree to see us. We could fly up this weekend and take the scroll with us.”

“You’d do that?”

“Yeah, of course.”

“What did I ever do to deserve you?” Ellie threw her arms around him. “Thank you. Thank you so much.”

Cam hugged her tightly for a few moments then released her. “Okay, so you want to look around some more or head back to the ranch.”

Ellie gathered the items from the table. “Let’s head back.”

“Oh wait!” Ellie said as Cam headed out of the room.

“What?”

Ellie stepped out of the room, pulled the door closed, and then took out her phone. “I want to take some pictures to show Lily and Clint.”

“Ok.”

She spent a few minutes taking photos inside the house and then together they left and walked out into the yard. Ellie snapped shots of the house, the yard, and the clear lake.

“Ok, I’m ready.”

Cam took her hand and together they started the trek back to his truck at the old house on the front of the property. They had just made the turn to head east along the stream when Cam suddenly stopped and lifted his finger to his lips for her to be silent.

Ellie looked in the direction his head turned and then behind them. What was he listening for? When he suddenly took off running, she jumped in surprise and as soon as she recovered followed, trying to catch up. His long legs propelled him a good distance ahead of her, but she caught glimpses of him as he ran.

Suddenly she saw another man, one running from Cam. Just as she spotted the man, she heard a sound that had her diving to the ground. Gunfire.

She ventured a look up and saw Cam headed back for her.

“Come on!” he hauled her to her feet and dragged her behind him as he ran back the direction they’d come.

“Where’re we going?”

“To the house!”

More gunfire had her forgetting talk and running faster. They raced around the lake and into the yard, all the while hearing one shot after another. Ellie kept waiting for the feel of a bullet slamming into her.

They reached the yard and suddenly it hit her. She couldn’t hear gunfire. “Cam, wait.” She stopped, jerked forward when he kept going, and then bumped into him when he finally came to a halt.

“Listen,” she said.

His eyes widened. “No more shots.”

“Maybe we lost them?”

His eyes scanned the land and she saw the alarm on his face when he looked across the lake. “Come on!” He yanked on her arm. “To the house.”

“No, wait!” Ellie resisted and when he gave her an annoyed look added, “Look. There are two of them.”

Cam knelt down and yanked her down beside him. They watched the two men. They were looking every direction, walking up to the edge of the lake, looking across it and then behind them. Once they looked right at Ellie and Cam, or so it seemed.

“They don’t see us,” she said. “Look, it’s like they’re looking right at us and don’t see us.”

She bounded to her feet and Cam grabbed for her hand. “Ellie, get down!”

“No.” She waved her arms back and forth and yelled “Hey! Hey! Over here!”

“Ellie!” Cam whacked her behind one knee and as she stumbled, pulled her back down on the ground. “Are you trying to get us shot?”

“They can’t see us! Didn’t you see that? I waved and yelled, but they didn’t hear or see us.”

She saw it dawn on him. His expression went from surprise to amazement to concern. “What the hell?”

She shrugged. “I don’t know. But they can’t see us Cam. And if they can’t see us, they can’t hurt us.”

He put his arm around her and turned his head to look back across the lake. Sure enough, the two men looked several times in their direction and every time they looked away. In a couple of minutes, they headed back the way they’d come.

“What the hell?” he asked again.

Ellie shook her head. “Something special. That’s what he said in the letter. Something special he had to preserve and protect.” She looked behind them at the house. “What is this place?”

“I wish I knew,” Cam replied. “Because this is getting way too out there for my taste.”

“You think it’s safe for us to leave?” She asked.

“I think maybe we should do the unexpected.”

“Which is?”

He pulled out his phone and held it up. “Shit, no signal. You have one?”

She checked her phone. “Nope.”

“Okay, then we head for my place. It’ll take a little while, but once we get back, we call the department and have them send a couple of cars.”

“What about your truck?”

“We’ll get it later. Come on.” He stood and offered his hand.

Ellie took it and together they started walking. She looked back over her shoulder at the house. Maybe she was right from the beginning. Maybe this was magic.