Chapter 16: 16. Natasha: The Twisted Pine

Natasha was on fire, a sensation of heat she’d never experienced before, every nerve pricked and she could not feel anything but the burning. At that point she couldn’t tell if she was overheating or terribly cold, but it surely was one of those things.

Despite the pain in her body she managed to focus on other things. The air smelled of freshly washed linen and a golden light shone through her eyelids. Underneath her was a soft mattress and silk pillow. Finally that nightmare was over. The whole thing had really just been that—a nightmare, hadn’t it? She’d always hated dreams like that, going through an entire day thinking it was real.

Her school track meet the day before must’ve wrecked her, or maybe it was a flu coming in. Her body ached. She groaned as she reached for her phone to check the time. It must’ve been early, before her alarm had gone off, though the sun was up. Maybe mom had checked on her and decided she was too sick. Natasha sighed, and rolled over thinking she’d just sleep it off since even that movement sent a new wave of pain through her. It was their fault for not waking her up.

Something nagged at her though and not able to get back to sleep Natasha decided it would be best to get up and see why no one had come to get her up for school. Her blankets were so warm though. With some effort and a huge yawn Natasha swung over her legs and sat up. Blinking to work the sleep out of her eyes she finally completely came to.

The room she saw wasn’t hers though, it wasn’t even her house. Natasha blinked some more hoping her surroundings would somehow change. It didn’t.

The room she was in, which wasn’t her bedroom, was a quaint one. It had a hardwood floor laid in a herringbone pattern and the walls were wallpapered in a vintage floral pattern with tiny blue flowers. The entire ceiling was vaulted with darker tree branches that were attached to their trunks at the corners of the room. A big round rug with more floral designs on it took up the center, and the bed was right under a tall window. It looked out into such a breathtaking mountain vista that Natasha thought it was fake for a moment.

Not only was she in a place she didn’t recognize she was also in different clothes. Natasha looked down realizing she was wearing a simple cotton nighty, which left a lot of room that Natasha’s chest didn’t fill, and loose fitting pajama pants.

A few large bandages were wrapped around where she’d been hurt in the crash as well around her arms where the hounds had hurt her. She took a look under her nighty and could see a deep bruise that spanned her right shoulder and followed along where the seatbelt crossed.

The only thing that hadn’t changed was the scaled chain that hung from her neck, the stone still swinging idly from her chest with each breath. Natasha wondered where her actual clothes were and looked around the room. There, placed on an antique looking wardrobe and folded precisely what she had been wearing before. They were burned and ripped in ways that had her wondering how she’d survived at all. They were laundered of any of the blood now but seeing them still sent her spiraling.

None of it had been a dream then, it all happened. There are monsters and magic in the world. But if Natasha was there, maybe that meant her dad had found them and brought them there. Maybe he was waiting for her to wake up? Her chest churned with hope.

Natasha didn’t want to get up, her legs still felt wobbly, that meant acknowledging the events of the last day. Or, was it the same day? She had no concept of time. To go from the whiteness of the blizzard to the dark of waking was jarring to say the least, and Natasha’s mind hadn’t quite caught up.

She set her jaw and steeled her nerves. With a push and a groan of pain she stood, feeling stiff, and crossed the room to the door. At the very least she needed to check up on her brothers. Fear bubbled in her stomach as she remembered them dropping off in the snow.

The room opened into a long hallway that was lined evenly with three doors on each side and eventually ended in stairs. Was she in a hotel? Carefully Natasha walked down the hallway worried suddenly about the unfamiliar space. The building looked to be a lodge of some sort by the looks of the exposed wood ceiling and supports embedded in the wall. The wood smell filled the hallway in almost a comforting way.

The stairs went down to a small entryway. The front door was glass paneled with an intricate carving of all manner of animals on the wood. Three other doors in the mud room led elsewhere. A closed one, next to the stairs that must’ve led to the back. One door was open to a sitting room that had a desk with an extremely old computer sitting on it. The other Natasha could hear some voices. She stopped and listened.

“Again, Ms. Dubois, thank you for flagging me down,” said a familiar voice. “I dunno what I was gonna to do with ‘em.”

“Of course, Ben, I was beside myself when Stephen called. As soon as I saw you I knew to call out,” a higher pitched voice that had a strange reverberation to it replied. “They’re alright now—at least physically. I do think you’re going to have to be very gentle with the kids when they wake up.”

“Oh, hello?” Someone from behind Natasha said, causing her to jump out of her skin.

