“Pull harder,” Elodie said at the same time. “Angle it more toward the door, and I’ll give a really big shove.”
“Hm,” Gabriel murmured doubtfully, but nevertheless wrangled the creature’s horns as directed. Elodie leaned more heavily at the opposite end, putting all her weight into the effort.
Just then, a whistle sounded in the corridor beyond.“Baby!”came Tegan Parry’s bright, coaxing call.
The goat reacted instantly. With a sanctimoniousmehhand a kick of his hooves,he skipped away, tugging Gabriel with him and causing Elodie to fall forward onto her hands and knees on the torn, goat-slobbered mattress.
“Ugh,”she said with disgust.
“Ugh,” Gabriel agreed as he released the beast, stumbling to stay upright himself. Baby disappeared through the doorway, and a moment later the grinning figure of Tegan Parry replaced him.
“All right there?” she asked cheerfully, as if goat wrestling were one of the fun entertainments provided free of charge by the Queen Mab.
Elodie glared up at the young woman through a tumble of hair, but Gabriel saw the exact moment she remembered the Second Rule and hastily transformed her expression into a civil smile. “Just fine,” she said.
“Oh dear, Baby has made a mess of that old mattress,” Tegan remarked, then actuallylaughed. The jolly sound served to remind Gabriel yet again why he disapproved of other people’ssense of humor. What they found amusing was, on the whole, utterly inexplicable, whereas he lived, breathed, and got science degrees for the explicable.
“Lucky the wily old scoundrel didn’t jump up onto the bed!” Tegan joked.
“Yes, very lucky,” Elodie said, her smile almost viciously courteous as she got to her feet. “Thank goodness Dr. Tarrant and I still have somewhere to sleep. In the sole bed. Together.”
She cast a black look at Gabriel, but he averted his gaze, instead frowning into the safety of the middle distance. This provided a clear signal that the conversation was over, so he found himself confused and annoyed when Tegan spoke again.
“Mr. Jennings mentioned that you were going out early tomorrow. I’ll leave a packed breakfast in the kitchen for you. You should see if you can find traces of thepwccawhile you’re out there. That upstart town Llandrindod might have fancy water, but we here in Dôlylleuad are even better when it comes to—”
A sudden flash of lightning blazed through the room, making her flinch. Gabriel automatically shifted his gaze to the window, prepared for whatever hazards it might reveal. But all he saw was a lamplit reflection of his wife against the darkness—which, frankly, represented hazard enough.
BOOM!
As thunder roared, Gabriel looked at Elodie, and she met his gaze.The storm’s worsening,her expression said.
Don’t worry,his answered.
I’ll worry if I want,her eyebrows argued.
It would be a waste of your energy,his mouth conveyed with a shrug.
Energy is only wasted when it’s not used,her entire bodyretorted, becoming as stiff as an exclamation mark.Much like wedding vows.
Tegan, oblivious to this professional discourse, gave a cheerful laugh. “Autumn is such a dramatic season. Last year I wrote a poem about it, which I think I can still recall…‘The sky is dreary, thought the oak tree fairy’…”
Aghast, Gabriel widened his eyes at Elodie. At once, she turned to Tegan with a bright, charming smile.
“Thank you so much for rescuing us from Baby. And for allowing us the use of your bedroom. We’ll let you go now. Have a nice night, sleep well.”
“ ‘Her spirit was weary, the wind scary’…”
Somehow, with gentle guidance and polite murmurs, Elodie managed to get the girl out of the room before any further desecration of the English language could be committed. Then, closing the door, she sighed.
“I have a bad feeling about this.” She looked at the window (or perhaps the bed; in the shadowy ambience, it wasn’t fully clear which, although Gabriel had to agree with her on either count). “There’s a sense of things being…askew.”
Gabriel pursed his lips. He placed “a sense of things” in the same category as Father Christmas: fanciful, nonsensical, and one short step away from the outright horrors ofwhimsy. But there was no point in saying this to Elodie, who had chosen her specialist courses at university by closing her eyes and setting her pointer finger at random on the options list. “We can do nothing now except ensure we’re well rested for tomorrow,” he said instead.
Elodie clearly disliked this logic, but there was no arguing against it. “You’re right, we should go to bed,” she said…
And then some more words Gabriel did not hear over thesudden shouting of his pulse. It sounded a lot likebed!—bed!—bed!Which was not only disturbing but also inaccurate, considering there existed only one (1) bed. He frowned at the mattress on the floor. Perhaps it wasn’t as bad as it looked. He could stuff the wool and straw back in…and cover the slobber with a blanket…and pretend that wasn’t goat dung he smelled…
“Sensible adults,” Elodie said.
