The House Ch. 05

Minerva lay on the ground unable to move without pain, fortunately she was able to hold on to her bag when she fell. She opened it with her uninjured hand and took out a bottle of water crying out when she instinctively tried to use her injured hand to open the bottle. Tears flowed as she waited for the pain to ebb, when it finally did she opened the bottle with her teeth, spit out the lid and drank half of the water. She looked around from her lying position and decided that she had to try to sit up. It took her several minutes but she finally managed. What was she going to do? She wondered, she couldn't stay here all night and no one knew that she was out here. One thing was for sure, she was never coming out here again at least not alone.

Aaron sat next to Minerva not sure of what to do except keep her safe from the others that wanted to hurt her. For the first time since her arrival he was forced to think about some things. As much as he wanted to keep her safe, he had failed. If he were a human male he could have helped her but as it was, he was almost useless.

"Are you certain of that?" a soft voice asked him.

Aaron turned toward the voice and saw Sadie one of his ex-slaves who was reputed to be a witch. Whether she was or wasn't Aaron didn't know and had never tried to find out because he didn't believe in such things.

"Sadie?" Aaron asked thankful to see a friendly face.

"Yes Mr. Aaron." she replied as she looked down at Minerva. "So this is the one that everybody talkin about" she said.

"This is her, she fell and broke her wrist and I think she sprained her ankle." Aaron said.

"So help her." Sadie said.

Aaron looked at her incredulous.

"Just how in the fuck do you propose I do that? I'm a damned ghost!" Aaron roared causing the leaves on the trees to rain down on them.

"Humph." Sadie said, "Look like you got plenty of power if you knows how to use it."

"For god's sake woman! Stop talking in riddles!" Aaron demanded.

"Mr. Aaron, the answer is right in front of you if you think about it." Sadie said smiling at him.

"Sadie..."

"Sir!" the confederate soldier sad as he appeared in front of Aaron. They know her name."

"Who knows her name?" Aaron asked.

"The Colonel sir, he heard a human male say it."

It had to be Dwight, it could be no one else Aaron realized and reluctantly admitted that he was grateful that the man had thought to come to the woods looking for Minerva. He also wished that he hadn't used her name but it couldn't be helped but now she was susceptible to the others for as long as she was in the woods.

"Where is the male?" Aaron asked.

"About a mile away." The soldier replied.

"Is he headed in this direction?" Aaron asked.

"No sir, he started this way and changed his mind."

Fuck! Aaron thought to himself. How could he get the man to turn around without leaving Minerva? Then it occurred to him, he knew the man's name and that made him susceptible to him. Aaron closed his eyes and thought about Dwight, he didn't dare say his name out loud, he didn't know who was listening.

Minerva closed her eyes and opened them when she heard the snapping of twigs. She looked around and saw nothing but she was nervous. It was getting late and she would soon be in the dark alone with whatever wild animals were native to the woods. She felt tears threaten and fought them back telling herself to buck up and that crying wasn't going to help anything. Her wrist was starting to hurt like a bitch, she was tired, hungry and although she didn't want to admit it, scared.

**** Dwight readjusted the duffle bag on his shoulder as he tried to decide which way to go. He started in one direction and changed his mind, the terrain was rough and he didn't think that Minerva would have gone that way. He hadn't gone very far when he thought that he heard his name. He stopped, looked around and shrugged his shoulders thinking that he had imagined it.

"Dwight, turn around." he heard in his head as clear as day.

A little spooked, Dwight turned around and headed back in the direction that he had earlier discounted without understanding why.

****

Colonel Wilcox and Oliver stood watching as Aaron stood guard over Minerva. They could see that she was hurt and wondered what Aaron was going to do about it.

"How badly do you think she's hurt?" Oliver asked.

"How in the hell should I know?" the Colonel snapped. "But she must have hurt one of her legs or else she'd be standing and headed back to the house." He added. On whim he decided to try to call Minerva's name to see what would happen.

"Minerva." he said softly and waited watching carefully for a reaction.

When there was none, he tried again.

"Minerva!" he called.

This time, Minerva reacted. She looked around for the owner of the voice.

The Colonel smiled at Oliver, "she heard me."

