An Ordinary Fairy (35 page)

“Great, let’s hear it.”

“You are fortunate to be in the presence of a highly skilled, fully equipped nature photographer.” He paused for effect.

Willow waited for more. “Yeah, and you kiss well, too. So?”

“I happen to have equipment that will allow us to photograph an intruder without his knowledge. I haven’t used it for some time, but I have a super silent camera setup for night photography of wildlife in their habitat. The sound of the shutter and the film advance are undetectable across a room. Plus I have a motion detector and infrared film for shooting in complete darkness.”

“I’m impressed. You have all this with you?”

“Sure. I keep all my stuff in the truck when I travel in case I need it. We’ll set the trap this morning, then we’ll stay away from the house for a while and see if we can catch a rat.”

“Great!” She patted his leg. “You’re a handy guy to have around.”

When they reached the tree across the lane, they unloaded Noah’s equipment and split it between them to carry. Willow called Shadow to walk with them. After a warm and noisy greeting he led the way to the cottage, with Willow following and Noah behind her. Keeping an eye on the rear, he told her, but she knew well which rear he meant, as evidenced by the extra sway as she walked.

At the cottage, they put fresh water and food down for Shadow and dropped off Willow’s bag. She put on her fishing hat.

“Let’s go,’ she said.

“Willow, we need to be more careful about your movements. We can’t let Jones see you fly, or do anything else magical, like vanishing into thin air. We know he can get close without you knowing.”

Willow nodded. “You’re right.”

“Give me the keys and I’ll carry the stuff over. In the meantime, you blink here, inside, and fly over to unbar the door. I’ll unlock it from the outside. It will look like I’m going in alone.”

“Good idea,” Willow said. “Except it’s wink, not blink.”

I always forget that.

She tossed the keys to Noah and began unbuttoning her shirt to prepare for flight. When she noticed Noah watching, her look turned flirty and she slowed her movements, with a subtle change in posture.

Whoa.

When she reached the last button, she winked out of sight.

“Cheater,” Noah said, and turned away in mock disgust. Willow giggled. He opened the door and stepped out, pretending to organize his equipment to allow Willow time to come out.

“I’m out,” she said from behind him. He pulled the door shut and locked it, and then shouldered both camera bags and picked up a large box with a grunt.

“Sorry I can’t help,” Willow said. A quiet buzz followed and faded away overhead.

I’m sorry you can’t help, too.

Noah concentrated on not following her sound with his eyes. He followed the path to the Big House and deposited his load on the porch.

“It’s unbarred,” a voice said in his ear.

Noah jumped. Willow stifled a laugh.

“You brat,” he muttered as he flipped out the keys.

“I am merely the instrument of karma,” a trying-to-be-deep disembodied voice said, followed by another muted laugh. Noah moved the bags and the box inside and then shut and locked the door. When he turned toward the atrium, he jumped again. He stood nose to nose with Willow. He instinctively grabbed her by the upper arms and she shrieked, and then dissolved into giggling.

“You can be a pain sometimes,” Noah said.

A white bra, Noah guessed a training bra, served as today’s flight suit, complete with a tiny pink bow in the front. Her shirt circled her waist. When she felt Noah’s gaze, Willow shyly turned her back and untied the shirt to put it on.

“What’s with the bashful routine? I’ve seen you in a lot less than that.”

“I know, but this is my underwear. It’s different.”

I will never figure out fairies. No, I’ll never figure out women.

She buttoned the shirt but left the tail out with her wingtips sticking out beneath the hem.

“Now you can help move this stuff,” Noah said. They loaded up and moved the equipment to the kitchen. Noah unpacked the cases and boxes and laid their contents on the counter. While he assembled pieces and fiddled with cameras, Willow leaned on the counter and watched, in the same situation as Noah had been the day before in front of the computer—lost. She wandered to the window and picked up something from the floor.

“Here’s the broken glass where he came in.” She held it up for Noah to see. The pane above the window lock was broken at the bottom.

“Leave it. We want him to think we haven’t noticed anything.” She replaced the glass and walked back to Noah.

“So how does this work without any light?” she asked.

“The film I’ll use doesn’t respond to visible light, but to infrared. Heat sources create infrared light to varying degrees. Everything in this room has a slightly different temperature, for example, and each temperature shows on the film as a slightly different shade of grey. Cool things will be almost black. Hot objects read as white. The net result is a picture the camera can register. People’s faces appear due to slight differences in skin temperature across their features. It’s not perfect, but if we’re lucky we’ll get a recognizable image.”

“I bet I would mess up your film, with my high body temperature.”

“Yes, I’m sure. We’ll take a test picture to make sure everything’s working before we leave, of you and me standing together. It should be a good comparison. Something else we should do is turn the boiler down. We want anyone who comes in to be much warmer than the room.”

“I’ll do that now while you’re setting up.” She left for the basement.

Noah placed the wireless motion detector on a shelf and aimed it at the window. He took several minutes adjusting it to cover a wide swath of the kitchen. When Willow returned he was placing the camera in a wood box lined with foam.

“What’s that?” she asked.

“A sound suppression box. The camera goes in like this,” he said as he snapped the lid closed. “And the lens looks out through this port in the side. I didn’t put the film in yet so we can test.” He put the box on the counter and shoved it back as far as possible. “In the dark it should be inconspicuous. Now let’s do a motion check. Go stand still by the window.” Willow did as instructed. Noah switched on the motion detector. “Okay, walk to me, and listen with your cat ears for any sound.”

