Page 35 of Mistaken

Sarah wasn’t sure she was ready to answer that question. It seemed a lot better to just go with the flow and see what happened. If she was presented with the most absolutely perfect plan ever to escape Ghost Ranch and get back to Los Alamos, then obviously, she’d take it.

In the meantime, though, she figured she might as well enjoy herself.

Abdul was sitting at the dining table, sipping some coffee, when she emerged from her room. As always, he wore the same black hooded robe, and she had to bite her tongue to keep herself from asking if he’d ever thought about trying something a little more cheerful, like red or bright blue.

Actually, the mental image of him in a scarlet robe, like some kind of post-Heat Santa Claus, was so silly that she had to stop herself from grinning like an idiot. The last thing she wanted was for him to ask what had suddenly made her smile.

“Some tea?” he asked.

He’d remembered that she wasn’t a coffee drinker. Sarah didn’t know why that realization warmed her so much, except that during the entire time she’d been with Carson, he hadn’t once bothered to take note of her preferences, and instead kept trying to urge her to drink coffee because it just made more sense to share a pot.

“Yes, please,” she replied, and couldn’t help wondering what was going on with Carson at the moment. He must be in Los Alamos by now, but were they trying to come up with a way to locate her, or had they written her off as lost forever?

No, Lindsay and Miles and the rest of the town council wouldn’t do that. Sarah had no idea what they were plotting, but she had to believe they would mount a rescue operation at some point.

For some reason, that idea bothered her. Not only because she was finding herself increasingly ambivalent about staying here at Ghost Ranch, but also because she wasn’t sure how Abdul would react if he was suddenly confronted by a group from Los Alamos. He hadn’t been too thrilled to find her here, and she had to believe he’d be even less happy to have four or five or even more mortals appear on his doorstep.

Stop borrowing trouble,she told herself as Abdul conjured a pot of tea and mug identical to the ones he’d summoned the day before.They may decide they can’t risk losing any more people out here, and that will be the end of it.

Possible, but not very probable. It wasn’t only that she doubted Lindsay and the rest of the group would write her off so easily, but also that they definitely wanted to expand in this direction, and they wouldn’t abandon those plans without a damn good reason.

She poured some tea while Abdul sipped at his coffee. Once again, she was struck by how they could sit here quietly like this and not feel the need to fill the silence with idle chatter, could simply allow themselves to be in the moment.

He was the first to speak, though, asking, “Would you like to ride again today?”

Sarah had been thinking the same thing, although she couldn’t help wondering if the trails might be a little muddy after all that rain the night before. “Maybe this afternoon,” she said. “You know, to let everything dry out.”

“That would probably work better,” he allowed. “But perhaps there is something you would like to do this morning?”

The idea of having so much free time was still so foreign to her that she had to think about it for a moment. But then she realized that, even though Abdul had knocked down the guest quarters he hadn’t found aesthetically appealing, there was still a lot remaining of the original Ghost Ranch facilities.

“Maybe we could go look at the museums?” she said. “I visited them with my father when I was a kid, but obviously, I haven’t been back since then.”

“That is a good idea,” Abdul replied. “But you should eat something first. Another muffin, like yesterday?”

As tasty as it had been, Sarah didn’t think it was a good idea to keep repeating the same thing over and over again, not when she had a djinn right here who was apparently willing to summon her whatever she liked best.

“Not today,” she said, and smiled. No, she couldn’t see his face, but that didn’t mean she intended to hide her reactions from him. “How about a nice big plate of pancakes?”

Somehow, she thought he smiled in return.

Yes, this had been a good idea. As Sarah had feared, there were still muddy spots here and there, and it was probably best that they’d postponed their ride until this afternoon, but they were able to walk from the house along the path that led to the former visitors center and the museums, the first of which contained sketches and paintings by the woman artist Georgia O’Keeffe, while the second, smaller facility showcased artifacts Abdul hadn’t been expecting, such as fossils and pieces of pottery, all the interesting items that had been unearthed when O’Keeffe settled on this remote piece of land.

“I had no idea all this was here,” he said, and Sarah sent him an inquiring look.

“You didn’t?” she replied, a little startled, and added, “I mean, I just figured you explored all these buildings when you first came to live at Ghost Ranch.”

“I did not,” he said, then paused near a collection of crystals and geodes displayed in a glass case. “That is, while I knew I would need to do something about the museums at some point, I thought it better to address those items of more immediate importance, such as refurbishing the house and improving the landscape.”

“You shouldn’t do anything with them,” Sarah commented.

Although she couldn’t see his expression, he couldn’t help smiling a little at her bold tone. “Not even strengthen the roofs and clear out all this dust?”

Now she grinned. “Okay, anything that will improve these places, sure. But I’d hate to think of you just…getting rid of them.”

Doing so would certainly not be respectful. While djinn in general had little use for humans, the elementals still acknowledged their creative and artistic gifts, talents that they themselves lacked. Abdul was not precisely one of them, but he also understood that to destroy the works the artists had left behind would do no one any good.

“The museums will remain,” he declared. “And so will the two chapels, and the labyrinth, and anything else I deem to be of some purpose.”

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