Protected by Stone (A Paranormal Romance Novel) (7 page)

“Everyone,” he said clear as a thunder clap. “This is Farra Blooms.”

Impossible. Impossible! This is all impossible!

“She'll be the new caretaker of our home.”

This isn't—it can't be—how is this happening?

“You should all be very patient with her as she settles in.”

I couldn't stop trembling. My eyes ached from how wide they were. Staring at the beings, my mind struggled to make sense of what was in front of me. Everything Grault had said, had hinted at...

Was it actually true?
I'm seeing it, I'm seeing it right now. It has to be true, it...

And then the yellow slug came down the stairs, wavering along, speaking with no discernible mouth. “Oh, thank goodness! I was starting to think we'd actually have to leave. How I loathe traveling, it's simply—”

And that was it. I couldn't take it. That high pitched scream was foreign, I didn't recognize it as my own. Instantly the creatures fled, vanishing up the stairs or around the hallway corners out of sight.

Grault spun me, holding my shoulders. “Calm down!” His hands covered my entire upper arms, and when he shook me, I had the distinct impression he could have crushed my bones with ease. “Miss Blooms, look at me!” The lamp jiggled in my grip from the motion. I'd forgotten all about it. “Miss Blooms?”

Blinking in a daze, my heart racing to outrun my thoughts, I covered my mouth. I was scared I would scream again. “Grault?” My whisper was muffled, but his eyes said he heard me. “What did—what was—oh my gosh. I didn't imagine that just now, did I?”

“Of course not,” he said, his intensity shifting to disgust. “Would you truly think none of this was real, even now? Even after
seeing
your guests?”

His disdain for my disbelief bothered me, but I found too much safety in his touch to shrug him off. “I just... I've never seen anything like this. Like them,” I hushed, daring to glance upstairs.

He bent low, looking straight into my face. “Miss Blooms,” he said, “you're dealing with things outside of your experience. I understand that. Now, more than ever. But listen to me.” He moved his head to the left, so I followed his eyes. Some of the creatures were peeking at us around the corners of the hallways above. “These are your
guests
. You're insulting them by acting so afraid of them.”

“How am I supposed to act?” I felt my pulse rising as I saw my 'guests' eyeing me.

“Like a host,” he said gently. “You must act as Tessa did. She welcomed her guests, all of them.”

His serious tone drew me back, I saw my curious face in the reflection of his black orbs. “Was my grandmother... never scared of them?”

There was no pause, he answered without a hitch. “Tessa was never scared.”

“Not once?”

“Never.”

Frowning thoughtfully, I stepped away from Grault's touch. I was still shivering, my knees like water as I tried to stand tall. Looking upwards, I lifted the lantern enough to illuminate more of the room. I had no real plan, I only tried to imagine what a host should say to their guests.

“Um,” I started, “I'm Farra. It's... it's nice to meet you all. Really nice. Yeah. Yes.”
Not my most eloquent speech. Great job, me.

The creatures didn't seem convinced. The tall bird-faced thing, spindly blue arms swaying, moved to the top step. Its voice was low, devoid of emotion. “You look very much like her.”

“I—I'm sorry?” I asked.

“Tessa, you look like Tessa. When she was... younger. Yes.” It had no eyes, only a long, curved beak. Unlike the slug from before, when this being spoke, the mouth moved.

Lifting the light over my head, I squinted upwards. “What's your name?”

It took a step down the stairs, arms drifting by its hips. “Qui'nxious, child. Yes.” Behind it, I saw movement. Some of the tenants were following suit, inching my way.

“Qui—Quinchess—er,” I muttered, peeking up at Grault for help. Amazingly, the bird-thing laughed.
I hope that dry sound is laughter, anyway,
I thought to myself when I looked back.

Its small, uncomfortably thin fingers touched the bannister at it stopped on the bottom step. “Qui'nxious. Try again.”

I fumbled with my tongue. It didn't want to make the right sounds. “Qui'nicksius. No, sorry, Qui...” It nodded, encouraging. “Nn... nch... eaus...” Though it had no eyes, I felt it was staring at me expectantly. Gritting my teeth, I tried with more confidence. “Qui'nxious. How was that? Better?”

