Chapter 28
Gunnar turned the chainsaw off and set it on the ground. Fresh-cut lumber was one of the best scents there was.
He grinned. Outside of one particular honey-scented woman, that was.
With his forearm, he wiped sawdust off his clear safety glasses and spit a piece out of his mouth.
That was the last of the cutting. Now he just had to haul.
But first, a drink. He pulled his ear protection down around his neck and went back to his truck.
Another hour, maybe less, and he’d have the trail cleared of the newly fallen tree.
He planned on hauling the wood back to his place. It would make great firewood for next winter once it was split and stacked and had time to dry. The tree had been decent size. Getting it all back would take several trips, but there was plenty of time for that.
Blueberry sat on the driver’s side headrest so that he could see out of the windshield.
He was mad because Gunnar had asked him firmly to stay in the truck.
It was for his own protection, but even with the window down so that Blueberry couldn’t claim he’d been trapped, Gunnar could tell the imp was still pouting about it.
“I could help,” he said as Gunnar opened the door to grab his thermos.
“I don’t think so,” Gunnar said, almost amused that the imp thought help was something he was capable of. So far, that had not been the case.
“You could have wished for the tree to be all cut up and moved out of the way. It would have been done instantly.”
“Right.” Gunnar unscrewed the top of the thermos. “I can only imagine how that would have gone wrong.” He gulped down some cold water, then put the top back on.
“I could make the chainsaw quiet so you wouldn’t have to wear those things on your ears.”
He tucked the thermos away. “Don’t want that either.”
“You could wish for the tree not to have fallen. I could plant it back in the ground, make it like it never—”
“No.”
Blueberry sighed with his whole body, like a tiny green toddler. “What can I do then?”
“Nothing.”
“Are we going back to your place then?”
“Not until I load some of that wood into the bed of the truck.”
He looked hopeful again. “I can help with that. Just make a wish.”
“Nope.”
Blueberry huffed and went back to moping. If the imp’s frown got any bigger, his chin would disappear.
“You’re weird,” Blueberry snapped.
“I’m okay with that.” Gunnar closed the door.
“Normal people think wishes are cool. Normal people love wishes.”
Gunnar had already taken a step away from the truck. He stopped to look back through the open window. “Your wishes all come with unexpected consequences. Your wishes are like … chocolate truffles filled with tuna. No one wants that kind of surprise.”
Without waiting for Blueberry to respond, Gunnar went back to the fallen tree and grabbed two of the biggest pieces of trunk, one under each arm, and carried them to the bed of his truck.
It was moments like this he truly appreciated his supernatural strength. It would probably take two normal men to lift one of these logs.
He hefted them in one at a time, pushing them back to make room for more.
“Dude, tell me you got that.”
Gunnar turned to see two young men in hiking gear several yards away on the trail. They must have just come up the rise and seen him.
“I totally did. I wish I was livestreaming this.”
Gunnar frowned. Had they really seen him? Not that it should matter. His wish for tourists’ eyes to be opened had been undone. Supernaturals were safe again, shielded by Alice’s magic.
The young men walked closer. The taller one, in a safety-orange beanie, was all smiles. “Dude, that was seriously impressive. What do those things weigh? Like, how much do you lift?”
Gunnar didn’t answer. That did not sound like magic had kept them from seeing the truth at all.
Had something gone wrong with last night’s wish to put everything as it was?
He genuinely hoped not. Gunnar shut the tailgate, figuring he better do something to defuse the situation. “Wood’s rotted. It’s very light.”
Orange hat nudged his buddy. “Dude, this is perfect. Get some vid of me holding one over my head. It’ll kill.”
The young men picked up speed toward the rest of the fallen tree.
Not the result Gunnar had been aiming for.
He muttered a few choice words as he walked around to the driver’s side and shot Blueberry a look through the open window. “Do not screw this up.”
“Screw what—”
“I wish those pieces of fallen tree that I cut up would be light enough for humans to lift.” He said the words quietly, through gritted teeth. He’d tried to make the wish as specific as possible, but he was already anticipating how it might go wrong.
A little ripple of magic washed through the woods just as orange hat bent down and grabbed one of the logs. He picked it up and lofted it over his head. “Check me out! This is cool.” He grinned for his buddy, who had his phone aimed at the action. “Are you getting this, dude?”
“Bro,” his friend answered, camera aimed right at him. “That is sick. You look like a superhero.”
Orange hat grabbed a second one. “Look at me! I’m Lumberjack Man.”
His friend snorted.
After rolling his eyes, Gunnar continued to pay attention to what was going on, just in case the imp had found a way to twist his words. Gunnar half expected to see chunks of wood drifting into the air like lost balloons at a carnival.
So far, that hadn’t happened, but anything was possible.
He glanced at Blueberry, who now wore a smug expression.
Blueberry looked back at him, a righteous glint in his eyes. “See? Nothing happened except what you wished for.”
Gunnar wasn’t about to celebrate just yet. “No other trees in the forest are going to suddenly float into the sky, are they?”
“No. I did exactly what you asked for.”
Gunnar exhaled, relieved in more ways than he could count. That had gone well, then. And it meant he’d used up another of these wretched wishes.
But it didn’t explain why those two young men had been able to see him lift those logs. The magic should have intervened in some way. His gut said something was wrong. Whether or not it had anything to do with him trying to wish everything back into place, he had no idea.
Maybe Mattie would know. He got into the truck, waiting as the two young men finished filming and thankfully went on their way. He took his phone out of the console and saw that he’d missed a text and a call from her.
He read the text, then listened to his voicemail. He had a pretty good reason why Alice wanted to see them. She’d figured out the wish hadn’t been completely removed.
Gunnar swore under his breath and jumped back out of the truck.
He gathered the chainsaw and an armful of light-as-a-feather logs and brought them back to the truck, securing them in the bed.
He took one more trip to the fallen tree to make sure no limbs or sections still blocked the trail, then returned to his truck.
He turned the vehicle around and headed back to his place as fast as he dared on the rugged trail.
“Are we going home now?” Blueberry asked. “It is almost time for lunch.”
“Yes. And I forgot to answer Mattie.” He stopped the truck and replied to her text. On the way to my place. Need to shower before we meet her.
“Does that mean we’re going to see Mattie?” Blueberry asked hopefully.
He tossed his phone onto the seat and got them moving again. “Yeah, and a woman named Alice Bishop.”
“Oh, I know who that is,” Blueberry said. He shivered dramatically. “I’ve met her. She’s scary.”
“No kidding.” Gunnar frowned. His mind was once again conjuring up worst-case scenarios where he was fired and forced to leave. Whatever happened at Alice’s, he would take the blame. Mattie didn’t deserve to be punished.
She lived with the imp. That was punishment enough.