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“This is the safe house, Rollo? A hill? Please tell me we are not camping. Please tell me there is some more magic at work here. A real bed, and not a hammock, or a sleeping bag. Please.”
“I don’t know, Winona. Hammocks have their pluses.” Was he giving her a suggestive look?
“What’s that supposed to mean?” she asked, not sure if she should be offended or flattered.Oh, who are you kidding?
“Lighten up…” was all he said, though he was still smirking.
“But, seriously, there better be running water at least.”
“Winona, I really don’t know any more than you do, okay? I’m just following the directions Bloom gave me.”
“Well, I hope this Bloom knows what she’s talking about,” she said.
She was getting really tired of being led around by the nose like this.
Rollo grabbed her by the shoulders and turned her in the opposite direction. Somehow, where before there had only been trees, there now stood a rather picturesque Victorian mansion.
“See, there it is. Just like she told me.”
“Holy shit,” was all she could muster. “Wow. It’s amazing. I was expecting…well, I don’t know what I was expecting, but not this.” Around the outside was an equally picturesque garden, complete with ivy covered trellis and walking paths that led off into the surrounding woods. It was everything she had always imagined a home to be.It’s like out of a magazine.
Rollo didn’t seem to notice her reaction, as he’d begun directing the boys to bring their things up the stairs. He turned to her, after she’d taken it all in for a few moments, “Bloom said they call it ‘Casa de Campo.’ Not too shabby, huh?”
Winona was literally speechless. Casa de Campo, wasn’t that something like ‘country house’? It was built into the side of the hill. But more than that, it had been builtaroundthe trees, incorporating the landscapeintothe structure. If Frank Lloyd Wright had created that famous Falling Water house, but in the nineteenth century, she thought, this would be it. Its walls were perfectly camouflaged into the hillside, except for an enormous front door, that had perfectly exquisite copper detailing, that swooped together to form the bark of a tree, an enormous tree that seemed to almost take up the entire first floor of the home.
“Isn’t the garden beautiful?”
Winona nodded. “To say the least. This place is just so…relaxing.” What a crazy thing to say given the situation, but it was true.
“I think that’s the point. From what Bloom said, this house has been here forever, or at least a long, long time. And that’s a lot coming from a fae. But I guess it is sort of like The Tree, you know, the bar, I’m sure you’ve heard of it.
“Of course,” she said, omitting the fact that it was only recently that she had come to realize that the stories of The Tree being an actual bar were far more than rumor.
“Anyhow, I guess this is how fae dwellings are. They often have their own spirit. I don’t know. She tried to explain it, but that’s about what I gathered. Anyhow, it’s like the bar, but different. This place is sort of imbued with that relaxing quality, if that makes sense.”
“Well, about as much sense as everything else from the last day or so. But what is this place, Rollo? You said it was in Bloom’s family? She’s Dax’s “mate,” right?”
“Yes, on Bloom and Dax, but as far as the house, you know about as much as I do.”
“Okay, but I guess now it’s going to be our ‘safe house’?”
Great, another milestone achieved in my life, staying in a safe house.
But aren’t safe houses supposed to be non-descript holes in the wall or something? Didn’t Bloom say anything else about it? The boys had already rushed past and inside. She could hear echoes as they yelled out, exploring the house. They were clearly thrilled with what they were finding.
“Come inside, Winona. Like I said, I can’t say she said much more. We’ll just have to see as we settle in a little.”
Winona walked in slowly, taking in the feel of it as she did.
Rollo had grabbed her suitcase and was pulling it behind him, even as he held the door for her. Despite showing some age, there was a definite magic to the place. It was like a house right out of some wonderful fairy tale. Inside, everything was pale wood and warm white lights. The kitchen was off to the left, honey gold walls and greens and reds made it almost feel like a Christmas movie.
There were plants lining the windows, hanging from the top and sitting on various stands at the base. This was a living, breathing beauty of a house. The windows looked out into the trees, just slightly above the forest floor. It was also odd, but it seemed much bigger on the inside than what she had seen from the driveway. Somehow, she didn’t think she was imagining it. If it could appear and disappear at will, or under some spell, then why couldn’t it be bigger on the inside than the out?
Maybe the fae aren’t so bad after all.
Still a bit unnerving, but she had to admit, she felt better the moment she walked in further. But then, not for the first time that day, she almost forgot this man had held her captive. She looked around a doorframe to try to see where the kids had gotten to.
Yeah, no way this house is this big on the outside,she thought, as her gaze passed through a number of doorways.
