She ran, splashing through the huge, muddy puddles, trying to catch him up.
‘Crae, stop! Don’t hurt him.’
‘He threatened you!’ he hurled back into the squalling wind, without breaking his stride. Damn. Somehow she had to distract Crae and there was only one thing she could think of. Deliberately dropping to the ground and onto her knees, she gave a loud squeal of pain.
‘Crae?’ She whimpered, watching his retreating back. Immediately it had the desired effect. He spun around. Holly grabbed onto her leg and effected a pained expression, it wasn’t too difficult because her DKNY jeans were new and now soaked in mud. Crae disposed of Dex by throwing him across the bridge, where luckily for him he landed in a patch of muddy grass, he quickly picked himself up and scuttled away.
Crae was at her side in seconds. ‘Holly? Are you hurt?’ His anxious face filled her vision.
‘My knee, I’m OK though I think, nothing’s broken.’ Carefully and gently he scooped Holly up as if she was the most precious thing he had ever held. She looped one arm around his neck, shivering and wet, appreciating the heat that was coming from his body. Once they were back in the hallway, he slowly let her slip out of his arms again.
‘Listen, Crae, we don’t hurt or kill other humans.’
‘He hurt you.’
Hmm. How to explain this?
‘He’s not a good person and I don’t want you to be like him.’
This was the truth. If Crae really was her soul-mate, then she certainly didn’t want him to be like Dex.
Holly looked down at their sodden clothes.
‘We need to get changed.’
* * *
Later, after making Crae familiar with the shower and soap, Holly showed Crae the balconies that ran around the upper floor. The wrought-iron, Italian-style balconies around her house had long been the envy of her friends, Kelsie in particular, liked to stand wistfully upon them, and quote theatrically from Romeo and Juliet. No other house in the village was like Brookhill, although the Victorian villas – where the vicar and the Doctor lived, were equally as large and impressive.
She observed him as he stood on her balcony, leaning his long, muscular body into the wind, with his head tilted, his hair being blown. She unravelled her plait and towelling her hair dry from the rain, wandered across to stand on the balcony next to him. Straight away she noticed the dull roar of rushing water.
‘Jeez, is that the brook?’ she exclaimed. Holly rushed back through her room and across the landing, into her parent’s bedroom on the west side of the house, facing the stream. She flung their balcony doors open and saw the raging torrent that the tinkling little stream had become – each blast of wind was warm but larger twigs were being hurled past. Holly ducked as a branch with faded red leaves whipped by her head, moving inside she closed the doors behind her.
Inside her pocket, her mobile bleeped, a text from Carole.
Tried phoning. Wind blown lines down. Tree down over the road too. Can’t get through. Am going to have tea at pub. Hope road cleared by tonight. Are you OK?
Holly sighed with relief that it wasn’t Mum stuck up there, she’d be hyperventilating by now and would have sent at least three screens-full of text. Not Carole, though, she was completely cool, thankfully. She typed back speedily.
Am fine. Weather scary. Joop by fire x
No need to mention tree-men. And yet she was completely unprepared for what came next.
Have you got a friend there?
This wasn’t like Carole. She didn’t ever butt into her life. She couldn’t mean Kelsie either as she would be in the pub, she was waitressing today. Surely Dex, the giant prick, hadn’t had the audacity to go in the pub? Mouthing off about Crae? She couldn’t imagine him being that stupid. But then, how did Carole know? Miss Rational would bring a migraine on trying to figure that one out.
Yes, his name is Crae. He’s just a friend.
She tried to imagine Carole’s face reading that last sentence. Her reply though, was even more baffling.
Good. I’m pleased. Check the outside store – more food.
What?
Holly pushed her mobile into her back pocket and turned to see Crae in the doorway.
‘My Gran is stuck up in the village and the road is flooded.’ She watched him as his eyes swept from her to the view outside of the window of the raging brook, the flying tree shrapnel and slanting rain.
‘I need to go out and listen.’ He turned and ran down the stairs.
Listen? Bemused, she was compelled to follow him to understand what he meant. He was already in the front garden. Holly remained on the porch, she wasn’t getting soaked for the third time in one day.
‘Can’t imagine you’ll hear much in this!’ She shouted as loud as she could over the constant roar of the wind.
Crae did not hear her, he had walked down to the bridge, where substantial hunks of gnarled, dead wood were being swept along by the current. On one side of the driveway the brook had already broken its banks and water was seeping out into the road. Fascinated as to what he could be doing, she watched as Crae stood very still, looking upwards towards the sky, listening intently.
‘Crae, aren’t you cold?’
He meandered back towards her, still checking the sky. ‘I’m never cold.’
‘What were you listening for?’
‘I need to know what the trees are saying.’
Of course he did. Trees ought to be able to have conversations, why not? If they can turn into humans, then a quick chat between an oak and his willowy neighbour should be no problem. Holly went into the lounge, sat down and shut her eyes again. She opened them when she felt the sofa give next to her. Crae was looking at her closely.
‘Holly are you OK? Is it because of me?’
‘No, it’s more… how you came to be here.’