**** Minerva wasn't the only one. Aaron heard every word that the two of them exchanged but didn't react. He wanted them to hang themselves, he didn't know what they were planning to do with her and it really didn't matter. Minerva was his and his alone. If he had to banish every malevolent being in the woods to keep her safe, he would and there would be no feelings of guilt afterwards. They had all been warned not once but several times but yet here The Colonel and his lapdog where plotting their abduction of Minerva.

As soon as Aaron heard the Colonel call Minerva's name, he looked in the direction where the colonel and Oliver were standing and sent a blast of frigid air in their direction startling both of them into silence.

"He heard us." Oliver whispered.

"Don't be stupid! Of course he didn't." Colonel Wilcox said impatiently.

"But.."

"Shut up or leave and I don't care which." The Colonel said cutting Oliver off.

He wanted to ask Oliver if he had always been such a pussy but thought that he already knew the answer. Oliver was exactly what Aaron had called him, a lapdog to do his bidding.

Minerva looked in the direction that she thought she heard her name come from. Just wishful thinking she thought ruefully.

"I have to get out of here" she mumbled under her breath.

She started looking around for a branch that she could use as a walking stick but saw none. Once again she swore that she was never stepping foot in these woods again. It was now darker and the sounds of the woods seemed louder and more ominous. To distract herself, Minerva started singing whatever song came to mind as she tried to think of what to do, If she could just get to her feet she could limp home.

"Minerva." a voice said softly, this was another voice, a woman whereas the other was a man.

"Whose there?" she called out.

No answer.

Minerva felt a distinct chill. She took the sweatshirt out of her bag and put it on starting with her injured side first. It took her several minutes but she managed and then took a sip of water.

"Minerva!" several voices called softly.

*****

Aaron stood up prepared to banish anyone who came near Minerva, it was the one thing that he could do until Dwight got there.

"Who do we have here?" a familiar voice said.

Aaron turned toward the voice. Clara. When had she gotten here? Or had she always here and he just didn't know it? That was very possible as he had only started coming into the woods since Minerva's arrival.

"This is who the fuss is all about?" she taunted as she looked down at Minerva.

"Leave Clara." Aaron said his voice cold.

"And go where?" she asked still looking at Minerva as if she was an interesting bug.

"I don't give a fuck, just go." Aaron replied.

"Are you still angry with me?" Clara cooed.

"You had that pussy whipped traitor kill me so tell me, what do you think?" Aaron replied coldly.

"Well, you did take what wasn't yours." Clara said moving closer to Minerva.

Aaron decided that he wasn't going to argue the point. It was time to start cleaning house beginning with the bitch standing in front of him.

"Clara, I hear that they need volunteers in Gettysburg." Aaron said softly.

Clara stopped looking at Minerva and looked at Aaron.

"Whatever are you talking about?" she asked as she looked back down at Minerva.

"There are many restless spirits who need comforting." Aaron replied with a smile that didn't reach his eyes.

Clara hesitated, there had been rumors among the beings of the woods that Aaron possessed the power to banish spirits from the woods to any place of his choosing and that he could even bring them back if he so chose. For the most part no one believed the stories mostly because he had never done it and he rarely had come into the woods until the woman appeared. There were also rumors that he was the lord of the woods because he died here while owning them. Again it was just conjecture. But there was something in Aaron's eyes and voice that gave Clara pause, Aaron had always been a strong man and one that few people cared to cross but this was different. Even so, Clara decided to push her luck.

"Minerva!" she called softly. "Stand up."

Minerva looked in the direction of the voice and unable to help herself tried to stand.

Aaron looked at Clara with eyes filled with anger and hatred and spoke the words that banished her to Gettysburg never to return to his woods.

As he said the words, Clara's hold over Minerva weakened. As she disappeared, Clara had a look of utter shock, horror and amazement on her face.

Where in the hell was Dwight? Aaron wondered. He summoned the soldier and sent him to look for Dwight.

"Impressive." The colonel said to Aaron.

Aaron stared at him and then spoke, "call her name again and you're next. Remember that I know where your men are or would you prefer Shiloh?" Aaron asked.

"You're bluffing!" Wilcox said.

"Am I? tell me then, what happened to my bitch of a wife?" Aaron asked.

Wilcox had no answer to the question and wasn't sure that he wanted to know. The one thing that he did know was that if Minerva got out of the woods she probably wouldn't come back unless...

