Savor (16 page)

snapped a couple more shots before lowering my camera.

“What’s the paint for?”

He shrugged. “I don’t know yet.” He moved toward the light switch at the back wall and

flicked it down. A majority of the liquids in their glass containers came to life. I gasped,

immediately adjusting my camera’s settings and taking pictures. It looked like we were

standing in the middle of some psychedelic club they served glow in the dark drinks. It was

hauntingly beautiful. Ideas immediately swirled around in my head.

“You sure you don’t know what you want to do with these?” I picked up a beaker of electric

blue paint. I swirled it around, mesmerized by the color. It reminded me of a certain bassist’s eye color who currently avoided me like I had a bad case of B.O.

Dray came toward me and smiled, his teeth glowed white and I realized he’d switched the

florescent for black light. Wow! He took the beaker out of my hand.

“How are you liking your stay at Lunar Manor so far?” He leaned forward a little too

closely, invading my personal space.

I leaned back only because if I didn’t the tip off his nose would touch mine. “It’s been

uneventful so far.”

“The first recorded use of the word ‘boredom’ was only 160 years ago,” he said, moving

back to stand up straight.

“Is that right?” I scratched my cheek, which brought his attention to my eye patch. He

didn’t reach for it like Luka always seemed to do, but he didn’t take his eyes off it either.

“Pirates wore eye patches to keep one eye adjusted to darkness while boarding another

ship.”

I chuckled. “Well, aren’t you full of fun facts?”

He dropped his gaze and ran his hand through his hair, further messing up the already

messy spikes. The strands stuck every direction. “Yana says I should keep it to myself when

I’m in public.”

“We’re certainly not in public now.” My heart softened toward Dray. There was something

sweet about him that I hadn’t seen until now.

He nodded and made an “hmph” sound that endeared him further to me. I knew right

away what I wanted to do with him for my project. I smiled, showing him my own white set

of teeth under the black light.

“How much of the glow in the dark paint do you have?”

Dray looked around his lab. “About a couple galloons if you put them all together.”

“No!” He flinched at my tone. I shook my hands at him. “Don’t mix the colors together.”

“Okay, I won’t. But where is this going?”

My smile grew wider. “Have you ever been splatter drumming, Dray?” When he shook his

head, I patted him on the shoulder. “Well, gather up all your homemade glow in the dark

paint. As many colors as you have. Make sure not to mix them.”

The mad scientist tilted his head at me, considering my words. “And where would you like

me to bring the paint?”

“Leave the location scouting to me.” I turned to leave then whirled back around. “Oh, do

you have an old drum set that you don’t use anymore? The kind you wouldn’t mind getting

paint on?”

I saw the cogs in Dray’s head move as he considered my question, then he said, “I have an

old Ludwig kit that I don’t use anymore.”

“Ludwig?”

“Yeah, I was really into the Beatles a couple years back.” He scratched the back of his head.

“I wanted the drums Ringo Star used.”

Letting the reference sink in, I let out a slow whistle. “Just how rich are you?”

“Me personally?”

“No, don’t answer that. I don’t want to get depressed this early in the morning.”

Dray gave me the most charming smile. I almost wanted to hug him, but I didn’t. There

was only one person in the band I’d planned on getting unprofessional with and he turned me

down flat. Okay, not thinking about
him
anymore. I went back to our conversation.

“Dig up your old Ludwig and wait for me to tell you where to bring them. We’ll have your

photo shoot right before dinner, just after sunset.”

“Some cultures believe taking a picture takes your soul.”

“That one I knew.” I squeezed his shoulder. “Be ready for me this afternoon, okay?”

He nodded with earnest. I turned back around and headed for the door. My mind swirled

with ideas.

A couple steps later I stopped and said, “Uh, Dray?”

“Yeah?” I heard him from behind me.

“Will you switch the lights back on?” Despite his fun fact about pirates, my one eye

couldn’t adjust well enough to the darkness to get me safely to the door. I didn’t want to

knock over any of Dray’s experiments.