“Very good, yes. Good.” Qui'nxious moved, standing over me. I hadn't realized how tall he—it—was, but now, I saw it stood above even Grault. “Tessa's kin. Are you truly?”

Grault cut me off. “She is, there's no doubt. Gina was her mother.”

“Yes. But Gina was not like Tessa, you know this.” Qui'nxious swung low, its beak waving near my nose. In the light of just my lantern, its black body looked like oil. I thought, if I tried, I could have knocked him over.

Why do I think it's a him?
Something in the voice, the poise, maybe that was it. It didn't matter, I was more concerned with how close he was to me.

“Are you and Tessa connected?” he asked me. Nearby, I heard Grault make a low noise, like a car engine.

He doesn't like when people doubt him, does he?
Lowering the lantern, I considered my answer. “Of course I am. She was my grandmother, we're blood.”

“There is more to connections than blood,” Qui'nxious said in his emotionless voice. I didn't see him move in time; his stubby, child sized fingers on the ends of his too long arms brushed my cheek. He felt like velvet. “There is much more to taking up Tessa's mantle than simply being blood. Yes.”

Frozen on the spot, my eyes burned as a rivulet of sweat rolled from my forehead into them. “Like—like what?”

“Do you want to care for this place, child? For all of us whom you do not know?” He paused, cradling my cheeks softly. “Who you fear?”

I considered what Grault had said to me.
Tessa was never afraid.
My response was louder than I meant. “I don't fear you.”

“No?”

“I—I won't when I get to know you, I mean.” It sounded silly to me, but thinking through my fog was difficult.

Qui'nxious was quiet, a perfect statue as he looked at me. He rubbed my chin, something that was close to affectionate. Unbending, he made the sound from before; that odd, raspy laugh in his chest. “Farra, correct?”

“Yeah,” I said, touching my face where his blue palms had been. “Farra Blooms, that's right.”

“I look forward to what your reign here brings, Farra Blooms.”

My reign...

He strolled backwards, not taking his eyeless gaze off of me. Then, as he turned to walk up the stairs, the spell that seemed to keep the other creatures silent and still broke.

One by one, they came towards me. This time, I didn't flinch away. I was still scared, the cold feeling lived deep in my gut with no sign of fading. But I made myself stand there, arm twitching in pain from holding up the lantern.

The beings spoke amongst themselves, a mixture of curiosity and uncertainty. They didn't seem frightened.
It must help that I'm not screaming at them anymore.

“Will you bring the light back?” The question came from a small, orange thing that resembled a hamster merged with a goldfish. It hovered down by my knees.

Blinking, I lowered the lantern, crouching in front of the tiny creature. “Sorry, what?”

“The light,” it said, bobbing up and down as if swimming in air. When it spoke, pink gills on the sides of its neck rustled. “It's been so dark in here for weeks.”

I gave a sidelong look at Grault. He was staring at me in that stoic way of his. “Uh. Well, I'd like to. How do I... do that?”

“Tessa would just wave her hands,” the little thing said enthusiastically. To help, it waggled its weird fins. “Then they'd come on! Just like that!”

“Just like that, huh?” Chewing the inside of my cheek, I looked around until I spotted a cluster of round lights hanging on a wall.
They can't really expect me to wave my hands and just, poof, lights? Can they?

Grault folded his arms, content to sit back and watch the show. My furtive looks to him for help, suggestions, anything, were all ignored.

“Go on,” the fish-thing said at my elbow. “I'd so love to have light again.”

“I'm not sure I can do what you're asking,” I admitted. Experimentally, I ran my fingers over the lights.
Magic, seriously?

“You can do it, you're the caretaker!”

Blinking, I glanced at the creature, noted its wide-eyed face. Behind it, I couldn't help but be aware of how the group of guests were all watching me expectantly. “What's your name?”

“Vibbs,” it said quickly, zipping in a circle. “And you're Farra, right?”

I nodded, finding myself strangely compelled to want to help the tiny thing.
Turning on the lights should be simple.
“That's right. Um, Vibbs, are you sure that all my grandmother did was wave her hands around to get the lamps on?”