She yelped and whipped around to guard herself. She was met by what could only be described as a fairy. Beautiful but in an otherworldly sense. Had the girl not have looked to be carved from wood she could be about the same age as Natasha, or there about. The unnaturally large eyes regarding Natasha were the deepest amber like two polished gems. Her ears jutted out her head six inches coming to a fine point. Framing her round face was hair that resembled hanging branches of cedar trees, even having the same bright green as well.

Natasha corrected her guard by dropping her arms to her side and standing up straight. As the girl stepped up to her Natasha had too look down; compared to her tall and gangly frame she was quite short and petite. She definitely had curves all in the right places. Natasha bit down on her lip, and met the girl’s gaze with a blush.

“Hi, uhm,” Natasha quickly looked away, her blush deepening.

Why’d her ears suddenly feel so hot?

“It’s good to see you’re awake, I’m Delphine, but call me Elphy.” The girl giggled and held out her hand. “Sorry, you’re wearing my mom’s pajamas. Mine were too small.”

“Oh, I was wondering…” Natasha tugged on the top part of the nighty which had structure in the bodice for a much larger chest that she could ever fill. “I’m Natasha, n-nice to meet you.”

A little late Natasha grabbed the offered hand. Elphy’s hand was soft as a cloud.

“Nice to meet you too, Natasha.” Elphy smiled. “Welcome to the Twisted Pine Lodge.”

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Natasha was going to reply but was interrupted by recognizable scrabbling and scratching in the other room. A frantic skittering of nails on hardwood caught Natasha’s attention.

“Ey! Don’t damage the floor—”

There wasn’t any time to react as Natasha was fully knocked into the banister from the force of the large dog jumping on her. She was accosted by a white blur of licks and whining that she wasn’t ready for. After a frantic second she managed to pull herself from the canine enough to see his face.

“Tucker?” Natasha yelled in surprise, holding onto the dog’s snout. “Is it really you? Tuck?”

Natasha fell to her knees and hugged her dog tighter than she probably should have. How did he get here? She hadn’t given herself time to think more about his absence since she’d found out about the fire but now that he was in her arms she knew how keenly she’d missed him. Tucker lapped up her tears as she sobbed, whining more and wagging his tail.

“Yup, that’s Tucker—real as he can be,” Benjamin said, following Tucker’s trail. “He found me himself when you all left. Smart boy to remember me after all these years.”

Tucker yawned and gave a high pitched squeal in reply. Natasha ruffled his head before looking up at Benjamin.

“Is everyone else okay?” Natasha’s smile faded as the memory of her family disappearing reared back in her head. “The twins…and dad.”

Benjamin pulled his hand through his hair and heaved a heavy sigh. “Your brothers are okay, Aiden’s actually already awake. Damon’s been in and out but…your dad…we’re still looking for him.”

Natasha reeled from the information. Her brothers were safe, but how could they have found them but not their dad. How long had it been? He can’t survive out there all alone long. Her imagination ran away imagining him lying in a field half covered in snow, freezing.

“But, dad’s not been—how long have I been out for?” Natasha croaked.

“A couple of days.” He knelt down and put a hand on her shoulder. “We’re not going to stop looking for him, Sasha. I promise you that.”

There was nothing she could reply with so she simply nodded and hugged Tucker closer. He bonked his head on hers and rolled over to get belly scratches.

“Delphine, why don’t you show Natasha around the Lodge?” The person Benjamin was talking to before, she peeked her head around and nodded toward Natasha. “You must be hungry, Aiden’s eating breakfast, why don’t you join him after familiarizing yourself?”

The way Elphy’s mom spoke to her caused a pang of hurt in her heart. She was reminded of her own mom wherever she was. Tears threatened to fall again and she quickly blinked them away trying to hide the worry she felt for both of her parents.

“Will do, mom!” Elphy chirped as she went to place a hand on Natasha. “Did you want to see the rest of the house then grab breakfast, Natasha? I made it today!”

Natasha pulled herself from the thoughts she’d started spiraling down and looked up to Elphy.

“Yeah, yeah, that sounds good. Thanks, Elphy.”

Tucker rolled back to his feet as Natasha pulled herself up. She patted off the shed fur almost automatically.

“Maybe, uh, should I get dressed?”

“Sure! Let’s start the tour in your room.” Elphy grinned at Natasha and grabbed her hand then dragged her up the stairs. “I also put your phone on charge by the way. Though we don’t have any signal or proper wifi up here, you’re gonna have to use the terrible dial up computer.”

