AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I kick harder, trying to shake him loose, but he tightens his grip.
The burning in my lungs increases as my vision goes dark around the edges.
I still can’t get free.
I’m drowning.
I can feel the darkness trying to overtake me, and with my last ounce of energy, I give a mighty tug on Len’s arm as I push myself upward. Miraculously, he pulls loose of whatever had trapped him, and we both surge to the surface, breaking through and coughing.
Some of the other workers have reached us by this point, and they tow us back to the beach, where we sprawl on the ground, hacking.
“What happened out there?” I finally manage to ask.
Len shakes his head. “No idea. Felt like something had a hold of my legs and was tugging me down. And then all of a sudden, I was free.”
What the hell? First there was Evan’s death, and then the strange thing with the honey. Now some mysterious force is trying to drown the workmen? Something weird is definitely going on—possibly with the Lady herself—and I need help before this project goes any further. I struggle my way to my feet and trudge to my cabin, determined to find my phone. Griffin needs to get out here ASAP.
I don’t know precisely what the Lady is, though I’ve always envisioned her as some sort of aquatic fairy or nymph. But for all I know, she could be an elf like some of my ancestors or even a goddess. All I’m sure about is that she is extremely powerful, and I don’t want to get her mad.
I call Griffin, explain what happened, and demand that he meet me out here. Fortunately, he’s as concerned as I am. He arrives in less than thirty minutes.
“Where’s the missing equipment?” he asks.
I point vaguely to the area where I nearly drowned. A small part of the machine is sticking out of the lake. “Over there. It’s deeper than expected, but not so deep that we totally lost whatever that thing is. Towing it out will be a hassle, though, and I’m worried about oil and gas leaks. Not to mention the Lady’s wrath.”
He pulls me off to one side, out of sight of the workers, who are all standing around wondering what to do. The one in charge is on the phone, presumably with Marlan, and Griffin and I will have to deal with how to handle this in a moment.
“I stopped by The Silver Serpent on the way over here,” Griff says in a low voice. “Sabine hooked me up with a spell that should help clean up the water. You can use it this evening, after the workers are gone.”
Thank goodness. Though the population has shifted over time, there are still a handful of us in Haven’s Hollow who know that magic—and magical creatures—are real. Sabine Merlot is one of those people. She runs the metaphysical store in town, and while it’s mostly tarot cards and fortune telling, she does have real magic on hand for those of us who are in the know. She makes good money with those spells, but they’re always worth the high price.
Griffin hands me a piece of paper and a little vial of sparkly pink crystals that look almost like glitter. “She wrote out the instructions,” he adds, pointing to the paper.
“Cool, I’ll take care of it as soon as I can. In the meantime, we have to get that thing out of the lake and remind these guys to be careful.”
“Where’s your contractor?”
I throw up my hands. “He’s not here today. He sent these guys, but I’ve never met them before. I think they’re a temp crew and I’m not thrilled with them so far.”
“Fair enough. Let’s go talk to them.”
We march out to where they’re waiting, relieved to discover that Len seems to be doing fine. I offer to send him to urgent care to get checked out, but he declines, saying that he’ll be fine.
“Good,” Griff says. “I’m glad to hear that and pleased that nothing worse happened. We need to figure out a way to tow that thing out of the lake, and from here on out, I need you all to act with care. We have to protect and respect the lake to our best ability, understood? No pollution, no harming the wildlife, that kind of thing.”
A couple of the workmen roll their eyes.
“We’re serious,” I say. “I know none of you are from here, but the lake is important to Haven’s Hollow in many ways. We have to take care of it, and part of that means not polluting it. No matter what, we can’t have any more accidents like this.”
We’re not about to get into the real reasons we have to protect the lake, but also, those shouldn’t matter. Following our directives and keeping pollution to a minimum should be obvious parts of the job.
Once they know we’re serious, we leave them to figure out how to retrieve the missing machinery.
“Haven, I don’t have to remind you how important it is for this project to go well,” Griffin warns.
“Of course not,” I say, bristling. “I’m well aware of how the tourism boost could help the town, as well as the consequences of failure. Believe me, I’m doing my best. But there’s weird shit happening out here, Griff. We both know it.”
Wickham
