Jaden (St. Sebastians Quartet #1) by Heather Elizabeth King Read Free Book Online

Browning," she announced, approaching them on her stilts and offering a hand. "I'm so pleased to meet you both."
    Chris took her hand first, shook. Kenda followed suit.
    "Please, call me Chris."
    She stood there for a moment, staring from one of them to the other. Nodding, she said so quietly he nearly didn't hear her, "I think they've finally gotten it right." Louder, she announced. "This will do."
    "Um..." Chris started, then trailed off. "...You mean..."
    "Yes, that's exactly what I mean. I want to hire your company."
    "Well, there's the matter of—"
    "Well of course I plan to show you around first. Don't be so silly." She clapped her hands once and laughed a bit.
    Kenda looked at Chris, who looked as befuddled as Kenda felt.
    "Cash," she said. "I hope that's all right."
    "Well, of course."
    "You should know," Kenda began, "that people believe the house is—"
    "Haunted. Yes, I know." She turned in place, the smile still fixed to her face. "A good ghost story really adds to the ambiance of the place, don't you think?"
    "Well..." Kenda stalled.
    "Let me show you around."
    They started in the garden. Kenda had a pad with him and a small camera to take pictures. The original garden had been colorful and vibrant. Although everything was dead now, as they walked and she spoke of different flowers that had been planted, he began to get an image in his mind.
    "How can you be so sure?" Kenda asked. "I can see the garden is clearly marked, but for most of the plants, there's no way to be sure what was planted here."
    "Oh, I didn't tell you?" She swept an arm out, indicating the garden as a whole.
    "Tell us what?" Chris asked.
    "There's a journal. A garden journal, complete with illustrations of flowers and..." she paused to look at them over her shoulder and smile, "...and the purchase history of domestic flowers and some of the more exotic ones. Mrs. Lancaster loved her flowers. You can see that love in the way she wrote about them. And the care." She stopped walking again. "You do have someone on staff that can restore the garden? And it's to be a restoration, not a new design. I want it to look exactly the way it looked when the Lancaster family was here."
    "Of course," Kenda said. "We don't have any gardeners on staff, but we will contract out for this project."
    There were a number of overgrown bushes. Kenda imagined they'd originally been placed strategically around the garden. Now they seemed like nothing more than a mass of shrubs. No shape or discernible form, just a blob of green.
    There were also water fountains. They were cracked and covered in mold, but at one time he'd bet the entire tableau had been a wonder. Then there was the sound of the ocean. The further they walked, the more he could hear the waves crashing far below. If he looked out into the distance he could see the ocean. This property seemed almost magical.
    "You've got a real treasure on your hands," Chris was saying. "Once we return your home to its former glory, it's going to be a showplace."
    Off to his left and down an incline, a mass of tall hedges came into view. Branches jutted out in every direction and leaves, long dead, rotted nearby. The hedges towered at least twelve feet high.
    "Is that the maze?" he asked.
    She looked to where he was pointing, then nodded. "That's the last thing I want you to tackle. It may be the biggest project."
    "Can I see it?"
    She stared at it for a moment, shook her head. "I don't think today would be good. There's still a path inside, if you can believe that."
    "After all these years?"
    "Yes, but it's treacherous. The branches are sharp and they cut, and you're not dressed to be wading through an overgrown maze."
    "What's that further in? Round and gray? You can see it over the top of the bushes."
    She waved this off. "Some kind of sculpture. I'm not sure. I haven't been to the center of the maze, but the journal talks about the construction of a water sculpture to be placed at the center of the maze."
    Suddenly,