Still, she wasn’t afraid. It was impossible to feel fear when everything inside you felt transformed. Golden. Perfect. She’d never had that before and she wasn’t going to give it up. She was tempted to sit right in that exact spot forever, but she knew she had to find Teagan. She still wasn’t certain she was on Teagan’s trail. Clearly, she’d been in the same fog. Trixie heard echoes of Teagan’s song, but the notes were still very faint, as if she wasn’t any closer to her.
Strangely it was the notes in the fog that called to her. They grew stronger, more insistent, and everything she was responded to the mysterious and beautiful notes. She stood up and caught up her backpack, shrugging into it, almost not even feeling the weight of it because the notes were so consuming, they made her light.
She followed the notes, uncaring that she couldn’t see into the fog. She could have been blindfolded for all she cared. It wouldn’t have mattered. The musical notes simply grew louder as she followed them. Her feet naturally found the path, if there truly was one. She didn’t run into a single obstacle. Not one. She knew the sun was close to setting, and she should try to find shelter. The fog was wet and when she touched it, or turned her face up to it, she felt the cool dampness, like tiny drops of water on her skin, yet as she walked through it, she didn’t get wet at all. She felt wrapped in a shawl of protection.
Trixie halted when tall, thick gates loomed over her. Her breath caught in her throat. She’d dreamt of a monastery at the very top of a mountain. Now it was all familiar to her. In her dreams the monastery was always enshrouded in fog and mystery. She sometimes saw things in her dreams, and they turned out to be real, but this was frightening. In her dream, inside the monastery, behind those gates, was something so terrifying to her, she’d never been able to face it. She’d forced herself to wake up. She’d been certain it was a vampire waiting to drain her dry of blood.
Her heart pounded. Hard. Urgently. Still, in spite of her fear, her hand went to the gate, her palm touching gently. Like a caress. The moment she touched the gate, she felt the notes there. Much louder. Summoning her. Reaching inside her to a place that had always, always, been alone. The middle of the night alone, when her girls were safely sleeping in the beds she’d provided for them. The best money could buy. Inside the home she’d bought for them. She’d been alone.
She’d pushed her own needs down in order to care for those she loved. And she did it happily with no regrets. None. She would choose the same path every time, but that didn’t mean, in the middle of the night, loneliness didn’t call, and she lay awake keeping her mind blank so she wouldn’t feel an aching hole that would never be filled inside of her. She knew she made that choice and what she got in return was wonderful. Her girls filled her life with laughter and love. She didn’t need anything more. Still, that emptiness rose up at times to haunt her.
The golden notes meshed with the notes inside of her. Sang to her. Called to her notes, so she sang back. She harmonized and the emptiness in her filled with beautiful music. Music she’d never expected. There in the gate, she heard the notes swelling in volume, singing a soft, whispery song that beckoned her forward. She could see the notes now, dancing in the air, and her notes joined those, silver and gold, twining around one another.
There was a click and the gate swung inward, the notes sliding inside the open gate. Trixie didn’t hesitate to follow. She stepped around the barely opened gate, following the dancing music into a courtyard. Behind her, the gate swung closed. She glanced over her shoulder at it, mainly because it sounded loud, and heavy, and final.
With the fog so thick, she couldn’t tell if the sun was setting, but it felt cold all of a sudden. She shivered and half turned. She couldn’t see how to open the gate. As far as she could make out, there were several small buildings scattered inside a very high fence. The barricade surrounding the buildings was high and thick and took in a good deal of space. In fact, it was clearly a fortress.
Looking around, she was fairly certain it was a deserted fortress. There was nothing to indicate anyone lived there, and if they had once lived there it was a very long time ago. She couldn’t see anything that would indicate the existence of a human being. She took two steps toward the center of the fortress.
The buildings were old, but they were solid and made of great stones. The musical notes drew her attention back to them. The notes danced in the air all around the building closest to the gates. It was a beautiful sight and she moved closer. The music increased in volume. Not Teagan’s music, but much more masculine. Wild. Sexy. Elegant. Over-the-top masculine. How the song could be all of those things, Trixie didn’t know, but it was and it was beautiful.