Chapter 27
BERNADETTE CRENSHAW
The more we walk, the clearer the sky seems to get.
I stare at Frank's yummy broad back trying to understand what I just saw. I glance up, my glasses lifting a bit when I scrunch my nose at the bright sun overhead. There’s not a cloud in the sky now.
“So, you can control the weather?” I ask, my voice blasé, as if it’s no big deal.
Storm from the X-Men would have arguments, I’m sure.
He stops on the grassy path we're walking on toward the tables and turns to look at me, meeting my gaze. “Did you feed Edgar?” he asks.
My brows knit in confusion at the question. “Yeah, why?” I ask.
“Because we may be gone for a while with everything I need to show you,” he says, before turning back around to continue wherever the hell we’re going.
“I fed him earlier.” What Frank doesn't need to know is that after leaving him in the hallway this morning and grabbing a hot shower, it took forever for me to calm down and process what happened.
I tossed and turned so often while trying to go back to sleep, Edgar got mad at me and is refusing to let me touch him.
I couldn’t settle down, and I’m still not sure how to make sense of what happened between us.
And here I am, with a lot more questions than answers, so Frank had better start talking soon.
“When are you going to start answering my questions?” I ask him, reminding him of the fact that I've already asked one.
He sighs heavily but keeps moving.
“Were you controlling the weather earlier? That storm came up out of nowhere just like the last one when we visited the village, and whenever I looked at you, I swear it looked like your arms were covered in electricity. You were doing that, right?” I pepper him with my theories, remembering how all the hair on my body lifted the closer I got to him, but then when I touched him it stopped.
Before then I’d gotten a strange feeling, like something was urging me to go to him. That's the only reason I left my room in the first place, deciding to go grab a coffee and pump myself up before facing Frank or trying to find him.
“Did you manage to get a nap in?” he asks, glancing at me over his shoulder.
Is he not going to answer me? My hands ball into fists, my nostrils flaring as my temper gets the best of me. “Seriously, dude, if you don't start answering questions right now, I'm going back home,” I say, refusing to take one more step.
“Look,” he says, turning around and stomping to where I stand in the middle path, running one thick mitt through his voluminous blonde hair, “this isn't something that's easy for me, and it's not something that I've ever done. This will be a lot simpler if you would just come with me and let me show you what I want to show you, and then I will answer your questions.” That's when I realize he's nervous.
He holds his hand out to me, and a wave of uncertainty pulls at my middle as I place my hand in his.
What the hell could make Frank Stein nervous?
“Come on, I promise you'll want to see this,” he says, linking our fingers together and pulling me down the path.
After a few minutes, I recognize the area as being near Brom’s paddock, just to the left up ahead.
“We've got a short horse ride today to take you where we’re going,” he announces.
“Fine,” I mumble, even as excitement turns in my gut. I like Brom, and I know I’ll love an afternoon ride, but there's no way I'm letting him know.
I'm not kidding, if he doesn't start telling me something soon, he'll have to find someone else to follow him around.
A short horse jaunt later across Frank’s wooded estate, we arrive at a big stable yard much like Brom’s, only this one is painted white with a blue roof and is easily twice the size.
Another thing unlike Brom’s is that it's not gated, and Frank seems to get more nervous the closer we get.
“This place was initially meant to house creatures that couldn't survive anywhere else,” he says once we get near the large double doors. He pulls Brom to a halt and dismounts before reaching for me.
My heart jolts when his strong arms go around me, but he places me quickly on my feet.
I watch and wait as he swats the big horse on his rump, sending him trotting away.
I glance at the large stable doors, noticing the intricate depiction of a moon and stars inlaid in the soft wood, and my curiosity grows.
“What's in there?” I ask him, and when I step closer my stomach twists with excitement, and an undeniable feeling washes over me that then makes me nervous to even get near the door.
“I'm sure you have already guessed that if anyone were to see Brom and what he can do, it would be a media nightmare in the making, and best-case scenario, he would go to a facility somewhere,” Frank states.
“Oh, you don't have to tell me, there's no telling what types of tests and stuff they would put a horse like him through,” I murmur, knowing how cruel people can be to animals. It’s part of the reason I decided to donate his money to the cat and dog fund.
