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Chapter Five

Harry

Leaving Buck and Kingston out by the pond, I went straight to the parlor of the manor. It was Mr. Chance’s favorite place in his home. Unsurprisingly, I found him and Mr. Jetty making out on the small settee, grinding their lower halves together. At least they were still dressed. For the first time, after having my interlude with Buck, I understood why they couldn’t keep their hands off each other.

“Mr. Chance! Mr. Jetty! Come quick! We need you out at the pond!”

Mr. Jetty’s head fell onto his boyfriend’s shoulder, and he groaned. Mr. Chance looked up at me through heavy-lidded eyes. “Is it important? Can we do it later?”

Trying not to fret, I rubbed my hands together anxiously. “No, please. You must come now. It’s urgent. Buck and Kingston are waiting for us.”

That caught their attention, and they both scrambled off the couch, shoving their feet into their shoes. They ran out through the kitchen door with me floating along beside them, urging them to hurry.

As we crossed the lawn, Chance’s mother, Elyse, called out to us from where she sat cross-legged meditating with Skyler and Marc, Chance’s father. “Where are you three going in such a hurry?”

Looking over his shoulder, Chance yelled, “Mom, come quick! We might need you.”

I heard them jumping to their feet behind us, and knowing they were all on their way, I blinked back to Buck’s side. “They’ll be here in a moment.”

Kingston jumped off the log he’d been sitting on as soon as he saw his friends. Waving them over, he said, “We think we found something at the tree.”

Skyler blew past Chance and Jetty, going right to Kingston’s side and gripping his biceps in both hands. “Are you okay?”

Kingston took a hasty step back. “Yeah, why wouldn’t I be?”

Skyler pushed into the much larger man’s side, batting his eyelashes up at him. “I don’t know. You’ve been so hung up on this place, and they ran out here like their asses were on fire. I thought maybe something happened.”

Skyler and Kingston had been involved in some bizarre mating ritual for months. Honestly, I wasn’t even sure that Kingston knew what was happening. But we didn’t have time for that nonsense right now.

Pointing at the oak, I said, “There’s some kind of strange energy emanating from the tree.”

“Really?” Chance asked, walking briskly over and examining it.

Elyse and Jetty followed him, but Marc made his way to me and Buck. “What did you see?”

I opened my mouth to answer, but Buck grabbed my hand and squeezed. “Well.” He studied the branches of the massive oak. “We don’t rightly know. Kingston didn’t feel anything when he got close to it, but Harry sure did.”

Marc hummed under his breath. “You’ve spent the most time out here, Buck. You’ve never noticed that before?”

Buck shook his head. “I can’t say that I have.”

“Oh shit!” Chance exclaimed, hunching down at the juncture where the tree met the large branch that extended over the pond. “This fungi right here? This is disease.”

Jetty stepped up next to his boyfriend. “Are you sure it’s not just moss or something from it being over the pond?”

“No, I’ve seen this before. It’s—”

Elyse leaned down next to her son. “Oh my. Chance is right.”

The mother-son duo both had green thumbs, the earth responding to their mystical gifts. If they said this wasn’t normal, it wasn’t.

Chance stood, looking around at the assembled group despairingly. “This isn’t good. Right after we lifted the curse, I had a service come out and check the health of every tree on the property.”

“That’s why you had the one cut down up by the house, right, son?” Marc asked.

“Yeah. It was dying, and there was no saving it.”

That wasn’t good. “But that doesn’t explain the odd energy I felt coming off of it.”

Chance shook his head. “No, it doesn’t.” He looked helplessly to his mom.

She appeared just as confused. Jetty clapped his hands together. “I don’t think there’s anything we can do but have the company come back out and check this one. I know the other one was in way worse shape than this one.” He patted the side of the tree trunk. “Maybe this old girl can be saved.”

Chance brightened. “True. I’ll go to the house and call now.”

“Wait,” Buck said, then glanced down at me. “You came to my side pretty fast after feeling that void, love. Did you see the fungi they’re speaking of?”

“No.” I leaned into him. “I hadn’t reached the branch when I felt that weird…nothingness.”

