Page 4 of Twi-Flight (Ghostlight Falls #6)

Chapter Three

“ S o, what are we doing today?” I ask, hiking up my work pants. I examine the chicken rescue. It’s my first day, but it’s hard to contain my excitement. Working part time at the grocery was never enough passion, or hours, to fill my days.

“I’d like to look at the house.” Eggward seems remiss to mention it. He’s still wearing that hood, even after everything else he’s told me. It could just be sun protection.

“Right. Of course.” I nod even as my stomach churns. I crinkle my nose. “It’s a mess. I did what I could, but I don’t have the money or the resources.”

He nods and lets me lead the way. Several chickens trail us through the thick weeds between his rescue and my dad’s old property.

The little promenade follows me through the unkempt front yard and up the shaky steps to the front porch.

I used to sit here, with my dad. Drinking tea.

Watching thunderstorms. Looking at the stars.

There’s an extra worn section of the porch floor, where our chairs sat, marking up the painted wood.

Eggward waits patiently beside me, I realize I’m staring.

“Summer break was a refuge for me.” I tell him. “I’m not really smart.”

His head cocks to one side. “You can’t possibly mean that.”

“I always struggled at school.” I shrug and move toward the door.

It’s been a while since I walked inside.

There’s a staircase to my right leading up, but the main floor of the old farmhouse has a circular layout.

Four simple square rooms, two in the front, two in the rear.

The dining room leads into the kitchen, leads into the main bedroom, leads into the living room, which leads back to the dining room.

My heart twists. I should have come back and helped him more.

But I didn’t realize how bad it’d gotten.

In the years since I was last here the stairs leading to the second story have been blocked with trash.

I don’t even know what’s up there. The stone fireplace in the kitchen is blackened with soot and full of ashes.

The electricity and water were long ago turned off.

Every window pane is broken; bugs and animals have been making their home here.

Although the chickens are already making a serious dent in the spider population

Eggward picks his way carefully through the space, examining the ceiling and the walls, running his fingers over surfaces.

I watch him disappear into the other room, while I try to calm my racing heart.

Nostalgia, longing, and quiet uncomplicated love for a time long gone.

That I can never be a part of again. I stopped visiting, or dad stopped inviting me?

Maybe it was both. Standing in all these memories hurts.

“It doesn’t look that bad,” Eggward offers as he reappears around the corner. “I thought maybe I’d fix it up and use it as my new residence. I could use a bit more space.”

“Don’t you live alone?” I ask sheepishly. I thought he was single. “I mean, I never seen anyone else around.”

“I don’t plan to be alone forever.” He is still examining the door frame. “I have a bedroom in the office building, but it’s not an ideal situation, sleeping five feet from where you work.”

“I wouldn’t want to sleep there.” I admit and then fumble for words. “I mean, sleeping near my workspace. Not sleeping with you.”

He responds with silence. The air suddenly seems stifling; my skin feels too hot.

“I think I should step outside,” I mutter and stumble onto my old front porch.

“You wouldn’t mind?” Eggward follows me to the front door.

“Why—why would I mind where you sleep?”

“You are clearly still attached to this place. You don’t have to give it to me.”

I shake my head decisively. “It’s better this way. If you think you can fix it.”

His hand lands on the porch railing beside mine, and I practically leap from the porch to get away from the desire to touch him.

“There’s one big problem though.” I say, leading the way around the house.

He struts behind me silently.

“What do we do about this?” I ask, nudging the thick metal cellar door with my foot. I know the ancient boiler is down there. “I haven’t been able to get it open.”

“You don’t have a key?” Eggward asks.

“No. I’m sure we can cut through the lock or?—”

I’m interrupted by a chicken. One appears, clucking quite loudly at my foot. She settles down briefly, her butt barely touching the ground before she struts off.

“Open it,” Eggward nods toward the large white egg left behind.

“Me?” I almost laugh.

