Darker Paths

1. Hideaways-3

We stood in an enormously long hallway illuminated by recessed lighting overhead. An equally long, narrow bench ran along one wall, while against the other was a pair of antique tables topped by a matching set of vases filled with sprays of autumn leaves. Landscapes in serene hues lined the walls.

“What is this place?” I asked, my voice hushed. I’d only seen this one hallway — well, and the grounds as we drove in — and I could already tell it was the kind of property that no twenty-one-year-old kid could have rented by himself, even if said kid happened to be part of a prosperous witch clan. This was way, way beyond merely prosperous, and I felt a little like the beggar-maid heroine of a fairytale, sneaking into the king’s palace.

He grinned as if he’d guessed precisely what I was thinking. “It belongs to some rich Texas oil guy. The property was being rented by a Hollywood actor while he was doing a film shoot here in Santa Fe, but he left a couple of weeks ago. Now the oil guy is trying to decide whether to sell or not, so he needed someone to caretake the place in the meantime.”

“That someone being you?” I inquired, not bothering to keep the skepticism out of my tone. That is, I could see why a place like this might need a caretaker, but I found it difficult to believe that anyone would entrust a multimillion-dollar property like this to someone barely old enough to drink.

“Yeah, me.” His grin didn’t fade. “I saw the ad and knew the property would be perfect. So what if I padded my resume a little?”

And, for all I knew, used a little magical persuasion to convince the property manager or whoever it was doing the hiring that he would be perfect for the job. I didn’t ask, though; right then, I really didn’t want to know if a talent like that was included in Simon’s magic bag of tricks, because then I’d be forced to wonder whether he’d used it on me to get me to come here in the first place. My decision had been made, and I was too tired to start second-guessing every little thing, especially since I had absolutely no indication that Simon’s plans included anything beyond helping me discover my talents.

“Let me show you your room,” he went on. “Since it’s so late, I figured all we’d do tonight is get settled. I guessed you probably wouldn’t want to get to work right away.”

After the day I’d had, absolutely not. The trips that morning to the nail salon and the hairdresser and the makeup artist to get ready for the wedding now felt as though they had happened roughly a million years ago. “Sounds good.”

I followed Simon down the hallway to a room that was almost the size of the entire ground floor of my parents’ house in Jerome. Actually, it was really a suite, since it had a sitting room attached on one side, and then an enormous bathroom and closet on the other. That closet was bigger than the casita where I’d been staying at Genoveva Castillo’s property, and I knew my few shirts and sweaters were going to look pretty forlorn hanging in that vast expanse. Although it seemed as though the entire house had been done in the same muted shades of beige and gray, with a few accents of pale green or soft terra-cotta, the effect wasn’t dull at all, thanks to all the different textures the decorator had used.

No, the overall effect was just very, very expensive.

“I’m afraid to touch anything,” I said, and Simon grinned.

“Don’t worry about it. I mean, I had to sign a waiver that we wouldn’t be throwing any big parties or anything while we were here, but a little normal wear and tear is okay. I already have a cleaning crew signed up to come in and go over everything, change the sheets and towels and stuff, after we’re done with the place.”

It was on the tip of my tongue to ask how long he’d been planning this whole getaway, but again, I wasn’t sure I wanted to know.

He went on, “I’m going to stay in the caretaker’s house. I figured it wouldn’t feel as strange to you if we weren’t sleeping under the same roof.”

“You don’t have to do that,” I protested. Yes, it might have been weird to share the place with Simon, but on the other hand, the house was so big, I doubted we’d be tripping over each other.

“Really, I don’t mind. The caretaker’s house is bigger than the house where I grew up.”

Absolutely wild. I’d noticed the other buildings as we passed by them on the way to the garage, but with the darkness of dusk creeping in on all sides, I hadn’t been able to see a ton of detail beyond the basic design of those structures. It was a little mind-blowing to think that there was a secondary home here that was larger than most people’s regular houses.

“Anyway, I’ll let you unpack and get settled in,” Simon said. “You can meet me in the kitchen when you’re done. Then we can scrounge something for dinner, since I figured you probably wouldn’t be up to going out tonight.”

“No, I definitely am not.” What I really wanted to do was crawl into bed and sleep for a hundred years, but since it wasn’t even seven o’clock yet, I figured that wasn’t a very good idea. “But maybe I should use your phone before it gets any later.”

“Sure.” He pulled the phone out of his pocket and handed it over to me. “It’s unlocked.”

“Thanks.” Even though I’d asked for the phone, I hesitated for a moment before inputting my mother’s cell phone number. What in the world was I supposed to say? As soon as my parents heard what had happened, they would know none of this was my fault, but…. I gulped in a breath, then quickly entered the digits on the keypad before I could lose my nerve.

The phone rang three times, then went to voicemail. What the hell? I would have thought my parents would be ready to pounce as soon as I called, considering I’d been in touch only an hour or so earlier, when Cat texted them a couple of pictures of me in my wedding gown. Then again, maybe they’d thought I would be so occupied with the ceremony and the reception afterward that I wouldn’t have a chance to make any phone calls. It was sort of early, but maybe they’d gone out to dinner or something. While they might answer the phone if it rang during dinner at home, I knew they wouldn’t do the same thing when out to eat, since they hated it when other people had loud phone conversations in restaurants.

Not sure whether to be disappointed or relieved, I took another breath and then said, “Mom, Dad, this is Miranda. Um…some weird stuff happened. The wedding’s off, I guess. Not because of me,” I added hastily. “Rafe got cold feet. Anyway, I’m all right, but I’m staying with a friend for a few days until I can figure out what I want to do next. I’ll try to call again tomorrow. Love you.”

I ended the message there, since I knew my mother could get Simon’s number from the call log on her cell, and handed the phone to Simon. He took it from me and slipped it back into his pocket. “Maybe tomorrow we can go into Española and get you a phone of your own. It’s probably safer than trying to go shopping in Santa Fe.”

“There aren’t any Castillos in Española?”

“Not that I know of. None here in Tesuque, either, which is a big part of why I thought this would be a good place to hole up.”

“I wonder why,” I said. “I mean, I know they have a branch of the family up in Taos, and that’s a lot farther away.”

Simon’s shoulders lifted. “Haven’t a clue. But it helps us out.”

That was for sure. Of course Simon wouldn’t have brought me someplace where the Castillos hung out, but still, I felt a little better knowing I wouldn’t have to worry about stumbling over them in my immediate environs. “Okay,” I said. “I’ll get my stuff put away, then meet you in the kitchen…if I can find it in this place.”

He chuckled. “It’s not that hard. Just go back down the hallway and through the living room. It’s at the other end of the house, but it’s basically a straight shot.”

“Got it.”

A small wave, and then he exited the bedroom, leaving me to myself. I knew I should have gone to hang up my clothes, or put my toiletries away in the bathroom. However, I did neither of those things. Instead, I sat down on the edge of the bed and looked around at my unfamiliar surroundings, at the pale whitewashed beams overhead and the equally pale bleached-wood floor.

I’d vowed not to think about him, but I couldn’t help wondering what Rafe was doing right at that moment.