Elyse clapped her hands together in front of her face as she wiggled her hips happily. “Aww. Isn’t that so sweet?”

Skylar narrowed his eyes in my and Buck’s direction while Mr. Chance and Mr. Jetty exchanged looks of astonishment. What in the world?

Buck chuckled and pulled me firmly into his side. “I think we surprised them.”

“Because I didn’t examine the tree? Why?” Smoothing my hands down over my vest, I continued, “I admit I’m normally a little more on top of things, but this isn’t my normal purview. I take care of the house.”

Marc snickered. “I’m not sure this is about the tree, Mr. Harry. I think they’re shocked that you allowed Buck to refer to you as love and snuggled into him.”

Kingston sighed loudly. “Yeah, yeah. Buck finally got Harry to cave. I’m not sure that’s what’s important here.”

“It’s not?” Skylar screeched. “I’m pretty sure it’s the most important thing I’ve heard all day.”

Elyse raised a hand in the air. “I agree with Skylar.”

“Mom,” Chance said, sounding perplexed, but then his gaze returned to me and Buck. “Okay, he might be right. I’ll call the landscaping company in a minute. First, can you explain this?” He waved his hand around, indicating the two of us.

Kingston huffed and stomped back to the mighty oak. “We are in the middle of a crisis, people. May I remind you that I keep dreaming about this fire pit? Every. Single. Night . It’s waking me up and haunting me. I’ve searched town records and found no explanation whatsoever about why this area is important. Harry moved close to the trunk and was scared half to death—”

“That’s a little dramatic,” I said softly. I was deceased, after all.

He rolled his eyes at me. “And now there’s fungi on this limb that wasn’t there before, and it could potentially kill this tree.” He patted the bark. “Buck and Harry’s romance can wait.”

I hoped with everything in me that my face didn’t show how close to combustion I was. Having this…this…whatever it was with Buck laid out before everyone before I’d even wrapped my head around it was so embarrassing.

Buck burst out with that larger-than-life booming laugh I’d grown accustomed to. “Kingston’s right.” He turned and kissed my cheek. “Since I’m the only one who hasn’t gotten close to the tree, let me take a look at whatever they’re seeing, and then we can go back into the house so Chance can make his call.”

Buck

“No!” Harry whisper-yelled, gripping my bicep between his hands. “I don’t think that’s a good idea. If they can’t feel what I did, then it must be something happening in our realm. I don’t want anything—”

Resting a hand over one of his, I shushed him soothingly. “It’ll be fine, love. You got close and made it back to me safely. I’ll do the same and come straight back to you. I’ve spent the most time out here, though, so it only makes sense for me to take a look and see if I notice anything different.”

“I’m surprised you didn’t before,” Jetty said practically.

“Aww,” Elyse sing-songed. “He was too busy falling in love.”

“That’s not fair.” Skylar stomped his foot on the ground. I was pretty sure he was pouting that I’d made way with my man while he’d made little to no progress with Kingston. There was nothing I could do about that, so I focused back on Harry.

For the second time, I watched transfixed as his appearance flickered like a flame as a blush disrupted his energy to stay corporal. Biting back a smug grin, I left my man—yep, Harry was mine now—and strode toward the largest limb. I felt a little silly that I hadn’t gone over and at least checked the energy myself before now, but it had freaked Harry out so badly, and then I’d been so excited to tell Kingston that I’d finally wheedled my way into Harry’s bubble, that I’d simply left the oak for the humans to figure out.

“Be careful, Buck,” Harry called out.

I smiled at him over my shoulder, then got closer to the tree than I had on our stroll around the pond. A weird absence of space gripped me immediately. Harry had been right. This was disconcerting. No wonder he hadn’t wanted Kingston to go near it initially. It felt like a wormhole, a space where you might disappear and cease to exist.

Not wanting to be close to this thing any longer than necessary, I hustled to where they’d pointed out the fungi and stopped short. “Uh, guys…” I trailed off.

Harry appeared at my side, then popped me back into the center of the circle. Bewildered, I blinked at him. “You moved me. How’d you do that?”

He huffed. “You said you’d hurry, and instead you stood there for hours staring at that thing.”