‘Trees do not usually come to life, do they?’ He guessed.
That was rather stating the obvious. She sat up then, and faced him squarely.
‘Look, you need to answer some of my questions. No more of the ‘I’m your soulmate’ stuff, OK?’
‘OK’ he repeated, mirroring her serious expression.
‘OK, OK… Let’s work backwards, maybe that’s easiest. So, we were upstairs, and you said you had to go and listen… to the trees. What were they saying? No! Wait, first of all, how do you hear them?’
‘The wind helps trees to hear each other by rattling the leaves.’
‘Did you hear a message? Just then, in the trees?’
‘Yes, but I don’t want you to worry.’
‘The trees have a message, for you, and you’re telling me not to worry. What did they say, I need to know!’
‘The storm is far from over. There is too much energy in the atmosphere.’
‘Great, the storm will get worse.’ Holly turned to look out the side window to see a small branch fly by. ‘Not to mention the house is actually whistling.’
‘The wind is a very powerful force.’ Then he reached for her hand, ‘Holly, listen, you are safe, I am here to protect you.’
She couldn’t argue with that, he had got rid of Dex, and if she had been alone when that creep rocked up – the outcome was unthinkable.
‘So, this morning, all the trees seemed to be… calling my name, that was… you?’
‘That was me.’ He confirmed.
She rubbed her hand across her forehead. Miss Rational ran through the facts: the road outside was flooding, not to mention a tree was blocking the way between Brookhill and the village. It was so dark now that the outside lights had flickered on. Crae would have to stay the night – there was another guest room after all. Oh boy. Imagine her mother’s 9pm Skype call and then her getting an eyeful of Crae! Along with her super-sized hair. Just as well the phone lines were down.
‘Holly?’ Crae broke into her thoughts.
‘Yes?’
‘I’m hungry.’
Again? Jeez this man could eat. She r
emembered Carole’s food shop marathon from yesterday, not to mention the text earlier. She needed to raid the outside store. She’d already seen the potato pile that could feed half of Ireland.
More than ever, she was sure Carole knew far more about all this than she had been prepared to admit. But Crae didn’t know Carole. Yet it seemed Carole was expecting someone to be here and she knew that person would have the appetite of an army.
So why hadn’t Carole warned her?
Chapter Nine
23rd December
The Storm
Holly lay a plateful of baked potatoes in front of Crae, and after helping herself to one, she sat back and zapped the TV into life. It came up with a movie channel, Crae seemed fascinated.
‘What is it?’
‘It’s a TV, it has… stories on it – it’s all made up.’
‘It’s bright.’
Jupiter rose from the fireplace, stretched his paws out and strolled casually over to Crae, rubbing his flank against his legs. With barely a hesitation he jumped up next to him and settled in his lap. Crae shifted position so that Jupiter could curve his huge body into a snug oval.
She bet her life if she Googled I’d only known him a day and he’s telling me he’s my soulmate then she’d be staring at an empty screen. Boys just didn’t say that! Maybe she should be a little more grateful. The girls at college often spent endless hours discussing their lack of soulmates, Kelsie especially, which was odd when she came to think of it – she was seeing Cody after all.
‘She’s not as beautiful as you.’
Sorry?’ She saw Crae looking at the TV. It was an advert for a Disney princess movie remake, the princess in question had lush, chestnut waves and her broad-shouldered prince was about to rescue her from the evil villain.
That pretty much summed up her day didn’t it?
Bountiful hair, no zits and arrival of strong, handsome, adoring man who saved her from the baddie. Oh, yes, and he did literally sweep her off her feet and carry her inside. At some point in her life, wasn’t that every girl’s dream? Surely she should be appreciating this a little more and not worry so much about the whys and wherefores.
She looked back at Crae. He wasn’t at all the kind of guy she’d normally go for, his dark hair was unkempt, but this only made him more attractive; his skin reminded her of the Italian volleyball boys she had shared a few games with on the beach last summer whilst holidaying on the Amalfi Coast.
‘You’ve changed colour,’ she observed.
He looked down at his long arms, ‘I have?’
‘Yes, you look more like the colour you were as a tree.’
Just then a particularly violent gust buffeted the house, causing them both to look out of the window. When was this storm going to end?
Thinking about the little she knew about the laws of nature and the universe and remembering something from a barely-attended to physics lesson at high school, every action causes a reaction.
Holly got up to stand nearer the window to look out at the thrashing storm outside.
The shadows of the trees swayed in the security lights.
‘Do you think this storm has something to do with you?’ She turned back and looked at him for an answer. Crae lifted Jupiter onto the sofa and then with careful, graceful movements, so different to his first stumbles that morning, he edged around the coffee table to stand behind her at the window.
‘It’s possible.’
He was so close that she knew if she leaned backwards, only slightly, she would brush against him. ‘How was your first day of being human?’
‘Very enjoyable.’
‘Really?’ She turned to face him. His transformation this morning had seemed brutal. ‘What do you like about it?’
‘I like having these.’
