The Luna Empath

Chapter One

The car smelled so new and the controls were unfamiliar as Alys rolled out of the airport car garage and onto the road. She’d meticulously recorded the directions when the driver collected her on the visit two months ago, but it was still nerve racking to navigate her way onto the traffic and across the carriageway. She wondered to herself what the security guy from the office must have thought of her, fresh off the plane looking grimy and carrying the faint whiff of airline food; then again he probably had zero interest in a random Brit come to take up a new role. She imagined he was just glad to offload the car keys, laptop and documents so he could get an early start home. Alys sent up a silent thanks that it was light this time for the drive out to Beacon Hills. On her last trip it had been ebbing towards darkness as the car drove out of the major roads, which would have made looking out for the road signs all the more stressful.

As it was she found her way into the town without taking a wrong turn, aided by the car satnav which sprang into life a couple miles out of the airport garage. She tried to take in as much as she could of the town as she passed, but the following traffic made it difficult to slow down enough to see much. She did register a street which seemed to lead to something like a town centre or maybe a square. The signposts indicated the out of town mall she’d briefly seen on her last trip, and as she drove on she noted the streets of generously proportioned family houses with pitched roofs and neat lawns.

As she headed a little way out of town the houses thinned out and she slowed to a crawl before almost missing the turn to the left which led to a small, neat single storey house hidden behind the trees. Putting the car in park she took in the front of the house before rummaging in the large envelope the security guy had given her to pull out a set of keys. Getting out of the car Alys grabbed the envelope, the laptop bag and her flight rucksack and walked to the door. Just as on her last visit she noticed how effective the trees were at dulling any road noise from the house. She just hoped the inside would be ok; despite the couple of snaps she’d taken two months ago she couldn’t remember the feel or the smell of the place.

Opening the front door she stepped into the cool hallway, with the last of the sun’s rays lighting the kitchen at the back of the house which she could see at the end where the door had been left ajar. Glancing into the lounge with its corner sofa, TV and coffee table she dropped the bags and walked through to the yellow glow of the kitchen. Alys sighed, it actually felt good, warm.

The real estate agent had left a large wicker basket on the small kitchen table, professionally wrapped with a selection of unfamiliar food and a card wishing the new tenant luck in her new home. Opening the fridge freezer, which like the stove seemed too big for the room, Alys was relieved to see some milk and other essentials along with another card from the real estate lady. Prising open the cellophane on the basket she grabbed a jar of coffee, filled the kettle and turned the stove top on for it to boil. Opening the drawer she found a few bits of cutlery and grabbed a spoon for the coffee. The aroma floated up as she poured the water.

As the sun sank away she realised how tired she really was and wandered back down the hallway nosing into the bedrooms. The front one was smaller and didn’t look out over the garden, so Alys had already decided she’d use the one at the back. In truth there wasn’t much of a garden; there was a small, slightly shabby paved area with a wooden table and two chairs. The garden didn’t extend much beyond this, except what looked like the entrance to woodland, but just among the first trees the wire fence signifying the boundary was faintly visible. Standing at the large window Alys felt the coffee soothing her throat. It felt right, this place was right.