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Chapter Fourteen

B en wasn’t about to comment on the strange coincidence that had led Sidney to the very spot where he’d found the new Ogham letter carved into a tree.

Enough odd things had happened around here that he figured he’d just have to roll with it and try to analyze the situation later when he had a chance to slow down and really think.

If he ever got the time for that sort of thing.

Now, though, he was hurrying through the forest with her a few paces out in front, neither of them quite running, as if they knew tripping over a tree root or a stump or boulder would put them right out of commission.

He kept his flashlight’s beam fixed on the path ahead, which helped enough to keep them from running into any obvious obstacles.

Despite their urgency, he couldn’t quite stop himself from wondering if their cooperation now meant she was still mad at him but didn’t have the time to indulge her anger, or whether she’d forgiven him enough that she was willing to have him as an ally for the moment.

Possibly a little of both. He was okay with that, because at least she was talking to him and maybe viewed him as a source of possible help. Everything else they could work out later.

The sounds were getting steadily louder.

Soon enough, they didn’t even need the noise of the illegal clearing to guide them in, since someone had set up some big light stands, the kind he’d used on several digs that had the kind of budget to afford them.

The harsh illumination guided him and Sidney right where they needed to be.

He had a feeling the clearing had already existed before the bulldozers and the woodchippers and the work crews had arrived, since there was a fairly large open spot that once had probably been quite pretty, with grass and the paler dots of some kind of wildflowers.

A lot of the meadow had already been destroyed, though, with the heavy machinery leaving deep cuts in the wild grass and pretty thoroughly crushing the flowers.

As far as he could tell, there seemed to be about a dozen people working, maybe a little less. Not a big crew by any stretch of the imagination, which Ben guessed had been deliberate. A small, nimble group would be able to pack up quickly and be out of here without anyone noticing.

Well, except for the part where one of Northwest Pacific’s most vocal critics was already out in the woods and ready for combat.

One man stood a ways from the others and was pointing and shouting, although Ben couldn’t quite make out what the guy was saying over the roar of the engines and that incessant beeping noise, which he guessed the work crews must hear in their sleep.

It seemed clear the guy was the foreman, though, so he seemed the logical person to confront.

Sidney must have performed the same mental arithmetic, since she stalked straight over to him, planted her hands on her hips, and said in furious tones, “You need to stop this right now. What you’re doing is illegal.”

The man looked singularly nonplussed. It was impossible to tell his hair color — or whether he even had any hair at all — thanks to the hard hat he wore, but his eyes were pale and bleached under the bright lights the work crew had set up to illuminate the clearing.

“No, it’s not,” he said, his tone casual. If he was surprised to have a couple of strangers show up at his job site, no one would have ever guessed it from his expression. “Got all the paperwork signed by your mayor. So you tree-huggers will need to back off.”

Sidney scowled, and Ben had to admit he wasn’t favorably impressed by the guy, either.

“Then we’ll need to see that paperwork,” he said, and the foreman only shrugged.

“What, are you with the Sierra Club or something?”

“No,” Sidney shot back, “we’re concerned citizens.

Mayor Tillman made it very clear at our town hall the other night that he was waiting to gather input from the residents before any logging was allowed to happen here.

It’s already pretty obvious that no one wants Welling Glen to be clear-cut, so you need to stop right now. ”

“Get an injunction,” the man drawled. “Otherwise, we’re going back to work.”

During this exchange, the worker driving the bulldozer — along with the two men handling the enormous chainsaw, one clearly designed to cut down the tallest trees — had paused what they were doing to watch the show. Now their foreman gave them an irritated wave of one hand.

“Get moving!” he barked. “I’m not paying you to stand around.”

The man in the bulldozer nodded and put the vehicle back in gear.

It seemed pretty obvious that intervention by concerned citizens wasn’t going to be enough to get them to back off.

Well, desperate times called for desperate measures.

Without stopping to think, Ben ran toward the tree that appeared to be the bulldozer driver’s destination and thrust himself between the vehicle and the huge pine.

At once, the bulldozer ground to a stop. The foreman cursed, but Sidney hurried over toward Ben and knotted her fingers in his.

“Are you going to commit murder just to knock down one tree?” she demanded.

The foreman stalked over to where they stood, wearing the expression of a man who would have cheerfully hit them both over the head and dragged them out of there if he thought he could get away with it.

Ben tensed, wondering if this was going to turn into an actual physical altercation.

Back in college, he’d broken up a drunken brawl between one of his friends and the guy who’d been running around with said friend’s current girlfriend.

Sure, he’d managed to keep them both from getting arrested, but he’d ended up with a bruised cheekbone and a pretty impressive black eye for his trouble, and he’d prefer to avoid that kind of violence if at all possible.

The foreman hesitated, though, as if weighing the possible repercussions of getting physical with a couple of unarmed people, one of them a woman. Before he was able to make a decision, the cell phone clipped to his belt rang.

He took it off his belt and put it to his ear, his face looking even more sour if possible. Then he said, “Okay,” and returned the phone to his belt.

Without saying anything to either of them, he turned and gestured toward the guy in the bulldozer. “That’s it,” he called out. “Pack it in.”

