Chapter 35
Mattie woke to see the show paused and Gunnar nowhere to be found. Neither was Blueberry. She was also lying down on the couch. She blinked as she sat up.
Sounds came from the kitchen. She turned to look. Gunnar was sitting at the kitchen table with the paracord and glow sticks, getting it ready. Blueberry was on his shoulder, watching.
He glanced over. “Hey. Did I wake you?”
“No. I didn’t mean to fall asleep.” She stretched. “What time is it?”
“Eleven thirty.”
“Did you sleep?”
“Yeah, I drifted off right after you did.”
She got up and walked into the kitchen. “How do you feel?”
“Ready. How do you feel?”
“Like I need caffeine.” She stood a moment, still a bit disoriented from waking up. She needed to be alert. “I’m going to make a cup of tea. You want something?”
“No, thanks, I’m good.”
He seemed focused. Serious about his preparations.
“You doing all right?”
“Yes.” He sighed. “Except for the fact that I earned three more wishes while you were asleep.”
“What? How?” She added water to the kettle, then put it on to heat. She got a mug out and dropped a tea bag in it.
“Blueberry got tangled in the mesh basket, and I untangled him, which apparently counted as freeing him.” Gunnar rolled his eyes. “Three more. I’m never going to be done with them.”
She looked at Blueberry. The imp shrugged. “Fair is fair.”
She was starting to think Blue was finding ways to award Gunnar more wishes in an attempt to keep him around. She wasn’t going to yell at him for that. Not when she approved.
She just hoped keeping him around was a real option. They’d be leaving for the falls soon. The weight of that reality sat heavily on her. Even Gunnar’s mood had shifted. She leaned on the counter, listening for the water to be ready. “What do I need to bring?”
He used a pocketknife to slice through a length of paracord. “Your phone for sure. Make sure it’s charged.”
“It is.”
He glanced over. “Do you have any boots? The rocks are slippery.”
“I have some work boots I wear in the winter. They have pretty decent tread.”
“Those will do.”
“I’ll go change.” The kettle would take a few minutes anyway. She went to the bedroom and pulled on a hoodie over her T-shirt, then added wool socks and her work boots. Not her cutest look, but cute didn’t matter right now.
Something caught her eye on her dresser. The soft, suede pouch was a little magic bag. It was nothing really, just a little protection talisman she’d made up a while ago. She kept meaning to put it in her purse.
She stuffed it in the pocket of her hoodie. They were going to need all the help they could get tonight.
The kettle was ready when she came back out, and Blue was still on Gunnar’s shoulder. He was getting a lesson in paracord.
“This is very useful stuff. Great tensile strength. A little give, which you need to get used to, but that helps absorb the shock of a sudden snag, too. It’s very handy to have around,” Gunnar said.
“I always keep some in my truck. I just didn’t have enough of it for what I need tonight. That’s why I had to buy some.”
Blueberry nodded, for once looking like he was really listening.
Next to them on the table were several loops of the stuff, glow sticks attached by carabiners at regular intervals and the mesh basket at one end. Attached to it were more glow sticks and the fishing weights.
He was working on his makeshift lanyard now, adding another carabiner to the end of a long, doubled length of cord. “This is a figure eight follow through knot. It’s strong, jam resistant, and won’t slip even under a load. Good when wet, too.”
Blueberry was wide-eyed and solemn. She wasn’t sure anyone, herself included, had ever talked to him this way. Maybe she had a little, when she’d taught him about the bees. But Gunnar was dead serious, speaking to Blue like he was a peer.
She was impressed. And touched.
“Watch,” Gunnar said. “I’ll show you how it’s done.”
Blueberry hopped down to the table to be closer to the action. While Gunnar demonstrated, she fixed her tea. He was patient, kind, and went slowly enough that Blueberry could see every move. She’d never seen the imp so captivated or so focused.
If she hadn’t already been falling in love with Gunnar before, she was now. She stood there, sipping her tea, wishing this moment could last. That they weren’t about to undertake such a potentially dangerous act.
Wishing that no matter what happened, no matter if they were successful at retrieving the amulet, that Gunnar would be okay.
He let Blueberry attempt to tie the same knot on another length of paracord. “Not bad for your first attempt.”
Blueberry’s grin stretched ear to ear. He shot up into the air. “I tied a knot, Mattie!”
“I see that.” She smiled, even though part of her felt like crying. She cleared her throat in an attempt to get rid of the emotion. “So, what’s the plan?”
“I’m going to drop the basket in with a couple of cracked chem lights. I’m hoping I can get it to the bottom of the basin. Then once I’m in the water, I’ll start at the bottom and work my way up, cracking the chem lights as I go so I can keep track of my progress.”
“Sounds good.” Sounded like a lot of time in the water. “I really hope you find it right away.”
“Me, too.” He pushed away from the table and gave her a look that felt remorseful and sympathetic at the same time. “We should probably get going.”
