Page 8 of Mistaken

“Guess so,” she said, doing her best to sound casual. “Don’t go crazy with any abandoned speedboats you might find.”

The comment made him crack a grin, as she’d hoped it would. “I wish,” he replied. “But I’m pretty sure the gas would be totally stale by now.”

He had a point there. “Or kayaks,” she added with a smile.

“Yeah, I don’t think that’ll be a problem.” He paused and looked down at his watch. “You should make it to Ghost Ranch before nightfall, so that’s good.” Another hesitation, and then he added in an echo of Lindsay’s words, “Be safe.”

“You too.”

Nothing left to say, so he turned away from her and began striding along the road that led to the lake, while Sarah made herself head northward again.

She wasn’t sure what she would find at Ghost Ranch, but better to get there while the sun still shone.

Chapter4

So much to do here.While the building that would be his main residence was now mostly in order, this new day presented its own set of challenges. Ghost Ranch had become a sort of retreat space in its latter years, and had dormitories, a visitors center, and several different museums. While he would leave the museums alone — the largest space housed a fine collection of art and relics related to Georgia O’Keeffe’s tenure here, while others contained Native American artifacts and fossils discovered on the grounds of the facility — he certainly had no need for all those other structures with their small rooms and communal bathrooms that had once catered to the budget-conscious traveler who had come to this place.

After walking the property from end to end and surveying everything with narrowed eyes, he concluded that most of it should go. His house and the museums would stay, and for now he would also keep the library and the building that was obviously some sort of center of worship, but all the guest rooms should be removed. However, he was happy to keep the pool, as well as the lovely labyrinth and Zen garden, both of which offered additional locations where he could be alone with his thoughts.

A wave of his hand, and the collection of buildings was gone. The result was a much barer landscape than he would have preferred, and his eyes narrowed. Something would need to be done about that.

In the next instant, a large pond filled some of the space next to the house, with cottonwoods and willows growing along its banks. Stands of ponderosa and piñon pines helped to fill in the rest of the landscape, along with artfully arranged sandstone boulders and graceful plantings of wildflowers such as penstemon and Indian paintbrush.

Much better. Now his immediate surroundings were a better complement to the majestic rock formations that had first drawn him to this location. Perhaps in time he would decide to get rid of more of the buildings, but this was a good start.

And while he had no reason to believe the elders would pay him a visit any time soon — it seemed enough that he had agreed to take up residence here — he could not help thinking that if they were to see the changes he had wrought, they would understand he truly was doing what he could to make Ghost Ranch his home.

All this had come much more easily to him than it would have for a regular djinn. While he was not precisely an elder, like them he had control of all four elements, allowing him to work with earth and water, fire and air.

Sometimes, though, he preferred to use his hands, as he would now to make some coffee and a fine breakfast.

Feeling lighter of heart than he had in years, he headed back up to the house that was his new home, already dreaming of bacon and fresh-baked scones, and perhaps some eggs and fruit.

As she slogged along Highway 84, Sarah couldn’t help thinking that Carson had gotten the better part of this bargain. She’d never come this way on foot before, and her childhood memories hadn’t adequately prepared her for just how steep the hill leading away from the lake truly was.

But because there wasn’t much she could do about it now, she knew she could only forge ahead. Assuming that everything at Ghost Ranch still more or less stood, she’d at least be able to sleep with a roof over her head tonight. Yes, she had a tightly rolled sleeping bag stashed in her pack, but she should be able to spread it out across a bed rather than on the floor…or worse, out in the open somewhere. She’d never been much of one for camping, and she didn’t intend to start now.

Despite the slog up this hill, she couldn’t quite ignore the feeling of lightness that seemed to overtake her as she realized she was utterly alone here, with Carson now miles behind. Maybe to some people, the thought of being so completely by themselves might have been terrifying, but to Sarah, it only meant she was in a place where she could at last be herself.

She crested the hill and pulled in a relieved breath — not the least because she also spied a sign that told her the exit to Ghost Ranch was only two miles away.

Almost there.

In fact, now she could see the trio of slender lodgepoles that formed a frame for the entrance to the ranch, as well as the dirt road that ran beneath them. Her pace quickened a little, although she told herself there was no real need to hurry. The main part of the day had come and gone while she made her way along Highway 84, but there was still an hour or so until sundown, giving her plenty of time to get settled before night fell.

When she arrived at the entrance, she paused there so she could reach inside her backpack to get out the stainless steel container of water she’d stowed there. As usually seemed to happen, it had migrated to the bottom of her pack, and she had to dig past all the other items stowed in there — several changes of underwear, her toothbrush and a travel-sized tube of toothpaste, various other odds and ends — to reach it.

One of those items was the device Lindsay had given her. Sarah began to lift it out of the way, only to have it tumble from her fingers and fall onto the rocks that had been stacked around the base of one of the lodgepoles that marked the entrance to the ranch.

Oh, no.

The crunch of glass on stone hit her ears, and she immediately dropped the backpack and reached for the thing — only to stop once she realized the touchscreens on two sides had shattered, and she’d only risk cutting her fingers if she tried to pick it up.

Shit, shit, shit,went through her mind, but she knew there wasn’t anything she could do to salvage the situation. While the devices were great at their job, they were also notoriously fragile, which was part of the reason why they were constantly being repaired and replaced.

No hope of either fixing it or getting a new one, not out here in the middle of nowhere. About all Sarah could do now was reassure herself that there were no djinn reavers left, and therefore she didn’t need that device.

Or at least, that was what she tried to tell herself. Considering the circumstances, there wasn’t much else she could do.

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