They stopped about an hour later at a grocery store in just about the smallest town Naomi had ever seen. There were plenty of houses, but they were all spread out from each other, like they were embarrassed to be seen together, and there were no sidewalks. Naomi wondered how this town had enough business for anything larger than a convenience store.
Darcy and Naomi followed Ezhno through the isles of the store as he filled the cart with all the food they would need for their stay at the lodge. There were lots of pasta noodles in the cart. Naomi hoped spaghetti wasn't the only thing on the lodge menu.
Darcy was glued to her phone. Many times Naomi saw the name Sunshine when she pulled Darcy out of a collision course with the shelves. She must have been texting him about the lightning, Naomi guessed. She wondered if he had found anything interesting to report.
"Do you girls think this will be enough?" Ezhno asked.
Naomi looked in the cart. There were cereals, pancake mix, and muffin mixes for breakfasts; bread, peanut butter, and anything else needed to make any variety of sandwich for lunches; and pasta, tomatoes, and canned alfredo sauce for dinners.
Naomi thought for a moment before answering. "What about eggs, milk, and cheese?" she suggested. "And some fruits? To go with the pancakes?"
"Good idea." Ezhno said. He pushed the cart to the dairy isle and Naomi followed, dragging Darcy along. "What about now?" he asked once he'd added all of Naomi's suggestions.
Naomi hummed thoughtfully. "What kinds of foods are already there?" she asked.
"Just the non perishables," Ezhno said. "Canned goods, mostly. There's also some flour, sugar, and spices-- at least, there were last time I was there."
"This seems fine to me, then," Naomi said. She nudged Darcy, who was texting, next to her. "What do you think, Darce?" she asked.
"Yeah, it's great," she said distractedly.
Ezhno rolled his eyes. He made his way to a check-out lane, payed for the food, and went back to the car. The rain had let up so that it was merely a light drizzle, not the pouring downfall it'd been earlier.
When they got back on the highway, Darcy was still glued nose-to-screen with her phone.
"You know, staring at a screen like that is bad for you," Naomi said.
"Hm? What's that?" Darcy said destractly as she typed something.
"See? It's already turning your brain to goop."
"Awesome."
"You're not listening to a word I'm saying, are you?" Naomi asked.
"I can't remember. Ask Ezhno."
Naomi met Ezhno's eyes in the rearview mirror and stifled a laugh.
"Don't worry," he said. "She'll lose service here in about ten minutes."
"Isn't there service at the cabin?" Naomi asked, a little worried. She promised Papa she'd text him every day, and if there was no service...
"Oh, there is. There's just not a whole lot between here and there. It's real patchy."
Feeling relieved, Naomi tried to get Darcy's attention again, but when that didn't happen, she stared out the window.
The mountains in the distance didn't seem so distant now. The small rolling hills made way for steep rock formations and evergreen trees. The view became more restricted and obscured by the forest that surrounded them. The road became more narrow and the curves tighter. The further they went, the taller and thicker the trees grew. It seemed to grow darker as well, as the trees were blocking the little light the stormy clouds above where letting through.
"Are we almost there?" Naomi asked Ezhno.
"Almost. About another thirty minutes of the mountain. Hey, will you pass me another doughnut?"
She picked a doughnut at random and handed it to him, selecting one for herself as well. As she chewed, she thought back to the Wrath of Zeus. When she closed her eyes she could still see it clearly-- a building in the traditional Japanese style. The tiled roof had been white and trimmed with vibrant red-- at least, those are the color Naomi assumed they were. It was a little hard to tell through the dark blue color of the lightning. The roof had peaked in the middle, sloping curving downward, until it ended in a skyward curve. Behind the building had been a cherry blossom tree.
It had all seemed so real-- too real. But how could it be real? Yet, how could it not be? There was no way Naomi had imagined it, the details were too fine and intricate for that. Naomi could never envision the rustle of the petals on the cherry blossoms from the tree behind the building, the delicate symbols carved into the swinging windchimes hung from every corner, the shadows cast on the screens pull over the windows by a flickering light inside. No, it must have been real.
"When you have excluded the impossible whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth," she whispered.
"What was that?" Ezhno asked.
"Oh, sorry. I was just talking to myself."
The question remains, she thought, why could I see it? What about the lightning allowed me to see it?
Ponder as she might, she could come to no conclusion.
"Ugh." Darcy turned off her phone screen and muttered something that sounded like, "So infuriating."
"What's the matter?" Naomi asked. "Your conversation with your boyfriend get cut off?"
"He's not my boyfriend!" Darcy shouted. "Sorry, I'm just frustrated."
"Did he find out anything about the lightning?"
"He says he has a theory, but he won't say anything over text. He says it's too risky."
"Why would it be risky?" she asked.
"Texts can be traced, hacked, that sort of thing. Same with calls."
"You mean like wiretapping?" Naomi asked. "Like what the government did in the sixties?"
"Exactly."
"Why would that be a big deal?" Naomi asked. "I mean, I get that people like private conversations to remain private, but I still don't get why he won't say anything. Either he has something to hide from the world, or he's paranoid."