‘Hands?’ She smiled as he turned his hands over in front of her face. ‘They’re useful, I suppose we just take them for granted. What’s it like, being a tree? Pretty static?’
He considered for a moment. ‘I couldn’t move if that’s what you mean. I felt the seasons come and go, but mostly I spent my time learning.’
‘About…?’
‘From the other trees, I learned about how the Earth works, nature, about the balance of the elements, and then there were all the birds and squirrels that nested in my branches.’
‘Do you know how long you were a tree?’
‘In human years I don’t know. I felt more than a hundred Winters, if that helps.’
Holly looked into his face. ‘Wow, you’re really old! Yet here you are, a young looking human.’
‘For a Cedar, I am young. Cedars can live for more than a thousand winters.’
The wind blasted the house again, and shrieked down the chimney. Holly gasped as the windows rattled. Realising she had grabbed his hand she gabbled, ‘sorry, it’s just that I haven’t known the wind to be as bad as this.’
‘It is OK, but you are safe here, Holly. No harm can come to you.’
‘Did the trees tell you that?’
‘Yes.’ He kept hold of her hand, rubbing his thumb gently over her skin.
‘How do they know?’
‘I don’t know. What I do understand from them is that natural energy was needed for me to become human.’
‘What energy? Like the sun?’
‘The energy comes from all of the Earth’s forces.’
Holly considered carefully, trying not to be distracted by his proximity, not to mention the hand-holding. ‘So, the wind brings the power? And the heavy rain we had all Autumn, and all this wind? All that made you?’
‘In part. I could not change without it. Or without you.’
‘Me? What did I do?’
‘You came to me. When I called. Did you hear my heartbeat?’
‘Yes, two days ago, I was drawing in the woods, I stood up and the sun was in my eyes; when I moved I saw the Cedar tree… you. I wanted to draw you, so I went to look at you.’
‘You touched me.’ He had begun to trace circles with his forefinger across the back of her hand.
‘Yes. That day, you were different from the other trees. You were warm!’
‘You were drawn to me as much as I wanted to get to you. Only I couldn’t.’ Crae placed his other hand over Holly’s. ‘You have no idea how frustrating that was. I was already capable of thought and sensation. But I didn’t have a beating heart.’ He looked at her in earnest. ‘I knew what was needed to complete my change, but I had no way of telling you. They said that the right human female would make it happen. That she would instinctively be drawn to me.’
Holly flushed, ‘I didn’t know that was what was happening. I just thought you had, you know, good lines.’
Crae laughed a little. ‘Good lines? I can live with that. Especially as it means I get to be here now, with you.’
‘How do you know I am the right one though?’
‘When you placed your hands on me, and you leant against me - that was the moment. There was a physical cross-over.’ He frowned, ‘I’m not sure whether I’m explaining this all that well.’
‘You mean there was some kind of exchange?’
‘Yes, an exchange. You gave some of yourself to me and I passed some of my strength and vitality to you.’
There it was. Miss Rational had her perfectly logical and valid explanation. There was just the small matter of it never having happened on Earth before, surely if it had it would have been on Channel 4.
‘So, my hair, my skin that has never looked this good, is all because I touched you.’
His eyes took in her hair and fell down to her face. ‘Yes. For me, it was the jolt I needed to grow a heart.’ He shifted his body so he was standing even closer to her. ‘The female I was destined for is the only one who could finish the change.’
Staring at him, realising her mouth was hanging open, she fought valiantly for the right words to say.
Crae continued, ‘when we exchanged, I also absorbed
your language.’
A sudden panic hit her, ‘wait, you can’t read my mind can you?’
He smiled, ‘No.’
Holly grinned in relief. ‘I want to show you something,’ she said, clasping his hand and pulling him out of the room, and across the hallway to the barely used dining room. Over the table was a protective cloth which was strewn with brushes, paints and canvasses. Holly flicked open the clasps on a large, black leather folder and pulled out a sheaf of drawings, she spread them out across the table. Each one of them was of the cluster of Cedars.
‘The day after I touched you, I drew this from memory.’ She handed the paper to him. ‘There you are - or were.’
‘You drew me?’ He carefully held the paper. A mixture of emotions passed across his handsome face. ‘This was my life, for so long.’
Holly could hardly imagine what he must be feeling, having been a solid, immovable object for so many years. Knowing only the changing of the seasons, from snow covered branches to Spring melt, the blaze of a hot August sun to the warm rain of a September day. In her mind’s eye she saw the flash of light again, his flesh exposed, as the Cedar had been torn apart.
She placed a hand on his arm. ‘What happened to you this morning – it sounded like you were in agony?’
He placed the artwork back on the table. ‘There was some pain. But you were there. Everything was as it should be.’ He turned to her, and again, he touched her hair and moved his other hand to her back. Holly moved closer to him and lay her head against his chest, just as she had done yesterday before he changed, now she could hear the thrum-thrum of his heartbeat, where it should be. She felt his other arm tighten around her.
All day, she had been swamped with her own emotions, trying to make sense of it all, battling with Miss Rational. Had she given Crae a single consideration? About what he had gone through to be here?