“Right.”

A couple of seconds of shuffling later, the florescent lights flickered on. I breathed a sigh

of relief. I was standing perilously close to one of the tables. If I hadn’t stopped right then I would have collided with it.

Sidestepping so I returned to the center of the path, I moved to leave. The door to Dray’s

lab opened with so much force I was glad I hadn’t reached it or I would have been hurt. My

heart jumped into my throat when the thick wood slammed against the opposite wall. Calixta

stood by the entrance, breathing hard.

“Dray!” I had a feeling both Dray and I flinched at her tone. “You better have the hair dye

ready. I’m this close to strangling Yana.” She lifted her hand so everyone could see the tiny

space she’d left between her thumb and forefinger.

“You make hair dye too?” I looked over my shoulder at Dray. His eyes were wide open like

a deer caught in the headlights.

“Premature greying can be a result of large amounts of stress,” he stammered out.

“I don’t have time for your facts, Dray.” Calixta marched into the room like a Centurion

ready for war. “Yana wants yellow streaks in her hair.
Yellow!
She’s already fucking blond.”

She shook her head, muttering what sounded like interesting curse words beneath her

breath.

“I’m sorry, Dray,” I said. Our eyes met for a second and I saw the distress there. Poor guy,

but I couldn’t save him. He had to know that.

Even if it felt like deserting Dray to deal with Calixta on his own, I forced myself to escape through the open door. I had locations to scout and another nap to take. If I wanted the photo shoot to happen before dinner, I needed to survive. Right now, with Calixta in a snit, I prayed she would leave Dray healthy enough for what I had planned for him.

My steps sped up the second Calixta’s keening wail reached my ears.

Chapter Sixteen

Drummer

Another quick catnap and a barrel of coffee later, I scoured the Lunar Manor grounds for

the perfect location for Dray’s shoot. I knew we couldn’t splatter drum inside the house. The

servants would hate me, and I didn’t particularly appreciate the idea of being poisoned any

time soon. Plus, to get the full effect, we needed to be outdoors where house lights wouldn’t

be an issue. I needed the glow in the dark paint to pop.

Because of my idea for Dray, I finally had a reason to face the daunting task of exploring

the manor grounds. I tried to keep the location as near to the house as possible, considering

the people who would be carrying jars of paint and the drum kit. Another reason the servants

might hate me if I picked a place too far. The gardener’s ire was a definite possibility.

Hopefully Dray could whip up something to remove the paint without damaging the plants.

I started my search from my room terrace. It did open to the back garden. Several huge

fountains created a center aisle, cutting the garden in half. Winter hadn’t officially arrived yet, but with the weird weather in Crescent City, I couldn’t be sure how long the fair weather would last. If I wanted to take advantage of a garden shoot, now would be the time.

At one corner of the garden grew a magnificent oak. I ran my palm over its trunk, loving

the feel of the rough bark beneath my fingers. The leaves rustled as if appreciating my caress.

I smiled.

“A beauty ain’t she?” a gnarly old man said in my periphery.

“That she is.” I nodded and turned to face him. Between his lips sat a simple pipe, smoke

curling from it. He stood there in his overalls and rubber boots, narrowing his eyes at me.

“Ya be da photographer lady evry’n’s gossiping aboot.” He waved his pipe at me.

“That I am.” How did I suddenly enter a historical novel? I grinned. “Are you the gardener?

Deidra said I’d run into you here.”

“Wat happ’n’d der?” he pointed his pipe at my patch.

My heartbeat sped up every time questions about my patch came up. I dropped my gaze

and clutched my camera closer to my chest. He must have felt my discomfort because he

chuckled. A gruff sound.

“I mean no d’srespec. Me brother had dem patch too. Los ‘is eye in the war. I curious is

all.” I lifted my gaze just as he returned his pipe to his lips then sucked and blew. White

smoke barreled my way before floating up to the sky. Instead of acrid, the smoke actually

smelled sweet. “Aw c’n I help ya t’day?”