Darcy regarded her for a moment. "You know, you're a lot smarter than I give you credit for."
"Um, thanks?" Naomi wasn't sure if it was meant to be a compliment or an insult. "So, which is it?"
"Which is what?"
"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."
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."
Naomi grabbed her suitcase and a few bags from the trunk and followed Ezhno inside, Darcy close behind.
If the outside was impressive, it had nothing on the inside. The doors opened up to a large, open living room with the most comfortable-looking couches and loveseats Naomi had ever seen facing the fireplace against the wall. The mantel above the fireplace was decorated with a small, polished grandfather clock, a stack of books, strange soapstone carvings of faces and eagles and corn, and a framed picture that Naomi assumed was the whole Jogah family, and Naomi understood why the lodge was so big. There were a lot of smiling faces in that picture.
All throughout the lodge there were hanging animal skins and what Naomi at first thought were tapestries but where actually woven beads of deep red, vibrant yellow, and soft blue. There were also carvings in the walls. Naomi inspected one closely. It was a picture of Native American women harvesting a field of corn as little children hide behind the stalks. Another depicted children sowing squash and beans into the earth under the light of a crescent moon. Yet another showed a man knelt over a dead deer, praying. Each carving was done in great detail and they were all beautiful.
To the right of the living room lay the kitchen. The cabinets were all made of dark polished wood and the countertop was a slab of glistening laminate.
Naomi helped Ezhno put all the perishables in the double fridge while Darcy put everything else away in the cabinets.
"Now for first-day routine," Darcy said.
"What does that mean?" Naomi wondered.
"It means we have to open all the windows to let in the fresh air," Ezhno explained. "And with the rain, the air's sure to be extra clean. Darcy, you get all the upstairs windows. Naomi, will you get the dining room?"
The dining room was in sight of the kitchen, a long table fit for a feast surrounded by plush chairs with fine wooden workmanship on the backs. Naomi felt like she'd just been dropped inside a Disney movie just by looking at it.
"Where should I put my suitcase?" Naomi asked once all the windows were open a the air inside became cool and crisp. She grabbed her bag from where she'd left it by the garage door.
"Well, that depends on where you want to sleep," Darcy said. "Do you want to sleep in a bedroom upstairs or in the rec. room?"
"This place has a rec. room? Is there also a swimming pool out back?"
Ezhno chuckled. "Don't be ridiculous, Naomi. Out back is where we keep the hot tub. The swimming pool is downstairs."
"He's joking," Darcy assured her. "There's no swimming pool."
"Not yet, anyway," Ezhno said. "Uncle Var and Aunt Tehya haven't been up here for a while. I think they mentioned something about adding one this summer."
"What do Uncle Var and Aunt Tehya do again?" Naomi asked.
"He's a plumber, she's a contractor."
"Handy."
"So, what'll it be, Nomi?" Darcy asked. "A room or the rec. room?"
Naomi had never been given such a strange option of a sleeping arrangement before. "Uh, a bedroom, I guess."
"Great. Follow me, then."
Dragging her suitcase behind her, Naomi let Darcy lead the way up the stairs to the top level. There were two different halls, one leading into a lounge area with a balcony that peered over the living room below and the other leading to a series of bedrooms, each room equipped with two large beds, a love seat, and plenty of floor space. Naomi could easily imagine a comfortable Jogah family reunion taking place in this lodge.
The thought made Naomi a little sad. Papa was the youngest of three, and his older brother had died of cancer before Naomi had been born. His older sister had married and found every excuse to stay away, though Naomi could never figure out why, and it made her angry. She'd only met her aunt once over a poorly connected video chat, and small children-- her cousins, she assumed, though she'd never met them-- had been yelling in the background, so it was hard to hear one another. Maman was an only child, so there was no need to throw a big get-together. Mami and Papi would visit twice a year and Papa's parents would stop by any time they came back from a trip around the world.
If Naomi was being honest with herself, she was jealous of Darcy. Not that she had this lodge to come to whenever she wanted with a rec. room and a hot tub, but because she had a big family to share it all with.
"You can stay in this room." Darcy opened a door to a room. There was a large queen-sized bed with a wooden frame and a thick quilt that Naomi would have bet was handmade. In the corner sat a comfortable armchair with a reading lamp next to a small bookshelf. More woven beads hung on the walls, and there were more carvings. More strange figurines sat on the bedside table, and from the ceiling hung a fan, drawing in the cool air from the open window. On the floor there was a bear skin rug with marble eyes that were glistening in the light, and a door led outside to a balcony.
"Wow," was all Naomi could say.
"The bathroom's back the way we came, right next to the lounge," Darcy told her. "Get your stuff situated and then come back downstairs. I want to show you the rec. room."
"Hey, Darcy," Naomi called before she could leave. "When is your boyfriend going to get here?"
A scowl settled over Darcy's features and she blew a stray hair from her face. "For the last time, he's not my boyfriend. And he's already here."
"What? Where?"
"You'll see. Just come down to the rec. room when you're done. Go all the way down the stairs, second door on the right." And with that she disappeared, leaving Naomi to familiarize herself with her room for the next few days.