She wrinkled her nose to show her disgust at her lack of new technology. They both went up the stairs together and turned down the hall to her room. She was warm, Natasha noticed, looking down at the hand still gripping hers.

“This place is really nice,” Natasha said almost to herself as she ripped her eyes away to look around the hall again.

“Yeah, except for the incredible amount of dust choking the air and how boring it is to live here during off seasons.”

Once inside Natasha’s room Elphy, with a great display of her arms, turned back to Natasha. “This! Is the Twisted Pine Lodge, where all your needs of relaxation and need for nurture are provided by the matron of the house, Ms. Caliste. I am your humble host, Delphine, daughter and heir of this age-old Lodge.”

Elphy bowed a little too low, finished with a ridiculous flourish. Despite everything Natasha couldn’t help but give a half laugh at the motion. The little bit of silliness was much appreciated.

“The pleasure is all mine, Ms. Delphine.” Natasha bowed back at her new friend. “Natasha Sinclair at your service.”

“Good, now that proper introductions have been made. Allow me to show you the amenities at your fingertips. We have all your storage needs here and here.” She pointed to the wardrobe and the bedside table. “Your full length mirror to check yourself out with. All rooms come with toiletries stored right here, and for you, Ms. Sinclair, your phone and a change of clothes.”

Elphy with confident steps, strode over to the wardrobe and picked something up from the top and handed Natasha her phone and another pile of clothes.

“The clothes are apparently some old ones your mom left here in some luggage mom stored away.” Elphy dropped her act. “I thought they’d be better for you than my mom’s PJs. She’s got a certain style… it doesn’t look like it’d be your thing.”

Natasha wasn’t expecting to suddenly be handed something of her mom’s. These must’ve been from before she’d met her dad because they didn’t leave the island once they’d moved there when Natasha was little.

“Thanks, I appreciate that. Do you know what else was in the luggage?” Natasha unfurled the outfit and took a look.

“Hm, not sure. Mom has it, I’m sure she’ll give it to you though if you ask.”

“Ah, right I’ll ask her.” Natasha looked down at her new clothes and then back at Elphy.

“Oh, right, guess you want some privacy?” Elphy said with a giggle, turning around to face the wall and started to hum a little tune as she played with a plant that sat on the wardrobe.

Natasha was still nervous to change with a stranger in the room but she supposed it was fine. They were both girls, it shouldn’t matter. Still, she walked over and closed the door and turned around so she was facing away from Elphy. Somehow that made it better.

The outfit was very outdated: a yellow halter top that showed Natasha’s midriff and faded, high waisted jeans that flared a little too much at the bottom. The colours were loud especially compared to what Alicia wore as a librarian; all dark and beige for the most part. It was hard to imagine her wearing these clothes; hard even not to laugh.

The low neck of the shirt showed off the necklace which was usually hidden by Natasha’s collar. Its stone looked like nothing but a piece of heat-warped, jagged metal that had been worn down by many years of being touched. Somehow the hunk of junk always gave her peace of mind. A comforting heat on her chest.

“I look ridiculous.” Natasha twirled around and posed for Elphy.

Elphy peeked first, then with a gasp strode over to Natasha, grabbing her hips and pivoting her around. Natasha held her breath, unable to focus on anything other than her touch. She was at the very least a good distraction from the other emotions swirling in her chest.

“This is a look!” She gushed, Natasha couldn’t help but give a sheepish smile. “It’s a good one too.”

“I guess my mom was fashionable back in the day.”

“Guess so...” Elphy didn’t take her eyes off Natasha but gave her a smirk as she looked up. “Well with that out of the way, let’s get on with the rest of the tour!”

Elphy took Natasha’s hand again and, room by room, showed her the rest of the Lodge. Her brothers were roomed right next to hers. They peeked into Damon’s room looking peaceful bundled up in his bed. Down the hallway the other rooms were empty except for the last on the left that Benjamin was staying in. There was a bathroom attached to pairs of rooms, luckily Natasha had her own, and at the far end of the hall was a balcony that looked out to a pine forest.

Downstairs were the two rooms Natasha had seen before, one like an office with that old off white desktop, and the other had various kinds of couches and seats strewn with pillows and blankets. A large fireplace sat on one side of the room with a large shelf of used games and books taking up the other side.

“Okay, lastly the kitchen. I think Aiden’s still eating,” Elphy said, going to the second door in the living room. “I bet you’re starving too.”

At the mention of food Natasha’s stomach growled and lurched. She enthusiastically nodded.