Talisman (16 page)

I waved and
watched my surrogate father until he disappeared around the corner of the house.  Not a second later, I heard our creaky front door opening, followed by Charlotte and Chloe’s voices.

They must’ve been dying to meet the new
rich guy in town
, I thought as I headed back to the workshop.

Before I
even stepped inside, there it was again.  One big, long
“squeak-k-k-k-k”
was rattling in my ears.

What in the heck is that?
  I’d completely forgotten about the perplexing noise. 
Well, I was on my way to check it out before Samuel showed up, and there’s nothing keeping me from doing so now.  Samuel’s right.  There’s no need to fear anything… Just “embrace it”
.

This time, I marched towards the ridge with purpose in my stride.  I trekked up the mountainside
, and before I knew it, I’d reached the line of pickets that ran along the tree line.  I paused, took one heck of a courageous and deep breath, and then hopped over the fence.  As I lifted a large pine limb out of my way, I thought,
Let’s see what’s raisin’ such a ruckus
.

I followed the strange sound through the woods.  Though I hadn’t been
out on Shiloh Ridge for many years, I couldn’t spare the time to take in the sights of the beautiful fall foliage rolling throughout the scenery around me.  I was on a mission.

I listened attentively and changed my course
like a fine-tuned compass with every
“squeak”
I heard.  The sound was gradually getting louder, so assumed I was traveling in the right direction.  Any fears I’d had about Shiloh Ridge seemed to subside with every step I took.  As I walked across the rough terrain, my left shoe began to feel loose.  I looked down to discover that my laces had come undone.  I wasn’t surprised, not with all the jagged twigs carpeting the bumpy ground.

I came upon a massive oak tree and decided to pause for a moment to secure my shoestrings.  I propped my foot on a large root that trailed away from its trunk.

There, nice and tight
, I thought as I pulled back on the loops.  I raised my head up quickly to find myself face-to-face with a large bird resting on one of the low hanging limbs.  I jumped back and grabbed my chest as the bird
“squawked”
and stretched both its wings.

Make that
THREE TIMES today
, I noted mentally.

Perched on
the branch sat a rather large brown and gold falcon.  It made no attempt to fly away, let alone be startled by me in any way.  The magnificent bird appeared to be cautiously checking me out.  I’d never seen a falcon up close before.  Hawks plenty of times, but never a falcon.

“Is this your home, pretty bird?” I found myself casually asking the fowl.  “Can I listen
in on your thoughts?” I joked.

The falcon raised his wings, let out an ear-piercing
“squawk”
, and then soared straight up into the air.

I’ll take that as a
“NO”
, I thought as I turned around to continue on my quest.

Immediately
I froze.  My body started to tremble and my eyes widened at an alarming rate as soon as I realized
why
my feathery-friend had flown the coop.  Just inches from my face, a silhouette of “something” was hovering — something that appeared to be a mass of translucent black mist.  My breaths became heavier, and my heart started to race.  In spite of the fact that the unearthly fog didn’t have any visible “eyes”, I could feel it watching me, like it had years ago, waiting for me to make some sort of movement.  My nostrils flared as I took in a deep breath of air.  There it was, the same foul scent of sulfur.  A small tear rolled out of the corner of my eye as the emotions of that harrowing day came rushing back to me, just like they had in my dream.

A black hand formed from the
murky fog and smudged the tear on my cheek.  An excruciating pain stung the left side of my face, forcing me to jerk back.  The hazy hand paused, taunting me for a moment, and then slowly retracted.

Don’t be afraid.  Don’t be afraid,
I kept telling myself
.  You’re not a little girl anymore and there’s no need to be afraid
.  One of Daddy’s favorite adages popped into my mind to comfort me: “It’s more afraid of you, than you are of it”.

Yeah… L
et’s hope that load of crap is true, THIS TIME
, I thought nervously, wary of what was sure to happen next.

Unexpectedly, the fog began to roll away from me, almost like it was starting to dissipate. 
Could whatever this “thing” is, be leaving?
  It seemed to be disappearing with every second that passed. 
It’s almost gone… Just a little more
, I assured myself.  I clutched my oval locket and found myself trying to “wish it away” like when I was five.

W
ithout warning, a monstrous growl roared out of the fog.  The mist thickened into a billowy black cloud and then two murky arms lunged towards me with a vengeance.

Frantically, I tried to turn and run, but the crafty hands had already wrapped around my neck.  The fiendish black mist hurled
me towards the massive oak.  I heard the sound of the tree’s bark cracking as my body hit its trunk —
hard
.  The hands were choking me, and I couldn’t catch my breath.  I tried my best to pull the dense fog away from my neck, but its hold was too strong and it felt just as painful as I’d remembered.  Its piercing touch burned hot, like a jolt of biting electricity that had been set ablaze.  The pain was becoming more than I could bear.  I flailed about and tried to scream, but my vocal cords were constricted.  The only sounds I made were of me, gasping desperately for air.  There was nothing I could do but wait until the dark, sadistic hand of death choked my last breath out of me.

In the midst of my losing struggle, I thought I heard something rustling
above my head somewhere up in the tree.  The next thing I knew, the curious and apparently feisty falcon was diving into the fog amid a pillow of mystical golden smoke.  It appeared to be pecking at it, attacking it somehow.  The murky fog’s taut grip loosened up enough that I was able to free myself.  I fell to the ground while the eerie haze savagely struck back at the falcon.