She nodded and took one last, long drink. “I’m ready.” She wasn’t. But there was no putting off the inevitable. “Can we all drive together? I know that means you’ll have to come back here, but you can crash on the couch if you don’t feel like driving home after.”
She knew him staying here wasn’t practical. He didn’t have a change of clothes. He probably had work in the morning. But she wasn’t ready to be away from him.
“Yeah, absolutely.”
Maybe he wasn’t ready to be away from her, either. He stood and grabbed his gear. “I’ll go start the truck.”
She put her mug in the sink and followed.
She’d expected the visitor parking lot to be empty, but the sheriff’s SUV sat blocking the entrance to the trail. He got out of the vehicle as they pulled in.
Gunnar parked. “I wonder if something’s changed.”
Mattie wondered too, immediately hoping the amulet had repaired itself. Or something. “Alice said she hadn’t told anyone else what was going on.”
They got out, Blueberry riding on Gunnar’s shoulder, the paracord and a few other things stuffed into a duffel bag he’d grabbed out of the back of the truck.
He had a change of clothes in his truck, too.
Just sweats but something dry and warm for later, which she was glad of. She had her phone in her back pocket.
They met the sheriff halfway between the vehicles. He nodded at them. “Alice called to say there was some trouble with the last wish. That it had to be made again and that it might take a while. She wanted me to make sure you weren’t bothered.”
Mattie exhaled out the tiny bit of hope she’d grabbed on to, thinking maybe Gunnar wouldn’t need to get into the water after all. “That was nice of her.”
“Yeah, appreciate that,” Gunnar said.
The sheriff got back in his SUV, and they headed up the trail. At least he wouldn’t be able to see them from the parking lot.
The falls seemed louder than ever. They picked their way down the rocks, some of them slick with moss, to get closer to the basin.
Gunnar took the lead with Mattie holding on to him and trusting his superior night vision.
There was light from the moon, and her eyes were adjusting, but they’d never be as sharp as a shifter’s.
The closer they got, the louder the roar. It was as if the water was yelling at them, warning them it wasn’t safe.
She stared at the spray, milky and glowing in the moonlight, and whispered spells of protection that were virtually powerless but made her feel better.
Below the falls, the plunge basin churned, a froth of ink. It appeared like a dark abyss that Mattie wouldn’t have entered for any amount of money.
Gunnar was so much braver than she was.
He did a slow three-sixty, found a tree and looped one end of the paracord around it, then knotted it. He tested the knot with a few good pulls. Satisfied, he spooled it out as he came back to her, keeping the length with the glow sticks and mesh basket in one hand.
He handed the cord to her. “Keep hold of this. I’ll tug three times when the amulet is in the basket. When you feel that, pull it up.”
She took the cord. “Okay.”
He tipped his head toward the imp. “Blue, go to Mattie now.”
Without a single argument, the imp flew across to her.
Gunnar pulled the makeshift lanyard from the bag and handed it to her. “As soon as I shift, put this around my neck.”
She held the lanyard up. The loop of cord with the carabiner and three glowsticks hung nearly to the ground. “Looks too big.”
“It won’t be.” He took a breath. “Don’t be afraid of me when I shift. I know what I look like, but I promise, I am not a threat to you or Blueberry in that form. I know who you are. Just because I look different doesn’t mean I’ve forgotten that.”
“Yep.” He’d already proven that the night he’d saved her life.
He navigated his way across the rocks until he was as close to the falls as possible. He cracked the two glow sticks attached to the basket, gave it a few swings, and sank it in the heart of the falls.
The glow sticks were visible for a few seconds as they descended, then they disappeared.
He came back to her, and it seemed like he wanted to say something but couldn’t find the words.
She didn’t need words. She threw her arms around him and kissed him. He kissed her right back, smiling slightly as they parted. “Be safe,” she whispered.
“I will. And I’ll be back with you as soon as I can.” He took a few steps away and with a shudder of magic, turned into a bear.
Mattie jerked in surprise, even though she’d been anticipating it. She’d seen him before in this form but not this close up. Blueberry pressed against her neck. “It’s okay,” she said to him.
But Gunnar in bear form was enormous, and despite knowing that it was Gunnar in front of her, a tiny jolt of fear zapped the length of her spine.
He put his massive head down, whuffing softly, as if in reassurance. He took one step closer.
“Right,” she said to no one. “The lanyard.” She opened the loop and fitted it over his head, careful of his ears. Touching him was inevitable. She was surprised to feel that his fur was more wiry than soft.
“Okay,” she said, backing up. “The lanyard’s on.”
His head came up, his big soulful eyes staring into hers. He let out another whuff of sound. His teeth were as long as her fingers. He snorted once, shaking his head to settle the lanyard around himself, and gave her a little nod.
Then he turned and dove into the water.