Jetty coughed, doing his best to cover his chuckle.

“It was more like half a minute,” Chance said. “But I agree with Harry. It was creepy the way you just froze.”

Thirty seconds? I would’ve sworn I’d only gotten a brief glance before Harry appeared, swooping me away. I shook my head and faced the human residents of the manor. “Did any of you notice that the fungi or whatever it is was glowing?”

“Glowing?” Chance hustled back over and bent down, peering closely. “Buck, what are you talking about? I only see the fungus growing and overlapping on top of each other.”

“What color are they?” I asked, needing to distinguish between what they saw and what I did.

Jetty joined his boyfriend, studying the limb over his shoulder. “I’d say a combination of cream and a light brown.”

Shaking my head, I focused on Harry. “That’s definitely not what I saw. It’s more purplish black and navy green, and the whole area is a glowing sludge. I’m surprised we didn’t notice it when we walked by earlier.”

Elyse, Marc, Skylar, and Kingston all squeezed in around their friends, staring at the fungi. Their brows were furrowed as they backed away. “Are you sure?” Chance asked, wringing his hands. “That can’t be good that you’re seeing something totally different than us. Mr. Harry, would you look and see if you—”

Harry shook his head so emphatically that Chance cut off. “I’d rather not get near there again, Mr. Chance.” There was a tremble to his voice.

Chance ran a hand through his hair. “Of course not. I’m sorry. I just don’t know what to do. What to think.” He cuddled into Jetty, laying his head on his chest.

With our employer—and I used that term loosely—upset, Harry transformed back into the picture of the uptight butler I’d first met. “Sir, given the circumstances, I think we should all head back into the house. I don’t believe standing out here exposed to whatever it may be is sound or practical. I’ll prepare a snack so that we can discuss this reasonably away from whatever…that may be.”

He didn’t have to say what he was thinking because we were all wondering the same thing. Was this some new energy or entity? Was it here to harm the spirits at the pond or was it some insidious substance coming to attack the humans? Harry was right. Until we had more information, we all needed to vacate the premises. It was now a safety issue.

“I’ll help.” The two of us returned to the kitchen in the manor without waiting for the living ones to respond. “Have you ever seen anything like this?” I asked, pulling him into my arms in the center of the kitchen.

Harry’s mouth tightened, and he wiggled out of my embrace. “We have work to do.” He pulled cheese out of the refrigerator.

Oh boy. We were back to this again. “Harry—”

“Mr. Harry,” he hissed.

Hurt, I flew back like he’d punched me in the stomach. I thought this afternoon had meant something to him. I knew it had. I’d been inside his body, felt his emotions. Sure, the business with the old oak had thrown a wrench into our plans, but did that mean we had to go back to being butler and apprentice?

Harry winked out of existence, reappearing before me. “I’m sorry. That was unnecessary. You didn’t do anything wrong, but I’m frazzled. This is the first time in my one hundred and sixty-five years on this property where I’ve had no idea what’s going on. It’s unnerving.” He patted my chest. “I don’t mean to take it out on you, but I need my routine right now, which means taking care of this place and its inhabitants. Do you understand?”

Stroking a lock of hair off his forehead and back into its place, I realized how off-balance he was. My Harry was controlled with his appearance, nary a hair out of place or a wrinkle in sight. We weren’t mortal beings who had to worry about those things anymore. Everything about our existence now was our choice—except being alive. That part was over.

Leaning forward, I brushed a sweet kiss over his lips, then stood back. “I do. I’m sorry for being insensitive. I forget that you’ve been at this dead thing for decades and decades longer than me.”

He raised a finger. “Throw in a century.”

“How could I forget?” I hummed. “What would make you feel better? Would you like me to help or go away? I want to give you whatever you need.”

Harry’s distraught expression softened into something that more resembled the man who’d accepted my affections back at the pond. “Thank you. Would you mind terribly if I prepare the snack alone? I need to think, and you’re distracting.”

Waggling my eyebrows at him, I teased, “Distracting, huh?” Sobering, I nodded. “I’ll go find Scotty and Stevie and let them know what’s happening and give you some time alone.” Then I kissed him and faded from view.