Chapter 19
Nineteen
Bex
The moment Maureen and I step out into the back hall of the inn, Ruby comes rushing out of the kitchen carrying her favorite tray. “Oh, hey there! Just in time for lunch. I’ve set up the picnic table for today’s meal.”
“Sounds perfect,” Maureen says. “You go ahead, Bex. I’ll be out shortly.”
Ruby holds the tray with one hand over her shoulder while gesturing for me to go ahead with her free hand. Outside, the warm wind feels nice after being in the cold tunnels deep beneath the ground. Ruby veers right, and I follow.
Booker, Sheamus, and Garrett are there waiting for lunch to be served. I take a seat next to Booker at the picnic table, across from Sheamus, while Garrett sits in one of the rocking chairs nearby. The surrounding grass is worn through, leaving dirt patches, especially around the rocking chairs.
Gopher barks and wags his tail, trailing behind Ruby’s feet. He’s hungry too.
The rocking chairs are facing the open prairie, where the tall grass sways with the gentle, warm winds. It’s beautiful and reminds me of the open plains behind my farm. There’s something peaceful about seeing nothing but nature in its purest form.
“Come and get some food,” Ruby calls to Garrett while the other two men grab their plates and pick sandwiches off the platter Ruby has carried outside.
It’s almost as if he didn’t hear her, or is choosing to ignore her, but after a few brief moments, he stands and makes a plate and sits at the picnic table.
I grab a plate and pick out one of the ham sandwiches. Ruby turns to go inside, and I call to her, asking, “Aren’t you eating with us?”
“Oh, I ate earlier! But thank you! I’ve got to get all the meats and cheeses back to the cold cellar before this heat spoils them.” The petite woman and her wooden tray disappear inside.
A cold cellar to keep the food from spoiling. Huh, I’d like to see that one of these days. But I’ll wait for Nina to get back, because I know she’ll want to see that too.
Everyone eats in silence, except for Booker and Sheamus, who engage in small talk here and there. It’s nice, and I can see why they consider themselves family, even if they aren’t blood. Curious about the families that live here, I ask, “Where are all the children?”
This has all three men frozen in place. It’s Booker who lowers his sandwich and explains, “This isn’t the place for kids. There have been enough parents who’ve seen their kids get taken or killed over the years that, well…”
Garrett cuts in and finishes explaining, “We have a partnership with a town outside of Graveyard Territory. It’s about half a day’s ride east. When a woman is with child, we send the couple there until they’re ready to return.”
“No one is forced to stay here,” Sheamus adds. “We do it for the greater good. Because we know what would happen to the world if the evils of this land had access to—”
“The grandeur junction of lines,” I say before he can.
Sheamus nods.
“Regular folks too,” Booker adds, staring at the old planks of the picnic tabletop as if lost in a memory. “Men can be just as dangerous as a vampire or a werewolf. In their own way.”
“You’re not wrong,” I agree, knowing a few men in my time who enjoy holding power over folks who don’t have it.
I’m tempted to ride back east, to Seymour Heights, and find that Ambrose Redding and show him what actual power looks like.
The sand in my forearms agrees as bands form, spinning around my wrists and forearms.
Booker mumbles a soft yes before taking another bite of his sandwich.
“You ready to learn more about the inner workings of Graveyard Territory?” Garrett asks, pushing his plate aside.
I finish the last bite of my ham sandwich and nod. He stands, and as I finish chewing, I get to my feet and collect our plates.
“Ruby will get them,” he says, taking the plates from my hand and setting them on the table. “Believe me, keeping her busy is good for her. If she gets bored or sits still too long, well, then—”
“She turns to stone!” Booker interjects and then bursts out laughing. “Oh, I couldn’t resist. Sorry, Garrett.”
Sheamus joins in, laughing at a joke I don’t understand. Garrett rolls his eyes and throws some ham to Gopher before walking out toward the tall grass of the prairie.
“Come on, Bex. We’ve got a lot to cover.”
I like the way Garrett talks and explains things to me.
He doesn’t downplay information because I’m a woman.
Or he sees me as another supernatural being, someone who needs to be self-reliant.
I don’t know. Whatever the reason, I like that he’s forward with me about the laws of the land and the supernatural beings out here.
We’ve been talking for hours, and the sun dips closer to the horizon. The flat plains stretch far and wide in all directions.
“Come on, let’s go help lock up the town for the night.”
“Yes… That’s something else I want to learn how to do. What is your nightly routine for reinforcing all the ways to get underground?”
“Hey! There you two are!” Ruby comes outside holding a basket looped through one arm. There’s a rag folded over something inside. “Can I steal Miss Bex? I’d like to show her how I charge the garden cage each night.”
