It's getting worse. Not now. Why now? It's been dormant for weeks! Naomi thought, squeezing her hand repeatedly into a fist to try to suppress the faint tingling in the tips of her fingers. It was in vain, just as she knew it would be. Once the ting...
"Is he hiding something, or is he paranoid?" Naomi asked.
Darcy frowned. "Both, I suppose."
"Care elaborate on that?"
Darcy thought for a moment. "Maybe later," she decided.
Naomi sighed. "Am I going to get any answers from you this trip?"
Darcy smiled sympathetically. It was like she knew about all the questions that had plagued Naomi's mind since she'd overheard her conversation with Sunshine-- not just the questions that she had voiced out loud.
"You will get answers," she promised. "But none of them as are cut and dry as you're probably hoping for. Everything happens for a reason, but at the right time and the right place. When we get to the lodge, I promise, you'll find all the answers you're looking for... and maybe some you aren't."
Naomi held back a sigh. She didn't want to wait any longer, but Darcy promising her answers was likely as close to a confession that she was hiding something from her that she was going to get.
"Don't go pretending to be all wise and mysterious on me," Naomi teasingly scolded. "It's not like you."
Darcy laughed. "Well, it's true. Just a little while longer, Nomi, and then I promise you'll get the answers you deserve."
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The last twenty minutes of the journey to the lodge felt longer than the first three hours. But finally-- finally-- the trees cleared and the lodge came into view.
It was bigger than Naomi had imagined. At least three stories tall, the whole building seemed to be built from entire trees dipped in varnish and placed down by some giant like Lincoln Logs. There was a bridge across a creek that flowed gently down the mountain. The double doors were mostly glass windows, and the front deck was decorated in deck chairs, picnic tables, windchimes swaying in the breeze, and even a hammock. The lodge had big, wide windows that would have been letting the sun in had the blinds not been drawn and the sun not hidden behind its own cloud curtains. All in all, the lodge was much better than what Naomi had been picturing.
"Holy mushrooms," she said as Ezhno pulled the car into the garage (that's right-- garage). "This place is ginormous!" She turned to Darcy. "Is your family super duper rich or something?"
Darcy laughed. "If only. The lodge belongs to my whole family-- aunts, cousins, uncles. We all pitch in to maintain it. My great-great-great-great-great-great grandfather built it, and through the years other Jogahs have made renditions and additions. It's pretty nice, huh?"
"That's an understatement."
"Well, let's not sit here all day just admiring it," Ezhno said. "Help me bring in the groceries. We've got perishables."