“Rosalie wanted you to have it. That’s why she put it in front of you.” He steps toward me, but doesn’t make any move toward the egg. His presence feels heavy while he watches me.

I bend over to pick it up, to avoid staring at him any longer. Same as the other eggs, it feels—wrong. It isn’t empty, or made of gold, but it isn’t the weight I expect a normal chicken egg to be. Something metal rattles when I shake it.

I glance up at Eggward, but putting myself at a lower point of view hasn’t made him less intimidating. I stand sharply, avoiding looking at him, and hesitantly crack the egg open. Inside is a shiny piece of silver. A key.

“What do I do with this?” I hold up what appears to be a completely normal key.

“The obvious thing.” There’s relief in Eggward’s voice. He nods toward the door. “Rosalie’s gifts are always useful, but not always this obviously so.”

“Right.” I huff a short laugh. “I told you I’m not very smart.”

“Don’t, Mina.” Eggward moves closer, so that his shadow is touching me. “Don’t speak about yourself like that.”

I shake my head trying to cast off the fuzzy feeling that appears with his proximity and lean toward the cellar door.

The key slips into the lock easily. And the twists just as smoothly.

I glance back at the little chicken, who is pecking self-satisfied at the ground.

I reach for the door, and my fingers collide with Eggward as he also grabs the handle.

I jerk my fingers back, like I’ve been burned.

“Sorry,” I mutter, feeling immediately stupid.

“You have nothing to apologize for,” Eggward continues, like he hasn’t even noticed how awkward I am. Pulling the door open he climbs into the darkness below. His shadowed hood glaces back at me. “Coming?”

My heart leaps with his words. I take a deep breath and follow Eggward into the unknown.

The next couple weeks of work are exactly as gross, sweaty, and smelly as I expect them to be.

I learn how to care for the chickens. We clean the coop.

Expand the chicken run. Tear down fences.

Chop up thick weeds. He lets me pick a new exterior color for the office building.

It’s probably the most rewarding work I’ve ever done.

Every night has me collapsing into bed, worn out and satisfied.

The added bonus is that I get to spend more time with Eggward.

I know he spends late nights working on my dad’s house, but he doesn’t ask me to set foot in it again after the first time.

Our work is sometimes quiet, but occasionally he opens up.

Most of all he likes to talk about the individual chickens.

Jasmine and Alice look nearly identical but are girlfriends, not sisters.

Esme, the one who lays golden eggs, is best friends with Rosalie, who leaves random objects around.

He keeps the leftovers in a laundry basket under his desk, just in case any of them turn out to be useful later.

Once every week or so he packs up some of the chickens for outreach and education with the community. Jasmine is too hot headed to go on these trips, but Carly and Esme love them and always go.

“These brochures are kind of old.” I say stacking the pile after one of his events.

“You could update them for me?” he offers casually.

“I’m not sure you want me to do it.” I admit. “I’m not smart enough for that sort of thing.”

“I don’t like it when you doubt your intelligence.”

“Just repeating what others said.” I try to laugh, tracing the pattern of the wood grain on the table with my eyes.

His finger meets chin, urging me to look up into the expressionless darkness where his face should be. “Why would anyone say that sort of thing to you?

“I flunked out of high school.” I say quickly. It’s like his glittering black eyes have me under a spell. “Dyslexia, dyscalculia. Some combination of them. I couldn’t get the grades. I barely got my GED.”

“And? I don’t have any kind of diploma. Do you think I’m stupid?” There’s a quiet confidence in his words.

“Of course not!” I insist. “You run your own business, you seem to have centuries of wisdom.”

“Mina, you pick things up quickly, you have learned so much while you’ve been working with me. You are intelligent, kind, and caring with the chickens. I truly believe you could do anything you set your mind to.”

“You think?” I don’t bother trying to stop the smile I feel tugging at the corners of my mouth.