A thrill zips through me, excited to learn how the cage keeps dangers out.
“Oh, yes. I’d love to see that!” I exclaim without waiting for Garrett’s approval.
Picking up the front of my skirt, giving my feet more room to run, I hurry and follow Ruby around the side of the inn out to the center of town.
“What’s in the basket?” I ask, curious if it has anything to do with charging the cage.
“You’ll see!”
We make our way between the two smaller single-story buildings out to her garden.
The garden and animal coops are all inside the giant wire cage and stretch from behind the smaller building to halfway behind the barn.
There’s a side door to the smaller building, and she unlocks the padlock with a key from her apron pocket.
“You’re going to love this,” she says with a playful giggle.
Inside is a large room filled with herbs hanging in bunches to dry out.
This must be where she preps her spices.
The air is filled with so many scents; I can only place a few.
Nina would be better at identifying them.
There’s a shelf in the far corner with bowls lined inside and a rag gently resting over the top.
Ruby sees me eyeing them and says, “Those are for tomorrow. It’s dough that’ll rise overnight. ”
“Ah,” I say, realizing she’s got a whole town to feed, and that’s why there are so many.
“Over here,” she calls to me. She stands against the back wall, next to a window that overlooks the garden.
There’s a wooden box nailed to the wall about the size of a sunrider hat.
She unlatches the top and lifts it back.
Inside is a glass sphere about the size of an apple.
The back of the box is open directly to the metal cage outside, and when she picks up the glass ball and hands it to me to hold, I see a small metal plate where the item sat.
I want to ask so many questions about it all, but I reel in my impatience and let her finish.
She reaches over onto the table and pulls her basket closer. Carefully, she unfolds the rag, and as she does, rays of pale blue light illuminate the space. With two hands, she lifts out another glass ball, except this one contains some kind of blue energy.
“Is that energy from the ley line?” I ask, trying to see every side of the glass sphere.
Ruby nods. “A friend of mine showed me how to trap some of the energy and use it to charge the metal cage.”
I reach up to touch it, but she blocks my hand with hers. “You can’t touch it!” Ruby’s usual joyful and friendly manner has vanished, replaced by an undeniable seriousness. “It’s basically lightning in a glass orb.”
My brows pinch, and I stare at her bare hands handling the dangerous magic. “How are you able to hold it then?”
“Well, that’s something else I should probably tell you. I was hoping Nina would be here when I explained where I come from, but I guess I can talk with her when she gets back.”
Ruby sets the contained ley line magic into the box, and immediately blue sparks emit against the metal plate and nearby metal cage.
“There we go! The cage is charged. If anyone touches it or tries to get to our garden and farm animals, well then, we’ll find their dead body lying in the dirt the next morning. ”
“Lovely,” I say with a sense of unease. I’d like to avoid that chore—cleaning up the charred remains of those who dare try to get past Ruby’s death cage.
“I’m not exactly human,” she confesses.
“I gathered that from your amazing strength. You’re always carrying that huge tray with all those dishes and platters, and then when I saw you balancing that massive axe in the middle of the kitchen the other night, I knew something was up with you.”
She laughs. “My people are called stonians. We’re pretty much human, except for two things.
The first is that our skin is stronger than any stone you’ve come across, which also gives me my aberrant strength.
And second, my insides are like yours except a mirror version.
So, my heart is over here.” She taps the right side of her chest. “And my stomach’s over here.
” Her hand drops, and she presses it to the right side of her torso.
I reach out and touch her hand. It’s cool, and feels soft, like a human hand, except when I go to squeeze it, there’s no fleshy push.
The smooth skin feels like skin, except it’s a stone version.
“This is all a lot to take in,” I admit.
“First werewolves, then ley lines, and now people made of stone.”
“You get used to it,” she says while setting the empty glass ball into her basket, and we head out of her herb cabinet, as she likes to call it.
After she locks the padlock, we quickly make our way over to the inn as the sun has pretty much set.
I guess I’ll watch someone else tomorrow night for another of the many ways they secure the town.
Inside the inn, Sheamus is at his piano, playing the evening tune. Ruby continues toward the kitchen, calling out to me, “See you in the morning!”
“Good night, Ruby!” I call back.
Garrett walks out from behind the bar, closing the bar hatch behind him. He strolls past me and starts up the stairs. “Are you coming?” he asks, and my heart flutters with uncertainty. Why are we going upstairs to the bedrooms?
I swallow, trying to find my words. “Sure,” is all I whisper. I don’t argue, or ask, or contemplate whether we should go upstairs. Whatever he wants to discuss or show me…or do…I’m ready for whatever lesson he’s got planned.