At once, the bulldozer began backing up, and Ben permitted himself a small breath of relief. He hadn’t really been looking forward to being run over by the hulking vehicle.

The foreman swiveled back toward him and Sidney. “But don’t think this is a done deal,” he snapped, then all but stomped toward the other workers, also waving at them to let them know to shut everything down.

Ben didn’t move, though. No, he was going to stand right there until he knew they were all gone, no matter how long that might take.

He realized then that Sidney’s fingers were still twined with his. They were slender but warm and strong, and seemed to give the signal that she appreciated what he’d just done.

It probably took a full five minutes for all the workers to get their equipment together and leave the job site. During that time, Ben and Sidney remained in front of the pine tree that had been slated for destruction, hands clasped.

The lights shut off abruptly, and overhead, the stars leapt out with astonishing brilliance, so many more of them than he’d ever seen while growing up in Orange County, where the glaring lights of the suburbs washed out everything except the brightest constellations.

He remembered when he’d gone on his first dig out in the desert when he was just a freshman in college, and how astonished he’d been to see how many stars truly shone in the night sky.

It was a sight he never tired of…just as he thought he would never tire of the feeling of Sidney Lowell’s hand in his.

But then she let go, if gently, and gazed up at him with new respect. “That was incredible.”

“Well, I wasn’t about to stand there and let them knock down this tree,” he replied, and switched on his flashlight so they’d at least be able to see where they were going.

Standing there in the starlit darkness with her was undeniably magical, but they still needed to get back to town in one piece.

“Especially since what they were doing was, if maybe not technically illegal, then at least highly unethical,” he added.

“That’s for sure,” she said. Her brows were drawn together, and Ben guessed she would have a few choice words for Mayor Tillman when she saw him the next day.

Because he had absolutely no doubt that she’d be marching over there just as soon as City Hall opened for business.

“Anyway,” she went on, “let’s take a look at the damage they caused and get some photos. I know they won’t be the best because it’s so dark, but I want to have some evidence of what the work crew did.”

“You don’t think Tillman already knows about that?”

“Of course he does,” Sidney replied, her voice now grim. “But I want to show Eliza and everyone else who was on board with posting those flyers so they can see what kind of garbage we’re dealing with. Because the mayor went around us, we might have cause to sue for damages.”

Ben wasn’t sure if that was exactly how these things worked, but he held his tongue.

It did seem that Mayor Tillman had made some sort of verbal agreement that no clear-cutting would be performed out here until all of Silver Hollow’s residents had been given a chance to weigh in on the issue, and that sure as hell hadn’t happened.

Welling Glen — he assumed that was where he and Sidney now stood — hadn’t escaped unscathed.

A rough dozen trees had already been cut down, and, as he’d noted earlier, the grassy earth was scarred and rutted by the passage of all that heavy equipment.

It would bounce back, though, something he couldn’t say for the trees that had been lost.

“Poor things,” Sidney said, and ran her hand over the rough bark of one pine. “I hate this. There was no reason for these trees to be sacrificed like this.”

“Maybe there’s some way to use them for the people of Silver Hollow?” Ben suggested. “Maybe to repair fences or build sheds, or even provide firewood for the people who need it? That way, this might not feel like such a waste.”

Her expression was still sorrowful, but he thought he noticed a certain light in her eyes as she nodded in agreement.

“That’s a good idea,” she replied. “It’s the least Northwest Pacific can do for the town, considering the way they tried to pull an end run on all of us.

I can talk to a few people I know who have the kind of equipment to handle trees this big.

Maybe some of this can be salvaged, even if it looks pretty bad. ”

That it did. Although he couldn’t say he knew these woods intimately the way Sidney did, he still admired them for their wild beauty and wanted nothing more than for them to thrive and grow. Seeing the destruction the work crew had left behind only made his heart ache.

Out of the corner of his eye, he caught a pale shimmer from somewhere within the woods, a gleam of light in the darkness that only grew brighter as it approached.

His breath caught in his throat, even as his heart began to beat a little faster.

Was it possible?

A unicorn stepped out from among the pine trees. It seemed to glow with its own illumination, and its long horn — which looked translucent and lovely as the interior of a seashell — glittered as if it had been sprinkled with diamond dust.

Next to him, Sidney went very still. However, Ben couldn’t detect any shock in her expression, only a kind of wonder.

Did her lack of reaction mean that she’d seen the unicorn before this?

He had no idea, and he wasn’t sure whether he’d be able to find his voice to ask the question.

The unicorn paused a few yards away from them. Now Ben could see the silver-tipped dark lashes that surrounded its gleaming eyes, the slight dappling of the smooth white hair that covered its body. Like a horse, but at the same time…not.

It dipped its head at them and then gracefully turned and began to walk back into the forest. Both Ben and Sidney stood there, staring, and it shook its mane, as if in impatience.

“I think he wants us to follow him,” she whispered.

How did she know it was a he? Ben knew he hadn’t peeked at the undercarriage to determine the sex of the animal, but maybe she had.

Or maybe she had called the unicorn “he” because this wasn’t the first time she’d seen him.

Well, he would worry about that later.

Right now— right now, if a unicorn wanted to invite you deeper into the woods, you didn’t ask questions.

“Let’s go,” he said.