Quickly,
I sprang to my feet and took off through the woods, assuredly running for my life.  Though I felt extremely grateful to the falcon for helping me get away, I couldn’t shake my fear that
this fight
would be its
last
.

I
ran so fast that I wasn’t paying a bit of attention to where I was going, and my nerves were so frazzled, I didn’t have a clue where I was either.  All I could hear were the sounds of the falcon squawking and what seemed like an endless stream of horrific roars blaring in the distance.  I couldn’t stop, but I knew I had to look back to see if anything was on my tail.  Keeping my stride at its present pace, I turned my head for a second to check my rear.  There wasn’t anything behind me.  I felt a sense of relief as I turned my head back around.  Then all of a sudden,
“Bam!”
  I hit something — and I’d hit it
HARD
.  Whatever it was that I’d crashed into had stopped me dead in my tracks, and I was still fused to it.

Crap
!
I must’ve run into a tree
.  It had knocked the wind right out of me.  My eyes were winced shut, but as my body continued to press against it, something moved and locked onto my arms.  My nerve receptors sent a clear signal to my brain.  This wasn’t the rough bark of a tree I was clinging to.  It was strangely supple —
and warm
.  An overwhelming sense of serenity flooded every cell in my body.  I felt like I was floating on a cloud peacefully, without a care in the world.

I opened my eyes.  It appeared I was clinging to someone’s chest — a
man’s
chest — a warm and incredibly firm man’s chest, to be exact.  As my arms gripped the sleeves of the man’s leather jacket, I slowly lifted my head.  There before me, I gazed into a set of wide hazel eyes that were handsomely framed by locks of brown hair with gleaming golden flecks flowing down from his widow’s peak.  He just stood there and stared back at me,
willingly
.  I felt like nothing could harm me in this stranger’s arms.  My eyes traveled around his face like Magellan surveying a map.  He was handsome and rugged, yet he had a soft boyish look about him, though clearly he was
no boy
.  I could tell that just from the way his smoldering eyes creased as he looked at me, and by the way his finely toned biceps tightened slightly as my arms gripped them. 
But mostly
, I could feel it by the way he stood there — holding me.  A smile crept across my face,
uncontrollably
.

“
Miss?
  Are you okay?” the stranger asked with concern.

“I’m fine,” I murmured, transfixed on the bewitching stranger.  Unexplainably, my thoughts began to drift into an arousing state of bliss
the longer I stared into his hypnotic eyes.

Slowly, I released myself from his soul-stirring embrace.  Then all of a sudden, I became overwhelmed with
fear
.  Anxiously, I panned the forest in all directions.  The terrifying reason why I’d run into this man had resurfaced.

“I have to get out of here,” I de
clared panic-stricken.  “I mean —
get home
.  Have you seen anything in the woods?  What are you doing here?”  My questions were as about as erratic as my sudden mood shift.

“I thought you said you were
‘fine’?
”  The beautiful stranger looked me up one side and down the other.  “You don’t seem that
‘fine’
to me?” he replied as he crossed his arms.

“You didn’t answer me.  Have you seen
anything
out here on the ridge?”  I demanded as I kept one eye on him and the other on my surroundings.

“I’ve been out here for the past few hours collecting samples, and the only thing I’ve happened upon is a scared
little girl
in the woods,” he replied with a slick grin.

I was too rattled by the fog creature that could possibly still be lurking nearby to scoff at the stranger’s “scared little girl” crack.  I was more interested in why
he
was out here.

“
Samples?
  For what?” I asked as I continued to survey the woods.  He was standing beside an apparatus that appeared to be some sort of drill.

“Samples of the earth,
no doubt
,” he replied suavely as he flipped a switch that started up the machine.

“
So you’re the one who’s been making that noise,” I noted with surprise.

“
Guilty
,” he replied as he raised both of his hands in an apparent surrender.  He began to gather up some tools lying on the ground.

I scanned the stranger from head to toe.  By the way he was dressed and carried himself, it was obvious he wasn’t from around here.

“Are you with Xcavare Enterprises?” I asked cautiously.

“I’m not
with them
, exactly,” he replied defensively.  “But I do consulting work for them on occasion.  My expertise was needed on this
particular
acquisition.”

I watched suspiciously while h
e collected all of his samples and placed them into a canvas backpack, still confused by his presence on the ridge.

“Why do they have you working out
here
and not down at the mine?”

“Mr. Xcavare
insists that all the surrounding areas be checked for additional resources.  I enjoy that part.  I tend to like the exploration that my field work allows, more than the mundane technical duties of my job.” He turned off the drill and swiftly rose to his feet.  “
Now
, answer
my
question,” the stranger demanded as he stepped closer, locking his eyes with mine.  “What should I have
seen
out here?”

There was no way I was telling
him
the truth, so I decided to sidestep his question.

“I live on the other side of the ridge.  I heard a strange sound, and I came out here to check it out.  Now I know, so I’ll be on my way.  Sorry for running into you like that,” I stated abruptly
with a direct nod and whipped around to get my bearings.

I started
to walk off and then stopped.  I turned around and headed in the opposite direction, only to pause again.

“What’s wrong,
Gretel?
  Can’t find your breadcrumbs?” he chuckled as he packed up his equipment.  “For someone who
claims
they live nearby, you sure don’t seem to know your way around —
if you ask me
.”