Chapter 14
As Jamie reached the Centerville city limits, the sleet and
ice he had left behind seemed to catch up to him. It edged its way into
Centerville and he drove deeper into the storm’s heart. The icy rain solidified
into sleet. Sleet began to be mixed with
snow. The snow became thicker and by the
time he climbed out of his trusty Toyota to unlock the gate at the property
line, he could barely see more than three feet in any direction. He pulled his
care through, relocked the gate and made his slow and steady way up the drive
to the house.
Jamie parked and ran quickly to the house, seeing the darker
outline of the porch in the distance. He
sighed with relief as he climbed up onto the porch where the overhang at least
gave him a little protection. He looked
out at his yard. Visibility had shrunk
to nearly one foot.
“I don’t know how a fairy could even fly in this,” he
muttered to himself. The snow falling
was thick and wet. Icy droplets were
still mixed in. He shook the snow from his head and turned towards the door. He
reached for the door knob but stopped as he heard the click of something
walking towards him across the wooden porch boards. He had forgotten to turn
the porch light on and in the absence of the sun, the porch was filled with deep
shadows. Jamie sucked in a lung full of
icy air and felt his insides squirm as the largest white wolf he had ever seen
stepped into plain view. For a moment
Jamie could do nothing but stare.
Somehow it had never crossed his mind that a wolf attack on his front
porch would be what killed him.
The wolf paused about three feet in front of Jamie and
seemed in no hurry to attack. Instead
the wolf bent forward and Jamie heard the click of metal on wood. Jamie frowned
and watched in silence as the wolf nudged what he had set down with his nose,
sending it rolling towards Jamie’s feet. Jamie looked down to see an eight inch
long metal cylinder. He looked up and
saw the wolf had retreated and now appeared to be sitting and waiting for a
response. Jamie took a deep breath and
tried to control the pounding of his heart.
Slowly he bent down and picked up the cylinder. He could feel the wolf’s eyes watching him as
he tugged the capped end off of the tube and extracted a roll of paper. The
writing on the paper was small and Jamie had to hold it close to his eyes to
read in the dim light.
“Keeper,” the note began. “We would like to tender our
deepest apologies as due to the weather we will not be able to take tea with
you this afternoon as planned. In the hopes that you will not take our
cancelation ill, we would like to offer this information for your use. The one
known to you as Michael has been seen wandering our woods of late. Our trackers have observed him and we have
reached the conclusion that he is under the influence of ghatran. The effects
will wear off in time and we have ordered that no one in our demesne provide an
additional source of the drug. We regret the somewhat discomforting period of withdrawal
he will no doubt suffer, but are certain he will come through the other side
with no permanent harm.” The note was signed by Queen Genivia.
“Well that settles that doesn’t it,” he said. Jamie glanced at the wolf, who appeared to be
waiting. He flipped the page over and pulled a pen from his pocket. He leaned
against the door and tried to make his letters neat and small so the diminutive
queen would not have to stand at a distance to read his response.
“Your Majesty,” he wrote. “Your note provides me some relief
as at this time the weather has deteriorated to the point where I fear anyone
not born of ice and snow might take harm from too long an exposure. While I am disappointed
in your absence I am thankful you will not be subjecting yourself to such
potential harm. I thank you for the information regarding Michael and I look
forward to rescheduling our tea at your convenience.” He signed the letter James Fulton. After tucking his pen back into his pocket,
he rerolled the page and slipped it back into the tube. Jamie fitted the cap back on and looked at
the wolf.
Jamie bent down and rolled the tube across the porch towards
the wolf. “You will make certain she gets the message?” Jamie asked. The wolf bobbed his head, picked up the tube
and sprinted off of the porch and into the snow. In a blink he was gone. Jamie shivered as he
realized his rain slicker did not provide much insulation and that he had stood
out in the cold far too long. He took
one more look around in case anyone else was lurking in the shadows. Seeing no one Jamie opened the door and
slipped inside, thankful for the House’s warmth.
Jamie walked straight back to the kitchen figuring the mud
room in the back would be a better place
for his rain slicker and wet boots than the front hall. Del was pulling a loaf of bread out of the
oven as he stepped into the kitchen and Jamie’s belly rumbled in response to
the scent.