“Correct, which is why I made this place to begin with. Now, when we get inside, you mustn’t touch anything, and don’t let go of my hand until I tell you to,” he instructs.
I frown but nod my head and take his outstretched hand in mine, ignoring the small jolt of sensation that crackles at the touch.
“Alright, close your eyes,” he says, wrapping his free arm around me.
I give him a look that says don't you be trying anything funny.
“Just do it,” he remarks, his lips turning up at the edges as he rubs a hand down my back.
I do as he asks, closing my eyes, waiting for whatever he's got planned next, and hear a sliding door opening.
The soft scent of hay greets my nose, and also a sweet potent smell I can’t place.
He leads me further into the building, and after several steps, he steers me around a sharp corner before pulling me to a stop.
“Right, you can open your eyes now,” he says.
I gasp. Glowing bright flowers of various colors overflow everywhere in large rows that seem to go on forever.
The stable is easily the size of a football stadium, more greenery than I’ve ever seen in one place with huge, leafy green vegetation surrounding the flowers.
The floor is a moss green but hard like marble.
I glance up and notice that the roof isn’t painted blue after all, it’s made up of light blue glass panels, allowing a spotless view of the sky overhead.
“What kind of flowers are these?” I ask, wondering if they’re fiber-optic with how they glow in different spots before dimming and glowing again.
“Don’t touch them. They’re supernatural flowers,” he answers.
“Wow,” I murmur, turning in place and pushing my glasses up my nose to see better.
“There are many flowers in the supernatural world, and all of them have various medicinal properties. However, most of these you see here are toxic to humans. There are some that work as aphrodisiacs and are safe to use, and others that have extraordinary healing properties.”
I can’t help but admire the blue and violet ones, they seem to shimmer brighter than the rest. “What are the blue ones called?” I ask, pointing at them.
“Those are called moonflowers. They’re toxic, and incidentally, they’re why you’re here.
The ingredients we use to formulate what we sell through Talbot are cultivated elsewhere as none of those serums we offer the public are made with anything harmful.
Several shipments of the moonflower formula were taken from a distribution center the same week you hacked Talbot.
It’s what Mikael and the others are trying to track down as we speak,” he reveals.
My breath hitches in my throat as understanding thunders through me. “What?” I blurt.
“We suspected Pelican Group was waiting for any holes in the infrastructure to gain access to our recipe kits for a while. We never accounted for you, or how they used you as a shield to hide their gaining access to our resources. They of course have no idea what they were in for after taking it,” he says, his voice gruff and matter of fact.
“What will it do to them?” I ask, wondering if I’ve somehow hurt anyone.
“Nothing, as we have everything in place to get it back before anyone is harmed.”
I shake my head. “I’m so sorry, I—”
“You couldn’t have known. Now turn around,” he says, a small smile playing on his lips as he stares across the top of my head.
I turn around, and my hands fly up to my mouth. My gaze widens, and my eyes bug out of my head at the sight before me. “You have a freaking unicorn.” I say, staring at the majestic white beast. The horse is shorter than Brom, with a freaking coiled, gleaming pearlescent horn atop its head.
“His name is Perseus, but he doesn’t like to be touched and will shy away if you get too close,” Frank says.
A chuckle escapes me, and I find myself giggling, my face turning red as I laugh.
Great big snorts start to peel from me, as he looks on frowning, and it just sends me into a bigger fit of laughter until my tummy is aching from it.
Surprise, elation, and wonderment swirl in my chest. “How is this possible?” I ask, curious as the unicorn tosses its mane and shakes out its satiny tail, walking away from us as if he finds us uninteresting.
I grab at Frank’s arm tightly, suddenly a bit woozy and glance around for somewhere to sit when I notice something out of the corner of my eye, and my jaw drops again.
An animal walks toward us, his eagle-shaped head cocked, its body resembling a lion’s but with huge, tawny-colored wings jutting from its sides.
“After I discovered Brom, who is cursed and can't leave the area, I bought the land and the whole valley surrounding it. That’s where part of the village sits and several of the homes in the region. I outfitted the area to have a monitoring system so everyone within the walls is safe and secure, essentially kept here in secret,” he states.