His crooked smile comforted me while his question allowed me to focus on the task at

hand. “I’m looking for a place where Dray could play his drums and splatter paint without

disturbing any of your hard work.”

“Der be paint involv’d?” He frowned.

“Yes.” My heart sped up for a whole different reason now. “I don’t believe the paint is toxic

in any way. At least I hope it isn’t. And I’m sure Dray can come up with something to clean up whatever mess we make that won’t kill your plants. That’s why I’m scouting. I need a place

that’s outdoors but that doesn’t destroy what you have here.” I touched the oak again. It must have been decades old.

The gardener considered my words. For some reason he reminded me of Gandalf. I waited

patiently, praying my hardest that he’d come up with some sort of compromise. And just

because I couldn’t help myself, I took a picture of him as well. So deep in thought was he that he didn’t notice.

When I thought he would send me away without a compromise, he nodded and said, “I

beleev I hav just da place for ya. Dis be messy, I s’ppose?”

“Most likely.” I didn’t want to lie to him.

“Gud, gud.” He turned on his heel and waved me over. “Dis way.”

“What’s your name,” I asked as he led me toward the left side of the property.

“Gregory, but da masta calls me Greg.” The way he hobbled on bowlegs touched a soft spot

in me. I suddenly wanted to hug him. Then what he said sunk in.

“Master?”

“Luka.” He chuckled good-naturedly. “Wa’ch dat boy grow, dat I did.”

A part of me wanted to interrogate the man about the master of the house, but I wasn’t

some reporter looking for information. Plus, I got the feeling the servants Luka employed

were loyal as hell due to the lack of “inside sources” news floating around on the Net. So,

instead of beating a dead horse with a stick, I focused my curiosity on Lunar Manor.

“How big are the grounds exactly, Gregory?”

“Approx fithy acres.” He grunted.

“And you take care of all that?” I did the math and my jaw dropped. Lunar Manor was

sitting on land half the size of Disney’s Magic Kingdom. That was huge!

“I hav ‘elp.” He cackled. “Wood dis be gud?”

I moved my gaze from the center of his back to where he pointed his pipe and was blown

away by the huge hedge maze that came into view. We were about a football field away from

the house. A little too far for my taste, but I was already in love with the location.

“Come.” Gregory waved me inside and I eagerly followed, taking pictures along the way. I’d

never been in a hedge maze before and it smelled divine. Grassy, forest-y…basically, if green

had a smell, it would be a hedge maze.

At about ten minutes into the maze was a square clearing with a round circle of white

pebbles. I gasped in wonder.

“Dis be da cen’er.” Gregory gestured with his pipe.

“It’s perfect!” My voice climbed several octaves. I bounced around, unable to contain my

excitement. I already saw where the drums would go and how the paint would look splattered

on the stone and the surrounding area.

“We coud is’ly change da pebbles if da paint d’n come off.” The gardener crossed his arms,

looking really pleased with himself. I couldn’t blame him.

I whirled around and kissed Gregory on the cheek, bringing a red blush out of the old

man’s face. “I’ll let Dray know. Thank you so much for bringing me here, Gregory.”

“Aw shucks.” He stuffed his hands in his pockets and pretended to kick an imaginary rock

out of the way. “‘ap’y to ‘elp.”

Grinning, I made my way back to the entrance, only getting lost once. I had to find Dray.

We only had a couple of hours to set up before dark. I wanted to catch the shot just as the sun called it a night.

***

where we would shoot and he seemed pleased, spouting facts about hedge mazes and

muttering to himself about his Ludwig drum set. I gave him a time to meet and he said he’d

be there with the paint.

At the entrance to the maze, I already heard drum beats reverberate from within. With an

excited smile, I let the enthusiastic drumming play me toward the center. Good thing since I

didn’t have time to get lost. Evening was fast approaching. Pink bled into purple above me. I

wanted to get set up while we could still see. Then, once it was dark enough that the paint

glowed its brightest, we would begin.

Hefting my tripod over my shoulder and rounding the corner toward the center, I said,