“Of course you could.” His hand finally falls away from my face, but the warmth in my cheeks doesn’t leave.

I wonder if he realizes how big of a difference he’s made in my life.

We’ve been working together for nearly a month and I can already see the difference in both the chicken rescue and in my own personality.

It’s so much easier to get out of bed and get to work in the mornings when you have a job you actually enjoy, not to mention a hot boss.

The days seem sunnier, the nights seem less lonely.

“I think it’s finished!” I say eagerly. A few days, and several false starts, later I am sitting in the Birds of a Feather office, with the design pulled up on the computer screen in front of me. “I made all the changes you asked for, and we can print out as many as we need.”

Eggward’s presence appears at my shoulder and his hand flattens against the desktop beside me as he leans in to examine my work.

The heat of his chest practically accosts my shoulder.

My heart skips a little beat. There’s a long moment where the only sound is the blood rushing through my heart.

It seems like eons before his low voice reaches my ear.

“It looks perfect. I knew you could do it.” His voice sends a shiver up my spine, and the confidence behind it creates a warm glow deep in my chest. The warring temperatures convalescing in my torso make me realise I’m actually a complete idiot, because I’m falling in love with Eggward.

I stand suddenly, pushing my chair back from the low desk with shaking hands, which might be why I catch a large splinter on my thumb.

“Shit.” I examine the thick sliver of wood sticking out of the pad of my thumb.

“Mina.” His voice hits a gruff edge. “Are you okay?”

“Fine,” I mutter around the digit I slipped into my mouth to numb the pain.

“Let me see it, Mina.” He tugs gingerly at my wrist, urging me to show him.

“I’ll be okay.” I insist but the dark eyes glittering under his cape are locked on me. It feels like I have no choice but to show him. I hold out my hand and he turns it tenderly, so he can look at the injury.

“Not too bad.” His voice is a calming tone. “We’ll have you fixed up in no time.”

“Rosalie left antibiotic cream and a bandaid earlier.” I chuckle. “Now I know why.”

Eggward pulls a first aid kit from under the desk and sets to work.

Retrieving tweezers to pull the splinter free of my skin, I watch as a bead of bright red grows on my finger.

I flinch, worried Eggward’s blood lust, or whatever it is vampires experience might overtake him.

How tempted will he be to hurt me—can he handle smelling, or even seeing my blood?

“You should be more careful.” He says easily, while his warm fingers wrap the bandage around my thumb. My heart thuds loudly in my chest.

“Why bother when I’ve got you?” I tuck a strand of hair behind my ear with my free hand. Should I be offended that he hasn’t tried to attack me? That my blood isn’t driving him mad?

I know it’s trouble, being into my boss like this, but the way that he holds my hand, takes care of me, encourages me, praises me, trusts me—I know that my feelings are at least partially reciprocated.

“I can’t afford a worker’s comp claim.” The smile on his face might not be visible, but the light teasing tone in his voice is unmistakable. His hand lingers on mine, even once the bandage is secured. “Better?”

“Much.” I tilt my head to the side so my neck is exposed and lean forward a little. “Thank you, Eggward.”

He doesn’t move away and I decide to take my chance.

“Do you ever leave the chicken sanctuary?”

His head jerks back a little at the question. “Of course I do.”

“I rarely see you around.”

He gives a half-hearted shrug and finally releases my hand.

“I only wanted to say,” I add quickly. “My roommate, Lucy, and I are going to see a concert later tonight. The free one, in the park. It’s the Los Cupacabros.”

He turns away from me and takes a moment, I’m certain that he’s going to say no before I’ve even properly asked.

“Are they any good?” He finally breaks the silence.

“They are a local band for a reason.” I offer him a small smile. “But the crowd is always fun. It’s nice to be with people. Maybe you’ll be around?”

His foot scratches idly at the ground and we are both distracted by a ruckus amongst the chickens. “I’d better go check on that.” He says before he heads back outside to his work.