Wilcox vanished leaving Aaron alone with Minerva. Aaron got a funny feeling in his gut, the ghost was up to no good.

Sadie sat watching but not saying anything. To her the answer was as plain as day but then Aaron was a man and men sometimes missed what was right in front of them. But to be fair, he had more pressing matters to attend to but she couldn't actively help him. She could drop hints, give little nudges and hope that he caught on but that was all that she could do. To do more was a violation of the rules and she had no desire to be punished for breaking the rules no matter who it was for.

****

Dwight kept walking, he almost changed directions several times finding it hard to believe that Minerva had come this way. He stopped long enough to pull out a flashlight and to take a sip of water. As he was putting the water back in the bag, he saw the first piece of bright pink yarn. He took off at a brisk walk, stopping every few yards to check for another piece of yarn. He found a second piece of yarn a few minutes later and began to call Minerva's name again.

"Minerva!" he called. It no longer mattered that he used her name, every spirit and being in the woods now knew it.

"Minerva!" Dwight called again.

*****

Minerva didn't answer at first, she thought that she was hearing voices again but this one sounded familiar. Dwight.

Minerva started screaming as loud as she could and didn't stop until Dwight found her. She was so relieved to see him that she forgot about her wrist and tried to use it to get up.

"Whoa, let me see what the damage is." Dwight said after kissing her much to Aaron's displeasure.

"It looks like you sprained your ankle and broke your wrist. Did you hit your head or anything? Do you hurt anywhere else?" Dwight asked as he felt her uninjured arm and leg.

"No, and I am so glad to see you!" Minerva said now close to tears.

"Ditto but I'm afraid that we're going to be camping here tonight" Dwight said as he took the medical supplies from the bag. He gave her four Tylenol and a sip of water to wash them down with.

"How did you know to look for me?" she asked.

"I kept calling you and when you didn't call me back by two I got worried and drove to your house. Your car was there but you weren't and I could see your phone on the counter." Dwight said as he wrapped her ankle. "I still had the keys to your house and let myself in thinking that maybe you had fallen in the shower or something. The only option left was the woods. How long have you been out here?" he asked.

"I left before lunch, so for a long time." Minerva replied.

"I grabbed some snacks from your kitchen so we won't starve and I grabbed a blanket too so we won't freeze. Let me splint your wrist and I'll make a fire." Dwight said.

"Oooh, did you happen to bring marshmallows" Minerva teased.

Dwight laughed, "oops didn't think about that. Sorry." He liked that she was able to laugh even though she had spent the day hurt in the woods, had it been Beth, he would have had to knock her out to stop her crying and caterwauling.

"Ok love, this is going to hurt but I have to splint your wrist." Dwight said.

Minerva nodded and took a deep breath and nodded. She bit back a scream as Dwight splinted and wrapped her wrist.

"It's done." Dwight said as he hugged her, "you're one tough cookie." he added as he kissed her.

As grateful as he was for Dwight's appearance, Aaron was angry. He was angry that he couldn't physically help her as Dwight had just done and his jealousy at Dwight's being able to touch Minerva so effortlessly rose. Along with the anger, there was a feeling of immense pride, he didn't know exactly what the phrase "one tough cookie" meant but he got the gist of it. Dwight was right, Minerva was some kind of woman.

It didn't escape Aaron that Dwight seemed to be very knowledgeable about field medicine and that he had good survival skills. He watched as Dwight built a fire with ease and found himself quite impressed with him in spite of being angry. Minerva was just as impressed.

"Where'd you learn all of this stuff?" she asked.

"I grew up around these woods, we used to camp out and hunt here." Dwight replied.

"Were you military?" Minerva asked.

"A lifetime ago I was. " Dwight replied as he tucked the blanket around Minerva. "You should get some sleep, I'm not going anywhere."

" I will soon, so what branch of the military were you in?" she asked.

"Special forces, now sleep." Dwight urged.

Minerva sensed that Dwight didn't really want to talk about his military career and changed the subject.

Aaron wondered what the special forces was and found that he wasn't surprised that Dwight had been in some branch of the military, it explained his ease in the woods and his skills.

Soon Minerva could barely keep her eyes open but she wanted Dwight closer to her.

"Dwight, will you hold me?" she asked.