“Weren’t you supposed to eat while you were out?” Del asked
with a smile at the sound.
“I wanted to beat the weather home,” Jamie responded. He stepped into the mudroom and shucked his
coat and boots as Del peered out of the
window into the snowy yard.
“It was just raining last time I looked,” Del said shaking
his head. “So you’ll be joining us for
lunch then?”
“If you’ll have me,” Jamie replied with a smile. “And we can cancel the afternoon tea. Queen Genivia sent her regrets via white wolf
as I got in.”
“Ah,” Del said as he placed three plates down on the table. “I
wouldn’t expect a fairy to fly in that, but you never know what some of them
would try, just to prove they can.” Both of them turned as Levas stepped into
the room. He seemed surprised to see
Jamie, even more so to see three plates at the kitchen table.
“Keeper,” he said with a short bob of the head.
“Jamie is fine,” Jamie told him. Levas lifted his eyebrows
high enough that they almost disappeared into his hairline.
“As you wish.” Levas replied.
Del chuckled. “We
tend not to stand on ceremony when there isn’t company about,” he explained as
he stared laying out platters containing slices of ham, cheese and tomatoes along with the bread so
everyone could make their own sandwich.
“Levas,” Jamie said as he piled his bread high with the
offerings. “Can I ask you about what you
meant when you said we would soon be busier?”
Del snorted. “Hard to think of this place getting busier.”
“Just that with more people living here, you’ll need the extra
is all, sir,” Levas replied. He took a bite of his sandwich and washed it down
with a hefty swig of milk. Jamie waited for him to continue but the tomte apparently
thought he had expounded enough. As Del’s
eyes were twinkling with amusement, he figured it was a Fae thing and let it
go.
“Well,” Jamie said after he had finished his lunch. “As my afternoon has cleared up I guess I’ll
be back in the study.”
“There is a bit of a chill upstairs,” Del told him. “I’ll be
along in a bit to bring you some tea to help take the chill off.” Jamie
nodded. He had learned very early in
their acquaintance that Del believed everyone should consume mass quantities of
tea on a daily basis to maintain regular health.
Jamie rinsed off his plate and headed up to the study. To his surprise a fire was already crackling
merrily in both the study and the library, making the upper rooms quite
cozy. Idly Jamie wondered if he should
actually tell Del that the house did in fact have a central heating and air-conditioning
unit and didn’t need to be heated by fire. As he settled himself in the chair
behind the desk, Del wheeled in the tea trolley.
Jamie blinked in surprise wondering how Del had managed to
have a full put ready in so short a time when none had been evident when he
left the kitchen mere moments earlier. He also wondered how Del had managed to
get the tea trolley up the stairs so easily or get fresh tomatoes from the
garden in the dead of winter. He decided
none of those questions were ones he should ask.
“I don’t suppose you could answer my question from earlier
or is it just one of the Fae mysteries?”
“About the tomte knowing we’d soon be busy?” Del asked. Jamie nodded. “It’s a bit of both I suppose.
Tomte’s are always tied to the farms they work and seem to know things about
them that no one else can explain.” Del shrugged. “Actually I doubt Levas could explain it either.
It seems to be something they just know in their bones. They just accept it like you accept rain or
wind.”
“Or talking houses,” Jamie said.
“Or that.” Dal answered.
“I don’t suppose you could get him to be more specific?”
Jamie asked.
“I can try,” Del replied.
“But I make no promises.”
“He mentioned children earlier,” Jamie confided. Del blinked
in surprise.
“Children? Well, well,
that would make for a bit of a change wouldn’t it. And it would make things a
fair deal busier to boot, I’d say.
Children have a way of doing that.” He looked pleased by the prospect.
He turned towards the door and started to leave, still talking to himself. “I’ll have to look into my recipe books for
some sweets to make. Children like sweets. Not too many of course, it would
never do to have them spoil their dinner of course. Maybe some almond cakes for
after lessons though, no one could object to that.”
Jamie shook his head as Del continued to talk to himself as
he headed back to the kitchen. “Not even here yet and we’ve already got snacks
after lessons,” Jamie said shaking his head. Apparently there were some things Brownies
took in stride as well.