“Of course,” Vibbs said proudly, “she had magic inside of her, it was how she did everything here! She was quite amazing, and sweet, and—”

“I get it, I get it,” I said, cutting him off. Scrunching up my mouth, I set the lantern I'd been holding down by my feet. With both hands free, I wiped my palms on my dress. Thinking about what I was about to do made my fingers feel useless, rocks flopping at the ends of my wrists.

I'm going to look like an idiot. I hate this, but what else should I do?
Beside me, I caught Vibbs' delighted grin.
I need to just try, worse is it humors them all.

Taking a deep breath, I lifted my arms. I didn't know what to do, just that I really did feel stupid. Wagging my hands around, I pictured every magic show I'd seen on television.

There was a heavy, silent hush as the tenants waited. Closing my eyes, concentrating fiercely, I waved my hands faster.
Come on, come on!

Behind my dark lids, I thought I caught a flicker of orange color. Excited, I opened my eyes in a flurry of dark lashes. In front of me, the round glass bulbs sat lifelessly.

I hadn't honestly thought it would work. My stomach felt only a wink of disappointment... until I looked over, catching Grault's worried stare. Everyone was looking at me, and while some had no real faces to make their emotions clear, I could
feel
the confusion.

The worry.

“I don't understand,” Vibbs said softly. Turning my head, I saw him floating near my lantern on the floor. “You have this, so you
must
be able to light the other bulbs. Right?”

And then I understood why Grault had made me bring the lantern.
He wanted me to look good, to make them think outright that I was a witch like Tessa.

“I'm—listen, I'm sure it will be fine. I'll get the lights on in here, fix everything up, as soon as I can.”

Vibbs drifted back towards the group. “Without magic, how can you do anything? How can everything be fine?”

I had no retort. There was still so little I knew, was it possible I
did
need something as intangible as 'magic' to be the caretaker here?

The creatures were all leaving, wandering silently up the stairs and away. Lifting the lantern, I walked back to Grault. Together, we watched them all go. “I messed up, didn't I?”

He squinted down at me, dark eyes glistening in the filtered lights of the thick green windows. “I'm not sure you're to blame, Miss Blooms. Not anymore than someone born blind is.”

His comparison made my neck flush.
Blind? What? How am I...

“Come along.” He twisted smoothly, jacket kicking on his legs. “We've papers to go over.”

As we left that room of stairs, I cast a forlorn look back at the string of lights. Never in my life had I thought that, one day, not fixing some bulbs would leave me feeling like such a failure.

****

I
was having trouble focusing, it was clear Grault had noticed. Sighing, he rubbed a hand over his cheek. “Miss Blooms, are you understanding this?”

He sat across from me in the main entry, parked beside the large desk with its heavy book. Another chair from along the wall had been moved beside it, a spot I was slouching in rather unlady-like.

Lifting my chin, I observed his wrinkled lines of frustration. They gave his bloodless looking skin a funny design. “Honestly, I'm not sure I'm capable of understanding any of this.”

He rolled his eyes, not hiding his mounting dark mood. “Miss Blooms, are you always going to be like this?”

“Like what, baffled by witch grandmothers, glowing monsters, and lamps that require finger-magic?” I paused, eyeing him as he waited impatiently for me to finish. “...It's possible.”

Grunting, he smacked the stack of papers into my lap. The contact shocked me enough to make me jump on the seat. “At this rate, you're never going to meet the level of expectation of your guests!”

“I think I have some right to be upset here,” I muttered. Gripping the papers, I glanced over the top quickly. He'd been trying to explain to me Tessa's will, but it was clear my head was elsewhere. “This is just a lot to take in. It may shock you to know I've never run into
anything
like what I saw in there.”

He placed his hands on the desk, gripping it to the point the wood squeaked in distress. “They weren't 'monsters' as you called them.”

“Then what are they?”

“They're your guests!”

“No,” I said, lowering my tone pointedly. In that moment, I felt like I was pleading with him. “What
are
they, Grault? What is this, what am I really doing here? If what you said is all true, and Tessa was a witch that took care of this place, these—these guests, then I...”
I can't do this.
I turned away, staring at the front door. “I'm clearly nothing like her. You have the wrong person for the job.”

He was quiet, stepping close enough that I felt his shadow on me. I wondered if he was about to touch my shoulder, to try and comfort me, and was both relieved and disappointed when he did nothing. “Miss Blooms, you may be right.”