Dwight didn't hesitate in complying with her request. He got under the blanket with her and carefully pulled her into his arms. Minerva was asleep and snoring softly in minutes. Dwight tried to stay awake but couldn't, he had been up since six and he had been wandering the woods looking for Minerva for hours. He assumed that it was all of those things combined that made him so sleepy plus the fact that Minerva felt so good in his arms.

When Aaron left, Dwight had been awake and talking with Minerva. Aaron figured that Dwight might fall asleep but he thought that he would have at least an hour to make himself known in the woods. The fact was, Dwight was asleep within ten minutes of Aaron's departure. As soon as he was asleep, a female spirit approached Dwight and Minerva but it was Minerva that she was interested in.

"Minerva." she whispered. "You won't be able to stay away from us, when you are better come back but don't let Aaron or the man with you know. We will see you soon." and then she was gone.

Sadie appeared just as the female spirit vanished and kicked herself, she should have stayed put. The spirit was named Millicent and at one time had been a friend and ally. Now she roamed the woods and stirred up trouble wherever and whenever she could. Sadie looked at the sleeping couple and frowned, the man's sleep wasn't a natural one but the woman's was which meant at least to Sadie that the woman was the target.

Sadie looked around and then back at Minerva, it was taboo to interfere with another witch but Millicent had just interfered with the order of things giving the Colonel an unfair advantage. Sadie wondered where Aaron had gone that the couple was left unguarded but then he hadn't planned on the appearance of Millicent and he had never really believed in witches and other things of the supernatural world.

"Sadie?" Aaron called from behind her.

"Mr. Aaron, Millicent was here and made the man sleep, what she did to your woman I don't know." Sadie said giving Aaron an anxious look.

"Millicent? Who in the hell is Millicent?" Aaron asked as he looked down at Minerva.

"A very bad witch." Sadie replied.

"Oh fuck!" Aaron exclaimed, "There really are witches?" he asked.

"Yes sir, I'm a witch as well. I'll try to see what Millie did but even if I do, I may not be able to undo it." Sadie replied.

"The male, is he alright?" Aaron asked.

"He is fine, he wasn't the target." Sadie said as she closed her eyes and held her hands over Minerva. Several minutes later, she gave up. "I don't know what she did or said to her, it's blocked." Sadie said regretfully.

"Is she harmed in anyway? Can you tell that much?"

"She isn't harmed that much I know but I wonder why she didn't touch the male?"

It was a good question and one that Aaron was asking himself.

****

Millicent, Oliver and Colonel Wilcox watched from a distance.

"So why didn't you take him?" Oliver asked. He was angry that Clara had been banished but not so angry that he wanted to be banished with her.

"I can wait." Millicent replied. "I prefer to play with my prey and besides, when she comes back he'll come looking for her." she added.

Both ghosts shuddered, they had heard the stories about Millicent and in many ways were more afraid of her than they were of Aaron. Aaron for the most part could be reasoned with, even now if they were to swear to leave the woman alone, he would give them a reprieve after making sure that they understood that the next time there would be no reprieve.

The three of them vanished from where they stood and went to another part of the woods to talk. The confederate soldier stood behind them listening and then vanished when he thought that he had heard enough.

Millicent laughed, "Idiot! He'll go right to Aaron and tell him what he heard."

****

"Sir, I heard them talking. They say that they're going to leave the woman alone and that Millicent is going to release the spell." The soldier reported after giving Aaron a hasty salute.

"She's lying." Sadie said. "She knew that you were there and that you would come back and tell what you heard."

"I agree." Aaron said.

"Mr. Aaron, you cannot allow her to come into these woods again." Sadie said.

Aaron had already thought of that and he had to figure out a way to make that happen but his priority at the moment was keeping her and now the male safe so that they could get Minerva back to the house.

Dwight woke up close to dawn and shook his head. He rarely if ever slept so deeply especially when he was camping out in the woods. The fire had burned out and the morning was chilly, he thought about getting up and rebuilding it and changed his mind. He was very comfortable where he was and Minerva was still sleeping pressed tightly into his body.

"I could get used to this." he thought to himself. There would be issues of course with the biggest one being Beth and the kids. The kids would more than likely be alright with Minerva being black but Beth definitely wouldn't be, Dwight could hear her now.