Willow crossed the room, keeping her ear trained in the direction of the box. “I don’t think it worked. I didn’t hear anything at all.”

Noah grinned. “Let’s see.” He opened the box and removed the camera, then showed the film counter to Willow.

“Nine shots? I would have never believed it!”

Noah loaded film into the camera and returned it to the box. He aimed the box away from the window and motioned for Willow to walk over. She stood next to him. He pulled a small electronic device from his pocket.

“Say cheese,” he said, and pushed a button. “Manual remote control.”

Noah adjusted the box to point toward the window and they left through the dining room, to avoid crossing the motion detector’s path. When they arrived at the front door Willow winked and Noah went outside. He closed and locked the door and left.

“Are you here?” Noah muttered a few minutes later as he set the camera cases on the ground outside the cottage.

“Right behind you.”

He unlocked the door, swung it open wide, and then went back out to pick up the cases. Once everything was moved inside, he shut the door. He heard rustling and saw some blurry spots in the center of the room. Willow appeared a few seconds later with her back to him, buttoning her shirt.

“Well, I need to get moving.” He glanced at his watch. “I’ll try to be back by five. I’ll be here before dark for sure. Are you fixing supper tonight?”

“Yep, I sure will.”

“Good.”

“Oh, I forgot to mention—I can’t stay at the Miller’s tonight. They’re leaving town until Sunday night.”

Noah sighed. “Couldn’t you have asked them for a key?”

“No.” She packed an iceberg into one tiny word.

I won’t leave you here alone. My room has only one bed. I could get you another room at the motel, I suppose.

Willow waited patiently.

“Okay,” he said. “I guess I’ll stay here tonight.”

Willow seemed relieved. “Good. I’m not up for being away from here.”

And you have two places to sleep.

“And you have two places to sleep.”

“Right.”

“I’ll swing by the motel and grab some things. Could I tap into your wireless connection? I need to work on email and photo files tonight.”

“Sure. I need to catch up my email, too. We’ll have a quiet evening of computing.” Willow seemed pleased. She followed Noah to the door. He turned to her, put his hands on her waist, and pulled her close.

“So what are you going to do today?” he asked.

“I need to check on the animals. The Gator needs an oil change. I should scrub the pool. The usual fairy stuff.” She grinned.

“You should stay away from the house, in case Jones is about. We want him to think we’re ignoring it.” Noah tapped her nose with one finger. “Remember, no outdoor fairy magic, okay?”

“Yes, Daddy,” Willow said.

Noah shook his head. “It’s a good thing I love you or I’d…”

I didn’t mean to say that.

Willow put her arms around him and laid her head on his chest. “Yes, it is,” she said. Noah encircled her with his arms and they stood quietly. After a minute of enjoying the embrace, they parted and with the precision of long-term lovers, smoothly transitioned into a long kiss.

How do I know so well how you move?

Noah held her face in his hands.

“I don’t want to leave,” he said.

“I don’t want you to.”

Do we mean for today … or for good?

Noah kissed those wonderful little lips again, and forced himself to go.

“See ya later, little one.”

“See ya, witch man.”

After a long day of photography, another of Willow’s vegetarian wonders made a great supper, including a sweet potato casserole. She made plenty, so no arguments ensued over seconds or thirds. Their conversation was very domestic. They discussed the little things that happened in their day: the stuck shutter on Noah’s camera, Willow’s busted knuckle from a wrench slipping.

After supper, Noah set up his laptop. He opted to sit on the sofa with a small lap desk Willow gave him, so he could spread out his files and camera memory sticks. Willow sat at her computer desk.

Noah liked this arrangement because he could look at Willow by raising his eyes, while she had to turn her head to look at him. She was a distraction, but he enjoyed looking at her. She still wore the red flannel shirt with her wingtips sticking out.

They had worked quietly for a few minutes when Noah noticed Willow squinting at the screen.

“Sweetheart, put your glasses on,” he said.

She frowned at him. “Were you watching me?”

Why no, I was looking at that picture on the wall behind you.

“Yes. Men do that. They watch beautiful women, and they see when they’re squinting.” Willow relented and pulled the glasses out of the drawer.

After a few minutes, Willow caught Noah looking at her.

“You’re watching me again.”

I was?

“I was thinking how adorable you are in those glasses.” Willow rolled her eyes. “No, I mean it. I’ve always liked how women look in wire rims. I think they’re cute.”

Willow smiled. “Thank you,” she said. She turned back to her laptop and began typing again. Noah did likewise for a few minutes, but he had difficulty concentrating with Willow in front of him. She kept moving her wings under the shirt and reaching to scratch them or her back, and then reaching for the candy dish.

“Why don’t you take your shirt off and be comfortable?” he said. “Or go put on something that lets you stretch your wings.”

Willow’s eyes narrowed for a moment, but then she unbuttoned her shirt and hung it on the chair. She still wore the little white bra. Her wings rose to flight position and she stretched them, and then shook them rapidly. Satisfied, she returned to typing, her wings draped over the back of the chair.

Concentrate, Noah. You’ve got a lot of stuff to upload to the server.

“Have you heard from Rowan lately?” he asked after a couple of minutes.

Willow turned an exasperated expression on him. “Yes, about five minutes ago.”

“Oh. I was just curious.” Noah put his head down and continued to upload. This time he lasted about five minutes.

“What does she look like?” he asked.

“Who?” Willow asked. Her wings moved high and twitched.

“Rowan.”

“Why?” She glared at him.

“I was just curious. No need to get all owie about it.”