11. Chapter 11
Sienna counted to ten. When that didn’t work, she sucked in a calming breath.
And then another. What was it about John Baker that set her blood boiling?
Yes, he could be a grouch, but his bark was far worse than his bite.
He reminded her of a porcupine—sharp quills that protected a soft underbelly.
She smirked at the image and at what his face would look like if she told John that he reminded her of a spiky rodent.
“Well, that was interesting,” Ryan said, interrupting her thoughts as the UTV sped up.
Sienna blinked. “What was?”
“John. He’s a hard one to figure out. The way everyone describes him, he’s a grumpy hermit with little social skills.”
“Okay?”
He glanced at her. “But during the meeting he started out bristly and then agreed with you about helping.”
Sienna shrugged. “I think that was more Bella than anything else.”
“EEEGH.”
She jumped. “What was that?”
“The sound of a wrong answer. He had already handed over his backpack before Bella worked her magic on him. Maybe it’s you?”
Her heart sped up. “What does that mean?”
Ryan maneuvered around a tree branch. “Back at the cabin he was actually being cordial until you pushed him.”
She looked over at Ryan. “Were you eavesdropping on our conversation again?”
He grinned. “You were the one who had me wait outside while you talked to him first. And we’ve already had this discussion. Of course I was eavesdropping. What self-respecting assistant wouldn’t?”
“We need to discuss what your job duties should be.”
He pulled into the large garage and parked. “I understand perfectly what my job duties are. I want you to be careful.”
She felt some bristling of her own but dialed it back after their recent conversation. “You don’t trust John.”
He turned to face her. “I don’t know him well enough to trust him. Think about how frustrating this has been for you and your family now that you know the curse is real. John has been trying to break the curse for centuries. It’s an obsession. And obsessions can make anyone dangerous.”
She nodded. “I know. He has so many walls built up I don’t know if anyone can get close. Except maybe the girls.”
Ryan smirked at her. “That was a good idea of yours for Lily and Bella to meet him.”
“I wasn’t being too nefarious. Lily did want to meet him, but I thought having Megan, Tessa, and the girls tag team him might sway him to stick around.”
“It definitely helped.” He narrowed his eyes at her. “But I think you’re underestimating your persuasive powers.”
She shrugged although she was feeling anything but nonchalant at Ryan’s comments. “We’ll see. Now let’s get back to work. I have a busy schedule.”
“Not anything I don’t already know as well.”
She sighed. “You are such a smart-ass.”
He chuckled. “I know that too.”
Sienna and Ryan headed into the house and straight to the office.
Sienna opened the door, jerked to a stop, and Ryan ran into her back.
Megan sat at the desk with John’s journals spread out in front of her.
She handed Tessa a sticky note, and Tessa walked over to the wall that was already partially covered with notes. “Where does this go, Megs?”
“Third column,” Megan said.
“What the heck?” Sienna blurted.
Both women turned to her. “Hi!” Megan said. “We, um, sort of took over the office.”
“Sort of?” Ryan murmured behind her.
Normally the office was used by her during the day for clan business, and then Megan worked on the clan historical research once Bella was down for the night. This was a preemptive strike. But Sienna couldn’t blame them. “Find anything interesting yet?”
“It’s all interesting! To have a singular account of history for centuries from one person. It’s fascinating. I was starting to read through things and taking notes of my own, but it was too hard to follow.” Her hand swept toward the wall. “I have to try to make sense of things. I need order.”
Tessa looked fondly at her friend. “Megs, take a breath and stop geeking out about history for a moment.”
Megan’s eyes widened. “How can you not geek out about history?”
“I stand corrected,” Tessa said with a bow. “Are you needing the office back? I tried to restrain her, but it was a no go.”
“Ha!” Megan laughed. “You restrain me! The world has gone cattywampus.”
Sienna tried to keep a straight face, but Ryan started laughing as well. “Ryan and I can go work in the dining room. I don’t have any conference calls today.”
“Let me grab the laptops and a couple of other things and we’ll be out of your way,” Ryan said. “And Megan, I’ll order a couple of large whiteboards for you so that you can move all your notes there. That will make them portable as well. I should be able to have something delivered by tomorrow.”
Megan beamed at him. “Thanks, Ryan.”
“Yes, thanks, Ryan,” Sienna added.
He nodded and gathered things. “What would you do without me?”
“I shudder to even think about it,” Sienna answered to his retreating back.
Ryan shut the door behind him and Tessa smiled. “I know what you could do with him.”
“Tessa!” Megan admonished.
“What! Ryan is smart, funny, keeps up with Sienna, and let’s not forget, he’s flippin’ handsome.”
Sienna grinned. “He is all those things, and he’s not afraid to disagree with me.”
“Have you two ever…?” Tessa’s eyebrows bobbed up and down.
“Tessa!”
“Megs, read your dusty books if you don’t want to hear about this.”
Megan sat back. “I didn’t say that, exactly. But if Sienna doesn’t want to talk about it, don’t force her.”
“No. It’s okay.” Sienna took a step closer. “I grew up with Ryan, and he was and still is my best friend. When we were twelve, we decided to be each other’s first kiss.”
“And?” Tessa pushed.
“And it was like what I imagined kissing my brother would be like. No spark for either of us. Which is a good thing since we probably would have broken each other’s hearts and wouldn’t be friends any longer.
” Sienna turned to Megan. “Enough about my prepubescent love life. Have you found anything yet in John’s journals? ”
“Not anything specific. I need to set the timeline and then dig through things. And I wouldn’t necessarily categorize these as journals.”
“What do you mean?”
Megan rested her hands on the books. “These are written like someone from the outside looking in. Notations like you would find in history books even though this was happening to John himself. It’s very clinical.”
Sienna wasn’t surprised. How did someone handle living forever? It had to be painful, so it made sense not to get close to anyone.
Tessa flopped down in the guest chair in front of the desk. “Well, he wasn’t acting clinical earlier. He was his grumpy self until you got in his face. I won’t lie. That was ah-may-zing.”
“I was desperate. I’m glad he agreed to letting us see his notes. But I wasn’t expecting you to drop everything, Megan. You don’t have to try to read through all of it in one day.”
“I know. It’s going to take me a while. But I’m worried that we need to find the solution sooner. Eric is with Bella right now so that I can work on this. She’s very taken with John. It’s like she…” Megan’s sentence petered out.
“Like she already knows him,” Sienna said.
“Yes.” Megan frowned. “Do you think her oracle powers are kicking in?”
Tessa reached across the desk and grabbed Megan’s hand. “It’s going to be all right. We won’t let anything happen to her or Lily.”
Megan sighed. “Her running to John and telling him not to go was spooky.”
“And I get a chill every time Lily shows me a drawing,” Tessa said. “But our girls are special. We just need to accept and love them.”
And they needed to pay attention. Sienna would never attempt to push the girls to use their powers, but there had to be a reason why they were able to see the future.
And taking heed of things in the meantime was just common sense.
Bella was attached to John, whether that was due to her being an oracle or an imaginative toddler, they still needed to take heed.
John was a puzzle that she wanted—no, needed—to solve. But not for her. For her clan. She knew he was the key to freeing their dragons once again.