The Harvesting (The Harvesting, #1)

A moment later, an albino doe appeared from the thicket. It was munching on the small tufts of grass that stuck up through the drifts. It moved peacefully. It was an amazingly beautiful creature. Its white pelt melted into the surroundings, the pink around its crystal blue eyes, nose, and inner-ear looking almost cheerful in the snowy landscape. It started to move off. Intrigued, I followed.

The doe moved away from the path we’d been following and deeper into the woods. I looked behind me to ensure I could follow my tracks; they were easy to see. The deer occasionally stopped and looked at me. It did not seem to fear me and, in fact, looked rather inquisitively toward me. Something about the creature made all the hair on the back of my neck rise. She led and I followed. She trotted deeper into the woods, into an area I did not know well. Here the trees grew very tall and thick. Once we entered, I had a hard time following her. She began to disappear behind the wide trunks of the oak trees. I made turn after turn, catching glimpses of her as she wound deeper into the forest. The snow seemed even more luminescent here. The hemlock trees were covered in crystal-like snow and glowed iridescently. The limbs of the large oaks were hung with glittering icicles.

At last I saw her again. She stood in a small space between two hemlocks, the trees bending toward her like an arching doorway. She turned and entered the space.

My heart raced. I followed.

Passing through the hemlocks, I found myself standing in a small circular clearing. The entire space was ringed with massive oak trees. The place was incredibly pristine white and everything shimmered. Standing in the middle of this space were a very tall and elegant looking man and woman. They both wore white robes trimmed with fox-fur and moonstones. The man had long, ebony colored hair and wore a crown that looked like the horns of a stag. The woman had flowing blonde hair that was almost off-white in color. She had large, doe-shaped eyes that twinkled.

The man beckoned kindly toward me.

I was frozen in place.

He turned and smiled at the woman. She extended one hand toward me. In that hand she held a crown of holly. She smiled invitingly.

I took a step forward.

“Layla!” a voice screamed in the far off distance.

A look passed between the magisterial man and woman.

“Layla!” I recognized Jamie’s voice then and the urgency and fear in it. Stunned, I realized he might be under attack.

I turned then, not looking back, and headed out of the woods away from the pair. I stamped back over my footsteps, cursing myself for foolishness when another person’s life depended on me. I ran, my heart bursting in my chest, to get to Jamie. If anything happened to him, if I lost him, I could not forgive myself. The weight of the idea, of the thought that Jamie could be hurt, hit me hard.

Moments later I found myself back at the thicket where the doe had appeared.

Jamie looked frantic and was calling my name.

“Here, here!” I yelled, relieved to see that he was alright.

“Thank god,” he said, dropping the birds he had been holding. I had not even heard the gun-shots. He grabbed me tightly, squeezing against his chest. “Where the hell did you go? I couldn’t find your tracks anywhere. Didn’t you hear me calling you?”

I shook my head. “No, I was just--” I began and then stopped. I was just what? What would I say? It was one thing for Grandma Petrovich to have her eccentricities. It was quite another for me to go around seeing things. “I got lost.”

Jamie kissed the top of my head. “Oh, Layla, please never do that to me again,” he whispered.

I looked up at him. Our eyes met and something inside me saw Jamie in a much different light. I realized then it was a feeling that had been growing all this time. With Ian in the picture, my feelings were confused. Now, staring up at Jamie, I was clear. One thing was very certain; I wanted to kiss him.

He leaned in and set the sweetest, lightest kiss on my lips. “Layla,” he whispered, brushing his hand against my cheek and down my hair.

I did not resist. I kissed him back and this time caught the sweet taste of his mouth. It was unlike anything I had ever experienced in a kiss before. His mouth had a natural sweetness, like the light taste of raw honey. His lips, his body’s chemistry, were sweeter than any I’d known before.

We pulled back and smiled goofily at one another.

He kissed me on my forehead. “Two turkeys, not just one,” he said and picked up the birds, “and what did you get?” he asked with joking competitiveness.

The image of the pale woman and her extended crown fluttered through my head. I smiled at him. Taking my glove off, I touched my hand to his lips. “You,” I replied.

He smiled and kissed my fingers. “I like your answer better,” he said and then, slinging the birds over his shoulder, took my hand and we turned back toward the cabin. “Humm, who do you think will win the game tonight?” he asked jokingly.

“Well, Team Undead seems to be having a great season,” I replied.

We both laughed and headed back to the cabin hand in hand.





Chapter 15



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